Robyn White (Klaus) was born in Townsville and received her early dance training with Lynette Denny in Mackay before becoming the first Queensland winner of The Australian Ballet Society’s scholarship to the Australian Ballet School. She was one of the first graduates of the School to be offered a contract with John Cranko, at that time Artistic Director of the Stuttgart and Munich Ballet Companies.
After three years in Munich, Robyn accepted a contract with Hamburg Ballet. Under Artistic Director John Neumeier, she was promoted to soloist and danced principal roles in many Neumeier ballets, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, King Arthur’s Saga, and Petrushka Variations. She also performed as a principal in Balanchine’s Agon. Other repertoire included Balanchine’s Divertimento and Four Temperaments, as well works by choreographers Felix Blaska, Gigi Caciuleanu and Rudi von Danzig. Robyn toured extensively with the Hamburg Ballet and after 16 years with the company finished her dancing career with the birth of her second son.
Moving to Bern, Switzerland with her husband François and their two young sons, André and Philippe in 1991, Robyn was appointed Assistant to the Artistic Director of Bern Ballet. She worked as guest teacher for the Semper Oper in Dresden, Germany and also conducted master classes organised by the Swiss Ballet Teachers Association for talented ballet students auditioned throughout Switzerland.
Returning to Australia with the family in 1997, Robyn worked as Company teacher and Artistic Associate of Queensland Ballet. Together with François, she was responsible for establishing and developing Queensland Ballet’s Junior Extension and Professional Year Programs, and was actively involved in the teaching and coaching the Queensland Ballet dancers. Robyn was also instrumental in the dramaturgical development of new works for Queensland Ballet.
Since 2013, Robyn’s ongoing professional activity has been (with François) as guest teacher for several European companies. Her most recent guest teaching has been for Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Béjart Ballet Lausanne, Singapore Dance Theatre, Hamburg Ballet School and L’academie de la Princess Grace de Monaco.
Gallery
