Nadia Nerina

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Upon returning to England in the autumn, Judd danced briefly with the Sadler's Wells Opera Ballet, which soon was reformed and renamed the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet. There, under the guidance of ballet mistress Peggy van Praagh, she worked with Leo Kersley, who became a close friend, Kenneth MacMillan, Peter Darrell, and emergent choreographer John Cranko, a fellow South African. At this time, she assumed the stage name Nadia Nerina, derived from the delicate, lily-like flowers called nerines, a species native to South Africa. Cast as the Circus Dancer in Andrée Howard's Mardi Gras, she enjoyed her first big success, winning approval of balletomanes and applause from audiences whenever she appeared. In December 1947, she joined the main Sadler's Wells company at Covent Garden as a soloist. Within three days, she was on stage, dancing a solo in Michel Fokine's Les Sylphides. Set to Chopin's Mazurka in D Major (op. 33, no. 2), it showed her light, high jumps, fleet footwork, and soft port de bras to particular advantage. Soon thereafter, de Valois saw her in a solo in the Swan Lake pas de trois, which she had learned from Preobrajenska, and, recognizing her individuality, encouraged her in what Nerina described as "my natural style."

Thereafter, her progress was swift, as one good role followed another. In 1952, at age 25, she was promoted to principal dancer, having become "a distinctly bright light within the company's remarkably luminous roster of ballerinas, which included Moira Shearer, Margot Fonteyn, Svetlana Beriosova, and Antoinette Sibley." Over the next decade and a half, she danced leading roles in many works in the Sadler's Wells repertory, the great nineteenth-century classics as well as works created by contemporary dancemakers. She was a favorite of Frederick Ashton, chief choreographer of the company, who cast her in new works, such as Homage to the Queen and Birthday Offering, as well as in existing productions of Cinderella, Sylvia, and Ondine. In Homage to the Queen, he made a solo variation for her that included entrechats six and double tours en l'air, feats usually performed by men, and in Birthday Offering, he again exploited her aerial abilities in a series of soaring jumps. Her acting talent was also admired by Kenneth MacMillan, who in 1956 cast her in his first ballet, Noctambules, a dark tale of a hypnotist in which she played a veiled, aged woman pursued by four suitors when she is restored to her youthful beauty. Such dramatic roles were not her forte, however, as her sunny disposition and dazzling technique made her more suitable to lively roles and classical brilliance.

The year 1960 was a banner one for Nerina. On 28 January, she appeared with the Royal Ballet (so called since 1956) in the role with which she would thereafter be most closely identified, that of Lise in Ashton's La Fille Mal Gardée ("the poorly guarded girl"). Based on an old French tale of a widow and her wayward daughter, Ashton's reworking of Jean Dauberval's 1789 ballet was an immediate hit. The three scenes were set in the widow's farmyard, at a nearby field, and in the living room of the farmhouse. The charming décor and costumes were designed by Osbert Lancaster, and the choreography was set to a melodious new score arranged and orchestrated by John Lanchbery. Besides Nerina in the title role, it starred David Blair as Colas, her sweetheart; Stanley Holden en travestie as her mother, the Widow Simone; and Alexander Grant as Alain, her hapless suitor. Ashton called them his "ideal cast," and, although they have since been succeeded by numerous others, it is doubtful that they have ever, as a quartet, been surpassed. After its premiere, Ashton's bucolic comedy was described as "an unabashedly lyrical, bravura showcase for pixieish (5 feet, 4 inches, 105 pounds) Nadia Nerina." It was declared a signal success, even called a masterpiece, and has since entered the contemporary canon, in no small measure because of its original leading lady.

Nerina was also well known outside England. In the early 1950s, she toured South Africa several times, presenting recital programs with fellow South African Alexis Rassine and starring with him in a local production of Giselle in Cape Town. With the Sadler's Wells company (later the Royal Ballet), she toured Europe and North America on many occasions. She was particularly popular in France, where she was applauded for her performances in Massine's Mam'zelle Angot and Cranko's Bonne-Bouche, both with a distinctly Gallic flavor. She was also warmly appreciated by Scottish audiences in Edinburgh and Glasgow, where she often performed during the Sadler's Wells Ballet tours in the 1950s. In 1960, after her January triumph at Covent Garden, she was invited to perform as guest ballerina with both the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow and the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad. Partnered by Nikolai Fadeyechev in Swan Lake in Moscow in 1960 and by Konstantin Sergeyev in Giselle in Leningrad in 1961, she won acclaim in both ballet-loving cities. She was also well loved in America. In 1964, she represented Great Britain at the commemoration performance for slain president John F. Kennedy at the White House in Washington, D.C.

In 1965, Nerina asked Ashton, then director of the Royal Ballet, to be designated a "guest artist," to enable her to pursue invitations from other companies. Among them was Western Theatre Ballet, based in Bristol, where she created a major role in Peter Darrell's Home, about a young woman in an asylum. She made guest appearances with the Royal Ballet until 1968, dancing in La Fille Mal Gardée and Sylvia, and she was a popular star at ballet galas, usually giving her fees to dancers' benevolent funds. After her retirement in 1969, she became a patron of the Cecchetti Society, which preserves the Italian teaching system on which British ballet was founded.

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