#theilade

Max Reinhardt, he discovered me, so to speak, because he saw one of these recitals, and he said, ‘Well, I don’t know anything about dancing, but this person doesn’t only dance, she acts.’

- Nini Theilade (1912-2018)

Nini Theilade was a Danish ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher. She won wide acclaim for her dancing in the fabled 1935 film version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” then performed with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo during its tour of the United States as World War II was beginning.

Reinhardt put her in the version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” that he staged in England and at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, and then in the film that he and William Dieterle directed. Ms. Theilade was the lead fairy among Titania’s attendants.

The film had a starry, somewhat improbable cast that included Mickey Rooney as Puck, James Cagney as Bottom, Dick Powell as Lysander and, in her first film, Olivia de Havilland as Hermia. Critics differed on whether it succeeded, but virtually everyone agreed that the dancing was a high point, especially Ms. Theilade’s work.

In a 2013 article in The Observer of London, the dance writer Luke Jennings put the fairy ballet at No. 5 on his list of the 10 best dance numbers in film, singling out Nini Theilade.

From 1938-40, she played many leading roles in the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo which were choreographed for her by Léonide Massine. They included Poverty in Nobilissima Visione and Venus in Bacchanale with costumes by Salvador Dalí. She performed as a guest at New York's Metropolitan Opera dancing to Debussy's Clouds.