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 Margaret Morris was a British dancer, choreographer and teacher. She was the first proponent of the Isadora Duncan technique in Great Britain. She founded the Margaret Morris Movement, Celtic Ballet, and two Scottish National Ballets in Glasgow (1947) and in Pitlochry (1960). Morris devised a system of movement notation, which was first published in 1928.
Although Morris was born in London, she lived with her parents until the age of five in France. She had no formal academic education, but went to dancing classes. In 1894 she began reciting professionally in French and later in English, at parties, smoking concerts and court drawing rooms. In 1899 she had her first stage engagement in pantomime - Little Red Riding Hood at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, playing First Fairy 'Twinkle Star' with solo dances and recitations before a front drop.
In 1900 she joined the Ben Greet Shakespearian Company and played 'Puck' in A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. She remained with the company for three years, acting and dancing. In 1903 she played child parts in Drury Lane melodramas and in The Water Babies at The Garrick Theatre. Between tours she studied dancing with John D'Auban, ballet master at Drury Lane. She began to compose dances of her own and at the age of twelve reacted against the limitation of the Italian classical ballet technique. She began creating more natural exercises but realised also that a basic training was necessary. In 1907 she joined the Benson Shakespearian Company as 'Ingenue Principal Dancer' and understudy to Lady Benson.
In 1909 Morris met Raymond Duncan, the brother of Isadora Duncan, who taught her the six Classical Greek dance positions. She adapted and used these as the basis of her own system of movement. Morris was also inspired by Duncan's use of shorthand notation for recording these positions. In 1910 she choreographed the dances for Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice which was staged by Marie Brema at the Savoy Theatre in London. She trained the dancers in her new technique for a month before rehearsals. She also designed the costumes and decor. The Daily Express said "The triumph of the production is Miss Morris's Dance of the Furies, nothing like it has ever been seen on the London stage". That year she also played Water in The Blue Bird by Maeterlinck at the Haymarket Theatre. She also produced the dances for Sir Herbert Tree's production of Henry VIII.
In 1913, Morris met John Galsworthy who encouraged her to open her own school in St. Martin's Lane, London. That same year she toured with her own company, first called "Margaret Morris and her Dancing Children". In 1911 she was the choreographer and principal dancer for The Little Dream, a fantasy by John Galsworthy, at Annie Horniman's Gaiety Theatre, Manchester. She also created the dancing scenery for Rutland Boughton's Opera The Birth of Arthur at the Winter Gardens, Bournemouth.
In 1912 she created the part of Guinevere Megan in The Pigeon by John Galsworthy at the Royal Theatre, acting with Gladys Cooper and Dennis Eadie. That same year she had a season at The Royal Court Theatre, London where she performed such ballets as Callisto by Maurice Hewlett and The Little Dreams by John Galsworthy. She started the first small theatre in London - Kings Road, Chelsea - giving Christmas Seasons for Children performed by children, including Angela and Hermione Baddeley and Phyllis Calvert. She won acclaim from the press as the first woman 'actor, manager' and the youngest, as she was only 21. In 1913 she took a troupe to Paris to dance at the Théâtre Marigny on the Champs Elysees. In 1915, she produced at her theatre an interpretation of Beethoven's 7th Symphony, costumes designed by J D Fergusson and subsequently performed with full orchestra at Bournemouth Winter Gardens and at Harrogate.
In 1917 Morris started the first Summer School at Devon which has since been held annually to the present date except for the war years. In 1922 she started the first 'Educational School' in England to combine normal educational subjects with educational training in dancing and acting. John Duncan Fergusson became the art director of all her schools. Painting and design became an integral part of the students curriculum which already included acting, dance composition and improvisation, normal educational subjects and her system of Dance Notation.
I first realised the absolute necessity of relating movement with form and colour when studying painting of the modern movement in Paris in 1913. From that time I incorporated it as one of the main studies in my school. In this connection I am deeply indebted to J D Ferguson, the painter, who for years has taught the painting design and sculpture in my school and who first made me realise the possibilities of theatrical work considered from the visual point of view, and the value of the study of form and colour as a means of education.
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