Margaret Graham Hills, who has died aged 97, spent an astonishing 73 years teaching ballet, initially at the Royal Ballet School in London and later at various studios in Los Angeles. She was fearless, funny and kind, and had a phenomenal memory – after seeing a ballet just a few times she could teach the choreography.
Early Life and Career
Born in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, Margaret was the daughter of Ida (née Cockshott), an amateur painter, and Ellis Hampson, an executive for the Co-op. Her beloved brother, John Graham, was nine years younger, and Margaret later appropriated his middle name as her stage surname.
She always had a passion for ballet, starting dance classes at three. After leaving the Priory School, Shrewsbury, at 15, she was offered a place at Sadler's Wells Ballet and moved to London on her own. During the Second World War, she danced for the forces at nearby bases.
Teaching Career
A catastrophic knee injury when she was 17 ended her dream of continuing as a ballerina. Instead, the Royal Ballet School's founder, Ninette de Valois, hired Margaret as her assistant and a teacher. She proved extraordinary. Among her young students were Antoinette Sibley, Anthony Dowell and Georgina Parkinson.
In 1950, De Valois chose Margaret to go to Ankara for a year to help found Turkey's national ballet company. She thrived there and learned Turkish to teach the aspiring dancers.
In the late 1940s, a friend invited Margaret to watch a ballet on her new television. There she met the friend's stepson, Brian Hills, an industrial designer. Margaret told her mother that same day that she had met her future husband. On her return to the UK in 1951, Margaret married Brian; they lived in London and later moved to Kent. She helped write the syllabus for the Royal Academy of Dance examination board, became expert in ballet pantomime, and was appointed senior ballet mistress of the Royal Ballet School at just 27.
Life in the United States
Margaret and Brian had three children; the family moved to the US in 1971 when Brian got a job at Mattel Toys. They intended to stay for just a year but never left. Margaret taught professional and advanced dancers in Los Angeles at Stanley Holden's Dance Center (1972-97), at UCLA as a visiting professor (1984-93), and at Westside Ballet (2000-18). At 90, she reluctantly retired. She became an honorary fellow of the Royal Academy of Dance in 2024.
Brian died in 2020. Margaret is survived by her children, Sarah, Julian and the writer; her grandchildren, Emily, Nicholas, Grey, Simone, Fiona and Sebastian; and her great-grandchildren, Vivian, Zoe and James.
