Ballet Career
Andrée Marlière (born Andrée Isabelle Germaine Marlier; Antwerp, 22 February 1934 – Wilrijk, 10 January 2008) was a Belgian ballerina, ballet mistress, choreographer and later a painter. She began dancing at eight with Monique Querida (Théâtre de la Monnaie) and Mina Del Fa (La Scala), refined her technique in Paris with Victor Gsovsky and Rousanne Sarkissian, and from 1948 to 1950 studied at the Sadler’s Wells Ballet School in London with John Field and Dame Ninette de Valois.
Her stage career took off early: at 12 she appeared with André Leclair at the Gala Querida (Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels), danced at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in 1950, joined the corps de ballet of La Monnaie (1950–1951) and became a soloist at the Royal Flemish Opera in Antwerp (1951–1957). International engagements followed with the Berliner Ballett (first dancer, 1957–1958), Ballet Jean Babilée (first soloist, 1958–1959), Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas (1959), Maurice Béjart’s Ballet du XXe Siècle and the Ballet de la Monnaie (1959–1964), and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf (danseuse étoile, 1964–1966). She returned to Antwerp for the Royal Flemish Opera (1966–1970) and concluded her performing career with the Royal Ballet of Flanders (1970–1971).
From 1964 she taught classical repertoire at the Antwerp city ballet school and, from 1970, served as ballet mistress and management member at the Royal Ballet of Flanders alongside Jeanne Brabants. She later held the same post at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe (1984–1989) and was widely sought as a coach for revivals, including works by Balanchine and John Butler. After retiring from the stage, she devoted herself to painting, exhibiting in Antwerp and Opdorp, and she created choreography for Émile Degelin’s 1995 film “À perte de vue.”
Marlière passed on 10 January 2008 at St-Augustinus Hospital in Wilrijk, aged 73. Obituaries in the Belgian press marked her as one of Flanders’ first great ballerinas. She has found her final resting place in the peaceful surroundings of Liezele’s (part of Puurs-Sint-Amands) serenity.
