B.C. School of the Theatre

 

June Roper took a cue from Ernest Belcher's expertise when training her students. She gave each student a vehicle designed to reveal that student's potential. This way each dancer was able to achieve a unique stage presence, which accentuated their individual charms.

For example, June recognized early on the ballet capabilities of the Meyers girls, Rosemary Deveson and Jean Hunt. They were given assignments in two of the ballet numbers. A tall girl, Rosemary Sankey, who would later go on to become a New York model, was cast as a dragonfly. Joy Darwin seemed more appropriate for an ensemble interpretation of Bolero.

In early 1935, Colonel de Basil's Ballets Russes had visited Vancouver and June Roper was in attendance. She was awed by the vitality and glamour of the stars and by the diversity of their repertoire. However, she was also shocked by the ragged ensembles. She was determined, and stated it clearly, that she was not interested in training dancers for assignments in the corps de ballet. She had more elevated goals for her pupils.

June realized it was possible for a dedicated student to equal and even surpass the technical prowess of the exceptional soloists seen in the Ballet Russe. "Russian ballet" became the speciality of her teaching.

June had now spent a year as dance mistress with the B.C. School of the Theatre and it was a good year for her. Her health was restored, her energies and ambitions renewed. She decided it was time of independence.

Her mother, Elizabeth Roper, returned to Los Angeles and June found herself an apartment in Vancouver's West end. She decided to devote her time to the training of dancers.

However, she was faithful to teaching in the Sunday school classes at Vancouver's First Baptist Church on Burrard Street. She was quietly devout and didn't flaunt her religious beliefs.

As usual, thanks goes to the book June Roper Ballet Starmaker by Leland Windreich for the information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.