Beryl Drusilla De Selincourt (De Zoete)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_de_Zoete

Beryl Drusilla de Zoete, also known as Beryl de Sélincourt (1879, London – 4 March 1962) was an English ballet dancer, orientalist, dance critic, and dance researcher. She is also known as a translator of Italo Svevo.

Born in London, she lived there for most of her life. In 1902 she married Basil de Sélincourt, though the marriage lasted for only a few years. She published poems in the modernist magazine The Open Window. She entered into a lifelong relationship with the Orientalist and translator Arthur Waley, whom she met in 1918 but never married. Her relationship with Arthur Waley was considered an indeterminate relationship in the eyes of observers such as Gerald Brenan. She travelled extensively, particularly in Bali and South Asia.

In the field of dance, she taught eurhythmics, investigated Indian dance and theatre traditions, and collaborated with Walter Spies on Dance and Drama in Bali (1937), which is still a standard reference for traditional Balinese dance and theatrical forms. She studied dance, at least in part with Emile Jaques-Dalcroze in 1913 and 1915, and subsequently taught dance until sometime in the 1920s. She wrote on dance at various times for The Daily Telegraph, the New Statesman and Nation and Ballet (edited by Richard Buckle). She published books on dance in Bali (1938), India (1953) and Sri Lanka (1957).

According to Harold Acton, she had a tendency to overstretch the hospitality of her friends: when Paola Olivetti, a little vexed, went away from one of her villas, Beryl stayed on; she left only when the cook told her he was going on vacation.

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp50641/beryl-de-zoete

Beryl de Zoete (1879-1962), Orientalist and critic

Sitter in 2 portraits

Born in London in 1879 into a family of Dutch descent. Trained originally in ballet, she advocated eurythmics (rhythmic gymnastics). She was interested in dance ethnology, travelling to see dance in different cultures. In 1935-6 she went to Bali, working with the photographer and film-maker Walter Spies and they published a book, Dance and Drama in Bali (1937). She went on to study Hindu dance in Southern India and Ceylon. Married in 1907, she practised celibacy and vegetarianism but it broke down. Thereafter her partner was the translator of Chinese poetry Arthur Waley. She lived with him from 1936 until her death. She produced articles about dance, and was on the fringes of the Bloomsbury circle.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03062849108729770?journa...