Here, Patricia Thorburn throws a little light on finding jobs with Patricia Linton, founder and director of Voices of British Ballet. The interview, which was recorded in 2003, is introduced by dance historian Jane Pritchard.

Patricia Thorburn was born in Peebles, Scotland, and was a student of Mrs Bell Hardy in Edinburgh. In 1937, she auditioned and then studied at the Sadler’s Wells Ballet School and made her debut with the Carl Rosa Opera in 1938. In 1939 and 1940 she served with the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) but joined the Anglo Polish Ballet in 1940 and remained with the company until 1942. Following this, she appeared in a number of London shows, and married John Arnold in 1945 before joining the Sadler’s Wells Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1946 to boost the numbers in their extraordinary production of The Sleeping Beauty.

Thorburn then danced as a member of the Agnes de Mille Ballet in the stage musical London Town. She retired from the company in 1947. Using her ballet training as a basis, she went to study with Sigurd Leeder at his School of Dance at Dartington Hall, Devon, to expand her horizons. She pioneered a Pure Movement course to help actors move more naturally on stage and screen and, working under her married name of Patricia Arnold, started to teach movement and historical dance at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in 1955, where she became head of Movement from 1963 until 1972. She also taught at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Thorburn taught well beyond the age of 75, and even after retirement was often asked back to teach masterclasses.

The photograph shows Patricia Thorburn with fellow classmates from Sadler's Wells Ballet School with Nicholas Segeyev in the centre in 1937 / 1938. Photo courtesy of Patricia Thorburn.

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