John Cranko

John Cranko (1927–1973) was a South African choreographer and director who transformed the Stuttgart Ballet into one of the world's leading companies during his tenure as its Artistic Director from 1961 until his death. He began his career in Cape Town and then at Sadler's Wells Ballet in London, where he made his early reputation as a choreographer of wit and invention. His appointment to Stuttgart marked a turning point, and the 'Cranko era' that followed produced a series of full-length narrative ballets of enduring power: Romeo and Juliet (1962), Onegin (1965) — adapted from Pushkin's verse novel to Tchaikovsky's piano music arranged by Kurt-Heinz Stolze — and The Taming of the Shrew (1969). His ability to draw intensely personal performances from his dancers, particularly Marcia Haydée and Richard Cragun, was legendary. He died suddenly at the age of forty-five during a flight from New York back to Stuttgart.