Elaine Fifield

Elaine Fifield (28 October 1930 - 11 May 1999) was an Australian ballerina, perhaps best known for creating the title role in John Cranko's comic ballet Pineapple Poll in 1951.^[1]

Elaine Fifield was born in Sydney, New South Wales on 28 October 1930.^[2] She trained at the Scully School and with Leon Kelloway, in Australia.^[1] In 1945, she won a Royal Academy of Dance scholarship, and trained at the Royal Ballet School.^[1]

In 1947, Fifield joined Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet. Her work there included lead dancer in Selina (1948), a ballet choreographed by Andrée Howard to the music of Rossini, scenario and design by Peter Williams.^[3] She also appeared as a dancer in the 1948 Crown Film Unit film, Steps of the Ballet, also with choreography by Howard, and music by Arthur Benjamin, directed by Muir Mathieson.^[4]

In 1954 moved to The Royal Ballet,^[1] where the following year she danced in the Frederick Ashton ballet (to music by Benjamin Britten) Variations on a Theme of Purcell, portraying the oboe.^[5] In 1957, she returned to Australia and joined the Borovansky Ballet, which was to form the basis of The Australian Ballet.^[1] In 1964, she returned as a principal artist with The Australian Ballet, having been invited to do so by its artistic director, Peggy van Praagh.^[1]

In 1952, she married the musician and ballet conductor John Lanchbery, they had a daughter, and the marriage ended in divorce. In 1960, she married plantation owner Les Farley, and they had two daughters.^[2]