Born in Dunfermline in 1929, Kenneth MacMillan grew up in Great Yarmouth where he took lessons from Phyllis Adams. Training at Sadler’s Wells (now the Royal) Ballet School, he became a founder member of the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet. Their success and their promise led Ninette de Valois to commission the Stravinsky ballet Danses concertantes.

MacMillan then danced with the Covent Garden Company, returning to Sadler’s Wells and eventually abandoning dancing for choreography. In The Burrow, he discovered the dramatic gifts of Lynne Seymour, who was to become his greatest inspiration. During a period of remarkable creativity he created plotless ballets like Diversions to big company works such as The Rite of Spring. Romeo and Juliet, MacMillan’s first full length ballet, was created in 1965 for Seymour and Christopher Gable, followed by Anastasia, Manon, Mayerling, Isadora and The Prince of the Pagodas.

MacMillan also created ballets in Stuttgart, served as Director of Ballet at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and was Artistic Associate of Houston Ballet. He directed plays and worked on award-winning television productions. His last choreography was for the National Theatre’s  for which he won the Tony Award on Broadway. He was much honoured for his services to British ballet, culminating in his knighthood in 1983. In 1993 he was given a special Laurence Olivier Award for lifetime achievement. Sir Kenneth MacMillan died in 1992. MacMillan is survived by his widow, the artist Lady Deborah MacMillan, who realised the Royal Ballet’s new production of Anastasia in May 1996 and is responsible for all revivals of his ballets