100 stories: Dr Susie Cooper
As part of our centenary year, we are featuring 100 stories that make up The Royal Ballet School’s past, present and future. Today, we share the story of Dr Susie Cooper, former Choreography Tutor at the School and former dancer with Ballet Rambert and Scottish Ballet.
Susie joined White Lodge in Year 7 and trained at The Royal Ballet School from 1960-1966. She later joined Ballet Rambert from 1969-1974, then Scottish Ballet as a dancer and choreographer from 1976-1981. After her professional performing career, she gained a Professional Dancers’ Teaching Certificate from the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) and joined the College of the RAD in 1983 as a teacher and Director of the annual workshop performances. Susie was instrumental in the creation of the RAD’s Higher Grades and was a highly respected teacher and tutor for the Faculty of Education and the RAD both in the UK and internationally.
Susie returned to White Lodge in 1999 as the Choreography Tutor, where she made an immense contribution to The Ninette de Valois Choreographic Programme and nurtured the next generation of dancers and creative voices for over two decades until 2020. As well as being a well-loved teacher, Susie was a respected scholar and author, gaining her PhD in 2005 which focused on the ballets of her close colleague, Norman Morrice. Her publications include Staging Dance (1988), many articles for the RAD’s Dance Gazette and ‘Classists Eye, Innovators Urge: the ballets of Liam Scarlett’ for the Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet (2021).
Most recently, Susie co-authored a chapter for the upcoming Oxford Handbook to Ballet Pedagogy, due to be published summer 2026, with her former student Joseph Powell-Main. Joseph recalled his fondest memories with Susie for this tribute to his beloved mentor.
Susie was a huge support to me during my time at White Lodge and years later, when we reconnected through my sister Holly, who was taught by Susie at the Royal Academy of Dance. Susie was always there to provide support and offer advice and honesty. If she didn’t like something, you would know about it! I first met Susie when I joined The Royal Ballet School at age 11. Her classes were a welcome addition to an otherwise structured and strict schedule that we had during the week. While still having discipline within her choreography lessons, Susie created a place where each of us could explore our creative ideas and have fun doing so. I always looked forward to her classes on a Saturday.
My first piece of choreography for the Choreographic Programme was called The Celebration, set in the Tudor period with an all-male cast. It focused on King Henry VIII hosting a banquet and getting very drunk. I was fortunate to make it through to the final, which meant presenting my work to an audience and panel of judges, one being Dame Monica Mason. Years later, Susie told me that she was incredibly impressed by how I handled a large cast with thought and maturity.
For the next few years, I continued to submit choreography for the yearly Ninette de Valois Choreographic Programme, but they weren’t as successful and did not make the final showcase. Even with these setbacks, Susie still believed in my ideas and urged me not to give up. I remember when Saturday choreography lessons became rehearsals, since I wasn’t cast in many of the pieces, Susie and I would sometimes just chat about life and my aspirations. It was during these conversations that she continued to champion and support me, and she kept urging me to pursue choreography because in her eyes, my ideas had sophistication.
Years later, she continued to champion me as a choreographer and dancer and supported me in everything I did. We also had regular phone calls where I would tell her what I was up to and ask for her advice, and she would tell me all about her cats, Bella and Cha-cha.
In recent years, I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Susie as a colleague, co-authoring a chapter for the upcoming Oxford Handbook to Ballet Pedagogy. Our chapter will focus on methodologies and ideas about how teachers can make ballet and dance accessible to dancers who use wheelchairs. It was a chance to reflect on how Susie and my friendship developed all the way from the student and teacher to friend and collaborator.
My last conversation with Susie was such a lovely one. I was in Glasgow leading a research and development project with dancers from Scottish Ballet. I showed Susie some of my work, and she said that if my work isn’t commissioned by anyone, then people don’t know what they are missing. In typical Susie fashion it was said in a much more colourful way…
Susie had such a huge impact on the dance world as a dancer, teacher, choreographer and mentor. I don’t think she quite knew the impact she had. Her confidence in me has helped me to achieve things as a choreographer: being commissioned by The Royal Ballet for The Next Generation Festival in 2024, developing the beginnings of a dance company with JPM Productions and starting an MA in Choreography at Central School of Ballet.
I am so grateful to have met and worked with Susie and to have called her a friend.
Susie passed away in December 2024 after a brief illness. She will be remembered for her extraordinary contributions to the dance world and dedication to her students and colleagues. Her widespread impact and legacy will continue to inspire future generations of dancers, choreographers and educators for years to come.
