Princess Diana’s Ballet Teacher Said Dancing ‘Helped to Alleviate Her Emotional Life’
Princess Diana loved to dance, and she was a huge supporter of the ballet. Although she was unable to become a professional dancer, the former Princess of Wales took ballet lessons and confided in her instructor. Here’s what Diana’s teacher said about the royal and why she couldn’t pursue her dancing dreams.
Princess Diana’s ballet teacher said dancing helped her cope with stress in her life and marriage
It’s no secret that Princess Diana loved to dance. She studied ballet and was a generous supporter of the English National Ballet.
In 1981, Diana approached dance coach Anne Allan, who was then an instructor at the ENB, to hire her as a private ballet tutor. It was the same year as Diana’s 20th birthday and her wedding to Prince Charles.
The former Princess of Wales confided in her teacher, sharing intimate details of her life and marriage. Allan shared some of what she learned about Diana in the Channel 4 documentary Diana: In Her Own Words.
The instructor said dancing helped the princess cope with the stress of being a royal and her tumultuous marriage to Charles.
“When I first met her you could see that there was a huge shyness. But over time as we went through our dance class realized just how much dance meant to her,” said Allan (per The Sun).
“She had dance in her soul. I realized the pure enjoyment that it gave her. She loved the freeness of being able to move and dance. She loved it. I could see it helped to alleviate her emotional life. That was hard for her at that time.”
Princess Diana once surprised King Charles III with a dance performance of ‘Uptown Girl’
The Princess of Wales loved to dance so much that she once surprised King Charles with a three-and-a-half-minute performance of “Uptown Girl” at the Royal Opera House in London. The moment was recreated in season 4 of The Crown.
In December 1985, Charles and Diana attended a charity gala at the venue. During the show, the princess slipped out of the royal box to join Royal Ballet dancer Wayne Sleep on stage. They had secretly rehearsed a duet to surprise Charles. The dance and the use of Billy Joel’s song were entirely Diana’s idea.
“She couldn’t have danced it better,” Sleep told Vulture in 2020. “I was the nervous one! I was shaking in the wings. What if she doesn’t like it? What if I dropped the future queen of England?”
He also revealed that the duo initially struggled to overcome their height difference while rehearsing the choreography. “My first thought was, she’s too tall to dance with me, I’ll be a laughing stock: I’m five-foot-two and she’s five-foot-eleven,” Sleep told The Guardian in 2017. “But I soon realized she had a good sense of humor, and that we could have some fun with our height difference.”
The former Princess of Wales had to quit dancing because she was too tall
Although Princess Diana and her dancing partner overcame their height difference for their performance of “Uptown Girl,” it was ultimately the former Princess of Wales’ height that ended her dancing dreams.
According to Reader’s Digest, 5-foot-10 Diana was too tall to have a career in ballet. Dance Magazine states that professional ballerinas are around 5 feet 5 inches to create a uniform look while dancing together. Diana was nearly half a foot taller than these guidelines. Most ballet companies so longer uphold the strict height standards, so perhaps the former Princess of Wales would have flourished as a ballerina today.
