Rosemary Valaire; Led Ballet School

Rosemary Valaire, former soloist with Britain’s Royal Ballet and for the past three decades co-owner of the respected Westside School of Ballet, where she also taught, has died. She was 68.

The ballerina and influential teacher died Friday at her home in Mar Vista of cancer, according to Jim Brunet, publicist for the ballet school.

Born Rosemary Feuerheerd in London, the dancer adopted her stage name from the character Valerius in William Shakespeare’s play “The Two Noble Kinsmen.”

She was a soloist with the Royal Ballet from 1946 until 1954 and held the prestigious Solo Seal. One of her role models there was the legendary Dame Margot Fonteyn.

Valaire later reconstructed the Royal Ballet’s version of “Sleeping Beauty” for several companies, including the American Ballet Theater in 1976, when she coached Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov for the lead roles. Known widely for her adherence to classical ballet, Valaire also re-created “Sleeping Beauty” for Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, the Milwaukee Ballet, the Compania Nacional de Danza of Mexico City and Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico.

Other ballets Valaire helped various companies perform included “Swan Lake,” “Coppelia” and “Les Sylphides.”

In 1967, by then a longtime Los Angeles resident, Valaire teamed up with former New York City Ballet dancer Yvonne Mounsey to create the Westside School of Ballet in Santa Monica. Valaire taught there for 32 years.

Among her students were New York City Ballet principal dancers Monique Meunier and Jock Soto and corps member Melissa Barak, and the American Ballet Theatre’s Christina Gibbs and Anna Liceica. Valaire also prepared dancers who went on to join the San Francisco, Houston, Pacific Northwest and Bolshoi ballet companies.

The Westside School of Ballet has produced annual performances of “The Nutcracker” at UCLA’s Royce Hall and other venues, as well as other well-known ballets.

“We teach a very pure, classical style,” Valaire told The Times in December 1984 when preparing a troupe for Royce Hall, “and a lot of loving care goes into our rehearsals--that’s what makes the difference.”

Valaire is survived by two daughters, Claudia Petursson of Kirkland, Wash., and Alison Tunney of Santa Monica; a son, Andrew Weiss of Los Angeles; a sister, Patricia Troop of London; and six grandchildren.

Memorial services are scheduled Saturday at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 580 Hilgard Ave. in Westwood.