Arnold Haskell

Who was Arnold Haskell?

Arnold Lionel Haskell was a British dance critic who founded the Camargo Society in 1930. With Ninette de Valois, he was influential in the development of the Royal Ballet School, later becoming the school's headmaster.

He became fascinated by ballet when his mother prevailed on him to come with her to see the thirteen-year-old Alicia Markova at Seraphine Astafieva's studio in Chelsea.

Haskell first went to Australia in 1936 with the visiting Monte Carlo Russian Ballet as a publicist/reporter, writing articles and reviews for several Australian newspapers and journals, such as The Home, and sent reports home to England for magazines such as the Dancing Times. His book Dancing Round The World, published in London in 1937, is an account of his adventures on that tour.

He returned to Australia in 1938 to gather material for Waltzing Matilda: a background to Australia published in 1943. On this second visit he continued writing articles and reviews for Australian newspapers and magazines, this time for the second Ballets Russes company to tour Australia, the Covent Garden Russian Ballet.

In 1974, Haskell was awarded an Honorary Degree by the University of Bath.