Phyllis Danaher
Phyllis May Danaher MBE FRAD (27 July 1908 – 31 May 1991) was an Australian dancer, dance teacher, choreographer and stage director with the Ballet Theatre of Queensland.
She was born in Bulimba, Brisbane, Queensland, to William Patrick Danaher and Ivy May (née Bagnall). Danaher began dancing in the early 1920s with Margaret St Ledger, then trained with Marjorie Hollinshed after 1927, and studied at the Frances Scully School of Dance in Sydney. She appeared as an extra with Anna Pavlova’s company during its Brisbane tour in 1929 and performed in J. C. Williamson’s musicals in the 1930s.
In the 1930s she became co-owner of Hollinshed’s school and later its principal after Hollinshed retired. She was the first Queensland teacher to earn the Royal Academy of Dance Advanced Teachers Certificate in 1937. That same year she founded the Queensland branch of the Australasian Society for Operatic Dancing and the Brisbane Ballet Theatre, which later became the Ballet Theatre of Queensland. She choreographed their first original work, The Wasps, which premiered at Brisbane City Hall in 1956, and she led the company as director until 1984.
From 1957 to 1982, Danaher was a Children's Examiner for the Royal Academy of Dance. Her work earned her Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Dance and the title of MBE for service to dance in Queensland. Her students included Garth Welch and Lucette Aldous, who became principal dancers with the Australian Ballet.
Danaher died in Clayfield, Brisbane, on 31 May 1991 and was buried at Lutwyche Cemetery. The Phyllis Danaher Memorial Scholarship is awarded each year to a Ballet Theatre of Queensland dancer who has been with the company for at least one year.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:50 (CET).