Ray Tanva had a celebrated career as a classical ballet dancer with some of Europe’s top companies, and also appeared in films, on television—and in theatre productions both on Broadway in New York, and in London’s West End.
Tanva was born Reginald Albert Jones to Lucille Marie (nee Le Marbre) and Walter Reginald Jones, a carpenter. He lived with his parents and two sisters Fleur (now deceased) and Jackie just off South Shore Road in Paget. Tanva and his sisters attended Mount Saint Agnes Academy.
He performed from an early age, drawing much inspiration from Bruce York of the Bermudiana Theatre. Tanva first danced with ballerina Patricia Gray at the annual Arts Ball organised by the Bermuda Art Association, and they would later tour the island’s hotels with “The Pat and Ray Show”.
Tanva left Bermuda in 1949 to live in the United States, where he worked extensively in film for RKO Pictures, appeared in Summer Stock theatre productions, performed for a short period with Ballet Russe during its final days—and danced on Broadway in Wonderful Town.
It was while with Ballet Russe that he met Ana Roje, with whom he appeared as Hilarian in Bermuda’s first full-length ballet, Giselle, in 1959.
In 1951, he was among the founders of the Bermuda Ballet Workshop.
Tanva moved to London in 1956, and enjoyed a stellar international career, dancing with The Royal Ballet in London for 10 years, and also with a variety of major dance companies across Europe.
He appeared with, and knew, many of the world’s top soloists, including Margot Fonteyn, Rudolph Nureyev, Merle Park and Alicia Markova.
He appeared in numerous films in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, and The Netherlands, made appearances on top television programmes, and appeared in West End musicals, including Talk of the Town.
His film work included appearances in Arabesque, The Hill and Cleopatra, while his television appearances included BBC’s Sunday Night at the Palladium as well as the Millicent Martin Show.
His first contract in England was with Ballet Rambert, where he studied with Marie Rambert. He also studied with Cleo Nordi. Later, he joined the company headed by celebrated Indian dancer Ram Gopal and danced with that company in London and Paris as well as appearing with them at the Edinburgh Festival.
In Europe, he was head can-can dancer with the Ballet Anglais at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, and later on a tour of Europe, and also danced with the National Ballet in Amsterdam. He danced with London’s celebrated Sadler’s Wells dance company at the London Palladium and was a member of the ballet of the Stadsopera in Stockholm, and on two Scandinavian tours with the company, and also appeared with the Royal Danish Ballet.
Tanva was a solo dancer in the production of My Fair Lady for an incredible 572 performances in Copenhagen, Goteborg, Stockholm and Amsterdam.
While in London, he also was a member of the Ballet Company at the London Palladium. In 1958, he appeared in a Royal Variety Performance at the Colosseum Theatre, London, held in the presence of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.
He was also an alternating soloist at the Glyndebourne Festival and with Ivor Novello’s World of Music and choreographed and danced with the Duke of Bedford’s Dance Group.
Tanva’s last appearances were with the Festival Ballet and the Royal Ballet in London, before he retired in 1984.
In 1970, Tanva became involved in a matter of international intrigue when Soviet prima ballerina Natalia Makarova decided to defect while on tour with the Kirov Ballet. “The day before she defected, she came to my house with Ram Gopal,” he told Nancy Acton of The Royal Gazette. “They stayed for tea, and although she could hardly speak a word of English, it was very pleasant. Neither breathed a word about what she was about to do. The next morning, the KGB arrived and swarmed all over the flat trying to find out if she was hiding there. I hadn’t yet read the papers, so I didn’t know that she had defected and kept asking ‘what’s happening?’, but they wouldn’t tell me. It was very frightening. Then, the English press thought I was somehow involved so I had them on the doorstep as well.”
Tanva was also a much sought after costume maker and designer with his own company, Image d’Ore, making costumes for major West End theatre productions including Beauty and the Beast and—in a twist of fate—Makarova’s costumes for the stage production of On Your Toes, for which she won a Tony Award.
Among Tanva’s clients was boxer Muhammad Ali, for whom he made a white French silk robe for the Rumble in the Jungle fight against George Foreman in Zaire. The robe is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Other clients included members of the British royal family, Queen Dina of Jordan, actress Elizabeth Taylor, comedienne Joan Rivers, and many more.
While dancing in Europe, Tanva was a frequent visitor to Bermuda where he appeared in several Bermuda Ballet Week productions, including Night on Bald Mountain, Coppélia and Giselle. He designed and cut some 60 costumes for the Bermuda Civic Ballet’s 30th anniversary production of La Bayadère in 2002—and, as recently as 2009, he assisted Coral Patterson Waddell of the Bermuda Civic Ballet with a Bermuda Festival performance of Coppélia.
Now retired, he lives in London.
