DANZ QUARTERLY No 6 December 2006

More than Just a Regular Bloke
Leon Draper’s Story of Quiet Achievement

By Natalie Dowd

To the casual observer, Leon Draper looks for all intents and purposes like a ‘regular kiwi bloke’ and that’s the way he’s always liked to play it. But it does not take long to realise that he is anything but your average guy on the street. Leon has lived a long and creative life as a dancer, dance teacher and artist, along with his conventional roles of husband and father. He has no airs and graces, despite being a prominent dancer during the 1950’s and 60’s dancing alongside New Zealand greats such as Alexander Grant and Sir Jon Trimmer.

Now sixty-eight years old, he was one of the members of The New Zealand Ballet Company (now Royal New Zealand Ballet) in the early days of the company, touring with Paul Gnatt, Russell and Jean Kerr, the Trevours and
the Chatfields. He went on to study under many distinguished names in the dance world such as Nancy Ivanova, Borkofski, and Dame Marie Rambert.

Leon’s passion for dance began at a young age taking tap dance lessons, alongside his older brothers, from teacher Ngaire Keys, who in turn had learnt it from African- Americans, resident in New Zealand during the war. In the 1940s the American influence on New Zealand tap was prevalent, as Leon describes: “In those days there were no tap dancing societies…you’d go to the local movies and watch Fred Astaire and the rest of them to get all your tap dancing moves.”

His entire family danced, and during the war, young Leon, along with his parents and brothers, performed in concerts for the troops, raising money for the Red Cross. This gained him invaluable stage experience. When Leon was seven he had an experience that changed his life forever – he saw 21-year-old Alexander Grant dance and the rest, as they say, is history. The vivacity of Grant’s dancing inspired Leon and he knew that ballet was definitely something he wanted to pursue: “He did a Russian split jump and I thought ‘I want to do that’!” Five years later Leon began ballet classes with Valerie Holden and then the distinguished Jean Horne; but kept it a secret and it was several years before anyone knew, apart from his family.

Mid 20th century New Zealand attitudes to male ballet dancers were harsh. Sport became Leon’s subterfuge and he professes that he was a “ruffian” at school, earning the nickname “Killer”. This helped him conceal that he was dancing up a storm in his spare time.  His soccer mates from the 1st X1 at Rongotai College had no idea that there was a ballet dancer in their midst. There is no doubt in Leon’s mind that had they known they would have called him a “queen”, the then derogatory term for homosexual. Despite the prejudice, this period of time produced a bumper crop of male dancers, including family friends Alexander and Garry Grant, who grew up just round the corner from Leon.

Many years later at a school reunion his peers could not believe that he had taken ballet classes, let alone danced major roles in national and international ballet companies.

In 1960, Leon earned a scholarship to the Royal Ballet in England, and there faced a steep learning curve. “Although I had danced for two years with The New Zealand Ballet, within five minutes of my first class I realised how bad I was. It was a shock, because I thought I was pretty good!”

Leon danced in many Royal Ballet productions and later toured extensively with The Ballet Rambert performing in numerous ballets; La Sonnambula, La Sylphide, The Travellers, and Tudor Ballets, to name a few. His first major role was the lead in Don Quixote with Anna Truscott, but he maintains that his favourite role was that of Dr. Coppelias in Coppelia. His final nine months in Europe were spent as the principal dancer for the Olgenburg Staats Theatre in Germany.

After three and a half busy years away he was invited back to The New Zealand Ballet to dance alongside Grant in Petrouchka. Leon returned with the intention of using his experience and knowledge to put into action ideas he had for the company. This was not to be. Whilst on an opera tour he met Sonia, another Ballet Company dancer, and decided that his future lay in being a husband and having a family.

Leon had observed that the danseur’s life was very hard and often their careers were over by their mid thirties.“It’s physical, it really is physical, and it’s not a rosy garden. I’d seen older male dancers and they had nothing, had no family and I thought I’m not going to do that. I got out while I was on top.”

Leon married Sonia and they began the Draper Academy of Dance in New Plymouth, where they taught for 18 years. Sonia became highly qualified both as a teacher and international examiner of students and teachers, while Leon combined his passion for dance with other work to provide the family income. “We never had any money, when you start off dance schools you often don’t make any money.”  In 1982 the family and dance school moved to Auckland.

The Drapers also spent ten years in Canada developing a Christian performing arts school. During that time Leon discovered his talent for drawing and later painting, completing backdrops and sets for various shows. Now he is never far from his sketch book, and as a self taught professional artist he is currently moving from a more classical to a more contemporary style and adding miniatures of animals and ballet figures to his collection. His grandfather was an artist, and one of his paintings adorns the wall in the studio alongside Leon’s latest efforts.

The Draper Academy of Dance now has daughter Heida at the helm, but Leon and Sonia are never far away and dance is still an integral part of their lives. Sonia teaches and examines here and internationally, and Leon continues to help out frequently, teaching and painting the backdrops for the yearly show. They are both “traditionalists” believing that teaching the basics properly to produce excellence helps dancers to “go the distance”. Their approach has worked; a former student now dances with The Royal Birmingham Ballet and his brother (also a former student) was recently accepted into The Australian Ballet School.

Leon often works with the boys, but he can’t remember how many he has trained over the years - “it’s a lot” – but he emphasises quality not quantity. It is always important that his male students look masculine when they dance. “I know with the boys I want them to be men.” He says that negative stereotyping of male dancers still occurs and recalls a local farmer saying to him, “You’re a good bloke but what makes you do something like dancing?”

Currently there are 24 boys on the roll and the dropout rate is low. Leon observes that the influence of hip hop and break-dance has brought many boys into dance, and from there they often branch into other genres. He finds that their vulnerable time is around the eight to nine year old age group, when sport and peer pressure becomes a bigger part of their lives. Sometimes there is opposition from fathers so Leon retains a high profile at the studio, often talking with them. He likes to get to know them, to promote dance for boys. He says his own sons tried dancing “after they had an hour and a half they were out”, but five of his grandsons currently take contemporary classes. 

He still teaches supportive adage, beginning at twelve years, but it is not so easy for him physically these days; the pain in both hips prevents him from doing a lot of the things he wants to do. “The first thing I used to do when I was teaching was to get the biggest girl in the room and hold her above my head. I can’t do that anymore,” he says laughing. He is waiting for a bilateral hip operation, “You’ve just got to grin and bear it. Sometimes people say look what ballet did to you, and I say no, it’s because I did some very heavy labouring. I had turn out, and of course every time I walked I put physical pressure on those areas, whereas an old navvy would be turned in”

While it hasn’t always been easy to combine dance alongside other commitments, Leon has no regrets. “If someone said to me, ‘would you take up dancing as a career again’, I’d say yes. I’d do some things differently though. I’d do what I did better.” And it is his firm conviction that “dance is for everyone”.

Natalie is a 2nd year student in the AUT University dance programme and wrote this feature story as part of her industry placement with the editor. Natalie wishes to thank Linda Ashley, Senior Lecturer in Dance, AUT, for her assistance.

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