By the age of ten, Audrey moved from her English boarding school back to her family’s home in Holland where her mother, Ella enrolled her in the Arnhem Conservatory of Music and Dance. It was here that Audrey’s unique blend of artistry began to take shape under the experienced eye of her teacher, Winja Marova. “She was long, slender, very sweet, very eager to learn,” Winja said of Audrey. “She was willing to give everything for it. She was very musical. I always enjoyed teaching her…When she was on stage, even though she just knew a little bit, you immediately saw that a flame lit the audience.” Their respect and admiration was mutual. Of her teacher, Miss Hepburn is quoted as saying, “Winja was a beautiful, world-class dancer. (And she) helped this very young girl in Arnhem to believe that she could become one, too.”
Audrey’s talent was also readily apparent to others. She began receiving several glowing reviews for both performances and recitals. One particular review read: “As all of them are just at the start of their dance development, we do not want to mention any names except for Audrey Hepburn who, in spite of the age of only twelve, was noticed because of her very individual personality and performance. She danced the ‘Serenade’ of Moszkowski with her own choreography.”
Young Audrey was enchanted by the famous Margot Fonteyn, and had the opportunity of a lifetime to watch her idol dance on stage in May of 1940. This night to remember was made even more special when Audrey’s mother had a special taffeta dress fashioned for her daughter. “The reason she got me this, at great expense – we couldn’t afford this kind of thing –was that I was to present a bouquet of flowers at the end of the performance to Ninette de Valois, the director of the company.”
“I remember walking onto the bright stage, with the pretty ballerinas and their costumes. It was my first late night.”
However, things were not all sunshine and roses for Audrey and her family. Due to the growing hostilities inflicted by Hitler and the German army, the Arnhem Conservatory began putting on performances to help raise money to support the Dutch underground. Audrey also performed in secret “black out” performances in private homes with the windows locked and the blinds drawn. Her friend would play the piano, Audrey’s mother made costumes from old curtains, and Audrey happily entertained the audience with her own choreography. Instead of applause, the audience would offer “silent curtain calls” and pass around a hat. “The money we made helped saboteurs in their work against the Nazis.” The young dancer considered it a privilege to be able to use her training to contribute to a greater good.
However, the Nazi’s were not apt to take any form of resistance lightly. Therefore in 1944, the Nazi’s retaliated against the Dutch by abruptly halting the import of food into Holland. The residents, including Audrey and her family, did what they could to survive by eating nettles and grass, or baking bread made from flower bulbs or peas. Yet even their best efforts did little to battle the effects of starvation. “During the last winter of the war, we had no food whatsoever,” Audrey said. “I finished the war highly anemic, and asthmatic, and all the things that come with malnutrition.” She even developed a horrible case of edema, which caused her limbs to swell so badly that she had to greatly limit her dancing.
As the war continued to escalate, the Germans began forcing thousands of people from their homes. Audrey’s family continued to do what they could to help, often housing up to forty refugees at a time despite the fact that there was nothing to eat. Audrey herself offered free dance lessons to the girls in order to take their minds off their troubles.
Holland was liberated in 1945, and soon thereafter, Audrey and her mother would move to Amsterdam. Fiercely determined to continue her dance education, Audrey was referred to and subsequently accepted by Sonia Gaskell, a “premiere dance teacher who specialized in avant-garde choreography, modern and jazz dance.” For the next three years, Audrey studied under Sonia, determined not only become a top ballerina, but a great choreographer as well.
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