Lelia Haller (July 19, 1903–) was a ballet dancer and teacher. She served as Ballet Director of the New Orleans Opera House Association and its predecessor, Le Petit Opéra Louisianais.[1]
Haller was born on July 19, 1903 to Lelia Fitzpatrick Haller and John Paul Haller.[1] Haller's mother was of Scotch-Irish descent, and her maternal great-grandfather, Captain Rees Fitzpatrick, made the original Bowie knife in the early 1820s, after a pattern provided by Col. James Bowie.[1] Haller's father ran the Haller Manufacturing Company at 55 Camp Street.[1] The Haller family lived in a shotgun house on Ninth Street near Chestnut. In 1909, Haller entered the Maybin School.[1]
At age 10, Haller saw Anna Pavlova perform The Magic Flute at the Tulane Theatre on Baronne Street in New Orleans, in February 1914.[1]
In 1926 Haller joined the Paris Opera Ballet, the first American since Augusta Maywood in 1839, 87 years earlier.[2] Haller was the first American dancer appointed a première danseuse of the Paris Opera Ballet.[3]
Haller traveled the world with the Paris Opera Ballet. She danced alongside Carlotta Zambelli and Olga Spessivtseva (a dancer in the original production of Marius Petipa's Swan Lake) and trained under Russian ballet master Nicolas Legat.[1][4]
Returning to New Orleans, Haller founded Lelia Haller Ballet Classique in 1929, initially located on Jeannette Street and later moved to Haller's home on Pine Street.[5][6] Haller's ballet students included Royes Fernández, principal dancer for American Ballet Theatre and considered to be America's first premier danseur;[7] Harvey Hysell, an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and instructor;[3] Maureen Needham-Aldrich, the author of Ballet Comes to America 1792–1842;[8] Kirk Peterson, a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and San Francisco Ballet;[9][10] and Peter Gennaro.[2]
In 1943, the New Orleans Opera House Association was founded. Haller assembled a resident corps de ballet and served as Ballet Director.[11]
One of Haller's favorite teaching maxims was from Maxim Gorky: "Talent is work."[2] Kirk Peterson later described Haller's persona as teacher:
I often think of her meticulously pressed and creased black slacks, her delicate white blouse, her Diaghilev-like "chinchilla," white streak of hair and the ever present traditional Paris Opera Ballet teaching stick marking time. Her image is indelible.[2]
Haller staged ballet productions for Mardi Gras carnival balls beginning with the Krewe of Hermes ball in 1937 and continuing through at least 1974.[1]
Haller taught her last ballet class in 1982.[2]
Haller was married to cavalry officer and attorney Fred Wulff. They had a son, Fred Wulff, and daughter, Barbara Willard, born on November 11, 1933. Willard later ran three ballet schools in the New Orleans and Metairie areas.[12]
Haller was an expert equestrian.[13]