Vernon Martinus was a choreographer and ballet dancer, born in 1932, who died in 2022.
Biography
Vernon Philip Martinus (19 August 1932 – September 2022) was a ballet dancer and choreographer in Singapore. He produced and performed in Show Business, a series of popular musical variety shows staged in the 1950s, and co-led the Frances School of Dancing with his wife, ballet dancer Frances Poh. In 1958, the school merged with the Malaya School of Ballet to form the Singapore Ballet Academy. Martinus also founded, directed, and choreographed for the Singapore Ballet Company, a non-profit ballet group active in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
In 1963, he joined the newly established Television Singapura as a producer, where he was involved in initiating several programmes. He stated that he produced the programme on which Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew announced Singapore's separation from Malaysia.
Facts from Wikidata (Q134700304), CC0.