William Mowat-thomson
Teacher of dance, drama and yoga, antiques collector and property developer
William Mowat-thomson, dance and yoga teacher. Born: 8 April 1933. Died: 8 October 2019, aged 85
Ask people about William Mowatthomson, and you’ll get a range of answers. Some talk about his passion for antiques and his incredible eye for spotting and procuring items of beauty. Others have fond recollections of attending his dance classes, and the gentle tap of his silver-topped cane correcting their posture. Many describe his vibrant hosting of dinner parties and gatherings, picturing him at his grand piano surrounded by paintings, furniture and collectibles that would be the envy of any museum.
Perhaps most importantly, however, they all speak about his openness, his desire to explore new things – and how he encouraged a similar mindset in others. It’s not hyperbole to say that Mowat-thomson changed people’s lives, and that over the years, many have found themselves indebted to his generosity of spirit.
Whether he was teaching dance and drama, training people in yoga, dealing in antiques or developing property, Mowat-thomson approached everything with unerring commitment. On the morning he died, of a heart attack aged 85, he phoned to offer his apologies to the ballet class he was due to accompany on piano that day.
Yet for somebody with such an expansive personality, his start in life was very small. Born on a farm on the Orkney Island of Shapinsay, he and his sister Thelma had a love of the natural world. Growing up, shades of the man Mowatthomson would become began to emerge, both in terms of the human body and his admiration for fine buildings and their contents.
A fast runner, he won championships as a sprinter – building an ethos for training and physicality he would later transfer to dance and yoga, while the architecture, sophistication and décor of Balfour Castle, the jewel in Shapinsay’s crown, was a constant draw.
His creative side was also blossoming, with Mowatthomson turning his hand to drawing, painting, piano and cello.
In his late teens he could often be found at Kirkwall Theatre developing his love of acting, singing and dancing. Photographs taken in Kirkwall photographic studio show a young man dressed in bow tie and waistcoat, hinting at the dapper style that would define him throughout his life.
This capacity for grace and movement was spotted by a ballet teacher, who suggested Mowat-thomson move to Edinburgh to further his studies – and from then on, there was no going back.
Arriving in the capital with little in the way of finance, his talent on the piano allowed him to pay his way through dance classes.
Taught at the Scottish Ballet School by Marjorie Middleton, one of the most esteemed teachers in the country at that time, he also travelled to London to train with the inimitable Madame Cleo Nordi – a former soloist with Anna Pavlova’s company.
Back in Scotland, he danced at a variety of places, including Perth Repertory Theatre – but Mowat-thomson quickly decided that a career in performance wasn’t for him. Instead, he wanted to give others a broad dance education, one which embraced all styles, valued dance history and encouraged an open mind.
Securing premises on Shandwick Place, he started the first full-time dance course in Scotland. Then, in the early 1970s, Mowat-thomson bought a property on St Stephens Street in Stockbridge and turned it into the Theatre School of Dance and Drama. In both venues, he opened his doors not just to local children and adults looking to learn, but to artists from around the world visiting Edinburgh to perform.
Students who studied with Mowat-thomson recall watching David Bowie, actor Steven Berkoff, dancer Lindsay Kemp and choreographer Mats Ek pass through the buildings.
For Mowat-thomson it wasn’t just about offering his studios to performers in need of somewhere to rehearse, but also about giving his regular pupils people to be inspired by. In 2000 he sold the Theatre School to one of his former pupils, Tracy Hawkes, who continues to run a flourishing dance academy there.
Running alongside his love of dance was a burgeoning interest in yoga – at that point a relatively unheard of pursuit in Scotland. Started by Mowat-thomson, the Scottish Yoga Centre ran for many years, with classes, weekend seminars, residential summer course and teacher training all helping to build the next generation of yoga practitioners.
Mowat-thomson’s friendship with the Rt Honourable Noelle Haliburton, Countess of Mayo (known as Lady Mayo), was to be a defining one. Having met at the Edinburgh Festival Club one evening, he became like a son to her and their shared love of antiques, country houses, castles and Georgian architecture bore various fruit.
Described by one of his former pupils, Morag Deyes MBE – now artistic director of Dance Base: Scotland’s National Centre for Dance – as “a maverick and a patient, generous visionary,” Mowatthomson touched the lives of everyone he met. Sometimes that meant helping a lost soul find their way or encouraging a talented but wayward dancer to focus and strive; at other times it meant renting out the basement flat of his gorgeous home on St Bernard’s Crescent to touring performers such as Barbara Windsor or Christopher Biggins.
The Edinburgh dance world may have lost a giant, but his legacy lives on in every plié and pirouette executed in classes across the city. Mowat-thomson leaves behind a thriving scene that he helped to shape and grow, and indelible memories in everyone who learned from him, laughed with him and dined at his table.