Marguerite Thoresen
Norwegian ballet dancer
Rita Tori (born Marguerite Thoresen; 17 June 1908 – 16 August 1967) was an internationally noted Norwegian ballet dancer, instructor and choreographer.
Early life, family and education
She was born to Norwegian parents living in Shanghai, China. Her father, Olaf Thoresen (1870–1937), managed a Chinese-based Norwegian trading company, Det Oversøiske Compagnie ("The Overseas Company"; known in China as Ku Ti Sang). She studied ballet from an early age, training in both London and Paris. Among other dance instructors, she studied under Lyubov Yegorova.
Career
She debuted at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in 1930. She danced at René Blums Ballets de Monte Carlo in 1936 and opened a dance academy in Oslo that same year. From 1953 to 1958, she was the Director of the Norwegian Ballet (Den Norske Ballett).
Among her students were Anne Borg, Jorunn Kirkenær, Guri Lysell, Mette Møller and Grete Brunvoll.
Imprisonment
During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during World War II, Tori was part of the resistance.
The public source identifies “Marguerite Thoresen” as norwegian ballet dancer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Marguerite, Thoresen and Norwegian.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6760820. VIAF identifies the subject as 292422484. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1908, 1967, 1870 and 1937.
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This entry incorporates text from “Marguerite Thoresen” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.