Eileen Kramer, an Australian dancer, artist, performer, and choreographer, celebrated her 110th birthday in Sydney on November 8.

Eileen Kramer was born in Mosman Bay, New South Wales, Australia, on 8 November 1914. Her mother, Hilda Henrietta, came to Australia from England with her family. Her father, Julius Kramer, was born in South Africa, though his family originally came from Germany. She recalls that a love of learning was always part of her character. In 1933, at age 19, she began taking singing and piano lessons from a local teacher.

In 1940, her mother invited her to a charity concert at the Conservatorium—an evening that would change her life. The program featured the Bodenwieser Viennese Ballet, Australia’s first professional modern dance company. Kramer was captivated from the moment the dancers moved to the opening bars of Strauss’s Blue Danube. Reflecting on that experience, she recalled, “I was sitting in the audience thinking, ‘Yes, that’s what I want to do.’” The very next day, she sought out Gertrud Bodenwieser, expressing her desire to join the company. Three years later, she was cast in The Blue Danube.

For the next decade, Kramer toured with the Bodenwieser company, performing across rural Australia, South Africa, and India. After leaving the dance troupe in 1953, Kramer traveled to India and then moved to Paris, where she worked as an artist’s model, often for André Lhote. In 1957, at age 42, she met Israeli-American filmmaker Baruch Shadmi, and the two collaborated on a mixed animated and live-action film, for which Kramer hand-made over 400 figures. In the mid-1960s, as they worked on the film, Shadmi suffered a stroke, and Kramer paused her dance career for 18 years to care for him in New York. Shadmi passed away in 1987. In 1988, Kramer resumed her career, first moving to Hinton to live with an old stage friend, before relocating to Lewisburg in 1992. There, she began a relationship with Bill Tuckwiller, a wealthy Southern widower.

In 2013, at the age of 99, she returned to Australia.

LongeviQuest extends warm congratulations to Eileen Kramer on her 110h birthday. Her story continues to inspire people around the world.