marguerite donlon was born in county longford, republic of ireland. after a childhood of traditional irish dance, marguerite began her ballet studies with anica louw and dorothy stevens at the late age of 16. she became a soloist and choreographer with the dance company of the deutsche oper berlin in 1990; before that she was a member of the english national ballet under peter schaufuss. during this time she worked with and was coached by many world-renowned artists, including natalia makarova, rudolf nureyev, kenneth macmillan, and danced pieces from choreographers such as maurice béjart, william forsythe, bill t. jones, meg stuart and jiří kylián.