Yvonne Mounsey, 93, who danced major roles for George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins with the New York City Ballet in the 1950s and went on to found an influential West Coast ballet school, died of cancer Saturday at her Los Angeles home.
Ms. Mounsey danced with the City Ballet from 1948 to 1958, rising from soloist to principal dancer.
She was born Yvonne Louise Leibbrandt in 1919 on a South African dairy farm outside Pretoria. She began taking ballet lessons at 7 with a former member of Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova's company.
