"[3] Born in Salisbury, the capital and most populous city of the self-governing British Crown colony of Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe), Merle Park was educated in local schools.
[7] Promoted to soloist in 1958, she danced her first Swanhilde, the saucy village lass in Coppélia, and the title character in John Cranko's Pineapple Poll,[8] set to the merry tunes of Arthur Sullivan.
Ashton's Symphonic Variations, a plotless work set to the score by César Franck, provided her opportunity to display her musicality and classical precision, as did the role of the Indian temple dancer Nikiya in La Bayadère.
[12] She also gave highly dramatic performances in the title roles of Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet and Manon, set to scores by Serge Prokofiev and Jules Massenet, respectively.
In 1970, she toured the major cities of Rhodesia, her home country, with Royal Ballet principal dancer Petrus Bosman, a native South African, as her partner.
Capping her multifaceted career was the role of the Countess Marie Larish in MacMillan's Mayerling (1978), which depicts the final years of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary.
Upon entering the party scene, carried aloft by Wayne Eagling, smiling and strewing flower petals, she and he danced Ashton's buoyant choreography to Strauss's famous waltz.
In 1977, while still the senior ballerina of the Royal Ballet, Park opened her own school in London[3] and became a popular teacher, as she was able to imbue her students with the joy of dancing as well as instructing them in the basics and fine points of classical technique.
[16] With her mastery of technique and knowledge of style, she was instrumental in maintaining the high standards that made it the preeminent school of classical ballet in the United Kingdom.