Rona Bailey (née Stephenson; 24 December 1914 – 7 September 2005) was a New Zealand drama and dance practitioner, educationalist and activist.

While she was in the USA she was taught by Doris Humphry, Charles Weidman, Louis Horst and Lucille Czarnowski amongst others and saw many works of innovative choreographer Martha Graham.

Rona and Chip Bailey were part of creating pro-union leaflets that were illegal under the National government's emergency regulations.

[1] When Rona Bailey returned to New Zealand after studying in the USA an early job of hers was as Physical Welfare Officer with the Department of Internal Affairs.

[3] This included incorporating modern dance techniques into the curriculum at Wellington Teachers’ Training College, which was influential in the physical education movement in New Zealand.

She was instrumental in the drama school identifying as a bi-cultural institution using the governments policy requiring agencies to recognise the Treaty of Waitangi as a driver for conversations including changing the name to Te Kura Toi Whakaari o Aotearoa.

[1][8][9] Rona Bailey was a member of Taki Rua Theatre (formally The Depot) that started in 1983 and is now described as one of the kaumātua (respected elder).

[12] In 1975 Bailey was a founder of the Wellington Marxist Leninist Organisation (WMLO) and in 1980 the Workers' Communist League (WCL) formed in 1980.

[15][13] Rona Bailey was a collector of New Zealand ballads and folk songs, which she started while she was recovering from tuberculosis.