Mary Queen of Scots brings back so many fond memories and in many respects 1976 only seems like yesterday, yet it was 22 years ago. This ballet occurred during a period when I was just gaining assurance and maturity as a dancer and artist. It was a bit like a new beginning and it helped shape the way I worked and performed later.

The ballet was dramatically intense with so many passions that to bring out and portray them all could have been one of its downfalls. There are so many angles that the ballet could have been taken from. Peter chose the romantic point of view - possibly to keep the audiences happy - but to also show the many faceted sides and complex issues that surrounded Mary Queen of Scots.

The score was bold, exciting and dramatically intense, it conjured up superb images of the turmoil and strife that beset the English and Scottish courts in the 16th century and Peter did it justice impeccably.

The role of Rizzio was a challenging and exciting one which I took to with relish. I was left to my own devices and intuition to play the role as I chose. Peter was always very trusting in his dancers and very rarely tried to impress on them a particular point of view. For this I was very grateful and based on the critical acclaim received was successful in the characterisation and portrayal of Rizzio.

Peter was never fully recognised or appreciated for his boldness and guts to step out of a conservative establishment to establish an exciting new and ground breaking company. That he fought for such a long period of time to establish his company and his beliefs can only be put down to his incredible resilience, his belief and care for his art, commitment to his company, love of his dancers and above all his integrity.

An untimely death that should not be forgotten, a great loss to the arts, and especially ballet.

How fortunate we all were... those of us who knew Peter, learned from him and worked with him. In later years I was to realise how much he had taught me and given me. He was a man from whom we received encouragement and enthusiasm. I'll never forget Peter, and I miss him greatly.

It is no easy task trying to summarise Peter Darrell. That so many of the people whose lives he touched still mourn his loss is testament to the personal charisma of this creative artist. This may well be because of the nature of his work - Peter's choreography has a singular truth to it. In his finest works he successfully represented the brittle realities of the human condition. Within every step, and more especially in his flamboyant use of arms, the raw frailties, envies, jealousies, the passions of human nature would take on a metamorphosis, one he made universally transparent.

As a young dancer and embryonic choreographer with Scottish Ballet, Peter was my director, but even more than that he was my mentor. From him I learned the value of collaboration, the interdependency of drawing from different genres to create a fully rounded experience.

Today Darrell's legacy lives on. It exists through the creation of a choreographic award embracing Peter's staunch conviction that young choreographers need opportunity; and it lives on in those who worked alongside him. A day doesn't go by when I do not count myself fortunate to have worked with the artist, and to have known the man.

I have two clear memories of Peter. First, with the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1944, when two small boys joined us to play urchins in Robert Helpmann's ballet Miracle in the Gorbals. Their names were Stanley Holden and Peter Skinner and they enlivened our performances with much misbehaviour in the wings.

Then, in the early '70's when I lived in Edinburgh and Scottish Ballet was about to take shape, I met Peter Darrell for lunch. I recognised him instantly - the small boy's face and expression had barely changed and I fear I embarrassed him with my reminiscence.

Peter's forte was choreographic invention, especially in modern ballets. A perfect example was an early work, The Houseparty, based on Nijinska's Les Biches and using the same Poulenc score. It was created for Western Theatre Ballet and filmed excellently for television; the originality and dramatic effect greatly impressed me.

Peter achieved much with Scottish Ballet, turning his talent to full-scale classically based productions. But I always hoped that he would return to the sharply realistic style of his Houseparty and his tragically early death has robbed us of a unique modern gift. I shall always remember him with pleasure and admiration.

When Peter Darrell took over the direction of Western Theatre Ballet following the death of Elizabeth West it was not expected that he would remain with the company for more than the promised year. He had already made a reputation for himself with the sparkling and hugely successful television series Cool for Cats and invitations had begun to arrive from the larger managements for him to choreograph special "numbers", for which he had a great facility - not for nothing was his current nickname "Steps". He loved the big-scale musicals, particularly The White Horse Inn, in a touring version of which he had appeared in his first professional engagement as a dancer.

Peter continued to work in the commercial theatre but his first commitment remained to the company, which did not prevent him from complaining regularly about the practical restrictions created by the number of dancers. When there were fourteen he wanted sixteen; when there was an increase to sixteen he wanted twenty. He was never satisfied, and yet from this seeming limitation emerged some of his finest work. His greatest admiration was reserved for the choreographers Fokine and Bronislava Nijinska; his own choreography he described, in his cups, as a "modest talent".

It was the transformation of the company into The Scottish Theatre Ballet, however, which opened up possibilities for the "casts of thousands" he had longed for. A more substantial annual grant enabled Tales of Hoffmann to be mounted, requiring four ballerinas and two principal male dancers of highest quality. This was the beginning of a new era, and he revelled in the opportunities it offered. The overall breadth and diversity of Peter Darrell's work can best be seen from the Appendix: a remarkable achievement for a modest choreographer.