Julie Dyson was a senior student on the day the school - then named the Bryan Lawrence School of Ballet - opened in February 1968 and maintained an association there for more than a decade as a teacher.

She said Lawrence was a "lyrical" dancer and "very sensitive" and that he had "a huge following". He danced in many of the school's productions especially in the early years when most of the students were still in the earlier stages of study.

She said he was "a handsome man with a lot of charisma" and that his talents and qualities complemented those of his then wife, fellow former Australian Ballet principal Janet Karin, who founded the school with him.

They developed their own syllabus that produced many students who went on to high-level dance careers both in Australia and internationally. These have included Ross Stretton, who became artistic director of the Australian Ballet, Joanne Michel and Adam Marchant, both of whom became principals at The Australian Ballet, and Victoria Jestyn, whose career has included work at the Australian Dance Theatre, Netherlands Dance Theatre and Ballet Rambert.

Lawrence was born Brian Lawrence Palethorpe in Birmingham, England in 1936. After early dance lessons he trained, on scholarship, at the Sadler's Wells Ballet School (later the Royal Ballet School) from age 13. After dancing at Sadler's Wells he joined the Royal Ballet in 1959 and became a soloist in 1961.

Canberra Times dance critic Michelle Potter, who also taught at the school, wrote an obituary for Lawrence at michellepotter.org. She said Lawrence came to Australia in 1964 as a 10-pound migrant at the invitation of The Australian Ballet's director, Peggy van Praagh, to become a principal dancer there.

"He had a big career and danced major roles in the ballets they produced," she said.

But in 1968 he and Karin, seeing Canberra as an ideal place to start a dance school, began their new venture, which turned out to be highly successful. Potter worked there from 1972 to 1982 and said, "They taught me a huge amount - to teach, and the whole essential quality of how dance works: not just to teach steps but the total perspective of how the body works. It was useful in that respect."

When the couple divorced in 1986 the school changed names and Lawrence moved to Sydney where he worked in a number of jobs, one of which was teaching at the McDonald College. He married a second time, to Lyn Palethorpe, and retired to the Blue Mountains. playing piano and composing.

Lawrence is survived by a son, Nicholas, and by his first wife. Their daughter, Isobel, died a few years ago.