With flame red hair, heavily kohled eyes and tattoos curling around her lip, Vali Myers cut a striking figure. Born in 1930 to a violinist mother and marine officer father Vali displayed a talent for art at an early age.
The family moved to Melbourne from Sydney, Australia in 1941 and Vali left home at 14. After working in factories she became immersed in dance and later became the leading dancer for the Melbourne Modern Ballet Company.She travelled to Paris at the age of 19 to follow her dream of dancing for a living. She had not anticipated a city completely ravaged by war. The stark poverty of Paris in 1949 was a shock, money was scarce and jobs were almost impossible to find. Vali began living in the Latin Quarter of Saint Germain des Pres on the Left Bank with the rest of the displaced. She lived on the street, survived on bread and milk and carried a knife for protection.
