Kenneth MacMillan

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Sir Kenneth MacMillan (December 11, 1929 Dunfermline, Scotland - October 29, 1992, London) was a noted Scottish ballet dancer and choreographer. He was artistic director of the Royal Ballet between 1970 and 1977.

[edit] Early life

Kenneth MacMillan was born on 11 December 1929 in Dunfermline, Scotland. He grew up in Great Yarmouth, where he studied with Phyllis Adams. Later he won a scholarship to the Sadler's Wells Ballet School, where he studied for a year before, in 1946, joining Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet. Whilst studying, he met and gained the support of Ninette de Valois, something he was to enjoy wholeheartedly for the rest of his life. In 1948 he moved to Sadler's Wells Ballet, but returned to the Theatre Ballet four years later.

He began choreographing for the company's choreographic group and two promising early works, Somnambulism (1953) and Laiderette (1954) led de Valois to commission a work from the 25-year-old MacMillan. Danses concertantes was first produced in January 1955. He continued to dance, but gradually gave it up in favour of his true vocation. A string of successful works followed including Solitaire (1956), The Burrow (1958), Le Baiser de la fée and The Invitation (1960), The Rite of Spring (1962), La Création du monde (1964) The Song of the Earth and his first full-length work, Romeo and Juliet (1965). The year he choreographed Romeo and Juliet, which has become one of his best-loved pieces, he was appointed resident choreographer at The Royal Ballet.

MacMillan was Director of the Ballet of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, 1966-69, and was made director of The Royal Ballet in 1970. He continued to choreograph and produced a string of masterpieces: Valses nobles et sentimentales (1966), Anastasia (one-act version 1967, three-act version 1971), The Seven Deadly Sins (1973), L'histoire de Manon and Elite Syncopations (1974), Requiem (1976), Mayerling (1978), Isadora (1981), The Prince of the Pagodas (1989) and The Judas Tree (1992). In 1977, aged only 48, he retired as director and took up the position of principal choreographer for The Royal Ballet. He was knighted in 1983.

MacMillan died of a heart attack on 29 October 1992. He was backstage at Covent Garden, at a revival of his Mayerling. The same evening, Birmingham Royal Ballet was dancing his Romeo and Juliet in Birmingham. He is remembered as one of the great choreographers of the twentieth century who was unafraid of confronting controversial issues in his ballets (for example The Invitation and The Judas Tree). He often dwelled on the darker side of human nature and sexuality and some of his works centred on characters who would be considered outsiders in modern society. At the same time, ballets such as Elite Syncopations showed that he was capable of creating works of great wit and charm.

He was married to Deborah Williams, a painter and sculptor with whom he had a daughter, Charlotte, a photographer and both continue to oversee continuing productions of his work.

[edit] Choreography

Although a talented dancer, MacMillan is best known for his choreography, and particularly for his work with the Royal Ballet and the Deutsche Oper, Berlin. He worked as principal choreographer of the Royal Ballet from 1977 to his death in 1992, and his full-length works include:

Danses Concertantes
The Invitation - created for Lynn Seymour in 1960
The Rite of Spring - created for Monica Mason
Romeo and Juliet
Anastasia
Manon
Mayerling

Isadora
The Prince of the Pagodas - created for Darcey Bussell.

MacMillan's one-act ballets include Elite Syncopations, My Brother, My Sisters, La Fin du Jour, Valley of Shadows, Gloria, The Song of the Earth, and Different Drummer.