The Royal Ballet
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The Royal Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of three major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Dame Ninette de Valois and was granted a Royal Charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship national ballet company. The Royal Ballet was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century, and continues to be one of the world's most renowned ballet companies to this day.
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[edit] History
In 1926, the Irish-born dancer Ninette de Valois founded the Academy of Choreographic Art, a dance school for girls. Her intention was to form a repertory ballet company and school, leading her to collaborate with the English theatrical producer and theatre owner Lilian Baylis. Baylis owned the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres and in 1925 she engaged de Valois to stage dance performances at both venues.
Sadler's Wells reopened in 1931 and the Vic-Wells Ballet and Vic-Wells Ballet School were established in premises at the theatre. These would become the predecessors of today's Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet School. Prior to her return to Britain, Ninette de Valois had been a member of the Ballets Russes, one of the most renowned and influential ballet companies of the 20th Century. The company disbanded in 1929 following the death of it's founder Serge Diaghilev and when de Valois formed the Vic-Wells Ballet, she employed some of the companies former stars including Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin who joined as Principal dancers and Tamara Karsavina who worked with the company as an advisor.
After losing the link with the Old Vic theatre, in 1939 the company was renamed Sadler's Wells Ballet and the school became Sadler's Wells Ballet School both continuing at Sadler's Wells theatre until 1946 when the company was invited to become the resident ballet company of the newly re-opened Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, under the direction of David Webster. The company relocated to the opera house the same year in 1946, with their first production at the venue being Sleeping Beauty.
Following the relocation of the company the school was relocated to its own premises in 1947 and a sister company was established to continue performances at Sadler's Wells, called Sadlers Wells Theatre Ballet. In 1955, the sister company temporarily lost its link with Sadler's Wells and returned to the Royal Opera House as a touring unit of the main company.
In 1956, a Royal Charter was granted for both companies and the school and they were subsequently renamed the Royal Ballet, Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet School.
The Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet returned to Sadler's Wells theatre in 1970, whilst continuing to tour the country, however in 1987, the company was invited to be come the resident ballet company at the Birmingham Hippodrome. It relocated to Birmingham in 1990, being renamed Birmingham Royal Ballet and it ceased to be part of the Royal Ballet in 1997 when it was made independent of the Royal Opera House, with Peter Wright as Artistic Director. Birmingham Royal Ballet retains close relationships with both the Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet School, although it now has its own associate ballet school, Elmhurst School for Dance.
Today, the Royal Ballet remains the resident ballet company at the Royal Opera House, conducting its own tours internationally and it continues to be the parent company of the Royal Ballet School, which is now based at White Lodge, Richmond Park and premises in Floral Street which are adjacent to and have direct access to the Royal Opera House.
[edit] Structure
The Royal Ballet has six ranks of dancers in ascending order:
- Artist is the lowest rank in the company and dancers at this level form the Corps de ballet. There are more dancers at Artist level than any other rank in the Royal Ballet and nearly all are trained at the Royal Ballet School, with most graduates of the school entering the company at this level.
- First Artist is a rank for the most senior members of the Corps de Ballet. Dancers at this level have the opportunity to perform some of the Corps de Ballet's more featured roles, such as the Dance of the Cygnets in Swan Lake. First Artists will occasionally be cast in minor Soloist roles if they are being considered for promotion.
- Soloist is a much sought after rank and there are normally 15-20 Soloists in the company. As the title suggests, dancers at this level perform the majority of the solo and minor roles in a ballet, such as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet or one of the Fairies in The Sleeping Beauty.
- First Soloist is the rank where dancers are being considered for promotion to Principal level. A dancer at this rank will dance a varied repertoire of the most featured soloist roles, whilst understudying and having the opportunity to perform leading roles when a Principal dancer is either injured or unavailable.
- Principal Character Artist is the rank given to members of the company who perform important character roles in a ballet. These roles are normally very theatrical and often include character dance and ballet mime. Examples include Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty or Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker. Most Principal Character Artists in the Royal Ballet are older dancers who have been high ranking members of the company.
- Principal is the highest rank in the Royal Ballet and dancers at this level exclusively perform the leading and most featured roles in a ballet. To be a Principal is to be recognised as one of the leading dancers in the company and a number of the world's most celebrated dancers have been Principals with the company.
The Royal Ballet also has special ranks for visiting dancers, they are Guest Artist and Principal Guest Artist
[edit] The Company
- See also: Category:Royal Ballet dancers
The Royal Ballet employs approximately 100 dancers and a complete list is shown below. The company also has an Executive, Artistic and Music staff, including the following:
- Artistic Director - Monica Mason, OBE, a graduate of the Royal Ballet School and former Principal dancer and Senior Répétiteur with The Royal Ballet
- Administrative Director - Anthony Russell-Roberts, CBE, nephew of the Royal Ballet's founder choreographer Frederick Ashton
- Music Director - Barry Wordsworth, a British conductor and junior alumnus of the Trinity College of Music
- Company Manager - Kevin O'Hare, a graduate of the Royal Ballet School and former dancer with The Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet
- Resident Choreographer - Wayne McGregor, an award winning choreographer, most noted in the field of contemporary dance and as Artistic Director of Random Dance company
[edit] Principal Dancers
External Source: Principal Dancer Biographies - Official Website
| Name | Nationality | Training | Joined Royal Ballet | Promoted to Principal | Other Companies |
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| Alexandra Ansanelli | American  |
School of American Ballet | 2006 | 2007 | New York City Ballet |
| Carlos Acosta | Cuban  |
Cuban National Ballet School | 1998 | Joined as Principal | English National Ballet National Ballet of Cuba Houston Ballet |
| Leanne Benjamin | Australian  |
Royal Ballet School | 1992 | 1992 | Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet English National Ballet Deutsche Oper Ballet |
| Federico Bonelli | Italian  |
Turin Dance Academy | 2003 | Joined as Principal | Zürich Ballet Dutch National Ballet |
| Alina Cojocaru | Romanian  |
Kiev Ballet School Royal Ballet School |
1999 | 2001 | Kiev Ballet |
| Mara Galeazzi | Italian |
La Scala, Milan | 1992 | 2003 | |
| Johan Kobborg | Danish  |
Royal Danish Ballet School | 1999 | Joined as Principal | Royal Danish Ballet |
| Sarah Lamb | American |
Boston Ballet School | 2004 | 2006 | Boston Ballet |
| David Makhateli | Georgian  |
Royal Ballet School | 2003 | 2008 | Birmingham Royal Ballet Dutch National Ballet Houston Ballet |
| Roberta Marquez | Brazilian  |
Maria Olenewa State Dance School | 2004 | Joined as Principal | Municipal Theatre Ballet, Rio de Janiro |
| Laura Morera | Spanish  |
Royal Ballet School | 1995 | 2007 | |
| Marianela Nuñez | Argentinian  |
Teatro Colón Ballet School Royal Ballet School |
1998 | 2002 | |
| Ivan Putrov | Ukrainian  |
Kiev Ballet School Royal Ballet School |
1998 | 2002 | |
| Tamara Rojo | Spanish |
Victor Ullate Ballet School David Howard & Renato Paroni |
2000 | Joined as Principal | |
| Thiago Soarez | Brazilian |
Centre for Dance, Rio de Janeiro | 2002 | 2007 | Municipal Theatre Ballet, Rio de Janiro |
| Viacheslav Samodurov | Estonian  |
Vaganova Ballet Academy | 2003 | Joined as Principal | Mariinsky Ballet |
| Edward Watson | British  |
Royal Ballet School | 1994 | 2005 | |
| Zenaida Yanowsky | French  |
Anatol Yanowsky & Carmen Robles | 1994 | 2001 | Paris Opera Ballet |
| Miyako Yoshida | Japanese  |
Royal Ballet School | 1995 | Joined as Principal | Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet |
[edit] Principal Character Artists
External Source: Principal Character Artist Biographies - Official Website
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[edit] First Soloists
External Source: First Soloist Biographies - Official Website
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[edit] Soloists
External Source: Soloist Biographies - Official Website
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[edit] First Artists
External Source: First Artist Biographies - Official Website
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[edit] Artists
External Source: Artist Biographies - Official Website
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[edit] Sir Frederick Ashton
Sir Frederick Ashton was the founder choreographer of the Royal Ballet. Previously a dancer with the Ballet Rambert, Ashton started his career as a choreogapher under the direction of Dame Marie Rambert, before joining the Royal Ballet as its associate choreographer when the company was founded in 1931. He created the majority of the companies early works and staged their first performance at the Royal Opera House, a production of The Sleeping Beauty in 1946. Ashton was appointed Artistic director of the Royal Ballet from 1963-1970, when he retired from the post. He continued to work as a choreographer internationally, with his final work being the Nursery Suite, for a gala performance by the Royal Ballet School at the Royal Opera House in 1986. His numerous ballets have since been staged by leading dance companies worldwide and feature strongly in the programming of the Royal Ballet today.
[edit] Choreographic Works
Ashton created over 100 original ballet works and numerous other productions, some of the most notable including:
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[edit] Fonteyn-Nureyev
First performing together with the Royal Ballet in Giselle on February 21 1962, Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev would form what has been called the greatest ballet partnership of all time. The partnership would lead to both dancers being noted amongst the most famous ballet dancers of all time and came at the peak of what is now widely regarded as the most successful period in the Royal Ballet's history.
On March 12th 1963, the couple premiered Sir Frederick Ashton's Marguerite and Armand, the first ballet created for them and one which become their signature piece. Performed to two piece of piano music by Franz Liszt, the ballet starts with Marguerite on her deathbed, and the story is told in flashback until the moment Armand arrives to hold her for the last time before she dies. Nureyev had planned the piece specifically for Fonteyn and the piece was critically acclaimed as Fonteyn's dramatic peak, with fifty photographers attending the dress rehearsal and twenty one curtain calls at the premiere performance. The final performance of the ballet starring Fonteyn and Nureyev was staged at a gala at the London Coliseum in 1977 and it was not performed again until 2003. Against the wishes of Frederick Ashton that it not be performed by any other dancers than Fonteyn and Nureyev, it was revived as part of a Royal Ballet triple-bill, starring Nureyev's protegee Sylvie Guillem and the Royal Ballet star Jonathan Cope.
The Fonteyn-Nureyev partnership lasted for many years until Fonteyn's retirement from the Royal Ballet in 1979, aged 60. In 1970 after Frederick Ashton retired as Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet, there were many calls for Nureyev to be announced as his successor, however Kenneth MacMillan was given the position and Nureyev left the Royal Ballet as a Principal soon after, to be a guest dancer Internationally, later becoming Artistic Director of the Paris Opera Ballet in 1983. Fonteyn and Nureyev had a lifelong relationship both on and offstage and were close friends until Fonteyn's death in 1991. Nureyev is quoted as saying of the partnership that they danced with "one body, one soul".
[edit] Ross Stretton
Born in Canberra, Australia in 1952, Ross Stretton trained at the Australian Ballet School, later becoming a Principal dancer with the Australian Ballet company. He then moved to America, where he danced with the Joffrey Ballet and as a Prinipal dancer with American Ballet Theatre before retiring as a dancer in 1990. He was appointed Regisseur of American Ballet Theatre, becoming Assistant Director of the company in 1993. After returning to Australia, he was Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet from 1997-2001.
Following Sir Anthony Dowell's retirement as Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet in 2001, the board of the Royal Opera House announced Stretton as his successor, with a three year contract, however he resigned the post after 13 months, in September 2002. Stretton's appointment and subsequent departure from the Royal Ballet generated an unprescedented level of media attention for the Royal Ballet in recent years, due to controversy caused by his management of the company. Following his resignation, Stretton returned to Australia where he worked as a teacher and consultant until his death from cancer in 2005.
A number of controversial issues and allegations lead to Strettons depature from the Royal Ballet:
- Principal dancer Sarah Wildor quit the company after a dispute over casting [1]
- Constant cast changes apparently lead to numerous arguments with Principal dancers [2]
- Principal Character Artist David Drew declared Stretton's appointment as "a disaster for the company" in the Mail on Sunday [2]
- Lady MacMillan threatened to withdraw performing rights to works by her late husband Sir Kenneth MacMillan [3]
- Stretton's programming was badly received by critics [4]
- Equity announced that dancers planned a vote no-confidence in Stretton [4]
- Strike action and union involvement was threatened due to Stretton's management style [2]
- Allegations were made that Stretton engaged in sexual liaisons and affairs with various dancers [2]
[edit] Johan Kobborg
On 17th March 2007, The Daily Telegraph, published an article announcing that the Royal Ballet's Principal dancer Johan Kobborg may be the primary candidate to become the next Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet when Monica Mason's tenure as Director ends in 2012. Mason has been Director of the Royal Ballet since 2002, following the brief Directorship of the late Ross Stretton. Mason was due to leave the Royal Ballet in 2010, but her contract has been extended until 2012, when London will host the Olympic Games. Johan Kobborg joined the Royal Ballet as a Principal in 1999 and continues to be one of the companies leading stars. In 2007, he turned down the invitation to bid for the Directorship of the Royal Danish Ballet but in the article he is quoted as saying of the Royal Ballet:
"Of all the companies in the world, leaving aside the special case of Paris, the Royal Ballet can do anything they want. Many, many people want to run it. It is the most secure place on earth. It doesn't have to do The Nutcracker or Jack and the Magic Beanstalk to survive. All the possibilities are there. If I was asked to run it, I would say yes, definitely." [5]
[edit] Laurence Olivier Awards
The Royal Ballet company is a multiple Laurence Olivier Award winning company. The following is a complete list of award won by the company and it's staff since the awards were established in 1978. These include awards presented to the company for a production of a particular ballet, to individual dancers for their performance in a specific role, to deigners for their work on a specific production and to other members of the Royal Ballet staff for achievements in dance
- 2008 - Best New Dance Production, for the company premiere of George Balanchine’s ballet Jewels
- 2008 - Outstanding Achievement in Dance, for the company premiere of George Balanchine’s ballet Jewels
- 2007 - Best New Dance Production, for their new production Chroma, choreographed by Wayne McGreggor
- 1995 - Best New Dance Production, for their production of Fearful Symmetries
- 1995 - Outstanding Achievement in Dance, awarded to lighting designer Peter Mumford for the Royal Ballet's Fearful Symmetries
- 1993 - Best New Dance Production, for a production of Sir Kenneth MacMillan's The Judas Tree
- 1992 - Outstanding Achievement of the Year in Dance, for a production of William Forsythe's In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated
- 1992 - Society of London Theatre Special Award, awarded to the Royal Ballet's founder and director Dame Ninette de Valois in recognition of her achievements in dance
- 1983 - Outstanding New Dance Production of the Year, for a production of Sir Frederick Ashton's Requiem
- 1983 - Outstanding Individual Performance of the Year in a New Dance Production, awarded to Alessandra Ferri for her performance in the Royal Ballet's Valley of Shadows
- 1981 - Outstanding First Achievement of the Year in Ballet, awarded to Bryony Brind for her performance in The Royal Ballet's Dances of Albion
- 1980 - Outstanding Achievement of the Year in Ballet, for a production of Gloria
- 1978 - Production of the Year in Ballet, for a production of Sir Frederick Ashton's A Month in the Country
[edit] Repertoire
Swan Lake has been in the Royal Ballet's repertory since 1932. Act II alone was performed on 5th October 1932. Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin staged and starred in this first production. The first full production was performed on the 20th November 1934. Markova was Odette/Odile and Robert Helpmann was Siegfried. In 1943, Leslie Hurry provided designs for a new production . These designs were revised for a production by Ninette de Valois in 1952. Beryl Grey and John Field led the first cast in this production. In December 1963, Margot Fonteyn led the cast in a new production which featured additional choreography by Frederick Ashton including the whole final act.
One firm favourite of the Royal Ballet has been Coppelia. A version of it was first produced in 1933 by the fledgling Vic Wells company. Ninette de Valois who had an acute sense of the value of tradition, employed Nicolai Sergueyev, the former regisseur of the Maryinsky , to reconstruct Acts I and II of Coppelia. The first night was March 21st 1933. The company first performed the full three act ballet in 1940. It was in this production that Robert Helpmann starred as Coppelius, “ a richly comic interpretation that, once seen, could never be forgotten .” In 1954, the company was provided with new scenery and costumes by Osbert Lancaster. In 2002, the 1954 Ninette de Valois production was restaged as part of 2001/2 season which was dedicated to Dame Ninette de Valois.
[edit] 2007/2008
[edit] 2008/2009
- Swan Lake
- Manon
- Serenade/L'invitation as Voyage/Theme and Variations
- Voluntaries/The Lesson/Untitled New Production
- Ondine
- The Nutcracker
- La Bayadere
- Seven Deadly Sins/Carmen/DGV (Danse a Grande Vitesse)
- Isadora/Dances at a Gathering
- Giselle
- Les Sylphides/Untitled New Production/Jewels
[edit] Notable Former Dancers
- See also: Category:Royal Ballet dancers
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[edit] Notable Guest Dancers & Staff
[edit] Guest Dancers |
[edit] Choreographers
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[edit] Artistic Directors
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[edit] See also
- Birmingham Royal Ballet
- Royal Ballet School
- Elmhurst School for Dance
- English National Ballet
- English National Ballet School
[edit] References
- ^ Royal Ballet shocked as Wildor quits. Daily Telegraph, 26th September 2001.
- ^ a b c d Swanning off, the ballet boss accused of affairs. Daily Telegraph, 26th September 2002.
- ^ Double whammy that toppled ballet boss. Daily Telegraph, 27th September 2002.
- ^ a b Ross Stretton. Daily Telegraph, 17th June 2005.
- ^ Johan Kobborg: I'd jump at the chance to run the Royal Ballet. Daily Telegraph, 19th March 2008.
