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Solitaire (ballet)
''Solitaire'' is a one-act ballet created by Kenneth MacMillan in 1956 for the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet (later the Royal Ballet), London. The music is by Malcolm Arnold: his two sets of English Dances, with two new dances specially composed by Arnold, a sarabande and a polka. The polka was created for New Zealand dancer Sara Neil. The first performance was at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London on 7 June 1956. The principal character, called The Girl, was danced by Margaret Hill. Royal Opera House Collections Online, retrieved 8 October 2014 Original cast * Margaret Hill, The Girl * |
Kenneth MacMillan
Sir Kenneth MacMillan (11 December 192929 October 1992) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977, and its principal choreographer from 1977 until his death. Earlier he had served as director of ballet for the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. He was also associate director of the American Ballet Theatre from 1984 to 1989, and artistic associate of the Houston Ballet from 1989 to 1992. From a family with no background of ballet or music, MacMillan was determined from an early age to become a dancer. The director of Sadler's Wells Ballet, Ninette de Valois, accepted him as a student and then a member of her company. In the late 1940s, MacMillan built a successful career as a dancer, but, plagued by stage fright, he abandoned it while still in his twenties. After this he worked entirely as a choreographer; he created ten full-length ballets and more than fifty one-act pieces. In addition to his work for bal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Ballet
The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Dame Ninette de Valois. It became the resident ballet company of the Royal Opera House in 1946, and has purpose-built facilities within these premises. It was granted a royal charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship 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 famous ballet companies to this day, generally noted for its artistic and creative values. The company employs approximately 100 dancers. The official associate school of the company is the Royal Ballet School, and it also has a sister company, the Birmingham Royal Ballet, which operates independently. The Prima ballerina assoluta of the Royal Ballet is the late Da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malcolm Arnold
Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music for brass band and wind band. His style is tonal and rejoices in lively rhythms, brilliant orchestration, and an unabashed tunefulness. He wrote extensively for the theatre, with five ballets specially commissioned by the Royal Ballet, as well as two operas and a musical. He also produced scores for more than a hundred films, among these ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' (1957), for which he won an Oscar. Early life Malcolm Arnold was born in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England, the youngest of five children from a prosperous Northampton family of shoemakers. Although shoemakers, his family was full of musicians; both of his parents were pianists, and his aunt was a violinist. His great great grandfather was the composer William Hawes, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Dances (Arnold)
''English Dances'', Op. 27 and 33, are two sets of light music pieces, composed for orchestra by Malcolm Arnold in 1950 and 1951.(Burton-Page 2001) Each set consists of four dances inspired by, although not based upon, country folk tunes and dances. Each movement is denoted by the tempo marking, as the individual movements are untitled. Background Bernard de Nevers, the head of the composer's then publisher Alfred Lengnick & Co. asked Arnold to write a suite of dances akin to Antonín Dvořák's ''Slavonic Dances''. This resulted in the first set. The set was premiered on 14 April 1951 by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. After the success of the first set, de Nevers asked for a second set, which the composer completed the following year. The second set was premiered on 5 August 1952 at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Malcolm Sargent. The first movement of the second set, ''Allegro non troppo'', was used from 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sara Neil (dancer)
Sara Neil (born Doreen Brown; 15 April 1932, in Wellington – 9 January 2011) was a New Zealand dancer, and was the first director of the New Zealand School of Dance. Early life and education Neil was born in Wellington. Her early dance training was by Phyllis Oliver and Dorothy Daniels. She studied at Wellington Girls' College. In 1949 she left to study dance in England, funded by a Government bursary. She attended the Royal Ballet School and then joined the Sadler's Wells Ballet Company. Work Neil was "a technically excellent dancer, with a marked personality in her performances". Choreographer Kenneth MacMillan created a polka solo for her in his 1956 ballet ''Solitaire,'' at Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet Neil married dancer Walter Trevor in 1956, and in 1958 returned to New Zealand. The couple set up a dance studio in Wellington. In 1960 Neil danced in the New Zealand Ballet Company's first major national tour. She was on the Ballet Committee set up in 1964 alongside ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive rehearsal rooms and technical facilities also housed within the site. Sadler's Wells is renowned as one of the world's leading dance venues. As well as a stage for visiting companies, the theatre is also a producing house, with a number of associated artists and companies that produce original works for the theatre. Sadler's Wells is also responsible for the management of the Peacock Theatre in the West End, during times not used by the London School of Economics. History First theatre and pleasure gardens Richard Sadler opened a "Musick House" in 1683, the second public theatre newly opened in London after the Restoration, the first being the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Hill (dancer)
Margaret Hill (1929 - 30 December 1975) was a British ballerina, a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet. Hill studied at the Rambert Dance Company which she joined in 1944 at the age of 15 where she went on to become a soloist and a principal dancer. She joined the Royal Ballet in 1952. Sir Peter Wright described Hill as "a superb artist who joined the company from Rambert, but who did not really fit into the required Royal Ballet mould". Hill appeared in Kenneth MacMillan's first choreographed work, ''Somnabulism'' in 1953, alongside Maryon Lane. However, Hill fell ill at the last minute, and MacMillan himself danced her role, improvising his own choreography as he went. Nonetheless, the ballet was "a triumph", and it was televised by the BBC in 1954 under its new title, ''The Dreamers''. Hill later returned to the Rambert Dance Company in 1953 for two years after which she returned to The Royal Ballet in 1956. She had a close relationship with Kenneth MacMillan, and he cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald Britton
Donald Gene Britton (17 August 1929 – 31 May 1983) was a principal dancer with the two Royal Ballet companies, the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet and the Sadler's Wells Ballet from 1945 to 1965. Donald Britton was born in London in 1929. He originally started as a tap dancer "wandering into ballet" at the age of six. His family were living over a ballet school and young Donald became fascinated with the activities downstairs. He studied ballet with the Maddock School in London and then with Lilian Godwin in Bristol before joining the Sadler's Wells Ballet School during the second world war. In 1945 at the age of sixteen he was chosen as one of the founding members of the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet. During his early years there he achieved critical acclaim for his performances in ''Carnaval'' and ''Spectre de la Rose''. Following a period of military service he rejoined the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet as a principal dancer in 1951. Known for his masculine, aggressive style, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Boulton
Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions * Michael (bishop elect), English 13th-century Bishop of Hereford elect * Michael (Khoroshy) (1885–1977), cleric of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada * Michael Donnellan (1915–1985), Irish-born London fashion designer, often referred to simply as "Michael" * Michael (footballer, born 1982), Brazilian footballer * Michael (footballer, born 1983), Brazilian footballer * Michael (footballer, born 1993), Brazilian footballer * Michael (footballer, born February 1996), Brazilian footballer * Michael (footballer, born March 1996), Brazilian footballer * Michael (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer Rulers =Byzantine emperors= *Michael I Rangabe (d. 844), married the daughter of Emperor Nikephoros I *Mich ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald MacLeary
Donald Whyte MacLeary (born 22 August 1937) is a retired British ballet dancer, a former principal dancer and a ballet master with the Royal Ballet, where he was a member of the company for 48 years. Born in Glasgow, Donald MacLeary studied with Sheila Ross from 1950–51 and at the Sadler's Wells Ballet School. He joined Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet in 1954. In 1955, he was promoted to soloist. In 1959, he became the Royal Ballet's youngest principal dancer, when Svetlana Beriosova requested that he become her regular partner. According to Encyclopædia Britannica, MacLeary was "noted for his strong finesse and natural romanticism". MacLeary created roles in: *Works by John Cranko **''The Angels'' (1957) **''Antigone'' (1959) **''Brandenburg 2 & 4'' (1966) *Works by Kenneth MacMillan **'' Solitaire'' (1956) **''The Burrow'' (1958) **''Baiser de la fée'' (1960) **''Diversions'' (1961) **''Symphony'' (1963) **''Images of Love'' (1964) **''Checkpoint'' (1970) **''The Poltroon' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballets By Kenneth MacMillan
Sir Kenneth MacMillan (11 December 192929 October 1992) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977, and its principal choreographer from 1977 until his death. Earlier he had served as director of ballet for the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. He was also associate director of the American Ballet Theatre from 1984 to 1989, and artistic associate of the Houston Ballet from 1989 to 1992. From a family with no background of ballet or music, MacMillan was determined from an early age to become a dancer. The director of Sadler's Wells Ballet, Ninette de Valois, accepted him as a student and then a member of her company. In the late 1940s, MacMillan built a successful career as a dancer, but, plagued by stage fright, he abandoned it while still in his twenties. After this he worked entirely as a choreographer; he created ten full-length ballets and more than fifty one-act pieces. In addition to his work for ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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