|
Wendy Ellis Somes
Wendy Ellis Somes is a former principal ballerina with the Royal Ballet in London, and is now a worldwide producer of the Sir Frederick Ashton ballets ''Cinderella'' and '' Symphonic Variations''. Early life She was born Wendy Rose Ellis in Blackburn, and received her early training at the Carlotta School of Dance, later winning a British Ballet Organization scholarship. In 1963 she was selected to study at the Royal Ballet School, and moved to London with her parents to continue training. She started there in 1963 and joined the Royal Ballet in 1970. Career Early career at the Royal Ballet Initially part of the corps de ballet, Ellis quickly progressed to solo roles such as Princess Florine in Sleeping Beauty, the Young Girl in Ashton's The Two Pigeons and Lise in another Ashton ballet, La fille mal gardée. It was during this time that she met her future husband Michael Somes. Later career at the Royal Ballet Ellis later danced in many Royal Ballet productions, with notabl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballerina
A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. Ballet dancers are at a high risk of injury due to the demanding technique of ballet. Training and technique Ballet dancers typically begin training at an early age if they desire to perform professionally and often take part in international competitions such as YAGP and Prix de Lausanne. At these events, scholarships are being granted to the most talented dancers, enabling them to continue their training at renowned ballet schools around the world, such as the John Kranko Schule in Germany and the Académie de Danse Classique Princesse Grace in Monaco. Pre-professional ballet dancers can audition to enroll at a vocational ballet school such a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Month In The Country (ballet)
''A Month in the Country'' is a narrative ballet created in 1976 with choreography by Frederick Ashton, to the music of Frédéric Chopin (three works for piano and orchestra) arranged by John Lanchbery. It is based on the play by Ivan Turgenev of the same name, and lasts for about 40 minutes.Vaughan D. ''Frederick Ashton and his Ballets.'' A & C Black Ltd, London, 1977. History Ashton had had the idea of a ballet based on ''A Month in the Country'' since seeing the play in the 1930s at the Westminster Theatre, but a meeting with Isaiah Berlin in the late 1960s helped him decide on the subject, and he took up Berlin's suggestion of using the music of Chopin. During the preparation of the ballet, Ashton encouraged the dancers to see the play in London with Dorothy Tutin as Natalia.Kavanagh J. ''Secret Muses: The Life of Frederick Ashton.'' Faber & Faber Ltd, London, 1996. Ashton also credited Michael Somes "who brought the music used in the ballet to my notice" and Martyn Thomas who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rite Of Spring (MacMillan)
''The Rite of Spring'' is a one-act ballet created by Kenneth MacMillan in 1962 for the Royal Ballet, set to Igor Stravinsky's ''The Rite of Spring'' (1913). The conductor was Colin Davis, and the designs were by Sidney Nolan. The first performance was given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 3 May 1962. The central role of the Chosen One was danced by Monica Mason who continued to tale the part in revivals up to 1982. Mason supervised later revivals, in which the Chosen One was danced by, among others, Tamara Rojo (2005 and 2008), Mara Galeazzi (2005), Zenaida Yanowsky (2005), Steven McRae (2011) and Edward Watson (2011)."The Rite of Spring (1962)" Royal Opera House Collections Online, retrieved 9 October 2014 Background MacMillan had been invited to create a new produ ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gloria (ballet)
''Gloria'' is a ballet created by Kenneth MacMillan in 1980 for the Royal Ballet, London. The music is Francis Poulenc's '' Gloria'' for soprano, chorus and orchestra (1961). The first performance was at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 13 March 1980. The lead roles were danced by Wayne Eagling, Jennifer Penney, Julian Hosking and Wendy Ellis. The soprano soloist was Teresa Cahill; the conductor was Ashley Lawrence; designs (scenery and costumes) were by Andy Klunder,Percival, John. "Gloria", ''The Times'', 14 March 1980, p. 13 with lighting by Bill Besant.Gloria. ''About the House'', Vol.5, No.12, Summer 1980, p18-19. Also named among the first cast were Ross MacGibbon, Ashley Page, Fiona Chadwick and Genesia Rosato Genesia Rosato (born 29 September 1957) is a retired British ballerina. She was a principal character artist with the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, where her career lasted four decades from 1976 to 2016. Early life Genesia Rosato was born in Surr .... Not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mayerling (ballet)
''Mayerling'' is a ballet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan to the music of Franz Liszt, arranged by John Lanchbery, scenario by Gillian Freeman and designed by Nicholas Georgiadis. The ballet is based on the Mayerling incident, a series of events surrounding the apparent murder–suicide of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria (21 August 1858 – 30 January 1889) and his lover, Baroness Mary Vetsera (19 March 1871 – 30 January 1889). The ballet premiered on 14 February 1978, at the Royal Opera House, danced by The Royal Ballet, with David Wall as Prince Rudolf and Lynn Seymour as Vetsera. Synopsis ] ''Prologue: The cemetery at Heiligenkreuz, Lower Austria, Heiligenkreuz before dawn'' Act I ''Scene 1: The ballroom at the Hofburg Palace, Vienna'' A ball to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary and Princess Stephanie of Belgium is in full swing. Rudolf flirts shamelessly with Stephanie's sister, Princess Louise, offending both ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romeo And Juliet (MacMillan)
Choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Royal Ballet production of Sergei Prokofiev's ''Romeo and Juliet'' premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 9 February 1965. Background Kenneth MacMillan had previously choreographed the balcony scene for Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable to dance in September 1964 for Canadian Television. This scene provided an essential part of the ballet's overall structure. Seymour stated that the balcony scene pas de deux only took three rehearsals to fully choreograph. This experience made him seem a good candidate to choreograph the entire ballet for Covent Garden, when the Soviet Union refused to allow Leonid Lavrovsky's classic production to tour to London. MacMillan prepared his version with the blessing of Frederick Ashton. MacMillan only had five months to choreograph the full ballet as The Royal Ballet hoped to perform Romeo and Juliet in its upcoming American tour. He, Seymour, and Gable planned the ballet around the characters ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Monotones (ballet)
''Monotones'' is a one-act ballet in two parts choreographed by Frederick Ashton to music by Erik Satie. ''Monotones II'' was created first as a gala piece for a gala performance in aid of the Royal Ballet Benevolent Fund in 1965. Ashton had long been inspired by the '' Gymnopedies'' by Erik Satie of 1888 and took orchestrations by Claude Debussy and Roland-Manuel as the basis of a ''pas de trois'' for two men and one woman. The premiere was on 24 March 1965 with Vyvyan Lorrayne, Anthony Dowell, and Robert Mead. The piece was a great success – so much so that in 1966 Ashton enlarged the piece so that it would be long enough to be performed in the normal repertory, by the addition of ''Monotones I'', which formed an overture to the earlier work. This piece in many ways forms a mirror image of ''Monotones II''. Based on Satie's ''Gnossiennes'', it is another ''pas de trois'', but in this case for two women and one man; the premiere was given by Antoinette Sibley, Georgina Par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birthday Offering
''Birthday Offering'' is a pièce d'occasion in one scene choreographed by Frederick Ashton to music by Alexander Glazunov, arranged by Robert Irving. The ballet was created in 1956, to celebrate the Royal Ballet's 25th anniversary. The first performance took place on 5 May 1956 at the Royal Opera House, London. Original cast * Margot Fonteyn * Beryl Grey * Violetta Elvin * Nadia Nerina * Rowena Jackson * Svetlana Beriosova * Elaine Fifield * Michael Somes * Alexander Grant * Brian Shaw * Philip Chatfield * David Blair * Desmond Doyle Desmond Doyle (1924–1986) was an Irish painter and professional pianist, whose children (Evelyn, Maurice, Noel, John, Kevin, and Dermot) were taken into the custody of the Ireland Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC). Back ... * Bryan Ashbridge Source: dead link Order of numbers In a sumptuous setting, seven couples make a grand entrance, then the women perform a series of seven solo variations. The men dance a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scènes De Ballet (Ashton)
''Scènes de ballet'' is a one-act ballet choreographed by Frederick Ashton, who created it during 1947–1948 to Igor Stravinsky's eponymous music from 1944. The first performance was given by the Sadler's Wells Ballet, at the Royal Opera House, London. Creation, choreography and design Ashton's choreography is along classical lines, in the tradition of Marius Petipa's 19th-century works. Instead of Petipa's symmetry, however, Ashton used a system of Euclidean geometry, with geometric theorems adapted to serve as floor patterns for the dancers. As a result, the ballet is unusual in that it makes sense from all angles, as Ashton himself explained, "I wanted to do a ballet that could be seen from any angle – anywhere could be front, so to speak. So I did these geometric figures that are not always facing front – if you saw ''Scènes de ballet'' from the wings, you'd get a very different but equally good picture." The ballet was originally designed by André Beaurepaire, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Les Rendezvous
''Les Rendezvous'' is a plotless one-act ballet created in 1933, with choreography by Frederick Ashton to the music of Daniel Auber (the ballet music from his opera '' L'enfant prodigue'') arranged by Constant Lambert and with designs by William Chappell. It was the first major ballet created by Ashton for the Vic-Wells company.Bland A. The Royal Ballet – the first 50 years. Threshold Books, London, 1981. It was first performed on Tuesday, 5 December 1933 by Vic-Wells Ballet at Sadler's Wells Theatre, with Alicia Markova and Stanislas Idzikowsky in the lead roles; these were later taken by Margot Fonteyn and Robert Helpmann. The choreography was revised in 1934 and the work was performed every season up to 1945, then from 1959 to 1963, when it used the set by Sophie Fedorovitch for Act 1 of '' La Traviata''. It was revived in 1984 by Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet to celebrate Ashton's 80th birthday, and by the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden in 2000 with updated sets. The balle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Kenneth MacMillan")