ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
created in 1974 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. E ...
for
The 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 ...
The 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 ...
on 7 October 1974 at the
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...
, Covent Garden, with costume designs by Ian Spurling, lighting designs by John B. Read and staging by Julie Lincoln. The ballet is for 12 dancers. It is described as having an up-beat, hip swinging aura of spontaneity, with 'easygoing rhythms'. The band, also 12-strong, sit casually at the back of the stage playing while the dancers perform in front of them, adding to the 1920s party-like atmosphere.
A BBC film of ''Elite Syncopations'' was also made in 1975 and danced by The Royal Ballet's original cast, in Battersea's Big Top. The piece entered the repertory of Birmingham Royal Ballet on 10 February 1978 at
Sadler's Wells
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 ...
Theatre.
Music
The 'Classic' ragtime composers represented in the production are: Scott Joplin, Scott Hayden, Joseph F. Lamb and James Scott and Robert Hampton.
The centrepiece was composed by Scott Joplin. Joplin also wrote a ballet called ''The Ragtime Dance'' (performed in 1899) as well as two operas, only one of which survived, called 'Treemonisha' (1902).
MacMillan added some additional
ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...
tunes to complete his ballet: Paul Pratt's ''Hot-house Rag'' and James Scott's ''Calliope Rag'' for piano; Joseph Francis Lamb's ''Ragtime Nightingale'' orchestra and ''Alaskan Rag'' for piano; Max Morath's ''The Golden Hours'' for piano; Donald Ashwander's ''Friday Night'' and Robert Hampton's ''Cataract Rag'' for orchestra.
The full score list is:
*" Sunflower Slow Drag" (1901) – Scott Joplin (1867/8–1917) with Scott Hayden (1882–1915)
*"
Elite Syncopations
"Elite Syncopations" is a 1902 ragtime piano composition by American composer Scott Joplin, originally published in 1903 by John Stark & Son.nd Robert Darch*"Ragtime Nightingale" (1914) – Joseph F. Lamb (1877–1960)
*"The Golden Hours" (1966) – Max Morath (b. 1926)
*"Stoptime Rag" (1910) – Scott Joplin
*"The Alaskan Rag" (posthumously published) – Joseph F. Lamb
*"
Bethena
"Bethena, A Concert Waltz" (copyright registered March 6, 1905) is a composition by Scott Joplin. It was the first Joplin work since his wife Freddie's death on September 10, 1904, of pneumonia, ten weeks after their wedding. At the time the com ...
: a Concert Waltz" (1905) – Scott Joplin
*"Friday Night" (1965) – Donald Ashwander (1929–94)
*"Cataract Rag" (1914) – Robert Hampton (1890–1945)
Original cast
The ballet was premiered in Covent Garden on 7 October 1974: The principal roles were danced by:
*
Merle Park
Dame Merle Park (born 8 October 1937) is a British ballet dancer and teacher, now retired. As a prima ballerina with the Royal Ballet during the 1960s and 1970s, she was known for "brilliance of execution and virtuoso technique" as well as for h ...
– Stop Time Rag
*
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 wit ...
Jennifer Penney
Jennifer Penney (born 1946) is a Canadian ballerina and a former principal dancer with the Royal Ballet.
Jennifer Penney was born in 1946 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She studied there with Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally, and then at ...
Wayne Sleep
Wayne Philip Colin Sleep (born 17 July 1948) is a British dancer, director, choreographer, and actor who appeared on the BBC series '' The Real Marigold on Tour'' and ITV's '' The Real Full Monty''.
Early life
Sleep was born in Plymouth, D ...
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' and ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'' found the piece vulgar and unstylish,Percival, John. "Great Scott! Another Joplin ballet", ''The Times'', 8 October 1974, p. 13 but ''Dance and Dancers'' thought it "cheerfully diverting" with "some of the Royal Ballet’s best and most distinctive principals displaying new facets of their artistry in the choreography MacMillan devised for them." When the piece was presented in New York in 1976, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' gave it enthusiastic praise, and it has remained popular with audiences.Felciano, Rita. "San Francisco Ballet", ''DanceView'' 20.4 (Autumn 2003), pp. 29–33 In 2003 ''DanceView'' commented, "''Elite's'' humor is broad and the choreography simple minded. However, the work offered opportunities for dancers to let loose".