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Andrée Howard (3 October 1910 – 18 April 1968), originally Louise Andréa Enriqueta Howard, was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. She created over 30 ballets.


Early life

Louise Andréa Enriqueta HowardProfile
jstor.org. Accessed 4 August 2023.
was born on 3 October 1910. Her career as a dancer began as a pupil of Marie Rambert and she also studied in Paris where she danced in early performances of
Léonide Massine Leonid Fyodorovich Myasin (), better known in the West by the French transliteration as Léonide Massine (15 March 1979), was a Russian choreographer and ballet dancer. Massine created the world's first symphonic ballet, ''Les Présages'', and ...
's '.


Career

Her ballet ''Death and the Maiden'' (choreography and costumes) for
Ballet Rambert Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...
based on the music by
Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...
was premiered at the Duchess Theatre, London, on 23 February 1937, danced by herself as The Maiden, and John Bryon as Death. On 18 January 1940, it received its
American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spr ...
premiere at The Center Theatre, New York, danced by Howard, and with Kurt Karnakoski as Death. Her 1939 ''Lady into Fox'' was based on David Garnett's 1922 first novel under his own name '' Lady into Fox''. Reviewing the 2006 reinterpretation, Judith Mackrell of
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
called it "a seminal Ballet Rambert work". Unfortunately, all that choreographer Mark Baldwin could find of the original choreography was a 12-minute jerky silent film. Baldwin stated: "There are all these fabulous ballets like Lady Into Fox still waiting for us to dip into. The past is such a fabulous resource." Her best known work is ' (1940) created for the short-lived London Ballet and premiered at the Arts Theatre, London on 23 May 1940.Royal Opera House Collections
/ref> It was based on an episode in Alain Fournier's novel ', with a significantly adapted libretto by Ronald Crichton, who also chose the six piano pieces and songs used in the score (orchestrated by Guy Warrack). Stage design and costumes were by Sophie Fedorovitch. The piece was so successful that it was taken up by
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 1958 and has since been performed over 200 times by them and by Scottish Ballet. A 1958 film of the Royal Ballet production exists. More recent revivals have used am orchestration by Lennox Berkeley. In 1938, she was one of the founding members of Antony Tudor's London Ballet along with Hugh Laing, Agnes de Mille, Peggy van Praagh, Maude Lloyd and
Walter Gore Walter Gore (8 October 1910 – 16 April 1979) was a British ballet dancer, company director and choreographer. Early life Walter Gore was born in Waterside, East Ayrshire Scotland in 1910 into a theatrical family. From 1924, he studied a ...
. With the onset of World War II, in 1940 was invited with them to New York, joining Richard Pleasant's and Lucia Chase's reorganised Ballet Theater. Chase's company was later to become the
American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spr ...
. In 1946, ''Mardi gras'' featured Nadia Nerina's first created role, dancing alongside
John Cranko John Cyril Cranko (15 August 1927 – 26 June 1973) was a South African ballet dancer and choreographer with the Royal Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet. Life and career Early life Cranko was born to Herbert and Grace Cranko in Rustenburg in ...
,
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. Ea ...
and Peter Darrell. In 1947, Howard created ''The Sailor's Return'' for Ballet Rambert, based David Garnett's 1925 novel, '' The Sailor's Return''. The story involves a West African princess marrying an English sailor and then encountering racial prejudice in England. In Dance Research, Susan Jones noted that the ballet "offers a striking critique of racism in a realist mode" and comments on "her important contribution to narrative ballet and the distinctiveness of her presentation of female experience in the period". In 1948, the Crown Film Unit released the film, ''Steps of the Ballet'', with choreography by Howard, music by Arthur Benjamin, directed by Muir Mathieson, decor and costumes by Hugh Stevenson, and narration by Robert Helpmann. The dancers were
Gerd Larsen Gerd Larsen born Gerd Elly (19 February 1921 – 4 October 2001) was a Norwegian ballerina who performed frequently with England's Royal Ballet, in a career lasting over fifty years up until her seventy-fifth birthday. In her later years, she ...
, Alexander Grant, Gordon Hamilton, Elaine Fifield, Michael Boulton, Michael Bayston, Jeanne Artois, Peter Wright, Moyra Fraser, Leila Russell Also in 1948, Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet premiered ''Selina'', choreographed to the music of
Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano p ...
by Howard, with scenario and design by Peter Williams, conducted by Guy Warrack. Elaine Fifield was the lead dancer. ''A Mirror for Witches'' premiered on 4 March 1952, with the Sadler's Wells Ballet, at the Royal Opera House. It was based on the novel '' A Mirror for Witches'' by Esther Forbes, and consisted of a prologue and five scenes, with music by Denis ApIvor and set design by Norman Adams RA. ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...
'' described Howard as "both brave and wise in her selection, because ballets of such serious import seldom enjoy a popular appeal, and because we are sick to death of those eternal period frolics which challenge neither choreographer, dancer nor spectator." ' premiered on 4 September 1958, with the Edinburgh International Ballet, Empire Theatre, Edinburgh. The Royal Ballet premiere was on 2 September 1959. The composer was
Alexander Goehr Peter Alexander Goehr (; 10 August 1932 – 26 August 2024) was a German-born English composer of contemporary classical music and academic teacher. A long-time professor of music at the University of Cambridge, Goehr influenced many notable c ...
. It was based on the poem of the same title by
John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tub ...
. Howard also designed the sets and the costumes.
Clive Barnes Clive Alexander Barnes (13 May 1927 – 19 November 2008) was an English writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977, he was the dance and theater critic for ''The New York Times'', and, from 1978 until his death, the ''New York Post''. Barnes had sign ...
for The Spectator called it a "weak-kneed, indeterminate work". In 1968, Howard died at her home in
Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...
, London, of a drug overdose, while suffering from depression.


Ballets created

* ''Death and the Maiden'' (1937) * ''Lady into Fox'' (1939) * , or ''Assembly Ball'' (1940) * ''Carnival of Animals'' (1943) * (1944) * ''The Sailor's Return'' (1947) * ''Mardi gras'' (1946) * ''Selina'' (1948) * ''A Mirror for Witches'' (1952) * (1958) * ''The Mermaid'' * ''Cinderella''


Legacy

The Andrée Howard Archive is held by Ballet Rambert in its Special Collections.


References


External links


24 minute video of ''Steps of the Ballet''. Howard herself can be seen from 6:33 onwards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Andree 1910 births 1968 suicides British women choreographers British ballerinas British ballet choreographers British costume designers Musicians from London Drug-related suicides in England Choreographers of American Ballet Theatre Suicides in Westminster Rambert Dance Company dancers 20th-century English musicians 1968 deaths