''Scènes de ballet'' is a one-act ballet choreographed by

Frederick Ashton Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (17 September 190418 August 1988) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue. Determined to be a dancer despite the opposit ...

, who created it during 1947–1948 to

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

's eponymous music from 1944. The first performance was given by the Sadler's Wells Ballet, 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 ...

, London.

Creation, choreography and design

Ashton's choreography is along classical lines, in the tradition of

Marius Petipa Marius Ivanovich Petipa (russian: Мариус Иванович Петипа), born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa (11 March 1818), was a French ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. Petipa is one of the most influential ballet masters and ...

's 19th-century works. Instead of Petipa's symmetry, however, Ashton used a system of

Euclid Euclid (; grc-gre, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the ''Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of ...

ean 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, a young Frenchman who was heavily influenced by Picasso. His collaboration with Ashton was not an easy one, given the choreographer's wish for what Parry calls "Baroque Parisian fantasy". Eventually, two sets were agreed upon: a green-grey viaduct that was supposed to give way, at the apotheosis, to a white pavilion made up of guns, bones, and limbs. In the event this proved impractical, and since the ballet's second performance the viaduct has been used on its own, although at the premiere Ashton went with the pavilion. Nor were Beaurepaire's designs for the costumes quite to Ashton's liking: though the choreographer retained his designer's hats, bracelets and chokers he discarded the men's hats and altered the colour of the tights from blue-gray to pink. Pearls and diamonds were added to the women's costumes, while the men's costumes were simplified. The ''prima ballerina'' was given a colour combination of yellow and black to suit Margot Fonteyn.

Original cast

Margot Fonteyn Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE (''née'' Hookham; 18 May 191921 February 1991), known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn, was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet (formerly the Sadler's Wells ...

* Michael Somes *

Alexander Grant Alexander Grant may refer to: The arts * Alex da Kid (Alexander Grant, born 1982), English hip-hop producer * Alex Grant (musician) (born 1974), bass guitarist for Idlewild and DeSalvo * Alex Grant (poet), Scottish-American poet, teacher * Alexa ...

John Field John Field may refer to: *John Field (American football) (1886–1979), American football player and coach *John Field (brigadier) (1899–1974), Australian Army officer *John Field (composer) (1782–1837), Irish composer *John Field (dancer) (192 ...

* Donald Britton *Philip Chatfield *Avril Navarre *

Pauline Clayden Pauline Clayden (born 12 October 1922) is a British retired ballerina. Clayden was born in Greenwich, London on 12 October 1922. She studied at the Cone School of Dancing. Peggy van Praagh, who had spotted her among the Cone students, had recommen ...

* Margaret Dale * Anne Heaton * Gerd Larsen *

Gillian Lynne Dame Gillian Barbara Lynne (née Pyrke; 20 February 1926 – 1 July 2018) was an English ballerina, dancer, choreographer, actress, and theatre-television director, noted for her theatre choreography associated with two of the longest-runni ...

*Rosemary Lindsay *Anne Negus *Lorna Mossford *Jill Gregory *

Nadia Nerina Nadia is a female name. Variations include Nadja, Nadya, Nadine, Nadiya, and Nadiia. Most variations of the name are derived from Arabic, Slavic languages, or both. In Slavic, names similar to ''Nadia'' mean "hope" in many Slavic languages: Uk ...

*Jean Stokes

Critical reception

Initially, ''Scènes de ballet'' divided critical opinion. ''

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'' ...

'' commented that it "had the one merit of brevity";

Richard Buckle (Christopher) Richard Sandford Buckle CBE (6 August 1916 – 12 October 2001), was a lifelong English devotee of ballet, and a well-known ballet critic. He founded the magazine ''Ballet'' in 1939. Early life Buckle was the only son of Lieuten ...

in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper Sunday editions, published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group, Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. ...

'' wrote, "The only fault … is that it is not the last act of a long classical ballet. Such a display of noble movement should be the culmination of a spectacle: yet before we realise its beauty this pearl of great price has dissolved – in eighteen minutes." Ashton's own description of the ballet was,"It has a distant, uncompromising beauty which says I am here, beautiful, but I will make no effort to charm you." In 2004 Debra Crain called the work "pure classicism at its most invigorating."

Recording

A performance of ''Scènes de ballet'' by the Royal Ballet from December 2010, featuring

Miyako Yoshida Miyako Yoshida (吉田都, born 28 October 1965) is a Japanese ballet dancer. She was a Principal Guest Artist of The Royal Ballet as well as a principal dancer with K-ballet, Japan. Life and career Born and trained in Tokyo, Yoshida won the ...

Ivan Putrov Ivan Oleksandrovych Putrov ( uk, Іван Олександрович Путров; born 8 March 1980) is a Ukrainian-born ballet dancer and producer. He trained at The Kyiv State Choreographic Institute and at The Royal Ballet School. Upon graduat ...

, Edward Watson and Lauren Cuthbertson has been issued on DVD by Opus Arte, as part of an all Ashton programme.

Notes

References