Ballet Rambert Archives » Voices of British Ballet

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Timeline Event » 1920 – Marie Rambert opens her school

Marie Rambert (1888-1982) was a dancer, choreographer, teacher and company founder and director born in Warsaw. In 1910, she went to Geneva to study the eurhythmics of Emile Jacques-Dalcroze. She...

Timeline Event » 1930 – First public performance by the Marie Rambert Dancers

The Marie Rambert Dancers gave their first public performance at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith on the 25 February 1930 in a programme, which included Capriol Suite. It proved so popular that two...

Timeline Event » 1930 – The Ballet Club opens at the Mercury Theatre, London

Marie Rambert married English playwright Ashley Dukes in 1918. In 1928, Dukes purchased a disused church hall in Notting Hill Gate and converted it into the Mercury Theatre. This provided a permanent...

Timeline Event » 1936 – Premiere of Antony Tudor’s Jardin aux lilas (Lilac Garden) by Ballet Rambert

Jardin aux lilas (or Lilac Garden as it is also titled) is a dramatic ballet in one act choreographed by Antony Tudor. The music is by Ernest Chausson and the original sets and costumes by Hugh...

Timeline Event » 1937 – Premiere of Antony Tudor’s Dark Elegies by Ballet Rambert

Dark Elegies was created by Antony Tudor for Ballet Rambert in London in 1937 and it premiered at the Duchess Theatre, London. In 1940 it was premiered in New York, where its choreographer was to...

Timeline Event » 1938 – London Ballet founded

Antony Tudor founded his own company, the London Ballet, after he left Ballet Rambert in 1937, giving regular performances at the Toynbee Hall in east London. The company’s repertory featured...

Timeline Event » 1939 – Premiere of Andrée Howard’s Lady into Fox by Ballet Rambert

Based on David Garnett’s story about a girl who transforms into a fox, Andrée Howard’s Lady into Fox provided Sally Gilmour with the role for which she is best remembered. The first cast also...

Timeline Event » 1940 – Premiere of Andrée Howard’s La Fête étrange by the London Ballet

La Fête étrange is a one-act ballet by Andrée Howard that she created in 1940, initially for London Ballet, and then for Ballet Rambert. Howard was a well-regarded choreographer and created more...

Timeline Event » 1941 – Mona Inglesby’s International Ballet founded

Mona Inglesby was born in London in 1918. She studied under a range of teachers and danced with Marie Rambert’s Ballet Club, and with Ballet Rambert. In 1939 she joined Victor Dandré’s...

Timeline Event » 1958 – Premiere of Norman Morrice’s Two Brothers by Ballet Rambert

First performed by Ballet Rambert at the Marlow Theatre, Canterbury, in 1958, Two Brothers was the first work choreographed for Ballet Rambert by Norman Morrice. It was performed in modern dress and...

Timeline Event » 1962 – First time Ballet Rambert dances Don Quixote

The first staging by a British company of the popular Russian classic, Ballet Rambert presented Marius Petipa’s Don Quixote at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool, on June 28, 1962, in a version by...

Timeline Event » 1966 – Ballet Rambert, under the direction of Norman Morrice, becomes a modern dance company

Norman Morrice was born in Mexico in 1931. He studied at Marie Rambert’s school and joined Ballet Rambert in 1953, becoming a principal dancer. In 1962, Morrice travelled to the United States of...

Timeline Event » 1967 – Ballet Rambert performs Glen Tetley’s Pierrot Lunaire for the first time

One of Glen Tetley’s earliest works, Pierrot Lunaire, danced to music by Arnold Schoenberg, brought him immediate recognition. An attempt at fusing classical and contemporary dance forms, he...

Timeline Event » 1968 – Premiere of Glen Tetley’s Embrace Tiger and Return to Mountain by Ballet Rambert

Inspired by the concentrated tranquility of Chinese T’ai-chi, Glen Tetley’s Embrace Tiger and Return to Mountain indicated the continuing re-focusing of Ballet Rambert’s repertoire towards the...

Timeline Event » 1970 – Premiere of Glen Tetley’s Field Figures by The Royal Ballet New Group

Glen Tetley’s Field Figures, a world premiere for The Royal Ballet New Group in 1970, signalled a radical shift in repertoire for the newly renamed and re-formed company towards contemporary dance;...

Timeline Event » 1977 – Norman Morrice becomes director of The Royal Ballet

After Kenneth MacMillan stepped down as artistic director of The Royal Ballet in 1977, the company appointed Norman Morrice who had, until then, been primarily associated as a choreographer and...

Timeline Event » 1977 – Premiere of Christopher Bruce’s Cruel Garden by Ballet Rambert

Christopher Bruce’s Cruel Garden is a powerful work in two acts; a surreal fantasy based on the life of the Spanish poet Gabriel García Lorca, who was murdered by General Franco’s Nationalist...

Timeline Event » 1994 – Richard Alston Dance Company opened

Choreographer Richard Alston, one of the first cohort of students of London Contemporary Dance School, had been director of Ballet Rambert from 1986 to 1992. In 1994 he opened his own company,...