Royal Ballet Touring Company Archives » Voices of British Ballet

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Timeline Event » 1919 – World premieres of La Boutique fantasque and Le tricorne, by the Ballets Russes

La Boutique fantasque and Le tricorne Set in an enchanted toy shop in the 1860s, Léonide Massine’s La Boutique fantasque was one of his happiest and most effervescent works, danced to Ottorino...

Timeline Event » 1926 – Ninette de Valois opens the Academy of Choreographic Art

Ninette de Valois (1898-2001) was an Irish dancer, choreographer and founding director of The Royal Ballet.In 1918 and 1919 she became principal dancer for the Beecham Opera at Covent Garden and...

Timeline Event » 1955 – Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet is expanded and later becomes The Royal Ballet Touring Company

Peggy van Praagh left the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet in the summer of 1955. With this development and the understanding that it was increasingly difficult for the Covent Garden troupe to tour...

Timeline Event » 1956 – The Sadler’s Wells Ballet Companies and School became The Royal Ballet, The Royal Ballet Touring Company and The Royal Ballet School

In the autumn of 1956, Ninette de Valois’ companies and school received the Royal Charter, bringing all three entities under the one title of The Royal Ballet, with HM The Queen as Patron and HRH...

Timeline Event » 1960 – Premiere of Kenneth MacMillan’s The Invitation by The Royal Ballet Touring Company

In a bold move, in The Invitation Kenneth MacMillan chose to create a sexual drama of shifting emotions and desires that culminates with the rape of a young girl by an older married man. Created for...

Timeline Event » 1961 – Premiere of Frederick Ashton’s The Two Pigeons by The Royal Ballet Touring Company

Originally performed under the title Les Deux Pigeons, and premiering on St Valentine’s Day in 1961 by The Royal Ballet Touring Company, Frederick Ashton’s ballet The Two Pigeons is a cousin to...

Timeline Event » 1964 – Ballet for All established

Born in 1920, writer and lecturer Peter Brinson studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Keble College, Oxford. After serving during World War Two, Brinson worked at the London Film Centre, and...

Timeline Event » 1966 – The Royal Ballet Touring Company dances Act III of Marius Petipa’s Raymonda for the first time

Marius Petipa’s Raymonda was originally performed by the Imperial Russian Ballet in St Petersburg in 1898 to music by Alexander Glazunov. Rudolf Nureyev staged the full-length Raymonda for The...