HOME NEXT ARTICLE Part II: Classical Ballet Choreographers
Throughout the history of ballet it is the choreographers who have shaped what audiences see and who have steered the development of the art and entertainment that is dance. Classical Ballet, the longest established form of Western theatrical dance, has attracted the largest audiences, highest paying patrons and largest amounts of government funding. The lavish productions that began in the Renaissance and Baroque eras began a tradition of social kudos and spectacle that has continued through the 18th 19th and 20th centuries in Europe, America and even here in Australia. Graeme Murphy’s Nutcracker was perhaps the most recent ballet-block-buster to be originated locally, and the Australian Ballet continues to stage traditional classics such as Coppelia, Giselle, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and so on. It seems that the general public love the tradition and to this day staging a classic is the most guaranteed way for a ballet company to generate a full audience.
Since Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes began revolutionising ballet in the early 20th century, there have been continued attempts to break the mould of classical ballet, and currently the artistic scope of the technique and its related art forms (music, décor, multimedia) is more all-encompassing than ever. The definitions of what make a dance piece a work of classical ballet are constantly being stretched, muddied and blurred until perhaps all that remains today are vestiges of technique idioms such as ’turn-out’.
Even so, the dance we have today is founded on the work of choreographers through the centuries who refined and developed technique and aesthetic, each within their own culture, each building on the work of those who went before. In this article we look at the people who laid the foundations: Petipa, Ashton, Helpmann, Balanchine, Tudor, Robbins, Bejart, Forsythe, Kylian.
Born and trained in France as a dancer, Marius Petipa worked in Spain, America and his home country before leaving for Russia at the age of 28. He became Choreographer-in-Chief at the Imperial Theatre in1862. Petipa’s most famous works include:
La Bayadere, Le Corsaire, Don Quixote, Giselle, Jardin Anime, Paquita, Pas D’Esclave, Princess Aurora, Raymonda, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake
Petipa’s work was formal, symmetrical and requiring a high degree of technical skill. This was partly a reflection of his working environment – the Russian court, which demanded formulaic plots used as a backdrop for big ensemble spectaculars and star dancers displaying technical fireworks. His story lines were grounded in legend, the baby Aurora being endowed with beauty, an even temper, singing talent, etc. etc., (hardly what you would call useful life-skills). The dancing style too was formal, the ballerina remained bound tightly upright in her corset-like bodice, her stiff tutu severely limiting any contact from her partner below her waist, reflecting the chaste values of a fairy-tale. Ultimately Petipa fell out of favour because his noble classicism and consciousness of form became out of date. However he is, to this day, considered the father of the Russian ballet and indeed of all classical choreographers.
Frederick Ashton1904 - 1988
Born in Ecuador, Ashton later studied dance in England under Leonide Massine and Marie Rambert, both formerly of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. With Marie Rambert he helped to found the Ballet Club, (later Ballet Rambert,) and joined the Sadler’s Wells (later the Royal) Ballet in 1935 as choreographer and dancer.
Some of Ashton’s most famous works include:
Façade (1931), Cinderella (1948), Ondine (1958), La Fille Mal Gardee (1960), Marguérite and Armand (1963), The Dream (1964), The Tales of Beatrix Potter (1971)
Ashton is possibly the first of the great English choreographers, known for developing what is now called the ‘English Style’, characterised by fleet footwork, lyricism, and wit. With Ashton’s choreography, body bends and swoops entered the dancer’s vocabulary. However Ashton was in line with tradition with his highly romanticised plots dealing with the sometimes saccharine emotions of fantasy. His movement was new and beautiful but the values even of Ashton’s later choreography reflect the pre-1950s ideals.
Mirella Dancewear website and Deborah Bull ‘Dance Ballerina Dance’, a Channel 4 Production
Robert Helpmann
Helpmann's
career as a choreographer was launched in the 2nd World War in
London, when de Valois’ Vic-Wells Ballet needed someone to fill the gap left
when Ashton was called up. 'Hamlet' and 'Miracle in the Gorbals' are the best
remembered - indeed 'Hamlet' was revived as recently as the 1980s. It wasn't a
straightforward adaptation of the play, but an intensely theatrical vision of
the thoughts passing through the mind of the dying Prince - played, of course,
by Helpmann himself. 'Miracle in the Gorbals' was something quite new - a
morality tale set in the Glasgow slums (with a note advising that it wasn't
suitable for children!). It was strong stuff, predating MacMillan's
psychodramas by 20 years. Helpmann's last ballet for the company was the
melodramatic 'Elektra' in 1963 - a disaster by most accounts - but he went on
to create successful new works for the Australian Ballet.
Helpmann left the Sadler's Wells Ballet and concentrated on acting (see below), returning occasionally as a guest to join Ashton in their unsurpassable double act as the Ugly Sisters in 'Cinderella'. He was for years a director of the Australian Ballet, and it was with them that he made his last stage appearance - in another of his great roles, the Red King in 'Checkmate' - only a few weeks before his death in 1986.
http://www.ballet.co.uk/old/legend_js_robert_helpmann.htm
Balanchine 1904-1983
George Balanchine was born and raised in Russia, and trained as a child at the Imperial Ballet School. His father was a composer and Balanchine learnt the piano from the age of 5, one of the keys to his later choreographic success. He came to the United States in late 1933 following an early career throughout Europe (which included the Ballets Russes), and founded the School of American Ballet, and soon after, the American Ballet Theatre. Balanchine was a highly prolific choreographer, with more than 200 ballets to his name.
Some
of Balanchine’s most famous works include:
Apollo, Harlequinade, Jewels, Prodigal Son, La Sonnambula, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Symphonie Concertante, Theme and Variations, Who Cares?, Tarantella
Balanchine was something of a revolutionary, always surprising people with his work. He exposed the female form onstage like never before; the costume for many of his works is pink tights and a black leotard. In sympathy with this, most of his ballets were plotless, mirroring the complex structure of the music he favoured. The choreography requires, according to British Ballerina Deborah Bull, ‘All the steely strength I could muster.’ Balanchine took Classical Ballet Technique to a new level, speeding up the jumps and direction changes, and developing new ways of training with which to achieve this. He was also in the habit of including risky off-balance moves for the ballerina whom his choreography revolved around, however she was always kept safe by her partner, behind her.
Balanchine choreographed for films, operas, and musicals as well, creating the original Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (1968) for the musical On Your Toes. He never lost his creative instincts and continually experimented with new forms and movements. As the major figure in 20th-century ballet, Balanchine established the modern style of classical American ballet and freed ballet from the symmetrical form that had dominated the 19th cent.
www.encyclopedia.com and Deborah Bull ‘Dance Ballerina Dance’, a Channel 4 Production
In 1928 Tudor discovered dance thanks to a performance of Anna Pavlova in London. He decided to attend the lessons of Marie Rambert and became a member of her company, the Ballet-Club, in 1930.
1931 marked his first choreography, Cross Garter'd, after Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night". Tudor also danced with the Sadler Well's Ballet until 1935. In 1938 he created the London Ballet, with the help of Agnes De Mille.
In the following year he was invited to New York City by the Ballet Theatre, and restaged some of his ballets for this company. He created there some of his best ballets:Pillar of fire(1942),Dim Lustre(1943),Undertow(1945),Shadow of the Wind(1948), and became famous as a "psychological choreographer". In 1950 Tudor became the head of the Dance School of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and gave classes at the Julliard School. In the 50’s and 60’s he worked with the NYCB, the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Australian Ballet and once again the Royal Ballet. In 1974 he was associated to the direction of the American Ballet Theater, and created for it The Leaves are fading (1975) with Gelsey Kirkland, and Tiller in the fields (1978).
http://protis.univ-mrs.fr/~esouche/dance/Tudor.html
Robbins
began his career dancing in musical comedy (1937), and in 1940 he joined the
Ballet Theatre. The first ballet he choreographed, Fancy Free (1944), was expanded into the musical On the Town. He later gained distinction
as the innovative choreographer of several Broadway musicals, including High Button Shoes (1947) and The King and I (1951). Among the
musicals he directed were Peter Pan
(1954), West Side Story (1957), and Fiddler on the Roof (1964). In 1989, in Jerome Robbins's Broadway, he restaged
excerpts from his earlier hits. In 1949 Robbins became associate artistic director
of the New York City Ballet; from 1983 to 1990 he was co-ballet master in chief
with Peter Martins. Many of his 66 ballets continue to be performed by the New
York City Ballet, including Dances at a
Gathering (1969) and Goldberg
Variations (1971).
www.encyclopedia.com
Maurice Béjart
After a study of psychology and aesthetics, Bejart
eventually became a member of the Ballets de Paris in 1948. A year later he
left for London to join The International Ballet Company. During this period
Maurice Béjart started creating his first choreographies. In 1954 he
experienced a turning point in his career. He discovered the musique concrète
by Pierre Schaeffer, the principles of which he began to apply to dance.
Consequently Béjart became one of the renewers in this field. After
performances for the Belgian television in 1959, he received a commission to
create a ballet on Stravinsky's Le sacre
du printemps , the success of which led to the establishing of the Ballet
of the 20th Century, the following year.
Bejart’s work is known for spectacle and visual fireworks, provoking
extreme views at both ends of the scale.
In 1987, the Ballet of the 20th Century dissolved and a new company was
formed by the now renowned Bejart - partly using the same dancers - under the
name of Béjart Ballet Lausanne.
http://www.ndt.nl/English/Choreographers/Bejart.html
William Forsythe was born in New York where he received his classical ballet training. He danced with the Stuttgarter Ballet. He has been artistic director of the Ballett Frankfurt since 1984 and Intendant of the Ballet Frankfurt since 1989. His ballets form part of the repertory of prestigious companies all over the world.
Forsythe’s
work represents a melting pot of dance styles performed en pointe, but with the feet often in parallel, and ‘the pelvis
seeming to have an independent existence. The Classical Ballet technique is
still there, but reversed, fragmented, and inside out’ according to Deborah Bull.
In contrast to Balanchine’s off-balance choreography, Forsythe’s work puts the
woman in control, deciding when and how much she falls off-balance and almost
daring the man not to catch her. In fact Forsythe insists the male dancer
learns the steps of the female so that he understands the kind of support she
needs. Also notable about Forsythe is his choreography for men; he is not
afraid of giving them delicate and poetic movement of the sort often reserved
for women. Altogether a choreographer to take us into the 21st
century.
http://cndanza.mcu.es/english/coreo3.htm and Deborah Bull ‘Dance Ballerina Dance’, a Channel 4 Production
In 1973, Jirì Kyliàn joined the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) in The Hague as a guest choreographer. Here he made a successful debut with Viewers, the first of almost 50 In 1975, he left the Stuttgarter Ballett in Germany for good to work exclusively for the NDT.
In 1978, Kylian achieved an international breakthrough with Sinfonietta, which he set to music composed by his compatriot Leos Janacek. In a very brief time, Kylian created this work for the renowned Spoleto Festival in the United States In the same year, Kylian was appointed Artistic Director of the NDT.
Through
the years, he has moved away from lyrical works to abstract and often
surrealistic ballets. In October 1994, the NDT made a highly successful tour of
the United States and Canada. Apart from developing choreographed works, Kylian
has also built up a unique organizational structure within the NDT, adding two
new dimensions to the Dutch ballet company. The world-famous NDT I has now been
joined by NDT II (experimental dance performed by dancers aged between 17 and
22) and NDT III (dancers who are aged 40 and older and work on a project
basis).
In April 1995, Jirí Kylian celebrated 20 years with the NDT by mounting the large-scale dance production Arcimboldo, which involved all the dancers of NDT I, II and III. On that occasion, he received one of the Netherlands' highest honors, becoming Officier in de Orde van Oranje Nassau.
Kylian’s
Petit Mort performed by the Rambert
Dance Company
Note that Kylian is usually considered to be a contemporary choreographer. However his work is grounded largely in Classical technique and performed frequently by classical or classically-trained dancers, such that I have included him in this section.
You may also want to look up: Kenneth MacMillan, Michel Fokine, Roland Petit, John Cranko, Nacho Duarto, Peter Schaufuss
Australia: Charles Lisner, Francois
Klaus, Natalie Weir, Stanton Welch
A longer list of Ballet Choreographers including many Americans, is found at:
http://www.calarts.edu/~dk/ballet.html