TEXT 16.The English Ballet.

Although Britain had a rich history of dance, ballet as an art form was almost completely alien to the British Isles prior to the commencement of the twentieth century. The puritan influence in England which stifled any form of joyous expression arrested the development of dance in this country at the very time this new form was blossoming elsewhere. Prior to the close of the nineteenth century therefore, ballet in Great Britain was almost exclusively performed by a handful of foreign dance companies and foreign dancers visiting from abroad. Moreover, these foreign companies came and departed so fleetingly that they made little impression on the public at large, and were rarely seen at all outside of London.

The situation began to change around the beginning of the twentieth century with the long term arrival in England of some of the great continental dancers like Adeline Genee and Lydia Kyasht. They introduced the British public to the style and technique of ballet, although they did it by means of individual performances which could not in themselves be said to represent the art of ballet.

The history of modern ballet in England has often been said to have begun with the Russians, in particular Serge Diaghilev and Anna Pavlova. Diaghilev created the original Ballets Russes in Paris in 1909, with the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova at its head, leading a corps de ballet of the finest Russian dancers. They created a sensation on the continent raising ballet from a diverting entertainment to a serious theatrical art, and when the company came to England for the first time in 1910 they left the English audiences astounded. Pavlova had by this time already split from Diaghelev and brought her own touring company to England with herself at the head. Her corps de ballet was initially based around Russian and Polish performers but, having established a permanent base in London, it was not long before she began to recruit young English dancers and found them to be excellent material. In the space of a few years, Diaghilev and Pavlova were instrumental in popularising ballet to the British public. The result of this new found awareness was that many young girls throughout the country were inspired to consider dancing as a serious profession, so creating for the first time a pool of fresh British talent to be drawn upon in following years.

In 1931 a new ballet company was established which would eventually become our National Ballet. It was founded by Dame Ninette de Valois, dancer, choreographer and entrepreneur, and was initially known as the Vic-Wells Ballet since it performed at the Old Vic and Sadlers Wells Theatres. Ninette persuaded Lilian Baylis to provide the company with a permanent home at the Sadler's Wells Theatre and it became known as the Sadlers Wells Ballet. In the years that followed it established such a reputation for excellence both at home and on the continent that on its 25th Anniversary, in 1956, the name The Royal Ballet was granted by Royal Charter.

The Royal Ballet remains this country's premier company, based in Covent Garden. Unfortunately they do not undertake National tours and prices to see them in London are prohibitive. Fortunately there are other companies which make themselves much more accessible. The English National Ballet (originally formed in 1950 as The Festival Ballet) is also based in London but tours extensively, as do the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Northern Ballet Theatre (based in Leeds). Whilst these latter companies have fewer dancers and cannot match the sheer scale of The Royal Ballet's productions they lack nothing in quality and fulfill a very real need of making ballet accessible to all.

(Source: Stage Beauty. 2012.)

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