People

History: Dance company founded by Marie Rambert. Until the 1960s, the company gave 1930 as the year of its foundation because that year saw the first performances of the Marie Rambert Dancers. With the change of direction in 1966, the company looked back at its choreographic history and changed the year of its creation to 1926, taking Ashton’s ‘A Tragedy of Fashion’ as its founding work. Therefore, four years of the Rambert School’s history (1926-1929) are included as part of the company’s history because programmes in these years credit ‘pupils of Madame Rambert’ and ‘Madame Rambert’s School of Dancing’, not a company.: :In 1931, Rambert’s husband Ashley Dukes partitioned the school’s premises, Horbury Hall in Notting Hill Gate, to create a small theatre. Together, they launched the Ballet Club, initially a private club so that performances could be held on Sundays when the dancers were free. In 1933, the theatre became licensed for public performances and was named the Mercury. When performing at the Mercury, the company was known as Ballet Club. When performing at other London theatres or elsewhere in the UK, the company was variously called Marie Rambert Dancers, The Rambert Ballet, and Ballet Rambert. First used in 1935, Ballet Rambert gradually became the official name. : :In 1940-41, the company was based at the Arts Theatre Club, London, along with Antony Tudor’s London Ballet. Ballet Rambert and London Ballet began to share personnel and resources so that over the course of the two years, their names became amalgamated. In late 1941, the dancers brought in Equity because Harold Rubins, who owned the Arts Theatre Club, did not pay them a living wage. In response, Rubins fired them. London Ballet folded, but Ballet Rambert took Rubins to court because he had leased the sets and costumes and refused to return them. Consequently, the company did not exist in 1942 while the court case ensued. : :In March 1943, the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (C.E.M.A.) took over management of the re-launched Ballet Rambert. C.E.M.A. toured small ensembles of musicians and actors to armament factories in England and Wales, where they performed to workers during their breaks. With its repertoire created for the small stage of the Mercury, Ballet Rambert was ideal for this ‘home front’ work. Ballet Rambert now became a touring company. Soon, it was pioneering performances in ‘towns without theatres’, dancing for the general public in town halls, miners’ welfare halls, and other spaces. When World War II ended, Ballet Rambert toured Germany in early 1946 with E.N.S.A., performing for British soldiers stationed there. : :In 1947, the association with C.E.M.A., now called Arts Council of Great Britain, ended, and Ballet Rambert undertook a successful 15-month tour of Australia and New Zealand. Around half the dancers stayed in Australia, and so the diminished company was known as Ballet at Eight in its final season at the Mercury in 1949. Although the name soon reverted to Ballet Rambert, The Rambert Ballet was also used during the 1950s.: :In 1966, Ballet Rambert changed direction. It became a small ensemble focusing on contemporary works using a contemporary technique. The dancers were encouraged to choreograph. A resident orchestra, The Mercury Ensemble, was established. Norman Morrice became Artistic Director in 1970, succeeded by John Chesworth in 1974. : :Robert North was appointed Artistic Director in 1980, succeeded by Richard Alston in 1986. In 1987, Alston changed the name to Rambert Dance Company to reflect the contemporary repertoire. The company was without an artistic director in 1993, and The Mercury Ensemble folded. Christopher Bruce relaunched the company in 1994, with the London Musici as its associate orchestra (until 2009). Bruce remained artistic director until 2002, when Mark Baldwin took over. In August 2013, the company’s name became Rambert. Baldwin stepped down in 2018, succeeded by Benoit Swan Pouffer.

Performances as The Rambert Ballet

Date ↿⇂	Dance Work ↿⇂	Dance company	Venue ⇃⇂
8 Nov 1950 Evening	Jota Aragonesa^*	The Rambert Ballet	Arts Theatre Cambridge
8 Nov 1950 Evening	Kaleidescope	The Rambert Ballet	Arts Theatre Cambridge
8 Nov 1950 Evening	Winter Night	The Rambert Ballet	Arts Theatre Cambridge
8 Nov 1950 Evening	Bar aux Folies-Bergère	The Rambert Ballet	Arts Theatre Cambridge
8 Nov 1950 Evening	Les Sylphides	The Rambert Ballet	Arts Theatre Cambridge
29 Oct 1952 Evening	Swan Lake Act II	The Rambert Ballet	Arts Theatre Cambridge
15 Jan 1953 Evening	The Gala Performance	The Rambert Ballet	Connaught Theatre, Worthing
15 Jan 1953 Evening	Les Sylphides	The Rambert Ballet	Connaught Theatre, Worthing
15 Jan 1953 Evening	Plaisance	The Rambert Ballet	Connaught Theatre, Worthing
15 Jan 1953 Evening	Past Recalled^*	The Rambert Ballet	Connaught Theatre, Worthing
4 Feb 1935 Evening	Foyer de Danse	The Rambert Ballet	Duke of York's Theatre, London
4 Feb 1935 Evening	The Planets	The Rambert Ballet	Duke of York's Theatre, London
4 Feb 1935 Evening	Valentine's Eve^*	The Rambert Ballet	Duke of York's Theatre, London
4 Feb 1935 Evening	Façade	The Rambert Ballet	Duke of York's Theatre, London
4 Feb 1935 Evening	L'Après-midi d'un faune	The Rambert Ballet	Duke of York's Theatre, London
4 Feb 1935 Evening	Mephisto Waltz	The Rambert Ballet	Duke of York's Theatre, London
22 Aug 1950 Evening	Le nozze di Figaro (dances in the opera)^*	The Rambert Ballet	King's Theatre, Edinburgh
24 Aug 1950 Evening	Le nozze di Figaro (dances in the opera)	The Rambert Ballet	King's Theatre, Edinburgh
26 Aug 1950 Evening	Le nozze di Figaro (dances in the opera)	The Rambert Ballet	King's Theatre, Edinburgh
28 Aug 1950 Evening	Le nozze di Figaro (dances in the opera)	The Rambert Ballet	King's Theatre, Edinburgh
30 Aug 1950 Evening	Le nozze di Figaro (dances in the opera)	The Rambert Ballet	King's Theatre, Edinburgh
1 Sep 1950 Evening	Le nozze di Figaro (dances in the opera)	The Rambert Ballet	King's Theatre, Edinburgh
5 Sep 1950 Evening	Le nozze di Figaro (dances in the opera)	The Rambert Ballet	King's Theatre, Edinburgh
7 Sep 1950 Evening	Le nozze di Figaro (dances in the opera)	The Rambert Ballet	King's Theatre, Edinburgh
9 Sep 1950 Evening	Le nozze di Figaro (dances in the opera)	The Rambert Ballet	King's Theatre, Edinburgh
23 Oct 1950 Evening	Prismatic Variations^*	The Rambert Ballet	King's Theatre, London
23 Oct 1950 Evening	Antonia	The Rambert Ballet	King's Theatre, London
23 Oct 1950 Evening	Les Sylphides	The Rambert Ballet	King's Theatre, London
23 Oct 1950 Evening	The Eve of Saint Agnes	The Rambert Ballet	King's Theatre, London
8 Jul 1952 Evening	Façade (The Original Version)	The Rambert Ballet	Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod
8 Jul 1952 Evening	Winter Night	The Rambert Ballet	Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod
8 Jul 1952 Evening	Nutcracker Suite	The Rambert Ballet	Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod
30 Jul 1951 Evening	Canterbury Prologue^*	The Rambert Ballet	Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
30 Jul 1951 Evening	Façade (The Original Version)	The Rambert Ballet	Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
30 Jul 1951 Evening	Giselle Act I	The Rambert Ballet	Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
30 Jul 1951 Evening	House of Cards (Scherzi della Sorte)	The Rambert Ballet	Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
31 Aug 1950 Evening	Les Sylphides	The Rambert Ballet	Theatre Royal, Bath
31 Aug 1950 Evening	Kaleidoscope	The Rambert Ballet	Theatre Royal, Bath
31 Aug 1950 Evening	The Eve of St. Agnes^*	The Rambert Ballet	Theatre Royal, Bath
31 Aug 1950 Evening	Façade	The Rambert Ballet	Theatre Royal, Bath
21 May 1951 Evening	Soirée Musicale	The Rambert Ballet	Theatre Royal, Bath
21 May 1951 Evening	Fate's Revenge^*	The Rambert Ballet	Theatre Royal, Bath
21 May 1951 Evening	Giselle Act 1	The Rambert Ballet	Theatre Royal, Bath
21 May 1951 Evening	Scherzi della Sorte: Pranks of Fate^*	The Rambert Ballet	Theatre Royal, Bath

Performance Database

Performances as The Rambert Ballet

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