Rambert at 90 Galleries

Perpetual movement was my element

Marie Rambert

‘Mim’ – was a key figure in the development of British ballet. This remarkable woman travelled across the world with the Ballet Russes and then established her own company in the UK. Here, in her words and images from Rambert’s archive, are some moments from her journey.

Dame Marie Rambert (1888 – 1982) founded both the Rambert Company and the Rambert School.

Marie Rambert dancing in Geneva, c.1910. Photographer unknown.

Marie Rambert's family

“There were sometimes fetes in the open air, lit by Chinese lanterns, and there was dancing to fiddles on a platform, and people let off fireworks. I adored the dancing to intoxication.” Marie Rambert with her family in Poland, 1890s. She is second from the left. Photographer unknown.

Marie Rambert Isadora period

Rambert wrote in 1905, on watching Isadora Duncan dance in Warsaw: “With Isadora I felt an absolute communion, and it seemed to me that I could speak her language.”

Marie Rambert, dated variously 1906 and 1909. She wrote on the reverse of the print, “Isadora Duncan period”. Photographer unknown.

Rite of Spring

“I readily accepted Diaghilev’s invitation to join the company, to acquaint them with Dalcroze’s method, to help Nijinsky in applying it to the production of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps and to dance in ballets for which I was suitable” 1912-1914

Detail from a 1913 score of Le Sacre du Printemps, annotated in Russian by Marie Rambert.

Rambert company 1931

“The [Mercury] Theatre had only one hundred and fifty seats, plus standing room for about twenty five. The stage was only eighteen feet deep, including the apron, and the proscenium also measured only eighteen feet. It was a hard school for the choreographers, but it taught them to use every gesture imaginatively, every step, and of course every dancer.” 1931

The first line up of what would become the Rambert company. Left to right standing: Prudence Hyman, Frederick Ashton, Antony Tudor, Alicia Markova, Andree Howard, Marie Rambert, Robert Stuart, Pearl Argyle, Diana Gould, Maude Lloyd, Elisabeth Schooling, Betty Cuff. L-R on floor: William Chappell, Rupert Doone, Suzette Morfield. Photo: Pollard Crowther.

Man with a Load of Mischief programme.

“In 1927 Ashley [Dukes, Marie Rambert’s husband] bought the freehold of a large church hall in Notting Hill Gate. He saw at once that if the hall were divided in two it could provide not only a studio of my own for my rapidly growing school, but also a small theatre for both of us.”

Detail of programme for The Man With a Load of Mischief at Theatre Royal Haymarket (1925). The proceeds of this play allowed Marie Rambert and her husband Ashley Dukes to purchase the church hall that would become the Mercury Theatre.

Lunchtime Ballet programme

“Air-raid wardens and night workers of all kinds used to come and have a snack and then an hour of ballet, after which, properly relaxed from the strain of their restless night, they could go to sleep for a few hours.” 1941

Detail of ‘Lunchtime Ballet’ programme, The Arts Theatre Club, 1941.

Marie Rambert aerogramme

“We none of us have ever known such luxurious life” 1957

Aerogramme letter from Marie Rambert to her family, from the first tour to China. Text © Estate of Marie Rambert.

Chesworth, Rambert, Morrice

“In our company the dancers all have the same status, They interchange parts and enrich every aspect of a role. Under Morrice’s inspired direction a new group of choreographers is emerging among them. He fosters their creative spirit and gives me faith in the future – whether I look on or not.” 1966

Marie Rambert with Norman Morrice (rand John Chesworth at the Company’s Chiswick studios, 1976. Photo: Alan Cunliffe.

In 1976, Christopher Bruce created Girl With Straw Hat for the Company’s 50th anniversary season, inspired by Marie Rambert and by her school photograph in which she clutches her beloved hat. He said at the time that the work was “dedicated to Marie Rambert, whose passion for dance has been my inspiration.”

Programme detail showing Marie Rambert (c1897, photo: T. Boretti) and Sally Owen in Girl With Straw Hat (1976, photo: Alan Cunliffe).

Marie Rambert & Company

“I meddled in ballet because of my passion for dancing and choreography, neither of which I could do myself but I got it out of people.”

Marie Rambert with John Chesworth (left), Christopher Bruce (right), and the Company, c.1974. Photo: Alan Cunliffe.

This gallery is part of Rambert at 90, a project marking the company's 90th anniversary, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Text in this online gallery © 2017 Rambert. Images © as in captions. Text is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0.

Touring, and establishing a home, are twin ambitions that run through Rambert’s 90 year history – each instrumental in helping spread the reach of dance in the UK and internationally.

Dance is an art in space and time

Merce Cunningham

Image of jumping dancer in Merce Cunningham's Sounddance

"Dance is an art in space and time" - Merce Cunningham

Dane Hurst in Sounddance (2012 performance of 1975 work).

Choreography: Merce Cunningham. Design: Mark Lancaster. Photo: Chris Nash.

1920s

Marie Rambert had a vision in the early days of her company: to create a space for artists and dancers to come together and grow an “English ballet tradition”.

In the early twentieth century this dream was met with a certain scepticism, “I am afraid I didn’t look very hopeful for the prospect of England becoming a nation of ballet enthusiasts”, commented a journalist of the time.

Meanwhile in Marie Rambert’s London studio Susan Salaman created her first ballet: The Tale of The Lamb.

‘Britain – New Home of Ballet’, article by Monica Ewer. Daily Herald, 18 June 1930. Detail from Ballet Club cuttings book.

Daily Herald press cutting from 1930 on the birth of British ballet

Daily Herald press cutting from 1930 on the birth of British ballet

By 1930 Marie Rambert and her husband Ashley Dukes had converted a church hall in Notting Hill Gate into a theatre. Eventually known as the Mercury Theatre, this small stage forced the emerging choreographers to be creative in the works they made. Frederick Ashton’s Foyer de Danse incorporated the staircase that was a permanent onstage fixture.

Alicia Markova (on stairs), Walter Gore and corps de ballet onstage at the Mercury Theatre, in Foyer de Danse (1932).

Choreography: Frederick Ashton. Design: William Chappell. Photo: Bertram Park.

1940s

During the Second World War the company kept the home front’s spirits. They were sponsored by CEMA (the precursor to today’s Arts Council) to take dance to the people working in factories all around the country for the war effort.

After the war the company travelled to Australia and New Zealand, It was first British company to tour there, and the Rambert dancers who decided to stay down under nurtured the development of Australian ballet.

Clipping, Women’s Weekly 18 October 1947. Detail of dancer Charles Boyd’s scrapbook of the Company’s tour of Australia and New Zealand.

1950s

Rambert’s international reach grew in the 1950s as the dance company was sent around the world by the British Council.

The dancers performed in open air theatres around Europe and in 1957 became the first British company to tour to China.

Programme for Ballet Rambert performances in China, 1957.

1960s

By the 1960s dance had begun to change. Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey and Merce Cunningham’s companies were performing in London. The Rambert dancers had outgrown both their old theatre and their old style.

When plans for partnering with the Royal Shakespeare Company to build a new theatre in Notting Hill fell through, the company’s dream of having a home theatre faded too.

Architect’s vision for the New Mercury Theatre, 1960s. Architects, R Seifert and Partners. Photograph courtesy of William A Sutton and George Fearon Ltd.

1970s

After a short spell at a space in Cobbald Road, Chiswick, the company manged to find a new home: 94 Chiswick High Road.

On 28th April 1971 the new studios were opened by film star Ingrid Bergman. Later extended, these studios were to the company’s home until its move to the South Bank in 2013.

Good Luck Troll, gift of Ingrid Bergman to the Company to mark the opening of the studios on Chiswick High Street, c1971. Photo: © Rambert.

1980s

Robert North, Artistic Director between 1981 and 1985, established Richard Alston as Resident Choreographer as well as Christopher Bruce as Associate Choreographer with the Company.

The 1982 month long tour of America and Mexico featured works from all three including Pribaoutki, Rainbow Ripples and Ghost Dances.

Selection of flight tickets for Rambert Technical Director Sid Ellen’s planning trips to America, 1982.

1990s

Christopher Bruce returned to the company in 1994 as Artistic Director. He announced his plans to expand the number of dancers to 25, from Alston’s troupe of 18, and that he would introduce international choreographers to the Company.

The Company embarked on a triumphant international touring schedule: it would be 1996 before the full Company performed again in London.

Detail of costume notes for Petite Mort (1994). Choreography: Jiří Kylián. Design: Joke Visser. Photo: © Rambert.

2000s

Sweeping the board for contemporary dance at the 2005 Critics' Choice Awards, the company under Mark Baldwin’s direction has brought together the founding ideals of the company – supporting new choreographers and fusing dance, design and music – with the extensive touring characteristic of Rambert.

Cast sheet for the world premiere of Living Toys (2003) at Theatre Royal, Glasgow © Rambert.

2010s

In 2013, after over 10 years’ of fundraising, and 30 years of dreaming, Rambert moved to a new award-winning, purpose built home on London’s South Bank.

The studios at 99 Upper Ground house the company’s archive, allow for educational and community activities and the creation and rehearsal of new work. It’s the perfect place from which to plan Rambert’s next moves.

Promotional print for the Rambert Event (2014). Choreography Merce Cunningham. Arrangement and Staging by Jeannie Steele. A site specific Cunningham Event taking place in the company’s Upper Ground home. Flyer: © Rambert.

Cruel Garden

“It is exciting to move in all different kinds of direction: even if it ends in failure, at least we shall have learned something.” Christopher Bruce in 1969

John Tsakiris (left) and Christopher Bruce (right) in Cruel Garden (1977), Bruce's first full-length dance work. Photo: Alan Cunliffe.

This gallery is part of Rambert at 90, a project marking the company's 90th anniversary, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Text in this online gallery © 2017 Rambert. Images © as in captions. Text and Rambert © images are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0.

Dance, music and design are bound together across Rambert’s history of creating movement across artforms. Visual artists, designers and composers have been invited to work with Rambert’s choreographers to create stage works that defy definition.

An essential trinity of dance, music and visual art

Mark Baldwin

Pulcinella

Amanda Britton and Ben Craft in Richard Alston's Pulcinella, with designs by Howard Hodgkin. Photo © Catherine Ashmore.

A Tragedy of Fashion - Bertram Park

The first British ballet, Frederick Ashton’s A Tragedy of Fashion, gave Russian born theatrical designer Sophie Fedorovitch her first opportunity to design for the Rambert dancers.

Fedorovitch was already established as a visual artist, but after working on this work she became, in Ashton’s words, his “greatest artistic collaborator and adviser”. She continued collaborating with him for another 27 years.

Marie Rambert and Frederick Ashton (central couple) in A Tragedy of Fashion, with set and costumes designed by Sophie Fedorovitch. Photo: Bertram Park.

Lady Into Fox costume

Literature provides inspiration for new works. In 1939 Andree Howard worked with Russian artist, theatre and later film designer, Nadia Benois, to create Lady Into Fox, a tall tale by Bloomsbury group writer David Garnett.

The Vixen costume was made of thick fabric with knitted tights to keep dancer Sally Gilmour warm. In 2006, when Mark Baldwin re-created the work, Michael Howells revisited the designs to create a costume of feathers that move and leap with dancer Pieter Symonds’ movements.

Sally Gilmour’s Fox costume (1939), designed by Nadia Benois. Photo: Janie Lightfoot Textiles.

Mr Punch plan

New music is an important part of Rambert’s creative output. When Walter Gore created his new ballet Mr Punch for Rambert in 1946, he commissioned a score from Arthur Oldham.

Oldham had come highly recommended by his tutor Benjamin Britten and was appointed Music Director for the company at only 19 years old. His hugely successful later career took him and his work around the world and included winning three Grammy awards.

Page from Walter Gore’s hand-illustrated plan for Mr Punch (1946).

Canterbury Prologue

After the privations of the Second World War, the Rambert company began to tour more ‘classic’ works, but there was still room for new choreography and design.

Among the dancers were talented visual artists including Harry Cordwell (who was later to create Oscar-winning designs for film). Designers Hugh Stevenson and Ronald Wilson also created original designs for the company.

Commissioned for the 1950 Festival of Britain, David Paltenghi created a new ballet with artist Edward Burra and composer Peter Racine. Canterbury Prologue, according to a contemporary critic, was “like so many Rambert ballets, breaks new ground, in that it attempts portraiture in terms of dancing” (The Times, 17th October 1951).

Cecil Bates as the Heathen Cock in David Paltenghi’s Canterbury Prologue (1950), designed by Edward Burra. Photo: George Konig.

Ralph Koltai and Norman Morrice were introduced when Morrice visited an exhibition of Koltai’s work. They then began to collaborate on Morrice’s first ballet, Two Brothers, in 1958. Morrice recalls, “Ralph [Koltai]’s position as Head of the Theatre Design at Central and the availability of the Jeannetta Cochrane Theatre coincided with the need for change at Rambert”.

A series of seasons of new dance and design at the Jeannetta Cochrane Theatre, which had opened in 1964 to enable such collaborations to happen, brought together emerging choreographers and student designers to create new work. The first of these, ‘Collaboration One’ took place in 1967, featuring early work by John Napier whose later acclaimed body of work includes Cats and Miss Saigon. He said of Koltai, “He and I are in complete agreement … that pure design is about the manipulation of abstract objects In a space in order to give that space a mood that enhances the nature of what’s happening in that space.”

Programme pages from Collaboration One (1967) © Rambert.

Cruel Garden poster

John Chesworth, then Artistic Director of Ballet Rambert, introduced Christopher Bruce to Lindsay Kemp. Their resulting partnership produced Bruce’s first full-length work: Cruel Garden (1977).

Koltai was again commissioned to create the haunting sets against which the Federico Garcia Lorca inspired action was set. Carlos Miranda created the musical score. Broadcaster Bryan Robertson described it as “an extraordinary integration of sound and sight and very, very hectic drama at pretty well breakneck speed most of the time.” (BBC Radio 4, 6 July 1977)

Poster design for Cruel Garden (1979).

Wildlife

Collaborations between music, art and dance makers can be fluid, with each inspiring the other.

Richard Alston spent two years in America during which time he developed his own dance style. Returning to England in 1977 he became more interested in using music, including vocal scores, as a basis of inspiration for both structure and movement. Wildlife was born from the collaboration of Alston, composer Nigel Osborne and the visual artist Richard Smith.

This collaboration introduced jagged angular movements to Alston’s choreographic style. The music also had this jagged quality, like the kites that Smith designed to hang and move in among the dancers.

Lucy Burge in Wildlife (1984), choreography Richard Alston, design Richard Smith. Photo © Catherine Ashmore.

From our first work, A Tragedy of Fashion, which drew on the fashion world as material for the content of the dance, to fashion designers being part of the creative process, the world of fashion has provided opportunities for collaborations.

In 1990 choreographer Ashley Page and fashion designer John Galliano created a work for Rambert with new music by Orlando Gough. This was the third work Page had created for Rambert.

Hat worn by Mark Baldwin, designed by John Galliano, in Currulao (1990), choreography Ashley Page. Photo: Janie Lightfoot Textiles.

Linear Remains

In 2001 Rafael Bonachela, then a Rambert dancer, created Linear Remains, not expecting it to enter the repertoire of the Company. It did later that year. He revisited the dance work in 2004 with the Company, expanding the cast from 9 dancers to 12.

Set to a minimal electronic score by Christian Fennesz and with simple black costumes, Bonachela was trying to push himself as a choreographer. He says that the original work appearing on the Sadler’s Wells stage unexpectedly for him was, “a defining point in my career – it changed my life.”

Amy Hollingsworth and Simon Cooper in publicity image for Linear Remains (2001), choreography by Rafael Bonachela, music by Christian Fennesz. Photo: Richard Dean.

Dark Arteries

Dancers and musicians are part of our creative process.

In Mark Baldwin’s 2015 work Dark Arteries a full colliery brass band is onstage, facing the audience, taking the music out of the orchestra pit so that the audiences could see it.

This work featured new music by Gavin Higgins created for the Tredegar Town Band, designs by Michael Howells and choreography by Mark Baldwin, all drawing on the 30th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike for inspiration. Gavin Higgins was the first of an ongoing series of Music Fellows in residence at Rambert which has resulted in an outpouring of new music and new collaborations.

Miguel Altunaga, Carolyn Bolton and the Tredegar Town Band in Dark Arteries (2015), choreography by Mark Baldwin, design by Michael Howells. Photo: Johan Persson.

Four Elements

"That [the design] would also be beautiful would be almost by the way; it would simply be part of a complete choreographic experience – an essential ingredient. Rambert has always seen things as a whole" Nigel Gosling, 1976

Hannah Rudd, Simone Damberg Wurtz in the 2014 revival of Four Elements, choreography by Lucinda Childs, designs by Jennifer Bartlett. Photo: Benedict Johnson.

This gallery is part of Rambert at 90, a project marking the company's 90th anniversary, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Text in this online gallery © 2017 Rambert. Images © as in captions. Text and Rambert © image are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0.

From the first, Rambert has championed new choreographic talent. The company’s focus changed in 1966 from classical to contemporary dance, but Rambert dancers are trained to this day in both techniques, enabling them to embrace a wide range of choreographic styles. From early works by Frederick Ashton and Antony Tudor to more recent additions, the variety and richness of the company’s repertoire provides a platform for its dancers to show off their remarkable artistry.

Upwards and outwards into the future

Norman Morrice

A Tragedy of Fashion 1926

Rambert's first ever work was A Tragedy of Fashion (1926), choreographed by Frederick Ashton, performed in this photograph by Ashton and Marie Rambert. The design was by Sophie Fedorovitch. Photo: Studio Yevonde © Mary Evans Picture Library

Dark Elegies

In 1928, a young man working at the Smithfield meat market in London arrived at Marie Rambert’s school seeking dance lessons. The young man was a talented dancer who would go on to create some of the most acclaimed and moving choreography of his times

Antony Tudor’s Dark Elegies was created on the Rambert dancers in 1937. It was his fifteenth work created for the Rambert dancers in just six years, all before his 29th birthday. He later created a revised version of it on the Ballet Theatre (later called American Ballet Theatre) in New York, 1940. He was the first resident choreographer of this new company, returning to it in 1974 to become its associate director. It is now a leading classical company globally and became America’s national company by an act of Congress in 2006.

Dark Elegies is timeless in its evocation of a family or community held in grief. It is still performed worldwide.

Sally Gilmour in a 1944 performance of Dark Elegies (1937), choreography by Antony Tudor, design by Nadia Benois. Photo: Peggy Delius.

The Bystander cutting

During the Second World War British ballet was still in its youth, but there were small ballet companies and touring companies that shared dancers and choreographers. Rambert alumni were present across many of these companies, and ballet could be a temporary antidote to the war for audiences.

The Rambert company itself joined with the London Ballet for a time to become the Rambert-London Ballet. Andree Howard was one of the original members of Rambert’s Ballet Club company. She created La Fete Etrange for the London Ballet in 1940, which included a singer performing on stage with the dancers, proving that it was still possible to try to stretch yourself as a choreographer despite the problems of war-time life.

It was received by a writer for the Bystander on 3 July 1940 as a “brief, moving enchantment”.

Detail from Ballet Rambert scrapbook: cutting from The Bystander, 3 July 1940 (photographer uncredited).

House of Cards costume

Although most of the touring Rambert company’s repertoire in the 1950s was made up of existing works, the importance of supporting new choreography was still recognised.

David and Angela Ellis, Marie Rambert’s son-in-law and daughter, set up the Ballet Workshop in 1951. This organisation was independent of the touring company. It operated from the company’s hone, the Mercury Theatre. The Ballet Workshop was to give opportunity to choreographers, designers, composers and dancers to show new work. The works were experimental for the time, yet a few were able to enter the Rambert company repertoire, such as David Paltenghi’s House of Cards, with designs by Leslie Hurry.

Costume worn in House of Cards (1954), choreography by David Paltenghi, design by Leslie Hurry. Photo: Janie Lightfoot Textiles.

1967 programme

In the same year as the BBC screened ‘Ballet Rambert Struggles for Survival’, the Rambert company closed down, to be relaunched as a modern company looking to the future.

The 1967 Ballet Rambert season showcased new work by American choreographer Glen Tetley, working with John B. Read and Nadine Baylis; a fresh wave of new choreography was building for Rambert.

Norman Morrice, Associate Director with Marie Rambert in 1966, recalled that, “with all these new experiences the company gradually began to move in a way in which you couldn’t see the seam between classical and modern techniques. So with that we produced, I hope, a new type of movement and, with visitors from abroad, inspiration for our own people to make new works and consequently a new repertory.”

Ballet Rambert’s new vision reflected in its 1967 programme design for its season at the Jeannetta Cochrane Theatre. Photo: uncredited. Programme © Rambert.

Celebration notation

John Chesworth, Artistic Director of the company from 1974 to 1980, said that he felt a great responsibility “to find the choreographers of the future”.

He invited Siobhan Davies, who was at that time Associate Choreographer at London Contemporary Dance Theatre, to make her first work for Rambert.

Celebration was premiered at the Arts Centre, Christ’s Hospital, Horsham on 29th June 1979.

Detail of Sally Garbutt’s Benesh Movement Notation notes for Siobhan Davies’ Celebration (1979). Choreography © Siobhan Davies.

1980s Rambert merchandise

Richard Alston’s focus for the company from 1986 was to align “dance with new work in other art-forms”. He thought that Rambert had “a responsibility to the rest of the dance world to maintain its position of leadership and to set an example of courage and experiment.”

Alston enabled American choreographers, such as Merce Cunningham and Trisha Brown, to work with the Rambert dancers, and Cunningham Technique became part of the dancers’ routine. Reflecting the direction that the company were taking, the name changed from Ballet Rambert to Rambert Dance Company in 1987.

Ballet Rambert and Rambert Dance Company merchandise from the 1980s. Photo: © Rambert.

London Musici poster 1995

In 1994, Christopher Bruce completed his journey within the company from dancer to choreographer to becoming artistic director.

Reflecting this arc, Bruce’s direction bridged the gap between classical and contemporary, and between crowd-pleasers and experimental works.

In 1995 London Musici, Rambert’s house orchestra at the time led by Music Director Mark Stephenson, held three concerts. At each concert new dance works created by Rambert dancers were premiered. Mark Baldwin, Sara Matthews and Didy Veldman were the dancers picked by Christopher Bruce to create work for this concert series.

Promotional poster for London Musici concert series, 1995.

Influenza Virus at 295,000 Magnification

Mark Baldwin also completed the journey from dancer to choreographer to artistic director of Rambert.

His interest in the meeting of art, dance, music and science led to the creation of Comedy of Change in 2009 for the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of the Species’.

Reflecting the ever-evolving nature of the Rambert Company and dance itself, the work marked the beginning of the company’s relationship with Resident Scientist, Professor Nicola Clayton.

Comedy of Change concept artwork/photograph by Eric Richmond and Joe Swift. Background image by Charles Smith at Corbis. Dancers: Virginia de Gersigny and Eryck Brahmania.

Quicksilver manuscript

As Rambert celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2016, a programme of works from a new generation of dance-makers and former Rambert dancers was seen at Sadlers Wells in London.

The works by Alexander Whitley, Malgorzata Dzierzon and Patricia Okenwa continued Rambert's originating tradition of giving opportunities to artists who may become the choreographers of the future.

Detail from typescript of Quicksilver, Marie Rambert’s memoir. This page, annotated by Marie Rambert explains her joy in “perpetual movement”, still celebrated by today’s Rambert company. Text © Estate of Marie Rambert.

Transfigured Night

"I am sure that the company will change again and again but I hope that there will always be a nucleus of really creative people who are prepared to work hard, take risks and to carry on those traditions which Madame inspired" - Norman Morrice, 1976

Simone Damberg Würtz and Miguel Altunaga in Transfigured Night (2015), choreography by Kim Brandstrup, design by Chloe Lamford. Photo: Elliott Franks.

This gallery is part of Rambert at 90, a project marking the company's 90th anniversary, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Text in this online gallery © 2017 Rambert. Images © as in captions. Text and Rambert © images are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0.