Timeline
Events | Premieres | |
---|---|---|
15 June: Marie Rambert received her certificate from Russian ballet master Enrico Cecchetti, allowing her to teach the Cecchetti method. She opened a ballet school in Bedford Gardens, London.
|
1920 | |
June: Marie Rambert appeared in a revue The Pedlar’s Basket at the Everyman Theatre, Hampstead.
|
1921 | |
1922 | ||
1923 | ||
1924 | ||
June: The play A Man with a Load of Mischief by Ashley Dukes, Marie Rambert’s husband, opened at the Haymarket Theatre, London, and ran for 261 performances.
|
1925 | |
15 June: Premiere of the company's founding work, A Tragedy of Fashion, created by Frederick Ashton for the revue Riverside Nights. Marie Rambert and three of her students, Ashton, Frances James and Elizabeth Vincent, performed it nightly for around six weeks.
|
1926 |
A Tragedy of Fashion (or ''The Scarlet Scissors'') (from the revue 'Riverside Nights')
|
June: With the income from the run of A Man with a Load of Mischief, the Dukes purchased Horbury Hall, Notting Hill Gate, as the new premises for the ballet school.
June: Marie Rambert’s students appeared in the Purcell Opera Society’s production of The Fairy Queen at Rudolf Steiner Hall, London.
December: Marie Rambert and Frederick Ashton performed Gavotte Sentimentale for a week with the Nemchinova-Dolin Company at the London Coliseum.
|
1927 |
The Fairy Queen (dances in the opera)
Argentine Dance
Nymphs and Shepherds
Pas de Deux
|
March: Official opening of the new school in Notting Hill Gate.
March: Rambert's students participate in a charity performance at the Arts Theatre, London.
July: Marie Rambert presented her students in Leda at the Annual Sunshine Matinee at the Apollo Theatre, London.
October: Two students Diana Gould and Harold Turner performed 'An Evening of Dancing' at the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich. The programme reads: 'Marie Rambert presents...'
December: Marie Rambert’s School of Dancing gave a performance at the Century Theatre, London.
|
1928 |
À la ''Biches''
Doll
Mannequin and her Beau
Mazurka
Mazurka Finale
Menuet
Russian Peasant (from the ballet 'Soleil de Nuit')
The Top
The Warrior
Leda
Ganymede
Gopak
Russian Court Dance
Polka
Rigaudon
|
February: Marie Rambert arranged the dances in Red Rust: A Play of Modern Russia by V.M. Kirchon and A.V. Ouspensky at the Little Theatre, London.
July: Premiere of Jew Süss, a play by Ashley Dukes in which Marie Rambert's Dancers performed a new ballet by Frederick Ashton. Untitled in the play, it was known as ‘The Ballet of Mars and Venus’ when performed as a stand-alone piece. The play transferred to the Duke of York’s Theatre, London, and then toured.
|
1929 |
The Ballet of Mars and Venus (from the play 'Jew Süss')
The Tale of a Lamb
|
February-March: The Marie Rambert Dancers gave two well-received matinee performances at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.
March: Marie Rambert gave a lecture-demonstration on Marius Petipa’s choreography at the Faculty of Arts Gallery, London.
June-July: With guest ballerina Tamara Karsavina, the Marie Rambert Dancers presented ‘A Season of Ballet’ at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.
December: Frederick Ashton and Harold Turner performed with Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova at the Arts Theatre, London.
December-January: With guest artists Tamara Karsavina and Leon Woizikovsky, the Marie Rambert Dancers presented ‘A Christmas Season of Ballet’ at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.
|
1930 |
Capriol Suite
Leda and the Swan
Our Lady's Juggler
La Belle Viennoise
Galop
Mazurka des Hussars
Le Rugby
Saudade do Brésil
Les Sylphides
Le Spectre de la Rose
Aurora's Wedding (from 'The Sleeping Beauty')
Carnaval
Le Cricket
A Florentine Picture
|
January: Marie Rambert became formally involved with the Camargo Society when her dancers’ performed Capriol Suite in the society's second programme.
16 February: With a section of the school converted into a small theatre, the Ballet Club launched its first season. The Ballet Club was both the name of theatre (until 1933) and that of the private ballet-producing club founded by Ashley Dukes. Its status as a club allowed it to present ballet performances on Sundays. The Ballet Club had three seasons in 1931.
June-July: With guest artists Tamara Karsavina and Leon Woizikovsky, the Marie Rambert Dancers presented 'A Summer Season of Ballet' at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.
October: First performances of the Marie Rambert Dancers outside London – at the Palace Theatre, Manchester.
|
1931 |
Primavera
Le Boxing
La Péri
Le Belle Ecuyère
The Circus Girl
L'Après-midi d'un faune
Scherzo
Façade
Waterloo and the Crimea
Mercury
Dance Pretty Lady (dances in the film)
Shepherd's Wooing (from 'The Gods Go A-Begging')
Peasants' Frolic
Cross-Garter'd
Lady of Shalott
The Tartans (Dances on a Scottish Theme)
|
During the year, Ballet Club performed regularly on Thursdays (evening or matinee) and Sundays (evening).
October: Shortly after the premiere of Frederick Ashton’s Foyer de danse, it was filmed by amateur filmmakers Pearl and Walter Duff at the Mercury Theatre.
|
1932 |
Constanza's Lament
Mr. Roll's Military Quadrilles
Pompette
In a Monastery Garden (dances in the film)
Lysistrata
The Garden
Unbowed
American Sailor (from 'Les Matelots')
Foyer de Danse
Desperate Blues
|
October: The theatre gained a public performing licence. Initially opened in June as The Nameless Theatre, it was re-opened as the Mercury Theatre on 9 October. Licensed by the London County Council for performances of music, dancing and plays, the theatre remained a club in order to present ballet performances on Sunday.
|
1933 |
Pavane pour une Infante Défunte
Les Masques (ou, Changement de Dames)
Atlanta of the East
Pavane pour une Infante Défunte
The Marriage of Hebe
Our Lady's Juggler
Récamier
|
1934 |
Mermaid
Paramour
Bar aux Folies-Bergère
Mephisto Valse
The Alcina Suite
The Planets
|
|
February: The three-week season at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London, marked the first time the name Ballet Rambert was used. (Ballet Club continued to be used for performances at the Mercury Theatre.)
May-June: Marie Rambert provided the dancers for the Italian Opera Season at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Antony Tudor choreographed the ballets in La Cenerentola, Carmen, and Schwanda, the Bagpiper.
|
1935 |
Cinderella
Valentine's Eve
The Descent of Hebe
La Cenerentola (dances in the opera)
Schwanda the Bagpiper (dances in the opera)
Carmen (dances in the opera)
Circus Wings
The Rape of the Lock
|
June: Second tour outside London: a two-week season at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
5 November Three days after the BBC transmitted the first regular television service from Alexandra Palace, London, the company billed as The Mercury Ballet performed a 25-minute divertissement live at 3.20pm and again at 9.35pm.
|
1936 |
Jardin aux Lilas
Passionate Pavane
La Muse s'amuse
|
February: Four-week season at the Duchess Theatre, London.
March: Anthony Tudor left the company to establish Dance Theatre (later London Ballet) with Agnes de Mille.
July–August First overseas tour – to France. The tour took in sea-side resorts, with performances in casinos’ theatres in Nice, Biarritz, and Vichy, among other venues.
|
1937 |
Dark Elegies
Death and the Maiden
Suite of Airs
Swan Lake (dances from)
Pavane pour une Infante Défunte
Cross Gartered
|
1938 |
Étrange
The Tartans
Croquis de 'Mercure' (Sketches for 'Mercury')
La Peri
Circus Wings
The Two Igors
Valse Finale
|
|
May: The advertised ballet season at the Mercury Theatre was quickly followed by an additional season in June-July because Andrée Howard’s Lady into Fox proved so popular.
September: With the outbreak of World War II, London theatres, including the Mercury, were closed. Marie Rambert moved the school to Berkshire.
November: One of the first theatres to do so, the Mercury Theatre re-opened with a season of ballet, which transferred to the larger Duchess Theatre later in the month.
|
1939 |
Paris-Soir
Lady into Fox
Czernyana
|
January: Ballet Rambert became one of three resident companies at The Arts Theatre Club, London, under the control of Harold Rubin, who owned the theatre.
January: Ballet Rambert became one of three resident companies at The Arts Theatre Club, London, under the control of Harold Rubin. Antony Tudor’s company, London Ballet, was already resident there.
June-July: Ballet Rambert merged with London Ballet, and the junior members of both companies were let go. London Ballet’s directors Peggy van Praagh and Maude Lloyd were appointed Deputy Directors. The company’s name gradually evolved into Rambert-London Ballet.
|
1940 |
Cap Over Mill
Peter and the Wolf (A Fable Without a Moral)
La Fête étrange
Soirée Musicale
Love in Idleness
Gala Performance
Catarina ou la Fille du Bandit
Judgment of Paris
Le Pas de Déesses
Four Variations from 'The Seasons'
Enigma Variations
|
March: On weekdays, Rambert-London Ballet give three one-hour performances, with four on weekends. They were named according to their performance times and the accompanying refreshments: Lunch Ballet, After Lunch Ballet, Tea Ballet, After Tea Ballet and Sherry Ballet.
September: The dancers brought in Equity to address their low pay. When Harold Rubin refused Equity’s demands, the Rambert-London Ballet was disbanded. Rubin retained legal right to the sets and costumes, and the court case to regain ownership was not settled until March 1943. In the meantime, Ballet Rambert ceased to exist, and London Ballet was officially dissolved.
|
1941 |
Panaderos
Bartlemas Dances
Czerny 2
Alegrias de Jerez
Pavane pour une Infante Défunte
Farruca
Exorcism by Fire
Confessional
|
1942 |
The Tales of Hoffmann (dances in the opera)
The Young Mr Pitt (dance in the film)
|
|
March: Ballet Rambert came under the management of C.E.M.A., the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (the forerunner of the Arts Council). The company toured extensively, mainly to non-theatrical venues: Royal Ordnance Factory hostels and canteens, cinemas, miners’ welfare halls, and open air stages, entertaining ‘home front’ workers and the general public. (See the 1944 Ministry of Information film below.)
December: Four-week season at the Arts Theatre, Cambridge, in The Toy Princess.
|
1943 |
Carnival of Animals
Andaluza
Tango
Flamenco
The Toy Princess (dances in the play)
|
Ballet Rambert in Ministry of Information's Worker and War-Front Magazine, no. 10 (February 1944)
November: Leonard Salzedo’s first music commission - for Andrée Howard’s The Fugitive. Salzedo would become the company’s Music Director in 1966.
December: Ballet Rambert appeared in The Glass Slipper, a Christmas production at the St James Theatre, London.
|
1944 |
The Fugitive
Simple Symphony
The Glass Slipper
|
May: With Germany’s surrender, the war in Europe ends.
August: With Japan’s surrender, World War II ends.
|
1945 |
Un Songe
|
January-March: Ballet Rambert tours Germany for ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) to entertain British troops still stationed there.
July: Giselle was the company’s first full production of a classic ballet. It premiered to great acclaim during Ballet Rambert’s first season at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London.
|
1946 |
Mr. Punch
Giselle
Concerto Burlesco
|
October: The tour of Australia and New Zealand opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne. Originally planned as a six-month tour, it was such a success that the company stayed for 15 months. Ballet Rambert was the first British dance company to tour beyond Europe.
|
1947 |
Plaisance
The Sailor's Return
Cadiz
Fandanguillas
Farruca
Sevillanas
|
January: The Melbourne season ended after 14 weeks, breaking the 12-week record held by De Basil’s Ballet Russe. 136,000 people saw the 136 performances.
May: Following performances in Sydney, Ballet Rambert began a three-month tour of New Zealand.
September: Release of the film The Red Shoes, which included a scene in the Mercury Theatre and a cameo by Marie Rambert.
|
1948 |
The Nutcracker (dances from)
Winter Night
|
January: The Australian tour ended at the Capitol Theatre, Perth, and the company sails for the UK. Nearly half the dancers chose to remain in Australia.
May-July: The depleted company was billed as Ballet at Eight in their final season in their home, the Mercury Theatre, London.
August: Ballet Rambert supported Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin in their gala performances in London. By 1951, the Markova/Dolin gala performances would evolve into Festival Ballet (later London Festival Ballet), a company that competed with Ballet Rambert in their tours of the UK.
|
1949 |
Les Zig-Zags
Antonia
Capriccio Espagnol
|
February-March: Overseas tour to Germany, supported by the British Council.
May-June: Overseas tour to Paris.
|
1950 |
Le nozze di Figaro (dances in the opera)
The Eve of Saint Agnes
Prismatic Variations
Jota Aragonesa
|
January: Angela and David Ellis, Marie Rambert’s daughter and son-in-law, establish Ballet Workshop at the Mercury Theatre. It presented new and experimental productions by young dancers, choreographers, composers, and designers. Some of the ballets were subsequently taken into Ballet Rambert’s repertoire.
June-July: Regional tour of Scotland focused on small towns.
December: Silver Jubilee of Ballet Rambert celebrated with a Dancers’ Circle Dinner at the Savoy, London.
|
1951 |
Fate's Revenge
Scherzi della Sorte: Pranks of Fate
Canterbury Prologue
|
December: Sally Gilmore’s farewell performance, in Confessional, at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.
|
1952 |
Movimientos
Carnival of the Animals
|
January: Joyce Graeme appointed Assistant Director and Ballet Mistress.
May: Norman Morrice joined Ballet Rambert.
June: Marie Rambert awarded a CBE in the Coronation Honours.
|
1953 |
Past Recalled
|
October: Company performed in the play Joan of Arc at the Stake, starring Ingrid Bergman, at the Stoll Theatre, London.
|
1954 |
The Bartered Bride (dances in the opera)
Love Knots
The Life and Death of Lola Montez (1818-1861)
Variations on a Theme
Ballet of the Game of Cards (Scene 6 of the oratorio 'Joan of Arc at the Stake')
|
June: Robert Joffrey became the second American choreographer to create a ballet for the company.
July: Performances at the second International Festival of Dance Aix-les-Bains, France.
September: David Ellis appointed Associate Director. Ballet Workshop closed.
November: Overseas tour to Italy: Perugia, Venice and Bologna.
|
1955 |
Persephone
Pas de Déesses
Laiderette
|
July: Marie Rambert received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award from the Royal Academy of Dancing. Company supported Alicia Markova at the Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod. Month-long tour of Spain.
|
1956 |
The Mirror
|
February: Marie Rambert received the Legion d’Honneur from the French President. Company performed as the opera-ballet at Glyndebourne Opera.
September-November: Ballet Rambert became the first British ballet company to perform in China. On the six-city tour, the classic ballets Giselle and Coppélia were well received, but the modern work Winter Nights was considered too abstract and quickly dropped. The scenery was painted in China.
|
1957 |
Coppélia
Falstaff (dances in the opera)
Conte Fantastique
|
August: Premiere of dancer Norman Morrice's first work, Two Brothers. This was also the first dance work that Ralph Koltai designed for Ballet Rambert. (View Ralph Koltai's oral history interview for the Rambert Archive.)
August: Performed with Glyndebourne Opera in Paris.
September: ‘American Evenings’ devoted to Anthony Tudor’s works became a feature of the Sadler’s Wells seasons.
|
1958 |
Alceste (dances in the opera)
Le nozze di Figaro (dances in the opera)
Two Brothers
Epithalame
|
May: Ashley Dukes, Marie Rambert's husband, died.
July: First tour to the U.S.A. included three weeks at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.
August: First ballet company to perform at the Temple of Jupiter during the Baalbeck International Festival, Lebanon.
|
1959 |
Make Mine a Million (dance in the film)
Hazaña
La Reja
|
January: On the BBC programme 'Monitor', Marie Rambert made her famous statement that if the Royal Ballet was 'the National Gallery', then her vision was for her company to 'be the Tate Gallery'.
December: Overseas tour to Malta, where Ballet Rambert re-opened the Manoel Theatre in Coppélia.
|
1960 |
The Wise Monkeys
La Sylphide
|
1961 |
Night Shadow
Night and Silence
A Place in the Desert
|
|
January: In the New Year Honours, Marie Rambert made Dame Commander (DBE), Order of the British Empire.
February: Dame Marie Rambert was the subject of the television programme, 'This is your Life'.
|
1962 |
Don Quixote
Conflicts
|
April: Overseas tour to Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, and Iran. The tour covered 10,000 miles.
June: Performed at the sixth Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.
Christopher Bruce joined the company as a dancer.
|
1963 |
The Travellers
|
June: Dame Marie Rambert received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Sussex.
June: Sweet Dancer was Walter Gore’s first work for the company in 14 years.
|
1964 |
Sweet Dancer
Cul de Sac
|
December: The article ‘Ballet Rambert Facing Extinction’ published in The Times.
|
1965 |
The Realms of Choice
|
March: Documentary 'Ballet Rambert Struggles for Survival' aired on BBC2, showing the difficulties of life on tour for the company’s 33 dancers.
May: David Ellis resigned as Associate Director. The usual summer season at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London, was cancelled.
June: Dancer Norman Morrice appointed Associate Artistic Director.
July: The company officially closed for a period of reorganisation.
August: A new company of 17 dancers launched with the aims of encouraging new works by both new and established choreographers, preserving the masterworks of the company’s artistic heritage, giving regular seasons in London, and touring selected dates in the provinces and abroad. Daily class alternated between ballet and Graham technique to reflect the new repertory and direction.
|
1966 |
Diversities
Singular Moves
Intermède
Numéros
Time Base
Night Island
|
March: Collaboration One was the first in a series of workshop seasons at the Jeannetta Cochrane Theatre, London, which gave opportunities to ‘novice’ choreographers, musicians, and designers.
November: Premiere of Ziggurat, the first collaboration of choreographer Glen Tetley, designer Nadine Baylis, and lighting designer John B. Read. Together they would establish the visual image of the new company.
December: Report to the Arts Council stated, ‘We are trying to create a new type of dance company with British artists, which will have a style of its own, which will provide a breeding ground for choreographers and which will be of international standard’.
|
1967 |
Pierrot Lunaire
Ricercare
Hazard
Deserts
Inochi
Freefall
Ziggurat
|
February: In celebration of her 80th birthday, Dame Marie Rambert donated the Ashley Dukes-Marie Rambert Collection of Romantic Ballet Prints to the V&A Museum, which exhibited the prints in March.
|
1968 |
'H'
Tic-Tack
Remembered Motion
Solo
1 - 2 - 3
Them and Us
The Act
Embrace Tiger and Return to Mountain
Pawn to King 5
|
February: Premiere of Christopher Bruce’s first work, George Frideric, at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.
June: Overseas tour to Vienna, West Berlin, and Dortmund, Germany.
August: Overseas tour to Verona’s open-air Roman theatre.
|
1969 |
George Frideric
Pastorale Variée
Living Space
Blind-Sight
|
March: Premiere of Bertram Batell’s Sideshow, a children's show designed to educate young audiences in the range of dance styles used by the company. Its episodic format also provided an opportunity for aspiring choreographers to create short works.
August: Overseas tour to Israel.
November: 'Omnibus: Rambert Remembers', an interview with Dame Marie Rambert about her early life, aired on BBC1.
|
1970 |
Bertram Batell's Sideshow
Opus '65
Four According
The Empty Suit
'Tis Goodly Sport
|
March: Ingrid Bergman officially opened Ballet Rambert’s new headquarters at 94 Chiswick High Road, London, the company’s home until 2013.
March: Dance for New Dimensions, a touring evening of works designed for thrust stages, opened at the Young Vic Theatre, London.
|
1971 |
That is the Show
Metaflow
Wings
Rag-Dances
Solo
|
May: Overseas tour to Poland.
July: Dance Unit, a demonstration group, was formed to tour ahead of the main company to introduce its work to new audiences. Initially funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Dance Unit consisted of four dancers, director Ann Whitley, and technical staff. They performed in schools and other spaces too small for the main company. Between September 1972 and June 1973, Dance Unit travelled 11,000 miles and gave 95 performances.
July: Dame Marie Rambert’s autobiography, Quicksilver, published.
|
1972 |
4 Pieces for 6 Dancers
Ad hoc
''for those who die as cattle''
Full Circle
Sonata for Two
Theme and Variations
This Seems to Be My Life
Ladies Ladies!
Stop-Over
Pattern for an Escalator
Considering the Lilies
Listen to the Music
Totems
|
January: Christopher Bruce created There Was a Time for Fanfare for Europe, a nationwide cultural programme marking the UK’s entry into the European Community.
May: Overseas tour to Finland, Denmark, and France.
September: Return to Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London, after an absence of eight years.
October: Overseas tour to Germany.
|
1973 |
There was a Time
Cantate
Magic Theatre - not for everyone
Les Saltimbanques
yesterday and yesterday
tutti-frutti
Duets
Isolde
Interim 3
Twice (Sock it to me)
|
January: Christopher Bruce awarded the Evening Standard Award for dance.
April: John Chesworth appointed Artistic Director. Christopher Bruce appointed Associate Director.
July: Overseas tour to five summer festivals in Austria, Yugoslavia, and Germany.
|
1974 |
Imprints (film)
Spindrift
Weekend
Sake
Project 6354/9116 Mk 2
Almost an Echo (or A Celluloid Dream)
|
Prue Skene appointed Executive Director, a position she held until 1986. (View Prue Skene's oral history interview for the Rambert Archive.)
|
1975 |
Take a Running Jump
baby
The Parades Gone By
Running Figures
The Night Dances
Table
Musete de Taverni
Ancient Voices of Children
|
Feb: The workshop season Collaboration Three showcased new choreography with designs by students from the Central School of Art and Design.
May: 50th anniversary marked with an exhibition at the V&A Museum and publication of the book Fifty Years of Ballet Rambert.
June: 50th anniversary gala held at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London. Documentary 'Ballet Rambert – The First Fifty Years' aired on BBC1. An exhibition about recent work toured London and the regions.
|
1976 |
Steppes
Two Minutes and Fifty Seconds in the Life, Times and Ultimate Rejection of Ailuj Kaibile
Four Working Songs
Moveable Garden
Black Angels
Reflections
Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan
Girl with Straw Hat
The sea whisper'd me
Window
Promenade
Musical Offering
|
March: Collaboration Four, a workshop season, took place.
July: To commemorate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, the Round House (London) commissioned Christopher Bruce and Lindsay Kemp’s evening-length work, Cruel Garden. (View oral history interviews by Christopher Bruce and Lindsay Kemp for the Rambert Archive.)
December: Bertram Batell’s Sideshow revived for television and shown on BBC2.
|
1977 |
The Pool
Kuyaiki
The Accident
Episode 1
Echoes of a Night Sky
Frames, Pulse and Interruptions
Cruel Garden
Smiling Immortal
Sleeping Birds
|
January: 'Omnibus: Voices of Children', a documentary about Christopher Bruce, aired on BBC1.
April: Premiere of the film Dancers, directed by John Chesworth, at Riverside Studios, London.
April: Dame Marie Rambert received the Composers’ Guild Award for Services to British Music.
Charles Darden became the company's Music Director.
|
1978 |
Praeludium
Laocoon
Nuthouse Stomp
Dancers - a film
|
May: Premiere of The Tempest at the Schwetzingen Festival, Germany. The festival commissioned Glen Tetley, who chose to make his first evening-length work on Ballet Rambert.
May: Season at Theatre de la Ville, Paris.
June: Premiere of Siobhan Davies’s first work for the company, Celebration.
September: Ballet Rambert took first prize in the BITEF International Theatre Festival in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, with performances of Cruel Garden.
November: Christopher Bruce stepped down as Associate Director.
|
1979 |
Echoi
The Tempest
Changes
Celebration
I'll Be in Touch
Night with Waning Moon
Sidewalk
|
January: Richard Alston appointed Resident Choreographer following the success of Bell High,
his first creation for the company.
July: John Chesworth stepped down as Artistic Director. Christopher Bruce became Associate Choreographer.
|
1980 |
Bell High
Passing Through
Preludes and Song
Landscape
Rainbow Ripples
|
April: Robert North appointed Artistic Director.
|
1981 |
Figures of Wind
Paper Sunday
Room to Dance
The Rite of Spring: Pictures of Pagan Russia
Ghost Dances
Dancing Day
Night Music
Unsuitable Case
Lonely Town, Lonely Street
|
March: 'The South Bank Show: Working with Bodies – Richard Alston Choreographer' aired on London Weekend Television.
June: Dame Marie Rambert died on 12 June.
June: The Rambert Archive established, with Jane Pritchard as archivist. (View Jane Pritchard's oral history interview for the Rambert Archive.)
Oct: The televised version of Cruel Garden, directed by Colin Nears, won the Prix Italia for Music.
October/November: Overseas tour to the U.S.A. and Mexico.
|
1982 |
Berlin Requiem
Airs
Pribaoutki ('A Telling')
The Kitchen Table
Apollo Distraught
Fantasie
Scriabin Preludes
|
February: Fielding Sixes was the first Merce Cunningham work to enter the repertoire.
March: Marie Rambert Memorial Gala held at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London. Memorial plaque to her unveiled in St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden.
September: The Rambert School of Ballet merged with Rambert Academy to form the Ballet Rambert School.
|
1983 |
Chicago Brass
Fielding Sixes
Concertino
Murderer Hope of Women
Colour Moves
|
1984 |
Entre dos Aguas
Intimate Pages
Voices and Light Footsteps
Wildlife
Sergeant Early's Dream
Death and the Maiden
|
|
Ballet Rambert 'Different Steps' (full film, 1985)
Ballet Rambert 'Different Steps' (unabridged audio-only interviews, 1985)
May: 'Different Steps', the company's first educational film, illustrated the work of Richard Alston (Wildlife), Christopher Bruce (Sergeant Early's Dream), and Robert North (Death and the Maiden).
|
1985 |
An Occasion For Some Revolutionary Gestures
Mythologies
Dangerous Liaisons
Light and Shade
Java
Dipping Wings (Continual Departing)
|
January: Robert North stepped down as Artistic Director.
Richard Alston on being Artistic Director (from oral history interview, 2017)
February: Richard Alston appointed Artistic Director. (View Richard Alston's oral history interview for the Rambert Archive.)
June: 60th Anniversary Gala held at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London. Ballet Rambert won the Society of West End Theatres/Gordon’s Gin Award for Best Achievement in Dance.
|
1986 |
Soda Lake
It’s a Raggy Waltz
Songs of the Ghetto
No Strings Attached
Zansa
Mercure
Swamp
Ceremonies
Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum
Dutiful Ducks
|
February: Overseas tour to the U.S.A.
August: Company renamed Rambert Dance Company.
September Collaboration V, a workshop season at Riverside Studios, included artists Anish Kapoor and Richard Deacon.
|
1987 |
Pulcinella
Rushes
Strong Language
Wolfi (An Allegory)
Septet
|
July: Four dancers worked with Trisha Brown and her dancers to learn Opal Loop, acquired for the repertoire with a 1988 Digital Dance Award.
|
1988 |
Rhapsody in Blue
Trace
Mates
Hymnos
Soldat
Embarque
|
April: Siobhan Davies appointed Associate Choreographer, a position she held until 1993. (View Siobhan Davis' oral history interview for the Rambert Archive.)
June: Season at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London, focused on 20th-century music as part of the Almeida Festival.
October: Received the first Prudential Award for the Arts for ‘innovation and creativity coupled with excellence and accessibility within the arts’.
|
1989 |
Cinema
Opal Loop
Sounding
Calm
Pulau Dewata
|
February: Premiere of the first Frederick Ashton Memorial Commission, Ashley Page’s Currulao. The FAMC enabled young choreographers to make a new work for the company.
October: Choreographer Merce Cunningham received the Digital Dance Premiere Award for his outstanding contribution to British dance and chose to put the funds toward creating Touchbase (1992) for Rambert Dance Company.
|
1990 |
Doubles
Currulao
Dealing with Shadows
Longevity
Signature
Four Elements
Roughcut
|
January: While on tour in France, Rambert Dance Company substituted at short notice for the Martha Graham Company at the Palais Garnier, Paris, to great acclaim.
April: Premiere of the second Frederick Ashton Memorial Commission, William Tuckett’s Slippage.
May/June: Four Elements (Childs, 1990) and Soldat (Page, 1988) were recorded for television, directed by Bob Lockyer, and shown in BBC2’s Dance Makers series. (View Bob Lockyer's oral history interview for the Rambert Archive.)
November: Premiere of dancer Mark Baldwin’s first work for the company, Island to Island.
|
1991 |
Plain Song
Slippage
Hiding Game
Completely Birdland
Island to Island
|
June: Premiere of Touchbase, Merce Cunningham’s first work for another company. Rambert dancers rehearsed with Cunningham in New York.
November: Roughcut received the Manchester Evening News Award for Best Dance Seen in the North West.
December: Richard Alston stepped down as Artistic Director.
|
1992 |
Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
Still Dance
Cat's Eye
Touchbase
Phillidor's Defence
Gone
|
April: Siobhan Davies received the Olivier Award for the Most Outstanding Achievement in Dance for Winnsboro Cotton Mills Blues (1992).
September: Overseas tour to Brazil.
November: Company was laid off in the absence of an artistic director.
|
1993 |
Land
Spirit
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April: Christopher Bruce becomes artistic director, and the company is relaunched with 25 dancers and a vision to bridge ‘the gap between classical and contemporary dance’ in Britain. (View Christopher Bruce's oral history interview for the Rambert Archive.)
April: Mark Stephenson appointed as Music Director. The London Musici became the company’s associate orchestra.
October: The Relaunch Tour started at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh.
|
1994 |
Crossing
Banter Banter
The Garden of Earthly Delights
Axioma 7
Petite Mort
Close My Eyes
Rooster
|
February: Received the Liverpool Echo and Daily Post Arts Award for Best Touring Event, Medium to Large.
May: Represented British dance at the UNited We Dance Festival, San Francisco, with the premiere of Christopher Bruce’s Meeting Point.
September: Received the Manchester Evening News Dance Award.
|
1995 |
Swansong
Meeting Point
Jupiter is Crying
Dancing Attendance on the Cultural Chasm
Stabat Mater
Small Hours
|
January: Kol Simcha and Meeting Point filmed for television in Denmark. Kol Simcha was Didy Veldman's first work for the company. (View Didy Veldman's oral history interview for the Rambert Archive.)
June: The three performances in Thailand were the UK’s contribution to celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s accession to the throne.
July: The 70th anniversary celebrated with a season at the London Coliseum, the company's first appearance in central London in four years.
Overseas tours to Beijing (January), Vienna (March), Germany (May), Thailand (June), New York and Toronto (September), and Brussels.
Paul Hoskins appointed as Music Director. (View Paul Hoskins' oral history interview for the Rambert Archive.)
|
1996 |
Kol Simcha (Voice of Celebration)
Moonshine
Quicksilver
Eidolon
Stream
|
Overseas tours to St Petersburg and Moscow, Russia, and Oldenburg, Germany.
|
1997 |
Port for Angels
No More Play
Greymatter
|
10 October: First company to perform at the new Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London. On the celebration open day, Rambert Dance Company performed Embarque (Davies) and offered open rehearsals of August Pace (Cunningham) and Axioma 7 (Naharin).
December: Performed ‘Ruby Tuesday’ and ‘Play with Fire’ from Rooster at the Royal Variety Show, which aired on television.
Overseas tours to Hungary, Germany, Luxembourg, U.S.A., Mexico, and South Korea.
|
1998 |
Three Gone, Four Left Standing
Gaps, Lapse and Relapse
August Pace
Four Scenes
|
Overseas tours to Austria, Ukraine, Italy, Cyprus, and Germany.
|
1999 |
The Golden Section
God's Plenty
|
June: 'Rambert at the Wells' was a live broadcast of Four Scenes (Bruce, 1998) and Ghost Dances (Bruce, 1981), directed by Ross MacGibbon and aired on BBC2.
October: First British company to acquire a work by Mats Ek.
24 December: Artsworld broadcast a documentary by Matthew Springford on the making of The Celebrated Soubrette (de Frutos, 2000), which included the full work as filmed on 24 November at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London.
|
2000 |
Beach Birds
Seven Deadly Sins
She Was Black
The Celebrated Soubrette
|
June: The Sadler’s Wells season celebrated the company’s 75th anniversary.
November: Documentary 'Rambert at 75' aired on BBC Knowledge.
December: First website launched.
Overseas tours to Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Germany, and Canada.
Received the Barclays TMA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance for the production of Mats Ek’s She Was Black.
|
2001 |
At Any Time
Hurricane (A Pantomime)
Twin Suite 2
Cheese
Symphony of Psalms
detritus
Unrest
Grinning in Your Face
Ground Level Overlay
Linear Remains
|
April: Revival of Lindsay Kemp’s The Parades Gone By had a new tap dance choreographed by Arlene Philips.
Mark Baldwin appointed Artistic Director. (View Mark Baldwin's oral history interview for the Rambert Archive.)
Received the Company Prize for Outstanding Repertoire (Modern) at the Critic’s Circle National Dance Awards.
|
2002 |
Tree Finger Soup3
Study from Blackbird
PreSentient
|
April: Dancer/choregrapher Rafael Bonachela appointed Associate Choreographer, a position he held until 2005.
At the Time Out Awards, Wayne McGregor won Outstanding Choreography for PreSentient. Paul Hoskins, Rambert’s Music Director, and the London Musici won Outstanding Achievement in Dance for their contribution to the company’s performances.
|
2003 |
Visions Fugitives
21
Living Toys
Elsa Canasta
Six Pack
|
May: To mark the centenary of Frederick Ashton’s birth, Ian Spink created a new version of A Tragedy of Fashion.
|
2004 |
Reflection
A Tragedy of Fashion
Five Rückert Songs
Songs of a Wayfarer
Irony of Fate
|
May: Premiere of Mark Baldwin’s Constant Speed, his first work for the company since becoming artistic director.
|
2005 |
Momenta
Constant Speed
Divine Influence
Curious Conscience
A Steel Garden
|
November: To mark the company’s 80th anniversary, Mark Baldwin re-created Andrée Howard’s Lady into Fox (1939), restaging her choreography for the central duet and adding a prologue and epilogue.
|
2006 |
Transit
Pond Way
bloom
Stand and Stare
Lady into Fox
Verge
|
January: Launch of Quicksilver, Rambert's youth dance company for dancers aged 16 and older, with Laura Harvey as artistic director. (View Laura Harvey's oral history interview for the Rambert Archive.)
|
2007 |
Anatomica #3
Gran Partita
L'eveil
Infinity
|
2008 |
Scribblings
Carnival of the Animals
Eternal Light
Two Solos as a Tribute to Norman Morrice
|
|
2009 |
See Me
Hush
A Linha Curva
The Comedy of Change
Tread Softly
|
|
Received the Olivier Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Dance, Outstanding Achievement for Outstanding Year of Work, and Best New Dance Production (A Linha Curva).
Music Fellowship launched as part of Rambert's commitment to developing future generations of artists. Composer Gavin Higgins was the Rambert Music Fellow for 2010.
|
2010 |
Don't Think About It
The Art of Touch
RainForest
Awakenings
Cardoon Club
|
18 March: Sky Arts broadcast ‘Rambert 2011’, a behind-the-scenes documentary on the creation of Awakenings, filmed backstage at the February 2011 run at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre.
Mark Bowden appointed Rambert Music Fellow for 2011.
Revival of the company’s version of L’Après-midi d’un faune (Nijinsky, 1912).
Received the Outstanding Company Award at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards.
|
2011 |
Monolith
Roses
Seven for a secret, never to be told
Elysian Fields
|
February: Premiere of Mark Baldwin’s What Wild Ecstasy, a modern take on Nijinsky’s L’Après-midi d’un faune. The score by Gavin Higgins was commissioned as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
Cheryl Frances-Hoad appointed Rambert Music Fellow for 2012.
A time capsule was buried at the site of the new premises, not to be opened for 50 years. Items included a lock of Marie Rambert’s hair and a favourite pair of Christopher Bruce’s shoes.
|
2012 |
What Wild Ecstasy
SUB
Labyrinth of Love
Sounddance
|
August: Company renamed Rambert.
Nicky Clayton, Professor of Comparative Cognition at the University of Cambridge, became Rambert’s first Scientist in Residence.
Kate Whitley appointed Rambert Music Fellow for 2013/14.
Rambert moved to a new purpose-built building on London’ South Bank. It houses five dance studios, offices, and an archive.
|
2013 |
The Castaways
Subterrain
|
May/June: The Rambert building on the South Bank, designed by architects Allies and Morrison, received an RIBA London Award and an RIBA National Award.
July: Quicksilver, Rambert’s youth dance company, took part in the Commonwealth Youth Dance Festival in Glasgow.
|
2014 |
Rambert Event
The Strange Charm of Mother Nature
Terra Incognita
|
May: Premiere of Dark Arteries (Baldwin) marking the 30th anniversary of the miners’ strike. The CD of the music by Gavin Higgins - for a brass band - won CD of the Year awards from two music magazines and a music website.
September: Quinta appointed Rambert Music Fellow for 2015/16.
At the UK Theatre Awards, Rambert won the Achievement in Marketing Award for attracting new audiences leading to record-breaking attendances in 2014/15.
|
2015 |
Frames
Dark Arteries
The 3 Dancers
Transfigured Night
|
July: To celebrate the 90th anniversary, Mark Baldwin made the evening-length work The Creation, which used more than 50 dancers from Rambert and the Rambert School plus 70 singers and musicians.
September: Julie Cunningham appointed Rambert's first Leverhulme Choreography Fellow. Anna Appleby appointed Rambert Music Fellow for 2016/17.
Transfigured Night (Brandstrup, 2016) won Best Modern Choreography at the UK National Dance Awards.
|
2016 |
Hydrargyrum
Tomorrow
The Creation
Flight
|
March: Helen Shute is appointed Rambert's new Chief Executive and Executive Producer.
|
2017 |
The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses
Symbiosis
Goat
|
March: Mark Baldwin stepped down as Artistic Director. Benoit Swan Pouffer appointed Guest Artistic Director of the 2018/19 season.
July: Rambert2, a professional ensemble of 13 early-career dancers, launched in partnership with Rambert School.
December: Benoit Swan Pouffer is appointed Rambert's new Artistic Director.
Hemabharathy Palani appointed Leverhulme Choreography Fellow and Joseph Howard appointed Rambert Music Fellow for 2018.
|
2018 |
Child's Play
Life is a Dream
E2 7SD
Grey Matter
Killer Pig
|
February: Rambert perform with singer Freya Ridings on the first live episode of BBC One series The Greatest Dancer. The Company performed to Freya’s single “Lost Without You” in a piece choreographed especially for the show by Benoit Swan Pouffer.
March: Rambert appoints Dame Sue Street as its new Chair of Rambert's board.
|
2019 |
Kamuyot
In your rooms
Rouge
Invisible Cities
|
2020 | ||
2021 | ||
2022 | ||
2023 | ||
2024 |