Dance

Examine the development of Rambert Dance Company from its humble beginnings in 1916 to 2002. (25 marks)

Rambert Dance company is the oldest British dance company that is still running today. The company was opened in 1916 in Bedford Gardens, Kensington, London, the school of dancing was opened by Marie Rambert who moved to London as a consequence of the first world war in 1914.

The students and Marie Rambert herself gave their first performance in 1926, this was a ballet piece named ‘A Tragedy of Fashion’ which was choreographed by Fredrick Ashton, this piece was a ballet/comedy piece which was about how people follow fashion in humorous ways, at this time Fredrick was also performing as one of her students. This was the first piece of ballet performed in the UK so this performance marked the birth of British ballet and was also the formation of the Rambert dance company. During 1926 -1930 the company performed occasional small performances, until the 1930s when the company started performing under a new name ‘The Ballet club,’ instead of using the name ‘The academy of choreographic arts,’ which they had been known for previously. The Ballet Club were regularly performing on a Sunday at the Mercury Theatre in the West End and also in regional theatres. In 1935 the Ballet club had another name change to ‘Ballet Rambert’ Maire Rambert started to re-stage works from Ballet Russes (a company ran by Serge Diaghilev and based in Paris) where she originally danced before she moved to London. Additionally, Fredrick Ashton and Anthony Tudor produced new works for the company to perform.

Whilst the second world war was happening the company started to tour full time, touring was a way to raise morale and provide escapism for people. People could just go and watch the performances they put on and get away from the horrors of the war. The company performed in numerous venues, for example: in factory canteens as well as regional theatres. Touring made the company very popular with people, the audiences tastes were less adventurous than the smaller audiences, these audiences wanted more traditional ballet alongside new works produced. To please the audience’s they performed traditional ballet pieces such as Giselle and Coppelia and they also performed new works such as La Sylphide and Don Quixote. The ballet Rambert was so focused on touring they forgot what they intended to do and that was to produce new works to perform. The Mercuary Theatre became too small for the company as it grew larger and larger due to touring, so in 1946 Ballet Rambert moved to Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Southbank, London.

In 1958 Norman Morris one of Marie’s novice choreographers created ‘Two Brothers’ this piece was more on the lines of what Marie Rambert wanted from the company originally. ‘Two brothers’ was performed in modern dress and and was a contemporary piece with small elements of traditional ballet included. After choreographing this piece Marie Rambert encouraged Norman Morris to travel to America to gain more experience of being a choreographer, this was on a Ford Foundation Grant, Marie wanted him to see new developments in dance and to give him the opportunity to study with some major choreographers of the time, including Martha Graham – who established the first form of contemporary dance and began to develop Graham Technique. Whilst Norman Morris was in America the company could no longer afford to tour large- scale classical productions, to keep the company up and running Marie Rambert had to take a different approach. Norman Morris encouraged Marie to return to their first aims and ideas of the company which was having a smaller ensemble that created new works and preserved their previous works, this then began the transition into a Contemporary Ballet Company.