Starved for Beauty: British Ballet and Public Morale During the Second World War
2008; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 31; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/01472520802118376
ISSN1532-4257
Autores Tópico(s)Musicology and Musical Analysis
ResumoClick to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes ∗ Philip Taylor writes, “During the second world war ‘going to the pictures’ remained, as it had been in the 1930s, an ‘essential social habit’ and ‘far and away the most popular entertainment’, particularly for working-class people between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five. Indeed, following the short-lived and short-sighted policy of the government, which closed all cinemas on the outbreak of war, its popularity steadily increased. By 1945 30 million people were attending the cinema in Britain every week, a figure which had risen from 19 million in 1939. After November 1939 there were no fewer than 4000 cinemas in operation at any given time. Although the long-established dominance of Hollywood films was never seriously challenged by the British film industry during the war, British cinema nonetheless enjoyed something of a ‘golden age’ between 1939 and 1945, both in terms of popularity and creativity.” Philip Taylor, Britain and the Cinema in the Second World War (London: Macmillan Press, 1988), p. 6. ∗ The name of the company remains a vexing issue as Kyasht continued to reorganize and rename the troupe. By 1940 the company was called the Lydia Kyasht Russian Ballet, but some reviewers, even in 1941, referred to it as the Lydia Kyasht Ballet de la Jeunesse Anglaise (unsigned article, Lady, November 11, 1941, Lydia Kyasht Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London). In a retrospective article, Edward C. Mason wrote that Kyasht formed yet another company consisting mainly of “young English dancers” after the war called the Lydia Kyasht Ballet Russe (“Schools and Teachers: Lydia Kyasht,” Dance and Dancers, April 1957, p. 25). In Ballet Biographies, Gladys Davidson refers to the formation of two distinct companies; she says that in 1939 Kyasht formed the Lydia Kyasht Ballet de la Jeunesse Anglaise and in 1940, the Lydia Kyasht Russian Ballet (Gladys Davidson, Ballet Biographies [London: W. Laurie, 1954], p. 173). ∗ There were precedents for Kyasht's decision to rely on two pianos instead of full orchestral accompaniment. Guided by her brilliant musical advisor, Constant Lambert, Ninette de Valois, founder and director of the Sadler's Wells Ballet, chose to forego full orchestral works. Instead, for several years during the war the Sadler's Wells Ballet performed to reduced scores for two pianos, played by Hilda Gaunt and Lambert himself, with the assistance of Angus Morrison, Mary and Geraldine Peppin, and Marjorie Reed. Mary Clarke notes that the decision to use piano music affected repertory decisions. “While the music was thus limited it was not thought advisable to attempt the full-length classical ballets, and these were consequently presented in divertissement form.” Mary Clarke, The Sadler's Wells Ballet: A History and an Appreciation (New York: Macmillan, 1955), pp. 160–161. † John Regan had established his own “co-operative” company at the onset of the war, his mission being to create ballets with new music and décor whenever possible. First called Les Ballets Trois Arts, Regan later anglicized its name to Three Arts Ballet. ∗ In programs from September 1940, Heraldic was described as “A Fantasy on the Age of Chivalry,” with choreography by Lydia Kyasht Jr. and décor by Ronald Smythe-Wilson and Irene Coultous (Lydia Kyasht Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London). The British pantomime (familiarly known as “the Panto”) is thought to have distilled elements of the commedia dell'arte and combined them with devices from the British music hall tradition. During the holidays in Britain “the panto” is enjoyed across many theatrical venues from London theaters to regional town halls. It features slapstick humor and includes a number of conventional characters such as the “Dame,” played by a man, the “Ugly Sisters,” also played by men, the lead “Boy,” played by a woman, and the lead “Girl,” played by another woman. The pantomime includes familiar plot situations, audience participation, transformation scenes, animal costumes, physical comedy, and songs and is most frequently performed at Christmas time (http://www.limelightscripts.co.uk/scripts/history.html [accessed March 2, 2008]). † In programs from September 1943, this ballet is listed as Kinderszenen Suite, “A Three Dimensional Orchestration in Choreographic Form Arranged by Catherine Marks and John Regan,” with costumes by Toni Sel Reuzio (Lydia Kyasht Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London). ∗ Harold Turner (1910–1962) trained with Rambert and joined the Vic-Wells Ballet in 1934. He made his place as a demi-caractère dancer, but, longing to do danseur noble roles, he left the Vic Wells to dance with Lester in 1940 and joined Mona Inglesby's International Ballet in 1941. After a stint in the RAF, he rejoined the Sadler's Wells in 1945 (“Obituary Mr. Harold Turner, Virtuoso Male Dancer,” [London] Times, July 3, 1962). ∗ The stagings of these ballets are not credited in the programs. However, given his extensive experience performing classical ballets with Karsavina, Spessivtseva, and the Markova-Dolin Ballet, it is logical to assume that Lester himself staged them. ∗ Nicholas Sergeyev was the chief régisseur of the Imperial Russian Ballet who emigrated to the West with a suitcase full of classical ballet scores documented in Stepanov notation. He “achieved lasting fame in the West for his stagings of Giselle, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty in the 1920s and 1930s.” Lynn Garafola, Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (New York: Da Capo Press, 1998), p. 6. For Ninette de Valois's perspective on the “strange little man” who was “unmusical to a degree bordering on eccentricity,” see Ninette de Valois, Come Dance With Me (New York: World Publishing Co., 1957), p. 127. ∗ “The Almost Legendary Miss Inglesby,” Carnaval (November-December, 1946): 54–55. The Bloomsbury Group began to gather around 1904 and continued for several years as a circle of friends including writers, artists, and arts lovers such as Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf, Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, and David Garnett. They were united in their opposition to the sexual, social, and artistic prohibitions of the Victorian era; they were also known to support avant-garde initiatives in literature and the arts. See Margaret Drabble, ed., The Oxford Companion to English Literature, 5th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), p. 110. † Rex Whistler was killed in action in Normandy in 1944. ∗ Haskell did not think the same held true for the theater, which he said demonstrated a bankruptcy of new ideas. 1. Alexander Bland, The Royal Ballet: The First Fifty Years (London: Threshold Books, 1981), p. 117. 2. Malcolm Smith, Britain and 1940: History, Myth and Popular Memory (New York: Routledge, 2000), pp. 17–18, 26. 3. Angus Calder, The Myth of the Blitz (London: Jonathon Cape, 1991), p. 14. 4. Harold Smith, ed., Britain in the Second World War: A Social History (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996), pp. 2–3. 5. Peter Clarke, Hope and Glory: Britain 1900–1990 (London: Penguin Press, 1996); Robert Mackay, Half the Battle: Civilian Morale in Britain during the Second World War (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002). 6. M. Smith, p. 1. 7. Brigitte M. Janina-Kanski (a.k.a. Brigitte Kelly), personal correspondence, June 2, 2006. See also Brigitte Kelly, “Dancing for Joy: A Memoir, Part One,”Dance Chronicle (1999), vol. 22, no. 1: 1–70; “Dancing for Joy: A Memoir, Part Two,” Dance Chronicle (1999), vol. 22, no. 2: 251–300; “Dancing for Joy: A Memoir, Part Three,” Dance Chronicle (1999), vol. 22, no. 3: 359–418. 8. David Vaughan, Frederick Ashton and His Ballets (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977), pp. 195–196. 9. “Wartime Ballet at the Arts Theatre,” New Statesman and Nation, October 12, 1940, Travis Kemp Biographical file, Theatre Museum, London. 10. Untitled article, Evening News, September 28, 1940; “Travis Kemp,” Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, October 25, 1940, Arts Theatre Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 11. Unsigned article, Evening Standard, December 12, 1941, Lydia Kyasht Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 12. P. J. S. Richardson, “The Sitter Out,” Dancing Times, June 1945, p. 386. 13. Unsigned article, Tatler and Bystander, March 12, 1941, London Ballet (Tudor) Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 14. Unsigned review, Sheffield Telegraph, February 25, 1941, Anglo-Polish Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 15. Beth Genné, “Openly English: Phyllis Bedells and the Birth of British Ballet,” Dance Chronicle (1995), vol. 18, no. 3: 437–451. 16. Genné, “Openly English,” p. 437. 17. Edwin Evans, “The Food of Love,” Sketch, December 13, 1939, p. 358. 18. Paul Tassovin, “Glittering Fantouche: A Portrait of Pauline Grant,” Dance and Dancers, December 1953, p. 14. 19. Mackay, Half the Battle, p. 3. 20. Tassovin, “Glittering Fantouche,” p. 14. 21. A. H. Franks, Approach to the Ballet(London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., 1948), p. 147. 22. Obituary of Pauline Grant, Dance and Dancers, November 1986, p. 35. 23. Peter Noble, “A Note on the Work of Pauline Grant,” Dancing Times, September 1947, p. 635. 24. Unsigned article, Radio Times, August 8, 1947, Pauline Grant Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 25. “Ballet for the Forces,” Dancing Times, June 1943, p. 147. 26. P. J. S. Richardson, “Sitter Out,” Dancing Times, September 1944, p. 552. 27. Noble, p. 636. 28. Pat Stone, “Dancing Under the Bombs—Part One,” Ballet Review, Winter, 1985, pp. 74–77; “Dancing Under the Bombs—Part Two,” Ballet Review, Spring, 1985, pp. 92–98; “Dancing Under the Bombs—Part Three,” Ballet Review, Summer, 1985, pp. 90–95; “Dancing Under the Bombs—Part Four,” Ballet Review, Spring, 1986, pp. 90–97; “Dancing Under the Bombs—Part Five,” Ballet Review, Spring, 1987, pp. 78–90. 29. Ibid. 30. Cyril Beaumont, The Diaghilev Ballet in London: A Personal Record (London: Putnam, 1945), p. 6. 31. Program from performances at Victoria Rooms, Clifton, Monday, June 10, 1940, Lydia Kyasht Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 32. Program from the company's first performance, at the Cambridge Theatre, London, Tuesday, May 9, 1939, Lydia Kyasht Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 33. Ibid. 34. Unsigned article, What's On, April 28, 1944, p. 490, Lydia Kyasht Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 35. “Anzac Ballerina,” Illustrated, December 27, 1941, p. 12, Bebe de Roland Biographical file, Theatre Museum, London. 36. Ibid. 37. P. J. S. Richardson, “Sitter Out,” Dancing Times, December 1941, pp. 119–23. 38. Unsigned review, Worthing Gazette, February 24, 1944, Lydia Kyasht Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 39. Edwin Evans, untitled review, Time and Tide, March 18, 1944, Lydia Kyasht Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 40. P. W. Manchester, “Russian Ballet,” Theatre World, December 1941, Lydia Kyasht Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 41. Ibid. 42. P. J. S. Richardson, “Sitter Out,” Dancing Times, December 1941, p. 121. 43. Programs from Prince of Wales Theatre, Cardiff, Wales, September 2, 1940, Lydia Kyasht Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 44. Unsigned review, Times, October 16, 1943, Lydia Kyasht Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 45. Edwin Evans, untitled review, Time and Tide, October 9, 1943, Lydia Kyasht Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 46. Programs from Assembly Hall Theatre, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, June 1940, Arts Theatre Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 47. Keith Lester, “Dancers Give Up All for Art,” Evening News, February 25, 1941, Arts Theatre Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 48. Unsigned review, Times, January 19, 1940, Arts Theatre Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 49. Unsigned article, “Arts Theatre Ballet: The Story of a Year of Achievement,” Theatre World, December 1940, p. 130, Arts Theatre Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 50. Stone, “Dancing under the Bombs, Part Two,” pp. 92–93. 51. Program from Assembly Hall Theatre, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, June 1940, Arts Theatre Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 52. Kelly, “Dancing for Joy, Part Three,” p. 390. 53. Paul Tassovin, “The Extraordinary History of the Anglo-Polish Ballet,” Ballet, March-April 1947, p. 61. 54. Ibid. 55. Kelly, “Dancing for Joy, Part Three,” pp. 390–92. 56. Unsigned review, The Daily Telegraph, November 9, 1940, Anglo-Polish Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 57. Herbert Farjeon, “Anglo-Polish Ballet,” Tatler and Bystander, December 18, 1940, p. 468, Anglo-Polish Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 58. Stone, “Dancing under the Bombs, Part Two,” p. 98. 59. Unsigned reivew, “Anglo-Polish Ballet,” New Statesman, December 14, 1940; Herbert Farjeon, “Anglo-Polish Ballet (Apollo),” Tatler and Bystander, December 18, 1940, p. 468, Anglo-Polish Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 60. Programs from the (London) Blackpool Tower Theatre and Winter Gardens Theatre, winter 1940, Anglo-Polish Ballet Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 61. Kelly, “Dancing for Joy, Part Three,” pp. 397–98. 62. Stone, “Dancing under the Bombs, Part Four,” p. 96. 63. Kelly, “Dancing for Joy, Part Three,” p. 393. 64. Kelly, “Dancing for Joy, Part Three,” p. 401. 65. Geoffrey Handley-Taylor, Mona Inglesby, Ballerina and Choreographer(London: Vawser and Wiles, Ltd., 1947), p. 27. 66. “The Almost Legendary Miss Inglesby,” Carnaval, November-December 1946, p. 54. 67. A. H. Franks, “The Inglesby Legend: A Short Factual Survey of the International Ballet,” in The Ballet Annual: A Record and Year Book of the Ballet, ed. Arnold Haskell (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1963), pp. 104–9. 68. “The Almost Legendary Miss Inglesby,” pp. 54–55. 69. Franks, “The Inglesby Legend,” p. 108. 70. “The Almost Legendary Miss Inglesby,” p. 54. 71. James Redfern, The Spectator, July 23, 1943, International Ballet (Mona Inglesby) Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 72. Franks, Approach to the Ballet, p. 144. 73. W. G. Raffé, “International Ballet of London,” Dance Magazine, March 1948, p. 12. 74. Ibid., p. 15. 75. Herida May, quoted in Richard Davies, “‘Should auld Acquaintance …’: Herida May talks to Richard Davies about some long lost companies that should not be forgotten,” Dance and Dancers, February 1983, p. 21. 76. Ismene Brown, “Mona Inglesby,” The Telegraph, August 3, 2000, International Ballet (Mona Inglesby) Company file, Theatre Museum, London. 77. Audrey Williamson, “Classical Revival,” Ballet Renaissance (London: Golden Balley Press, 1948), p. 132. 78. Arnold Haskell, The National Ballet: A History and a Manifesto (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1944), p. 4. 79. Ibid., p. 4, n. 80. Winston Churchill, “Their Finest Hour,” House of Commons, June 18, 1940, in The Speeches of Winston Churchill, ed. David Cannadine (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1989), p. 177. 81. Haskell, National Ballet, p. 8. 82. Ibid.
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