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Royal Ballet, London

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The Royal Ballet is based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England, and is one of the leading ballet companies in the United Kingdom. It conducts regular international tours.

Under its original name, the Vic-Wells Ballet, it was founded by Dame Ninette de Valois in 1931 and performed at the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells Theatres until 1946. By then, it had been renamed The Sadler's Wells Ballet and, at that time, de Valois was invited to bring the company to the ROH as the permanent ballet company of the newly-founded opera and ballet troupe under the direction of David Webster.

On November 20th 1946, The Sadler's Wells Ballet reopened The Royal Opera House with a performance of The Sleeping Beauty.

By 1957, the company had been granted the title of "The Royal Ballet".

In 1962, de Valois invited Rudolf Nureyev to join the company as a guest. He was to form the great partnership with Margot Fonteyn.

In 1963 Frederick Ashton became Artistic Director. Kenneth Macmillan unexpectedly replaced him in 1970. Norman Morrice became Director in 1977.

August 4th 1980 saw the premiere of Rhapsody. This was the last of Frederick Ashton's big ballets. It was a masterly conclusion to 50 years of a long series of pure dance works.

In 1986, the Directorship passed to Anthony Dowell. In 2001 Ross Stretton was appointed Director. In 2002 Monica Mason became the seventh Artistic Director of The Royal Ballet.

Swan Lake has been in the Royal Ballet's repertory since 1932. Act II alone was performed on 5th October 1932. Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin staged and starred in this first production. The first full production was performed on the 20th November 1934. Markova was Odette/Odile and Robert Helpmann was Siegfried. In 1943, Leslie Hurry provided designs for a new production . These designs were revised for a production by Ninette de Valois in 1952. Beryl Grey and John Field led the first cast in this production. In December 1963, Margot Fonteyn led the cast in a new production which featured additional choreography by Frederick Ashton including the whole final act.

One firm favourite of the Royal Ballet has been Coppelia. A version of it was first produced in 1933 by the Fledgling Vic Wells company. Ninette de Valois who had an acute sense of the value of tradition, employed Nicolai Sergueyev, the former regisseur of the Maryinsky , to reconstruct Acts I and II of Coppelia . The first night was March 21st 1933. The company first performed the full three act ballet in 1940. It was in this production that Robert Helpmann starred as Coppelius, “ a richly comic interpretation that, once seen, could never be forgotten .” In 1954, the company was provided with new scenery and costumes by Osbert Lancaster. In 2002, the 1954 Ninette de Valois production was restaged as part of 2001/2 season which was dedicated to Dame Ninette de Valois.

Its founder choreographer was Sir Frederick Ashton. Celebrated dancers of The Royal Ballet have included Dame Margot Fonteyn, Dame Ninette de Valois, Anthony Dowell, Rowena Jackson, Gillian Lynne, Irek Mukhamedov, Darcey Bussell, Michael Somes, Miyako Yoshida, Jose Manuel Carreño and Sylvie Guillem (guest principal). In 2002, former Royal Ballet dancer Monica Mason replaced Ross Stretton to become Director of the Company.

Its current Choreographer-in-Residence is Wayne McGregor.

Choreographers for the ballet company have included John Cranko, Sir Robert Helpmann, Sir Kenneth MacMillan and Lauren Stroud.

A very diverse company with dancers from all over the world; today, the principal dancers include: British Edward Watson, Spanish Tamara Rojo, Zenaida Yanowsky and Laura Morera, Japanese Miyako Yoshida (guest), Russian Viacheslav Samodurov, Italian Federico Bonelli and Mara Galeazzi, Cuban Carlos Acosta (guest), Australian Leanne Benjamin, Romanian Alina Cojocaru, American Sarah Lamb and Alexandra Ansanelli, Brazilian Roberta Marquez, Thiago Soares and Argentinian Marianela Nunez.

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