VIDEOS & INTERVIEWS
Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Half-a-Sixpence, Oliviers…
Chevy Chase in the ‘Folk Dance’
Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats
Masquerade / Why So Silent
Victoria the White Cat
Dancing in Flash Bang Wallop as well as choreographing the film
Covent Garden prepares to open after the war in 1946
Sadler’s Wells Ballet, under Ninette de Valois, was invited to become the resident ballet company at the Royal Opera House in 1946.
The Sadler’s Wells Company - later in 1956 to become The Royal Ballet - can be seen rehearsing in this British Pathé clip, getting ready for their first performance on 20 February 1946 - a Gala Performance of The Sleeping Beauty with Margot Fonteyn as Aurora in front of a full house including the King and Queen and the Royal Princesses.
Gillian can be seen several times - in the still below she is on the left kneeling down with her hand on her right leg and she can be seen in the video firstly at 0.39s, again at 0.45s tying her shoes and walking across the stage at 0.49s.
Dancing in the Blitz - BBC TV
How World War 2 Made British Ballet
Presented by David Bintley, Artistic Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet and a former dancer who was taught by Ninette de Valois – widely regarded as the founder of British ballet. From Dante Sonata to Symphonic Variations, ballet footage in rehearsal and performance gives a snapshot of the conditions the dancers faced, at home and on tour.
The film documents how circumstances during the war forced the Sadler’s Wells Ballet Company to tour more, taking ballet to a new audience, who not having the opportunity previously now fell in love with ballet.
Voices of British Ballet
Gillian Lynne as The Black Queen in Checkmate - 1950
Photo Roger Wood © ROH Collections
An interview with Gillian Lynne talking to Lynn Wallis, with an introduction by former Royal Ballet Principal Dancer Adam Cooper in conversation with Natalie Steed,