International Ballet
| International Ballet | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Name | International Ballet |
| Year founded | May 1941 |
| Closed | 5 December 1953 |
| Senior staff | |
| Director | Mona Inglesby |
| Company Manager | Guy Charles, Miss E. Fleetwood, Dorothy Brown |
| Artistic staff | |
| Ballet Master in Chief | Stanislas Idzikowski |
| Ballet Master | Nicholas Sergeyev, Geoffrey Espinosa, Ernest Hewitt |
| Music Director | George Weldon, Ernest Irving, James Walker, Anthony Baines |
International Ballet was a British touring ballet company that operated between 1941 and 1953. Its director throughout its existence was Mona Inglesby, who was also its principal ballerina. Although it was Britain's largest ballet company during the war years, and performed to an audience of between one and two million in wartime Britain and between ten and twenty million in its twelve-year life, its contribution to the growth of British ballet has been largely overshadowed by that of the other four classical ballet companies that were operating in 1953 and are still operating; Sadler's Wells Ballet (now the Royal Ballet), Ballet Rambert (now the Rambert Dance Company), Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet now Birmingham Royal Ballet), and the newly formed Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet).
International Ballet is probably unique amongst large ballet companies in that it paid its way without any private or state grant aid. Staging ballet has always been expensive, and Arts Council funding for the year 2013-2014 for those other three companies was Rambert £2M, English National Ballet £6M and the Royal Ballet well over £10M.
International Ballet was formed by the 22-year-old dancer and choreographer Mona Inglesby. On the outbreak of war she had volunteered to drive an ambulance, but she soon decided her talents would be better used taking ballet to audiences in the bomb damaged cities of Britain. With a £5,000 loan from her father she formed the company Choreographic Productions Ltd, to perform under the name of International Ballet. It had a Council of Management chaired by Baroness Ravensdale, and as a "cultural organisation not operated for profit" it was exempt from entertainment tax. Inglesby engaged dancers, a small orchestra and the experienced retired dancer Stanislas Idzikowski as ballet master, and she commissioned sets and costumes. By May 1941 the new company was ready to launch.
The first tour started at the Alhambra Theatre Glasgow on 19 May 1941 with 22 artistes and a full orchestra, consisting of a permanent nucleus of 15 augmented by local musicians. The soloists were Inglesby herself, the experienced ballerina Nina Tarakanova and the virtuoso star Harold Turner, and the corps included the 15-year-old Moira Shearer. The repertoire contained 8 one-act ballets, listed below. The provincial tour was followed by an 8-week season at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue.
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