Dame Beryl Grey

Insignia of the Companions of Honour

Author Robert Prummel
Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 licence  

This blog tries to avoid obsequiousness (though we may not always succeed) but we happily make an exception for Dame Beryl Grey. Today the Prime Minister announced Dame Beryl's admission into the Order of the Companions of Honour of which there are only 65 members. Other members include Stephen Hawking, Janet Baker, David Hockney, Harrison Birtwistle, Judi Dench, Peter Higgs and Lord Woolf.

Dame Beryl is the President of the English National Ballet and was artistic director of the company when between 1968 and 1979 when I first took an interest in ballet. I had the good fortune to meet her at the 70th anniversary celebrations of the London Ballet Circle (see 70 Years of the London Ballet Circle 10 May 2016). I add my congratulations on Dame Beryl's latest honour to the many others that she will already have received or can expect in the next few days.

Other persons to have been honoured this year for services to dance include:

• Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp, former chief executive of The Place
• Romayne Grigorova
• Alexandra Clarke, and
• Deborah Ann Holme.

Congratulations to them too.

Alicia Alonso

Alicia Alonso

Source Wikipedia

Yesterday was Alicia Alonso's 95th birthday. I was alerted to that anniversary by Javier Torres who mentioned it on his Facebook page. She founded the National Ballet of Cuba and her company's website describes her as:

"Prima Ballerina Assoluta y Directora del Ballet Nacional de Cuba, es una de las personalidades más relevantes en la historia de la danza y constituye la figura cimera del ballet clásico en el ámbito iberoamericano."

I never saw her dance except on film but I did see her company when it visited Sadler's Wells in September 2006 to perform Magia de la Danza and Don Quixote. Torres was a principal of the company, He is now a premier dancer with Northern Ballet.

Joanna Goodman was lucky enough to see Alonso when she joined the company on stage for its curtain call after it had danced Swan Lake (see Goodman We are the dancers, we create the dreams: Ballet Nacional de Cuba’s El Lago de los Cisnes in Havana 8 July 2014). I am sure all my readers will join me in congratulating that great dancer and wishing her well for the future.

Margot Fonteyn

Bronze statute of Dame Margot Fonteyn

Photograph by Ian Yarham,
Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike licence 2.0

Source Wikipedia

Peggy Hookham was born this day in Reigate exactly 96 years ago. She is of course better known as Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias, prima ballerina assoluta and probably one pf the greatest dancers of all time. I won't attempt a biography. There are plenty around as well as her own autobiography. For those who want to research her life and career the Wikipedia article provides a good starting point.

I shall confine myself to some personal memories. Although I saw her on television many times as I was growing up I did not see her on stage until I went to university. This was in the late 1960s and early 1970s when she was entering her fifties. One of the roles that I saw her dance was Juliet in Macmillan's Romeo and Juliet from which a remarkable film was made. You can still see on YouTube. I saw her in most of the other great classical roles as I was a Young Friend of Covent Garden and practically lived at the House in the Christmas, Easter and first part of the Summer vacations between 1969 and 1972.

My last memory of Fonteyn was not on the stage but in the Great Hall of Lincoln's Inn. She had been invited to dine with the benchers on Grand Day. This is an occasion when prominent individuals in public life visit the Inn. Usually the benchers and their guests enter and leave the hall in silence. After their name is read out they are greeted with a bow which they usually reciprocate. But when Dame Margot left the Hall there was an explosion of applause as though she had danced Odette-Odile. Her smile will remain with me to my dying day.

Li Cunxin and Ernst Meisner at the London Ballet Circle

As I said in Looking Forward to 2015 - My Choices 29 Dec 2014, the visit of the Queensland Ballet to the Coliseum is likely to be one of the highlights of the coming year. They will dance La Sylphde for which I have already bought my ticket. The company has a remarkable artistic director in Li Cunxin who has excelled not just as a dancer but also as a stockbroker. At the AGM of the the London Ballet Circle last Saturday I learned that he will speak to the Circle on 3 Aug 2015 at The Dining Room, First Floor, Civil Service Club, 13-15 Gt Scotland Yard.

The Circle offers a number of prizes and scholarships to outstanding young dancers (see its Prizes, Scholarships and Donations page). At  the AGM we learned of a new one to the Dutch National Ballet. As I mentioned in Meet Ernst Meisner and his talented young dancers 6 Dec 2014 Ernst Meisner, the artistic coordinator of the Junior Company will speak to the Circle this year though a date has to be fixed. The latest indication seems to be July.

The London Ballet Circle's home page asks:

"Would you like to meet the world's leading dancers, choreographers and artistic directors? Then why not join the London Ballet Circle and receive invitations to talks, visits and parties hosted by leading figures in dance?"

Well it's true. Last weekend I met one of my all time favourite ballerinas, the artistic director of the company whose mixed bill I saw no less than 4 times last year, my favourite living British choreographer and one of the outstanding young dancers who make my spirits soar. All this for £12 (£2.50 if under 25) and the thought of helping advance the careers of the next generation of dancers. Here's the link to the membership page.

Postscript 26 Jan 2015

According to Queensland Ballet's Facebook page, today is Li Cunxin's birthday. It happens to fall on Australia day which is the national day of his adopted country. I have just seen the DVD of "Mao's Last Dancer" which was enthralling. I shall now read the book. I look forward to seeing La Sylphide and meeting Li Cunxin in August. In the meantime I wish him a happy birthday and I wish him and all Australian nationals and residents a happy Australia day.

Post Postscript 27 Jan 2015

Yesterday it was Li Cunxin's birthday. Today it is Ernst Meisner's.

Here is what his company said on Facebook:

"Wij feliciteren Ernst Meisner met zijn verjaardag!
Ernst zal samen met Marco de nieuwe samenwerking tussen ISH en Het Nationale Ballet regisseren.
Hou je ogen open voor de updates van komende voorstelling "Narnia" waar deze 2 samen met een geweldige cast twee werelden samenbrengen op een manier die je nog niet hebt gezien!
Happy birthday Ernst!"

The only words of which I can be absolutely certain are the last three but I think the gist of the post is that they congratulate Ernst on his birthday and talk about his collaboration with Marco Gerris of ISH in Narnia, the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, That will be performed at the beginning of May and it looks very promising.

Ernst has posted a nice response in English thanking everybody for putting a smile on his face.

I am looking forward to making his acquaintance at his talk to the London Ballet Circle if not before.