Ballet Film Collections
Lord Wakehurst (1895 – 1970)
The Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection spans the period from 1957-68 and includes 35 reels of amateur films made independently by John de Vere Loder (Lord Wakehurst) in Britain, many of them documenting performances at the Royal Ballet. The films are shot on 16mm colour stock and are often of rehearsals as well as stage performances, where the camera is placed in the front circle, the dancers appearing quite small and seen from a downward angle. A selection has been made below. Although these are amateur films, they contain footage of some of the great choreographers of the twentieth century in rehearsal, including Bronislava Nijinska, George Balanchine and Frederick Ashton, and dancers including Tamara Karsavina, Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, Robert Helpmann, Svetlana Beriosova, Carla Fracci, Christopher Gable.
The Sleeping Beauty
UK 1952 Dir John de Vere Loder
9 mins
DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
Extracts from The Sleeping Beauty danced by members of Sadler's Wells Ballet at Covent Garden; with Beryl Grey, John Field, Margaret Dale, Violetta Elvin, and Alexis Racine.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
The Prince Of the Pagodas
UK 1957 Dir John de Vere Loder
DVD (Reference copy only) Col
29 mins
Amateur film of members of the Royal Ballet dancing The Prince of the Pagodas in November 1956 and June 1957. With Svetlana Beriosova, David Blair. The emperor makes his entrance reprimanding the jester who is sitting on his throne. … Music by Benjamin Britten, choreography by John Cranko.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 1
UK 1957
399 feet
16mm Col silent
Bill Haley and His Comets performing in Belfast 1957. Miracle in the Gorbals with Robert Helpmann and Annette Page. Gala performance. Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 6
UK 1957 (1962)
16mm Col
Lusillo and his Spanish dancers performing Storm. The Sons of Aymon performed at the Edinburgh Festival 1962. Jerome Robbins Ballet USA in a performance of Events, with solo by John Jones.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 7
UK 1961
16mm Col
The Sleeping Beauty performed by the Kirov Ballet, with dancers including Igor Chernishev, Natalia Makarova, Galina Ivanova. Madame Nijinsky at the London School of Contemporary Dance, Kirov dancers at Hampton Court. Ceylon Kandy Dancers.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 11
UK 1962 Dir John de Vere Loder
10 mins
16mm Col
Nureyev in Flower Festival at Genzano and La Bayadere. Also in the same ten-minute reel: Don Quixote pas-de-deux, Napoli e Divertissment.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 13
UK 1962
16mm Col
Amateur film of the Folk Dance Festival in London 1963; the French Folk Dance company; the Canadian National Ballet School in rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet; Mellissa Hayden being taught the part of Lise in La Fille Mal Gardee; a rehearsal for Bal des Voleurs; an Edinburgh Festival fringe performance. With dancers including Carla Fracci, Gillian Lynne. On-screen participants Leonide Massine, John Field.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 14
UK 1962 Dir John de Vere Loder
428ft
16mm Col
Rehearsal for Daphnis and Chloe; Robert Helpmann directing a rehearsal of Electra; the Martha Graham Company at the Edinburgh Festival 1963 in performances of Seraphic Dialogue and Phaedra. With dancers Michael Somes, Margot Fonteyn, Ronald Hund, Nadia Nerina. On-screen participants Robert Helpmann, Martha Graham.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 15
UK 1964 Dir John de Vere Loder
11 mins
16mm Col
Raymonda in performance and rehearsal. The Netherlands Dance Theatre in Pierrot Lunaire, Septet and Symphony in Three Movements. With dancers Margot Fonteyn, Glen Tetley and others.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 16
UK 1964
496ft
16mm Col
Amateur film of the Patricia Mulholland Company in The Flauter's Ball; and includes a dress rehearsal of Les Biches at Covent Garden; The Paul Taylor Dance Company in Junction, Three Epitaphs and Duet. With dancers including Patricia Mulholland, Svetlana Beriosova, David Blair, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp. On-screen participants include Bronislava Nijinska, Frederick Ashton.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 18
UK 1965
415ft
16mm Col
Beryl Grey and Karl Musil rehearsing Les Sylphides; members of The Royal Ballet rehearsing A Ballet For All at the Theatre Royal, Stratford, with members of the Martha Graham Company. A dress rehearsal for Summer's Night at Covent Garden.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 19
John De Vere Loder.
UK 1965
297ft
16mm Col Silent
Shows the New York City Ballet at Covent Garden: George Balanchine taking a rehearsal of Symphony in C (by Bizet); a rehearsal of Agon (ballet for twelve dancers, with music by Igor Stravinsky, choreography by Balanchine); a rehearsal of Liebeslieder Walzer (Balanchine's ballet to music by Johannes Brahms); and a performance of Symphony in C. With dancers Suzanne Farrell, Conrad Ludlow and others.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 22
UK 1966
16mm Col
The last performance by the Ballet Rambert before its reorganisation including extracts from Czernyana, Sweet Dancer and Les Sylphides; the first performance after reorganisation; extracts from Numeros and The Judgement of Paris.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 23
UK 1960
16mm Col
The Western Ballet Theatre in 1960, and in 1964 rehearsing and performing Carnival, Non-Stop, Love Duet, One in Five, Chiaroscuro and Mods and Rockers. With on-screen participant Tamara Karsavina.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 27
UK 1965
16mm Col
The 1965 Commonwealth Arts Festival; a dance Gala at the Albert Hall with the Abbots Bromley Horn Dancers and dancers from Sierra Leone and Trinidad and the Feux Follets from Canada. The Australian Ballet Company rehearsing at Covent Garden for Namoura. Display, Yugen and Melbourne Cup.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 29
UK 1968 Dir John de Vere Loder
722 feet
16mm Col Silent
Dress rehearsal of La Boutique Fantastique by Leonide Massine and Mamzelle Angot by the Royal Ballet touring company at Stratford upon Avon. With dancers including Doreen Wells.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 30
UK 1968
16mm Col
Excerpts from various performances of Swan Lake. With dancers Svetlana Beriosova. Philip Chatfifeld, Beryl Grey.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 31
UK 1968 Dir John de Vere Loder
12 mins
16mm Col
Nureyev in Royal Ballet dress rehearsal of The Nutcracker. Also contains rehearsal footage of Spectrum and Carnival by the Western Theatre Ballet.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 33
UK 1968
16mm Col
The Royal Ballet rehearsals of Enigma Variations and Lilac Garden at Covent Garden, and Knight Errant at Manchester. On-screen participant Kenneth Ashton.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Lord Wakehurst Ballet Film Collection Reel 35
UK 1968 Dir John de Vere Loder
8 mins
16mm Col
A record of Jazz Calendar danced by members of the Royal Ballet, including Rudolf Nureyev and Antoinette Sibley; Ballet Rambert dance Free Fall, with Glen Tetley; and L'Aprés-Midi d'un Faune with Christopher Bruce and Sandra Craig.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Margaret Dale (1922 - 2010)
One of the first producers and directors of ballet for television, Margaret Dale had been a dancer with the Sadler's Wells Ballet in the 1940s and early 50s before joining the BBC in 1953, where she produced studio productions of existing ballets as well as inviting choreographers to make new works for television. Many of the films made by Dale for the BBC in the 1950s and 60s were based on productions created for the Royal Ballet or performed by visiting companies, under the directorship of the Royal Ballet by Ninette de Valois, who had founded the company in 1931.
The Royal Ballet (in its earlier incarnation as the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet) was the first company to introduce to Britain the classical repertoire from Russian ballet, aided by the notations made by Nicolai Sergeyev as a regisseur at the Mariinsky Ballet, whom de Valois employed to advise on revivals. Dale's films include televised versions of most works in the repertoire including interpretations and new pieces by the first two resident choreographers for the Company, Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan (including Ashton's Coppelia, 1957, Petruschka, 1962 and La Fille Mal Gardee, 1962), and broadcast versions of de Valois' key choreographic works The Rake's Progress (1935, revived in 1961) and Checkmate (1937, revived in 1963) as well as new works for television by Ashton, John Cranko and other choreographers. She also made a number of documentaries on dancers and choreographers including de Valois, Massine and Nureyev.
The Margaret Dale collection in BFI Special Collections gives an overview of her work for the BBC and includes set designs, camera scripts and photographs of such key choreographic works as Ashton's Coppelia (1957), Petruschka (1962) and La Fille Mal Gardee (1962), De Valois' The Rake's Progress (1961) and Checkmate (1963), and Dale's own new projects for television Ballet Class (1964) and House Party (1964), as well as the later colour TV transmissions The Dream (1967), Monotones (1968) and Anatomy Lesson (1968).
The Bolshoi Theatre Ballet of Moscow (aka Bolshoi Ballet Swan Lake (Music at Ten))
UK 1956 Dir Margaret Dale
34 mins
Digibeta + DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
Originally filmed for the BBC's Music at Ten slot, this showcases excerpts from Act 2 of Swan Lake, plus Prince Igor, Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet.The television performance is preceded by excerpts of Soviet films of other performances.Galina Ulanova dances for the Bolshoi, and the second act of Swan Lake is transmitted live on television.
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Margaret Dale: Swan Lake Act II (tx 21/10/56) Camera Script, October 1956. Photographs.
Coppélia
UK 1957 Dir Margaret Dale
50 mins
Digibeta + DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
Live studio performance of the ballet, performed by Robert Helpmann, Nadia Nerina, Donald Britton, Rudolph Offenbach and Alexis Chesnakov.
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Camera Script October 1957; Scenario; Pen & Ink sketch of the set by Guy Sheppard; Photographs.
The Nutcracker
UK 1958 Dir Margaret Dale
59 mins
DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
Live studio production of the Tchaikovsky ballet. Directed and produced by Margaret Dale, designer Guy Sheppard. Script by Marius Petipa, choreography by Lev Ivanov, revised choreography by Peter Wright. With Margot Fonteyn, Michael Somes.
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Camera Script December 1958
Pineapple Poll
UK 1959 Dir Margaret Dale
48 mins
35mm B&W
Live studio broadcast of John Cranko's ballet, based on W.S. Gilbert's The Bumboat Woman's Story, with music by Arthur Sullivan, arranged and conducted by Charles Mackerras, in which Pineapple Poll falls in love with Captain Belaye of H.M.S. Hot Cross Bun. Performed by members of the Royal Ballet. Penman catalogue no. 33. With dancers David Blair, Merle Park. Décor and costumes by Osbert Lancaster.
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Camera Script November 1959
Graduation Ball
UK 1960 Dir Margaret Dale
40 mins
Beta SP B&W + DVD (Reference copy only)
Studio performance of David Lichine's ballet, by London's Festival Ballet. Set in a Viennese girls' boarding school in the 1850s at their graduation ball, to which the local military cadets have been invited.
Archive Source: BFI National Archive
The Sylphide - Ballet Rambert
UK Dir Margaret Dale 1961
71 mins
DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
Ballet by the Danish choreographer Auguste Bournonville (1836) performed by Ballet Rambert with principal dancers Lucette Aldous and Flemming Flindt.
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Camera Script January 1961
The Stone Flower (Alterative title: The Leningrad State Kirov Ballet in the Stone Flower Act 1)
UK 1961 Dir Margaret Dale
45 mins
Digibeta + DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
The first part of the ballet danced by the Leningrad State Kirov ballet, presented for television by Margaret Dale.
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Camera Script July 1961; Photographs
The Rake's Progress
UK Dir Margaret Dale 1961
40 mins
DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
Ballet in five scenes, danced by the Royal Ballet,choreography by Ninette de Valois.
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Camera Script October 1961; Photographs
La Fille Mal Gardée
UK 1962 Dir Margaret Dale
89 mins
DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
The Royal Ballet. Producer Margaret Dale, Choreographer Frederick Ashton, Dancers Nadia Nerina, David Blair.
Televised under the supervision of Frederick Ashton with the original cast.
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Camera Script September 1962. Photographs and Mounted photographs.
Checkmate
UK 1963 Dir Margaret Dale
42 mins
DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
The Royal Ballet. TV presentation of the 1937 (revised 1947) ballet by Ninette De Valois. Danced by the Royal Ballet. Original scenery and costumes by E McKnight Kaufmann, conductor John Lanchbery.
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Camera Script July 1963
Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet
UK 1963 Dir Margaret Dale
40 mins
DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
A studio presentation of highlights from the repertoire of the Bolshoi ballet, including extracts from Don Quixote, Giselle, Cinderella, Gayaneh.
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Camera Script July 1963
Ballet Class
UK 1964 Dir Margaret Dale
50 mins
DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
Stylised ballet documentary written and produced by Margaret Dale, designer, Roger Andrews, ballet master Peter Wright. Peter Wright conducts a masterclass with ten leading dancers from the Royal Ballet in BBC Studio 4: Maryon Lane, Merle Park, Georgina Parkinson, Lynn Seymour, Doreen Wells, Anthony Dowell, David Drew, Christopher Gable, Bryan Lawrence and Derek Rencher. Penman catalogue no 69.
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Camera Script October 1963, Commentary Script nd.
Houseparty
UK 1964 Dir Margaret Dale
DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
30 mins
TV special. An experimental ballet created especially for television and inspired by Poulenc's score for Les Biches (a ballet commissioned by Diaghilev and choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska in 1924). A group of friends meet at a weekend house party. With scenario and choreography by Peter Darrell, dance performed by Western Theatre Ballet Company.
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Scenario, Camera Script March 1964, Pressbook, Photographs
The Firebird
UK 1965 Dir Margaret Dale
40 mins
DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
Studio recording of the Royal Ballet's production of Stravinsky's The Firebird, with choreography by Fokine.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Eugene Onegin
UK 1966 Dir Peter Wright + co-prod Margaret Dale
37 mins
DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
Ballet staged for television based on Pushkin's poem, to the score by Tchaikovsky, with choreography by John Cranko. Penman catalogue no. 94.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Cranko's Castle
UK 1967 Dir Margaret Dale
50 mins
DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
A profile of John Cranko at the Stuttgart State Theatre Ballet. He is seen working on Swan Lake, Giselle, Jeu de Cartes (Card Game). With the first British performance of his Opus 1 to music by Webern. Producer Margaret Dale, with a commentary by Humphrey Burton.
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Rehearsal and filming schedule; Camera Script November 1966 & February 1967, mounted photographs.
The Dream
UK 1967 Dir Margaret Dale
45 mins
DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
A performance in the television studio of Frederick Ashton's ballet The Dream, from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, with music by Felix Mendelssohn arranged by John Lanchbery, danced by The Royal Ballet. With Antoinette Sibley, Anthony Dowell. (Penman catalogue no. 99.)
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Camera Script 1966, Schedule for sound recording July 1966, mounted photographs.
The Anatomy Lesson
UK 1968 Dir Margaret Dale
45 mins
DVD Col (Reference copy only)
A ballet by Glen Tetley from the repertoire of the Nederlands Dans Theater Holland. Producer Margaret Dale. Introduced by comments from Tetley and members of the company. Tetley explains how he came to do a ballet in which the central character is a corpse – which lies dissected in Rembrandt's painting The Anatomy Lesson. The ballet is performed by members of the Nederlands Dans Theater, to Marcel Landowsky's Symphony no. 1
Archive source: BFI National Archive
BFI Special Collections: Camera Script 1968, Video recording order February 1968. Photographs.
Monotones (Contrasts)
UK 1968 Dir Margaret Dale
30 mins
DVD (Reference copy only) B&W
Studio production of Sir Frederick Ashton's Royal Ballet production of Monotones, to the music of Erik Satie. Preceded by a brief introduction in which Ashton talks about his work and rehearses the dancers.
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Rehearsal script, Camera Script October 1967, Notes on VT recording, Lighting plot September 1967, Photographs.
Helpmann (Omnibus)
UK 1973 Dir Julia Matheson + Prod Margaret Dale
53 mins
DVD (Reference copy only) Col
Documentary profile of Robert Helpmann, dancer who worked with Ninette de Valois and danced with Anna Pavlova and Rudolf Nureyev; covering his childhood in Australia and his career in ballet, drama and the cinema. Short extracts from The Tales Of Hoffman (1951), The Soldier's Tale (1964), The Quiller Memorandum (1966) and Nureyev's Don Quixote (1973).
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: Camera Script 1973, Background ntoes, Lists of slides/photographs.
Ballet Class (Festival 40)
UK 1976 Dir Margaret Dale
DVD (Reference copy only) Col
50 mins
A series of outstanding programmes to mark forty years of BBC Television. The leading dancers from the Royal Ballet take class in a studio at the Television Centre.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Thank You Madam (Dance Month)
UK 1978 Dir Bob Lockyer + Prod Margaret Dale
65 mins
DVD (Reference copy only) Col
TV programme on the story of the Royal Ballet. Eightieth birthday tribute to Dame Ninette de Valois including a repeat of Checkmate originally tx 31/7/63.
Archive source: BFI National Archive
Leonide Massine
UK 1979 Dir Margaret Dale
DVD (Reference copy only) Col
25 mins
TV Interview with the great dancer and choreographer Leonide Massine, presented by Melvyn Bragg. Margaret Dale producers.
Archive source: BFI National Archive + BFI Special Collections: large format photographs.
