Classical Dance
Introduction
Ballet is human movement at its most formalised, an art form of surpassing grace and beauty masking extreme technical difficulty. Formal court dance performances from the time of the late Renaissance in Italy were developed as ballet traditions in France, Denmark, Italy and Russia from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, with the Russian tradition brought back to France by the Ballets Russes in the early twentieth century and to Britain through the work of the Royal Ballet founded in 1931 by Ninette de Valois. Two contrasting ways of filming these productions are shown in particular collections held by the BFI: the rehearsal footage and productions recorded by Lord Wakehurst (1957 - 68) and the productions televised by Margaret Dale (1953 - c. 70).
The Lord Wakehurst Collection, filmed from 1957-1968, which documented productions at the Royal Ballet from the 1950s to the 1960s, provides an insight into key productions and performers of that period, succeeded by the broadcast films of Margaret Dale, who substantially developed the language of filming dance for television. Dale's films document and restage for the television studio productions of many of the famous classical ballets of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, by composers including Tchaikovsky, followed by Stravinsky and Prokofiev, which had been brought into the Royal Ballet repertoire, and performed by the Royal Ballet and by visiting companies. The Margaret Dale collection in BFI Special Collections contains her life's work in shooting scripts, photographs and other documents.
Contemporary ballet features the work of choreographers who include both classical ballet and elements of modern and contemporary choreography in their approach, including Wiliam Forsythe, with the Frankfurt Ballet and the Forsythe Company, and Jiri Kylian, Artistic Director of Nederlands Dans Theatre (since 1976), as well as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mark Morris and others. From the 1960s Ballet Rambert developed a new focus on contemporary dance, in 1987 renaming itself the Rambert Dance Company. The Kirov Ballet now also performs contemporary works.
The titles in this section are ordered chronologically by film production date, and the personalities are listed chronologically by birthdate.
Browse online
Ballet Film Collections
Two significant collections, of independent amateur filmmaker Lord Wakehurst (1895-1970), and BBC film director Margaret Dale (1922-2010)
Classical Performers
Including focuses on the world's most famous ballet dancers such as Anna Pavlova, Alicia Markova, Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev and Sylvie Guillem.
Choreographers & Companies
The international ballet companies and individual choreographers most influential on the form historically and to date, from Serge Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes to Matthew Bourne.
Ballet Films
A chronological listing of various ballet films ranging across era and genre, including documentaries, commissions and experimental work.
Composers
Including the works for ballet by Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Benjamin Britten.
