Invitation to the Ballet: Ninette de Valois and the story of The Royal Ballet at The Lowry

Sep 30 2010 by Jo Henwood, Flintshire Chronicle

Balletomanes are invited to a special exhibition at The Lowry this autumn. Invitation to the Ballet: Ninette de Valois and the story of The Royal Ballet is a collaboration between the Royal Opera House and The Lowry, Salford.

On display from October 22, 2010, to March 6, 2011, this unique exhibition will also illustrate LS Lowry’s involvement with ballet in Britain and how his appreciation of art, music and dance affected his work.

A highlight of The Lowry’s 10th anniversary year, this exhibition will include some unseen Lowry drawings which are thought to have been influenced by his love of ballet.

The exhibition tells the remarkable story of how De Valois, a young Irish dancer born Edris Stannus, started her career impersonating Anna Pavlova in English seaside pier theatres and went on to found an English ballet school and company, The Royal Ballet, which was to become one of the world’s leading companies.

Highlights of the exhibition include a selection of material from De Valois’s own ballets, including Checkmate, The Rake’s Progress, Job and Don Quixote, and a re-creation of Margot Fonteyn’s dressing room as it was at the Royal Opera House with her make-up cases, mascot, shoe-darning kit, practice clothes, spare shoe ribbons and the Odette tutu from the 1952 production of Swan Lake. A large number of never-seen- before photographs of The Royal Ballet taken during its 80-year history and including many rehearsal and backstage images are also featured.

More than 40 items of historic costume will be displayed, including those worn by Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, Robert Helpmann, Beryl Grey, Michael Somes, Lynn Seymour, Christopher Gable, Anya Linden, Nadia Nerina, Antoinette Sibley, Anthony Dowell, Monica Mason, Darcey Bussell and Jonathan Cope.

From The Royal Ballet’s current repertory there will be costumes worn by principal dancers Alina Cojocaru, Tamara Rojo, Leanne Benjamin, Marianela Nuñez, Mara Galeazzi, Zenaida Yanowsky, Carlos Acosta, and Edward Watson.

A variety of set and costume designs will be exhibited by designers and artists including Pablo Picasso, Edward Burra, William Chappell, Rex Whistler, Oliver Messel and Yolanda Sonnabend alongside numerous letters, pPress cuttings, music manuscripts dance notation scores, posters and other memorabilia. A series of specially commissioned films can also be viewed and there will be interactive exhibits for younger visitors. Education events will accompany the exhibition.

The life and career of Ninette de Valois ran parallel with that of LS Lowry, who saw The Royal Ballet perform on many occasions in Manchester. It is during the Second World War that Lowry is believed to have first seen Coppélia and other productions that were to influence some aspects of his later art, notably his ‘mannequin’ works and his portraits of ‘Ann’ (thought by some to be based on the doll character Swanhilda from the ballet Coppélia). A series of LS Lowry ‘mannequin’ drawings on loan from The Lowry Estate will be shown for the first time.