Last time on “80 More Gays”:
1) k. d. lang (b.1961)
performed at the closing ceremony of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics which
featured the “Battle of the Brians” between skaters 2) Brian Orser (b.1961) and 3) Brian Boitano (b.1963),
the latter skating to music from the ballet “Les Patineurs” which was
originally choreographed by 4) Sir
Frederick Ashton (1904-1988).
4) Sir Frederick Ashton was not the first choice of
choreographer the brand new ballet, “Les Patineurs” (The Skaters). The musical
director of the Vic-Wells Ballet Company in London, Constant Lambert, who had
come across an old programmer from the ballet “Les Plaisirs de l’Hiver, ou, Les
Patineurs” and this gave him the idea of creating a new ballet with a skating
theme.
Lambert picked out some
tunes and songs from a couple of operas by Giacmomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864) – “Le
Prophete” and “L’Etoile du Nord”. He arranged them into his new ballet, from
which 3) Brian Boitano would
select music for his short programme in 1988.
Lambert had thought of
asking renowned ballet dancer Ninette de Valois to choreograph “Les Patineurs”,
but Sir Frederick Ashton heard Lambert playing the music on his piano and urged
Lambert to let him choreograph the ballet instead.
“Les Patineurs” premiered
on 16th February 1937 at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. Within three months
the BBC transmitted a live performance from Alexandra Palace in one of the
earliest ballets shown on television.
Sir Frederick began a long
dancing association with Ninette de Valois in 1931. He started creating ballets
for the Vic-Wells Ballet Company which she founded and he became resident
choreographer. Throughout his career Sir Frederick created or choreographed
over fifty ballets.
After his death the rights
and royalties to his ballets went to various friends and colleagues. “Les
Patineurs” was left to 5) Brian Shaw
(1928-1992).
Brian Shaw (whose full
surname was Earnshaw) had performed in “Les Patineurs” since the 1940s to great
acclaim. He had a “Billie Elliott”-style background – a working-class boy who
wanted to become a ballet dancer. He moved from Yorkshire to London to study at
Sadler’s Wells, the new name for the Vic-Wells Ballet Company, and became a
solo dancer at the young age of 16.
Within a couple of years
Brian Shaw was promoted to principal dancer and had roles and ballets created
especially for him. One of those roles was created in 1951 by Sir Frederick
Ashton in a new ballet called “Tiresias”.
“Tiresias” was created for
the Festival of Britain, a massive national celebration of arts and culture.
The ballet received its premiere on 9th July 1951 with Queen Elizabeth the
Queen Mother in attendance. Despite critical reviews the ballet was produced
another 22 times in the following four years.
Long-time readers of my
blog may recognised the name Tiresias. He was a figure from Greek mythology
about whom I wrote several years ago in two articles. He was the blind prophet
and transgender priestess 6) Tiresias.
Perhaps the reason the
critics didn’t like the ballet was because of the transgender theme. Perhaps it
was a concept that the 1950s were not ready for.
The role created by Sir
Frederick Ashton for Brian Shaw was not the title role. That was split between
Michael Somes and Margot Fonteyn. Brian Shaw played one of the two snakes
having sex that Tiresias encounters. Striking one of the snakes caused Tiresias
to change sex. The story is told in more detail in my previous articles.
One other aspect of the
legend of Tiresias is that he was struck blind. My previous articles mentioned
how it was the goddess Hera who blinded him but ancient myths often have
variations. Among these is a story in which he was blinded by the gods because
he was revealing their secrets to the mortal world. Another variation, which
became popular as the inspiration for poetry and art in Victorian England, was
that Tiresias was blinded by another Greek goddess, one who, like Tiresias, had
transgender qualities. She was 7)
Athena.
Next time on “80 More Gays”: We take an odyssey to wonder at some
ancients buildings.
No comments:
Post a Comment