In Fonteyn's day?

[jonac]

Talking with a fellow ballet-goer, we wondered whether in the days of Fonteyn/Nureyev, or previously, leading roles were allocated to all or most of the Principals during a run (of course there may have been fewer Principals than is the case at present)? In other words, in a run of The Sleeping Beauty, would Fonteyn dance Aurora at more  performances than many of the other Principals? Would Beryl Grey dance more performances than a ballerina recently promoted to Principal? I'm sure there are some who can answer the question.

[Jane S]

Well, it's quite complicated to work out, partly because they didn't do 'runs' in those days - more 'clusters', where SB  would be seen most seasons, but it would be  half a dozen performances over 3 or 4 weeks, and then a few more a couple of months later etc etc.

 

But yes, for a long time Fonteyn got more performances than anyone else - it was her ballet, the one she was most associated with.  Otherwise the performances were split  amongst the ballerinas who did Aurora (more or less all of them), but there was often a newbie, who would get maybe a couple of shows in her first year and then gradually get more - or in some cases, would disappear after only one or two seasons. 

 

As a rough guide, in the production first given in 1946 and last seen in 1967, Fonteyn did 112 and the next most seen ballerinas did something in the range 40 - 60 each.

 

(you need the Royal Ballet  - the first 50 Years book if you want all the details!)

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Jane S

[Fonty]

That might have been the case for the Sleeping Beauty, but presumably there must have been other ballets where the roles were handed out more evenly?  What about something like Fille?  Coppelia?  Romeo and Juliet?

 

 I know that in the days when the RB performed more matinees, that was often the time when younger dancers or ones new to the role would perform.  

[Jamesrhblack]

I think there was at one time a policy that the then junior principals only did two of what were then the three major full length classics: Merle Park was assigned Giselle and The Sleeping  Beauty; Lynn Seymour danced Giselle and Swan Lake; and Antoinette Sibley danced The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. Others had more limited opportunities still, Deanne Bergsma and Monica Mason dancing only Swan Lake, and Vyvyan Lorrayne only Beauty. 
 

Even in the 1970’s, Alfred’s Thorogood had very limited opportunities as Odette/Odile, a single Giselle and not many more Auroras; Ann Jenner danced Giselle and Aurora but not Odette /Odile, wfilst Jennifer Penney didn’t dance Giselle until 1980.

 

More recently, Deborah Bull was cast as Odette / Odile and Kitri, but never as Giselle or Juliet and Aurora only as a replacement, whilst Laura Morera did one Kitri as a jump-in, but never again, and, inexplicably, was never cast as Juliet.

[Beryl H]

2 hours ago, Fonty said:

That might have been the case for the Sleeping Beauty, but presumably there must have been other ballets where the roles were handed out more evenly?  What about something like Fille?  Coppelia?  Romeo and Juliet?

 

 I know that in the days when the RB performed more matinees, that was often the time when younger dancers or ones new to the role would perform.  

 

Seats for matinees were cheaper I seem to remember, no longer the case.

[jmhopton]

1 hour ago, Beryl H said:

 

Seats for matinees were cheaper I seem to remember, no longer the case.

Yes, although they were available to all, they were aimed primarily to benefit those of us who lived a distance from the ROH and who couldn't get back after an evening performance.  Sadly (but predictably) this courtesy was withdrawn and now we have to pay full price and the cost of a hotel if we attend an evening performance. 

[Emeralds]

What Jane S is describing is the difference between the repertory system and the stagioni system - in the repertory system, which the old RB (then called Sadler's Wells Ballet before they became RB) had, ballets would be danced all year round,  so something like 2 shows of Sleeping Beauty Monday and Tuesday night this week, three next week on Thursday, Saturday matinee and Saturday evening,  and maybe one the following week. In between there may be a triple bill this week on Friday, which got  repeated next Tuesday (with a mix and match of casts, not second cast in all the ballets). In between you might get Ondine once a week.

 

It made things easier for audiences so that you didn't have to drop everything to see Sleeping Beauty or a certain ballet before it "finished", you could choose to see it next month if you want.

 

The stagioni system (as the name suggests), a season system, borrowed from opera, is what we have now- runs of the same ballet or mixed  bill over a couple of weeks or a month and nothing else except that programme (possibly overlapping with the start of another programme). It is "limited edition"- once it's finished, it's gone, possibly never to be seen again for years or forever, unless it's Nutcracker or Swan Lake. 

 

In Fonteyn's time, once you were given a lead role, you had a lot of performances (eg for Ondine the archives look like nobody else got a chance to dance it at all for over 15 performances until Svetlana Beriosova became the second Ondine) but it doesn't mean other principals did nothing all week/month- they were dancing in other ballets during the week, eg Giselle or Swan Lake or a mixed bill. Some junior principals may not get as many shows as senior (more famous) ones of course till later. 

 

To answer the original question,  in Fonteyn's time, the principals got a lot of performances in lead roles of ballets because they were staged all year round. It was also harder to "get" a role- eg Beryl Grey was given Odette/Odile at age 15 but it took her years to convince De Valois to give her Giselle and other lead roles, but once she got them she danced them regularly. The repertoire was also more specialised in classical ballet in Fonteyn's day (Fonteyn danced for a long time so I'm only referring to 1935 to 1955)- Balanchine works were very very few, there was no modern dance in the repertoire unlike now. It was a very different time. 

 

 

Edited November 4, 2023 by Emeralds

[Emeralds]

With regards to the Saturday matinee and occasional weekday matinee prices,  both RB and BRB/SWRB used to price them cheaper as those were the performances in which new and more junior dancers would be scheduled to make their debuts in lead roles and solo roles....the reasoning being that as the dancers were less familiar with the parts and more junior in rank, you might see more mistakes, hence with the lower price you were expected to be more supportive and forgiving.

 

As Saturday matinées became very successful at the box office for the convenience in timing, the companies decided that the cheaper price was no longer necessary to fill seats, and as visiting companies didn't charge cheaper prices for matinées (and cast their debuts randomly on any date after press night or opening night), the cheaper price gradually disappeared. Also some star principals sometimes request to dance in some matinées for personal/family/guesting reasons so it didn't make sense to charge less for them!

 

However some theatre companies still offer cheaper prices for plays or musicals at some matinées (eg weekdays or all matinées) to encourage sales- that's also often the performances at which the understudy performs to give the star/s a rest in between the daily performances.  

Edited November 4, 2023 by Emeralds

[Fonty]

18 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

What Jane S is describing is the difference between the repertory system and the stagioni system - in the repertory system, ballets would be danced all year round,  so something like 2 shows of Sleeping Beauty Monday and Tuesday night this week, three next week on Thursday, Saturday matinee and Saturday evening,  and maybe one the following week. In between there may be a triple bill this week on Friday, which got  repeated next Tuesday (with a mix and match of casts, not second cast in all the ballets). In between you might get Ondine once a week. It made things easier for audiences so that you didn't have to drop everything to see Sleeping Beauty before it "finished".  The stagioni system (as the name suggests), a season system, borrowed from opera, is what we have now- runs of the same ballet or mixed  bill over a couple of weeks or a month and nothing else except that programme (possibly overlapping with the start of another programme). It is "limited edition"- once it's finished, it's gone, possibly never to be seen again for years or forever, unless it's Nutcracker or Swan Lake. 

 

 

Oh how I wish we could go back to the rep system.  Sounds like my idea of heaven.  How wonderful to think that an Ashton triple bill would pop up several times a year, rather than for a couple of weeks in the summer when I am undoubtedly going to be away.   And it would benefit those who like McGregor as well, surely, as some of his popular ballets would get more frequent performances?   Also, wouldn't it benefit the dancers, as it might enable them to specialise in a certain type of choreographer for a lengthy period, rather than having to have to cope with the technical challenges of wildly different types?  Fewer injuries, maybe?  

 

Yes, I know, it is never going to happen.  But I can dream.