It seemed appropriate that after Thursday’s performance, my mentor for this week should be Dame Marie Rambert. I’ve been wanting to give Rambert some attention for a while now, not simply because I’ve been dancing with Quicksilver, but because Rambert was highly influential in shaping dance in the UK.
Rambert’s biography is a colourful one, littered with the names of the dancers and choreographer’s you dream of: Isodora Duncan, Diaghilev, Stravinsky and Nijinsky. Born 99 years before my own birth date, Rambert lived in a time which was both difficult, and liberating. Life seemed difficult, peppered with decisions that were ultimately created to survive rather than to pursue one’s dream. I can find no consolation in Rambert’s path to “professional” dance, toward guiding my own, however there are so many undercurrent qualities that are to be admired, and so much that can be learned from her life story.
Born in Russia and beginning her dance training early, Marie Rambert was inspired and influenced by Isodora Duncan (whom many attribute to being the founder of modern dance). In the beginning, Rambert seemed only to pursue dance socially until moving to Paris to live with her aunt and uncle where, upon meeting and being showered with praise from Duncan’s brother, became enthusiastic enough to genuinely pursue it. Studying at the Paris Opera and the Dalcroze College, she came into the path of Diaghilev, and offering a position with Ballet Russes, Rambert’s career escalated. She was in the corps de ballet for works such as Swan Lake, Giselle and Scheherazade. After a season (1912-14) with the Ballet Russes, Rambert decided to move onward, and began to study in the UK with Enrico Cecchetti.
At the outbreak of war in 1914, Rambert moved to London and began to teach dance to support herself. During this time, she continued with her own ballet studies and would perform as a soloist. In 1920, when Rambert was 32 years old, she founded her own school (with her husband, playwright Ashley Dukes) in Kensington. Over time, she began to find promising new dancers such as Frederick Ashton to join the school and grow as a dancer. In 1926, Marie Rambert’s dancers performed Ashton’sA Tragedy of Fashion and it is said that this piece marked the first of British Ballet. From this time, Rambert and her dancers staged more performances and the company “Ballet Club” was born. “Ballet Club” evolved into “Ballet Rambert” and is currently known as Rambert Dance Company. This company is known as the first ballet company in Britain.
Rambert was adamant about finding new choreographers, and many of the great choreographers sprung from her tutelage. Over time, she moved from a strictly ballet repertoire into a more modern one, ever encouraging growth and change within the company.
I’ve always found dancer’s from this time inspiring. I don’t know whether it’s their willingness to explore and develop dance as an art form when it was under appreciated, or whether it was their tenacity to find the passion of dance in such unstable times. I get caught up in the romanticism of the stories, though I know that my rosy view of things cannot possibly be how things were. Still, the enduring commitment to dance by Rambert is a testament to her love for it, and her persistence in finding and fostering new and upcoming ideas is inspirational in itself.
Her autobiography Quicksilver (how appropriate)is now one I’m very determined to read!