"We Must Get It Right"
A special evening of programmes to mark the death last month, at the age of 102, of Dame Ninette de Valois, founder of the Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet School.
The above remark, made about a revival of The Sleeping Beauty, could have applied to everything she did. Christopher Cook presents an evening which considers her achievement and legacy, with contributions from present and former members of the Royal Ballet, its current director Anthony Dowell , assistant director Monica Mason , former soloists Pamela May and Antoinette Sibley and many voices from the archives, including those of Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn. Also taking part are writers and critics, including
Alastair Macaulay , Jann Parry and Clement Crisp.
7.30 An outline and assessment of de
Valois's long career.
7.45 De Valois and English National
Dance Early days: her first professional performance as one of the Wonder
Children at the age of 14, Diaghilev's
Ballets Russes and, in 1926, the meeting with Lilian Baylis which led to the founding of the Vic-Wells Ballet and the Sadler's
Wells Ballet- laterthe Royal Ballet.
8.00 Music, including Checkmate by Arthur Bliss choreographed by de Valois in 1937.
8.20 A portrait of de Valois in her own words.
8.50 Music arranged and composed by de Valois's music director Constant Lambert, including excerpts from his ballet Horoscope.
9.20 De Valois and Her Choreographers De Valois encouraged ambition in her choreographers, beginningwith Frederick Ashton in 1947 and his three-act ballet
Cinderella, followed by John Cranko 's The Prince and the Pagodas to a score by Britten, Ashton's La Fille Mal Gardee and laterthe works of Kenneth MacMillan.
9.40 Music from her ballets, including The Prince and the Pagodas by Britten.
10.00 Her legacy and the future of the English tradition of ballet which she created.