Antony Tudor
April 4th, 1908 - April 5th, 1987
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Antony Tudor and Nana Gollner, Gala Performance – 1941
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Though not an inexhaustible
choreographer, British-born Antony Tudor had a great deal of insight into the
frailties of the human psyche. He is hailed as the master of “psychological
ballets”. In these performances, the characters' psychological states and deep
emotional conflicts are convincingly conveyed through movement.
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| Antony Tudor as The Great American Goof - 1940 |
His reputation, however, rests
chiefly on his dramatic psychological ballets, the bulk of which were composed
in the United States. Antony was versatile choreographer. His ballets ranged
from tragedies to satires to comedies. His ballets explored such themes as
grief, jealousy, rejection, and frustration. While limiting himself to the
classical technique, he sought to express states of emotional conflict, aspects
of character and motivation by removing purely ornamental choreography.
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Antony Tudor with Madame Marie Rambert in London
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Before he began his dance
studies, Antony had by this time acquired a job as a clark at the Smithfield
Meat Market. Although his interest was clearly in music and dance, he could not
afford to give up his job. Nineteen-year-old Antony approached Madame Rambert
and asked for tuition in ballet. Not surprising, Rambert accepted Antony into
her company almost immediately; due to the scarcity of male dancers in England.
Although Antony was at a disadvantage due to the late start of his career
Madame Rambert saw something special in this young man from “the other side of
the tracks” and set about to advance his dance education by having him take
lessons from her leading dancers. Thus began a ten year association that would
launch the career of Antony Tudor.
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| Antony Tudor's Dark Elegies |
Madame Rambert was impressed with
Antony’s work ethic as he maintained a full-time job at the meat market while
studying ballet every evening. Madame Rambert spoke of Antony as “tall and
handsome with poetic eyes, someone with intelligence and a deep appreciation of
the art of dance.” To pay for his lessons, Antony gradually took on extra work
around the school, including teaching younger students (he became a certified
teacher of dance in less than a year), playing piano, bookkeeping, working the
technical aspects of performances such as lighting and set design, and even
janitorial duties. In 1938 he founded his own company, the London Ballet, but
left the following year to join the newly formed Ballet Theatre (later the
American Ballet Theatre) in the United States as dancer and choreographer for
10 years.
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| Antony Tudor with Chieko Kikuchi and Jennifer Masley after a performance of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty - 1961 |
Antony made his professional
debut dancing for the English Opera Company in 1929, using his annual two weeks
of vacation for rehearsals. It was this performance that spurred his eventual
name change, as William Cook did not exactly “spark the imagination.” Madame
Rambert told him he would never be taken seriously as a performer or
choreographer with the name William Cook. He chose Anthony Tudor, with the
intentional intimation of royalty, figuring that as he was changing his name,
he might as well take the name of the royal family.
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| Antony Tudor in rehearsal for “Romeo and Juliet” with Fernando Bujones and Hilde Morales – 1976 |
Most of his ballets dealt with
psychological themes. He wasn't interested in ballets that were about
princesses and fairies. His ballets were about people and their problems. He
didn't use the classical vocabulary or the tricks that were so popular at the
time.
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| Antony Tudor in rehearsal with John Prinz |
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Antony Tudor in rehearsal with Kevin McKenzie
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Tudor danced in several of his
own ballets, especially those choreographed in England. Many artists rose to
prominence in his works, most notably the ballerina Nora Kaye in his first
American-made ballet, Pillar of Fire, and the dramatic danseur Hugh Laing. In
1974 Tudor was appointed associate director of the American Ballet Theatre and
in 1977 was joined in that position by Kaye.
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Antony Tudor in rehearsal for “Little Improvisations” with
ABT - 1964
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Antony Tudor died in New York
City, a day after his 79th birthday. Does he deserve the praise ballet
historians and dancer lavish upon him? Most definitely. Not only did he produce
some of the most challenging choreography dancers have ever danced, this great man
influenced the way choreographers create their work and changed the world of
ballet.
So this is a work I did with Elegant Essay. I was tired of writing different introductions and conclusions about clocks, so I did this instead.
Love Sararose xox
