| Robert Helpmann |
Article Index for Robert |
Website Links For Robert |
Information AboutRobert Helpmann |
|
" ballet — features Frederick Ashton and Robert Helpmann as the two Ugly Stepsisters (DVD cover)]] In a 1974 interview he recalled his introduction to dance: '' Stewart said, ‘But I've never had a boy to dance before’. So I said, ‘That doesn’t matter. I want to come to your ballet classes.’ So she said, ‘Well, all right, you can’. But, of course, never having had a boy pupil, I had to learn all the dances for the little girls, and dance on my pointes, and of course when it came time for her annual display, I had to dance in them because I was better than any of them. And so I always appeared as a little girl, on my pointes. And at the end of the number I would take off my wig, and this was a great success with the audience.'' In 1926 he joined the touring dance company of the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova . Helpmann later recalled: '' father went on a business trip to Melbourne when I was 14 and when he came back he said, ‘You’re always wanting to be a dancer. There’s a girl dancing in Melbourne and she’s got a company and I’ve been to see her, and she’s going to take you into the company.’ Next week, I left for Melbourne with my mother, and the ‘girl’ was Anna Pavlova.'' In 1927 Helpmann first appeared professionally, in Sydney , but opportunities to dance at any serious level in Australia were limited. In 1933 he went to London and joined the Vic-Wells Ballet , which later became Sadler's Wells and later the Royal Ballet . He was principal dancer from 1933 to 1950. While he was not among the ranks of the great male dancers, he was certainly highly accomplished. Here he formed his great professional partnership with Margot Fonteyn . Together they created many roles in ballets choreographed by Frederick Ashton , including a comical Pantomime type ballet of "'' Cinderella ''" with Ashton and Helpmann creating the roles of the ''ugly step-sisters'' for the ballet. The highpoint of Helpmann's career as a dancer was the Royal Ballet's tour of the United States in 1949, with Fonteyn and Helpmann dancing the leading roles in '' The Sleeping Beauty ''. The production caused a sensation which made the names of both the Royal Ballet and its two principals; public and press alike referred to them affectionately as ''Bobby and Margot''. Although Helpmann was past his best as a dancer, the tour opened doors for him in the United States as an actor and director. In the 1940s, as he passed his peak as a dancer, Helpmann turned to production and to acting. He produced his own ballets — '' Comus '' (1942), '' Hamlet '' (1942), '' Miracle In The Gorbals '' (1946) and '' Adam Zero '' (1946). He performed roles from Shakespeare at the Stratford Festival and at the Old Vic theatre company in London, playing the title role in ''Hamlet'' two years after having danced the same part. He also appeared in many films, including the two Powell And Pressburger ballet films '' The Red Shoes '' (1948), for which he choreographed the opening sequence, and '' The Tales Of Hoffmann '' (1951). He co-directed with Rudolf Nureyev and played the title role in the ballet-film '' Don Quixote '' (1973) which was produced in Melbourne. One of his most recognized screen roles was the role of the Child Catcher in " Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ," from (1968). The Child Catcher is a nightmarish character who works for the Baron and Baroness of Vulgaria to kidnap and lock up the country's children, in scenes recently rated in Empire magazine as among the 100 most frightening ever filmed. In 1965 Helpmann returned to Australia to become co-director of the Australian Ballet . Since he was very obviously Gay , his arrival in what was at that time a very conservative country caused some consternation. Australians were proud of his international fame, but not sure what to make of him personally. He did not endear himself with the comment: "I don't despair about the cultural scene in Australia because there isn't one here to despair about." His most significant contribution to the development of theatre in Australia was his time with the Australian Ballet. Here he joined Peggy Van Praagh at the helm of the fledgling company, as her co-director until 1974 and sole director until 1976. He produced ballets including '' Sun Music '', '' Elektra '' and '' The Merry Widow ''. This was not his first encounter with The Merry Widow - he had directed a production of the operetta in His Majesty's Theatre in London in 1944, with Madge Elliott as "Anna" and Cryil Richard as "Danilo". In the 1930's he had also danced in a production with Gladys Moncrieff as "Anna". The avant-garde nature and sexual overtones of much of his work unsettled many Australians. His most controversial work was the production of the first fully Australian ballet, '' The Display '' (1964), with music by Malcolm Williamson . This used the courtship dance of the Lyrebird as a metaphor for Australian male attitudes. Helpmann dedicated the ballet to his friend American actress Katharine Hepburn , who wanted to see a male lyrebird dancing during her visit to Australia in 1955. The novelist Patrick White wrote the scenario, but Helpmann disliked it intensely. It was rejected, causing a furious row between these two extremely opinionated artists. Both the subject matter and the presentation of the ballet were well in advance of Australian tastes at the time. In 1965 he was named "Australian of the Year" and he was knighted in 1968. By the 1970s, Australia had grown used to Helpmann's flamboyant persona. His appointment as Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival from 1970 to 1976 was well-received. He died in Sydney in 1986. His obituaries in the Australian media were suitably laudatory, but also reserved, so a blunt obituary in The Times of London, which characterised his appearance as "strange, haunting and rather frightening", and portrayed him as "a homosexual of the proselytizing kind" whose impact upon a company was "dangerous as well as stimulating", created fresh headlines in Australia. FURTHER READING
NOTES |
|
|