Monica Mason

Last updated

Monica Mason
DBE
Royal Ballet editathon, October 2014 03.JPG
Monica Mason, 2014
Born
Monica Margaret Mason

(1941-09-06) 6 September 1941 (age 82)
Johannesburg, South Africa
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Ballet dancer and administrator
TitleArtistic director of The Royal Ballet
Term2002–2012
Predecessor Ross Stretton
Successor Kevin O'Hare

Dame Monica Margaret Mason DBE (born 6 September 1941) is a former ballet dancer, teacher, and director of The Royal Ballet. In more than a half-century with the company, she established a reputation as a versatile performer, a skilled rehearsal director, and a capable administrator. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life and training

Mason was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, into a family of British ancestry. She studied ballet from a young age with Ruth Inglestone, Reina Berman, and Frank Staff in her home city and, later, with Nesta Brooking in London. As an advanced student, she entered the Royal Ballet School in 1956, where she continued her education in both dance and academics. [3]

Performing career

Taken into the corps of the Royal Ballet in 1958, Mason was, at 16, the company's youngest member. [4] She caught the eye of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, who had been commissioned to create yet another dance version of The Rite of Spring , set to Igor Stravinsky's score that had caused such a ruckus at its premiere with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1913. Impressed, he cast her as the Chosen Maiden, around whom the rite evolves. It was caught on film by Tony Palmer. She scored a marked success and thereafter became a particular favorite of MacMillan. Over the years, she danced in almost all his works in the Royal Ballet repertory, creating roles in six of them. [5]

Besides the Chosen Maiden, they are as follows.

Appointed a soloist in 1963, Mason was promoted to principal dancer in 1968. The range of roles in her personal repertory was broad, encompassing the classicism of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake and Nikiya in La Bayadère as well as the austerity of purely abstract works such as Song of the Earth , set by MacMillan to Gustav Mahler's meditative Das Lied von der Erde . She was dramatically effective in such disparate roles as the ruthless Black Queen in Checkmate by Ninette de Valois, and the gentle Lady Elgar in Enigma Variations (My Friends Pictured Within) , by Frederick Ashton. Coldly implacable as Myrtha in Giselle and furiously malevolent as Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty . She displayed warmth, charm, and grace in such evocative works as Liebeslieder Walzer by George Balanchine, and Dances at a Gathering by Jerome Robbins. [7]

Administrative career

After many years on the stage of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Mason began a new phase of her career as a ballet mistress and teacher. [8] She was appointed principal répétiteur (rehearsal director) for MacMillan's ballets in 1980, when she also began teaching classical variations to senior girls at the Royal Ballet School. She became the company's principal répétiteur in 1984, assistant to the director in 1988, and assistant director, to Anthony Dowell, in 1991. Capping her administrative career, she was named artistic director in 2002. [9]

After ten years' service, during which she fostered many talents and greatly enriched the repertory, she retired in July 2012. [10] Peter Wright regarded her as the best artistic director since Ninette de Valois. [11]

Honours and awards

Mason has received numerous accolades, awards, and honours for her accomplishments during her long career. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2002 and elevated to the rank of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2008.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ninette de Valois</span> Irish-born British dancer (1898–2001)

Dame Ninette de Valois was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, later establishing the Royal Ballet, one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century and one of the leading ballet companies in the world. She also established the Royal Ballet School and the touring company which became the Birmingham Royal Ballet. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of ballet and as the "godmother" of English and Irish ballet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birmingham Royal Ballet</span> UK ballet company

Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) is one of the five major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside The Royal Ballet, the English National Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet. Founded as the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, the company was established in 1946 as a sister company to the earlier Sadler's Wells company, which moved to the Royal Opera House that same year, subsequently becoming known as The Royal Ballet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Royal Ballet</span> Ballet company in the United Kingdom

The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Dame Ninette de Valois. It became the resident ballet company of the Royal Opera House in 1946, and has purpose-built facilities within these premises. It was granted a royal charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship ballet company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Ballet School</span> Classical ballet training facility in London

The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially for the Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth MacMillan</span> British ballet dancer and choreographer (1929–1992)

Sir Kenneth MacMillan was a British ballet dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977, and its principal choreographer from 1977 until his death. Earlier he had served as director of ballet for the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. He was also associate director of the American Ballet Theatre from 1984 to 1989, and artistic associate of the Houston Ballet from 1989 to 1992.

Dame Catherine Margaret Mary Scott, was a South African-born pioneering ballet dancer who found fame as a teacher, choreographer, and school administrator in Australia. As the first director of the Australian Ballet School, she is recognised as one of the founders of the strong ballet tradition of her adopted country.

Sir Peter Wright CBE is a British ballet teacher, choreographer, director and former professional dancer. He worked as a choreographer and as the artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, a classical ballet company based in Birmingham, England. On retiring from the company in 1995, he was bestowed the honorary title of director laureate of the company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beryl Grey</span> British ballet dancer (1927–2022)

Dame Beryl Elizabeth Grey was a British ballet dancer.

Nadia Nerina was a South African dancer who was "one of the most gifted, versatile, and inspiring ballerinas of The Royal Ballet" during the 1950s and 1960s. She was known "for her technical virtuosity, lightness afoot, effortless-seeming jumps, and joyful charm onstage, especially in comedic roles."

Dame Merle Park, is a British ballet dancer and teacher, now retired. As a prima ballerina with the Royal Ballet during the 1960s and 1970s, she was known for "brilliance of execution and virtuoso technique" as well as for her ebullience and charm. Also admired for her dramatic abilities, she was praised as an actress who "textured her vivacity with emotional details."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leanne Benjamin</span> Australian ballet dancer

Leanne Faye Benjamin is a retired Australian ballet dancer who was a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London. She was appointed artistic director at the Queensland Ballet in 2024.

David Blair was a British ballet dancer and a star of England's Royal Ballet during the 1950s and 1960s.

Edward Watson MBE is a British ballet dancer. He is a retired principal dancer and currently a coach with the Royal Ballet in London.

Maryon Lane was a South African ballet dancer who became well known in Britain as a ballerina of the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet and as a soloist with the Royal Ballet.

British ballet is most recognised for two leading methods, those of the Royal Ballet School and the Royal Academy of Dance. The identifying characteristic of British ballet is the focus on clean, precise technique and purity of line that is free of exaggeration and mannerisms. The training of dancers in Britain is noted for its slow progression, with a great deal of attention paid to basic technique. British ballet methods operate on the principle that establishing correct technique and strength slowly makes it much easier for the student to adapt to more difficult vocabulary and techniques later on.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgina Parkinson</span> English ballet dancer and ballet mistress

Georgina Parkinson was an English ballet dancer and ballet mistress. She joined The Royal Ballet in 1957 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1962. Best known for dancing 20th-century works, she was a frequent collaborator of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, and had also created roles for Frederick Ashton. In 1978, she accepted the invitation to become a ballet mistress at the American Ballet Theatre for a year, before assuming the position permanently in 1980. She also performed character roles with the American Ballet Theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pamela May</span>

Pamela May OBE was a Trinidad-born British dancer and teacher of classical ballet. Most noted as one of the earliest members of The Royal Ballet, she was regarded as a versatile dancer; dancing all the established 19th-century classical repertoire, and creating roles in new ballets by Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton. After retiring from professional ballet, she became a teacher at the Royal Ballet School, and also served as vice-president of the Royal Academy of Dance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derek Rencher</span> British ballet dancer

Derek Rencher was a British ballet dancer. A commanding figure among Royal Ballet character dancers for more than four decades, he was probably the most prolific performer in the company's history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Wall (dancer)</span> English ballet dancer (1946–2013)

David Richard Wall CBE was an English ballet dancer of The Royal Ballet, where he was promoted to the rank of principal at the age of 21, the youngest in company history at the time.

Desmond Doyle was a South African ballet dancer who performed in England in the 1950s and 1960s before becoming ballet master of The Royal Ballet.

References

  1. Zoë Anderson, The Royal Ballet: 75 Years (London: Faber & Faber, 2006).
  2. The Royal Ballet Yearbook, 2010/11 (London: Oberon Books, 2011).
  3. Barbara Newman, "Mason, Monica", in International Encyclopedia of Dance, edited by Selma Jeanne Cohen and others (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), vol. 4, p. 306.
  4. John Gruen, "Monica Mason", in The Private World of Ballet (New York: Viking, 1975).
  5. Debra Craine and Judith Mackrell, "Mason, Monica", in The Oxford Dictionary of Dance (Oxford University Press, 2000).
  6. Rituals, kennethmacmillan.com
  7. Newman, "Mason, Monica" in International Encyclopedia of Dance (1998), vol. 4, p. 307.
  8. Alexander Bland, The Royal Ballet: The First Fifty Years (London: Threshold Books, 1981).
  9. Dalya Alberge, "Dancers' Joy over Choice of Royal Ballet Director", The Times (London), 19 December 2002.
  10. Alastair Macaulay, "With Departure, a Ballet Director Comes into Focus", The New York Times, 12 November 2013.
  11. Alberge, Dalya (17 June 2016). "Sir Peter Wright memoir reveals monster feuds of ballet greats". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 January 2018.