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Ronald Bates (July 14, 1932 - August 25, 1986) was an American ballet lighting designer, particularly for the New York City Ballet.
Bates was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1932. He studied scenic design at Los Angeles City College after serving in the Navy. He worked as a stage manager while still in college and after two years of doing so in California, came to New York and worked in that capacity on opera productions for Lincoln Kirstein, City Ballet's co-founder.
Bates began working for New York City Ballet in 1957 as a production stage manager.
After working at the Stratford, Connecticut Mozart and Shakespeare Festivals, and for the NBC Opera Company in New York City, he joined NYCB at Kirstein's invitation and remained as production stage manager for over 20 years. His duties included planning and executing the technical aspects of staging the ballets at the New York State Theater, of which he was also technical director. He also was in charge of the transportation of lights and scenery for the production of ballets at the company's summer home in Saratoga Springs and on tour, both stateside and overseas.
Bates was resident lighting designer for City Ballet and a close collaborator with founding balletmaster (and co-founder) George Balanchine and co-founding balletmaster Jerome Robbins. He was an authority on dance floors and stage floor construction [1] and renovated the Palm Beach Auditorium for the Palm Beach Festival. He travelled internationally to direct technical production and reproduce his lighting designs for NYCB productions staged by other companies, especially at the Zurich Ballet, where former NYCB principal dancer Patricia Neary was artistic director.
Along with Balanchine and Perry Silvey, Bates developed the "Balanchine basket-weave floor," which helped reduce injuries for dancers. [2]
Bates was married to Diana Adams, who was once a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. Their marriage ended in divorce. They had a daughter, Georgina. [3]
Bates died of a heart attack in his Manhattan home on August 25, 1986, at the age of 54. [4]
New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's first music director. City Ballet grew out of earlier troupes: the Producing Company of the School of American Ballet, 1934; the American Ballet, 1935, and Ballet Caravan, 1936, which merged into American Ballet Caravan, 1941; and directly from the Ballet Society, 1946.
Suzanne Farrell is an American ballerina and the founder of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
The School of American Ballet (SAB) is an American classical ballet school and is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional vocational ballet training for students aged 11–18. Graduates of the school achieve employment with leading ballet companies worldwide, and in the United States with New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Houston Ballet.
Peter Martins is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and John Taras as balletmaster in 1981. He retired from dancing in 1983, having achieved the rank of danseur noble, becoming Co-Ballet Master-In-Chief with Robbins. From 1990 until January 2018, he was solely responsible for artistic leadership of City Ballet.
Jewels is a three-act ballet created for the New York City Ballet by co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine. It premièred on Thursday, 13 April 1967 at the New York State Theater, with sets designed by Peter Harvey and lighting by Ronald Bates.
Ballet Society is a non-profit educational institution founded in 1946 by Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine. At its founding, Balanchine was the Artistic Director and Kirstein served as the Secretary. The president of Ballet Society is Nancy Lassalle, an original Board member of both the School of American Ballet and the New York City Ballet, currently Emerita.
Sean Lavery was a former principal dancer, balletmaster, and assistant to the balletmaster in chief at New York City Ballet. He was a répétiteur for the George Balanchine Trust and a former faculty member at the School of American Ballet.
Episodes is a two-part ballet made by Martha Graham and George Balanchine to Anton von Webern's Symphony, Op. 21, Five Pieces, Op. 10, Concerto, Op. 24, and the Ricercata in Six Voices from Bach's Musical Offering, which Webern had arranged in homage to Bach, as Balanchine conceived the ballet as one to Webern. The premiere took place under the auspices of the Ballet Society on 19 May 1959 at City Center of Music and Drama, New York, with scenery and lighting by David Hays; the conductor was Robert Irving.
Bugaku is a ballet made by New York City Ballet co-founder and ballet master George Balanchine to eponymous music by Toshiro Mayuzumi, commissioned by City Ballet in 1962. The premiere took place on 30 March 1963 at City Center of Music and Drama, New York, with scenery by David Hays, costumes by Karinska, and lighting by Ronald Bates. NYCB had toured Japan in 1958 and the Gagaku Company of the Imperial Household toured the US the following year.
Other Dances is a ballet made by New York City Ballet balletmaster Jerome Robbins on Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov to the music of Chopin:
Prodigal Son, or Le Fils prodigue, Op. 46 is a ballet created for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes by George Balanchine to music by Sergei Prokofiev (1928–29). The libretto, based on the parable in the Gospel of Luke, was by Boris Kochno, who added a good deal of drama and emphasized the theme of sin and redemption ending with the Prodigal Son's return.
Fanfare is a one-act ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, in celebration of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The ballet premiered on June 2, 1953, the night of the coronation, at the City Center of Music and Drama, danced by the New York City Ballet.
Susan Coxe Hendl was an American ballet dancer and répétiteur. She danced with the New York City Ballet between 1963 and 1983, then staged and coached works by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins for both NYCB and other companies.
Brahms–Schoenberg Quartet is a one-act ballet by George Balanchine, to Johannes Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 1, orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg. The ballet premiered on April 21, 1966 at the New York State Theater, performed by the New York City Ballet.
Glass Pieces is a ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to music by Philip Glass, costumes designed by Ben Benson, lighting designed by Ronald Bates and production designed by Robbins and Bates. The ballet premiered on May 12, 1983 at the New York State Theater, performed by the New York City Ballet.
Vienna Waltzes is a ballet made by New York City Ballet co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine to music by Johann Strauss, Jr., Franz Lehár, and Richard Strauss:
Monumentum pro Gesualdo is a ballet by the New York City Ballet (NYCB) co-founder and balletmaster George Balanchine to music by Igor Stravinsky composed in honor of the 400th birthday of the composer Carlo Gesualdo and consisting of Stravinsky's orchestrations of Gesualdo's madrigals. The premiere took place on Wednesday, November 16, 1960, at City Center of Music and Drama, New York, with scenery and lighting by David Hays and was conducted by Robert Irving. The composer conducted the score's orchestral premiere on Tuesday, September 27, 1960, for the XXIII Venice Music Festival at La Fenice.
Polyphonia is a one-act ballet choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon to music by György Ligeti, costumes designed by Holly Hynes, and was created for the New York City Ballet. It premiered on January 4, 2001 at the New York State Theater. It is regarded as Wheeldon's breakthrough, and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production in 2003.
Paul Boos is an American dancer, balletmaster, archivist, and répétiteur. He danced with New York City Ballet from 1977 until 1990 before becoming a guest teacher for the Royal Danish Ballet. In addition to teaching internationally, he is part of a select group of répétiteurs sanctioned by the Balanchine Trust to set the ballets of George Balanchine and the Project Associate to the George Balanchine Foundation's Interpreters Archive.
Paul E. Frame is a retired American ballet dancer and practicing chiropractor. Frame danced as a member of the corps de ballet at New York City Ballet for ten years before retiring from the stage. He is currently the resident chiropractor for Ballet Arizona.
