Wendy Ellis Somes

Wendy Ellis Somes (born 6 December 1951) is a former principal ballerina with the Royal Ballet in London, and is now a worldwide producer of the Sir Frederick Ashton ballets Cinderella and Symphonic Variations.

Wendy Ellis Somes

She was born Wendy Rose Ellis in Blackburn, and received her early training at the Carlotta School of Dance, later winning a British Ballet Organization scholarship. In 1963 she was selected to study at the Royal Ballet School, and moved to London with her parents to continue training. She started there in 1963 and joined the Royal Ballet in 1970.

Career

Early career at the Royal Ballet

Initially part of the corps de ballet, Ellis quickly progressed to solo roles such as Princess Florine in Sleeping Beauty, the Young Girl in Ashton's The Two Pigeons and Lise in another Ashton ballet, La fille mal gardée. It was during this time that she met and fell in love with her future husband Michael Somes.

Ellis later danced in many Royal Ballet productions, with notable main/leading parts in ballets by Ashton (Cinderella, La fille mal gardée, Symphonic Variations, The Dream, Enigma Variations, A Month in the Country, Jazz Calendar, Les Patineurs, A Wedding Bouquet, Façade), alongside roles in his Les Rendezvous, Scènes de ballet, Birthday Offering, La Valse and Monotones I). She danced main roles in the ballets of Sir Kenneth MacMillan (Romeo and Juliet, Mayerling, Gloria), with the role of Princess Stephanie in Mayerling[1] , and her role in Gloria[2] , created for her by MacMillan. Among the other MacMillan works, she performed in The Rite of Spring, The Invitation, Song of the Earth, Elite Syncopations and My Brother, My Sisters. She also danced in works by George Balanchine, Bronislava Nijinska, Hans van Manen, Jerome Robbins and John Neumeier, and in the classics, including the main role of Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. She retired from dancing in 1990.

Career as a ballet producer

After retiring, Ellis began to work more closely with Somes on ballet production. Somes and Ashton had been friends and collaborators since before World War II in 1939, and Somes had staged many of Ashton's ballets[3] at the Royal Ballet and elsewhere after his retirement from classical dancing in 1961 (he continued in character roles for a number of years afterwards). Ashton bequeathed his Cinderella and Symphonic Variations to Somes on his death in 1988. Ellis and Somes together produced Cinderella with the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm, and Symphonic Variations with American Ballet Theatre[4] in New York. Somes subsequently willed his Ashton ballets to Ellis, and they passed to her on his death in 1994.[5]

Ellis subsequently produced Ashton's Cinderella with the National Ballet of Japan at the New National Theatre[6] in Tokyo, the Royal Ballet itself[7] (creating a new production with designers Toer van Schayk[8] and Christine Haworth[9] ), the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago[10][11] and Los Angeles[12] , the Polish National Ballet[13] in Warsaw, Ballet West[14][15] in Salt Lake City, Boston Ballet[16] in Boston and American Ballet Theatre[17][18] in New York. She has also produced Symphonic Variations with the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam, the Royal Ballet[19][20][21] , the San Francisco Ballet[22] in San Francisco, the Birmingham Royal Ballet[23][24] at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, Sarasota Ballet[25][26] in Sarasota, Florida, Australian Ballet[27] in Sydney, Australia, Ballett am Rhein[28] in Düsseldorf, Germany and the Washington Ballet[29] in Washington, D.C..

Media

Ellis was part of the 1978 South Bank Show television documentary[30] about Mayerling.

At the invitation of Margot Fonteyn, Ellis featured in the 1979 BBC Television series "The Magic of Dance"[31] hosted by Fonteyn, performing Lise in an excerpt from Ashton's La fille mal gardée.

Ellis also appeared as an interviewee in the 2005 Tony Palmer film about Fonteyn, entitled "Margot".

Quotes

• "The music is what inspired me to dance, and it always comes first"
• "The steps are only a means to an end. It's the quality that's important"[32]

References

1. "Kenneth MacMillan, Mayerling".
2. "Kenneth MacMillan, Gloria".
3. Jane Simpson (30 September 1997). "Michael Somes". Ballet magazine. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
4. "Symphonic Variations". Ballet Theater Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
5. Anna Kisselgoff (26 November 1994). "Michael Somes, 77, Ballet Star and Longtime Fonteyn Partner". NY Times. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
6. "NNT Cinderella Dec 2012". NNT. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
7. "ROH Cinderella Production and Wendy Ellis Somes". ROH. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
8. "Toer van Schayk biography". Het Nationale Ballet. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
9. "Christine Haworth". Crisalis.
10. "Cinderella, Joffrey Ballet". Joffrey. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
11. "Joffrey's Cinderella looks to a better world". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
12. Debra Levine (24 January 2010). "Joffrey Ballet to perform Cinderella in LA". LA times. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
13. "Cinderella ballet dances back into Poland". Warsaw Business Journal. 22 November 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
14. Kathy Adams (8 February 2013). "Ballet West: Creating a new version of the classic 'Cinderella'". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
15. Heather King (19 February 2018). "Ballet West: Fairytale magic comes alive at Ballet West's Cinderella". Utah Review. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
16. Karen Campbell (14 March 2014). "'Cinderella' an undisputed masterpiece of elegance". Boston Globe. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
17. Alistair Macaulay (16 June 2014). "Hoping the tale of a glass slipper fits into a Troupe's repertory". New York Times. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
18. Alistair Macaulay (5 July 2015). "Marianela Nuñez Enchants as Cinderella with American Ballet Theater". New York Times. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
19. Luke Jennings (10 June 2007). "Three masterpieces - and one very fond farewell". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
20. Laura Thompson (19 October 2014). "Frederick Ashton mixed programme, Royal Ballet, review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
21. Mark Monahan (9 June 2017). "A passionate tribute to an all-time genius - Ashton Mixed Programme, Royal Ballet, Review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
22. Renee Renouf (14 February 2004). "Wendy Ellis Somes interview". ballet.co.uk. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
23. Graham Watts (21 October 2011). "Birmingham Royal Ballet in Autumn Glory:Checkmate/Symphonic Variations/Pineapple Poll at Sadler's Wells". londondance.com. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
24. Dixon, Mike; Weiss, Deborah (December 2011). Kauldhar, Emma Manning (ed.). "Checkmate Symphonic Variations Pineapple Poll". Dance Europe. London: Dance Europe (157). ISSN 1359-9798.
25. Anna Dearing (20 November 2012). "Dance Review: Symphonic Variations, There Where She Loves and Company B". Observer Group. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
26. "Sarasota Ballet".
27. Clarissa Sebag-Montefiori (30 April 2015). "Australian Ballet: The Dream review - a trio of Ashton works true to his heart". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
28. Deutsche Oper Am Rhein. "b.25 Repertory". Deutsche Oper Am Rhein. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
29. Jason Fraley. "Washington Ballet closes season with 'Mixed Masters' at Kennedy Center". Washington's Top News. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
30. "The South Bank Show: MacMillan's Mayerling". BFI. Archived from the original on 26 October 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
31. "The Magic of Dance, part 5, The magnificent beginning". Worldcat. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
32. Carrie Seidman (9 November 2012). "From dancer to dancer, a ballet is preserved". Sarasota Herald Tribune. Retrieved 25 January 2013.

Related Links

• Frederick Ashton biography
• A tribute to Sir Frederick Ashton by the Royal Opera House
• Wendy Ellis Somes website