Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Margaret Dale. January 9, 10, and 12, 1975, 1975.

Author

Dale, Margaret, 1922-2010

Publication

1978

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Vaughan, David, 1924-

Description

6 sound discs (approximately four hours and 36 minutes) : digital; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

• Disc 1 (approximately 49 minutes), January 15, 1975. [Begins abruptly.] Margaret Dale speaks with David Vaughan about her early dance training, in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England including her first teacher Nellie Potts; how seeing the Ballet russe [de Monte Carlo] perform changed her conception of ballet; auditioning for Ninette de Valois and being accepted at the Vic-Wells Ballet School [later the Sadler's Wells Ballet School and now the Royal Ballet School]; an anecdote about performing on very short notice; her living arrangements; her training at the school; Olga Preobrajenska,in particular taking class with her in Paris during the summer; visiting Preobrajenska in Paris in 1945 [ends abruptly but continues on disc 2].
• Disc 2 (approximately 50 minutes). January 15, 1975. Margaret Dale speaks with David Vaughan about her time as a student including the students' fascination with the dancers at the VIc-Wells Ballet [later the Sadler's Wells Ballet and now the Royal Ballet]; the audience at the time; Ninette de Valois and her ambitions for the company; the regular performance season and touring; becoming a member of the company; her small role in The emperor's new clothes; the staging of The sleeping beauty; [Nikolaĭ Grigorʹevich] Sergeev as a teacher and as the stager of The sleeping beauty; touring in England during World War II; her sense that after World War II the company's focus returned to the past, as for example in Frederick Ashton's ballet Sylvia [ends abruptly but continues on disc 3].
• Disc 3 (approximately 46 minutes). January 15, 1975. Margaret Dale continues to speak with David Vaughan about life in the Sadler's Wells Ballet during World War II including the company's experience in Holland [Netherlands]; the company's move to Burnley; Frederick Ashton's Dante sonata including its significance for the company at the time; more on the company during World War II; the London seasons at the New Theatre as the time when the company and her technique blossomed; life during the war; some of her roles at the time; the move to Covent Garden; artistic direction, in particular, how and to what extent it was exercised by Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton [ends abruptly but continues on disc 4].
• Disc 4 (approximately 53 minutes). January 15 and 19, 1978. Margaret Dale continues to speak about artistic direction at Sadler's Wells Ballet; Ninette de Valois and her role in raising the social status of female dancers; her work at the BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation] including the prohibitively high cost of filming ballet in England [following a short gap at approximately 37:20, the interview resumes, with a new session held on January 19]; Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton as choreographers including their typical respective working methods; Ashton's ballet Horoscope; an anecdote about De Valois's increasing Dale's salary [ends abruptly but continues on disc 5].
• Disc 5 (approximately 37 minutes). January 19, 1978. Margaret Dale continues to speak with David Vaughan about Ninette de Valois as an administrator including her great generosity; reminiscences of Lilian Baylis; the company's repertory including Frederick Ashton's Rendez-vous and Dale's later filming of the work; Ashton's work Cupid and Psyche; partnering; more on Cupid and Psyche; practical factors that typically influenced De Valois's choreographic choices; her ballet Prospect before us including anecdotes about Bobby [Robert] Helpmann and Ninette de Valois; Valois's ballet Job [ends abruptly but continues on disc 6].
• Disc 6 (approximately 41 minutes). January 19, 1978. Margaret Dale continues to speak with David Vaughan about the Sadler's Wells Ballet's repertory including: Ninette de Valois's Orpheus and Eurydice including her impression of Robert Helpmann as Orpheus; Robert Helpmann's work Adam Zero; Helpmann as a choreographer; Helpmann's work Birds; Valois's work Promenade; other choreographers who worked with the company including [George] Balanchine and his staging of Ballet imperial; Leonide Massine; Massine's Clock symphony; Massine's work Tricorne [Three-cornered hat]; reminiscences of the dancers whose style or image have significantly shaped her conception of ballet: Irina Baronova, Olga Preobrajenska, Margot Fonteyn, Yuriko, [Aleksandr Emel'ianovich] Volinin, and [Galina Sergeevna] Ulanova.

Alternative Title

• Dance Oral History Project.
• Dance Audio Archive.

Subject

• Helpmann, Robert, Sir, 1909-1986
• Dale, Margaret, 1922-2010
• Preobrajenska, Olga, 1870-1962
• De Valois, Ninette, 1898-2001
• Ashton, Frederick, 1904-1988
• Baylis, Lilian, 1874-1937
• Sadler's Wells Ballet
• Royal Ballet
• British Broadcasting Corporation
• Sleeping beauty (Choreographic work : Ashton and Sergeev, N after Petipa, M)
• Rendez-vous (Choreographic work : Ashton)
• Dante sonata (Choreographic work : Ashton)
• Horoscope (Choreographic work : Ashton)
• Cupid and Psyche (Choreographic work : Ashton)
• Orpheus and Eurydice (Choreographic work : De Valois)
• Adam Zero (Choreographic work : Helpmann)
• Promenade (Choreographic work : De Valois)
• Dance in motion pictures, television, etc
• Audiotapes > Dale, M

Note

• Interview with Margaret Dale conducted by David Vaughan at Dale Harris's apartment in New York City on January 15 and 19, 1978 for the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Division's Oral History Project.
• According to the history page of the web site for the Royal Ballet School as of February 26, 2014, the Vic-Wells Ballet School and the Vic-Wells Ballet changed their names, respectively, to the Sadler's Wells Ballet School and Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1939; the names by which they are referred to in the summary of contents below are based on this date.
• Title supplied by cataloger.
• Sound quality is good overall. The recording is marred by extraneous noise including "tape hiss" and occasional short gaps. In addition, at times Margaret Dale's voice is soft. However the speakers' voices are easily audible.

Funding (note)

• The conservation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-411

OCLC

79104798

Author

Dale, Margaret, 1922-2010, interviewee.

Title

Interview with Margaret Dale. January 9, 10, and 12, 1975, 1975.

Production

1978

Type of Content

spoken word

Type of Medium

audio

Type of Carrier

audio disc

Event

Recorded by David Vauhan 1975, January 15 and 19 New York (N.Y.)

Funding

The conservation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.

Original Version

Original format: three sound reels (approximately four hours and 36 minutes); 5 inches; polyester, half-track; 1 7/8 ips.; transferred to wav file and compact disc formats in 2013.

Local Note

For transcript of interview: see *MGZMT 5-411

Former classmark: *MGZT 5-411

There is a handwritten note regarding the recording included in the container holding the archival original (in no. 1 of 3).

Added Author

Vaughan, David, 1924- interviewer.

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-411