Moira Shearer

1926 – 2006

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  • Moira Shearer as Cinderella, 1948-49

    Fred Ashton, the principal choreographer for the Sadler’s Wells Ballet, created the three-act ballet, Cinderella, in 1948. It was originally designed to be danced by Sadler’s Wells prima ballerina, Margot Fonteyn, but, when she communicated to Ashton that she would not be able to dance every night of the planned rigorous schedule of performances, Ashton, presumably with Ninette de Valois’ approval, began working with the second-cast ballerina, Moira Shearer, as well.

       The first performance was to be at Covent Garden on December 23rd, 1948.  Ashton began rehearsing the opening kitchen scene in early November. There are several newspaper accounts (including photographs) dating from early to mid-September in which Ashton is noted as working with Shearer. Somewhat strangely, these accounts do not mention Fonteyn. This omission is made all the more mysterious by the fact that the male lead in the ballet, Michael Somes recalls the kitchen scene being created with Fonteyn specifically in mind.

       On the opening night of the Sadler’s Wells autumn season, November 25th, at Covent Garden, Fonteyn and Shearer shared the major roles in the new ballet, Don Juan. Robert Helpmann played the title role, Fonteyn played La Morte Amoureuse and Shearer the “young wife”. About 20 minutes before the end of the ballet Fonteyn sustained what was originally thought to be a sprained ankle. Despite the injury she completed the ballet.

    A subsequent trip to Saint Bartholomew’s Hospital revealed that she had a torn ligament and would not be able to dance again for 3 months.

       Thus, as the second cast Shearer was told she would assume the lead in Cinderella. Her second cast would be Violetta Elvin.There is no record of it but, presumably after she completed her involvement in Don Juan on December 6th, Shearer and Ashton rehearsed the 2nd and 3rd acts of Cinderella on those occasions when she wasn’t appearing in other ballets such as Giselle, Symphonic Variations and Sleeping Beauty then being performed as part of Sadler’s Wells autumn season.

    Fred Ashton rehearses Moira Shearer in her role of Cinderella, November 1948. Photographer unknown.

       Tickets for all performances of Cinderella soon sold out through mid-January. One might speculate that this was because it was Ashton’s first full-length ballet. However, one newspaper article noted that many of the patrons for these early performances were “the younger crowd” which might have been code for Shearer’s fans.

       Opening night was an unqualified success with the audience and Ashton and Shearer shared 14 curtain calls. One newspaper critic quipped that the curtain calls lasted almost as long as the performance itself.

       The following day, December 24th the first critics’ reviews were published and, by and large, they were very favourable to Ashton as choreographer, to Shearer and to the major supporting cast of Elvin, Beryl Grey, Pamela May and to Ashton and Helpmann as the ugly sisters.

    Moira Shearer as Cinderella, December 1948. Photographer Angus Mcbean. Photo reproduced by permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University.

       In The Evening Standard Caryl Brahms was more muted in her praise than most. She wrote, for example, that Moira Shearer was as “pretty as porcelain, if no more poignant” and that Ashton’s was “not inspired choreography”. Ashton himself later recalled that Shearer’s dancing was what he termed “brittle”.

       The more popular press was almost universally captivated by Shearer’s interpretation. Cecil Wilson writing in The Daily Mail called Shearer “the loveliest and lightest-footed Cinderella imaginable”. The Liverpool Post, otherwise critical of the ballet itself, wrote of “Shearer’s exquisite and wistful Cinderella”.

       Later reviews, sometimes of the performances in late December and early January, were more critical of Shearer’s performances. Some took issue with her acting, especially her ability to elicit the pathos needed in the kitchen scene in the first act; others, like the reviewer in the Dancing Times (February 1949), complained that “she has not yet the speed required for all the technicalities”. However, this same critic praised her acting.

       The harshest criticism came from Iris Morley writing in The Daily Worker on December 30th. She wrote that Shearer was “as pretty as any fairy …. unfortunately, she is a long way from being a ballerina. She has little idea of how to phrase her dancing. Consequently, many important moments like the pas de deux with the broom showed a want of tenderness, feeling and artistry”. This theme of contrasting her beauty with her dancing and acting ability was to be repeated many times throughout her career in ballet.

       Throughout late December 1948 and through mid-February, 1949 Shearer shared the lead role with Violetta Elvin. Thus, some on the critics focused on Elvin’s strengths and compared her to Shearer. In general, both dancers were the subject of praise although, sometimes, it was qualified.

       Fonteyn, who perhaps had benefitted, not just from her forced holiday, but also from the opportunity to see some of the performances by Shearer and Elvin, returned to the role on February 25th. Her performance was met by rapturous applause, testament, as noted the critic in the magazine, “Ballet and Opera”, to “the devotion of Fonteyn’s London public”. The same writer felt “her Cinderella seemed more deeply felt and conceived more “in the round” than the renderings of the other dancers”.

       Thus, Fonteyn’s twin concerns of, initially, having to share the lead in Cinderella with Shearer, and, after her serious injury, that Shearer might be presented with an opportunity to challenge her at Sadler’s Wells, were not, in fact, borne out. Nor did the events damage her working relationship with either Shearer or Elvin that were to endure for many years.

    Sources.

    The Daily Graphic, November 6th 1948, writer unknown.

    The Sphere, November 20th, 1948, writer unknown.

    The Daily Express, December 24th, 1948, Express Theatre Critic.

    The Evening Standard, December 24th, 1948, Caryl Brahms.

    The Daily Mail, December 24th, 1948, Cecil Wilson.

    The Times, December 24th, 1948, writer unknown.

    The Daily Worker, December 30th 1948, Iris Morley.

    The Stage, December 31st, 1948, writer unknown.

    The Spectator, December 31st, 1948, writer unknown.

    The Stage, January 5th, 1948, writer unknown.

    The New Statesman, December 31st, 1948, writer unknown.

    The Liverpool Post, date and writer unknown.

    The Queen, January 19th, 1949, writer unknown.

    Punch, January 1949, writer unknown.

    Ballet and Opera, News, April 1949, writer unknown.

    The Dancing Times, February 1949, writer unknown.

  • Moira Shearer as Giselle

    As quoted in several sources, including The New York Times in April 1951, Moira Shearer stated she had “one cardinal aim in her dancing career: to dance Giselle really well”.
    Between 1942 and 1953 Shearer made her way up the rankings of the roles in Giselle at Sadler’s Wells. Initially, in 1942 and 43, she danced as either a peasant or as a Wili, or, in some cases, as both. She graduated to the more demanding role of Zulme or Moyna between 1944 and 1947 and on July 13th, 1948, at age 21, she danced in the title role for the first time.

    “Four English Giselles”. From left to right, Beryl Grey, Moira Shearer, Alicia Markova and Margot Fonteyn. Covent Garden July 13th, 1948., Photographer unknown.

       On that same date she was photographed on the stairs at Covent Garden with the three other “English” Giselles, Markova, Margot Fonteyn and Beryl Grey. Perhaps they had been in the stalls to witness her premiere in the role.

       Prior to her premiere in this role Shearer had consulted with the former Russian ballerina Karsavina, who was then teaching in London but, who had danced as Giselle starting in 1910. In her interview with Dale Harris, Shearer insisted that her sole intent in the consultation was to get Karsavina’s advice on how to portray Giselle in the “mad” scene but Ninette de Valois believed that Shearer had also used Karsavina’s version of some important steps in first act. This was the first of many confrontations that Shearer had with De Valois over interpretation.

       Subsequently Shearer danced the title role in Giselle at least a further 14 times between 1948 and 1953. Several of these performances were during the 1950-51 tour of North America with the venues including the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City and the opera houses in San Francisco and Chicago.

       On September 13th,1951 she danced as Giselle in the gala at Covent Garden. After a prolonged injury in 1952 she danced the title role again on February 13th, 1953, once more at Covent Garden, and was due to give several more performances. However, she strained a tendon during rehearsals and was unable to dance again. This injury marked the end of Shearer’s 11-year career at Sadler’s Wells.

       Perhaps, as Shearer danced the lead role so rarely, she seems to have often attracted the attention of the ballet critics in British newspapers and dance magazines when she did. By and large, over the 5-year span, she received good, if not rave, reviews.

    Moira Shearer, Giselle, Act II. Date not known. Photographer, Duncan Melvin.  

       Typical of the press for her first attempt in the lead role is a review by Caryl Brahms writing in the Evening Standard in July, 1948. While, tongue in cheek, comparing Shearer’s acting unfavourably to that of the great nineteenth century tragedian, Sarah Siddons, Brahms praises her dancing in multiple ways. This dichotomy between her dancing and acting skills is expressed by Brahms as Shearer being “bewildered rather than frantic in her mad scene” but the elegance of her dancing “achieves a pearly poetry”.

       C.V. Coton, dance critic for The Daily Telegraph, says of this same performance that it was “a combination of the wistful, charming and the tender”. The writer in the August issue of Theatre World praised her performance, while noting it lacked “the depth of interpretation revealed by Margot Fonteyn and Markova.

       The writer in “The Times” (March 21st, 1950) commented on how Shearer’s confidence in interpreting the part had greatly increased since she first appeared in it 1948. Like other subsequent commentators, the unnamed critic, while not wholeheartedly going to bat for her, focused on how well Shearer brought her personality to bear on the interpretation of the role. “Her Giselle lacked nothing in dramatic power, for her stage personality suffuses the parts she plays with sympathy and conviction”.

       Audrey Williamson writing in a similar vein in The Tribune on April 14th, 1950, says of Shearer’s Giselle that she “starts with the initial advantage of genuine youth and lightness; her gaiety brightens the stage, but is now pierced by a deeply moving emotional power”. She later tempers her praise by saying that Shearer does not yet possess “the balance and lyrical fire for a great second act”.

       Shearer felt confident enough of her abilities at this stage to allow her parents and husband to see her March 1950 performance that was her third time in the role.  

       When Shearer danced the lead role again in 1953 the critic for “The Guardian” (February 14th) gave her an almost unequivocably postive appraisal, noting that the performance was marked by her great technical ability, her grace and her unique interpretation of the role. Of some significance was the fact that the writer also praised her acting, especially in the “mad scene”. Perhaps Karsavina’a advice had borne fruit.

       When Shearer danced Giselle with Sadler’s Wells at The Metropolitan Opera House in New York on September 24th, 1950, the great American modern dancer, Ruth St. Denis, was in the audience. Arthur Todd, the dance critic, writing in the December issue of the magazine, Ballet Today, said that the finest compliment one could pay the British ballet company was to repeat the remark that St. Denis made as the curtain descended on Moira Shearer’s Giselle, that “the Sadler’s Wells Ballet is the flower of British civilisation”.

    Sources.

    Caryl Brahms, review in the Evening Standard, July 14th, 1948.

    C.V. Coton, review in the Daily Telegraph, July 14th, 1948.

    The Times, article, July 14th, 1948.

    The Stage (trade journal), review, February 15th, 1948.

    The Times, article, March 21st, 1950.

    Audrey Williamson, review, The Tribune, April 14th, 1950.

    Arthur Todd, article, Ballet Today, December 1950.

    The New York Times, article, April 1951.

    The Guardian, article, February 14th, 1953.

    Moira Shearer, Portrait of a Dancer, Pigeon Crowle, Faber and Faber, 1954.

    Moira Shearer interviewed by Dale Harris in Edinburgh, August 29th, 1976 and September 1st, 1978. Transcript of an audiotape available at the New York City Library, Lincoln Center.

  • Moira Shearer as Carmen, Paris, 1950

    Moira Shearer had an extremely busy schedule at Covent Garden in April and early May of 1950. She danced in 8 performances of Cinderella and 14 of George Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial. Her final performance of Ballet Imperial was a matinee on Saturday May 6th.

    Then, the following day, she took a train called The Golden Arrow from London to Paris where she was to join Roland Petit’s company, Les Ballets de Paris, for a short season of his ballet, Carmen.


    Petit had put in an urgent request to Ninette de Valois that Shearer be permitted to replace the injured Rene (Zizi) Jeanmaire. Jeanmaire was the lead ballerina in Petit’s small company. She had danced the lead in Carmen throughout its highly successful tours of London, New York and Canada in 1949. However, she injured a leg late in 1949, was forced to undergo an operation and then rest for 6 months.

    Both she and Petit appear to have anticipated her return to her role by the spring of 1950 but this was not to be. Shearer was asked to replace her at short notice and the already-printed programmes were modified to include her.

    The caption to one of the photographs showing Petit and Shearer rehearsing in Paris on May 10th notes that Jeanmaire had undergone a recent operation. Thus, it seems that she may have re-injured her leg or that she had recovered from the operation more slowly than hoped.
    Shearer arrived in Paris on May 7th. Several photographs show her rehearsing with Petit during the following week. In her interview with Dale Harris, the dance historian, Shearer recalls that she danced every night for three weeks. As she was scheduled to dance with the Sadler’s Wells in Giselle at Covent Garden on June 1st, the performances for Carmen must have begun early in the week that she arrived in Paris.
    Shearer indicates that, as the role of Carmen had originally been choreographed for Jeanmaire, it presented her with difficulties. Thus, she and Petit continued to rehearse even after the performances had begun.

    Moira Shearer and Roland Petit rehearsing Carmen in Paris in May 1950. Photographer unknown.

       She writes “I never thought that I’d attempt to dance this ballet. It was marvellous to do. I was slashed by the French critics but I was pretty good by the end of the season”. Not all the French critics attacked Shearer’s performance. One, addressing the obvious comparison to Jeanmaire and the fact that Petit had choreographed the ballet for her, wrote of Shearer’s first night performance that Petit had chosen well in her. She was “the perfect dancer, expressive, with a fine sensibility which created a Carmen less earthy and impulsive than Jeanmaire’s but which was just as feminine and “frémisante”. He was confident that Shearer would soon make the role her own and dispel any need for comparison to Jeanmaire.

    Moira Shearer and Roland Petit rehearsing Carmen in Paris, May 1950. Photographer unknown.

       Shearer was impressed by “Petit’s crazy undisciplined company, free and easy”. She added, “Carmen was a wonderful ballet”.

       The Illustrated London News ran a story on Shearer’s brief sojourn in Paris and noted that “The Red Shoes”, which had been released in France in 1949. had “brought her a strong Continental following”. Picking up on this theme, in his 1976 interview of Shearer Dale Harris asked her whether Petit had chosen her because of the success of “The Red Shoes”. Very gracefully, in light of this impertinent, insensitive question, she replied that she thought he might have done so.

       However, Petit would have been well aware of Shearer’s true abilities for some time. There is a photo of him probably taken on November 26th, 1947, where he is backstage with de Valois, Fred Ashton, Margot Fonteyn and the French actress, Arletty. To one side in the same photo stand Moira Shearer and Michael Somes in their costumes for the premiere of the ballet, Mamzelle Angot. Petit and Arletty had probably been watching this from the stalls a short time earlier.

    Arletty, Roland Petit, Margot Fonteyn, Ninette de Valois, Fred Ashton, Moira Shearer and Michael Somes backstage at Covent Garden, November 26th 1947. Photographer Mandinian. Published in “Moira Shearer, Portrait of a Dancer”, 1950.

    Sources.

    Moira Shearer interviewed by Dale Harris in Edinburgh August 29th 1976 and September 1st 1978. Transcript of an audiotape held at the New York City Library, Lincoln Center.

    Moira Shearer, Portrait of a Dancer, Pigeon Crowle, London, 1950.

  • Margot and Moira

    Margot and Moira

    There has been a great deal of speculation that a rivalry developed between Margot Fonteyn and Moira Shearer during the time that they both danced at the Sadler’s Wells Ballet, i.e. between 1942 and 1953.

       Fonteyn wrote in her autobiography that she once felt threatened by Shearer’s meteoric rise within the company. As well she might. Shearer was a very gifted dancer, and Fonteyn may have believed that Shearer was capable of challenging her dominant position at Sadler’s Wells.

       However, research into Moira Shearer’s career at Sadler’s Wells yields scant evidence of any actual rivalry. In fact, in as far as the demanding schedule of the ballet allowed for the development of friendships among the dancers, it seems that Fonteyn and Shearer were friends. It was not a deep friendship perhaps but one that lasted.

    The attached undated photo of Fonteyn and Shearer seemingly enjoying practicing at the barre together surely speaks to that friendship.

    Margot Fonteyn and Moira Shearer practicing at the barre. Date and location unknown. Photographer unknown. Reproduced with permission of Ailsa Kennedy.

       Fonteyn joined the (then) Vic-Wells Ballet in 1935 and soon became its leading ballerina. Shearer, seven years her junior, danced briefly with the Vic-Wells (while she was a student there in 1940) and joined the newly-named Sadler’s Wells Ballet in the spring of 1942. Thus, at any given time while they were dancing in the same company, Fonteyn enjoyed the dual advantages of maturity and experience. Shearer was intelligent and sensitive enough to recognize this.

       Throughout Shearer’s brief tenure at Sadler’s Wells, Ninette de Valois, its director would call upon Fonteyn for almost all the major roles, particularly in the “classical” ballets like Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. Early in the 1940’s Shearer would be assigned leading roles in the minor ballets like Quest. By the mid 1940s Shearer had eclipsed other ballerinas like Pamela May and Beryl Grey in a number of roles and became Fonteyn’s “deputy”. Fonteyn would always dance the opening night of a new production and would then share the role with Shearer and, sometimes with May, Grey or Violetta Elvin on subsequent dates.

       There were some ballets, however, where Fonteyn and Shearer danced together. One example of this is Ashton’s ballet, Symphonic Variations. The attached photo of Fonteyn, Shearer and Michael Somes at practice was taken in Paris prior to a performance of Symphonic Variations.

    Moira Shearer, Michael Somes and Margot Fonteyn rehearsing Symphonic Variations in Paris, October 1948. Photographer unknown.

    Another ballet in which they danced together is Don Juan which, in the autumn of 1948, was chosen to open the season at Covent Garden. In one of those strange turns of fate Fonteyn was seriously injured opening night on November 25th. Not only did this rule out her continued participation in Don Juan but also prevented her from rehearsing Fred Ashton’s new ballet, Cinderella which was to premiere a few weeks later.

    Margot Fonteyn, Robert Helpmann and Moira Shearer during rehearsals for Don Juan at Covent Garden, November 23rd 1948. Photographer Jimmy Sime, Central Press Agency.

       As the “second cast” ballerina for Cinderella, Shearer stepped into the breech. Ashton, who had designed the ballet to highlight Fonteyn’s abilities, was then forced to adapt it for Shearer, who was a completely different kind of dancer.

       The ballet opened at Covent Garden on December 23rd and was a great success. Shearer had been presented her opportunity and took full advantage of it. She danced to packed houses from late December through early February. Violetta Elvin danced as Shearer’s alternate and she too enjoyed great success in the role.

       When Fonteyn had recovered by mid February 1949, she took over the role and made it her own. This, once again, showed her pre-eminence among Sadler’s Wells’ dancers and Shearer would have immediately recognized and accepted this fact.

       In her February 1991 obituary of Fonteyn, Shearer says of their relationship, “Margot was a kind and generous friend” and one she came to know and understand, although slowly. In the 1940s, as a result of sharing roles at Sadler’s Wells, Shearer remembered that she got to know Fonteyn a little better but “just a little”. However, Shearer wrote, Fonteyn’s “reserved nature made her almost enigmatic, and I never felt genuinely at ease with her”.

       However, that was to change when Sadler’s Wells made their second tour of North America in 1950-51. The entire company travelled between venues by a special sleeper train and the dancers were bunked in pairs. Fonteyn initially shared her compartment with Pamela May but when May was injured, she left the tour to return to the U.K. and Shearer was then moved to share the compartment with Fonteyn. Once at the theatre they would also share a dressing room.

       The shared experience of life on the road strengthened the bond between them and the friendship that resulted endured despite Shearer leaving the ballet in 1953 while Fonteyn continued to dance for many years. The fact that they both married and lived in different worlds also must have taken its toll on the friendship, but it didn’t end it.

    Margot Fonteyn and Moira Shearer, Ottowa in 1951. Location unknown. Photographer Bill  and Jean Newton.

    Several years after their marriage Shearer and Ludovic Kennedy moved from London to Amersham where she raised several of her children throughout the 1950s. Fonteyn, who married in 1956 and her husband, Tito Arias, visited Shearer and her family there.

       In his 1978 interview with Shearer the British-American dance historian and critic Dale Harris remarked that Margot Fonteyn’s autobiography did not really reveal her. Shearer responded, “because she’s like that as a person”.

       Shearer picks up this theme in the beautifully written and affectionate obituary of Fonteyn written in February 1991 and which she titles, “Margot: the modesty of true greatness”. Of Fonteyn, Shearer writes that “her greatest charm, both on the stage and off, was her quiet calm and modesty. And her control was of iron. In decades of performances, it gave her the ability to keep a standard of excellence which never wavered”. She goes on to say that Fonteyn “was never a virtuoso ballerina but brought something else to the stage, a wonderfully unbroken flow of movement that lulled audiences into that happy state of illusion which is the hallmark of ballet”. Shearer might have added that she, as the quintessential virtuoso ballerina, did not have those same qualities.

       Shearer’s forthright evaluation of Fonteyn and some of the attached photos seem to speak eloquently of their relationship and friendship.

    Sources.

    Moira Shearer interviewed by Dale Harris in Edinburgh, August 29th 1976 and September 1st, 1978. Transcript of an audiotape held at the New York City Library, Lincoln Center.

    Margot: the modesty of true greatness. Obituary of Margot Fonteyn written by Moira Shearer. Actual date not known but circa February 22nd, 1991. Publication unknown but possibly The Times (London) or The Guardian (London).

    Margot Fonteyn: Autobiography. Random House Inc., London, published May 1st, 1976.

    Various newspaper and magazine articles published in the UK, USA and Canada between 1943 and 1953.

  • Moira Shearer at the International Ballet; a tough apprenticeship.

    Between May 19th, 1941, when Moira Shearer joined The International Ballet in Glasgow for its premiere performance and February 8th ,1942 when she left the company as it completed a week of performances in Sheffield, she probably danced at every performance if not in every ballet. I have records (programmes and newspaper accounts) for 181 performances by her. At some theatres where the company is known to have appeared, for example, the Theatre Royal in Norwich, there are no day-to-day records. If such locations are taken in account Shearer probably danced in more than 200 performances over the 10-month period. At many theatres the company would dance every night and there might be between 2 to 4 matinee performances each week.

       However, there was some occasional respite and on July 12th, 1941, after the final appearance at the Hippodrome in Brighton, the company took a 5-week holiday. Shearer probably returned to her parent’s home that, at the date, was probably in Scotland.

    Programme for The International Ballet performances at The Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London for September 25th 1941. Moira Shearer danced in three of the four ballets.

    The Lyric Theatre, September 25th, 1941. The cast for Endymion, a ballet choreographed by the director, Mona Inglesby. Moira Shearer danced as one of five “clouds”.

       The typical week for the company ran from either Monday or Tuesday to Saturday. Sunday and sometimes Monday were set aside for travel.

       In 1941 the season began in May in Glasgow and after a week’s performances moved to Birmingham, then Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Bradford and Brighton. After the summer break the company opened in the West End at the Lyric Theatre for a 6-week run. After a short break in early October, it moved onto Norwich, Leamington Spa and Stratford, then to Harrow, Glasgow, Oxford, Cardiff, Northampton, Nottingham, Aberdeen and Coventry. The final three week-run was at the Manchester Opera House. It extended through Christmas and the New Year.

       This was followed by a 2 week break in January 1942, after which the company opened in Blackpool for a 2-week run. On February 1st, they moved on to Harrogate, and then to Sheffield, where the season ended on February 28th.

       All of Shearer’s roles were minor, for example, as above, as a cloud in Endymion, but she was on stage for much of each performance. In addition to Endymion she danced roles in Aurora’s Wedding, Lac des Cygnes, Planetomania, Carnaval, Fete Boheme and Les Sylphides. With only 21 or 22 dancers the company was very small and thus, in the case of some ballets such as Les Sylphides and Fete Boheme every dancer was involved.

       As can be readily appreciated, especially when the longer train journeys between venues is taken into account, it was a demanding schedule for all involved.

       Shearer’s mother was sometimes on hand to give her daughter support but she was usually in the capable hands of Mona Inglesby who led the company and was the principal dancer. Inglesby probably provided what limited instruction was available to Shearer. For the most part, however, she probably learned by performing.

       In her 1976 (1978) interview with the American dance historian, Dale Harris, Shearer makes scant reference to the year of her life spent at The International Ballet. However, what little she says reveals two issues that characterize much of her ballet career.

       “Although my time at International Ballet wasn’t particularly happy …. I was so much younger than anyone else and was of slight build. But it was still good for me and knocked me into shape. Planetomania was where I got my chance, as they say. The guardian swallow is a tiny little solo. (I had) a black sleek headdress like a swallow’s head. Thank goodness all my hair was covered up, not a wisp showing, so if anybody thought I danced well they couldn’t say “her success is only because of her red hair”. Because that is something I have died a thousand deaths over”.

    Programme for The International Ballet on June 23rd, 1941 at The Nottingham Theatre Royal.. Moira Shearer danced her first solo as a “guardian swallow”.

    Notes.

    Leo Kersley, a fellow dancer at The International Ballet, said of Shearer, ” (we) would make a special effort to watch her perform the opening Swallow in …. Planetomania. “She glided, dreamy and gorgeous”. She had, he says, a natural talent, which meant that dancing came easily to her; she was a born ballerina”.

    Sources.

    Moira Shearer interviewed by Dale Harris in Edinburgh, August 29th 1976 and September 1st 1978. Transcript of an audiotape held at the New York City Library, Lincoln Center.

    Various theatre programmes including the Lyric Theatre, London and provincial venues such as Birmingham, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Nottingham.

  • Florence and Ankara 1949

       Probably at some time in 1948, The Sadler’s Wells Ballet, under the auspices of The British Council, received an invitation to participate in the Music Festival to be held in Florence in May 1949.

       Ninette de Valois, the Sadler’s Wells director accepted the invitation and set about creating the programme. The company would be in Florence from May 20th to 30th, would perform 16 times and present 8 ballets. These included Cinderella, created by Fred Ashton in 1948, Symphonic Variations (also choreographed by Ashton), A Rake’s Progress, Hamlet and Checkmate.

       Cinderella was to be performed 4 times, initially with Margot Fonteyn in the lead role. Moira Shearer danced the lead role twice.

       The company was at full strength with the three other prima ballerina, Beryl Grey, Pamela May and Violetta Elvin all assuming major roles. May joined Fonteyn and Shearer in Symphonic Variations.

       The company left London by train on May 15th for a journey to Florence via Paris and Milan that probably required most of the day and might have been by an overnight train. The photo of some of the company at Victoria Station prior to departure includes Shearer, May and Elvin.

    Moira Shearer, Pamela May, Violetta Elvin and other members of The Sadler’s Wells Ballet at Victoria Station, May 16th, 1949 prior to their departure for Florence. Photographer unknown. Source Sadler’s Wells Archives; Islington Library.

       As the first performance was not until May 20th the company would have had a few days to settle and to rehearse.

       According to the Italian dance critic, Ferdinando Reyna, writing in the July-August issue of the magazine “Ballet Today”, the performances were very well received by what he describes as a discriminating Florentine audience. Picked out for particular praise were Fonteyn for her “technique, elegance and expressiveness” and Shearer for the “grace and freshness” of her performance.

       Perhaps inevitably, as a result of the 1948 release of the film “The Red Shoes”, Shearer was showered with attention. In the attached photo her admirers surround the somewhat amused, somewhat bemused “star” of the film. Shearer would have to learn to live with this kind of unwanted attention for many years to come.

    Moira Shearer surrounded by a few fans in Florence in May 1949. Photographer unknown. Source: Ballet Today July-August 1949.

    With the conclusion of their participation in the festival most of the company returned to Britain. However, four dancers, Michael Somes, Anne Heaton, Alexander Grant and Shearer travelled on to Turkey where they were to give demonstrations and performances in Istanbul and in the capital, Ankara.

       De Valois had developed a deep interest and commitment to help create a school for ballet in Turkey and in 1947 spent three weeks there sponsored by the British Council.

       The visit of the four dancers was also backed by the British Council that assumed overall care of the dancers while they were in Turkey. By 1949 De Valois had sent two teachers from the Sadler’s Wells Ballet to assist in setting up the Turkish school. Thus, they would have probably been responsible for the dancers while they were rehearsing and performing.

      The journey to Istanbul was by air from Rome probably on May 31st; travel between Istanbul and Ankara was via the night train.  

      The dancers made no public appearances in Turkey, instead performing to an audience made up of the students of the newly formed ballet school and their parents. Beyond Moira Shearer’s brief article in the August issue of “The Dancing Times” there appears to be no other record of the performances.

       They gave 4 performances in the small but newly-built opera house in Ankara. Dances performed by them were supplemented by those of the more advanced Turkish students. Shearer writes that the most enthusiastically received ballet was John Cranko’s “Trisch-Trasch” that was danced by her accompanied by Michael Somes and Alexander Grant.

       After 4 days in Ankara the dancers flew to Istanbul for 3 performances in a large open-air theatre with a wooden stage erected over the stone base. Apparently the weather cooperated. Shearer doesn’t mention the repertoire but it was presumably similar to that given in Ankara.

    Moira Shearer and Michael Somes rehearsing in Istanbul. Anne Heaton is in the background. Photographer Sidney Nowill. Photo reproduced with permission of Edward Nowill.

       After their final performance the Sadler’s Wells dancers visited the ballet school in Istanbul before flying to London.

      The photos of the dancers rehearsing in Istanbul were taken by Sidney Nowill of the British Council. Like many others before and after him he writes of his admiration for Shearer because, as he puts it, she was both charming and unaffected.

       The Sadler’s Wells season ended on June 20th and immediately afterwards Shearer and her fiancé Ludovic Kennedy travelled to Grasse in southern France where they had rented a villa for two weeks.

    Sources.

    The Star (newspaper), published in London, May 16th, 1949

    Ballet Today, July-August 1949. Article by Ferdinando Reyna.

    The Dancing Times, August 1949. “Turkish Delight”, article by Moira Shearer.

    Constantinople and Istanbul, Ashenden (Sidney Nowill), Biography and Autobiography, Troubador Press, 2011.