Anthony Dowell

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Sir Anthony James Dowell (born 16 February 1943) is a retired British ballet dancer and a former artistic director of the Royal Ballet.

He is regarded as one of the twentieth century's greatest danseurs nobles.

Early life and training

Dowell, a born in London, began his dance lessons in 1948 at the age of five. June Hampshire was his first ballet instructor, who nurtured her young child and instilled in him the discipline that is sorely needed for serious students of ballet. When he was ten years old, he enrolled in the Sadler's Wells Ballet School, later located in Barons Court, and began a program of study for young people interested in studying dance. The school moved to White Lodge, Richmond Park, in 1955, where it became residential, combining general education and vocational ballet training. The Royal Ballet School in 1956, when a royal charter was granted to the Sadler's Wells Ballet, was renamed the Royal Ballet School. Dowell continued his education there, before heading to the Barons Court studios for the final three years of his course of study. He developed a classic technique that helped with discipline, purity of line, and musical sensitivity in an excellent student. He was born with a perfectly proportioned physique and a temperament that corresponded to daily training. He was swept into the Covent Garden Opera Ballet right after his graduation in 1960. After a year of dancing with this company, he was accepted to The Royal Ballet.

Later life

Dowell staged performances of several works in his repertory, including The Dream, which he mounted for American Ballet Theatre, Ballet West, the Joffrey Ballet, the Tokyo Ballet, and the Dutch National Ballet, following his departure as artistic director of the company. He appeared at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and in the Joffrey and Royal Ballet productions of Ashton's A Wedding Bouquet's The narrator of Igor Stravinsky's opera opera-oratorio Oedipus rex, as well as the narrator of Gertrude Stein's opera-oratorio Oedipus rex, as the narrator. He continues to work with the Royal Ballet School as a governor of the Royal Ballet School and as a member of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.

Personal life

Dowell has always been suspicious of his sexuality, but it is common knowledge that he began a romantic relationship with Derek Rencher (1932–2014), a handsome Royal Ballet dancer nine years his senior, right after graduating from the Royal Ballet School in 1960. Rencher, a versatile and well-known character dancer and actor, appeared on Covent Garden as a vibrant and popular character dancer and comedian. Dowell encountered Jay Jolley, a young American who had appeared in London Festival Ballet before being invited to join the Royal Ballet as a principal dancer some time after the incident ended. Dowell and Jolley's relationship, which has remained stable and stable to the present day, has remained stable and stable. Jolley is now assistant director of the Royal Ballet School.

Frederick Ashton died in 1988, leaving "all royalties and profits from my copyrights" to a select group of friends. Many from The Dream and a Month in the Country were bequeathed to Anthony Dowell by The Dream and a Month in the Country.

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Performing career

Erik Bruhn, a Danish dancer, was one of the first to recognize Dowell's potential. In his 1962 staging of the famous pas de six from August Bournonville's Napoli, Dowell gave Dowell a spectacular solo version. Dowell's talent and natural abilities could not be ignored in the future. Frederick Ashton, the company's chief choreographer, selected Oberon to play Oberon in The Dream, a balletic retelling of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Dowell made the role his own and established himself in the top tier of the company's male dancers with his quicksilver technique and impeccable line. Dancing to Mendelsohn's melodic "Nocturne" with Antoinette Sibley as Titania, the first steps in establishing what would become a long and fruitful relationship, as their slender, blond looks and classical purity met a startling similarity in each other. Dowell appeared in Ashton's graceful and serene Monotones in 1965, and then as the vivacious Benvolio in Kenneth MacMillan's historic production of Romeo and Juliet.

When Dowell was promoted to principal dancer in 1966, he was already the face of the English classical style: cool, lyrical, aristocratic, and restrained. If Oberon's presence had brought out a sense of magical grandeur from him, his dramatic presence would have deepened. He later appeared in the ballets of Ashton, MacMillan, and others. Troyte in Ashton's Enigma Variations (1968), Des Grieux in MacMillan's Manon (1974), and Beliaev in Ashton's A Month in the Country (1976) were among the most notable. He appeared in principal roles in Giselle, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker in the classical repertory. Ashton appeared in La fille mal gardée, Card Game, and Varii Capricci, with which, in 1983, he commemorated his continuing association with Sibley. In MacMillan's Song of the Earth and Romeo and Juliet, he was also praised for his passion and musicality in his leading roles in Ashton's Cinderella, Daphnis and Chloe, and Symphonic Variations.

Dowell began to explore life outside of the ballet stage in the early 1970s. In Ashton's Meditation from Tha's and for dancers in MacMillan's Pavane, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and Symphony in C, as well as Robbins' In the Night, he tried his hand at costume design. He also started looking for jobs outside of Covent Garden. He went from absence from the Royal Ballet to perform as a guest artist with American Ballet Theatre in New York between 1978 and 1980. Solor in La Bayadère and Basilio in Don Quixote has been added to his cast of leading roles. In Romeo and Juliet, he worked with Natalia Makarova in Swan Lake and Gelsey Kirkland, facing the challenges of a new repertory. After his formal separation from the Royal Ballet in 1984, he continued to make occasional dance appearances well into his fifties, including appearances in MacMillan's Winter Dreams in 1991 and Peter Wright's production of The Nutcracker in 1999.

Administrative career

Dowell was appointed assistant to Norman Morrice, the Royal Ballet's director, in 1984. He was made associate director a year later, and in 1986 he was promoted to the position of artistic director of the corporation. During his tenure, he succeeded in finding lower technical standards among the soloists and the corps de ballet, as well as supporting and nurturing several world-class performers, including Darcey Bussell, Jonathan Cope, Sylvie Guillem, and Carlos Acosta. Both journalists and audiences alike expressed skepticism in 1987. Swan Lake's latest version received a lot of flak in the press and audiences alike. A number of traditional dance passages were created by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov for their 1885 revival. Balletomanes were dissatisfied with the results, much to the displeasure of balletomanes. Frederick Ashton and Rudolf Nureyev's additional choreography contributed to the plot's success, but they were unable to make up for the absences of well-loved dances. Viewers erupted in protests as a result of Yolanda Sonnabend's radical changes in sets and costumes. Costumes for acts 1 and 3 were "festooned with ribbons and golden squiggles," while those for acts 2 and 4 were "bright and golden squiggles," rather than crisp white feathers. The mystical splendor of the swan lake was also lost. Despite these incompatible features, the performance remained in the Royal Ballet repertory for almost three decades.

Dowell pleaded with Ashton to restore Ondine's repertory after more than 20 years. Maria Almeida was born ondine, the role played by Margot Fonteyn in 1958, and Dowell based ondine, the role played by Michael Somes. In 1994, Dowell's next major revival of a classic ballet was The Sleeping Beauty. It was invented, directed, and produced by him, and it included Viviana Durante as the Princess Aurora, as well as Dowell himself as the wicked fairy Carabosse. The performance was not well received by viewers and was considered a failure, largely due to Maria Björnson's irrational and unattractive designs. Despite the poor reviews of his Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, Dowell did not have a major effect on his reputation, as he was held in high regard by those who collaborated with him. In 2001, a gala performance commemorating his farewell to the Royal Opera House led him into retirement in a volley of flowers and nostalgic acclaim. He had been director of the Royal Ballet for fifteen years, and British theatregoers paid him well for what he did for in that position as well as his performance career as one of the company's most revered and beloved dancers.

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