Ivor Forbes Guest DUniv MA FRAD (14 April 1920 – 30 March 2018) was a British historian and writer, best known for his study of ballet. He was chairman of the

Royal Academy of Dance The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) is a UK-based examination board specialising in dance education and training, with an emphasis on classical ballet. The RAD was founded in London, England in 1920 as the Association of Teachers of Operatic Danci ...

for twenty three years (1970–93) and has been a Vice-President since 1993 and Secretary then Trustee of the Radcliffe Trust. In 1997 he was made a Doctor of the University by the University of Surrey, its highest

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

. He was married to the movement

notation In linguistics and semiotics, a notation system is a system of graphics or symbols, Character_(symbol), characters and abbreviated Expression (language), expressions, used (for example) in Artistic disciplines, artistic and scientific disciplines ...

expert

Ann Hutchinson Guest Ann Hutchinson Guest ( Hutchinson; 3 November 1918 – 9 April 2022) was an American authority on dance notation and movement analysis, long based in the United Kingdom. She studied more than 80 dance notation systems and translated 20 to Laba ...

and acted as a trustee of the Language of Dance Centre, which she founded.

Early life

Ivor Guest was born on 14 April 1920 in

Chislehurst Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater ...

, Kent, England. Guest's father, Cecil Marmaduke Guest served as a lieutenant in the

Transvaal Scottish The Solomon Mahlangu Regiment (formerly the Transvaal Scottish) is a reserve infantry regiment of the South African Army. History Origin John Murray, Marquis of Tullibardine, who later became the 7th Duke of Atholl, established the regiment a ...

in the First World War and was later made up to captain, serving with the South African Scottish in France, where he was gassed. Declared unfit for further service he remained in England. He married Ivor's mother, Christian Forbes-Tweedie on 30 July 1918.

Ballet historian

Coppelia -Swanilda -Giuseppina Bozzachi -Act I-Scene 2 -Paris -1870

Guest's first book, ''Napoleon III in England'' (1952), came from an interest in his birth town's association with the exiled

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

. Then, despite a successful career as a lawyer, Guest spent holidays and other leisure time researching the ballet of the Second Empire in the archives of the

Bibliothèque de l'Opéra A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a p ...

in Paris, producing two volumes on the subject entitled ''The Ballet of the Second Empire'' (1953, 1955). He received tributes in ''Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research'' in 1995, the year of his 75th birthday; and in ''Dance Chronicle'' in 2001. Guest died in London on 30 March 2018, at age 97.

Publications

Guest's writing focuses primarily on the ballet in Paris, at the

Opéra This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most co ...

, in the years 1770 to 1870. He also chronicles the international careers of some of ballet's stars.

Ballet

* ''The Ballet of the Second Empire'', A. and C. Black (1953) ASIN B0007ITA5G * ''Fanny Cerrito: Life of a Romantic Ballerina'', London: Phoenix House, (1956) * ''Victorian ballet-girl,: The tragic story of Clara Webster'', A. and C. Black (1957), 136 pages ASIN B0006AVBAM * ''Adeline Genée: a lifetime of ballet under six reigns; based on the personal reminiscences of Dame Adeline Genée-Isitt, D.B.E.'', A. and C. Black, 1958, 207 pages * ''The Alhambra ballet'', Dance Perspectives, inc., 1959, 72 pages * ''The Dancer's Heritage: A Short History of Ballet'', Adam & Charles Black; First Edition & First Printing edition (1 Jan 1960), * ''La fille mal gardée'', Dancing Times, 1960, 71 pages * ''Dandies and dancers'', Dance Perspectives Foundation, 1969, 49 pages * ''Fanny Elssler'', A & C Black Publishers Ltd (28 May 1970), 284 pages * ''Romantic Ballet in England'', Pitman Publishing; 2nd Revised edition (27 June 1972), 195 pages * ''Letters from a Ballet Master: The Correspondence of Arthur Saint-Léon'' (1981), 158 pages * ''Adventures of a Ballet Historian'', Dance Horizons; 1st edition (28 March 1983), 131 pages * ''

Jules Perrot Jules-Joseph Perrot (18 August 181029 August 1892) was a French dancer and choreographer who later became Ballet Master of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia. He created some of the most famous ballets of the 19th century including ' ...

'', Princeton Book Company Publishers (December 1984), 383 pages * ''Ballet in Leicester Square: The Alhambra and the Empire 1860–1915'', Dance Books (May 1992), 192 pages * ''The Ballet of the Enlightenment: The Establishment of the Ballet D'Action in France, 1770–1793'', Princeton Book Company Publishers (February 1997), 456 pages * ''Ballet Under Napoleon'', Dance Horizons (May 2002), 584 pages * ''The Paris Opera Ballet'', Princeton Book Co Pub (30 April 2006), 160 pages * ''The Romantic Ballet in Paris'', Dance Books Ltd (1 February 2008), 472 pages * ''The Divine Virginia: Biography of Virginia Zucchi'', Dance Books (10 July 2008), 204 pages * * * * * * * *

Other history

* ''Napoleon III in England'', London, British Technical and General Press; 1st Edition. edition (1 Jan 1952), 212 pages ASIN B0006DASOE * ''Dr. John Radcliffe and his Trust'', Radcliffe Trust, 1991, 595 pages

Honours

In 1997, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award for services to ballet which is the RAD's highest honour; he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2000 he received the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guest, Ivor Forbes 1920 births 2018 deaths British historians English solicitors British male writers People from Chislehurst