London Ballet was a short lived British

ballet company A ballet company is a type of dance troupe that performs classical ballet, neoclassical ballet, and/or contemporary ballet in the European tradition, plus managerial and support staff. Most major ballet companies employ dancers on a year-rou ...

founded by the British choreographer and former

Ballet Rambert Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...

dancer Antony Tudor in 1938, along with Rambert members

Hugh Laing Hugh Laing (born Hugh Morris Alleyne Skinner, 6 June 191110 May 1988) was a ballet dancer who danced with Marie Rambert's Ballet Club and New York City Ballet. He was the partner of choreographer Antony Tudor. Biography Hugh Laing was born in ...

, Andrée Howard,

Agnes de Mille Agnes George de Mille (September 18, 1905 – October 7, 1993) was an American dancer and choreographer. Early years Agnes de Mille was born in New York City into a well-connected family of theater professionals. Her father William C. deMill ...

, Peggy van Praagh, Maude Lloyd and

Walter Gore Walter Gore (8 October 1910 – 16 April 1979) was a British ballet dancer, company director and choreographer. Early life Walter Gore was born in Waterside, East Ayrshire Scotland in 1910 into a theatrical family. From 1924, he studied a ...

. A notable success was ', choreographed by Andrée Howard and premiered at the

Arts Theatre The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. It opened on April 20, 1927. History It opened on 20 April 1927 as a members-only club for the performance of unlicensed plays, thus avoiding theatre cen ...

, London on 23 May 1940.Royal Opera House Collections
/ref> It was based on an episode in Alain Fournier's novel ', with a significantly adapted libretto by Ronald Crichton, who also chose the six piano pieces and songs used in the score (orchestrated by Guy Warrack). Stage design and costumes were by Sophie Fedorovitch. The piece was so successful that it was taken up by

The Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded ...

in 1958 and has since been performed over 200 times by them and by

Scottish Ballet Scottish Ballet is the national ballet company of Scotland and one of the five leading ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside the Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Northern Ballet. Founded in 1 ...

.Percival, John. 'La Fête étrange' review in ''The Times'', 18 February 1974, p 10 With the onset of World War II, in 1940 they were invited to New York, joining Richard Pleasant's and Lucia Chase's reorganized Ballet Theater, which later became the

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spr ...

. In 1961

founded a new company, also called London Ballet. He was its director from 1961 until it closed in 1963.

References

{{authority control Ballet companies in the United Kingdom 1938 establishments in England 1961 establishments in England 1963 disestablishments in England Performing groups established in 1938 Performing groups established in 1961 Performing groups disestablished in 1963