The Rambert Archive
The Archive was established in 1982 with financial assistance from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Pilgrim Trust and the Radcliffe Trust. The archive is highly valued by both the Company and external users. Its significance is derived from the history of Rambert as the longest-established British dance company and as the company that heralded the change from pure classical ballet to embracing modern American dance in its choreography. Rambert provides a template for the history of dance in the UK since the early twentieth century and the archive material is central to the understanding of that history.
An archive specialist made the following statement:
"Rambert's collections have a coherence that is seldom found in dance archives. The majority of dance collections are in very vulnerable situations as they are held by the dance companies without any specialist storage or professional archival care. Rambert is unusual in its decision to actively collect its archives and dedicate a staff member to their care. Thus part of the significance of the collections is their coherence and potential for survival and use, compared with the fate of many performing companies' collections. The Rambert collections are filling in some of the historical gaps left by the loss of archival material elsewhere in the dance community."
The Archive is based at Rambert's studios in Chiswick and holds around 300 linear metres of material. The Collections include dance notations, designs, photographs, music, costumes and programmes as well as sound recordings, videos, press cuttings, administrative records and board papers. There are also files for people and production connected with the Company. In addition, there are a number of small collections, including papers of Andrée Howard and Walter Gore.
Rambert Moves: Unlocking the Passion is a Heritage Lottery funded project to increase access to and use of the archives of Rambert Dance Company. The Company will move to new headquarters on the South Bank in 2013, which will include a multi-purpose reading room and dedicated storage space for the Archive. The Nureyev Foundation are supporting the creation of a dedicated film store for the audio-visual collections. The new welcoming and spacious research room will enable groups and individuals to use the currently inaccessible archive. The collections will be made available to a wider audience than has ever been possible.