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The Arts Theatre Ballet collection catalogued
We are pleased to announce that the Arts Theatre Ballet collection has been catalogued to professional standards. The Arts Theatre Ballet was established under Artistic Director Keith Lester at the Arts Theatre, London, by Harold Rubin. It drew on dancers and repertoire from the Markova-Dolin Ballet (1935-37) and to some extent fed into Ballet Intime. The Arts Theatre Ballet was one of the three professional ballet companies controlled by Rubin at the Arts 1939-41 and like the London Ballet and Ballet Rambert it also toured Britain and in 1941 performed at the Ambassadors Theatre, London. In London the company presented up to five performances a day. The ballets were accompanied by the Arts Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Leighton Lucas.
Amongst material, which includes many beautiful photographs and some detailed choreographic notebooks, we found a poem written by Diana Gould, who performed with Ballet Rambert 1928-34 and later retired to become the wife of violinist Yehudi Menuhin.
Transcription of the poem ‘Lunch Ballet' by Diana Gould, Autumn 1940
I'm tired of being a tupenny Terpsichore
I wish there weren't the fashion now to eat
Large sandwiches of entrechats and chicory
And scatter crumbs around my weary feet.
I hate the sirens wailing o'er the woodwind
I find the H.Es spoil my pirouettes
I feel, alas, as though my Muse were tinned
And sold with salmon soup and cigarettes.
I cannot dance my roles with full abandon
My fouettés are not miracles of ease
For all the while I'm terrified I'll land on
Some God-forsaken bit of bread and cheese.
Have pity on the lunch-time ballerina
And charity to every bite you take
And if you find her getting thinner
Be kind, good sir, and throw a bit of cake.