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Pioneer
Women
Early British Modern Dancers – the Ruby
Ginner Method
Susan
Mitchell-Smith (Classical Greek Dance Association (CGDA)
chairman 1983 – 1994) was invited to represent
Ruby Ginner and Classical Greek Dance in the Steering
Group of the above project. The project is funded by
an Arts & Humanities Research Council Resource Enhancement
Scheme Award and undertaken by the National Resource
Centre for Dance (NRCD) and the Department of Dance,
Film and Theatre Studies at the University of Surrey.
The key aims are to preserve, catalogue, open up for
research and raise awareness of significant archives
on early 20th Century British modern dance based at
the NRCD.
The
article below is an edited version of the lecture that
was presented by Kay Ball (present CGDA Chairman) with
historical information supplied by Susan Mitchell-Smith
at a Greek Study Day on 24th January 2009 at the University
of Surrey. This was combined with an exhibition of the
Bice Bellairs Collection held at the NRCD, which will
benefit from the funds and a practical session.
So,
what is Classical Greek Dance, Ruby Ginner method?
My first experience of this genre came in my first week
of full-time training at the London College of Dance
and Drama with a wonderful lady called Rona Hart an
ex-Ginner Mawer student herself. Rona could move with
such grace and ease and throw her body into any position
or produce any expression or mood she chose in an instant.
Apart from her tremendous enthusiasm, vitality and inspirational
teaching it was this freedom of movement and the versatility
of styles within the genre that attracted me most. There
was no restriction of ‘turn-out’ or restraint
of emotional control. I could have fun, move, really
dance and even be a piece of seaweed or a volcano if
I wanted!
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Left:
images of Greek Dance |
Classical
Greek is a dance technique that was developed by Ruby
Ginner, initially in the early 20th century, based mainly
on the heritage of 5th century Greece. It should also
be stressed that although Ruby Ginner took her inspiration
from Ancient Greece, she says in her book Gateway
to the Dance: “I was not attempting to re-create
the ancient dance, indeed such a thing was an impossibility,
for nowhere is there any detailed description of dance
movements as they were actually done. I was inspired
by the literature and visual arts of Greece to evolve
a form of movement that would be suitable to the modern
theatre and to the classical music of our own century,
a method of dancing that would give the freedom of expression
I was seeking.”
This is what is still being done today. Classical Greek
Dance has been used to depict not only the great stories
from Ancient Greece and the characters from that time
in history, but also The Coming of the Martians,
Pain Imprisoned, a Dance to the Music of Time,
and Hope – all to great effect. The accompaniment
too can be almost as varied as the titles, from complete
silence to voice (as in choric), or the sound effects
of wind in the trees, water lapping on the seashore,
or birdsong. The possibilities are endless. So too is
the way the technique is used as initially it is quite
straightforward using the complete range of movements
of each part of the body and then combining them in
a thousand different ways, which is actually one of
the joys of this form of dance. No two lessons need
ever be the same. It also encourages pupils to explore
movement for themselves and develop their own choreography.
Music plays an important part of a Classical Greek dancer’s
training as the rudiments are taught within the graded
examinations, relating them to movement and so developing
musical empathy. The dramatic side is not neglected
either as all movements should have a reason or purpose
behind them and studies from Nature are also part of
the examination syllabus. The latter allows the pupil
to develop their own movement, based on observation
of the object being portrayed.
Above:
both are examples of Classical Greek Dance
Ruby Ginner’s own theatrical career as a professional
began in 1904 with the Frank Benson company based at
Stratford upon Avon and she composed her own dance for
the first time in The Merry Wives of Windsor. In 1910
she formed her own small band of Grecian Dancers and
in 1913 they appeared at the Tivoli Theatre. In 1914,
she began teaching for Elsie Fogerty and started her
own classes. Through teaching at the Central School
she met Irene Mawer and in 1915 she wrote, and they
appeared together in Et Puis Bon Soir, which
had over 100 performances in the West End between 1915
and 1925. In 1916, Irene Mawer joined her school of
dancing as a teacher of Mime and Voice Production and
as secretary. In 1920 the school officially became the
Ginner Mawer School of Dance and Drama.
In 1923 the Association of Teachers of the Revived Greek
Dance was born. This was at the instigation of Mr Philip
Richardson (then Editor of the Dancing Times) who had
suggested to Ruby Ginner that she should form an association
to standardise her work.
By
June 1924, there were 22 members and the first public
examinations took place in May that year. The name was
changed to the Greek Dance Association in 1937. The
RAD (then known as the Association of Operatic Dancing)
undertook the running of the Children’s Examinations,
which continued until 1951 when the GDA joined the ISTD
and all examinations and events were combined as a branch
of the ISTD.
In
1930 Miss Ginner was invited to take a company to Athens
to show her work to the Greeks in the Ancient Theatre.
Several members of the Association joined the Ginner
Mawer School and performances were given to the most
appreciative and enthusiastic audiences. During that
visit, and a later one in 1932, Miss Ginner did a great
deal of study and added to the steps, movements and
general interpretation of the Greek Dance. In the summer
of 1933 a company of 500 was gathered together from
various schools and two performances were given in Hyde
Park with tremendous success to some 8,000 people. The
next big demonstration was in 1936 when again 400 performers
were collected from all over England, and gave two performances
in the Royal Albert Hall, filling the vast auditorium
both times. The Ginner Mawer dancers also appeared twice
on television on 3rd December 1936.
During the war years, the work was carried on by the
loyal and unflagging efforts of the Secretary and a
small committee. Some members were able to teach Greek
Dance in the Forces. There is evidence of it being taught
in Japanese concentration camps and in hospitals.
1948
saw the first Greek Dance Festival of Youth and one
performance was given at the Scala Theatre. The Festival
was repeated in 1949 when three performances were given,
again at the Scala Theatre. We now hold our Greek Dance
Festival every alternate year with heats taking place
round the country and this year’s Finals will
take place on 2nd May 2009 at the Mermaid Theatre, Puddle
Dock, London.
The Ginner Mawer School closed in 1954, on the retirement
of Ruby Ginner, but the method continued to be taught
in private studios. However, the method was no longer
taught in teacher training establishments, which means
it was not taught, as previously, in educational schools.
In 1983 Dame Merle Park introduced it into the curriculum
of the Royal Ballet School, with it being taught by
Mary Drage who took her teaching examinations with Daphne
Hawkesworth, who also taught for Bice Bellairs.
After a break of several years, a Summer School was
established again in 1986, held at Arts Educational
Schools, Tring. This time it was primarily for children,
although students and teachers found it a useful time
to train for examinations. This continued very successfully
until 2005 and after a break of two years is planned
to take place this year at Bradfield College Reading,
which has strong connections with the CGDAF and a most
wonderful Greek Theatre that we hope to be able to use
in the future.
The
Ruby Ginner Awards were established after her death
in 1978 and take place each year in the form of a class
for each age group and then a performance of one of
the set sequences applicable to the candidate’s
grade. Examinations continue throughout the country,
as well as demonstrations of the work annually at ISTD
congresses.
Ruby
Ginner says in an article in the Dancing Times in 1933:
“The basis of all Western education and art originated
in Greece, in the days when art and education were indivisible;
as the centuries went by they grew more and more apart,
education being relegated to the classroom, and the
arts to the theatre, concert hall and the art gallery.”
“The art of the Dance, in particular, became,
in its highest form, a science of movement confined
to a comparatively small band of expert exponents. Exquisite
as this science was, it played no part in the life of
the people, beyond the presentation of a delightful
spectacle [...] Greek Dance [...] does give just that
participation in an art which the Greeks made the root
idea of all their education.”
No living art ever remains the same but inevitably must
adapt to the world in which it exists. This, the Classical
Greek Dance Faculty Committee tries to do with the help
and guidance of previous Ginner Mawer students and teachers.
So, Classical Greek Dance is still passed on from one
generation to the next.
Kay Ball
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