Research Catalog

Interview with Moira Shearer.

Title
Interview with Moira Shearer.
Author
Shearer, Moira, 1926-2006.
Publication
1976, 1978.

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StatusContainerFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
Part 1Moving imageSupervised use *MGZMT 3-431 Part 1Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance
Part 2Moving imageSupervised use *MGZMT 3-431 Part 2Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance
Part 3Moving imageSupervised use *MGZMT 3-431 Part 3Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance
Part 4Moving imageSupervised use *MGZMT 3-431 Part 4Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance

Details

Additional Authors
Harris, Dale, 1928-1996.
Description
1 v. (267 l.)
Summary
  • 08/29/1976. Pages 1-38. Moira Shearer speaks about her early dance training, in Africa and in London at Nicholas Legat’s school; the Russian style of ballet she had learned compared with the Italian style of the Sadler’s Wells Company [Sadler’s Wells Ballet]; Violetta Evin; Ninette de Valois, including the manner in which she directed the Company; Shearer’s difficulties with De Valois, especially after Shearer appeared in the film The red shoes; the Company’s U.S. tour in 1949; more on De Valois’s direction of the Company, including her attempt to impose a uniform style on the dancers; Robert Helpmann; De Valois as a teacher; Frederick Ashton, including his working methods; more on the Italian style of ballet; classes with other teachers including Ailne (Babs) Phillips and Nicholas Sergeyev; her brief period with the International Ballet Company, including her thoughts on Mona Inglesby; Shearer’s distinctive hair and skin color as the cause of difficulties with certain roles and costumes; her debut as Aurora at Covent Garden.
  • Pages 39-81. Moira Shearer speaks about her conversation with [Tamara] Karsavina regarding the Giselle’s mad scene; the circumstances of her joining the International Ballet Company and subsequently the Sadler’s Wells Company; her first roles at the Company; Beryl Grey; more on De Valois’s direction of the Company, including the effect of her favoritism on morale; Pauline Clayden; the reasons Shearer left the Company; dancing in Ashton’s Palace of pride [Act III of the ballet The quest]; more on Ashton’s working methods; dancing the role of Cinderella in Ashton’s ballet Cinderella; her partners, including Robert Helpmann; reasons Anton Dolin was a good partner for Alicia Markova; dancing in [Leonide] Massine’s ballets, including Tricorne [Three-cornered hat] and Boutique fantasque; anecdotes about rehearsing Boutique fantasque with Massine as a partner and his working methods; the film The red shoes, including the experience of seeing oneself on film; De Valois’s role in Shearer’s agreeing to be in the film.
  • 08/31/1978 and 09/01/1978. Pages 81-103. Moira Shearer speaks further about Ninette de Valois; the relative lack of feed-back regarding one’s dramatic effectiveness; the management of the Sadler’s Wells Company, past and present; more on the Russian style of dancing, past and present, including Shearer’s thoughts on Anna Pavlova; dancers who can submerge their personality when dancing, e.g., Margot Fonteyn, compared to dancers who emphasize their individuality, e.g., Pavlova and Shearer.
  • Pages 103 -126. Dancing in Roland Petit’s ballet Carmen; Frederick Ashton and Margot Fonteyn; Fonteyn’s difficulty with George Balanchine’s Ballet imperial; rehearsing Ballet imperial with Balanchine, including an anecdote concerning his comment on The red shoes; De Valois’s ballets, including The prospect before us and Job; more on rehearsing Ballet imperial with Balanchine; the costumes for Ballet imperial.
  • Pages 126-151. Moira Shearer speaks about Ninette de Valois’s desire for the Company to maintain a British character; reminisces about various Russian dancers she saw in the years before World War II, including André Eglevsky and Nicholas Legat [break]; the making of The red shoes, including the various difficulties filming presented for the dancers; Robert Helpmann’s choreography and Alan Carter’s role in matching the music to the dancing on film; dancing in The red shoes as compared with dancing in Hoffmann [The tales of Hoffmann, 1951, directed by Michael Powell]; her feelings upon seeing the The red shoes, both before and after editing; more on the circumstances of how she came to be in the film; dancing in Leonide Massine’s ballet Angot [Mademoiselle Angot ] at Covent Garden while still working on The red shoes; Massine’s ballet The clock symphony.
  • Pages 152-176. Moira Shearer speaks about her acting in The red shoes; the film The story of three loves; briefly, regarding Michael Powell and Max Reinhardt as directors; other films in which she appeared, including The man who loved redheads; dancing as a guest with the Sadler’s Wells Company; Frederick Ashton’s ballet Cinderella, including the circumstances of his choreographing substantially all of it on her rather than Margot Fonteyn; the differences in their costumes; his working methods; Alexander Grant in the role of the Jester; Michael Somes as a partner, in particular in Cinderella; her frequent partner, David Paltenghi; performing at the Metropolitan Opera House during the Company’s 1949 U.S. tour, including her thoughts on the Bluebird role.
  • Pages 177-202. Moira Shearer continues to speak about the Company’s 1949 U.S. tour; audience response, in the U.S and in London, including an anecdote concerning her entrance in Act I of The sleeping beauty, in London; Company morale; reasons there was resentment toward her when she substituted for Fonteyn in Cinderella; performances given in Europe during World War II; more on her experience dancing in Roland Petit’s Carmen.
  • Pages 203-224. Moira Shearer speaks about dance on film, including films of Anna Pavlova, [Olga] Spessitvtzeva, Fonteyn and Nureyev in Romeo and Juliet, and Frederick Ashton’s ballet, A month in the country; films in which she danced, including The red shoes, Tales of Hoffmann, and The story of three loves; conductors, recorded music, and tempi, including an anecdote about Robert Irving; Constant Lambert, as a conductor.
  • Pages 225-246. Moira Shearer speaks about Margot Fonteyn, including Constant Lambert’s influence on Fonteyn’s career; Shearer’s friendship with Fonteyn, including an anecdote about Fonteyn’s desire to sing; Shearer’s feelings about her own career, including her dissatisfaction with the narrowness of the world most dancers inhabit; reasons she ended her career as a dancer; an anecdote Leonide Massine told her about Arnold Haskell and Serge Diaghilev; her lectures on ballet.
  • Pages 247-265. Moira Shearer speaks about the people she regards as the great innovators in the history of ballet; Marie Rambert’s feelings about Isadora Duncan; Shearer’s concept of the perfect [ballet] dancer; Beryl Grey and the Ashton ballet The quest; playing the role of Sally Bowles in John Van Druten’s play I am a camera; acting in the ballets Swan lake and Giselle; dancing in Giselle, in particular, in Act II; her first major roles; her dislike of the role of Swanilda and the ballet Coppélia.
Alternative Title
  • Dance Oral History Project.
  • Dance Audio Archive.
Subjects
Note
  • Typescript.
  • Transcript of interview conducted by Dale Harris, recorded on Aug 29, 1976 and Aug 31, and Sept 1, 1978.
Access (note)
  • Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.
Processing Action (note)
  • Cataloged
Call Number
*MGZMT 3-431
OCLC
NYPY797076746-A
Author
Shearer, Moira, 1926-2006. Interviewee
Title
Interview with Moira Shearer.
Imprint
1976, 1978.
Local Note
The transcript was substantially edited as is evident from handwritten revisions. The revisions are believed to have been made primarily by the oral author, Moira Shearer.
Restricted Access
Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.
Local Subject
Ballet in motion pictures. The red shoes.
Ballet in motion pictures. Tales of Hoffmann.
Added Author
Harris, Dale, 1928-1996. Interviewer
Research Call Number
*MGZMT 3-431
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