Monica Mason
Monica Mason | |
|---|---|
 Monica Mason, 2014 | |
| Born | Monica Margaret Mason 6 September 1941 Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Ballet dancer and administrator |
| Title | Artistic director of the Royal Ballet |
| Term | 2002-2012 |
| Predecessor | Ross Stretton |
| Successor | Kevin O'Hare |
Monica Mason, DBE, (born 6 September 1941) is a former ballet dancer, teacher, and artistic director of the Royal Ballet, England's foremost theatrical dance troupe. In more than fifty years with this company, she established a formidable reputation as a versatile performer, a skilled rehearsal director, and a capable administrator.[1] [2]
Early life and training
Monica Margaret Mason was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, into a family of British heritage. She studied ballet from a young age with Ruth Inglestone, Reina Berman, and Frank Staff in her home city and, later, with Nesta Brooking in London. As an advanced student, she entered the Royal Ballet School in 1956, where she continued her education in both dance and academics.[3]
Performing career
Taken into the corps of the Royal Ballet in 1958, Mason was, at 16, the company's youngest member.[4] She soon caught the eye of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, who had been commissioned to create yet another dance version of The Rite of Spring, set to Igor Stravinsky's famous score that had caused such a ruckus at its premiere with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1913. Impressed by her talent and energy, and conscious, not doubt, of her youth and innocence, he cast her as the Chosen Maiden, around whom the rite evolves. She scored a marked success and thereafter became a particular favorite of MacMillan. Over the years, she danced in almost all his works in the Royal Ballet repertory, creating roles in six of them.[5]. Besides the Chosen Maiden, they are as follows.
- 1974. Manon, music by Jules Massenet. Role: Lescaut's Mistress.
- 1975. Elite Syncopations, music by Scott Joplin. Role: Calliope Rag.
- 1975. The Four Seasons, music by Giuseppi Verdi. Role: Summer.
- 1975. Rituals, music by Béla Bartok. Role: The Midwife.
- 1981. Isadora, music by Richard Rodney Bennett. Role: Nursey.
Appointed a soloist in 1963, Mason was promoted to principal dancer in 1968. The range of roles in her personal repertory was broad, encompassing the classicism of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake' and Nikiya in La Bayadère as well as the austerity of purely abstract works such as Song of the Earth, set by MacMillan to Gustav Mahler's meditative "Das Lied von der Erde. She was dramatically effective in such disparate roles as the ruthless Black Queen in Checkmate, by Ninette de Valois, and the gentle Lady Elgar in Enigma Variations (My Friends Pictured Within), by Frederick Ashton. Coldly implacable as Myrtha in Giselle and furiously malevolent as Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty, she displayed warmth, charm, and grace in such evocative works as Liebeslieder Waltzer, by George Balanchine, and Dances at a Gathering, by Jerome Robbins.[6].
Administrative career
Following her retirement as a principal dancer, Mason continued to work for the Royal Ballet company and in 1984 she was appointed Principal Répétiteur to the company. In 1991 she became Assistant Director of the company under Sir Anthony Dowell. Following the company's move to its new headquarters at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden, Mason replaced Dowell's successor, Ross Stretton, as Director in late 2002.[7] She retired from the company in July 2012, having served the company for 54 years.[8]
Honors and awards
Mason was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2002. In the 2008 Birthday Honours she was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) .
References
- ^ Zoë Anderson, The Royal Ballet: 75 Years (London: Faber & Faber, 2006).
- ^ The Royal Ballet, The Royal Ballet Yearbook, 2010/11 (London: Oberon Books, 2011).
- ^ Barbara Newman, "Mason, Monica," in International Encyclopedia of Dance, edited by Selma Jeanne Cohen and others (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), vol. 4, p.306.
- ^ John Gruen, "Monica Mason," in the Private World of Ballet (New York: Viking, 1975).
- ^ Debra Craine and Judith Mackrell, "Mason, Monica," in The Oxford Dictionary of Dance (Oxford University Press, 2000).
- ^ Newman, "Mason, Monica," in International Encyclopedia of Dance (1998), vol. 4, p. 307.
- ^ Dalya Alberge (19 December 2002). "Dancers' joy over choice of Royal Ballet director". The Times. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
- ^ name=monica-mason
External links
- Use dmy dates from December 2011
- 1941 births
- National Dance Award winners
- Administrators of The Royal Ballet
- People educated at the Royal Ballet School
- British ballerinas
- British arts administrators
- Principal dancers of The Royal Ballet
- Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- Laurence Olivier Award winners
- Living people
- People from London
- People from Johannesburg
- South African ballerinas