Pauline Clayden: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Pauline Clayden's map runs through the wartime London fringe and the making of British ballet's classical authority: the Arts Theatre Club under doodlebugs, Vic-Wells at Sadler's Wells, and the 1949 Metropolitan Opera House "Sleeping Beauty" that reset American expectations. Frederick Ashton made seven premieres with her in them; she later returned to coach the Fonteyn-Ashton roles she had shadowed.

The Kynda mix for Pauline Clayden

• Key Influence · The Rake's Progress by Ninette de Valois (1935). De Valois built the company Clayden joined in 1942 and directed the 1949 staging of "The Sleeping Beauty" at the Metropolitan Opera House in which Clayden danced the Fairy of the Songbirds. Her Hogarth-derived "Rake's Progress" was a repertory pillar of the Vic-Wells years, embodying the dramatic English character dancing and disciplined classicism de Valois demanded of every soloist she trained and cast.
• Influencia Obscura · Dark Elegies by Antony Tudor (1937). Clayden was accepted in 1939 into the opera ballet at Covent Garden under the young Antony Tudor, just before he left for American Ballet Theatre. His Mahler-set ritual of grief, made for the Ballet Rambert circle she soon joined at the Arts Theatre Club, is the hidden psychological strand in her formation — interior, unshowy dramatic dancing rather than classroom bravura.
• Local Roots · Miracle in the Gorbals by Robert Helpmann (1944). Helpmann was Sadler's Wells' leading man and resident dramatist-choreographer during Clayden's first years in the company, partnering Fonteyn in the same 1949 New York season. His Glasgow slum parable, with Bliss's score, was the company's other new-work engine beside Ashton, and defined the theatrical, socially charged London wartime ballet culture Clayden grew up inside.
• Beyond the Medium · Scènes de ballet (orchestral score) by Igor Stravinsky (1944). Ashton set Stravinsky's polyrhythmic score in 1948 with Clayden in the premiere cast; she reportedly worked out its Euclidean geometry by drawing coloured diagrams of the patterning. The score's asymmetric bars and abrupt sectional cuts forced a mathematical rather than melodic approach to counting — a rare case of a dancer solving choreography as spatial geometry.
• Peer · Danses concertantes by Kenneth MacMillan (1955). MacMillan was a Sadler's Wells dancer alongside Clayden before turning choreographer, and his first major work arrived in the year her run of Ashton premieres ended. Also to Stravinsky, it shows the next generation absorbing the rhythmic modernism Clayden had physically decoded in "Scènes de ballet" — the company's inheritance passing from performer to maker.
• From the Canon · The Sleeping Beauty — Fairy of the Songbirds by Pauline Clayden (1946). Her signature classical assignment from the 1946 reopening of the Royal Opera House through the Metropolitan Opera House opening night of 9 October 1949, where she was the last known surviving soloist. The fluttering, wrist-driven Songbirds variation is a miniature that reveals her particular quality: quick articulation, delicacy and precision inside de Valois's grand Petipa framework.
• Key Collaborator · Symphonic Variations by Frederick Ashton (1946). Ashton is the defining partnership: Clayden created supporting roles in seven of his premieres between 1946 and 1955, danced a goat with Brian Shaw in "Sylvia" (1952), and was coached by him in Giselle. "Symphonic Variations", to Franck with Fedorovitch designs, is the distilled statement of the pure-classical Ashton style whose Fonteyn roles she later returned to coach.
• Legacy · Afternoon of a Faun by Jerome Robbins (1953). Dancers of the year-old New York City Ballet, where Robbins was then working, took crucial inspiration from the Sadler's Wells "Sleeping Beauty" that opened at the Metropolitan Opera House on 9 October 1949 with Clayden as Songbirds Fairy. That evening reset American standards of classical schooling and company style; Robbins's hushed, exactingly placed Debussy duet belongs to the aftermath.

What influenced Pauline Clayden

• Dark Elegies by Antony Tudor (1937). Dark Elegies (Antony Tudor) — ghost for Pauline Clayden “Peggy van Praagh saw her among the Cone School's students and recommended her to Antony Tudor's London Ballet.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Les Sylphides by Michel Fokine (1909). Les Sylphides (Michel Fokine) — titan for Pauline Clayden (wikidata.org)
• La Fête étrange by Andrée Howard (1940). La Fête étrange (Andrée Howard) — ghost for Pauline Clayden “She created roles in Ninette de Valois's Promenade, Robert Helpmann's Miracle in the Gorbals, Frederick Ashton's Tiresias and Cinderella, John Cranko's Bonne-Bouche and Andrée Howard's Veneziana.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Swan Lake by Marius Petipa (1895). Swan Lake (Marius Petipa) — titan for Pauline Clayden (wikidata.org)
• Daphnis et Chloé by Maurice Ravel (1912). Daphnis et Chloé (Maurice Ravel) — culture for Pauline Clayden (musicbrainz.org)
• The Rake's Progress by Ninette de Valois (1935). The Rake's Progress (Ninette de Valois) — titan for Pauline Clayden “She created roles in Ninette de Valois's Promenade, Robert Helpmann's Miracle in the Gorbals, Frederick Ashton's Tiresias and Cinderella, John Cranko's Bonne-Bouche and Andrée Howard's Veneziana.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Scènes de ballet (orchestral score) by Igor Stravinsky (1944). Scènes de ballet (orchestral score) (Igor Stravinsky) — culture for Pauline Clayden
• The Sleeping Beauty (score) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1890). The Sleeping Beauty (score) (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky) — culture for Pauline Clayden

Peers and kindred spirits

• Frederick Ashton. Documents Clayden's creative collaboration with choreographer Frederick Ashton across seven ballet premieres. (also via Symphonic Variations, Tiresias, Cinderella) “Between 1946 and 1955, Ms. Clayden created supporting roles in the premieres of seven ballets by Ashton.” (The New York Times)
• Margot Fonteyn. Establishes Clayden's professional relationship as second cast to Margot Fonteyn. “She was often second-cast to Ms. Fonteyn — one of the great figures of ballet history, who died in 1991 — but Ms. Clayden was well respected in her own right.” (The New York Times)
• Sadler's Wells Ballet. Clayden was a soloist with Sadler's Wells Ballet. “Ms. Clayden, who had joined Sadler's Wells during World War II, immediately perceived the importance of acting to its style.” (The New York Times)
• London Ballet by Antony Tudor. Clayden joined Tudor's London Ballet on van Praagh's recommendation. “Ms. Clayden joined the nascent London Ballet at the tiny Arts Theater Club near Leicester Square, which became closely intertwined with Ballet Rambert.” (The New York Times)
• Miracle in the Gorbals by Robert Helpmann. Miracle in the Gorbals (Robert Helpmann) — geography for Pauline Clayden “Robert Helpmann 's Miracle in the Gorbals” (Wikipedia)
• Antony Tudor. Clayden worked directly with choreographer Antony Tudor. (also via Dark Elegies) “He cast her in a dance for four women in a Covent Garden production of Aida .” (Wikipedia)
• Symphonic Variations by Frederick Ashton (1946). Symphonic Variations (Frederick Ashton) — collaborator for Pauline Clayden “She created roles in Ninette de Valois's Promenade, Robert Helpmann's Miracle in the Gorbals, Frederick Ashton's Tiresias and Cinderella, John Cranko's Bonne-Bouche and Andrée Howard's Veneziana.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Bonne-Bouche by John Cranko. Clayden created a role in Cranko's Bonne-Bouche. “John Cranko 's Bonne-Bouche” (Wikipedia)
• Veneziana by Andrée Howard. Clayden created a role in Howard's Veneziana. “Andrée Howard 's Veneziana” (Wikipedia)
• Ballet Rambert. Clayden was a member of Ballet Rambert. “She moved on to the Ballet Rambert and, finally, as a soloist with Sadler's Wells Ballet from 1942 to 1956.” (Wikipedia)
• Tiresias by Frederick Ashton. Clayden created a role in Ashton's Tiresias. “Frederick Ashton 's Tiresias and Cinderella” (Wikipedia)
• Cinderella by Frederick Ashton. Clayden created a role in Ashton's Cinderella. “Frederick Ashton 's Tiresias and Cinderella” (Wikipedia)
• Cone School of Dancing. Establishes Clayden's training institution. “She studied at the Cone School of Dancing.” (Wikipedia)
• Promenade by Ninette de Valois. Clayden originated a role in de Valois' Promenade. “She created roles in Ninette de Valois 's Promenade” (Wikipedia)
• Pineapple Poll by John Cranko (1951). Pineapple Poll (John Cranko) — geography for Pauline Clayden “She created roles in Ninette de Valois's Promenade, Robert Helpmann's Miracle in the Gorbals, Frederick Ashton's Tiresias and Cinderella, John Cranko's Bonne-Bouche and Andrée Howard's Veneziana.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Red Shoes by Michael Powell (1948). The Red Shoes (Michael Powell) — peer for Pauline Clayden (themoviedb.org)
• Simple Symphony by Walter Gore (1944). Simple Symphony (Walter Gore) — geography for Pauline Clayden (wikidata.org)
• Giselle (Coralli/Perrot staging tradition) by Jules Perrot (1841). Giselle (Coralli/Perrot staging tradition) (Jules Perrot) — peer for Pauline Clayden
• Danses concertantes by Kenneth MacMillan (1955). Danses concertantes (Kenneth MacMillan) — peer for Pauline Clayden
• Horoscope by Constant Lambert (1938). Horoscope (Constant Lambert) — collaborator for Pauline Clayden

Who Pauline Clayden influenced

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Christopher Wheeldon (2011). Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Christopher Wheeldon) — legacy for Pauline Clayden (wikidata.org)
• Afternoon of a Faun by Jerome Robbins (1953). Afternoon of a Faun (Jerome Robbins) — legacy for Pauline Clayden