Ross Stretton
Encyclopedia
Ross Stretton was an Australian ballet dancer and artistic director. As a dancer, he performed with the Australian Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet
and the American Ballet Theatre
. He was later Artistic Director at the Australian Ballet before working briefly as the Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet in 2001-2002.
in 1952. He started as a tap dancer winning the Australian national tap dancing championships twice and winning numerous other awards. At the age of 11, he won a Channel Seven
Junior Talent Quest with a judge comparing him to Fred Astaire
. Stretton did not start performing ballet until he was 17 when he started taking classes with Bryan Lawrence and Janet Karin
, former principals of the Australian Ballet.
He successfully auditioned for a position at the Australian Ballet School
in 1971. In his first year, he won the Nureyev
bursary and received a Harold Holt
Memorial Scholarship in his second year. He graduated from the Ballet School in 1972 with honours in all of his practical and danced the leading male role as the prince in the School's production of Cinderella
.
Scholarship in 1975, he undertook a study trip to the US. During his time at the Australian Ballet, he danced all the classical roles in the company's schedule. In the 1977 production of Swan Lake
, he developed a strong partnership with Michaela Kirkaldie although he had to be taken to hospital after miscalculating the spectacular leap into the lake in a performance at the Canberra Theatre
and missing the mattress behind the scenes meant to break his fall. In 1978, he became a principal dancer with the Australian ballet.
In 1979, he decided to leave Australia for the US to establish an international reputation. Stretton initially joined the Joffrey Theatre before a brief stint at the Northern Ballet Theatre
in Manchester. He debuted with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in 1980-81. In the following season, he became a soloist with the ABT and a principal the following season. He also worked with Mikhail Baryshnikov
in Baryshnikov and Co as part of a select group of ABT dancers.
During his dancing career, Stretton developed a reputation as a great classical dancer although the New York Times stated in a news report on his death that "acting was not his forte". He retired as a dancer in 1990.
He returned to the Australian Ballet in 1997 replacing Maina Gielgud
. Stretton modernised the company's repertoire bringing in works from a range of choreographers including Twyla Tharp
. He also commissioned collaborations with the Australian Chamber Orchestra
and the Bangarra Dance Theatre
. Rites, choreographed by Stephen Page
in 1997, featured dancers from the indigenous Bangarra company along with dancers from the Australian ballet.
In 1999, Stretton took the Australian Ballet on a US tour featuring Australian dance works not previously seen in North America. The New York Times described it as a "company reborn" based on that tour. On Stretton's death, David McAllister, his successor as artistic director, stated Stretton "brought the company bounding into the 21st century."
During his tenure at the Australian Ballet, his catchphrase was "creativity, energy and passion". He had the reputation of being a demanding artistic director and was known for having a short temper which meant that he often did not have good relations with his dancers.
However, his success with the Australian Ballet led to an offer to take over as artistic director at the Royal Ballet with the intention of modernising that organisation. However, his first and only season at the Royal Ballet was widely perceived as a failure, with the Daily Telegraph's ballet critic describing it as feeble. In particular, the productions of Don Quixote and Sleeping Beauty
were strongly criticised, as was his staging of a Gala for the Queen's Golden Jubilee. However, productions of Carmen
, choreographed by Mats Ek
, John Cranko
's Onegin, and Tryst, a new work by Christopher Wheeldon
, received more favourable reviews.
announced Stretton as his successor, with a three year contract, however he resigned the post after 13 months, in September 2002. Stretton's appointment and subsequent departure from the Royal Ballet generated the most unprecedented level of media attention for the Royal Ballet in recent years, due to controversy caused by his management of the company.
In the weeks preceding his resignation dancers from the company had threatened to go on strike in protest at Stretton's management style, objecting to Stretton's casting decisions, and to the fact that Stretton frequently made changes to advertised casts. At the time of Stretton's resignation sources at the Royal Opera House, the parent company of the Royal Ballet, suggested that Stretton's failure to develop satisfactory working relations with senior management contributed to his departure. Stretton's own statement hinted at artistic differences: "Even though I have enormous respect for the great heritage of this company, my interest lies primarily in developing the future of ballet, and that is what I want to spend my time doing." Following Stretton's departure Monica Mason
, assistant director and a former principal dancer with the company, took his position, at first on an interim basis; she was appointed Director of the Royal Ballet in December 2002.
A number of controversial issues and allegations lead to Stretton's departure from the Royal Ballet:
where he worked as a consultant. He was diagnosed with a melanoma
and died of complications in June 2005, aged 53. He was survived by his former wife Valmai Roberts and his three children.
Joffrey Ballet
The Joffrey Ballet is a dance company in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1956. From 1995 to 2004, the company was known as The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. The company regularly performs classical ballets including Romeo & Juliet and The Nutcracker, while balancing those classics with pioneering modern...
and the American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre , based in New York City, was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century. It continues as a leading dance company in the world today...
. He was later Artistic Director at the Australian Ballet before working briefly as the Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet in 2001-2002.
Early career
Stretton was born in CanberraCanberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
in 1952. He started as a tap dancer winning the Australian national tap dancing championships twice and winning numerous other awards. At the age of 11, he won a Channel Seven
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
Junior Talent Quest with a judge comparing him to Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
. Stretton did not start performing ballet until he was 17 when he started taking classes with Bryan Lawrence and Janet Karin
Janet Karin
Janet Karin OAM was born in Perth, Australia in 1938. She became one of Australia's leading dancers in 1956, and has danced with the Victorian Ballet Guild, Borovansky Ballet, and was a founding member of The Australian Ballet...
, former principals of the Australian Ballet.
He successfully auditioned for a position at the Australian Ballet School
Australian Ballet School
The Australian Ballet School was founded in 1964 as the primary training facility for The Australian Ballet by Dame Margaret Scott. It is part of the Australian Ballet Centre, which is located in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, Southbank in Melbourne, Victoria...
in 1971. In his first year, he won the Nureyev
Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev was a Russian dancer, considered one of the most celebrated ballet dancers of the 20th century. Nureyev's artistic skills explored expressive areas of the dance, providing a new role to the male ballet dancer who once served only as support to the women.In 1961 he...
bursary and received a Harold Holt
Harold Holt
Harold Edward Holt, CH was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia.His term as Prime Minister was brought to an early and dramatic end in December 1967 when he disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria, and was presumed drowned.Holt spent 32 years...
Memorial Scholarship in his second year. He graduated from the Ballet School in 1972 with honours in all of his practical and danced the leading male role as the prince in the School's production of Cinderella
Cinderella (Prokofiev)
Cinderella is a ballet, Op. 87, composed by Sergei Prokofiev to a scenario by Nikolai Volkov. It is one of his most popular and melodious compositions, and has inspired a great many choreographers since its inception. The piece was composed between 1940 and 1944. Part way through writing it he...
.
Dancing Career 1973-1990
Stretton joined the Australian Ballet in 1973 and became a soloist the following year. After winning a Robert HelpmannRobert Helpmann
Sir Robert Helpmann CBE was an Australian dancer, actor, theatre director and choreographer.-Early years:He was born Robert Murray Helpman in Mount Gambier, South Australia and also boarded at Prince Alfred College in Adelaide. From childhood, Helpman had a strong desire to be a dancer...
Scholarship in 1975, he undertook a study trip to the US. During his time at the Australian Ballet, he danced all the classical roles in the company's schedule. In the 1977 production of Swan Lake
Swan Lake
Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
, he developed a strong partnership with Michaela Kirkaldie although he had to be taken to hospital after miscalculating the spectacular leap into the lake in a performance at the Canberra Theatre
Canberra Theatre
The Canberra Theatre Centre is the Australian Capital Territory’s central performing arts venue and Australia’s first performing arts centre, the first Australian Government initiated performing arts centre to be completed, that opened on Thursday 24 June 1965 with a gala performance by the...
and missing the mattress behind the scenes meant to break his fall. In 1978, he became a principal dancer with the Australian ballet.
In 1979, he decided to leave Australia for the US to establish an international reputation. Stretton initially joined the Joffrey Theatre before a brief stint at the Northern Ballet Theatre
Northern Ballet Theatre
Northern Ballet, formerly Northern Ballet Theatre, is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a strong repertoire in theatrical dance productions where the emphasis is on story telling as well as classical ballet...
in Manchester. He debuted with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in 1980-81. In the following season, he became a soloist with the ABT and a principal the following season. He also worked with Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov is a Soviet and American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974...
in Baryshnikov and Co as part of a select group of ABT dancers.
During his dancing career, Stretton developed a reputation as a great classical dancer although the New York Times stated in a news report on his death that "acting was not his forte". He retired as a dancer in 1990.
Artistic Director 1997-2002
Stretton started his new career as a regisseur with the ABT combining administrative duties along with responsibilities for casting, teaching and coaching. In 1993, he was promoted to an assistant director position.He returned to the Australian Ballet in 1997 replacing Maina Gielgud
Maina Gielgud
Maina Gielgud is a former British ballet dancer and a veteran ballet administrator. She was artistic director of the Australian Ballet from 1983 to 1996 and is that company's longest serving director to date. She had a twenty year career as a dancer in Europe and the United Kingdom. Gielgud...
. Stretton modernised the company's repertoire bringing in works from a range of choreographers including Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp is an American dancer and choreographer, who lives and works in New York City.-Early years:Tharp was born in 1941 on a farm in Portland, Indiana, and was named after Twila Thornburg, the "Pig Princess" of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair in Indiana.she spend hours working on it to help her...
. He also commissioned collaborations with the Australian Chamber Orchestra
Australian Chamber Orchestra
The Australian Chamber Orchestra was founded by cellist John Painter in 1975. Richard Tognetti was appointed Lead Violin in 1989 and subsequently appointed Artistic Director....
and the Bangarra Dance Theatre
Bangarra Dance Theatre
Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Indigenous Australian contemporary dance company founded in 1989 by Carole Johnson, an African-American and founding director of National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association . Bangarra is the Wiradjuri word meaning "to make fire".Stephen Page has been the...
. Rites, choreographed by Stephen Page
Stephen Page
Born in Brisbane in 1965, Stephen Page is a descendant from the Nunukul people and the Munaldjali clan of the Yugambeh tribe from southeast Queensland...
in 1997, featured dancers from the indigenous Bangarra company along with dancers from the Australian ballet.
In 1999, Stretton took the Australian Ballet on a US tour featuring Australian dance works not previously seen in North America. The New York Times described it as a "company reborn" based on that tour. On Stretton's death, David McAllister, his successor as artistic director, stated Stretton "brought the company bounding into the 21st century."
During his tenure at the Australian Ballet, his catchphrase was "creativity, energy and passion". He had the reputation of being a demanding artistic director and was known for having a short temper which meant that he often did not have good relations with his dancers.
However, his success with the Australian Ballet led to an offer to take over as artistic director at the Royal Ballet with the intention of modernising that organisation. However, his first and only season at the Royal Ballet was widely perceived as a failure, with the Daily Telegraph's ballet critic describing it as feeble. In particular, the productions of Don Quixote and Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault or Little Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm is a classic fairytale involving a beautiful princess, enchantment, and a handsome prince...
were strongly criticised, as was his staging of a Gala for the Queen's Golden Jubilee. However, productions of Carmen
Carmen (ballet)
Carmen is a ballet created by the Cuban choreographer Alberto Alonso. It was created for the Ballet Nacional de Cuba and it was danced by its prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso. Carmen is described as a very sensual ballet and is one of the exponents of the Cuban school of ballet....
, choreographed by Mats Ek
Mats Ek
Mats Ek is a leading Swedish dance and ballet choreographer, dancer and stage director. He was the manager of the Cullberg Ballet from 1985 to 1993....
, John Cranko
John Cranko
John Cyril Cranko was a choreographer with the Sadler's Wells Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet....
's Onegin, and Tryst, a new work by Christopher Wheeldon
Christopher Wheeldon
Christopher Wheeldon is an international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Born in Somerset, England, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dancer at the age of 8. He attended the Royal Ballet School between the ages of 11 and 18...
, received more favourable reviews.
Resignation from the Royal Ballet
Following Sir Anthony Dowell's retirement as Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet in 2001, the board of the Royal Opera HouseRoyal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
announced Stretton as his successor, with a three year contract, however he resigned the post after 13 months, in September 2002. Stretton's appointment and subsequent departure from the Royal Ballet generated the most unprecedented level of media attention for the Royal Ballet in recent years, due to controversy caused by his management of the company.
In the weeks preceding his resignation dancers from the company had threatened to go on strike in protest at Stretton's management style, objecting to Stretton's casting decisions, and to the fact that Stretton frequently made changes to advertised casts. At the time of Stretton's resignation sources at the Royal Opera House, the parent company of the Royal Ballet, suggested that Stretton's failure to develop satisfactory working relations with senior management contributed to his departure. Stretton's own statement hinted at artistic differences: "Even though I have enormous respect for the great heritage of this company, my interest lies primarily in developing the future of ballet, and that is what I want to spend my time doing." Following Stretton's departure Monica Mason
Monica Mason
Dame Monica Mason DBE is a ballet dancer and has been the director of The Royal Ballet, since 2002.-Early life:Monica Margaret Mason was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1941...
, assistant director and a former principal dancer with the company, took his position, at first on an interim basis; she was appointed Director of the Royal Ballet in December 2002.
A number of controversial issues and allegations lead to Stretton's departure from the Royal Ballet:
- Principal dancer Sarah Wildor quit the company after a dispute over casting
- Constant cast changes apparently lead to numerous arguments with Principal dancers
- Principal Character Artist David Drew declared Stretton's appointment as "a disaster for the company" in the Mail on Sunday
- Lady MacMillan threatened to withdraw performing rights to works by her late husband Sir Kenneth MacMillan
- Stretton's programming was badly received by critics
- Equity announced that dancers planned a vote no-confidence in Stretton
- Strike action and union involvement was threatened due to Stretton's management style
- Allegations were made that Stretton engaged in sexual liaisons and affairs with various dancers
Final Years 2002-2005
Stretton returned to MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
where he worked as a consultant. He was diagnosed with a melanoma
Melanoma
Melanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes. Melanocytes are cells that produce the dark pigment, melanin, which is responsible for the color of skin. They predominantly occur in skin, but are also found in other parts of the body, including the bowel and the eye...
and died of complications in June 2005, aged 53. He was survived by his former wife Valmai Roberts and his three children.