Background
She was born as Wendy Rose Ellis in Blackburn, and received her early training at the Carlotta School of Dance, later winning a British Ballet Organization scholarship.
She was born as Wendy Rose Ellis in Blackburn, and received her early training at the Carlotta School of Dance, later winning a British Ballet Organization scholarship.
She started there in 1963 and joined the Royal Ballet in 1970. Early career at the Royal Ballet
Initially part of the corps de ballet, Ellis quickly progressed to solo roles such as Princess Florine in Sleeping Beauty, the Young Girl in Ashton"s The Two Pigeons and Lise in another Ashton ballet, Louisiana fille mal gardéest Ellis later danced many leading roles in Royal Ballet productions, notably ballets by Ashton (Cinderella, Louisiana fille mal gardée, Symphonic Variations, The Dream, Enigma Variations, A Month in the Country, Façade) and Sir Kenneth MacMillan (Romeo and Juliet, Mayerling, Gloria), with the role of Princess Stephanie in Mayerling, and her role in Gloria, created for her by MacMillan.
She retired from dancing in 1990. as a ballet producer
After retiring, Ellis began to work more closely with Somes on ballet production.
Ashton bequeathed his Cinderella and Symphonic Variations to Somes on his death in 1988. Ellis and Somes together staged Cinderella with the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm, and Symphonic Variations with American Ballet Theatre in New New York
Somes subsequently willed his Ashton ballets to Ellis, and they passed to her on his death in 1994. Ellis has since produced Ashton"s Cinderella with the New National Theatre in Tokyo, the Royal Ballet itself (creating a new production with designers Toer van Schayk and Christine Haworth ), the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago and Los Angeles, the Polish National Ballet in Warsaw, Ballet West in Salt Lake City, Boston Ballet in Boston and American Ballet Theatre in New New York
She has also produced Symphonic Variations with the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam, the Royal Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet in San Francisco, the Birmingham Royal Ballet at Sadler"s Wells Theatre in London, Sarasota Ballet in Sarasota, Florida, Australian Ballet in Sydney, Australia and Ballett am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Ellis was part of the 1978 South Bank Show television documentary about Mayerling. At the invitation of Margot Fonteyn, Ellis featured in the 1979 British Broadcasting Corporation Television series "The Magic of Dance" hosted by Fonteyn, performing Lise in an excerpt from Ashton"s Louisiana fille mal gardéest Ellis also appeared as an interviewee in the 2005 Tony Palmer film about Fonteyn, entitled "Margot".
"The music is what inspired me to dance, and it always comes first"
"The steps are only a means to an education
lieutenant"s the quality that"s important".
Quotations:
"The music is what inspired me to dance, and it always comes first"
"The steps are only a means to an education lieutenant"s the quality that"s important".