Christopher
Gable
Christopher Gable trained at Sadler's
Wells Ballet School and went on to dance with Sadler's Wells
Opera Ballet, Covent Garden Opera Ballet, Sadler's Wells Theatre
Ballet, and The Royal Ballet in which he was Principal Dancer.
He created many roles for The Royal
Ballet. A list of his most well-known work would include Romeo
in Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo & Juliet and the male leads
in The Invitation, The Two Pigeons, Jeu de Cartes and House
of Birds.
He danced all the major classical roles
and partnered all the ballerinas of The Royal Ballet, but
it was his association with Lynn Seymour, that developed into
one of the most celebrated partnerships in ballet history.
After 10 years at The Royal Opera House,
he retired as a dancer in order to pursue an acting career.
He has worked extensively on stage and in film and television.
He played Lysander in Peter Brook's celebrated production
of A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Royal Shakespeare Company,
and worked at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, for
several seasons. His television work includes Bassanio in
The Merchant of Venice, Trofimov in The Cherry Orchard and
Eric Fenby in Ken Russell's film on Delius. He worked with
Russell again on the film The Boy Friend in which he co-starred
with Twiggy, and Russell's film of D. H. Lawrence's The Rainbow.
In 1982 he founded the Central School
of Ballet, London where he was Artistic Director. He joined
Northern Ballet Theatre to play L. S. Lowry in Gillian Lynne's
A Simple Man in Spring 1987 and was appointed Artistic Director
in July 1987. He was also an Honorary Member of the Royal
Northern College of Music, Manchester.
In 1989 Christopher was presented with
the award for Outstanding Contribution to Theatre, by the
Manchester Evening News. The following two years saw the Company
receive MEN awards for Best Dance Production of the Year for
Giselle and Romeo & Juliet. Remarkably, Christopher's
first full-length choreography was for Cinderella which premiered
in 1993 and was hailed ' a Cinderella for the 90's'.
In 1996 he was awarded the CBE for
services to British Dance, in Her Majesty The Queen's Birthday
Honours List.
1997-98 marked Christopher's 10th Anniversary
Year as Artistic Director of Northern Ballet Theatre - a year
also distinguished by the award of an honorary degree of Doctor
of Letters, by the University of Bradford.
Christopher Gable died from cancer
on October 23rd 1998, in his eleventh year as Artistic Director
of Northern Ballet Theatre.
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