Remembrance, New English Ballet Theatre on film

Formed just under a decade ago, New English Ballet Theatre (NEBT) exists to offer young dancers, choreographers and designers opportunities in the field of professional dance.

NEBT premiered Remembrance as part of a double bill of new work in 2018. It's a one-hour long ballet choreographed by Wayne Eagling, formerly a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, more recently artistic director of English National Ballet, and a prolific choreographer for many international companies.

The film of that ballet is now being made available on YouTube.

Remembrance focuses on a moment in the life of ballet pioneer Marie Rambert, who was, to a large extent, responsible for bringing ballet to Britain in the 1920s.

Born in Poland in 1888, she moved to Paris as a young woman, and there came into contact with Diaghilev's prestigious Ballets Russes. With the outbreak of World War I Marie moved to the UK, where she met and married the playwright Ashley Dukes and went on to set up her pioneering ballet studio.

Wayne Eagling's Remembrance is set in 1918 and concentrates on the love affair between Marie Rambert and Ashley Dukes. They met at a dinner party in 1917, when he was on brief army leave from the war and within four days they’d fallen in love. He was then recalled to the front and after seven months of correspondence – during which time he proposed to her – they married in 1918.

Eagling set his ballet to Handel's haunting Ode for St Cecilia's Day. The leading roles are danced by Alessia Lugoboni and Alexander Nuttall.

The film of Remembrance will premiere on NEBT's YouTube channel and will be available free of charge for two months.