Darcey Bussell introduces this interview with Peter Wright. A man of the theatre through and through, in this conversation Peter Wright shows us that fulfilling one’s destiny can be fraught with difficulties and that the path is not always clear-cut. Peter talks about seeing his first ballet, running away from school and then joining Kurt Jooss’ company, Ballet Jooss, as an apprentice in 1943. He tells us about the other companies he danced for before the moment, in 1949, when he first joined Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet.

Peter Wright was born in London in 1926. He was originally a pupil of Kurt Jooss, the German dancer and choreographer whose work combined Expressionist modern dance movements with classical ballet. He later studied with more purely classical ballet teachers, such as Vera Volkova and Peggy van Praagh. He experienced the workings and aesthetic of many varied companies and built up a rare knowledge of effective productions, theatrically and technically. Peter joined the Ballet Jooss for a year in 1945, Metropolitan Ballet in 1947 and St James’ Ballet in 1948. He was a soloist with Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet from 1949-51, before returning to Ballet Jooss for one more year. In 1952 he returned to Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet, becoming assistant ballet master there in 1955. This was followed by two years of teaching at the Royal Ballet School, at Barons’ Court in London. After assisting Peggy van Praagh at the Edinburgh Festival in the summer of 1958 he went to Stuttgart Ballet in Germany as assistant ballet master. It was here that Peter began to hone his production skills. He produced and directed Giselle for Stuttgart, Cologne and for the Royal Ballet Touring Company. Many subsequent productions particularly Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker and Coppélia were to follow, for ballet companies all over the world. He also choreographed for The Royal Ballet and Western Theatre Ballet. Direction and production were to be his forte and after enterprising work for BBC TV in the 1960s, he re-joined The Royal Ballet as Associate Director in 1970. By 1974 he was Artistic Director of Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet and in 1990 he was the inspiration and instigator of this company’s move to Birmingham to become The Birmingham Royal Ballet. He has been the recipient of many honours and awards, including a CBE in 1985, a KBE in 1993 and on his retirement in 1999, Director Laureate of Birmingham Royal Ballet. In 2016, he published his autobiography Wrights and Wrongs: My Life in Dance.

Darcey Bussell and Peter Wright are in conversation with Natalie Steed

The episode photograph show Sir Peter Wright standing on stage at The Royal Opera House, London on 5 July, 2006 Photo credit: Credit: Bill Cooper/ArenaPAL

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