Elite Syncopations
MacMillan’s jaunty ragtime romp.
Elite Syncopations is one of Kenneth MacMillan’s wittiest and most delightful ballets, containing many dazzling display dances in which the soloists flaunt their skills.
The ballet opens with a honky tonk band perched at the back of the stage performing popular ragtime tunes by Scott Joplin and James Scott. The dancers are decked out in cartoonish costumes decorated with loud patterns, bold stripes and spots, some with brilliantly-coloured hats. They perform a series of ‘numbers’ as if in a dance-hall competition.
Academic dance and ragtime go hand in hand for an absurd, syncopated twist on the traditional pattern of solos and pas de deux. In the Alaskan Rag, a tall and elegant woman has to deal with a tiny yet adoring partner, while another couple sweetly mocks romantic passion. The dancers show off their rhythmic wit and sheer verve while the rest of the cast watches from the sides.
This ballet shows MacMillan at his most humorous and carefree - a honky tonk dance delight.
The music
Elite Syncopations is the title of the piano rag composed by the early 20th-century American Scott Joplin, which forms the centrepiece of MacMillan's eponymous ballet. Joplin's work was rediscovered in the early 1970s with the release of an album of his work. MacMillan sourced a medley of other ragtime tunes (see below) to complete his Joplin-inspired ballet.
Composer: Scott Joplin
Music titles: Sunflower Slow Drag; Elite Syncopations; The Cascades; Stop-time Rag; Bethena – a Concert Waltz (orchestral versions)
Composer: Paul Pratt
Music title: Hot-house Rag (piano)
Composer: James Scott
Music title: Calliope Rag (piano)
Composer: Joseph Francis Lamb
Music title: Ragtime Nightingale (orchestra); The Alaskan Rag (piano)
Composer: Max Morath
Music title: The Golden Hours (piano)
Composer: Donald Ashwander
Music title: Friday Night (orchestra)
Composer: Robert Hampton
Music title: Cataract Rag (orchestra)
In brief
Ballet in one act
Composer: Scott Joplin and others.
(see full details below left)
Choreographer: Kenneth MacMillan
World premiere: 7 October 1974, The Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London
Costume designer: Ian Spurling
Current Royal Ballet production
As above
Past productions
Search our collections for artefacts
from past productions of
Elite Syncopations.