English ballet company and school.
In 1931 Ninette de Valois and Lilian Baylis organized the Vic-Wells Ballet, naming it for the two theatres (Old Vic and Sadler's Wells) where it performed. In the 1940s the group was called the Sadler's Wells Ballet, after its theatre; it moved to Covent Garden in 1946. Alicia Markova , Margot Fonteyn , and Robert Helpmann were among the company's early members. By the 1950s the Sadler's Wells Ballet had expanded to include its own school and a separate touring company; in 1956 it received a royal charter and was renamed the Royal Ballet. Dancers such as Rudolf Nureyev and choreographers such as Frederick Ashton , Kenneth MacMillan , and Bronislava Nijinska were associated with the company.