John Cranko resident choreographer for Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet's 1950–51 season. For the company's Festival of Britain season in 1951 Cranko choreographed the comic ballet "Pineapple Poll", to the music of Arthur Sullivan (newly out of copyright) arranged by the conductor Charles Mackerras. Another collaboration with Mackerras followed in 1954 with "The Lady and the Fool", to music by Verdi. In January 1954 Sadler's Wells Ballet announced that Cranko was collaborating with Benjamin Britten to create a ballet. Cranko devised a draft scenario for a work he originally called "The Green Serpent", fusing elements drawn from "King Lear", "Beauty and the Beast"
History of ballet still be several decades before most countries outside of Europe could claim their own professional ballet companies, however. Sergei Diaghilev brought ballet full-circle back to Paris when he opened his company, Ballets Russes. It was made up of dancers from the Russian exile community in Paris after the Revolution. Diaghilev and composer Igor Stravinsky merged their talents to bring Russian folklore to life in "The Firebird" and "Petrushka" choreographed by Fokine. Diaghilev's next choreographic commissions went to Nijinsky. His First ballet was "L'apres-midi d'un Faune" (Afternoon of a Faun) to music by Debussy. It was notable for its two dimensional