Mel Johnson Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Shaw was a personable and pleasant man; his passing began a certain misgiving in my mind about the beneficiaries of Ashton's will - they seemed to be dropping off like flies there at one point. Even a residuary legatee like Wendy Ellis (Somes' widow) didn't make it much longer than he did. An earlier generation might have made of this, Caernarvon-style, "The Curse of Fredankhamun" Link to comment
Jane Simpson Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Mel, if you're implying that Wendy Ellis died shortly after Somes, I think you have been misinformed! So far as I know she is still very much with us. Link to comment
Mel Johnson Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 You are, of course, correct. I don't know where I got that idea from, but it still seemed to me that a lot of Ashton was being threatened by the loss of heirs to the estate, and THEIR heirs and assigns. Link to comment
Nanarina Posted January 19, 2010 Author Share Posted January 19, 2010 Mel, if you're implying that Wendy Ellis died shortly after Somes, I think you have been misinformed! So far as I know she is still very much with us. Jane Simpson is correct she is still with us and is a Producer on the staff of The Royal Ballet ( info from the ROH Spring Season 2010 brochere). Link to comment
Alymer Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Shaw was considered the company's best male classicist for years He was a real classical virtuoso - at least as far as virtuosity was seen to be at that time. He was a truly classical dancer, incapable of making a non-classical shape. A colleague and near-contemporary once remarked that when he first started to teach he had problems because he simply couldn't comprehend that a student demonstrating a port de bras or an arabesque wouldn't have perfect line - it came so naturally to him. Mel is correct, in saying that several of those who inherited Ashton's ballets have died and the rights have passed to their heirs. Attempts to set up an Ashton Foundation on the lines of the Balanchine Foundation seem to have stalled. Wendy Ellis, who was Somes third wife, is very much alive though, and it is she we can thank for the deplorable designs used for the last revival of Cinderella. Link to comment
Rosa Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Vladimir Shklyarov Nicolas Le Riche Link to comment
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