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Lynn Seymour in A Month In The Country


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Month in the country was staged in 1976 and this film with the exception of the sorely missed Alexander Grant as her husband and Wayne Sleep as Kolia, is of the original cast.

It was the last of Ashton’s great works and in Lynn Seymour’s role we can see an evocation of Ashton's life long inspiration, Anna Pavlova.

Ashton also created two other great successes for Seymour in, "The Two Pigeon's" and "Five Brahms Waltzes in the manner of Isadora Duncan".

Seymour was both an inspired and inspirational performer who absolutely becomes the role and a complete one off. In her best roles, no other dancer in my opinion has ever come up to her intensity in performances.

I watched the film when Simon posted it in December and watching it again today, Seymour’s performance comes up as fresh and real as before, in spite of my aversion to filmed ballet.

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Dream casting for ABT - Nina A and David Hallberg!

Trying to get back to earth after having now watched all of it. Yes, I concur, Barbara, because I am fighting right now my tendency to hyperbole and fulsomeness.

I can't even believe it. So this is what some of you have been talking about, and other Ashton I've seen and liked didn't quite tell me enough. This is so special you know it at the beginning, you wonder who else could do it besides RB to touch you as much as this did, and you want in a way to be sure that no one else could. Okay, enough of that kind of business, I would like to know if POB does Ashton. I know I would like what they could do with him even if it's not the home of the purest Ashton. I can't think of anybody else, but it really is quite the masterpiece, isn't it? And explains all the complaints about underexposure, and why some think he is > or = Balanchine. It's not 'English provincial' in any important sense. Why would not this be as appreciated in New York as 'Liebeslieder Walzer' or 'Davidsbundlertanze'? And it does have something you've never seen at NYCBallet, I think. Maybe ABT could get it right, they ought to try. That thread on RDB and the Hubbe interview made me imagine them doing it too, but I don't know enough about them to say.

Lynn Seymour absolutely musical, and btw, the music superbly performed (all of it, piano and orchestral) from beginning to end. How frequent is that? I've never liked Dowell quite so much, and his theatrical face is wonderful. But the other women and the young man--I guess that's Graham Fletcher-- are marvelous too--I thought he, in particular, was a likable kind of upper-class twit, nicer than similar sorts I recall from the Losey/Pinter film of L.P. Hartley's 'The Go-Between', just to take one example. How did these strike you, leonid, these two that were not of the original cast? I liked the husband as well, and then there was French Impressionism as the husband and wife go out for a stroll, it's just like Renoir and Monet for a moment, with Dowell jumping in and then left inside as he sees them--no, I guess she goes out into the garden with Rakitin, what a pretty moment. Inspired from start to finish.

Edited to add: I just saw this from 4rmrdncr: "I do think most of the major companies could do it, but would like to see ABT (if Dowell ever lets them. He did let them do The Dream, so why not this?) And can think of many casts there."

So is there likelihood Dowell would let ABT do it. Is anybody else allowed to do it? Obviously, if not, that does present some problems too.

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The National Ballet of Canada has danced Month in the Country, part of the celebrations for Karen Kain's 25th anniversary season. I believe that Maina Gielgud had also secured it for the Danes when she was briefly their director, but when she left the plan was scrapped.

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Dream casting for ABT - Nina A and David Hallberg!

Edited to add: I just saw this from 4rmrdncr: "I do think most of the major companies could do it, but would like to see ABT (if Dowell ever lets them. He did let them do The Dream, so why not this?) And can think of many casts there."

So is there likelihood Dowell would let ABT do it. Is anybody else allowed to do it? Obviously, if not, that does present some problems too.

It depends very much on what importance you cast on the subtleties of the Ashton style which relies much more on accuracy of, choreography, technique and dramatic expression as Royal Ballet revivals of this work has confirmed.

It is the subtle perfume of the ballets of Ashton that lingers in the air, which is so difficult to recreate.

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I would like to know if POB does Ashton.

Yes, they dance La Fille Mal Gardee: it was first staged in June 2007 and was revived last summer. I've seen three different casts in the leading roles now, including Froustey, Heymann and Thibault, all quite wonderful and they have found a vintage Alain in Simon Valastro but none of the Widow Simones have quite got the clog dance. On average though, I would stick my neck out and say that the ballet is danced rather better in Paris than in London now. I would love to see POB dance Two Pigeons and Sylvia would also suit them I think.

The Kirov tried to acquire Month in the Country a few years back, but it seems Dowell isn't keen for the ballet to travel.

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Be careful what you wish for! The company danced it in Washington this past season, and it did not look like itself. :D

Would it be possible to say something about this performance, or others RB is now doing, which much be what the piece looks like with them now? I guess you mean the piece in particular 'not looking like itself' in that it doesn't look as good as this we see here. Nanarina had seemed to think they hadn't revived it, so I'd like to know where the piece is now in RB repertory, both in terms of frequency and quality in the last few decades.

If Dowell isn't 'keen on letting the ballet travel', as Mashinka indicates, and POB only does 'La Fille Mal Gardee', then some of the complaints of 'over-balanchinizing', at least in America, may have to do with that, mightn't they? I know there are reasons for these decisions and perhaps they are emotional and sentimental (and indeed could be valid for these very reasons). It reminds me of Villella's refusal to let the old films of his dancing be shown, so that we have only 'Man Who Dances', a terrible Bell Telephone hour clip with V. dancing to 'Little Drummer Boy, and 'Midsummer Night's Dream', which I've not seen, but isn't easily available. I don't know how this compares with difficulties with balanchine trust, etc.,

Thanks.

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Be careful what you wish for! The company danced it in Washington this past season, and it did not look like itself. :D

Would it be possible to say something about this performance, or others RB is now doing, which much be what the piece looks like with them now?

Alexandra's danceviewtimes review is here.

I'm sure Dowell has his good reasons, but it's a little ironic that he's reluctant to let a ballet based on a Turgenev story be danced in Russia.

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Thanks, kfw, for posting the link to Alexandra's review. This point seems especially interesting in the context of this thrread:

"A Month in the Country" is one of Ashton's last works and the company has brought it to Washington frequently since its first season in 1976. It looked much better than it did on its last visit, where it had become the Sylvie Guillem Show, or even in the days when an overwrought Marguerite Porter danced the ballerina role, rather than Katia, the adorable strawberry temptress. But it didn't look quite like itself, and the dancing (and casting) raised more identity questions. Why has the ballerina role become a tall girl part? Lynn Seymour, who created it, was closer to five feet tall than six, and her lines are in the choreography.
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Thanks, kfw, for posting the link to Alexandra's review. This point seems especially interesting in the context of this thrread:
"A Month in the Country" is one of Ashton's last works and the company has brought it to Washington frequently since its first season in 1976. It looked much better than it did on its last visit, where it had become the Sylvie Guillem Show, or even in the days when an overwrought Marguerite Porter danced the ballerina role, rather than Katia, the adorable strawberry temptress. But it didn't look quite like itself, and the dancing (and casting) raised more identity questions. Why has the ballerina role become a tall girl part? Lynn Seymour, who created it, was closer to five feet tall than six, and her lines are in the choreography.

It is a most interesting question and it is to me an attack on Ashton's aesthetic as if there are no rules implicit in casting a dancer for particular roles.

You cannot recreate a choreographers intentions when you cast against emploi and if you do so, the ballet becomes less than what was intended.

Miss Guillem despite her undoubted talents for certain roles should neither have been let near either "Month..." or "Marguerite and Armand."

Having a strong technique and the ability to act does not make a classical ballet dancer. It may be the beginning of becoming but it is not the end.

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Enjoyed the review, Alexandra. Very interesting that it was the tall dancer who made the performance distinguished because of her fine dancing, even though she was not quite right for the role.

I was just wondering if much was said in some of the recent threads about Chopin's centenary about this Chopin ballet. It should be just as important in a discussion of Chopin ballets as 'Les Sylphides' and 'Dances at a Gathering'. The Grande Polonaise and Andante Spianato are so beautiful I'd forgotten how much till watching this. The 'La Ci Darem Variations' are perfect for the family atmosphere. Does anybody know who was playing these?

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