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Merrill Ashley Documentary: The Dance Goodbye


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A short (56 minute) documentary has been made about Merrill Ashley called "The Dance Goodbye". The film will focus in particular on the time when she decided to retire and was considering what to do next. It will be available at Amazon on May 12, 2015 but you can also pre-order it here.

http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Goodbye-Merrill-Ashley/dp/B00U1U2SL8/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1427706239&sr=1-1&keywords=Merrill+ashley

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I just watched this 56-minute documentary, released in May of this year. I appreciated seeing Ashley in some dance clips I had never seen before (e.g., Flower Festival with Martins, rehearsing fishdives with Meehan, Madge with Royal Danish), but most are familiar clips (especially from the late 1970s Dance in America programs - Four Ts, Ballo). It also includes some historic stills I had not seen before, but, unfortunately, way too much of the time is devoted to talking heads. They include interesting and historic figures (e.g., d'Amboise), talking about the difficulties retiring and finding a second life after being a dancer. But I wish the interviews had more frequently been shown over dance footage, which is so difficult to come by.

We get a little footage of her teaching at SAB and St. Petersburg, but I'd love to see more of her coaching Balanchine ballets at other companies, especially the details she thinks important to coach. We see a little of her coaching Ballo in Cuba, but that's it.

http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Goodbye-Merrill-Ashley/dp/B00U1U2SL8/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1436023489&sr=1-1&keywords=the+dance+goodbye

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