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I saw the Ashton presentation in Bellingham, WA at the Pickford (an arts cinema house) last Sunday the 9th.

 

What an experience for me!  Altho I have been watching ballet for many decades, I'm pretty sure I've never seen an Ashton before (except maybe sometime in the '70s which is too far back to remember).

 

I hardly know what to say.  I did learn one thing.......as the name of one of BA's members declares: I am now an Ashton Fan!  I don't know enough to make meaningful comments except that it seemed to me to be a wonderful bill with which to be introduced to Ashton.  Three very different works from story ballet to pure abstract.  I was stuck by Ashton's deep commitment to story telling; I'm not sure I've ever seen so much drama packed into ballet as Ashton is able to do.  I was probably the most emotionally involved during Marguerite and Armand since we all knew that this was Zenaida Yanowsky 's farewell performance.  Having recently attended the farewell performance of my most-ever admired dancer Carrie Imler at PNB, I was struck all over again by how much an audience can love a dedicated artist who gives so much of herself in the name of art and humanity.  The endless standing O at the end of the video was worth the entire day.  That performance of Yanowsky's still haunts me.

Edited by SandyMcKean
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Thank you for sharing your impressions, SandyMcKean. You reminded me that I had neglected to post these sooner.

 

On Frederick Ashton's choreography

 

On Symphonic Variations

 

On the challenges of performing Ashton's Bottom

 

A little bit of Zenaida Yanowsky's final curtain call at Covent Garden

 

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Saw this tonight in Seattle -- I was so glad that it played here!  I've never seen Symphonic live, and though the online video versions have been lovely, this big screen experience was so much better.  All kinds of moments that reminded me of Apollo, some of Nijinska, and a couple that looked like Cunningham as well (that circle of women around the principal male, tipping over in attitude back, making a kind of chain), though I doubt that was intentional.  What fun!

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