Lynn Seymour in A Month In The Country

[Simon G]

Here's a real teatime treat, the central pas de deux for Lynn Seymour & Anthony Dowell in Ashton's A Month in the Country. Filmed in 1976, they don't make them like her anymore:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OUIeOr3Bo8

[leonid17]

Here's a real teatime treat, the central pas de deux for Lynn Seymour & Anthony Dowell in Ashton's A Month in the Country. Filmed in 1976, they don't make them like her anymore:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OUIeOr3Bo8

I saw most of the performances that Lynn Seymour gave in this ballet and today I broke my rule of trying never to watch films of performances I have seen in the theatre.

Thank you for posting Simon G. You are quite right when you say, "...they don't make them like her anymore:" It is almost 34 years ago since I first saw this ballet and no one knew then, though some guessed, that the great era of Sir Frederick Ashton who had been near or at the helm of the company for so many years, would so quickly change for the worse.

[Alexandra]

Thanks for posting that, Simon -- it is beautiful, isn't it? I remember reading at the time criticism that Seymour was overdramatic, or melodramatic, but I always thought that was accurate to the character.

It's a shame this (and "The Dream," televised about the same time) has never been released on DVD. Hint hint.

[Nanarina]

Thank you so much for posting this Simon, it is lovely. Pity Thr Royal Ballet do not revive it.

[Alexandra]

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

[bart]

How marvelous to see these dancers again.

I remember reading at the time criticism that Seymour was overdramatic, or melodramatic, but I always thought that was accurate to the character.

There is an element of melodrama -- or heightened drama -- in the way Seymour approaches Dowell, and in her surrender to her feelings. And a little bit of Falling in Love with Love.

I agree that Ashton (through Seymour) is making a dramatic point about Natalia. This is not just a generic woman finding herself hopelessly attracted to an inappropriate man. Natalia is an individual and quite a complex personality, with her own history and and tendency to dramatize things. Ashton, I have read, worked extensively with Seymour on this characterization. The dancing in this clip -- by both dancers -- tells a fascinating story, very consistent with the Romantic era and with the music, even when seen out of context.

Isn't Dowell, day-dreaming his way through those Russian steps before Natalia arrives, wonderful?

[Alexandra]

bart, I agree with all your points -- I was thinking, watching it again, that this is one pas de deux that really should not be danced as a gala excerpt. Ashton very rarely is thought of as an innovator, but this ballet is the most advanced dramatic classical choreography that I know.

[4mrdncr]

I've always adored this ballet since the first and only time I ever saw the full-length. (It was probably Dowell, and maybe Makarova?) But I always remembered that pdd, and agree with Alexandra's assessment of it. Thank you so much Simon G for posting this clip with Seymour, I've had so very limited chances of seeing her dance, it truly was "a treat" and much appreciated. How I wish they (RB?) would release a decent recording of it on dvd, or at least let some other companies perform it. ( I believe Dowell prevented this? Or was it some stipulation in Ashton's will or legacy that prevented it--much as Marguerite & Armand wasn't allowed to be danced/filmed after Nureyev-Fonteyn for so very long?) So, in the meantime, thanks again for posting the link.

[leonid17]

Ashton very rarely is thought of as an innovator, but this ballet is the most advanced dramatic classical choreography that I know.

Brilliant observation Alexandra and it is remarkable that it is hardly ever mentioned by critics in England. A month in the Country” was the work of a subtle genius gloriously realised in its choreography and the designs of Julia Trevelyan Oman.

I also see in the role of Natalia clear echoes of the performance style of Ashton’s lifelong great love Anna Pavlova.

I agree that Ashton (through Seymour) is making a dramatic point about Natalia. This is not just a generic woman finding herself hopelessly attracted to an inappropriate man. Natalia is an individual and quite a complex personality, with her own history and a tendency to dramatize things. Ashton, I have read, worked extensively with Seymour on this characterization. The dancing in this clip -- by both dancers -- tells a fascinating story, very consistent with the Romantic era and with the music, even when seen out of context.

Isn't Dowell, day-dreaming his way through those Russian steps before Natalia arrives, wonderful?

Bart I concur with your views, high personal drama yes, melodrama no. We are aware of Natalia’s frustrations early on with her responses to her son Kolya and her ward Vera played on the first night, by Wayne Sleep and Denise Nunn.

In this pas de deux Seymour’s body sings out her feelings for Beliayev suggesting that she can escape her ennui in passionate love to realise the freedom she seeks. The musical accompaniment has its own voice, supporting the dramatic content as if in an eternal reverie.

I can only recall Miss Seymour dancing lead roles in four Ashton Ballets, The Two Pigeons opposite Christopher Gable, Hamlet opposite Rudolf Nureyev, and A Month in the Country opposite Sir Anthony Dowell, Brahms waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan. She did perform the Pas de Deux in Les Patineurs and was a memorable Fairy Summer in Ashton’s Cinderella.

For Miss Seymour, it was her performances in Two Pigeons, a Month in the Country and the Brahms Waltzes that added to her much loved status in the UK and I just wonder why Ashton did not choreograph more for Miss Seymour?

[Jane Simpson]

She also danced Cinderella a few times, in her touring company days; and I believe she and Christopher Gable understudied the roles of Marguerite and Armand, but of course never actually danced them. She'd have made a wonderful Ondine, too.

[Simon G]

I just wonder why Ashton did not choreograph more for Miss Seymour?

She said in her autobiography, Ashton considered her to be MacMillan's property and so kept away after Two Pigeons, then the R&J debacle happened and Seymour & MacMillan left for Berlin and Seymour didn't return to the Royal until 1970 when MacMillan began his disastrous directorship.

By the time Ashton felt it safe to approach Seymour again in the late stage of her career for Five Brahms Waltzes & Month in the Country, the relationship between Seymour and Macmillan had strained considerably.

[bart]

It's revealing to compare Seymour in this clip to Makarova in another clip which we discussed on BT not so long ago -- also dancing with Dowell. Here the feel is dreamlike, less desperate.

This makes me think of the matter of age. Seymour, with slightly thickened torso and a lack of firmness in her chin and neck, is clearly an older Natalia Petrovna than Makarova. There is an inescapable age difference between her and Beliaev which may explain the element of ... what? ... desperateness? recklessness? .... that Seymour projects.

Note: in a post last June, Natalia (our esteemed colleague, not the Turgenev character ) wrote that Natalia Petrovna is 29 or 30 in the Turgenev play and that the ballet tradition of casting her as an "older woman" began with Ashton's selection of Seymour for the role.)

[Alexandra]

I'd guess that Makarova and Seymour were about the same age in their respective videos - but Makarova always danced her characters as very young. Also, at the time of Turgenev, 30 WAS an older woman. Today, 30 year olds try to look like teenagers; then, 20-year-olds were running households. I like Makarova's Russianness, her way of hearing the music, but I like Seymour's "this is my last chance!" desperateness, and I think that's true to the play. (I don't know of another ballet verison of the play, so I don't think Ashton's is an outlyer, or a changed interpretation.)

[leonid17]

I'd guess that Makarova and Seymour were about the same age in their respective videos - but Makarova always danced her characters as very young. Also, at the time of Turgenev, 30 WAS an older woman. Today, 30 year olds try to look like teenagers; then, 20-year-olds were running households. I like Makarova's Russianness, her way of hearing the music, but I like Seymour's "this is my last chance!" desperateness, and I think that's true to the play. (I don't know of another ballet verison of the play, so I don't think Ashton's is an outlyer, or a changed interpretation.)

There was never any claim on Ashton's part to anything other than inspiration from the original. Lynn Seymour was 37 when she created the role of Natalia.

I have just watched the Makarova clip for the first time. I confess like many London balletomanes she remained to me mannered even affected in most things that she danced. I first saw her in 1966 and subsequently a good number of times in a variety of roles. The only time I have truly admired her was in the last act of "Onegin."

When she was performing at Festival Hall in London and I was at an Ashton Gala at the Royal Opera House, two secret service types asked me if I thought she would have a successful career in the west. I of course replied no. She defected the next day. How wrong could I have been.

[jsmu]

Seymour has said that Ashton told her that she had feet like Spessivtseva's or Pavlova's--that they 'talked'...

they certainly speak eloquently here.

[dirac]

This makes me think of the matter of age. Seymour, with slightly thickened torso and a lack of firmness in her chin and neck, is clearly an older Natalia Petrovna than Makarova. There is an inescapable age difference between her and Beliaev which may explain the element of ... what? ... desperateness? recklessness? .... that Seymour projects.

Note: in a post last June, Natalia (our esteemed colleague, not the Turgenev character ) wrote that Natalia Petrovna is 29 or 30 in the Turgenev play and that the ballet tradition of casting her as an "older woman" began with Ashton's selection of Seymour for the role.)

I think also of the Marschallin, who in today’s terms hardly qualifies as an older woman. As to how that should affect casting, it’s an interesting question. Do you cast a woman of thirty, who will not necessarily seem “older” to today’s audiences (and I think Natalia Petrovna should seem “older”), or cast a mature ballerina? In past eras, generally women who had reached 25 without marrying were regarded as hopeless old maids and a woman over thirty, married or not, was just playing out the hand.

Beautiful clip, Simon. Thank you.

[GeorgeB fan]

A few years back I brought a VHS tape with Dowell and Makarova dancing this pas de deux. From the moment I witness it I fell in love with the ballet...and I've never seen a full production of this ballet either live or on tape. And yet...the beauty and poetry of that single pas de deux has stayed with me. I'm totally enchanted. I've read about the ballet. How it was created and how it's regarded as one of Ashton's finest masterpieces as well as being one of the finest roles ever created for Lynn Seymour - generally thought of as one of the finest dramatic ballerinas of her generation. But unless Dowell - who I understand owns the rights to the ballet and only permits the Royal Ballet to dance it - allows another company to perform it here in America (around the NY area where I live) it's doubtful I will never see the full ballet unless it becomes available on DVD. So my imagination had to take over in imagining what this sublime ballet would actually be like seeing it live or further expanded on video.

Seeing this video of Seymour and Dowell from the original production...words escapes me. It was breathtaking. With Dowell and Makarova I witness two gifted dancers performing a beautiful pas de deux...but with Dowell and Seymour I beared witness to two flesh and blood human beings caught up in the power of improbable love. One a youthful boy hopelessly in enthralled, the other a mature, elegant lady allowing herself - if just for a brief moment - to indulge in that rhapsody knowing full well it was impossible and yet incapable at stopping herself. The harmony between Seymour and Dowell and the emotion seeping from them was powerfully felt and entirely believable. I'm no expert - so I leave that to others - but never once did I get the sense that Seymour was overacting or being melodramatic. All I witness was a lady conflicted with this overflowing sense of love but because of her station in life knew it was a love that couldn't be embraced. But for that moment she allowed her emotions to override her reasoning. And it was sublime to watch. She and Dowell was simply magical.

Thank you Simon!!!!

[rg]

Moscow Art Theater's MONTH IN THE COUNTRY

undated postcards of turn-of-the-20th-century stage production

Left: K. S. Stanislavsky as Rakitin; O. L. Knipper as Natalia

Right: L. M. Koreneva as Vera; R. V. Boleslavsky as Belyaev

(i tried once to get a card w/ Kolia, played, of course, by a child actor, but didn't clinch the deal, so the kite Belyaev brought for him will have to do as a reminder of his character.)

[bart]

But unless Dowell - who I understand owns the rights to the ballet and only permits the Royal Ballet to dance it - allows another company to perform it here in America (around the NY area where I live) it's doubtful I will never see the full ballet unless it becomes available on DVD.

Does anyone have thoughts about which American (or other) companies COULD do justice to this ballet?

Or who, among dancers in their prime today, have the qualities needed to dance the Seymour/Dowell roles?

[Helene]

Louise Nadeau would have been a knockout as Natalia with Lucien Postlewaite.

[innopac]

with Seymour and Dowell (1980) is now on youtube.

[4mrdncr]

Thank you innopac for posting this link. After 30 years of waiting, I've finally seen A Month in the Country again thanks to this 5-part YT post. Now I know why I always remembered it. What a lifetime of emotions and reactions, and exquisite dancing is compacted into so short a time. If only, if only they would release it on dvd, or (PLEASE! ) let another company a little closer than the RB do it.

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.

And considering it's a Russian story (play?),... the Kirov?

(somehow I think the story is too small and intimate for the Bolshoi, but that's just MHO)

[Barbara]

Dream casting for ABT - Nina A and David Hallberg!

[GeorgeB fan]

with Seymour and Dowell (1980) is now on youtube.

I just finish watching it. Simply superb!!

[papeetepatrick]

Only watched the pas de deux thus far, totally irresistible--and how about THAT for an entrance! Did anyone put that on the 'Entrances' thread? And transformed within seconds.

Can't wait to watch the 5 part YT.

I didn't see this posted when you first put it up, Simon, so thank you, and also GeorgeB Fan for bumping it up. I saw Seymour live only once, unfortunately never Dowell.