Ashton Fan Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 (edited) The Frederick Ashton Foundation has been holding a series of masterclasses in which members of the Royal Ballet are coached in extracts from some of Ashton's lesser known choreography such as The Dance of the Blessed Spirits ; an extract from the choreography created for the staging of La Rossignol; a section of the Raymonda Pas de Deux and The Walk to the Paradise Garden. The coaches include Anthony Dowell, Donald MacLeary and Merle Park. The masterclasses were filmed and are now available on the foundation's website under the heading "News and Events", The dancers being coached include William Bracewell, Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Reece Clarke. Edited January 6, 2018 by Ashton Fan Link to comment
dirac Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 Thanks for the post, AshtonFan. A link to the Foundation's webpage here. Link to comment
Ashton Fan Posted January 6, 2018 Author Share Posted January 6, 2018 (edited) I got a little ahead of myself the masterclass with Bracewell and O' Sullivan in Rossignol was held in November last year and has not yet been put on the site. The following masterclasses are on the site;- 1) Prince Florimund's act 2 solo. Reece Calrke coached by Anthony Dowell on whom it was created. 2) The Dance of the Blessed Spirits. Vadim Muntagirov coached by Anthony Dowell on whom it was created 3) Walk to the Paradise Garden. Meaghan Grace Hinkis and Ryoichi Hirano coached by Merle Park one of the dancers on whom the ballet was created.The others were the late David Wall and the late Derek Rencher. 4) Raymonda Variations . Marianella Nunez and Federico Bonelli and Anna Rose O'Sullivan and David Donnelly are coached by Darcey Bussell with assistance from Donald Macleary . The coaching sessions offer fascinating insights. For anyone familiar with the prince's solo which forms part of the royal Ballet's act two text of Sleeping Beauty the masterclass reveals how the details which were originally intended to express the prince's longing and his sadness have gradually been smoothed down and turned into generalised classical ballet gestures. While the modern style of performance which tends to emphasize and display each individual step turns what was originally a lyrical flow of movement into a hazardous technical minefield which for many dancers is only to be approached with extreme caution which of course undermines its effectiveness. James Hay, who you don't see in any of these masterclasses, seems to have found the solution to the technical problems which Ashton's choreography presents. In a recent interview he said that at some point you just have to stop worrying about the difficulties and just get on and dance Ashton's choreography. Edited January 6, 2018 by Ashton Fan Link to comment
Amy Reusch Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 Thank you for posting this the coaching is wonderful! Is it so interesting to see how much difference where the dancer looks has on the shape of the movement. I could be wrong, but to me the Ashton coaches seem taking more care with focus than we often see. Link to comment
dirac Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 5 hours ago, Ashton Fan said: While the modern style of performance which tends to emphasize and display each individual step turns what was originally a lyrical flow of movement into a hazardous technical minefield which for many dancers is only to be approached with extreme caution which of course undermines its effectiveness. Interesting. If you look at the old videos of Balanchine's company and compare them to how he is danced now you see something like this, too. Link to comment
vipa Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 20 hours ago, Ashton Fan said: The Frederick Ashton Foundation has been holding a series of masterclasses in which members of the Royal Ballet are coached in extracts from some of Ashton's lesser known choreography such as The Dance of the Blessed Spirits ; an extract from the choreography created for the staging of La Rossignol; a section of the Raymonda Pas de Deux and The Walk to the Paradise Garden. The coaches include Anthony Dowell, Donald MacLeary and Merle Park. The masterclasses were filmed and are now available on the foundation's website under the heading "News and Events", The dancers being coached include William Bracewell, Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Reece Clarke. Thank you so much for posting this. There is so much Ashton choreography that I've never had a chance to see, so it's a great treat. Link to comment
Ashton Fan Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 (edited) As I understand it these events are being arranged and recorded to provide archive material for the Ashton Foundation. I find it interesting that the 2016-17 master classes included the Prince's solo from Sleeping Beauty which is an element in the company's standard text of the ballet when the other pieces of choreography being coached in these master classes are real rarities. But when you see Clarke being coached in the solo you realize how much essential detail has been lost and how necessary it was to record the solo being coached by the first man to dance it. I am fortunate enough to have seen all of these pieces and while I am particularly pleased to see The Walk to the Paradise Garden being coached by Merle Park I can't help regretting that it has taken so long for this to happen and thinking about what has been lost in the meantime. Like everything else it is probably a mixture of lack of money and the shortsightedness of the rights holders who did not recognise the need to protect and preserve what Ashton had left them which has led to the current state of affairs. But then the company's ambivalence towards its Ashton repertory has contributed to the situation and has no doubt influenced the rights holders view of the artistic worth of Ashton's legacies to them. Ashton said that he did not think that his works would outlive him and most of the rights holders seem to have shared his assessment of their likely future viability and contributed to it as until recently they have taken little or no action to ensure that the ballets left to them would be performable in a recognisable form after they were unable to stage the works themselves. The good news is that the foundation now has artistic control over three of them. Brian Shaw's ballets were left to the Royal Ballet School by Derek Rencher and are managed by the foundation which has been able to buy Daphnis and Chloe but the rest are to a greater or lesser degree at risk. At present I would think that Fille is in greatest danger as it now belongs to Alexander Grant's partner who is a non dancer. As the foundation was only established in 2011 some twenty three years after Ashton's death there is rather a lot of work for it to do. So many dancers who should have been involved in the project of coaching and recording ballets being coached died long before it got off the ground. Edited January 7, 2018 by Ashton Fan Link to comment
Jane Simpson Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 23 minutes ago, Ashton Fan said: At present I would think that Fille is in greatest danger as it now belongs to Alexander Grant's partner who is a non dancer. Most of the rights are now in the hands of non-dancers and I don't see that this is necessarily bad news. Link to comment
sandik Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 It really depends on what the non-dancers think they have, and what their responsibilities are. I imagine that the Limon family thought they were doing the right thing with his repertory, but they didn't really understand the complexities of concert dance in the 20th c -- they missed a lot of opportunities, and we've lost a significant chunk of the work. Link to comment
Ashton Fan Posted February 16, 2023 Author Share Posted February 16, 2023 A further reminder to look on the Frederick Ashton Foundation website where all the masterclasses which really matter up to and including that held on Daphnis and Chloe towards the end of last year are now available to view by the general public. The latest masterclass includes Dowell coaching William Bracewell in Daphnis' solo from the dance contest with Dorkon and Ronald Hynde coaching Lachlan Monaghan in Dorkon's solo from the same contest as well as the choreography for Dorkon's reappearance in the ballet's finale. The Foundation's next masterclass takes place this Sunday at the RBS Upper School when Wendy Ellis Somes will be coaching excerpts from Ashton's Cinderella which we are due to see in a new production in a couple of week;s time. It is difficult to predict who will appear in this forthcoming masterclass or what will be coached on this occasion.The ballet has been out of the repertory for such a long time that only the longest serving members of the company can be said to be familiar with the work. I have no doubt that the masterclass will in due course be posted on the Foundation's website. Link to comment
Drew Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 Thank you for the update. I hope the new Cinderella production is a big success..... Link to comment
Ashton Fan Posted February 18, 2023 Author Share Posted February 18, 2023 We all hope that the new production will be a success. I am not sure what, if anything, will be revealed about it on Sunday. I suspect that tomorrow will be far more concerned with coaching than providing information about its designs and its "exciting" special effects. If Ms Ellis-Somes and the Foundation have any sense they will ensure that the recording of tomorrow's event is posted on the Foundation's website with some speed in order to boost ticket sales. The Foundation took far too long to post the Daphnis and Chloe recording. The most interesting aspect of Dowell coaching Bracewell in the role of Daphnis is the emphasis he places on making the choreography speak to the audience by avoiding pure classroom classicism and instead making his movements naturalistic and expressive. Ronnie Hynde did not seem so concerned that Monaghan makes Dorkon far more classically correct than I recall David Drew making him in performance. Drew who would have been coached by Somes and had his performance polished by Ashton managed to show that Dorkon as a goatherd was an outsider through the deliberate and finely judged rough quality of his movements. Link to comment
dirac Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 Quote Ronnie Hynde did not seem so concerned that Monaghan makes Dorkon far more classically correct than I recall David Drew making him in performance. Drew who would have been coached by Somes and had his performance polished by Ashton managed to show that Dorkon as a goatherd was an outsider through the deliberate and finely judged rough quality of his movements. Thank you, AshtonFan, that's an interesting point. The Foundation does have a link to a new film, "Links in the Chain." Has anyone seen it? Link to comment
Ashton Fan Posted February 26, 2023 Author Share Posted February 26, 2023 The film is fascinating and well worth watching. It contains two precious snippets of film showing Beriosova in two roles which Ashton created on her. The archive material includes excerpts showing the original cast in the Dream and Enigma Variations . There is an extract from the 1962 recording of Ashton's Birthday Offering in which we see the solos with two of the original cast, Nerina and Beriosova, dancing their created roles . In this section Seymour comments on the qualities of each ballerina which Ashton sought to capture in the solos he created. The substitute dancers are more than acceptable as they include Sibley, Parkinson, Linden and Page, The archive film of the Dream includes commentary by Sibley and Dowell about working with Ashton on the ballet. The film ends with Wayne Eagling working with Francesca Hayward and William Bracewell on reconstructing Hamlet and Ophelia which Ashton created for Nureyev and Fonteyn but made on Eagling and Fonteyn because Nureyev was not available during the time allocated to the work's creation. . Link to comment
Ashton Fan Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 Lynn Wake's film was shown at an event held at the Royal Opera House to mark the tenth anniversary of the Ashton Foundation.It was shown as the second item in the evening's programme. The first part of the evening was devoted to showing dancers performing pieces of Ashton's choreography most of which had been the subject of the Foundation's Insight events. This part of the evening's programme can be found by searching for Frederick Ashton the Influence of a Ballet Legend. The most interesting segments of this part of the programme I think are a performance of part of one of Ashton's early ballets called Foyer de Danse reconstructed from a film of a performance given at the Mercury Theatre; the men's choreography from the pas de quatre Ashton created for Helpmann's production of Swan Lake staged in 1963 danced by Leo Dixon and Joseph Sissens; the fisherman's solo from Le Rossignol danced by Matthew Ball and the reconstruction of a gala piece which Ashton created for Fonteyn and Nureyev which was originallly called Hamlet Prelude,The reconstruction now known as Hamlet and Ophelia is danced by Francesca Hayward and William Bracewell. Link to comment
Ashton Fan Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 In addition to the Foundation's activities there are recordings of two fairly recent Royal Opera House insight events which are of interest to anyone who wants to look at the company's Ashton repertory. Both focus on Ashton ballets which have been out of the company's repertory for some years. One is easily identified as it is labelled "The Royal Ballet Rehearse Enigma Variations the other from about ten months ago merely refers to an Ashton triple bill without specifying what is being rehearsed. Strangely although it has a picture of Nunez as Natalia Petrovna suggesting that it may be concerned with rehearsing A Month in the Country it is in fact concerned with a rehearsal of Ashton's masterpiece Scenes de Ballet. Link to comment
Ashton Fan Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 Although not part of the Ashton Foundation's activities those who are interested in the changes that have occurred in teaching practices and performance style in the years following Ashton's retirement and death may find the short film "Dancing de Valois;Teaching the 1947 syllabus" of considerable interest.In the film Anita Young , a former member of the resident company and until recently a teacher in the Upper School, takes a handful of RBS students through some of the exercises and enchainements students and professional dancers would have encountered in de Valois' classes. What I found of real interest is that at least two of the students said that they found the exercises from the 1947 syllabus easier on the body than those they usually encounter. The de Valois syllabus requires the dancer to fit the combination of steps that has been set into the music to which it is to be performed. It is the music which regulates the speed at which the enchainements are to be performed. There is no thought of allowing the dancer time to complete and finish each step perfectly and adjust their balance between steps. The students' comments about the difference in approach and emphasis and the way it made them think ahead, it seems to me, helps to explain the difference in the quality and flow of the movement in the past and what sometimes seems like a lack of obvious flow today. It makes clear why the comment "We were always off balance" was a prevalent refrain in the past. I hope you find the short film as interesting as I did. It certainly provides food for thought. Link to comment
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