Lynn Seymour RIP

[bridiem]

Terribly sad to hear (ROH Twitter) that Lynn Seymour died yesterday. She was an incredible dancer. So sad. RIP.

[Fiz]

Oh no! That really is very sad.

[MJW]

https://www.roh.org.uk/news/remembering-lynn-seymour-1939-2023

[Emeralds]

This is very strange but I can’t see anything anywhere else to confirm this, apart from ROH, even though I know Ms Seymour always kept a low profile and was so humble about her gifts and her wonderful dancing.  (Am a massive fan of Lynn Seymour.) Nothing even from the Canadian press. Now I just have to wait. Ugh. I wish she had been around in London more to coach or advise on the roles she danced and created. She was sweet and so fun to talk to. 

Edited March 8, 2023 by Emeralds

[LinMM]

Oh no I can’t believe that! How sad 😥. I loved her dancing in so many roles …..Month in the Country immediately comes to mind as one but she was brilliant in both dramatic like Anastasia and comedy …her Green girl in Dances at a Gathering is still my favourite. And loved her as Isadora she brought such abandon to that role. 
What a loss though. I don’t know how much she was actually used for coaching but probably should have been more. 
As one of the first set of dancers with Fonteyn Park Jenner Collier Porter and so on who I saw regularly in the 70’s at ROH they are rather a cherished lot for me.
I still expect some people to be around forever I suppose but still can’t quite believe this a bit of a shock ❤️

 

Edited March 8, 2023 by LinMM

[JanetW]

Oh no ! I am so very sad to hear this. She was so very special, an utterly marvellous dance actress, so incredibly moving. I shall never forget her performances I was lucky enough to see, for me, in particular as Juliet and as Natalia Petrovna. Liquid, expressive movement, feminine; she cut through to the real feelings every time. Beauteous. So much more I could say. 

[Emeralds]

The interesting thing is that although Lynn Seymour is hardly mentioned in articles, interviews, publicity etc....if you look at the repertoire that the Royal Ballet has danced every year for the last 10 years, every season there are at least 2 roles created by and on Seymour being performed: Juliet (Romeo and Juliet), Natalia Petrovna (A Month in the Country), Mary Vetsera (Mayerling), Lead Ballerina 2nd movement (Concerto), Anastasia (Anastasia or Anastasia Act 3), The Young Girl (The Two Pigeons), The Girl (The Invitation), The Fiancée (Le Baiser de la Fee), Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan. Every season is a quiet homage to Seymour’s genius and her magic that lives on through her roles. 

Edited March 8, 2023 by Emeralds

[Emeralds]

19 minutes ago, MJW said:

https://www.roh.org.uk/news/remembering-lynn-seymour-1939-2023

Thank you, MJW- I love that elegant photo of her as Anastasia.  That’s why I like the three act version more than just watching the one act on its own. With the full length you got to see Seymour’s footprint (literally) on the character, emotions and journey of a young woman caught up in tumultuous times. So different from the drama of Act 3. 

[Diandri]

54 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

The interesting thing is that although Lynn Seymour is hardly mentioned in articles, interviews, publicity etc....if you look at the repertoire that the Royal Ballet has danced every year for the last 10 years, every season there are at least 2 roles created by and on Seymour being performed: Juliet (Romeo and Juliet), Natalia Petrovna (A Month in the Country), Mary Vetsera (Mayerling), Lead Ballerina 2nd movement (Concerto), Anastasia (Anastasia or Anastasia Act 3), The Young Girl (The Two Pigeons), The Girl (The Invitation), The Fiancée (Le Baiser de la Fee), Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan. Every season is a quiet homage to Seymour’s genius and her magic that lives on through her roles. 

 

Quite right. I only saw her dance live twice - as Lady Capulet in Derek Deane's R&J in the round at the RAH & in Bourne's Swan Lake. However, when I first started watching ballet in the 1990s I came across a full set of Anthony Crickmay's Anastasia photos that I treasure to this day & I was hooked as they are just magnificent & he really captured her beautifully.  She did dance Manon as well, 6 performances I believe which I would love to have seen & by the sound of it she really made it her own role. I'm very sad to hear of her passing following on so soon from Beryl Grey.

[Fonty]

Oh I am very sad to hear that.  I wasn't fortunate enough to see her perform live, but I know she had work created for her by both Ashton and MacMillan, which indicates how wonderful she must have been.  

 

 

 

 

[Peanut68]

So sad….Feels like we are losing such precious ties to another & - dare I say? - better era of classical ballet 😢
 

[Vanartus]

A role I remember her in was the lead ballerina in Glen Tetley’s Voluntaries. Stunning. 

[Pas de Quatre]

So sad, Lynn Seymour was unique. A real loss to the ballet world.

[bridiem]

Lynn Seymour was my first Aurora (in my second ever ballet performance), in November 1977, with Nureyev as her prince, Monica Mason as Carabosse and Vergie Derman as the Lilac Fairy... and as an illustration of Seymour's versatility, I saw her the following month as a wonderful Carabosse in the same production. Over the course of the following year I saw her in Mayerling, The Invitation, The Concert, A Month in the Country, Voluntaries, Anastasia and other roles. She had incredible fluidity and tremendous dramatic skills and her performances were always completely gripping. A real star.

[Sophoife]

Oh no! Yet another piece of my youth shattered. Thank you for the info and at least we have our memories.

 

[NiniGabriel]

This is really very sad news.

 

I've unfortunately never had the pleasure of seeing Lynn Seymour dance live, but I can remember all too well recordings of the pas de deux from Kenneth MacMillan's "Romeo and Juliet", "Manon" and "Mayerling" on TV documentaries, who even made it onto German television.

 

What an amazing ballerina she was, able to express emotions beautifully with her whole body! I could even experience that on the screen.

 

A great loss for the ballet world! RIP

[Ian Macmillan]

Sad news, indeed, and a day short of her 84th birthday.  Her year through the Royal Ballet School was a memorable one, I believe, as she was there with Antoinette Sibley and Marcia Haydee.  

[DrewCo]

Very sad news--an extraordinary ballerina. Like no other I have ever seen. I first came to know of Lynn Seymour through Keith Money's photos--she leaped off the page of his books; later I was able to see her live in A Month in the Country. I went with my mother and we were so moved by the performance we rushed back to see it again later in the week. That later performance was sold out and we waited and waited for turn back seats--and when people in front of us in line refused tickets that weren't together, we got them!  I still waited for autographs back then and I also remember just how gracious she was when I stopped her as she was leaving the theater. 

 

I am very struck by what has been written here today about how many ballets were created on her that continue to live in the ballet repertory at the Royal Ballet and, I would add, elsewhere. Though I never saw Seymour's Juliet I sometimes think of her when I see Juliet in Act III 'just' sitting on the bed....

[alison]

I never did get the chance to see her doing any ballet, but was at least able to see her marvellous Queen in the original Adventures in Motion Pictures production of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake.

[Jeannette]

This breaks my heart. Lynn Seymour was a beautifully unique artist. I’ll never forget her in Ashton’s A Month in the Country.

 

May she rest in peace.

[Scheherezade]

So very sad. Lynn Seymour was incomparable; a force of nature and absolutely one of a kind. She will be greatly missed.

[bridiem]

Tamara Rojo has tweeted: 'Absolutely heartbroken by the news of the passing of the Great Lynn Seymour. The original Juliette, for years she was my inspiration for all of Kenneth and many Ashton roles. A woman of true integrity that I had the fortune of working with. RIP Lynn'.

[Suffolkgal]

I did see her a few times on stage and her biography remains such a favourite. What an extraordinary talent and passionate soul. When you look at what she created! A long life and a unique one. She also led the way on women dancers having children and coming back to perform.  All things  considered - brava bellissima!

[Sim]

I am so very sad to hear this.  I was lucky enough to see Lynn dance a couple of times in the late 70s/early 80s.  Although it was towards the end of her career, her performances are still indelibly stamped in my head and in my heart.  I had never seen anyone like her.  I remember almost reeling when I came out of her performance as Anastasia (Act 3) with the LFB.  She was, in my opinion, the first true dance actress, someone whom the following generations (especially in the Royal Ballet companies) have tried to emulate in the dramatic roles in the repertoire.  The ability to really be able to interpret a role, as well as the steps, is now a sine qua non at the RB, and this is largely thanks to Ms Seymour.  Despite her heartbreak at having the first night's Juliet performance taken away from her (something from which, according to some, she never really recovered), she went on to do an incalculable amount of good in and for the company.  

 

I spoke to her once, about 25 years ago.  We wanted to interview her for this forum's predecessor, but she was so shy and private and she told me "I just don't want to be out there."  She was very sweet but not someone open to persuasion!  I understood.  Years later she did speak to Jann Parry for her wonderful biography of Kenneth MacMillan, so there are some very interesting insights to be read there.

 

She really did change so much about how ballet is danced and interpreted, and it was after seeing her that I have always counted dramatic interpretation as important as (if not more than) doing the steps perfectly.  When I did my extensive interview with David Wall he talked with such affection about his 'Linny'.  Together with MacMillan, their partnership changed and enhanced how ballet is danced, and we are all the beneficiaries of that today, when we see dancers follow down the path they carved out.  

 

RIP Lynn, and thanks for all you have done for ballet.

[Fonty]

I would say it is absolutely tragic that there is no proper film of Seymour and Gable performing R & J, other than little tiny snippets.  She, like others, suffered greatly from the fact that Fonteyn was seen as the box office draw.  There are films on YouTube showing other ballerinas of that era complaining, in the nicest possible way, that they felt this was very unfair and it caused a lot of ill feeling.  None of this was Fonteyn's fault, of course, and what ballerina is going to turn down the chance of the opening night in a ballet such as R & J?    But for the life of me I cannot see why Seymour was not even second cast, but was relegated to fourth, when critics were not so likely to report on her performances.   That really does seem to be saying that the ultimate decision maker, which I assume was De Valois,  seemed either to be oblivious to the hurt this would cause, or didn't like Seymour very much.  

 

And in case the moderators think this is a bit too strong, it is a matter of public record.  I don't know if Seymour wrote it in her biography,( which I haven't read), but I have certainly seen it printed many times in various articles.  

[Sim]

4 minutes ago, Fonty said:

I would say it is absolutely tragic that there is no proper film of Seymour and Gable performing R & J, other than little tiny snippets.  She, like others, suffered greatly from the fact that Fonteyn was seen as the box office draw.  There are films on YouTube showing other ballerinas of that era complaining, in the nicest possible way, that they felt this was very unfair and it caused a lot of ill feeling.  None of this was Fonteyn's fault, of course, and what ballerina is going to turn down the chance of the opening night in a ballet such as R & J?    But for the life of me I cannot see why Seymour was not even second cast, but was relegated to fourth, when critics were not so likely to report on her performances.   That really does seem to be saying that the ultimate decision maker, which I assume was De Valois,  seemed either to be oblivious to the hurt this would cause, or didn't like Seymour very much.  

 

And in case the moderators think this is a bit too strong, it is a matter of public record.  I don't know if Seymour wrote it in her biography,( which I haven't read), but I have certainly seen it printed many times in various articles.  

Not too strong at all.  It is all well known, and it's also well known that Kenneth MacMillan was devastated by what happened, and tried to stand up for Seymour, but the power of the promoters, money and Ninette de Valois overcame all of those protestations.  To have relegated her to fourth cast, when the ballet was created on her, was humiliating and hurtful, and personally I have never, ever understood why this happened to her.  As you say, she probably wasn't liked.  Also, she hadn't yet attained the prominence that she had 10 years further down the line.  Neither had MacMillan.  Anyway, better to remember all the happy and wonderful things that Ms Seymour did achieve...and they were many.  

[miliosr]

It's a measure of Lynn Seymour's versatility that she could guest with the Alvin Ailey company in March 1971 playing the Janis Joplin character in Ailey's Flowers (a part which Ailey created specifically for Seymour) and then play the title character in Kenneth MacMillan's Anastasia in July of that same year.

[Jane S]

Just a reminder that we had a long and appreciative thread about Seymour on the occasion of her 80th birthday - lots more reminiscences there.

[alison]

4 hours ago, bridiem said:

Tamara Rojo has tweeted: 'Absolutely heartbroken by the news of the passing of the Great Lynn Seymour. The original Juliette, for years she was my inspiration for all of Kenneth and many Ashton roles. A woman of true integrity that I had the fortune of working with. RIP Lynn'.

 

Yes, that marvellous video of her coaching Rojo as Juliet - together with Edward Watson as her Romeo - which unfortunately disappeared from the Kenneth MacMillan website some years ago

[Chiari]

Very sad news

RIP 😭

[Kate_N]

Oh no! That is so sad.

 

As a teen, I was taught by one of her regular partners from way back when the RB was the Sadler's Wells Ballet. And my sister was coached by Ms Seymour herself.

 

Edited March 9, 2023 by Kate_N

[Ian Macmillan]

14 hours ago, DrewCo said:

Though I never saw Seymour's Juliet I sometimes think of her when I see Juliet in Act III 'just' sitting on the bed....

 

From "Lynn Seymour, A Photographic Study by Anthony Crickmay: Kenneth MacMillan's Foreword:

"I also knew that Lynn would be able to bring off the moment in Act 3 when Juliet must sit motionless on the bed, because she would understand its theatrical possibilities."

 

And later, Ms Seymour in conversation with Clement Crisp:

"For the moment when Juliet has to sit absolutely still on the bed in Act 3, Kenneth said "Shall we dare?" and I felt "Why not?" and so we did!  It didn't bother me a bit.  It seems like an eternity sitting on the bed, but Juliet is concentrating on that nothingness which you feel when everything is hopeless."  

[ninamargaret]

I feel so lucky to have seen her in quite a few roles. Apart from being a glorious Juliet, she could also be extremely funny - a ballet like Cranko's Card Game suited her very well. Very sad to read of her death.