Frederick Ashton Foundation / Royal Ballet School new partnership

[Roberta]

I'm unsure if this is Dance News or Doing Dance, or a crossover. Whatever. It's new.  

 

"We’re delighted to announce a new partnership with the @frederickashtonfoundation for our Affiliate Training and Assessment Programme 🩰
Dance students training on our recreational dance programme will now have the unique opportunity to learn and study Ashton repertoire including Les Rendezvous, The Dream and Les Patineurs. Here’s our Lead Ambassador for the Affiliate Programme, alumna and Principal of The Royal Ballet, @francescahayward, on the importance of Ashton’s work to the art form and to dancers in training."

 

Short film 

 

https://www.instagram.com/royalballetschool/reel/C5YcA8Ss17n/

 

Further information here.

 

https://www.balletnews.co.uk/heres-a-new-partnership-between-the-royal-ballet-school-the-frederick-ashton-foundation/

 

 

Edited April 9 by Roberta

[Jan McNulty]

 

For immediate release

 

PRESS RELEASE

Date: 11/04/24

 

Benesh Movement Notation to train young dancers in Frederick Ashton’s repertoire

 

 

Image by Martin Bell.

 

 

The Royal Academy of Dance’s Benesh International has collaborated with The Frederick Ashton Foundation and Royal Ballet School on a new project where Ashton’s choreographies will be taught to young dancers through Benesh Movement Notation (BMN).

 

Students will learn variations from Ashton’s works including Les Rendezvous, The Dream and Les Patineurs.

 

Speaking of the news, Melanie Simpkin, Head of Benesh International says: “This project serves to highlight the use of Benesh Movement Notation in a new and holistic way of training young dancers and introduce them to repertoire at a young age.

Benesh Movement Notation is such a valuable tool, not only in the preservation of the repertoire but also as a teaching resource. This project will also serve to introduce notation both to young dancers early in their training, and also to teachers who will quickly learn to see the benefit of teaching from a score rather than from a historical text or video.”

 

Benesh International is the home of Benesh Movement Notation. Devised by Rudolf and Joan Benesh, and first published in 1956, Benesh Movement Notation is a written system for recording human movement. It is most widely used in the recording and restaging of dance works.

 

Benesh International supports the dance profession by preserving choreographic copyright, training the next generation of choreologists, and supporting the Benesh Movement Notation community.

 

Formerly the Benesh Institute, since 1997 Benesh International has been incorporated within Royal Academy of Dance.

 

The notation of each of these choreographies are part of a resource pack for teachers on the Royal Ballet School’s Affiliate Training Programme. Dance teachers will have access to written materials in accompanying resource packs including notated scores of each variation, recorded using Benesh Movement Notation, plus online footage of répétiteurs from The Ashton Foundation coaching students and using the BMN scores as a teaching tool.

 

For more information on Benesh International visit: https://www.royalacademyofdance.org/benesh-international-benesh-movement-notation/

 

 

 

Notes to Editors

 

About the Royal Academy of Dance

 

Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) is one of the most influential dance education and training organisations in the world with a strong global membership in 85 countries. Established in 1920 to improve standards and re-invigorate dance training, the Academy helps and encourages its teachers to perfect their teaching skills and pass on this knowledge to their students. There are currently over 1,000 students in full-time or part-time teacher training programmes with the Academy and each year the examination syllabus is taught to thousands of young people worldwide, with around a quarter of a million pupils per year going on to take RAD exams.

 

 

[Roberta]

On 09/04/2024 at 21:55, Roberta said:

Les Rendezvous, The Dream and Les Patineurs

 

Rights owners: - Frederick Ashton Foundation Les Patineurs, Les Rendezvous   Sir Anthony Dowell CBE The Dream    http://www.frederickashton.org.uk/owners.html

 

 

Francesca Hayward the new 'Ambassador'    https://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/2024/03/11/francesca-hayward-announced-as-lead-ambassador-of-the-royal-ballet-schools-affiliate-programme/

 

Co-incidentally I was reading this today from 2014.  It's a fascinating read. Although Francesca Hayward won a silver medal in the RAD Genee,  her training at the Royal Ballet Schools, White Lodge and Upper School was mainly by highly regarded Cecchetti teachers which is why, perhaps, she is regarded as one of the best Ashton dancers currently in the company?

 

https://balletassociation.co.uk/pages/reports-2014-francesca-hayward