Sarasota Ballet, 2015/16 Season

[Bruce Wall]

Proudly Webb is ensuring that this Company in its 25th Anniversary season remains an Ashton stronghold.  

 

Source

[alison]

Interesting: I thought I'd understood that Jazz Calendar was irretrievable.

[Jan McNulty]

BRB did Jazz Calendar towards the end of the 90s so presumably their records are available, if nothing else.

[FLOSS]

There is a film of Jazz Calender with the original cast.It was shown at the BFI as filler in a Dereck Jarman tribute,

[FLOSS]

Anthony Russell Roberts Ashton's nephew and residuary legatee has declared a number of ballets to be lost. I believe that he told the audience at an Ashton Symposium of some sort that Dante Sonata was irretrievably lost only to be flatly contradicted by another member of the panel who was already involved in its reconstruction.I have heard him say of Jazz Calender that its revival had been discussed, presumably at Covent Garden. but that it was agreed that it was too old fashioned whatever that means,

 

When he was part of the Royal Ballet staff he expressed a reluctance to promote his legacy because of the position that he held, I think that his apparent lack of enthusiasm for his late uncle's works when compared with Lady MacMillan's active promotion of her late husband's works goes a long way to explainAshton's comparative neglect. Of course at a time when current taste is for serious ballets accompanied by lengthy essays it does not help that Ashton did not really go in for angst ridden earnest pieces.

 

In the case of Foyer de Dance and Persephone there are silent films of the ballets. Both are capable of revival. The barriers are a general lack of interest in reviving old works and Ashton's in particular in organisations which arguably have the money and expertise to undertake the work.I have not seen it but I believe that de Valois' Bar aux Folies Bergere has been reconstructed from film which I would dearly love to see.

[alison]

I think I may have been confusing Jazz Calendar and Horoscope, which is definitely lost, isn't it?

[FLOSS]

Yes I think that Horoscope is definitely lost.It was made in the days before Benesh notation,it was not filmed and everyone who danced in it is long dead. I believe that it is one of the ballets that the Vic Wells Company was forced to abandon when it fled the German invasion of Holland.I think that the company's choice of ballets selected for immediate revival,after their loss in Holland was governed by practical considerations such as the call up of male dancers. Perhaps the intention was to revive it after the war.

 

The postwar move to Covent Garden led, over time, to the company's increased reliance on the nineteenth classics and the loss of works made for the stage at Sadler's Wells which were thought too small scale for the Opera House stage. Concerns about the size of the company's new home even led Ashton at one point to create a new version of Les Patineurs which I understand had a double corps.

 

During the fifties and sixties no one was that interested in reviving the company's prewar lost ballets as there were plenty of new works being made. Dowell's directorship,following a choreographic fallow period, saw the revival of Ashton's Ondine and the staging of a number of reconstructions of historically significant works from the Diaghilev repertory. Talks about reviving Sylvia came to nothing, as I understand it, when Ashton and Dowell's professional relationship soured following Dowell's decision to remove most of Ashton's choreography from his new production of Swan Lake.Relations were so bad that Ashton would not allow Dowell to use the choreography for the Neapolitan Dance which Dowell did want to keep.The Neapolitan Dance was not restored to the ballet until after Ashton's death.

 

Bintley has a good track record with his revivals of de Valois' Job and the Prospect Before Us and Ashton's Dante Sonata.Horoscope was a not insignificant ballet. I can not help feeling that if it had been capable of revival we should have seen staged at Birmingham by now.

[MAB]

A New Yorker pal of mine was in London last week and as a confirmed fan she told me she went to Sarasota to see the Ashton.  She was hugely enthusiastic saying the performances were remarkable and Barbieri & Webb had managed to instil the requisite style on dancers she described as not technically the best but full of enthusiasm for the works.   All in all she had a great time watching the company.

 

Why does Dante Sonata have to be 'reconstructed'?  It was performed in B'ham as recently as 2004, I know because I went to see it.

[alison]

They did it last year, didn't they?

[FLOSS]

Dante Sonata was performed during the war and at least four times postwar at Covent Garden.According to the Royal Opera House performance database it was last performed in its entirety in 1950.I assume it disappeared from the repertory because it was no longer in tune with the times.

 

The choreographic text of Dante Sonata was not recorded and its revival by BRB in 2000, after a gap of fifty years, was completely dependent on the memory of Jean Bedells supplemented by the recollections of others who had danced in it.I think that as there was no living tradition of performance of Dante Sonata the ballet which we saw in 2000 is more accurately described as a reconstruction than a revival. It is the reconstructed ballet that BRB revived last year.

 

The significant point for me in all of this is that the maintenance of the repertory and the Ashton repertory in particular is, it seems to me,overly dependent on the opinion and taste of a remarkably small number of people and that MacMillan is far better served than Ashton as far as advocacy for his work is concerned.It is clear that the artistic team at Sarasota have a high regard for Ashton's works and are enthusiastic about staging them well.

 

O'Hare has given us comparatively few performances of Ashton's works and he has, for the main part,stuck to the obvious MacMillan works.This season's revivals of major works by Ashton and MacMillan have generally been disappointing. The first night cast in Symphonic Variations were very good but the standard of performances fluctuated throughout the run as the casting changed.The corps in Scenes de Ballet were messy and the dancers taking the ballerina role failed to deliver while the corps in the recent revival of Song of the Earth were well below par.It sometimes seems that O'Hare is indifferent to the effect that casting has on performance. Perhaps he really is only concerned with the modish and new.But an organisation that ignores its past really does not deserve much of a future.

 

Ballets only live in performance and although video and notation must be of assistance when setting the steps they are no substitute for a coach with extensive performance experience of the ballet being revived.The choice of repertory performed depends on the taste of the director as does casting and recruitment.It seems to me that Webb and Barbieri have a far clearer artistic vision than O'Hare has shown so far.The Sarasota programme for next year is very impressive for an organisation whose budget is a fraction of the Royal Ballet's.Relocating to Sarasota is not an option but it is tempting.

[Two Pigeons]

I find it very ironic that Ashton was still alive less than 30 years ago and that so many of his dancers are still with us yet his work doesn't seem to get the urgent protection by the RB it deserves. However, at the same time versions of his works are springing up all over Europe. How true they are to his style is probably a very moot point.

 

At least there are pockets where his works get something near the right respect. BRB is one (although the style issue is a bit patchy) and Sarasota another.

 

Had the RB found a choreographer to match either Ashton or Macmillan the drive for so much new work would be understandable. I would suggest that they have not so please take better care of what we do have.

[MAB]

I find it very ironic that Ashton was still alive less than 30 years ago and that so many of his dancers are still with us yet his work doesn't seem to get the urgent protection by the RB it deserves. However, at the same time versions of his works are springing up all over Europe. How true they are to his style is probably a very moot point.

 

 

 

Why not see for yourself?  The Paris Opera Ballet are performing La Fille Mal Gardee in July, the second time they have revived it since the original staging by Alexander Grant.  I think they dance it very well and will probably continue to do so as the dancers clearly enjoy themselves in it and the audience loves it.  It actually receives far more applause in Paris than in London.

[Two Pigeons]

A very fair suggestion MAB.

 

Actually I should have made myself a bit clearer. I was thinking of all the versions of Marguerite and Armand which are sprouting up all over the place.

[MAB]

Marguerite & Armand: You've just raised my blood pressure Two Pigeons.

[alison]

I find it very ironic that Ashton was still alive less than 30 years ago and that so many of his dancers are still with us yet his work doesn't seem to get the urgent protection by the RB it deserves. However, at the same time versions of his works are springing up all over Europe. How true they are to his style is probably a very moot point.

 

*Very* moot, I would think, from things I've read recently. But since the RB doesn't hold the rights to his works, perhaps it's not that easy to give them "urgent protection"?

[Two Pigeons]

The point I was trying to make is that the attitude of the RB towards the Ashton rep seems ambivalent at times, despite having access to some great Ashton dancers who could coach. I would put Lynn Seymour at the top of that list. Conversely Ashton seems to be becoming more popular abroad.

 

I do agree that the RB has no control over the performance of the European performances .

[Sunrise]

The significant point for me in all of this is that the maintenance of the repertory and the Ashton repertory in particular is, it seems to me,overly dependent on the opinion and taste of a remarkably small number of people and that MacMillan is far better served than Ashton as far as advocacy for his work is concerned.It is clear that the artistic team at Sarasota have a high regard for Ashton's works and are enthusiastic about staging them well.

 

I think the people that do care are just not visible or numerous enough :-(  I was just thinking about all the furore when Jane Austen's ring was sold not long ago and how the media whipped enough of a frenzy to ensure it remained on UK shores, and how we'd never get that in the defense of works that may not have the chance to be revived. I can appreciate that the advantages of having a singular vision by an artistic director for the company. But I was thinking fancifully that an advocacy group made up of interested parties and fans is needed to make the case for more Ashton or other choreographers. The RB is funded by taxpayers after all so it would be nice to make our voices heard a bit more in ways that are not just connected to ticket sales. I suppose the comments pages on the ROH website are quite good for this, though I don't know how much attention the management gives to voices on the internet. I just have this feeling that unlike commercial companies, like say Apple, the RB may not have a very clear idea of what audiences might like to be programmed, and because of the limited number of seats and performances, there's no incentive to find out because they will probably sell out anyway. Have they ever bothered with emailing out a survey after a performance to get an idea of what people's tastes might be? That's not to say that what the majority of an audience might want should rule (or else we'd have nothing but Nutcrackers and Romeos) but they might be more incentivised to programme more of Ashton's work, even if it was very old-fashioned, if they knew that some people would like to see it. And you would probably have more people who want to see more Ashton on the back of a proven crowd-pleaser like Fille.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Sunrise

[alison]

Interesting you should say that: I've just received a sound-out from the ROH for a possible focus group, so perhaps they are considering something.

[FLOSS]

The director of a company will have his/her own idea of what the company should be performing and what it should look like,One director may see ballet essentially in terms of the display of technique and favour technicians, another may see ballet as a theatrical art form in which a wide range of dancers are needed in order to cast ballets appropriately such a director is unlikely to cast dancers merely on the basis of technique and may cast dancers with just enough technique if they look right for a role. One director may favour short dancers with fast footwork another may favour tall dancers, one may prefer dancers who are dance actors another may simply want dancers with strong technique.The director's tastes have a tremendous impact on decisions about recruitment, promotion and casting;they can make or mar a dancer's career.and they have a long term impact on a company like the Royal Ballet.Their decisions affect the repertory and overall look of the company and just as importantly what individual ballets and entire sections of the repertory look like in performance.

 

Director's ideas about the repertory that the company should dance are heavily influenced by their own experience as a dancer and the  choreographers and works to which they were exposed at earlier stages in their career.O'Hare is particularly interesting because he is simultaneously an insider having been trained at the Royal Ballet School and a quasi-outsider as his dance career was at Birmingham Royal Ballet whose repertory overlaps that of the Royal Ballet but increasingly has its own ballets which are unique to it.Perhaps his experience will enable him to look at the company's developmental needs in a more dispassionate way than someone who  spent their entire career in the company. But his quasi-outsider status means that he lacks the insider's knowledge of the company's repertory, performing practices and history which are acquired by performing ballets rather than watching them,.

 

Few directors have a completely free hand in their choice of  repertory because of the need to cover costs but they can and must make decisions about the value of their historical repertory. Mason did a great deal of work to bring quite a few of Ashton's works that were in danger of slipping into oblivion back into the collective memory of the company but it seems to me that some are, once again, in danger of drifting back into the shadows through lack of performance.Works like Ondine, A Wedding Bouquet and Daphnis and Chloe need to be performed rather more frequently than once every ten years or so and with real care and thought given to their casting if they are to survive.. Then there are ballets like Les Illuminations,Les Apparitions, Jazz Calender, Raymonda Pas de Deux and A Walk to the Paradise Garden which have not been seen on the Covent Garden stage for many years, Perhaps it is not that surprising that  the majority of under performed works seem to belong to Ashton's residuary legatee rather than those who received specific bequests. Ashton made bequests to some legatees that he knew were likely to generate income for the legatee concerned. Ashton's nephew Anthony Russell Roberts spoke to the London Ballet Circle some years ago  about his work with the company and the ballets that his uncle had left him. He seemed to have little interest in their revival and seemed happy to take his uncle's words that the works would not survive at face value.

 

.As far as performance of works is concerned ownership is not the issue it is the attitude of the director to these works that is paramount as he decides what to stage each season. Directors such as Webb who have worked for the Royal Ballet companies  have extensive knowledge of the Ashton repertory and know what will suit their company and help develop it.O'Hare's attitude is a little more difficult to fathom but one to two programmes a season with some odd casting and iffy coaching is not that reassuring.Golding cast as Oberon in The Dream in 2014 and his proposed casting for performances of Symphonic Variations this year are two examples of what I am talking about and the sloppy corps in Scenes de Ballet another.One badly cast ballet is one thing but when the decidedly iffy casting and the sloppy corps only seem to occur in the works of one choreographer I begin to wonder about the company's commitment to the choreographer and his works..

 

Of the Ashton legatees Alexander Grant (Fille Mal Gardee and Facade) Wendy Ellis Somes (Cinderella and Symphonic Variations ) and Anthony Dowell (The Dream and A Month in the Country) have been pretty active in mounting the works that they own but the rest of the legatees seem to have comparatively few of their ballets staged with any degree of frequency.Lady MacMillan has on occasion been very active in her advocacy for her husband's works, or at least, a certain part of them. The fact that they have, until recently, clearly been central to the Royal Ballet's repertory has ensured that they are performed regularly and given their owner some power over it. It was after all suggested that Stretton's position became untenable when she threatened to withdraw the ballets from the company. But the frequency of their performances is not necessarily a result of their innate qualities nor the decline in creativity experienced by the company after MacMillan's death.In his memoir about his time at  Covent Garden Jeremy Isaacs describes a visit from Lady MacMillan and her husband soon after Ashton's death in which she seems to have told him in pretty forthright terms that her husband's works should be given priority over those of Ashton because her husband was capable of producing new work for the company.She also mentioned that the director agreed with this view.

 

It is very easy to assume that works that are performed infrequently are weak and not worth reviving.This view is inevitably reinforced by poorly cast and inadequately coached revivals of a choreographer's works.If the audience has no experience of the work in performance they will assume that what they see on stage is the work being performed as well as it can be.If the Ashton repertory is in danger along with Nijinska's Les Biches then the Massine repertory and much of the Fokine repertory is virtually a lost cause. But neither de Valois nor Ashton acquired these older ballets in order to turn the company into a museum company.They were acquired when the company was busily producing new works because both directors saw the need to preserve the Diaghilev classics because of their significance in the history of twentieth century ballet.More importantly they wanted to ensure that those ballets were available to future generations of choreographers,dancers and audiences in much the same way that the works of the great composers of the past are available to us.Great choreography is great choreography when ever created. I think that the idea of Ashton's ballets being old fashioned is one fostered by those who think that the only way to maintain ballet's reputation as a serious art form is to fill the repertory with badly lit,earnest pieces with unimaginative tediously dull choreography and pretentious titles.

 

If Ashton is old fashioned then so is his contemporary Balanchine. Ivanov and,Petipa must also be old fashioned Fokine,Tudor, Robins, MacMillan and Cranko too. 

 

As the Royal Ballet owes its technical development to the conservatism of the Russians who, unlike the French, preserved their ballets rather than jettisoning them in pursuit of the modish and new it would be  more than a little ironic if O'Hare's pursuit of new repertory results in the company losing the masterpieces of the past both those created for the company and those acquired for it the first three directors.

[alison]

One badly cast ballet is one thing but when the decidedly iffy casting and the sloppy corps only seem to occur in the works of one choreographer I begin to wonder about the company's commitment to the choreographer and his works..

 

Except that people have been complaining about sloppy corps in Song of the Earth as well, or was that not you?

 

I suspect there's probably a better thread for this to go on rather than one dedicated to Sarasota Ballet, but can't remember what off-hand.

[Two Pigeons]

I think there is one thing we can all agree on Sir Kenneth made an extremely happy and sensible choice in his wife and making her his custodian of his works. I am sorry Sir Frederick did not ensure that his legacy was in such capable and protective hands.

 

To get back to the original point, well done Iain and Maggie and I am very envious of the Sarasota audience. Incidentally, when I knew Iain as a member of SWRB it was always his dream that the two of them could appear in A Month in the Country. It has only taken 25 years but at least BRB are finally having a crack at this next year. We can only dream of what Iain and Maggie would have made of it.