{"id":54501,"date":"2022-04-27T07:08:02","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T07:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/?p=54501"},"modified":"2026-04-16T07:28:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T07:28:54","slug":"ashtons-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/ashtons-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashton\u2019s Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ashton\u2019s Sc\u00e8nes de ballet<\/em>, A Month in the Country<\/em>, Rhapsody<\/em><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

The enormity of Sir Frederick Ashton\u2019s legacy and contribution to the art of dance couldn\u2019t have been more in evidence than during The Royal Ballet\u2019s latest (and last of the season) triple bill. Dedicated to and celebrating The Queen\u2019s Platinum Jubilee, each ballet on this programme, whilst very different, highlights Ashton\u2019s genius – his musicality and attention to detail, his creativity and his own, very distinctive, classical vocabulary. A significant thought crossed my mind – unlike some productions in companies around the world, one doesn\u2019t leave the theatre asking the question: do I ever want to see this again? With Ashton it\u2019s more – how many different casts can I see? Why don\u2019t they do this more often? There\u2019s real choreography, shape and form, characterisation, room for interpretation and it\u2019s aesthetically pleasing. It has substance. And it presents huge challenges for all involved.<\/p>\n

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Anna Rose OSullivan and Matthew Ball in “A Month in the Country” photo by Helen Maybanks ROH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Opening with Sc\u00e8nes de ballet<\/em>, originally created in 1948 for Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes, it\u2019s clear from the moment the orchestra begins to play Stravinsky\u2019s score of the same name, that this will require extreme precision. The choreography within the framework of a large cast, alongside the exposing nature of classical ballet in tutus and nowhere to hide, was bound to make everyone a little twitchy, particularly with a full house and film cameras out front. When one assesses the difficulty of the steps, the sometimes awkward and rapid changes in direction, it can be deemed a success, simply to get through it. This cast did much more than that. Led serenely by Vadim Muntagirov and Sarah Lamb, the four solo men held their own too (Luca Acri, David Donnelly, Calvin Richardson and Joseph Sissens). Supported by 12 competent corps de ballet women, there was tension in the air when the curtain went up but as the ballet progressed, that dissipated. Muntagirov opened with stupendous batterie and went from strength to strength, elegance personified. His ballerina, Lamb, was fragile yet imperious with beautiful, pure lines and footwork.<\/p>\n

Created in 1976, A Month in the Country<\/em> has always been at the top of my list of favourite ballets.<\/p>\n

Based on Ivan Turgenev\u2019s play, Ashton has economically pared down the characters and plot of what was five acts worth of drama, to just forty-five minutes of dance. And what masterful choreography it is. Set in a 19th century manor house, it tells the story of Natalia Petrovna (Marianela Nu\u00f1ez), bored and trapped in a loveless marriage, who falls in love with her children\u2019s tutor, Beliaev (Matthew Ball). As the melodrama unfolds it quickly becomes clear that Natalia\u2019s ward, Vera (Anna Rose O\u2019Sullivan) has also fallen for Beliaev and that even the maid, Katia (Leticia Diaz) cannot resist his charms. If it prompts one to question who on earth could mesmerise a whole household of women, Ball\u2019s first entrance settles any ambiguity on that score. Every pas de deux and solo displays Ashton\u2019s ability to make the steps tell the story, whether it\u2019s a quivering foot signifying a fluttering heart or a lift that suggests a deeper intimacy. Casting is everything and Ball was beguiling as the tutor, sincere in his acting and beautifully lyrical in his dancing. Nu\u00f1ez was superb as Natalia – with such subtle phrasing, exquisite footwork and wonderful use of her back and \u00e9paulement, we could read her every thought. O\u2019Sullivan was a complete joy as Vera, musical as always, with light ballon and fleet footwork – she\u2019s still the queen of runs en pointe, never missing a beat. A mention too, for Kate Shipway, who played the fiendishly difficult Chopin variations superlatively.<\/p>\n

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Marcelino Sambe and Franchesca Hayward in “Rhapsody” photo by Helen Maybanks ROH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The performance finished with a dazzling rendition of Rhapsody <\/em>– a ballet I never tire of seeing. Set to Rachmaninoff\u2019s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini<\/em>, it\u2019s one enthralling phrase after another. Whether it\u2019s high velocity turns and jumps or languorous lines and lifts in the pas de deux, it inspires awe. Created in 1980, for Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lesley Collier, it\u2019s piece that requires virtuoso dancing and enormous stamina, all the while maintaining Ashton\u2019s signature, graceful upper body and arms. Marcelino Samb\u00e9 and Francesca Hayward were an obvious choice. Samb\u00e9, with a hint of hesitancy at the start, built steadily to an explosive climax, his natural ebullience always bubbling over, his airborne technical feats drawing audible gasps from the audience. Hayward was nothing short of magical, with quicksilver footwork, light jumps and ravishing port de bras. And in the pit, pianist Robert Clark gave a performance worthy of a solo platform.<\/p>\n

Having watched many different casts in all three ballets, over more than four decades, including some of the original and greatest exponents of the roles, I think it\u2019s a safe bet that Ashton would have been delighted that his ballets are still giving so much pleasure and being danced to such exacting standards.<\/p>\n

By Deborah Weiss<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ashton\u2019s Sc\u00e8nes de ballet, A Month in the Country, Rhapsody   The enormity of Sir Frederick Ashton\u2019s legacy and contribution to the art of dance couldn\u2019t have been more in evidence than during The Royal Ballet\u2019s latest (and last of the season) triple bill. Dedicated to and celebrating The Queen\u2019s Platinum Jubilee, each ballet on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":54502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performance"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54501"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54534,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54501\/revisions\/54534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}