Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell Rehearse 'Thais' with Frederick Ashton

[felixdevilliers1]

Thank-you! After seeing a small snippet of this ballet, Thaìs, - which I never saw live - I have been waiting all my life for more. I hope that one day I'll be able to see all of it. There is such a noble grace in the ballet and those two dancers. Well, if I'm sadly destined never to se it, Margot Fonteyn's Salut d'Amour makes up fo all losses.

[nickwallacesmith]

hi felixdevilliers1

i think someone said the wholeof thais is somewhere on film - i saw it in the theatre in the early to mid 70s as a kid in london at covent garden and was bowled over by it - the music just begs for ashton's choreography

i saw Margot Fonteyn's Salut d'Amour and when ashton came on at then end and danced a few steps with fonteyn there was such a swell of motion in the audience ... and in me - it was incredibly moving - something to treasure

[felixdevilliers1]

@nickwallacesmith - Well I sincerely hope I'll get to see that film one day. How lucky for you to have seen Salut live. Like Sibley and Seymour I couldn't make much of Fonteyn to begin with, but fortunately I had begun to appreciate her genius when I saw her in the Berlioz R&J pas de deux, in R &J itself and in Poème de l'Extase. I wrote an essay on Fonteyn which is still a treasured piece for me and I tried to integrate the accusations of stiffness into the essence of her dancing.

[Pearlaceous]

So beautiful - I think I've also seen a documentary of Sibley coaching Viviana Durante in this.

[nickwallacesmith]

hi Pearlaceous - that's interesting because i wondered if the ballet was continuing to be perfromed - some like 'margaurite and armand' are only performed by the original cast - great 'thais' is still being performed

[Pearlaceous]

@nickwallacesmith Don't know how recently it has been performed, but definitely from time to time. The documentary must have been about 20 years ago though! :-)

[nickwallacesmith]

hi Pearlaceous - from the quality of the film and guessing at dowell's age i'm sure you're right - i guess it was made in the early to mid 70s - so thirty years ago plus. glad to hear it's still being performed - in fact can't imagine it wouldn't be, cheers

[JeremyNasmith]

@nickwallacesmith I thought no one would be allowed to dance Margaurite and Armand either, but a few years ago they remounted it for Sylvie Guillem and Nicolas La Riche. I don't know if there's a copy on Youtube or not, but it's definitely worth seeing, if only to compare to the original cast.

As much as I love Margot and Rudi in that ballet, it would be a shame for the piece to fall out of the repertoire now that they and Ashton are all gone...

[nickwallacesmith]

hi JeremyNasmith - wow, i'm surprised ... but then with the passage of time the need to keep a ballet 'sacro' for someone lesses - it'd be like saying we never want to see another Auroa after Carlotta Brianza! and yes loosing ashton rep. would be mad. so i'd be interested to Sylvie Guillem - thanks for getting me up to speed! and i'm off to YouTube to look about, take care

[Pearlaceous]

@nickwallacesmith Tamara Rojo and Sergei Polunin are dancing Margaerite and Armand next season at the ROH. Tamara looks beautiful in the costume!

[nickwallacesmith]

hi Pearlaceous - lovely - so wish i was there to see Tamara Rojo and Sergei Polunin in Margerite and Armand - thanks for passing that on - appreciated!

[Pearlaceous]

@nickwallacesmith I'll let you know what it's like! Too much to hope that the BBC might actually record it though! :-)

[nickwallacesmith]

hi Pearlaceous - yep, a pity they don't as a matter of course record major works and performances - they used to here back in australia in the latter part of joan sutherland's career - once an opera house is set up costs should be able to be contained.

[Pearlaceous]

@nickwallacesmith Exactly! Daren't even take a photograph either - the ushers are too horribly vigilant for their own good! Last time I went I got "reprimanded" just for leaving my bag on the edge of the balcony - and only a teeny bag, too! :-)

[nickwallacesmith]

hi Pearlaceous - i remember opera goers telling me they used to stash tape recorders in their mink stoles on Callas nights at covent garden - the best recordings are those live performances! at the old met in NY fonteyn and nureyev were filmed from the audience so things can't have been so restrictive back in those days - after 9/11 it's such a different world, cheers!

[felixdevilliers1]

@nickwallacesmith

I heard that Sylvie Guillem, who apparently wielded some power at the Opera house, forced the company to let her do Marguerite and Armand - is this true? But Salut d'Amour is for Fonteyn and Fonteyn only. It's an intrinsic part of her being, it belongs to her.- In the Corsaire pas de deux she is not brilliant but alights as if from another realm where the skies are bluer, in Sylphides she gives the ballet a sense which I have never found again, except with Lynn Seymour.

[nickwallacesmith]

hi felixdevilliers1 - yes apparently a few years back it was re-mounted for Sylvie Guillem and Nicolas La Riche. but as you so rightly say, Salut d'Amour could be done by no-one other than fonteyn - it was fred's final salute to her and had snippets of many of the works he made for her - it would be meaningless from another dancer. i saw her do 'corsaire' - in 1973 (i think) ballet celebration for the entry of the UK into the EEC - technically not absolutely secure but it worked well as theatre!

[BalletBabyBoy]

@nick I have seen this before but don't have a copy of the documentary but I could probably find it. I am sure it was filmed in full but they cut it for the show :(. I love the music. I saw something done to it at some ballet competition in NYC recently...awful!

[nickwallacesmith]

hi BalletBabyBoy - interesting what you say - i got it from the doco 'Anthony Dowell - A Life in Dance' - maybe this is the one you have in mind? pity the whole thing isn't availabe somewhere - as you 'say' ... :<

[GariGold]

Enchanting. Thank you.

[nickwallacesmith]

hi GariGold - yep, the choreography really embodies the music in such a delicate way, gad you like it

[opensecret51]

Nick Thank you !! This is a Very lyrical choreography and performance and I feel like you so special to listen to Ashton ....

[nickwallacesmith]

hi opensecret51 - yes, great to hear ashton talking in rehearsal - you get an idea of how he goes about the work of choreographing, cheers

[BalletBabyBoy]

I wish there was a full film of this instead of excerpts.

[nickwallacesmith]

hi BalletBabyBoy - i wish there was a full film too - i found these excerpts in a documentary on anthony dowell but perhaps the ballet was filmed in full and is available - i might check amazon's site, best, nick

[BalletBabyBoy]

This very beautiful choreography. I have seen some other ones that were awful. I love it. Even ABT did it well if you can believe that these days.

[nickwallacesmith]

hi BalletBabyBoy - yes, beautiful - i saw it as a kid at a gala - in the early 70s - i like te music which helps too

[drrabner47]

Nick. . . .beautiful. Amazing to see Ashton in action! And both Sibley and Dowell

are fantastic to watch. I have never seen this ballet. Is it available in the states?

Once again, thanks for your hard work to keep us all 'on our toes.'

[nickwallacesmith]

hi drrabner47 - yes, that's exactly it - seeing the three interacting - reminds me a bit of fonteyn, nureyev and ashton rehearsing 'birthday offering' which i uploaded a while ago. as i was commenting earlier, i'm not sure whether these bits were just filmed for a dowell doco (where i found them) or were used in this doco and exist as on film to buy on DVD - i'll check around and get back to you if i find anything, cheers, nick

PS glad to 'keep you all on your toes' - hope you keep me on mine!