Post by Taxigirl on Nov 4, 2004 14:23:04 GMT
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/3978285.stm
By Rebecca Jones
BBC News arts correspondent
It is 100 years since the choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton was born and to mark the event the Royal Ballet in London is reviving his second full-length ballet Sylvia, which he created in 1952.
But it hasn't been easy. Sylvia hasn't been performed since 1965, only two of its original cast members are still alive and the steps were never officially written down.
The man responsible for the delicate work of reconstruction is Christopher Newton. He was ballet master under Sir Frederick and later artistic co-ordinator of the company until he retired in 2001.
He's taken two years to piece the ballet back together, using an old, grainy monochrome film of a rehearsal, production photographs and dancers' notes.
But the revival depends largely on his own powers of recall.
Newton appeared in the original production of Sylvia as a trumpeter in Act Three. But he used to stand in the wings and watch the performances from beginning to end.
Founder
"I have somewhat of a photographic memory," he says. "Sometimes I can't necessarily remember steps, but I remember when something doesn't look right. I have a picture in my mind and I can usually come back to what the original should look like and should be."
Some might wonder how the Royal Ballet found itself in this situation in the first place, by failing to record the work of its founder choreographer.
But notation was in its infancy at the time, and Sir Frederick himself was disdainful of posterity.
He created Sylvia for Dame Margot Fonteyn. On Wednesday night, the Royal Ballet's principal ballerina Darcey Bussell steps into her shoes.
"It's a hard ballet for a dancer technically, it's very strenuous," she says. "It's an exhausting piece because there are quite a lot of jumps."
But returning to the Royal Ballet after 18 months off to have her second child, Darcey Bussell says she's relishing the challenge.
"Because you haven't seen it before so you've never memorised any of the solos it's totally fresh.
"It's like being in a new work and creating again in a way. I love that. To do another Swan Lake or Beauty would be nothing. This is so much more interesting and it's fun."
'Masterpiece'
Sylvia is a pastoral love story, featuring nymphs, satyrs, fauns and grottoes. Sir Frederick himself described it as "boy loves girl, girl captured by bad man, girl restored to boy by god".
When it first opened some critics derided its convoluted plot and Sir Frederick himself wasn't entirely happy with it.
His nephew Anthony Russell Roberts is now Administrative Director of the Royal Ballet. He admits reviving Sylvia is a risk.
"One is always a little bit frightened of excavations as to whether they are going to work. There are some old fashioned bits of stagecraft with dryads and wheel barrows."
But he adds: "Whatever happens it's absolutely right to do it and I'm sure we'll see many pearls within the work - perhaps even re-evaluate it as a masterpiece."
Shortly before his death in 1988 Sir Frederick Ashton talked about re-working Sylvia.
But it's taken the centenary of his birth for it to happen.
Sylvia is performed at the Royal Opera House from Thursday, 4 November to Friday 3 December.
By Rebecca Jones
BBC News arts correspondent
It is 100 years since the choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton was born and to mark the event the Royal Ballet in London is reviving his second full-length ballet Sylvia, which he created in 1952.
But it hasn't been easy. Sylvia hasn't been performed since 1965, only two of its original cast members are still alive and the steps were never officially written down.
The man responsible for the delicate work of reconstruction is Christopher Newton. He was ballet master under Sir Frederick and later artistic co-ordinator of the company until he retired in 2001.
He's taken two years to piece the ballet back together, using an old, grainy monochrome film of a rehearsal, production photographs and dancers' notes.
But the revival depends largely on his own powers of recall.
Newton appeared in the original production of Sylvia as a trumpeter in Act Three. But he used to stand in the wings and watch the performances from beginning to end.
Founder
"I have somewhat of a photographic memory," he says. "Sometimes I can't necessarily remember steps, but I remember when something doesn't look right. I have a picture in my mind and I can usually come back to what the original should look like and should be."
Some might wonder how the Royal Ballet found itself in this situation in the first place, by failing to record the work of its founder choreographer.
But notation was in its infancy at the time, and Sir Frederick himself was disdainful of posterity.
He created Sylvia for Dame Margot Fonteyn. On Wednesday night, the Royal Ballet's principal ballerina Darcey Bussell steps into her shoes.
"It's a hard ballet for a dancer technically, it's very strenuous," she says. "It's an exhausting piece because there are quite a lot of jumps."
But returning to the Royal Ballet after 18 months off to have her second child, Darcey Bussell says she's relishing the challenge.
"Because you haven't seen it before so you've never memorised any of the solos it's totally fresh.
"It's like being in a new work and creating again in a way. I love that. To do another Swan Lake or Beauty would be nothing. This is so much more interesting and it's fun."
'Masterpiece'
Sylvia is a pastoral love story, featuring nymphs, satyrs, fauns and grottoes. Sir Frederick himself described it as "boy loves girl, girl captured by bad man, girl restored to boy by god".
When it first opened some critics derided its convoluted plot and Sir Frederick himself wasn't entirely happy with it.
His nephew Anthony Russell Roberts is now Administrative Director of the Royal Ballet. He admits reviving Sylvia is a risk.
"One is always a little bit frightened of excavations as to whether they are going to work. There are some old fashioned bits of stagecraft with dryads and wheel barrows."
But he adds: "Whatever happens it's absolutely right to do it and I'm sure we'll see many pearls within the work - perhaps even re-evaluate it as a masterpiece."
Shortly before his death in 1988 Sir Frederick Ashton talked about re-working Sylvia.
But it's taken the centenary of his birth for it to happen.
Sylvia is performed at the Royal Opera House from Thursday, 4 November to Friday 3 December.