BWW Reviews: From the Television Archives - Frederick Ashton's LA FILLE MAL GARDEE

La Fille Mal Gardée is one of the oldest works of modern ballet, originally choreographed by Jean Dauberval in 1789 for the Grand Theatre de Bordeaux. Dauberval found inspiration for the piece in Pierre-Antoine Baudouin's painting of an older lady reprimanding a younger girl in a hay barn, while her lover runs off with haste. The resulting ballet was a comic delight.

The ballet has been re-invented throughout the past two centuries by choreographers ranging from Paul Taglioni to Marius Petipa, but the version modern audiences are familiar with is Frederick Ashton's for the Royal Ballet in 1960, with conductor/composer John Lanchberry freely adapting and arranging Ferdinand Herold's original musical score as a basis for an entirely new composition. The result was a playful and witty ballet with outstanding parts for Nadia Nerina as Lise, David Blair as Colas and Stanley Holden as Widow Simone

The ballet includes a mixture of classical ballet and character dance, complemented with the backdrop of the countryside. One of the most colorful scenes includes Nerina and Blair dancing a pas de deux as the lovers become entwined within ribbons. A plethora of character numbers adds variety to the work, most notably a number where the dancers appear to go en pointe in clog shoes. For me, the most beautiful part of the ballet is watching Nerina, entangled in the thread of the loom, comprehending that her youthful naiveté is ending and womanhood about ready to commence.

The 1962 BBC television version certainly does not disappoint to entertain and amuse. It recalls a time when ballet was simpler, not necessarily full of grandiose turns and leaps, but full of plot, wit and character.

For those interested in purchasing the BBC film, go to Amazon.com.

Photograph :Houston Rogers/V&A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum.

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