Ashton in Paris

“La Fille mal gardée”
Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris
Palais Garnier
Paris,  France
June 25 and 26, 2007

by David Vaughan
copyright ©2007 by David Vaughan

It has taken a while for the work of Frederick Ashton to gain a foothold at the Ballet of the Paris Opéra. When Rudolf Nureyev first took over the company, in the early 80s, he wanted to present “La Fille mal gardée.” There was a contretemps of some kind, and Ashton withdrew permission. Instead, the company took on the version recently staged in Geneva by Heinz Spoerli. When “Rhapsody” entered the repertory briefly, in 1996, it didn’t make much of an impression. Then, in 2004, someone had the bright idea of putting on an “Entente Cordiale” gala, with members of the Paris company partnering dancers from the Royal Ballet—Laurent Hilaire with Darcey Bussell in Ashton’s “Awakening” pas de deux from “The Sleeping Beauty,” Manuel Legris with Leanne Benjamin in the “Thaïs” pas de deux, among others. The Royal Ballet itself had a big success with “A Month in the Country” the last time it appeared in Paris.