I think it is remarkable that the company is able to premiere Fille in Paris while at the same time presenting Swan Lake and Jewels in Sydney.

It seems the sets were borrowed from Vienna, and the costumes are not quite the original designs for some reason.

One of the French forums has some photographs taken during the performance too.

Not sure if it's OK to post the links so have sent them to you in an email.

I wonder though what the audience reaction has been like. I think Ashton always lamented that Parisians never "got" his works.

I have just gone through these sites with Google translator. Some of its translations are priceless ("Simon Valastro held the role of Alain (to replace Fabien Roques, there was an advertisement): he is perfect as a lunar cretin"). And as AEHandley says, it seems to be a hit.

However, the real reason for posting. I recall that last year the view was taken that copying and pasting/linking to other sites was not acceptable. Given this, would it be possible for you (Bruce) to reach agreements with administrators of selected dance sites, so that they can copy from here and we can copy from them? I admit I can see drawbacks - a casual visitor might get the wrong impression that copying is OK, without them realising that the particular copying they are seeing is unusual sanctioned copying. (I can't find the previous thread, so if this question has already been discussed, apologies.)

Edit - mangled grammar

I think the following sums up what we believe is a reasonable way to operate in an Internet that is mature and international in outlook:

1. it's not right to present images on your pages that result in other companies' servers being hit for the cost of delivering those images.

2. it's not right to steal copyrighted images and hold them on your own server unless you have explicit authorisation to do it.

3. copying and republishing others' words, in full or at length and in the original language is unnecessary and, whether legal or not, is not good net etiquette. Instead, if you want people to have access to all the words you should give a link. If it seems imperative that the words are presented again then good net etiquette is that one should ask permission. (It would also be a legal requirement to ask in many countries.)

4. It is permissible in most countries to quote from a work by using a short extract - we do this every day on our TodaysLinks page for example. It's also possible to write a summary or give a view, in your own words, of what somebody else said. For both of these no authority is needed. However it needs to be done fairly and reasonably etc - if not then you can be legally challenged.

5. publishing a complete translation of a work you don't own is probably as bad as republishing the work in its original language. I guess I can see it's a little more moot than straight copying, given there is some intellectual 'add'. But it would still be right to ask the original owners for permission. I guess others might see it differently, but that's our position. Of course 4 apples to translated material - quotes and summaries are permissible. It's also possible to point people at a translation service that translates and presents a page given there is no copying involved.

I think this is an entirely reasonable way of proceeding and it is certainly one I would encourage on the Bolshoi Forum over the coming months.

One of the things that I think differentiates us is that we take readers original reviews seriously and the best feature in the magazine and reviews database etc. So rather than a review being a great posting on a forum somewhere, on Ballet.co it stands to be made more of and made easier to find in the coming years. Also our reviews link down into postings so all the thoughts around a given series of performances are more likely to be found and enjoyed.

Finally I should say that what we do around readers reviews is not primarily aimed at bring new people in as such - I passionately belive in the value of readers reviews and do it because of that. If it encourages more great, and original, reviews than that is terrific... and I very much hope it does.

There's no problem about translating som posts from our French-speaking discussion board provided there's a link on the source. But I understand that Bruce, adminsitrator (?) of ballet.co.uk wants to favour original content for his discussion board, as any webmaster would do.

To sum up the discussion we had :

Prior to the performance, many people - including me - regretted that the Paris Opera Ballet had choosen to schedule the Ashton version of La Fille mal gardée, and not decided to put on stage a new production based on the originial Herold score, since all the necessary historical material is available at the Opera archive in Paris. The problem was not to decide whether the Ashton producion was bad or not, but why not make a local version of this Ballet, which is part and parcel of the French classical dance heritage. Many people would have preferred having Ashtons La Fille beeing presented in Paris by the Royal Ballet on tour, rather to be danced by the Paris Opera Ballet who is not quite familiar to the Ashton style.

About the performances :

The first cast showed Dorothée Gilbert and Nicolas Le Riche as Lise and Colas. Le Riche proved to be satisfactory, despite he is no longer a young boy. Both acting and dancing were quite good. Dorothée Gilbert has a clean technique, her footwork was neat, and the famous Fanny Elssler Pas de Deux was quite well danced. However, her acting and mime lacks wit, and her ports de bras (arms) were poor and too stiff.

On the other hand, Stéphane Phavorin as Widow Simone, and especially Simon Valastro as Alain proved to be great actors. Mr. Valastro achieved a superb performance, and gained much applauses and cheers.

The Corps de ballet was quite good, but looks also too serious, lacking the shakespearian wit that is infused into Ashton's choereography.

The conducting of Barry Wordsworth was greatly appreciated. He raised the Paris Opera Orchestra to much higher standards than usual for ballet music in Paris, which is generally performed under the direction of third-rate maestros. B. Wordsworth conducted the orchestra with a precise and firm hand, taming the vulgarity of some passages in Lanchbery's re-orchestration of the original Herlold score.

In the second cast, we saw Mathilde Froustey as Lise, together with Mathieu Ganio as Colas.

Mathilde Froustey was more witty and vivid than Dorothée Gilbert, and catched better the joyfull atmosphere that Ashton wanted. Her mime was much better, but she did'nt pay enough attention to the music, and in some cases got off the beat. Mathieu Ganio was correct, but a bit shy and had sometimes trouble with the Portés.

Simon Valastro did again a magnificent job as Alain and deeply impressed the audience of the Palais Garnier.

I have just looked at the photo that accompanies the NYTimes review in Today's Links and the POB set itself (in the cornfield) looks a most pale comparison to the original of Osbert Lancaster - rather 2-dimensional amateur panto style. Are there significant changes throughout?

Edited at 11.45 to add

I have just looked through the galleries of Ballet.co's own John Ross and though the set changes appear to be minimal (the addition of a fence on top of the hay cart for example) the colours are strikingly different.

Look at John's picture here and you see the delicate colours and subtle shades of the designs and then you look at the NYTimes photo here and you see garish primary colours that seem to place the ballet in a cartoon, rather than a comic pastoral, with very little difference in the perspectives of the back-drop.

I hope this weekend to do some more comparisons between Acosta/Nunez and Coleman/Collier, having read some of Collier's remarks in the Ashton discussions.

Before the curtain rose I had thought I was ready and aware what to expect – this was going to be (and should be) a very different take of La Fille I had been used to over the years.

But then, it turned out the difference was well beyond my expectations/imaginations - a bit overwhelmed by that fact at first, but gradually I got used to it and by the end of the performance found it both thrilling and precious.

To sum it up - it's a très très chic Fille; the 2nd cast in particular, they decidedly had an unmistakable urban air and perfumery sophistication (well they didn't look an inch like a peasant couple!), the crowds around them no less so. (If I could put it this way.... RB's Fille tastes like a good-old English scorn with rich clotted cream on top of it; POB's is a taste of macaron from a top Parisian pâtisserie – and I love them both, of course!)

Like Haydn I got rather dissappointed when the news broke out that POB would acquire this quintessentially 'English' work as their repertoire – why do they not mount their own? Over the years the company was so enthusiastic in developing local talent (choreographers) in contemporary works – why not do the same on classics and put up/revive this ballet of French origin?

But after two viewings I felt I was almost conquered by their attempt and glad for them for this recent acquisition. It's very English, that's true, but it also has a universal appeal. The wonderful choreography with lots of virtuoso dancing in it, and at its heart there's very warm and humane drama - something rarely seen on Parisian ballet stages. I'm so glad for the company as well as balletgoers there that they now have the ballet that can make people both laugh and cry at the same time!

A quick word on the set and costumes. Hats off to Ian and Annelise – you do have eagle eye (or should I rather say 'Hawk-eye'?) on details! I must admit I didn't notice the difference in scenery (wasn't bothered much....). Incidentally it appears that the set was rented from Vienna. The cast sheet says: “Location des decors de la production du Wiener Staatsoper, 1986. Construits par les ateliers art for Art Theaterservice GmbH, Vienne.”

On costumes - Lise's casual cotton attire in the 1st act aside, costume designs for Lise and Colas are also different from RB's. The vest Colas wore when he first came onto the scene was pretty 'noble' – looked like it's made of black velvet, adorned by gold (?) stitches. The colour of Lise's bodice worn in 2nd act was dusty pink (unlike RB's bright pink), and the matching skirt was also different – without small flowers all over it, but the white tutu with almost invisible pattern on it. Colas's blue jacket and the vest with floral pattern was less flashy – subtler colours; flowers drawn in more abstract way. (I loved this!)

Anneliese, I'm very behind on my reading at the moment, but if you have done that do go and have a look at my thread in the Ashton forum and see what you think.

I'd like to point out that the British historian Ivor Guest is held in
such estime by the Garnier administration that he was responsible for the
official history of the Paris Opera Ballet, in French, which I think has
subsequently been printed in English for those inadept linguists like
myself.

Ivor Guest also was responsible for research and unearthing various parts
of the music of La Fille Mal Gardee which were utilized in the orchestration for Ashton's interpretation. I think he contributed a two-
part article to Dance Chronicle on the subject; at least the size of the
printed page seems to point in that direction.

Would it be inadroit for me to suggest that perhaps this is a roundabout
tribute to Guest and his massive researches into the ballet at the Paris
Opera? He has done ballet history a great service as has Dance Books in
seeing that Guest's labors have been published.

If I remember reading from the programme of BRB's "Two Pigeons" show at the Well's a few years ago, Guest was also responsible for un-earthing the Messager score for that work of Ashton as well. I do hope these performance at the Garnier are tributes to him.

Crisp, I see, also attended, but had some reservations.

"In 1960, Lancaster created the designs for his best-known ballet, Sir Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée. For this work, both choreographer and designer wanted to avoid “any whiff of rural verismo” or 18th century dairymaids. Lancaster’s first idea was to use as a model the Images d’Epinal, popular hand-colored prints from France; he took from them their freshness and naiveté – and married this with inspiration drawn from French children’s book illustrations, notably those by Boutet de Monvel.

More here: http://www.abt.org/education/archive/designers/lancaster_O.html

Edited to shorted quotation and add link

For a Brit, interesting to see the French accents in the performance – and from a very informative programme understand the long history of the many other versions over the centuries; over 40 are listed.

In Paris, Ashton’s Fille came up very well on the whole, despite a few smudges. The company danced with verve and obvious enjoyment. It was a delight to hear the spontaneous reaction of the audience to Ashton’s cleverness, discovering the work anew.

Reading the comments here about the realisation of the designs – what we saw in Paris (via the borrowed Vienna production) is actually closer to Lancaster’s designs than what we now know in the UK, judging by the original set designs printed in the programme. The sets are scratchier, less finished than the current RB version, with a stronger whiff of the countryside.

Some pluses and minuses. Better hen and cockerel costumes, particularly their heads, the hens without the filly edged bloomers we see in London now. Lise generally drabber (though there was some detailing on the skirt of her second costume), her last act costume closer to the photos of Nerina in the orginal.

The performances:

Myriam Ould-Braham – lovely extensions and easily into attitude. Natural acting – great sense of mischief and tenderness.

Mathias Heymann, a 19 year old sujet was Colas. Wow, what a raw talent! Tremendous elevation, line and brio. Good acting and presence, he found a lot in the role. Partnering needs attention!

Laurent Novis as Simone was a real person – in turn, choleric and tender, though without fully fleshing out the character. The spanking of Lise provoked hisses of pain around us in the audience, but the concern for cette fille was palpable too. Pretty straight clog dance, but funny with it.

Richard Wilk was a Thomas on whose boots you could smell the manure, a real farmer.

Particular highlights, the pony and trap ribbon scene with Colas and Lise, spontaneous applause for her running on pointe. Particularly the orchestra, real feeling under Barry Wordsworth, sounding far less crude an orchestration than normally. Excellent violin playing in the cornfield pdd – with a real sense of tenderness between the lovers.

And the cast list named friends of Lise and Colas, et al.

Low lights – the lifts! The bum lift at the end of the cornfield pdd just about got there as a one-hander (I’m told the only time in the run) but she was back on the floor by the time the music stopped. (The mechanics were wrong, she should sit on his hand on his shoulder, he pushes her up – easy. Not!).

The lift in the last scene was missed too, but well enough covered.

Differences – lots more confetti in the last act, with confetti in the pit too for Wordsworth. Singing and stick bashing all very vigorous than we know here – and the better for it.

And differences to investigate further. The 1992 version by Richard Wherlock called La Haye, “set in the Swiss alps with real cows.”

The ballet.co charabanc hadn’t made the journey to Paris but several balletcoers had – and a pleasure to meet them again, as it was to renew acquaintance with Ashton’s masterpiece.

It was the last performance of the POB season, that's the reason why they all went a bit "crazy" on stage...

Zenaida Yanowsky tells a nice story from her time in Paris when at a last night of season Sleeping Beauty the prince had to choose between three Auroras lying on the bed. They're much too staid in London to do that sort of thing.

>In Paris, Ashton’s Fille came up very well on the whole,
>despite a few smudges. The company danced with verve and
>obvious enjoyment. It was a delight to hear the spontaneous
>reaction of the audience to Ashton’s cleverness, discovering
>the work anew.

So glad to hear this - it appears the audience there gradually warmed the work over the weeks? When I attended in late June (the 3rd and 4th representations of the work at POB) they did react and giggled at certain scenes, but in a rather reserved manner. (I found myself sitting amidst the quietest 'Fille' audience ever!)

>Mathias Heymann, a 19 year old sujet was Colas. Wow, what a
>raw talent! Tremendous elevation, line and brio. Good acting
>and presence, he found a lot in the role. Partnering needs
>attention!

IMHO he's the most talented young man at POB - certainly technically the strongest among his peers.

You didn't mention on 'Alain' - I wonder who danced the role and how you thought about him. On both nights I attended I saw the first cast Alain, Simon Valastro, who was quite impressive and gave a life to the role.

Adrien Couvez, a subtle and sympathetic reading.

I was able to see the final two performances of Sir Frederick Ashton’s La Fille Mal Gardee at the Garnier a couple of weeks ago. I was interested to see what a French company would make of the quintessentially British ballet, albeit a French tale, and am happy to report that I saw two very enjoyable performances.

While I noticed minor differences to the detailing on the costumes, the set and costumes were effectively the same as we are used to seeing with BRB. One minor point, the beaks on the cockerel and hens looked really vicious and the colours seemed more vivid. The orchestra, under the baton of Barry Wordsworth sounded splendid.

On Saturday night we saw Mathieu Ganio’s Colas partnering the Lise of guest artist Svetlana Lunkina. In the first act (or as we BRB fans are more familiar, acts 1 and 2) I felt an emotional disconnect with Lunkina. She danced beautifully but I felt that she was paying too much attention to the audience and not enough to the rest of the ensemble. Mathieu Ganio struck just the right note as Colas – he was flirtatious and happy, terrific throughout. Everything came right in the final act and they were fantastic together, any emotional disconnect completely disappearing. I thought Stephane Phavorin as Simone and Simon Valastro as Alain a bit too pantomimish for my taste. All these were only quibbles and I did enjoy the performance. Also worthy of special note was the way Svetlana Lunkina led the curtain calls. She was obviously thrilled with the response to the performance and at one point, in front of the curtain, she leapt into Mathieu Ganio’s arms (as at the end of the ballet) to be swept off stage!

The final performance on Sunday afternoon turned out to be one of those magic dust performances that sparkled and engaged from start to finish. The nineteen year-old Mathias Heymann was a truly wonderful Colas. Although he flirted with the girls in the harvest scene, the depth of his feeling for Lise was palpable. To be able to produce such a depth of characterisation at such a young age surely bodes well for a stellar career; his dancing wasn’t bad either!! His Lise, Myriam Oulde-Braham, was equally delightful, with a very natural portrayal of the naughty girl who loves her Mum that was very believable. Simone was played with Parisian chic rather that rustic charm by Laurent Novis. For all the Parisian chic, he gave a real warmth to his interpretation and I really liked it. Adrian Couvez was a sweet and vulnerable Alain. It was good to see the children in the audience really enjoying the performance with lots of laughter and an audible thrill when the cat’s cradle worked. The curtain calls at the end of the performance were deservedly enthusiastic and prolonged. It was an unforgettable afternoon.

Paris Adopts 'Fille'
By Sheila Cross

Ashton's 'Fille Mal Gardee' is the fifth version mounted at the Paris Opera since 1828. It was the final production of the 2006/07 season. Given that the Paris company arguably has the most diverse range of choreography of any major national classical company, it's surprising that this is the first major Ashton ballet to be introduced to their repertory. Previously they have only performed 'Rhapsody', plus excerpts of 'Margeurite and Armand' for special occasions.

'Fille' is perhaps not the most obvious choice of Ashton's major works for the Paris Opera Ballet to mount, given that it is his most quintessentially English work; 'Symphonic Variations' or 'Scenes de Ballet' would have seemed more in keeping with their repertory ethos. On the other hand, 'Fille' has real significance for the French. The original version by Dauberval, in July 1789, was the first major ballet that focused on ordinary people rather than princes or Greek gods. This was revolutionary and it is interesting that it was premiered in Bordeaux, a politically tubulent area, just a fortnight before the storming of the Bastille that triggered the French Revolution, although Dauberval himself was far from being a political radical. A further revolutionary feature is that it is regarded as the first 'ballet d'action', where the dances are driven by the plot, preceding the Romantic dramatic ballets by several decades. Its touching story made it a huge popular success from the start and it was presented in many cities across the world, including London, in 1791 (where it was first named 'Fille Mal Gardee'), and different versions, over two centuries, including Saint Petersburg, where Tamara Karsavina later danced the role, and taught Ashton some of it, including the famous Fanny Elssler mime scene, for his 1960 ballet.

The ballet was staged by Christopher Carr and Grant Coyle of the Royal Ballet and supervised by Alexander Grant, the original Alain. Since the Paris dancers have had little exposure to the very particular demands of Ashton's style, a style which has frequently eluded even British dancers in recent years, it was impressive that the corps had assimilated some of the characteristics; the darting speed, the twisting flexibility, the precise footwork, the epaulement use of backs and shoulders. The choreography for the corps makes unusual demands and they seized the opportunities, while acting with zest.

I saw four casts, at the opening two performances and the final two. Each cast coped well, overall, given the difference in style and approach from what they are used to in their rep. But interestingly, this ballet about youthful love stimulated the best performances from the youngest and least experienced dancers.

The first cast Colas was Nicolas Le Riche, who of course has danced Ashton's 'Margeurite and Armand' many times at Covent Garden and elsewhere, and so is the dancer most familiar with Ashton. At the first performance he fluffed some steps and, like other Colases, didn't attempt the famous one-handed lift. But his jumps were powerful and most of his dancing and partnering in both pas de deux were impressive, not least when he threw Lise into the air at the end. He had problems with some of the ribbon moves but acted the part convincingly, an engaging character, already passionately involved with Lise (perhaps unduly so in the first scene since their sexual ease there undermined the impact of Lise's embarrassment later when she discovers that Colas has eavesdropped on her daydreaming, a crucial scene which had too little impact at that performance). His Lise, the hugely talented premiere danseuse Dorothee Gilbert (none of the Lises was an etoile) was ,in this instance, not well cast. Although an impressive dancer in other ballets, she didn't fully adapt to Ashton's style or musicality and some of her phrasing was poor. Nor did she inhabit Lise's persona - she was too feisty throughout, never displaying any anxiety or uncertainty about her future with Colas, despite having an unsuitable fiance foisted upon her. This reduced the poignancy that is key to the ballet.

But the most critical factor in undermining the humanity so fundamental to Ashton's version, was the playing of the first cast Widow Simone, Stephane Phavorin. One of his most notable parts in the Paris rep is the Stepmother in 'Cinderella and he seems to have imposed that comic caricature on the Widow, minus the cruelty. He played up the knockabout comedy in a travesti role to such an extent that his antics were at times crude and vulgar. Such a one-dimensional characterisation prevented the portrayal of the close emotional bond between Lise and the Widow that underlies their friction.

In that first performance Alain, danced by Simon Valastro, also played rather too much for laughs. Alain's vulnerability is an essential component in the humanity pervading the ballet; Alain is not a minor comic character. It is significant that the ballet actually ends with Alain alone on stage, poignantly seeking, then finding, his umbrella; the audience needs to feel sympathy in the final scene for his sense of loss, as well as laugh earlier at his absurdity. However, Valastro performed, unannounced, at the next performance and his interpretation was toned down. By the penultimate performance of the run, his was a truly impressive Alain, with emotional depth, a powerful stage presence, using his eyes to great effect, and technically very strong dancing, a better Alain than many seen in the British companies in recent years.

The alternate Alain, Adrien Couvez, has a less dominating stage presence than Valastro but gave a sensitive portrayal, playing more on the role's vulnerability and coped well with the technical challenges. The second Widow, Laurent Novis, showed a greater understanding of Ashton's conception than Phavorin, not playing her as a pantomime dame, demonstrating warmth as well as strictness. He revealed the close bonds between two generations of women who have close similarities; they share a lively intelligence and are selfwilled, so to some extent Lise is a younger version of Simone.

The young etoile, Mathieu Ganio partnered two Lises, Mathilde Froustey and Svetlana Lunkina. Although widely praised in the role, at his first performance his stamina was visibly tested by Ashton's deceptively strenuous choreography; by the penultimate performance he was dancing more confidently. He has a pleasant ,if bland , personality but has not yet developed the acting ability or stage presence of either of his famous dancer parents. Arguably the most successful Colas was a young ''sujet' aged only 19, Mathias Heymann. He was substituting for the injured Alessio Carbone, having earlier in the run made a very strong impression as the Flute player (a role which is given enhanced prominence in the Paris production). Considering his relative lack of experience, and presumably of preparation, his performance was a revelation. His interpretation of Colas was thoroughly convincing throughout as he was always in role, paid careful attention to detail whilst always appearing spontaneous. His dancing was bouyant and confident and he was even the closest to achieving the one handed lift. He achieved a warm and tender rapport with his Lise, Myriam Ould Braham, who was lively and charming, dancing radiantly and demonstrating her star quality.

Even so, the dancer who best captured Lise's qualities was Froustey, like Heymann currently just a sujet. She was mischievous and teasing, single minded and scheming, tender and loving. Her dancing was musical and joyous, with a lovely jump and the ability to hold the balances that punctuate the big pas de deux. She was even better than Lunkina, who has danced the role for her home company, the Bolshoi. It's perhaps curious that a Russian, rather than British dancer was invited as a guest artist, but she has links with the Paris company and recently shared the Benois prize for top woman dancer with the Paris etoile, Agnes Letestu. Lunkina danced with her usual lyrical bravura, and her final solo was beautifully delicate, but there was not the special emotional rapport between her and Ganio as Colas that makes the ballet come fully to life.

It was fascinating to contemplate the similarities and differences between the Paris production and those of the two Royal companies. A major contributor to the Paris success was Barry Wordsworth's conducting. He understands the score so well, and has played for so many casts in the two Royal companies that he knows how to guage the tempo for the dancers (at times somewhat slower than we are used to). The orchestra brought out the full colour and melody in Herold/Lanchbery's score. The company had rented the decors from the Vienna State Opera. Osbert Lancaster's designs for the frontispieces(based on French prints- appropriately as Dauberval's inspiration for the plot was inspired by a print he hazarded upon) were accurate, but the scenery was poor (the buildings looked flimsy and shook when dancers moved on them, and Lise's feet sounded very noisy when descending the steps). The costumes' colours were in many cases not accurate, making some of Lise's dresses looking drab.

The Paris version runs in two acts, like the Royal's but unlike BRB's three acts. While most ballet goers prefer that, it makes the first act rather long for the many children who attend. In some points of detail, the version is closer to BRB's, for example, in the harvest scene, Alain shakes his head in the opposite direction to all the corps unlike the Royal. A tiny detail yet it indicates how he differs from all the other people on stage, as well as being amusing. Another difference is the portrayal of Thomas (played throughout by Richard Wilk), a much more dour character than we usually see, although in recent years it has sometimes been vulgarised, in both companies. In other respects most casts gave more emphasis to comedy than emotional integrity, particularly with the Widow (I didn't catch Michael Denard but reports suggest that his was a comic approach). A small factor may be that Phavorin and Novis are both tall dancers, which emphasises the travesti element; in the early days, the Widows at the Royal were small, like the creator, Stanley Holden, and like some of the best BRB Widows, such as Bintley and Michael O'Hare. The crucial mime scene was less touching than usual , and no Lise mimed horror at having indicated preganancy, which is usual nowadays, although often exaggerated.

The use of props caused some problems. The ribbons must be a perrenial problem for all casts everywhere. At the first performance, the bales got knocked over in the final scene, slightly exposing Colas to view.Even the curtain was lowered a little prematurely at each performance, meaning that the audience didn't get quite long enough a sight of Alain flying with his umbrella, at the end of Act 1, or dancing with delight having rescued his umbrella, at the end. However, the flying went without a hitch at the performances I attended, and the pony behaved. The pony came as a surprise to British members of the audience as it was taller and more elegant than the squat little ponies to which we are accustomed.

The audience reaction was interesting. At the start they seemed unsure how to react to the hens (danced by members of the Paris Opera Ballet School) or cockerel, but at some performances they applauded as Lise skimmed the stage in the prances on point, at the last performance they applauded the cat's cradle, and at several they started clapping in time to the music at the very end. Applause was warm and the audience clapped loudly in unison at the last performance, which recieved many curtain calls.

Also, please could someone who saw it explain the 'enhanced prominence'of the boy with the flute? I'd been surprised at how many French commentators mentioned him - did he have more steps or something?

I didn't notice the flute player having any additional prominence, in fact at both the performances I saw I thought it was comparitively underplayed. It was the same dancer at both performances so I wonder what Sheila and Paul A thought? Perhaps the French reviewers were just amazed at the number of steps fitted in to that small role!

If this is the lift where the ballerina is sitting on the hand of her partner and he raises her over his head....

As I dimly recall from reading Fonteyn's autobiography many (MANY) years ago, I believe she called this a "popo lift."

She then mentioned - again dimly recalling - that she found this embarassing with a new partner.

Same steps, bright personality,secure catching - and more interplay with a girl in the corps then I've noticed here.

I only recall seeing this lift fail twice over the number of times that I have seen this ballet since its first performance, although there have been quite a few occasions when it has been a close run thing. The first time was by Fernando Bujones when he was guesting with the RB, and more recently by Joseph Caley at a student performance at the RBS when only the pdd was performed. The latter case is more easily understood since the pdd is a tough assignment for a young student with a relatively slight physique, and to his credit I was told that he succeeded in bringing off the lift in the next performance as he probably had already done in rehearsal.

When a lift doesn't "happen" - it's not always his fault.

I believe it was Edward Villella who said in his auto-bio - (paraphrase) sometimes its a good thing when we fall or something goes wrong - reminds the audience we do this without a net and that we are human.

But, I have to ask - what did Bujones do when that lift didn't work?

I remember Campbell McKenzie's final performance with Scottish Ballet when it looked as though Lise was going to stay up there forever; the one-hander in Act 1 looked equally spectacular. Now I come to think of it, Campbell McKenzie was a very fine Colas indeed!

5 years ago on the general rehearsal of “La Fille” in the Bolshoi Sergei Filin failed to perform this lift leaving Alexander Grant inconsolable. He said that Filin was “too shy” performing it. In fact the failure happened as a result of the slippery material of Lisa’s skirt! Grant said that to perform the tricky lift Colas (Filin) had to be brave enough to put his hand UNDER the skirt! And that was what Carlos Acosta successfully did in ABT dancing at the premier of "La Fille" with Nina Ananiashvily. She was smart enough to help him do this trick imperceptibly with the help of a very natural gesture – coquettishly stretching the fluffy skirt to the sides. And there she was triumphally in the air! They were both superb in that performance.

The Bolshoi dancers mostly succeed with this lift, but sometimes Lisas hold their feet aside. I do not know whether this makes things easier and I am not sure it follows the original Ashton pattern.

In my experience pas de deux lifts have a split second moment when both of you must get the timing right or you end up making a pig's breakfast of it. If the supporting cavalier isn't extra smart poor ballerina would end up on the floor.

And the woman has to assist by a very good plié, as well as sending the impetus gained from that plié in the right direction (straight up or forward, etc.), if she runs into the lift - her speed has to be just right and then the push off, it's definitely a partnership - not just him -not just her.

As someone mentioned above it does make a difference in the material of her costume/leotard. His hands are usually a bit sweaty and slick material will not help his grip.

In PDD class we always had to wear a leotard with a textured finish. That's also why dancers often rehearse with a "practice" tutu -usually an old one.

She can certainly end up on the floor - but he can get injured as well.

And sometimes - it just doesn't work - the body is flesh and blood - not a machine - and sometimes it doesn't work as well as at other times with no obvious reason.

Previous to that particular performance I saw Marquez in the season before that (also with Acosta) at a balcony standing ticket, and I've just started watching ballet then, so I didn't really remember much of the performance apart from the clever ribbon work and Lise's day dream scene.

So when I saw the performance with Nunez in the amphi, and the lift failed, I didn't even realise it failed. Because I didn't know what was supposed to be! I vaguely recall Acosta lifting her skirt at the back (I thought "??!!"), hand up ("!!!"), she went into the air, then kind of twisted horizontal, got back to the ground on her two feet, they both got to the downstage centre point as the music swells and finished, with huge huge grins on the face.

I heard someone saying next to me, "Oh my god what happened, he nearly dropped her". All I could think was, was something wrong? Well it didn't look right, but I could't put my finger on what was wrong with it. They were certainly smiling a bit too bright...!

And then I went back a couple of days later to see Sarah Lamb with Martin Harvey. And boy was that lift glorious! I vividly remember that image she was sitting on his one hand while his other was stretched out behind him. It was only then I realised what should have happened. I recall she was sitting up there for a long time, even after the music finished.

Also saw Morera and Cervera in the same run, and the lift was done on the hand as well. Don't remember if the other hand was used.

Fish

Edit made link short - Link coomand does this. BM

thank you bruce!