On 24 April, DANSOX hosted an evening with The Frederick Ashton Foundation, giving an Oxford audience the chance to observe the ways in which the Foundation cherishes Ashton’s choreographic legacy. At the heart of the event, which included a talk by Alastair Macaulay and a screening of Lynne Wake’s film Frederick Ashton: Links in the Chain, was a master class in which Helen Crawford coached Royal Ballet dancer Romany Pajdak in excerpts from Ashton’s ballet Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan (1976).
After an introduction by the Foundation’s executive director, Christopher Nourse, Macaulay set the scene, outlining Isadora Duncan’s impact on twentieth century dance and her huge influence on the dancers and choreographers that saw her, among them Frederick Ashton. Five Brahms Waltzes was created for Lynn Seymour, whose feet, Macaulay said, reminded Ashton of another of his muses, Anna Pavlova. It is a work that calls for great upper-body freedom, yet Macaulay noted that Ashton was struck by Duncan’s capacity for stillness, and her ability to make tiny movements readable to the audience.
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Oxford Dance Writers 