Devil's Holiday Variation (Samodurov) - Royal Ballet

Viacheslav Samodurov in the Devil's Holiday variation (chor. Ashton). Royal Ballet 2004. Ashton made Devil's Holiday for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1939, at the invitation of the company's director Leonide Massine. He worked with the dancers in Paris and the ballet was due to be premiered in London in September 1939. When war broke out the London season was cancelled, and Devil's Holiday actally had its premiere in New York on October 26th. It lasted in the Ballets Russes repertory for a couple of seasons, but Ashton himself never saw it. The story of the ballet is a bit complicated, but briefly it's about how the devil, just for amusement, causes the daughter of a nobleman to desert her fiance for the love of a young beggar. Frederic Franklin, who danced one of the leading roles in the first performance, revived one of his own solos and a pas de deux which he originally danced with Alexandra Danilova for the Cincinnati Ballet in 2002, and again in 2004 for the Royal Ballet's Ashton season. More info at www.ballet.co.uk/ashton/ashton_devils_holiday.htm

YouTube | November 16, 2007

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