ROYAL BALLET VETERANS ADD CHARACTER TO JOFFREY ‘FILLE’

“La Fille mal Gardee” is a revolutionary ballet, Robert Joffrey declares, one of the first to portray “real people in real situations.”

Originally created in 1789 as the French monarchy was about to tumble, it toyed with the theme of a young woman choosing love over position and wealth, fashioning its arguments through comedy. As rechoreographed in 1960 by Sir Frederick Ashton for Britain’s Royal Ballet, it is a work especially rich in juicy character roles.

“A ballet like this comes only through the people who danced it,” Joffrey said, surveying a rehearsal for his company’s new production of Ashton’s “Fille,” which opens the three-week Joffrey Ballet season Thursday in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. “And,” he said, “we’ve got them here.”

Joffrey has reunited two of the original Royal Ballet character leads who helped make this ballet one of Ashton’s enduring hits.

Alexander Grant, who created the role of the sweet but buffoonish suitor Alain, is directing the Joffrey production, while his veteran stage-mate, Stanley Holden, has been coaxed out of retirement to repeat his role of the foolish Widow Simone.

To ensure an accurate revival, Ashton specialist Faith Worth, who has staged the ballet eight times from Rio de Janeiro to Ankara, Turkey, has taught the steps from notation. And she has been aided by another Royal alumna, Joffrey ballet mistress Sheila Humphreys--who has danced the principal ingenue role of Lise.

“This ‘Fille’ will have a real authentic flavor,” said director Grant.

Coincidentally, Joffrey associate director Gerald Arpino has danced the ballet’s romantic male lead, Colas, although in a different version--created in 1960, as well--by Fernand Nault for the Joffrey.

Since the now-lost 18th-Century original by Jean Dauberval, “Fille” has existed in many versions--some with music by Peter Ludwig Hertel. It is the Ashton ballet, however, with a score by Louis-Joseph-Ferdinand Herold (arranged by John Lanchbery) that has come to dominate the international repertory. Los Angeles audiences last saw it in 1979, danced by San Francisco Ballet.

Of the original Royal Ballet “Fille” personalities, Holden is perhaps best known to Los Angeles audiences. He emigrated there in 1970 and founded the Stanley Holden Dance Center, which he successfully administers with his wife Judy, a former Jack Cole dancer.

Holden leads a professional class, teaches the Joffrey troupe when it is in town and has choreographed for Los Angeles Chamber Ballet.

Yet it’s been nearly 15 years since Holden, 58, portrayed Widow Simone, and although the part is comic, it is nonetheless physically taxing. “I’ve been taking class for the last five months to get my legs strong enough to last through the ballet,” he said.

A strenuous, tapping clog dance is a signature of the role, and as Holden relates, “I’ve been up every morning at 7, clogging while others are jogging.”

Grant, like Holden, was a Royal Ballet principal for many years, although he hails originally from New Zealand while Holden is a native Londoner. Grant last danced his part of Alain in 1977, after having assumed artistic directorship of the National Ballet of Canada in 1976, a position he relinquished in 1983.

“Covent Garden even sent over my costume,” he said. “It was only one performance, but it nearly killed me.”

At 61, Grant may deem himself well beyond his “Fille” years, but he still takes to the stage regularly, having recently performed Lord Capulet, Dr. Coppelius, and the witch Madge in sundry London Festival Ballet productions. “I’m a dancer. What more can I say?” he has said, as if needing to apologize for an irrepressible energy.

Even in rehearsal the force of these two older character dancers matches that of the younger Joffrey crew. And although Grant will not be performing, he marks his presence as director, jumping into the fray with precise and animated corrections.

Perhaps not as trim as in his salad days, he can nonetheless gallop along on an umbrella as the befuddled Alain, bounce as the saucy Cockerel, or delicately caress a scarf as Widow Simone.

“Don’t you remember? You strangle yourself here,” he said to Holden, who as Simone was fastening the scarf around his neck. Yet later, at the spinning wheel, Holden rejected Grant’s advice on another bit of stage business. “It feels all wrong to me,” he said. “We never did it that way before.”

“It’s coming back,” Holden said of his muscle memory. “It’s coming with the music.” For his part, decidedly pantomimic at times, a careful coordination with the score is required to accent the dramatic action. “All the punch lines are on the music,” he said, and Grant affirms the music as “a key with which you can characterize your role.”

Both dancers fondly recall their work with Ashton in creating “La Fille mal Garde” (the title perhaps most effectively translates as “The Unchaperoned Daughter”). “From the very first rehearsal, it seemed to sail along,” Grant said. “Ashton was always good at picking a cast and it just poured out. He being the genius, I felt I could try anything. One always had great confidence in his eye.”

Holden said that he was not Ashton’s original selection for the Simone role, but when first choice Robert Helpmann declined because of a dispute with the Royal Ballet management, Holden got the plum. Once cast, Holden individualized the role under Ashton’s direction. Certainly Simone’s rambunctious clog dance gaily exploits Holden’s years as a teen-age tapper. “There’s a percentage of me in it. That’s the way Sir Fred works,” the dancer said.

Both dancers’ careers became closely identified with Ashton’s work. “ ‘Fille’ is the ballet that really put me on the map,” Grant said and Holden concurred for his own case.

From the earlier “Cinderella,” through “Fille,” to “The Dream,” and “Enigma Variations,” Ashton created a range of character roles that went well beyond standard mime. These are all really dance roles. As Grant said, “Ashton could create character through movement.”

As a comedy, Ashton’s “Fille” requires a delicate touch, especially with the travesty role of Widow Simone. “I could put in a million cheap laughs,” Holden said, “but that would undermine the ballet. The hardest part is to hold back, not to step outside the character. It’s too easy to camp it up. ‘Don’t be a drag queen,’ I tell myself. ‘Be Lise’s mother.’ ”

Holden will be dancing Simone for three evening performances in Los Angeles, and five in New York. For the two matinees here, John Wilson takes over; he was a member of the very first Joffrey troupe 30 years back, and danced Simone in the Joffrey’s previous “Fille” production.

The other leads for opening night include Tina Le Blanc as Lise, David Palmer as Colas, and Edward Stierle--an 18-year-old prodigy--as Alain. Additional Joffrey dancers will essay the roles in subsequent performances.

“When you first see others doing your roles, you get hot under the collar,” Grant said. “But you must allow for the interpretation of the performer.” Back in London, in fact, Grant’s younger brother Garry still dances Alain with the Royal. And Holden is coaching younger Joffrey dancers, including Mark Goldweber, who will also dance the Widow Simone.

“This is a big family ballet” said director Grant. “It is very much a handing on from artist to artist.” There will be a lot of the original ambiance in this Joffrey revival, he said. It seems Holden has even saved his original clogging shoes: “There’s a little magic in them.”