20 replies to this topic

[perky]

Will any BalletTalker's be attending the Oct. 31 performance and the following days Balanchine Symposium?

      The Creating With Balanchine, moderated by Francis Mason, with Suzanne Farrell, Violette Verdy and Edward Villella (what a trio!) sounds particularly facinating.

[piccolo]

I'm going to go to Santa Fe the weekend before Thanksgiving to see the Company perform and for the Symposium. Of course, wanting to know more, I asked the box office about the symposium and it sounds like they show a rough documentary made up of various clips and then the documentary person (who is famous but her name is escaping me right now) talks about it. So it doesn't sound like your typical symposium format...

[perky]

Piccolo, please post your observations and thoughts about the performance and syposium. I'd love to read it! Thanks

[Roma]

peppermint, thank you so much for this. When Souritz gave her talk, was it mostly pre-1924 stuff?

[Roma]

peppermint, thank you so much for this. When Souritz gave her talk, was it mostly pre-1924 stuff?

[Farrell Fan]

What a great first post! Thanks, Peppermint. I know George Shirley was originally from Detroit (just looked it up). What were the Balanchine songs like? I'm curious about the Georgian elements in "Serenade," too, and Francis Mason's interview of Maria Tallchief...as a matter of fact, I'd love to read more about anything you'd care to expand on.  

[Alexandra]

Welcome, Peppermint!  I'd like to echo the thanks -- this was an important symposium and it's wonderful to have such a complete report on it.  We're very happy you've found us, and hope you'll join our discussions.

[perky]

Thank you so much Peppermint for your post. I only live 2 hours from Ann Arbor and wanted to attend but was unable to get out of a previously scheduled event. Reading your wonderful post eases my heartbreak a little.  :nopity:

    By the way, I want to be first in line for that audience that gets to dance in a Balanchine ballet.

Thanks again!

[Paul Parish]

Me, too Peppermint -- would love ot hear more, so glad, SO glad you went, and so glad it was so GOOD -- it sounds really GREAT, got to tell you.

I'd specially like to know about Serenade//// actually any of it, so interesting. What did Farrell say about wearing a tutu? What did Mason ASK Tallchief? What did she answer? What was their conversation like?

I went to  symposium once that Villella was at -- I got stuck in an elevator with him and a couple of other people, and he just started telling stories.... amazing experience.  you're absolutely right, he is hilarious.

[Leigh Witchel]

I was there as well (on assignment, so unfortunately I can't go on at length).  This represents my own bias, but I was more interested on the sections on reconstruction than the other parts of the symposium.  We got to see a film of Balanchine's Renard as reconstructed by Todd Bolender and Kansas City Ballet.  I felt this was important.

Souritz talked directly about the Petrograd milieu ca. '21-24.  She tried to give a sense of what was available for Balanchine to see at that time; who was working and what was being performed on stage (not just dance but theater).  It was very valuable.

The panel discussions with former dancers were delightful, and if you wanted reminiscing, they were great.  If you were looking to expand the body of knowledge about Balanchine's choreography - well, that's different.  Verdy is particularly articulate; she has a great deal to contribute (and has already)

Paul - Tallchief dodged every question she was asked, even the innocuous ones.  It was rather odd.  Farrell mentioned the tutu in the context of Diamonds, that she had not worn them often often before that point.  

Farrell Fan - the songs were about 4 minutes long and wistful; quite romantic.   Just me, but I wished they had not been sung by such an operatic voice.  I think their intention was distorted; they're show tunes.

The paper on Serenade posited Georgian folk dance as a source for the movement.  The source material offered to back this up was a performance tape from only a few years ago that represented a highly altered and theatricalized version of the dance itself.

Farrell's company did their Balanchine/Tchaikovsky program.  Bonnie Pickard's Waltz Girl in Serenade was indeed notable.  

It was a fascinating and wonderful congruence.  It was also wonderful to see Balanchine's reputation strengthened and established in academia.  I have reservations on some of what was presented. It's important to realize there are differing opinions and conclusions out there on much of the work presented.

[atm711]

Ah, Leigh--what a tease your comments are     Is your 'assignment' an article in Ballet Review?  Then I shall have to wait MONTHS to read it .  What  questions could have made Tallchief evasive in her interview with Mr. Mason?

[Leigh Witchel]

ATM - yes, for BR (and apologies, I didn't mean to be teasing!)

I'm going to take back at least a portion of what I said on Tallchief as my own mistake.  I asked her about Paris in '47 and the setting of Palais de Cristal.  She talked about Baiser, Apollo (dancing with Michel Renault) and how much she enjoyed it; everything but Palais.  But looking at Catalogue of Works, she didn't dance Palais, but Symphony in C in NYC the following year, even though she did go to Paris with Balanchine.  So that could simply be a misunderstanding.

Two telling comments during that conversation:  Francis Mason reminiscing about Massine and calling it "pretentious nonsense" in passing - he used Massine as an example of going to see ballet and disliking it before Balanchine.  I promised him I would corner him at some point and make him defend that statement.  I've now heard that from more than one person of that time; Kurvenal said something very similar here in a great thread from a while back, but I want details.  Something in me has a question about the bad rap Massine is getting.

In a similar vein, Tallchief said that Balanchine was a "bad pianist.  A wonderful musician but a bad pianist."  Now, Tallchief was trained as a concert pianist, so I have to take her seriously, but Balanchine also had three years of conservatory education and before this gets perpetuated into the canon of legend about Balanchine, I'd like corroboration.

[atm711]

Thanks Leigh, now I can sleep tonight     "Pretentious nonsense" --wow.  I am one of the last people on earth who would put Balanchine down--but, there was Ballet in NY before Balanchine---Ballet Theatre in the mid 40's is the best example.  They had very little Balanchine and did quite well with Tudor, deMille and Robbins---and yes, Massine, especially 'Aleko', a ballet I always enjoyed.  It is true, his popularity as a choreographer was on the wane, but it's too bad Mr. Mason did not see him as a performer.

[Jack Reed]

Yes, Peppermint, do, please, post more about the symposium!  I would have been there, but (contrary to the sentiment in my signature line), I went to Florida to watch MCB premiere "Ballo" and "Stravinsky Violin  Concerto" instead.  (About which, more soon, I hope, but anyone else, go ahead and post about that!)  Do you know about transcripts or, in this day and age, DVD's of the proceedings for those of us who weren't there?  

It's ironic, in this Age of Silver for programs of great interest to some of us Balanchinians, to have a conflict like that!  (I mean, the Age of Gold was when he was running his own company and you could just pick some programs by their repertory and go and be delighted and amazed...)

[citrus]

The symposium is recorded and will be shown on UMTV. Last I checked it's not listed yet. Here's the link.
http://ipumich.tempp...umtv/pindex.php

I was told there'll be videotapes available after the broadcast.