Works and Process

[cargill]

I just wanted to give a brief report of the Guggenheim talk last night, and to encourage anyone who can to go tonight. It featured Todd Bolender coaching Phlegmatic and Peter Martins coaching Apollo. Bolender worked with Arch Higgins, who I think is doing it again tonight, and Martin with Ethan Stiefel, but tonight he will be working with Askegard.

Bolender is almost 90, but can still move, though he was assisted by someone from the Kansas City Ballet. He said Balanchine said absolutely nothing about the role, but to his knowledge, never changed anything. He also said that he had had a strong background in modern dance, worked with Wigman, I think he said, and that Balanchine used that. One thing I noticed about him was his very long arms, and he said that he was always very flexible, and that Balanchine used that. He did demonstrate some of the arm movements, which was so wonderful to see.

Martins in the interview after the session said that Balanchine had told him that Apollo was a demi-character role, and I wish that had been followed up on a bit. It would have been helpful, I think, to know how or if that distinction is used today, and if it figures in the casting. I know other places Martins has said that Balanchine didn't really like Martins' Apollo. But the coaching session was so wonderful--I felt I learned so much about the role in that brief amoung of time. Martins was very precise about the musical counts, correcting them often. And about the metaphors and images Balanchine used to explain the role. There was one place, where Stiefel danced quite beautifully, and then Martins explained that Balanchine wanted the image of a soccer player kicking a ball somewhere and that just completely energized the moment. There were lots of little things like that--the dancing on coals bit, as well. What struck me here (as well as in Phlegmatic) was the emphasis on not turning out. Bolender would correct the dancer and say "sixth position", and Martins showed clearly the difference it made in some of the movements. Martins stressed the difficulty of many of the moves, and it would have been interesting to hear his thoughts on how the choreography developed, and if Balanchine ever said anything--was it always that difficult, and if so, how did Lifar dance it?

It was a wonderful evening, and I was struck yet again by how generous Nancy Reynolds has been in getting sessions like this filmed. (She was responsible for this evening as well.) I am sure others there could fill in some of the things I left out, but it really was a great evening.