30 replies to this topic

[Naoko S]

rq, thanks v much for taking time to post this!  Looks like a very interesting documentary they filmed here - what a shame it's no longer accessible to us (as far as I'm aware, it's not commercially available - is it?) ........

Mark, when you stress that "the POB is doing real great with filming in the last years", is it based on a relative comparison with other major ballet companies?  If so, yes, I'd admit they were indeed doing a good job compared to, for example, companies M or B of Russia.  (Considering a prestigeous place they've held in the ballet world, their neglect in this filming business is simply outrageous; it's as if they've not had a slightest interest in contributing to promote the form of art by sharing their great assets with a wider audience.)  Didn't NYCB used to have the video series called "Balanchine Library"?  (I'm not sure if they are still available.)  It does sound like a very appealing idea to me - having POB Library, Mariinsky Library, etc.  (But then I may just be day-dreaming....)

Françoise, thanks for the detailed info. on upcoming filming projects.  Personally I'd trade DVDs of all of these works with a single DVD featuring Platel in the lead role (and in the classics of course)!

[Marc Haegeman]

Françoise, on Jun 14 2004, 09:45 PM, said:

Without make commercial video, they can broadcast gala on TV as they do for the Royal Ballet cloture or opening Gala of Royal Opera House of Covent Garden or some other galas. It's not because they broadcast it, they will not fill the show room  :shrug:  !

It's not enough. To broadcast it once on some foreign channel in the middle of the night, and then shelve it, never to use it again - that's not very useful.

Yes absolutely, Naoko, I meant Mariinsky and Bolshoi especially - where no ballet video was commercially released in the last ten years outside their own theatres (even the filming of the Bolshoi's "Pharaoh's Daughter" is a French initiative). I'm afraid that we still have a much too idealistic view of this matter. It's really not about "having interest in contributing to promote the form of art by sharing their great assets with a wider audience" - it's foremost about money.

[Françoise]

Quote

It's not enough. To broadcast it once on some foreign channel in the middle of the night, and then shelve it, never to use it again - that's not very useful.

It's sure that it will be just for a night but you know perfectly that ballet amators loves to see this kind of problem and own material to record it  :rolleyes: . It will be better to diffuse the great galas that some other people who never go to Ballet can see and can go after than never diffuse it.

In Russia they broadcast too many Bolshoi or Kirov Ballets on Kultura channel and it's good to can see Limpid stream, Notre-Dame de Paris, Bayadere, Eifman's ballet or other productions like that even if they don't make video after. For me it's also interesting to have the both thing !

[Naoko S]

[quote name='Marc Haegeman' date='Jun 15 2004, 07:32 AM'] ![/QUOTE]
I'm afraid that we still have a much too idealistic view of this matter. It's really not about "having interest in contributing to promote the form of art by sharing their great assets with a wider audience" - it's foremost about money. [/quote]
Why not - I'd rather discuss about "ideals" than to be a wise man and keep my mouth shut without any attempt....  I mean, if us ballet fans did not bother to make our own wish-list on must-have "dream" ballet videos, who would?

I'm totally ignorant on the background of the commercial side, but one interesting point is that whenever I browse through current ballet video catalogues, I cannot help but feel that even when they venture to release non-profit making ballet videos they are not always careful in selection.  Often choice of works/choreographies for certain companies/dancers seems wrong, or not convincing enough to stimulate (even a ballet fan's) appetite - I guess there must be a room for some improvements in this department.  Another myth is that while there's no doubt that a ballet video wouldn't make a block-buster, does releasing a new video or two cost a ballet company dear - could it cause a financial disaster?  I wonder if there really is no hope at all for ballet companies to make a profit out of this video business........

[Estelle]

Thanks for posting the link, Rosmarinus, I had heard about it but had forgotten to post it. That's a pity for Legris fan, as I'm not sure he might dance James again, given his age (turning 40 this year).

I was a bit surprised to see that the video will be filmed with Mathieu Ganio, who is very young and has never danced that role before (and perhaps a bit tall for Aurélie Dupont?) But as far as I know, among the present principals, Hilaire and Belarbi don't dance that role any longer,Le Riche won't dance it this time (perhaps because of a tour in Spain? I don't know), Bart is absent for injury unfortunately, so the only other choice would be Martinez but he's supposed to dance with Letestu. And probably they don't want to film premiers danseurs, even though Benjamin Pech is quite experienced in that role. Well, we'll see! I hope that it won't be too stressful for Mathieu Ganio: dancing the role six times, with two different partners (Ciaravola and Dupont) and being filmed during three of the performances, that's not the easiest way to start his career as an étoile!

[Estelle]

Thanks for posting the link, Rosmarinus, I had heard about it but had forgotten to post it. That's a pity for Legris fan, as I'm not sure he might dance James again, given his age (turning 40 this year).

I was a bit surprised to see that the video will be filmed with Mathieu Ganio, who is very young and has never danced that role before (and perhaps a bit tall for Aurélie Dupont?) But as far as I know, among the present principals, Hilaire and Belarbi don't dance that role any longer,Le Riche won't dance it this time (perhaps because of a tour in Spain? I don't know), Bart is absent for injury unfortunately, so the only other choice would be Martinez but he's supposed to dance with Letestu. And probably they don't want to film premiers danseurs, even though Benjamin Pech is quite experienced in that role. Well, we'll see! I hope that it won't be too stressful for Mathieu Ganio: dancing the role six times, with two different partners (Ciaravola and Dupont) and being filmed during three of the performances, that's not the easiest way to start his career as an étoile!

[Françoise]

I don't understand why people are shocking because a young dancer is recorded in a movie. It's sure that in Paris it's unusual to have young "principals" but in all the other countries, principals are young and they're the star of the ballets. For example Polina Semionova who is 19 year is Cinderella in Malakhov version.

I think that Pierre Lacotte agrees for this choice. He dislike Letestu's Paquita, and Martinez never dance with Aurélie Dupont very strangely. Mathieu is not too tall for Aurélie as he was a bit small for Agnès  :rolleyes:  !

Jean-Guillaume Bart will dance Diamonds in the Spanish tour with Marie-Agnès Gillot. As you said, Estelle, Kader Belarbi and Laurent Hilaire don't dance this part from a long time. I don't believe that Kader danced James, and theorically Laurent Hilaire has left his Etoile career for a Ballet master one ! Nicolas Le Riche don't dance the part this year and was already recorded this year in Ivan le Terrible. I don't think that James is his best part too. Mathieu Ganio was by fact the only one etoile able to dance this part.

I don't think that Pierre Lacotte wants to cancel the movie because of him. He wants absolutely have Aurélie Dupont in one of his production since Paquita. Aurelie should be filmed in Paquita but she injuried herself and the recording was postponed, it's for that Agnès Letestu and José Martinez were filmed in Paquita, but it was not the choice of Lacotte.

We must not forget that Lacotte made record his own Coppelia with POb School of Ballet and with Charline Giezendanner and a young pupil called.......... Mathieu Ganio   !

[Mashinka]

Françoise, on Jun 25 2004, 02:50 PM, said:

Mathieu Ganio was by fact the only one etoile able to dance this part.

I thought the whole point of those that feel unconfortable about this casting is that Ganio hasn't in fact danced this role at all.  He is an unknown quantity as James and I imagine his being chosen to star on this recording is as baffling as his promotion to etoile in the first place.

[Françoise]

I think it's completely Mathieu's technical possibilities. And I suppose that Direction will cancel the movie or Pierre Lacotte himself cancel the movie if they suppose that Mathieu will not be good as James.
It sure that he never dance this part, but I have completely confidence in him  

[Dale]

Estelle, on Jun 12 2004, 10:43 AM, said:

Oh yes, it's a pity there are so few videos of Platel- only Gamzatti in "La Bayadère" and the bride in "Les Noces" (but that's not a big role). But the POB didn't released many videos in quite a long period, unfortunately (and also some ballets were films and shown on TV, like for example "Le Tricorne" and "Le train bleu", but never available on tape and on DVD). They seem to film more ballets now, but still not enough...

[Edited to add that I posted that message before seeing Marc's message.]

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Those broadcasts of Le Tricorne and Le Train Bleu are going to be released, by Kultur.  The link below is the video's page on amazon. It doesn't give much information, but I spoke to the distributors and they said it contained those two ballets performed by POB.  Estelle or anybody else, do you remember who performed those ballets on TV?

http://www.amazon.co...&s=dvd&v=glance

It comes out December 20.

[Dale]

Estelle, on Jun 12 2004, 10:43 AM, said:

Oh yes, it's a pity there are so few videos of Platel- only Gamzatti in "La Bayadère" and the bride in "Les Noces" (but that's not a big role). But the POB didn't released many videos in quite a long period, unfortunately (and also some ballets were films and shown on TV, like for example "Le Tricorne" and "Le train bleu", but never available on tape and on DVD). They seem to film more ballets now, but still not enough...

[Edited to add that I posted that message before seeing Marc's message.]

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Those broadcasts of Le Tricorne and Le Train Bleu are going to be released, by Kultur.  The link below is the video's page on amazon. It doesn't give much information, but I spoke to the distributors and they said it contained those two ballets performed by POB.  Estelle or anybody else, do you remember who performed those ballets on TV?

http://www.amazon.co...&s=dvd&v=glance

It comes out December 20.

[Estelle]

Dale, thanks for the information !

If I remember correctly, it was filmed around 1993 and the dancers were:
-for "Le Train Bleu": Nicolas Le Riche (Le beau gosse, Anton Dolin's role), Elisabeth Maurin (Perlouse), Karin Averty (the tennis player) and Laurent Quéval (the golf player).
-for "Le Tricorne": Kader Belarbi (the Miller), Françoise Legrée (his wife), Fabrice Bourgeois (the bad guy- Corregidor, if I remember correctly. Bourgeois was a sujet who performed a lot of "bad guys" roles in the last years of his career, and anecdotically he is the husband of the former principal Fanny Gaïda).

It was part of a "Picasso et la danse" program which also included Roland Petit's "Le rendez-vous", but as far as I know Petit's work was not filmed (or at least the film was never shown on TV). It was one of the interesting programs of the Patrick Dupond era (from what I've read, it was an idea of Jean-Albert Cartier- the kind of ideas which is sorely lacking now at the POB in my opinion...
) Sadly, those works haven't been danced by the POB for quite a long while.
It's great to know that those ballets will be released on tape, all the more as most of the dancers in the main roles have retired since then (only Le Riche and Belarbi still are part of the company, and Belarbi will retire soon) and some of them were not filmed much during their careers.

Ah, to think I used to have those ballets one tape, and that my mother used the  tape to record some soap opera...        

[Dale]

Thanks Estelle.  I think it would be great if this release signals an agreement with Kultur and POB to release some of those old "Le foyer de la danse" programs (as opposed to the contract POB has with TDK). There have been quite a few of those programs.

[Dale]

Adding, that it's odd to think that these Massine and Nijinska works were once some of the most popular ballets on the circuit.  Reading historical accounts of the Ballets Russes, I always come across photos or descriptions of Toumanova or Danilova in the Miller's wife.

[Corina]

You can find  here all the video made by POB, we have the broadcast ballet or documentaries and all the commercial DVD or VHS.