Best Closing Images

[BalletNut]

How about a companion topic to Bart's "Opening Images" thread?

Which ballets have closing images, right before the curtain goes down, which stick in your mind long after the ballet is over?

For me, I'd say Glass Pieces, Serenade, 4 Temperaments, and Apollo.

What are your favorite closing images?

[Farrell Fan]

I think the pas de deux in the middle of Glass Pieces is its highlight, but I agree with your other choices of closing images, BalletNut. I like both endings of Apollo -- the trek upstairs to Olympus and the muses in arabesque in the "sunburst " behind Apollo. The endings of The Four Temperaments and Serenade are among my favorites. Both are mysterious and moving. I think I like best of all the ending of Symphony in Three Movements. Funny how the ballets with my favorite opening images conclude with my favorite closing ones.

[Giannina]

Romeo and Juliet, not so much because of beauty but for emotional impact.

Giannina

[bart]

I also agree with Apollo. Unforgettable in both versions. I like the ladder tableau best.

Seranade, too. I was just looking at an older b&w photo of the NYCB. The cambres to the back are exceptional: the lead ballerina, who is being held upright on the shoulders of one of the three men, is bending deeply, in a kind of surrender; the mother figure less, but deep nonetheless; the 6 women are bending least of all. I missed this distinction in recent Miami City Ballet performances.

I'd add Western Symphony -- stage full of endlessly pirouetting dancers in formation.

Afternoon of a Faun -- the motionless girl, staring out at the audience (the imaginary mirror).

Among the endings that are not successful in my book: just about every version of Swan Lake I've seen has been anticlimactic and confusing (in stage terms, not musically). La Sonnambula after the Sleepwalker leaves with the Poet in her arms. The tableau at the end of Firebird. Prodigal Son ends in an image that is meant to be more moving than I have ever felt -- I always wonder how heavy he is in the arms of the dancer who plays his father. Albrecht's grief at the end of Giselle can be great or counterfeit, depending on the dancer.

[Helene]

Union Jack!

[bart]

Help! There's a big hole in my memory where the ending of the Balanchine Don Q used to be. I remember Balanchine's Don dying, and have a vague impression that some kind of apotheosis took place. Is this one of the great endings?

[chauffeur]

just about every version of Swan Lake I've seen has been anticlimactic and confusing (in stage terms, not musically).

The closing image in the Australian Ballet's Swan Lake (as choreographed by Graeme Murphy) might be an exception. I really can't do it justice in 1000 words or less, but suffice it to say, it was one of the few "kickers" in a story ballet that has ever made me gasp and "get it".

Well, OK, I'll try. This version's Lake is a huge tilted ellipse centered upstage (high end upstage). As I recall, the first time it's seen, it's covered with sparkly white velvet and the Swans rest on it. Next time, at the end, it's covered with a black velvet. At the very end, when Odette seems to willingly sacrifices herself to save her prince, she sinks ("drowns") rapidly into a circular trap door at the top of this ellipse. In sinking, the black velvet whips down through the door with her, leaving a blindingly white ellipse. The immediate impact is to show Odette taking the darkness of evil with her, leaving behind goodness. Totally worked for me.

[Mel Johnson]

Help! There's a big hole in my memory where the ending of the Balanchine Don Q used to be. I remember Balanchine's Don dying, and have a vague impression that some kind of apotheosis took place. Is this one of the great endings?

No, before the curtain falls, there is a long procession. The Don is lifted up on a platform, then descends to his stage level. A vision of Dulcinea as the Blessed Virgin appears, then he dies, surrounded by his mourning servants. If I remember correctly, the servant girl/Dulcinea kneels and buries her face in her hands, echoing the end of the variation in the forest pas d'action. This is the cue for the final curtain.

[Farrell Fan]

Before Dulcinea buries her face in her hands, she places two sticks in the form of a cross on the Don's chest. (I'm not sure why there wasn't a proper crucifix in the house.) The most memorable part of the last scene is the procession Mel alludes to, wherein many famous knights march slowly by and kneel in homage before the dying Knight of La Mancha.

[Mel Johnson]

Making a rustic cross is often a visual reference to St. John the Baptist, although what applicability that would have here, I don't know.

[Amy Reusch]

Christopher d'Amboise's "Franklin Court" when the non-descript set pieces suddenly conform into the Franklin Ghost House sculpture...

[sandik]

Apollo certainly, and Green Table (convenient that it matches the opening!)

[Mel Johnson]

A further thought on Don Q and Prodigal Son - both ballets end with a sort of Pieta. Others?

[bart]

Thanks, mel and farrell fan, for the imagery from Don Q. A lot going on -- perhaps that's why I didn't recall it after all these decades. The image of Balanchine, however, does endure.

The Pieta imagery from Prodigal Son was something I had not thought of. I just wish the Father weren't standing so rigidly -- as indeed he is at the begiinning of the ballet -- making it appear an exercse in mechanical physics ("hold that back straight/ shoulders down") as well as a spiritual image.

And thanks, chauffeur, for that vivid description of the closing to the Australian Ballet's Swan Lake. I love the idea of a swift change to white light. It avoids a major problem in most productions: the audience either can't see or doesn't understand what is supposed to be going on. There's a lot to be said for direct and powerful imagery, even in the classics.

[perky]

Symphony In C and Vienna Waltzes, both thrilling swirling masses of white and Walpurgisnaught Ballet when the lead ballerina hurls herself into the man's arms while the corp of loose haired girls dance like the floor is on fire.

[Mme. Hermine]

Etudes!

[Natalia]

Sleeping Beauty-1890 by the Kirov: The lowering of the garlands from the ceiling...the raising of the final back-tableau curtain, revealing the forces of good chasing away the forces of evil...the courtiers and main characters frozen in their final poses, up front. The final chords of Tchaikovsky's booming majestic sound. That's it - that's 'ballet'!

[GoCoyote!]

MacMillan's Song of the Earth - together with Mahler's music of course! - a very simple and 'grounded' ending scene which is at the same time beautifully ethereal.

[canbelto]

For emotional impact, nothing like Giselle, with Albrecht standing or kneeling, with only the flower petals to remind him of his night. In fact, from the time the bell rings to the end of the ballet, I think those are the most heartbreaking moments in all of classical ballet. A great Giselle will really make it unforgettable. I think my favorite is Alicia Alonso: before descending into her grave, she does a beautiful penchee and allows Albrecht to kiss her hand for the last time. I get chills. I also love the pictures of Fonteyn and Nureyev, where she has her arms around him in a tight hug, eyes closed, as if she literally wanted to hold him forever. Natalia Makarova also did it beautifully -- the way she boureed in circles around Albrecht, each circle being farther away, and finally descended into her grave. And then there's Alina Cojocaru -- she gently lifts Albrecht's arm, as if to say, "You're alive." It's so heartbreaking yet life affirming.

For geometric spectacle, I love Symphony in C. I also love Vienna Waltzes, with the swirling gowns. And I love Who Cares?, with everyone dancing happily onstage. I love how Balanchine doesn't make everyone dance uniformly -- he makes it kind of like a real dance party, with everyone just doing their own happy dance. Puts a huge smile on my face. And call me cheesy, but I love Balanchine's Nutcracker, when Marie and the Prince are lifted into their little snowsled and leave the Kingdom of the Sweets.

The Two Pigeons is also incredibly lovely -- the second pigeon flies into the garret, as a symbol of the lovers reconciling.

[Dale]

Sleeping Beauty-1890 by the Kirov: The lowering of the garlands from the ceiling...the raising of the final back-tableau curtain, revealing the forces of good chasing away the forces of evil...the courtiers and main characters frozen in their final poses, up front. The final chords of Tchaikovsky's booming majestic sound. That's it - that's 'ballet'!

Yes. I was thinking of this too, this morning before I left for work. I have a postcard of this last scene on my fridge. The clouds, the garlands, all the characters posed, and the Lilac Fairy rising up in the middle of it all.

Somebody here said that it was interesting that some of the ballets with the best openings also had the best closing moments. Many of the ballets we've mentioned are by Balanchine, which probably reflects the ballets we (on the board) see most often, but also must reflect that he knew how important these opening and closing moments are. Midsummer also has a beautiful close -- with Puck floating in the sky.

[Amy Reusch]

Okay, I must be vulnerable to descending set pieces... the flag lowering in Stars & Stripes is pretty spectacular too.... (alright, I'll start thinking about "choreographic" final images).

[Leigh Witchel]

For a chilling ending, La Sylphide - Madge standing over James' body in ambivalent triumph as the curtain lowers silently.

[katrinafsmith]

I think I'd have to go for the closing tableau of Les Noces, with all the heads resting on top of one another. It's just such a powerful and distinctive image.

Katrina

[Helene]

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Katrina! We're glad you decided to join our discussions.

Please feel free to introduce yourself on our Welcome Forum by clicking the "New Topic" button in the upper right part of the site.

[Paul Parish]

I love the end of the Firebird, with the Prince and the whole city advancing en masse to that unbelievably thrilling music.

Similarly, at the end of the Hard Nut, when the Nutcracker prince advances towards Clara/Marie with the whole world coming in behind him like what he has to offer her..... so romantic, so beautiful, so rich.

Generally speaking, Mark Morris ends ballets wonderfully -- "Dido" has a magnificent ending, when the two last women sit at opposite ends of the bench facing away from each other, like statues on a monument, grieving. l'Allegro ends wonderfully with all those people rushing downstage like a cascade of joy. And Sylvia has a wonderful finale tableau, with the 2 gods (Cupid and Diana) upstage holding their bows and facing each other, like a pair of gates center-stage, and the lovers downstage hand-in-hand holding the arrrow of Cupid aloft.

Has anybody mentioned "Les Sylphides"? Like Pas de Quatre, it ends with the tableau with which it began, ready to start again.... both beautiful. Speaking of Pas de Quatre, I love the way the Trocks do the final tableau -- unwinding it and doing it again over and over. It's not just funny (which it is), it's quite miraculous....