article about Ghislaine Thesmar

[cygneblanc]

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-...1-946241,0.html

An article about her teaching activities and how she coaches stars. It also says she will retire in one year when she's 65.

[Farrell Fan]

I remember fondly her guest appearances with NYCB.

[bart]

Farrell Fan, you reminded me that I saw her as Sugarplum in Nutcracker (an unexpected surprise). Someone in a seat nearby said: "That's Ghislaine Thesmar" with lots of !!!! so I knew this was someoneecial. But I had always assumed this was a rare guest appearance. Did she dance in other NYCB repertoire?

That one New York performance, which I don't really remember visually, is my only experience of this dancer. Thank you, cygneblanc, for the article. I love the way she considers her dancers to be something like the children she never had. Jose Martinez's comment is interesting:

As opposed to most repetiteurs, she imposes nothing. She watches us, listens to us, and constructs the role with us.

[carbro]

She danced Concerto Barocco -- first violin, of course -- In G Major, and, if I remember correctly, Emeralds.

[rg]

for what strikes my eye as remarkably beautiful footage of thesmar the lacotte LA SYLPHIDE - after taglioni - is not to be missed.

thesmar also appears on THE ROMANTIC ERA both as a part of duet with M. Denard and as part of THE GRAND PAS DE QUATRE.

both as follows:

La sylphide / produced by Yves André Hubert ; choreography by Pierre Lacotte, after Filippo Taglioni.W. Long Branch, N.J. Kultur, 1972.(65 min.) : sd., col.

Danced by the Paris Opéra Ballet: Ghislaine Thesmar (La Sylphide), Michael Denard (James), Laurence Nerval (Effie), Mathé Souverbie (Sorceress), Yvette Bouland (Mother), and others.

Music, Jean Schneitzhöffer ; music for Pas de trois, Act I, by Ludwig Maurer ; scenery, Marie Claire Musson, after Pierre Luc Ciceri ; costumes, Michel Fresnay, after Eugène Lami.

The romantic era / directed by Merrill Brockway ; produced by Joseph Wishy ; originally conceived, produced and directed for the stage by Joseph Wishy. U.S. : ABC Video Enterprises, c1980. (90 min.) : sd., col.

Taped during the eighth annual International Cervantino Festival (Cervantes International Festival) at the Teatro Juarez, Guanajuato, Mexico, in spring 1980.

Musical direction, George Crum ; set design, Ed Wittstein ; lighting, Ralph Holmes ; written by Faubion Bowers.

Narrator: Erik Bruhn.

Danced by Eva Evdokimova with Peter Schaufuss, Ghislaine Thesmar with Michel Denard, Carla Fracci with James Urbain, and Alicia Alonso with Jorge Esquivel.

Music played by the Orchestra Sinfonic de Xalapa, conducted by George Crum.

Dance contents: Défilé / music, Chopin ; introducing the eight dancers: Eva Evdokimova with Peter Schaufuss, Ghislaine Thesmar with Michel Denard, Carla Fracci with James Urbain, and Alicia Alonso with Jorge Esquivel -- Pas de deux from Esmeralda / reconstruction and choreography, John Gilpin ; music, Cesare Pugni ; danced by Evdokimova and Schaufuss -- Pas de deux from Natalie (La laitière suisse) / reconstruction and choreography, Pierre Lacotte ; music, Adalbert Gyrowetz and Michele Enrico Carafa ; danced by Thesmar and Denard -- Pas de deux from La péri / reconstruction and choreography, Loris Gai ; music, Friedrich Burgmüller ; danced by Fracci and Urbain -- Pas de deux from the 3rd act of Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera Robert le diable / reconstruction and choreography, Alberto Méndez ; danced by Alonso and Esquivel ; introduced by Joseph Wishy. Adagio from Act II of Giselle / choreography, Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, arranged by Anton Dolin ; music, Adolphe Adam ; danced in sequence by Evdokimova and Schaufuss, Thesmar and Denard, Fracci and Urbain, and Alonso and Esquivel -- Pas de quatre / reconstruction and choreography, Anton Dolin ; music, Cesare Pugni ; danced by Alonso as Taglioni, Evdokimova as Grahn, Fracci as Cerrito, and Thesmar as Grisi ; introduced by Anton Dolin.

: Alicia Alonso, Carla Fracci, Ghislaine Thesmar, and Eva Evdokimova are shown in various pas de deux from the Romantic era of 19th-century ballet, and in Anton Dolin's Pas de quatre. Interspersed is a discussion by the four ballerinas on the romantic style, and comments by Anton Dolin about his version of the Pas de quatre.

[Alexandra]

I never saw her dance, and it's one of my regrets. I agree with rg that the Sylphide is gorgeous. She's also on DVD coaching several POB principals in La Bayadere.

[bart]

She danced Concerto Barocco -- first violin, of course -- In G Major, and, if I remember correctly, Emeralds.

I'm having a hard time placing this in time. Would this have been the late 70s?

What were your impressions of her in the Balanchine rep?

[rg]

the NYPL has cat. entries for reports and thesmar and NYCB from both 1976 and 1978.

[cygneblanc]

Anyone knows if there are some Dvds when we can see her actually dancing ? I may have seen her dancing when I was young but i don't remember it

[rg]

i assume you mean actually dancing balanchine? as noted above the only vids i know show her dancing lacotte's work.

[carbro]

It doesn't say what ballet/excerpts, but I found this on a search on Amazon. It may well be the pas from Lacotte's Sylphide -- or maybe something else?

[cygneblanc]

Balanchine or something else...Thanks a lot for the link, I've ordered the DVD From I saw on amazon, the romantic era seems to be available only as a VHS

[zerbinetta]

She danced Concerto Barocco -- first violin, of course -- In G Major, and, if I remember correctly, Emeralds.

You remember correctly, carbro. She knocked my socks off. Made me blub, actually. A first for me in Emeralds.

[Mme. Hermine]

i saw her in 1977 in chicago at the first international festival there, dancing in prodigal son opposite baryshnikov, i don't recall too much specific except her wonderful bearing.

[ViolinConcerto]

I remember that she danced at one of the early performances of NYCB that I saw in late 1978. I believe it was in Swan Lake.

[atm711]

It may well be the pas from Lacotte's Sylphide --

It is.