56 replies to this topic

[Ostrich]

cubanmiamiboy, on Nov 5 2007, 10:56 PM, said:

...it's that if you continously put duble assemblé en tournant,pirouettes and too much technique,it becomes the Spectre of Turns.

dancerboy87, on Oct 31 2007, 02:38 PM, said:

The two best performance I have seen on video are by Maris Liepa who I always thought the best until I had seen Andris Liepa who is for me the best of many performances I have seen live and on film. Yes, it was a great shock for me to see Andris so perfect in THIS role.

I can imagine that Spectre would suit Andris Liepa very well. Like innopac, I'd love to get a DVD/video of him in Spectre, if anyone has any info.

[87Sigfried87]

Sorry if I disappeared for a while but I didn't have my web connection during the last week.I'll tell you now how it went the performance.I've had some troubles with finding a good costume,as this piece is not very much played.I've tried in many specialized places but,maybe i'm too fussy when it's about my job and the Aesthetic taste i pretend when i'm performing something.It's a vice,sorry.Not being able to find anything I had to order it. 85 euros and they had the courage to give me a whole tight suit,from the chest to the feet,skin coloured....without anything!Just a very tight suit.I don't even know why I paid it.Then,as usual I had to make the costume myself....at least I was sure about the result.I used the suit as the starting point.I had to add myself the petals of the rose around the neck,front and back,around the sleeves and around the left leg at the beginning of it.Then it stilled missed something.Like a thunder a genial idea came to my mind.Why not giving the idea of dewdrops on the petals?the problem was how to give back the illusion.How? light gluedrops on the external part of the petals covered in a few glitters,the most sober possible.The result was great,you should see it.Everybody said to me:"but you made it yourself?How good you are!you could have been a stylist!".I could maybe but i'm a dancer;-).Coming to the performance.I told you that i didn't know how to interpret the role and that the stage will let me know in the right moment.I just stepped on stage and become a spectre.I've found myself being softly seductive and a bit malicious in the moments of solo and when trying to wake up the girl,protective in the PDD moments.Don't know if this was the right way,but it was my way.The girl was perfectly in the role and pretty in her "degas".Everything went alright,but a moment in which I forgot a little part but nobody noticed...i just invented a few steps which i think worked.The only thing I didn't like was that it was an Opera gala and you surely know how the Opera audience is absolutely not interested or a little interested in watching a ballet moment.They asked me to go and bring a Waltz piece and i brought the Spectre but it wasn't the warm audience of ballet.They applauded very little and not very much concerned about what was going on.I could have danced better(as always...we can always be better!)but i'm satysfied,as i had only a week to prepare the piece and had also to make the costume on my own .

[carbro]

Thank you for the report, dancerboy.

Sounds like you came up with a very effective costume!  And I'm glad to hear you were generally satisfied with your performance.  Too bad you didn't have a better audience.

I hope you get to perform the role again.  You deserve a chance to continue to grow in it.

[papeetepatrick]

dancerboy--I liked this a lot too, it was like going through the whole process with you in getting work together, envisioning it and developing it in the mind; and then completing it.  The description of the costume and performance is first-rate--so that this turns out to have been one of the nicest threads I've seen on Ballet Talk.

[bart]

Thanks, dancerboy.  It's so interesting and refreshing to read about ballets being discussed from the point of view of the performer, as you have done here.  

Working out problems of interpretation, costume, and audience differences make the dancer's achievements seem even more miraculous to me.  

I hope that you'll continue to bring these matters to Ballet Talk.  All best wishes ...

[87Sigfried87]

bart, on Nov 17 2007, 09:15 PM, said:

Thanks, dancerboy.  It's so interesting and refreshing to read about ballets being discussed from the point of view of the performer, as you have done here.  

Working out problems of interpretation, costume, and audience differences make the dancer's achievements seem even more miraculous to me.  

I hope that you'll continue to bring these matters to Ballet Talk.  All best wishes ...

Thanks to everyone!I could't imagine this post would have been so interesting for you.Thought it was just the writing of a paranoic dancer before a performance;-).Now I have some new projects to work on....I'll ask you some advices in another post maybe:-).Thanks again.

[carbro]

I think we all felt a bit invested in your successful performance.  Thanks for letting us play balletmaster!  (A daydream come true for at least some of us! )  And please do keep us alert to your new projects.

[artist]

yes, thank you for bringing me back into the wonder of performance, as I've have become a little detached from ballet nowadays. your reply made me feel a sense of awe and warmth rather than the usual melancholy and jealousy; it brought me back to remembering how I used to feel when i danced.

[ViolinConcerto]

Dancerboy, I also thank you for welcoming us into your world, because, like many here, I am not a dancer, but often wish to know what goes on -- especially in a dancer's mind -- to create what happens on the stage.  

[cubanmiamiboy]

While sunbathing at the beach today i heard Carl Maria von Weber's "Invitation to the Dance" on the radio and it made me think of your performance.  Congratulations, dancerboy, and don't get discouraged at all for the "little applause" thing...everybody has had their "little applause" nights, even our sacred balled idols...Here, this is the BT audience applauding you for your "Spectre"...         

[Paul Parish]

Congratulations, dancerboy -- your costume sounds very appealing, and also that making it was a way to help get into the character.

Like carbro, I have to say, it was wonderful of you to invite us into your process, and I'd bet there was a whole claque of us here at BA pulling for you. I hope you get to do the piece again somewhere. Check around -- there must be benefits of all sorts that would welcome you onto the bill.... Merde!

[87Sigfried87]

thanks again to everybody for supporting me:-).If i become a "big" in ballet i'll remeber you and this site....yeah but that's impossible ehehehehe.See you soon.