Ich bin...the Dybbuk

[Dybbuk]

I enrolled - incorrectly - at the sister site, and even pecked out my Happy-to-be-Aboard post, only to find out I was in the wrong place.

I don't dance. But, I've acted a lot—on the Community Theater level. And as I said at the other site, I played the title role in The Dybbuk, and having seen "Dybbuk Variations" listed in 101 Sotries of the Great Ballets, I found the perfect name for me.

I'm a guy (in case you have any doubts about the gender of the Dybbuk), who, in the past year or so, has discovered the jaw-dropping beauty of ballerinas. In fact, I cannot understand why this isn't the favorite spectator sport for males from 13 to 133.

I haven't seen a ballet in the flesh yet, and have had to content myself with watching DVDs. But when these include the likes of Gillian Murphy, Julia Makhalina, et al, well, I don't feel severely disadvantaged or culturally deprived.

I'm here to learn about this mind boggling art, and I hope some of my inane questions don't drive you crazy. And while I'm at it, here comes one:

Why didn't Balanchine include Scheherazade in his "101 Stories..."? He also left out Polyvetsian Dances but since I can't spell it, I won't mention it here.

Anyway, I'm very, very happy to be a member here at last. I'll probably just lurk for awhile, at least until I get a good feel for this very nice place.

[Leigh Witchel]

Welcome to Ballet Talk, O Restless Spirit Giannina, the unparalleled Welcome Lady, will certainly give you the official greeting, but since I had an answer for you, I'll chime in first. I hope you find more answers here, and that you'll be inspired to see some live performances. As important for preservation and access DVD is, I'm sure you know from your own theatrical experience, it can't match being in a theater and sharing the electricity with the rest of the audience.

To answer your question about the book, it may have just been an editorial choice. I have an expanded version of the same (Balanchine's Festival of Ballet, which was published in two volumes) and it has both Scheherezade and the Polovtsian Dances - which are called "Prince Igor."

[Giannina]

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Dybbuk; glad to have you on both boards. We look forward to having you share in our discussions. Please feel free to ask questions. Since this is a welcome thread it doesn't get much traffic; you'll get more responses if you post your questions on a forum related to the question. Enjoy!

Giannina

[Dybbuk]

Thank you Leigh Witchel. Thank you Giannina.

I'm sure we'll run into each other soon.

[rg]

in short, the confusion w/ the balanchine book(s) comes from the different publications of the text:

101 STORIES OF THE GREAT BALLETS is an abridged, 'pocket' paperback version [Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday, 1975] of BALANCHINE'S COMLETE STORIES OF THE GREAT BALLETS [see below for the enlarged US edition and the UK soft-cover reprint (in 2 vols.).

my guess would be 101 STORIES made its selection guided by ballets then in active repertory - at the time neither SHEHEREZADE nor POLOVTSIAN DANCES was much in evidence.

here's how the NYPL dance collection catalogue lists the works:

Balanchine's Complete stories of the great ballets / by George Balanchine ; and Francis Mason. Rev. and enl. ed.

Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1977. xxvi, 838 p., [32] leaves of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.

Edition for 1968 published under title: Balanchine's New complete stories of the great ballets.

Balanchine's festival of ballet : scene-by-scene stories of 404 classical & contemporary ballets / George Balanchine & Francis Mason.

London : W.H. Allen, 1984.

2 v. : ill. ; 23 cm.

A Comet book

Edition for 1977 published under title : Balanchine's Complete stories of the great ballets.