Wanted: new story lines for a 21st Century Swan Lake

[4mrdncr]

Re: Don Juan. I have a picture of Nureyev in a version of this (c. early 1970's?), with I think Karen Kain?--possibly a one-act/pdd/divertissement for NBoC? So I guess it was done sort of. Don Juan would probably have been a good role for him; who today?

Re: Tristan & Isolde. There are PLENTY of opportunities for group dances AND Irish dances (if we don't slavishly use all of Wagner)--since Isolde was at the Irish court when she first meets Tristan (injured, disguised etc.). And maybe we could have the marriage of Mark & Isolde with poor Tris moping around the edges a la Des Grieux in the Manon party scene? Not too mention a "knights dance"--hey it worked in R&J, and Raymonda has its knights etc. too of various nationalities. Personally though, I want to see the pdd's. But anyways, it can be done, and should not be too hard to do either.

Gatsby and Streetcar are interesting as modern classics that could be translatable--LOTS of crowd scenes in Gatsby, and Gershwin incorporated jazz syncopation so why not a modern/film composer?--but both also seem more like something Bourne would tackle,than a true classicist.

Did anyone ever see that "Liasons Dangereuse" ballet in London a year or two ago? Bet that had a few interesting pdd's.

[Mel Johnson]

I think Cranko's Antigone was created on the beautiful Svetlana Beriosova. She recited Russian text as she danced....

Wasn't it in Ashton's Persephone that she recited Gide in french?

And was parodied by the Hoffnung Concerts, in a sketch called "Variations on a Bedtime Theme". Annetta Hoffnung solemnly declaimed several nonsense phrases, "Je suis la plume sur le chapeau de ma tante!" and a commercial, also in French, for Bournevita.

[bart]

4mrdncr's suggestion of Gatsby strikes me as being a winner, though not the universally appealing topic that is our ostensible goal on this thread.

Is it possible that no one has tried to do this before?

[CeC]

This thread has kept me occupied all day, choreographing in my mind is apparently more fun than doodling ;) But before I start I need an Andrew Lloyd Webber to create these, someone with gigantic vision and the talent to support it. Then - well first I want Amadeus, the movie story line ... and maybe the music ... (tho' perhaps it would have "too many steps" lol!). Actually, a great many artists have lives that would suit a ballet or opera - Beethoven, Picasso, van Gogh, Hemingway perhaps? And what about our more recent politicians? Back to the movies for the Last Emperor, the still running life of Benazir Bhutto who intrigues me more than Cleopatra or Elizabeth I, or ... maybe even ... Imelda Marcos?! Oh oh oh listen to this!! The Gang of Five or assorted other leaders of the Cultural Revolution trying to make dancers perform The Red Detachment of Women and White Hair Girl but they sneak away to nightclubs and dance the new acro ballets the Butterfly Lovers and Swan Lake ... we could call it Dirty Dancing ...

Ok, I'll stop but thanks to all for my new hobby! Now all I need is the Andrew Lloyd Webber person ...

[jllaney]

Someone mentioned Ridley Scott's Blade Runner earlier so I'll nominate Legend. It has a universal good vs evil story line, a young hero and heroine, and a potential corps of fairies. Not to mention a bad guy named darkness that would keep the make-up crew busy all night. I think I've seen it mentioned that ABT's Nutcracker has unicorns so we can borrow theirs if we need them.

[Mme. Hermine]

Labyrinth? You know, the David Bowie one?

[bart]

Perhaps it's time to review the list of possible ballet stories that Lincoln Kirstein "discussed" with Balanchine and then proposed to his friend A. Everett Austin back in 1933:

Pocahontas. 17th century English dance music. Decor based on American primitives.

Domesday. Libretto by Katherine Anne Porter, "the superb biographer of Cotton Mather." Decor based on New England gravestones.

Uncle Tom's Cabin. Libretto by e.e. cummings. Music by Stephen Foster.

Defeure of Richmond: "Debacle danse on a libretto of John Peale Bishop ... Virgil Thomson is excited about the music. All about Southern swords and roses."

Custer's Last Stand: After Currier and Ives "the circling Indians: corps de ballet shooting at the chief dancers in the center. Ponies: Ritual of scouts going out, [ stylized] Indian dances ..."

A toss-up between:

Flying Clouds (about N.E. clipper ships), or

Moby Dick.

Kirstein goes on: "Then there are Balanchine's own ideas: [ ...... ]," which appear to have been quite different. I wonder what Balanchine thought of Kirstein's?