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Hello! I hope I can post this topic here, and someone can help!

When I was a young kid, in the 70's..I saw a performance by Baryshnikov on television...it seems to me he was wearing red tights, and chains across his bare chest. He did a stunning performance that left me speechless. He did something I'll call sit spins for lack of better ballet terminology, one after another. I remember it as the first time I swore in front of my mother. =)

So, two questions really...one, what was the performance? Is it on youtube or video?

ok, I lied, three questions..if you were a child in the 80's, and you had just seen a performance that made you want to become a ballerina, that was the most amazing thing you'd ever seen, that left you speechless (live, television, movie - take your pick!)...what would that performance have been?

(and yes, in case you're wondering I'm writing a book - I'd like to get as accurate as possible!)

thanks much for any information!!!

carrie

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If this (click -->here<-- ) is the costume, the ballet is Prodigal Son, the last ballet Balanchine choreographed for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. The step is a pirouette in fondu (or bent leg).

I see it's about to be issued on DVD! :yahoo: If you order thru the Amazon link at the top of the page, BalletTalk earns a small commission and, if you pre-order (deadline tomorrow!), you can save a few bucks. Be careful, though. There are two different DVDs titled "Choreography by Balanchine." The one you want (as if it isn't obvious :wacko: ) is the one with MB sailing through the air.

Welcome to BalletTalk, intcon!

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Come to think of it, volcano hunter, those things on his arms DO rather look like chains. (Or like the bicep tattos currently in vogue.)

RE: Prodigal Son. The costume he wears in the Balanchine dvd is quite different. Here's the dvd cover:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B0...3074&sr=1-2

Any thoughts that might help carrie out about a similar leave-you-speechless performer who might have been seen on tv in the 1980s? My mind is blank about that, though we do have a "first love" thread in the works right now, though it covers multiple decades.

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...c=29980&hl=

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i would suspect you have hit the mark w/ SPECTRE - i was almost going to suggest the Corsaire solo in THE TURNING POINT but there's no red tights there nor would it have been on tv in the70s, but this Wolf Trap footage was certainly shown on tv then.

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Thanks carbo! That's the outfit.....but the one on the DVD is different?

thanks for answering volcano hunter...not the right outfit, but i sure didn't mind watching the video...the man is incredible!

he was definitely bare chested, and it was shown on TV....

carrie

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The costume in Prodigal changes. There's a cape, there isn't. Then, in the seduction scene, the top disappears altogether.

It could be Corsaire, but wouldn't he be wearing whatever the word is for men's harem pants?

Also, I just played Spectre (MB with Fonteyn), and although the garland can seem like a "chain", the video confirmed my recollection that there's nothing in it that could be described as a sit-spin.

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I am wondering if it might be Shadowplay - Mischa danced it in 75 or 76 when Tudor brought it to ABT. The lead character (Dowell, Baryshnikov, Bujones) was dress in reddish tights and wore a chain mail type of light shirt. Don't think it was ever filmed, there were lots of photos, and it might have been on a television story.

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to the best of my knowledge SHADOWPLAY was never telecast w/ ABT.

the costume as i recall was white, or a light color (tights paired with a loose, net-like short t-shirt-like top (there is a somewhat familiar Kenn Duncan photo of MB costumed and posed for the role). i think the red/rust color was worn by the older man character - the one danced by D. Rencher (if mem. serves when Dowell did the role).

or so my so-called memory now tells me. i don't have any book/etc. references at my fingertips just now.

here is how it's given in the NYPL dance coll.

Shadowplay Chor: Antony Tudor; mus: Charles Koechlin (Les Bandar-Log, op. 176 & 2 fragments from La course de printemps, op. 95); lib: based on Kipling's Jungle book); scen & cos: Michael Annals. First perf: London, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Jan 25, 1967, Royal Ballet.//First U.S. perf: New York, Metropolitan Opera House, Apr 29, 1967, Royal Ballet.//First American Ballet Theatre perf: New York, City Center Theater, July 23, 1975.

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