10 replies to this topic

[iamawhiz]

Hey! I'm just curious as to which ballet this pas de deux is from:



Thanks!

[carbro]

Welcome, iamawhiz, to BalletTalk.

This is from Rudolf Nureyev's version pf Nutcracker for Paris Opera Ballet.   What did you think of it?

Traditionally, this music marks the scene change from the salon to the snowflakes and is not used for dancing.  

You can see it better on this clip.

[Simon G]

carbro, on 23 August 2010 - 12:12 AM, said:

This is from Rudolf Nureyev's version pf Nutcracker for Paris Opera Ballet.   What did you think of it?

Traditionally, this music marks the scene change from the salon to the snowflakes and is not used for dancing.  

Carbro,

In the Royal Ballet companies' version of The Nutcracker, (both Covent Garden & Birmingham), this passage of music is used after the Nutcracker Prince has fought off the rats & Clara thinks he's dead. She cries over his body and comes back to life and they dance to this music.

In the Nureyev version Clara & The Sugar Plum are danced by the same ballerina, in the UK versions they're danced by two different ballerinas.

[carbro]

Thank you for the clarification (Clara-fication?), Simon.  You are correct.  I guess the battle scene isn't actually in the salon -- more in Clara's imagination.

[Helene]

In Kent Stowell's "Nutcracker", this music is also used for a pas de deux between the Nutcracker turned adult cavalier and adult dancer Clara.

[ViolinConcerto]

Everyone's Gotta Have a Gimmick!

[Simon G]

Though Nureyeve did stage his version of The Nutcracker on the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden during the 70s, there's a film of it with Merle Park as Clara/SugarPlum Fairy. Though it was abandoned for Peter Wright's more traditional version (and better version too).

Incidentally is anyone else left completely cold by Merle Park?

[papeetepatrick]

Simon G, on 28 August 2010 - 03:52 PM, said:

Incidentally is anyone else left completely cold by Merle Park?

Certainly not, but such confession comes as little surprise.  Your fussy tastes can be quite trying, you know.

[Simon G]

papeetepatrick, on 28 August 2010 - 04:14 PM, said:

Simon G, on 28 August 2010 - 03:52 PM, said:

Incidentally is anyone else left completely cold by Merle Park?

Certainly not, but such confession comes as little surprise.  Your fussy tastes can be quite trying, you know.

Yeah, well, that's the way I roll bay-buh. What can I say, I'm a child of divorce.

[papeetepatrick]

How delightful you're on holiday again.  

I just watched those clips and I must say I do like them, and would like a full identification of all the dancers, of whose names I am not entirely sure.  While I did see 'La Danse', I don't know who those are either, but I have an especial interest in one of the dancers in the clip carbro posted. I can't think why, as her face rather does look like a real-life Clara, but...

This use of that music is quite clever, some of it.  Much prefer it to the Grand Pas de Deux, with its endless descending scales (so dramatic, yet so small.)

[carbro]

papeetepatrick, on 28 August 2010 - 04:29 PM, said:

I just watched those clips and I must say I do like them, and would like a full identification of all the dancers, of whose names I am not entirely sure.

If you mouse over the lower  right-hand corner, the YouTube logo appears, and if you click on it, it will open the original post in YouTube, where you'll find the caption as originally posted with the clip.  Here, it is Myriam Ould-Braham and Jeremie Belingard.  In YouTube mode, you get set up to view all segments of the Nut in sequence.

Quote

I have an especial interest in one of the dancers in the clip carbro posted. I can't think why, as her face rather does look like a real-life Clara, but...

IMO, Ms. Ould-Braham looks a little like Janie Taylor.