41 replies to this topic

[Jayne]

"Selections from Apollo"


Thank you Pherank for posting this.  This "all star cast" is a good example of the variations of dance training:  

Zhanna Ayupova of the Mariinsky / Vaganova
Patricia Barker of Pacific Northwest Ballet / "old school" 1950's / 1960's Balanchine
Isabella Guerin of Paris Opera Ballet / POB School
Nilas Martin of NYCB / RDB School

One of the things I notice is the deliberation in the movements of Ms Ayupova, the quicksilver lightness of Ms Barker and the full bodied grace of Ms Guerin.  I don't necessarily think Mr. Martin is the best example of Bournonville or 1980's Balanchine style.  Then again, the role calls for some sort of roughness at the start, as Apollo grows over time.  Anyway, I felt dissatisfied watching him.  

I'm trying to put into words how the Balanchine style looks different, and I think when it really works, the dancers look as if they are low flying starlings.

[jsmu]

Yes. The Muses are good in this. The Apollo is quite another matter. UGH.
Have sent you a private message with a bit more detail, Jayne...

[pherank]

jsmu, on 15 March 2013 - 10:32 AM, said:

Yes. The Muses are good in this. The Apollo is quite another matter. UGH.
Have sent you a private message with a bit more detail, Jayne...

LOL! Anyone seeking a 'palette cleanse' after the Martin/Apollo version, might want to watch this (also you get to see the original prologue of the ballet):



And if anyone knows who is dancing the roles of the handmaidens, it would be great to know.



Also, here we have the only longish clips I've ever found of Concerto Barocco:

http://www.dailymoti...on#.UUOFFBmNSrI

[pherank]

Most foks have probably seen this, as it's the only officilaly released version of Theme and Variations, but I will include it here:


(Kirkland and Baryshnikov with ABT)

I posted these links elsewhere, but they are great videos, and in the interest of consolidation, now appear in this thread:
[Amateur video from the Théâtre du Châtelet, July of 2011]

Theme & Variations (MCB)


Square Dance (MCB)


Ballet Imperial (MCB)

[pherank]

Serenade (POB - not complete, of course)
"avec Ludmila Pagliero, Mélanie Hurel, Mathilde Froustey et Pierre-Arthur Raveau"
11/10/2012



CNB dances Serenade
https://www.youtube....h?v=ZIJ2onCVIxU

[Jayne]

Quote

And if anyone knows who is dancing the roles of the handmaidens, it would be great to know.

Jilliana - Calliope
Francia Russell - Polyhymnia (she had red hair back then)

I'm really enjoying these links, hope they don't disappear too quickly!

[pherank]

Jayne, on 15 March 2013 - 05:32 PM, said:

Quote

And if anyone knows who is dancing the roles of the handmaidens, it would be great to know.

Jilliana - Calliope
Francia Russell - Polyhymnia (she had red hair back then)

I'm really enjoying these links, hope they don't disappear too quickly!

Actually I meant only the 'handmaidens' that appear with Apollo in the Prologue (with the long tresses), not the Muses. I haven't found anyone to identify them.


And now, here are excerpts from La Source


Tchaikovsky Suite No.3


Rubies clip - NYCB I believe

[pherank]

Linking to these videos makes me think (for some reason) of The George Balanchine Trust, about which, there are plenty of angry words online. But I thought I would quote from the following which gives a nice description of  what the Balanchine Foundation/Trust do:

Quote

"Whenever people ask me--as the frequently do--what is the difference between The George Balanchine Foundation and The George Balanchine Trust, I have the answer ready: The Trust, which licenses Balanchine ballets for performance, makes money; the Foundation spends money."
--Nancy Reynolds

Balanchine died in 1983. He left what Horgan once described as a “deficit estate with 110 ballets that in theory had value.”‘ These ballets he had bequeathed to friends and colleagues. A majority went to three principal legatees: Tanaquil Le Clercq, for whom he was anxious to provide; Karin von Aroldingen, a confidante of his later years; and Horgan, his devoted assistant of decades. Additionally, there were many special bequests. To Lincoln Kirstein, the patron extraordinaire who had brought him to America a half-century earlier, Balanchine left Concerto Barocco and Orpheus, masterpieces from key moments of their shared artistic quest. A number of ballets went to the dancers who had inspired them: Don Quixote to Suzanne Farrell; A Midsummer Night's Dream to Diana Adams; Ballo della Regina to Merrill Ashley; Tarantella to Patricia McBride, Duo Concertant to Kay Mazzo.‘ His bequests testified to the state of his heart. They also registered a change in the relationship between a choreographer’s body of work and the company that created it. Whereas Petipa’s ballets belonged to the Imperial Ballet after his death, Balanchine’s belonged to his heirs.

In 1987, the estate was finally settled. Horgan and von Aroldingen then formed The George Balanchine Trust, into which they deposited the rights to the ballets they owned. At the same time they invited the other legatees to join them. The result was a “centralized entity [that] could facilitate the licensing of the ballets, foster their dissemination through out the world, and make sure that performances would be authentic and of satisfactory quality.” The Trust, in other words, licenses on behalf of the heirs. As Horgan explains:

“During their lifetime the heirs own the rights, control the rights, get the income, and at their death they could designate the income for twenty years to as many heirs as they wanted. But the rights would stay in the trust. After twenty years the trust would continue to negotiate these rights, but at a
certain point those rights would end, and they would be transferred to The George Balanchine Foundation .... So at some point in the next twenty to twenty~five years, the Foundation will become the licensor and owner of the Balanchine repertory.”"

If a company wants to dance a Balanchine ballet, it goes to the Trust and makes the request. The Trust determines if the company is able to handle a particular work, if it has the dancers to perform it, and if it has the wherewithal to produce it and also to pay for live music. Although the Trust realizes that many companies have had to cut back on orchestras, it discourages the use of recorded music, just as it draws the line at sets and costumes that stray too far from the original.'

Balanchine’s spirit presides over the Trust. In keeping with his generosity, it licenses ballets without charge to all kinds of educational institutions, including colleges and universities, and keeps fees appropriate to the companies that ask to license a ballet. Ballets disappear if they are not danced, and more companies are dancing Balanchine ballets today than in 1983, the year the choreographer died." This is a tribute to the Trust and to its belief that dancers, companies, and audiences should have access to Balanchine’s choreography.

The real heroes of the Trust story are the “répétiteurs,” the former New York City Ballet dancers who stage Balanchine’s works on behalf of the Trust and give the “seal of approval,” so to speak, to works in repertory. The répétiteurs, representing several generations of Balanchine dancers, include Francia Russell and Victoria Simon, dancers who joined NYCB in the 19505 and staged their first ballets in the I96OS and 19705. There are former ballerinas like Suzanne Farrell and Karin von Aroldingen (who is also one of the Trust’s dancer- trustees), distinguished teachers such as Suki Schorer and Susan Pilarre, mavericks such as Patricia Neary, who work largely in Europe, and many others. Along with the older group of répétiteurs who worked closely with Balanchine is a younger group that knows him chiefly-or even solely-through his ballets.

Balanchine lived in the present. “I can see no need for preservation,” he once said.“ A ballet is a movement in time and space, a living moment. A hothouse flower, it blooms, then dies.”" Thanks to The George Balanchine Trust his work will defy--at least for a time--the oblivion into which even most celebrated ballets of the past have vanished. For this we must all be grateful.

--Lynn Garafola

Both from "Balanchine, Celebrating a Life in Dance" - Photographs by Costas

[pherank]

George Gershwin: "Who Cares?"


Another view of Heather Watts, Jock Soto in "Embraceable You" - the video transfer is a bit better here.


Walpurgisnacht Ballet
BAE Student Company


Balanchine's Musical Theater Choreography

[pherank]

And more film dance clips...

Vera Zorina, William Dollar -- A Balanchine PDD from 'The Goldwyn Follies' (1938)


Vera Zorina (and Eddie Albert!) in Slaughter on Tenth Avenue


Vera Zorina and Charles Laskey -- Pas de Deux (George Balanchine, 1936)
[Wait for the still images to pass - there is live action]

[pherank]

Now THIS is something: Mozartiana (Theme, Variations, and Pas) with Suzanne Farrell and Ib Anderson

https://www.youtube....h?v=I3LYZvUgNdo

[pherank]

La Scala at Bolshoi - A Midsummer Night's Dream
https://www.youtube....h?v=Jh86F-M0WaM

Walpurgisnacht Ballet
https://www.youtube....h?v=9Q3mTBtTOZ8

Union Jack
https://www.youtube....h?v=eLfYxwe4I0o

George Balanchine - Stars and Stripes
https://www.youtube....h?v=soaHshlFBNI

[pherank]

Theme and Variations Pas De Deux with Darci Kistler
https://www.youtube....h?v=8QMdrw2osTY

Mariinsky performing La Valse (How great is that?!!)
https://www.youtube....h?v=pm_xxKPliwM

[pherank]

Edward Villella talks about Bugaku
https://www.youtube....h?v=QdgIBbsGJGI

Edward Villella and Allegra Kent discuss Bugaku
https://www.youtube....h?v=X0eOy99QzdI

[pherank]

Igor Stravinsky: "Scherzo à la Russe"


Liebeslieder Waltzer (Jillana and Conrad Ludlow - 2 mins 21 sec shown)


Sylvia Pas de Deux