8 replies to this topic

[Pamela Moberg]

We have now sat through the competition which was held in London.
It was a complete bore, very badly televised in Sweden. Debora Bull presented, but she was removed after two words and a Swedish voice came on. Yes, the woman is a professional so I feel free to say what I think. She said,in a completely inane way amongst other things: Watch now, she is going to do TWO pirouettes! Holy smoke! I almost fell off my chair because of this woman.
The dancers, well, nothing outstanding, hardly a classical dance between them. A pas de deux of two Polish guys won first prize.
Well, in all, a great disappointment all around. Any other posters saw it on TV? Anybody at all saw it live? Please give your views!

[Alexandra]

Thanks, Pamela.  Sounds dreadful!  Forgive my innocence, but what is EBU?

[Natalia]

Thanks for the insights, David, as I had not heard of this competition.

Pamela, the sort of narration that you describe ("...watch the height of his rivolvade...") incenses me to no end and only serves to add fuel to the arguments of people who see high-quality, UNESCO-sponsored competitions as sport. [Insences me about the TV presentation...not Pamela, of course!  ] If this were a sport, then the judges would ask dancers to perform grand jete and measure the coverage in centimeters, as in the Long Jump...or have a fouette-endurance event (see who can turn the greatest number of revolutions before going off-axis).

A judgement of beauty-in-art does not need such absurd blow-by-blow commentating! Can you imagine this at a Van Cliburn Piano Competition? ("...now listen for the crispness of this arpeggio...look at that wrist-action!")

[ 06-28-2001: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

[Terry]

In fact, if you ever attend major international ballet competitions, you will see that dancers who only show interest in highlighting their technical gifts will not do very well. It has to be both the artistry and the technical strengths combined. I would say that the ballet competition that really serves as the ultimate "artistic" competition would be the Paris International Ballet Competition. Here, a contestant A once did quadruple sets of pirouettes for her variation in finals, but the person who won the gold was contestant B who did a double pirouette with classical elegance and purity. And, Contestant A did not receive anything.

[Natalia]

Good point, Terry.  I have seen so many examples of what you describe:

* At the 98 Jackson IBC, a technically-powerful female dancer thrilled the audience with the rarely-performed Laurencia solo (Plisetskaya-style stag jumps around the periphery of the stage). Audience screamed & "wooo-hooo'ed" as if she had performed the triple axel. Sure - a great technician...but a "bully approach" with no nod to artistry.  Audiences were stunned that she did not progress to an award of any sort.

* At Varna 2000, the top medal in Junior Ladies was shared by a technically-sparkling but shortish-height girl (a very pretty soubrette-type) and a technically-weaker, long-limbed beauty with the 'Giselle style' to die for. Many screamed "foul - the short girl should have won the medal all to herself!"...but judges obviously saw the importance in rewarding, at the same level, the exquisite lines and style of the weaker girl. In other words, the technical soubrette was not placed ahead of the pure-stylist.

* At a mid-1990s Vaganova Prix, a now-Kirov-principal male earned a medal on the basis of his beautiful line, especially his feet...despite mediocre technique at the time. The judges were looking for beauty of form, rather than tricks.

In sum, the "tricks-only" approach doesn't cut it at the top-flight competitions.

[ 06-29-2001: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

[Sonja]

Haven't watched it this year yet - one hour synopsis will be broadcast in German TV (ZDF) on Sunday, 1 July, at 0.45 am (so in fact it's already Monday...)
Forgive me if I am wrong, but I think Christina McDermott won a prize in this competition (early 90s?) and so did Zenaida Yanowsky in 1997 (??) - I remember she did a beautiful, although "typical competition" solo from Esmeralda pdd...

[beckster]

For those in the UK, the Eurovision Young Dancers 2001 is meant to be repeated on BBC Knowledge (cable) and on BBC2 in July, but rumour at the ballet.co site tells me that the BBC2 program may have been cancelled.  God forbid that any ballet would ever be shown on terrestrial TV  - despite the fact that the UK now has "celebrity ballerinas" like Darcey Bussell, Adam Cooper and Deborah Bull, who could add to all the celebrity chefs, gardeners etc. who fill our airwaves at all times.

Anyway I'll get off my soapbox now.  Heres the information ...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/youngdancers/

Becky