Richard Jones Posted September 13, 2001 Share Posted September 13, 2001 Another skirt problem!....this time during a Birmingham Royal Ballet 'Swan Lake'. It was either during Act 1 or Act 3. One girl found her underskirt was suddenly drifting around her ankles. She stepped out of it very neatly, and it was then picked up by a courtly onlooker and thrown into the wings, while the dancer continued to twirl with a lighter skirt. In the pop-art 'Paradise Lost' which Petit made for Fonteyn and Nureyev in the 1960's, the women wore strange little white PVC costumes. Fonteyn had to come up through a trapdoor; getting to the lifts understage at the ROH could be a grubby experience in those days (I saw for myself when on a tour backstage with a school party). On one night it was reported that when Fonteyn appeared on stage Eve was not exactly whiter than white! One of my best experiences of a similar happening was playing the cello in an orchestral concert which included the Grieg piano concerto. The soloist was a late replacement, and must have hurriedly chosen a dress that she had last worn before losing weight. During the last movement, her energetic actions made one of the shoulder straps fall - so she was gamely trying to incorporate enough of the right kind of arm movement into her playing to get the strap back to its right place. As the platform was a bit crowded I had this in full view, and found my attention divided between that little scene, the music, the conductor, and the other cellist with whom I was sharing the desk and whom I had just met, - and eventually married! [ 09-13-2001: Message edited by: Richard Jones ] Link to comment
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