Tudor Centenary Celebration 2008 ??

[vipa]

I would love to see the Tudor Romeo & Juliet again. I saw it many years ago with ABT. Music by Delius (correct me if I'm wrong). A subtle and beautiful ballet

[FauxPas]

Does anyone have any pesonal knowledge of Mr. Mahler's work? And what about the way that Tudor ballets are currently passed on and protected in general?

Three current stagers of Tudor's ballet are Airi Hynninen, Sallie Wilson and Donald Mahler. Mr. Mahler is the ballet master of the Antony Tudor Trust and was responsible for the recent ABT revivals of "Pillar of Fire" and "Dark Elegies". I believe that Sallie Wilson was the usual regisseur for the Tudor repertoire at ABT until about a decade ago but ABT has used Mahler exclusively more recently. Sallie Wilson seems to have severed her activities with ABT. Wilson has centered her activities on the New York Theatre Ballet which is headed by Diana Byer.

http://www.villagevoice.com/dance/0322,foo...s,44421,14.html

http://www.danceviewtimes.com/dvny/aloff/2003/092903.htm

[bart]

Thanks, FauxPas. The Mindy Aloff piece from DanceView Times is especially good and provocative.

Yet, even if the money were found and the choreography rediscovered, the biggest obstacle to bringing back Tudor’s Romeo may be the uncertainty over the answer to the question of to whom the ballet would appeal—an uncertainty for much of the Tudor canon now.

While, at their best, Tudor’s ballets are of the highest order, with their intricate step patterns and gestures packed with specific meanings, their intensely nuanced characters and the social complexities of their stories—so obsessed with distinctions among classes that no longer really exist—his work is not for everyone who loves the Kirov's Swan Lake or Miami City Ballet's Jewels, and it is certainly alien to whatever segment of the public A.B.T. expects to bring into the Met with its George Harrison tribute or its recent I-led-three-lives-and-now-I’m-going-to-Hell-for-it staging of Carmina Burana by Stanton Welch. To market Tudor successfully in 2003 would take the genius of P.T. Barnum [ ... ]

It's sad that the small companies willing to commit to such works lack the resources to do so at the highest level. And that the companies that DO have these resources may fear not being able to sell the number of tickets necessary to pay the bills. Even those who don't particularly like or "get" Tudor -- and I am one, for the most part -- should value the chance to see these works done well and with sincerity, and to be able to place them in the context of ballet history and the big tent of ballet styles.

[Dansuer85]

I also believe that James Jordon(Ballet Master at Kansas City Ballet) is Tudor Stager.

[Haglund's]

As a sidebarre, 2008 will also be the 100th anniversary of Jose Limon's birth. More reason to celebrate!

[Amy Reusch]

Would it be out of character for The Joffrey to take on some Tudor? They used to pride themselves on some of the historic repetoire... Is this too different from The Green Table? (I haven't seen the company live in a very long time).

[Helene]

As a sidebarre, 2008 will also be the 100th anniversary of Jose Limon's birth. More reason to celebrate!

I remember that one of the most imposing photos in the ABT souvenir book I got in 1971 (and is long gone) was of one of the principal dancers in The Moor's Pavane. Unfortunately, I don't remember which of the men was in the photo. Marcos Paredes? Royes Fernandez? Bruce Marks?

The NYPL Digital Photo Library has 1977 studio shots by Kenn Duncan of Paredes -- and Sallie Wilson -- in the work, and the earliest ABT shots listed are from 1973. The ABT website lists the cast for the 6/27/70 ABT premiere as: Bruce Marks (The Moor), Royes Fernandez (His Friend), Sally Wilson (His Friend's Wife), and Toni Lander (The Moor's Wife). ABT could revive this work, since it's part of their heritage, as are several of the Tudor ballets.

I remember finally seeing Jardin aux Lilas in the 80's, with Martine van Hamel as The Older Woman and I thought she was the highlight of the work. The first time I attended a program where this ballet was listed, and it actually wasn't replaced at the last minute, van Hamel broke her foot on her first entrance (later reported in the New York Times), was swept offstage by her partner, and the curtain came down.

Perhaps Boal will heed the anniveraries call at PNB. The Company has performed The Moor's Pavane twice in the last decade, the last time being last year, and both Jardin aux Lilacs and Dark Elegies are on the "Active Repertory" list, although I don't think either has been performed in the last 12 years.

[Haglund's]

I remember that one of the most imposing photos in the ABT souvenir book I got in 1971 (and is long gone) was of one of the principal dancers in The Moor's Pavane. Unfortunately, I don't remember which of the men was in the photo. Marcos Paredes? Royes Fernandez? Bruce Marks?

The picture from The Moor's Pavane that has been burned into my memory for years and years is one of Sallie Wilson and Eric Bruhn. The other two dancers, I believe, were Cynthia Gregory and Ivan Nagy. That picture was worth a million words.

[Haglund's]

So, our 2008 season, aka The Tudor Centenary Celebration, is shaping up nicely with significant and new Tudor selections (with all the peripheral celebratory trimmings) and Limon's The Moor's Pavane. Also celebrating a 100th birthday will be Les Sylphides. And for the new choreography offering, perhaps someone will use a composition from 1908 - for example, Rachmaninoff Symphony #2. (I will veer from this conversation only momentarily to say that I would pay dearly to see a substantive, classical ballet set to Rachmanioff's Piano Concerto #2 on the big MET STAGE.)

I really believe that if the collective heads of ABT think creatively, they can come up with a Tudor Celebration that will be a smashing success - both artistically and from a marketing standpoint.

[bart]

If you consult Google, you'll find that some sources give his birth year as 1908 -- others as 1909.

I'm hoping for 1908. Back in high school I was assigned that year as the subject of my senior European history paper. The biggest event I could find was the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by the Austria-Hungary. After several months of ploughing through microfilms of the NY Times I became, I am cetain, the world's greatest adolescent expert on that aracane topic.

I wish I'd known about the birth of Tudor to provide a little relief from Balkan politics.

[miliosr]

Since Tudor and Limon both taught at the Juilliard School, I'll do a variation on this theme and suggest what each man's base company should revive in 2008 as a tribute to the other man.

For the Limon Dance Company, revive Tudor's Dark Elegies from its repertory -- I've heard their performance of this work was very expressive.

For ABT's 2008 City Center season, revive The Moor's Pavane and let Marcelo Gomes have a go at The Moor.

If the ABT brass don't want to stage the Limon version of Othello so soon after staging the Lubovitch version of Othello, then pick up on Julio Bocca's experiment-in-a-void performance of Limon's solo Chaconne at the Spring 2006 Gala and turn Cornejo, Corella, etc., loose on it.

[rg]

having seen the limon co. dance DARK ELEGIES off-pointe i for one would veto this being done again. i thought this modern-dance choice of soft slippers over pointeshoes quite literally flattened the full effect of tudor's careful and artful creation. to me the ballet was barely half there w/o the intended pointework.

[Amy Reusch]

rats.... it sounded like a very cool idea.

Julliard should sponsor a joint centenary conference on the two and host college performances of the rep.