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Homogenization of the Classical Ballet Repertoire


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i can see the misreading of Croce's comment, but she's not saying that GB is the one to have first chosen to work the hunters into the adagio, she's pleased to see that GB included this detail in this staging - it was by time of her writing not a moment much in evidence in productions of SWAN LAKE - where else can one still see it today?

Croce knows her Ivanov as well as her Balanchine.

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where else can one still see it today?

Of all places, in John Neumeier's Illusions like Swan Lake. It's a revisionist production, but since he was aiming for a 'period' look in act 2, he had Alexandra Danilova stage it, complete with huntsmen, Odette's mime and a Benno figure in the adagio.

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thanks for this. i hadn't realized "Illusions -- like Swan Lake" was of a vintage when Danilova was still around and staging ballets.

i know there is a video.

is this production still in active repertory?

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no apologies necessary.

just hoping to clarify some of the posts higher up as well.

one reading of Croce's 'the choreographer' in the sentence ending the passage quoted above, could have her meaning that 'any sensitive/inspired choreographer' could do the 'dreaming' for the observer of SWAN LAKE with such choices as those under discussion in her essay.

incidentally, the hunters don't dance with the swan maidens at any point; they enter the adagio twice, unobtrusively, to provide support and complete the tableau made up of Odette's sisters; by the adagio's end, they're gone. (or at least that's how they are deployed in Balanchine's SWAN LAKE.)

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no apologies necessary.

just hoping to clarify some of the posts higher up as well.

one reading of Croce's 'the choreographer' in the sentence ending the passage quoted above, could have her meaning that 'any sensitive/inspired choreographer' could do the 'dreaming' for the observer of SWAN LAKE with such choices as those under discussion in her essay.

I'm the culprit here, not you, Hans. :( Thanks for clarifying, rg.

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It would be helpful to hear what "pastiche" -- a word which usually has quite negative connotations -- means in this context, especially as it applies to Balanchine's version of a classic text which has, in its history, often been subjected to reinterpretations, alterations, abridgements, expansions, and even distortions.

Is pastiche usually negative? I first came across it when I was obsessed with Stephen Sondheim's musical (with Hal prince and Michael Bennett) Follies, where half the score is pastiche of older musical composers--for instance Losing My Mind is a pastiche of Arlen. In that sense it's an affectionate hommage--and I think this is how Balanchine's Swan lake was intended too. I will agree it's not a work that's intended to be watched with the gravitas the original Act II would be (which is one reason, I admit, I'm not moved or fond of it, though I appreciate its details)

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