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Music You'd Like to See as a Dance


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Last night I watched the Paris Opera Ballet "La Dame aux camelias" for the first time, and I was impressed by the choreography applied to piano works of Chopin that I wouldn't have thought were possible to choreograph. I can be a bit touchy about the use and abuse of classical music, but not on this occasion. I went to bed with a head full of music I'd like to see John Neumeier have a go at. Chopin's Barcarolle came to mind immediately for inclusion in a 'new' version of "La Dame", or as the centrepiece of an entirely new ballet.

As for extended works to be used in their entirety, the mind boggles at the possibilities, but as a chamber music fan, I'd love for someone to have a go at Mendelssohn's Octet. I could get really touchy about any abuse of Schubert's Octet, but if "La Dame" is anything to go by, I'd happily entrust it to Mr. Neumeier's capable hands.

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Take Five was, in fact, the figure skater Chen Lu's short program

in one of her comeback efforts. She wore hot pink--it was

utterly charming.

The Arensky Variations on a Theme of Tschaikovsky--a masterpiece,

never played (far too difficult), and why Balanchine never set it is

a mystery beyond our ken. it has everything--right down to an

adagio tailor-made for a PDD.

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Don't know if anyone has mentioned this piece of music - Tschaikovsky Variations on a Roccoco Theme for Cello & Orchestra. I'd love to see someone tackle it. The danger would be to be imitation Balanchine, but I think it is a great piece for dance.

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Gerald Arpino did it in 1971 as "Reflections" for the Joffrey. It was and remains popular whenever it is presented.

Thank you for that. I looked on youtube and sections are available. It looks good. Do companies do it? So many companies do the same works, without having seen the entire piece, it seems that this would be a nice one to add to a company rep.

Thank you again.

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The Arensky Variations on a Theme of Tschaikovsky--a masterpiece, never played (far too difficult), and why Balanchine never set it is a mystery beyond our ken. it has everything--right down to an adagio tailor-made for a PDD.
I suspect you answered your own question: "never played, far too difficult." :clapping:
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Last night I watched the Paris Opera Ballet "La Dame aux camelias" for the first time, and I was impressed by the choreography applied to piano works of Chopin that I wouldn't have thought were possible to choreograph. I can be a bit touchy about the use and abuse of classical music, but not on this occasion. I went to bed with a head full of music I'd like to see John Neumeier have a go at. Chopin's Barcarolle came to mind immediately for inclusion in a 'new' version of "La Dame", or as the centrepiece of an entirely new ballet.

As for extended works to be used in their entirety, the mind boggles at the possibilities, but as a chamber music fan, I'd love for someone to have a go at Mendelssohn's Octet. I could get really touchy about any abuse of Schubert's Octet, but if "La Dame" is anything to go by, I'd happily entrust it to Mr. Neumeier's capable hands.

Which pieces are including la Dame aux camelias ? It'd be interesting to see what choreography could be done to the Barcarolle (incidentally one of my fav Chopin pieces). It would have to be as written though, I don't think I could handle an orchestrated version. I have to admit though that I'm somewhat sceptical about setting the piano repetoire to dance; there was a horrendous Liszt sonata danced by Guillem and Le Riche on youtube, just the most perfunctory playing imaginable, which I hope wasn't as a result of having to "accompany" the dancers but rather the pianist's own lack of musicality. Perhaps the piece could work well, it certainly has programmatic elements to it (even if Liszt insisted there was no programme). I also saw an orchestrated version of the Schuman's Carnaval danced by Obraztsova and Shklyarov. I actually quite enjoyed the dance, Obraztsova was terribly cute. The piece itself worked rather well as a dance at times however there were instances (Paganini) where it was completely bent out of shape to accommodate the cheoreography (or was it just because of the poor orchestration?). There was also a setting of the Prokofiev 2nd which a lot of my pianist friends thought was hilarious (since removed).

I agree with the suggestion of Saint Saens Danse Macabre that one would work well. I think programme music would work well in general - I'd be interested to see Ravel's Gaspard danced and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition to name a couple of examples.

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Gerald Arpino did it in 1971 as "Reflections" for the Joffrey. It was and remains popular whenever it is presented.

Thank you for that. I looked on youtube and sections are available. It looks good. Do companies do it? So many companies do the same works, without having seen the entire piece, it seems that this would be a nice one to add to a company rep.

Thank you again.

I believe that "Reflections" has been set on other companies than just the Joffrey, but I can't remember which, or when.
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I'd love for someone to have a go at Mendelssohn's Octet.
Peter Martins choreographed it for the RDB, later staged it on NYCB. Harmless, unmemorable -- hardly the ballet you'd expect from that lovely score.
I agree with the suggestion of Saint Saens Danse Macabre that one would work well.
I saw one -- by a student group (or maybe ABT [then-] Studio Company). Don't remember who choreographed it :wallbash: , but I remember it as fun and more imaginative than I'd expected, given the music's strong self-description.

I'd be interested to see Ravel's Gaspard danced ...

Balanchine gave Gaspard a try during NYCB's 1976 Ravel Festival. A grotesque failure, by near-universal opinion. I wonder what someone else's response might be, though.

On second thought :clapping: , this is such a different world from the world of 1976. Maybe we're ready for a revival of Balanchine's Gaspard.

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I would be interesting to hear suggestions from the contemporary musical literature as well.

On a completely different track: David Byrne's music for Tharp's "The Golden Section." I know this is music that IS currently being danced to, rather than something I am proposing. But ... Before I saw this performed by Miami City Ballet, I didn't know Byrne or his previous group, Talking Heads. I was astonished at how well the music worked for Tharp's choreography.

The score drives and sustains Tharp's non-stop, incredibly fast-paced movement, but also allows for quite lovely bits of adagio. I don't know whether it was composed specifically FOR dance, but it works as though it had been. it struck me as being be more effective for dancing than the longer Philip Glass music for ""In the Upper Room" and infinitely nicer to listen to than the bloated, bombastic score Elvis Costello stitched together for "Nightspot."

Does anyone have opinions on the Byrne music -- or on the effectiveness of this TYPE of music for contempoary ballet. Any other suggestions along this line?

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The Arensky Variations on a Theme of Tschaikovsky--a masterpiece, never played (far too difficult), and why Balanchine never set it is a mystery beyond our ken. it has everything--right down to an adagio tailor-made for a PDD.
I suspect you answered your own question: "never played, far too difficult." :wallbash:

Sadly, carbro, that doesn't stop any other scores which are far too difficult from being regularly slaughtered.... :clapping:

Cf. the NYCB orchestra...

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Gorgeous music --

Frederick Ashton did a beautiful pdd to it for Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell. She's in a veil, and hte veil is amlmost a third character in the dance. Beautiful thing.

I love Massenet's Thais-meditation (arr Madden) (originally I had written Faure Pavane..but I got confused for some reason). That would be so beautiful danced by a tall, willowy ballerina.
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