Lamborina Ballet

[Barbarafn]

Anyone ever heard of a ballet called Lamborina? It's by Balanchine, but it's not listed as an active ballet on the NYCB website. I've tried to Google it, but it only comes up under a dancer's repertory. I'd like to find out when it was created and who for.

Thanks,

Barbara

[Leigh Witchel]

I think you may be referring to Lambarena, by Val Caniparoli. It is not by George Balanchine.

[bart]

Caniparoli's ballet uses a score that interweaves J.S. Bach and traditional African songs. It was first performed by the San Francisco Ballet in 1995 and has had productons by other companies since its premiere. There's an interesting "Study Guide" by Evelyn Cisneros for the SFB Center for Dance Education (2005) with lots of photos, text, etc. Here's the link:

Lambarena/San Francisco Ballet Study Guide

[Helene]

The study guide on Lamberena, in .pdf (Adobe) format.

On p. 7, it lists the premiere of the ballet by San Francisco Ballet, where Caniparoli danced, as 28 March 1995, with Evelyn Cisneros, Eric Hoisington, Jennifer Karius, Jeremy Collins, Julia Adam, and David Justin.

[Paul Parish]

barbarafn, it was created for Evelyn Cisneros and was a wonderful vehicle for her personality and technical strengths. She was capable of great warmth and joy in dancing and was very strong -- it was made to make a strong dancer look like all the warmth of he earth. Her costume, by Sandra Woodall, was on the cover of Dance magazine that year -- a wonderful clinging silk dress, mostly red, that left her free to move and looked like red light refracted through a prism, dappled with many colors in patterns that reminded people of African designs.

I wrote a long enthusiastic description of it in Ballet Review in 1995, so if you can find that issue you could read a lot about it in detail. Briefly, Caniparoli collaborated with two great west-African dancer/musicians who live in the Bay Area, Dr Zak And Mme Naomi Diouf, to fuse west african steps, rhythms, and movements for the spine and arms with ballet -- very beautiful. It was probably the biggest hit of that year in SF. It's been staged all over the world. The first cast was outstanding. To my mind none of the revivals have showed the rib-isolations, the beautiful (and very difficult) off-center placement of the spine, the big undulations through the back which were a BIG part of the excitement of the premiere -- Julia Adam REALLY put her back into it, as did Hoisington, David justin was magnificent in a different way, and Askia Swift was out of this world with the fluctuations in the lumbar spine -- They made it really thrilling.

I'd post the review, but I don't have it on my hard-drive. but Ballet Review may be in your library.

Why do you ask about it? How have you heard about it?

[bart]

Anyone want to share their response to Lambarena -- either in San Francisco or with other companies?

Ballet Florida did it this spring. (They previously worked with Caniparoli in of the original two productions of Lady of the Camelias, so they have a relationship with him.) Costumes were Sandra Woodall's and "African Dance Consultants" were listed as Naomi Gedo, Johnson Washington and Zakariya Sao Dioul.

I was amazed at how this work seemed to stimulate more energetic, joyful, risk-taking, and generally "better" dancing from the company than the more traditional choreography on the program. There's lots of solo work for both men and women, and Caniparoli seems to be in total command of the stage space as dancers sweep in and out. Tina Martin, Maria-Angeles Llamas and Christina Hampton were standouts.

It's one of those works which seems to spark dancer enthusiasm and remind them of the joy of motion that made them want to be dancers in the first place.

[Helene]

To my mind none of the revivals have showed the rib-isolations, the beautiful (and very difficult) off-center placement of the spine, the big undulations through the back which were a BIG part of the excitement of the premiere -- Julia Adam REALLY put her back into it, as did Hoisington, David justin was magnificent in a different way, and Askia Swift was out of this world with the fluctuations in the lumbar spine -- They made it really thrilling.

I wish you had been able to see Jordan Pacitti perform the big male solo with PNB this spring. He was a dream in the role.

[Barbarafn]

barbarafn, it was created for Evelyn Cisneros and was a wonderful vehicle for her personality and technical strengths. She was capable of great warmth and joy in dancing and was very strong -- it was made to make a strong dancer look like all the warmth of he earth. Her costume, by Sandra Woodall, was on the cover of Dance magazine that year -- a wonderful clinging silk dress, mostly red, that left her free to move and looked like red light refracted through a prism, dappled with many colors in patterns that reminded people of African designs.

I wrote a long enthusiastic description of it in Ballet Review in 1995, so if you can find that issue you could read a lot about it in detail. Briefly, Caniparoli collaborated with two great west-African dancer/musicians who live in the Bay Area, Dr Zak And Mme Naomi Diouf, to fuse west african steps, rhythms, and movements for the spine and arms with ballet -- very beautiful. It was probably the biggest hit of that year in SF. It's been staged all over the world. The first cast was outstanding. To my mind none of the revivals have showed the rib-isolations, the beautiful (and very difficult) off-center placement of the spine, the big undulations through the back which were a BIG part of the excitement of the premiere -- Julia Adam REALLY put her back into it, as did Hoisington, David justin was magnificent in a different way, and Askia Swift was out of this world with the fluctuations in the lumbar spine -- They made it really thrilling.

I'd post the review, but I don't have it on my hard-drive. but Ballet Review may be in your library.

Why do you ask about it? How have you heard about it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My son is doing a solo variation from that ballet, for his summer program at ARB. He will be in their corps in the fall. He was under the impression it was called Lamborina. When I Googled the title, I got two links to dance resumes with the listing of Balanchine and Lamborina. I am glad that you cleared that up.