katharine kanter

I know our Alexandra's particularly keen on the concept of "emploi".

Well, seen from that standpoint, there are ladies who are small, adorable, and feather-light, from an interpretive standpoint (Mlle. Osta),

and ladies who are small, adorable, and heavy-weight, from an interpretive standpoint (Mlle. Maurin).

The latter, who has been carrying aloft, more or less alone, the banner of DANCE AS THEATRE, amongst the ladies in this particular Opera House,

has excelled in the lyric-dramatic register (Giselle, Sylphide, Juliet, Nikiya, Odette-Odile) the dramatic (Gamzatti), and the severely classical (Aurora).

The one register on which Mlle. Osta and Mlle. Maurin would tend to meet, is that of "Coppelia".

Definitely not interchangeable personalities. In this respect, I would venture to suggest that the new étoile Laetitia Pujol - also very small in physical stature - will tend, as she gains more experience and stagecraft, rather to resemble Mlle. Maurin in intensity.

katharine kanter 04-01-03, 06:46 PM (GMT)

"Of Nymphs and nymphos - "Sylvia" at the Bastile - "

Spot on etymology, John Neumeier. Wrong context. Umberto Eco, come back, we need you to explain this woozie little bit of wordcraft.

"Sylvia" has been on, and on, and on at the Bastille, playing, relentlessly, night after night, to a half-empty house. The ushers don't even bother seating one anymore - they just wave the public into the parterre. Not your everyday experience in the theatre, eh ? Lovely sitting there in 80 Euro seats, for which one has just paid 6 Euros.

What a spectacle.

Take twenty of the world's most beautiful women, scantily clothed, and put them on stage, doing very little, without music. What do you get ? Miss World.

An audience - any audience - will look at that for about 53 minutes before becoming restless.

Take twenty of the world's most TALENTED and beautiful women, scantily clothed, and put them on stage doing very little, to charming ballet music. What do you get ? Neumeier's "Sylvia".

An audience - any audience - will look at it for about 123 minutes before becoming restless. That is precisely how long "Sylvia" lasts.

What else can one say ?

Well, you are all waiting for the Nympho bit. Hang on, it's on its way.

Raining heavily yesterday evening, and a car had splashed me with mud. My spectacles were streaked and stained.

Thus, just before the curtain fell on Act I, I THOUGHT I had seen the étoile - who shall be nameless here - in the role of Amor, falling to the ground, legs splayed and playing like a baby in the bath with his....XXX(family website).

As I am known to have intense, though very short-lived, attacks of BLINDING paranoia, I thought such an attack had just come on, and that I'd imagined it. Then I thought perhaps it was the streaked specs. Or that perhaps I'd bought the wrong ticket, to the wrong place, and I'd wandered into a Théâtre de Cochons by mistake.

So the moment the curtain fell, I turned to the fellows sitting next to me, and said: Excuse me, gentlemen, but I'm prone to paranoia-attacks, and I think I may have seen something, but I'm not sure. And they said: "Madam, without wishing to be uncouth, we all clearly saw what you had thought might have been the effect of unwashed spectacles, or paranoia".

In a way, I was happy, confirmed that I am not, completely, a nutter. But in another way, may I ask why an étoile of one of the world's greatest theatres, who happens, by the by, to be the father of young children, has agreed to do this thing ?

We should be told.

In Act II, I consoled myself for Radio City Roquette-level choreography, by watching the lovely Ould Braham, and that clever youth Matthew Ganio, in the corps de ballet.

Nicolas LeRiche very much the self-indulgent, petulent bore throughout. And the quality of the little dancing he gets to do, is slipping noticeably as well.

Be that as it may, the new étoile Laetitia Pujol was on as Sylvia. As she lacks what our Clement would call the "thrilling physicality" of a Marie-Agnes Gillot in the part, the press has tended rather to ignore her. Mistake ! This is a dancer of great tenderness, not a single harsh or coarse gesture in her. Neumeier's Nymph is a flimsy being, at best, but Mlle. Pujol was, incredible as that may seem, very touching.

Let us try to bear one thing in mind: "thrilling physicality" is all well and good, until one is 27 or 28. Then, it's GONE ! The ol' bod no longer can no longer grind out that kind of electricity, the erotic magnetism. It must be replaced by style, taste, and artistry. So when Hugues Gall cast his personal vote for Mlle. Pujol, he was, I believe, looking a little further down the road than one might imagine.

As for Mlle. Ould Braham, I think that Management is right in keeping her under wraps for the time being. As an interpreter, she is still a very child, compared to a contemporary like Cojocaru. There is NO way Mlle. Ould Braham could handle dynamite like "Mayerling", and one would not want to take the risk of wrecking a "slow-developer", who may well turn out to be a very remarkable - and utterly uncynical - classical dancer.

The following note appeared on Thomas Lund's Website last week:

"Bournonville Seminar in Rome

Together with head of the Royal Danish Ballet School Anne Marie Vessel Schlüter, principal dancer Gudrun Bojesen and pianist Julian Thurber, Thomas will give a three day lecture demonstration from December 15th-17th on August Bournonville at "Le Tecniche Accademiche Nel Mondo" in Rome. The seminar includes a theoretical explanation of Bournonville's stylistical and technical principles, a break down of the Monday and Tuesday classes, a view into the Bournonville pantomime, excepts from early 1900-films showing how Bournonville was danced a hundred years ago and naturally, alot of dancing. "

Could the Italians please advise as to how it went ?

Unless one is talking to Groucho Marx.

Everyone, please !

I'd rather avoid - at any cost - getting drawn into a slanging match over this or that individual dancer. As for E. Thibault, he is already the most controversial figure in the Opera, and has been for several years, so I'll refrain from adding fuel to the fire... It's not doing the fellow any favours.

The point I've been trying to make - and I would imagine it's very much the same in all major theatres now - is that we've slid into a James-Thurber-like Corporate Bureaucracy mentality. The smooth, the slick, the handsome, the predictable. All within, of course, the high level of competency that one would expect of a great institution like the Paris Opera.

Being competent and getting along nicely with everyone, does not, necessarily, make one an artist.

For those who did not know The New Yorker Magazine in the 1950s, James Thurber was an amazingly droll, if somewhat down-beat, cartoonist, who tried to ring the alarm bell on the drift in post-War USA towards a bland, milquetoast, suburban existence. Corporate Man was constantly kow-towing to a towering Wife Figure. I guess that was meant to be a symbol for the Corporation, or whatever.

they seem to be having fun !

Paris, Saint Petersburg and Copenhagen are the capitals of Terpsichore, and that is why an event like the Concours, and its implications, will be discussed all over the world.

When someone, in this concrete case, M. Thibault, decides to uphold principles in a world of shredding standards, I think that deserves one's respect. And when he does so, not for six months, or one year, but for TEN YEARS, even on those evenings when relegated to Row 19, twelfth from the left, well - that shews greatness.

That's leadership, and one wouldn't want to make snide little remarks about it.

Classical ballet has been beaten back into a corner, because it carries a message about the soul and eternal things, at a time when we are all supposed to become a lot of drooling, grovelling slaves to instinct with our head stuck up some videogame.

Everyone, in a great theatre like the Paris Opera, takes their work seriously. They are all real troupers, and professional to the tips of their fingers. I take off my hat to them. Fine.

Some go further than that. They are able to summon up in their soul, absolute concentration on the principles underlying classical dance, and to get that across to the public, in the form of pure ideas. That is the highest level that the classical dance can reach, and that is what is going on in the mind of a Thibault, a Cojocaru, or a Thomas Lund. I find that extremely moving, and I cannot but feel sorry for people who laugh and point the finger at it.

Now, were you ever, God Forbid, to be forced to watch a murder, or a rape, you will be "moved" - you may fall to the ground, you may vomit, you may sh.... in your p......s. But is it the same type of emotion ? Is that the emotion a classical art form, with its thousands of years of history, should present to the people ?

During the Concours, a poor girl came out and danced a thing from Mats Ek, Giselle in an Asylum I think it was. She exhibited her undies, or whatever, and they call that choreography ! And the audience, mostly dancers themselves, tittered, because they cannot help but say it is ridiculous. But that girl was promoted.

That sort of choreography is perverse. Some dancers stand up and reject it. They have guts, and, take it from the little old lady that I am, history will be grateful to them.

The results have just been posted up on another Website. With excuses to CriticalDance - they will be made public in any event here they are :

Coryphées :

1- Mathieu Ganyo

2- Alexis Renaud

3- Yong Geol Kim

4- Simon Vallastro

5- Florian Magnenet

1- Dorothée Gilbert

2- Eve Grinsztajn

3- Séverine Westermann

Sont nommés Sujets :

1- Bruno Bouché

2- Stéphane Bullion

3- Jean-Christophe Guerri

4- Nicolas Paul

1- Myriam Kamionka

2- Caroline Bance

3- Myriam Ould-Braham

Sont nommés premiers Danseurs :

1- Alessio Carbone

2- Hervé Moreau

1- Stéphanie Romberg

2- Mélanie Hurel

Owing to a ghastly snafu with the tickets, I missed all the men, and half of the female quadrilles.

The promotion to coryphée among the men, so far as I can see from this year's work, makes sense. Ganio and Valastro - exciting dancers. The promotion to sujet among the men was a dullish class to follow, and I rather suspect that those who missed it, like myself, did not miss much.

The promotion to sujet among the ladies was a little more interesting. Myriam Kamionka is about 28 years old, I would imagine this was probably her best concours so far. A pretty dancer, "sans plus". Myriam Ould-Braham who is 20, was, I think, promoted to sujet on her extraordinary potential, rather than on the Concours as such, as she was manifestly shaking with nerves. She and Miteki Kudo are the only two ladies in the troupe, so far as I can see, who do not look like battle-axe swinging members of some Woman's Empowerment Group. The Girl is exquisite, and God Speed to her !

The promotion to premier danseur among the men I would prefer not to elaborate on, as I failed to see the dancing. I had heard that Hervé Moreau has been excellent throughout the year. Alessio Carbone is a very good dancer, not nearly as good as M. Thibault, but since there would appear to be some sort of a Decision From Above that the latter gentleman will never be promoted, it serves little purpose to even mention that slight hitch to the proceedings.

Promotion to première danseuse, again, highly controversial, at least as controversial as the appointment of Mlle. Osta as étoile yesterday.

Neither the Concours of Mlles Romberg, nor most certainly that of Mlle Hurel, were a patch on that of Mlle. Fiat. The latter is a very strong dancer, technically, but she also happens to be possessed of a strange beauty, and an almost hypnotic magnetism over the public. There is not a lot of that about in the POB at the moment. How in heaven's name Mlle. Hurel has reached the rank of première danseuse, and over the head of Mlle Fiat, is an utter mystery.

The problem I see with these appointments to premier danseur/première danseuse, is that the Jury judging them is top-heavy with premiers danseurs and étoiles still on active duty. May I suggest, impertinently, that the latter might tend not to be overly thrilled to promote certain able people with extremely sharp pointy teeth, to share their particular little kale patch, as the Scots would say. This leads me to the further impertinent suggestion, that the Jury may a little out of touch with what the general public thinks: the general public goes to the ballet to see people who can dance.

But what the public gets, is a fresh round of "enfants sages" (obedient children).

Ergo, cast sheets which one reads, and sighs, and says "Oh God No, not him/her again..."

Otherwise, the ladies' side of the Concours gave one an opportunity to contemplate some truly appalling bad taste in the choice of free variations. I mean, Roland Petit's Carmen, in about twelve different permutations, or Béjart's Rite of Spring ? Neumeier's "Sylvia" ? Crikieeee !!!! That lot makes William Forsythe look gifted, which, in some ways, he probably is.

It also makes one reflect on the decline in female technique, owing to the last century's pointe fetish. There is too much goddam pointe work. I thought I was in a pointe class at times, not in the Concours of the world's leading troupe. Pointework is an utter bore, at best, but it's now the be-all and end-all, no steps, no jumps, no beats, rows of women, no matter how beautiful, jerking up and down on pointe all day. Makes the head spin and the gorge rise. Give us steps ! Bring back Bournonville !

Lastly, but not leastly, where was the beautiful Miteki Kudo when we needed her ? Have then pulled a "Thibault " on her ? She did not stand for promotion to première danseuse at this Concours, more's the pity.

On Sunday December 29th following the "Paquita" matinée, Claire-Marie Osta, the spouse of Nicolas LeRiche, was appointed étoile by Hugues Gall, on the recommendation of the AD Brigitte Lefevre.

What should one make of this promotion to the firmament of the world's dancers ?

Although the appointment of Laetitia Pujol six months ago, on intervention by Hugues Gall personally, was deemed controversial by many, one could see M. Gall's point, clearly. The girl has something, there is a strong emotion underlying the strong technique, something of the do-or-die about her, that forces one respect.

As for Mlle. Osta, she is the tiniest dancer in the Theatre, smaller even than Mlle. Pujol, and very slight, almost to emaciation. Just over five foot tall, her proportions are nonetheless ideal, and her height, or rather lack of it, is not, for that reason, an issue. She has improved technically over the last three years - better balances, more centred pirouettes, more back strength - although one would not perhaps care to go further than that.

By personality, she is a soubrette, of the lightest possible variety, charming, friendly, and - I must say - quite unadventurous.

Now, there is room for soubrettes among the leading artists of this world - even the great Margot Lander was probably more of a soubrette than anything else - and Ninette de Valois, despite her deep and dangerous appearance, excelled in such roles. But those two ladies knocked yer socks off as soubrettes.

Whether Claire-Marie Osta has anything like the presence and authority of the aforesaid - the jury is still out.

A great deal of political to-ing and fro-ing would appear to lie behind these appointments, as in France ( or in Denmark, for that matter) an étoile, even a premier danseur, enjoys the prestige of a high-ranking civil servant. He is in a way, a full-time member of the diplomatic corps.

Mavericks are thus greatly discouraged (OFF WITH THEIR HEAD !), as the case of the unfortunate E. Thibault, who is a far better dancer, would tend to shew. Although M. LeRiche has told the press in the past, that his wife has been "kept down the ranks" owing to her small stature, artistically, one would be hard put to define Mlle. Osta as a maverick !

There may also be administrative reasons: I do not think Elisabeth Maurin can continue beyond this season, as her technique, to one's sorrow, has been slipping badly. The lovely Aurélie Dupont, who is but thirty, and every inch an étoile - I'm not very partial to her dancing, but that's a purely subjective matter - has been seriously injured and out now for over six months. Whether she will dance again, is not known. One very much hopes so, because she is a future leader.

Why the AD has chosen to pass over Marie-Agnès Gillot for promotion time and again, I cannot say. The magnificent redhead is an athlete, bursting with raw energy. A style I am not at all partial to, but again, that's purely subjective. Whether Management feels that she is unclassical (unlikely, coming from Brigitte Lefevre !)....?

At the end of the day, I am sorry to say that this appointment appears to reflect a serious dearth of talent amongst the ladies in the troupe, although the men are probably the most skilful on the planet. Neither the AD, nor M. Gall, had an embarrassment of riches to choose from. How ever have we got to this sorry state ?

We have got there, as I never tire of saying, by allowing the School to choose girls on the basis of what Mlle. Bessy believes to be an ideal physique, certainly one she was never possessed of herself. Etiolated. And then by allowing the stuffing to be kicked out of them. So bland, so boring, so tensed-up about what the teacher thinks - ten years after graduating from the school.

Where is the pizzazz ? Where is the razzamataz ? Where is the showbiz ? Where are the little devils like Violette Verdy, or Solvig Oestergaard ? The strange, the mysterious, the Lynn Seymours of this world ? There must have been some poets amongst the hundreds of girls who have gone through the School over the last two decades - but they were likely kicked out.

Aylmer wrote

"Bart took to it as if he was born to dance Bournoville, although he was still obviously a French, rather than a Danish dancer. But that type pf physique and dancing is largely out of fashion these days and it's greatly to our loss."

Patrice Bart (no relation to today's étoile Jean-Guillaume, who is six foot three or so) can be seen in a tiny clip at the beginning of the filmed production of "Giselle" he did for the Scala four years ago, with Ferri and Murru. His dancing as Albrecht was so much better than Murru it is worrying. In fact, it was so good, his jumps and beats so high, so lightning swift, that for a moment I thought the film had been speeded up (I had that double-take watching the new Erik Bruhn film incidentally).

Then, funnily enough, I had the occasion to interview Patrice Bart a few days later, and he said the SAME THING ! He'd seen the selfsame clip, and thought, a/ was that really me ? and b/ have they done something to the film ? But of course, they hadn't. He actually danced like that, and so did others, before photogenia became the essential criterion for a dancer.

If the French public ever got a glimpse of the real Bournonville, properly danced (regrettably, there is little risk of seeing any of THAT these days), they would know precisely what Lacotte is up to. He is up to promoting himself.

Bournonville IS France. He was a pupil of Auguste Vestris, certainly the most influential professor of the first half of the 19th Century, and who trained the ablest men from all over Europe.

Bournonville danced and taught, as one danced and taught in this country - and, with some stylistic variation, in Italy as well - until the 1920s. That is the point at which choreographers shifted away from capturing the audience's attention with an interesting principle of composition, over to "making more effect".

Bournonville, Perrot, Mazillier, Louis de Saint Léon, Blassis - differences in dramaturgy and style, yes, but NOT in technique. And also Petipa.

Look at Saint Léon's "La Vivandière" - it has been put up here by Jean Guizérix two years ago. Even when danced, appallingly, by the Maryinskii, one can yet see, peering "through the lines" , that the PRINCIPLE OF COMPOSITION is identical to that of Bournonville.

When the Danish ballet master Hans Brenaa was in Russia in the early 50s, Dudinskaya came up to him and said: "What you teach, I recognise. It is of the same family as how we used to dance" - before the Revolution.

There are still around and about in Denmark people, who DO know. That is why I say, let them come here to France, and teach these people, who are the most skilful in Europe, to do it right.

I mean, if we are going to do it, let us do it RIGHT.

Otherwise, I'd almost prefer Forsythe. At least Forsythe has, or had, talent !

Lacotte is doing us no favours with his smarmy reconstructions. He is actually sicking people off so-called "Romantic" ballet, because what he does, is milquetoast. It lacks the virtù, the internal energy and necessity of what Vestris taught, and it LACKS EPAULEMENT, because there's no room for that in his system.

As for Aylmer's remarks on Mlle. Letestu, one of the company's most notorious épaulement-free zones, I can only second them.

She was, from her schooldays, always a great favourite with Claude Bessy, and getting a good deal of media attention from the age of 17 or so onwards, something like Yulia Makhalina at the time in Russia. She is now about 33.

Very tall (five foot ten I believe - but it's no problem, as her husband and ballet partner, M. Martinez, is six foot three or so), she is terribly pretty and intensely glamorous (the most beautiful bright-green eyes) but more so off-stage than on, I'm afraid. As Aylmer remarked, they have their fans - M. Martinez is a very clean, precise and technical dancer - and there are also people, this writer included, who simply don't go to the theatre when a Letestu cast is on, as one sleeps more at one's ease, in the comforts of home, such as they are.

I see the poor girl more as a victim of the worst aspects of the Bessy years, than anything else.

One wishes the AD would mix everything up, and let people from the ranks with some character, some bite, come up to dance leading roles and throw a bit of razzamataz or even a spanner into the works. Dream on, Katharine...

Anyway, as I've said elsewhere - let us have the short, the fat and the ugly, if they can but dance !

Can you imagine BLANCA LI

a former gymnast and night-club artist, with NO KNOWLEDGE of classical ballet whatsoever, being given a commission by Brigitte Lefevre to choreograph a one-hour work on POB étoiles ?

It happend, in 2002 !

On the strength of that masterwork, "Scheherezade" - a description of which I shall spare you here - the lovely Blanca, who is said to be a Lion (Lioness ? ) of Paris Nightlife, was appointed to head the ballet of the Komische Oper Berlin. That, as its name does NOT indicate, is one of Germany's leading troupes.

That little adventure lasted about three months...

Bon sang ne saurait mentir, as the French say, which translates roughly as The Truth, will Out.

No reports - nothing - "silence radio" as the French say ? Does no-one ever dance ANYTHING in a way worth reporting ? There is an entire new generation of dancers on stage, of whom we know nothing ? Speak up, Danes !

as Alexandra has just written:

"Reflection is something left to someone else, except there isn't someone else any more". Truer than true !

Classical ballet is about as out of date as astrophysics, or civil engineering. Do any of us recall being told that the Internet Bubble, or the Property Bubble, or the Stock Market Bubble, were going to replace Reality ? That the Videogame "Industry" was about to replace food, agriculture and farmers ?

My little finger tells me that the Pina Bausch Bubble is not destined to replace Reality, either.

Attempt to see another cast this evening failed. Same principals as Monday: Claire-Marie Osta and J.G. Bart. Osta giving it her all, dancing flat out. Not the world's most exciting interpreter, but that's life.

Ghastly incidents again in the Tarantella - what in heaven's name is that doing in a "Spanish" ballet, incidentally ? - and in most of the corps' set pieces. Timing, timing, timing. Was sitting beside a musician who groaned each time the massive thud came down precisely off-beat. Pierre Lacotte, please take out some of those steps. Pare it down, make it simple, make it on time to the music !

The pas de trois fell apart tonight, the conductor, for some odd reason, having suddenly slowed down the tempi for Fanny Fiat's variation to a degree, that the girl almost fell over. I would add that Miss Fiat, a dancer of astonishing ballon, attack and energy, looks frighteningly emaciated at the moment. More importantly, she has got to get rid of that "strict governess" expression, which goes along with port de bras that tend to be ramrod straight. M. Thibault somewhat under form, as he elected this night to take all the steps indifferently too large in his variation, which rather spoils its dance-quality.

The evening was saved by the children of the POB School in the Polonaise, an interlude of joy, and Miteki Kudo, beautiful beyond belief in the grand pas in Act II. One simply cannot tear one's eyes from her !

As for Hervé Courtain, as Inigo (the bad guy), the crown of the theatre's most beautiful mime must go to him. His dancing in Act I was excellent, while overall, his Inigo is a true theatrical creation. What a difference to the manic vaudeville act put on by Yann Saiz on Monday !

Whatever has got into M. Saiz ? He seems to have slid into a "techno-Rave" mindset. As Inigo, his dancing on Monday was on the slovenly side, and in the mime, he tends to "lose it", just as he did in the "Indian Dance" in the Bayadère. One almost fears that he is about to have a bezerker episode on stage.

Be that as it may, we had a real School for Mime this evening. Mime is NOT boring when done to this level ! M. Courtain's each gesture was firm, elegant and on the music, and invested with sense and energy. Bravo !

We were given a rare glimpse of Marie-Solène Boulet in a mime role, as the Countess. This young girl of rare talent, has been out injured for many a month. One hopes to see her back in form presently.

Cast changes driftin' down so thick and fast one can scarcely see the air for freshly-printed cast slips.

Injured, injured, injured - shades of Ross Stretton's last weeks at the RB, n'est-ce pas ? But speak no more.

Not a single cast whether of "Paquita" or of "Sylvia" (who are those women, and what are they, to cause such ravages ?) has remained unscathed.

Last night, instead of Marie-Agnes Gillot as "Paquita", we rushed in only to find Claire-Marie Osta (five foot 1) partnered by the six foot 2 Jean-Guillaume Bart in a last-moment cast change (Bart gets the Partner of the Decade Award for this, incidentally - astonishingly skilful). Gillot - injured. Teeth firmly clenched, I had specifically chosen the Gillot cast as I had intended to throw my prejudices against the woman to the winds. Another opportunity lost.

Be that as it may, the otherwise dull-as-dishwater evening gave us leisure to contemplate the inanity of Lacotte's frigid pastiche of Bournonville, and the exquisite Miteki Kudo in the Pas de Trois.

First, the goodies, after all, 'tis Christmas. Miteki Kudo - (the daughter of Noella Pontois and Professor Kudo, for those who do not know her) has charisma, charm, aethereal grace, and a delightful human warmth; she has therefore been banished to secondary or tertiary roles in the corps de ballet. The recent spate of injuries may have provided us with this most unusual opportunity to see her dancing ?

But Miteki Kudo is not even a soloist. We shall refrain from all comparison, with some who are. Her dancing is, however, an interesting, silent commentary on casting policies in this slick age of ours, where a dancer is supposed to look a glossy entomologist's specimen.

Now, for the crux of the evening. Pierre Lacotte, are you listening ? Your choreography is not working, and may I modestly attempt to explain why ?

The steps used in the Vestris/Bournonville epoch, that you, Pierre Lacotte, have been attempting to copy for the last couple of decades, are extremely complex and of high virtuosity, generally beaten and often requiring a shift in direction "en l'air". Those steps appear in a variation as a jewel, set off by what goldsmiths call "lights" - to us, steps - of lesser intensity. Think singing voice, think first, second and THIRD or even fourth register notes. In Bournonville, the critical thing is to maintain the SINGING line, and the EPAULEMENT throughout. The steps between the big steps sing, there is a trajectory that SINGS. People have got to be given the time to get it right.

You, Pierre Lacotte, have a Petipa mindset, and you have simply grafted on to Petipa's diagonals and identical-repeats, steps copied from Auguste Vestris' repertory. Whereas you, M. Lacotte, cram as many of the outsized, difficult steps together as you can fit into a single variation, without any regard to whether the dancer can maintain his épaulement, and whether he has got enough oxygen to get from A to B. And when you run out of ideas, you throw in a manège, or have 'em turn, baby, turn !

But in Bournonville, épaulement works as a kind of bellows - you are helping, not hindering, the lungs by "pumping" with the épaulement.

Secondly, in Bournonville, while doing your little chassés and small-to-middling steps, WITH your épaulement throughout, you are recovering oxygen levels, and building up for the next big jump that lies in wait. It is actually MORE relaxing, than the Russian method of stopping, and bolting off to a fresh diagonal en tendu until your cue comes crashing down.

But, Pierre Lacotte, you do not give the dancer a chance to recover. Like Nureyev, you just pack it in, piling on the difficulties, so the torso is jerked about like a sack of potatoes. It is downright ungraceful, and technically, it has nothing to do with the so-called "Romantic" or Vestris-era

ballet.

A truly outstanding dancer like the unfortunate E. Thibault can pull it off - or perhaps the never-cast Stéphane Phavorin - and still make it look like music and art. But it ain't.

So, Pierre Lacotte, if you really want to bring back this technique of dancing to France, let us be humble ! Let us admit that we do haven't a clue how to do it, and let us get in the Danes, and have them put up a few Bournonville plays on stage, and let us have them give lessons to the POB.

I know that you will not do that. But others may quite legitimately ask, Why not ? Why not ? and Why not ?

What was that case ?

In France, when a Court considers a case, they judge - and this is NOT a joke, that is how it stands on the statute book - on what they consider to be "intime conviction", in other words, what they FEEL in their heart and soul.

As a person trained in quite another legal system, I would hesitate to call that a standard of proof. In other words, the issue of evidence, in French law, is secondary, to say the least.

Claude Bessy has announced that she is suing Le Monde for libel. As the rest of the press, as well as the Observer, the Guardian, national television and so forth, have all raised the issue, Le Monde may have been singled out for attention because it is the newspaper of record.

So far as I can see, Le Monde appears to have done little more than relate an outline of the Socialconseil Audit.

Estelle,

do you recall by any chance the precise year, or television programme, on which they broadcast a very recent (1999 ? 2000?) documentary on the Opera School where one of the girls says "ici on n'a pas d'amis, que des copines, parce qu'on est tous des rivales", and another says "we're not allowed to help each other..." etc.

I'd really like to find a copy of that tape, because I think it's terribly relevant to the current hullaballoo, and I never managed to see the programme when it first came out. I got the quotes from the press.

To clear the mind of some of the Things I've had to look at recently, I spent some hours this past weekend looking at some extremely valuable tapes the late Bent von Cotta Schoenberg was kind enough to copy for me from his own collection. These are a series of six one-hour television films, made under the direction of the great Hans Brenaa, in 1967, entitled The Bournonville Schools. The narrator and script-writer was an art historian, the late Dr. Alan Fredericia.

The films shew the essential technical features of the Bournonville school, danced by some of the Greats of the day, including Flemming Ryberg and Toni Lander at the height of their powers, moving on to enchaînements from the Schools named for each day of the week, that are of transcendental difficulty. Some of the dancers are middling, some are extraordinary, but they all get the point across.

To mark Bournonville's 200th anniversary, it would be a true service to the dancing world for Danmarks Radio to reissue those tapes now, sub-titled in English, in commercial form.

I simply cannot believe that a document of this historical importance has been mouldering in the archives of State television for almost thirty years.

Incidentally, I cannot copy those tapes, because a/ they are now in very bad condition and b/ I do not have a machine to copy ( nor even a television for that matter - I watch at friends ! ), but if anyone is in Paris, they are welcome to contact me to have a look at them.

do unto others as thou wouldst etc.

Who in heaven's name is the fellow who designed those "costumes", if that is the word ?

VRSfanatic, I was referring to the notorious fact, that NON-BALLET schooling, regular schooling, the ABCs, in US State Schools, is said to be extremely lax. Courses in "basket-weaving", and so forth.

American parents I speak to seem to have the impression that their children are not learning anything at all in State schools. Regular school. Anyone who goes to a professional ballet school, is, plainly, not your run-of-the-mill student.

Might I ask you to refrain from being offended, where no offence whatsoever was meant ?

Is the situation better here in benighted Europe, in regular State schools ? NO, it is NOT. IF one lives in a smart area of Paris, and can send one's kiddies to Henri IV or Louis-le-Grand, those schools are state schools, and are free of charge, BUT teaching is on as high a level as the top fee-paying schools in England.

As soon as one moves out of the top 1% income-bracket areas, into the "prolo" areas, the standard of teaching and discipline collapses. I have several friends who attempt to be school teachers, and who cannot teach anything, because it has become impossible to maintain discipline.

Accordingly, do not take my remarks on American schooling amiss.

But to return to our original subject of discussion: can anything justify the sort of practices described in the Socialconseil report ?

If those allegations are true - and one fears they may be - any attempt to justify them, as Ariana Bavelier does in yesterday's Le Figaro, amounts to saying: "I like the results though. These people are giving me pleasure. They are technical, they have terrific figures, they LOOK GREAT on stage. And they NEVER make a mistake. So who the hell cares what they may have suffered as children ? "

Well, I for one, do. May I ask everyone to reread what our friend NOVERRE says in 'Lettres sur la Danse' about the Castrati ? And what he says about the parents who pack off their kiddies to become castrati, in order to ensure the offspring's future in an epoch where there was no national health insurance, unemployment benefit or old-age pension ?

In response to Mel's remark

"I wonder if the Opéra school is teaching ballet students, or recruits for the Légion Étrangère, where an actual motto is "Marchez ou Crevez!" (March or croak!)"

Mel has of course hit the nail on the head. Etrangère is something of a misnomer actually - it should be called Légion Etrange, which means weird.

As schooling in America is reputed to be very lax indeed, Americans might tend to think that any criticism about the POB School is no doubt coming from a lot of lazy choco-nibblers who want to flop about in pretty satin shoes.

No, jadies and lentilmen !

To understand the point: the film about the Dead Poets' Society was understood COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY here in France. The Americans saw it as an invitation to allow children more space for idealism and creative thought. French people in the film were laughing, crying and clapping out loud with delight - they thought it was a wonderful school because the children were not being shrieked at and punished all the time.

The discipline in French educational institutions is extreme. There is an undertone of sadism, which is very ugly, and I think Estelle - and Mel for that matter - are quite right to point to it.

The "Figaro" article Estelle has just posted up a link to, is truly the awfullest of the awful, because the author seems almost to be drooling over the fact that Persons in Authority can do the sort of thing discussed there, and get away with it ! For Heavens Sake ! Stand up and be Counted, Man ! Those are children !

Firmness is one thing. Let us not confuse firmness and authority, with SADISM and ABUSE OF POWER. Children frighten easily. So let us not frighten them !

Also, I would re-emphasise Estelle's point about the lack of choreography in this country, despite the highly technical training everyone gets. They've had the creativity stomped out of them. They can DO, but they have a deep fear about thinking beyond a certain level.

That is why there has not been a Lis Jeppesen, a Galina Ulanova or an Assylmuratova here for five decades, let alone a choreographer.

Freedom. The one thing I always loved so much about Lis Jeppesen, is the idea of freedom she radiated, though she was, in her own peculiar way, a master of technique.

There is no one like at the Paris Opera now, and there hasn't been for decades. Might there not be a reason ?

"Socialconseil audit of the Paris Opera School"

The Paris daily "Libération" dated December 4th, has a fairly extensive report on conditions at the School.

Libération has gone out and done their own research, on top of the Socialconseil Audit. They found several students and parents who were willing to speak - anonymously.

But what is astounding, in this mealy-mouthed epoch, is that oe or two people actually give their real name. One is Alain Faugouin, osteopath, who says: "I have seen stress fractures. The children are pushed to the limit, but without strict medical follow-up. As is the case for high-level athletes, they develop pathologies, which are brushed off lightly. The watchword is "put up, or shut up" (marche ou crève). When a child returns to work after an injury, he is not gradually brought back in. Suffering is seen as making the effort wortwhile."

A dancer who left to work abroad is quoted as saying:

"psychologically, it's very rough; They smash you (on vous casse), they tell you "you'll never make it, fattie". And a mum is quoted: "The pressure on the children bears down so heavy that they're frozen stiff. They don't even report insults, because they rain down. There's anorexia, girls who have their period only at 19-20 years of age. The children are willing to put up with anything at all, because they love the ballet, so they cave in, living in fear of being sent down. Their suffering is real."

If those were isolated reports from "failures", perhaps one could simply ignore it. But when people like the étoile Aurélie Dupont too...

A trades union delegate, Camille Fallen, describes it as a "school of submission" (école de soumission). "Everything rests on fear, the terror (sic) of being sent down, whether as a child, a parent, or a staff member. The very thought of breaking the law of silence creates extreme anxiety amongst many. Is Obedience to coercive behaviour the proper method, nowadays, for training an artist ?"

It's THAT time of the year again, folks. The POB "concours" will shortly be upon us. As it is, after all, one of the world's most important troupes, and in anticipation of the Dread Event, a few weeks back I rustled up a little piece, droll, I hope, but seriously meant, as you will see, to which I invite comment. It was first posted on ballet.co, and I have now taken the liberty of putting it up here today, in the hope that Alexandra will excuse "double-posting".

Text Begins

November 2002

A SOCIETY FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE IDEAS OF AUGUSTE VESTRIS

The intense, even fierce criticism levelled at little me over the last few weeks, on account of what I fondly thought were mild-mannered comments on current events in the ballet world, have led me to consider founding a Society. For the time being, as Dante would say, it is a Party of One, but new membership is welcomed.

I The society will bear the name of Auguste Vestris (1760-1842), because, as the professor of Carlo Blassis, Jules Perrot and Auguste Bournonville, we may conclude that he was a/ a Man of Principle, b/ a Genius, and c/ who knows, possibly a helluva lot of fun to be around as well.

Vestris – what more suitable choice in this age of the Dictatorship of Beauty ? Though a celebrated dancer, he is said to have been stunningly unattractive, even, a Toad.

Let us have Toads, if they can but dance ! Let us have the short, the fat, and the ugly, if they can but dance !

That is not to suggest for a moment that the dancers that the Society will appoint as members Honoris Causa, are Toads. Indeed, some may be quite the opposite, but what counts in such matters, is the Principle of the Thing.

II The way the Society will work, is as follows.

It has been founded in France, first, because Vestris taught here, and second, because its head, the Party of One referred to above, lives here, at present.

Above all, France has always had a peculiar importance for the ballet.

The Society will, until further notice, have no finances, no membership cards, no bureaucracy, and no paper work, except for the essays people may wish to send in.

III The Society's very modest aim is to encourage, yea, even here in benighted Western Europe, the return to certain principles, the principles of Leonardo, which are as new, as they are old, and as old, as they are new, viz,

(i) épaulement, as Leonardo would have it,

(ii) a sharp distinction between:

- A- the face, and B- the foot,

- A - the leg, and B- a baseball bat.

There will be a no-man's land laid out between the territories in Group A, and the territories in Group B. No-one will be allowed to cross that no-man's land. It will be mined.

(iii) classical mime technique,

(iv) a vision of the ballet as a THEATRICAL art form, where balletic gesture is subordinated to getting across the musical and the dramatic point.

IV The Society would like to hold Lecture-Demonstrations, though it will no doubt be unable to do so, because it has no funds, and everyone is so busy. Had it the wherewithal, it would hold Compare and Contrast Days. Dancers would be invited to demonstrate passages in the two styles, and professors would be invited to express their views.

For the time being, the Society will have to content itself with a very restricted sort of activity.

1/ It welcomes essays, statements, book reviews, or just plain questions, from any competent, or intellectually curious person, distressed by the state of technique today, and in a Reforming Mood.

2/ It welcomes proposals for new dance libretti based on serious historical subjects, such as those Noverre discusses in his famous Letters. NB: This excludes all remakes of 1960s Hollywood movies.

3/ It welcomes concrete, material proposals for the improvement of classical dance technique that would need to be aired more broadly.

4/ It will take nominations from the general public, for dancers as members Honoris Causa of the Society. That will not be anywhere near as nice as being promoted solo dancer, with the salary that goes with it, but it does cut a fine caper nonetheless.

Criteria will be strict, though. Classical rigour, a dignified reserve, and musicality.

For example, although the Party of One referred to above, is on the verge of becoming a screaming, hysterical Alina Cojocaru Groupie, smudged mascara, bouts of uncontrolled weeping and all, NEVERTHELESS Miss Cojocaru cannot, for technical and stylistic reasons, be nominated, at least, not for the time being.

I think the first two members Honoris Causa of the Vestris Society should be the Dane Thomas Lund, and Emmanuel Thibault. Had one more occasion to see Miteki Kudo, she might be a candidate as well. Or perhaps the beauteous Ould Braham.

But, the world is big, and Paris is small, too small. I welcome nominations from far-off countries that one knows too little about, such as China, or Russia. Are there people out there, who can keep their legs down, and who can dance ? Please advise.

5/ The Vestris Society will look benevolently on the balletomane, but not on the Fan. In fact, the Vestris Society takes a dim view of its own founder, when in a Cojocaru-groupie mode. The balletomane knows that ballet is, or should be, a worthwhile art form, and is distressed by the contempt with which most intellectuals regard it. While the Fan, or Groupie, brings down opprobrium on us all.

VI The Vestris Society will encourage utterly uninhibited and wide-ranging attacks – though penned with style and decorum, of course – on choreography degrading to the artists. Choreographers who confuse Ipanema Beach at high noon with the Opera stage, and ballet dancers, with the clients of a Brazilian plastic surgeon, will wish they hadn't.

A sub-section of the Vestris Society, known as the Vestris Unit for the Prevention of Cruelty to Dancers, may eventually have to be set up.

VII The Vestris Society is concerned to hear of talented professors, holed out in the bush, by that I mean places like the Dakotas, Inverness, or the Kamchatka Peninsula, unsung, ignored by a wider public. We must find these people, and sing their praises !

Professors, unlike their disciples now gracing the stage, are not public figures, so we shall have to crave their permission to discuss their work. But, discuss it we must !

Once they have been selected, they will be appointed Vestris Fellows, Honoris Causa.

VIII The Vestris Society does not buy the idea that only the light-skinned, shall join the world's top companies.

It therefore welcomes the nomination as a member Honoris Causa, of black dancers who meet the aforementioned criteria.

The Party of One looks forward to your contributions.

K.L. Kanter