Mme. Hermine

a good point, liebs. a good point.

one might even say, cinematically, "He can't HANDLE the truth!" p

in the 1970s margot fonteyn danced at the first of the handful of international ballet festivals in chicago. that program was somewhat simple compared to the ones that occurred afterward. backstage, we heard a fan, a young teenaged boy, ask for her autograph and say, remarkably, 'miss fonteyn, you have such a beautiful accent, are you english?' she looked mildly startled and then told him, 'well you know i am part brazilian!' so maybe sheezno comes from the brazilian side? p

i was under the impression that during a very brief period with the royal ballet, the role was danced by trinidad sevillano.

however, just to act as devil's advocate, the shoes may have been special order shoes that did not come out properly and therefore were not usable by the dancer, or something like that.

i believe ilyin is going to miami city ballet.

i think that one april there was an article on ballet.co.uk that spoke of a 'lost' third act of giselle, but on investigation it turned out to be an april fool's! (though not immediately obvious).

i think that one april there was an article on ballet.co.uk that spoke of a 'lost' third act of giselle, but on investigation it turned out to be an april fool's! (though not immediately obvious).

one of my cherished memories is of seeing joffrey ballet perform 'the dream' with rebecca wright and burton taylor, on a tour some time, i suppose, in the 1970s. what a cast!

however trinidad sevillano is only 32 years old. isn't rojo 26 or 27? the difference isn't that great, but sometimes it seems as though someone ought to be older because one's heard about them for so long!

pavlova can also be seen in a rather odd movie of 'the blue bird' in which i think she plays the bird, and elizabeth taylor plays 'light'. here is a paragraph i found about the film: The Blue Bird Based on a famous classic fairy tale "The Bluebird of Happiness". Dog, Cat, Light, Fire and Bread lead children on their quest for true happiness. Directed by George Cukor. Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda, Ava Gardner, Cicely Tyson, Patsy Kensit, Will Geer, Robert Morley, Pavlova. 1976/G/99 min. Being Redigitized and available for DVD. [ 05-26-2001: Message edited by: Mme. Hermine ]

just as a side bar, gelsey kirkland was not greg lawrence's g.f. but rather his wife at that time....

Ruth Page!

E. Virginia Williams, founder of the Boston Ballet.

i saw some fairly recent photos of her dancing giselle, with, i think, victor ullate's company. she looked very nice.

did you do that jeffrey? the chicago ballet once performed, if that is the place, in the round, if you can imagine the third act of sleeping beauty in the round, and i thought it was there. amy, i understand what you are saying, and that is part of what i meant. i don't think a company can survive without doing a nutcracker, and i don't think many cities, especially chicago, can support more than one enormous production like the one they had. the tribune's production profits, however, went to the chicago tribune charities, not solely to literacy programs (although there might have been one included in the list of over 20 charities i saw). certainly their promotion efforts (fair game if you're trying to sell something) weren't targeted at trying to destroy anything else, rather to sell their own tickets. and chicago wasn't likely to have any kind of ballet company if that company couldn't do a nutcracker, which it wasn't going to be able to do as long as that one was around. so i always presumed that pressure was brought to bear upon the tribune to support the joffrey's production (and i have no idea by whom, this is a supposition) because otherwise the joffrey couldn't survive in chicago at all.

i don't know. when i lived there i recall that the symphony was always heavily supported and the ballet almost not at all. when ruth page had her company in the late 70s, they were performing, for the most part, in a theatre that seated only about 300 people, which was in the building that the foundation owned, with the occasional attempt to present a set of performances in another, larger venue. i don't know anything about the others that have had companies since then, but i guess if they don't exist anymore, that says a lot, that's only been a little over 20 years. it's very bizarre.

but mel that wasn't meant as any kind of putdown. chicago is a terrible place for ballet. without the revenue from a nutcracker, other seasons might have had to be curtailed and their local success would probably have been more limited. that's all i meant, not as any criticism or baseless speculation or whatever. [ 05-08-2001: Message edited by: Mme. Hermine ]

certainly the kirov brought a balanchine program on their last tour, doing 'symphony in c', 'tchaikovsky pas de deux' and i don't remember what else, and in 1992, i seem to remember 'leaves are fading' on another program not composed of the classics.

keeping in mind, of course, that the reason that their nutcracker is done at all is because the chicago tribune no longer sponsors the long-running production of ruth page's nutcracker at the arie crown theatre. i suspect it would have been a little difficult for them had they not had that revenue-producer.

here you are! however it's not available on video, so you have to look for someone who has it! ___________ Title ABT: Live from Lincoln Center (Videotape) Imprint 1978. Descript 3 cassettes (U-matic) 165 min. : sd. color. ; 3/4 in NTSC. Note Telecast on WNET-TV's Live from Lincoln Center in May, 1978. Executive producer: John Goberman. Producer: Emile Ardolino. Director: Kirk Browning. Intermission director: Robert Schwartz. Writer: Tobi Tobias. Host: Robert McNeill. Performed by American Ballet Theatre. Contents CONTENTS. - Reel 1. Les Sylphides. Choreography: Michel Fokine. Music: Chopin (Orchestrated by Benjamin Britten). Lighting: Nananne Porcher. Scenery: Alexandre Benois. Leading roles danced by Eleanor D'Antuono, Rebecca Wright, Marianna Tcherkassky, and Ivan Nagy. Don Quixote: Grand pas de deux. Choreography: After Marius Petipa. Music: Ludwig Minkus. Danced by Natalia Makarova, and Fernando Bujones. Interviews with Natalia Makarova, Fernando Bujones, and Erik Bruhn. - Reel 2. Interview with Erik Bruhn (continued from reel 1). Theme and variations. Choreography: George Balanchine. Music: Tchaikovsky. Costumes: Desmond Heeley. Lighting: Jennifer Tipton. Leading roles danced by Gelsey Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Interview with Gelsey Kirkland. - Reel 3. The firebird. Choreography: Michel Fokine. Music: Stravinsky. Costumes: Nathalie Gontcharova. Lighting: Nananne Porcher. Leading roles danced by Cynthia Gregory, John Meehan, Marcos Paredes, and Leslie Browne.

this is from the New York public library's catalog, it was a gala performance to save the dance collection. i have seen photos from it and always remember how infectious her joy of life seemed to be even in a still photo. now i will have to go take a look, as i have never seen it. (in case anybody comes to the city, i've always said the dance collection was one of our biggest "tourist attractions" for dance fans!!) Filmed on January 24, 1972 at City Center, New York by Emile Ardolino and Gardner Compton. Producer: Donald Saddler. Contents CONTENTS. - The judgment of Paris. Choreography: Antony Tudor. Music: Kurt Weill. Costumes: Hugh Laing. Danced by Maria Karnilova (Juno), Agnes De Mille (Venus), Lucia Chase (Minerva) with John Kriza and Hugh Laing. - Donald Saddler discussing the funds raised by the performance. - Duet from Suite for five. Choreography: Merce Cunningham. Music: John Cage. Danced by Carolyn Brown and Merce Cunningham. - Cry. Choreography: Alvin Ailey. Music: Alice Coltrane, Laura Nyro, The Voices of East Harlem. Danced by Judith Jamison. this was a repeat of what i think was the original casting of the 1940s, of which there is also a film. she is featured in a number of interview segments of different dance-related tv shows, including one all about her, as a speaker at the memorial for jerome robbins not so long ago. there is a bit of film of her in Helen of Troy as Helen, filmed by Ann Barzel (that is silent) in addition to the following intriguing entry: The Concert Telecast by CBS-TV on the Ed Sullivan Show, February 21, 1960. Choreography: Jerome Robbins. Music: Frédéric Chopin. Conductor: Werner Torkanowsky. Pianist: Betty Walberg. Performed by Muriel Bentley, Wilma Curley, Patricia Dunn, Maria Karnilova, Barbara Milberg. Tommy Abbott, Todd Bolender, James White, and members of Ballets: U.S.A. Includes six of the original ten sequences: Polonaise in A major, Berceuse, Prelude no. 18 in F minor, Waltz no. 14 in E minor, Prelude no. 7 in A major, Butterfly ballade (no. 3 in A-flat major). Restricted Permission required. and lots and lots and lots of photographs. sorry if this is too long but i so love that library and sometimes i think people don't realize how much is there!

not exactly OT, but... i recall a friend telling me of a production she saw in britain in the 1940s wherein robert helpmann, upon finishing his variation in act ii, quite properly collapsed on the stage and then after a minute, got up, took a bow, and got back down on the floor! :rolleyes:

but they wouldn't be brisees volees because they all go in one direction, right? so it would be dessus or dessous (i guess dessus because that is over and "sous" is under?) and as they travel, it seems they're being done through fourth position and not fifth more or less, which i suspect would make them easier (though not less spectacular)...going back into the box now [ 04-22-2001: Message edited by: Mme. Hermine ]

any more details and sources to go to for news would be appreciated! i saw that he was scheduled to be on one of those "Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet" tours opening in britain on april 25. hope he's all right. [ 04-22-2001: Message edited by: Mme. Hermine ]