ronny

Here is something I know will work because I tried it a few years ago. I was teaching meditation back then and so I went to the local TV station (they had daily talk show) and I told them... "if you ever have a guest that doesn't show up, give me a call and I can be here in about 1/2 hour. " Sure enough, about a week later they called and I got 30 minutes free air time and not only that, they thanked me for getting them out of a jam!! I think this kind of thing would be even easier to do for a ballet company or a dancer or a teacher of ballet. Just go on and they will ask the questions that will get you rolling. Its a lot of fun and who knows, you may become a local TV star! Show them some simple training exercizes or demonstrate some ballet steps or just talk... use you imagination. They are looking for cultural things and usually want to promote these things, and of couse they have time to fill week after week.

OK, great. If you are considering donating tapes to your library, I would suggest that you secure a note to the tape jacket giving some explanation of the story line and also mention that this tape was donated by "such and such" and put your number on it if they want to inquire on live performances. I'm sure your library would allow that kind of a cultural plug. Great, I'm happy that you found the idea useful. I hope it helps your company.

I wanted put this post up so that everyone could contribute their ideas on ballet promotion. I'll start with this.... The next time you order a ballet video, order an extra one for your local library. For about 20 dollars you can give your city the joy of seeing the REAL sleeping beauty. I also have a hunch that many people have heard of Swan Lake but have never seen it!! Many small libraries don't even have these basic treasures. So this is just a thought on promotion... do you have any ideas on ballet promotion?

That's great. I get the full picture now. I see all the clues you mentioned. Thanks again.

Great, thanks. Now I can impress my friends with a narrative on the scene... of course I will pretend that I know which one is which!!... and I'm safe there since they won't know the difference. Naples must have been a small kingdom, so I'll pick the two dancers for that place!! BW, thanks too... but I have so much fun asking you guys and gals that I may not do much book research... hope that's OK> For some reason I am not the type that can curl up with a book and absorb all the information. I have learned quite a lot from you all already, thanks again.

There are 4 groups of "natioal dancers" who dance in the castle just before the black swan makes her entrance. I have always wondered if they represent 4 different countries or what? I was thnking Spain or Russian or something because they are all clicking their heels at one time or another. I am watching a Kirov performance... Am I trying to disect the thing too much... sometimes I don't know how much detail can be found in the story line or how much I should just sit back and use my imagination. Would you say that these 4 groups represent 4 different countries or regions, or should I just sit back and just think, "well, they have so many dancers who want some stage time and the director just told them to go out and get some practice!"

Thanks to you all. I think I understand the thing much better now. And this also explains why important dancers leave stage and then come back later... I used to try to figure out if it was part of the story, but now I think that it may be just to change shoes for the next part of their performance. Its also good to hear that shoe technology is there to reduce the risk of injury due to too much pointe work. All very interesting.

Wow! Thanks for these comprehensive replys. I took notes on these things since there is so much information here. You all really answered my question completely and is very much appreciated. I am going to look for these peices from Stravinski (probably on tape since I live in a remote area) and you also have me interested in Cinderalla by Prokofiev and Sylvia by Delibes, and possibly La Source. This is a great resource for me. Thanks again.

I just checked the poll on "best composer" on this forum and with my vote, three of six were in a dead heat with 6 votes each. So I have a question about each of these three. On Delibes, I know about Coppelia of course, but are there any other great full length ballets that he is known for as composer? Am I missing out on something here?? On Prokofiev, I would love to enjoy his music, but the excerpts I have seen all seem to have a kind of dark tone to them. Things that start out quite promising, but then move to a kind of discord of notes. I've heard dancers say that Prokoviev allows them to express the "full range of their emotions" which I suppose means feeling "rotten" as well as happy! The exception to this is the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet... that is very nice, really moving and wonderful. So my question is this, is there a Prokofiev ballet that shows off his more harmoneous nature? And on Stravinski... did Stravinski compose for full length ballets? I was thinking that maybe his music was not composed for a ballet, but simply adapted to ballet at a later time. But either way, I would be interested in knowing of any complete Stravinski ballets. That poll brought a lot of my questions to mind. Hope this is not too many things for one post. Any comments on any of these three composers would be interesting to me. Thanks

This really does cover the question nicely. I would enjoy seeing any other ideas on it also if anyone wants to add something. This comment that Victoria makes in her first paragraph is especially interesting. It mentions something that I have noticed recently... the good ones I want to see over and over again. That's a great quality in buying videos. More bang for the buck you might say. Movies usually don't have that quality (none of them do it for me) but a good ballet just lives on and on and on. The great ones seem to take on the quality of immortality.

Thanks for the posts Poppiedancer... its always so exciting to hear from people all over the world and hear what is going on here and there. Dinner music sounds great, I didn't start doing that until recently since it was never our family tradition, but come to think of it my father was in his late 80s and still loved to dance! So maybe the tradition is not there, but it is in the blood you might say.

Will do, thanks for your comment and thanks for your thoughtful discussion. Its all VERY interesting. I have a tendency to ask things that people think about but are a bit shy to say. Now me, I don't embarrass easily. Sometimes I think, gee, I should't have been so blunt, I should have refined the question a bit for these very refined people, but your comments here help me know I am not getting into trouble. That's a help. Thanks.

OK, thanks. I kind of thought that this thing could be a promotional thing rather than a true reproduction of what Petipa would have done. But also I am sure that many companies try very hard to get it right also. Very interesting answers. Thanks a lot, that clears up the confusion.

Hey, wait a minute, that's impossible, Hitchcock is not around anymore. Your not fooling me! I don't believe it. So why should I believe that Petipa is the choreographer in a recent ballet? Isn't a choreographer a bit like a director in that he (or she) directs the whole production on stage and gives structure to the storyline and music? If this is so, how can we still have Marius Petipa as choreographer long after he is gone? (Maybe I am mixed up about a director and choreographer and stage manager) Choreography must be something on a document if we can still have Petipa as a choreographer today or maybe it is done from memory of what he once did when he organized the whole production. So as you can probably tell, I am a bit puzzled by these terms and how they really play out in the real world. So what's up with this choreography by Petipa... is it really true and if so, how is it done as he would have done it?

Wonderful picture BW... you dancing with baby in arms. That's a great picture. That is something that needs to be IN a ballet. Wouldn't that be great to see that on stage... a mother so overjoyed with life and her child that she just takes flight with her child. A wonderful picture and would make a great scene in a real ballet.

When you see the term "real ballet", what does that mean to you? This question came up in my mind when I was reading the introduction to this internet site. My understanding is that this site was started to give a forum to those who enjoy and participate in "Real Ballet". So I was wondering, just what does that term mean to you.... WHAT IS real ballet as you see it?

Re-awakening is very interesting with regard to the Sleeping Beauty. Its nature that has been sleeping and is waking up in the spring. That's a real interesting though, and "sleeping beauty" deserves a holiday of its own. La Fille Mal Gardee is the thing that brought this question to mind. It does fit, doesn't it... and great family entertainment. Maybe at the beginning, when the chickens get up there will be a few eggs there and the dancers can use them as a prop and make a few brush stokes on them. How come PBS has never picked up on this charming family entertainmnet. Seems like they are missing something great here.

Seems like Easter is not a complete holiday without some traditional ballet performance connected to it. Christmas has the Nutcracker... Easter needs to be put on its toes. After all, can you think of a better time to dance than Easter when the first hint of spring is just around the corner? Flowers, eggs, maypoles, rabbits, etc, etc... seems like there is something that would fit or could be adapted to fit Easter. So how bout it, can you think of some nice performance that can be connected to Easter?

I got the tape and viewed it once.... its a bit too serious for me. I was waiting for the story to lighten up a bit but there was little relief that came along. Perhaps it is just that I am new to this kind of production. I have to give it some time... after all this is Chopin. Guess I am just a Coppelia kind of person. I'm not a kid, but I like the light happy productions.

I want to close this post since it was up for 3 days and no one seemed interested. Thanks.

I just want to add this to my post on technology. Technology from the past has allowed a few people to choose what everyone will see... so the freedom of choice was pinched a bit there. And there were advertisers and time reastraints but the newest technlolgy is allowing more choice and it is just my opinion that with a bigger range of choices now, the best will come to shine forth...Petipa full length performances for example.

Hey, what's up with all these swans? I saw an excerpt of a peice called "the dying swan" and I thought, oh, that is part of "swan lake"... but no, it is not Tchaikovsky but Camille Saint Saens! What is going on? Is there some relationship between these two or were the swans just a common vehicle for the old time composers. And another thing is the hunting scene in swan lake!!! Never heard of hunting swans before. Was it like roast duck back in those days? Hope it doesn't catch on again... swan preservation you know, better to keep them safe!

What's good??? Technology. Technology like the web and more excellent recording technology will allow the average person like myslef to discover the treasures that are still out there but maybe a little hard to find. A few years ago I would not be able to find this site and the commentary on Amazon about various ballet performances AND most importantly, I would not have been able to research a performance (like Swan Lake, or Sleeping Beauty for example) I have never attended live ballet or have never met a person who knows about ballet, but here I am talking to you!!! It would have been impossible 10 years ago. Just 2 months ago I saw "Sleeping Beauty" performed by the Kirov company. WHAT A TREASURE!!! I am telling all my friends about it. Where has this been all my life... it is FANTASTIC. So real Classical Ballet is to me a HUGE hidden treasure that is just waiting to be discovered by people like me and with techlology of the web and so on, it can be discovered. I don't know if I will ever attend a live performance, but here I am, I know the story line now (thanks to this site) and already I think of Aroura as an old friend!!! Technology made it possible. More people like me are going to discover these things now... the BEST will rise to the surface, it comes with technology. People will discover the best things with technology and the freedom to choose the best. It will happen... and with discovery will come better finance of the best. I think there is a lot to look foreward to.

I recently upgraded the sound from my TV since the tiny speakers that came in the set were just not up to the job of reproducing the great sounds on my ballet tapes. It cost about $20.00 to upgrade and made quite a difference... not in volume, but in quality of sound (deeper lows and crisper highs) If you want to know more, post a reply here and I will explain more about it.

Beautiful Answers... thanks. Its great to hear that the dancers are as happy as they look. So, it's not just acting, they love doing it too. That will help me enjoy the performances more. Thanks.