Paul Parish

Me too.

Thank you, Leonid ... thank you thank you.

Well, one hears different things, but there was a certain amount of crossover way back when. it's kinda big in Pilates lore that both Graham and Balanchine came into contact with Pilates quite early on and incorporated Pilates into their work The older style of Pilates was very contracted -- Balanchine and Graham did do a ballet together, too, and traded dancers. That's when Lincoln Kirstein started calling Paul Taylor "Geek" and kept trying to get him to switch companies. And there's the famous story about Graham seeing Serenade, and when hte girls turned out to first position, tears sprang to her eyes.

VIENNA WALTZ IS BACK UP ON Youtube shown here: unforgettable.

Nureyev learned a lot from Kurgapkina. From Julie Kavanagh's *Nureyev*: "Almost immediately Rudolph began preparing for his debut with the virtuoso ballerina Ninel Kurgapkina in *Gayane*. Nearly a decade older than he, and renowned for her spitfire temper, Kurgapkina proved more than a match for the brazen young star. First rehearsals took the form of a contest of wills until Rudolf realized he had met a fellow fanatic, and converted his initial combativeness into compliance and respect. Without protest, he repeated at least a dozen times a lift in which, crossing the stage, he carried Kurgapkina balanced on one hand above his head--until he had won her confidence. 'He was a little bit afraid of me, but he liked my attitude to work and life. I was obsessive in rehearsals but a normal person outside.' It was not long before the pair really had fun dancing together. Kurgapkina's 'amazing quality of earthliness and energy' excited him, and he admired her autonomy (during supported pirouettes she turned herself, and if ever he was overattentive, she would snap, 'Don't mess!'). 'He saw real professionalism in Kurgapkina. She gave him a lot of advice, and he listened to her, whereas there was nobody among the men that he took any notice of.'" ------------------------

There was no dancer more musical than Kurgapkina -- others phrased things differently, but HER phrasing was phenomenal, the way it made the case for the ballet. She showed the jouissance in the combination; she made it unmisunderstandable -- ad she showed her students how.: where your eyes go, when the head comes round the corner, how you punctuate the combination, how to show the heart of the matter. Here's a 12-part series of her teaching level 8 class, barre ,a little center, and then the variations from Paquita -- to Ponomarenko, Polikarpova and several others: she's uncharacteristically severe with them, "on the warpath" as Karsavina would say. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjuAXMTT9QE...PL&index=31 Kurgapkina's much praised for her earthiness and wit -- and she's VERY earthy in the Nureyev documentary that came out last year-- but her Aurora was extraordinarily refined -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKpM2jPCUmE and look at Obrastzova, whom she coached, as Aurora, how in her last pirouette she suddenly opens her arms out a la seconde and floats around at half speed, which is just enchanting -- she seems like the virgin queen Elizabeth of Spenser and Shakespeare, the brave princess who will take care of her country when the time comes. THose qualities perhaps show better in her students/protegees, especially Lopatkina, than they did in her own dancing, but they are CERTAINLY manifest in Lopatkina, who's taken Kurgapkina's perfectionism and great-heartedness and projected them on an even more heroic scale.... The heroic "Ketinoa" has posted MANY clips of her dancing and coaching on Youtube, and we all need to thank whoever that is for opening up this world to us

Thanks, Mel -- I never wanted to believe that....

I'll have to look again, but for right now I'm not convinced that Osipova's feet are padded at all. In the second photo, she is sickling very badly the foot in retire, but the lumpiness of hte instep of hte standing foot looks real to me -- many dancers feet develop an almost arthritic bumpiness in the joints where the metatarsals meet the tarsals -- Patty McBride had a big bump there, that was not a pad. Kyra Nichols also. That's what Osipova's feet look like to me at least in these pictures. A high instep makes for thrilling geometry, especially when the knee is bent, in coupes or passes. It's said that Gelsey kirland had silicone implants in her insteps, and indeed they WERE high insteps -- which DID fabulously sharpen the line of her lower leg in pas de chat. In a ballet like Theme and Variations, where there's a dazzling phrase that involves double pirouettes and pas de chats, moving very fast, those brilliantly pointed feet of hers made dazzlingly faceted traceries every time the knee bent and the foot came up....

Sofiane was fantastic in Emeralds, moving --as she did in Diamonds -- as if it were fated. The variation brought tears to my eyes, and I saw details I'd never seen before -- at the end of one phrase, she put her face in her hands, covering her eyes. She cast a very powerful spell. During the pdd in Rubies, someone seated down front in the orchestra had a Grand Mal seizure that was so dangerous, and so long-lasting his groans could be heard all over the house -- including onstage. Dimitro and Kochetkova had to be aware of the commotion. They didn't get him on a gurney and out till the end of the pdd. We were all distracted by it. It would not be fair to anybody to critique their performance beyond saying that they gave it their all under very distressing circumstances. Lily Rogers had a great evening and is a natural for the tall girl role.

It just struck me, re Emeralds, that Violette Verdy's last name means "green."

Gag me with a spoon, that's laying it on thick.... but of course I hope those kids sign up.

Leonid, I was so struck by the same thing. I only saw her live once, when she came to San Francisco ca 1989 with he Moscow Classical Ballet. She danced the pdd from Bejart's Romeo and Juliet and looked 14 years old. (She was roughly 50 at the time). The costume for that is a white unitard and pointe shoes, absolutely unforgiving costume; the house was small, the audience sat close to the stage, there was no place for her to manufacture an illusion except inside herself, and she did nothing that wasn't Juliet. What a noble talent! The first time I saw Yekaterina offstage she looked like a pretty young girl who should be at school and not a ballet dancer with one of the world’s great ballet companies. I was fortunate to see her dance many times and I cherish deep memories of her in many roles. For me Yekaterina Maximova became Katerina, became Phrygia, became Masha, became Kitri and achieved extraordinary success in so many other roles. When I first saw Maximova and her husband who were not too different in age to myself, their extraordinary projection of youth resonated deeply with me. In London she was much loved and with her husband, we were privileged to see performances of one of the great partnerships of the 20th century. Arnold Haskell seeing her dance Don Q pas said that Maximova "...had the wittiest feet since Anna Pavlova." There is a today headline on http://gazeta.ru/culture/2009/04/28/a_2980218.shtml which Ilya posted, which reads, “Yekaterina Maximova - The little elf of the Bolshoi? Which I found an extremely poignant description of this wonderful childlike woman and great artist. To her husband Vladimir Vasiliev and her mother I send my sincere condolences and the ballet world for me is a a lesser place than it was yesterday.

I agree, it's brilliant casting. Let me mention that Yuan Yuan Tan is cast also in Mimi Paul's role in Emeralds, which may be one of the greatest things of all. Tan is not often asked to move like this, but she can do dreamy, and it can be FABULOUS -- much more so than when she's asked to be grand. Some of the best she's ever danced has been the girl in Mauve in Dances at a Gathering, the first girl in "In the Night" (I have never seen that part be so riveting)...

Leonid, how I envy you seeing them live! I'm sure I'd remember that forever. But if you ever make it to New York City, I THINK I remember seeing at the dance collection of the NYC Public Library a tape of Villella and Verdy performing Tchai Pas which is quite an amazing thing to behold.... Where did I See it? Verdy did some amazing things that nobody else does any more -- for example, she did a series of 8 releves, turning an eighth on each, doing ronde de jambes en l'air on every one -- and a glorious series of attitude turns, and every time her face came back int oview it was like the sun coming out.. Kyra Nichols did the same ronde de jambes en l'air in her Sugar Plum Fairy variation instead of the en de dedans turns.... Wonderful! I don't resent the copyright issues which has in itself become legendary, as I can still see the joyous performance in my minds eye.

Re the ramp -- The Berkeley stage is not really big. I wonder what it can have been like in the first production, which was staged before the Mariinsky was built, in the old "Stone" theater, which was twice as deep as the Mariinsky -- the Mariinsky was built where the hippodrome had been and backs up onto a canal, which prevented them making the stage as big as in the other theater, which had NINE wings -- I attended a lecture by Tim Scholl who said there were SIXTY-FOUR shades in that production

The clip was removed and the channel, with many Balanchine clips, was closed: "bloeedsinn" cannot say if she was warned before, because she was not checking regularly her e-mail box. I met that girl in Paris (freind of a friend: it's a small world!!!) this winter and she survived well... Among the others I remember Dupont, Semionova and Villa. There were two clips, with many dancers, at the end. Annamicro, we are all in YOUR debt. Thanks for all you put up. I can't tell you how grateful I am -- I hang out on youtube like I did as a kid at the library, seeing things I'd never HOPED to see....

Macaulay is a wonderful critic, but he has not lived in the USA very long, and he doesn't seem to know that Oakland Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet (from which both Howard Sayette and Mark Goldweber come) presented LOTS of the Diaghilev rep here in from the 70s on. Oakland did Polovtsian Dances very well indeed, along with Sylphides and Petroushka, Sheherezade, Nijinska's Les Biches, Les Noces, Chopin Concerto, AND Le Train Bleu (which they resurrected; nobody had seen it for 40 years).. the list goes on and on. Afternoon of a Faun, Parade --lots of Massine, from Boutique Fantasque to some of the abstract-expressionist symphonies, They even revived the Hand of Fate pdd from Cotillon (Moscelyne Larkin restaged it, to intoxicating effect).... Macaulay knows Biches and Noces well because Ashton loved them and owed Nijinska a great debt for recognizing and encourtaging him early, and in his era the Royal Ballet danced them very very well (I saw Biches with Monica Mason as the Hostess in 1970, and it was wonderful -- but I also saw it in Oakland with Summer Lee Rhatigan as the Hostess, and SHE was wonderful, and with Lara Deans Lowe as the Hostess, and SHE was wonderful; Julie Lowe and Abra Rudisill were the lesbians, and they were adorable....) The Joffrey's history of similar restagings is better known to New Yorkers.... Goldweber, who was once a star dancer at the Joffrey and is balletmaster there now (and has been known to look in on BT occasionally) is a devoted scholar of these works and a fine restager.... And Ballet West, founded by Willam Christensen, is another well-known repository of the Ballets Russes repertoire. It is wonderful that they should have done these ballets well, but it should be no surprise.

A couple of years ago, there was a wonderful youtube clip that showed hte woman's variation from Tchai Pas de Deux danced by many different dancers -- very clever cutting. They included Diana Vishneva and Lorna Feijoo. I've been looking for it but can't find it. Christian, have you seen it? Feijoo is probably the best of them ALL she's fabulous. Can you help me find it?

Fasciinating reports -- thank you all, esp to the historically minded. Joe Duell was aperformer of such great sensitivity and fastidiousness, what it must have been like to know him and to dance with him! It's hard to blame anyone for how they behaved onstage in the wake of his suicide. But fascinating to hear about. Recasting -- I've always heard that the first two movements both require ballerinas -- but i have ALSO seen a performance in Berkeley by NYCB in which Peter Boal came on in the third movement and blew everything that had apperared before into smithereens-- his leaps were so noble. Third movement was one of Allegra Kent's roles I believe. Other ballerinas have danced it. It was made on Gisella Caccialanza, I'm told, or at least sketched out, before Balanchine went ot Paris -- is this true? RG do you know? Doug? Leonid? Alexandra? Anybody know? Certainly Caccialanza was injured in the creation of the NYCB version, one of those catastrophes to the knee which used to end a career -- though she danced a bit afterwards in San Francisco, she never again had the authority she'd had before. Third movement seems like a NATURAL for the Danes. Actually, it's my favorite. In my next life, THAT's the role I want to dance, girl or boy, I don't care.

Osipova is more than just jumps and port de bras -- check out the youtube clip of her mad scene as Giselle -- she's a powerful dance actress with tremendous imagination -- she's young yet, and her taste is not always perfect, but she is a tremendous artist in the very early stages of growth, and not just a stylist or technician.... or at least that's the way it looks from just seeing the evidence on youtube. Check out 3 things -- the Giselle mad scene, her Sylphide, and her peasant pas de deux to see three VERY different kinds of artistry -- and then look again at her Kitri...

Bart, this is not a new idea. you might want to read "Dance is a Contact Sport: a Season with the New York City Ballet," written by Joseph Mazo in 1974 -- which is 25 years ago. the book was published by EP Dutton: Saturday review Press. It's not crackpot. The term "Art/Sport" rose in the 70s with the post-modern dancers, but for a long time Balanchine's ballets had already been moving in opposition to the genteel tradition in the direction of unsentimental, directly physical action, and he'd incorporated "acrobacy" (Lincoln Kirstein's term) as early as Apollo. Other choreographers had taken the hint, in a cruder way, and there were many flat-out athletic ballets hitting hte boards by the 70's -- some by Gerald Arpino, some by Bejart...ballets in 'nude' tights for bare-chested men. I'm sure you can picture one if you think about it. (And in Russia, frankly athletic displays like hte soldiers in ballets like Spartacus by Grigorovich furthered the idea of Socialist realism -- but it's the wame trend) Then by the time you get to Twyla Tharp,, well aerobic ballets were all over the place in the dance boom, and "In the Upper Room' qualifies as an art-sport ballet that's really pretty good stuff -- Read Mazo's book -- it's a good start on this subject..

I had never seen Evdokimova until today, on these two youtube clips -- which are among the finest interpratations of those roles I have ever seen. She is out of this world. In the Giselle, she seems like Allegra Kent in Sonnambula -- finding him "by echolocation." Of course I'm moved by the news of her death, but still, right now I feel that I have never seen truer or deeper interpretation of these dances. The phrasing is her own, and it is so appropriate. Her dancing is multicentered, like African dancing -- the breast-bone has its own rhythms which are different from those of the pelvis, and each seems not to know what the other is doing, as Giselle is only incpmletely aware of where Albrecht actually IS; though all is harmonious and her balance is NEVER in doubt, nevertheless there is something quietly ecstatic in her dancing all the time and she often seems to have over-run the end of her phrase....though like a contact-improv dancer, she allows her reflexes to right her without any Starrung. She seems to be competely free from earthly anxieties. She walks out of arabesque as though the poses were moments where she leaned against a breeze. As the sylphide, she is unbelievably at ease from the waist up, her collarbone is so soft, her neck so long, the hands so easy, the shoulders so free -- and then you see those Sissonnes, so light, so vertical, so HIGH; the entrechat-quatres, so quick, so turned-out, the insteps so powerfully extended, the whole step barely leaving the ground at all -- perhaps she bends the knees considerably under that skirt and has not risen the length of an entire foot. They're miraculous. Especially delicious is the diagonal, combination sissonne failli that then steps into the pique with the exquisitely modulated slow develope to the front -- it's like she has all the time in the world. SO beautiful.

Sounds marvellous -- is it?

With the benefit of hindsight, Orwell looks like THE best guide to how to think about everything. And his essay "Politics and the English Language" is even more true than it used to be....

Mel which clip are you referring to? Re the clip of the variation danced by Lorena Feijoo, which is choreographed by Helgi Tomasson and is a fine example of Tomasson's craftsmanship (which Christian posted), SFB supplies thefollowing productions credits about the music for San Francisco Ballet's Giselle: