CM

Kevin McKenzie interview with RT (video) http://rt.com/news/prime-time/american-ballet-theater-moscow/ Euronews feature on ABT in Moscow (video) http://www.euronews.net/2011/04/01/american-ballet-theatre-finally-returns-to-russia/

First Night of ABT in Moscow by CCTV (video) Footage of Fancy Free et al http://english.cntv.cn/program/cultureexpress/20110402/104481.shtml

It's wonderful that the film has been discovered and has been authenticated. Some more links: An article about the history of “la fete des narcisses “in Montreux http://www.narcisses.ch/narcisse_fete.php According to Grigoriev's “ The Diaghilev Ballet” “At Lausanne (assume this refers to the company's performances at “la fete des narcisses” at Montreux – 30 km from Lausanne - on June 2nd and 3rd as there were no other performances in Switzerland in 1928), our old friend Ansermet conducted us again - still as handsome as ever though now slightly grey at the temples” “Les premieres gravures” /”the early days” by Ernest Ansermet contains many of his vintage recordings of ballet music including four tracks of Les Sylphides – two waltzes, a mazurka and a prelude – with Diaghilev's Ballet Russes Orchestra. It is available at Amazon on MP3 and possibly on CD, and I guess that this would be an authentic soundtrack for the footage. British Pathe's description of the footage of the Diaghilev company has been updated: http://britishpathe.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/the-va-find-secretly-recorded-footage-in-the-british-pathe-archive-of-the-beautiful-and-famously-unfilmed-ballet-russes/ Roger Salas of “El Pais” discusses the discovery and looks forward to the Barcelona and Madrid Diaghilev exhibitions” http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Identificado/fragmento/cine/Ballets/Russes/Diaghilev/elpepucul/20110203elpepucul_9/Tes

More links: "ABC Classic FM celebrates the NGA's exhibition of the costumes of the Ballets Russes". The documentary series "The astonishing Ballets Russes" is very interesting. The Dance on Screen episode discusses the filming of Fred Astaire, Ashton and some contemporary choreographers (mostly UK-based) in addition to "Les Noces" http://www.abc.net.au/classic/events/stories/s3121269.htm Spanish Classical radio has a number of podcasts available on Diaghilev and the ballets russes: http://www.rtve.es/podcast/radio-clasica/grand-jette/pagina-2.shtml John Galliano's ballets russes and Rudolf Nureyev-influenced menswear show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx2jhTgH5MU

Per the V@A Diaghilev blog, a discovery has just been made of some footage (a minute long?) of the Diaghilev company in "Les Sylphides" from 1928 in Montreux, Switzerland. The film is on the British Pathe website http://www.vam.ac.uk/things-to-do/blogs/diaghilev-and-ballets-russes/i-eat-my-words

Two corrections: The London premiere of Thamar was in 1912 with Karsavina. Tchernicheva played the role in the 1919 revival at the London Coliseum. The premiere of " Francesca De Rimini took place in London with Tchernicheva in 1937. The ballet was revived with Tchernicheva in the 1939 Covent Garden season.

Comparing the NGA video of Thamar http://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/BalletsRusses/Default.cfm?MnuID=3&GalID=13 against this photo from Lichine's Francesca Da Rimini: http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/balletrusse/gid/slv-pic-aaa45817/1/br000241 it looks to me that the role of Thamar is played by Lubov Tchernicheva, the ballet mistress of Diaghilev's Ballet Russe and of De Basil's Original Ballet Russe, wife of Serge Grigoriev, regisseur to both companies. According to Serge Grigoriev, Lubov Tchernicheva “electrified our audiences” when she played the same role in Madrid in 1917. She received positive reviews at the London premiere of Thamar during the Diaghilev ballet's 1919 Coliseum season. V@A images have a 1920 woodcut of her in the role at http://www.vandaimages.com/results.asp?image=2010EA6207-01&itemw=2&itemf=0002&itemstep=1&itemx=2 In 1939 she performed in the London premiere of Francesca Da Rimini during the Original Ballet Russe Season at Covent Garden. During the same season Fokine worked on the premiere of Paganini. The rehearsals and performances in this season were used for research for the screenplay for “the Red Shoes” and apparently were the basis for much of the backstage detail of the final film. Tchernicheva and Grigoriev restaged "Firebird' for the Royal Ballet at the 1954 Edinburgh Festival. According to the V@A blog, http://www.vam.ac.uk/things-to-do/blogs/diaghilev-and-ballets-russes/end-continues some of the exhibits from the latest exhibition will be touring to Madrid, Barcelona and Quebec during the next eighteen months.

The 1954 Firebird clip comes from the same British Pathe feature that included footage of the Diaghilev exhibition. Leonid commented on the Firebird clip some time ago in the Diaghilev thread. I think Fonteyn looks much more feral and spiky in this clip than in the Czinner film (which is currently available - al 130 minutes of Firebird, Ondine and Swan Lake Act II- plus special features of archive interview with Fonteyn, image gallery and a PDF document. However it is region 2, PAL. Search "the royal ballet" on Amazon co uk to find it)

" The Rank Organisation presents The Royal Ballet" - DVD, ref 7952616, running time 130 hours plus extras including Firebird, Act II Swan Lake and Ondine -is listed on Amazon co uk however it is PAL - region 2 only

Looking more closely at the credits of the Thamar footage on the NAG youtube channel, it seems that there were two different people filming Thamar in colour in the 1930s. The film-maker on the credits on the NAG film is a Joseph Ringland Anderson, whereas the Australian Screen version was shot by a Ewan Murray-Will. The London Coliseum will present a restaging of the original version of Thamar in its Ballets Russes season in April 2011. The season will also feature Nicolai Tsiskaridze as the Blue God http://www.eno.org/see-whats-on/productions/production-page.php?&itemid=1163. This week the V@A blog has some more photos from the 1954 Diaghilev exhibition, and features the haunted theatre – an inspiration for an encounter in Colin Wilson's “ Ritual in the Dark” http://www.vam.ac.uk/things-to-do/blogs/diaghilev-and-ballets-russes/diaghilev-1954-again-–-times-change This part of the exhibition looks very cinematic with references (I think) to “The “Red Shoes”. The staircase reminds me of Cocteau's “la belle et la bete” http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/index.jsp?cid=340354 The current V@A Diaghilev exhibition will close in less than two weeks time.

Most of the ballet russe film on the NGA youtube channel is in colour and I'm wondering whether it has been online before - the Australian Screen website only shows the Thamar excerpt in colour "With exotic, lush designs and costuming this colour sequence brings to life the Ballets Russes performances in a way that black-and-white film does not. Shot from a higher, sharper angle to the stage by Murray-Will, this clip is still vivid in its detail" http://aso.gov.au/titles/collections/chesterman-collection/

I've seen some of the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo footage before but I think it was silent film. The NGA must have added soundtracks to the ballet films on their youtube channel. It makes so much difference, e.g., http://www.youtube.com/user/NationalGalleryAus#p/u/14/C4rA1NASK50 http://www.youtube.com/user/NationalGalleryAus#p/u/9/Gb10L1P280A http://www.youtube.com/user/NationalGalleryAus#p/u/13/gRR5wKPdNhM

I believe that the NGA costumes were mostly bought at the third Ballets Russes auction in 1973 - I think it was the one where some people bought costumes for their fancy dress parties: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/a-superb-body-of-work-minus-the-bodies/story-e6frg8n6-1225964103090 What I'm particularly enjoying about the new videos coming out of Australia is the music - it makes the costumes so much more evocative. It's also wonderful to see film from ballets like Thamar - NGA has loaded quite a few excerpts from the ballets russes de monte carlo on their youtube channel in the last day or so. All I did was to find the ballet russes-related links - the credit should go to the people who've worked on the various Ballet Russes celebrations

An introductory video and a video showing the lighting of the NGA exhibition http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_SpYmkWNtw The two hour PBS documentary "Paris,the luminous years" is available internationally for a short period at: http://video.pbs.org/video/1690715934 It's interesting background to the period - the paintings and colours look great on my PC. The section dedicated to Diaghilev starts at around 43 minutes and finishes at around 69 minutes however there are references to the ballet throughout the film. It includes excerpts from the Joffrey Ballet's productions of "Parade" and l'apres-midi d'un faune"

The Chinese version of "The Nutcracker" will debut at Tianqiao Theater in Beijing on December the 23rd through 26th: http://english.cntv.cn/program/cultureexpress/20101104/101456.shtml

François-Xavier Roth and Les Siecles Orchestra recreate some of the music from the June 4,1910 Ballets Russes performance at Palais Garnier, including: A recreation by Francois Dru of the1910 presentation of le Festin The first Parisian performance of Carnival (orchestration Alexander Glazounov, Nikolaï Rimski-korsakov, Nikolaï Tcherepnine). Scheherazade in its original version with all four scenes (not just the two that were choreographed for the June 4 1910 premiere) plus a narrator (in french) . Concert took place at la cite de la musique in Paris and it will remain online until June 2011. http://www.citedelamusiquelive.tv/Concert/0949201.html “Paris, the Luminous Years, to be shown on PBS television across the United States as of 15 December (check local listings), is a first-rate documentary film on the ‘City of Light': http://www.culturekiosque.com/art/news/pmadato_pboccadoro571.html

More video from ABC on the NGA exhibition - this one looks at conservation: http://www.abc.net.au/local/videos/2010/12/09/3089415.htm?site=canberra and Darcey Bussell interview (audio) http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/12/10/3090338.htm

Helen Hamlyn Trust/Sun performance of Cinderella at ROH http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3261507/Sun-readers-pay-just-5-to-see-Cinderella-at-Royal-Opera-House.html

And there is lots more to look at on the NGA website - I think the exhibition opens today http://www.nga.gov.au/Exhibition/BalletsRusses/Default.cfm?MnuID=3&GalID=0

I enjoyed the film very much. A video showing costumes from the latest exhibition is now online: http://www.abc.net.au/arts/stories/s3089372.htm

Yes it's magical. The clapping starts just as she's falling to the ground.

At the moment of Giselle's death In the attached link I would expect the type of silence where you can hear a pin drop. This doesn't happen, but I'm sure the audience is intensely moved. I guess different cultures have different ways of expressing their emotions: http://www.youtube.com/user/kabaiivansko#p/u/2/5_mA32Tzh_A

New book reveals "missing masterpieces" of Goncharova http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=88448&CultureCode=en http://www.journallive.co.uk/culture-newcastle/arts-news/2010/10/12/the-unknown-artist-who-is-now-breaking-auction-records-61634-27451470/ Video of record-breaking auction http://www.christies.com/features/2010-february-natalia-goncharova-espagnole-405-3.aspx I haven't seen any reviews yet.

The 16th International Chopin Piano Competition is underway. Online broadcasting of the first stage is available on: http://konkurs.chopin.pl/en/edition/xvi/online/broadcasting

The V&A has produced a wealth of virtual material for the exhibition - it's been fun to compare the film/images of the London exhibition against those of the Edinburgh and Monaco exhibitions. The V@A channel's a useful link - it contains some video on music, choreography and conservation http://www.vam.ac.uk/channel/ Birmingham Royal Ballet's website has an overview of Natalia Goncharova written by Jane Pritchard http://www.brb.org.uk/pdf/Natalia%20Goncharova.pdf Finally, the National Gallery of Australia's exhibition opens in December http://nga.gov.au/BalletsRusses/