pherank

An aside -- pherank's comment above, that Astaire "liked to do his own choreography" got me curious about that process, so I did a tiny bit of digging. According to IMDB, Astaire danced in about 30 films, but got screen credit for some kind of staging or choreography for 5 of them (and did some kind of "uncredited" choreography or staging for another four) Hermes Pan (who doesn't get nearly enough recognition for his work) was credited in one fashion or another for 14 of those films, and mentioned for uncredited work several times as well. Eugene Loring gets credited four times; and Robert Alton and Alex Romero get three credits.

Astaire must have been responsible for the bulk of his personal material -- it has a stylistic consistency over the span of his film work that would be very hard to imagine if he were dancing numbers totally created by a number of other people. But it's fascinating to realize that, as far as film credits are concerned, he was only minimally involved in creating the sequences he danced.

Hi Sandik,

What you say about Astaire not receiving mention for choreography was often true, but there are countless instances of cast members and dance partners saying, "but Fred put together all that…" And in his Broadway days, Astaire devised countless routines. Under Hollywood's star system, project assignments (and thus credits) were assigned before a project had even begun, so we do see some situations where credits go to persons who had next to nothing to do with a project. Hollywood was (and is) all about power politics, and who you know. Not so much a meritocracy.

Absolutely recommended reading: The Astaires: Fred & Adele (look for it on Amazon.com using the Ballet Alert Amazon Search). You'll learn all about the 'fabulous' Adele Astaire who was perhaps the most recognized star of her generation - now mostly forgotten due to the lack of film evidence of her work. She's been reduced to a rumor. There are very interesting parallels between the Astaire parents (especially Mom) and Suzanne Farrell's parents and numerous other "stage parents" you may have read about. I see a pattern forming...

[Edit] I just ran across this page on Wiki that attempts to list all of Astaire's solo and partner FILM dances, and there's this interesting quote:

Astaire nearly always collaborated with other choreographers, and except for the choreography of choruses which Astaire avoided, it is generally not possible to determine with any certainty the extent of Astaire's contribution vs that of his collaborators. This is particularly true in the case of his principal collaborator, Hermes Pan, where the seamless nature of the collaboration has been described by Astaire's rehearsal pianist Hal Borne, the only independent witness present throughout the entire process of dance creation of the Astaire-Rogers films: "It was hard to figure who contributed what to the choreography". Borne also describes the working atmosphere of such collaborations: "It was always pleasant. Never a hint of unpleasantness."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Astaire%27s_solo_and_partnered_dances

So I may have to concede on this point: Astaire worked with Hermes Pan mainly on his film musical projects. And that explains also why Astaire is able to keep "stylistic consistency" throughout these projects. The Broadway work of the Astaires was a different matter though.

Invitation to the Dance scene with Gene Kelly

It is interesting that George Balanchine had a tap dancer, George King, in mind. Fred Astaire, it would seem, was George Balanchine's favorite male dancer. (I think that I can find a quote to substantiate this if necessary).

Yes, that remains a mystery, and in all of my readings/research I've never found an adequate explanation for why Balanchine didn't try to seek out Astaire for possible projects together. Perhaps it was just B's usual problem with male stars and their egos. And of course Astaire like to do his own choreography.

I'm wondering if anyone saw Wheeldon's An American in Paris BALLET for NYCB? Was it considered a success at the time?

As some of you already know, it was Balanchine who first proposed the AiP Ballet idea - to George Gershwin and Sam Goldwyn, during the production of The Goldwyn Follies in 1938. And it did happen to be a plan for a FILM ballet (naturally, because he was talking to Hollywood people). Balanchine obviously saw real potential for the concert music to be used as a ballet score. The Bernard Taper biography includes a description of his attempt to sell his ideas:

It had occurred to Balanchine even before Gershwin's death that Gershwin's American in Paris suite might be suitable for ballet, and now together with Ira Gershwin he worked out a libretto. In this project Balanchine intended to put into effect his ideas about ballet in movies. The possibilities of the medium intrigued him, and the opportunity to try out some of his conceptions had been one of the temptations that had lured him to Hollywood.

A movie ballet, he felt, ought not to be merely a stage ballet on film. It need not be a continuous dance observed from a fixed angle, as the stage required, but could be a montage of dance shots, photographed from whatever angle or distance one wished. And it could employ effects the stage could never achieve, especially in the realm of fantasy, which seemed to Balanchine a quality particularly suited to the film medium.

The American in Paris ballet was conceived of as a fantasy quest. The milieu was to suggest the Paris Exposition. through which an American, portrayed by the tap dancer George King, would search for Zorina, the girl of his dreams. Seductive, tantalizing, ever elusive, she would manifest herself now here, now there--at one moment in a Spanish pavilion, another time in a Ferris wheel, yet again high overhead among the stars of the zodiac in a planetarium--always just beyond reach, and vanishing each time just as the American was about to take her in his arms."

[There's more relating to Balanchine's demonstration of the camera shots to be used, and Goldwyn's increasing annoyance at having to move his chair about...]

It's an interesting bit of our American dance history: one of those great "could have beens".

I saw this many years ago at a gala performance:

http://youtu.be/W-reVhZM78w

btw can someone tell me why I can't seem to figure out how to post videos properly anymore? I think it's changed?????

Your link works - and it's a rather clever piece. A fun take on the pitfalls/pratfalls of partnering.

If you want the image of the video to appear in your post, don't use the link button above, just type the URL this way in your post and the video will embed in your message when you Post or Save Changes:

[ url ]PASTE YOUR URL HERE[ /url ]

But don't use the spaces after/before the brackets as I have done above (that was necessary to keep the forum from recognizing my typing as a video link). It used to work using the "media" bracket code too: [ media ][ /media ] But I don't think that works anymore.

Filling Station... Doesn't get done much lately but is full of humor...

Ratmansky's Nutcracker...

Filling Station - great suggestion (and available on the Jacques d'Amboise DVD). I recall reading that the little joke at the end (when the apparently dead woman is carried off the stage, but "wakes up" and waves to the audience, revealing that she was only "dead drunk") was Balanchine's suggestion to Lew Christensen - an actual death would have been too dour.

Thanks for the "Grand Pas de Deux," phrank, which I didn't know until you linked it here.. It's like a compendium of almost all the old ballet jokes strung together. It made me notice a recurring pattern in a lot of ballet humor. You start with a pompous and rather grand movement (taken very seriously -- then you deflate it suddenly by something like an awkwardly flexed foot, an off-balanced swing of the leg, etc. My favorite example in this video, for excellence of execution, was the mis-calculated swan dive. The red handbag was briefly funny but outstayed its welcome, as a great deal of ballet humor does.

I saw "The Concert" when it was revived in the 70s. To me, at least, the gags were new I actually laughed out loud, as did the people around me. Nowadays, I'm more likely to smile in appreciation or chuckle briefly.

Count me as one who cannot stand the comedy of "Don Quixote". -- Sancho Panza, Gamache, the doofus Don himself.

Helene mentioned Ashton. How about "Cinderella," for a kind of humor that moves into slapstick? And Widow Simone in "La fille mal gardee,." for a more gentle kind of humor. When I was a kid the scenes with Cinderella's step sisters struck me as the funniest things I had ever seen.That they were performed by men impressed me less than the element of comic sadness in the sisters' pretensions to beauty and grace.

I'll admit I enjoy the red purse and the eyeglasses, and even the cow with tutu. Believe it or not, the Mariinsky has performed Spuck's Grand Pas De Deux (Lopotkina has danced the lead). The Russians don't know what to do with the Western 'hip swivel' dancing, so they insert their own movements (though that kills the humor a bit). And as you can imagine, the danseur is rather careful in his mistreatment of Lopotkina.

I've never seen anything funny about Ashton's stepsisters, especially when Robert Helpmann and Ashton did them. Helpmann's sister's intrinsic meanness and wish to harm and Ashton's sister's pathetic passivity always overwhelmed the rest of the ballet for me.

I wasn't able to see it at SFB, but Wheeldon's Cinderella stepsisters are reputed to be more humorous than wicked. But I'm told that some of the jokes can wear on the viewer.

I'm thinking of criticism of Macaulay for using the "I" and his own categorization. Croce and Denby didn't have to say "I," because it was understood that what they wrote was very much from their perspectives.

(and there are still some publications that like the editorial "we," which Mark Twain said should be reserved for kings and editors.)

Hmmm. Does that mean "one" is dead and gone now?

Ratmansky's Bright Stream had several comedy bits, including a principal male in drag.

And LIttle Humpbacked Horse (which I just happened to mention on another thread). Ratmansky seems to have more humor in him than most.

it's what's stuck in the middle that I have trouble with.

I think you have it exactly right, Nanushka: when Ratmansky can't decide between pure dance and story ballet, his choreography is apt to confuse rather than delight. I think he's having trouble with the idea of an allegory - and Chamber Symphony is not an allegory, by me. Apollo is one of the most successful allegorical ballets. Symphony in C is a successful 'pure dance' ballet. So I guess placing Chamber Symphony between the two Balanchine pieces signifies its "inbetweeness". But it's not really bridging the gap in a meaningful way. There are some lovely moments, to be fair, but because many of those moments seem reminiscent of other well-known ballets, the impact is slight. Still, Balanchine would rework his favorite ballets, so there's no reason Ratmansky couldn't continue to improve Chamber Symphony.

Ratmansky is rather more successful with the obvious "story" ballets, such as his version of "Little Humpbacked Horse".

Christian Spuck's Grand Pas De Deux is very much in the same vein of humor as Robbins' The Concert. Well I suppose it is less subtle, but Grand Pas is certainly good natured:

And there is the work of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo which is mostly all humorous.

I like flaws and feel more comfortable around people who have them. I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions.
--Augusten Burroughs
(found on Vanessa Zahorian's Facebook site)

I believe this is a photo of the Ecole's Défilé:

Hello All: I managed to attend the ABT's mixed rep performance at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on 7/11/13. [This required an Amtrak train ride to get there from San Diego]. I was sitting in the Circle Balcony area which affords a nice angled view of the stage. Plush seating in that area too. [Though I've heard that much of the other seating has little legroom]. DC is a fairly good-looking, Modernist, clean theatre (it was my first time). Acoustic quality of the Pavilion was fairly average - definitely not great. But the orchestra played well and the conducting was effective.

Apollo
One of my favorite ballets, so it's difficult for me to watch in a disaffected, impartial way: I'm full of expectations. I was thrilled that ABT dance's the older, longer version of Apollo.

Marcelo Gomes is certainly commanding as Apollo. He's an excellent dancer in general, as we all know. I doubt that there was a lot of rehearsal time for this performance, but Gomes seemed to have everything down cold. And that leads to my first nit-pick: Gomes tended to be so ultra-precise in his performance that it felt a bit stilted at times when the steps just needed to flow and show genuine agitation. Even the crazed/agitated moments are uber-controlled by Gomes (think Apollo emerging from the swaddling clothes, or the moments when he is testing his new, physical body). I wanted more edginess from Apollo the character (the Muses also tended to smile at inappropriate times which further takes the edge off).

The birth scene with Leda was more forceful, and perhaps more explicit, than I'm used to seeing. But I liked this more intense portrayal (although some of the same arm movements - the thrusting towards the belly movement - was used later in Calliope's variation). The repetition of the "belly thrust/hit" was kind of odd. And I'm not sure if it's a good thing to relate Leda's giving birth to Calliope's performance for Apollo.

The "nice flying lesson" portion of the PDD had problems - it looked like Paloma Herrera was not on the optimal balance point and they were both straining to maintain the position for the necessary seconds. The effect was somewhat ruined by their strain, but, they're both such fine dancers that they managed to keep things moving along.

I should say that I really enjoyed Melanie Hamrick's dancing as Calliope (and she appeared again later in Chamber Symphony). I hadn't seen her in anything before, so I'll just say that I liked her lines and general carriage.

There was a bit of awkwardness at the end when Leda and the handmaidens assemble at the foot of the stairs below the Muses. I don't mean that anyone stumbled, but that the flow of things was not so good, and it distracted from the Muses as they raise their front leg on pointe, on the stairs. The final pose of Apollo and the Muses should have a certain grave thrill to it: mysterious, and yet expectant.

I tend to think Gomes remains more marble statue god, than living, breathing god though. It was a very good performance, but not as some ABT fan's like to say, transcendent.

Chamber Symphony
I'm starting to sound like a broken record regarding Ratmansky ballets: there's a whole lot of intense goings on, but much ado about nothing? I mean really, what is it all about? Chamber Symphony either alludes to, or simply borrows, themes from a multitude of ballets: from Onegin to Dances at a Gathering to Scotch Symphony to even West Side Story, but I couldn't see the relationship to the Shostakovich score (that was merely Ratmansky's departure point). James Whiteside danced the lead with real energy and angst (Gomes' Apollo could have used a bit of that), but, to little avail - he ends up back in the same enervated, depressed mood he started in, thanks to Ratmansky's choreography. And why exactly? Who are we observing, and what all is he going through with the various groups of dancers (and what do the different groupings symbolize?), if anything? And I don't think it's a case of, as Balanchine said, "How much story you want?" We're missing some needed pieces of the puzzle. The ABT soloists and Corps dance with great vigor - but much of the effort seemed wasted on a largely incomprehensible "story". The audience was appreciative though - heck, it's ballet in Southern California, after all.

Hollywood Moment: During one of the breaks I saw Nigel Lythgoe ("So You think You Can Dance?") walking about with his lovely "companion" (girlfriend? wife? "associate"?).

Symphony in C
I'll just say that it was very well danced, and the energy level generally remained high throughout, building to the climax in the finale. In the 2nd Movement with Veronika Part there were some slow points where she should have flowed more serenely with the music, instead of 'falling out' of the music at points. But this is being very nit-picky.

NOTE: The little Tina's Tacos stand in the plaza gets 4 out 5 stars (great quality - you decide what condiments you want to add, but there could have been more selections to choose from). That's the place to eat for 'cheap' (well, cheaper).

By comparison, to my mind, the simpler, less formal "ballerina" kinda has an "all-American" ring to it!

I see where you're coming from. I suppose "assoluta" is not very American, except in "Little Italy" perhaps. ;)

"Muses" is lovely, and Apollonian - presumably, Balanchine would have approved

.

It already has its own specific meaning and history though, and I'd be sorry to see that meaning muddled.Someone else can probably give examples, but balletomanes have often used "ballerina" as Macaulay uses it, as indicating the highest level of artistic achievement.

I don't disagree that "muse" has its particular Grecian-myth meanings and conotations. I just like it.

We already have the ranks of "prima ballerina" and "prima ballerina assoluta" to designate higehst levels of quality. For Macaulay to just use "ballerina" muddies the waters, imo.

Macaulay's meaning is clear from his full sentence:

Ashley Bouder, Maria Kowroski, Janie Taylor and Wendy Whelan are mature dancers but part-time ballerinas — extraordinary artists in only parts of their repertory.

Agreed, and that shifts the controversy to his defining a ballerina as an "extraordinary artist" - and nothing less. It becomes a special term - not to be applied to the average female ballet dancer. And some would agree with that, but I think that the term "prima ballerina" works just fine when denoting a superior ballet dancer. We need a more generic term, like ballerina, for the ballet troops. ;)

So can one speculate or infer that Wendy is Ballerina in Robbins but not in Wheeldon, but Muse in Wheeldon, according to AC?

Another twist: NYCB does not have stars, such as at ABT, but has Muses, so does NYCB have Ballerinas, which many define here as Stars?

.

"Muses" is lovely, and Apollonian - presumably, Balanchine would have approved. "Stars" is not a good term because it is already applied (and misapplied) everyday in the Hollywood and TV industries. Please no ballet "starlets" either.

This is an artist I'd like to learn more about. I'd love to hear from others about her work and her influence. What specific "techniques" in that particular film, or in others (by name, please), have had a big impact on dance. Were they truly original to Maya Deren, or did she merely applyl them to dance? Where did they lead?

Deren was a rather unusual person. Her father was a psychoanlysist and we see both Jungian and Freudian symbology in her films. "A Study in Choreography" borrows a technique Deren used in the two earlier (and more famous) films - the dancer's leg appears to extend/step into a room, from the outdoors. Passing from one environment into another, which may also symbolize a change in time (who knows?), and change in consciousness, etc. I think it's the beginning of "At Land" that has an extended sequence of this technique, and yes, it was a surpise to people at the time. And I can say, that when I first saw these films in a great "Avante Garde Cinema" class at San Francisco State U. I was quite suprised and delighted by it (as were many of the other student viewers). Part of the charm of her work is the fact that they were made with such simple equipment, on virtually no budget. And yet, we still have this reaction of newness - an "a-ha!" moment - so THIS is what can be done! Traditional narrative order and time don't exist in Deren film space.

She was a theorist as well as filmaker, and some people would argue that her theories were more intersting than many of these films. I think she's an example of an artist whose entire life was her 'work of art' and all the different pieces have to be taken together as a whole.

To make everything all the weirder, Deren eventually decided to study the Haitian Voodoo cults, and I believe she was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to create a documentary (her longest film) about Voodoo. She became a Voodoo priestess as part of her study. Much footage was shot and its possible to see a large chunk of it, but the film was never completed (like so many things in her life). She died young and there were plenty of rumours regarding her untimely demise.

“Myth is the facts of the mind made manifest in a fiction of matter.”

“The task of cinema or any other art form is not to translate hidden messages of the unconscious soul into art but to experiment with the effects contemporary technical devices have on nerves, minds, or souls.”

- Maya Deren

________________________

I'm going to add: there was an infamous round-table discussion of "Poetry and Film' involving Dylan Thomas, Arthur Miller, and Maya Deren. Deren was treated quite shabbily by Thomas especially, who hadn't a clue what she was talking about. The transcription can be read at the URL below:

http://www.virtual-circuit.org/word/pages/Poetry/Symposium_Poetry.html

There does seem to be a great deal of sampling and re-editing (with new soundtracks) in many parts of the film world -- I think it's related to the whole post-modern trend of historical reference, but when I'm very familiar with the source materials, I find it disconcerting when they're removed from their context.

Given that in a number of the films the visual editing is synched to the Teiji Ito soundtracks, it just doesn't work to change out the music.

I've enjoyed reading everyone's responses, and find that I agree with most all of these statements. Kathleen O'Connell reminded me that, unfortunately, money, and often large amounts of it, are needed to put on a ballet at a major company and that does make it quite difficult to schedule rare works into the season. Each and every program has to have money-making potential. That makes the theatre arts particularly difficult to take chances with, and true experimentation seldom occurs within reputable companies. It's actually much easier for the small rep groups to run experimental pieces and deal with low ticket sales.

Farrell has never been afraid to take risks and that makes her a particularly good fit for this initiative task. I'm glad she's on this mission - I just wish there could be adequate financial support to make Suzanne Farrell Ballet a significant regional company along the lines of MCB. It's too bad that people like Villella, Farrell, d'Amboise can't band together, but each needs to be The Chief.

I agree that the Tudor rep needs attention as well.

I almost find this more interesting: what turns a "foreign" dancer into an "American" dancer?

Great question. I'm repeating it because I don't want us to lose it. Possibly it deserves a thread of its own, Helene? The first dancer who jumped to mind is Violette Verdy.

Excellent choice, Bart. Verdy would make a great case-study. "Possibly it deserves a thread of its own, Helene?" - I believe I could actually hear Helene's eyes rolling. ;)

Here's a toughie: What kind of dancer was Tamara Toumanova? She was called an "American" dancer at the time of her death. Sure she studied with Preobrajenska in Paris, but that doesn't exactly make her an Imperial Russian dancer either. And she worked with Balanchine, but not for as long as he would have liked.

Surely Aran Bell is American, but how would that be meaningful if his training is POB-based, one of the foundational rather than eclectic classical styles/curriculums? Gillian Murphy, Tanaquil LeClercq, and Michelle DePrice received all of their dance education in the US, but they wouldn't qualify.

I feel this is the crux of the matter - whatever it is that makes an "American/US" Ballerina, in stylistic terms, has little to do with place of birth. Obviously training has a lot to do with one's aesthetic choices, but environment, and influence from choreographers and fellow company members can't be underestimated. As an example, Maria Kochetkova is no doubt sold to new audiences (think ABT) as "Bolshoi-trained", but she's developed into something decidedly un-Russian when seen in non-Petipa ballets. And that's coming from her years at SFB, working with current choreographers, and traveling the world doing endless galas. I almost find this more interesting: what turns a "foreign" dancer into an "American" dancer?

Enjoyed Kathleen O'Connell's rant very much. ;)

Carla Korbes was born in Brazil and had her early training there, and he seems blind to Carrie Imler.

Yes, Korbes would be the obvious choice, I suppose, but still, so many other talents.

The fact that Le Clercq and Hayden can't make the list, points up the weakness in the whole "American Ballerina" idea. Hayden is certainly one of the great North-American dancers of her generation, and Le Clercq was the first, and perhaps most representative, Balanchine-trained dancer. Her entire training was from the SAB, I believe. And then there's the fact that a Russian, named George Balanchine, is the single most important figure in American ballet, and the creation of an American approach to ballet. It's not where you were born, but your input into US culture that matters.

An American in Paris and none of you are casting any POB dancers???

I feel your pain - I kept waiting for an actual US dancer to be mentioned. ;)

At least one of the casts should be US and French to get the right spirit going. That said, I'm going to nominate the Aussie Steven McRae, for his great Broadway feel.