pherank

Does anyone have any details on this project? Not a great title, but an interesting subject!

Lorca Massine's website doesn't mention that a film is planned on his father's llife, though I imagine he is involved with this project somehow:

This is a really wonderful slideshow of images concerning George Balanchine's "Cotillon":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjWNrQdrUMc

Cotillon footage from the Balanchine documentary:

Looking forward to hearing your comments the next time you do make it to an SFB performance. And do send me a PM or a shout-out if you review a PNB performance in the near future.

As long as there are no issues traveling to Seattle, I will definitely write up my impressions of the PNB performance.

Until next season, San Francisco Ballet!

Thanks for including this write-up of the matinee, Terez - it's fun to imagine being there. I liked that you called attention to the Dvorák music and the musicians as well. The SF ballet orchestra often deserves praise for their efforts.

It's a shame that neither one of us will be seeing Wheeldon's Cinderella, but, it apparently will be back again next year.

NYCB, Western Symphony (complete) filmed in France in the last week of Tanaquil Le Clercq's career:

http://www.ina.fr/vi...hony-video.html

And the color film of Jacques and Tanny that appears in the Balanchine documentary:

And a couple more humorous quotes from the Richard Buckle book on Balanchine:

Once, when Balanchine was teaching Apollo to Suki Schorer, he explained to her, "It’s like Greek frieze. Go and look at the vases in the Metropolitan.” (Years later she reminded him of this: "You used to tell me to go and look at the Greek vases. What good did it do me?” Balanchine answered, “But you married a Greek, dear”.

Eugene Ormandy, the orchestra’s celebrated conductor, was the first to he consulted about the exact site of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. In the early spring of 1964, Dick Leach showed him where Geyser Creek had hollowed out a natural amphitheater. At this time of year the waterfall was swollen by melting snow and roared like Niagara. Looking down through the trees, about a thousand of which would have to be felled, Ormandy said, "Dick, the waterfall must go. lt will interfere with the pianissimi in Llélprés-midi d ’un faune. ” Three costly dams were therefore constructed upstream. When the theater was built, it became possible, by flipping a switch, to turn off the waterfall for two hours every night.

Balanchine had his first sight of the theater on May 6. Sitting on the windowsill of the dressing room that had been built for him and Eugene Ormandy to occupy in turn--but Balanchine relinquished it to Robert Irving--he surveyed the scene for a few moments in silence, then asked, "That is the waterfall Ormandy will turn off?” When Leach nodded, Balanchine gave his considered opinion. "Dick, much better, much cheaper--turn off Ormandy.”

I rather enjoyed this glimpse of Nutcracker without all the stage trappings:

BAE Students dancing Waltz of the Flowers and Pas de Deux

There is an interesting article in the Princeton "Town Topics", regarding Lunkina's visit to Princeton University for 4 days of 'teaching':

http://www.towntopic...ncing/?3e3ea140

“This is someone who was considered the number one ballerina at the Bolshoi,” he said. “She lives an hour and a half outside of Toronto and she has small children, so it hasn’t been easy for her to get to class every day. Life is not normal for her right now. But here she was in class with us, this tiny, thin ballerina with all of the attributes Russian ballerinas have. She jumped at least as high, if not higher, than any of the men in class. Our mouths just dropped open.

“She was like a kid in a candy store, doing every combination [of movements] six or seven times. She wasn’t showing off, she was just thrilled to be working. She is special. She has the wonderment still left in her, a desire to get better. And it’s a beautiful thing to see.”

I was struck by this statement, “You’d think that ballet companies would jump at the opportunity to hire her, but it’s not that easy,” Mr. Martin said...because this situation comes up a lot more often than one would think. It's almost a liability to be at the top of your profession - too many expectations and too many strings attached. I remember Aurelie Dupont talking about wanting to dance for ABT, but they weren't interested in her particular proposal - and I didn't get the sense that they were even looking to work something out. Dance fans might think that it would be great to see their favorite dancer perform with different troups, but it's a really small group of dancers that can do this with any consistency (and not cancel out of engagements half the time, which doesn't make any friends).

I DO feel a lot of conflict in the action -- esp in the first movement -- though it's not literally war-like

For me the most frightening moment is when the ballerina in palest pink [sunday, Vanessa Zahorian, but I first felt it when Lucia Lacarra did it 10 years ago here; both danced it excellently] makes a perfect circle of the stage doing perfect pique turns while the corps girls rush around her chaotically -- I thought she was giongto collide with somebody, like a planet passing through a chaos of asteroids -- or like a soldier moving through a hail of bullets. [i was sitting in the orchestra, seen horizontally, the screen of corps dancers really looks like ONE of them is gong to hit her, you don't know which; I'm told that from upstairs, it's exciting but does not look dangerous because you can see the trajectories do not intersect.

One critic (sorry, don't remember who, but maybe Croce?) described that passage as resembling the signal on a radar screen, with the white radius moving counter-clockwise and the red dot clockwise. I love that image.

For me, it's easy to take in the war/military references without necessarily making 3 Movements into a programmatic ballet. The sense of danger (ha-ha -- I typed that as "dancer") is pervasive, even in the "cheerful" sections of the outer movements. And the second movement? I'm not sure it alludes to war in any way, but I love that pas.

I love the radar image - it actually rings true because Balanchine certainly found inspiration from such visual phenomena (such as the flashing neon lights that inspired certain hand movements in Apollo).

I thought you all might like this quote from the British dance critic Richard Buckle on 3rd Symphony:

Imagine a world ruled by implacable women. Must they not be under the orders of one particular woman, never seen, never spoken of, even in whispers? She holds sway over all the banks, all the mineral resources, all the airlines and railroads, all the munitions factories and all the funeral parlors in the world. Through her international army of women, she controls the men who think they decide the destiny of nations. But it is Madam who gives the signal for peace or war: the first for sowing the seed, the second for gathering her harvest. In their secret rituals, her female storm troopers are drilled like a high-kicking chorus of lethal drum majorettes. To men they show a sweeter side, to obtain marriage dowries, alimony and widows’ pensions. Madam transports them from one country to another according to her need for reinforcements. ln the first and third movements of the symphony we hear their sealed trains passing, steam trains--for we are in the forties--which shriek when they are about to enter a tunnel.

Behind the battlefront, in no matter what war she has instigated, Madam has her girls waiting. Now, in the second movement, we are in the fifties or sixties, and Westerners are increasingly being sent to battle in Asia; Stravinsky’s music for this is Oriental. lt is the soldier’s weekend out of battle, and he looks for solace in a woman’s arms; though she may be trained in every kind of unfamiliar artifice--as an Indian nautch girl, Japanese geisha or Siamese temple dancer--when he lays his head on her neck she becomes for a moment a symbol of all he loves best--mother, sister, sweetheart, the girl next door. She is expert in gilding his moment of oblivion, a lovely interlude, well worth the money--from which Madam will exact sixty percent.

In the third movement the trains are heard again, the women celebrate their domination, and the surviving men are encouraged to retain their illusions. Life of a kind must go on-for business reasons. The sexes get together to pose for a victory photograph.

And we know what victories lead to.

That is all very well, someone who has seen the ballet may protest, but what about the gay scudding dances of the six principals--of the man who, with jerky jumps, is the first to confront the diagonal of threatening girls, and the man who leads the others in the last movement? What about the jitterbugging? Even if the diagonals and lineups of white-clad girls with ponytails, standing with one foot advanced, stabbing the floor while they rotate their right arms as if pitching a ball, are alarming, don’t the three principal girls smile and look charming in their conspicuous rose pink? What about the lovers in the pas de deux? (lncidentally, the strange nature of their movements was originally dictated by Balanchine’s consideration for injuries Sara Leland and Edward Villella had sustained. One had a bad leg, the other a strained back.) Don’t they behave less as if they were in a brothel than as if they were watching the sun rise from the window of a temple? So my imagined scenario about the terrible women can easily be dismissed as nonsense.

Widely seen videos, but I'll include them here:

Tzigane

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qYtHKcmT4w

Chaconne (2 part video)

Suzanne Farrell w/ Chicago City Ballet in "Eight by Adler" (1984)

Suzanne Farrell in Bejart's Romeo & Juliet, Pas de Deux:

A different encoding of the same segment (you can decide which is better)

Suzanne Farrell and Jorge Donn in 'Romeo and Juliet' (Maurice Bejart)

[still images and video segments]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvW0glwmjyo

Portrait Series: Suzanne Farrell (looks like a short segment of Vienna Waltzes at the beginning):

I've been hearing a lot about this lately. I need to track it down.

It's better than "Mr. Selfridge". ;)

Though to be fair, it's a completely different kind of show - simpler and more subtle. Selfridge should have been a great show, given the subject matter and point in history, but alas, no.

If anyone could use an extra ticket for Wheeldon's Cinderella...

More information about purchasing is on Craigslist:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/tix/3755824124.html

I don't know if anyone else has watched this 3-part series (so far), but I'm recommending it:

http://tv.nytimes.com/2013/04/20/arts/television/the-bletchley-circle-on-pbs.html

Four women who were code-breakers at Bletchley Park during WWII get together again to solve a murder mystery. I enjoy reading about the British code-breakers of the War, so this was good fun for me. The series delves into the changing roles of women during and after WWII.

To have had that conversation and to be cast for TV and in roles that would lead to a promotion, she would have had to have been on his radar before he became disoriented and ill.

Great information, Helene - now I can feel right about calling her a Daughter of Balanchine. ;)

Pherank, thank you so much for taking the time to offer all these interesting responses.

I envy you seeing both Program 6 and 7. [Or did you just see Program 6?] You did the right thing in looking for those program overlap days - I should have done that myself. Perhaps next year. I hope you post your impressions of these programs on the forum.

I should mention that there is a discussion of Balanchine/Stravinksy's Symphony in Three Movements in the 'Aesthetics' section of the forum, but, it may give you the wrong impression of what you will see, because they are discussing a particular conceptual theme present in the music, but I'm not sure that really 'explains' the choreography:

http://balletalert.i...hree-movements/

RE: MCB - In a sense they are staying the course by choosing a "Daughter of Balanchine" to take over from one of the "Sons of Balanchine" (as that generation of male NYCB dancers/directors was known). Though I don't think Lourdes Lopez actually started dancing with NYCB until the year after Balanchine died, but she was a SAB student since the age of 14). It's too early to tell which directions they will move in now. I just hope they don't desert their Balanchine core in favor of a mishmash of styles/approaches, non of which they learn thouroughly - as sooooooo many other ballet companies do. Good thing Suzanne Farrell Ballet is around now too to show people where it all came from...

The Little Mermaid is available on DVD and Blu-ray on Amazon (and please use the Amazon search box at the bottom of this page to link over to Amazon as it helps to pay for this website)

I feel somewhat defeated in finding anything much for The Four Temperaments (though it is available on the Choreography by Balanchine DVD)...

Maria Tallchief and Mary Ellen Moylan talking about, among other things, The 4 T's:

SF Ballet teaser for The 4 T's

Marjorie Spohn and Stephen Caras in the first theme of George Balanchine's "The Four Temperaments" (1946)

MaggioDanza in The Four Temperaments (about 3 and half minutes worth)

I'm just loving this opportunity to talk about the performances so much. Again, thank you for your replies, Giannina and Pherank. And now I'm off to look at Pherank's posted link of Suzanne Farrell in Scotch Symphony.

I'm afraid the Farrell link is only audio - she talks about her experiences with the ballet. Unfortunately there's a dearth of video on Scotch Symphony, and Balanchie ballets in general, because of the rights issues.

I didn't go to Program 3 as those pieces don't particularly interest me (and I would have had much the same response as you).

Balanchine was the original champion of a "plotless ballet," but there still always managed to be a story in there, quite possibly because the music he chose had its own story.

Balanchine often had to defend his 'plotless' ballets, and minimal, 'practice clothes' costumes, against critics, but to paraphrase Balanchine, "You put a boy and girl on a stage together, and you have a story. How much story you want?" - in other words, there is an immediate dynamic, and lots of associations to be made about boys, and girls. It isn't that difficult for the human mind to create stories and associations, and I think that is healthy for people to do. Balanchine was simply interested in dancing over story-telling (though he did do that as well in ballets like Midsummer Night's Dream and Don Quixote). But his primary interest was in focusing on the dancer's movements as a complete art form (almost - since the music was treated as an equal partner, and Balanchine loved and respected the music that he chose to choreograph for).

I'm not able to see very many performances of SF Ballet right now because I'm no longer living in the Bay Area (but do hope to return eventually). I was going to go to 3 different programs this year, but may have to skip Wheeldon's Cinderella because I have 'great need' to see Pacific Northwest Ballet's Director Choice program (Balanchine's Agon, Diamonds, and as it happens, a Wheeldon premiere). Ironically, SF Ballet has announced that it will also perform Cinderella next year, and they will perform Agon. PNB is one of the companies best at performing 'authentic' Balanchine. They have the right spirit and technical approach. Miami City Ballet has been the other, must-see company for Balanchine productions (but that may change with Edward Villella now gone).

Frances Chung is a powerful, graceful principal, but her dancing didn't evoke a reaction in me, the way Sarah VP's does, or Maria K, or Vanessa Z, or Yuen Yuen. (I haven't seen Lorena F. perform much but happily I will see her this wknd, barring any cast changes.) She is beautiful and highly competent. Everything about the ballet was top notch.

I actually have the same reaction to Chung - she's very athletic and can be a real powerhorse, but artistically speaking, I'm not 'moved' by her dancing, not in the manner of Yuan Yuan Tan. Lorena Feijoo is a great dancer, full of fire.

Edit: I just ran across this interview with Tan about her LIttle Mermaid role, and you get to see some of her extraordinary Mermaid:

http://video.pbs.org/video/2169840793/

[her English language skills just keep getting better, and better - impressive!]

Maria Kochetkova just tweeted a link to the Dutch National Ballet site Cinema page, which lists the places and dates that Christopher Wheeldon's "Cinderella," a co-production between HNB and San Francisco Ballet, will be shown in cinemas from the end of April through June.

Thank goodness there are no U.S. cinema screenings planned for this San Francisco production - we don't want to risk actual exposure to ballet in this country!

Another humorous one that I remembered...

From Richard Buckle's George Balanchine, Ballet Master, the Chapter Back to Russia:

By the time the company reached Baku, on the Caspian Sea--a city of oil wells and caviar--and the final date of their tour, the dancers were in a state of exhaustion. A huge party was given in the hotel ballroom on the night before they left, and everybody got drunk. Shaun O'Brien put on his new Russian musquash hat and removed his pants. When the party broke up, dancers began to visit one another’s rooms. Shaun called on Betty [Cage] and Natalie [Molostwoff], to find the latter ready for the morning flight, fully dressed and wearing her earrings, but fast asleep on top of her bed. Then Balanchine came in and sat down. He said, “Well, l suppose now the tour is over everybody's little love affairs will be over too. All except mine--I never had any.” Shaun remarked, “You could have, if you wanted to.” “No,” said Balanchine, “nobody loves me.” Then Shaun did something he would never had dared to do if he were sober; he ran to Balanchine sat on the arm of his chair, patted him and exclaimed, “But we all love you!" Balanchine looked him in the eye without expression and said, “Where are your pants?”

SFB posted on their facebook that Mazzeo's last performance with the company was last night. Was this announced ahead of time? Rough blow to have two male principals leave in the same season (thinking of Vilanoba at the end of the season too). Any ideas where he is going (back to Italy or back to the Royal??)? He's too young to retire.

That's a bummer, really - I don't think there's been any talk of Vito leaving this year. He's been a great asset to the company.

SF Ballet has developed a problem in that they have a large number of excellent male partners, but not nearly as many principal ballerinas. And if any of the women get hurt, or more than one, then the soloists have to fill in - which is great for them, but not as many stars means not as many tickets sold. And, this is just my opnion, so far none of the female soloists have the 'star' quality people like to see. Fine dancers, but not truly exceptional. I won't name names, but I don't choose to go to a particular performance to see one of the current female soloists. I go to see Tan, Kotchetkova, Van Patten, Feijoo, etc. All of those ballerinas deliver time and again.

Rather snarky, but funny...

Regarding the ballet La Chatte from 1927 -

"In her pas de deux, supported by (Serge) Lifar, Balanchine had her (Olga Spessiva) pirouette slowly to the ground, and Massine complained to Diaghilev that he had always wnated to use this movement. 'If it is so easy to steal your thoughts,' Diaghilev said, 'please don't think.'"

--Richard Buckle

an interesting snippet about her relationship with Jerome Robbins, also in Sym C you can see Maria Tallchief. They danced so fast!

https://www.youtube....h?v=cTb9_pGwR9g

Thanks very much for finding this clip. I always thought it interesting that the Robbins documentary has much more personal information, and talk about Tanny, than the Balanchine documentary for American Masters - that one's devoid of any personal relationship talk. Robbins felt Le Clercq was his muse (as she was for Balanchine obviously). It's too bad the last little bit about Tanny is missing from this clip.

Alfred Eisenstaedt was responsible for a number of famous dance images. Here's a cute one that also happens to be a great composition:

A photo from Balanchine's The Nutcraker with Maria as the Sugar Plum Fairy. Isn't that Tanaquil LeClercq as Drewdrop?

I've seen the one of LeClercq and Tallchief before but in black-and-white. It is always amazing to see such photos in color. Thank you for posting them.

And the poster, excuse me, the photographic print, is available at allposters.com (there is an enlarged online image to look at as well):

http://www.allposter...s_i3780404_.htm