Tom47

The Two remaining musical selections in Fantasia are The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky (1913) and Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchiclli (1876).  I have mixed feelings about The Rite of Spring, liking very much the beginning as the scene moves through space heading to Earth.  Then there is the section showing the evolution of “tiny little white or green blobs of nothing in particular” to “certain fish more ambitious than the rest crawled up on land and became the first amphibians.”  Basically I prefer the quieter parts of the music which would include the scenes where the sun is being eclipsed near the end.  

I also have mixed feelings about Dance of the Hours.  The music is nice, but the visuals are for the most part insulting to the art of ballet and since I enjoy ballet and see beauty in it I do not like that.  Further the ending is somewhat confusing.  Do the alligators want to abduct the ballerinas to eat them or are they lusting after them?  In either case it is disturbing.  However, I tried to find something that I liked other than the music and there are two things.  First is the backgrounds.  When I watch animation many times I find the backgrounds interesting and in this case I like that the courtyard extends to the horizon, as well as the columns.  Further, there is the effect of these heavy animals being treated as if they were as light as a feather, with the elephants and hippos being lifted by the bubbles and being blown away by a slight breeze.  

My history with Fantasia goes back to when I was a child, seeing bits of it, in black and white, on the Disney TV show.  Later I saw it at least twice in the theater and before home video had a vinyl record of the score.  Then my wife gave me a VCR tape of it and then a DVD set including the original film as well as the 2000 version.  I was excited when I learned that Fantasia 2000 was coming out, but was somewhat disappointed when I saw it.  As with the first Fantasia it has eight musical sections, seven new ones and one, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.  The animation was good, but my problem was that unlike the 1940 version all of the stories of the 2000 version are based on stories.  While some people might prefer that I don’t.  Even the first selection, Symphony No. 5, which had abstract images still had a story.  Further while some of the stories are highly imaginative there is little that could be considered mythological or fairylike.  My feelings about ballet are similar in that I generally don’t care much for the stories, particularly tragic stories.  I prefer to watch scenes from ballet that don’t advance the plot, such as the swans in the first half of Swan Lake.  Enjoyment from stories becomes old with repeated watchings unlike emotion provoking images.  That being said “Rhapsody in Blue” from Fantasia 2000, has an interesting story line with four protagonists.  The Firebird Suite has some elements of fantasy and after the story part Pines Of Rome becomes very imaginative.  I also prefer the narrator for the first Fantasia, Dean Talyor and find Steve Martin’s humor to be too heavy handed.  

In this thread I have shared my thoughts while watching Fantasia and I would like to read others' thoughts and opinions.  Particularly what do people think about emotional images vs. stories.  

Tom,

The original Fantasia starts with what is described as a piece of “absolute music” in that it does not tell a story nor does it portray any particular scene.  This piece Toccata and Fugue in D minor was most likely composed by Johann Sebastian Bach during the first decade of the 1700s.   When I first saw the film I didn’t realize the music was originally composed for organ, but was only orchestrated by the conductor Leopold Strokowski for the movie.  As suggested by the title Toccata and Fugue, the music is in two parts, the first being the Toccata, Italian for Touched indicating a musical composition in a freestyle, characterized by full chords, rapid runs and high harmonies, with the following part being the Fugue, a musical composition in which one or two themes are repeated or imitation  by successively entering voices.  The visuals are also in two parts, with the first part being “live action” showing the conductor and orchestrator members in silhouette with colored lights, indicating the music, shining on or around them or on their instruments.  This is a very effective treatment and shows what can be done without computers.  With the start of the animation portion, one sees a mass of clouds highlighted with flashing lights then images representing the bows of violins and the strings of a bass interspersed with abstract forms flying disks and so forth.  Eventually the images become more abstract.  Just before the end we are returned to reality and see Leopold Strokowski conducting.  By the way the musicians shown in the film are not ones that actually performed the music, but hired extras.  Even as a child I remember noticing that both harp players were women and that they were the only women in the supposed orchestra.   

Next up is the Nutcracker Suite, composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and premiered in 1892 the same year as the ballet.  Originally the suite had eight pieces, but only six were used in the film.  The first is the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, featuring Fairies who, early in the morning, sprinkle Dew on flowers and cobwebs.  All of the fairies are enigmatic and eager to work except for one, the sleepy fairy, who yawns as she is late to wake up.  This scene then leads into Tea, Chinese Dance, with mushrooms.  Then comes the Arabian Dance, with goldfishes and the Dance of the Reed-Flutes with flowers “dancing” on a stream, followed by the Trepek with flowers.  Lastly we return to the nature fairies with the Waltz of the Flowers.  For this piece there are three types of fairies, the autumn fairies who cause the leaves to fall and the seeds to spread, the frost fairies or perhaps they are Jack Frosts who freeze the water and the snowflake fairies who bring the snow.

A Sugar Plum is not a fruit, but a ball of hard candy surrounding a seed or nut.  The small mushroom in the Tea Chinese dance was named Hop Low by the animators.  Tchaikovsky used a Georgian Lullaby for the Coffee Arabian dance, not any music from Arabia.  While the Trepek dance is generally referred to as the Russian Dance, according to Merrian-Webster a Trepek dance is not Russian but “a fiery Ukrainian folk dance performed by men and featuring the leg-flinging prisiadka” however at the time of the composition Ukraine was part of the Russian empire.  In the film The Nutcracker Suite piece is 14 minutes long and portrays nature, with flowers, mushrooms, goldfish and the change in seasons.  

Unlike the other musical sections, which were based on simple occurrences or complete abstraction, the third section of Fantasia, The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a story.  Its music, L’Apprenti sorcier, was composed in 1897 by Paul Dukas, which in turn was inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1797 poem Der Zauberlehrling.  The earliest version of this story that I know of is The Egyptian Miracle Worker written by Lucian of Samosata during the Second Century of the Common Era.  Its plot is close to the one in Fantasia except that it is a wooden pestle that is brought to life and that the “apprentice” only breaks it in half so that there were only two magical water carriers.  There is also a live action film from 1930 entitled the Wizard's Apprentice that includes a young woman, but which has multiple broom sticks, more than two, carrying water and even has scenes showing water flowing out of castle-like towers.  The part where Mickey Mouse, the apprentice, dreams that he is the master of the elements of nature is my favorite part.   The Sorcerer's Apprentice section of Fantasia is nine minutes long.  

Originally Fantasia had a 15 minute intermission.  Shortly after that was a humorous scene (a bit more than 3 minutes long) entitled “Meet the Soundtrack” during which the narrator Dean Taylor “introduced” the soundtrack (an animated image) as a “screen personality.”   This short section illustrates the fundamental idea behind Fantasia, that  is using visuals, colors and shapes and action to highlight music and other sounds.  However, Fantasia was not the first film to do this.  In 1921 Walther Ruttmann released his Lichtspiel Opus I, a complete abstract film to music, see here (12 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHZdDmYFZN0.  Another pioneer in abstract film was Oskar Fischinger, who worked for a time on the Toccata and Fugue piece of Fantasia until he left over an artistic disagreement with Disney.  Then there were Disney’s “Silly Symphonies” starting in 1929 which were set to images although, as far as I can tell, not abstract images.

Dirac, thank you for your positive comment, I like to read how people feel about what I wrote.  One person I spoke to hated Fantasia and I expect that in general people found it boring, so I encourage readers to comment on how they feel, positively or negatively about Fantasia.  

Tom,

Fantasia, Disney’s 1940 animated feature film, is unlike almost all other films.  It consists of a series of animated images set to music.  While between these selections there is spoken commentary there are no spoken words during the musical numbers.  In that sense it is like a “silent” movie with music.  It is my favorite film of all time.  In two ways this film involves ballet.  First, of the eight musical sections, three are from ballets and a fourth has been used in a ballet.  Second, this film is what got me interested in ballet.  I looked for other performances where moving images were associated with music and where there were no spoken words and realized that dance and in particular ballet was such a case.  

Symphony No. 6, in F major, the Pastoral was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and premiered in 1808.  In Fantasia the piece lasts 22 minutes and 13 seconds, but the symphony itself is just under 43 minutes long.  This is the only one of Beethoven’s nine completed symphonies that has five movements.  It is also the most descriptive of these symphonies.  Each of the five movements are named.  The first is called “Awakening of Cheerful Feeling on Arriving in the Country” and is 4 minutes and 40 seconds long in the film and ends with the views of waterfalls.  The second movement is referred to as   “Scene by a Brook” and in Fantasia is 6 minutes and 36 seconds long.  It ends with the cupids (putti) closing curtains on two lovers.  Next is “Merry Gathering of County Folk,” 2 minutes and 51 seconds, which is followed by the Thunderstorm 3 minutes and 27 seconds.  Finally there is the “Shepherd’s Song - Happy, Thankful Feelings after the Storm, 4 minutes and 44 seconds.  

As with The Nutcracker Suite, this selection focuses on nature - a day in the country.  There is no particular story to it, but on the other hand it is not abstract.  It presents a series of occurrences.  This is one of the things I like about this piece, as well as the worst that happens is a thunderstorm.  The film was released in 1940 and in some ways it is reflective of the social norms of that time, such as some racism in the original, the worst of which has since been removed and the coy centaurettes presenting themselves to the eager centaurs.  However the mythological characters presented are generally much nicer than in most myths, particularly the centaurs.  This is also something that I like.  By the way in Greek myth the centaurettes were called kentaurides or centauresses. 

The next movement is “Merry Gathering of County Folk” which shows a tame Bacchanal, but the merriment of the centaurettes and centaurs and other mythical beings is interrupted by Hephaestus (Vulcan) forging lighting bolts that are thrown by Zeus.  Up until this point the story has been generally happy, but the storm is soon over and everyone rejoices.  The thunderstorm hurts no one, but does show female characters protecting younger ones.  

As the various characters venture out after the storm we first see Iris the Greek Goddess of the Rainbow, then according to the narrator, Apollo drives the setting sun across the sky, however in Greek myth it was Helios who drove the sun in his chariot.  Again, according to the narrator, Morphus the “Greek god of Sleep blankets the sky with darkness.”  But, actually Morphus is the god of Dreams.  Also based on the look of the deity it could be either male or female, it seems to make more sense for it to be Nyx the Greek goddess of night.  Then, as the putti fall asleep on clouds, “Diana, using the crescent of the moon, shoots off an arrow that spangles the sky with stars,” although it was the goddess Selene who was the Greek personification of the moon.  The final scene shows the crescent of the moon over a darkened Mount Olympus and all is well.  This section starts with the sun rising on Mount Olympus and ends with night and the sun setting over the mountain. 

Skipping ahead we first see and hear A Night on Bald Mountain (there is a Bald Mountain in Ukraine, which was part of the Russian Empire when the music was composed).  Modest Mussorgsky wrote the music between 1860 and 1867 and it was redone by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1886.  The top of the mountain then turns into Chernabog (the god of evil) who then casts a shadow over the village below to attract evil sprites.  He is unsuccessful when a church steeple resists his power, but is more successful with the ghosts of executed criminals who fly through a hangman’s noose, he then turns to a ruined fortress and attracts the ghosts of those who had tried to invade the town pulling them from the moat, lastly he goes to the graves of the wealthy citizens of the village and selects the evil among them, these phantoms are joined by witches on broomsticks.  Next Chernabog reaches into the earth to pull out the demons of the underworld.  They celebrate until stopped by the sound of church bells heralding the coming of the dawn, then all the evil beings slink back from where they had come and Chernabog becomes the top of the mountain again.  

With this the music and the feeling of the images completely changes and we hear Ave Maria and see a religious procession of people holding candles, I feel they are nuns, slowly and calmly moving through the countryside.  They cross a bridge supported by gothic arches then turn to head into a forest.  The trees are all straight.  We see a hill with rays of the morning sun as we come out of the forest.  The scene ends with the rising of the sun.  Ave Maria is latin for Hail Mary and was composed by Franz Schubert in 1825, with its lyrics taken from Sir Walter Scott’s poem “The Lady of the Lake.”  The music was originally entitled “Ellens dritter Gesang” (Ellen’s third Song).  In the poem Ellen Douglas is in danger and prays to the Virgin Mary to protect her and her father.  

The lyrics start:

Ave Maria! Maiden mild!

Listen to a maiden's prayer!

However, in the film the lyrics are different.  They were written by Rachel Field and sung by Julietta Novis and are as follows:

Ave Maria! Heaven’s Bride.

The bells ring out in solemn praise,

For you, the anguish and the pride.

The living glory of our nights,

Of our night and days,

The Prince of Peace your arms embrace,

While hosts of darkness fade and cower.

Oh save us, mother full of grace,

In life and in our dying hour.

Ave Maria!

Despite the references to the Catholic Religion it appears that the worshipers are Nature or Sun worshipers.  Their Cathedral is the forest and at their altar is the Rising Sun.

These three musical sections cover a period of 24 hours from the rising sun over mount olympus at the start of Pastoral, to the falling of night at its end, then midnight at the start of Bald Mountain and the rising of the sun the next day, over a hill, at the end of Ave Maria. Events start calmly and hopefully then end in the same manner.  

Tom,

For most of the last seven years an animated film entitled “Mavka, The Forest Song” has been in production and I’ve been waiting for it much of that time.  It is a film from an Ukrainian company and it would seem that the delay in releasing it has been due to the Coronavirus and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  It was released on DVD in the United States on August 15th of this year, so I was able to get a copy.  The story of the film was inspired by Ukrainian folklore and a Fairy Drama in three acts entitled “Forest Song” written by Lesya Ukrainka in 1911 and first performed in Kyiv in 1918.  In the play’s transcript Mavka is  described as “a forest nymph,” but a footnote states that a Mavka is a “. . . sort of fairy being, whose origin is ascribed to a female infant which dies before receiving a Christian baptism.”  Mavky is the plural of the singular Mavka, so in folklore there seems to be many Mavky.

Lesya Ukrainka was born in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, approximately 100 miles to the west of Kyiv on February 5, 1871.  Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire at the time of her birth.  Her birth name was Larysa Petrivna Kosach-Kvitka.  She started writing poetry at age 8 - a poem entitled “Hope” - and by age 13 she had a poem entitled “Lily of the Valley” published.  She wrote the “Forest Song” in three days.  An English translation of the play can be found here: Lesia Ukrainka Forest Song.

According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine a Mavka is “A mythological female figure, tall, round-faced, long-haired, and sometimes naked.  The nymphs known by this term represented the souls of girls who had died unnatural deaths.  They were believed to live in groups in forests, mountain caves, or sheds, which they decorated with rugs.  They made thread of stolen flax and wove thin transparent cloth for making clothes for themselves.  They loved flowers, which they wore in their hair.  In the spring they planted flowers in the mountains, in which they enticed young men, whom they tickled to death.  On Pentecost (known as Mavka’s Easter) they held games, dances, and orgies.  A demon accompanied them on a flute or pipes.  They are depicted in literature, most notably in Lesia Ukrainka’s Lisova Pisnia (The Forest Song) and Mykhailo Kotsiubynaky’s zabutykh predkiv (Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors).”  It is noted in this entry that Mavka, also known as niavka, navka, is from the Old Slavic nav “the dead.”

Other characters the play “Forest Song” written by Lesya Ukrainka include mythical beings such as Rusalka, a water nymph; the Lost Babes, water nixes; a Water Goblin, guardian spirit of the lake; and the Forest Elf, a woodland sprite.  Human characters include Uncle Lev, his nephew Lukash and Kilina, a young widow.  They are peasants.  Noted in the footnote to the play “Forest Song” is that a “‘Lost Babe is a fairy being conceived as coming from an unbaptized infant, the fruit of illicit love, after having been drowned by its desperate forsaken mother.”  The setting of the play is a spacious glade in the heart of a dense and hoary primeval forest dotted with willows and containing one very old oak.  Its plot is concerned with what happens when humans, those who do not understand the forest beings, come into this primeval setting.

While there are many similarities between the film “Mavka: The Forest Song” and Lesya Ukrainka’s “Forest Song” and although the film was clearly inspired by the play they are not the same story.  It is the case that  the basic theme of both deals with the problems that occur when humans who do not understand and respect the forest sprites come into the forest.  However, the film has a traditional “Happy Ever After” ending, but the original play does not.  Many of the same characters appear in both, but not always with the same spelling and not always with the same motivations.  The play also goes into more depth in regard to the various forest beings.  My main interest in this film is not so much the story, which is not that different from many recent animated fantasy films, but in the images.  The images of the fantastic characters and the scenery, which I found to be very nice.  Also, with the film’s connection to slavic mythology and in particular to that of Ukraine.  I became intrigued with this film after seeing this trailer  MAVKA. The Forest Song. Official Teaser 2 minutes.  However, the image of Mavka was somewhat changed for the actual film.

Lesya Ukrainka’s “Forest Song” is important in Ukraine culture and 75 years ago the story was made into a ballet.  Here is a 13 minute excerpt from the ballet performed by the National Ballet of Ukraine.  Excerpts from Forest Song | Selections from Nadiya Ukraine: The National Ballet of Ukraine The first two dancers  represent Mavka and Lukash (Lucas) and the red character in the second part is a Will-o’-the Wisp, a fire sprite, while the last part seems to represent the coming of winter.   

Tom,

FPF, thank you for your comment.  The combination of a longer anagen phase for women plus faster growth for men could result in the terminal length of hair for both young men and young women being “pretty much the same length.”  Even if I was incorrect in writing the above, the most important factor is that in general men in our current culture do not cut their hair shorter than women because of the length of the anagen phase as men’s hair rarely reaches its terminal length.  Men choose to have their hair cut even though it could grow much longer.  So, as I wrote, “. . . it appears that the general difference between the length of head hair on men and women is cultural rather than biological.”  As for thinning hair, I am not a young man and my hair is thinning on top, but that does not stop me from growing my hair long.

Tom,

Why do young males generally cut their hair shorter than young females do, at least in most “Western Cultures.”  It is not natural to do so, in the sense that in a natural state, one in which hair is let grow without cutting, both young men and young women would have hair pretty much the same length.  Actually I read that male hair grows slightly faster than female hair, see here: How fast does hair grow?  And go down to “What Factors Affect Hair Growth?”  But this is not that different.

Based on this it appears that the general difference between the length of head hair on men and women is cultural rather than biological.  I’ve read that the Roman men kept their hair short, unlike barbarian men, so that in war the enemy could not grab them by the hair although I think it may have more to do with lice during their campaigns, then after the French Revolution, after the king was executed, men started to cut their hair shorter in imitation of the Roman Republic during which there was no king.  The article found here: Roman Hair reports that “Most Roman men kept their hair relatively short as a sign of dignity and control.”  This article mentions that  “The crew cut originated in 1927, when Yale rowing team member Jock Whitney had his hair cut short and the rest of the crew adopted the look.  Legend has it that the haircut was popular among rowers because the crew faces away from the direction the boat is traveling and has both hands on the oars.  Longer hair would blow into the face and he couldn’t take his hands off the oars to move it away.”  Also, “During World War II, American soldiers sported crew cuts (high and tight haircuts) to help control head lice in their tight quarters.”  So, men may have started wearing shorter hair due to their involvement in “manly” activities such as war and sports or to show “dignity and control” and this became culturally associated with being male.  While women who were generally required to stay home and not go wandering about, fighting wars and such, would have more access to ways of cleaning their hair, particularly before indoor plumbing, so long hair became culturally associated with being female.  So, the tendency of young men having shorter hair than young women may be the result of people following gender norms.

Tom, 

Thinking about the above I wondered why I don’t feel the same way about female ballet dancers who wear their hair up in buns.  At first I thought that even if the dancers had their hair up I would still know or at least assume that they had long hair.  Then I realized that it was primarily the main male dancers that I had an issue with and that almost all female dancers and most minor male dancers wore something on their heads.  What they wore may be small, but it was something.  Here is a video, 14 minutes, that shows 15 male dancers, some wearing something on their heads or having long hair and some not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-v_HCHLH2I.  The ones wearing something on their head, sometimes a feather, sometimes a wig, sometimes something else or having longish hair are the following.  I feel this adds to the character of the dancer:

2:30 Le Corsaire; Conrad Variation, Angel Corella, feather, somewhat long hair

3:28 Marco Spada: Variation, David Hallberg, wig with ribbon and short ponytail

5:47 Le Corsaire: Slave Variation, Vyacheslave Lopatin, long hair and bandana

6:43 La Bayadere: Solor Variation, Vladislav Lantratov, feather, somewhat long

8:25 The Sleeping Beauty: Prince Variation, Mathias Heymann, wig, ribbon

11:10 The Flames of Paris: Philippe Variation, Ivan Vasiliev, long hair 

Now that I brought it up, I always wondered why the feather for Ali the slave in Le Corsaire and for Solor in La Bayadere.  Does anyone know?  Also while Ivan Vasiliev does not wear anything on his head he does have wild long hair that fits well with his role as a rebel.  It seems that he is the only one with facial hair.  In Scheherazade from the earlier post, the male dancer, the Golden Slave, wears a band around his chest, almost in imitation of the female dancer’s brassiere.  Is this some western interpretation of a Mid-Eastern garment or was it originally for modesty?  In 1910, when the ballet premiered, men would wear bathing suits that covered their chests.

Then I thought that it wasn’t necessarily short hair, but what I think of as the 1950s haircut - short and parted to the side.  In this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LqupY03CO0 (1 minute) the female dancers have their hair long and down and flowing, but the male dancer has short hair that doesn’t move that seems to me to be in the 1950s style.  This is particularly the case at the end with the female dancers representing the wild witches from Walpugisnacht, with flowing hair, but the male dancer being very straight laced with short hair.    

Tom, 

Dirac, thank you for your positive comment.  I agree that ‘Things are changing, but slowly."  The stories of the last three best picture winners had female protagonists although “Everything, Everywhere, all at Once” was directed and written by men.  “CODA” was directed by a woman and two of its three writers were women.  ”Noradland” was directed by a woman and written by two women.  Women are even more involved in directing porn.  Erica Lust is a female producer of porn, although she does not call it that.  I saw a youtube, non-porn video of her directing and I was struck that almost all of the people involved were women.  The two actors were women.  What would have been better for me would have been if the actors were two men.

Pherank, I agree that things are generally not “either/or.”  While some behavior is largely due to human nature I believe that values of a particular society could change how a member of that society behaves and I feel that behavior is an indicator of how a human feels physically/internally. 

Tom,

I came across this thread from 2013 and then read the “Time Out” interview where the quote came from.  When asked “What would you like to change about the perception of ballet?” Tamara Rojo replied, “That it’s a girl’s thing, a fluffy thing, a child’s thing.  It isn’t.  I just hate infantilization of women.  In everything,  In fashion, in ballet, in politics.  Ballet can be many things and I don’t think we have yet managed to spread that information.”

It was only near the end of the interview that any mention of porn was made.  Her reply to “Does it matter that there are fewer female choreographers?” her answer was “Yes, because female sensitivity is different.  And there are issues that I want to see on stage approached by women.  Very often we see relationships approached from a male perspective.  Like in porn, it shapes the way you look at things.”

So, the mention of porn was only near the end of the interview and it was made only to explain a previous idea.  She was not saying that ballet was pornagraphic, only that the creation of ballet and porn is dominated by men.  Whenever I read the idea that “female sensitivity is different” I think of “Nature versus Nurture.”  Are women’s sensitivity different due to nature or due to how women are brought up and how gender norms differ.

In regard to this women clearly commit many, many fewer homicides than men do.  Could it be if women were more involved in stories, ballet stories included, would there be less violence and in particular fewer innocent women dying.  In any case as KFW commented earlier in this thread “Men have dominated many fields and catered to their own gender in so doing. . .”  This has been the case in Films, Songs, Literature etc. with the result that most of the stories we see, read or hear about are about men or boys.

Tom,

I tend to like long hair, both on women and men.  My own hair reaches down to an inch below my shoulders.  Now, this is only my own feelings, I can fully understand why some may like short hair.  I also like almost everything about ballet, except for most of the stories and that male dancers generally have short hair.  One exception is Farukh Ruzimatov.  Here are three clips showing him dancing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5hOTlwuQxg ½ minute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfbeA6QouzI 1 minute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiApUA9Kd9o 5 minutes

And here is a 15 minute video showing Saetlana Zacharova and Farukh Ruzimatov dancing as Zobeide and the Golden Slave in an excerpt from the ballet Scheherazade.  Here both characters are shown with long hair, Ruzimatov has his in a ponytail.  I feel long hair very much fits the subject of this dance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFeislcxOU4, 

Tom,

Chinese Lunar New Year begins tomorrow on January 22 and can last until February 5.  This begins the year of the Rabbit.

Tom,

PS I just read that in Vietnam they are beginning the year of the Cat.

Are women to be seen and not heard?

I bring this up because I just read an article in BBC entitled “Brit Awards 2023: Why are no women nominated for best artist?"  https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64264069 It explains that the Brit Awards did away with their best male and best female awards last year in favour of gender-neutral prizes.  But this year, with this change there are no female nominees.  Here in the US, for over 100 years, we have been running our own gender-neutral contests - election of the President and members of congress.  So far no women have won the Presidency and while increasing numbers of women have been elected to congress, currently women make up only 27.9% of members.  But this is not all, men also dominate the number of recognized artists, the number of film directors, actors, the number of choreographers and the number of CEOs.  So, does this mean that men are inherently better at singing, song writing, being politicians, being directors, choreographers, being in charge of businesses.  I find that highly unlikely.  But it seems that there is one area of the public sphere that has more women and that is dancing.  According to this site https://www.zippia.com/dancer-jobs/demographics/ 73.4% of all dancers are women.  What is the difference between these occupations?  Well, singers, politicians, artists, film directors, actors, choreographers, CEOs get to say things, if not always spoken things, then to say things visually, but dancers do not talk, they are there to be seen.  So, it seems that while things have improved, we are still in the situation where women tend to be seen and not heard.

Tom,

Vipa, I’m glad you posted this as well as posting the link.  I have not seen the film and did not know about it until I read your post.  I then went out to find more about it, reading about it and viewing some additional videos.  It’s important to have more women directors and women writers in films, as well as more films about women.  This is particularly significant as it seems from what I read it is, as its title states, about women talking - women revealing their feelings, hopes, fears and desires.  Thank you.

Tom,

There is a Ukraine holiday celebrated on January 22 called Unity Day.  It celebrates the treaty, signed on that day in 1919, uniting the Ukrainian People’s Republic, which had been part of the Tsarist Russian Empire with the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic, which had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  Both empires ended as a result of the First World War and the Russian Revolution.  This did not last long as the united Ukraine was soon absorbed by the Soviet Union.  See here  Why Ukraine celebrates Unity Day(1 minute video). 

Here is a 5 ½ minute video of the Ukrainian Hopak dance: Ukrainian dance Hopak by Sonechko (Zhytomyr, Ukraine) (229) and next is a 13 minute long video of Ukrainian National Folk Dances:Virsky Ukrainian National Folk Dance Ensemble | ансамбль ім. П. Вірського | Best of (2022) 

According to this website (https://danceask.net/tropak-dance-ukraine) “It was during the beginning of the 16th century that a social dance called ‘Hopak’ was first created in Ukraine by a community known as ‘Cossacks’. It was then using Hopak as template that this dance style was created which was called ‘Tropak’.  Furthermore, the only major difference between the Tropak and Hopak dance styles lie in the tempo of the music that was used.”  Based on this it may be more accurate for the Russian Dance from the Nutcracker ballet, also called the Tropak, to be referred to as the Ukrainian Dance.  Here is a 2 minute video of that dance being called the Ukrainian Trepak The Nutcracker - Ukrainian Trepak (Delaware Ballet - 12/4/2016).  It is my understanding that Trepak and Tropak are two spellings for the same dance.

Also connected with Ukraine is the music for the song Hava Nagila.  The music originated as a wordless melody performed by Jews from the small town of Sadigorer in present-day Ukraine approximately 200 years ago.  The music was brought to Jerusalim during the First World War during which the lyrics were added.  The Translation of the words “Hava Nagila” is “Let us rejoice.”  See here: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/hava-nagilas-long-strange-trip//

During this holiday season I heard many Christmas songs on the radio and a good number of winter songs, but I only heard one Hanukkah song and that was Adam Sandler’s “The Hanukkah Song.”  Now, I like Adam Sandler, but as I have grown to dislike male vocalists, mainly because so many songs are sung by male vocalists, I looked for female covers of that song.  Here at Ms. Magazine can be found the Haim Sisters singing such a cover: https://msmagazine.com/2022/12/16/feminist-holiday-songs/, go down to song 5.  Another interesting cover is “The Diwali Song” here: The Diwali Song for the Festival of Lights in India. 

Tom,

Quiggin, thank you for the link. It is a fun piano store Nutcracker. 

Today is the last day of Hunakkah and the first day of Kwanzaa.  The name Kwanzaa comes from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza” which means “first fruits.”  Here are two Kwanzaa songs:  Happy Happy Kwanzaa, 6 minutes and Child of Kwanzaa Practice Track, 3 minutes.  Nguzo saba means the seven principles of Kwanzaa which are: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith).  Kwanzaa ends on January 1st.  

Tom,

FPF, you make a good point as to why there is not much Chanukah music, so I’m grateful that you posted these links.  I’ve added them to a playlist of Chanukah music.  It’s not Chanukah music, but here is a video of Barbra Streisand singing Avinu Malkeinu (4 minutes): Barbra Streisand - AVINU MALKEINU ( Our Father Our King).  Over time I have come to feel that I prefer songs in languages other than English and to prefer female vocalists.  Here is a long video, one hour, entitled My Yiddishe Chanukah with vocalists Joanne Borts and Rachel Arielle Yucht:  My Yiddishe Chanukah!.  Then I have to include Hava Nagila and a circle dance (4 minutes, you may have to turn up the volume for this): Hava Nagila - circle dance (Berry Sisters).

Tom,

Helene, thank you for your comment and link.  I listened to the previews and liked ii, but noticed he played the tunes faster than I am used to.

One thing that interests me about the various holidays is the similarities among them.  They are not the same, there are variations, but there are also similarities.  Starting with, they tend to be joyous celebrations.  Many are connected with music, songs as well as food, meals together dance and also gift giving.  They’re a time for people to get together.

Another holiday that I did not grow up with, but that is interesting to me is American Native Heritage day.  See here for a 3 minute video: Native American Heritage Day for Kids | Native American Heritage Month | 25 November | Twinkl USA,

Kindly contribute any holiday you know and any Hanukkah music you know.

Tom,

I like holidays, particularly the ones that come during the colder and darker months, from Halloween to Easter, but I am also interested in the holidays that I did not grow up with.  This evening is the start of Hanukkah.  While there is a lot of Christmas music I hear almost no Hanukkah music on the radio or TV, so a number of years ago I started to look for Hanukkah music and here is some of what I found.  Ner Li - Chanukah Song with lyrics 2 minutes, Hanukkah Lovin' by Michelle Citrin, 4 minutes hannukah music piano music 32 minutes.

Other holidays that I did not grow up with that I now find interesting are Diwali - Festival of Lights (see here for 3 minute video, Diwali - Festival of Lights | National Geographic), Eid Al Adha Festival of Sacrifice (3 minute video, Eid Al Adha: What you need to know), Kwanzaa (3 minute video, QuaverMusic Song of the Month: Kwanzaa Celebration), Chinese Lunar New Year (5 minute video, Chinese New Year 2023 | What is the Chinese New Year? | How to Celebrate it? & Story of Nian).  

Thinking about this it seems that the Nutcracker ballet could be made to be about any holiday simply by changing which holiday the party is for and not changing anything else.

Tom, 

We have now come to “Les Sylphides” or “Chopiniana.”  Originally this ballet premiered under the latter name at the Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg, at an examination performance in 1908 and under the name Les Sylphides at Paris’ Theater Du Chatelet, by the Ballets Russe in 1909.  It is a short ballet, somewhere around 30 minutes in length and while it is not completely abstract, it does not have a true plot.  It has been referred to as a ballet of mood.  As Chopiniana, it seems to have been a series of episodes based on Chopin’s life, but now is performed as the meeting of an unnamed poet and a group of sylphides in a forest glade at nighttime.  In addition to the corps de ballet there are three female soloists and a male who dances the role of the poet.  I find it to be a pleasant ballet with pleasant music and like the idea that there is no serious plot, nobody dies and no one is disappointed in love.

The name Sylphides comes from Paracelsus’ 16th century thesis “Liber de Nymphis, Sylphis, Pygmaseis et Salamandris et de cateris spiritibus theophrasti hohenheimensis.  Basically the writing is about four groups of elementals one for each of the four ancient elements.  Nymphs or undina (undines) are the elementals for water, sylphs or sylestres are for air, pygmies or gnomi (gnomes) are for earth and salamanders or vulcani are for fire.  Sylphide refers to a young Sylph.  My understanding is that being the elemental of air does not necessarily mean that Sylphides have wings (although in ballet they are presented as having wings) nor that they can fly.  Basically, after reading the theise, it seems to mean that sylphides can move through air and breathe air, while undines can move through water and breathe water, gnomes can move through earth and breathe earth and vulcani can move through fire and breathe fire.  Currently the word Sylph has come to mean a slender graceful young woman.

In this ballet the Sylphides form a sisterhood of friends and gather together at midnight to dance.  The Poet seems to be a nice guy and does not cause, due to his actions or inactions, any problems.  Below is an image labeled “Set design of a sylvan grove with the ruins of a monastery by Alexandre Benois, for the 1909 ballet Les Sylphides.”

Researching this I started to think about an all male ballet blanc, that is with an all male corps de ballet.  Is that possible?  What about Bourne’s “Swan Lake?”  Has anyone seen it or danced in it?  What do people think of it?

Tom, 

An article in NPR (see here: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/18/1129717922/anna-may-wong-us-quarters-coins-movies) announces that the film actress Anna May Wong will be featured on a US quarter.  Earlier in this thread is information on Ms. Wong and a tribute video.  She was initially successful, starring in a feature film, “Toll of the Sea” at age 17, but then was casted in supporting roles.  See here for a 5 minute clip of “Toll of the Sea,” 1922: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6-HJrGS_rc.  Later she went to Europe where she was more successful, similar to Josephine Baker.  One film she starred in in England was “Piccadilly,” 1929, see here for 5 minute clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMl1LXN0fTo.

Other women to be honored in this way are Maya Angelou, Sally Ride, Nina Otero-Warren and Wilma Mankiller.  See article for more information on these women.  

I also came across this article https://www.npr.org/2022/10/19/1129842323/athlete-elnaz-rekabi-competed-without-hijab-returns-to-iran on Iranian athlete Elnaz Rekabi, who received a hero’s welcome in Tehran after having competed without a hijab.

Tom,  

The next ballet blanc, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, premiered in 1892 in Saint Petersburg, differs in certain ways from the earlier ones (with the possible exception of “Fille du Danube”).  Situated in the first act, the “Waltz of the Snowflakes,” is only seven minutes long or so and is the shortest of all the White Acts.  According to the Petipa website the Waltz of Snowflakes has a little bit of a history.  The idea for this waltz came from “The “Daughter of the Snows” a ballet that premiered in 1879, which had a dance called the “Dance of the Snowflakes.”  Further, in both Hoffmann's and Dumas’ versions the Nutcracker and Marie/Clara pass through “Christmas Forest,” which could be the inspiration for the forest where the waltz takes place.  Originally, in 1892 the waltz was solely a dance for a huge corps de ballet, of over fifty dancers.  Although “In some modern productions, the “Waltz of the Snowflakes” features soloist roles, such as Snow Fairies, winds, Snow Kings and Snow Queens and features dancing for Clara and the Nutcracker-Prince.”  The Royal Ballet also includes Drosselmeyer, something I don’t like, although winds would be interesting.  Also, in the books Marie and the Nutcracker come across shepherds and shepherdesses, which could have been the inspiration for the Dance of the Reed Flutes (Mirlitons), as the dancers are sometimes shown as shepherds and shepherdesses.

The music for the Waltz of the Snowflakes impart a magical feeling to the scene, particularly the vocalizing.  Even by itself, without the dancing, this is one of my favorite pieces of music.  I like to think of the Snowflakes in this waltz as not being just representations of snowflakes, but in this Ballet-feerie, as being alive, as Snowflake Fairies.  This reminds me of an episode in the 1940 Disney film Fantasia.  The four minute long scene is to the music from the Waltz of the Flowers.  At first there are “Autumn Fairies” causing leaves to change colors, then “Frost Fairies” and lastly Snowflake “Fairies.”  See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uss3NHf0l6U.   

Another way that this ballet differs from the earlier ones is that neither of the two male protagonists in the Nutcracker - the Nutcracker or Godfather Drosselmeyer - have what could be called flawed characters.  In four of the previous ballets, actions or inactions of the male protagonist lead to the death of the female protagonist, at least in the earlier versions.  Even in some of the later versions of Swan Lake (the tragic endings) while Odette doesn’t die, she is left a swan because of Siegfried’s impulsive, emotional actions and in Ballet of the Nuns Robert is a weak character who is easily pressured into doing something that he is terrified of.  But the Nutcracker, sometimes with the help of Clara/Maria, is a hero.  This is not only the case in the ballet, but also in the books.

Tom,

According to the Petipa website “The libretto for the original 1877 production is very different from that of the 1895 production.”  See here: https://petipasociety.com/swan-lake/.  The libretto given at that website is basically a shorter version of the one given in a previous post.  In it Odette is described as the daughter of a good fairy and a knight and she and her friends are swan maidens who can transform themselves into swans or humans.  Further, the evil stepmother wants to kill Odette, who is protected by a magic crown and if Odette marries the stepmother will be thwarted.  Siegfried vows to marry Odette, but as before is tricked into vowing to marry Odile.  Again Odette is powerless to forgive him and he, determined for them never to be parted, throws her crown into the lake.  With this Odette dies then they are both engulfed by the lake.

The synopsis at the Tchaikovsky research website is somewhat confusing.  See here: https://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Swan_Lake.  Odette explains that she is “. . . the unwanted stepdaughter of an evil sorceress who is trying to kill her.  She is protected by her crown, which was given to her by her grandfather.”  So far that is the same.  It then goes on “Only the marriage vow can break the spell, which holds her and the other girls bound as swans by the day and humans by night.”  So this is combining two problems, the stepmother trying to kill Odette and the curse making them swans during the day.  However, the curse is not mentioned again, but the ending has the murder/suricide as in the two earlier scenarios.

A Libretto of the 1895 production, as translated by Prof. Roland John Wiley, is provided at the Petipa website here: https://petipasociety.com/swan-lake-libretto/.  The first act, scene 1, is basically as before.  In scene 2, Odette explains “. . . that she, Princess Odette, and the young girls subject to her are the unhappy victims of a wicked genie who bewitched them.  By day they are condemned to take the form of swans and only at night, near these ruins, can they regain their human form.”  Also, the “. . . spell will continue until somebody falls truly in love with her, for life.”

During the last act Odette tells her friends that Siegfried failed them, all is lost and that her only alternative is death.  When Siegfried arrives he vows to die with her.  “In terror the evil genie disappears.  Death out of love for Odette is his destruction.  The unhappy girl, having embraced Siegfried for the last time, runs to the cliff to throw herself from its height.  The evil genie in the form of an owl hovers over her in order to change her into a swan.  Siegrfried rushes to Odette's assistance and together with her throws himself into the lake.  The owl falls, dead.”  There is then an Apotheosis where the lovers are seen together in the afterlife.  So, in the 1895 libretto, the evil stepmother is done away with, Odette and her friends go from being fairies who can happily, voluntarily transform themselves into swans or humans to being unfortunate women who are cursed into being being swans during the day and the murder/suicide at the end becomes a double suicide that distroys the evil genie.

So, we have four endings.  The happy ending, which I like, but feel is not authentic and has too much of the “damsel in distress” to it.  Then there is the tragic ending, which I don’t like, because it’s tragic.  I also dislike the original 1877 murder/sucide ending, even without this ending Siegfired is flawed, but this shows him to be selfish and not to truly love Odette.  This leaves us with the 1895 double sucide which resulted in the destruction of Rothbart, as having some possibility.  A reconstruction can be found at the Petipa site here:  https://petipasociety.com/swan-lake-ratmansky-reconstruction/.  Of particular interest is the last video, 11 minutes.  Near the end of this clip after the two lovers jump off the cliff into the lake Rothbart returns and starts to weaken.  Then and this is the part I like, the swans seem to attack him and he dies.  This made me think. What if there is no suicide, but when Rothbart is attacking the lovers, the swans finally feel he has gone too far and in anger attack him.  They then are the ones who destroy him saving the lovers and also freeing themselves from the curse.  I see the ballet de corps as being the star of the ballet blanc and in this case the star could be the one who defeats the villain.  This could also work with the swans being fairies that could transform themselves into swans or humans.  It wouldn’t be that Rothbart cursed them, but has been tormenting and harassing them.  Thus the swans are also magical beings and more equal to the evil genie and while they cannot defeat him individually they can do so together.  As to why the swan maidens would not have risen against Rothbart before, in history people need to be pushed to the edge before they undertake the dangerous actions needed to overthrow a tyrant.   

On the other hand I’d just as soon do away with Rothbart.  The ballet would be a series of related occurrences.  Siegfried, a young man who is unsure of what he wants, meets up with some swan maidens who are happy being able to willingly transform into swans or maidens.  He and Odette fall in love, but the next night the prince meets Odile, who looks like Odette.  They dance until Siegfried realizes Odile is not Odette and runs to the lake.  At the lake Odette forgives Siegfried, because after all he is only human and they decide to live together at the lake with the other swan maidens.  But all is not lost for Odile as in actuality she prefers Benno.

Tom,

Pherank, thank you for adding to this thread.

Tom,

Not quite a month after La Bayadere premiered in Saint Petersburg, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake had its world premier at the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on March 4 (O.S. February 20) 1877.  My favorite production of Swan Lake is the one by the Kirov Ballet, c. 1991, with Yulia Makhalina and Igor Zelensky.  It has the happy ending, which I understand was first introduced in the Soviet Union during the 1950s.  I remember  being surprised upon first seeing this ending in a live performance and liked it (I cheered at the end), but in reflecting on it it does not seem authentic, with Siegfried suddenly going from being deceived to being able to physically defeat a powerful sorcerer.  The ending I first saw and which I believed at the time to be the only ending was where Siegfried died and Odette remained a swan (the tragic ending).

Swan Lake has two white acts, two Ballet Blancs, the second act (the first act by the lake) and the fourth act.  In the Kirov Ballet production the first Ballet Blanc, from the entry of the ballet de corps to the end of that act lasts 25 minutes, while the second which comprises most of the last act is 21 minutes.

I feel that Swan Lake in general, not just this production, is the most dramatic of ballets.  This is in large part due to Tchaikovsky’s music.  The dancing and the music is energetic and exciting starting from when the ballet de corps first come on to the stage until they fly away at the end of the act.  Starting with the four little swans It gets even better.  As with the other ballets with white acts there is a feeling of sisterhood.  In the second act the swan maidens join together to dance and have fun, then just before dawn they get ready to take off.  The music and the dancing that it accompanies give a real feeling of swans taking flight.  It makes me realize how great a composer Tchaikovsky was.  In the last act there is a real feeling for the concern the swans have for each other.  One thing I’ve wondered about is what do the black swans in that act signify.  Does anyone know?

The story of this ballet has been revived a number of times, particularly its ending, since this world premier.  According to Tamara Lee Gebelt “The original libretto was co-authored by Vladimir Petrovich Begichev and Vasily Fedorovich Geltsr, a paraphrased summary of their original scentario, taken from Teatral’naya gazeta, c. dated October 19, 1876, appears in Appendix E [page 171] of this study.”  See here: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7011&context=gradschool_disstheses.   

The first act of this scenario is much like that of the modern performances.  However, in the second act Odette explains to Siegfried and Benno that “Her mother, a good fairy, fell in love with and married a noble knight against her father’s will. The knight destroyed her, though, and remarried a witch who, as her wicked stepmother, hated and nearly killed her.  Odette’s grandfather came to the rescue of the girl, taking her in.  His tears over the death of her mother formed the present lake.  The grandfather took Odette to live in the deepest part of the lake.  Long concealed from people, Odette recently persuaded the old man to give her a little freedom to make merry.  By day, she and her friends transform themselves into swans and fly, soaring nearly to Heaven.  At night, they assume human form, playing and dancing near the dear old man.  She ends, saying regretfully even now her stepmother gives them little peace.”  So, Odette and her friends are good fairies who can transform themselves into swans and humans and are not cursed to be swans during the day.  Further, Odette is protected from her stepmother by a crown given her by her grandfather and that when she marries the stepmother will lose the ability to harm her, but she must wear the crown for protection until then.  After this the other swans, now also women, along with children run in rows out of the ruins.  They then all dance and make merry.  Afterwards Siegfried says he loves her and will not forget her the next night.

Act 3 goes along similar to the modern versions and with act 4 we are back at the lake.  Odette rushes onto the stage, her hair is tousled and down around her shoulders.  She sill wears her crown, but she is crying.  The other group around her questioningly as she laments that her Siegfried neither kept his vow nor passed the test.”  When Siegfried arrives Odette says “it is not in her power to forgive him.”  Siegfried responds by saying that even if she is unwilling, she will always remain with him.”  He then throws the crown in the lake.  “The horrified Odette questions his actions, saying he has destroyed them both.  She falls dying into his arms. . .” and they both are engulfed by the waves.  

I prefer the idea that Odette and her friends are good fairies that can transform themselves into swans and humans and I like that there are children with them.  In most of the modern versions I see Siegfried, while having flaws is not purposely bad.  However, with this ending he is selfish and uncaring toward Odette.  He accomplishes what the evil stepmother was trying to do.  In essence it is a murder/suicide and I dislike it.  After reading the original libretto, it seems to me that the primary inspiration for Swan Lake is the German fairytale the Stolen Veil, see here for an explanation: https://balletalert.invisionzone.com/topic/45977-the-stolen-veil/.

The plan for the next post is to go on to 1895.

Tom,

Ballet Blanc moved from Paris to Russia on February 4 (O.S. January 23) 1877 when “La Bayadere” premiered at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, in Saint Petersburg.  An English libretto for this ballet, described as a translation of the 1877 libretto, can be found at the Petipa website: https://petipasociety.com/la-bayadere-libretto/.  It shows “The stage represents a consecrated forest, branches of bananas, amras, madhavis, and other Indian trees are intertwined.  At the left is a pond designated for ablutions.  In the distance, the peaks of the Hmalayans.”  Solar is presented as a wealthy and famous warrior.  Later Nikiya says “I am a bayadere!  I must keep order in the pagoda.  I was destined for this calling since childhood.”  She also describes Solor as “courageous.”  Solor says they could run away and Nikiya agrees, but wants him to “swear to me before this temple that your heart will never belong to anyone else but me, and that you will love me your whole life.”  He does and with the dawn they part.  

In the second act things begin to change when Solor is summoned before the rajah who tells the warrior that he must soon marry Gamzatti, the rajah’s daughter.  (Originally her name was Hamsatti.)  Solor weakly objects saying he is not yet prepared and that he cannot fulfill the rajah’s desire.  But when the rajah demands he go through with the marriage Solor says no more and soon leaves.  While the rajah plots to kill Nikiya, Solor, unaware of the plot, goes ahead with the marriage to Gamzatti.   

While dancing during the celebration in honor of Badrinata Nikiya is bitten by a poisonous snake that was hidden in a basket.  She appeals to Solor for help and he embraces her.  To the warrior she says “Do not forget your vow, you are sworn to me . . . I am dying . . . Farewell!”  She refuses the antidote offered by the Brahmin and saying “Farewell Solor! . . . I love you! . . . I die innocent!” she dies.  Then something interesting happens, something that I have not noticed in this ballet.  “As through a mist a shade is seen, behind which follow will-o’-the-wisps.  It grows pale and vanishes among the icecaps of the Himalayas.”

The version of La Bayadere that I am most familiar with and was the one that I saw first is the 1992 Paris production by Nureyev, where there is no destruction of the temple. In that production, after the death of Nikiya, Solar goes to his room to smoke opium to deal with his grief and perhaps his guilt and dreams of meeting with the Bayadere in the Kingdom of the Shades.  They are happy in this dream, possibly indicating that Nikiya forgives him.  But this Nikiya is not real, she is just a figment of Solor’s dream.  For me this is a disappointing ending.   

I feel the libretto is better.  After the shade and the will-o’-the-wisp disappear into the Himalayas the scene moves to Solor’s room.  Gamzatti enters the room and “. . . sits down next to him [Solor], caresses him and tries in every way to attract his attention.  Solor at last revives, and takes her hand.  At this moment the melancholy strains of the bayadere’s song are heard.  The shade of the weeping Nikiya appears on the wall. Solor trembles.”  He says “Oh! Now my misfortunes will begin.  I forgot my vow! Remorse will pursue me my whole life.”  Eventually Solor falls asleep and dreams he is in a beautiful enchanted place.  Originally, in 1877, this “. . . scene was set in an illuminated castle in the sky and contained a huge corps de ballet of sixty-four dancers.”  For the 1900 revival it was changed “. . . to a dark and rocky set on the starlit peaks of the Himalayas.”   

When Solor awakens it is time for the wedding.  During this Nikiya appears to Solor and even to Gamzatti without being seen by others.  Despite this Solor continues with the wedding and “At the very moment when the Brahmin takes the hands of Solor and Hamsatti [Gamzatti] to join them, there is a fearful thunderclap followed by an earthquake.  Lightning strikes the hall, which collapses and covers in its ruins the rajah, his daughter, the Great Brahmin and Solor.”  

During the Apotheosis the action is as follows:  “Through the rain the peaks of the Himalayas are visible.  Nikiya’s shade glides through the air, she is triumphant, and tenderly looks at her beloved Solor, who is at her feet.”

The various showings of Nikiya as a shade, along with the apotheosis indicate that within the story the shades are “real” in the sense that the deceased nuns, the Sylphides and the Wilis are real in their stories.  

By far my favorite part of the ballet is the entrance of the Shades.  The music is somewhat somber and mysterious.  In general the rest of the ballet’s music is pleasant, but for me it does not rise to the level of this dance and when I first saw it I was a little disappointed in the music that followed.  The actual entrance of the Shades, with them descending the ramp, is approximately 4 minutes, but the music that accompanies that action continues for another 3 minutes more.  It is approximately 2.5 minutes more before Solor enters and the ballet de corps leaves the stage.  This 9.5 minute section is what I consider to be the pure Ballet Blanc.  It can be seen in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnXXxgQaZ84.  As with the other white acts I feel this imparts a feeling of sisterhood among the shades.  I can imagine them caring for each other and welcoming the bayadere as a valued new member of their group.  The flowing of the scarves worn by the shades gives a nice effect and I like the blue tint to the scene.  It is noted in the Petita website that what is now “The Scarf Duet” was originally a solo, the “Variation of Nikiya with the Scarf.”  In this, “Nikiya entered the stage holding one end of a long tulle scarf, while the other end was attached to a wire in the rafters above the stage.  When Nikiya released the scarf, it flew away across the stage and disappeared into the rafters, as if it was ‘supernaturally guided’.”  Also in that website is an image labeled “Illustration for Paradiso by Gustave Dore, the inspiration for the Kingdom of the Shades,” as well as an image showing “The Kingdom of the Shades in the 1900 revival” and at the end “The Destruction of the Temple (1877).”  See here: https://petipasociety.com/la-bayadere/.

The best that could be said for Solor is that he is all talk and no action.  He is a wealthy warrior and at first plans to elope with the Bayadere, but once the rajah orders him to marry Gamzatti, he seems to forget about that and goes ahead with the marriage to the other woman.  He is only stoped from marring her, the person who had the Bayadere murdered, when the gods destroyed the temple.  Compare this to Nikiya who first stands up to the Brahmin and then to Gamzatti who offers her wealth, both powerful people.  Nikiya even tries to kill the rajah’s daughter.

According to the Petipa website “Petipa’s inspiration for La Bayadere was likely to have been the Prince of Wales's visit to India in 1875, which was covered by every European newspaper and magazine.”

Tom,