Tom47

One thing I don’t like in stories is when an innocent person dies. Two such ballets are Giselle and La Bayadere. In both cases the title female character is deceived by her lover. The mad scene in Giselle is particularly sad to me, but I’m not sure how it could be changed without completely rewriting the story. What is redeeming is in the second act Giselle’s spirit joins with the other Wiles and I imagine she has an afterlife with friends she can sympathise with and be relatively happy with, however, I feel the wrong male character dies at the end. La Bayadere is similar, but in that case the Kingdom of the Shades act is just a drug induced dream of Solor. I would do away with the scene where he smokes himself into a stupor and in that way portray the Kingdom of the Shades as “real” in the same way that the Wiles are portrayed as “real.” In this way Nikiya could be imagined to have an afterlife with friends in the same way I can imagine Giselle to have. Also, I would not like Solor to end up with her as he did not have the courage to reveal that he loved her, which would have resulted in Nikiya taking the antidote. Neither Albrecht nor Solor deserve to be with their forsaken loves. Tom,

I like learning about the history of ballets - the original performances and what inspired the story of the ballet. For a long time I thought that Swan Lake had no originating story, just a general idea in many stories where humans, both male or female, turned themselves into swans or were turned into swans. I had known about the story “The Stolen Veil,” but did not feel it was similar enough to versions of Swan Lake I have seen. My information on the story of The Stolen Veil is from a webpage entitled A Retelling of ‘Der Geraubte Schleier’ (‘The Stolen Veil’) here: https://fatvox.com/a-retelling-of-der-geraubte-schleier-the-stolen-veil/. However, after reading about the original 1877 story of the ballet in the Marius Petipa Society website, here: https://petipasociety.com/swan-lake/, I have changed my mind. The most important factor to support the case for “The Stolen Veil” is the name of the character Benno, who is a friend of Siegfried in the original production of the ballet and is also the name of the character who is a friend of Friedbert the character from “The Stolen Veil” who could be identified with Siegfried from the ballet. According to the Marius Petipa Society website in the 1877 story “[Odette] and her friends are swan maidens who transform themselves into swans during the day and take up their human forms only at night.” In the story “The Stolen Veil,” Kalliste, the character who could be identified with Odette and her companions were also “Swan Maidens” who could freely transform from human to swans and back by putting on and taking off their veils. So, unlike the 1895 story, there was no curse that caused the women to turn into swans against their will. Further, in the 1877 ballet Odette wore a crown that protected her from her evil stepmother, without which the stepmother would kill her. In “The Stolen Veil” the swan maidens wore crowns and it was by this that they could be distinguished from the real swans. Odette in the 1877 ballet was the daughter of a good fairy and a knight, while Kalliste and the other swan maidens were descended from Leda (of the Greek myth) and a fairy. In The Stolen Veil the lake is named Schwanenteich (Swan Pond). In both stories the swan maiden - Odette or Kalliste - are in the power of either Siegfried or Friedbert. In Swan Lake it is because Odette needs Siegried to marry her and in The Stolen Veil Friedbert has stolen Kalliste’s veil, which keeps her from being able to fly home with her companions. While Siegfried is considered to love Odette and Friedbert to love Kalliste, their “love” is somewhat selfish. According to the Marius Petipa Society website, “Odette is powerless to forgive Siegfried for his betrayal, but Siegfried, determined for them never to be parted, rips the crown from Odette’s head and throws it into the stormy lake. Odette [now in the power of her stepmother] dies in Siegfried’s arms and the waters of the lake overflow and engulf them.” In The Stolen Veil Friedbert lies to Kalliste about his having her veil and when Kalliste finds the veil she flys away from him. The name Siegfried suggests that the ballet is meant to be set in Germany and Schwanenteich in The Stolen Veil is in Germany, near the city of Zwickau. A reference in the story “The Stolen Veil” shows it takes place in the 15th century. There are differences between The Stolen Veil and the original story of the ballet. For one Friedbert was not a Prince, but instead a simple soldier. Also, in the original ballet story the main antagonist is Odette’s evil stepmother and Rothbart acts for the stepmother, but in The Stolen Veil there is no evil sorcerer, female or male. Tom,

Imspear, thank you for the link on The Golden Dreydl. As I wrote earlier I like the Nutcracker ballet and I like the story, much more than the original book. One thing I like about it is the diversity in the second act with dances of various nationalities. However, I have read that some of these dances may be, from an European point of view, stereotypes of the culture they are meant to represent. These would be the Chinese/Tea and the Arabian/Coffee dances. The Chinese dance can appear somewhat silly in some productions and the Arabian dance can be suggestive of a harem dance. Instead of using pointed index fingers (I have no idea where that comes from) or tiny steps for the Chinese dance, movements from traditional dances of that nationality could be adapted for ballet. For example, I’ve seen a number of traditional Chinese dances on youtube and in many of them the dancers wear very long sleeves which are flung outward. Also, there is a Peacock dance that is generally performed by a solo female dancer, but I have seen it performed by a female/male couple. And no makeup to make the dancer “look” Chinese. Perhaps the music could also be slowed down a bit. As to the Arabian dance the Bolshoi Ballet has had a female/male couple perform this dance and I have also seen a solo male do it. Most interesting is that Tchaikovsky was inspired by a Georgian Lullaby in composing the music to this dance. This suggests the possibility of having a female dancer and a number of children come on stage and as the adult dances the children slowly “go to sleep” to the music of the lullaby. Lastly I would make the mice cutier and without masks - just makeup and “Mickey Mouse” ears - and with the exception of the mouse king no one gets killed. I don’t feel these are crucial changes and I don’t want to make a big deal out of them. Tom,

I like almost everything about ballet. The exception is some of the stories. For fun I imagine how these stories could be altered. In most cases I would not change very much, however, the one story I would change a lot is Le Corsaire (see the post Re-Imagining Le Corsaire). As it is the season for “The Nutcracker” I decided to write about that ballet even though I like the story as it is. What I thought about was to now and then change the nature of the party during the first act from a Christmas party to a Hanukkah party. Other than the party and the Christmas tree there is nothing in the ballet that means it has to be about Christmas. For those who don’t know much about it Hanukkah is a holiday in which gifts are given and where people gather together and it occurs during the colder part of the year when there could be snow. It actually overlaps with Christmas at times. The growing tree would be replaced with something else - possibly a menorah or maybe a dreidel. Everything else could be the same. What I would like would be to have maybe one production of the Hanukkah version around the time that Hanukkah starts to partner with the Christmas version. There could also be a Kwanzaa version. In the Jewish calendar Hanukkah always begins at sundown on the 25th of the month of Kislev and this year Hanukkah begins at sundown on December 10 of the common calendar. Tom,

Quiggin, at first I wasn't sure what you were referring to by the statement ". . . Older dancers would have more lines and different contours than younger ones. . ." After thinking about it I thought you maybe referring to stretch marks caused by pregnancies and cellulite, neither of which I feel would be a problem, particularly for a fit dancer. I don't think it would result in older dancers being put in the corps. I do not feel stretch marks to be objectionable at all and I doubt that any fit dancer would have much cellulite. If a dancer was concerned about stretch marks they could be covered by makeup. After all dancers do use make up on their faces. Also, it seems to me, that, particularly for a fit dancer, aging occurs first on the face. In a society that I spoke of there would not have to be a reason for nudity only a reason not to have nudity and as I wrote that would include protection and support of the body and for health reasons. That would also address your last point about warmers and layers. As to being distracting that may be the case for "newly freed parts," but not for the case where people had gotten use to nudity both in ballet and in other places. Read what dirac wrote about nudist beaches below. Helene, thank you for your comment and your statement of ". . . Quite exhilarating and fun once I stopped thinking "Ow." Dirac, thank you for your thoughts. I feel your comment "I have been told that one aspect of nudist beaches is that you quickly become used to everyone not having anything on, and it's actually less distracting than clothing. I wouldn't know, but I'm inclined to believe that's true" is important. Volcanohunter, I agree that ". . . This judgment can only be made by a dancer . . ." which is why I qualified my statement by writing "I saw." So as far as either you or I know she felt there was no danger. I've seen the ballet recently on a video and it did not seem to me that Corella was wearing tights. If he was they were not very opaque. While not wearing a thong he was wearing a tight bathing suit like garment and was bare chested. Further, as I have pointed out there is what appears to be a companion performance in which the male dancer only wore a thong and Giuliani was clothed. Also, it seems to me that in ballet men compared to women are more likely to wear very little. Examples are the slave from "Excelsior" and Acteon (Endymion) from "Diana and Acteon." However, this last part has nothing to do with my initial premise. As to the rest of your comment there is nothing new since from the very beginning I have written that reasons for wearing clothes are protection of the body or for support or for health reasons or for decoration or for showing of status. So, if you are saying that the protection or support of the body are reasons to wear clothes then you are agreeing with me in at least that aspect. What I have claimed is that in a society where people are not taught that there is something wrong with nudity "modesty" or "decency" would not be a reason to wear clothes. Also, I do not know what you are referring to by writing that it's balderdash - it sounds insulting. It is true that in the vast majority of cases men have been in charge of what happens in ballet and that is why I am very interested in female chorographers such as Bronislava Nijinska. See my topic on her biography. To all, I have not claimed that there are no reasons to wear clothes in ballet or otherwise. I have clearly stated a number of times that a reason for wearing "garments" would be for protect or support of the body, for health reasons or for decoration or the showing of status. Also, I have not advocated that all ballet should be nude and I don’t expect that would happen. I actually like ballet costumes, but I have no objections, based on "modesty" or "decency" to nudity. If anyone writes giving protection or support of the body or health reasons as reasons for not having nudity then that writer is agreeing with me. Tom,

Helene, I agree with you, “Sleeping Beauty without some form of classical tutu is not the same as nude Sleeping Beauty,” But as I see it both would be ballet. But, then, as I pointed out I am not an expert on ballet. Volcanohunter, I already have stated that protection and support of the body is a reason to wear clothes. My major point is “In a society where people are not thought that there is something wrong with nudity. . . The only reason for wearing a ‘garment’ would be for protection or support or for decoration or the showing of status, although at times the nude body would not need decoration. Nudity would not be any more distracting than the wearing of a costume and no one would worry about children seeing nudity and no one would be upset of being seen nude.” However, in the case of Letizia Giuliani that I cited, I saw no danger to her even if she only wore toe shoes. Drew, I believe if women felt it was wrong to wear so little at the beach, they would not do it. It may very well be that many women feel more comfortable wearing less. (What do women think of this?) Further, there is the “free the nipple” campaign that is being pushed by women and that argues that is it unjust for women to be denied the freedom of going without a top anywhere that men are allowed to go without a top. That is it is wrong not to allow women to without a top. In New York State women can go to any public beach wearing only a tiny thong. This came about because it was women arguing that it was wrong to force a woman to cover her top where men are not forced to. It is not just women. On many beaches during the 1930's men were required to cover their top. This also changed. The bottom line is that for what ever reason women, over time and at least until the 1970's men, have been willing and even in some cases demanded to be allowed to wear less and less, which is movement toward full nudity. Mashinka, your statement that “Nudity is viewed differently by different societies” is my point. I feel that many in the English-speaking world sees it as something wrong and therefore in many cases as something objectionable. One exception is the case of nude, young, thin women, sometimes light skinned women. That exception may still be felt to be wrong, but not as objectionable. A person brought up in a society where nudity is not seen as something wrong may be happy or indifferent to having a terrace where a naked man could be viewed. For a number of years, a Dutch women who lived in Austria (Esther Gabriel) had a website entitled “Naked Men/Happy Women.” In a society that I described there would not have to be a point to having nudity in dance. Tom,

My major point is that “In a society where people are not taught that there is something wrong with nudity. . . The only reason for wearing a ‘garment’ would be for protection or support for or for decoration or the showing of status, although at times the nude body would not need decoration. Nudity would not be any more distracting than the wearing of a costume and no one would worry about children seeing nudity and no one would be upset by being seen nude.” When I wrote “nudity in ballet would just be another ‘costume’” I recognize that there are times when certain items (toe-shoes or dance-belts for example) would be used to enable the dancer to perform certain movements. My point here is that wearing these items would not be dictated by “modesty” or “decency.” I’m not an expert on ballet, but it is my understanding that what differentiates ballet from other forms of dance is the movements of the body, particularly the various steps and not what the dancer is wearing or not wearing. Over the history of ballet costumes have changed and yet it is still ballet. I’ve seen a version of “Dance of the Hours” performed by Letizia Giuliani and Angel Corella. For most of her dance Letizia Giuliani only wore a thong (G-string) and toe-shoes. I do not see her dance to be any less ballet than if she was wearing a tutu, with a top and tights. Even if she were not wearing a thong, I would still feel that she was dancing ballet and “Dance of the Hours” is a ballet. Since ballet existed long before toe dancing started the wearing of toe shoes would not be required to make a dance ballet. Another version of “Dance of the Hours” on Youtube was danced by Letizia Giuliani and Alessandro Riga. In this case the male dancer Alessandro Riga only wore a thong (dance belt) and dance slippers. Again, I would not consider his dance to be any less ballet than if he wore tights. While I can’t be sure that we will ever get to a society where people are not taught that there is something wrong with nudity, I feel it is clear that we are heading toward such a society. This is based on changes in people’s behavior, particularly the behavior of women, including the reduction in the amount of clothing women are willing to wear. Tom,

Here are some videos of ballet dancers with the variation that they use Light Emitting Diodes (LED) lights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHGeeyDqutw (3 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XwwXsNajlk (1 ½ minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7jXTHd0bcE (1 ½ minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKHR7PXKYDc (1 minute) Tom,

Hiplet (pronounced to rhythm with Ballet) as its name suggests is a hybrid of Hip Hop and Ballet. Here is a video (2 minutes long) of three Hiplet dancers dancing in a jeans Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AviVqKGmwe8 And here is a short documentary (9 ½ minutes) about the dance form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnc2bxed9Go Tom,

Atm711, I would very much like to read such a sequel as I am particularly interested in Bronia’s choreography, I tried to google Nijinska’s Later Memoirs in hope of finding some information on it, but to no success. Female choreographers are so rare that I would like to find as much information as I can on them. Tom,

According to National Geographic “The earliest fossils of recognizably modern Homo sapiens appear in the fossil record at Omo Kibish in Ethiopia, around 200,000 years ago.” Studies on the DNA of clothing lice indicates that humans first started wearing clothing between 83,000 and 170,000 year ago. So, based on this, modern humans did not wear clothes during at least the first 30,000 years of their existence and possibly for more than the first 117,000 years of their existence. Now, humans are social animals. Banding together givers a great advantage for human survival and for the passing along of genes that encourage this banding together. During the time when humans did not wear clothes, those born with a predisposition to view the naked human body in a negative way (unattractively) would be less likely to join with other humans and would be less likely to survive and pass along their genes, so it seems that humans would not have a predisposition to view the naked human body as being unattractive or ugly. On the other hand those individuals who were born with a predisposition to view the naked human body in a positive way (attractively) would be more likely to survive and pass along the gene for a predisposition to find the naked human body attractive or even beautiful. So, it seems to me that humans are not born with a predisposition to view the naked body of other humans, male or female in a negative way and are likely to be born with a predisposition to view the naked body of other humans, male and female, in a positive way, meaning to find the naked body attractive. Further, it does not seem that young children are displeased by viewing the naked human body and that they do not feel uncomfortable about being seen naked. However, many people now do have negative feelings about seeing a nude person and have negative feelings about being seen nude. The explanation for this is that humans can be greatly influenced by cultural norms. Thus, in a society where people are “taught,” implicitly or explicitly, that there is something wrong with nudity (wanting to be seen nude or wanting to see someone else nude) people will tend to grow up with negative feelings toward nudity, particularly public nudity. It seems that there are three broad reasons to wear clothes. First, is for protection of the body or for support or for health reasons. Second, is for decoration of the body or for the showing of status and third is for “modesty” or “decency.” I put the words modesty and decency in quotes because what is considered modest or decent is determined by social norms. We can see that what is considered modest or decent has changed drastically over the past couple of centuries, particularly in regard to women’s clothing. In a society where people are not taught that there is something wrong with nudity, which we are heading toward, nudity in ballet would be just another “costume.” The only reasons for wearing a “garment” would be for protection or support or for decoration or the showing of status, although at times the nude body would not need decoration. Nudity would not be anymore distracting than the wearing of a costume and no one would worry about children seeing nudity and no one would be upset by being seen nude. Tom,

In this topic the theme is ballet and the variations are dances that are not ballet but have some connection with ballet or ones that are ballet and have some unusual variation. I’ve read somewhere that the dancers of the Corps de Ballet in Swan Lake who dance at the back are said to get their feet wet. Well here is a video (6 ½ minutes) where they actually do get their feet wet. Also, there are 24 Petit Cygnes dancing together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01E_ri7OJiE Tom,

Volconohunter, thank you for the information. Tom,

I have just finished reading Bronislava Nijinska’s autobiography (her memoirs were translated and edited by Irina Nijinska, her daughter and by Jean Rawlinson) and I found it very interesting. The memoirs start in Warsaw, then within the Russian Empire, with Bronia’s mother Eleonora Nicolaevnna Bereda. It goes on to point out that Eleonora, along with her two sisters (Bronia’s aunts) Theordosia and Stephanie, despite not being of a theatrical family, entered the Wielki theater’s ballet school and became dancers. Eleonora then meet and married Thomas Nijinsky. The memoirs describe, in detail, three aspects of ballet at that time in Russia and in Europe. First are the local private theaters and circuses where Eleonora and Thomas preformed in their own company and where Bronia and Vaslav Nijinsky, her brother, started to perform as children. Then it is on to the Imperial Theatrical School and after their graduation from the school their time as artists of the Imperial Theaters in St. Petersburg. And lastly their time with the Ballet Russe up until the beginning of the First World War. In particular the early period of the family traveling around the Russian Empire, sometimes on boats on the Volga River, provided insight into an area of ballet that I was not aware of before. These memoirs not only provide information on Bronia’s life, which is what I was most interested in, but also on the life of her brother Vaslav Nijinsky, as well as in the later part of the book, on Sergei Diaghilev and on many other dancers of the time including Anna Pavlova. I feel the book was written well and I enjoyed reading it beyond the information it provided and I certainly recommend it for anyone who is interested in the development of ballet in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. The only disappointment I have is that it did not cover in detail Bronia’s later work on her own ballets. There are many photographs in it and at the end a list of highlights of Bronia’s ballets. One thing I was surprised about was the difference between Bronia and Vaslav’s surnames, one being Nijinska and the other Nijinsky like their father’s. Also, Bronia’s daughter Irina’s surname was the same as her mother’s (Nijinska), but her son Leo’s was the same as his father’s Kochetovaky. Does anyone know if this was traditional in Polish or Russian culture? Also, I have a question about Bronia’s ballet to Ravel’s Bolero. There seems to be two versions of this. One where the female dancer, originally Ida Rubinstein, is joined on the stage (table) by other dancers, part way through the dance and in another that dancer is alone on the table during almost the entire performance. My question is which is the original chorography. Tom,

Thank you Helene for the information. Tom,

Buddy I was able to find a copy of “Creole Giselle” and watched the second act last night. Tom,

Helene, thank you for your information. Does anyone know if a Le Coraire imagined as an American beauty pageant is likely to be produced soon? I would like to get a copy of it. As to this topic I am not sure of the problem with the ballet Bugaku. Yellow face is the changing of the appearance of white actors or dancers to portray Asians. If that is the problem than the solution would be to have Asian dancers or dancers of Asian heritage portraying the characters in the ballet. On the other hand I looked up the definition of Orientalism which is "style, artifacts, or traits considered characteristic of the peoples and cultures of Asia” with a sub-definition of “the representation of Asia, especially the Middle East, in a stereotyped way that is regarded as embodying a colonialist attitude.” Since I never even heard of the ballet Bugaku before I do not know which is the issue. As to dancers of a certain ethnicity portraying characters of another ethnicity I would have no problem with a black or “Asian” dancer portraying Odette from Swan Lake or Clara from the Nutcracker. When I read about the idea of retaining the notated steps of Le Corsaire but putting them in a different context I assumed that was to deal with how the women were treated in the story of the ballet. However, if it is just to eliminate a stereotyped portrayal of Middle East characters then moving it to an American setting would do that and setting it in a beauty pageant would eliminate any issue of slavery. Another way of eliminating a stereotyped portrayal of Middle East characters, while keeping closer to the original story would be to set the ballet in and off the coast of New Orleans in the early 19th century. The Pasha could be an American slave owner who is also a government official (five out of the first seven US Presidents owned slaves and it appears that some slave owners had sex with their slaves), Conrad could be patterned after Jean Lafitte or Jack Sparrow and Medora and Gulnare would be portrayed by black dancers. The re-imagined ballet that I described in another topic changes the damsels in distress, passive women of the current ballet story who things happen to, to active, assertive women who forge their own destiny, as well as doing away with the happy slaves and instead of treating slavery in a comic manor treat it seriously, while still keeping the generally upbeat nature of the ballet. My feeling is that eliminating slavery entirely would alter the story too much. I still would like to hear more comments about the re-imagined ballet I described, particularly regarding the women’s roles, but would like people not to comment regarding that on this topic. However, comments regarding what I wrote on yellow face or Orientalism would be in keeping with this topic. Again thank you Helene. Tom,

I am interested in the idea of retaining the notated steps (and I assume the music) of classical ballet, in particular Le Corsaire, but putting them in different contexts, which I assume means somewhat different stories. I would like to know more about that and I have written a topic entitled “Re-imagining Le Corsaire” which I feel is along that line. See here: I'm somewhat surprised that no one has commented on that post as I feel people here would have strong positive or negative feelings about the idea. Tom,

Buddy, thank you for posting this link, I enjoyed looking at the photos and it interested me that the photographer is a woman. I also noticed that all of the photos are of women and I think this is because of the costumes female dancers wear. The costumes female dancers wear are more flowing than those of male dancers. In some ballets males do wear skirts (kilts), for example in La Sylphide and sometimes in Le Corsaire. Also, while male dancers in Diana and Acteon (really the story of Selene and Endymion), wear little, what they do wear do move as a small skirt, but generally this is not the case. Anyway, again thank you. Tom,

Justification for female corsairs: Some may feel it is unrealistic for there to be female corsaires and there were no female corsaires in the poem. The primary justification for including them in this re-imagined ballet is that there were female pirates. First and foremost, there was the Irish female pirate chieftain Granuaie also known as Grace O’Malley, who lived during the 16th and into the 17th centuries. Other female pirates are written about here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/swashbuckling-history-women-pirates-180962874/. Given the history of Greece and the Ottoman Empire during the time that Byron was writing his poem and given his actions during that time, it is possible that he thought of the corsairs as freedom fighters. At the time that Byron’s wrote his poem Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire, but there was a growing desire among the Greeks for independence. There was a failed revolt in 1770 and a successful one that started in 1821. Byron himself contributed to that later successful revolution. In addition, Conrad is described as a person of principles, as more befits a freedom fighter than a pirate, he describes his flag as being red and not the skull and cross bones on black and while the word Corsair could mean pirate it also is defined as a privateer, a person who plunders on behave of one side against another and who would be seen as a hero for one side. In writing this I wondered how many people had read the poem The Corsair. I had some difficulty in understanding it when I first read it since I had expected it to be the story of the ballet. Kindly let me know if you have read it. Tom,

The following is acts 2 and 3 of the re-imagined Le Corsaire: Act 2 starts as the original Act 3 and corresponds to the second Canto of the poem. In his palace the Pasha is hosting a banquet in anticipation of the raid on the corsaire’s lair the next day. There are no female slaves there. Conrad enters disguised as a seller of slaves with three female corsaires disguised as odalisques, who may possibly be Medora, Helena and Zobeide. They wear tutus and their hair is tied up in a bun. They start their dance as the Pasha provides Conrad with refreshments and as the two men talk. Shortly after the end of the dance of the three odalisques, a bright light is seen outside the palace window and a loud explosion is heard. This is the result of the corsaires setting fire to the Pasha’s fleet. At that moment Conrad reveals himself and the three “odalisques,” the female corsaires, let loosen their hair so it flows around and grab their swords, which are in Conrad’s bag. They all start to fight the palace guards. Just then equal numbers of female and male corsaires enter and join the fight. The female and male corsaires would be dress similarly except for the three who had been disguised as odalisques who would still be wearing tutus. They now outnumber the palace guards and push them off the stage. The music and choreography for this fight scene can come from the end of the current first act and from the current second act. Smoke is then seen coming from under a large door. Realizing that the palace is on fire and that their mission is accomplished all the corsaires, except for Conrad, leave the stage. Conrad realizes that the smoke is coming from the harem and that the door is locked from the outside trapping the women inside. He rushes to the door, unlocks it and helps Gulnare out and the other women also run out. The harem slaves have their hair tied up. With this the palace guards return, Conrad fights them, but is soon wounded and captured. Gulnare witnesses all of this and witnesses the guards dragging Conrad away. Alone on the stage she begins an emotional, sorrowful dance that ends with her showing determination to free herself and to free Conrad. This determination could be shown in part by her loosening her hair. She is sad and angry that she is a slave and that the person who had rescued her and the other women is to be tortured and executed. The music and mime for this could come from Gulnare’s dance with Lanquedem in the current first act (dance of the slave) and from dances between Medora and Conrad in the current second act, although that music would have to be adjusted to be sad instead of loving. Gulnare was an important character in the poem and is an important character in this ballet. Because of this the dance would be long. It would be the most dramatic and serious part of an otherwise upbeat ballet. Act 3 starts with a short mostly mime scene and corresponds to the third Canto of the poem. As the curtain rises a light is shown on Conrad showing him chained to a wall with guards on either side of him. Most of the stage is in darkness. Gulnare enters, speaks to the guards and gives them jewelry as a bribe. The guards then leave. Now Gulnare alone with Conrad mimes to him that they both could escape. Conrad hesitates, but finally Gulnare unlocks his chains. With that more of the stage is lit and the female slaves are seen. They are at first worried and uncertain, but as Gulnare introduces Conrad and explains that they are to free themselves and join the corsaires they become excited and happy. At this point an alarm is heard, a gong, bells or a bugle and realizing that guards would soon arrive they flee off the stage. As this happens a light is shown on a raised platform revealing the Pasha, dead, lying on his bed, with his arm draped down. To those who know the poem this suggests that Gulnare had stabbed him while he slept. The curtain comes down and in a short time it rises to reveal a beautiful, natural garden. On the stage is Medora, sitting sad and despondent as she does not know if Conrad is dead or not. Also, with her is Ali, Helena and Zobeide. Soon Conrad enters the stage and seeing him Medora runs to embrace him. Gulnare and the freed women, all dressed in tutus representing their happiness at being freed also enter and with their hair down. Ali goes to welcome Gulnare and the female corsaires welcome the women. After this happy scene all exit the stage in both directions as six female corsaires in tutus enter and begin the Lively Garden dance. Gulnare and Medora and the other women enter the dance as required. At the end of this dance Gulnare and Ali, now surrounded by all including the male corsaires, dance the part of the dance of the slave from the current first act that was not danced in the re-imagined ballet’s second act. They are then followed by Medora and Conrad dancing their first dance from the current ballet’s first act. Following this all rise in an expression of triumph and happiness and the ballet ends. Tom,

I enjoy the music and the dancing of the ballet Le Corsaire very much, but one thing I do not like is the story. To me the story is the least important part of a ballet, but it is a part of the ballet. It seems I am not the only person who feels this way. This link goes to an article by Jennifer Stahl entitled “Why Le Corsaire is My Favorite ‘Terrible’ Ballet:” https://www.dancemagazine.com/le-corsaire-favorite-terrible-ballet-2434665976.html and this one goes to an article by Ivy Lin entitled “Wildly offensive, but wildly entertaining too: ABT’s Le Corsaire:” https://bachtrack.com/review-corsaire-american-ballet-theatre-new-york-june-2019. In addition, ABT seems to recognize that there are “. . . images that some find offensive . . .” See here for their disclaimer: https://dancetabs.com/2019/06/american-ballet-theatre-le-corsaire-new-york-3/ in an article written by Lauren Gallagher. And in this article by Lyndsey Winship, Misty Copeland, who has portrayed Gulnare, is quoted as saying “You think of Corsaire as this light thing, but it’s not really – it’s about slaves, these women chained up:” https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/nov/20/fu-manchu-moustaches-blackface-does-ballet-have-a-race-problem. The irony is that the story of the ballet is not like Lord Byron’s 1814 poem that is stated to have inspired this ballet. So, for my own enjoyment I thought up a new story for Le Corsaire that uses pretty much the same music and the same chorography and which, as it turns out, is closer to the story of the poem. I am not saying that the story of the ballet is wrong in anyway, just that I like this one much better. Here is the first art which corresponds to the first Canto of the poem. Act 1 patterned after the current Act 2. At the beginning of the ballet a group of female corsaires led by two corsaires named Helena and Zobeide rush onto the stage. These two would be friends and would be the leaders of the female corsaires. This could be to the to the music near the beginning of the current first act where the male corsaires, Birbanto and Conrad first enter the Bazaar. Medora, Conrad and Ali and the male corsaires are either already standing around or soon enter. The corsaires are celebrating a recent successful raid. Lanquedem and Birbanto are not involved in this as they are not in the ballet. Also, there is no attempted mutiny. Medora dances her Petit Corsaire and Medora, Ali and perhaps Conrad dance the pas de deux or pas de trois. Helena and Zobeide, engage in a friendly contest possibly involving drinking, dueling, wrestling or target shooting with pistols, depending on the music. The act ends as Conrad explains that they are to go on a new raid that night, not to rescue anyone, but in a preemptive act to destroy the Pasha’s fleet as he is planning to attack the corsaire’s stronghold the following day. During this first act, the female corsaire’s hair is let down so that it flows as they dance, representing that they are free. Tom,

Nanushka, thank you for the two recent links. This is the first I have heard of these ballets. I am an amateur regarding ballet and have not formally studied it nor am I a dancer, so I am grateful for any information people give. Here is a link to what appears to be an updated version of “Sylvia” with modern costumes and with women with their hair down. The next link goes to a video of “La Petit Corsaire.” In this case the men have long hair, which are probably wigs. I like this dance although it seems to me it is not used much anymore. Also, the men are wearing skirts (kilts if preferred). One male dancer who seems to generally wear his hair long is Farukh Ruzimatov. I have DVD of “The Sleeping Beauty” in which he dances Prince Desire and in the wedding act has “sparkles” in his long dark hair. Tom,

Nanushka, I watched the video you linked to and enjoyed it so thank you. When first watching it and before noting who the name of the ballerina was, I thought she looked familiar and then realized she was a young Ekaterina Maximova. I have a disk of her and her husband dancing in a Bolshoi production of the Nutcracker. It is not my favorite version, but I enjoy her dancing in it very much. The video is dated for 1987 so Ekaterina could have been as old as 48 at the time and she portrayed a 7-year-old Clara/Maria very well. She also did very well in the video you linked to. At one point I got afraid for her as one of the male dancers held her up with one arm and she looked as if she was falling backward, but that I think just shows her skill. It is my impression that the version by Lavroysky and Maximova is more in line with the original version. As I indicated one of the things, I liked about the video I posted is the women’s wild hair near the end. I would like to see more of that in ballet, both for women and men (men with long hair), although I also like it when the hair is tied up. In the version you linked to the women’s hair was let down, but not as wild as in the other. I have been looking for a recording of the ballet with Sara Mearns and I found some information, but not a recording which I would like to see. Also, Pherank thank you for your link. Tom

Walpurgisnacht begins at sundown tomorrow evening (April 30th). My understanding is that it started in Germany as a pagan holiday to welcome the coming of Spring weather and that it is associated with witches or sprites of the dead. It is also called Hexennacht (Witches Night) However, the current name is not pagan, but is taken from Saint Walpurga (Walpurga Night) who was an English nun who came to Germany in the 8th century. The day coincides with Mayday and the evening is half a year from All Saints Eve (Halloween). Here is a link to a portion of the Walpurgisnacht ballet (11 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q3mTBtTOZ8. One of the things I like about this performance is when the female dancers come out (toward the end) with their hair down and flowing. It gives me the impression of witches joyfully celebrating the coming of Spring. Tom,