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Lillian

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Everything posted by Lillian

  1. Darci Kistler as Giselle- the perfect combination of charm and tragedy! Has she ever danced this guesting with another company?
  2. About ten years ago I saw 4 films from the National Film Board of Canada which just blew me away! The first was a black and white film of Liebeslieder Waltzer with Violette Verdy and Melissa Hayden, a very young Suzanne Farrell and I believe the fourth was Gloria Govrin (not sure). Verdy was just divine! This film was magical and quite beautiful in black and white. I much preferred this video to a live performance I saw in the mid-eighties in New York (1985?). I then saw a great film of Chaconne with Farrell and Martins which is far more exciting than the one available on video today. There are no sets, no clouds. They also have a beautiful film of Bugaku with Patricia McBride and J-P Bonnefous. This role is not quite suited to McBride, but the ballet is so well filmed that you have the impression you are at a live performance! But of all the films I saw at the National Film Board, the most breathtaking is the film of Messe pour le Temps Present, by Bejart. There is beautiful dancing by a very young Rita Poulverde (spelling?). The ballet is a little much and quite dated, but in the middle, there is a pas de deux with Suzanne Farrell and Jorge Donn that is the most stunning and sensual 10 minutes of dancing I have ever seen. It is "danced" (they barely move on a small platform) to spoken poetry. Donn and Farrell are both in white and Farrell has her hair down. I don't think I have ever seen her look more beautiful and mysterious than in this film (there are many close-ups). No wonder Balanchine was so taken with her! These films are great, and it is wonderful to see these ballets on large screens rather than TV sets. The color, quality and clarity is unbelievable. One of the film makers spoke of his experience working with Balanchine making these films in the late seventies. Sometimes video just does not do justice to dance. But these films comes awfully close. I think the NFB has others as well! The person responsible for the viewing of these movies was none other than the wonderful Vincent Warren at Les Grands Ballets Library in Montreal. I was also always very jealous of videos he has of Gelsey Kirkland and Baryshnikov in Theme and Variations and a tape of a young Heather Watts in The Cage!
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