John-Michael

I just watched the whole thing last week I've seen a 13-minute clip of a touring production from 1913, and, based on that (which may be equally inauthentic) there are numerous changes, most obvious being that the Spirit of Light and the Spirit of Darkness were mime roles (female and male, respectrively). The other is that the stage is on two levels (there's a hint of this in the contemporary version). There are platforms on the wing sides and across the back of the stage, upon which entirely different (but complimentary) choreography is being performed. !!!! You are exactly right, John-Michael; from what one reads, this is very like "The Black Crook" and "The White Faun". Lots of novice and quasi-dancers, and a few true technicians.

Cecchetti created (I write without checking) the role of the Savage (I know he danced it).

Another difference is that in the 1913 version, there's a big group dance for maidens and cave men. The men, dressed like cave men, have clubs. At first, they're used for war and rape. But as civilization progresses, they become pistons. They're still used to pull the women towards them, but for a commercial rathere than physically rapacious purpose. (I was also watching the 1990 version of the Kirov's "Sleeping Beauty" and some of the same steps and movements are in the garland dance. "Sleeping Beauty" had been staged in Milan, so I don't know whether the italians borrowed this from Beauty, or the dance is from an older ballet.

I think the ballet was taken seriously -- not as a pop entertainment. It was conspicuous consumption brought to the ballet. It's just not top of the line choreographhy. There were several other ballets of this type in Italy, one oof them being "Sport" with golf, tennis and cycling routines.

(In the current DVD of "Excelsior" I must admit I'm partial to the dance of the lampshades, which light up at the end. They don't make 'em like that anymore!)

Thanks for the info. That's interesting to read about the Sleeping Beauty and Excelsior connection. It's also interesting to read about it being taken seriously... maybe the La Scala production just seemed to me to have its tongue firmly placed inside its cheek. Maybe what I meant wasn't so much solely pop entertainment, but that it seemed to be trying to reach everyone that could potentially be in the audience. Sort of like a G&S operetta transferred to ballet. For dirty old men, there are the pretty girls in tights. For seasoned ballet goers, there are the purely classical bits. For children, there are the special effects and character dances. For middle-brow audience members, there is the upbeat music and self-consciously edifying allegorical scenes. For the least sophisticated audience members, there are the spectacular special effects and costumes. Not that the appeal is that strictly defined and compartmentalized, but with the endless variety there seems to be a little something for everyone and, before you're able to get bored with one part, something else comes along.

I recently saw as much of Excelsior as I could stomach. I'm just wondering... how much of their production is authentic, or is it basically brand new choreography? It seems as if there are, for the most part, clear-cut distinctions between the long mime scenes and long dance scenes without much intergration between the two. Was this typical of 19th century Italian ballets? This question might be a little off-topic, but could this be the type of dancing that appeared in spectacles such as The Black Crook? Cutesy novelty dances, allegorical scenes, circus-like music, and choreography consisting of the corps de ballet doing the same several steps in unison while forming geometric patterns? I assume that the audience for Excelsior would have been more of a "popular" as opposed to a "classical" audience. Actually, parts of Excelsior are delightful, and I bet it's lots of fun in a live theater... on video watching the whole ballet it just seems a bit too much of the same thing.

I'm not disappointed about Adeline Genee... I was just kind of hoping that she had perhaps performed what probably would have been the first and last staging ever in the West of Carargo. Or that maybe she had been invited to St. Peterburg and danced in Camargo for the czar!

No - it was a piece choreographed by Genee herself, first given at the London Coliseum on May 20th, 1912. There's quite a detailed description of it in the book on Genee by Ivor Guest - it sounds charming!

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Awww... you dashed my fond hopes!

I was trying to find photos of Empire Theater ballets and found a postcard from 1912 online of Adeline Genee as Camargo after she had left the Empire Theater. It's ambiguous about what theater she was performing in at that time but it seems to imply that she was at a British theater. Coud this possibly have been a staging of the old Petipa ballet?

Thank you for the libretto but I just got the dvd last week as a birthday gift. I'm going to try to track down the original and Gautier's story. I'm dying to know if those dudes in the hunt scene forming those strange patterns with their spears are in the original and how Lacotte's differs. Watching my dvd's immensely entertaining (it's such a precious, sweet ballet) but I get the feeling a lot of details have been excised that prevent it from rising above merely being adorable to an actual dramatic piece of theater.

Is there anywhere one can find, hopefully online, the original libretto of Pharaoh's Daughter?

Does anyone have any info on the forband in Act II that Birbanto leads? A friend of mine thought it was a croviak. Is the forband a Norwegian dance? An internet search brought up some Norwegian sites but I don't read Norwegian

Hmmm... I might have to give the LS Swan Lake a try and it's not too expensive on Amazon.

Was Franzt a travesty role before '94 and was Swanhilda the only point role in the 3rd act?

I read somewhere that the Royal Danish Ballet has an 1897 version of Coppelia that's a bit unusual... much more mime and character dancing and a more gothick approach to the story (something that I think would actually work considering the questionable behavior of the characters... necromancy, house-breaking, property damage, and intense thoughtlessness at best and mental cruelty at worst). Has anyone seen it or can give me more info on it? Does any of the choreography have any basis in Saint-Leon or Cechetti/Ivanov? Thanks!

Does anyone know anything about the new La Scala dvd of Swan Lake... such as when it was filmed or if the production has more of the traditional choreography than does the ABT PBS broadcast? Thanks!

Does anyone know what Merril Ashley has been doing since her retirement?

I read somewhere that the curret RB production is a bit more authentic than most other productions. Is this true?

*a new prod. in 1954, is credited ivanov/cecchetti, in a production described as sergeyev supervised by de valois (the scenery & costumes here are the work of osbert lancaster)

is the perf. on dvd given w/ lancaster's designs? (my copy of the disc is not handy.) if it is, then we might assume this is the prod. recently revised and telecast.

except for notations made for new casts after this '54 entry there are none giving new production credits. so, this would seem to be the latest version in royal ballet history.

Hi! Thanks for the info. Yeah, the costumes are by Lancaster. I enjoy them, for the most part.

I'm quite perplexed as to why anyone would consider ABT's SL traditional. I thought it borderline modernistic at times and almost always adhering to contemporary tastes. But I'm even more perplexed by the description of the costumes as old-fashioned. Traditional, yes, but old-fashioned?

Thanks, John-Michael!  I didn't even know this DVD existed.  Made a quick trip to Amazon via the upper right hand corner of this page ( ! ) and ordered it!  It's on special order so there's a chance they won't be able to get it but at least I know it's out there somewhere.

Giannina

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It's very nice but a little lifeless, especially in Act II.

I recently bought the Royal Ballet DVD of Coppelia. I'm wondering if the choreography for the last act has any basis in Cechetti/Ivanov or if it's entirely by de Valois. Thanks!

Hi! Can anyone tell me about the rather noble-sounding melody after the spoken prologue (Io, Luigi Manzotti) in the dvd of the reconstruction of Excelsior? It doesn't sound as if it were composed by Marenco. Thanks!

Do you mean the Gold Fairy's solo was added by MK's request?

I'm curious to know if anyone knows what Gelsey Kirkland has been up to the past few years. Recently watched her Nutcracker for the first time in years and was reminded how ravishing her dancing was. Thanks!

acc'd to frank w.d.ries's IN SEARCH OF GISELLE, a supplement to DANCE MAGAZINE, aug. '79,  Algis Zuraitis's recording of GISELLE (angel/melodia) includes 'the interpolated pas de deux for albrecht and giselle which petipa inserted in act 1...'

he further states that 'the music for this pas de deux, however, was used recently by gerald arpino for his L'AIR D'ESPRIT for the joffrey ballet.'

arpino's duet was said to danced to music by adam [see nypl info below] but this could be a misunderstanding due to the duet's 'origins' in russian productions of adam's GISELLE.

reis also points out, in the handy chart comparing the 1841 paris score to the 1888 st. petersburg score, that in place of burgmuller's PAS DE DEUX DES JEUNE PAYSANS russian productions interpolated a pas de cinq to music by pugni - i believe vasiliev's production for the bolshoi ballet included this number. i suppose it's possible that when russian productions reverted to the burgmuller, after 1860 acc'd to ries, that one of pugni's variations was retained and is the one in question here.

Air d'esprit : Chor: Gerald Arpino; mus: Adolphe Adam. First perf: Chicago, Auditorium Theater, Feb 7-19, 1978. // First N. Y. perf: City Center 55th St. Theater, Apr 6, 1978; Joffrey Ballet.

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Thanks... I'm going to have to look on the Internet and see if that Giselle recording is still floatig around somewhere...

Thank you... it's an interesting theory.

Does anyone know why the dance for Hop o' my Thumb, his brothers, and the ogre in Sleeping Beauty is called pas berrichon? Berrichon means from the disrict of Berry so I'm wondering if Tchaikovsky used folk material from the Auvergne or if Petipa maybe resorted to dance steps from the region? Thanks!

I mean Julie Kent. I don't find her especially photogenic but I one time sat in the front row of one of her performances as Giselle and found her absolutely gorgeous as opposed to seeing her on film. Actually, I didn't mean Asymulratova (I'm much more impressed with her dancing than her looks) but the character dancer in the sarabande... Yelena Sherstnyova.