grace

this is out of sequence, but earlier on, i mentioned the fact that the RBS had had a similar report done, several years ago. here is my post (from another board, now defunct) about that, in case anyone is interested here. i don't know if the link to the full report still works.: ===================== Inspectors' of the english Office for Standards in Education, into The Royal Ballet School, november 1999. (here is the site of the Office for Standards in Education: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/ ) 10 inspectors spent 4 days in the school (lower & upper), visiting "115 lessons and 28 ballet or dance classes and attended rehearsals. They examined pupils' written work, spoke to both staff and pupils, and scrutinised the school's policies and documents. A questionnaire was sent to all parents and the results analysed. In addition, a meeting attended by 25 parents was held at the school." the specialist ballet input was provided by the director of the finnish ballet - sorry i don't know who that is/was at the time of the report. interestingly, individuals are never named, presumably to re-inforce the aim of objective assessment. here are some extracts (which will, of course, be immediately recogniseable to anyone who has been there! ) to read the full report, click on http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspect/docs/indy...let.htm#Summary

thanks leigh - might be worth a read.

katherine - that DOES sound wonderful. if ever i am in paris...

i realise i'm coming in late, but i think they're lovely. like alexandra and giannina, though, i find it hard to imagine them in flight. i also think they would be hard to dance in, ruling out (as they seem to) the possibility of 'using' the arms to help you to do anything.

thanks balletnut, for the description of gala performance. hans: penguin cafe has some funny moments, but its message is a terribly serious one - so, overall, if you understand what you are seeing, even though you will be amused by moments, you also feel depressed. (its message is about destruction of the environment and eradication of species.)

although, the connection to susan sontag, who i know of only as an author, DOES need explanation - please? :confused:

it's OK mel. i know what 'camp' means in this context. ( 'camp' is NOT 'USA-speak'! ;) )

"a camp classic" ? great!- it SHOULD be. what i saw is lovely. mary j - your info is wonderful - thank you.

strangely, i think the main character (in the bit of the movie that i saw) was called mette - certainly ONE of the women was called mette, as i remember thinking how all the danish (first) names were names i knew of. maybe kirsten was even called kirsten? anyone recall. if you don't, don't worry - i'll be able to see for myself, in a couple of weeks, when they re-run it.

this subject is all new to me. but surely we risk confusing two issues - one is the uncomfortableness of rising above the crowd (or the crowds' desire to squash you back down), while the other is this new attitude which alexandra is reporting on, about the proposals to do away with heirarchies within the group of dancers in a company. does that make sense? and alexandra - i HAVE understood your question, but i have no quick response. i can't seriously imagine that the japanese and the australians, for starters, have much in common, in their social attitudes... and i haven't met many danes. the dance 'star' types who i met, were only meetings - brief conversations - i have mentioned them to you privately before (flemming ryberg, niels kehlet, hans brenaa, ...oh yes: and my old teacher poul gnatt). the danes i knew best were business people i worked for (not in dance - they ran a graphic arts service). he was/(is?) also the danish consul, here. they fitted right in, really, with australian attitudes - although, they have been in australia many years. i suppose they were/are conservative, but no more so than the class of australians they would socially move in. the no-heirarchies thing - as has usually been the case in contemporary dance ensembles - IS catching on with ballet companies, i think. but i don't think it's related to jantelov/poppies/nails..

can anyone tell me a bit about gala performance? - i don't know anything about it.

thanks. "Mette's mentor is Kirsten, who cares so much for the good of the company that she practically begs the direction to give Mette a chance at her greatest role -- Swanhilda." NOW i get it! the relationship seemed odd - not your standard ballet film stuff. when mette is injured, simone says "OK *I* will dance the role" (NOT a quote)...and starts to prepare her hair and so on...yet she keeps encouraging the injured girl to recover and "DO IT" (which she does, of course), for her beamingly staisfied parents in the audience (i DID see the end - only the end). so: i saw mette honningen dancing with kronstam..... the coppelia bits. simone is the "more established ballerina"/mentor, who i only saw in fur-coat sort of attire. the program credits were mis-spelled anyway. they listed only kronstam and simone, so i thought they were the principal dancers featured (in the story), dancing coppelia leads. both women are so beautiful, they glow. i DID like the film - it was quite refreshing to see a ballet film totally 'new' to me eyes, and so 'sweet'. is that a real theatre and curtain? i take it you are suggesting that is in finland, if it is real?

[thread title changed, A.T.] last evening, i dropped in on a friend with foxtel, who promptly flicked around the channels to find something i might like...and he stopped on a dubbed and obviously very old (but color) movie, called 'Ballerina'. i said, "this should be good for a laugh" - which proved immediately correct, as the young star in tiara and stage make-up RAN excitedly down the backstage metal stairs, in order to greet another (more established?) ballerina. just as i said "now she'll fall" - SURE ENUF! - chuckle, chuckle. it got better... ;) anyway, never having seen any of these dancers before, i kept up a running commentary, to my friend, about who or what they might be...obviously REAL dancers, not 'just' actors/actresses...but totally unfamiliar to me, as was the setting. i decided that the setting for the last ten minutes of this film (which was all i saw) was a real theatre in denmark (fabulous curtain)? ...and that the older blond woman was MAYBE googie withers? and that the lead dancers were REAL - and very glamorous indeed - so i thought maybe they were american, until the woman did some exceptionally neat batterie with lots of body, which made me wonder if she was danish... it was a fun guessing game, as it's rare to come across people and settings in filmed ballet which are completely unknown - and yet clearly professional. at the end, they didn't show the credits! i was mad. in the program, all it told me that the very tall, long-legged, dark-hairded handsome young man, who i had not paid much attention to, (except for his neat double tour) was henning kronstam. and the very glamorous, young and pretty female 'star' was kirsten simone. and the 'other' blonde ballerina - also extremely glamorous in an american way? who was she? does she dance in the film? is there more dancing earlier on? any class scenes? foxtel show it again, a few days after christmas, so i have made a note to video it, and watch the rest... the choreo in coppelia (solos) was WIIEEEEEEEEERD! what's up, there? just choreographed for the film? any interesting information gratefully received. oh yes, it was a Disney film, apparently. 1960 or 1966 - i've forgotten which, already. i would have guessed much older... {edited to add the date}

i'd like to see a whole season of comic ballets...isn't it interesting that one's IMMEDIATE response must surely be: "that'll never happen." i wonder why... anyway, i am surprised by how many we have come up with. there are many names here i am completely unfamniliar with - mostly works by american choreographers. but there are also many which i would not describe as comic ballets, even though there might be the occasional or incidental laugh in them...coppelia, nutcracker, and certainly grad ball are several that spring to mind immediately. even fille, which has so many marvellous comic moments, and is clearly intended to delight all the way through, is not what i would have described as a 'comic ballet' in it's raison d'etre, or, ... 'deeper meaning' might be what i am referring to... (please let's not speculate too much about the inner workings of the choreographer's brains, or refer to their statements, published or otherwise...really i am asking about the ballet's effect, rather than its intent...oops - that could be dicey! ;) ) i think maybe the distinction i am making, is that the main purpose of, say, midsummer night's dream or nutcracker is not to get people to laugh (as, for example, the concert's 'main purpose' IS - if i can be so bold and foolish as to make such a statement). OK OK, maybe you COULD say that about coppelia - in it's time - but not now, surely? the only work i would have in MY list, which no-one else seems to have mentioned, is elite syncopations - whose intent must surely be to amuse, at least. and i'm not sure if, up above, someone mentioned ashton's wedding bouquet? i've never seen that, but i assume it's comic? if i may presume to slightly re-direct the topic (?): out of all of these above - and any others that come to mind - which are really 'intended' (ALLOW yourself to make assumptions, please!) to amuse, pretty much all the way through...and DO work (for you)... - as distinct from those which just have comic moments? i would start such a list with the concert facade --------------- p.S. later thought: i'd have to concede that lots of these ARE 'comic ballets'. i guess what *I* am really asking is slightly different to what alexandra asked:- which ballets make you laugh pretty much all the way through - or at least summon true amusement/delight?

i wish i could be as FUNNY as 'you guys'... sometimes you really make me feel inadequate.

alexandra wrote i'll take the bait. at this highly generalised level we are daring to discuss, it's hard to imagine such embarrassment/humility about promotion coming from a french, russian or american dancer (stereotypes only, being discussed here!).

no indeed! ;) i'll have a go at fixing the link. thank you for this. most interesting.

interesting, dale. i didn't know that. so, that DVD has les noces, firebird and what else?

thanks alexandra - now i understand better.

response for carbro: alexandra wrote obarzanek based his work on the data. he sent out a multiple choice questionnaire, asking things about plot (if any), number of dancers, gender of dancers, lighting, music (if any), and so on. i didn't see the result - only read about it - and i've pretty much forgotten. if there are other australians here, they might have seen it, or might recall better than i do.i DO remember that, predictably, the work was no big success. but it was a cute idea!

about kronstam, in a review of alexandra's recent book: i would be interested to hear these ten commandments, if anyone knws them? it sounds like a danish version of our australian 'tall poppy syndrome'.here's the rest of the review, if you're interested: http://www.timeoutny.com/dance/370/370.dan...r.kronstam.html

Ari: you LAUGH during coppelia?!?!?!? :eek:

alexandra posted: "I think it might be useful for dance professionals to see what audience members really want to see " are you aware that gideon obarzanek in australia (artistic director and choreographer of chunky move company) sent out a survey form to people, asking them what they wanted to see in his next choreography, then analysed the results and "gave the people what they wanted"!???

i like ballets you can laugh at - we need more, just because there are so few of them. what do i mean? well i love watching the trocks, but that's not what i meant... i mean works like elite syncopations, the concert, ...what else is there, that's REALLY funny? you've probably had a thread on that... (there is also a kylian work with 'jokes' in it - is it symphony in D? - but that never worked for me.)

i wasn't aware that macmillan did an 'agon'?