leonid17

I grew up and spent most of my life in the New York City area and first started attending NYCB regularly in the late 50s. It's strange to think that this perception is widespread in a sophisticated ballet capital like London or elsewhere in Europe and around the world. Certainly this wasn't true a generation or two ago ... or was it? What has your experience been when talking to friends from outside the USA -- or even outside the New York City metropolitan region? Is there a problem here ... or not? We are getting into the sphere of "how famous" again when I read the rebeccadb quote, "NYCB fared badly at the box office last year not only because of high ticket prices, but because no-one knew who the company was or if they were any good, some of my ballet loving friends had no idea who NYCB was despite seeing 40-50 dance shows a year in the capital" You the say bart, “. It's strange to think that this perception is widespread in a sophisticated ballet capital like London or elsewhere in Europe and around the world” Many things have changed since my day of more avid ballet attendance. In London some regular ballet goers today choose to attend one company only, which resonates with rebeccadb’s experience. Certainly in the 60’s and 70’s, one met the same people at the Royal Opera House as you did at the Coliseum or Sadlers Wells for whatever classical (or in those days), the modern companies that were appearing. It appears to me that today there are more ballet regulars than in the past, who nail their flag to one company. So we end up with people only going to the RB or ENB or BRB or the Russians but not to all of the companies. It is also possible rebeccadb that the way ABT is perceived in London is certainly something to do with their last visit and disappointment at the choice of repertoire for the due visit. I do think today that many non regular ballet going people in London know anything about ABT or NYCB, but then, they would not know about the Paris Opera Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet or even our own Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet. Ask them about the Russian companies and they will certainly know the name of the Bolshoi and many will know the name of the Kirov (Maryinsky). The sophisticated regular ballet audience that once existed in London appears to me to have greatly diminished in London due to a good number of reasons. The lack of distinguished and inspiring critics compared to the past is one factor. Repertoire is another and possibly the price of tickets has and may well become more influential in what is certainly going to be a longish period of recession. Other factors include pressure upon classical ballet companies to present so called ‘modern’ works and therefore supposedly popular dance works, that will attract younger audiences. Only those ignorant of social realities believe that you can manipulate audiences to go to opera houses and then also expect them to attend the same production more than once or attend other ballets. The final factor effect upon audiences is that there are only near excellent and not truly superior iInterpretative performers around at the present time. There has been an extraordinary dumbing down of cultural experiences in the UK in general. The media's conspiritorial response to popular culture is also a factor as even the ‘heavy’ newspapers and magazines publish material daily celebrating celebrity status for those with a slight talent as a performer but a large talent of at being a celebrity. The high arts cannot compete on the same level as popular culture and they should not try. They have for many tens millions of people across the world attained the high ground in terms of experience and the high arts cannot be subjected to the same treatment of popular culture and ballet dancers in particular rarely if ever get up to the escapades that would gain them celebrity exposure and popular media interest. The experience of the history of ballet, is that there are seldom more than a handful of truly well-known dancers around in any decade and that makes for very little constant copy opportunity for hacks. I also believe the media finds such serious devotion to an art as un-sexy and as a result classical ballet does not attract serious attention as it did in the past. If I go to the ballet less now it is because some managements in an act of dumbing down, have allowed ballets to be performed as an entertainment and not an art. When a dancer performs 3, 4 or 5 pirouettes and Petipa asks for 2, the Philistines are at the gate and I believe for classical ballet to retain its independent status as a high academic art it, has to examine the aesthetics of performance because it is an alternative to popular culture and has rightly established a place in societies in numerous countries for several centuries. Quiggin wrote,” So the 25 year lapse might be part of the problem, but before that there seemed to be a genuine antipathy to the Balanchine style in the UK…” I have never witnessed in London a real antipathy to Balanchine choreography and is today much admired. When NYCB visited London in the 50’s and 60’s most of the works were admired and definitely I think all of the dancers were greatly admired. The 1965 performances in London left me going home every night on a high and up to that point I had been somewhat ambiguous in my appreciation of neo-classicism. I can’t speak for others but my subsequent experiences of NYCB for me at least, never met that halcyon period of truly great dancers. As I write, I have just made a list of 15 Balanchine ballets I would be happy to see anytime and some of them quite regularly and I think everyone I know in London and the audiences in general would enthusiastically agree with at least 13 of those ballets. If antipathy towards ballet companies exist today I think it is because performing standards have dropped, emploi forgotten, the academic classical of academic classical ballet is often neglected or ignored and flashy so called technique has replaced the aesthetics of appropriate style. No one will I believe approach ABT's visit with an advance prejudice, because we all want to have good if not a great experience when we go to the ballet and in doing so carry goodwill in our hearts and minds because most of us know what has gone into a dancers preparation for the stage and their continuous dedication that enables them to appear on it.

If long service is a reason for a gala, she deserves it.

A very good comparison. Not just legendary after death, but so clebrated internationally, that he became a legend in his lifetime which is of course that much more than being famous in a lifetime which in my opinion Barishnikov was. Jane also gets it completely right whe she states, I have over recent years acquired press cuttings from different countries and his publicity at that time was greater in some countries, than famous film stars.

I will be seeing Mr. Gomes in both Swan Lake and Le Corsair.

More events PLEASE CHECK WEBSITES IN ALL INSTANCES IN CASE ERRORS HAVE CREPT IN SALT LAKE CITY BALLET WEST Treasures of the Ballets Russes 27 March to 27-April 4, 2009 Les Biches The Prodigal Son The Polovtsian Dances http://www.balletwest.org/PerformancesAndT...s/BalletsRusses OAKLAND OAKLAND BALLET October 23-25, 2009 Programme to include Les Biches, Boutique Fantasque,Train Bleu, L’Apres midi d’un Faune http://www.rgfpa.org/ CHICAGO JOFFREY BALLET February 18 to March 1, 2009 Hand of Fate Cotillon Pas de deux-after Balanchine by Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer. Rite of Spring-Nijinsky reconstruction by Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer Plus other works http://www.joffrey.org/index.asp MONTE CARLO LES BALLET DE MONTE CARLO December 2009 Le Sacre du Printemps http://www.balletsdemontecarlo.com/present...ml?atelier.html ROME Ballet OF ROME OPERA Les Sylphides -Michel Fokine Les Biches - Bronislava Nijinska / Howard Sayette Cléopâtre - Michel Fokine reconstruction Viatcheslav Khomyakov Le Tricorne- Léonide Massine staged by Susanne Della Pietra The Firebird - Michel Fokine staged Nicolay Androsov Performances in April 2009 check website http://www.operaroma.it/ Translation available MUNICH BAVARIAN STATE BALLET Sunday, 10 May 2009 An evening is dedicated to the “Ballets RussesThe three-part ballet program “100 Years Ballets Russes” will present two Munich premieres of works from Diaghilev’s repertoire, “Shéhérazade” by Mikhail Fokine and “Les Biches” by Bronislava Nijinskaja, together with a creation “Once Upon An Ever After”, a work the young choreographer Terence Kohler Shéhérazade - Mikhail Fokine reconstructed Isabelle Fokine Les Biches - Bronislava Nijinska Once Upon An Ever After-Terence Kohler HAMBURG HAMBURG BALLET Premieres The Prodigal Son – George Balanchine Le Pavillon d'Armide -John Neumeier Le Sacre du Printemps - Millicent Hodson reconstruction June 28 | 30; July 11, 2009 Revivals Daphnis and Chloe/Afternoon of a Faun/ Le Sacre July 9 2009 100 Years Ballets Russes – Jubilee Performance Nijinsky May 19, 2009 Nijinsky Gala XXXV July 12, 2009 http://www.hamburgballett.de/e/index.htm HAMBURG KUNSTERHALLE BALLET RUSSE EXHIBITION 19 May 2009 – 16 August 2009 On 19 May 2009 it will be exactly one hundred years since the renowned ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky made his first spectacular performance with the Ballets Russes in Paris. To mark this occasion, the Hamburger Kunsthalle is presenting “Nijinsky’s Eye”, an exhibition of around 100 paintings and drawings by Nijinsky that are mainly held in the collection of the John Neumeier Foundation. They are being shown in the context of predominantly Russian painters working in Paris between 1910 and 1930 who portrayed the themes of dance, rhythm and motion in abstract depictions. The featured artists include Sonia Delaunay Terk, Alexandra Ekster, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné, Léopold Survage and Frantisek Kupka. The abstract colour compositions are dominated by luminously intense hues and circular, arched or curved forms with strong rhythmic qualities that abstractly evoke the movement, lightness and virtuosity of dance as one of the fundamental forms of human expression. Exhibited artists: Sonia Delaunay Terk, Alexandra Ekster, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné, Léopold Survage and Frantisek Kupka. http://www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de/start/en_start.html Do check out the Wadsworth Atheneum website for information on their exhibition starting 19 February 2009 http://www.wadsworthatheneum.org/view/exhi...amp;type=Future ***ADDED 17 FEBRUARY 2009*** LONDON Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies 06 March 2009 Diaghilev and the Ballet Russe An illustrated talk by Charlotte Kasner 01 April 2009 An exhibition about ‘Mir Isskustva(The World of Art) to include material from the State Museum of Theatre and Music in St.Petersburg. http://www.scrss.org.uk/cinemaevents.htm

Congratulations Leigh, its good to know that there is an independent and knowledgeable voice for dance once more at the Post.

Isn't Gomes, at least, an 'international star' by today's standards? If not, then who is and how does one determine it? By how much they guest with other big companies? I don't think the term means what it used to, because there aren't any international ballet names like Fonteyn, Nureyev and Baryshnikov. I'd seen NYCB for years, but until I came to BT, I never heard of Lopatkina or Vishneva, so I think they're only known if you're involved in a non-casual way as well. But I don't know either. I would argue Hallberg is as well--He has done extensive touring in Japan, Russia etc, and I would imagine he wasn't asked to perform at the Maryiinsky festival due to lack of celebrity! I believe Murphy performed there last year in Swan Lake as well. As for Stiefel--I guess it depends who you are asking. While his recent career has certainly been marked by injury, didn't he do that "4 Kings of Dance" thing or whatever it was called? And then there was that movie...which probably makes him a bigger star than any of the others according to some standards... As far as the ABT season in London is concerned, and given the recession, it was not good planning for ABT to perform Swan Lake whilst the Royal Ballet is also performing this ballet at the same time just three minutes up the road at the Royal Opera House. Of the ABT dancers appearing in London, Ethan Stiefel is the most well known and who was widely appreciated by the audience and critics when he was a guest star with the Royal Ballet. He has successfully appeared with a number of famous and well-known ballet companies. Veronika Part became a favourite in London with her Queen of the Dryads and Lilac Fairy. In the past it seems ballet companies were more enthusiastic about engaging in the promotion of star performers who in turn, acquired celebrity status and super-stardom which generally benefitted the company’s status. However as famous as Baryshnikov was, he never matched internationally the fame of Nureyev nor Fracci that of Fonteyn. Nijinsky almost singlehandedly like Vestris retain god like fame. As to how you measure an international star lets take a look at astronomy and stellar magnitude. One way of measuring the brightness of a particular star is the measure of ‘apparent magnitude’ which uses an evaluative scale as if seen by an observer on earth with the absence of atmosphere. Stay with me on this. In this measurement system the Sun’s applied magnitude is -26.73.Mercury is -1.9 and Pluto is 13.65. Should we on balletalk institute a similar measurement scale for ‘international ballet‘stars so that we are all singing from the same songsheet when we are talking about particular dancers. If there is someone out there who is of a scientific bent who can devise an evaluation method that will suit those who are seriously interested in the art of ballet and send fans into a rage because their favourite ends up at the bottom of the scale, please do not send me personal messages or emails with your system just post in the normal way. PS I hope to write about the ABT visit but I will not attend every cast of Swan Lake and Le Corsair.

Checking today in London ABT's Swan Lake and Birmingham Royal Ballet's Sylvia(Bintley version) both at the London Coliseum where they are offering two seats for the price of one in the top three seat price range for Swan Lake and the two top prices for Sylvia. These are performances between the first night of Swan Lake on 25 March and Sylvia's last night of April 18. That is for five Swan Lake Performances and the opening night of Sylvia. I tried to access total seat availability at the Paris Opera but it appears that you have to register to check this and Stuttgart Opera you can read in English until you want to book online or so it appears. Perhaps a German or French contributor could find out how bookings for the ballet are at the major Opera Houses. As mentioned elsewhere the Royal Ballet are up against it at the present with bookings.

As far as I could see the talk was not recorded. I did not write in detail every thing she talked about as I am aware that some of my posts are rather long which embarasses me. Put it down to my age.

Your description of Part as Odile is exactly how an academic classical ballet dancer should perform Odile. Unfortunately the vulgarity of multiple turns in many academic classical ballets in my opinion appeals only to those that go to ballet for entertainment. Whilst classical ballet as an art can entertain it is not entertainment, In a Gala or concert performance when a pas de deux is out of context and the evening is meant to be one of entertainment, of course it is great fun when you see someone start with a multiple pirouettes and end with them but whilst they can be on the music, they are also above the music and therefore have no place in being called an academic classical ballet performance. I well remember the multiple pirouettes and fouettes of Lupe Serrano with ABT an outstanding dancer but perhaps not a natural Odette/Odile but she for me at least, never offended my appreciation of the performance whilst many modern dancers do so. It is a myth that dancers are stronger today. There have always been exceptional virtuosi but they were cast in the roles that they were classified to perform. As Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg and her otherwise status, she was allowed to spew pirouettes all over the place and it helped to distract the audience from her other shortcomings. They were her trick and not Petipa's or Legat's who were the balletmasters of the company. For me it would take a very great interpreter of a role to make the sort of 'fireworks' some people enjoy acceptable. I have many fond memories of Veronika Part with the Kirov and I am really looking forward to seeing her in Swan Lake.

Among the greats to have left Copenhagen for wider fame are ...." Alexandra I noticed Peter Schaufuss is missing from the list. I believe that he and the Festival Ballet production was not so well received in the USA, but I personally admired Schaufuss and Evdokimova in London on a number of occasions in this ballet.

HEALTH WARNING: This post carries the beginning of a tale of impending woe in respect of the ballet and other arts. Faint-hearted readers should stop now. Those who are realists will of course continue. Those of a certain age like me have seen it all happen before in some way or another. The arts both sides of the Atlantic are an attraction for dollar and pound spending by local people and tourists which in turn generates employment and billions in national income. The current recession is already impinging on the arts and news from both of our governments so far, looks gloomy. In the worse case scenario ballet companies may have to adjust programmes to perform popular works to ensure ticket sales and cuts in staff and performers may take place. UK Some time in the not too distant future one hopes, the arts in the UK may look back upon the current period as “Now is our winter of discontent…” or as Margo Channing says. “Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!” day, week, month, year(s) as far as some predictions go. Our government Culture secretary Andy Burnham with an unfortunate surname in this context, has stated, that in the UK the, “Arts must prepare for 2010 funding cuts” (The Stage 9 January 2009). “Britain's leading art galleries and museums, including Tate Modern and the Victoria & Albert, will have to scale down their exhibition and expansion plans as recession threatens millions of pounds in business sponsorship. Colin Tweedy, chief executive of the organisation Arts & Business, said that scaling down shows would be”inevitability". He said: "I'm trying to be optimistic but these are incredibly worrying times for people trying to raise money. If this recession is short and sharp and projects can be delayed or extended, all will get their money. But if it drags on, I can't see they will all do it." “His warning came as figures revealed business sponsorship was down by 7 per cent in 2007-8.” (The Independent 9 February 2009). The Telegraph newspaper on 28 January 2009 reported that the Arts Council of England got cold feet on a major arts project and pulled its annual funding agreement as the project had hit technical problems. But has offered a one off sum to get it on its feet. The Royal Ballet had extreme difficulty in selling tickets for its “La Bayadere” production in the last two months and had to offer discounts. The double bill of “Isadora” and “Dances at a Gathering” opening on 11 March is woefully under selling. Ticket sales for the ABT’s visit to London next month are sticky at present. English National Opera bookings for early March for ‘Jenufa’ and John Adams ‘Doctor Atomic’ are very slow but the Royal Opera is almost sold out for everything in the next month or so. USA In the USA, The New York Times on 25 January 2009 carried, “Arts Leaders Urge Role for Culture in Economic Recovery” in this article, “In Congress the American Recovery and Reinvestment bill, approved last week by the House Appropriations Committee, includes a $50 million supplement for the N.E.A. to distribute directly to non-profit arts organizations and also through state and local arts agencies.” And then, on Friday, February 6, the U.S. Senate, during their consideration of the economic recovery bill, approved an egregious amendment offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) by a wide vote margin of 73–24 that stated, “None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theatre, art centre, and highway beautification project.” In an interesting report The Recession & the Arts January 2009 available at http://www.allianceforarts.org/images/EcIm..._2009report.pdf examines “The impact of the economic downturn on Non-profit Cultural Groups in New York City” An American Chloe Schama, writing in the UK’s Guardian newspaper on 04 February 2009 makes a forceful Argument for arts funding in the USA. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/ci...g?commentpage=1 NYCB’s’Nutcracker’ has been described as “near recession proof” reporting about 90 percent paid attendance — only 2 percent down from last year, when the Broadway stagehands strike brought more people than usual to the ballet. Today I checked seats for NYCB current performances and they appear to be available in some good numbers at present (I tested purchases of 14 tickets for various performances) but the ABT next week appears to have more than 40% unsold tickets for 3 performances. It has already been mentioned on this site Edward Villella mention of the cuts to his company's budget and just recently it has been announced that he had to lose eight dancers. The picture painted in the Palm Beach Post is enough to make local ballet enthusiasts to sit up and pay attention. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/...=7&cxcat=76 The long established Connecticut Opera has closed down see http://ap.lubbockonline.com/pstories/enter...387290246.shtml this article also reports Baltimore Opera has declared bankruptcy; Los Angeles Opera is cutting staff. BOTH In any times of recession, arts and culture treasured in times of plenty are seen as soft targets by both governments and funders. Taking the high moral ground that the arts are not as important as more pressing considerations. True? In part yes, but if our artistic culture is sacrificed the whole of our society suffers. I am not going to explain why as I do not think any of our readers need such an explanation. However although the going is going to get tough for many ballet and arts organisations, it is a fact that especially in the last decade, such organisations, especially those most prominent, have adopted business practices and developed relationships with significant funders committed to the arts that should enable them to ride the current storm. But a lot will depend on how long it will take, for a return to the seemingly balanced situation of the fairly recent past. I see every reason for optimism as there is nothing to replace the arts in hundreds of millions of people’s lives throughout the world and I hope in this there is some power. What I do not want to see is a government or funders giving, at anything less than arm’s length involvement.

Thanks Dale they are the casts I shall want to see. The best seats range from £60.00 to £80.00 to £95.00 full price. In the past I might not have worried so much about the cost. But with the recession undoubtedly deepening across the world and the effect it is going to have on the cost of day to day living, like others I shall wait for the deals.

Without a mega-star name or a famous name company, I think it is simply that it is easier to sell Swan Lake rather than any other ballet. This seems an odd response considering the topic here is ABT in London. I know you were responding to a question not directly about ABT, but the implication is that they are not a famous name company, which, if not perhaps in the top 5, still seems inaccurate. How do you measure famous? How do you measure status? To me personally as a seasoned ballet go-er in London and a good number of other countries I would say that ABT is not famous (by which I mean audience appreciation) but was once on an international basis much admired in the period of the 1940's to the early 1970's. The ABT on their last visit to London at the Sadlers Wells Theatre (a smaller venue than the Coliseum)they were not generally well appreciated by audiences or critics due in part to repertoire but more so the quality of the performances especially by the corps in 'Bayadere'. At the Royal Opera House ABT have not sold on their last several visits. The Coliseum does not have the same cache as the Royal Opera House so is not a theatre of choice for the fairly casual ballet goers who are necessary to fill seats. However 'Swan Lake', due I believe to the general popularity of the Tchaikovsky music, almost always sells well no matter which company in London performs the balletand of course everybody has heard of it so it must be good. I spoke to two of my oldest ballet friends and we all agreed that the ABT was a company with more style and real theatricality when Lucia Chase was in place.

Absolutely not! I would think this is fairly recent given the costume and photograph style and quality.

Alistair Macauley has written about the anniversary in the Trib http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/09/art...2643.php?page=1 giving a good deal of background to the phenomena of the Diaghilev Ballet Russe and its era.

I was grateful for your information on the Cambridge MA conference and please find herewith a list of events I have found. More to follow. xxxIF YOU HAVE DETAILS OF EXHIBITIONS/EVENTS OR PERFORMANCES RELATED TO THE CENTENARY NOT LISTED PLEASE POST BOSTON BALLETS RUSSES 2009 ANNOUNCES SYMPOSIUM The Spirit of Diaghilev May 19-21, 2009 http://www.ballets-russes.com/symposium.html BARNARD COLLEGE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Celebrating Diaghilev in Music and Dance: Afternoon of a Faun and Les Noces Saturday,April25,2009 http://www.barnard.columbia.edu/dance/calendar.html AUSTRALIA Australian Ballet Excellent Ballet Russe resource page http://www.nla.gov.au/balletsrusses/ NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Diaghilev's Theater of Marvels: The Ballets Russes and Its Aftermath June 26, 2009 through September 12, 2009 Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery http://www.nypl.org/research/calendar/excal.cfm#509 LONDON VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes 1900-1939 18 September 2010 - 16 January 2011 Note: On the occasion of the centenary, the V&A Theatre and Performance Department are offering group visits to view selected costumes and objects from its Diaghilev Ballets Russes collections. These will take place from Monday 27 April - Friday 1 May 2009 at 14.00 - 15.00. These sessions will be led by Jane Pritchard, Co-curator of the 2010 exhibition: http://www.vam.ac.uk/tco/exhibitions/futur...tions/index.htm HARVARD THEATRE COLLECTION HARVARD UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LIBRARY Diaghilev's Ballet Russe 1909-1929 TWENTY YEARS THAT CHANGEDTHE WORLD OF ART An Exhibition and a Symposium 15-17 April 2009 http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/...ml#registration STOCKHOLM Dansmuseet Diaghilev Exhibition May 15 2009-January 10 2010 http://www.dansmuseet.nu/english/exhibitio...itions-eng.html The City of Perm is holding an International Diaghilev Festival including the unveiling of a monument to celebrate Diaghilev's achievements see http://www.t7.ru/ds/diary.phtml?lang=eng The Philadelphia orchestra under their new conductor will pay tribute to Diaghilev in their programming this season see: <a href="http://www.philorch.org/pdfs/Dutoit_begins_as_Chief_Conductor_and_Artistic_Adviser.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.philorch.org/pdfs/Dutoit_begins...tic_Adviser.pdf[/url] A sidelight on a minor Diaghilev collaborator the composer Lord Berners http://www.gavinbryars.com/Pages/writing_Lord_Berners.html If your are interested in research, here is a link to the International Directory of Performing Arts Collections and Institutions http://www.sibmas.org/idpac/index.html://http://www.t7.ru/ds/diary.phtml?lan...dpac/index.html</a> it lists by country and then by city and town. New additions 02.13pm PS Ballets Russes 2009 Russian Revel May 16 - 23rd Boston, MA Ballets Russes 2009, a non-profit organization created to celebrate the Ballets Russes centenary will stage a Russian Revel on May 22nd, 2008 at the Cutler Majestic Theater. A gala dinner will follow at the Four Seasons. The evening will feature prima ballerina, Nina Ananiashvili of the Bolshoi Ballet and American Ballet Theater. She will dance The Dying Swan. Mikhail Martyniuk and Kristina Kretova will dance a pas de deux from Le Pavillion d'Armide by Nicholas Tcherepnine. Three Russian bass singers, Alexey Tikhomirov, Vladimir Kudashev, and Mikhail Guzhov, will perform arias from Boris Godunov and Prince Igor. Yevgeny Yevtushenko will read his poetry.

Here is a link to http://www.artsincrisis.org/ based at the Kennedy Centre to help those arts organisations who are feeling the pinch and a link to their Press Statement at http://www.artsincrisis.org/press.cfm

Without a mega-star name or a famous name company, I think it is simply that it is easier to sell Swan Lake rather than any other ballet.

Last night I attended what must be one of the earlier events in this Diaghilev Ballet Russe centenary celebration year. It was an illustrated talk by Princess Nina Lobanov Rostovsky covering the life and work and Serge Diaghilev and held in Pushkin House, Bloomsbury Square, London organised by the Great Britain Russia Society. The Princess is a writer and lecturer on Russian decorative arts and Russian stage design, and consults for Christie’s International and Sotheby’s. The Princess and her husband Prince Nikita have an important private collection of Diaghilev material items from which they have generously loaned material to various important exhibitions over the years. She has co-curated numerous exhibitions of Russian theatrical art – designs for ballet, theatre and opera – in North America, Germany, Japan and Russia, and was a consultant for the Diaghilev Exhibition and Festival in the Netherlands in 2005. Pushkin House is a building of more than 200 years old was a suitable venue for such an event with its lofty ceilings and chandeliers, mildly evocative of a minor St. Petersburg Mansion of the same period. The audience included ballet enthusiasts, archivists, Russian speakers and a good number of Russians currently settled in London. The Princess covered Diaghilev’s early life with an insight into the family status and home activities, in a manner that was evocative of pre-revolutionary Russian domestic life of a certain class in Perm where Diaghilev spent his early life. She created a very real picture of his father, outlining his character and status. But it was the very detailed information about his step-mother who introduced a rich musical atmosphere into their home life that was especially interesting. Her undoubted influence was such that when he left Perm to go to St. Petersburg University to study law he also studied composition with Rimsky-Korsakov and singing with the famous baritone Cotogni. Fortunately for us today, he showed no great talent for either of these enthusiasms. Princess Nina introduced all the characters from the World of Art (Mir Iskusstva) period and the early forays into staging important exhibitions. She related how in 1907 Diaghilev introduced to Paris the figures of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Glazunov, Alexander Scriabin, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov who conducted their compositions, as well as conducting the works of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Alexander Borodin and Mikhail Glinka. She went on to remind us of Diaghilev’s introducing to Paris in 1908 the Russian opera with the already legendary Fyodor Chaliapin. From there on the talk was all about the ballet describing the decors and costumes, bringing them to life with vivid slides and numerous photographs of those involved in the productions. We were told about the tours, the terrible state of the Ballet Russe Company’s finances and the fact that Diaghilev was never to own a home of his own. Diaghilev has been likened to the Roman patron of the arts Maecenas which, considering the number of artistic careers he supported and encouraged, is a fair comparison. Sadly, he lacked the personal wealth of that earlier patron of the arts and Diaghilev’s great artistic success was matched by a continuous fight against debt and the search for patrons. This was a fitting start for me to a centenary of a man I never knew but whose work and its history have been abiding passions since my teenage. I was introduced to the Princess and had a short conversation, which confirmed both her knowledge and her attractive and lively personality.

Sometimes ballets were imposed upon composers. In the case of Francesco Cavalli the outstanding Italian composer, he had two operas staged in Paris that were written without ballet scenes. Commissioned to write an opera as part of Louis XIV’s marriage celebration, he failed to complete the opera on time and his earlier work Xerxes was given. As it was di rigeur in France at that time(1660) to have ballets in operas, Cavalli found that Jean Baptiste Lully was asked to provide ballet interludes in the opera. When Cavalli’s originally commissioned opera, ‘Hercules in Love’ was staged in Paris in 1662, Lully once again provided music for the ballets. 'Hercules in Love' was last month given a production by Nederlands Opera which included the Lully music but regettably, was not staged in the manner of the Sun King era.

The history of Balanchine and Chaconne via Orfeo is outlined in the following by Anna Kisselgoff. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...757C0A962948260

You quite correct Mel, Cranko did a version in 1962 for Stuttgart Ballet. Incidentally some years ago Marcia Haydee reconstructed the pas de deux to Autumn from The Seasons which has also been seen at Stuttgart Gala(s). I am in the process of completing a tabulation of productions of the two minor Glazunov ballets which I will post(soon I hope) to which others poster will be able to correct or add any I have missed.

If I remember correctly, George Dorris wrote about this in 'Verdi and Grand Opera', Dance Chronicle, Volume 21, Issue 1 1998 , pages 155 - 159.

Congratulations Violette! Wonderful and highly significant award for a wonderful and highly signiificant dancer. Violette Verdy was one of those dancers in my early ballet going days that re-confirmed my balletomania. Although not her most important performance, if I close my eyes I can see Miss Verdy and Mr Villela in Tchaikovsky pas de deux in London being the absolute epitome of joie de vivre, which I hope will always remains in my memory as it was such an uplifting experience.