leonid17

To answer your second point first. Definitely no. If that had been the case in the 1940’s and early 1950’s, the Royal Ballet could have never achieved its international status as it depended upon the likes of Helpmann, Elvin, Grant, Larsen, Beriosova, Nerina, Jackson, Rassine, Rodrigues, Ashbridge, Rassine for its development and they were all born outside of the UK. There are a number of questions to be dealt with in this topic and the first point to be made is, that some might say that the proper title of the Royal Ballet is the Royal Ballet of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland which is to say that its premier status makes it the national ballet of the UK and therefore a subject for national pride. The Royal Ballet of Sweden and The Royal Danish ballet could be said to hold a similar national status to the Royal Ballet and a comparison with the number of non-nationals in these companies would be interesting. How many non-nationals are in the Paris Opera Ballet, the premier company of France or the Bolshoi Ballet and the Kirov Ballet the premier companies of Russia? How many non-nationals are in the National Ballet companies of Cuba, Canada, Hungary, Korea etc? In the Guardian of 18 September 2008, Luke Jennings reported that, “Last week, the Royal Ballet told a committee advising the Home Office that very few British applicants "have the required level of artistic excellence or aesthetics" to dance with the company.” and later, “ The barest trickle of dancers has progressed from the school to the company over the last few years, and the lethal delicacy of that statement to the Home Office sends an unambiguous message about the state of relations between the two. He goes on to say, “ Let's deconstruct the Royal Ballet's statement. What they're actually saying is not only that most British-trained dancers aren't technically good enough to join the company, but that most of them are also the wrong shape.” and further that now, “those dancers going into the Royal Ballet company from the school, a high percentage have been students recruited overseas, polished for a few terms, and rebranded as RBS graduates.” On the other hand, the Royal Ballet Schools website states, “ The aim of The Royal Ballet School is to produce dancers possessing a strong, clean classical technique with great emphasis on artistry, musicality, purity of line, co-ordination and a quality of movement that is free of mannerisms. The intent is to produce graduates who are capable of integrating effortlessly into The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and other top professional dance companies.” What is meant by, “top professional dance companies” I am not sure, but as far as I can see, graduates are not going to the top half-dozen companies in the world. What concerns me about dancers joining the Royal Ballet from a different background in schooling and identity, is that there is ample evidence that they have not been successfully coached to dance in that very national style, that made the Royal Ballet so successful and was of course so different from other ballet companies. The question arises, how long does it take to learn a different style of performing to the point when it becomes second nature so that every person on stage blends in one harmonious style. What needs protecting, is the ‘English Style’ as propounded by Dame Ninette de Valois based upon the original RAD method and developed through the performance of classic productions of Petipa,Ivanov, the Diaghilev Ballet heritage and especially realised in the choreographic style of Sir Frederick Ashton. It is my opinion that the Royal Ballet under the direction of Sir Kenneth MacMillan lost its way artistically and aesthetically, which Sir Anthony Dowell did endeavour to regain, but it was too late. The baleful influence of MacMillan upon the Royal Ballet’s repertoire has undermined the artistic status of the company which can no longer perform various choreographers ballets with fidelity or subtlety and invariably lack any sense of the once much lauded “English Style.” This is not the fault of foreign dancers, but a loss of tradition in reprising the core repertoire that made the company great in its own style. The lack of a continuing tradition of performance means that today’s dancers have no models as examples to follow when old ballets are revived. Can the ‘English Style’ be revived? Is it worth reviving? Dame Monica Mason has pulled the company somewhere close to the right path, but I see no particular evidence of either the right climate or desire existing for the company to regain the “English Style” whilst there continues the revival of discredited works like “A Different Drummer” or “Isadora”, the appointment of Wayne McGregor and the constant revival of MacMillan full length ballets. But it can be revived now, but perhaps not, in ten years time. Is the English style worth reviving, certainly. It was distinctive and what was wonderful about it, was although it grew out of seemingly English personality characteristics, it had universality, but remained distinct, that made it popular around the world. Its revival, it would bring back that individuality that the Royal Ballet once had and gained from such ballets as, Les Rendevous, Symphonic Variations, Pineapple Poll, Gloria, Scenes de Ballet, Two Pigeons, Solitaire, Wedding Bouquet, The Dream, Requiem, Enigma Variations, Rhapsody, Les Patineurs, Requiem, Danses Concertantes, Month in the Country, Rakes Progress, and Checkmate etc. The Royal Ballet’s style was also developed through a certain authority inherited from their performances of “Swan Lake”, “Sleeping Beauty” and “Giselle” in an authenticity of Imperial Russian performing style, which had long been lost in Soviet Russia.

Nadia Nerina was my first Swanhilda and has remained my favourite. Never really considered a truly classical ballerina she brought this role to absolute life as she did as Lise. I see little similarity between Lise and Swanhilda as each character is delineated quite differently in their relationships with Colas and Franz as are the situations that arise. The Royal Ballet production has evolved via Ninette de Valois in 1954 from the earlier staging in 1933 of the Petipa/Cecchetti/Ivanov version(1894) produced by Nikolai Sergeyev using the Imperial Theatre's notated score. The Sadlers Wells production was graced by Lydia Lopokhova a true demi-caractere dancer as Swanhilda and I think it fair to assume that the playing of the role by the RB originates from her performance. I think I am today, after being attracted to Coppelia by the dancing in this ballet, become more aware of the darker side when Coppelius gets Franz drunk and then attempts to steal his soul or life-force to animate Coppelia. Fortunately alls well in the end and we all go home with the feel good factor. The music of Coppelia is an exceptional theatre score underpinning the story telling perfectly and it joyous nature adds to our feeling of well being. I often play a recording when I have a tedious job around the house or the garden because its joyousness lightens the load. The role of Swanhilda can be danced by soubrettes or demicaractere dancers as she is down-to earth given her status in a bucolic setting. But, Swanhilda has also been danced by many classical ballerinas (Legnani, Kschessinkaya, and Geltzer. Trefilova, Semyonova, Fonteyn, Chauvire, Makarova etc) and it was in this role that Anna Pavlova made her 1910 USA debut in New York. Coppelia was earlier staged in 1887 at the Metropolitan Opera House by Mamert Biberyan.

I probably saw a different Nutcracker by different Grigorovich Hear, hear! The combination of Maximova, Vasiliev and Levashev all extraordinary on stage, so much so, I have never wanted to watch a film of their performance. To only talk about beefy bravura dancing is to forget the magical moment when after the battle and the prone prince is lying there and the music begins to swell and Vasiliev slowly reveals his face which was for me was a truly great and unforgettable moment in any performance no matter what you think about the production. As I mentioned elsewhere, "The Nutcracker" is a ballet for adults not for children and it is a pity to see it being given in something like a pantomime which it most definitely is not. It was first given at the Maryinsky Theatre late in the evening when all good children should have been in bed while adults observed the softened version of the original Hoffman that the audience might have been familiar with, unlike modern audiences today. 19th century ballets were representations of the human condition seen through allegory and symbolism, yes even the comedy ballets.

Thank you Natalia for your clearly and importantly stated post. Some ballets are of their time and some are for all time. Minor works of art keep the pot on the boil, but major works are the examples that fuel the fire, that heats the pot, that keeps an art genre alive an. I have no problem with Grigorovich’s original works, as they met the artistic credo of government policies and to his credit; they exhibit a talent at work. His ballets do have a problem however and that is the original casts were exemplary in performance and have never since been totally equalled. Without great performances, the ballets of Grigorovich do not get off the ground and we are aware of the choreographic weaknesses. The value that Grigorovich original choreographic ballets have is in the provision of powerful characterisations of roles and as such, is a memorial to Soviet Russian theatrical history. Grigorovich re-staged, “The Sleeping Beauty” (1963, 1973),”The Nutcracker” (1966), “Swan Lake” , “Raymonda” (1984), “La Bayadere” (1991),”Don Quixote”, “Giselle” (1987) and “Le Corsaire” (1994) all jewels of Imperial Russian Theatrical history. I have never heard it said that any of these productions were recognised as having any authority in respect of the original staging and have no standing amongst authorititave critics. These backbone works of the classical repertoire have frequently been cast with Bolshoi dancers unable to meet the standard of legendary casts of an earlier soviet Russian or Russian period. Natalia quite clearly states the sad current state policy of the arts in Russian ballet in which no independent Russian based ballet authority appears to be ready to state a revisionist view of Grigorovich’s contribution to Russian ballet, which led to stagnation of the Bolshoi repertoire by the 1990’s. As regards the iron rule of Konstantin Sergeyev and Natalia Dudinskaya at the Kirov, it was a period when dancers of extraordinary talent were kept down and Sergeyev versions of the classics were interpreted to fit the communist ideal in theatrical production. Sergeyev’s stature as a dancer is unassailable until he reaches forty years of age in 1950 (he would perform leading roles for another 10 years or so) when he first stages “Swan Lake”. Here he made revisions to the Vaganova version (and Lopukhov’s 1945) increasing the technical role of Siegfried giving the character more opportunities to dance. He did however relax the political ideology of Vaganova’s 1933 production. He retained Ivanov’s Act II choreography but as before the mime was omitted. In Act III he had Odile throw a bunch of white flowers (a symbol for Odette) in Siegfried’s face. In the final act like Vaganova he wanted to use the allegorical ending of the libretto, but had to give instead a happy ending due to political pressure. Too many interpreters of Odette by Kirov dancers have resulted in an athletic display and what is now vulgarly referred to as gynaecological exhibitionism. In 1952 he tackled The Sleeping Beauty, (he had earlier altered Desire’s Act III variation (1942), which was later to appear in Act II.) The vision scene was given a pas de deux with Aurora that included lifts which did not exist in the original production. In Act III, Sergeyev also added a complex technical variation for the prince. He extended the male roles in the classics producing versions that were far removed from original productions and these regrettably it would appear are the productions that the Mariinsky Ballet will now perform. What Sergeyev clearly exhibited was the opportunity to show his own particular style of dancing at the expense of the tradition which as a danseur noble he clearly belonged. Sergeyev’s original works have not lasted the test of time. It has to be said however, that the very best of the dance legacy of the Kirov ballet we have today, is also undoubtedly, a result of the Sergeyev/Dudinskaya era inextricably supported by the products of that extraordinary academy named after Vaganova. Why is it important that original Petipa productions be restored and retained? For the simple reason they are the raison d’être of academic classical ballet which exists in itself as the oeuvre of Marius Petipa who himself learnt (and sometimes borrowed) from earlier masters and reigns supreme among choreographers. Yes Natalia, we are, “… Back to the Future: Soviet Grigorovich stagings at the Bolshoi-Soviet K. Sergeev stagings at the Mariinsky. Amended: Sergeyev's first name as pointed out by Marc Haegeman

Since when has youth and strength had such a correlation in ballet? Would you call 35 young or not? Carlos Acosta is about that age and he is still able to perform at the highest level. In general I can think of a number of older dancers who were able to dance three full length ballets in a week when younger dancers would have collapsed. Please do not confuse strength with stamina. I also do not know why any producer would want to "disrespect" the productions of 19th century ballets in the manner you suggest.

I do not believe the reconstructions were either academic exercises or artistic explorations alone. For me they were an extraordinary attempt to recover an historical period of the St.Petersburg ballet of which these two ballets have become a cornerstone of the repertoire of academic classical ballet companies. They also initiated an extraordinary exchange of Russian and American know how. The productions were revelatory in as much as we saw the master choreographer Marius Petipa's works almost as they were intended. As Marc pointed out, these attempted achievements engendered animosity which I believe originated from the older communist coaches who probably felt that their contribution as performers in the previous production was being devalued and would perhaps even become discounted which in some cases, they certainly should be. I think this decision also reflects something of the current climate in Russia of turning the clock backwards. Were these productions superior to the Sergeyev Beauty of 1951 or the Ponomarev/Chabukiani Bayadere of 1941 I would say yes in possibilities, but no in practicalities. On the one hand there was the opportunity in Bayadere to recreate a seminal work that bridged the gap between the Romantic Ballet and Petipa's classics, but as Marc states, "The main problem with these reconstructions has always been that the company itself never really believed in them. The dancers disliked and distrusted everything about these productions, from steps to costumes, from mime to length, considering them far inferior to the productions they knew. Dancing style? In "Beauty" and "Bayadère" there was never any concession towards a different style, they just kept on dancing them in the same way as they dance the older productions." As we know they chose athleticism of ballet, instead of aestheticism of academic classical ballet. I am grateful that I saw both reconstructions and I feel at present that I no longer wish to see other productions. I only hope that Vikharev wants to continue in these reconstructions and I hope he gets his deserved recognition and rewards for making such an extraordinary contribution to the history of 19th century ballets. I If you are lucky enough to have a pirate copy of the productions it is likely that you may in the future feel quite smug about having them. As regard the expense of staging them, especially abroad, it seems there are always sponsors somewhere at hand and now as we have recently seen in London, there are Russian sponsors ready to dip their toes into the pond.

True, Hans. Not so in the East until fairly recently. In the USSR days and the first few years after perestroika, corps members never retired...they just stayed on and on, so to speak, unless they went into teaching at the affiliate academy, became stage managers, etc. Some of the older folks in the Bolshoi or Kirov would appear on stage once or twice a year, dancing in a large group number such as Csardas or Polonaise of Raymonda, just to hang on 'til they reached pension age. I believe that there was some sort of rule that, to maintain a job, one had to appear once on the stage every x-number of months. I remember how Oleg Vinogradov loathed this rule when he began working at the Kirov ca 1976. He tried to get rid of the excess personnel and received death threats. Ditto the immediate successors of Yuri Grigorovich at the Bolshoi...and THAT was in 1995, well after the changes! Both the Kirov and the Bolshoi companies were better companies when the stage was filled by older dancers. Why, because in general it is was their home, their life and their experience brought a weight to performances that in general has been lost especially in character corps work. Those old dancers loved being on the stage and danced as if they loved it and lived their roles as if it was their own lives. Vinogradov did get rid of the older dancers and the tradition you talked about that made the two major companies what they once were, has been diminished.

It's different. Yes. It's not traditional.Yes. Horrible. No You cannot judge any performance from a filmed record. If you had been in the Royal Opera House to see it live, you would have soon got over the shock and marvelled at the powerful performances that were given. Yes, its niot a production for all time, but then nor are most others. It is performances than define ballet history much more than productions.

I would like to be in the Maryinsky Theatre with my closest ballet friends crammed in the Dress Circle, Box 13 on April 28 1902, to witness the debut of Anna Pavlova as Nikiya in La Bayadere with Pavel Vladimirov as Solor, Alla Shelest as Gamzatti and Valery Panov as the Golden Idol and then to go back stage to witness Marius Petipa congratulating Pavlova.

Thank you for directing is to this site. I stopped after about 250 illustrations because I now know where to go again. It is a joy to peruse and I will be visiting it again. I was much taken by a painting of the interior of the interior that I had to google to find out more about him. The architectural drawings made for the construction(?) are fascinating as are illustration of performers. Merci beaucoup. Leonid

I can say that I recently saw her as the Sugar Plum Fairy in which she gave an extraordinary debut performance in the role in terms of style and technique. Miss Choe appears to be a real classicist of the future.

In reply to the comments made in Point 1: Did you read what I wrote? Point 2: I think you underestimate Russian even soviet Russians interest and appreciation of balletic art. You will find it went beyond, “…probably because it had so many dancers on stage and its very colorful design for both the costumes and scenery design contrasted strongly against the dull, colorless life most Russians had during the Soviet era. “ Point 3: No absolutely no. We are talking about an art form. Whilst classical ballets can be entertaining they are not entertainment. Don Quixote was staged in Petipa’s lifetime on the Maryinsky stage in St Petersburg and I have never found it said that he wanted a bigger stage at any time during his life.

There are some things in life that cannot be altered and that is why I leave such events for history to decide once the die has been cast. However, this is a complex issue raised here and is one among many others concerning the Royal Ballet, which goes far beyond a casting issue and artists external personal contracts. Regrettably people who pay to go to the ballet have no voice and most critics who could be crusaders, often simply roll over to have their tummies tickled with free tickets and a buffet and conspire to be part of the trendy celebrity marketing arena. I personally admire Mr Acosta’s journey, but not his every performance. La Bayadere is to be filmed live over three performances which means you do not even get a record of a performance but instead a compilation. A filmed record of a ballet even in one take, is a million miles away from attending a theatrical performance as it lacks the stimuli wherein our physical, emotional and intellectual responses operate in quite a different manner therefore I cannot get worked up about the marketing of something which has little meaning to me as I do not see this recording as being an historically defining event. Meanwhile, his Nikiya in this film Tamara Rojo, has for me at least grown considerably in stature over the years confirming that she is now more than her Principal status and is a true ballerina. As regards the Royal Ballet brand, to quote the song, "Fings ain't what they used to be."

I have avoided the Nutcracker over the last decade having only seen 5 performances. I was taken to a matinee of Peter Wright's RB production two weeks ago and went simply because their were several very interesting debuts. However as good as some of the individual performances were, I find this production inteminably dreary which was not enlivened by a very poor performance by corps de ballet, the braking of props , the stumbling of children and the ROH orchestra who had no semblance of a singing orchestral tone. I understand Mr Wright's later production foir the Birmingham Royal Ballet is generall considered superior to his earlier effort. Of course the ballet is of a seasonal(Christmas) nature, but it was always intended to be for an adult audience given its dark overtones. I think Roland John Wiley's book on the Tchaikovsky's ballets makes an interesting read(do include all the notes) on the evolution of its production. My first viewing of this ballet was when I was 16 years of age and it was in a staging by David Lichine with designs by Alexandre Benois and performed by London Festival Ballet. It remained constant in my memory as a yardstick for all performances that is until, I saw two properly adult versions by Nureyev(darkly psychological)and Grigorovich(glorious in production and performance) with outstanding casts. I cannot judge Blanchine's version as I have only seen it on film and it made no great impression upon me, but then, I was probably going through one of those Richard Buckle moments of,"One more Nutcracker closer to death."

You are right they did. But, all things changed when we joined the EEC and became subject to their laws and their legal judgements. The law now allows non EU workers to fill jobs in the UK where there are particular shortages of skills. Before, special cases had to be made. Mel Johnson stated, "Even though the Empire is gone, the Commonwealth of Nations marches on. This factor has to weigh in somehow in the discussion." Interestingly while EU members have an absolute right to work in the UK, Commonwealth citizens do not and are subject to a points based system quota. Ballet companies are one of the areas of employment identified where a shortage of workers is seen and they can now employ I am assuming, dancers from any country in the world. Among regular followers of the Royal and probably by many UK nationals, there is the understanding that the RB is more than the premier company, they are the 'national' company and having the accolade of Royal gives them this status. Once the status of “Royal” is given by a Royal Charter having first been recommended by her Majesty’s Privy Council, it changes a body from a collection of individuals into a single legal entity. Once incorporated by Royal Charter, amendments to the Charter and by-laws require government approva. The status is not open to any organisation only to those that offer the highest standards and represent the UK at its best. It is therefore a disappointment to some, that currently of the 23 most senior dancers, only 3 are UK born. I do not know if the legal nature of the contracts for all the RB senior dancers is the same, but in the past, the designation was something like,(1)permanent member contract(2) permanent guest contract. For me who has been watching the RB for more than 40 years and who has seen dancers graduate from the Royal Ballet School and ascend to principal dancers, I am personally unhappy that the RB School no longer appears to fulfil its function as it did in the past. As to foreign(such an ugly word) dancers I am more than happy to watch the dancers we have in the Royal Ballet as they have in some cases brought qualities missing for a long time. The criticism I most widely hear is that the defining style of the Royal Ballet has been lost. If this is the case and I believe it to be true it is not the problem of the dancers making but education in the English style as Dame Ninette de Valois called it, not being either taught or desired by the management of the RB. In Ashton’s works especially I count it my loss and it is a loss for everyone else as far as I can see.

I believe Petipa was quite capable of writing his own libretto for the following reasons: 1. It is highly likely he was familiar with the Cervantes original as it was one of the most widely read books in Europe. 2. The subject matter had already been tackled by seven choreographers before him and thus was a traditional ballet subject. 3. His more than 30 years of experience of creating ballets. 4. His not so lonely sojourn in Madrid where he certainly learnt theatrical Spanish dances, possibly witnessed traditional Spanish dancing, quite likely to have learnt more about Cervantes and created ballets on a Spanish theme. for the Madrid Theatre. 5. He had greater influence in the choice of subjects for ballet in 1871, as he was not so impinged upon by Directors of the St.Petersburg Imperial Theatres of that time, as he was by Vsevolozhsky in his later creative life.

I thought the Bolle photograph OTT and compared to the other two photographs out of place. In fact, it did not look like the elegant prince I have seen on stage.

Regrettably formality in English public life has deteriorated and I regret to inform you so has the content of our newspapers. It is generally the tradition in English Papers not to have a by line. This detachment, gave the obituary a formality of the importance of the subject as being worthy of note. In many cases, the obituary writers were quite notable persons in their own right. After the initial publication, there might follow a formal tribute by a distinguished person(s) confirming a personal view, often established through personal acquaintance with the deceased. In the case of a seriously important personage, an obituary giving formal details of the 'life; in question would be given and supported nearby or on the front page, a personal appraisal by various people of some standing. In the case of ballet obituaries, a very few critics would get a by line, a notable exception being Mary Clarke in the Guardian. What is curious about The Telegraph obituary of Lepeshinskaya is the depth of personal detail. Unlike a review, no by line was displayed.

Definitely wow! As regards a real soviet girl, she certainly was. It was extremely difficult to become a member of the party and in many cases took years to become a member starting from Young Pioneers to becoming a member of the Komsomol at 14 years of age. In Lepeshinskaya’s era, when she graduated from the Bolshoi School there were some 3,500,000 formal party members in Russia. Purges in the 1930’s, reputedly reduced membership to 1.900,000 by 1939. During the purges, Maya Plisetskaya’s father was executed in 1938 and her actress mother was arrested and sent to a gulag in Kazakhstan for three years. There are rumours of the murder of a dancer and dancers forced into marriage to senior party officials. Lepeshinskaya however, as a party member survived in some style as information in the obituary clearly explains.

The Kirov version of the pas de six may not be what is called authentic, but Alla Sizova aged 43 in the 1982 performance I copied from BBC TV, is probably the performance for all time. I remember playing it forwards and backwards to look at the execution of the batterie as it seemed unbelievable. The choreography may not have been authentic, but who since could dance this role so wonderfully, execute authentically and with such a brilliance.

She was arrested for shoplifting in Brussels, when the Bolshoi first came to Belgium in 1958. (Don't know it also happened in Italy?) Can't imagine she would have wanted to stay in Belgium. She surely just needed an umbrella or a pair of gloves. Thank you Marc for confirming this fact. Please find herewith a link to an obituary which I found very interesting. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries...eshinskaya.html

I am not sure what country it was but took place in the summer of 1958. She denied the accusation and said it was ridiculous to suggest that she would steal. It is is very interesting to think that she may have wanted to defect.

Comrade Professor Olga Borisovna Lepeshinskaya born in Perm, Russia (1871=1963). She reached the heights of Soviet academia winning awards from Stalin for scientific studies. She was in fact a pseudo-scientist whose soviet communist status kept her safely in a position she should not have otherwise achieved. In this you can find a relationship with Lepeshinskaya the demi-caractere dancer who achieved a leading ballet status while not possessing either turn-out, stretched feet or beautiful epaulement but she found very close favour with Stalin and was married twice to high ranking communists. I have not so far, been able to trace any family links with Olga Borisovna and Olga Vasilieva the dancer who was born in the Ukraine and apparently descended from a noble Polish family.

I do not know how you arrive at your evaluation of Lepeshinskaya as a dancer and it is my opinion that you are way off mark in your appreciation of her talents and more importantly her artistic and aesthetic status. The only dancer of the period in you mention to be compared with Galina Ulanova in status and artistry was Marina Timofeyevna Semyonova who recently celebrated her 100th birthday. And what about Struchkova? Why make that comparison anyway? As if somebody would be argueing that Lopatkina is a better dancer than Vishneva, or Osipova better than Zakharova? Your are quite right to mention Raisa Struchkhova who I saw dance and admired very much. I did not mention her when I responded to sacto1654 post as she was not quite of the same generation as the other dancers mentioned. You are quite right that comparisons are of no value and that dancers all exist on their own terms and should not be compared to others. It is only fans that compare and as I know that ballettalk is on a different plain to "fan talk", I should have not let myself enter into the comparison.

I do not know how you arrive at your evaluation of Lepeshinskaya as a dancer and it is my opinion that you are way off mark in your appreciation of her talents and more importantly her artistic and aesthetic status. The only dancer of the period in you mention to be compared with Galina Ulanova in status and artistry was Marina Timofeyevna Semyonova who recently celebrated her 100th birthday.