leonid17

I am rather disappointed at the rather leaden effect he sometimes has in his New York reviews as he struggles to create in a ponderous manner a sentence to be quoted in posterity as if an echoing of the late distinguished critic Richard Buckle. If this is an unconsious occurrence, I take the opportunity to draw his attention to it.

I saw Plisetskaya dance Swan Lake on several occasions and each time she did a very fast series of 'sprung' pique turns that were effectively petit jetes en pointe and were thrilling. I have mentioned before elsewhere that I saw Nadia Nerina execute 32 entrechat six perfectly instead of fouettes as a satirical sideswipe at Rudolf Nureyev's entrechat in Act 2 Giselle earler in the week at Covent Garden. If they are not performed sur la place I would rather not see them at all as after all, that is the historic point of the choreography from Legnani onwards.

I saw Miss Guillem in every role she essayed with the Royal Ballet and IMHO she never met the interpretative standards met by her predecessors and often distorted the choreography.

Yes, that was me, but maybe I felt that any comments I had to make had already been made, or maybe I felt to intimidated to post a comment. I think that high extensions should only be used where the choreography can support them, and only when the dancer can perform them with ease - seeing a dancer stretch themselves to match fellow dancers' high extensions is never comfortable, and Sylvie Guillem can make them appear as easy as scratching your nose. Miss Guillem's ease, was the begining of the slippery slope. In 19th century ballets I believe they should never be used as they are inharmonious to the choreographic whole. I do however blame Artistic Directors who seem not to know the meaning of their title and that vulgar element of the audience that want to be entertained. Yours po-facedly.

. I lament the passing of the wooden stage floor at Covent Garden for various reasons. I find modern floor coverings un-theatrical and even unaesthetically cold to look at. I think, but I am not positive, that something in the quality of movement has been affected with the push off and landings with synthetic flooring, but this may be my imagination. vrsfanatic is quite right to point out that the sound of landings has changed. Of course synthetic is more cost affective, as wood floors in venues where opera and ballet are performed get damaged over time and are expensive to replace.

Whilst the Sleeping Beauty was a tribute to the Romanov dynasty via a French setting of Royalty, the original Charles Perrault tale written in the time of Louis XIV the Sun King and the tune of the Apotheosis is from the song 'Vivre Henri IV' the grandfather of Louis XIV and founder of the Bourbon line. After the restoration of the monarchy in France the song was adopted as the national anthem of France.It may well have been at the suggestion of Vsevolozhky a former diplomat and well-known Francophile to echo the splendour of Louis XIV's court and equating the splendour of the the Romanov's to that earlier period. French taste had influenced Russian Palace design and decor for a long time in Russia and would remain so until the 1917Revolution. If you visit the palaces of St. Petersburg today, you cannot miss the Francophile influence.

Thank you. I had thought of doing this, but one can only rock so many boats in one's life. On second thoughts, I will. Please do. This is no small matter. In the UK, newspapers seldom, if ever, publish letters criticising actual content in an article on dance. I suppose it would be seen to undermine their status in some way. They do however, publish letters offering a different viewpoint in terms of appreciation of a given stage work offered by a retained reviewer. Ps I did.

Mel, interesting scoring and undoubtedly effective. I know the original scoring for "Carnival of the Animals" included: flute/piccolo, clarinet, glass harmonica, xylophone, 2 pianos and strings, but what was the original scoring for ‘The Swan’? Like most people I am used to hearing it performed with cello and harp or cello and piano. What Saint Saens wanted to achieve was a direct contrast to the other animals in what was a fun piece written for a Mardi Gras celebration. What Fokine and Pavlova wanted to achieved matches the music perfectly but perhaps from a different set of values to Saint-Saens? The music for me catches the elegaic movements of a swan and when I observe them in nature I always hum the music to see if it really matches the movements of this bird and for me it always does. In the dance, is the swan really dying or is it an anthropomorphic study of the struggles of life for a beautiful bird that always seems humanly feminine in nature? Saint-Saens might well have approved of "the Swan" having a second life as a ballet, as he was very fond of the genre composing 20 minutes of ballet music in his opera "Henry VIII". Later in life(1896) he composed the ballet "Javotte" (recorded by one time SF Ballet Music Director Andrew Mogrelia). Whilst on a visit to Russia in 1876 he had danced an improvised ballet with Tchaikovsky (Galatea and Pygmalion) in the Moscow Conservatoire Hall accompanied by Nikolai Rubinstein on the piano. The established friendship however did not last.

You are correct. I believe this happened right across the world. Well, certainly in England and Australia.

Thank you. I had thought of doing this, but one can only rock so many boats in one's life. On second thoughts, I will.

Thanks for the photograph which depicts a 'child' dancer, De Valois in this instance, one of countless children who studied ballet and imitated Anna Pavlova.

There is a saying that you should leave the stage before it leaves you. This is not the case of Nicole Hlinka but it might have been the case of a number of other well known dancers.

Not hallucinating, simply either obsessed or unable to see past the media glamour of the name which attracted them to see him rather than ballet in general. I was one balletgoer who stopped seeing him a long time before many of my friends. But, my memories of his first four years with the Royal Ballet are a cherished memory.

Having read this article at my breakfast table, I absentmindedly reached out for a large pinch of salt. I will return to this article and its statements shortly. Leonid

An excellent obituary dedicated to the Memory of Stanley Holden in this link http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...news-obituaries and also at http://www.ipballet.org/bios/bio.php?persID=51[/url] Stanley Holden was a much loved and admired charactor dancer and actor/mime with the Royal Ballet who created the role of Widow Simone in Ashton's 'La Fille mal Gardee' and for me, has never been equalled in this role. He spent 30 odd years teaching in the USA.

While Symphonie Concertante was not a graduation ballet, it was a teaching ballet. The leads were a young Tanaquil Leclerq and Maria Tallchief, then in her prime and with a formidable reputation. While the obvious conclusion was that it was Tallchief who would be Leclerq's example, Tallchief expressed in several interviews, including the ones in Dancing for Mr. B: Six Balanchine Ballerinas, that it was she who was being taught by the example of Leclerq's pristine Balanchine technique. It was one of the first "tutu" ballets for the corps that Balanchine created for New York City Ballet. (Ballet Imperial, Symphony in C, and Theme and Variations were created for other companies.) American Ballet Theatre has a bit of an exclusive on this ballet, since New York City Ballet had dropped it from its rep. From what I remember of a performance I saw in the early 80's, I preferred it to Gounod Symphony, which NYCB revived in the 80's. It's possible that it has been performed by another company, but I don't remember hearing about one by a company with ABT's reputation. In the US, people are starved for any "new" Balanchine, which probably is not the case in London. Why ABT chose it instead of another ballet to bring to London is a good question. ABT has a deep repertory of ballets by Tudor and deMille, for example, that were created and/or staged for them, and which they are sorely neglecting, and Theme, Balanchine that was choreographed for them. Thank you for the information on "Symphonie Convertante" Helene. Apart fron the Tudor and de Mille ballets which I think ABT should most definitely keep alive, I would love to see revivals of:CAPRICCIO ESPAGNOL,DESIGNS WITH STRINGS,GRADUATION BALL,INTERPLAY,THREE-CORNERED HAT,VOICES OF SPRING,THE WANDERER all once performed by ABT if they are revivable.

I am sorry to say that there were 4 casts I would liked to have seen, but as I cannot accept the current Anthony Dowell production, I therefore did not go any of the performances which I regret. If you have standards I think it is important to keep to them.

In a different context, Clive Barnes wrote, “The first night of a new season is always something to look forward to.” (Dance and Dancers June 1967) and after a gap of nearly twenty years and with a company that had been much appreciated in London in the past, this is was even more so the case. The American Ballet Theatre came to town for a flying visit and expectancy among balletgoers were high. They were looking forward to see something of the production values of yesteryear, spiced up by a number of daring young men exhibiting the exciting technique they had shown in filmed performances. The opening night audience included veteran critics Clarke, Crisp, Goodwin, Percival, many veteran ballet goers and from the Royal Ballet, mesdemoiselles, Rojo, Lamb, Nunez, Asanelli, plus a quartet of male principal dancers, Leanne Benjamin, Dame Antoinette Sibley and Monica Mason the Artistic Director. Former distinguished ballerina Maina Gielgud and the ever charming and attractive Cynthia Harvey were both present, as was the choreographer, Michael Corder. Before the performance had begun, the atmosphere in the foyer of the Sadlers Wells foyer was very warm in spite of the surrounding brutish architecture and one felt that goodwill was in the air. Regrettably this was to change to some disappointed opinions in the first interval, as the first glasses of champagne slipped down elegant and knowledgeable throats. “Symphonie Concertante” opened the first night and the audience was presented with the charming and youthful looking corps de ballet and the evening looked promising. However the pleasure was soon dispelled and a rather poor performance followed with the leads taken by dancers with an inadequate technical and performance style, though Veronika Part had some lovely moments (she was much better at the second performance I saw). The corps de ballet I awarded an EEETA (i.e. for Exercising Extreme Effort To Achieve). I do not know many people who think this to ballet to be significant within Balanchine’s oeuvre and I wonder why it was revived, as I find it looks like a ballet created for a graduation performance and a number of questions were asked by members of the audience as to why it was brought to London at all. After the interval we were given an extremely dull White Swan Pas de deux by Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes with Miss Kent exhibiting some old fashioned Soviet mannerisms in her port de bras. This was followed by “Sinatra Suite” which in the past would have been seen as a work suitable for a review or part of a musical show. Misty Copeland and Angel Corella appeared and they were reasonably effective. In the last song, “One more for my baby….” Mr. Corella for me gave a truly theatrical experience and I perked up somewhat but the work is a ‘piece d’occasion’ I think and not a repertoire piece. This was followed by “Le Corsair” pas de deux given a laboured and fairly dull rendition by Xiomara Reyes and Jose Manuel Carreno. Mr Carreno was flashy and crowd pleasing but for me was rather dull and with very little elevation by modern standards. Miss Reyes was ill cast for the part and seemingly lacking in stamina. In the Upper Room was given a very good performance by all of the cast and I was pleased to see Ethan Stiefel back on stage, but the work seem to me to belong to a fairly sophisticated Broadway show and not a work for a ballet company. European taste is sometimes rather different to American taste. All in all most people I spoke to were disappointed and a number of the audience were seen to leave the theatre during the second interval. I think I expected too much from the company which I admired so much in the 1960’s when it could be compared to the Royal Ballet and the ABT was then, definitely a better company than the Paris Opera Ballet. The last visit was not so much a disappointment as this one has proved to be for me. The visit was too short and I think the wrong repertoire for London and no real female stars and the men less sensational in the flesh, than what I had seen on video in the last few years. I did not resent spending 70.00 GB pounds per ticket for each of three performances I attended, but some others did moan a bit about value for money. I will write more on the second programme.

Delvedez was a French born composer who studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Halevy and was the composer of operas, ballets, symphonies etc. He was conductor of the Paris Opera and joint composed ballets with Burgmuller, etc. Delvedez became professor at the Paris Conservatoire in1874 I have more information that I need to translate if someone is interested.

I thought readers might like to see some London reviews of ABT. I went to the first night and was rather more dazzled by the audience than the performance. Clement Crisp in London reviews ABT: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/dcfa7342-bd0a-11db...00779e2340.html As does Ismene Brown: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml...btballet116.xml Also Judith Mackrell: http://arts.guardian.co.uk/theatre/dance/r...2014544,00.html Debra Craine: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol...icle1391194.ece

I realise that few American readers will know about Nicholas Johnson's career, but an obituary has now appeared in the Daily Telegraph which paints a brief but accurate career resume and his work with Nureyev and Makarova which may interest some. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml...5/btswan115.xml

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml...5/btswan115.xml

My experience is limited also, but I don't think it's off base. I first saw the Bolshoi as a child in New York. I was taken to Grigorovich's Romeo & Juliet and I absolutely detested it. Now, you may think that I had been too young to appreciate the ballet or the score, but my earliest memory of ballet was of watching the Fonteyn/Nureyev film of MacMillan's Romeo & Juliet; my uncle had prepared me for that Bolshoi outing by giving me a recording of the score, which I listened to over and over again and enjoyed very much; and by then I was taking ballet lessons, so I had developed some idea of what ballet was about. The fact remains that I thought Grigorovich's version was hideous and ludicrous, and that I giggled during Tybalt's death throes. ".... I would watch all that stomping around in unison completely incredulously. This qualifies as choreography?, I'd ask myself. Admittedly, when I did see the company again in 1990, my reaction was a little different. The energy of so many dancers stomping around in unison to very loud music does produce a strong visceral effect, but that doesn't alter the fact that the choreography they're performing may be simplistic and repetitive. It seems to me that Grigorovich has very little movement invention. The solos of his heroines are practically interchangeable. Frankly, if I want to get the Busby Berkeley effect, I watch the man's films. Berkeley's choreography is much more interesting." I don't know if I'd agree with Ismene Brown's comment about hidden dissidence in Grigorovich's work, but I do think that his ballets may have provided Soviet audiences with a guilty pleasure. For one thing, Soviet ballet is just about the most decadent thing around: dancers running at each other with outstretched arms from opposite ends of a diagonal to swelling music, followed by some outrageous lift or throw. All that's missing is a wind machine and a 50-foot piece of silk. I can think of few faster ways of reducing ballet to an acrobatic spectacle. But beyond that, Grigorovich's ballets give audiences a chance to be seduced by potent, glamorous villains, invariably more interesting than his heroes, and to view the occasional orgy. That the excesses are conducted by nasty Roman imperialists or recidivist Soviet capitalists is beside the point: it's still an officially sanctioned means of seeing an orgiastic spectacle.

The venerable Clement Crisp was not left dispirited by the event as the venerable Clement Crisp didn't write that particular review. The reviewer was someone called Gerald Dowler, whose thoughtless scribbling seemed to damn Simon Virsaladze and Dmitri Shostakovich as well as Grigorovich. The FT has always had a terrific arts page but that particular review damages the paper's reputation for objective reviewing. I was at this gala and it was a fabulous evening with Grigorovich getting storms of applause at the end, dispiriting is the last word I would use. Thank you for the correction. After almost 40 years of reading Clement Crisp in the FT I am still not used to someone other than Clement Crisp writing for the FT. I offer sincere apologies to both Mr. Crisp and Mr. Dowler.