leonid17
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Posts posted by leonid17
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A new clip:
Thank you for posting.
I was really disappointed with this film of Novikova not because she lacked technique of the legs, because she doesn’t.
Novikova’s arms in terms of characterisation on this occasion were frail, lacking both in weight and the stylistic necessities required for the appropriate plastique of the Hungarian influenced choreography.
If that is how the arms were set, it is clearly an error of judgement. The variation requires the touches that give the sense of the style implied in the music and to also to comply with the historical performance of the role.
Novikova regrettably appeared to be more of a soloist rather than someone fitting the shoes of a ballerina and it would seem possible, that some of the blames lies with the coaching of the role.
Of course Novikova is new to the role and it is a long role and thank goodness, she is young enough to develop a deeper stage presence.
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I have found the picture on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Petipa
Which is odd because contemporaries state she never danced fully en pointe.
And that photo makes it pretty clear (to me) that it's meant to be for the Forest scene--even though it appears to be a posed shot, I doubt they'd put her in front of the wrong set...
Mel Johnson, I know there's always been some controversy about the Lilac Fairy's Prologue variation (I *believe* the excuse was that Marie was given a deliberately too easy variation, with the justification for using a later version being that any other dancer would have done it that way--but I admit to finding the whole thing confusing). From what you posted, you mean for a while in the 1970s the Kirov/K Sergeyev version added a fairy, and had the Lilac Ferry not in toe shoes? How long did this last? I know by the 1983 (?) Kolpokova recording, it's back to six fairies, with Lilac in toe shoes throughout the ballet. Fascinating stuff, and your post raises the very valid point that it's often hard to really know what's authentic, particularly with something as subjective as dance. I think the best reconstructions give us the opportunity to get a sense of what the feel and intention of the original production was, but it's impossible to truly consider them "authentic", and that's OK with me, if the research was properly done.
Both of these photographs appear to have been taken in a studio as was typical of the period.
The background is 'dressed'in an appropriate manner for the production.
PS
Thank you Cristian for reviving the shoe information and the questions on the LF variation. Its a story that will run and run and run long after we are all gone.
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Not to my knowledge, although it certainly made the rounds shortly after its discovery. Maybe rg has a postable version of the photograph.
I have found the picture on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Petipa
Which is odd because contemporaries state she never danced fully en pointe.
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Olesya Novikova is the personification of elegance as Raymonda. No one so far as I know, since Pierina Legnani, has done changements sautes sur les pointes but ,never......entre-chat quatres sautes sur les pointes as Novikova does in the pizzicatto on Tuesday 11 October at the premier at La Scala. Frankly it was an overwhelming experience. I shall never forget it. (did the Harvard notes indicate entre-chat quatres?)
Regarding your statement, "Olesya Novikova is the personification of elegance as Raymonda. No one so far as I know, since Pierina Legnani, has done changements sautes sur les pointes but ,never......entre-chat quatres sautes sur les pointes as Novikova does in the pizzicatto on Tuesday 11 October at the premier at La Scala. Frankly it was an overwhelming experience. I shall never forget it. (did the Harvard notes indicate entre-chat quatres?)”
The entrechat quatre sur les pointes were probably standard for tecnichians like Natalya Dudinskaya and other Vaganova pupils as it was for Irina Kolpakhova which was the point I was making by posting the above youtube clips.
Dopo il periodo di Legnani, one should not think there were no virtuosi able to perform in her manner at the Maryinsky or Kirov Theatres.
PS
As mentioned earlier Kolpakhova was age 43 at the time of the filming.
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I think there's great mischief possible in "restoration" when uncontextualized evidence shows up and suddenly finds itself incorporated in current productions. The Lilac Fairy is a good example. Around 1970, a single photo of Marie Petipa as Lilac was found showing her in a "chemise-shift" and soft shoes with heels, clearly indicating a role whose job was primarily mime. The Maryinsky promptly revised the Prologue to have SEVEN fairies, one non-dancing. Subsequent research clearly established that Marie was dressed in a traditional "tarlatine" (tutu) and danced a much different variation from the one we're accustomed to, but clearly en pointe. She changed the dress and the shoes for Act I and the rest of the show, but the damage had been done, especially on people whose first view of the ballet was the precipitately modified one. First impressions are very lasting.
I need my memory jogged.
Was the picture posted on ballettalk?
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If you can find it, try to find the VAI DVD with Kolpakova in a 1980 live performance. It's the Kirov/Mariinsky version.
This is my favorite performance video of anything.
YouTube doesn't have the complete, but it does have some excerpts from 1976:
Her partner here is Semenov. In the video it's Berezhnoi.
There's also the video excerpt from the DVD, which I missed the first time:
I fell in love with Irina Kolpakhova whilst still at school when the Kirov Ballet visited London for the first time. I was very new to ballet and a new knowledgeable friend of the time convinced me I should see the company and I in turn convinced my mother to fund my visits to amptheatre and the standing room.
As a lover of London's best classical architecture, I found a reflection of such high art classicism in Irina Kolpakhova's
linear crystaline distinctiveness in both the structure and outline of her dancing. Add to that her musicality and nobility it was no wonder Dame Ninette de Valois enthused so much over this ballerina's perfect classicism.
Madame Kolpakhova's classicism seemed other worldly to me and yet here she was appearing among an extraordinary galaxy of star dancers vying for excellence and thrilling audiences and critics alike.
I agree with Helene evaluation and I find Kolpakhova remarkable in this video given she was 43 years of age.
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Does Raymonda "usually" do entrechat-quatres to pointe? These are STUNNING, and i don't think I've ever seen them before. I THINK they're usually just changements to pointe.
They are stunning and, at least on Youtube, Novikova made them seem perfectly light and easy.
Watch the 43 year old Irina Kolpakhova execute the same steps.
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Thank you, Natalia, for posting such a full description. I look forward to reading more.
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RIA-NOVOSTI Tribute with photographs.
Nina Sorokina's funeral took place on Tuesday 11 October with Boris Akimov reading the Eulogy.
R.I.P
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I remember seeing her in a number of films and although there was something fascinating about her(I was fairly young at the time)I can't say that Miss Cilento was a favourite actress of mine.
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RIA-NOVOSTI Tribute with photographs.
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Thank you for posting this sad news.
I first saw Nina Ivanovna Sorokina dance in 1965. She was a technical breath of fresh air with perfect turnout and an electrifying technique and a real joy in her dancing. I was 20 years old and probably impressionable. Later exposure to this very sweet person and her husband confirmed both of their powerful technical abilities who truly brought both joy and drama to their performances.
My condolences to Yuri Kuzmich Vladimirov on the loss of his wife who danced with the Bolshoi Ballet from 1961 to 1988.
Madame Sorokina received the Gold medal at the 1st International Ballet Competition in Moscow with M. Baryshnikov and the Gold medal at International Ballet Competition in 1966 in Varna. In 1970 she received the "Golden Star" at the International Festival of Dance in Paris.
Madame Sorokina performed many of the leading ballerina roles of the Bolshoi Ballet partnered by her husband to which they brought a virtuosic dynamism and was also variously partnered by Mikhail Lavrovsky, Maris Liepa and Alexander Godunov.
Her leading roles included, The Chosen Maiden in "Rite of Spring" Kasatkina and Vassileva,. Nina ….took leading roles in ,The Geologists , Asel , Anna Karenina , Icarus" and in the classics, Aurora in "Sleeping Beauty", Masha in "Nutcracker", Kitri in "Don Quixote as well as Phrygia in Spartacus, Ivan the Terrible and Mistress of the Copper Mountain in The Stone Flower.
In 1987 she was named People’s favorite artist in USSR and in 1988 she became the Ballet Director of the company "Stars of Bolshoi Theatre."
In the last phase of her theatrical life she was a leading teacher of the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts (GITIS) where she was appointed professor of the Department of Choreography. Her other responsibilities were Art Director of seminars for teachers of classical ballet.
See:
See:
And in a curious work that appears to translate as "Naughty Limericks" Nina Sorokina is distinguished by the bright blue top to her costume.
See:
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Greetings, leonid. Good to hear from you.
This obit in The National Post by Michael Crabb discusses Grant's tenure directing the National Ballet of Canada in more detail -- some of the other obits barely mention it.
Despite initial skepticism from inside and out, Grant also commissioned one of his leading stars, Peter Schaufuss, whom he’d lured from George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet in 1977, to stage North America’s first production of the 19th-century Bournonville classic, Napoli. Its November 1981 premiere proved a triumph. National Ballet founding artistic director Celia Franca commented that she’d never seen the company dance better.A constellation of rising talents such as Kevin Pugh, Kimberley Glasco, Kim Lightheart, Owen Montague, David Allan, Sabina Allemann, Jeremy Ransom and Raymond Smith emerged under Grant’s direction but the casting policy required to spread performance opportunities partly contributed to the internal tensions and public criticism that eventually scuttled Grant’s directorship.
Thank you for the greeting.It does seem a while since I contributed anything and thank you for posting the above link.
In trying trying to evaluate Alexander Grant's Royal Ballet afterlife,I think he brought quality rather than quantity to the National Ballet of Canada and the boldness in getting “Napoli” and “Onegin” staged that alone works by Glen Tetley, Maurice Bejart, Jerome Robbins, Kenneth MacMilan, works showed his faith in the company’s ability to hold a proud position in the world of dance. He gave them a legacy of works that had previously belonged to much more famous companies.
Thank you to everyone who has shared their memories.
I was of course more than interested to hear that an ABT dancer was able to improve on Ashton.
See also: The Dance View Times interesting interview with Alexander Grant in 2000 where he talks to Jane Simpson.
http://www.danceview.org/interviews/grant.html
See: Celia Franca talking about Alexander Grant and his rehearsing Fille
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I watched, enjoyed and admired Alexander Grant’s performances from 1961 to 1985.
Until the last seven or so years, I had often run into him at theatres and in the street. Mr Grant’s bright perky manner always brought an uplifting moment to what otherwise might have been a rather ordinary day.
Knowledgeable, opinionated and thus a lively personality. Alexander Grant was also a defender of tradition, but not entirely unbending when staging Ashton’s work for dancers who had not experienced the earlier Royal Ballet style.
As a performer I saw in Mr. Grant in at least twenty roles as diverse as Tirennio in “Ondine” to The Young Man in “Two Pigeons” with Lynn Seymour and the hilarious Tango in “Façade.” I remember him as very moving “Petrushka,” to another style of unsurpassed pathos, in the role of Alain in “La Fille mal Gardee.”
He was also the marvellously tortured Rake in DeValois “the Rakes Progress” and one can measure his sharply contrasted abilities when you consider with his sprightly Neapolitan dance often with Merle Park as they inimitably progressed at speed in Act III of “Swan Lake.”
Alexander Grant was never the same dancer one had seen in a previous role.
When he reprised the Tango from Façade in the 1984 Royal Gala tribute to Sir Frederick Ashton a tear came to my eye as the memories of my first seeing him in the role some twenty one years earlier, began to remind me of all those dancers who had filled the 1960’s with such dash, stylishness and emotion who had now, left the stage.
I saw Alexander Grant’s last performance as Herr Drosselmeyer in 1985 which for me seemed to be a Royal Ballet finale to the last days of the glorious 1960’s.
Alexander Grant was the quintessential Royal Ballet dancer who always entirely filled the roles he played.
I particularly enjoyed reading the Judith Cruickshank obituary of Alexander Grant at:-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/oct/04/alexander-grant
***STOP PRESS: ROYAL OPERA HOUSE ANNOUNCEMENT***
http://balletnews.co.uk/the-royal-opera-house-the-frederick-ashton-foundation/
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One of the many things that Helene does for this site is to post our Calendar. Click the Calendar Link at the top of the board (Forums Members Calendar Blogs) and you will find ballet performances from around the world posted day by day. This is a great way to keep up with what's being performed this month or week, whether for practical reasons -- you're planning a trip to Kansas City -- or just to know what's going on. It's also a great way to find ballet performances to talk about on this thread, which is why I posted this notice here.
This must take weeks to do, Helene, and we are all very grateful.
I have always found the calendar invaluable as it has helped me keep a number of friends and colleagues
informed of performances of works that are of interest to them.
Thank you Helene.
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Drigo & Gergiev's Tchaikowski
from dirac's snippets:
The Telegraph
The Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre must have played Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake dozens or even hundreds of times, and there were occasions in this performance under Valery Gergiev when it sounded like it. While the orchestra clearly has the music in its blood, there was a touch of anaemia here that could have done with a shot of galvanising iron from the podium, especially in the first act.Things did pick up after the interval, but there remained an underlying feeling that the orchestra was merely playing the ballet rather than working to recreate its atmosphere, its charm, its drama.
The Arts Desk
A fascinating experience, then. Gergiev is a strange being to head a ballet theatre: he conducts with his eyes determinedly shut, I think, stripping ballet scores of their choreographic varnish, which in most cases has left thick clots all over dansante pulses. It was a relief to hear certain waltzes handed their natural lilt and stitched naturally into their context, too fast for the iconic choreography to be performed to them in today's indulgently emphatic style (the rocking pas de trois of Act I, Odette's delicate Act II solo, Siegfried’s Act III solo).I've listened to only first part of this performance, but the character is perhaps more Phil Spector than Yevgeny Mravinski. Rushing veils of sound and no time or space for the instruments to question and answer each other and to argue and scamper about. Valery Gergiev is not an intellectual conductor, it's all animal spirits and cumulative effect with him and sometimes it's right and sometimes not.
Available for audition in its entirety for a limited time:
What I found curious for an orchestral concert, was that he did not conduct the original score but as reported a version of the later revisions with interpolations.
I think it was a missed opportunity which would have constituted a musical coup. But then perhaps not, as Gergiev was conducting.
As the orchestra had brought the revised score version with them for the performances given two weeks earlier by the Kirov/Maryinskii ballet and it was after all it was only a performance in London.
Why did the BBC see the potential and pick up on the opportunity?
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The Youtuber "russianballetvideo" has posted a lovely video tribute:
Thank you for posting this link.
I found it very moving to see Sergei Berezhnoi teach and would have loved to have seen the full film, to watch how the class performed the enchainements. I particularly admired Berezhnoi's port de bras.
For those unfamiliar with Terekhova's Aurora,I hope you admire her distinctiveness of structure and outline redolent of performances of Xenia Ter-Stepanova and Irina Kopakhova when the Kirov still had great dancers.
As I mentioned earlier, this of course is the first time for Somova in London without her familiar coach.
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Again, a more than interesting contribution to dance writing by Alistair Macaulay.
I wish he was back in London. We need him here.
Yes, I can hear that chorus among ballettalkers agreeing with me.
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In London we had heard that the reason Tatiana Terekhova was not with the Maryinsky as a coach, was because of her husbands illness.
I am now deeply saddedned to hear of his passing remembering his performances as a dancer and a most excellent partner.
Here was a partnership that off stage exuded warm and gentle personalities.
Mr Berezhnoi is seen here with his wife in Diana and Actaeon of which I have fond memories.
and with Irina Kolpakhova(aged 49)in Les Papillon.
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First Twombly, now Freud. I hope there isn't a number three on the way. At least both men lived long lives.
Mr. Freud was a bohemian of the old school. He set up his studios in squalid neighborhoods, developed a Byronic reputation as a rake and gambled recklessly (“Debt stimulates me,” he once said). In 1948, he married Kitty Garman, the daughter of the sculptor Jacob Epstein, whom he depicted in several portraits, notably “Girl With Roses,” “Girl With a Kitten” (1947) and “Girl With a White Dog” (1950-51). That marriage ended in divorce, as did his second marriage, to Lady Caroline Blackwood. He is survived by many children from his first marriage and from a series of romantic relationships.I particularly like Freud's portraits of Blackwood. Robert Lowell was clutching one when he died.
Thank you for posting.
For me Lucien Freud was the most significant post war portrait artist in Britain and his status as such reaches beyond our shores.
I remember seeing him walking through Soho and I thought,"My God", his own face appears to be produced in the manner of one of his own portraits with its deep lines and various hues.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jul/21/lucien-lucian-freud-obituary?intcmp=239
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Great links, leonid. Thank you. A tradition the BBC can be proud of.
Thank you.
With so much dumbing down on British television, it is a breath of fresh air and a welcome event for those that cannot attend in person.
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Anybody know details of this? A French announcer, I don't know most of the dancers - the occasion? And a speech and the Dying Swan before the coda.
It appears to be from the film of the 2010 New Year Gala held in the Maryinsky.
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That extraordinary British event the BBC Promenade Concerts running from the 15th July to September 10 is underway with yesterdays first night. My early encounter with this institution was encouraged by my trombone playing father. It was then broadcast by the old BBC Radio Third Programme. Later as a student I met lasting friends among the groups of noisy, but not uncouth young people who stood silently for several hours listening intently without any sense of tiring.
With every concert broadcast live on radio and made more popular with 25 concerts broadcast on television, it truly remains is a British institution listened to right across the UK.
For a list of concerts downloads are available at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms - as is the Daily Prom Guide giving information on a key composer and works each day.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jul/16/first-night-proms-bbcso-belohlavek-review
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Robert Ivey Founder of Ivey Ballet, Charleston has died.
Link to obituary http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/jul/16/ivey-ballet-founder-dancer-dies/
Raymonda-1898 - premiere reports
in La Scala Ballet
Posted
Of course I should have said Novikova was new to the role as in this reconstruction.
I can well imagine, Legnani and Kschessinskaya performing loud slaps and I cannot believe that Petipa set such a loose epaulement when conjuring up an otherwise characterful Hungarian flavour. It just doesn't fit the fullness of expression that Petipa brings to the other roles.