Hans

The tutu was gaudy, but I'm sure it looks much better on the Bolshoi stage surrounded by a glittery crowd of people. A lot of things would look gaudy on the small, bare Eisenhower stage.

Perfect ! Now we just need people for Janet, Columbia (is that her name?) and those freaky siblings

Maxim Belotserkovsky as Rocky. Nilas Martins as Brad. Any suggestions for the other parts?

Come to think of it, Ballet Idol could be a lot of fun . It could be held at the Met or State Theater and broadcast on PBS. It could have a different theme each week, just like the real one: Petipa, Balanchine, Bournonville, &c., and each contestant would have to dance a variation. Scores on technique, costume, line, &c. Beverly Sills as Ryan Seacrest. It's perfect! It's kind of like the Prix de Lausanne, but with more hype and audience participation

All my Dance Magazines live in shoeboxes, which seem as if they would hold programs pretty well.

Ballet Idol . I think the judges should be Suki Schorer, Anastasia Volokova, and Sylvie Guillem. One of the local radio stations had a "Classical Idol" contest, which was lots of fun (well, it was for me ). Think if there was a Ballet Idol people would flock to it and hold signs saying "Crazy for Cornejo" or "Wailin' for Whelan?"

I just read something interesting in the Simon & Schuster Book of the Ballet: that La Vivandiere was not choreographed by St. Léon, but rather by Fanny Cerrito, the only female choreographer besides Taglioni at the time. Any truth to this?

Or Temptation Island as a ballet: Can Aurora and Désiré's perfect relationship survive the wiles of the heartbroken Bathilde??? Actually, I think I just described Swan Lake. Uh-oh, new ad campaign for ballet companies!!!! "Swan Lake, the Original 'Temptation Island'" :green:

Sleeping Beauty would be more appropriate

Perfect, Old Fashioned! I can't wait to see what people come up with . If it's hard to express "mother-in-law" in classical mime, I wonder how one would show the plot of, say, "Sex and the City." :shrug:

This was sparked by the Houston Ballet thread, on which Alexandra (sorry, don't mean to heap all the "blame" on you!) suggested the idea of story ballets aimed at the MTV/video game generation. I've come up with "The Legend of Zelda" (a video game) in ballet form, which actually could be interesting. It doesn't have to be based on a video game, but what are some ideas for pop culture story ballets? Perhaps a ballet version of The Simpsons or Friends :green:

I just had a horrifying idea: The Legend of Zelda as a ballet! I think I need to start a new thread.... :speechless:

:offtopic: (sorry!) IMO, if they're filling their minds with MTV and video games, they have an even greater need than we do for culture! But it should be "real" culture...not a watered-down version.

I read something about a waltz in a Petipa ballet calling for 60 couples but am not sure which ballet it was in. Imagine having a corps containing more than 120 men and women! Does anyone know if the waltz from the betrothal scene of Bayadere called for couples?

Just wanted to make the point that if you look at the original choreography of the classics, they actually did call for a great many men in the corps! For example, the garland waltz was originally meant to be danced by couples, as was the waltz in Act I of Swan Lake, and (I think) the Waltz of the Flowers in the Nutcracker. Not to mention the galop at the end of Sleeping Beauty, the mazurka in Act III of Swan Lake (which is listed in the score as a "general" dance for the court, not a Polish divertissement), all of which makes me wonder if perhaps the ballets were changed because of the lack of men when they were done by western companies, not the other way round.

My favorite is most definitely "Diamonds."

I see. Thank you for clarifying .

I had my first music history class today, and we are studying the Baroque and "Classic" periods. My professor (he says other music historians do this too) uses "classic" so that people won't be confused as so often happens with Classical/classical--they could mean either "classical music" in general, the Classical period, or refer to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Interestingly, I know someone mentioned that ballet borrows the terms of its period from other arts such as music, but my professor today said that music borrows them from literature and painting! Goodness knows what the English and art professors would say...

I'd like variety as well (how can you do Swan Lake without tall swans and small swans?), but some general qualities I prefer are: Slim but not skeletal and not over-muscled Expressive face and port de bras Proportionate limbs (not too long, not too short) I'd also like them not to have exaggeratedly high arches or flexible feet (though to a point that's a good thing ) and a sense of harmony and what is appropriate (in terms of extension, pirouettes, &c) for each ballet. Not to mention a very strong jump and some sort of interest in other art forms in order to make their dancing/acting richer.

That was one of the easiest decisions I've ever made--Ayupova!

Don't forget Catherine the Great!

Getting 42 people to all do the same thing at the same time is a bravura feat, IMO! I understand the points about energy being more important than everyone being in a straight line, but it is possible to have both. Not only is the schooling a problem at NYCB, but so is the lack of rehearsal time, something many companies face these days, which makes it even more incredible that the Maryinsky corps is so perfect--they tour so much one wonders whether they ever have time to rehearse at all! The reason a coordinated corps de ballet does not look like robots is that they have to be connected on some level--the music, breath, awareness of the person next to them, &c. These are connections between conscious beings, not robots who have been turned on at the same time but run on forever in a void.

"Book of the Ballet" says it was almost six hours long--though I would love to see a 12-hour long ballet , especially one as magnificent as this seems to have been. I also love that the choreographer, Belgioioso, was appointed not only violinist and choreographer, but also Master of Revels. Great title I'm really excited about the historical dance class, too; I will be sure to post about it at every opportunity.

I'm sure it does cover a lot of territory, Alexandra, especially when you consider that (as I think you posted somewhere else) ballet began long before Catherine de Medici, and even the Ballet Comique de la Reine was not the first of her ballets at the French court, just the one we seem to know the most about--there's a awonderful description of it in "Book of the Ballet;" it seems to have been very long and elaborate.

[AT editing to add: this thread has been split off from the Ballet History Time Line, which has now been made a sticky, and includes links to web resources for art, music, theater and history of literature. This explains why Hans' post seems to begin a thread rather abruptly!] I have the Clarke/Crisp book too, Alexandra (the one with the hideous orange cover, right?). The only other book I have that might be considered any sort of history book is The Simon & Schuster Book of the Ballet, which is really just a catalogue of ballets starting with the Ballet Comique de la Reine. Great descriptions where possible, but doesn't attempt to say anything about the various periods. I think "Imperial Ballet" is the perfect name for the time of Petipa .