Mel Johnson

Well, it's been done! Both of 'em.(see the original post of this thread et seq.)

Ah, Mary, you've just become a dance historian, probably without meaning to! Yes, the Joffrey Ballet was centered in New York, and later, bicoastally, in Los Angeles, when Mr. Joffrey was still alive, but the company is now The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and continues to produce, continuing the philosophy of its founder, Robert Joffrey under the Artistic Direction of Gerald Arpino, backed by the the very excellent ballet master staff headed by Mark Goldweber. Its school, however, is still very capably managed, in NYC at 434 Avenue of the Americas, by Edith d'Addario, Mr. Joffrey's former Executive Secretary, and has some fine teachers, including Francesca Corkle, Trinette Singleton, Eleanor d'Antuono, and John Magnus. [ 08-19-2001: Message edited by: Mel Johnson ]

And for those wishing a "package deal", there is a recording of Abbey Simon playing these works as part of the same set in a Complete Works of Chopin recording available via the Amazon.com link at the banner heading every page of this site! (Ballet Alert gets a kickback! Everybody buy!) The CDs are available as singles, so keep scrolling down the list until you find what you're looking for. In the US, it's still available as VB 5002.

Is there something I'm missing? There's more than one "Joffrey Ballet"? Seriously, though, the point is well taken, as sometimes, there are "Festival Ballets" (after London Festival Ballet, now English National Ballet) for which there are no accompanying festivals!

Let's all extend congratulations to young Dan and best wishes for continued success in his career! Huzza!

Emily, the bug thing is old, old as the hills. Not only did Balanchine do one on that theme in the early 1950s, but Marie Taglioni (!) had a ballet called "The Butterfly" which featured creature transformations. Of course, this was a magic butterfly, in Persia, but there still were "metamorphoses".

During the era of Louis XIV, court etiquette (the term dates from then) grew to be an extremely complex and convoluted matter, and attendants upon certain persons was rigidly codified under the authority of the King, who often preserved "ancient privileges and prerogatives" in his selection of appropriate retinues for his subordinates and himself. Under certain circumstances, the Duchess of Burgundy could have more attendants than a Princess of the Blood Royal! But all this hearks back to Louis himself, and the concept of the rightness of the Absolute Divine Right Monarchy. Ludwig II may have been called "Mad King Ludwig", but his stand in favor of absolutism was much admired in late-19th-century Russia. I recently discovered a set of hunt silver made in Russia in 1876, according to the hallmarks on the pieces, and they were highly decorated with swans! I learned, from following up with some research, that the swan was very popular as a design motif in the 1875-1885 era in Russia, largely as a tribute to Ludwig's championship of absolutism! [ 08-19-2001: Message edited by: Mel Johnson ]

I think the swan angle may have something to do with the geographical location of whereveritis in Germany the ballet is supposed to take place. The swan has been a heraldric charge in Bavaria, specifically of the Royal Family, the Wittelsbachs. Ludwig II took this aspect of his heritage to an extreme, as he did with so much of it. So maybe the ballet is supposed to be set in southern Germany in some principality or tributary state of Bavaria?

A similar skirt disaster happened with David Wall and Lynn Seymour in Mayerling during the bedroom pas de deux. A bit raveled off, then more and more and more! Wall tried to tear the fabric off, but he only succeeded in loosening more of it. pretty soon, they stopped trying to dance with one another, and started dancing with the fabric! One commentator said, "They looked like two piles of rags possessed by the Devil!"

They started life as échappés, I believe, and go back a good long ways, maybe all the way to Legnani. Doug?

I wonder if anyone has encountered the story "The Stolen Veil" from Johann Musäus Popular German Legends? That's the root story from which the libretto is supposed to have sprung. What creatures are involved there? >silly season again >Porcupines?< Q. How do you make love? A. VERY carefully! Which would be a distinct improvement over some presentations I've seen. [ 08-18-2001: Message edited by: Mel Johnson ] [ 08-19-2001: Message edited by: Mel Johnson ]

There we go! Fusion! Great Lousy Idea!

If memory doesn't play tricks on me, I think that would be about 1969-70, when Mr. B. was appearing as Don Q a lot, and always unadvertised.

The second Kirov tour was in 1964; I have very vivid memories of both Kolpakova and Sizova in that season. They brought a complete Raymonda, and my first exposure to her was in that ballet. I saw other things and other people that season, but Kolpakova stands out for the honesty of her presentation, and simplicity of expression. Beautiful technique and glamour didn't hurt, either!

By Jove, Estelle, you're right! Thanks for the memory jog! Chujoy and P.W.(Bill) Manchester were the editors of the late, lamented journal, but Horst wrote a lot of the modern and pre-classic reviews.

I certainly remember Mason! First really came to my attention as the Chosen Maiden in MacMillan's "Rite of Spring". Amazing, just from the point of stamina and the intensity of dance acting. She got the "strong" roles as a soloist, like the Fairy of the Golden Vine (finger variation) in the prologue in Sleeping Beauty. She also did the cabriole variation in Bayadére. I was a little surprised when she took over the role of Nikiya in that one, which requires more delicacy, but she was just fine! Likewise her Odette, but Odile was all about POWER! She went on to character parts, like Carabosse, and gave the old girl some glamour! A very impressive dancer!

In the interest of forum integrity and staying on-topic, I'm going to move this thread to Anything Goes, where it's more likely to receive more visibility and input. The ballet of present consideration on this forum (transferred from Ballets in detail) is Swan Lake. [ 08-14-2001: Message edited by: Mel Johnson ]

This most thoughtful and information-filled article points up the rising concern for clarity in copyright, and the ungainly and exorbitant (IMO) procedures the copyright law places on the copyright holders/creators of dance. Now, even using phrases may constitute infringement of copyright, and may be actionable. :eek: One wonders how "fair use" is decided in the such cases? Number of steps? Measures? Elapsed clock time?

NOW you're talking! I once submitted an idea for a ballet based on Life of the Slime Mold, but somebody told me it had been done. Here's a REALLY lousy idea: There's this fella, see, and he's gonna hafta get married to some gal his mom (a real pushy mom) has picked for him, and he's out hunting with the boys to take his mind off his troubles, and all of a sudden he sees this SWAN turn into a REAL WOMAN!... What's that? It's been done? Never mind.

And I don't think Taylor used 4'33", I think he just stood there in silence for about five minutes. (Didn't Anatole Chujoy devote three whole column inches of blank space in Dance News to a review of this piece?) Now to make it a ballet, he would stand in 5th position! Come on, gang, there are a lot more better fershtoonkener ideas for truly execrable ballets before we exhaust August, and this topic! We're actually verging on actual critical thought, and we can't have that in the Silly Season! As to music visualization ballets: how about an abstract ballet set to Brahms' 2nd Symphony with the ballerina part cued to the second oboe? [ 08-14-2001: Message edited by: Mel Johnson ]

I wonder if the triangle of white is functional elastic or kidskin anymore, the way they used to be, or if they're just cosmetics, done with shoe dye.

One of the things working against Act IV, maybe, is the same sort of thing working against Act II in a lot of musical comedies - how do we tie all this off and finish, already? Last act problems are almost a cliché in the production history of musicals, and some have "solved" the problem by making loooong one-acts out of them. Some productions of Swan have ended with Act III, even, when Siegfried runs from the scene back to the lake.

Well, she can't go wrong with starting her day "Jak sie masz?" (How do you do?), and "Prosze to powtorsyc" is always handy in rehearsal (Please say that again.), as is "Co to znaczy" (What does this mean?), and for uncooperative partners and irritating directors, there's always, "Sal' ma duppa!" What that? Oh Ballerina polish! I thought you said ballerina Polish! Never mind! ;) [ 08-07-2001: Message edited by: Mel Johnson ]

Autumn, most of the versions of Giselle we see today are based on Petipa's revisions/redactions of the Coralli/Perrot original, and the task of unscrambling the later material from the earlier has not yet been completed.

Not exactly a bad ballet idea, but Glazunov's "Scenes de Ballet" have always intrigued me, especially the beautiful pas d'action. (Used by Ashton in "Birthday Offering") Now, the music isn't from any ballets at all, it just sounds like ballet music. I've always wanted to do this as a pas d'action from a "lost" ballet with a "lost" libretto by the redoutable Leo Tolstoi and his cast of thousands, especially the part where the ballerina is doing a one-hand promenade with her partner and the entire Preobrazhensky Guard goes charging across the stage....