Mel Johnson

My reading is that he's a craftsman/artist of great genius, who has lived solely for his art of dollmaking, and has grown into himself so far, that he has excluded the rest of the world, until, Frankenstein-like, he creates "company" for himself - his "daughter", Coppelia. So, yes, he is a crackpot, and because of his genius, possibly even dangerous, but he is thwarted in his plot to steal actual life for his creation, and is brought "up-to-date" on the problems of having a wilful child by Swanhilda in masquerade. The Royal used to have a way of softening the ending and making a "well-made play" out of the story, by, instead of having Coppelius grabbing the money and running, taking the purse upstage when he sat on a bench, glumly contemplating it. As the divertissement continued, and mostly in the breaks between numbers, byplay happened with the town children - "What's the matter, mister?" "My baby has died!" "Oh, you poor man, Mommy, Daddy, come help this poor man - he just lost a child!" After awhile, Coppelius was inviting the townspeople in, light was seen lit in the shop, happy families were admiring, and PURCHASING the Doctor's lesser former creations, and Coppelius joins in the final toast to the happy couple of Swanhilda and Franz by sending down a hook on a string to claim his glass of wine - carrying a real little girl in his arm, and the parents patting him on the back, and coveting his attention, like a favorite old uncle come back from nowhere!

Coppelia must be taken seriously by an audience, even if they know it's a comedy! And it must be taken seriously by the dancers, as well! Problems erupt for a "comic" ballet (or comic anything) that falls somewhere between cheap yox, and High Truth!

Doug, I couldn't agree with you more about the infusion of philology and psychology into the steps chosen for a given ballet. It's been a long-held opinion with me that the choreographers of those nineteenth-century ballets were just trying to be "iconic" - to find a mental picture that would spell that ballet to the viewer. Now, maybe you can help me - in the second shade's variation in Bayadere, is the "signature" the cabriole, and in the diagonals across the stage, does the caesura/pause in the music happen on an extended end to a cabriole ouverte? Then, the music picks up on a piqué arabesque and so forth.... Often wondered if that were Petipa or the effect of Chabukiani/Vaganova and/or others. It's a cherished memory, though, for me, as it was the first way I ever saw the variation performed, by a dancer named Inessa Korneyeva, with the Kirov in 1964.

Doug, I couldn't agree with you more about the infusion of philology and psychology into the steps chosen for a given ballet. It's been a long-held opinion with me that the choreographers of those nineteenth-century ballets were just trying to be "iconic" - to find a mental picture that would spell that ballet to the viewer. Now, maybe you can help me - in the second shade's variation in Bayadere, is the "signature" the cabriole, and in the diagonals across the stage, does the caesura/pause in the music happen on an extended end to a cabriole ouverte? Then, the music picks up on a piqué arabesque and so forth.... Often wondered if that were Petipa or the effect of Chabukiani/Vaganova and/or others. It's a cherished memory, though, for me, as it was the first way I ever saw the variation performed, by a dancer named Inessa Korneyeva, with the Kirov in 1964.

Wendy, "red fire" was a very common and popular effect used in many late nineteenth-century operas and ballet. Gilbert and Sullivan even used it in The Sorcerer. I'm not sure of the chemistry involved, except that it was liquid and was set off manually. The Royal (and innumerable rock shows) used fire in one of its Act III Swan Lakes, but this is easier to control using modern technology. If Bronia were recalling character shoes on the Lilac fairy, she doubtless has reference to the last act entrance, where the Lilac Fairy appears en suite. Why don't you take a look at the "Great Ballets" section of the main Ballet Alert! site? Beauty is one of the ballets that's up, and contains a synopsis of invited guests to the wedding feast.

Wendy, "red fire" was a very common and popular effect used in many late nineteenth-century operas and ballet. Gilbert and Sullivan even used it in The Sorcerer. I'm not sure of the chemistry involved, except that it was liquid and was set off manually. The Royal (and innumerable rock shows) used fire in one of its Act III Swan Lakes, but this is easier to control using modern technology. If Bronia were recalling character shoes on the Lilac fairy, she doubtless has reference to the last act entrance, where the Lilac Fairy appears en suite. Why don't you take a look at the "Great Ballets" section of the main Ballet Alert! site? Beauty is one of the ballets that's up, and contains a synopsis of invited guests to the wedding feast.

There was never another act, but at one point Gautier and St.-Georges were considering a different first act. The scene would have been a ballroom, and the Wilis and Myrtha would appear early to enchant the floor to make the dancers dance unstoppably. Gautier nixed the idea because the peasant/noble interplay allowed him more room for his anti-establishment Romanticism to make its point. If they had gone ahead with the first idea, it would have been an eery precursor to Balanchine's version of "La Valse"!

There was never another act, but at one point Gautier and St.-Georges were considering a different first act. The scene would have been a ballroom, and the Wilis and Myrtha would appear early to enchant the floor to make the dancers dance unstoppably. Gautier nixed the idea because the peasant/noble interplay allowed him more room for his anti-establishment Romanticism to make its point. If they had gone ahead with the first idea, it would have been an eery precursor to Balanchine's version of "La Valse"!

ABT's old Patineurs costumes were designed by Cecil Beaton. Royal and almost everyone else used the original William Chappell designs. [ 06-01-2001: Message edited by: Mel Johnson ]

I'm both with you and without you on this one. The clatter of pointe shoes across a stage is a bit distracting, yes, but for me, it carries with it the recollection of the old Metropolitan Opera House in NYC, with its near-perfect acoustics. Lousy sight lines and all, I miss the old place! There was a story that used to be told of the place: Once, in a performance of Lucia di Lammermoor, the sextet had proceeded as advertised, sounding wonderful, and at the grand pause before the final notes, from somewhere out of the chorus was heard, "...and two eggs...."

I learned it from Vitale Fokine, and it is a bear to do correctly, not only because of the langour of the tempi and the absolute necessity of symmetry throughout, but the style is not truly Romantic, but the first of the Neo-Romantics!

Unfortunately, the only recording of Lanchbery's Fille is long out=of-print in the US. You may have to take the music off the video. (But don't tell anybody I told you to do that! Copyright problems) Now, Welcome to Ballet Talk. I've taken your email address off your post in the interest of your own security.

Kinda hard to check, now, as Wilma passed on last year.

And having mentioned Miss Stuart, how dare I short Agrippina Vaganova, who reshaped the whole face of the Russian school of classic ballet?

And don't forget Muriel Stuart, whose book The Classic Ballet was and is a work which shaped the modern standard of classic technique. This besides Miss Stuart's long and fruitful teaching career.

Dorothy Alexander, founder of the Atlanta Ballet, and Audrey Estee, founder of the Princeton Civic Ballet, which has today become the American Repertory Ballet. Maria Tallchief, who proved once and for all that REAL Americans can too dance this here ballet stuff.

I do recall that the Johnson White House was host to both the Joffrey and the Harkness Ballets - how's that for bipartisanship? It was before I was with the co., however. I believe the Joffrey also had a performance at the Kennedy White House, and the '65 Johnson Inaugural featured NYCB performing, what else, "Stars & Stripes"! But I believe Victoria was with ABT for the Kennedy performance.

Sing to the opening bars of "Symphonic Variations": Margot FONteyn, Moira SHEARer, Michael SOMES, Brian SHAW, Henry DANton...and PAMela May. [ 05-13-2001: Message edited by: Mel Johnson ]

Those interested in the output of composers would be well-advised to consult the New Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, which should be available in most library reference departments. You can find some pretty different composers writing for ballet, and liturgical music, and all sorts of surprises!

Regarding the Colonel, he sometimes used the Trib like a regiment in the 1st Infantry Division, entering into a story and becoming part of it, but that was part of its raffish charm. The NY Times picked up on the changeover of philanthropies and reported it as straight news, thereby entering into the journalistic "gotcha game" that still goes around.

Good to hear that the spirit of Col. McCormack is still alive and well at the Trib. Actually, one of the factors in the Joffrey's settling in Chicago was the Trib's active solicitation, of which they made no secret, for them to come and present Nutcracker. Chicago was always a Joffrey-friendly venue as a touring company, and now has been very gracious about accepting them as a "home team". The company is a little larger than half the size it was at its largest back in Manhattan, and uses block programming, rather than repertory scheduling, but that's not unusual these days. So far, so good, in regard to how the company is doing these days, and a lot has to do with the quality of the dancer that the Joffrey has customarily attracted, and the highly capable middle management of the artistic staff, both on- and offstage.

Maybe it would, and maybe it wouldn't. The point is, though, that they do present a Nutcracker, and yes it is a revenue-enhancer. Any wonderings about whys and wherefores is a historian's after-dinner party game - "What if", and although entertaining to play, isn't really addressing real-world situations; what if Arpino had died instead of Joffrey? What if Ballet Chicago hadn't built an audience, and then was unable to do much performing? They can go on forever, but they're not really worth a lot in terms of explaining what actually is.

Syncopation, normally, I might leave this here, but Recent Performances could use a little stimulation. I think I'll send it there, and no apology needed. Dunno what the ruling is on images, but I like the little rookie Digimon, or whatever she is!

She was also featured in Gene Kelly's dancetravaganza Invitation to the Dance, and had a bit part in Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain.

Yes, it does imply that connection between Graham and Cecchetti, but what I think she may have meant was that the Nijinski was the connection in terms of hermeneutic. (You remember hermen? One of the eutic boys.) I don't think it's necessary to have been schooled directly by one or the other masters on either side in order to be an aesthetic bridge between the two schools of thought. Sometimes, it just happens.