Pamela Moberg

Yes, sir, I did meet Massine! Or, to be closer to the truth, I curtsied (a well brought up girl did that in those days when she saw a superior or older person). Anyway, I might have told this story before on this board, please forgive me for repeating myself. Anyway, in 1956 or 7, I was a pupil in the theater school - Massine was invited to mount "Gaitee Parisienne" and "Les Sylphides" and something more. I went through my old programs but could not find that one, of course. I usually pride myself on keeping things in order, but obviously not... Anyway, this 1956 or 57 - here we had a choreographer of world repute who came to a hole in the wall with dancers to match (OK, I know I am being cruel here, but I am also honest). What on earth brought him to Gothenburg? The theater was a municipal one, it couldnt have been the money... I will never understand this, but at least I have glimpsed a bit of ballet history which I treasure to this day. Yes, folks, I saw him live!!! Still can't believe it to this day - such a bit of dance history :mondieu:

Yes, folks, I do watch those old video tapes and I have found that I always come back to just two of them - viewing now rationed a bit, must make new copies. "Tzigane" with Farrell and Martins and "Giselle" with Maximova and Vassiliev. Then, there was another one, sadly deleted by accident, not for the dancing, but for the production. It was done in a technique called chromakey (I might be spelling it wrongly), but it was done only for TV by Birgit Cullberg. Old posters might remember that I am not a great fan of neither Cullberg nor Ek. But this was called "Red wine in green glasses" and it was really beautiful - the dancers were in real life crawling about on a pale blue floor and these images were then superimposed on paintings depicting green foliage. The result was that the dancers seemed to be dancing among the leaves in the treetops. Great stuff and I am very sorry indeed that it has disappeared. Anybody heard about or seen this TV ballet?

My dear, I do think that your Chiarelli sounds like a quite normal politician. They do it all over the place, in Europe too. Life is not getting any easier or more pleasant.

Here we go. From a fresh newspaper, the rep. for the Spring season:- "A Midsummer nights dream" Chor. John Neumeier, music Mendelssohn-Batholdy, György Ligeti and others. "Great Masters of Dance" Allegro Brillante (Balanchine-Tchaikovsky) Symphony of Psalms (Kylian-Stravinsky) Apartment (Mats Ek - Fläskkvartetten (live) ) "Swan Lake" (Petipa, Ivanov & Wright) Well, that seems to be all. Not that much if one considers that the season stretches to June 19. Further info: www.operan.se - they probably have some info in English as well.

I just noticed that the forum for Swedish Royal Ballet is stone dead, not a single poster. Jörgen, have you been there? Well, I must explain, I live on the west coast of Sweden - to travel to Stockholm and back you need two days and have to spend the night somewhere. Jörgen lives even further south - even longer travel. Jörgen, on the other hand, is closer to Copenhagen. I am close to the Atlantic - looking out, the next thing you would see from here would be Nova Scotia. Now, however, I have a list of the Stockholm Opera Ballet rep. for the season and I would like to post that. Going into Foreign ballet comp. I just could not enter Swedish Op. Bal. forum. It just stuck and I couldnt get any further. Forum closed down or what, or do we just need some gymnastics here? Please help!

Thanks, Glebb, but will I ever get to Boston? Future looks dark at the moment... That brings to mind, I did have a pair of autographed shoes (Gambas) from RB ballerina Beryl Grey, I got them sometime in the fifties. When I turned out my mother´s fairly large apartment, I seached but could not find them. Alas, she might have thought that it could have been a pair of my old shoes and had thrown them in the bin.

Yeah, I would just love an old autographed shoe!!! If it was Taglioni's, of course. Now, I have a photo of her shoes, that will have to do... :grinning:

Querido Sylvi, or querida? Yes, I have read the book. yet somehow, reading those books again make me sad. I have met a lot of those people, they are dead now. There is one consolation, though, when I met them, they were famous, OK; but they still struggled and tried by the skin of their teeth to get jobs just about anywhere. I remember specially Massine, who, in 1957 or something came to Gothenburg Sweden (of all godforsaken places) to a ballet company that could hardly stand on its feet, and he mounted some of his works. And he was a great choreographer and ballet master. What it amounts to, is that we all have to struggle, and if we have a glorious moment here and there, we must be grateful, but never take success for granted. Who knows, in times to come, we will also be remembered and discussed on boards like this!

Thankyou so much, Mel, for providing that site. Useful to read, especially when one has elderly people in the family.

Dear Mel, Please dont take offence, but the guy's name is "Johansson", which is the proper Swedish spelling. Johansen would be Norwegian or Danish. I will sort his name out. I have a copy of his birth certificate so I ought to know. He was christened Pehr Christian. Here the mind boggles för a start... Pehr!!?? Normal spelling is simply Per. to this day - also name of my tenant and he is 50 something. Christian!? In those day normal people spelt it plain "Kristian". I, myself, is at a loss of this mode of spelling in 1817. I smell a rat... Something weird and mysterious here, just judging by the spelling of first names. Then, when J. went to Russia, he called himself Christian Petrovich Yoganson. Ok, that Petrovich thing would allude to his father (who was he?). In Russian, the Petrovich thing would mean that he is the son on Peter (or Pjotr). I gave given up long time ago, we will never know the truth about this. But it is still Johansson and nothing else! With double "s"!!!

I know it wont be easy, but by hook or by crook I have to acquire a video of Verdy. Until then, I will live on memories of a glorious past (hers, not mine). Yes, sir, I actually took class with her a few times, way back in the fifties when she was in London. This was at Mercury Theatre. Teacher was Eileen Ward, anyone knows anything about her these days? Lovely memories... Verdy was so joyful and fun, but I was in too much awe to dare to speak to her. Ward was my favorite teacher.

I saw the traditional New Year Concert on TV today. The ballet soloist was Jose Carreno - choreography by Eifman. Fabulous guy! I have never seen him before - but this was really something! Then, I suppose one must make allowances for that he danced in a newly restored palace and the flooring, beautiful as it was, was not suitable for ballet and it must have hampered him somewhat. Anybody else saw that concert?

Yes, "Nuts" is short for Nutcracker! Well, about the Nuts in Stockholm (besides, yesterday it was a gala performance of that ballet for the Queen's birthday). Though, I don't know if I would like to call that Nuts :rolleyes: The title of the work (by Isberg) is actually "Petter och Lottas jul" (Petter and Lotta's Christmas) and it is based on a fairy tale by the Swedish writer Elsa Beskow. God Jul!

In my local paper I read the following:- "Gothenburg Opera has lost audience. During the first eleven months of 2003 there were about 10.000 (yes, ten grand) spectators less compared to the same period the previous year. Mainly the ballet productions had low attendance, but there are hopes that new spectators will be gained with "The sound of music". End of quote. Well, maybe the fault of the choice of ballets shown? I must admit I have not attended even once. Reason: nothing of interest. Sad state of affairs, indeed. Not being a particular fan of "Nuts" myself, I cannot help wondering if they had it for Christmas - it might boost that poor box office. :angry:

Vagansmom, interesting that you mentioned Marianne Fredriksson - so she is being translated into English. Well, I never... Yes, she is very popular in Sweden, but I tried one of her books - sorry, it was not my kind of stuff. By that I have not said that her books are bad, they are just not what I enjoy reading. However, congratulations to MF, she is obviously doing very well. While I am at it, I would like to ask if any member has ever heard of some children's book by Sven Nordquist - text and illustrations - about the old man Pettson and his cat Findus? Lovely stuff indeed.

Mel, have you checked Ivor Guest's biography on Elssler? I have it somewhere, but dont seem to be able to lay my hands on it. Anyway, Guest is always reliable. :rolleyes:

No, Dido, moderators do not sleep, nor do posters. Allow me to quote an old Swedish poet - "night is not for sleep..."

Well Jörgen, somehow - with the help of Susanne - we must get some life into this forum. Daughter Eva cannot concentrate on her studies or sleep or eat or whatever, until she knows exactly what you thought of her former classmate (and neighbour)Sebastian Michanek. He has won some prizes, is he good, is he That good? What was your opinion? Honest now!

Culture!? Are you kidding! It is not exactly thick on the ground. Recently I did my twice yearly sweep on Swedish culture, ballet to be more exact, there wasn't much. OK, there was page up and page down with links, but nothing serious, schools for kiddies and a few amateur things. Nothing at all substantial.

Sorry about this query, move it if I am in the wrong forum! I just thought the cat smilie was so cute, I put it in. What does it actually mean? To my defence I must add that I love cats, I have a lovely Russian blue. Just couldn't help it! :cat:

Yes, Kate B., What I really tooted for here was my old flat in Tottenham Court Road, no. 35. Walking distance of just about everything - do you really understand what I mean? Now, if I want to attend something - major arrangements - major plans - major undertakings. One usually ends up in front of the TV... Such is life sometimes... I do not really like all those hooters and tooters, but sometimes they are fun, when you really want to make a point. Here's another one:

Lost in the deep countryside without access to a live performance, BA gives me purpose of life every evening - I just love it. Thinking back, I dont really know how I could have managed without all those interesting and educating posts, sometimes posting myself when I felt there was something I could contribute. I echo all those posters above - and I will just add that it has meant so much to my life. :cat: :bouncing: :party:

As rg suggested, all the books are very useful, especially the first, by John Gregory. There is (was) a Legat School in England, based in Tring not far from London in my days. I believe they moved to another location - sure they didnt fold. You could find them on the web and write directly to them. Just as an aside - Pehr Christian Johansson's favorite pupils were the Legat brothers, who in turn taught Cleo Nordi who was my teacher. How is that for tradition? I have mostly done Legat style - very pure, simple, no frills - I liked it.

Lovely to read all your speculations, especially Amy won't let go - she is going to ferret out the truth! Wonderful, I really enjoy this!!! However, I have my own private ideas about this, which I am not going to put here as it could be read by anyone - yeah, kinda classified... Anyway, I do not want to deprive anyone of their sleep thinking about this until dawn, so we can do like this. I can send private mails to those who absolutely want to know what I have figured out. Or rather, what I think might be a logical explanation. Any takers on this offer?

Dear Alexandra, Amy, Paul and Mel, Thankyou all very much for your interest in Johansson! And Alexandra, I do visit most nights, mostly very briefly - five minutes or so - then I just read the news and do not log in. Sometimes I read everything and log in. Sheer laziness on my part, I apologize! Maybe you would prefer me to log on even if the duration of my visit is only a few minutes. Well, now to Johansson. When I started translating his letters to Bournonville I was immediately struck by the difficulties. His language was very varied, always correct (both spelling and grammar). My God, where did he acquire that education? My problem was to translate it into a language that didn't seem quaint but yet conveyed the feel of that epoch. Another point here, Swedish has changed much more over the years than English - I had some help from an old dictionary printed in 1890. Going back to 1700 or thereabouts, educated people peppered their Swedish with French expressions - not so educated people did the same - often with hilarious results. Then French fell out of fashion and German became the craze (that ended in 1945). Now it is English, likewise hilarious results. People buy one "scarves" or they send "mejl" (phonetic spelling of mail). About Johansson I really do think that Mel has hit the nail on the head. Ballets in those days sometimes contained folksy clog dances and as opposed to this real classical ballet. In other words pas d'ecole. Johansson also uses the word "pas" a lot; "Selinder could not arrange pas" - in stead of saying that Selinder could not do choreography. But this word ecole is still used in Swedish today, but now properly translated into "skol", no, nothing to do with "Skål" (notice sp.) which means "cheers". F.ex. today we talk of "skolmedicin" as opposed to "alternativmedicin". I have not bothered to translate those two words as they can be easily understood by everybody. It is very interesting to trace a word and see how it first entered a language and then either disappeared or in some cases changed meaning over the years. The linguists today are very worried that Swedish is dying out fast to be replaced with American English - 200 or so years ago they said the same thing, only then they feared the French language. There was also another word, used a lot by both Johansson and Bournonville. This time Italian "furore". That meant raving success, the audience almost exploding. Again, I want to thank you all for taking such an interest! If any more things like this will crop up, please ask me, I will be only too glad to discuss it. And think of what Johansson will feel up there in his heaven, a world wide conversation going on about him... Off topic, but this is strange. Johansson made his formal debut in Marriage of Figaro, act III. So did I at age 15...