Alexandra

Re Mercutio/Mandolin, when it was first staged at ABT those that new combined role was given to Johan Renvall, who could carry it off. (You knew his Mercutio had read a book or nine.) But since then it's turned into a jester role, as Cargill said. Michael, regarding the Romeo and Juliet score, it was originally a shorter ballet, and music was added (and repeated) to fill out an evening -- the "classical symphony" was grafted on. So maybe that's at least partly why it's so choppy. Regarding "Cinderella," there's a good video of the Ashton out now (Sibley and Dowell). He cuts the character dance music when the Prince goes around the world looking for Cinderella's foot. That helps. I don't mind "Cinderella" as much as "R&J" as music, but that's just taste. Anecdote: When Balanchine saw the Ashton "Romeo and Juliet" in Copenhagen, Volkova asked him what he thought, and he reportedly replied: "Prokofiev should have stayed in Russia."

What a lovely dismount I think your point about the differences in ranking among countries is a good one -- it's obviously not possible to give the same standardized test, and, as I'm sure you know better than I, there are pitched battles in the States, among the states, about "it's not fair to rank us lower than them because our tests are harder" and I'm sure this is quite possible. I do remember, though, in Admiral Rickover's books on the Dismal and Appalling State of American Education, Good God, Those Middies Can't Even Read the Poky Little Puppy Much Less Write a Coherent Declaration of War, the good Admiral included an essay written by a Swiss high school student in a school for the mentally retarded -- written in English, not translated -- and one from an American student, not in special ed. The Swiss kid won. (Yes, yes, this is anecdotal, but it was effective.)

Phaedra, someone else asked the same question -- the discussion is on the thread below this one titled 2003-2004.

*I* know exactly what you mean And I think that's what Percival is writing about. I'm not a fan of MacMillan's "Romeo," but if you watch the video of the Earlier Cast (Fonteyn and Nureyev) -- and, as Percival said, it's not just them; it's the whole company -- you'll see a difference. The whole was the sum of its parts -- the ensemble acting TOGETHER, not a collection of separate incidents or scenes -- and, through the acting and dancing of the principal characters, greater than the sum of its parts. It is possible But hard to see today.

Justdoit -- I noticed that, but, although it's technically possible to move one post from a thread to another, I'm afraid to chance it. It's also very easy to delete everything when you're doing it So we'll just think that you enjoy staying in touch with your inner child

Good to see you, Mashinka -- interesting point about the use of music. It is hard to see a ballet to music one associates with another ballet, unless the ballet is so different, and so good, that it can exist as a separate version. The only two I can think of at the moment are the Ashton and Balanchine versions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and the Balanchine and Paul Taylor versions of much of the same Bach music (Concerto Barocco and Esplanade). Otherwise, one's memories can get in the way.

Thanks, Beckster. Don't worry if your opinions are different from others. You might find, if you see the ballet a few more times, that you'll be more familiar with it and the crowd scenes won't be so much of a distraction because you'll know what's going on -- your eye will take it in easier. And you may find that this just isn't the kind of ballet you don't like. I think it's worth taking other opinions into account -- if everybody says Ashton or Tudor or Balanchine are great choreographers and I think they're a bore, I thought I should at least understand why they were great choreographers, but on 90% of what you see today, there's a huge divide of opinion, so stick to your guns

An administrative note: The way you all handle this is up to you. I suggested DVC for the June book because it seemed that lots of people either had read, or were reading it. And I put up Bel Canto for July to give others a head start. If you want to change that to make DaVinci for June AND July, and move Bel Canto to August, that's fine with me. Also, if you just want to have people make comments as they read -- that's one way. Or if you want to pose questions for discussion (start a new thread, perhaps, with Da Vinci Code, or DVC, in the thread title?) that's another way to do it.

Good points, Mark, Carbro and Dale! This is almost worth a separate thread. The geometry of the choreography certainly looks different whether you're center or side -- and part of the fun is moving around and seeing a ballet from a different angle. I still remember a thrill from my standing room days when I had the very last spot, next to the wall, and watching Shades from Bayadere. What was square from the center was suddenly diagonal.

An interesting link from Italy (in English) -- an abbreviated libretto, pitting the Genius of the Shadows against the Genius of Humanity. (And explains why we should be happy at the sacking of the Spanish village; it's the end of the Inquisition.) http://www.balletto.net/eng-rep-excelsior.html And a review by Giulio Nascimbeni (in English) that gives some historical context: For the full review, click here: http://www.cesil.com/0200/lunen02.htm An uncredited description from WayItalia, which ends: For more: Italian Style

I, of course, was rooting for Darkness by the end. I think if they really want to do a reconstruction they should redo him as a Green -- the Spirit of Kyoto, perhaps -- while Light could be the Spirit of Globalization.

I'd like to add a wave -- thanks, Alymer. Not many people keep their promises so faithfully I was struck by the Bintley comment -- I think you've hit on something. I agree with what Leigh said, but I think there are some people who can tell the difference between a solid, middle-range classical ballet, a great one, and a hack job -- and there are some who look at anything that's classical and say "it's just classroom steps," and I think that's where we are now. From what I've read of British criticism though, this is not new. Nancy Reynolds' book, which I often cite (Repertory in Review) has comments from British critics like, "Balanchine has given us his opening ballet again" -- and it's Divertimento No. 15 (I think it's that one; writing from memory) I think "just classroom steps" to some people these days is the dance equivalent of "just dictionary words" -- that concept has lost its original meaning.

Thanks, Alymer -- I wondered about the flags. I don't know the flags for states like Bavaria and Prussia, so I didn't pick out any old ones (and didn't have time to count the stars on the US flag). Now, imagine what you saw with the addition of 875 dancers, give or take a hundred, plus the odd elephant, all dancing something completely different on several levels on all sides of the stage (that's the 1913 version). The men actually had more to do in that one, I was surprised to see. Nothing much interesting, but more stage time jumping

I think that's the kind of detail -- odd detail -- that the review meant. And it's possible to have detailed acting that isn't in the service of the whole. The harlots work hard to make their characters seem real when, if one wants to be real, one could argue they shouldn't be there, or at least so prominent, in the first place. But there isn't the same attention to the overview -- what story are we telling? I didn't see these performances either, obviously, and was very interested to read the posts above from this who did -- thank you, Sylvia -- you haven't been around for awhile and I miss reading you. But I can offer one good/bad example from "La Fille Mal Gardee" the last time it was here. Also a little thing, but in the scene where the good Widow throws everything she can find at Colas, all but one of them ducked at each throw, including the flowers, which, of course, wouldn't hurt them. They were certainly in the moment and ducked with vigor, but only Stuart Cassidy differentiated -- he didn't duck at the flowers, he looked at her, half defiantly, half, "Oh, good grief, you're pretty desperate to throw THAT" And then when the next throw -- the pot -- came, he ducked again, and it made the whole sequence funny. And that's the difference between good acting and generic paying attention to details. That may have been what Percival was getting at.

Robert Greskovic has a piece about the state of the Martha Graham company -- not a review, an assessment of the recent past history and the foreseeable future. It's not available on line (except to subscribers, of which I am not one) but if you have access to a print copy, it's interesting and well worth a read, IMO.

In Beaumont's Complete Book of the Ballets, from a London review in 1885: "The lean and lissom primo ballerino Signor Enrico Cecchetti not only fairly astounds by his wonderous pirouetting, but dances throughout in such a finished and graceful style as to conquer the prejudices I have generally entertained against the masculine ballet dancer. In the plump and pleasing prima ballerina, Signora Adelina Rossi, he has a worthy co-adjutor." I guess he danced the Savage? He's not listed in the original cast list in Beaumont. Thanks for posting the libretto, Hans. I picked one up, but didn't read it (I never read them before watching a new story ballet; spoils the fun). At least now I know why Light was so chipper amid all that destruction at the beginning (I did see her burst her chains, but couldn't connect it with the poor Spaniards.) I'll await your analysis eagerly!

Hans, we must have been posting at the same time -- I've merged my post with yours so there won't be two threads and will move this into Ballet History.

The Kennedy Center is having a brief "Ballets Lost and Found" series -- films of reconstructions of 19th century ballets. Hans posted on "Abdallah" last week (in Recent Performances). This week was the grand Italian spectacle-ballet "Excelsior." Jackson showed Act I, Scene I of the new ballet, and then the same sequence from a 1913 film of a touring company, and then the rest of the "Millennium Edition" (this Millennium). Now, since the ballet was originally done in 1881, we have no idea how close to that original the 1913 version is, but we could certainly see how far the 2000 version is from that of 87 years earlier. I've never seen so many people on a stage. Huge stage, with several layers. It was like watching a house whose front had been cut off. There wasn't just a meagre little perch for the cherubs, there was a second stage, and not just at the back, but at the sides. It would take ten viewings -- and lots of discipline, concentrating on only one segment of the stage at a time -- to see it all. Watch the cave men, miss the angels. All choreographed like a Swiss Watch, so even if you aren't focused on one particular part, you get the effect of constant, synchronized (well, sort of) movement. This is the 1913 version. Girls, girls, girls, girls, girls. Squadrons of girls -- little girls, big girls, very big girls. And then, after lots of marching and kicking chorus lines, and the cave men forming two lines, and pushing and pulling the women back and forth, with their clubs (to make it look like a piston engine), in bursts the ballerina -- Galimberto, as Civilization. Deepest backbend I've ever seen save for Fonteyn (in photos, quite young). Her head touches the floor. Very fast feet, careless arms -- sometimes stuck straight down in front of her, like two poles, sometimes wafting about, not in any recognizable position. Structurally, it's quite like Sleeping Beauty -- a fierce battle between two mimes, The Spirit of Darkness (male) who tries to stop progress -- the telegraph, railroads, the steam engine, electricity, the Suez Canal (built solely so that the Arabs wouldn't die of thirst as they trekked through the desert) and a tunnel through the Alps -- and is constantly thwarted by the Spirit of Light (female, think of the Lilac Fairy danced by Kate Smith). The mime, the mime. I was in Heaven. HUGE gestures. ENORMOUS -- and so free and alive that it did seem conversational. Light knew those gestures, they were part of what I'm sure was an immense vocabulary. And then ZAP a transformation scene. A Spanish Village, whose destruction seemed to depress Darkness and delight Light, turns into hell. Darkness, in 1913, was a middle-aged man watching the defeated Spaniards sorrowfully from the side of the road. That he turns out to be a Force of Evil, a Villain of Villains, is a surprise. In 2000, Darkness is a skinny dancer in a black unitard with a skeleton painted on it. When he appears in one scene (to warn the fishermen that they're about to be put out of business by the steam engine) he's cuddled up under a black cloak. Surprise! He pops out. The 2000 reconstruction is, IMHO, as bad as any I've ever seen. Every cliche known to man or ballet. Every step seems culled from other 19th century works, and pasted, willy-nilly, one to another. There are two variations in the first act for Civilization that I thought did look authentic -- one is nothing but epaulement and beats, another begins with gargouillades (at least, I think they were; the skirt hid the legs) But those variations weren't in the 1913 version. In the 2000 reconstruction, Light is a danced role. Arabesque after arabesque, each higher than the one before it, and her skirt is split up the side so all you see is leg and underwear. She is partnered incessantly, which diminishes her authority. Civilization dances with a Savage -- a very 20th century pas de deux (the Savage was Roberto Bolle, the first I've seen of him, and the most tame person one could imagine. Great turns, though.) The end looks like a commercial for the United Nations, with everyone, in appropriate colorful native costume, carrying his or her flag and marching, marching. The score is like a movie score -- one rather grand and martial tune played over and over every time something significant happens, which is not infrequent. But in its day, nothing could have been more modern. In a way, it's a model of how you can deal with contemporary material in ballet.

Welcome, Melodies! Your English is excellent. We can understand you perfectly, and thank you for posting. There are some fine schools in China and some wonderful dancers, surely -- they do not dance here very often, unfortunately. Yuan Yuan Tan is becoming quite famous though

Like everything else in life, there are advantages and disadavantages wherever one sits. Too close, you miss the patterns, the overall effect, and the accuracy of corps dancing, and might pay more attention to the dancer's faces and personalities. Too far, and you can't see faces as clearly, nor small details -- although there are binoculars..... The ballet masters at NYCB used to sit in the first ring. But as far as where one sits coloring one's view -- I've sat next to people who saw things differently than I did! I don't think it's the only variable, nor even the most important one.

I had the opportunity to view this tape this evening, and I'm sure of the identity of the dancers. Abdallah -- Lloyd Riggins Irma -- Henriette Muus her friends -- Petrusjka Broholm and Silja Schandorff Palmyra -- Caroline Cavallo

Ari posted this on today's links, but I thought I'd post it here, too -- see if we can smoke any Royalgoers out Percival makes some interresting remarks that we all can discuss in general, too. Young Lovers Cast Adrift First, to set the stage: Obviously, he has quibbles with the production. And quibbles with the staging and direction, as he ends: Did anyone go? What did you think? And for those of us who didn't, or couldn't, see these performances, what do you make of Percival's last sentence? An interesting argument, I thought: if you're not going to emphasize acting, then drop the dramatic ballets. Which means, by implication, if your bread and butter are dramatic ballets, then start paying attention to them.

I have that book too, GWTW As in most cities, in New York there's often a divide between the daily critics and the weekly/monthly ones, and Terry was definitely a newspaper critic (later, after the Herald Tribune folded, he wrote for Saturday Review). He was of the era when American dance was new and struggling and, IMO, he was often more of a booster than a critic. So one needs to read between the lines with those glasses on. But sometimes I think he had real insight -- he and John Martin were the two American critics who understood the Danish Ballet, to my mind; many others looked at it and said, "ha, doesn't look like Balanchine/Petipa, nothing there, but aren't they adorable," and Terry looked beyond that and I found his (and Martin's) writing on the Danes in the 1950s more useful than most other English/American writers. Others on Terry? Especially ATM and Kurneval, since you were reading him when he was writing.

On the religious content, I think we should be able to discuss it. If the content offends someone, then don't read the book or read these discussions. (Again, I haven't read it, but have read enough reviews to know that the content could be contentious. My prohibition against religious comments on the site are either the signature lines that some of the teens put in that are rather like religious bumper stickers, and we fear may put off those who are of another religion, that they will think the site is a religious site; and the throwaway comments that we all sometimes make, not meaning any harm, but on the nature of "just like an atheist" -- fill in the religious/nonreligious group.)

[Note: Sorry, but I'm short on time today and can't take the time to clean up the press release. Whenever you see a question mark [?] it means a dash [-] CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR FINAL TWO WEEKS OF AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE AT METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE Eleven Performances of Swan Lake and Repertory Program Featuring The Dream and Artemis to Highlight Seventh and Eighth Week Nina Ananiashvili to Celebrate 10th Anniversary with ABT on June 20 Casting for the seventh and eighth week of American Ballet Theatre’s 2003 Spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. Principal Dancer Nina Ananiashvili will commemorate her 10th anniversary with ABT, performing Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, on Friday evening, June 20. The event was previously announced for Saturday evening, June 28. The ballet, with choreography by Kevin McKenzie and sets and costumes by Zack Brown, will be given its first performance of the season on Tuesday evening, June 17 with Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Belotserkovsky in the leading roles. Swan Lake will be given 11 performances June 17-21 and June 26-28. Lar Lubovitch’s Artemis, which received its World Premiere earlier in the season, will highlight Repertory Program Two for four performances, June 23-25. Also on the program are Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Dream and alternating pas de deux including The Leaves are Fading, Don Quixote and Grand Pas Classique. On Tuesday evening, May 24, Sandra Brown and Angel Corella will dance the roles of Artemis and Aktaion in Artemis for the first time and Marcelo Gomes will debut as Oberon in The Dream. The pas de deux from The Leaves are Fading will be danced for the first time by Alessandra Ferri and Carlos Molina on Tuesday, May 24 and by Ashley Tuttle at the Wednesday matinee, June 25. American Ballet Theatre’s 2003 Metropolitan Opera House season is sponsored by UBS, ABT’s National Presenting Sponsor, and Movado Watch Company, a leading benefactor. ABT’s Spring season is also made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Tickets for American Ballet Theatre’s 2003 Spring season are on sale at the Metropolitan Opera House box office or by calling 212-362-6000. For more information, visit ABT’s website at www.abt.org A complete cast listing follows. Casting is subject to change. SEVENTH WEEK Mon. Eve., June 16, 8 P.M. DON QUIXOTE ? Ananiashvili, Gomes, C. Corella, Molina Tues. Eve., June 17, 8 P.M. SWAN LAKE ? Dvorovenko, Belotserkovsky, Gomes Wed. Mat., June 18, 2 P.M. SWAN LAKE ? Herrera, Gomes, Molina Wed. Eve., June 18, 8 P.M. SWAN LAKE ? Murphy, Stiefel, Torres Thurs. Eve., June 19, 8 P.M. SWAN LAKE ? Kent, Carreño, Radetsky Fri. Eve., June 20, 8 P.M. SWAN LAKE ? Ananiashvili, Bocca, Gomes Sat. Mat., June 21, 2 P.M. SWAN LAKE ? Dvorovenko, Belotserkovsky, Gomes Sat. Eve., June 21, 8 P.M. SWAN LAKE ? Murphy, Corella, Torres EIGHTH WEEK Mon. Eve., June 23, 8 P.M. REPERTORY PROGRAM TWO ARTEMIS ?Kent, Gomes; THE LEAVES ARE FADING Pas de Deux ? McKerrow, Gardner+; DON QUIXOTE Pas de Deux ? Herrera, Bocca THE DREAM ? Ferri, Stiefel Tues. Eve., June 24, 8 P.M. REPERTORY PROGRAM TWO ARTEMIS ? S. Brown*, Corella* THE LEAVES ARE FADING Pas de Deux ? Ferri*, Molina* GRAND PAS CLASSIQUE ? Wiles, Hallberg THE DREAM ? Kent, Gomes* Wed. Mat., June 25, 2 P.M. REPERTORY PROGRAM TWO ARTEMIS ? Kent, Gomes THE LEAVES ARE FADING Pas de Deux ? Tuttle*, Molina GRAND PAS CLASSIQUE ? Murphy, Carreño THE DREAM ? McKerrow, Belotserkovsky Wed. Eve., June 25, 8 P.M. REPERTORY PROGRAM TWO ARTEMIS ? S. Brown, Corella GRAND PAS CLASSIQUE ? Wiles, Hallberg DON QUIXOTE Pas de Deux ? Herrera, Bocca THE DREAM ? Ferri, Stiefel Thurs. Eve., June 26, 8 P.M. SWAN LAKE ? Tuttle, Corella, Belotserkovsky Fri. Eve., June 27, 8 P.M. SWAN LAKE ? Herrera, Gomes, Molina Sat. Mat., June 28, 2 P.M. SWAN LAKE ? Kent, Carreño, Radetsky Sat. Eve., June 28, 8 P.M. SWAN LAKE ? Ananiashvili, Bocca, Gomes -30- *Editors please note: first time in a role: Tues. Eve., June 24 ? S. Brown and Corella in Artemis; Ferri and Molina in The Leaves Are Fading Pas de Deux; Gomes as Oberon in The Dream Wed. Mat., June 25 ? Tuttle in The Leaves Are Fading Pas de Deux +Editors please note: Mon. Eve., June 23 ? Guest Artist John Gardner in The Leaves Are Fading Pas de Deux