Alexandra

Thank you for that, Akimova, and welcome to Ballet Alert! I hope you'll take part in our discussions, and report on what you're seeing!

Thanks for letting us know about this, Mary J. I only know "Dark Elegies" from ABT performances, mostly in the '80s (I remember Johan Renvall and Martine Van Hamel, especially) and it's a ballet I wish remained in repertory more steadily. Lynette, I wasn't aware of that -- I'm not surprised that the ballet changed in later stagings, but the idea that the "original" could only be performed every five years seems novel! Thanks for that.

This has been on the top of my To Read list for a year -- I've just skimmed it. It's not JUST about Giselle, although that is the ballet discussed in the most detail. The author if an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Oregon; that's all the jacket tells us about her. So not surprisingly, the book is rooted in a study of the music, and a comparison of ballet and opera structure. In my 15 minute skim of the book, I noted she said the main difference between the production of 1840 and those of today was that the original was 50 PERCENT "nondancing scenes" most of which have been cut in the succeeding years. And notes that if you listen to the score and follow the libretto, you'll hear the mime in the music. It's not focused on the technique, but more the drama. I hope to get to it by May..... [i'm going to move this thread into the Books forum, so that perhaps people who don't regularly visit Paris will see it.]

This is a short review from the Washington Post on Monday by Clare Croft, who, if I may say, is a critic in whom I place much hope. She's YOUNG, equally interested in ballet and modern dance, and, from what I've read of her so far, has a clear eye. So keep an eye out for the by-line And the concert may be of interest to those who came to dance in the 1970s -- Jan Van Dyke and Murray Spaulding were two of the four pillars of D.C. modern dance of that era (the other two, Maida Withers and Liz Lerman, remained here and are still active today.) At Dance Place, Coming Full Circle

But only partially reviving it -- as several people have mentioned. It's like meticulously recreating the Coliseum for chariot races and then bringing in race cars. Thanks to Doug for your bluebird example and to Paul for the ballotte (the way you describe it, it sounds like a Bournonville step, and they still try to do it that way).

Oh, he says things like that all the time, Watermill. Perhaps he thinks hating children is part of his curmudeonly charm. (I think there are gentler ways to make the point that the cupid was a mistake.)

Cute, guys But I don't think that a cross-country book tour is in the cards for this, or any other dance book! You'll just have to come east.

Thank you, Samsara! Welcome, and I hope we'll be reading you often. I thought ABT saved the day on the nights I went, too. Partly becuase it was a full ballet, with a set, and not excerpts, but also very good performances.

This press release just in from RNZB: (note the interesting company history of this ballet at the end) 10 March 2003 POETRY IN MOTION: RNZB TO PERFORM ROMEO AND JULIET The romance and tragedy of the world's most famous 'star-cross'd' lovers takes centre stage in the Royal New Zealand Ballet's major new commission for 2003, The Meridian Energy Season of Romeo and Juliet. In a stunning new interpretation by one of international ballet's hottest properties, UK choreographer Christopher Hampson brings a fresh look and perspective to this classic story. The work's themes of life and death have added significance this year: 2003 marks the Royal New Zealand's 50th birthday, and it is also 50 years since composer Sergei Prokofiev died. Set to Prokofiev's celebrated score, this classical ballet resonates with passion and dramatic intensity. With their families locked in a bitter feud, Romeo and Juliet's fate is sealed from their first encounter. The two fall madly in love and with the impetuousness of youth marry in secret. As the power play between the rival Montague and Capulet houses reaches fever pitch, any hope the star-crossed lovers have of happiness is forever shattered. From ballroom to balcony, this new production has the look of La Dolce Vita era Italy. The sophisticated and sumptuous designs by Aucklander Tracy Grant and evocative lighting design by Australian John Rayment are set off by bold brushstrokes of the richest and bloodiest red. Hampson's work has been hailed as a triumph of imagination and energy. In writing about the 29-year-old's choreographic style, many critics have noted his gentle blend of classicism and invention. In 2001 his work Saltarello toured New Zealand on the Ballet's Nationwide Road Tour to rave reviews. Hampson's work for English National Ballet, Double Concerto (with design by Royal New Zealand Ballet Artistic Director Gary Harris), scooped two of the UK's most prestigious dance honours: the 2002 Barclays Theatre Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance and the 2002 Critics Circle National Dance Award for Best Choreography (Classical). Hampson says the new work honours tradition while exploring the creative potential of classical ballet. Says Hampson: "there is still a town square, a ballroom, a balcony, and lots of dancing. "I have worked together with designer Tracy Grant to produce a relevant and fresh look to the ballet. We have set the ballet in a timeless age. It is of interest that many of the buildings in Shakespeare's Verona are still there today and they remain in Tracy's setting for the ballet. The costumes and characters, however, come from a more recent time. A time encapsulated by films such as La Dolce Vita, mixed with the avant-garde setting in Baz Luhrmann's recent film Romeo and Juliet." Keith Turner, Chief Executive of Meridian Energy, says: "Romeo and Juliet represents something of a departure for Meridian Energy in our partnership with the Ballet. Previously we've gone into relatively unknown territory with the likes of Dracula or Ihi FrENZy - with no small element of risk attached to it. But even though we are on more traditional ground, we know the ballet will take its typically daring and fresh approach to what will be another runaway success." The Meridian Energy Season of Romeo and Juliet premieres in Wellington on 6 June. Regional orchestras, conducted by Gavin Sutherland, will accompany the production in the capital, Christchurch, Auckland and Dunedin. In all other centres, the company will be performing to a recording of the NGC Wellington Sinfonia. PERFORMANCE DETAILS Choreography: Christopher Hampson Design: Tracy Grant Lighting design: John Rayment Music: Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev. These performances of Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev (reduced orchestration by John Longstaff) are by permission of Boosey & Hawkes Music Pty Ltd. Conductor: Gavin Sutherland Wellington, Westpac St James Theatre: 6-8 and 11-14 June, featuring the NGC Wellington Sinfonia Napier, Municipal Theatre: 19-21 June Auckland, Aotea Centre: 25-29 June Featuring the Auckland Philharmonia Hamilton, Founders Theatre: 1-2 July Palmerston North, Regent on Broadway: 5-6 July Dunedin, Regent Theatre: 11-13 July, Featuring the Southern Sinfonia Christchurch, Theatre Royal: 17-21 July, Featuring the Christchurch Symphony. The Meridian Energy Season of Romeo and Juliet opens the Christchurch Arts Festival. To book, contact your nearest Ticketek outlet (Response Ticketing for Christchurch). www.nzballet.org.nz http://www.nzballet.org.nz> ROMEO AND JULIET - A ROYAL NEW ZEALAND BALLET TIMELINE 1953: Sergei Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet composer, dies in Moscow on 5 March. The New Zealand Ballet's first performance takes place at Auckland's Playhouse Theatre (later the Mercury) on 30 June. 1954: Poul Gnatt, founder and first Director, choreographs a pas de deux (dance for two), entitled Romeo and Juliet to music by Tchaikovsky. The piece appears in a mixed-bill programme and Gnatt performs the role of Romeo. 1977: the company performs its first full-length production of Romeo and Juliet, choreographed by Malcolm Burn. Romeo is danced alternately by Burn, Peter Edwards, John Shields and Jon Trimmer. The role of Juliet is shared between Yvonne Parnell, Fay Hyan, Liane Lurie, and Pauline Tronson. 1988: the astonishing Ou Lu first comes to the attention of New Zealand audiences with a guest appearance in the company's season of Romeo and Juliet. Lu says the production will always have a special place in his heart. "Romeo and Juliet is one of my favourite ballets - it's romantic, it's tragic, it's wonderful!" Jon Trimmer and Jacqui Trimmer perform Lord and Lady Capulet. 1994: principal dancer Kerry-Anne Gilberd retires from the company with a celebrated performance as Juliet in Ashley Killar's production. 1995: the company restages the previous year's production with Sonya Behrnes, Anne Anderson and Amy Hollingsworth sharing the role of Juliet; and Eric Languet, Ou Lu and Vivencio Samblaceno as Romeo. 2002: work begins on this production. Christopher Hampson writes about the challenges of working halfway across the world in his diaries published by UK's Ballet.co. Read the May 2002 entry on www.ballet.co.uk/contexts/hampson.htm http://www.ballet.co.uk/contexts/hampson.htm> .

Hans, I think it's the New, Improved Nutcracker I agree that the RDB women were more impressive than the men. I think that may be because they're older (very early 30s) and came up through the school when it was still functioning. The two foreigners -- Cavallo and Still -- have both been with the company since 1990, too. Whereas the men were from all over the map, and of the Danish men, except for Lund, I didn't think much of them. I thought Bowman was really, really trying to do the style, and I salute him for that. There's something, though, that is missing if they haven't been trained in it from an early age. Part of it is technique -- like the plie landings and carriage of the arms, so that they don't look stiff. And part of it is something intangible -- the way of being oneself on stage without overdoing it. I hate it when they go into Grin Mode, which they'll do (and always have done, I think) if they think people aren't getting it.

Marc, is Lezhnina still with them?

Casting isn't up yet. Opening night is Wednesday, and I'll be going, and will post the casting, which will be in the program. Thank you for your comments, Hans. A quick comment on the RDB (I really can't say "the Danes" anymore, since half of them aren't Danish). The lack of plie, especially when landing from a jump, is one of the ways one can tell foreigners from Danes. I don't think ALL of them never put their heels down, or aren't turned out, or can't jump -- but Bowman certainly has no plie, and they give him the second solo! Lund and Still are quite good jumpers, actually, and in the pas de six, dancers will modulate their jumps so that no one stands out as jumping too high. The object is to look as though you're floating; with the women, especially, when it's done well, it looks as though their skirts catch the air, and they're floating on it. There's a large vocabulary of low jumps in Bournonville, some of which are in these solos. I've heard at least a dozen people place Volochkova in Vegas. (We should, at any moment, get an email from a Las Vegas citizen....) I didn't think it was makeup -- thank you for that! I thought she'd been out in the sun too long. Something that I hadn't noticed during her Swan Lake or Bayadere here (which, I thought, were MUCH better than her Don Q) was that one leg is turned out, and one turned in.

Mary J, there was a televised La Sonnambula (ABT, with Ferri and Baryshnikov). That's the only video I know about -- and, IMO, it's not ideal. (Baryshnikov was one of those who "thought it was like play.") It's not commercially available, as far as I know, but it might be available through your local public television station or library.

I wish! It would be worth doing, because of the Ruth Page connection, but I don't think it's in the cards. Thanks for the idea, though!

Now that the company has a new production, I thought it might be interesting to read favorites from past productions. Mine are Monica Mason as Carabosse, and Marguerite Porter (in one of the roles that I thought really suited her) as the Lilac Fairy. I didn't see a Royal Ballet Beauty until the 1980s, and so missed so much. I never saw a fairy that measured up to what I read (or saw on the Victor Jessen film now at the Dance Collection that's been mentioned often on these boards) and saw Fonteyn only on film. What about the rest of you? (please don't let this interfere with more postings about the new production, on the other thread, though!)

Thank you, Glebb. I didn't want to bump the thread back up myself, but since you did, I'll take the opportunity to thank the people reading this who came to the book signing two weeks ago. There were several Ballet Alertniks there (but I was also very pleased that about two-thirds of the people there I didn't know, and when they came to have the book signed, some said they'd never heard of Kronstam but saw the book in the window and were ballet fans, and so.....) The Barnes and Noble Event Coordinator was quite pleased at the turnout -- they had very low expectations, apparently. She kept saying, " This was great! You had so many people!" And, since my agent had had to press to get the signing, I asked her to please remember this the next time someone came along with a dance book! So you all did something for The Cause

Thanks, Mark and Paul. It's so nice to know that what he said about the Poet meant something. I could not find a complete film of Kronstam dancing that role, just snatches, and very much wish I could have seen the whole thing. (And I loved Vivi Flindt's story about drawing the ballet when she was a child and, even then, she knew that she was No Sleepwalker, and wanted to do the Coquette. If only we had more dancers so confident about what suits them and what does not....) One thing I learned from the dancers who saw Kronstam is how much could be made of the scene where the Poet and the Coquette sit on the bench. Everyone mentioned that, and it wasn't overt acting, or scene stealing at all, just a drama played with the eyes and small gestures, but it was obvious that they were having a conversation, not just sitting there like two stones. I saw Kent, at the end of her career. and admired her very much but don't have a clear enough memory now to write about it. I also saw Kirkland do this, twice, with ABT during her Second Troubled Phase. The first time was the way you'd imagine she'd do it, and the second one was monstrously, wonderfully wild. Over the top, but so crazy that it worked. She danced as though she were playing a game, moving as fast as possible in the hopes of plunging into the orchestra pit before the hapless Poet (Victor Barbee, who did not move an inch until it was "his" music) could catch her. It was quite exciting; she was, perhaps, the first Mrs. Rochester, locked up for a cause. But she was also made of air, not a body, but feet and head, with nothing between them save the nightgown. There is a photo of Anna Laerkesen in the Kronstam book that makes me want to have seen her, too. The light has caught her nightgown, so that her body looks like a candle. I saw Ib Andersen and Darci Kistler as well, and I liked him very much. I had the sense that he wasn't ideal for the role, and, at the same time, was the best Poet I'd seen. One gesture I remember particularly. At his entrance, when the Baron extends his hand, Andersen looked at him as though he had no idea what the gesture meant, and made a small bow. It set the whole ballet -- the Poet as someone so otherworldly that he did not undestand society's conventions, making him bait for both the Coquette AND the Sleepwalker.

Anyone else go? Juliet ? Samba? Other DC-ers? It would be nice to have more than two views.

Thank you very much for such a detailed review, Alymer. Perhaps you can take out the Cupid after a few performances I'm one who wished that the Royal had gone back to its own heritage for "Sleeping Beauty," and it obviously hasn't. I realize these plans were made by Stretton and could not be changed, but I imagine to many in the audience it will be like living with a stranger. I hope others went and will report as well (and, of course, that Bussell is not severely injured.)

I agree with your point about the bolder sailor, Dale. There are other problems with that mangled casting, too (I wrote about some of them above). I certainly don't go back to the original cast -- if ATM is reading this, I'd love to read her comments, of how she sees the company's performances today compared to what she remembers. But when I started watching ABT in the mid-70s, even though the company wasn't casting the works ideally, I had the sense of being able to see the ballet clearly, and the company certainly believed in it. It was sitll part of its aesthetic, and, from interviews, dancers wanted to be cast in it. There's a wondefully clear description of the ballet in "The Borzoi Book of Ballet," written by someone who saw the first cast many times. (I believe the author is Margaret Roberts, but I'm not certain and no longer have the book.) Since one of the ideas of this "international festival" was for each company to present a signature work, I thought it interesting that ABT chose "Fancy Free." One could argue that "Le Corsaire" is the present company's signature work. I was glad to see that "Fancy Free" was still taken so seriously! I think the audience reaction here to the group of soloists from the Bolshoi (which was spottily enthusiastic, but puzzled) was rooted in a lack of familiarity wiith the present company. To many Americans, "Spartacus" is the signature work of the Bolshoi, although I doubt a Russian audience would agree now.

Thalnk you, Inga, for your comments on the dancers. It's hard to tell much about Kaptsova from that role (the Young Girl in Spectre), partly because of the role and partly because of the costume, of course -- the body is completely hidden. But she received many favorable comments here. Goriacheva is certainly dancing correctly and with a strong technique; by unpolished, I meant that her dancing isn't very refined, in line, head and arms, etc. I had liked her in "The Nutcracker," but there, she wasn't in a tutu. I'm sorry if I'm being rude about a cherished dancer! And I'm sorry I can't say more about Shipulina. We're only seeing her in that one solo (the second solo in the Don Q excerpt) and since it is the second solo, we're still recovering from Volochkova Also, the opening night, there was a costume problem. Volochkova's didn't arrive. She wore one of the yellow tutus, and both soloists had to wear rehearsal tutus. Everyone looked uncomfortable, understandably. I can see what you write about Yanin, because he's suited to "Narcissus" but not at all to Spectre, which is more classical (and there he is a substitute). It has been interesting to watch him do that role three times in a row, though, because he seems to be working on it; the arm positions became softer with each performance and he certainly is trying, in both roles, to do them properly. (These days, that is not such a small thing, and I'm grateful to see it.) Dale, The "Fille" pas de deux tha Bolshoi is dancing here is not Ashton's, but Gorsky's. I think NYCB has often switched the sailor roles -- starting when Robbins was alive -- and I've always hated it. (I'm not a fan of Stiefel as the shy sailor, either, although I thought La Fosse was excellent. He used to do the Kriza role with ABT, too.)

I've deleted a post on this thread, which offered information that differed from the press reports. The information may well be accurate, but we'll wait to confirm it with the company or the paper. (In this case, a link to discussion on another web site falls outside our "No gossip, please" rule.) A belated thank you to Rachel for your correction above This thread is temporarily closed.

Thanks, Marc. The tentativeness we sensed could well be because of the stage, which is probably a quarter of the size of the Bolshoi stage. This is one role I would love to see Tsiskaridze do! (His photo is on the poster for the Festival, but he's not here.)

Inga, we're curious about how these dancers are regarded in Moscow. You said Shipulina was controversial. Could you say more? I'm also curious about Gennady Yanin, who is dancing "Narcissus" here (and also Spectre, but that was a last-minute change, we're told, due to injury of the dancer originally scheduled to dance the role.) He seemed very tentative on opening night, and got more comfortable with the role at each performance, of the three I've seen. Which leads me to think that this role, too, was new for him. One friend asked me if Volochkova had done her fan trick in Don Q -- she did this at a gala last year here, threw the fan up in the air and caught it on the way down, flicked it open and fanned. Answer, no, she did not. (There is another review of this program by Jean Battey Lewis of the Washington Times on today's links. Clive Barnes was down, so there will be something in the New York post next week. I'm told that a critic from Miami will be reviewing the festival as well. Next week we get the Kirov in "Shades" from Bayadere, Miami City Ballet in "The Four Temperaments," and a pick up company from Britain led by Adam Cooper in MacMillan's "Sea of Troubles.")

I think part of the confusion is over whether or not the original Lilac danced a variation. One theory is that Lilac and Carabosse are cognates -- both mimed roles, and that Lilac is a danseuse noble. (Well, actually, what's usually written is that Petipa's daughter couldn't dance and so she didn't have a variation, but I don't buy that.) I think there have been many different distributions of the fairy roles and fairy music -- sometimes there are five plus Lilac, sometimes six plus Lilac, sometimes six including Lilac. I've always liked the theory that Lilac shoud always be in the middle -- "the apex of every triangle," as Croce wrote" -- with three on each side.