Alexandra

I haven't -- but thanks for posting this, fendrock. I hope our Bostonians come out in force

The RDB did "France Dance" about 10 years ago. There was a dwarf in it, escorted by one of the company's men, and she spoke - in French. I'm sure there was dancing, but I don't remember it. This was during Forsythe's Props phase. I'm surprised, though. I thought Frankfurt Ballet must have visited many times, because I often hear from Danish friends how interested people are in Forsythe.

This is old news now, but, from personal interest, I asked a Danish friend to translate reviews of these performances, and just got them today. So here they are: Weekendavisen, 27. September 2002 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ By MAJBRIT HJELMSBO … Tivoli presented guest performances by dancers from two companies. First a group of eight soloists and principals from the Paris Opera Ballet with no fewer than nine excerpts of ballets from the repertory of the oldest ballet company in the world. Contemporary and historical, technical, lyrical and dramatic ballet was skilfully juxtaposed to good effect. The two highlights of the evening were Isabelle Guérin and Benjamin Pech in dances from the second act of »Giselle«, with Guérin as the personification of the poetic ambiance of the Romantic Era and the elegiac Pech as the epitome of pure French schooling. (Pech also showed his dramatic ability and range as the haunted and suicidal Frédéri in Roland Petit’s melodramatic »L'Arlésienne«). With afterimages of the romance of »Giselle« still lingering the jump to William Forsythe’s neo-classic »In the Middle Somewhat Elevated« came almost as a shock: A razor-sharp piece of choreography danced with tense accuracy and the energy of steel wires by Muriel Maffre and Pierre-François Vilanoba. Wauw, it was impressive! In »Carnaval de Venice« Eleonora Abbagnato and Yann Saiz charmingly waved the flag to the commedia dell'arte traditions of Tivoli, while Myriam Kamionka and Alessio Carbone excelled in »Flames de Paris«, and Muriel Maffre gave a fascinating repeat of her interpretation of the Dying Swan from last year’s Tivoli gala. The rest gave problems: The quality of the taped music was horrendous, the lighting hopeless and the dancers even had to perform with a hole in the stage. The dancing was impressive in spite of this. Politiken, 17. September 2002 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ By Monna Dithmer The dancing had part explosive exuberance and part a marvellous softness when the dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet visited Tivoli this weekend. The artists of the famous company delivered fireworks – in spite of a hole in the stage and bad sound. “Unfortunately, we have discovered a hole in the middle of the stage, but the dancers will perform anyway”. What an introduction to an evening with dancers from one of the most wonderful companies in the world. It’s been 15 years since the Paris Opera Ballet visited this country. Welcome, again, to this provincial hole. But not only did the dancers carry on to perform a programme of fireworks which handsomely showed the history of the company, they also performed with such abundant energy that one was struck during the curtain calls: It was unbelievable how so much dancing could come from just eight people. Leave it, then, that some dancers looked at each other funny when Muriel Maffre, who has made her career with the San Francisco Ballet, received greater applause even than the Étoile of the evening, Isabelle Guérin. It tells us something about the hierarchy of the oldest ballet company in the world. But in all justice, the tall Borzoi-like Muriel did make the most striking contribution to the evening with a radical contemporary piece: William Forsythe’s 'In The Middle Somewhat Elevated'. Just four minutes where Maffre and Pierre-Francois Vilanoba in an enticing power-play flew in and out of each others arms. Fully loaded lines, lightening limbs and high voltage energy made the auditorium explode. Maffre even gave us the second independent moment of the evening dancing Fokine’s Dying Swan with a worrying transparency. She performed with a real feeling of the last, wavering breath of life but also with a beguiling modern edge to her interpretation giving her long, angular and extremely expressive arms a life of their own. Opposed to these arms were the feet of Isabelle Guérin in the Romantic classic, 'Giselle', which was originally performed at the Paris Opera in 1841. To simply see this wonderful dancer put her feet to the ground with a wonderful softness and poetry to her phrasing was so great that the entire drama of the resurrected Giselle, suspended between life and death, found its own heartbeat. Benjamin Pech was a loyal and handsome partner for her but not present enough for one to truly experience the meeting of two souls. Pech stole the show, however, wearing a red scarf and with a nude torso in 'L'Arlésienne', a tour de force of a break-up with Guérin in the role his bride-to-be. Choreographically, this desperado pas de deux is no masterpiece, but Roland Petit had also choreographed a delicate little duet from 'Ma Pavlova' (the woman Dying Swan was originally created for). A pastiche of magic floating and short caresses danced by Elenora Abbagnato and Yann Saiz with one restless, bewildering movement – as if they had caught the very nature of being in love. With perfect elegance this couple also performed the bravoura pas de deux from ’Carnaval de Venice' which has it all: Refined pointework, double tours in the air and jumps. Alessio Carbone also performed with presence and in top shape, jumping like a rubber ball both as Romeo, with Myriam Kamionka as his partner in Nureyev’s icescapade, and in the heroic Russian ballet, 'Flames de Paris'. The only faux pas of the evening was Nijinsky’s 'Afternoon of a Faun', where one didn’t sense the tension between the horny faun and the frieze of nymphs – physical sensibility opposed to the tightness of the choreography – that made the small piece one of the great scandals of dance history. When Pierre-Francois Vilanoba lowered his body to penetrate the nymph’s veil it seemed mostly like an exercise of style. Holes or no holes, the dancing stood strong – even against the bad sound. A fine gesture from Tivoli which celebrates 50 years of ballet performances this year. Berlingske Tidende, 16. September 2002 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ By Vibeke Wern When Vaslav Nijinsky made his debut as a choreographer in Paris in 1912 with the ballet Afternoon of a Faun it caused a scandal because of its daring, erotic content. There had never been a ballet before with such sensuous movements as those of the faun when making love to the nymph’s veil. On top the dancer’s were moving in an angular, two-dimensional style and in profile, inspired by Greek friezes and vases. It was this work of historic interest which opened the Tivoli gala with dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet Saturday night. A Ballet Gala which gave exquisite tastings of the rich repertory of the Paris Opera Ballet with excerpts from nine ballets and with eight dancers. From the bestial body language of the Faun and its sense of gravity and contact with the floor, we were taken to Roland Petit’s pas de deux from »Ma Pavlova« from 1986, a piece of pastiche Romanticism with floating pointe work. Then on to authentic Soviet Russian choreography from 1932 with Alessio Carbone and Myriam Kamionka in brillant jumps and fast fouettées in the final pas de deux from Vasily Vainonen’s full-length ballet Flames de Paris about the French Revolution. As if from a world beyond one of the great names of the Paris Opera Ballet, Isabelle Guérin, entered the stage with her exquisite poetry and grace in the pas de deux from the second act of Giselle. Benjamin Pech was her haunted Albrecht in this work, which is one of the master pieces of the Romantic Era and which was created for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1841 and naturally had to be part of this programme. As a sudden but fantastically effective contrast the programme then moved forward in time with more than 100 years to the pas de deux from American William Forsythe’s sharp and sensual »In the Middle Somewhat Elevated« from 1987. Muriel Maffre and Pierre-François Vilanoba’s agile bodies were stretched to extremes in this abstract dance. Four intense minutes who proved to be the sparkling highlight of the evening for yours truly and which underlines the genius of William Forsythe and the high technical level of the two dancers, who were both trained at the ballet school of the Paris Opera Ballet but who are now principals with the San Francisco Ballet. After the intermission Muriel Maffre gave a vibrantly sensitive interpretation of Fokine’s famous solo, The Dying Swan. With an almost macabre magic she managed – just as she did at Johan Kobborg’s Ballet Gala last year – to render the farewell to life of the white bird with her long, delicate arms. Intoxicating and youthful dancing characterized the Balcony pas de deux from Rudolph Nureyev’s version of »Romeo and Juliet«. Alessio Carbone demonstrated his ability in the fanciful, tempestuous jumps while Myriam Kamionka was more restrained in the role of Juliet. The pas de deux from »Le Carnaval de Venice« offered Russian classicism with Eleonora Abbagnato in finely phrased and coquettish pointe work and Yann Saiz in easy, elegant jumps. The programme ended with new French choreography, an excerpt of Roland Petit’s love conflict, L’Arlésienne. Benjamin Pech was expressive and forceful in the role of the young man who is overcome by memories of an old love on the night of his wedding, and one understands his emotions in the pas de deux where he tries to break loose from his bride, Isabelle Guérin. It would have been wonderful if the evening could have ended with another short but strong work from Forsythe but the rare and very welcome performance, programmed by Alexander Meinertz in collaboration with Benjamin Pech, gave us a strong and satisfying idea of the artistic range of the oldest ballet company in the world.

Thanks, Calliope. I think Time Out links are up about a week after publication. I haven't seen it yet -- not on the newsstands down here, at least, not in downtown DC! (Neither is New York Mag. Talk about provincial!)

Well, I've put up the press releases we get from other publishers, including UPF, so I guess it's ok to put up this one Hello, My name is Steve Krutzler and I am the online marketing coordinator for the University Press of Florida, the non-profit publishing wing of the Florida university system. We are preparing to publish "Henning Kronstam" by Alexandra Tomalonis, later this month. Tomalonis has documented Kronstam's major roles as recounted in his own words, revealing the genius behind the man and his art. A superb technician and impeccable classical stylist, Kronstam was also a great dance-actor. In the writing of this book, the author conducted 200 hours of interviews with Henning Kronstam and talked with over 100 dancers and choreographers, including many who worked with him. She observed classes and rehearsals at the Royal Danish Ballet over a 10-year period to provide an unusually detailed view of backstage life. More than a biography of one man, this book tells the story of a great dance company We believe that this book may be of interest to your site's visitors and invite them to check out several full samples of the text, available in our reading room. Visitors can peruse the complete table of contents and read the Preface and a thirteen-page excerpt from Chapter 8 in these HTML and PDF samples that offer a substantive preview of the book that we think dance enthusiasts will enjoy. The Reading Room can be accessed at http://www.upf.com/Mkt/ and contains more information about the book, including a jacket cover image. ------- It would be best to move discussions of my book from the book signing thread, since that's old news now, to this one. I'd welcome comments and/or questions, whatever the nature.

In the 19th century there was a custom of orchestrating popular songs and inserting them into scores -- or arias from operas -- so that the audience would "sing" the words in their heads and know what was going on on stage. Subliminal surtitles.

Solor, have you tried www.alibris.com? There are a few others; I hope someone else can supply more names. It's worth checking these sites every month or so. Their stock changes. Good luck!

Thank you for that, liebling -- that's just what it looks like, too Keith, I'd nominate Anthony Dowell as one of Ashton's Muses -- onstage Muses, I hasten to add.

Thank you for that, liebling -- that's just what it looks like, too Keith, I'd nominate Anthony Dowell as one of Ashton's Muses -- onstage Muses, I hasten to add.

I agree that linking Stretton and Stock is in appropriate and take your conjoined twins point, Grace. I had a long talk recently with a visiting London critic who didn't agree with the idea that Stretton was mistreated in any way because he was Australian (she brought up Helpmann, whom she, and many others of course, greatly admired). In fact, she said, "He's not really Australian. He was only born there. He spent his whole career in America -- and what he brought in were the things he learned there." I don't think I'd disagree with that The "tall poppy" is interesting. It reminds me of a Japanese proverb, "The nail that sticks up is hammered down." The Danes have a version of it too -- "Do not ever think you are special." It's called Jantelov (Jante's Law).

calliope, calliope, come back..... FF, there's an essay by Croce called "Farrell and Farrellisms" where she complained -- or pointed out -- the changes in style that were creeping into the company in the 1970s, because the corps women were imitating Farrell's idyosyncracies (the arms, the hands, the off-center poses). I was struck by how clean and, well, old-fashioned the dancing looked in DC. Happily so, I might add (I liked Farrell's style for her, but grew tired of seeing it cloned.)

calliope, calliope, come back..... FF, there's an essay by Croce called "Farrell and Farrellisms" where she complained -- or pointed out -- the changes in style that were creeping into the company in the 1970s, because the corps women were imitating Farrell's idyosyncracies (the arms, the hands, the off-center poses). I was struck by how clean and, well, old-fashioned the dancing looked in DC. Happily so, I might add (I liked Farrell's style for her, but grew tired of seeing it cloned.)

I think that's true -- although by now the Whelan prototype is taking over. What's interesting about the Farrell Week in DC is that it seemed to be a throwback to the Tallchief era. There were no Farrellisms!

I think that's true -- although by now the Whelan prototype is taking over. What's interesting about the Farrell Week in DC is that it seemed to be a throwback to the Tallchief era. There were no Farrellisms!

Glebb, I know what you mean about spontaneity -- I've always associated it with roles made on a dancer. The two that stand out in my memory are Baryshnikov in "Push Comes to Shove" and Jamison in Ailey's "Cry." I didn't appreciate either performance completely until I saw others in the role -- even with excellent dancers, the roles suddenly became steps. I wrote something like this about Jamison once, that the role spun out of her as silk from a silkworm, or something like that. It looked as though she was making it up as she went along. Give it to somebody else, it's not their body and so the dance not only looks different, but looks less spontaneous.

Here is a description by Anatole Chujoy from the book "Dancers and Critics." (Each critic got to pick a dancer. Wish Chujoy posted on the internet from Heaven. He begins his essay by explaining that there's a difference between a musician and someone who whistles "Yankee Doodle", and between a craftsman and an artist." He thought of Tallchief "how close she comes to the standard of the perfect artist." In his 25 year career as a choreographer, Balanchine has not found a greater executant of his ballets, a more fluent and eloquent interpreter of his choreogrpahic ideas or, stylistically, a more perfect creator of flesh-and-blood images of his artistic conceptions." He said she wasn't a dramatic dancer, but "a classic dancer with all the technical perfection and absence of histrionics this term implies." This is his picture of Tallchief at 25. Amy -- I gave away my copy of "Conversation with the Muses" so I can't check, but that would have a list of her created roles. Chujoy lists Symphony in C -- he doesn't say which role -- and the Siren in Prodigal as the ones in which she made an impression. Another Balanchine muse -- and, I think, archetype, since he once said that he wished everyone in the company moved as she did -- was Diana Adams, a dancer who's always interested me more than Tallchief (not fair; I haven't seen either of them except on bits of film). Tallchief and Adams are from the pre-Farrell (and pre-Agon) world of Balanchine. Who was the Diaghilev, pre-American prototype? Doubrovska? Danilova?

Here is a description by Anatole Chujoy from the book "Dancers and Critics." (Each critic got to pick a dancer. Wish Chujoy posted on the internet from Heaven. He begins his essay by explaining that there's a difference between a musician and someone who whistles "Yankee Doodle", and between a craftsman and an artist." He thought of Tallchief "how close she comes to the standard of the perfect artist." In his 25 year career as a choreographer, Balanchine has not found a greater executant of his ballets, a more fluent and eloquent interpreter of his choreogrpahic ideas or, stylistically, a more perfect creator of flesh-and-blood images of his artistic conceptions." He said she wasn't a dramatic dancer, but "a classic dancer with all the technical perfection and absence of histrionics this term implies." This is his picture of Tallchief at 25. Amy -- I gave away my copy of "Conversation with the Muses" so I can't check, but that would have a list of her created roles. Chujoy lists Symphony in C -- he doesn't say which role -- and the Siren in Prodigal as the ones in which she made an impression. Another Balanchine muse -- and, I think, archetype, since he once said that he wished everyone in the company moved as she did -- was Diana Adams, a dancer who's always interested me more than Tallchief (not fair; I haven't seen either of them except on bits of film). Tallchief and Adams are from the pre-Farrell (and pre-Agon) world of Balanchine. Who was the Diaghilev, pre-American prototype? Doubrovska? Danilova?

I think the Madge gender problem is one of those that it depends on who you saw first. There are diehard Niels Bjorn Larsen fans in Denmark (and here), and those who can't imagine anyone other than Englund -- and, long before her or Larsen, Gerda Karstens. (The first Madge was a man, the second, in the 1860s in Copenhagen, was a woman. The costume sketch for the first production shows a young woman.)

I was interested to read that Lady MacMillan was also born in Australia -- I hadn't known that. I find the "Get that Aussie" charges farfetched. I do think that any outsider will have a hard go of it, and with reason, I think, at any company that has an established aesthetic. What if someone came in to New York City Ballet who came from a different aesthetic, whether it be a Ben Stevenson, bringing a repertory of his own full-length balets, or a William Forsythe with his own creations, or even the just discovered Marius Petipa V, with Absolutely Authentic Stagings of 20, count 'em, 20 grand Petipa ballets. They would not be welcome in that company, and there may be comments about that "Russian stager who doesn't know our ways," or "We don't need Brit full-lengths here." The point wouldn't be about ethnicity, but in reaction to a change in aesthetic.

I remember that one -- I don't think it will go down as one of the great stagings, either

I didn't mean that she had descendants at NYCB but that she was a model for her generation across companies. If one look at Dance Mag during that period, one will see dancers with her silhouette -- and she is in many of the little collections of articles about dancers made into books at that time. One could certainly argue that Fonteyn was THE ballerina type in the West, but I think Tallchief was there, too.

I didn't mean that she had descendants at NYCB but that she was a model for her generation across companies. If one look at Dance Mag during that period, one will see dancers with her silhouette -- and she is in many of the little collections of articles about dancers made into books at that time. One could certainly argue that Fonteyn was THE ballerina type in the West, but I think Tallchief was there, too.

I think there were a lot of Tallchief imitators dancing around in the 1950s -- that was a different age, less media coverage, etc., but she was a prototype, in the sense of model, THE model one strove to imitate at that time.

I think there were a lot of Tallchief imitators dancing around in the 1950s -- that was a different age, less media coverage, etc., but she was a prototype, in the sense of model, THE model one strove to imitate at that time.

I didn't see Tallchief, so can't really comment -- I'm sure someone here has. Conjuring atm