Alexandra

It is an interesting topic, Kate -- what are your thoughts about it? Are classics old-fashioned or contemporary -- or timeless, as some have amended? What makes a "classic" a classic and what makes that classic look contemporary? There are many different angles from which to consider this, and we've seen a few, but what do others think?

Hmmm. I'd quibble with THAT libretto But yours would be a great hit, Mel. "Giselle" is a Romantic ballet, and Romanticism was all about breaking boundaries. Here we get into words again. The neoclassical ballets that preceded them were all about finding ways to make the old rules work, to make art while staying firmly within boundaries. The Greeks, of course, who did the first plays had no boundaries, which is probably why the plays were so great. There were objections in the 19th century by classicists who felt that Giselle and her sisters (there were 400 Romantic ballets, says Cyril W. Beaumont, most of them about some wan female spirit) were sentimental and not at all heroic. "Iphigenia" was a tragedy because her story was about dynasty and power and the fate of a people. "Giselle" was just a girl who fell in love blindly and couldn't deal with the consequences, too trivial a subject for a classic treatment. To muddy the waters further, there's a school of thought today (to which I subscribe) that "Giselle" became a great classical ballet chiefly because of the intervention of Petipa, who transformed the second act into a grand ballet classique, giving the work a formal structure that elevated it from the sentimental. I'd guess, too, that it was 20th century performances that brought out the story's undercurrents and made them primary. For Gautier, "Giselle" was a story that made a pretty ballet.

Mme. Hermine, these are actually good, so you won't have to feel guilty They were written by Caryl Brahms and the ones I know are "A Bullet at the Ballet," "Six Curtains for Stroganova" and (I think) just plain "Murder a la Stroganoff." There may be more. I got them at the late, lamented Ballet Shop in New York when I first discovered ballet. Unlike Arlene Croce's "Ballet Alert" piece in the New Yorker, even then I could tell these were satire

Interesting question, ronny. I'd agree with Mary that they're timeless -- and a good production can seem contemporary, in that it doesn't look like that dreaded "just a museum piece!" but alive because the dancers believe in it and make it alive. Allegro, I think your reference to Joseph Campbell's "The Power of Myth" is very apt. Many of the ballets now considered classics are based in folk lore, and they do still speak to us, and need to be revived every generation or so -- and they pick up a little bit from each generation, too.

Mme. Hermine, that character was definitely an ancestor in the Heezno line They're very funny books, the von Stroganoff books; behind the scenes stories about an absolutely whacko Ballets Russes-type company.

Thank you for that, GWTW. It happens a lot, I'm afraid. I don't think the intention is to deceive. In the summer, dancers get together in little touring groups, and they're often centered around a star, because that helps get bookings. But if Ruzimatov and Vishneva were there, they're certainly deserving of star billing, too. Nureyev used to do these kinds of groups a lot -- they were called Nureyev and Friends, and he danced in every ballet (usually) and definitely at every performance, no matter what condition he was in. So the ticket buyers would get what they'd come to see, but he was heavily criticized for "hogging" the spot light, and often what one saw wasn't top drawer. I'm sorry you were disappointed, but very interested to read your review. I've never seen Walpurgisnacht live, and was very interested to see that it was still in repertory. It's an "old-fashioned" Soviet ballet -- but very exciting, at least on video.

THAT idea conjures up the wonderful Baron Von Stroganoff novels. In one of them The Man Who Was No Nijinsky is done away with by the fourth-cast Petrushka NOT, he insists as he is dragged away, because he wanted to dance the part. No! No! But because Nos. 2 and 3 were so AWFUL. They don't make 'em like that any more. Sigh.

One series of books that I loved as a teenager were Hugh Walpole's "Rogue Herries" books. It traced a family in England for two centuries, and I loved the idea of that. There were four of them, and I'd read them, and then start again, over and over. When I reread the first one about ten years ago, I couldn't read more than a chapter. It was very sad. (I was also an Anne of Green Gables fan. I haven't read them in years, because I memorized them. And also the Little Colonel series -- NOTHING like that *&^&$%# Shirley Temple movie. I recently reread the first of those twelve books and was surprised to find how well-written it was.)

You're getting there! Keep us posted.

Thank you, Lynette. Mr. Heydon may have left for a variety of reasons, but one of the first signs of Degenerative Internationalization is a vacuuming away of character dancers. They "can't dance" and aren't needed for the brave new repertory.

Thank you for those, Mme. Hermine! I can think of three more, but I don't have the reference information -- just from memory. Victor Barbee was also in a Murder She Wrote. He was a defecting Russian; that's all I can remember. I can't even remember the name of the show, but the master from "The Karate Kid" had a TV series for a short while, and there was a dancer who, doing her barre in the park (where else?) saw a murder. They knew they'd been spotted and pursued her. But never fear. She felled them with one hell of a grand battement. And there was an escaping ballerina episode on Starsky and Hutch. She fell in love with one of them -- I'd never seen the show before this, so I never knew which one. And there's the famous Gelsey Kirkland on L.A. Law episode.

Thank you for this -- I didn't see it, unfortunately, but I'm very glad to know of its existence Ed mentioned the "Rolling Requiem." ABC-News ended it's l-o-n-g coverage of 9/11 with a quite substantial clip of these performances. (Mozart's Requiem was sung 'round the clock yesterday, going round the world from city to city, amateur groups and noted choirs.) I must confess that, listening to that music, and thinking of the idea of having one piece of music being played like that -- THINK of the sound waves going to our friends in Outer Space -- I thought less of 9/11 and more of Mozart. What a triumph!

Mel, The Unfinished Dance sounds suitably ..... well-cast for a Turkey Festival. Can you give us a plot synopsis? I've never heard of this one!

Absolutely. Yet I fell in love with Heathcliff with the same heart as I did with Mr. Rochester -- whose creator told you, on every page, that her hero was outstandingly ugly. Kay Jamison, in "Touched with Fire" (her consideration of the coincidence of manic-depressive illness with genius) postulates that all three Bronte sisters wrote about dear brother Bram. Charlotte's image of him was formed when he was younger, with a milder case of the disorder; Emily portrays him, as Heathcliff, when he's in full throttle, but still has moments when you think you can save him; and by the time Anne got to him, she was disguisted -- I forget the name of the Despicable Husband in the Tenant of Wildfell Hall -- and you get a character with absolutely no redeeming social value.

"Oliver Twist" and "Jane Eyre" were my first "grown up" books -- I read them when I was 9, had read everything for children in the library, and was viewed not old enough for anything else. Ah, the 19th century. Childproof books. I can't view either book objectively. I loved "Jane" more than "Oliver," and I'd still say that Jane was entitled to her patriotism I'm sure her French counterpart would say something quite similar, in reverse! Something about sauces and religions, say. Mme. Hermine, I think one of the pleasures of life is rereading old books -- once a decade is a great idea. I remember when I re-read "Wuthering Heights" 20 years after my first read, as a teenager, I was stunned by how different my perception was. I (and I think many girls) turned Heathcliff into a romantic hero, totally ignoring his nasty side. At 36, when I reread it, I had become totally bourgeois. "Stay with Edgar! He's got the big house, the china....."

Thank you for that, Drew. It's so good to read you again. I'm glad you got to London; I sympathize with your casting disappointments. I think the move towards ABT is part of the internationalization. It's ironic, because in the '70s and '80s, the Royal was THE Western classical company, and ABT was much stronger in its traditional or contemporary repertory. To me, ABT has stayed on the same level. I think that's what many of the long-time British Royal followers are seeing, too -- from a different perspective -- when they look at the company. Since Makarova is staging the "Sleeping Beauty" and she is reportedly very good as a coach, I await that production with interest. But it won't be in the same "line" as the Ashton-DeValois, even MacMillan, stagings. I was heartened to read, though, that you found the Royal still strong in mime!

The Royal Danish Ballet, for decades and decades, would give their principals a 25th anniversary gala -- counting from the time they entered the company as apprentices at 16, so, at 41, it was virtually a farewell performance, although many of the stars stayed on dancing mime roles. As recently as the 1970s, the star had an entire evening and chose what would be danced. In the 1990s, this tradition had begun to fade. If one wasn't in the good graces of the director, one didn't get a whole evening -- Arne Villumsen got only one act of "Onegin," with a very young debutante as Tatiana in 1993; Mette-Ida Kirk was given one pas de deux in a Neumeier ballet in 1995 -- both of these on regular triple bills. And when Lis Jeppesen hit 25, she told me, in an interview, "They said we have nothing for you. Then they offered me Coppelia" -- meaning they were only looking at what was in repertory that season and, of course, the director controls what is in repertory that season. (She ended up dancing "La Sylphide," with a partner new to her). Now that the retirement age has been lowered to 40, I don't know what

I'd like to second 2LeftFeet's point, that This Could Happen to You!!! It's hard, because ticket prices are generally already high, and it should be enough to attend performances and not worry about the fate of the company, but I think it's fair to say that most companies struggle. Of course, they need the support of those who are in a position to give larger amounts of money, but they also need the support of the community.

Maxi3D, thank you for telling us about the performance -- Balletmom, if you have more details, please post. Second hand reviews from family members are very much allowed It does seem odd to present a shortened version -- perhaps this was one of those very well-intentioned "Let's bring in the general public" programs. Maxi3D, what was your sense of the audience's reaction?

Thanks, David. 117 -- that's in spittin' distance Congratulations!!!

Thank you, Marilia -- enjoy it! And please write about it -- I think there are a lot of people here who would be interested in reading about Malakhov's European performances.

I'm still intrigued by the notion of first, Bejart WANTING Symphonic Variations, and secondly, what it would look like -- but with the cast you cite, it would be interesting. As for the comment Ashton made about "where did you get those men?" Clive Barnes said at a symposium at the Kennedy Center when the Royal was last here that both Balanchine and Ashton would have created far more roles for men, especially the male corps and soloists, if there had been enough first-rate male dancers during their day, a statement that made a great deal of sense to me. I think it is often fascinating to see another company perform a familiar work, and they can bring out something in the work that the "native" company wouldn't. (Many New York critics wrote this about the Danes' performances of "La Sonnambula" in the 1950s and '60s.) I'd love to see Austrian dancers in "Liebeslieder". But it's a situation that produces heated debate, as we've seen by comments of both critics and fans about the Kirov dancing Balanchine. Some love it, some think it's just plain "wrong." I'd guess that often what forms our opinions about this is, again, familiarity. When OUR company dances a work from a different tradition, they improve it (see dozens of reviews about NYCB's "Bournonville Divertissements" in 1977). When THEIR dancers dance one of OUR ballets, however, it's another story. What do others think about this? What ballets have you seen danced in a different accent that were revealing, or interesting, especially in a good way?

I've moved a post by Alymer, about seeing a ballet danced by dancers from a different company or style, onto a thread of its own in aesthetic issues. It's a very interesting point, I think, and I didn't want it to get lost. You can find it here http://www.balletalert.com/forum/showthrea...=&threadid=6896 Estelle, I hadn't thought of that aspect of it. To people in those towns, then, ballet might become "foreign" (which has been a problem in America) and further divorce people from its own tradition.

I've moved a post by Alymer, about seeing a ballet danced by dancers from a different company or style, onto a thread of its own in aesthetic issues. It's a very interesting point, I think, and I didn't want it to get lost. You can find it here http://www.balletalert.com/forum/showthrea...=&threadid=6896 Estelle, I hadn't thought of that aspect of it. To people in those towns, then, ballet might become "foreign" (which has been a problem in America) and further divorce people from its own tradition.

Estelle, it's Antoine Paul -- I haven't found his dates yet (I'm checking Ivor Guest's "The Romantic Ballet in Paris.") Albert and Paul were the two biggest stars of the transition period (I'm sure they didn't think of it that way) between the age of Vestris and Gardel, the neoclassical period, and the Romantic era. I found two interesting passages about these dancers (OT for your topic about choreographic careers, but interesting, nonetheless, and that fit into other discussions here:) The first, from p. 20 "Since the success of Albert and Paul,' commented Le Miroir in 1822, 'every dancer feels obliged to follow in their footsteps and wants to copy the superiority of these masters. All the genres are confused and converge, so to speak, towards a single style. Monotonous execution leads choreographers to monotonous composition...Confusion of the genres is so dangerous to the talent of the dancers that at times it is injurious to the two leading artists, Mm. Albert and Paul. The latter cannot wear a tunic and plumes, while Albert is too solemn in the gay genre." (Sound familiar? I think this complaint reoccurs during transitional periods, when the dancers, and their desire to dance everything, seems to rule.) On p. 39, writing about the hit ballet, "La Dansomania": "Albert gained a special triumph in this last ballet. 'I have seen the finest days of Vestris,' wrote one critic, 'and I have no hesitation in saying that Albert is very much superior to him, even as a mime. Albert, whose art is classical, disputes the favour of the public with Paul: the former is the Virgil of the dance, the latter the Ariosto of the dance.' The styles of these two dancers were so different than comparison was indeed impossible: 'It would be equally ridiculous to compare Isabey and David,' commented a writer of the time. But here, already, was a distinction being drawn between the classical style of dancing and a freer, Romantic style." [Virgil was the great poet of Rome, author of "The Aeneid." Ariosto was a great poet of the Italian Renaissance, late 16th century. His great work was "Orlado Furioso," about the Crusades. I had to look up Isabey; he was a French painter (1803-1886], known as a Romantic, painter of landscapes and watercolors in a free style. Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) was a very important French neoclassical painter.]