Alexandra

If you were staging Raymonda today, how would you handle the story? (Which, for those who may not have seen it, or read the libretto, is one of the more farfetched ballet stories. A Hungarian princess visiting her French cousins, as she's marrying a French knight, but he goes off to the Crusades, but a Saracen happens to be passing through and captures her, but she staves off a Fate Worth Than Death by dancing for him, but the fiance comes back in time to save her.) I remember reading in David Vaughan that Karsavina urged Ashton to choreograph a "Raymonda" and said she'd help him with the story. Sigh. Another opportunity lost. What does one do? Look at the story and figure out how to make it clear? Trim? Other options?

Which productions of the full Raymonda have you seen? The first I saw was Nureyev's for ABT, which I did not like -- I think it's the worst of his productions, even worse than the "Swan Lake." The Martha Graham hip thrusts, the change in the role of Abderachman (sp?) and, worst of all, turning everything into a dream AND stretching the dream over two acts. I saw this several times with different casts. I've also seen the Bolshoi's, but not the Kirov's. I was interested in Jeannie's comments (in Recent Performances) about Grigorovich's staging (for the Bolshoi) seeming more "moderne" than Sergeyev's (for the Kirov. I haven't seen the Kirov's; a friend who did, and who likes mime, loved it, saying that the story had been gently reduced and pushed to the background, and there was just "cascade after cascade of classical and character dancing.") I thought Grigorovich's looked more "moderne" too, Jeannie. Perhaps it was the style, or the way the dancers sneered at playing courtiers. So I was interested in reading Doug's comments that Grigorovich's was actually more like the Petipa notation. Doug, I hope you'll comment more on that.

I thought we might do Raymonda -- I'm inspired by Jeannie's review from St. Petersburg. And Doug has read the notation. And so it might be a good time to talk about the ballet. To finish off Petipa (or most of him) perhaps we can do Bayadere next (say in May and June) as the Bolshoi will be bringing it to Washington, and the Kirov will be bringing a new production to New York. I'd like to start Raymonda off with talking about the Petipa version, the full ballet, and save the one acts and variations (like Balanchine's "Raymonda Variations") for later.

Dirac put this up Friday on Links and I missed it; Brendan put it up again today -- a hint from the gods that we should be talking about it. A long piece in the New Criterion about choreography after Balanchine. What do you think about her points? http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/20/mar02/jacobs.htm

This is a lovely thread, and was exactly what I'd hoped for. Thank you for starting it, Mme. Hermine, and thanks all for your responses. My first was "La Boheme" (Washington Opera 20 years ago). I stood. I was bored to tears. It was the legendary tacky production, with the tiny tenor and the huge soprano and I saw no magic. I went around the time I started going to ballet, but I retreated to recordings for a long time.

Thank you, Jeannie, not only for the reviews, but for the "ambience" reports, too. We had one day here, but now the cherry blossoms are threatening to bloom, so quite a contrast Looking forward to reading about "Cinderella" -- if you think it will spark discussion, you might want to start a new thread. (I don't know how many others are over there yet.) Doug, if you're checking tapes, and if Jeannie is on the scene, maybe Raymonda would make a good Ballet in Detail -- I'll move the Sleeping Beauty stuff out and Raymonda in tonight. See you all there, too

Thank you, Estelle. I'll remember that for the future. I can sympathize with M. Belarbi -- it would get old. However, since there is at least occasional comment on how the Paris Opera Ballet does not include dancers of other ethnicities, I'm afraid he's doomed to continue to read it.

Sounds like a book and TV movie may be brewing. This is America's favorite ballet story, I think -- the anti-ballet story. That's why the Kirkland books were such hits, as much as anything, IMO. (And hits with publishers. There have been several minor memoirs with the "ballet hurt me" theme.) All best, of course, on Ms. Carlton's recording career

A dancer I never saw, a giantess for her day (5 foot 9, if I'm remembering correctly). There's a piece about her in The Times (London) today. Did anyone here see her dance? Any memories? How is she regarded now as former director of (then) London Festival Ballet? http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,585-226036,00.html

Looking forward to reading your perspective, dufay (and good luck with the audition). Perhaps you could post a Washington Ballet in Philly thread (a new thread) for your review, so it will be easier to find later

Thank you, Estelle! How did you do that? I've been checking LeMonde for reviews, and always do it by searching for "ballet" Is there a faster way? And have there been other reviews? I checked Figaro and a few others but found nothing.

From the reviews (which are on Links, as Estelle mentioned) the second act was quite different from the first. I found Ismene Brown's review quite interesting. Estelle, I'll look forward to your longer report after you've seen the second cast.

Our short-lived poll of how many times people attended ballet during a year drew several comments from those who would attend more if there were more to see. I'd be very interested to hear from those on this board who DO NOT have the opportunity to see a lot of ballet. What do you see? Is there a local company with a handful of performances a year? Any touring? Is "Nutcracker" just about it? How far are you from a city that does have a ballet company? Does the largest company in your area tour? How do you keep connected to ballet?? (You don't have to answer all those questions, but some, please

Ballet Dad, good news for Cleveland. I'm very sympathetic to the plight of those who live outside areas served by ballet companies. I don't know what will solve this. It's highly unlikely that there will be the big national tours by both American and visiting companies. I think this is one of the biggest reasons why ballet isn't more popular -- it can't be. People don't have a chance to know it. This might be worth a thread. Please check News and Views

A review in Le Monde: Sur la lande du Yorkshire, Catherine vole la vedette à Heathcliff quote: l'Opéra Garnier, le danseur-étoile Kader Belarbi chorégraphie, sur une partition de Philippe Hersant, "Les Hauts de Hurlevent", le roman publié par Emily Brontë en 1847.http://www.lemonde.fr/recherche_articleweb...rticle&periode= 30&ordrepertinence&debutjour=&debutmois=&debutannee=&finjour=&finmois= &finannee=&G_NBARCHIVES=714+683 (Another long link, alas. Either copy this into your browser, or go to www.lemonde.fr and search for "ballet" or "Hurlevent") [ March 04, 2002, 08:40 PM: Message edited by: alexandra ]

I'd rank Grigorovich on the same level as MacMillan and put him in the top rank by default (much as, I think, dirac did; forgive me if I'm misinterpreting you). This is based on seeing very little, and disliking some things intensely. But I think he's more varied than he seems. One of the advantages of being a critic is that you often must see things more than once. I saw "Golden Age" four times because I had to review alternate casts, and each time I saw it I saw more in it -- at first I'd seen "jumps"; there are many different jumps, they're not all alike. I also realized the differentiations he was making among the corps -- different groups were characterized differently through movement. I think often one doesn't see these things at first when the choreographer is using different rules, or is from a different aesthetic. Corps dances looked less like filler the more I saw him. I've vied the film of "Sparatacus" (Vasiliev) several times and think the story telling is very clear -- and it's told through movement. I think Grigorovich was trying (often quite successfully) to tell stories without using mime, and is part of the dramballet tradition. While the upside down running lifts aren't always to my taste, they certainly are inventive If I'd watched his ballets night after night for 30 or 40 years, and saw how he developed dancers, I'm sure I could say much more. I know he is highly revered in Russian, and perhaps some of our Russian lurkers or occasional posters might comment.

Ismene Brown on Hurlevent: Surging orchestral winds, gales of testosterone WUTHERING HEIGHTS was written in 1845, only four years after the creation of Giselle. It was considered monstrously shocking, and Catherine Earnshaw seems so modern in her uninhibited ideas about loving two men at once that she feels as contemporary to us as innocent Giselle seems remote. read review [ March 04, 2002, 08:37 PM: Message edited by: alexandra ]

I'd vote for Delibes, and add Glazunov (I adore "Raymonda") and the Danish composer J.P.E. Hartmann (part of "Folk Tale," "The Lay of Thrym," "The Valkyrie" and several others).

1 - 10 performances a year 36% (14) 10-25 performances a year 31% (12) 25-50 performances a year 15% (6) 50-100 performances a year 15% (6) more than 100 performances a year 3% (1) These are the results. Alas, the polls are now closed -- at least for the time being (too much strain on the server).

Thank you for all of these. I'm going to move them to the Dance board. Please follow with more comments.....

Actually, Hal, I meant ballet, not dance in general (or ice skating ). Sorry if the Taylor-Cunningham discussion confused this. On this site, generally "ballet" means ballet

I'll be interested to hear what you think. I saw it with Stuttgart when it was new (It's by John Neumeier, to Chopin, a retelling of the Camille story).

Thank you, Tatsu.

Paul, we may well add a Ballets forum in the future. The Ballets in Detail was put up to concentrate on one ballet at a time. (Former discussions are in the Archives.) Since your questions are mostly about 'way past performances, I'm going to move this one to Ballet History and see what comments it fetches

Catlady and Mel, I think it's probably impossible to separate oneself completely when one knows the dancers and is associated with the company. And, Mel, I think anyone would be understandably thin-skinned about reading negative comments Since this forum is primarily for audience members to voice their opinions, maybe I should put up an Announcement at the forum head that says, "For audience members to voice their opinions. Dancers, directors, choreographers and those associated with the company, read at your peril!"