Alexandra

julip -- wow! I think those are very solid definitions. (Whether one agrees with them or not -- I think I do, but that isn't the point -- they're very clearly stated and distinctions made. Mme. Hermine, I agree with you that most boards of directors don't know the difference. I'd maintain that's one of the problems. I think some choreographers/directors think about these things a lot and others perhaps do not. I asked this of a company director long ago -- innocently, before this had become an issue for me -- if he thought it was difficult for the dancers to perform triple bills of modern dance during the week and then do "Swan Lake" on the weekend (which was the pattern for that company at that time) and he thought for a moment and said, "I've honestly never thought about it that way. It's all about marketing" [paraphrasing here; this is a 12-year-old conversation]. Their surveys showed that half the audience liked contemporary dance and half liked the classics, and this was the way they were attempting to serve both audiences. I think that happens a lot now (In an interview several years later, the same man had a different opinion. He said he was watching his dancers struggle with a Martha Graham work and thought, "This isn't right. They aren't trained to do this, and I'm not giving them what they have been trained to do.") What I found especially intersting about the Grand Maitre quotes was the reference to choreographers like Kudelka, who were considered to "classical" for one company that had a contemporary dance profile and too "contemporary" for one that had a classical tradition. [ March 02, 2002, 12:34 PM: Message edited by: alexandra ]

I agree with Leigh, that there's no one in ballet that comes close -- at least, no one that I've seen. I would note that in alt.arts.ballet a few days ago someone posted a press release that said that Yuri Grigorovich was the greatest living ballet choreographer. This will not be a popular opinion with some, but Americans often act as though Bejart and Petit don't exist. I have seen very little Bejart, and none of his Extravaganzas. But from what I have seen, he certainly has craft. Petit's work is extremely uneven -- much of it is little better than cabaret acts -- but he also has craft. Both of these men are in their 70s.

I agree with Leigh, that there's no one in ballet that comes close -- at least, no one that I've seen. I would note that in alt.arts.ballet a few days ago someone posted a press release that said that Yuri Grigorovich was the greatest living ballet choreographer. This will not be a popular opinion with some, but Americans often act as though Bejart and Petit don't exist. I have seen very little Bejart, and none of his Extravaganzas. But from what I have seen, he certainly has craft. Petit's work is extremely uneven -- much of it is little better than cabaret acts -- but he also has craft. Both of these men are in their 70s.

liliflower, if there are, they aren't ballet companies

Whew! It's one of the worries we had before putting up posts about the Olympics. Someone would have every reason to read those, and think, "Oh! Great! A board about skating!"

Thank you for posting this, Farrell Fan. One of my dreams is for Farrell to revive this ballet. I forgot to add that to my If I Won the Lottery List. I have a good friend who loved Don Quixote, and thought it wasn't successful partly becuase of the music -- would this, like the score for "Ondine," be easier to take now than at its birth? -- and partly because people didn't expect this kind of a ballet from Balanchine. It wasn't obviously avant-garde, like much of his work, and it wasn't neatly packaged, like the new full-length ballets that Cranko and MacMillan were doing. I think we might see it with new eyes today -- and I think it might well become a model for the next generation of choreographers interested in making full-length ballets. I, too, would love to hear some recollections of people who saw it (whether you loved it or avoided it )

I think there are a lot of discussions that take place here that may seem esoteric or irrelevant to some people and are bread and butter to others. These are things critics -- and directors and choreographers -- talk about all the time. The reason directorships, repertories and a company's whole personality changes -- not to mention people losing their jobs -- are the result of issues like these. When people raise issues of what's going on in the larger context, or criticize a performance, or the like, it's not intended to make anyone feel inferior and I don't think the discussions here are phrased that way. But this forum is precisely for topics such as this, and I very much want people to feel comfortable raising them. I'm sorry if it's off-putting to you, but then, why not just avoid those posts? For those who do find this issue relevant or interesting, I hope this exchange won't make you hesitant to respond to the topic. The way the issue of repertory is stated in these quotes is a bit different from the way it's been tackled here in the past, and I'd be interested in hearing views.

I wanted to address the issue of gymastics. Now that the Olympics are over, I'd like to return the board generally, and this forum particularly, to ballet competitions. I really don't want the forum used to discuss other disciplines than ballet on a regular basis. I allowed the skating olympics discussions because I know there's interest among many ballet fans in skating, there had been some posts about it in the past, and I didn't want it to become An Issue But it wasn't meant to open the door to regular discussions of skating, or gymnastics, or basketball, or swimming I think this topic -- and there may well be skating and gymnastics-related topics in the future -- is worth discussing because it is a parallel to issues in ballet: keeping up standards versus pleasing the audience, what's necessary in order to keep up technical standards, etc. I think further discussion of skating, or any other non-ballet issue, should be done within the framework of ballet -- i.e., relating it to ballet. If this isn't clear and leads to confusion -- and if it brings in people who want to talk about skating or gymnastics more than ballet -- then I think we'll have to become "strict constructionists again." One analogy that might make sense. In the Pro Shop, we talk about costumes. That can include fabric and fit, color, how they look on stage, how they're made, how you wear them. But we don't go off into discussions of sewing or weaving per se. Hope that make sense. [ March 01, 2002, 06:14 PM: Message edited by: alexandra ]

I understand what he's talking about (I certainly have a different definition of "ballet" than Grand-Maitre, but I understood what he's saying.) I'm curious, Mme. Hermine, what you think showed lack of understanding? Or did you mean that such a discussion itself isn't worthwhile because (generally) no one understands what they're talking about [ March 01, 2002, 02:32 PM: Message edited by: alexandra ]

Thank you for all of these summaries, and please, please, post more! A totally irrelevant comment in the grand scheme of things, but I had to protest one thing Michael wrote. quote: Although we still hear some of the sourest notes in the horns I have ever heard from a professional orchestra anywhere. But not nearly so often.Sir, I feel I must defend my city's honor here. Washington bows to no one in sour note horns. We've had them in "Sleeping Beauty," we've had them in "Sacre" and there are passages of "Romeo and Juliet" that would send you screaming from the theater. [ March 01, 2002, 12:25 PM: Message edited by: alexandra ]

Two sections of yesterday's article in the Globe and Mail about the new artistic director at Alberta Ballet jumped out at me. (Ari found this and posted the link on links. If you want to read the whole article, go to www.globeandmail.com and put "Alberta Ballet" in the search box on the home page.) What do you make of this? quote: In Montreal, a dance-mad city more oriented to the avant-garde than to ballet, Grand-Maître is not as familiar as Edouard Locke, Marie Chouinard or Pierre-Paul Savoie. "Montreal audiences might be surprised to hear this, but they don't really understand ballet, there is not a great tradition here," Grand-Maître says. His sentiments might be shared by the National Ballet's James Kudelka, who was admired but not always understood by the city's fickle audiences. Later, Grand-Maitre gives more of his definition of ballet: quote: "Alberta Ballet is the right company for me," he says, his face breaking into a smile. "It's a fine, young ensemble of 25 dancers. It's a company with a very eclectic repertoire. Mikko has brought the dancing level to very high standards. They do Balanchine, they do neoclassical and more and more contemporary works."This interests me because Kudelka was "too classical" for Montreal and "not classical" in Toronto. Grand-Maitre is not my idea of a classical choreographer, and Alberta Ballet reportedly rejected applicants who were "too ballet" in favor of somebody "more contemporary." Are we moving (not fast enough, oh, please, speed it up) to ballet/contemporary/modern divide? No longer just ballet/modern?

Thank you, Sonora. I'm *very* glad you finally "delivered" And very glad to read about the ballet. I hope this will inspire other Ballet Alertniks to write about what you are seeing. We get lots of reports from New York (and please keep 'em coming!) but it would be so lovely to read what's happening all around the country. If Sonora hadn't posted this, we wouldn't know the ballet existed!!!

Interesting points. I wonder if this is another place, though, where the clock is unlikely to be turned back. There's a lot of soft shoe dancing today, but it's not ballet dancing (contemporary and modern), and unless there's another Fokine who wants to reform ballet from within instead of trying to turn it into something else, I wonder if we can get back to the using pointe appropriately. In pure dance works, one could make the case that it's always appropriate (not necessarily healthy, but appropriate ) I do think one of the problems with so many modern dance choreographers working with ballet companies is that they often don't really understand pointe work and either become fascinated with it, but don't understand it, and so have the corps on pointe continuously for 20 minutes, or don't use it. I also think (and this is purely personal) that demi-pointe work looks awkward done in very stiff shoes. Before we get too far into theory here, though, what do dancers think?

Good question I don't think you need to be concerned -- the dancers are adults and want to take care of themselves. But yes, it hurts! And I'm sure that at every performance you see, at least one dancer is dancing injured. (conservative estimate) The same could, of course, be said of skiiers and basketball players I put this up on another thread a few days ago -- Fonteyn was quoted as saying that if the audience knew how much pain was involved in a ballet performance, the only people who'd come were those who enjoyed bull fights. (But it's not just the toes that hurt ) [ March 01, 2002, 10:03 AM: Message edited by: alexandra ]

Yes, dmd. I believe both Tina and Sherri LeBlanc dance with San Francisco Ballet. They might be a good pair to use for Calliope's original question -- do you compare them when you see them on stage?

Welcome to Ballet Alert, DGH, and thanks for posting that. Oakland Ballet did have quite a few interesting Diaghilev revivals at that time.

Dirac posted this on Links, as well. British Ballet Legend Honored in Panama quote: It's not often a taxi driver speaks gushingly about a ballet dancer, and less often still that a Latin American taxi driver should do so about a British one. But the late Dame Margot Fonteyn, considered one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th Century, continues to be cherished by many Panamanians who are honoring her as Panama's most famous adopted daughter.... Eleven years after her death in Panama City, and with the help of the British Embassy in Panama, Fonteyn's memory is being revived this month with a series of ballet performances and an exhibition of her dresses. In a more lasting tribute, a bronze bust of Fonteyn has been unveiled in Panama's National Theater.read article

Sarah Kaufman's review in the Post: Joffrey's Venturesome Night of Nijinsky quote: Joffrey Ballet of Chicago opened its week of performances at the Kennedy Center Opera House last night with a program it calls "The Nijinsky Mystique." It's an apt title, for not much more than mystique remains of the great Vaslav Nijinsky, the legendary dancer and, for just a brief, exciting moment, experimental choreographer whose career rose and fell in the space of a few years at the start of the 20th century.read review

Wendy, thank you for posting this. I saw it on ballet.co yesterday and emailed congratulations to James, but I'm very glad to have it on the board, as well. I hope his ears are burning

ATM, I didn't think they looked alike. I thought they were both dark beauties, and both exotic. That was the similarity I thought I saw. I read in one of the Ballets Russes books -- I don't remember which one! -- that Toumanova and her mother would scour the stage floor to find a little indentation, if not an actual hole, and she'd dig her toe in there for the fouettes!

Aubri posted this in the Special Groups forums, but I thought it might interest some dancegoers as well as teachers and students, so I'm posting it here and giving you a link to the thread. The Paris Opera Ballet School will dance in New York in May. Read More

I think Michael's point of narrative time needing to equal stage time is a good one -- not always; sometimes distillation works. But if you're going to do a three-act ballet, then do it. Usually, I'm bored with the divertissements in the third act, and I wasn't looking forward to seeing ALL the divertissements. But in this production, I was never bored. When a produciton cuts them, it's as though the directors are saying, "Good grief, I can't stand to see these. The audience will hate it. We have to get out by 11:00, and 10:15 would be better. All right. We have to do Bluebirds and Cats or they'll notice we've changed it. Little Red Riding Hood is cute and would be good for Nellie. The rest we'll cut, and the Mazurka people can rush in and then we can all go home." But having all the divertissements not only shows us Petipa's way of having a classical, demicaractere, character, demicaractere, classical balance, but having all of them, to me, made the act actually seem shorter. "Cindrella" is so sweet and gentle it provides breathing room. I also agree with Mary's point about the English version (which I took for "pure Petipa" for years). Maybe this was the answer, in 1946, to "Dante Sonata" (which, created during the War, left the conflict between good and evil unresolved). Part of it, too, was that the early Western stagers apparently could not believe that the Lilac Fairy wore heeled shoes. Putting her in a tutu throughout changes the balance, diminishes her role, somewhat, rather than enhancing it. Manhattnik, Bournonville felt that Petipa's ballets were "lascivious." All that skin (and, as George Jackson pointed out in a review, with the heavy costumes, the naked shoulders of the female dancers really look naked)! But as for 19th century chorus lines, we haven't seen any. We don't know if what we're seeing in chorus lines from the 1930s comes from ballet, or if Petipa was taking material from the girlie shows of his day. (Maybe Doug knows )

I think dirac's point about costuming is an interesting one. In this country, we have not grown up "in the wake of Diaghilev" and decor has been "WE don't need costumes. WE have great choreography" for far too long, IMO. Part of this was for economic reasons, and part of it still is. Costumes can make a difference. This is another thing I learned from the Kirov's Sleeping Beauty. Some of the men's costumes were dated (the fairies cavaliers especially) but others, and especially the women's dresses, were gorgeous. We've become used to 12 maidens dressed in green, or an entire "court" dressed in the same, three-color dress, not to mention 90% percent of the contemporary repertory where the dancers wear their tank tops and bicycle shorts, that we're being cheated out of one of the important elements of ballet -- if one believes in Lully's first principles, which I do.

I don't think we've kicked this one 'round enough, so I'm raising it again. I agree with what's been said so far. I liked Ed's examples of two restagings that didn't work and one that did -- nothing is impossible, or always wrong. As Mary and Estelle said, it's when "good" and "new!" become mixed up that the problems happen, when someone is trying to remake something just to be new. I do think the point that the reason each director changes standard or classic works is to make his mark and for better box office is true -- depressing, but true. Perhaps, too, the problem is that there are so many companies trying to cash in on "Swan Lake" and "Sleeping Beauty," not to mention "Romeo and Juliet." I was especially struck by the statement in the article that "admirers of modern dance are most likely to boo if there isn't a certain amount of historical anachronism, sexual depravity and mimed drug-taking." I don't think that modern dance and lust for depravity are linked. I DO think there is a segment of the audience that defines "adult" as "having sexual content and depravity," but I don't think that all modern dance fans would agree with that. Unless I'm missing something hidden in merce's works...... One of the problems, from a critic's point of view, is that critics are polarized over this issue. Half will shoot (figuratively, figuratively) anyone who tampers with a classic on sight, the other half will jeer at anyone who does NOT tamper with a classic. It's hard to tell the audience's take on this. Some will agree, in theory, that they think this or that tampering is too much, but if the dancing is good, probably won't complain too loudly. Since people will come to see a "Swan Lake" without knowing what they're going to get, we can't relaly tell if they're voting with their feet or not. (i.e., the fact that a new, updated "Swan Lake" sells out doesn't mean as much if a program of new, as in created this week, choreography were to sell out. Which it generally doesn't, which is why they go rape "Swan Lake.")

Pamela, I hope you keep screaming It's an important scream. Ed, thank you for this topic -- and thanks, atm, for your memories and what you wrote about Toumanova. I've always been fascinated by her. My image of her is that she is very much of her time -- strong personality, lots of perfume -- yet of ours, as well, with that slender body and strong technique. Interesting that Balanchine made second movement of Symphony in C (Palais du crystal) for such a virtuoso. Did anyone else see Toumanova, live or on film? Any impressions? I wondered, when I saw Asylmuratova, if she was not a bit like Toumanova. Is that completely off base?