Alexandra

I've just uploaded four interviews by Katharine Kanter of artists of the Royal Ballet, Copenhagen, speaking of Bournonville, training, and the Bournonville tradition. They are: Hans Brenaa, Flemming Ryberg, Lloyd Riggins, and Thomas Lund. http://www.danceview.org/archives/bournonv...interviews.html Thank you, Katharine

Not totally irrelevant interjection. Three men in the 1970s and '80s did triple air turns frequently -- Baryshnikov, Bujones and Richard Cragun. Really truly triple air turns. I remember reading an interview with Cragun that when he'd mastered that, he couldn't do doubles any more. I forget why

I've only seen Paris Opera Ballet in three short seasons in D.C. (dancing "Swan Lake," "La Bayadere" -- both Nureyev's productions -- and a triple bill of "Suite en blanc," "Icare" and "Les Rendez-vous." I've also seen them quite a lot on video, as there are frequent performances on French TV. I especially admired a program a few years ago of older ballets: "Soir de Fete," "L'Arlsienne" and "Symphonie Fantastique." Many of my friends disliked the corps in Swan Lake and Bayadere -- too cold, too objective. It took me a performance or two to adjust to, but then I did like it; it's the company's personality. (The long lines, long neck and small head as an ideal of beauty can be seen in 18th century French painting.) I've liked several of their ballerinas, especially Platel and Guerin, both now retired; there's an alarming ballerina shortage there. The principals of the past 15 years were, for the most part, all chosen by Nureyev. As one friend of mine put it, "They've been living off him for years." That generation is about to retire; no one with as great a gift for discovering and fostering talent, it seems, is working there now. I think the company's acting is generally excellent. Like it's dancing, it doesn't thrust itself out at you; it's reserved. The dancers can make distinctions among ballets -- they don't dance everything alike. The season we saw "La Bayadere" and the French triple bill, I thought the acting in La Bayadere especially, deliberately, cold and formal. But in Petit's "Les Rendez-vous" -- one of his Young Man falls in love with The Most Beautiful Woman in the world -- a/k/a Death -- they were completely different. The acting was very passionate, very immediate. Cyril Atanasoff, a former etoile then in his 50s, I believe, was wonderful as Death, an aging Dandy who seemed to have spent the last century in a sewer. I do think that the company is going down, not up, however. Not only the lack of true etoiles, but there is a studiedness about the dancing -- I agree with Katharine Kanter here. It's become about the technique. But I've seen that in the Kirov, too. (Arlene Croce wrote a wonderful piece years ago about what happens to technique when there isn't living choreography.) I hope that Estelle, who's seen the company quite often over many seasons, will add to this thread.

I feel I must stick my Administrator's two cents in here. Strong opinions are welcome, but there are people from many nations who post and read this board and we want everyone to feel comfortable doing so. Arguably our least arrogant poster happens to be French, but even were that not so, we'd like to avoid generalizations about nations or groups, particularly unflattering ones, or those which could give offense.

All good questions -- I think it puzzles many people, Helena I was especially interested by your "are there degrees of genius?" Are there greater or lesser geniuses? Is there a threshold? I suppose since genius isn't quantifiable, it would be hard to say. I think there are genius performing artists. Alexander Bland used the term "monstres sacres." I've thought a lot about these questions while researching ands writing my book. I began being interested in Kronstam as a coach and thinking he was a good dancer -- he must have been, or he couldn't have created Ashton's Romeo. Then I began interviewing dancers of his generation and nearly every one I spoke with ranked him equal to, or greater than, Bruhn or Nureyev. THAT raised questions about genius or greatness versus fame. Studying that one artist and going into his background, there were no artists in the family, although his brother, niece and nephew have each reached the top in their respective fields, so there is competitiveness and drive there. He was singled out very early (ages 10-13) for roles in plays and operas, and older dancers felt sure from the time he was 13 that he would become a principal. This does seem to be one thread, at least in performers: they may get better as they grow older, but "it," whatever it is, is there from the beginning. Nureyev may be the greatest puzzle, growing up in a mud hut and walking like Louix XIV Is it a gene, or a conflulence of genes? If so, how great a role does opportunity play? (In Kronstam's case, his mother, whom he resembled physically and in many aspects of his character, seems to have been an undiscovered actress. When family members speak of her it sounds as though they're describing performances. I saw a PBS telecast about China years ago, and one segment featured a 6-year-old Chinese boy from some terrible slum, with nothing resembling art in his environment, who became a classical Chinese painter the minute he hit kindergarten. He knew nothing of the history and tradition of the genre, he'd probably seen few trees, but in his first year of exposure, he was making paintings of trees that compared with the greatest Chinese master painters. (He was, at least at six, a very happy genius, but I've never seen a book with that title )

Estelle, there is a biography of Verdy, by Victoria Huckenpahler (my first dance history teacher, or I probably wouldn't know of its existence). It was published by Marcel Dekker in the late 1970s. I'm sure it's out of print, but it may be in old bookstores.

I was going to make a "thank you for these reviews, and please, everyone join in" post this morning, but Leigh did it first -- so I'll just echo everything he said. As this board's "mother" I've noticed, with great joy and satisfaction, that at the beginning of every season, we get a little bit better -- more voices joining in, more detailed reports, more friendly discussions. It's very nice to read Now that we have enough space, we won't have to delete anything, so these reviews will be here for a long time, and provide a nice record, in the future, of past seasons. I'd also like to stress that I hope newer posters won't feel intimidated by the length of some posts or the knowledge expressed therein. Everybody starts going to the ballet, and writing about it, somewhere. So if you have just a few sentences to say, that's fine, too.

I think the point that ballet today is focused on the execution of individual steps rather than the combination of those steps is a good one, and can't be made often enough. I hear/read it said by teachers frequently (there's an interview with Bruce Marks on this site in which he says the same thing). There are teachers who try to break students of the step-step-step habit, but it doesn't seem to be working. I think you need both choreography and dancers. I've seen wretched ballets saved by dancers, and fine dancers look anonymous in mediocre choreography. Choreography lasts longer than dancers but even the greatest choreography needs well-trained artists to make it look its best.

Hello, Katharine; good to see another Bournonville person here. Some of our regulars think I made him up I don't have a theory of genius, but I believe in the species. I prefer the Jeffersonian definition of "all men are created equal" -- in the sight of God and/or the law, meaning we all get a chance at Heaven and fair trials -- rather than the Leninist one that we all are born with the same talents and IQs. I think Mozart had something that I don't have. What it is, I don't know, although I enjoy the probing. I believe it's likely that there are, sadly, thousands of people who are latent geniuses who go undiscovered, or never find their niche, so I do believe in the rising to the occasion, or "greatness thrust upon them" theory. But there are also some whose talent simply will not be stilled. I've read several books about the link between manic-depression and genius, one actually called "The Key to Genius." There's certainly a link (there are a staggering number of artists who suffered from manic-depression; perhaps the most well-known study of this is Kay Jamison's "Touched with Fire"), though whether it's causal or not I doubt can ever be proven. That theory goes that IF there is talent AND there is manic-depression there is a great likelihood of genius. The simplest theory I know is that IF there is talent (whatever that is) AND there is training and opportunity, there is the likelihood of genius.

Here's the link to the interview with Violette Verdy, which I did in 1998. http://www.balletalert.com/magazines/BAsampler/Verdy.htm

There was an interesting article on the nature of genius, using mostly musical examples. Surprisingly, dance is not mentioned! Perhaps we can fill that gap. Here's an excerpt: NOTE: This is not a summary of the article, but an excerpt from it. There are other models and ideas reprsented. "Mr. Kivy's book, for example, shows just how malleable ideas of genius have been. He demonstrates that genius, far from inspiring a monolithic interpretation, has taken on different shapes and meanings in different periods. There are, he argues, two dominant myths about genius in Western culture. The first, advocated by Plato, is that the genius is a passive recipient of divine revelation. The second, long attributed to Longinus, is that a genius is a creator rather than a receiver. Mr. Kivy writes: "For Longinus genius must seize the day; for Socrates the day must seize the genius." These are the two models of genius: the possessor (Longinus) and the possessed (Plato)." Myths About Genius By EDWARD ROTHSTEIN http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/05/arts/05CONN.html

Liebs' account goes the question of when is it permissible to dance a work in the company's style rather than the choreographer's; what is the dividing line. The more Balanchine leaves America, the more different he will begin to look, I think. Leigh, I think Mr. B would have had to have made the fourth movement longer for Fanny Manhattnik, you have just opened a crystal ball to the gala of the future.

Liebs' account goes the question of when is it permissible to dance a work in the company's style rather than the choreographer's; what is the dividing line. The more Balanchine leaves America, the more different he will begin to look, I think. Leigh, I think Mr. B would have had to have made the fourth movement longer for Fanny Manhattnik, you have just opened a crystal ball to the gala of the future.

Ballet Austin brought the first act of Stephen Mills' "A Midsummer Night's Dream" to the Kennedy Center Terrace Theatre tonight -- it's part of a series the Center has for families. LOTS of kids in the audience, a whole band of little girls who came in together, all with ribbons and sparkles in their hair. There were a lot of young elementary school children, so young (I am not making this up) they oohed when the Changeling Indian Boy came out! I hadn't seen Mills's choreography before. There were references to both the Ashton and Balanchine versions and the vocabulary was Balanchinean. I thought the choreography for the small band of fairies (led by a kind of Head Fairy, named Cupid) was interesting; Mills' native language is ballet. The Lovers segment was very slapstick, but much of it was quite funny. There was quite a bit of mime, quite clearly delivered. The dancers are what one would expect to see in a small company -- the women better than the men (several of the men looked as though they'd gotten late starts), but most with a technical or physical flaw. (Titiana had karate arms.) I wondered if anyone else had seen any of Mills' work?

I wonder which role Marie T herself would want to dance? She was a jumper, so she may take 3rd. Elssler was all small footwork, so she'd be off in a corner pouting and swishing her skirts. Kschessinska would be a shoe-in for 1st movement. I have many ideal casts for this one -- and have seen several great casts, so I'll have to mull this one over. I'd be happy, when I get to Heaven, to see the first cast of Palais du Crystal.

I wonder which role Marie T herself would want to dance? She was a jumper, so she may take 3rd. Elssler was all small footwork, so she'd be off in a corner pouting and swishing her skirts. Kschessinska would be a shoe-in for 1st movement. I have many ideal casts for this one -- and have seen several great casts, so I'll have to mull this one over. I'd be happy, when I get to Heaven, to see the first cast of Palais du Crystal.

Thank you, Alexander. It sounds like an interesting program (the middle two ballets were faune and Faun, the Nijinsky and Robbins back to back). I thought the point about it capturing one part of the Ballet Russe experience -- the excitement, the chicness of it, was very interesting. Estelle, Terry, or anyone else, did you see this?

Yes. That's Gautier. I gather Marie didn't turn him on, unlike many of the other ballerinas that he wrote about. Gautier perhaps set the standard for a certain breed of dance critic (with a tip of the hat to the poetry of his writing) who thought it was perfectly fine to, er, see dancers socially AND work on the libretto for a ballet and then review both the dancers and the ballet

Jane, a friend sent me the following info: Ballerinas: Dances by Peter Martins [videorecording] / co-produced by Thirteen/WNET, New York, and Danmarks Radio ; produced and directed by Judy Kinberg and Thomas Grimm ; choreography by Peter Martins. Imprint : New York, N.Y. : WNET, 1991. Description : 1 videocassette (60 min.) : sd., col. NTSC ; 3/4 in. (U-matic) Notes : Telecast on Thirteen/WNET's Great Performances: Dance in America series on January 11, 1991. : Executive producer, Jac Venza. : Host: Peter Martins. : Danced by members of the New York City Ballet. : Guest artists: Kate Johnson and David Parsons. : Music performed by the New York City Ballet Orchestra, conducted by Hugo Fiorato. : Beethoven romance / music, Ludwig van Beethoven (Romance in F major for violin and orchestra, Op. 50) ; costumes, Heather Watts ; danced by Kyra Nichols and Adam Lüders ; solo violinist, Elmar Oliveira -- Ecstatic orange: Second movement (Purple) / music, Michael Torke ; danced by Heather Watts and Jock Soto -- Valse triste / music, Jean Sibelius ; danced by Patricia McBride and Ib Andersen -- Barber violin concerto / music, Samuel Barber ; costumes, William Ivey Long ; danced by Merrill Ashley, Lüders, Kate Johnson, and David Parsons ; solo violinist, Oliveira -- Sophisticated lady / music, Duke Ellington, orchestrated by André Kostelanetz ; costumes, Karinska, Barbara Matera ; danced by Suzanne Farrell, Peter Martins, and men's ensemble.

Good question, and I hope someone with more knowledge on the subject than I can answer it. According to Horst Koegler's Oxford Dictionary of Ballet (odd, I keep reaching for this old one rather than the new, improved version which has half the information in it of the old, but I digress), the International Ballet competition at Varna began in 1964 and was started by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture. I don't know if that is the first, though. The Moscow competition may predate it. Jeannie? Do you know this one?

Good question, and I hope someone with more knowledge on the subject than I can answer it. According to Horst Koegler's Oxford Dictionary of Ballet (odd, I keep reaching for this old one rather than the new, improved version which has half the information in it of the old, but I digress), the International Ballet competition at Varna began in 1964 and was started by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture. I don't know if that is the first, though. The Moscow competition may predate it. Jeannie? Do you know this one?

Thanks, all, for these reports. I hope people will keep posting them -- we could end up with a nice collection of TV shows around the world

The "some have greatness thrust upon them" quote raises another question, and that is why could companies produce choreographers and dancers so easily in the early days of the 20th century? Were there really six great choreographers in Diaghilev's company jostling for position and so he was just lucky? We read of how he educated choreographers. No one is doing that today. Rambert had two young men in her class, Antony Tudor and Frederick Ashton. Is there a class somewhere today with two 20-year-olds who could be Tudor and Ashton? The Paris Opera Ballet was, shall we say, not at its best with Nureyev walked through the door. You, you, you, you and you, he said, picking out the etoiles for the next two decades. I saw the same thing happen in Denmark, when the RDB worked. There were dancers who were (almost literally) kicked and tricked into being good, or very good dancers. They were cast with exceptional care -- a soloist might convince you s/he was a star in certain roles, but not in others; choreography was modified slightly if someone had everything to be successful in a role but technique. There were also a few dancers who did not want to be ballerinas. They had civil servantitis and were the subject of perennial complaints -- she doesn't work, look at that body and she does nothing with it, she won't come to rehearsal, she doesn't care. So there's a lot that goes into it. It seems to me that it's that eye -- the Diaghilev eye, the Rambert eye, the Nureyev eye -- that we do not have. It's also what the company directors are looking for -- that's the first step; what they do with the talent later is another step, and that's lacking too, but it's the perspective that's changed. When ABT last revived "Les Patineurs" a few years ago, the Fonteyn part looked like nothing. (As long as I've seen it in this company it's been given to the Pretty Girl Who Can't Dance). All the focus was on the turning girls. I thought, if the same sensibilities were running the Sadler's Wells Ballet then, it would not have been Fonteyn who had greatness thrust upon her, but Mary Honer. [ January 03, 2002: Message edited by: alexandra ]

Robert Greskovic reviewed the company for the Wall Street Journal on January 2. It's not available on line, unfortunately (unless you're a paid subscriber.) I will type in a brief excerpt here: "With this triple bill as an indicator, it would seem that Mr. Forsythe has become an enemy of academic steps. His choreography for his so-called ballet company tends to ignore the tradition of pointework for women altogether and concentrates mostly on off-kilter upper-body movements that produce fluidly changing shapes embellished by wheeling arms and aggressive legwork. As for steps, or what ballet's French-language academy has long called "pas," such specifically accented workings of the feet that aim to go beyond basic locomotion seem of little interest to Mr. Forsythe." Forsythe might well reply, "Right, they are of little interest. I go Beyond Ballet." If anyone saw the company and liked it, please jump in

Sibley is a favorite of mine, although I saw very little of her. I came to ballet during her Injured period. She had the most amazing career. Very good very young, with many created roles, working with both Ashton and MacMillan, shining in the Petipa ballets, a great partnership with Anthony Dowell. Then she was injured (while filming "Turning Point" dancing with Baryshnikov) and she was out for, I think, seven years. At a relatively advanced age, when in her mid-40s, she came back, at first tentatively, and then back to her old repertory, with no apologies.