Alexandra

Thank you very much for that report, Violin Concerto. As one who wanted very much to attend the conference but couldn't, it was very nice to hear a firsthand report. (I had no idea that there was nothing in Balanchine's handwriting at the Harvard Collection. Egads. Give us another 200 or so years and, like Shakespeare, people might claim this as evidence that he never existed!) Did anyone else here go?

There is a Cranko bio ("Theatre in My Blood," by John Percival). I believe someone is working on a MacMillan biography, but that is old news and I haven't heard an update. There are also at least two biographies of Fokine. The problem with biographies is that they often disappear quickly. I remember being shocked when I learned that there had been a biography of Antoinette Sibley -- I'd missed it when it was published, and I follow such things rather carefully!

I second, third and forth a biography of Petipa. There is a major biography of Erik Bruhn in the works. I had always hoped for a biography of Diana Adams -- perhaps too difficult to do now. I'd definitely read one of Karsavina.

I agree, Leigh. (I think there was a "fight" at the time between ABT and City Ballet fans. I will close this thread. If someone wants to start a new poll on the same, or la similar subject, feel free!

Marc Haegeman did a series of interviews with French etoiles for DanceView over the past few years. Odd, if Nureyev's relationship was so antagonistic with the company that each of them spent a good chunk of their interviews explaining, in explicit detail, what they got from him, how much they admired him, etc.

What bart wrote -- is very important. It IS more than a love story. There was, at least originally, the idea that Siegfried was looking for something that his life was missing -- a spiritual fulfillment. Not love, not God, but something larger than himself, something beyond himself, and he found that in Odette. (That's why, for me, the melancholy solo added to the end of Act I is appropriate.)And thank you, Andrei, for your comments, and for reminding us that the White Swan pas de deux was originally a pas d'action for three, plus huntsmen and swans. It would have looked quite different a hundred years ago. (I'm a charter member of the Bring Back Benno movement, although it's not a popular one, I fear.) Hans, yes, KAB has an acting for dancers class now. (I think a large part of the problem for young dancers and dramatic dance is not only the rushed, inadequate rehearsals, but the fact that they have no models. If they saw it every day, they'd naturally learn how to fill a character on stage.)

I think this is a very good question! I'm not sure there is a "right" answer, but I will say that I agree with you. I think when Siegfried looks angst-ridden, as though he knows he is Doomed, it takes away from the story. I don't remember Nureyev or Dowell (to name just two) looking this way. They were serious, but not pained. I vividly remember Patrick Bissell, who was a positively sunny Siegfried, one who matured as he was caught up in the tragedy his actions (inadvertently) caused. I think the story is that Siegfried enters that forest with a tinge of melancholy, but should be more sanguine, and hopeful, during White Swan. I think this is yet another coaching problem. Often young dancers are left on their own, and know little about the story except that it's a tragedy and so think that this is "proper." Also, the tempi are so slow these days, that what was once a tender love duet sounds like a funeral dirge, so a dancer who is musically sensitive might be matching the music. Other thoughts? Who have you seen do this scene that you particularly admire, and how did he (they) do it?

Russia had plenty of good dancers. They imported stars because stars were, then as now, good for box office. The company had an excellent school. MK danced at the high point of Petipa's time in Russia. bart, there were excellent teachers then, too, including Christian Johansson, and later Fokine and Legat, among others. Cecchetti was a dancer (Bluebird/Carabosse) in his mid-40s at the time of "Sleeping Beauty," but also taught.

Welcome to the board, Stage Left. Even if Mr. Joffrey could roll over in his grave, I doubt he'd be at all upset about "Giselle." The Joffrey always had an eclectic repertory and was probably most admired for its stagings of Ballets Russes ballets. He also staged "La Vivandiere," "Konservatoriet," some Balanchine, and lots of Ashton.

True, bart, but lest someone read that and misunderstand "demimonde," they weren't prostitutes (although many, like MK, had aristocratic lovers), or fairground entertainers. They had good manners I don't know -- perhaps rg does -- whether they were received by the Orthodox Church. From the Middle Ages, when dancers and actors were excommunicated, until some time in the late 19th or early 20th century (and I've never found a date) dancers could not marry, or receive extreme unction, or have their children baptized (or receive any of the other sacraments.) One of the values of MK's memoirs is her depiction of family life. I love the part where the very young Mathilde has to ask her parents for permission to set up housekeeping with Nicky (the Tsarevitch) and how concerned her family was about appearances. (Well, OK, but you have to have your sister live with you so it looks proper.)

RG, I'm so sorry this has happened. People who do such a thing really are web scum, and they'll ruin the net for the people who obey the rules and want to learn. I hope you'll keep posting your photos here -- but I'll understand if it gets to a point where it's more hassle to police how miscreants misuse them than it's worth.

Artist, your first instinct is correct. "Lyrical" is a genre of dance (from a critic's point of view, anyway) that's not taken very seriously in concert dance. Lyrical qualities: musical (your eye and your ear are not in conflict watching them), fluid (the movements are connected), usually light (Arnold Schwarznegger may have many fine qualities, but lyricism is not one of them).

We were posting at the same time, bart. Sorry for some overlapped points. Kronstam told me that when Balanchine was in Copenhagen to stage "Apollo" in the mid-50s, he'd come to Volkova's classes and seem almost angered by them. He'd leave -- but always come back the next day. (The two were friends; it was Volkova who got him to work at the Royal Theatre when he was in Copenhagen, when Tanaquil was in the hospital.) They did take art more seriously then. I'm sure there are some today who do, but most of us are perhaps too casual about it.

Balanchine was very young ;) What I've read -- which admittedly isn't much, as I don't read Russian -- is that Volynsky was very conservative, against experiments, including Fokine's. He teamed with Nikolai Legat, who didn't like what Lopokhov was doing at the Maryinsky. Here's where it gets tricky, because I've read that Lopokhov was a reformer (and he did change the Lilac Fairy's role from a danseuse noble role to what is now called "neoclassical"), and others say that the Maryinsky was locked in the past, wedded to a rigid classicism and trying to keep Petipa mummified. Not being there, I can't tell which was a more accurate reflection of reality If anyone has a more informed opinion on that, please share! (I'd also note that Balanchine NEVER hung around ballet girls, nor could be accused of placing too much emphasis on women in ballet. That's one thing Mr. V and Mr. B have in common. Meinertz writes that Volynsky believed in the Russian concept of "sofia" (female beauty) and thought its most perfect expression was the swan. I often get in trouble when writing from memory, but I THINK that Volynsky gets the credit for one of my favorite headlines, written in outrage at a new production of "The Sleeping Beauty," one of the first to try to make it better: CALL AN AMBULANCE! Before this gets too much into Volynsky, though, Volkova was his pupil and protege, but taught her own way and with her own ideas.

I hope others will write, too -- is Andrei reading this? Or Marc or Natalia? I'd love to have a Russian impression of Kschessinska. But I also wanted to thank bart for posting this topic, and for taking the time to put in all of those quotes

Alexander Meinertz's excellent biography of "Vera Volkova" (originally published in Danish) is FINALLY available in English. It's not on Amazon, but is available from Princeton Books as well as Dance Books (www.dancebooks.co.uk). Even though Dance Books is in the U.K., you might get it faster from them than from Princeton, based on my experience of past orders. I ordered the Volkova book on Sunday and got it Friday. (Ordered air mail, of course.) Volkova was one of the greatest teachers in the history of ballet. She was one of Vaganova's pupils who fled Russia after the Revolution, worked for a long time in London, where she coached many Royal Ballet dancers, including Margot Fonteyn. They had a long and rich relationship. She was also a friend and confidante to Frederick Ashton. She left London to work in Milan (one of her first pupils was a young Carla Fracci) and then went to Copenhagen, at first simply to teach for a few weeks. She came in the midst of what would be called The Lander Scandal, when Harald Lander, who had been artistic director, choreographer, lord and master of the Royal Danish Ballet, was abruptly fired for misbehavior, leaving the company without artistic leadership. Volkova stayed in Copenhagen until her death, and during those 20 years created two generations of Danish ballerinas and ballerinos. Henning Kronstam, Kirsten Simone and Mette Honningen were some of her most important pupils. She also worked intensively with Erik Bruhn and Rudolf Nureyev, who would come to Copenhagen to take classes with her during summers. Stanley Williams was also one of her pupils, learning from her how to teach. He came to the New York City Ballet in the 1960s and was that company's master teacher for 30 years. So Volkova had a long reach. I found the early chapters of this book, chronicling Volkova's early years and training in Russia, especially interesting. Volkova was a protege of philosopher and critic Akim Volynsky, who had a ballet school (with Nikolai Legat) in the early 20th century and was a passionate classicist. There's also a lot about teaching in this book, from interviews with Volkova's pupils. Disclaimer: Meinertz is a good friend of mine, and I was aware of the book while it was being written and, later, translated. But I'd read it with pleasure if he were not If you're interested in Russian ballet, British ballet, Danish ballet, or ballet teaching, I'd recommend it. She also had an interesting life, too, for fans of biographies.

No apologies necessary, Hans! I just wanted to be sure it was clear. Cristian, that's what I thought, too, when I read it. Or, if not Balanchine (hard to imagine him staging "EAsmeralda"), at least a very "modern" ballerina.

Yes. That's what I wrote. "The first Russian to learn the secret of spotting from the Italians, an impeccable technician. Petipa would have stood for no less." (Legnani was the first to do fouettes; created the role of Cinderella and, later, Odette/Odile, which included fouettes. Kschessinska was the first Russian to figure out how she did it -- ie., the secret of spotting -- and to do the fouettes.)

All the classical ballerinas had "normally proportioned legs" -- no extremes allowed. I was shocked to learn last summer (undoubtedly 10 years after the phrase was coined -- that such dancers are called "half-'n-halfers." She's "classically proportioned," they would have said -- the proportions based on Greek statuary. And I have to say, what may look melodramatic to US did not look so at the time. The costumes, the acting, were in the style of the time, and it is not inferior to ours, I would argue, but merely different. Acting styles changed drastically after film. People wore more clothes then, and the women often look plump because A) they were wearing padded tights, in teh fashion of teh day, because men liked plump legs; and/or B), they were wearing a lot of undergarments, including a corset tied as tightly as possible so they couldn't breathe freely, and then many petticoats, camisoles, etc. over top. How did she dance? She was top drawer. The first Russian to learn the secret of spotting from the Italians, an impeccable technician. Petipa would have stood for no less. My copy of Smakov's "The Great Russian Dancers" is at school, so I can't find the passage, but he describes her special gift as being rigorously classical (I'm writing from an old memory). She didn't "act." She danced. People were sometimes at first disappointed at her "coldness" but she won them over with the purity of her dancing. She became an excellent teacher later in life.

MK's memoirs -- "Dancing in St. Petersburg" -- is one of my favorite ballet books. The sweetest, dearest, kindest, luckiest woman iin the world, one would think. SHE never thought Pavlova's feet and lack of turnout were a problem, no no. Nor was the weak technique -- in comparison to the Divine Mathilde's, at least -- something to worry about She's the mistress of, among other things, the Backhanded Compliment. And a very great ballerina who lived a long and happy -- not to mention rich, successful and exciting -- life.

I had had the same thought, bingham, and hope Saratoga regulars will chime in here. 25, 30 years ago, NYCB at Saratoga was a hot ticket. New Yorkers, I'm told, would go there for their summer vacation, and it was cool for the town to have the company because it had such buzz. (And because they wanted to see great dance, of course!) But it's a different time, and perhaps that audience has moved on, and the new audience wants to have fun. Another change that I've lived through is "opera houses" and places like Wolf Trap (can't speak to SPAC) started programming musicals, at first, we were told, as a rarity to have one thing that was profitable to make up for the "high art" events that didn't sell. Well, people like musicals, and there are probably more people who would want to see "Rent" than the "Ring Cycle." (And lots more that want rock concerts and football, and then why not do what the Romans do and go for human sacrifice? That always drew a big crowd. But I digress.....) The occasional musical became months of musicals, and brought in a new audience, but one that, it seems, doesn't easily crossover to ballet and concerts.

Thanks for posting that link for discussion, bart. I'm not part of the SPAC audience, but certainly have seen both programming and ballet audiences decline at Wolf Trap in recent years. In the mid-1970s, NYCB brought its entire Ravel Festival there. (It was the year before I discovered ballet, and I don't know how the audience was.) I remember the Return of the Kirov in the mid-1980s -- even the lawn was sold out. Then it nosedived in the 90s. One of the administrative people there told me he thought it was that ticket prices had gone up and up, and he begged them to cut the prices, the theory being if you had 1500 unsold seats at $50, wouldn't it be better to sell $3000 seats at $25. I don't know why he didn't win that argument (and I can't prove it was ticket prices; the Washington Opera sells out at $250 a single orchestra seat these days). Crisrtian, yes, PR is important, but with the domination of the media by pop culture, it's very hard to do. 24 hour a day cable news, and not even 10 minutes a day for the arts. Oodles of time, of course, for Paris and Britney. It's dismaying -- and interesting -- to me how far America has diverged from Europe now. The arts are part of their regular TV shows, news as well as specials, and seems to be more of people's lives. That's the bad news. Back to bart's question: how can SPAC, and other venues, boost attendance?

Good point, kfw. I don't know if we have the audience for it now, though. I've sensed a change since the new opera house opened. The ballet programs haven't been selling as well generally -- there are exceptions, of course, but there are some nights with a lot of empty seats. I think the Center is looking for brand names -- "Swan Lake," "Sleeping Beauty" -- that will attract an audience, and it's understandable. We're also in a three-act ballet renaissance. It's interesting to think that 30 years ago, the three act form was firmly declared "dead." "Modern audiences" demanded triple bills. These things go in cycles, I think. I will say that the Fokine program did do well here, a few seasons ago. They programmed it on a weekend, and most of the comments I heard as I prowled the lobby at intermissions were quite favorable. miliosr, the New York Theater Ballet often does interesting programs of little-seen older works. I people go and write about it!

The thought of a collaboration between Tharp and Boris Eifman -- perhaps to music by Danny Elfman! -- is, indeed, intriguing......

atm711 may be the only one here who remembers the real glory days of ABT -- the 1940s, especially, when they were known as THE innovative American company, churning out masterpieces in an incredible burst of creativity -- and nearly all pieces were classical ballet with a strong American accent. I hope they will do something for Tudor at City Center in 2008. I would expect it, at any rate.