Alexandra

leibling, in line with your response was something I read about Fonteyn, who said that Odette was Woman, not a woman. She said she knew everything about Giselle -- what her room looked like, what she wore, whast she ate -- but had never been moved to ask such questions about Odette. I think "Swan Lake," (like "Folk Tale") has some deep philosophical significance that some dancers sense instinctivley -- unfortunately, not those who end up staging productions of the ballet, unfortunately. I hadn't included the one acts in my list, but in addition to the Balanchine (and I like the new black swans one, at least the designs) when I started going to the ballet nearly every regional company did Swan Lake Act II and I saw a lot of them. Still like the ballet And I'd second Mary's comments about Tomasson's "Swan Lake" being set in the 18th century. It's like setting Wuthering Heights in downtown L.A. If he'd had some theory that Swan Lake was really a product of the Age of Reason, then maybe there would have been a point to it, but it was just (more or less) Swan Lake, plunked down in a manicured garden.

It's one of the books I read when I first discovered ballet, and I did like it, but it may be hard to read all at one sitting -- especially the ballets you haven't seen. Why not try to pick a few ballets that interest you, and read those parts, instead of trying to take it all in at once?

Luka, I'm going to move this to Anything Goes. I'm afraid no one will see it here, as this forum is meant to be more for "My company is performing next Thursday" kinds of posts. NYCB's 2001-2002 season has been announced, so there may be info on their web site. I don't know about ABT.

Yes, I think he tinkered with it a lot. I had a friend who was a little pig in it! (I never asked for details.)

I remember being very puzzled by the "just setting steps to music" comment when I first read it, as I did much of what Croce wrote. I generally liked what I saw, wanted to think that what I was seeing was "as good" or better than what had come before, etc. The ballets were certainly better than anything else I was seeing. What's the problem? I think she meant that the fourth movement ("Theme and Variations") was a ballet, a distinct, concrete work within a frame, while the rest was filler. I like the first movement too, and can remember almost nothing about the second and third. But the point was that although this section or that might be nice to watch, it was a bolt of very fine silk that hadn't been made into a dress or waistcoat yet.

I would like to make all producers and would-be producers of "Swan Lake" write, 10,000 times for homework, "Odette is not a bird. Odette is not a bird. Odette is not..."

I think it's time to close this one.

There are several stories going around about the reasons behind the Edinburgh Festival rep. I'm not aware that there's been any announcement or statement, by either the company or the festival organizers, as to who chose what and why. Leigh, I know several passionate defenders of "Don Quixote," who said that the audience simply didn't "get" the music -- as Mel wrote, most people thought it was boring. It may be an interesting parallel to Henze's score for "Ondine." People thought that was boring, nondanceable music as well. Manhattnik, I think you've made a very good point that some of Balanchine's ballets that were -- if not actually panned, certainly pointed to as less than top drawer -- at the time are now seen as masterpieces (conversely some that were seen as masterpieces are now seen as minor works. In the latter instances, I think it's either because they're underperformed or have been so ripped off by subsequent derivative works that they, themselves, look derivative). The problem with putting Suite No. 3 in the Masterpieces drawer is that it can serve as a model and a standard. As I remember it, Croce wrote that Balanchine was putting steps to music and calling it a ballet -- something that could be said of much "son of Balanchine" ballet today.

Thank you, Doug! I agree, absolutely. I think this nasty rumor was started by Americans and Englishmen who saw Swan Lake and couldn't figure out why the "star" wasn't dancing a lot, people who thought of "dancing" only as allegro dancing. Several writers have pointed out that Benno's presence in the pas de trois is a structural parallel with the "black swan" pas de trois -- where Von Rothbart once had a major role. More of what Petipa's ballets used to look like, when they all looked slightly different.

For some seasons, waiting for the curtain to go up! Ballet Nut, I'm also always reduced to tatters by the entree of the "furies" in Melancholic (and by the ending of Four Ts; I think it's the music). The Sylph's death scene in La Sylphide. The moment when it finally dawns on Viderik that he's not going to get the girl in Folk Tale. The part in Theme and Variations where the men come in -- explode onto the stage, if you're lucky. The rest have been individual performances, too many to recount.

Thanks, Pamela. Sounds dreadful! Forgive my innocence, but what is EBU?

Benno had been giving his walking papers by the time I got to ballet. The only glimpse I have of him is on a video of the Royal Ballet from the 1950s. Some companies still keep a character named Benno, but have him dance in the pas de trois. (WRONG. Benno is a seconde danseur noble and does not dance. The male role in the pas de trois is classique.) And, of course, some companies junk him altogether and replace him with a Jester. (Not the place to bash Jesters; he'll get his own thread later.) Who is Benno? Why was he there? Is there any way for him to be brought into the 21st century, or will he fade off into the mists?

So, do you like the beautiful, old-fashioned mime speeches that clearly explain the plot and are aesthetically pleasing in and of themselves? Or do you go for the more modern way of cutting out the mime, leaving us with absolutely no idea what's going on, and having Odette flap her "wings" a lot in its place?

Who is Odette?

leibling, I love your review of Martins' Swan Lake -- you put everything in two sentences!!! (I think the black-costumed Swans are in Russian productions as well. I always assumed they were baby swans, as real baby swans are black rather than white.) My first "Swan Lake" was the Old Royal production, which is my favorite not only because it was my first, but because I loved the Ashton choreography -- the big waltz in the first act, the pas de quatre, the tarantella, the fourth act. (I saw Nureyev and Monica Mason the first night, Makarova and Dowell the second.) Then ABT's -- three productions, the old Blair, the Baryshnikov, the current McKenzie; I'll take the Blair -- with dozens of casts. I saw Bruhn's for National Ballet of Canada in the late 1970s as well. He made Von Rothbart a woman. The Evil Queen. Nureyev's for Paris -- it grew on me. I had to see it seven times in one week, and saw it several times in subsequent seasons. The Kirov's (Sergueyev) production, also traditional and very lovely. The Stanislavsky (sp?), which I saw for the first time only two years ago, and found eye-opening: it's obviously the source for a lot of new, improved Swan Lakes. (I found it a pop version, stripped of everything that interests me in the Old Royal or Old Kirov.) Peter Martins' version -- in Denmark, where it looked better (at least compared to the tape of NYCB). The sets also look more comfortable at home -- there's a Danish context for them, and I can see how they'd look out of place in New York. Lots of smaller companies -- Tomasson's for San Francisco, Stevenson's for Houston. Can't remember all of them.

Don Quixote was "lost" because people found the musical score difficult -- interesting to see how it would seem now -- and also because it was so associated with Balanchine (who did the Don) and Farrell. It was not a bad ballet. (I didn't see it, and that's based on reports of several friends who did.) As for PAMTGG, it's often said that if we saw it today..... [ 06-23-2001: Message edited by: alexandra ]

Time to do a new ballet!!! This is one ballet I'll bet we've all seen, in some version. Mel did a lovely job in our ballets section (more any time now, Mel ) on Swan Lake, and you may want to refer to it: http://www.balletalert.com/ballets/Petipa/...ke/swanlake.htm I thought it would be interesting to start with our individual perspectives on the ballet. Which Swan Lakes have you seen? (In order, if you can.) For Americans and many Western Europeans, especially those who began going to the ballet in the days of the Iron Curtain, our notions of what "Swan Lake" is may be very different from our Russian and Eastern European visitors. So, what "Swan Lakes" have you seen? (If we could keep these discussions focused primarily on the PRODUCTIONS and not the dancers, at least for now, I'd appreciate it. )

Bump. This week, Swan Lake. (with apologies to Selma Jeanne Cohen, for her "Next Week, Swan Lake.")

Practical questions always welcome, Guy I can't answer this one, but I hope some of our Bay Area posters will.

Good points, both. The designs are more Old than New Testament, too, and, of course, Balanchine wasn't trying to tell the story literally, but get at the emotions and actions at the kernel of the story.

The 19th century classics are scarce as hens teeth in the regions now, felursus. (Really. There are only two productions of "Swan Lake" this season that I've found so far, none of "Beauty." I just finished the season's preview issue of Ballet Alert!) They've been replaced by what I call the faux classics -- Dracula, Mme. Butterfly -- full-length ballets with not much choreographic content. Very popular. What I wrote in the preview piece was that we've developed a bipolar audience -- a huge chunk want the faux classics and a huge chunk want contemporary dance, and this doesn't leave much room for ballet. (One of the most important driving forces for contemporary dance replacing ballet is economics: often no toe shoes, small casts, easier to rehearse, and a lot less complicated than trying to mount a "Swan Lake." Not that I think the repertories should only be doing "Swan Lake" either, but I think the barre needs to be raised.

Lots of interesting points here. LMTech, I wish company directors would listen to you on this one Balanchine ballets do tend to be repetitively performed. (Miami is the exception, I think; you're right, of coures, liebs. MCB does have a more varied Balanchine rep than many.) The ballets vary, though. Five years ago, Serenade, Concerto Barocco and 4 Ts were the standard. Now, all of a sudden, Slaughter seems to be a staple, and Divertimento No. 15! (That's a surprise because, according to Repertory in Review, this was not at all popular when it was first danced -- too tutu -- and only lasted "because the dancers fought for it.") I think partly this may be which stagers are available and partly the size of the companies. One of the problems, even if there are notes, videos, etc., is that if the dancers get too far away from the ballets (if they don't see them on a regular basis) the performances are a little "off." (Could you bake a chocolate layer cake if you had never seen or tasted chocolate or a cake, even if you had Julia Child's best repertory?) To me, this was obvious with the Royal's Ashton program. The stagings were good, I thought, but most of these dancers had probably never seen "Les Rendezvous," and seemed to be trying to be decorous, small-scaled, cute, "bright" -- all the things one reads about Ashton, except he's not. I keep thinking of this every time that commercial for the film "Artificial Intelligence" comes on. There's a scene when the little boy/robot is being touched in the pool by other kids, and they say, gosh, how amazing, he almost feels real, and he takes a minute to look at them and then .... laughs. But it's an artificial laugh, by someone who doesn't know what laughing is but is trying to imitate it. It's the best analogy from outside the dance world I've seen lately to what is wrong with many restagings. This will eventually happen at City Ballet too, I think -- it happens everywhere. They either ossify the ballets, turn them into little gems of technique and polish and stretch and polish until there's no life left (as Croce wrote in 1980 that out the Kirov did with the Petipa staples) or they push them into a "drag out when we absolutely have to" bin, as the Danes and the Royal have done with Bournonville and Ashton (and ABT has done with the Tudor-Robbins-DeMille rep). They're not part of the lifeblood of the company any more. Say what you will about Martins' direction, but this has not yet happened to Balanchine at NYCB. Perhaps ballets aren't ideally cast and rehearsed, or they're not enough of them in any given rep to suit Balanchine lovers (or good choreography lovers), but they're not relegated to the basement.

Thanks for this, Michael. I don't think it's odd that the Father makes the son crawl to him -- I think that makes the point that he has to be totally submissive, totally penitant before he can be forgiven and accepted back into the fold. Very Biblical

The music for Tchaikovsky pas de deux was originally in the third act of Swan Lake (where "Black Swan" is now). The music for "Black Swan" was originally in Act I. As far as I know, however, there are no swan references intended in Tchai pas.

LMTech, I think you've expressed the attitude of a lot of people, but I'm afraid it always makes me sigh because it reflects what I think is a general misunderstanding: people who are interested in ballet are not afraid of the new. I'd also argue that there's nothing inherently good about novelty and being constantly "on the edge." People have written that this or that choreographer has turned ballet inside out, kicked its butt, turned it on its ear, etc, etc, etc, so often since 1960 -- that is over 40 years ago!!! -- that I don't see how it's "new" or "on the edge" any more. (This is an aspect of the age-old seesaw between classicism and romanticism; one or the other is dominant in every age, and people in every age have one or the other sensibility.) People who like to think that what they're watching is new or on the edge are more than welcome to do so, but the assumption that those who don't are "afraid" or somehow backwards is off the mark.