Alexandra

Tobi Tobias's second piece on the 3rd Bournonville Festival is not a review of a performance, but an account of a costume exhibition. TOTAL IMMERSION: THE BOURNONVILLE FESTIVAL, NO. 2

Goats are more classical. the Greek Tragedies were performed at the City Dionysia, which honored....Dionysius, God of Wine, of course, but his animal was the goat, and the word tragedy derives from "goat song."

Maybe the green is moss. I have to say, although I think it's an .... interesting choice for a poster (but it ain't got nothin' on the Nearly Naked Bournonville Calendar that's now, alas, sold out). BUT the artist is a respected Danish artist and I don't think he was being gratuitously provocative. It is true that we can't see Bournonville plain, and that there is a barrier between his time and mine. I was genuinely curious if he'd explained his ideas in the Danish press, or if the critics there had done it for him, and/or if there was any buzz there about it. Death is looking better all the time, isn't it, Carbro (If you're under 40 don't read that sentence!!) If we go to hell, though, we'll have to watch all bad ballet, 24/7, for eternity!

The casting for the Kirov Ballet's Kennedy Center engagement in early July is up on the center's web site here Comments from our Kirovians? Who should we especially look forward to?

Hi, Ekunitz! Welcome to Ballet Talk! You sound like a very good detective! Without seeing the tape, I can't help -- it could be Hertel, but it could be some other music completely. (This is so obvious I'm sure you've thought of it, but can you tape the music off the video? ) You might want to try asking the question in the Cross Talk forum of our sister site, Ballet Talk for Dancers You'll find more dancers and choreographers there (that site is for studio matters, this one is more for watching and talking about performances). We have quite a few music and video buffs here, too, so I hope you'll get an answer here, but asking both places would help. Good luck, both in finding the music and with your performance!

I'm sure Bournonville would have the same idea, but what about contemporary Danes?

What fascinates me most about Eifman is now different people's views are of him. He really is one that you either LOVE or you HATE. I think only Bejart has been so polarizing. I haven't seen "Red Giselle" so I'd love to read you two on it -- they will be very different summaries, I'm sure!

I forgot to ask -- Jorgen (or anyone), Tobi Tobias's review mentioned that Riggins had cut some "minor characters." Do you know what they were? I'm guessing it was little circus, with the boy ligthing a dumb bell and the rope dancer. Are there others? (I hope not the housekeeper. Marianne Rindholt in that tiny part was one of the few highlights of the 2000 Week, for me. Trully Old School Bournonville Mime in style.)

On, no apologies necessary ;) It is an unusual poster -- deliberately provocative, I'm sure. I just wonder if it was being taken as a comment on Bournonville or a, well, smear at Bournonville.

Thank you, carolm and Kate! I hope others will chime in. Kate, I'm a "Month in the Country" fan as well and saw the original cast. (I agree that it's a masterpiece. I think some don't like it because they see it as a story ballet only, and it's so compressed that, for those used to "Manon"'s way of story telling, iit seems rushed. I don't think that's what Ashton was doing. It's more a character study and, of course, the style is as important as the dancing. I liked Guillem in it (I saw her several years ago) in a perverse way She played Natalya as a young woman who thought she'd struck gold marrying this rich old man, and had no idea how boring life in the country could be. Unfortunately, she would have gone after the footman if the Tutor hadn't come along, but at least it was an interpretation and not an imitation. I liked Porter very much as the delicious French chambermaid, but not after her promotion. I'm delighted to read new voices fron London -- the Royal Ballet is an important company to many Americans, so I hope to be reading you regularly. Kate, I agree on Mason. I was excited by the next season, even though there are some ballets on it that I don't particularly like. I like the shape of it -- not too many full lengths, balanced triple bills Not "Memory Lane Evening for the Old Codgers" and "New Now Night fr Us Real Dance Fans!!!", but an old favorite/an interesting choice -- either from that Treasure Chest rep, or, it seems, a ballet that Mason just wants to see again -- /new work. I think good days are ahead.

I'd be very interested in knowing what the discussion has been about the poster for the Festival. It's a traditional presentation of a picture of Bournonville, with an oval of green paint smeared around him. You can see it here. What's the green? A laurel wreath (note that little droplets of paint have dripped down on Bournonville's face)? That we can't see the real Bournonville through the mists of time? Is green the color of that laurel wreath -- or of money. et cetera. Has there been anything in the Danish press? (Although three Danish friends have told me there was very little advance coverage of the Festival. The focus this year is on H.C. Andersen's bicentennary.) Is there chatter in the lobby?

Thanks for that, Jorgen. I think I'd agree. Apparently the costumes fr the Brenaa production were controversial (interesting that no one was saying that, at least out loud, in 1992; I can't speak for 1978 as I wasn't there) but they did look like a Flemish painting -- and I think the point Bournonville was setting a genre painting to life is a good one.

I was waiting for you to find this one, vrs

I have to say something about the "silliness" I think this ballet might be best approached -- like the Kirov's new/old "Bayadere" of a few months back -- if it's considered within its time and tradition. Not Ashton's time, but the time of the score and the whole mind set of the old mythological ballets. It's the dancers' job to make that work. If Diana is authoritative enough, it should. But if the viewer's perception is, if they don't have 3 solos to dance it ain't a role, then you're going to be disappointed. "Sylvia" was a 19th century take on a late 18th century style of ballet, originally, and Ashton was using that very deliberately -- although, like his "Cinderella" and "Romeo and Juliet" and "La Fille Mal Gardee," it's not a pastiche, but of its own time, as well. But he could have expected his audience, or at least much of it, to understand the contexts. (It's also of the time of the tableaux vivants, as Michael pointed out, as well. In the continuum, it's the direct predecessor to "Sleeping Beauty" and it's lesser, but very popular cousin, "Excesior." (p.s. to Oberon -- I've never seen "Sylvia" live, but I never thought I'd be much of a fan of the goats either I may well recant that later!)

Eva Kistrup's review of the Bournonville Festival's second night on DanceView Times. "Napoli"

The Festival's second evening -- comments?

Natalia is keeping a log of all the performances -- THANK YOU!!! -- and I thought it would be better to have separate threads for the different ballets if others wish to comment. Jorgen, Mary, anyone else have comments on the opening?

Clement Crisp in the Financial Times: Prince of Denmark

Eva Kistrup will be writing regularly for DanceView Times about the Festival. Her first piece is in today. Opening Night

Tobi Tobias reviews the Opening Night program of The Bournonville Festival in her Arts Journal blog.

From one review I've read, I gather that the divertissement is the Carey one with a new name and new costumes. (It was once referred to as "the yellow pas de deux".) Yes, Natalia, definitely not the one from the 2000 production.

Thank you, Natalia! That was lovely!! "La Ventana" is the ballet that's been out of repertory the longest -- not seen since the mid-1980s, so it's good to read that it still works. It is an oddity in the Bournonville repertory -- almost the most "modern" of his ballets, because it's nearly all dancing. I look forward to reading more from you (We'll be carrying a Letter from Copenhagen at DanceView Times all week, by the Danish writer Eva Kistrup. I'm in the process of putting up the first installment now. It should be up by noon today (Saturday, June 4, 2005) The links will be posted on the Links forum and not here. [edited to add -- sorry, I was posting that exactly as you were posting your other pieces; I'd only read the "La Ventana" one. They're all lovely I also posted a link on Links to this thread, so those who only check the site for Links will see this)

Psyche rings no bells, and I haven't read or heard who choreographed the new divertissement. The divertissement in the 1979 Festival production was a post-Bournonville interpolation in Bournonville style by Carey. I'll await your report with interest, Natalia!

I think the problem with photographs is paying for the permissions. I know that's a been a problem with reprinting other books. Anyway, for soubrette fan's purposes, hanging out in old book stores and/or checking back with www.alibris.com or Amazon (handy link at top of board ) is probably her best bet. For the other Ashley fans, I hope they reprint!

Amazon does link to a network of booksellers, but soubrettefan is right -- this book is expensive! Starting at $39.80 and going up into the hundreds. But if you keep checking, you may find a cheaper one. I keep an eye on "Repertory in Review" (which will never be reprinted, so if you ever see a copy of it that you can afford, grab it!) and it can range from $60 to $300. Why reprint? (And UPF, as well as Wesleyan and the UK's Dance Books, keep reprinting books). Because there are a lot of people who've come to dance since the initial run was sold I'd still say it's a good suggestion for a reprint. There are a lot of NYCB fans out there, and Ashley is well launched in her second career as a teacher and stager; there will be interest in her views of her training and career.