Alexandra

Are you interested in all of ballet history -- general topics? Or particular periods? I started by reading anything that I could find written by Ivor Guest and Cyril W. Beaumont. Guest's books on 19th century, mostly French and English, ballet read like novels to me: "The Romantic Ballet in Paris," "The Romantic Ballet in London." He's recently added two volumes of pre-Romantic ballet: "Ballet of Enlightenment" and "Ballet Under Napoleon." I used to read Cyril W. Guest's "The Complete Book of Ballets" incessasntly. It's mostly plot summaries of 19th and early 20th century ballets, but there are historical stories and commentary on each work. Walter Sorrell's "Dance in its Time," (out of print, I think) is a wonderful overview of Western theatrical dancing -- it's really a cultural history focused on dancing, not a traditional "first you had this choreographer, then that one." Then I'd read biographies -- some, like Keith Money's "Pavlova" or Richard Buckle's "Nijinsky" and "Diaghilev" gave you the history, because their subjects were so important historically. For British ballet, David Vaughan's "Frederick Ashton and His Ballets" is not only about Ashton but the Royal. Taper's "Balanchine" biography touches on both the Diaghilev and New York City Ballets as well. Sometimes reading a biography of a favorite dancer is a good way to get into history. You might want to go through this forum -- not just the first page, but click on the little numbers to take you through past threads. I think you'll find a lot of recommendations. There are some general threads, and then there are threads on specific books. And I'm sure others will have recommendations too! Happy reading!!!

And "Waltz Academy." According to "Choreography by George Balanchine, A Catalogue of Works," Balanchine's contribution to the 1946 ABT production of "Giselle" was: "Balanchine arranged the traditional Maryinsky staging of Giselle's grave scene in Act II." Antony Tudor contributed to a production credited to Dimitri Romanoff. (I don't think any of them can be blamed for the Berman designs!) One insider view of the politics of ABT at the time -- when you had quite a few out of work Russian exiles jockeying for position -- is in Charles Payne's "American Ballet Theatre." (My favorite story is that Mordkin, who was supposed to be staging a "Giselle" found out that Dolin was rehearsing his own version. Mordkin placed a toy machine gun on the piano every day in class, aimed in Dolin's direction.) But back to Balanchine, I think Mel's right -- there were people competing for Balanchine's services at the time, and he was trying to get his own company going.

To be fair, we can't blame Ms. Fokine for THAT. It was an experiment Mr. B did back in the 1970s -- to show the choreography. (He was on record as liking the other version, so I don't think he meant to hurt it ) I think SAB revived it for the same reason -- to show the choreography, and the link between Balanchine and Fokine; both were sons of Petipa, even though both took different paths.

And it's not fair that the men didn't get to wear clothes! Just not fair at ALL!!!

One learns something new every day. I didn't realize it was Balanchine who Not the least indeed. Off to start preserveisadoraslegacy.com

Anna Kisselgoff's review in the New York Times has extensive background on the ballet, as does Mindy Aloff's on http://www.danceviewetimes.com (The link to Kisselgoff's review is on Monday's Links.)

PLEASE -- only vote if you actually saw it.

Feel free to expand, if you want. Or not, just vote.

Then I'm glad you read them after you posted, HF! I was struck by the sense I'm getting, especially from Paul, that "Sylvia" is classical ballet reinvented -- something many of us have been waiting for. Instead of fiddling with a tired, old ballet, he just....took it from the top. I especially liked one thing Paul wrote: Hockeyfan, firedog, anyone! Is this your sense, too, or no? (Of course, please feel free to disagree.)

Thanks, Dale and BBfan (I edited my post so as not to cause further confusion!)

Who could argue with Clement Crisp AND Baranova? Robert Greskovic did an interview with her years ago which we ran in DanceView -- it's another on my list to put onto the site. As I remember it, she had minimal -- like, watched her father, Fokine's son, stage one production one afternoon -- experience in staging before making a mid-career change and beginning to stage Fokine's ballets.

Thank you! Actually, Paul Parish (who sometimes posts here, and I hope will come in and comment on "Sylvia") and Rita Felciano (who is not, alas, a net person) are San Francisco critics. Here are brief bios: DanceViewTimes About Us page (scroll down; they're in alphabetical order. And apologies to other readers for going off topic. There's lots to discuss in "Sylvia"!)

Yes, Helene -- THANK YOU. I always appreciate the detail you take with your reviews. Thanks for giving us such a good idea of the ballet. Opinions will vary, of course, but the people I've talked to would agree with your last comment, I think -- their take was that Morris took the ballet seriously and didn't condescend to it, but rather revelled in it. There are bits in the music that couldn't be done grandly. I also think that in the original, there was probably a bit of mockery of the tradition; they had had it with the gods by that time, and the old aesthetic of retelling the classical myths was no longer ascendant. Firedog, if you're still speaking to me, this is what I was trying to do above. Good question. By the 19th century, usually there was a separate person who wrote the librettos for ballets. (There were exceptions; the Danish choreographer August Bournonville wrote his own libretti, which he called "ballet poems" and scorned those choreographers who turned over this task.) The libretti had to be turned into the theater's censor; often the librettist would be a theater employee, sometimes, as in the case of Theophile Gautier who wrote the libretto for "Giselle," a poet in his own right. The libretti don't include the dances, just something like "a brilliant pas de trois" or "the nymphs then dance a ballabile," but give the story in great detail. There was much more mime in 19th century ballets than we have now. If you'd like to see some examples, you might want to look at Cyril W. Beaumont's "Complete Book of the Ballets." He prints many of the libretti for the 19th century ballets, as well as cast lists and commentary. (The original "Sylvia" is in there.)

That was yesterday's news. I couldn't watch it tonight, so I don't know who was on, but the guests change, and it's a mix of righties and lefties. The audience is quite, well, partisan. Of course, we can't count on a ballet category every night, but my mother, who is a diehard Jeopardy fan, says that there are often ballet questions.

Yes. It's the man in tights v. the man in trousers, an old divide.

It doesn't look like they're at the Wang Center -- although those dates in October are as yet free (I checked their calendar).

This may just be a DC thing, but all this week on jeopardy the contestants are famous writers and political types. Last night was Bob Woodward (Go! Washington Post! Go! Go! Go!), Peggy Noonan, and Tucker Carlson. Despite my cheering, Mr. Woodward came in third. Sigh. BUT they had a ballet thread -- "You should be in a ballet." They all did dismally. Peggy Noonan thought the ballet with a spindle in it was The Nutcracker. And Bob W did get the $2,000 question right -- who was Nureyev's partner in "Romeo and Juliet" (Margot Fonteyn).

Absolutely not!!!!!! At a certain point, Prima Bs will demand to dance every role, and those who love them will love them in anything they do, but every dancer is most suited to his or her own particular repertory, by body type and by temperament, and withholding promotion from someone who can "only" do Kitri or Giselle -- or, worse, plopping them down in "Swan Lake" so they can prove they're "real ballerinas" -- is one of the Great Evils of our Day. Do a search for some of our threads on Employ, Silvy -- they'll be on Aesthetic Issues. Other opinions welcome, of course

AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE ANNOUNCES JACQUELINE KENNEDY ONASSIS SCHOOL Auditions to be Held June 12 at ABT Headquarters American Ballet Theatre has named its school in honor of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, it was announced yesterday by Kevin McKenzie, ABT Artistic Director and Caroline Kennedy. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis served as a member of ABT’s board of trustees for more than 25 years and was Honorary Chairman of ABT until the time of her death in 1994. Her daughter, Caroline Kennedy, has continued her mother’s legacy, serving as Honorary Chairman of ABT since 1995. The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre, formerly ABT’s Studio Company Associate Program, is a pre-professional training program which began in January 2004 and is currently training students aged 15-18 at the Company’s 890 Broadway rehearsal studios. The program is designed to accommodate the academic schedule of students and aims to provide the highest quality training consistent with the professional standards of ABT. The program’s artistic mission is to develop dancers with a strong classical technique who can adapt to the multiple stylistic demands of the ABT repertoire. “The naming of this new school honors Jackie’s long association with American Ballet Theatre,” said McKenzie. “We believe this program is the seed for a national presence that will bring the highest quality of dance training to students at our flagship school in New York City, while also incorporating a substantive teacher training program for instructors across the nation.” On continuing her mother’s legacy, Caroline Kennedy said, “I can think of no greater tribute to my mother. She loved visiting the rehearsal studios at ABT and watching the dancers perform. I look forward to working with all of you to make this dream a reality.” The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre, under the artistic direction of John Meehan, includes a curriculum of classical technique, pointe, partnering, pas de deux, character, modern technique and Pilates. Faculty members include members of ABT’s Artistic Staff, ABT alumni and other prominent teachers. Students will be accepted based on merit, and scholarships will be available based on need. Auditions for the fall semester of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre will be held June 12 at 890 Broadway, New York, NY. For audition information, please call 212-477-3030, ext. 3281 or contact ssiegel@abt.org.

BALLO DELLA REGINA: Feijoo+, Garcia+, Hankes, Edge, Bouder, Körbes [F] SQUARE DANCE: Borree, Marcovici [K] LA SONNAMBULA: Whelan, Boal, *Sylve, Fayette, *Mandradjieff, Dronova, Carmena, *Severini, Tinsley, *Hall, Gold [F] WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 19, 8:00 P.M. (Conductors: Moredock, Kaplow) LA SOURCE: *Weese, Hübbe, A. Stafford [M] DANCES AT A GATHERING: Borree, Ringer, Bouder, Rutherford, Kowroski, Millepied, Hübbe, Marcovici, Fayette, De Luz [Walters] CHACONNE: Kistler, Martins, Fairchild, Hendrickson, Krohn, Beskow, Hanna, Riggins, Hanson, Golbin, J. Stafford, la Cour [K] THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 20, 8:00 P.M. (Conductors: Moredock, Quinn) LA SOURCE: Weese, Hübbe, A. Stafford [M] ROBERT SCHUMANN’S “DAVIDSBÜNDLERTÄNZE”: Nichols, Kistler, Ringer, Ansanelli, Askegard, Soto, Boal, Martins [Grant] THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS: Arthurs, J. Stafford, Hankes, Ramasar, Hanson, Hanna, Marcovici, Sylve, Askegard, Evans, Reichlen [Moverman] [Q] FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 21, 8:00 P.M. (Conductors: Moredock, Quinn) LA SOURCE: Ringer, Millepied, A. Stafford [M] SHAMBARDS (New Wheeldon): Weese, Soto, Körbes, la Cour, Bouder, Fairchild, De Luz, Ulbricht [Q] [Grant] LA SONNAMBULA: Borree, Hübbe, Sylve, Fayette, Mandradjieff, Dronova, Carmena, Severini, Edge, Hall, Gold [M] SATURDAY MATINEE, MAY 22, 2:00 P.M. (Conductors: Wachs+, Kaplow) THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER: Borree, Woetzel [W+] pause SQUARE DANCE: *Weese, Hübbe [K] ROBERT SCHUMANN’S “DAVIDSBÜNDLERTÄNZE”: Nichols, Kistler, Ringer, Ansanelli, Askegard, Soto, Boal, Martins [Grant] CHACONNE: Whelan, Martins, Edge, Carmena, Krohn, Beskow, Hanna, Riggins, Hanson, Golbin, J. Stafford, la Cour [K] SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 22, 8:00 P.M. (Conductors: Quinn, Kaplow) DIVERTIMENTO NO. 15: A. Stafford, Borree, Rutherford, Bouder, Ansanelli, Tewsley, Hanna, Higgins [Q] EPISODES: Tinsley, Liang, Reichlen, Fayette, Whelan, Evans, Kowroski, Askegard [K] ROBERT SCHUMANN’S “DAVIDSBÜNDLERTÄNZE”: Nichols, Kistler, Ringer, Ansanelli, Askegard, Soto, Boal, Martins [Grant] SUNDAY MATINEE, MAY 23, 3:00 P.M. (Conductors: Kaplow, Moredock) SQUARE DANCE: Weese, Boal [K] LA SONNAMBULA: Whelan, Boal, Sylve, Fayette, Mandradjieff, Dronova, Carmena, Severini, Tinsley, Hall, Gold [M] CHACONNE: Kistler, Martins, Fairchild, Hendrickson, Krohn, Beskow, Hanna, Riggins, Hanson, Golbin, J. Stafford, la Cour [K]

I know there are Closet Oregonians here, Watermill. Eventually they'll come out. Thank you for taking the time to write in such detail -- for those of us who are interested in this company, it's wonderful to be able to read about it. COME ON, CLOSET OREGONIANS -- or Ballet Travelers. What did you think?

Thank you, Dale That's more than a once over quickly! There are several photos from the gala -- of Raymonda and of Caught -- in Susan Reiter's review on DanceView Times that I just put up: ABT's Season Opens With a Sizzling Gala More reports, please -- I can't believe Dale is the only one who went.

I was struck by that, too, and then remembered that many in the contemporary music world cannot bear to listen to "Giselle". They think of Adam and Delibes the way many ballet people think of Pugni and Minkus.

Welcome, firedog! And thank you for that beautiful review. I wonder if the decor was deliberately over the top? The score isn't logical -- isn't all comic, nor all grand ballet. (I write that not having seen it, of course.) fyi, I just put up two reviews of Sylvia on DanceViewTimes -- www.danceviewtimes, if you don't know it. One by Rita Felciano and one by Paul Parish. Ann Murphy wrote last week, and will write a "second look" piece this week. All loved it. DanceView Times

I got one "thumbs up" email from a friend -- but no details.