paul

During the "End of Season Gala 2009" at the Bolshoi a Esmeralda pas de deux was danced. It was a delight. I had never seen it before and it looked to me 100% Petipa. I waited for this pas deux to pop up in the new Bolshoi Petipa "Reconstruction" of the Ballet. But it never did. Does anyone know where this delightful Esmeralda, danced at the End of Season Gala 2009, comes from?

I especially went to see Alexandra Ansanellis Sleeping Beauty and was charmed. Such a beautiful classical line everywhere and all the time. A absolutely beautiful vision scene. I prefer her to any other Royal Ballet Pricipal in this role.

Koburgs productions of La Sylphide in London featured some very very beautiful mime and dance scenes which I had never seen in any Danish production of the Ballet

Does anyone know when these scenes were last performed in Danemark?

He did Don Quixote as well. Very simple, straigt forward and the Drama for once works for me as well. Especially the beginning which in other production I find often boring and incomprehensible.

On the web I found Lacotte saying lots about his work which I found interesting.

He says that his teacher acctually saw the premiere of this ballet and that he learned lots of the steps from her. Russian friends of mine dispute this absolutely. But I think he is right. There is so much which caries the signiture of Petipa.

The ballet is much shorter as it origianly was. Most of the mime has gone. Critics in London found this a great handicap.

Karsavina, by the way, tought the mime scene 2.Act. "Arrival of the pricess" here in London many years back. So she obviously still knew lots of the ballet. I know someone who was in that particular class. But unfortunately she (Joan Hewster) remebers lots about Karsavina but nothing about this particular mime scene.

I do have the ballet with Grachova, Assylumoratova and Alexandrova as well, in case anyone like to exchange something with me.

Lyn Seymore, of course. No one came even close to her presence on stage and to the drama she created.,

Has anyone seen the "La fille mal gardee" broadcast? And what do people think of it?

I went to see the filmed performances and enjoyed so much of it. There was such a sparkle on stage which cought the audience.)

I found the camera work annoying in the broadcast. Always chopping about and going in and out and beeing in general busy busy busy when all you want to see is the dancing and the coreography. At one stage for example when Alain is dancing and is getting Applaus we do not even see him. Did others feel the same?

Who were the dancers in the film from the '60s, Paul?

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I gave the tape away but I shall look it up as soon as I get it back.

Effy, the next RDB season seems to be depressingly close to the present POB season: a lack of real classical ballet,  no interest for the company's heritage (Bournonville for the RDB, Lifar for the POB), lots of modern works... And some Preljocaj again.

I find it really worrying that two of the main ballet companies in the world, with the longest ballet tradition, seem to be so little interested in ballet now.

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I am just wondering in how far the POB has a ballet performing traditon. Are there any ballets they have passed on from generation to generation?

I spoke to a russian friend last night and he told me that his friends in Petersburg mainly complain about the lack of different personalities on stage. "All they think nowadays is to get their legs up high" he quoted a friend of his saying.

But this said: I saw the performances "Gala 230 years Bolshoi school" and was amazed. Not just so many wonderful peformances. They had the '"grand ballerina" "the balanchine dancer" all sorts of different personalities were on stage and it made me happy for the future. There were even different shapes and sizes amongst the dancers.

After the dress rehearsal I thought I never ever want to see this ballet again with this sort of dancing. But than I watched Nunez peformances. And there were some wonderfull moments. Her entrance was terrific.

I showed a friend who never been to a ballet in all his live a bit of the 3rd act and than the same thing from the 60. From the 60:shadowing figures, black and white, faces you could not see. My friend said immediately: "but they are much better".

In the Foyer they showed bit from the 60s Silvia. And nowhere did we see nowadays such attack, speed and style.

You can either go for the Amphitheatre or for - as already said - Row C. I am quite happy with C 97. It is restricted view but one sits so lovely close to the stage.

They do now day seat for 35 and 40 pounds as well. And always offer you these seats first. Once I had to ask various times before I got my C 97. You can get standing tickets as well. Good luck!

Paul, how lucky you are to have studied with Joyce Graham! I've only seen photographs of her as Myrtha but she looks so dramatic - and Rambert's Giselle was very highly regarded in the 1940s. I've never noticed the mime passages you mention - it would be great to know if they are ever used these days.

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Yes, she must have been a very dramatic dancers. Unfortunately she upset me very much. During class she was always looking at herself in the mirror, danced a few steps and than looked out of the window. But of course, she was a star.And could give you what others could not. She had this ingredible presence. Oh, I wish that I would have woken up much earlier. Because she suddenly gave it all up and died very quickly.

I do remember as well hearing these horror stories about Dame Marie Rambert reahersing Les Sylphides. The girls when walsing and "junping" forwards had to to it over and over again until there was no noise heared.

I learned Giselle from Joice Graham who danced with the Ballet Rambert I thing during and after the war.

All these lovely mime I have lerned from her I never see performed.

For example: Giselle "says" to the girls: don´t go on picking grapes, dance with me. During the Walze: the choir and Giselle are holding a imaginary basket of grapes bith both arms.

Ther peasant pas de deux: at one stage the boy whispers the girls soemthing in the ear. And one thing I can remember so cleary because Mrs. Graham insisted that you walk the pattern of a heart at one stage during the peasant pas de deux.

I asked a russian friend who danced the ballet in russia and produced it in the west. He is blissfully anaware of all these mime.

Has anyone else learned this sort of mime?

Thank you for you reply.

And I just discovered all these articles in the "Link Section"!!!

The best Sleeping Beauty for me was Margot Fonteyn. The film "Sleeping Beauty rediscovered" I could watch over and over again. Alas, it is only her entrance, the Rose Adage and the "Coda". No solo.

Thank you for your replys.

Yes I am sure it has to do in parts with the point shoes. But I noticed over the last 20 years or so technical things (mistakes) creep in. For example jetes en avant: the front leg is raised so much that when landing one can not possible keep control in the body to go through the foot. They all seem to go up without a thought in their minds about whats going to happen when they come down.

Ballefans seem to accept this sort of noise. But I have been with "normal" people at the Ballet and they were bewildered: that someone so gracefull can make so much noise and asked me why that is.

During the last visit of the Mariinsky to London their noisy point shoes were noticed a lot and metioned by critics. The dancers seemed undisturbed by the noise they were making for example in Balanchines Serenade.

I spoke to a dancer who said that the Royal ballet got aware of the problem of more and more noise and dealed with it. He could not tell me anything more. (how they dealed with it)

Has anyone heared anything about the russians and their noisy point shoes?

I have never seen her dance. She was well before my time. But for the past 30 years she was a stable on the ballet scene.Lots of TV Programms about her. The last thing I saw was a film showing her rehearse different ballets with students from the Paris Opera. Taken shortly before she died. I must say I was impressed.What a understanding about the drama of it all. So much that she said was new to me. She showed a little bit of Giselle and it all made sense to me for the first time. And my God, I must have seen hundreds of Giselles.

About the unsteady balance. I have never seen such beautiful balances as in her first act solo in Giselle.

Ah, Novorsibirks.  One of the smaller Copenhagen suburbs   Not I, I'm afraid. Paul, you might want to try asking that one on Ballet History.  RG might know.  All I can tell you is that Zephr et Flore was The Big Hit of choreographer Charles Didelot, the Frenchman who did two very productive stints in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, right before pointe work came in. He was partial to flying dancers (lots of wire work, for both men and women).  I would suspect that this is a rechoreographed version rather than a restoration from memory.

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It is apparently done after notations. I asked russian friends about it. But they were so aghast that I could se anything in this appaling ballet and refused to take my interest and love for the work serious at all. But I shall persist.

And interesting point was made at a "Asthon lecture" at Covent Garden just before Christmas.

It was lamented that because of the insistence of high legs (more by the dancers than by the public) there was no room and no time within the music for the subleties which the Ashton coreography requires.

One dancer which in my opinion went back to be more feminin and pleasing and beautiful is Gratochva. 'I watches her Bolshoi "Le Corsaire". In the early performances she jumped as high as she could, made a hell of a noise with her point shoes like a canon going of. During later performances she kept her legs lower, took some jumps lower and made the whole performance for me so much more pleasant to watch.

Thank you so much for this information.

I do have another question (which strictly speaking should perhaps not be discussed here. ) I got hold of another reconstruction of a ballet. Apparently from the Novosibirks Ballet. It is called "Zephyr et Flore". A Ballet apparently from 1812. To my mind a very authenic reconstruction. Is there someone who specialises in this sort of work in Novosibirks?

I have seen a ballet lately by Vincenco Galeatti "Les caprices de Cupidon et le Maitre de Ballet". It says. Reconstruction H.Benda.

Does anyone know whether H. Benda has reconstructed any other ballets?

In the 2nd act of this ballet two different Divertissements are beeing used. Does anyone know how this came about? Which of the two is beeing performed now?