drb

As Oberon mentioned above, NYCB's version of Firebird has been subject to frequent changes over the years. From its beginning it has been performed to Stravinsky's third version of a suite based on the original score, which he felt to be 'padded' by the requirements of Fokine's libretto. The current version is the production from 1985, the only revision not, of course, due to Mr. Balanchine. According to a review by Anna Kisselgoff in the New York Times in 1985, This version "restores the original choreography George Balanchine created in 1949....(but) also keeps Jerome Robbins's dances for the monsters, which Balanchine added in 1970..." She calls this "a hybrid version - part serious, part joke." and suggests that one ought not relate this production to the Fokine version of 1910. She also says that based on revivals of the Fokine, including ABT's, "one understands why Balanchine chose the path he did." Balanchine opted to "extract the core of the original ballet, reduce it to a central pas de deux and a mini-pageant." The full article: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...agewanted=print NYCB's site gives a history of all the revisions: http://www.nycballet.com/about/rep_firebird.html Of course none of this answers the question of whether any of the Balanchine-era versions included a final scene visit of the Firebird.

From the text, which seems to be referring to his best photo of his friend Wekerlin, it could be the minor French composer (serenades and such) J-B Wekerlin. Wekerlin, 1821-1910 was about three years Petipa's junior, and they well may have moved in the same artistic circles in Petipa's pre-Russian period. Perhaps the photo was from the 1860's. Photography was pretty solid by that time, as we know in this country from photos of the American Civil War.

While I would also have liked more Bouder, probably it was best that she didn't come by for the wedding party. After saving Askegard, she really looked as if she regretted turning him over to the Princess (as pointed out by Mr. Rockwell... and isn't it time, speaking of birds, to eat a little crow in his regard?), but knew it couldn't really work. And she knew that if she came back, well, given the choice between a bird and a Princess, a man is always going to go for the bird. Poor Stravinsky would have hated composing another Act to resolve that mess.

Balanchine smiled down upon his House tonight and it was full. And it was Good. His first ballet on the program was Mozart's Divertimento 15. It was led by NYCB's soft diamond, Miranda Weese in full-form, control and subtle musicality united in a performance of sustained beauty. As one who missed her Swan Lake, here is yet one more plea for someone here to tell us of it. Mentions, too, for partner Philip Neal, to Megan Fairchild for capturing that child-like delight heard in the music, and to Sterling Hyltin--yet another gem added to her fast-filling tiara of roles this season. Next came Assoluta Bouder dancing her favorite role, in Marc Chagall's living painting of Stravinsky's Firebird. What a total package she is. Incredible speed and clarity, yet her virtuosity is fully in service of her character. And of Art, which Chagall surely supplies with a capital A here. Chagall could have made a fortune just designing Halloween costumes... Finally yet another performance of Bizet. Sitting up in binocular-land tonight, and having seen Symphony in C a few times already, I decided to focus on favorites. Movement 1: I think it all went well, but I know for sure that Tess Reichlen swam beautifully through the musical sea, very appropriate dancing considering who was watching from "way up there." Oh, the magic Mr. B. could create with her. Movement 2: The Holy movement. It has been written that Christopher Wheeldon found Wendy Whelan's beauty for her. She is now complete. Her dance was a Grace. Time stopped. I can't remember breathing. This was not merely beautiful, it was the sublime. Sadly, her forehead touched her knee, and some felt the need to applaud. Her spell was too great to be broken. But, please: Learn. This is not a trick. Nothing in movement 2 is a trick. Movement 3: I'd planned to focus on Kaitlyn Gilliland in the corps, and what I saw was wonderful. But not as much as I'd wished to see, as Megan Fairchild and Joaquin De Luz were just too good to ignore. All in all, quite a fine evening for Ms. Fairchild. Movement 4 roiled to its joyous conclusion, but binocs were mostly lured to Ms. Whelan, entrancing in her Balanchine trance. The night's conductor was Clotilde Otranto. All seemed to go well, and the tiny artist was given a notable roar of approval at evening's end. It was a good night.

For Mozatiana, Tchaikovsky orchestrated a Gigue and Minuet from set of 12 pieces Mozart composed in 1789, the Preghiera from the motet Ave verum K. 618 as transcribed by Liszt, and Ten Variations on "Unser dummer Poble meint", K. 455 that Mozart based on a theme of Gluck. For me it is enough Mozart to count as a Mozart ballet. Since it is tied for first on my all-time Farrell/Balanchine list, it gets my vote. But I plan to enjoy Divertimento 15 tonight. Happy Birthday, Wolfie!

Now that it has become The Empress of Dance, with 4 Consorts, I checked out the City Center website to buy tickets for the NYC engagement. Best Buy seems to be Front Mezzanine. The three evenings have Row C Dead Center available at $75. Just three rows back of the $150 section (and orchestra is $100 with very good seats for opening night). Sunday matinee is a tougher ticket.

The pas de deux has always been a black-white duet. In the context of the times, where up North one could still find whites-only, blacks-only drinking fountains in public parks, it was a powerful, even radical statement. The social context had to affect his choreographic choices: Mr. Robbins was a liberal (before that word had inexplicably been transformed into a four-letter one) and had a very urgent message to convey. When I have this ballet in a few days I promise to stay, and thank Michael for supplying context for viewing it.

It is perhaps worth mentioning the huge program change in Kings of Dance reported in today's Links by Dirac: "Jeune Homme" is to be replaced by "The Lesson" with Alina Cojocaru, partnered by a different man each performance.

Errr...It would seem YOU caught HIM! Wasn't he supposed to be watching from the wings? I'd see the right dancer in almost anything---they don't have the time to wait for an intelligent AD. Most often-seen classics can seem flat with weak casting; so with un-thrilling casting I'd more likely pick something unfamiliar by someone I could trust, like Balanchine, Ashton, Wheeldon, or which has a positive review by a good critic.

Well, fairly near the end of Klavier there was a rather beautiful dance for Whelan/Marcovici, and a while after that what seemed to be another of those finales with the company slowly walking toward the backdrop. But this walk was transformed by seemingly random little turns by individual dancers, sort of 'perks' that might have represented the refreshing early droplets of a Spring rain, softly bringing us out of a deep reverie. But I didn't get the reverie. Just couldn't connect with the first 3/4's of the ballet. Maybe Wheeldon will work some more on it, it would be a shame to waste the ending. And the $'s for that rather puzzling backdrop: what was that glittery "pile" backright? But later we did get the reverie, from La Sylve in Symphony in C.

And, AND, Bouder's debut in the Principal Ballerina role in Divertimento 15!

You may have something there as La Sylve has a Patricia Neary Euro connection; indeed, it was she who got the 16-year old dancer to the Dutch National Ballet after seeing her dance Balanchine. Quoting from Allegra Kent's February 2005 interview of Sylve in Dance Magazine: '... in Karlsruhe they did a Balanchine evening.... Pat Neary came along and said, "Honey, what are you doing here? You have to go to a bigger company, a different rep!" ... Pat said, "Listen, I'm going to Amsterdam; why don't you come and audition?"' When Sylve danced Balanchine in Holland she said, 'I thought, "Maybe he's watching." I think Pat was into that because it's like he's still alive to her.' Regarding her experience dancing the second movement of Symphony in C, she said, "It was a blessing. Finally, I got to do something that was technically hard but not like the circus. ...[it] is purely movement: adagio, the connection with the guy, technically hard but not showing that it is so hard. I had a wonderful time filling out that music--the quietness. The adagio is amazing. And by doing it you can show that you have different colors and you're not just a technical animal." The full article: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_..._79/ai_n8707423

I think I remember her touching her instep, not just the knee! But then Her bigger-than-life artistry is also perhaps bigger than reality...

It is a droit du seigneur of all Artistic Directors to improve Swan Lake. ( After all, everyone knows the original was a failure. )

Act 3 contains the PdQ, an exciting vehicle for a quartet of dancers one might not have expected to find at NYCB. So, it affords the dancers a chance to "stretch." Act 4 for once gives a tragic, really sad ending, not happily-ever-after, nor even happily-dead-together-ever-after. It won't replace the "real" version, but that should be the responsibility of the classical companies.

A complete list of winners may be found at London's Timesonline: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/art...001943_1,00.htm Of particular interest to ballet fans are: "Best Male Dancer, Thomas Lund, Royal Danish Ballet Best Female Dancer, Marianela Nunez, Royal Ballet Best Choreography (Classical), Christopher Newton for Ashton's Sylvia, Royal Ballet Best Choreography (Modern), Russell Maliphant Outstanding Artist (Classical), Rupert Pennefather, Royal Ballet"

I vaguely recollect a ballet by Robbins to 0'0". Of course the piece had to be played over and over.... . How many times? If you wish to relive math class nightmares, the answer is the cardinality of the continuum.

I believe Mr. Ligeti will be 83 this Spring. But his sense of humor may get the best of anyone who commissions an evening-length work from him. After all, his composition titled 0'00", the shortest known composition, was his response to John Cage's 4'33".

I'd rather keep this Swan Lake and use the money to commission a new evening length ballet and score by Wheeldon and Arvo Part (he's 70, time's a wasting).

Britain's Critics' Circle National Dance awards were reported today in yesterday's Links. Quoting the BBC: "Thomas Lund, principal dancer at the Royal Danish Ballet won best male dancer at the ceremony on Thursday, while best female dancer went to Argentinean star Marianela Nunez." While Ms. Nunez is familiar from reading reviews of her dancing with the Royal, I wonder what Ballet Talkers who have seen these dancers might tell us about them. [added for timely local interest] Mr. Lund was in the original production of the Peter Martins Swan Lake. His roles were/are Benno, Russian Pas de Deux and the Jester.

Well, second choice would be as Ib Anderson partnering Suzanne Farrell in Mozartiana. First choice would be as Suzanne in Mozartiana, but gender rules forbid. Although, as she said, she is playing Balanchine in this role... In either case, the inability to execute even a waltz step... Oh, well.

Yes, Diana Adams is the one who discovered Suzanne Farrell. You can read about it, and actually see and hear Suzanne describe the event here: http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/far0int-4 Ms. Farrell had seen Ms. Adams dance a couple of months prior, identified with her because of their comparable heights, and brought her program to the audition to get Diana's autograph. She also tells the M/M story on the same page.

As previously noted on her website and under Vishneva in the Kirov-Mariinsky section, Diana will not appear in Kings of Dance. She will be busy rehearsing the Pugni/Lacotte "Ondine" for opening night of the Mariinsky Festival, March 6. The LA Times reported today that Roland Petite has chosen Tamiyo Kusakari of Tokyo's Asami Maki Ballet as her replacement. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/l...1,4724504.story

From Bart's post above, first quoting Gottlieb's article, then a statement by Bart: We are accustomed to Swan Lake being a story ballet, yet numerous contemporary choreographers have changed that story (Wheeldon, most recently). Still, as Bart suggests, most of us really do want a story or context in which to feel the full power of this masterpiece. And yet many feel, with Mr. Gottlieb, that the Peter Martins Act I (in the traditional four act numbering) is without content. I have been unhappy (angry) with this production for what I feel are two not quite fair reasons. 1. I miss the great traditional versions of this ballet that have been discarded by major classical companies, such as The Royal and ABT (and longer ago by the Mariinsky--despite the beauties of their mimeless version). Blame perhaps should go to those companies, not to one with dancers schooled to meet other choreographic needs. 2. There is no adequate story, or worthy/useful context, given in this production to frame the choreography and give full breadth to the music. At my age, I have less time to bother with anger, and what there is, is more appropriately directed to those companies that have stolen the great ballet, mothballing it at best, while satisfying demands for a "creativity" confounded with newness. But great dancers are now, as they've always been. And, as NYCB has so clearly demonstrated this season, it is a company loaded with O/O's. Else, how explain joy after joy expressed these two weeks by people mostly unhappy with the production? So I am trying to come to terms with this production, looking for story and context. I think that this Royal Danish Ballet production ought to be considered in terms of its origins. Peter Martins, as we know, is somewhat focussed on abstract choreography. So, perhaps look elswhere for the story-telling. The Danish painter Per Kirkeby is responsible for everything we see except the dancing. He is many things other than a painter: a novelist and scientist among others. His Thesis was on Arctic Geology and he's explored Greenland. Not such crowded places, either with people or other stuff. As a painter he gives primacy to color as predominant over form and associates color and emotion. Lots more about him under Swan Lake at NYCB's site. The "painting" we watch before the opening scene begins can be studied in three parts. To the Right Royal Blue dominates, to the Left warmer colors seem to be breaking through, not nearly as dominating on their side as blue is on its side. The center is mostly blue, and where bits of warm seem trying to enter the painting the net effect is a rather depressing mud. Chaos permeates all. The opening scene. It is cleary set in some, probably small, urban setting, say in Denmark. The costume similarity (young men and Prince) in Act 1 is merely an example of urban teens following the latest fad. But the common folk wear warm colors, a rebellion against the drabness of life under the monarchy. The prince wants to be one with his fellow teens and almost gets it right, but can't escape the Royal Blue. We don't have to like the look, it is just a fad, and thereby tells us much about this Prince. Also, he just can't dance with the commoners, even though he's rebelled against the Royals (and no wonder, look at how Queenie is trapped in that dress conformity, her neck confined in Royal Blue like a figure in some van Whoever painting). Look at the spartan seat the Prince has in Act 1, and in Act 3 Queenie's got to sit on a cushionless wooden throne. It is hard, being a Royal. The Jester, at least as played by Hendrickson, is a closet revolutionary, always seeking the seat of power. In Act 1 his colors mimic the urban-warm colors, but in a more confusing jumbled way. He covets the Prince's Royal seat, and the Prince later crudely throws him from it to the floor. Poor Prince can't escape the Royal stranglehold. In Act 3 the Jester in court dresses in green, mimicking the Queen (her head still trapped in Royal Blue). But perhaps not quite the Zambian Emerald green of the Queen's dress, more the green of a Tsavorite, the green garnet of Kenya. Emerald-garnet. This jester is like a politician, playing both sides.... Again, given the chance, he captures the Royal Throne. Perhaps the Jester is a bridge between the people and the Royals. In this version the Prince just cannot be that. The Prince certainly wants something different, but it isn't to be a commoner. Where he is heading is to the mud in the center of the painting. I know, it is not THE story. But I need the help of one, since with THESE dancers in THIS company, I really want to watch them evolve in this great role.

I see you are getting into the color-coding of this production, and "red for Scheller", exactly: Kitri!