djb

I like documentaries, and I think Backstage at the Kirov is a wonderful onel

No, I don't know anything about it. Sounds good, if true,

I should have specified that I was talking about dancers in the US

It's true that outsourcing wouldn't work -- most dancers make so little money to start with, how could you find people to work for even less?

There is a 1964 Kirov version of Sleeping Beauty with Soloviev as Prince Desiree and Alla Sizova as Aurora, with Makarova and Yuri Panov in the Bluebird Pas de Deux (not complete, unfortunately). It's commercially available.

I wasn't quite clear in my last post -- it could be interpreted that many people didn't think that it was a wise choice to include Christensen's ballet (probably some people did think that), but what I meant was that even among those who did appreciate the inclusion of Christensen ballets, there were some who thought there were others of his ballets that would have been better choices. I agree, Alexandra, about the acting problem.

True, Alexandra. I forgot to mention Oakland Ballet. I'm sure Ballet West had Christensen ballets in its repertory when Willem Christensen was the director, but I don't know whether it still does. There may be other companies that perform Christensen's ballets that I'm not aware of. At SFB's gala last season, some Christensen works were performed. A lot of people were pleased to see this, but many people thought that those ballets were not the best choices.

Occasionally Christensen works are still performed by the San Francisco Ballet. And the SFB Nutcracker still uses large chunks of his choreography, among them the snow scene, the Waltz of the Flowers and the Grand Pas de Deux.

BW, I started ballet at the San Francisco Ballet School, and loved Christensen's Beauty and the Beast. The music was a compilation of Tchaikovsky works, largely taken from his orchestral suites. (Many ballet audiences are familiar with Balanchine's Theme and Variations, which uses music from the 3rd suite.) The wonderful costumes and sets were by Tony Duquette. It was a full-evening ballet, very much in the style of the classic 19th-century ballets, but with Christensen's style of choreography, of course. There were opportunities for students to perform. Before I left SFB, I was in the class below the one which supplied the dancing marmosets. I longed to be one of those, even though I knew that I was already too tall to be chosen. My favorite part of the ballet was the scene in which Beauty and her father are lost in the forest. There were stags (a great part for men), butterflies, fireflies and giant beetles (a part the male students generally loathed being cast in). My favorites in the role of Beauty were long-time SFB principal Lynda Meyer, who had the most perfectly placed turns I can remember seeing, and Cynthia Gregory, who appeared in the televised performance in the '60s.

One of my greatest pleasures in seeing the Kirov in San Francisco was sitting through those loooong overtures - wonderful music, wonderfully performed.

Wow, pointe shoes had tiny pointes in those days! (referring to the first photo of Ruthanna Boris)

John Cranko used the music for his 1949 ballet of Beauty and the Beast for the Sadlers Wells Ballet.

Oops! Sorry, I forgot which thread I was in. I'll look for the answer under "Pronunciation of Ballet Names."

Yes, those were among the great experiences of my life. Unfortunately, I missed seeing Ulanova dance live, on the Bolshoi's first US tour. It's a good thing these dancers were filmed, eh? And now I must ask -- what's the origin of the name Ulanova? I think it should mean "immortal," but I know that "Bessmertnova" gets that honor.

Does "Mother Goose Suite" have a storyline? Does each section depict the story the music is inspired by?

Grazie!

The first ballet I clearly remember seeing was the San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker, when I was about 5-6. What struck me most was the look of the female dancers' legs and feet -- the shape, and also the look of pink tights in bright stage lighting (something I still enjoy). I saw the Bolshoi in its second tour in the US when I was about 11, and although I wasn't taking ballet yet, I was aware of technique, although I think it was the obvious pyrotechnics that impressed me, such as Plisetskaya's jumps or Vasiliev's turns. But I also was very impressed by fluid arms. By the time the Kirov came to the US, I had started studying ballet and was aware of the less obvious elements of good technique. I think it would be wonderful, at times, to be able to see a performance as a first-time viewer would.

Thanks, Marianna -- I'm definitely interested in hearing all. I'll have to hurry and get up to 30 posts, or whatever it is.

Last night I went to watch a video I'd rented, only to discover that the wrong video was in the box. It also wasn't rewound, so I watched some of it to see how it was, without knowing who was in the movie. One female character in shorts, I noticed, had great legs. It turned out to be Neve Campbell. (The movie is called "Wild Things" and appears to be somewhat cheesy.)

Alexandra, do you you have that link handy?

Too bad they didn't have ballet dancers way back when Russians were creating last names from their father's occupation -- we could have had someone with the last name "Balerinov" (and Balerinova)! Maybe you can answer this, Marianna. What is a "baryshnik"? I have a vague idea that I saw a word in Russian that looked like that, that means "horse dealer" or something similar.

Marianna - Thanks for the info. I knew about the different stresses in Ivanov, but I didn't realize it carried over into other names. Do you suppose the aristrocracy's penchant for putting the stress on the last syllable could have something to do with the accented final syllables in French? (That is, that's how the French would pronounce the name?) My edition of War and Peace has taken the liberty of translating much of the French into English, and just making a notation that so-and-so is speaking French. Only an occasional sentence is in French. It would be nice if more of the book were in French, for purposes of practice.

Thank you again, Marianna! I did study Russian off and on for 4 years, from 1988-1991, and went to Russia 3 times during that period. On the last trip, I took Russian classes (nothing but Russian spoken) at the Patrice Lmumba Institute in Moscow for a month (my comprehension improved 200%!). But I was never a very serious student, and I didn't keep it up, so what remains is mostly an understanding of grammar. One frustrating thing about Russian is that I can't figure out whether there are any rules to help figure out which syllable to accent in names. Unless I actually know the root word of the name, I have no idea which syllable to stress. For instance, I was very surprised when I heard the pronunciation TER'ekhova. Stressing the first syllable was the last way I'd have thought to pronounce it. I learned something new recently. I'd always thought that the "aya" endings never have the stress anywhere in the "aya," because it's the feminine form of the masculine ending "i," which isn't stressed. But recently I started reading "War and Peace" (in English), and this edition has a very thorough guide to the names of the main characters, including the patronymics and various diminutive forms. It also shows which syllable is stressed in all the names. One of the family names is "DrubetSKOI." The masculine ending "oi" is stressed, so of course, the feminine form would be "DrubetSKA'ya." It pays to read! (I know there are many people out there who are probably bored stiff by this sort of stuff, but I love it!)

Local Foreigner, thanks very much for that interesting information (and the photos) about Bakhchisaray.

Hmm. Well, I never thought the reason Hagar was an outsider was because she was unattractive or thought she was unattractive, and I didn't get the feeling that Sallie Wilson played her that wasy. (And I never thought she was unattractive, either). I agree that she's an outsider for whatever reason. I suppose I never thought about why she's an outsider, but just accepted the fact that she is.