esperanto

Nanarina,

Doesn't Summers seem more conniving than Penny? As I recall she wasn't so innocent-looking as Penny.

Another very goood version is the Australian Ballet with Justine Summers, Steven Heathcote,

Hamorah, I agree with you 100 percent about the Dowell/Penny Manon. And how about Monica Mason?

...I think the Bolshoi's Raymonda is really the only Raymonda that gives Abderakhman any kind of thrilling choreography, ....

Nureyev's final version for POB could almost be subtitled "Abderakhman" it has so much new dancing and 'funky-modern' solos for that character. I happen to love it because it is so Nureyev...totally what RN was all about! Besides, RN was smart enough to maintain most of the existing Kirov-Mariinsky portions -- building & adding to them, in his fashion. It is THE longest production of Raymonda, beside the La Scala...most complete use of the music, I mean.

The old Kirov production has Abderakhman from the very beginning. He's constantly on. In this production he looks and acts like in the movie Thief of Bagdad. Anyone agree or think otherwise?

Yes, he is in a lot in the Kirov version. It is fun to compare and contrast. I think I like his dancing best in the Bolshoi version.

yes, i agree with you.

...I think the Bolshoi's Raymonda is really the only Raymonda that gives Abderakhman any kind of thrilling choreography, ....

Nureyev's final version for POB could almost be subtitled "Abderakhman" it has so much new dancing and 'funky-modern' solos for that character. I happen to love it because it is so Nureyev...totally what RN was all about! Besides, RN was smart enough to maintain most of the existing Kirov-Mariinsky portions -- building & adding to them, in his fashion. It is THE longest production of Raymonda, beside the La Scala...most complete use of the music, I mean.

The old Kirov production has Abderakhman from the very beginning. He's constantly on. In this production he looks and acts like in the movie Thief of Bagdad. Anyone agree or think otherwise?

I thought he was crude, too, till I saw his "Raymonda," which contains much that is exquisite and delighted me beyond measure.

And Bessmertnova was a fabulous creature, as fantastic in her way as Suzanne Farrell (who also got the bulk of the film roles). NOt that I wouldn't welcome more Maximova...

I found his Raymonda to be the most boring of all the Raymondas.

to Makarovafan:

You're right about Gediminas Taranda in Raymonda. He is the best of all the Abdulrahkmans in any of the productions. and he was also terrific in Golden Age, sent chills down one's back.

This isn't quite something that happened on stage.

In February this year, Birmingham Royal Ballet performed Hobson's Choice in their home theatre. I was in the front row of the stalls, sitting directly behind the conductor. In the scene where Will and Maggie are celebrating their wedding, Maggie throws her bouquet into the audience. At the performance in question the bouquet wasn't flying very far and the conductor (while still conducting!) put up his hand and caught it. He then threw it over his shoulder and it hit me full in the face! After the shock...... well I have laughed over it many times since. The bouquet stayed fresh for ages and looked lovely at home. The previous evening the bouquet landed between my friend and another chum, who insisted that my friend kept it.

Hobson's Choice is a WONDERFUL ballet. I think it's about Bently's best work.

If Rothbart can change into an owl (?) and then human form at the Grand Ball, why not a cat as well?

4MRDNCR:

you wrote: I also don't particularly like a SB with lots of small children dancing in it--I pay to see professionals, not recitals

so what's about all the children in the Russian ballet companies: Raymonda, corsaire, Pharoah's Daughter, etc?

Coppelia at Broward.

THE CHOREOGRAPHY.

This is a tricky subject for MCB's staging. I didn't see their last run, so I don't know how did they decide to handle this in the past, but as per right now I knew this would be a choreographically interesting presentation since the programme only vaguely states "Choreography after Arthur Saint-Leon". Really..?! How can we even think this staging has, even remotely, something to do with what was presented in Paris as back as 1870..? Whereas the staging of Giselle had the name of Villella up front to justify for all the takings on different versions, here we don't have the chance to know who was the responsible hand and mind behind the dances being presented. A faux pas, if I may. I say, hey...it is OK to copy and paste from older, recognized productions. No shame to be felt. Said that, I start by saying that, again, I saw bits of other productions here and there, including an iconic excerpt from Alonso's that I've never seen anywhere else-(good!).

Act I

Act I was really delightful. Of course, I did miss the extra music that in the Cuban version allows for Swannilda to make a full, triumphant entrance before engaging in the Waltz. Here Swannilda's entrance goes a bit after the waltz has started. Also, I noticed much more mime on this scene than that of Alonso, which includes a difficult variation with Italian fouetes without taking out the mime.

The wheat rustle Adagio is very beautiful, tasteful and clear on its message. The one thing I missed here was the rest of the couples that dance along Franz and Swannilda around them, all playing the trick of pretending to really listen the rustle to a frustrated Franz. Here only the lead couple dances, but it was very well done. On Sunday matinée, Mary Carmen Catoya dropped accidentally the rustle way before the ending-(she still needed it !)-and the day was saved by one corps member-(can't find his name in the roster...he is the only black male dancer in the company)-who bravely stepped in front, picked the thing and got in between the two lovers to offer it back. It was all very organic.

The Mazurka and Czarda was also done with great spirit. One complain I have, just as another poster noted from Balanchine's version, is that the Czarda was danced by the same Mazurka dancers, with the same mazurka costumes, with I agree is a mistake, since they are totally different dances from two distinctive different places.

Act II

Act II was very simple...too simple i would say. I think a little more could have been done with Swannilda and her friends in the dancing area. Yes, this act is mostly all about mime and comedy, but I've seen versions were not only the girls, but also the dolls dances are way more developed-(and there are more of them). Here we have only a Chinese male doll, a Harlequin and an Astronomer-(more like a Wizard)-with a telescope. Don't we all remember the great rubber male doll from the Australian DVD...? The comical mime sequences of Swannilda and her friends were priceless. I laughed a lot!

Act III

Choreographically, the Wedding PDD had its ups and downs, but allow me to explain this. Thing is, the original music of the PDD is longer than the cuts Alonso uses in Havana. For instance, during the coda Cuban Swannilda engages in a sparkling, lovely series of sautés on pointe, with the working leg changing from attitude devant to derrière and right into penchee arabesque all while traveling and turning, followed right away by the fouettes. They duplicated all that here-( well, sans the penchee and the traveling ), with the difference that Miami allows Swannilda to exit in between the sautees and the fouetes while the corps girls dance, in time for her to catch a breath and come back for the fouetes. It was still a HUGE surprise that they included this Cuban segment, for which that was always a highly expected moment in Havana.(Do I have to say how Viengsay does the unthinkable here...? ). The PDD finished with that other iconic final pose of Franz grabbing Swannilda on his back with one hand around her waist to create a beautiful diagonal with their bodies. I thing this is a pretty standard final pose for this PDD for what I've seen in all the versions.

This is the coda segment I talk about...

To be continued...

thanks so much for that clip of Alonso. She's terrific in this, indeed in most dances.

[The only comment I heard as I left the theater was a rather resigned sounding "well, it's a farce" from an older women I infer was a subscriber. I can read that everyone commenting on this website (so far) loves the ballet and I did too, but I am very curious if the ballet has gotten a more resounding reception at other performances--and whether it really will be a hit. Please report.

Dear Drew

from what I heard from England Bright Stream received rave reviews, both from critics and from audience. I envy all of you who saw this in NY.

Hi "OLDDUDE"

Myrtha in the Dutch production is a terrifying Queen of the Willis. Just before watching this performance I saw a Youtube clip of Monica Mason reahersing Giselle. She stressed that sthe dancer should always be giving the impression of watching, listening and hearing. This the Dutch dancer did.

Count me among the Friends of Hilarion. (And ignore that I did dance bits of the part in a rep class, at the age of 60, with - of course - Wilis mostly in their 20s and 30s!)

But here's another scenario. We are here talking about Hilarion and Albrecht and forgetting that "dance is Woman". If Hilarion is a more or less good guy, his death serves to illustrate the blind power and the terror of the Wilis. Act 2 is at least as much about Myrtha as anyone else. And I've seen some really terrifying Myrthas - it's a great, great part. She's a female Rothbart! She's also a Lilith figure, the opposite of Giselle, independent, a man-hating temptress and a destroyer. The Wilis have some lovely dancing, but in the right hands they can (and should, in my humble opinion) be pretty scary - maenads, not grumpy party girls. The more powerful Myrtha and the Wilis are, the more impressive is the power of Giselle's love in saving Albrecht.

For this to work, you also need some genuine sympathy for Albrecht. Somewhere else on this site, Nureyev's interpretation (I've never seen it) is described as centering on Albrecht's epiphany; after Giselle's death he realizes how much more she meant to him than he thought and is not just remorseful, he's genuinely transformed.

It could work.

-----------------------------.

When I first saw Giselle Hilarion was always a villian with a beard. I was told that a beard was at one time considered a sign of "the bad guy". IN recent years he's become more sympathetic.

His bad luck was to be caught in the forest by the Willis.

You're right about Gediminas Taranda. I never saw him in Giselle but he must have been excellent. His is the best A (you know whom I mean) in Raymonda.

At one time Hilarions always looked a bit rough or even significantly older than Giselle but that isn't so often the case now. As a rule of thumb Albrecht should always be better looking and possess a gentler manner than Hilarion otherwise you can spend the entire ballet puzzling over Giselle's choice. Anyone that ever saw Gediminas Taranda's Hilarion will know exactly what I mean.

bart, glad you liked the Beecham story

it seems that each type of artistic performance has its own etiquette.

In Ballet there's constant acknowledgment of audience applause after something's been done.

In Opera the singers just stand in their place without going down to the footlights to bow to

audience.

At concerts it's considered bad form to applause between movements.

. That is a great video of Barenboim's eyes coming out of their sockets at the very end of Tristan und Isolde when the audience starts to applaud before the final note.

I once read that Sir Thomas Beecham turned to the audience when they applauded after the first movement of a Beethovan symphony and scathingly said: for an encore we shall play the Second Movement!

i remember reading that Giselle is laid to rest on flowers and sinks back into her grave.

I saw Bruhn dance , don't remember who was the Giselle, but when she flung the flowers

behind her, Bruhn leaped and caught them "on the fly". Only time I've ever seen that. all other

performances the flowers fall on to the stage and Albrecht picks them up.

it seems that each type of artistic performance has its own etiquette.

In Ballet there's constant acknowledgment of audience applause after something's been done.

In Opera the singers just stand in their place without going down to the footlights to bow to

audience.

At concerts it's considered bad form to applause between movements.

James wraps the enchanted scarf around the sylphide. But just as her wings drop off Peter Pan flies on and asks all the spectators to clap if they believe in Sylphides. and then she'll recover!

i don't see what's funny about this.

I like your triplets, Imspear. Very clever.

Thanks, Mme. Hermine. Have you ever seen it? Sounds great.

How about Albrecht abdicates and marries Giselle. Bathilde dies and SHE becomes a wili.

Or: albrecht (or Hilarion) acidentally cuts himself on the sword and dies of blood poisoning.

By the way, I heard of a sequel to Giselle called Giselle's Revenge. It uses the same music and has her enticing albrecht in to

her grave, then shutting it and dancing on top. Has anyone else heard of it or seen it?

The Golden Idol in Bayadere is seen by a Hollywood executive, borrows Jean de Brienne's sword and models for a new statuette to honor best movie actor of the year.

There was an old Soviet ballet film of Swan Lake with Ulanova, I believe, in which there was a very happy ending. The swans turned into maidens at sunrise and Odette and Siegfried wnet off into the horizon.