chrisk217

Hi Estelle! Big books in french are an uphill struggle for me... But, since Béjart is not very fashionable in the English-speaking world I am more or less resigned to a french book

While searching Amazon.com I found the following user review concerning the Choreography By Balanchine / Tzigane, Andante etc DVD. ---- Great Dancing but the sound is Out of Synch!, July 21, 2004 Reviewer: Ballet Boy "Isis14" (USA) - See all my reviews Don't waste your money. Unfortunately, this long awaited DVD was transferred badly and the sound in part one is out of synch by several counts. Suzanne Farrell and Merrill Ashley are dancing off the music and it is very annoying. It is unbelievable that something like this could happen when you take into consideration that Balanchine was probably the most musical choreographer that ever lived. Never pedantic, always magical. I did inform the Balanchine Trust. They were surprised and are looking into it. They are aware that the transfer was done incorrectly. The company that produced the DVD, Nonesuch was also called but did not respond. Wait until it?s fixed unless you like dancing 4 counts behind the music. ---- Can it be true? Has anyone who owns the DVD noticed this? I planned to buy this DVD but now I'm not so sure... On the other hand, it might be this particular user's player that causes the problem. My wreck of a laptop frequenty freezes DVD image for a moment while the music continues. The same DVDs are played perfectly on other players... Can anyone who has watched the DVD commend on this, please?

I'm looking for a book on Bejart's ballets, preferably in English or French. I'm not interested in a biography, I'd prefer a book that focuses on his works. Can anybody recommend a title? I have browsed amazon.co.uk and amazon.com but all the titles that came up have no content information. (Since Bejart is not strictly ballet, I'm not sure I should post this here - so please move my post if appropriate)

If the fairy would grant me ballon and elevation I'd like to be Myrtha, queen of the wilis.

Pamela, maybe when I asked the question I did not make myself clear. My english is not very good and sometimes that leads to misunderstandings. When I say technique I don't mean spectacular pyrotechnic leaps or things like that. I am talking more about the ideal clean execution of everything from the simpler step to the most challenging. I understand technique as a component of beauty and isn't beauty art's main purpose? In that respect, Leigh Witchel's answer about the "best classroom dancer" was very close to the spirit of my question. Christine

I couldn't also, then I watched the Echo Dance at the House of the Flying Daggers. After the Echo Dance she improved considerably in my eyes... But you are right, Gong Li is simply stunning.

Natalie Portman Salma Hayek Zang Zigi Halle Berry Emmanuelle Beart & Ash Rai Gael Garcia Bernal Jonhy Depp From the past: Vivien Leight Catherine Deneuve

I just watched Lesnaya Skazka. The plot is typical ballet fare populated with bird-girls (with detachable wings), goblins and other magical creatures of the forest. A hunter comes to the forest, falls in love, saves the bird-girl and takes her back to his village (twice) and marries her amidst a lot of folk-style dancing. The choreography is well crafted and pleasant, with many folk style elements. Among the most memorable scenes are the pdd between hunter and bird girl (also availlable with Plisetskaya in the Glory of the Bolshoi DVD) and the two final solos of bird-girl and hunter. Also very memorable is the scene with the Terekhova in the hands of the goblins. She is carried from goblin to goblin, raised above them, while they slither around her (kind of like Manon but definitely more creepy) My friend was more struck by a scene of Terekhova standing on a huge very fine silk carpet (looked like a scarf) Other dancers held the edges of and moved them up and down - the effect was one of revealing the bird-girl like a flower, again and again. Terekhova and Budarin are wonderful, although the pdd with Plisetskaya was more spontaneous. The director of the film however should be awarded the "Off with their heads! Queen of Hearts Award". If you belong to the unreasonable minority that insists on being able to see the dancer's feet and hands, this film will cure you! Heads are chopped off with such frequency you'll be grateful when only feet and hands are chopped off (that is, most of the time)... :rolleyes:

Very interesting article, Estelle. I'd just like to clear up a little detail: You must mean priest (papas) not pope (papas). Pope in greek and english is the head of the Catholic Church, in french it also means orthodox priest.

Thank you rq, for taking the time to look up the ballet and reply! Unfortunately we haven't got access to the INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DANCE. All we have is the web so if anyone can point us to a site (in English/French/Spanish/Greek), that would be most helpful...

We thought she looks a lot like Terekhova... and jumps like Terekhova ... and her first name is Tatiana. But then we read her last name as Bereshnaya (limited-cyrillic-reading-abilities, again) ... We have not seen the whole ballet yet, just the credits to find out what it is . So it's a very nice surprise to find that one of our favorite dancers (Terekhova) is in it. Can't wait to see it...

Thank you jose manuel!!! You have helped a lot! We googled Shuraleh but all we have found is that the role was created by Dudinskaya and that various dancers (including Plisetchkaya) have danced it... Also that there is a poem of that name in a Historical Anthology of Kazan Tatar Verse. But we found nothing about the plot. Does anyone know what it is about?

I just got a video file of a ballet from a friend. I (and she, also) have no idea what it is and we hope you can help us. It is a russian production and with our limited ability to read the cyrillic alphabet we believe that it's called Lesnaya Skaska. The company seems to be Kirov. The composer could be named Farid Yarilin (but then again that might be wrong) and the choreographer could be named Leonida Yakovskona(???? maybe not again). It seems to have been made for the russian tv and the production values are very low. It looks like a fairy tale, there is a forest and a village later on. We would appreciate any info you can give, especially regarding the plot.

An acquaintance has promised to lend me a film of an old performance of Swan Lake. It is by the Kirov, the year is 1968 and Odette/Odile is Elena Evteyeva. It will be weeks till I get the tape so if anyone has seen this performance I'd like to know how it rates compared to other stagings (mainly to adjust my expectations) I am philosophical with things like dated sets, costumes etc but really care about the dancing. Should I have great expectations? Was Evteyeva considered a fine O/O? She must have been quite young when the film was made. What about the rest of the cast? (Markovsky and Panov, I believe)

The first ballet I ever watched was a televised recording of Spartacus with Vladimir Vasiliev when I was seven years old. If you have seen this recording you know what I'm talking about. It was exceptional! Not so with the first live ballet I watched which was a late 70's Buckarest performance of something unpleasantly green, soporific and crossover which sent me to sleep within 10 minutes. (My parents with whom I have pleaded for hours to get tickets and who had gone to great trouble to find the tickets (they did not speak Romanian) were suitably incensed and refused to take me to any kind of performance for years to come) I have no idea of what that piece was, though I suspect the music was by Stravinsky.

Totally off-topic, but I couldn't help notice: It seems that style is always purer in the past...

Who are the dancers (male or female) with the best technique? It does not matter if they are not very expressive or charismatic, just who do you think have the most pure and well developed technique?

Thanks everyone - this is fun!

Yep, after the Mafia Rigoletto the Mafia Giselle... Giselle caught up in a mob war... Hillarion: He's lying Giselle ... Look at his Thomson machinegun, look at the blonde... Giselle: Oh! Albrecht: That's my family Giselle, it's not me. Giselle: I know it was you Albrechto. You broke my heart. You broke my heart! Then Hillarion goes off to sleep with the fishes...

Cute, chrisk217! :rolleyes: When you are watching Act II Giselle, there is no "backstage" -- at least not if the company dancing it has successfully transported you into another world! The Wilis, as cargill said, propel poor Hilarion to his death in the lake. The Wilis are in a forest glade (conveniently located next to a lake), turned eerie at night by their ghostly presence. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I just thought that the lake was background decoration! (and I have a tape of ABT/Fracci/Bruyn that very clearly shows H. rolling on a slope and then a shot of willis reflected in the lake!!!) Thanks everyone Perhaps, in one of the future egregious attempts to make Giselle accessible to a modern audience, there will be sound effects for the imagination-challenged like myself: a big "Splash" in the lake and then gurgles as Hillarion sinks... One shudders at the thought...

Tatiana Terekhova is the best Myrtha I have seen... ferocious and powerfull Her jumps are impressive but the landings are the best: she lands in perfect form!

What happens to Hillarion after his encounter with the wilis? When he is pushed backstage by the 2 wilis it's not clear whether: a) he is released b) his dance-torture will continue backstage until death by offstage wilis c) his pursuit by the wilis is accidentally cut short when the wilis find Albrecht and Giselle loitering backstage d) nobody knows Can anyone familliar with the libretto shed light on this? in advance!

Paul, I am intrigued. I was going to watch them someday (I love comedy of all sorts) but now I'm very interested. And what are the real ballet values you are talking about?

It's not just you! When stuck in traffic I imagine ballets and modern pieces, set around or on the top of the cars in front of me. Mostly modern pieces though, because then my imaginary dancers can make full use of props like traffic lights, cones, guardrails etc.

To me also he seemed to be pausing in mid flight! I always wondered if part of the magic of his jumps (besides the apparent effortlessness, explosiveness and the astonishing timing of every little gesture) was that he was quite short. I mean that his jumps may not have been uncommonly high but they seemed high compared to his short stature. To the long list of great jumpers like Baryshnikov, Vasiliev, Plisetchkaya, Makarova I'd like to add Farouk Ruzimatov and Tatiana Terekhova both very powerfull jumpers.