chrisk217

Plenty of videos in PAL format: amazon.co.uk Dance books Corsaire with Assylmuratova is a must and also the Paris Opera Ballet videos are great. To be more specific about titles: when you say videos do you mean vhs or dvd?

It's about a year since the BBC broadcasted the "Ashton at 100" program. Does anybody know if there are plans to issue this as a DVD? I'd love to see it.

MissChristine, you can try this: Zizi Jeanmaire Dances Roland Petit (Carmen, Le Jeune Homme Et La Mort, La Croqueuse De Diamants) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006SSQ6G/ Le Jeune Homme Et La Mort is danced by Zizi Jeanmaire & Nureyev. Probably excerpts (???) but probably more extensive than in White Nights(again ???). Christine

And, depending on where you live, you may find a DVD with Peter and the Wolf performed by the Royal Ballet School, choreography by Matthew Hart . In Europe it's on the same disk with Kylian's L'enfant et les sortileges. I have not watched this P&W prod. and I don't know if it's good.

Me, too! I wonder if the whole of Raymonda was filmed or just an excerpt. Does anyone know? I also wonder what other films of Osipenko there are (if any)

When I think of this, I think of the very young Sizova, as she F-L-I-E-S across the stage in Corsaire and lands gracefully, head, arms and back beautifully positioned, smilling as if she just thought of this and tried it for the very first time. It makes me and my friends smile every time. It also makes me want to see as much of Sizova as I can. What part did you like best Richard?

It's sometimes done with a corps. Its also danced with a corps of 12 on the Kirov Night dvd (Diana: Terekhova, Acteon: Bereznoy, early 80s). I dont know much about the details of Esmeralda but many pas have been left out of the Maly tape. Perhaps it should not be watched as a record of what Esmeralda was really like, or what even the Maly production was like. The D&A choreography now performed is by Agripina Vaganova & was first presented around 1935. I don't know how much of it was based on earlier choreographies. I'd also like to know more about the history of D&A. { Edited to add: the depth of info on ballettalk is amazing ( to all the knowledgeable people who make this such a great forum!) I searched a bit and came on the following link with information & photos courtesy of rg: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...topic=17413&hl= scroll down to the Ulanova photos There's info also: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...wtopic=6042&hl= http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...wtopic=8099&hl= }

They recently staged the Bright (Limpid) Stream, choreography by Alexei Ratmansky and it was a critical success. They also brought the work to their USA tour, this year. Recent threads about it: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=20231 http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=10937

I can speak only about the region-2 versions of Corsaire & Bayadere but from what I remember there was nothing special, except maybe a synopsis (very short) Also, at least in region-2 these were bad video dumps so if you already have the vhs there's not much point in buying them. Of course things may be different in region-1 but somehow I doubt it.... On to disks that actually have extras: The POB school Coppelia. This has it's drawbacks (it's not the wholle of Coppelia, and it's a school performance, albeit a better than usual school performance and one with splendid costumes) It comes with an 50min documentary called Les enfants de la dance (the children of the dance) about the POB school and it's students. There are interviews and class footage. It feels a bit hokey and staged at times, but it's an interesting window in the school's life. This was made at the mid-80s and the students we see struggling are today's etoiles (Dupont, Martinez, LeRiche etc) The Het Sleeping Beauty DVD with Sofianne Sylve also has it's drawbacks. For one, Sylve is not your usual Aurora, she's far more athletic looking and bit less refined. When I first got the disk I did not like her interpretation, but after a bit more exposure I started to appreciate some aspects of her dancing. That said there are 35 minutes of extras on the DVD, some not terribly interesting some others more interesting (like rehearsals, interviews with Sir Peter Wright & footage of Sylve) The POB La Sylphide contains a small 20 minute doc called Rediscovering La Sylphide. Lacotte, Lefevre, Dupont and Ganio talk in it. Marguerite and Armand with Guillem and Le Riche had a 20 minute making-of that shows them on tour in Japan. This is no great bargain however since the actual ballet lasts about 30 minutes and few things happen during the documentary (it's the kind of doc that shows them boarding buses, visiting supermarkets and maybe a little bit of the rehearsal, if you're lucky) All in all, the best extras I have seen lately are not extras at all but really companion disks to the POB releases. I'm reffering to the Dancer's Dream series. There are 4 (Bayadere, Raymonda, Sleeping Beauty and Romeo & Juliet - all Nureyev's version) There is nothing new in them for anyone who has read up a bit about the ballets and their history, but they are visually very pleasing and there is a lot of rehearsal footage. Hope I helped

I was watching the Dancer's Dream Raymonda documentary & among the many great bits there is this magnificent clip of Platel in the clapping variation. This was very clear, first quality video clip from a full production (not a gala). Somewhere there must exist the whole video of this performance. Is there any hope this might be issued as a DVD? There are so few videos of Raymonda and even fewer of Platel... Is it possible to publish a video of a performance that was not captured for that specific purpose? Could one write to the POB to propose this? (and to whom?) Also, has anyone seen Platel as Raymonda (video or live)? What did you think? The clips on the documentary are short and interupted but she appears superb!

Pietragalla and Dupond. It is availlable at the moment only in France as far as I can tell Amazon.fr: http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007Z47XO/

I have not seen this yet, but the cover credits the choreography to Burmeister/Ivanov

Over at the strange land of region-2 DVD releases, a Grigorovich-fest is taking place this autumn: There are now 2 Stone Flowers one with Terekhova/Kirov (just released) and another one coming out, according to Amazon, Oct 3rd, that since it's Arthaus will propably be the Bolshoi/Semenyaka There are 2 Spartacus DVDs, one with Mukhamedov/Semenyaka/Vectrov/Bylova (just released) and one coming out Oct 24, from Warner, which (I guess based on an old Warner vhs) will be Mukhamedov/Bessmertnova/Gabovitch/Bylova There are also 2 Ivan the Terribles, one with the Bolshoi/Mukhamedov (recently released), and another with the POB/Le Riche, to be released in October. Also there will be a Bolshoi in the Park (coming out Nov 21) with Mukhamedov and Bessmertnova. No idea what it is but I'm sure it will contain a healthy dose of Grigorovich among the usual gala pieces. And did I mention that Arthaus has announced another Grigorovitch Nutcracker? With, yes you guessed right, Mukhamedov!!! (there is already one with Maximova/Vasiliev) Meanwhile, no Balanchine or Ashton on the horizon!!!!!! Other releases: Burmeister Swan Lake with Zakharova/Bolle/La Scalla (just released), Sleeping Beauty with Kolpakova/Berezhnoi/Kirov (just released ), Ek's Appartment (released October in the UK), Twyla Tharp's Catherine Wheel (Nov 21)

koshka, the following thread is about ballet in opera and may have info related to your question: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...topic=19145&hl=

Paul, the actress playing Jane Bennet (in the Ehle/Firth P&P) is actually very close to the aesthetic ideal of the era. If you look at portraits or schetches of the reknown beauties of the Regency era you'll see the uncanny resemblance of features. Most modern viewers though consider her a bad choice and not beautiful enough to play Jane.

The 12 hours choreography from Ashton's Cinderella.

I agree with Paul about Emma. I can't go through the books right now to find the quotes but my general impression was that Emma posesses a more aristocratic kind of beauty than Harriet who is pretty in a more common way. What Emma sees in Harriet may be that initially she has the malleability of character that gives Emma a chance to meddle and arrange another person's life. As for Elisabeth Bennet the quoted line says more about Miss Bingley's snobbish nature and dislike for Elisabeth than about Elisabeth herself. Some lines after the quote we read: which essentially proves that she was, objectively, not plain. Though her beauty is of secondary importance compared to her wit, in numerous passages (with Mr. Collins etc) she is portrayed as reasonably pretty - she is plain only in comparison to Jane. I don't disagree with the essense of the article. But I think Jennifer Ehle did a great job conveying the wit, intelligence and playfulness of Elisabeth Bennet.

Edited to add: I delayed posting and did not see Marc's post. But since this post is a bit more detailed, I will not edit it out. There are 3 parts in this DVD, one for Vladimir Malakhov, one for Kyoko Kimura and one for Lucia Lacarra. There is no live audience. There are some very short clips of the dancers talking about their work. The only extras are trailers of other TDK releases. As usual with TDK, the image and video are very good, a refreshing change from what other companies consider clean image. Also there are no more than the absolute minimum of inappropriate close-ups. Malakhov dances the pdd from Manon (with Diana Vishneva), a choreography named Voyage (choreography by Renato Zanella) and Spectre of the Rose (with Nadia Saidakova). The pdd from Manon is beautiful, Voyage will be interesting if you usually like fusion-ish pieces and Spectre is good. Everything danced with the softness and precission that characterises Malakhov, even at this somewhat late age. Lucia Lacarra you'll like if you go for extentions and a general fluidity and bendyness. She dances the Swan Lake pdd (with Cyril Pierre), the variation from Swan Lake and an excerpt from Lady of the Camelias (choreography by Caniparoli, danced with Cyril Pierre) Not my taste as Odette but some things she did were very beautiful (most other things, not so). Kyoko Kimura dances excerpts from choreographies by Uwe Scholz. She is partnered by Christoph Bohm. The pieces are a Bach cantata, a Mozart piano concerto and Bruckner's 8th symphony. Are these the "Great dancers of our time"? Except for Malakhov I would say probably not. But it's an interesting DVD and well produced. Whether you should buy it depends on how many DVDs you have and how many you can afford. If you live in Europe you may have seen the Malakhov tribute and (I think) the Kimura tribute, on the satelite channel Arte, sometime in the past year or so.

The 2 female dancers of the pas de trois are Nolwenn Daniel and Melanie Hurel. And Solor, I agree, they appear very unremarkable. The male dancer is Emmanuel Thibaut. For me, the measure of the failure of this performance is how much the unstrainned musicality of Emmanuel Thibaut's dancing stands out from everybody else. The moment he starts his first pas de trois variation you think: "now, that's dancing " Too bad his variations last a total of 3 minutes... they feel like the high point of the disk. What bothered me most with Letestu here is that her shoulders and upper back seemed to be set in stone and had little or no relation to what the rest of her body was doing. That makes for some very bland and boring dancing. I was expecting more as she was a very good 1rst shade in the Bayadere DVD. In the POB's and the dancer's defence, I think Aurelie Dupont and Manuel Legris were supposed to film this but withdrew due to injury. Letestu and Martinez are the second (or even third, not sure) cast. I thought the costumes were good (especially up close: great embroidery, many fine details) and the sets also good, if somewhat sparce. But, yes, considering everything (choreography, performance etc) this was disappointing, not one of the better POB dvds.

Sizova Vivandiere is on Kirov Night, also known as Kirov, a night of Classical Ballet.

Aurora's entrance, practically all the music with the Dryads, the cats, the ActIII pdd. Odile's solo esp. at the end when the music becomes more urgent and she moves diagonally while wrapping her leg. Also the ActIV music where Siegfried searches for her. R&J dance of the knights, the music where Juliet dances with Paris. The music of the hours(?) in Cinderella - from the point where they pas de chat their way on stage till the end of the waltz (my favorite waltz) The fairy song and the end of Balanchine's MN'sD Manon's brothel solo and the music where the patrons move her around. And some Minkus music (I hope ) for you MinkusPugni: Nikiya's act 1 solo, the entrance of the shades music after they are all on stage. Kitri's end of act 1 variation, the queen of the Dryads variation (the one occasionally used in Le corsaire) The plinky-plinky Paquita grand pas variation that Larissa Lezhnina dances in Kirov Classics. Does it have a name? And why is it so melancholy? Isn't this a wedding?

Just one more note: I have watched the pdd with the DVD player slowed down at 75% of the normal speed and it appears quite slow. The exception to this is Chaboukiani's last manege which appears almost normal when played at 75% of the speed! If the DVD player could play at 80%, I believe that the manege would appear perfectly normal. Which means that Chaboukiani (or the video, but probably Chaboukiani) is about 25% faster than what we are used to seeing.

I was watching old ballet performances with a friend and among them was an early 50s "Flames of Paris" pdd with Chaboukiani. The speed of both Chaboukiani and his partner (to a lesser degree) seemed superhuman (although his very old technique left a lot to be desired). At first I though maybe this kind of speed was normal back then and got lost as the emphasis moved on more polished technique. But my friend, who has a healthy dose of cynicism, thinks that the original tape was sped up (let's say 10%). We watched it again and again, trying to find clues in the background (how the banners wave, how the spectators move etc) but we have not come to any definite conclusion. If it was sped up, the job was done very craftily, the large crowd around them does not move abruptly. Does anyone know if this was sped up? Were the performers of that era really that quick? I remember the same kind of machine gun speed in parts of a Black Swan pdd excerpt with Dudinskaya (on another DVD).

Another equally plausible explanation of the etymology: the goat referred to is a satyr, the half-goat, half-man being (like Puck in MN'sD) that follows the god Dionysus. Thus, tragedy is the song of the satyrs that surround Dionysus.I like this explanation of the etymology a bit more... no need to add a "No animals were harmed in the making of this tragedy" kind of disclaimer

bart,I think SL's Act II is Lev Ivanov