ViolinConcerto

I don't know if it's cricket to refer to another ballet website, but while I was watching the DVD of the Bolshoi/Grigoriev/Semenyaka production, and running back and forth to the computer to try and compare their scenario with the one/s posted in this thread, my husband came up with a site that has a very through background of the ballet and early productions, including illustrations of programmes, etc. The site is Balletbase.com, and the thread on Raymonda is called "The Petipa code or Searching for Raymonda." There are several LONG pages in this thread, parts I through V. The first page can be found here.

I know there are a lot of variations, having watched a few on youtube recently... but what is this 1941 reference? Here's a youtube clip of Guillem in the variation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fskhknk66A which I assume is Nureyev's version... and Makarova: Van Hamel Bessmertnova: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNiO9iWPT4I It's kind of like Nikiya's, I guess, from Bayadere... but otherwise it seems more in common with Odette, which I thought was Ivanov rather than Petipa... are there any stories? I just looked at a few of these, and the Guillem has been removed, though there is another clip of her doing that variation, and Bessmertovna link has been removed -- BUT there are many short clips of her doing several Raymonda variations with the Tokyo National Ballet (not sure if that's remembered correctly) also on youtube: here. It's interesting to compare the different ballerinas, but I don't have the technical knowledge to judge them. Each is beautiful in her own way. For example, while VanHamel's legs did not appear to be as strong as some of the others, I felt more character coming through from her, and love.

Ms. Patterson, who lived in the Philadelphia area, died at the age of 100 on Nov. 4th. She was in the first performance of "Serenade" at the Warburg estate in Westchester. The obit was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

There was an obit for Lone Isaksen in The New York Times on November 13. She is described as You can read the rest of article here .

Yes, you do not mess with Mr B's Foundation. Have you seen Pulp Fiction? Do you remember Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta's characters? They're like that, only with ballet. Well, to mangle a quote from Barry Goldwater, "Extremism in the preservataion of beauty is no vice."

Does the Foundation or Trust (whoever it is) take off clips only from NYCBallet performances, or ANY performance of Balanchine? Kirkland and Barishnikov did not dance in NYCB at the same time as far as I can recall.

I saw a review of this new book on ballet history, "Apollo's Angels" in the SF Chronicle. Here is the link. From the review it sounds like a very interesting and intelligently written book. Here's a quote from the review: I'm interested in hearing other responses.

Anyone willing to sponsor a scholarship for me to go from New York?

This is probably a breakthrough for them as they've been primarily on the College circuit until now. Good Luck!

and the Winners are Nina Arianda and Chase Finlay! It's announced in Playbill.com. Here's the link.

Excerpts from their email: ...Vegetti's For more information visit: www.morphoses.org

Mr. Randall spoke at a Kaatsbaan benefit 10-15 years ago about how seeing the Ballets Russes in the midwest (Nebraska? Kansas?) as a child instilled a love of ballet in him. He actually took some classes I believe and may have harbored some ambitions! He was an ardent fan and supporter of dance for the rest of his life, as seen in this short video. Thanks so much for posting this. What was the source of the segment?

I believe this is the company that Peter Martins invited to perform at the New York State Theater in 2004 for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Mr. Balanchine's birth. Mr. B. had seen and enjoyed the company's dances, when it was led by the father of the current director. They are really wonderful. The name of the company seems to change depending on who is reporting; sometimes they are called The Georgian National Ballet, (which we might confuse with the company that Nina Ananaishvili directed, which was the State Ballet of Georgia), sometimes the "Georgian State Dance Company" and sometimes the National Ballet of Georgia. The Sukhishvili name is the identifier.

Not in my experience.

Thanks so much for the report GWTW! From my point of view you're spot on with your evaluations of the dancers, though Tom had been very strong technically. I saw his piece, "Shanti" at the Miller Theater in NYC a couple of years ago and really enjoyed his use of Asian postures and movements (which I love and wish they were used more often). Was there any indication of the link of the name of the group, To Dance with the book by Panov?

He was elegant and made it look very, very easy!

This was on "Broadway World" (notice that Damian W. is showing up here, too!) Nominees for the Clive Barnes Awards announced including nine New York Actors and Dancers. Awards set for November 9, 2010 at Lincoln Center 's Walter Reade Theatre. The Clive Barnes Foundation and its Selection Committee have agreed on an impressive list of talented young nominees for the first Clive Barnes Awards: Four finalists in theater and five in Dance. Theater finalists: Nina Arianda (Venus in Fur), Jon Michael Hill (Superior Donuts), Kendrick Jones (Scottsboro Boys) and Noah Robbins (Secrets of the Trade). Dance Finalists: Aaron Carr (Keigwin + Company), Ghrai DeVore (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater), Chase Finlay ( New York City Ballet), Hee Seo (American Ballet Theatre) and Leann Underwood (American Ballet Theatre). The winner of the Clive Barnes Award for Theater will be announced by Cherry Jones and the Award for Dance by Fredric Franklin at the ceremony on Tuesday November 9th at 2:30 p.m., at Lincoln Center 's Walter Reade Theatre, 165 W. 65th St. (between Broadway and Amsterdam). Admission to the ceremony is free. The Clive Barnes Awards Selection Committee includes Edward Albee, Howard Kissel, Patrick Pacheco, Gwin Joh Chin, George Dorris, Jacques le Sourd, Richard Chen See, Valerie Taylor-Barnes, Damian Woetzel and Craig Wright. Clive Barnes was an influential dance, theater and opera critic for over 40 years in New York, the last 30 years of his career as the chief critic for the New York Post. The Clive Barnes Foundation was established by Valerie Taylor-Barnes in 2009, one year after her husband's death, mainly to form the Clive Barnes Awards and to continue his lifelong spirit of artistic support for young talents. Read more: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Hill_Jones_et_al_Named_Clive_Barnes_Award_Nominees_Winners_Announced_119_20101021#ixzz136GlJalo

Quiggan, I have a question: you refer to "Max Goberman" in paragraph 3 and "Duberman" in paragraph 5. Did you mean Goberman again, or were you speaking of Martin Duberman? Back to Zoe Anderson's essay in the Royal Ballet program: " and later, she quotes Youskevitch (echoing A.A.'s quote by Christian): P.S. All of you amaze me with your memories and research. I am a NYCB fan not particularly familiar with this ballet (I never liked "tutu" and "stiff" ballets), and was originally just sharing my notes about the Royal's performance and program notes. I am just floored by all this knowledge! Now I want to go back in time..... I wish my time machine would hurry up and get here.

I just returned from London, and as I mentioned in my discussion of going to the exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum (about Diaghilev), I also got to see the Royal Ballet perform, and they closed the program with 'Theme and Variations." It was performed at a slightly slower tempo than the one(s) I am used to at New York City Ballet. Miss Alonzo attended, and great tribute was paid to her both before the performance (of the whole program) began, and after T&V, when she was led onstage by Serge Polunin (who did the male lead, partnering Tamar Rojo, she of the exquisite feet) and Carlos Acosta. It was exciting and an honor to be present at this tribute In the program notes by Zoe Anderson (which are quite good), they talk about its association with "Sleeping Beauty" at length. I thought I'd add a bit to this discussion by quoting from Ms. Anderson's notes: Ms. Anderson then discusses several other ballets by Balanchine, including Mozartiana, 1933, and The Four Temperaments (1946) which are based on themes/variations. She continues, Ms. Anderson also discusses the extreme technical demands on the man, and mentions that Balanchine's use of the line of women in the 7th variation, with no "cavaliers" supporting them may refer to versions that Balanchine may have seen in Russia, of the fairies in the prologue (who have no cavaliers in Soviet versions -- she is guessing that this was carried over from the Imperial days). It is a long essay, and I'll also offer to scan and email it if anyone wants to see the complete piece. The performance, by the way, was lovely (of course). I loved this tiny couple, thought she had the most beautiful instep in the world, but she had some difficulties executing the little egg-beater steps that I cannot spell any more than she could do them. Not many can.

HE IS EVERYWHERE! (Which is a good thing in his case.)

I gather that Donna was Paul and Francis' sister. She was no longer dancing by the time I started going to NYCB performances. Do you think that this was the only where there were THREE siblings from one family dancing at the same time?

I have the feeling that the dancers in those photos might prefer to NOT be identified! But it is interesting to get a glimpse of what I have heard so many people discuss...

I've been thinking about how to describe the exhibit, and the experience of going to see the exhibit, and truthfully, there is no easy, organized way to describe it. Even with the introductory talk by Jane Pritchard, it is hard to pin down the experience. It is not organized chronologically, but the different sections of the exhibit show different aspects of the life of Serge Diaghilev, the history of the Company, the people in it and elements of the productions. It feels as if things are coming at you from all over, almost as if you are in the midst of a production. It's a wonderful cacophony to be honest, and while it's not going to give you an ordered history of the Company, what they did and where they did it (use the catalogue for that!), you may end up feeling as if you were at a production, but can't quite remember the whole thing. (Like life.) The collections of costumes and objects are amazing: the colors, fabrics, and designs show an immense range of styles, techniques and inspirations. Diaghilev's artists, especially at the beginning of the Company's history, were very knowledgeable and skillful, and used fabric techniques such as Ikat (used in remote areas of Russia as well as India and Indonesia), applique, embroidery, dying, and drawing directly on the fabric to create the effects they needed. Historical prints and paintings often were the springboards for set designs. While there are instances where the actual inspirations (drawings, children's books) are shown, mostly we are told where the ideas came from. There are some design sketches, some choreographic sketches (Nijinsky's after-the-fact notations for "L'Apres-Midi d'un Faune" for example, done during the first World War), musical scores and notes to and from Diaghilev and his collaborators. One of the rooms is supposed to show how a production might be put together, and has older theatrical spotlights, ladders, bits of set constructions, etc. I'm familiar with these objects, but for someone who didn't know what they were, their use might not be so obvious. There are 4 excellent five minute videos with composer Howard Goodall discussing the music and how/why it was important. For example, he discussed why so many composers were drawn to France (because it wasn't Germany, ruled stylistically by Wagner), and how Debussy (who was himself influenced by a performance of Indonesian Gamelan brought sweeping changes to European music, and was a major influence on Stravinsky. But the videos by Howard Goodall also are part of what was, for me, the biggest problem: conflicting music! At one point there are two recordings of "The Firebird" being played in one space, both at loud volume. It made it difficult to concentrate on anything, even if it was a video of "The Firebird." Diaghilev would not permit any filming of his company. As a result, there are no films of Nijinsky dancing. (When I went back to the exhibit for the second time, an older woman was begging a guard to let her in to see footage of Nijinsky dancing. I broke the bad news to her.) There were a few video snippets taken on other occasions, including one of Tamara Karsavina in a short segment called "The Serpent," or something like that. Most of the other bits of film show contemporary versions of ballets from the Diaghilev repertoire, or newly choreographed ballets to music from the Ballets Russes. This brings up another real problem: there is no complete listing of the items in the exhibit. I purchased the book assuming that it would have such a list, but although it has much wonderful information and great essays, there is no listing of the items shown (hence my inability to give the correct name of the video segment with Karsavina). The films shown at the National Film Institute really complement the exhibit well. I mentioned the film written by Tamara Geva in my earlier posting. Many of the films gave personal, intimate looks at Diaghilev as well as others in his companies, including the too, too short film about Doubrovska, and the sad film "The Sleeping Ballerina" about the life and madness (and eventual cure) of Olga Spissetseva, which includes footage of her dancing the mad scene from "Giselle," narrated sensitively by Marie Rambert. The films also gave insight about how the personal side of Diaghilev's life influenced his artistic work. When Nijinsky (and later Massine) left him, he had wildly emotional reactions. According to one of the films, in both cases he went on "binges" of affairs and drinking. After Massine left him, he decided to change course choreographically, and go back to the classics. Hence, his production of "The Sleeping Princess," in London. The comments about Diaghilev were very interesting: "He could charm a butterfly into a net." (I tried to take notes during the films, and often got the comments, but not the source.) The talk by Jane Pritchard on my first visit to the exhibit was about how the Museum had obtained many of these objects over the years. One of the greatest events was an auction, staged like a theater event. One of the films at the NFI and a short clip played in the last part of the exhibit shows the late Richard Buckle calmly sitting in the audience of the auction, having just won (for the National Arts Council) one or another of the treasures we now see all together, looking down while an excited Alicia Markova sits to his left, barely able to contain herself. In addition to seeing the exhibit twice and seeing three of the film programs, I visited Ivy House (former home of Anna Pavlova, now a Jewish Community Center) to catch the last day of an exhibition of photographs of Tamara Karsavina. I started the walking tour that Jane Pritchard had mapped out, but it was in the Covent Garden area, and too crowded for me to enjoy. I also treated myself to a backstage tour of the Royal Opera House, and performances by the Royal Ballet and the Royal Birmingham Ballet. The performance at the R.O.H. concluded with Balanchine's "Theme and Variations," which was originally choreographed for Alicia Alonzo. It was a very respectable performance, with Tamar Rojo and Sergei Polunin as the principals. Ms. Rojo has the highest instep I have ever seen. At the beginning of the program Monica Mason came out in front of the curtain to announce that Miss Alonzo was in the audience, and the spotlight swung to a box, where Miss Alonzo stood up, regal in black sequins. After the performance, the male lead, Sergei Polunin and Carlos Acosta (who had been in "Winter Dreams," K. MacMillan's version of "The Three Sisters" ) led Ms. Alonzo to center stage, where she was greeted by a huge ovation. It was very exciting.

I went to see the Curator's talk(Jane Pritchard), one third of the exhibit and 2 films that are linked to the show. Through BALLET TALK I met "Paquita" and we really enjoyed what the V&A had for us to see. I seriously recommend a good night's sleep, lots of coffee, and lots of time. There is so much to take in that I decided to see the rest another day. Pritchard, who also introduced the film at the National Film Theatre, is a bundle of energy, speaks coherently without notes, and had seen nearly everything left to see about Diaghilev and his companies. The first film, a BBC profile written by Tamara Geva, hsd interviews with many members of the companies (Danilova, Balanchine, Dolin, DeValoise, W. koslov, Doubrovsks, and Markova) but was poorly orgsnized. This surprised me because her book, "Split Seconds" was the best ballet memoir I have read. I will write more about the experience and the exhibitio when I return to the US, since I am cramped by having only an iPod to write on. Meanwhile, I urge those of you who are interested in the Ballets Russes to raid your piggy banks, seize the rare opportunity offered by the V&A, get to London and soak ip as much as you can.

CM thanks for those links. Really wonderful.