volcanohunter

Here's a link to the original discussion thread:

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=24032

I ordered the Seven Ballets DVD, but the Marguerite and Armand is only available for Region 2 folks. I'm trying to get Evidentia.

My advice is to get yourself a multi-region DVD player. Then you'll be able to watch both Marguerite & Armand and Evidentia. It's true that nowadays most performing arts programs come on region-free discs with NTSC picture format, but a multi-system player will enable you to watch pretty much everything.

The Fonteyn/Nureyev Romeo and Juliet was the first ballet I ever saw. I wasn't even in school when I first saw it on television. For whatever reason, my four-year-old mind was convinced that the two of them had actually committed suicide at the end of the ballet, à la ancient Roman spectacles, and I thought to myself, now that's something: spend all those years training and working just to sacrifice yourself for art. Needless to say, when I was enrolled in ballet lessons the following year, I really, really didn't want to go!

The relative weakness of the La Scala production stems, I think, from the supporting characters, which is why I give preference to Ferri's earlier recording. But I haven't watched either video lately, so I'd have to revisit them before I could make any sort of sensible comparison.

Alas, the Cranko isn't available on video at present, which is a pity since I prefer it over the MacMillan version. Cranko is frustratingly absent from commercial video.

Cast:

Juliet - Tamara Rojo

Romeo - Carlos Acosta

Mercutio - Jose Martin

Tybalt - Thiago Soares

Benvolio - Yohei Sasaki

Paris - David Pickering

Lord Capulet - Christopher Saunders

Lady Capulet - Elizabeth McGorian

Escalus - Gary Avis

Rosaline - Christina Arestis

Nurse - Sandra Conley

Friar Laurence - Alastair Marriott

Lord Montague - Alastair Marriott

Lady Montague - Francesca Filpi

Harlots - Isabel McMeekan, Laura Morera, Sian Murphy

Mandolin Dance - Steven McRae

The crowd at the showing I attended was made up primarily of older people, probably the same ones who attend opera broadcasts. I wondered where all the ballet students were. Perhaps some were still in class at one o'clock in the afternoon, but it was a pity that none took advantage of the opportunity to see a ballet on the big screen.

The film itself, originally shown on BBC television, focuses heavily on close-ups, to the extent that a person not familiar with the choreography probably wouldn't get a very good idea of what the group dances actually look like. I think that some of the directing decisions were an improvement over the Ferri-Eagling R&J shot at the Royal Opera House some 25 years ago. When the distraught Juliet sits motionless on the edge of her bed before running off to Friar Laurence, the camera zoomed out on Ferri, whereas it zoomed in slowly on Rojo, the newer approach being much more effective.

Rojo's Juliet is marvellous. I can see that her reputation as a dramatic dancer is entirely deserved. Nevertheless, in purely dancing terms I'd still give the edge to Ferri, for her greater sense of physical abandon.

I must admit that I am not completely sold on Carlos Acosta. When I visited London recently I made a point of going to see him live to see if he came off better that way, but his dancing wasn't terribly clean live and it wasn't particularly clean in this broadcast either. His facial expressions were also less differentiated than everyone else's. I've always had reservations about Eagling's Romeo, but at least he came off as less self-absorbed, and he seemed to better able to make sense of the extremely awkward choreography MacMillan assigns to Romeo in Act 2.

On balance I'd still give preference to the older version for David Drew's meaner Tybalt and Stephen Jefferies' more affecting death scene. However, Elizabeth McGorian's Lady Capulet really got to me, and David Pickering's Paris was perfect: tall, handsome and clueless. It's not a perfect Romeo and Juliet, but I definitely intend to acquire the DVD when it comes out.

As an aside, does anyone know whether there's a reason why the part of Rosaline is usually assigned to an enormously tall dancer who towers over all the men on stage?

I noticed that the release date has been readjusted to June 24 in North America. I've waited this long, I suppose another month won't kill me.

From the Summer 2006 edition of Dance International magazine:

Unlike some European companies, Hamburg Ballet has no job permanency, renewing contacts annually.

I remember being deeply surprised that a European company employed this "American" system.

I suppose that most Hamburg Ballet dancers wait until their performing days are over before having children. Elizabeth Loscavio has had two since retiring.

I find it quite striking that no dancer there has children, as it generally isn't the case now in most ballet companies... (However, from what I've read, in Germany working mothers often are frowned upon, far more than in most other European countries, so perhaps it has an influence too).

If I'm not mistaken, dancers at the Hamburg Ballet don't have permanent contracts or the sort of benefits that would go along with them. Apparently, they go from year to year on annual contracts, which would certainly discourage taking (unpaid) maternity leave.

3 Minutes West, the company that produced this program, has a link on its web site to clips of the DVD. There are five clips in total, featuring each of the ballets on the disc.

http://www.3minuteswest.com/

The next repeat on Bravo.ca will be on Monday, May 12, at 8:00 pm ET/5:00 pm PT.

The next re-broadcast will be on Artv on Monday, May 19, at 9:00 pm ET/6:00 pm PT, with repeat broadcasts on Tuesday, May 20, at 1:00 am ET and 1:00 pm ET, and Saturday, May 24 at 4:00 am ET.

http://www.artv.ca

Since the stage of the Bastille is so much bigger than the New York State Theater, I wonder why the POB feels compelled to use all of it. Why not reduce the depth of the stage for set-less ballets?

I agree with you completely about Cozette's Raymonda, but I didn't like her any better as Chorelic, especially with the likes of Ould-Braham and Gilbert dancing to the hilt around her. In Temperaments Cozette's tendency to jut her head forward was that much more visible, to the extent that I wondered how she could do chaîné turns at all. (Awkwardly.) I was puzzled by her promotion, and having just seen her live in two roles, I'm more puzzled than ever.

I also can't get used to Nureyev's interpretation of Raymonda's variation. Perhaps on paper the idea of having Raymonda channel some of Abderam's barbarism made sense, but having robbed the variation of all phrasing, grace and épaulement, there's nothing left but the dominatrix act, as you say. It's funny, because in the Ballerina series Makarova used that variation to illustrate épaulement. I'm glad I'd already seen POB's ballerinas perform that solo on film, otherwise the shock would have been too great. Give me the soulful, even soapy Russian interpretation any day. And may I add that I see no point in asking Raymonda to perform her coda retirés at that impossibly slow tempo? Even if a dancer did possess superhuman balance and calf strength, how would the choreography benefit?

Apparently the Giselle DVD will be released in North America on May 27. The details are still sketchy, for one thing Amazon lists it as a CD, but the product number on Amazon.com matches its British counterpart, so I'm pretty sure this is it.

http://www.amazon.com/Giselle-Adam/dp/B0017PB27M/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adam-Giselle-Conne.../dp/B0017PB27M/

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/TDK/DVWW-BLGISP

http://www.amazon.ca/Adam-Adolphe-Charles-.../dp/B0017PB27M/

From the TDK web site:

http://www.tdk-music.com/frame_content.php...mp;from_id=2825

Admittedly, many of these are already available on DVD in some form or other, but Kultur is releasing a bunch of stuff on June 24.

Maya Plistetskaya:

Plisetskaya Dances

http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/Detail.bok?no=1288

http://www.amazon.com/Plisetskaya-Dances-B...a/dp/B0017HEYCU

Little Humpbacked Horse

http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/Detail.bok?no=1287

http://www.amazon.com/Shchedrin-Little-Hum...a/dp/B0017HEYCK

Carmen Suite

http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/Detail.bok?no=1286

http://www.amazon.com/Shchedrin-Carmen-Sui...a/dp/B0017HEYCA

Anna Karenina

http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/Detail.bok?no=1285

http://www.amazon.com/Shchedrin-Karenina-P...v/dp/B0017HEYC0

Fernando Bujones:

Fernando Bujones: A Portrait of a Dance Legend

http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/Detail.bok?no=1291

http://www.amazon.com/Fernando-Bujones-Por.../dp/B0017HEYAW/

Giselle

http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/Detail.bok?no=1290

http://www.amazon.com/Adolph-Adam-Giselle-...l/dp/B0017HEYAM

Australian Ballet:

Sleeping Beauty (Christine Walsh & David Ashmole)

http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/Detail.bok?no=1284

http://www.amazon.com/Sleeping-Beauty-Chri...t/dp/B0017HEYAC

La Fille mal gardee (Fiona Tonkin & David McAllister)

http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/Detail.bok?no=1282

http://www.amazon.com/H%C3%A9rold-Gard%C3%.../dp/B0017HEYBG/

Spartacus (Steven Heathcote & Lisa Pavane)

http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/Detail.bok?no=1283

http://www.amazon.com/Khachaturian-Spartac...t/dp/B0017HEYBQ

Gala Tribute to Tchaikovsky (Royal Opera House)

http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/Detail.bok?no=1281

http://www.amazon.com/Tribute-Tchaikovsky-...v/dp/B0017HEYA2

I'm very happy to have seen Romoli perform Phlegmatic twice in his final run of performances. I found him to be extremely expressive: his upper body spoke volumes.

Having just returned from my travels, my brain is still too foggy to deal with choreography.

Sticking for now with the Royal Ballet's Sleeping Beauty, I generally liked the production, though I still think it's a mistake to combine the sixth fairy and the Lilac Fairy. IMO Rudolf Nureyev and Peter Wright were correct in keeping them separate. I disliked Christopher Wheeldon's Garland Dance intensely. In my head I could hear my non-dancer mother expressing her frequent frustration with choreographic treatments of 3/4 time: "Why can't they just waltz?" Wheeldon's choreography is too clever by half, and his attempts at maneuvering dancers into complex floor patterns struck me as extremely laboured. I'm also not sure what to do about Ashton's Act 2 solo for the Prince. I've now seen a number of dancers attempt it, and no one's come remotely close to matching the phenomenal control, line and phrasing of Anthony Dowell, captured on film some 40 years ago. Comparing that film with performances of the solo nowadays, I question the standard belief in ever-rising technical standards among male dancers.

On the performance side, the dancers who most impressed me were Yuhui Choe, Gillian Revie, Myriam Ould-Braham, Alessio Carbone, Wilfried Romoli, Delphine Moussin, Stéphane Phavorin, Hélène Bouchet, Alexandre Riabko and Ivan Urban.

Most disappointing: Alexandra Ansanelli and Emilie Cozette.

Tickets are now on sale for the Royal Ballet's production of Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet, showing at Empire Theatres on Saturday, May 24, at 1:00 p.m. local time. Filmed in October 2007, the ballet stars Tamara Rojo and Carlos Acosta.

Participating cities: St. John's, Halifax, Sydney, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Charlottetown, St. Catharines, Kitchener, North York, Mississauga, Ottawa, London, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria.

Future broadcasts of The Royal Opera in HD will be Frederick Ashton's Tales of Beatrix Potter on June 7 and The Sleeping Beauty, with Alina Cojocaru and Federico Bonelli, on June 21.

http://www.empiretheatres.com/promotions/opusArte2007.asp

Presumably, all of these performances will be released on Opus Arte DVD in the future.

Off topic. But related to Kiev ballet - apparently Kiev chucked Ratmansky out and he is now at Bolshoi since 2004. He has a wonderful cv.

After spending six seasons there, Ratmansky left Kiev, of his own free will, to dance with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet for three years, came back to Kiev for a couple of years, then became a principal with the Royal Danish Ballet. Eventually he retired from performing to concentrate on choreography, but he was never director of the ballet in Kiev, and I certainly don't think the opera house would have chucked him out. On the other hand, I can see how he might have been unhappy in the milieu of the Kiev Ballet's extreme conservatism.

The current director of the troupe is Viktor Yaremenko, whom you may remember as the Golden Slave in Andris Liepa's film of Scheherazade.

I'm on a different schedule, and since my traveling companion is a musician and lover of modern dance, the itinerary is an interdisciplinary compromise. Though I couldn't talk my sister into going to see Sleeping Beauty more than once, given the price of tickets at Covent Garden, I did convince her that ordering the POB twice was prudent just in case of a strike at the Opéra.

4/09 - London - Carlos in Cuba (Carlos Acosta & Danza Contemporanea de Cuba)

4/10 - London - R.Strauss, Beethoven (Philharmonia Orchestra)

4/11 - London - Sleeping Beauty (Royal Ballet)

4/12 - Brussels - Medée (La Monnaie)

4/13 - Ghent - Dialogues des Carmélites (Vlaamse Opera)

4/14 - Paris - École de danse

4/15 - Paris - POB triple bill

4/16 - Paris - Death in Venice (Hamburg Ballet)

4/17 - Paris - POB triple bill

4/18 - Paris - Sylvie Guillem & Akram Khan

Planes, trains and hotels are set. My only complaint is having to stand in line to pick up our London show tickets, while the Belgian and French tickets came by mail. Much more convenient.

I challenge anyone (in friendly spirit) to recommend another Giselle which has better principals and dancing and a better orchestra.

This is precisely what makes the directorial intrusions so frustrating. The performance is stupendous, which is why I can't understand why anybody would want cut away from it, or force the audience to watch it through puddles of water.

Nonetheless, I watch this version of Giselle more often than the others I have on my shelf (though I am also fond of the Ferri/La Scala and Walsh/Australian Ballet).

Coming on May 27: ballets performed during the first two programs of the Hans van Manen Festival, which took place in Amsterdam in September 2007.

Adagio Hammerklavier (Dutch National Ballet)

Simple Things (Netherlands Dance Theatre II)

Trois Gnossiennes (Uliana Lopatkina & Ivan Kozlov)

Five Tangos (Bavarian State Ballet)

Twilight (Igone de Jongh & Alexander Zhembrovskyy)

Interviews with Hans van Manen, Larissa Lezhnina, Uliana Lopatkina, Lucia Lacarra and Igone de Jongh, among others, promised.

http://www.amazon.com/Hans-Van-Manen-Festi...n/dp/B0015NR2EI

http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/Detail.bok?no=1276

Many of the other ballets presented during the festival are already available on DVD.

http://www.amazon.com/Hans-van-Manen-Neder.../dp/B000W1V5QU/

http://www.amazon.com/Concertante-Black-Ba...t/dp/B000055XSN

http://www.amazon.de/Dutch-National-Ballet.../dp/B00008O8BR/

Roland Petit's Proust, filmed in March 2007 with the Paris Opera Ballet, is available for pre-order at Amazon. The cast includes Hervé Moreau, Eleonora Abbagnato, Stéphane Bullion, Manuel Legris, Mathieu Ganio and Stéphanie Romberg. The release date is listed as March 11.

http://www.amazon.com/Proust-Roland-Petit/dp/B0011ETNXY

The web site for Bel Air Classiques features a trailer of the DVD.

http://www.belairclassiques.com

Bravo will air the ballet again on Monday, February 11 at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.

Apologies for the short notice. Canadian Bravo will rebroadcast the program on Monday, January 28 at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.

I have absolutely no objections to the Royal Ballet digging into its video archives. But this release would suggest that it doesn't intend to film a new Mayerling any time soon. Given that the ROH acquired Opus Arte in order to reach wider audiences, I somehow expected it to concentrate on promoting the company of today.