volcanohunter

I was surprized not to see any mention of David Henry Hwang's play M. Butterfly in the article. Hwang addresses the question of Western racial and erotic fantasies about Japan in part by riffing on Madame Butterly.

Indeed. Since the topic was addressed in more or less popular culture almost 20 years ago, it's odd to see a scholar bring it up now. When I came across Parker's "attack" on the Internet today, I was struck by a profound sense of "been there, done that." Post-colonial criticism has been around for decades. Surely opera fans have been filtering their appreciation of certain operas through its lens for many years now.

It's kind of like the Spessivtseva solo of Giselle. Yeah it wasn't always there, but now it's become of the Giselle tradition.

I think it's a bit more than that. For historical reasons I also don't like steps being altered or substituted. So many changes have crept into Swan Lake over the years that it's becoming increasingly difficult to know how much of the original choreography remains. At least we know for certain that the 32 fouettés were present in Petipa's original, so let's not hurry to toss them out.

Oops, I see carbro's beaten me to it.

Did anyone see any reviews for Fiddle and the Drum?? I looked in the Globe on Monday but only saw Grammy news. How about the Herald? I did see Louis Hobson's review in the Sun. Edmonton??

Michael Crabb's review for the National Post

Mitchell's dance against death

Kaija Pepper's review for the Globe and Mail

Joni Mitchell's plea for paradise

Louis Hobson's review for the Calgary Sun

Joni Mitchell ballet inspiring

Bob Clark's review for the Calgary Herald

Joni enjoys rousing debut

Judging by these headlines, you'd think that Joni Mitchell had done the choreography. Honestly!

I expect there won't be any reviews from the Edmonton papers until the piece is performed here.

French ballet fans alerted me to this television report on the POB's performances of Apollo and Agon. It includes comments from Brigitte Lefèvre, Agnès Letestu (seen dancing in Apollo with Jean-Guillaume Bart), Kader Belarbi (who does look pretty small next to Marie-Agnès Gillot in Agon) and Benjamin Pech.

tf1.lci.fr

The Dowler piece may have been ungracious, considering the 80th birthday tribute. But is the following generalization about Grigorovich's choreography all that off base? (I ask this as a complete non-expert, who hasn't seen a stage performance of one of his ballets in over 20 years and has to rely mostly on video performances.)

The Busby Berkeley of ballet, Grigorovich is deft at moving huge numbers of dancers about the stage in ballets more than a little cod and often overly camp. [ ... ] [T]he evening also highlighted the limitations of his choreographic vocabulary – endless repeated phrases, constant leaping about for the men and crutch-splitting for women, when the poor dears are not hulked around the stage like sacks of coal – his musicality is limited to slavishly following or ignoring the rhythm in the score.

My experience is limited also, but I don't think it's off base. I first saw the Bolshoi as a child in New York. I was taken to Grigorovich's Romeo & Juliet and I absolutely detested it. Now, you may think that I had been too young to appreciate the ballet or the score, but my earliest memory of ballet was of watching the Fonteyn/Nureyev film of MacMillan's Romeo & Juliet; my uncle had prepared me for that Bolshoi outing by giving me a recording of the score, which I listened to over and over again and enjoyed very much; and by then I was taking ballet lessons, so I had developed some idea of what ballet was about. The fact remains that I thought Grigorovich's version was hideous and ludicrous, and that I giggled during Tybalt's death throes.

Alexander Godunov and the Kozlovs defected during that tour, so it would be 11 years before the Bolshoi visited New York again, and in the meantime I could only watch Grigorovich's ballets on television. For someone raised on Balanchine and Ashton, with a healthy dolop of Cranko, MacMillan and Kylián thrown in, I would watch all that stomping around in unison completely incredulously. This qualifies as choreography?, I'd ask myself. Admittedly, when I did see the company again in 1990, my reaction was a little different. The energy of so many dancers stomping around in unison to very loud music does produce a strong visceral effect, but that doesn't alter the fact that the choreography they're performing may be simplistic and repetitive. It seems to me that Grigorovich has very little movement invention. The solos of his heroines are practically interchangeable. Frankly, if I want to get the Busby Berkeley effect, I watch the man's films. Berkeley's choreography is much more interesting.

I don't know if I'd agree with Ismene Brown's comment about hidden dissidence in Grigorovich's work, but I do think that his ballets may have provided Soviet audiences with a guilty pleasure. For one thing, Soviet ballet is just about the most decadent thing around: dancers running at each other with outstretched arms from opposite ends of a diagonal to swelling music, followed by some outrageous lift or throw. All that's missing is a wind machine and a 50-foot piece of silk. I can think of few faster ways of reducing ballet to an acrobatic spectacle. But beyond that, Grigorovich's ballets give audiences a chance to be seduced by potent, glamorous villains, invariably more interesting than his heroes, and to view the occasional orgy. That the excesses are conducted by nasty Roman imperialists or recidivist Soviet capitalists is beside the point: it's still an officially sanctioned means of seeing an orgiastic spectacle.

But the Who's Who section provided detailed biographies of all principals and soloists in the Hamburg Ballet, several of whom did not appear at BAM, while not even mentioning anyone from the corps including young Mr. Revazov, who had the second major part in the ballet we saw. Not very fair especially to this interesting dancer, and just another strange element of a very strange night.

Unfortunately, this is standard practice when the Hamburg Ballet is on tour. I suppose those interested have to look up Edvin Revazov's page on the Hamburg Ballet web site (for those intrigued by Klavier's report). Neumeier has now made two major roles for him. Somehow I don't think he'll be in the corps much longer.

I remember attending an ABT performance at City Center during which the people in front of me attempted to match the dancers listed in the program with the headshots of the principals printed in the playbill. Boy, were they disappointed when they found that role X was not being performed by a principal dancer. Never mind the actual performance. I'm afraid for some people the rank matters most.

SanderO, I know that Neumeier's Death in Venice has been shown on German television (because I've seen pirated clips ). But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the DVD. DVDs of German companies are very rare birds.

Thanks for your report, binklemom. If your kids enjoyed The Fiddle & the Drum and Veronica Tennant came out from Toronto to see it, it would seem that Alberta Ballet hit upon a winning combination. Were the performances well attended? I came across a little story in the Calgary Herald about some people, presumably not regular dance-goers, who came out primarily to see Joni Mitchell. I wonder whether what they saw persuaded to check out future ballet performances.

I know that a television special about the ballet is being produced. Did you see any TV cameras around?

Tomorrow night, February 12, Canada's Bravo network will air John Alleyne's The Faerie Queen, danced by Ballet British Columbia, at 7:00 p.m. ET. This is a reduced one-hour version of the ballet filmed in 2003. Contrary to what the title may suggest, it's actually Alleyne's version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, starring Emily Molnar as a female Puck.

www.bravo.ca

Thanks for your report, taoofpooh. I'm glad you weren't disappointed. Now I'm really looking forward to next week's shows in Edmonton. How was the performance of Serenade?

Helene, you're right about Mitchell's dowager hair! Of course, here she looks more casual. That belt seems to be a constant.

Who has experience with different dancers as Odette/Odile?

When Natalia Makarova mounted her production of Swan Lake for London Festival Ballet, some ballerinas did both roles while other casts were split. It allowed some beautiful lyrical dancers to perform the ballet even though they didn't have the technical wherewithal to do Odile. Likewise, some powerful technicians who weren't equipped with the long limbs and necks and pliant backs Odette requires were at least able to show off the brilliant quality of their dancing.

I've also seen the role split for dramatic purposes, as in John Neumeier's Illusions like Swan Lake, in which the ballet is recast as the story of Ludwig II of Bavaria. (In producing a Swan Lake with gay overtones, Neumeier preceded Matthew Bourne by almost 20 years.) Neumeier rechoreographs most of the ballet, but he keeps Ivanov's second act and the "Black Swan" pas de deux. In fact, Neumeier preserves an older version of Ivanov's choreography, complete with Odette's mime and huntsmen standing together with swan maidens during the "White Swan" pas de trois. In this version, the King attends a private performance of Swan Lake, and, in accordance with Ludwig's swan fixation, becomes so enthralled by the story that he assumes the role of Siegfried himself. His fiancée, who has been completely unable to break through to him, sees this and is freaked out by it. However, during the next act she comes to his masquerade ball dressed as Odette, in a white tutu, and she and the King perform the "Black Swan" pas de deux.

Basically, my point was that the behaviour of Odette and Odile is so different, that I can't believe that Siegfried is duped into thinking that they're the same person. Some producers try to allay this by dressing Odile in white. I think the strongest argument in favour of some sort of enchantment is the Queen Mother, because otherwise it's difficult to believe she'd approve of her son's choice of such a crass fiancée. But fundamentally, I think the ballet is about the tension between chaste (I don't mean virginal) and carnal love, and this tension is lessened if Odette and Odile aren't two separate alternatives Siegfried must chose between.

Finally, I don't think that the fouettés are some sort of optional step that can just as easily be replaced by something else. A really spectacular set of fouettés can conquer an audience like few things can, so it's an expression of Odile's seductive power. When Siegfried stands roughly the same position and performs his own sequence of turns, it illustrates how completely he's been sucked into Odile's world. Besides, as Jack Anderson pointed out in "Idealists, Materialists and the Thirty-Two Fouettés," which I'm sure many of you have read, it's not just a step that's at issue. Replacing one step with another brings up the problem of what constitutes a given ballet.

Having said all that, I definitely prefer seeing one dancer in both roles. I am left in awe of ballerinas who can perform both parts well. Whether or not you think the role can be split at all depends on your reading of the story.

Do they enhance Odile's campaign to seduce and conquer the Prince, or are they just something to dazzle?

Wouldn't it be fair to say that Odile seduces Siegfried by dazzling him? I've never bought the line about Rothbart fooling Siegfried into thinking that Odile is really Odette. I think of Siegfried meeting a damsel distress in the forest, say, Olivia de Havilland, only to be confronted by a fabulously glamorous and seductive woman at the ball, say, Rita Hayworth, at which point lust takes over and he conveniently forgets about his vow. It's why I don't believe in Soviet-style happy endings. Like John Cranko once said, Siegfried is a tragic hero and must be vanquished. (Not that I approve of the Cranko and Bruhn approach of having Siegfried commit suicide by himself, leaving poor Odette alone forever and adding ungallantry to his inconstancy.)

I don't see any particular reason why Odile can't be performed by a different dancer if the ballerina performing Odette finds Odile's turns too difficult to deal with. I love the fouettés. They're a perfect physical expression of Odile's triumph.

Today's (February 9) France 2 evening news includes another report about Maurice Béjart, this time on the occasion of his troupe visiting Paris with two programs. It features comments from Béjart and Gil Roman. Use the menu on the right to skip ahead to 33 minutes past the hour. (But first you'll have to get past that pesky ad.)

http://jt.france2.fr/20h/

From TF1: Les spectacles de Maurice Béjart n'ont pas pris une ride

I come from a background of modern dance, so I've seen lots of nudity on stage. (I've never performed in the nude myself. The closest I came to that was while wearing a translucent white dress.) Personally, I never want to see a naked dancer on stage again. This really hit home a couple of years ago when I went to see a piece by Daniel Léveillé with the decidedly unsubtle title Amour, acide et noix. Léveillé has an obsession with the naked body, as his web site boasts, and knowing that I would spend the entire evening staring at four naked dancers, I made a point of sitting in the back row, which still wasn't far enough from the stage. I ask you, when a nude female dancer stands downstage centre, turns her back to the audience, bends forward to put her hands on the floor and then holds that position for a good two minutes, is any sort of aesthetic purpose being served? I'm still hoping some neurologist will come up with a way of blotting the memory of that piece from of my mind. For those who are interested in getting some idea of what Amour, acide et noix is like, here's a link to a video clip:

Amour, acide et noix

The Orange County Performing Arts Center has posted the program for the company's forthcoming engagement in PDF format. It includes a synopsis of Death in Venice, photos of Lloyd Riggins, Edvin Revazov, Silvia Azzoni and Alexandre Riabko in the ballet, and company bios.

http://www.ocpac.org/dynamic/eventfile/eventfile_434.pdf

I wonder whether any posters from France went to see the opening program at the Châtelet. What I've read so far on French discussion boards has been largely negative. In a nutshell, they write that the opening-night Bayadère was awful, its only redeeming feature being Stella Abrera, Dark Elegies was met with aesthetic incomprehension, and ABT should stick to works like Fancy Free.

Thanks to those French balletomanes who pointed out that ABT was included in the [February 6] Paris edition of France 3 news. In the report the company is rechristened American Dance Theatre, and Kevin McKenzie has been renamed Patrick. (One Irish saint's as good as another.) There's also a comment from Julio Bragado-Young, presumably the only French-speaking ABT dancer the reporter could find. Skip ahead to 17:49 into the broadcast.

jt.france3.fr

In the casting listed so far Sofiane Sylve is not scheduled to dance her great created roles in Slice to Sharp and Russian Seasons. By the way, the Dutch National site no longer lists her as a member, rather one of their Guest Principals. Charles Askegard and Marcelo Gomes are also GP's, with Gomes promised for the run of Makarova's Bayadere which begins in mid February. Maybe that is why La Sylve will be missing...

According to the DNB site, Sylve and Gomes will be dancing in Bayadère on February 23, 25, & 27, so it's safe to say she won't be back in New York until March.

www.het-nationale-ballet.nl

Is anyone familiar with the following performance of Sleeping Beauty? It's Maina Gielgud's production for the Australian Ballet, filmed in 1993 with Christine Walsh and David Ashmole in the leads.

http://qualiton.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc...tegory_Code=DVD

The program will be shown again on Bravo on Monday, February 19, at 7:00 p.m. ET.

For those interested, here is an English-language review of Stuttgart's "Shrew" in Paris.

http://www.culturekiosque.com/dance/review...art_ballet.html

Dancing for Dollars sounds like its targeted to the reality TV crowd.

Personally, I wouldn't be in a hurry to watch that Bolshoi train wreck again. It was produced as a serious documentary, but I can see how it could appeal to tastes honed by reality TV.

Thanks for that link. It would really be nice if the CBC released some of Kain's televised performances that have never been available commercially, such as Ashton's La Fille mal gardée and Glen Tetley's Alice and La Ronde.

Jean Grand-Maître was interviewed on CBC Radio Two today. He admitted that Alberta Ballet was looking to make a ballet that would appeal to younger audiences, but the idea to use Joni Mitchell songs was not his own idea because, as a French Canadian, he doesn't know all that much about English-language popular music.

Initially his idea was to make a semi-autobiographical ballet about Mitchell, but she was more interested in making a ballet about the environment and war. Mitchell and Grand-Maître selected the songs together, one of which is "Slouching Towards Bethlehem." Because the video installation Mitchell has put together is designed to match the song lyrics quite literally in spots, the choreography itself is more abstract. Grand-Maître described the dancers in this piece as a "kinetic Greek chorus."

It will be interesting to see how this works out because in my previous experiences of watching ballets with video installations I tended to pay little attention to the video images. I suppose much will depend on where the video is projected.

Here are some upcoming DVDs from Kultur, to be released on March 27th.

Natasha

Natalia Makarova dances pieces by Fokine, Ashton, MacMillan, Petit and Béjart, among others, partnered by Anthony Dowell, Denys Ganio, Gary Chryst and Tim Flavin

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MGBTIY/

World's Young Ballet

Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lyudmila Semenyaka compete at the 1969 Moscow International Ballet Competition. DVD also includes film footage of Anna Pavlova. The poor woman is probably spinning in her grave.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MGBTOS/

For fans of disaster flics:

Dancing for Dollars

The Bolshoi tries to take Vegas, plus Oleg Vinogradov's final year in charge of the Kirov. Yikes.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MGBTOS/

Oddly enough there is no information on these releases on the Kultur site as of yet.

Helene, it will be interesting to see which of Mitchell's songs is used in the ballet, given their diversity. All that's been revealed about the music score so far is that it includes a previously unpublished and unrecorded song. If the ballet has an environmentalist theme, I'm sure "They Paved Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot" will also be included. I hope that taoofpooh, who will probably be the first poster to see the ballet, will fill us in.

I know that at least some audience members are going to see the program for reasons other than Joni Mitchell. In autumn I talked my sister into going to the ballet for the first time in many years. She went, husband in tow, and they both loved it, especially a piece by Jean Grand-Maître. Since then she's told be several times how much she's looking forward to Alberta Ballet's next program because she can't wait to see another ballet by "Mr. Grand Master." (Honestly, what a tough surname to live up to.)

Thanks for that bit of info, ViolinConcerto. As far as I know, this is Stanners' first position with a dance organization, so I'm glad to see her immersing herself in ballet. Naturally, I would be thrilled to see Alberta Ballet acquire more Balanchine ballets, though I'd also like to see them consolidate the Balanchine repertoire they have already. I'd very much like to see a revival of Prodigal Son; I think Yukichi Hattori and Christopher Gray would be terrific in the lead. It's been years and years since Alberta Ballet did Donizetti Variations, so it's high time to bring it back. However, I think more jazz or tap lessons are in order before they take another crack at Who Cares? Their performance last spring was strangely stiff.

Years ago, when Ali Pourfarrokh was director of the company, he introduced a couple of Tudor ballets to the repertoire. I'd like to see them back for his centennary. But I'm getting ahead of myself. If The Fiddle & the Drum brings in some new audience members, terrific. I hope some of them will be interested enough to stick around for the future. And if two television specials help make "Alberta Ballet" less of an oxymoron for the rest of Canada, I'll be pleased as punch.

...making the ‘walking pd2’ appear all the more pensive and beautiful (though was the walking a little off?).

I know what you mean. Balanchine rarely choreographed on the pulse of the music--that would be altogether too simplistic--and that pd2 is like the exception that proves the rule. Q: What can you do on the pulse? A: Walk. That "exception that proves the rule" comment comes from the June 1983 issue of Ballet News, in which Kenneth LaFave wrote about Balanchine's approach to music:

Violin Concerto is typical of Balanchine's refusal to have his dancers thump out the bear of the music. While he is on record as saying that the musical element most essential to dancing is that of pulse, Balanchine rarely mirrors the beat in his own dances. The beat is in the dance the same way salt is in the loaf of bread--essential, but not apparent. (An exception, which may help prove the rule, is the so-called "Walking pas de deux" from Emeralds, to the softly pulsive music of Fauré.)

On the Choreography by Balanchine DVD Karin von Aroldingen and Sean Lavery most definitely walk on the beat, so I assume this is how Balanchine taught them to dance it. I think Osta was trying to do this also, but I get the feeling that Belarbi had other ideas.