volcanohunter

Today France 2 evening news ended with a story about Maurice Béjart on the occasion of his 80th birthday. He was never much loved by American critics, but I wonder how Ballet Talkers feel about his work. Do you think Béjart was successful in "de-mystifying" ballet and bringing it to the masses? Or did you find his populist approach off-putting?

The only one of his ballets I got to know well was Song of a Wayfarer since it was in the repertoires of the National Ballet of Canada and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

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

From TF1: Maurice Béjart fête ses 80 ans à Lausanne

The following struck me as a newsworthy statement:

Mr. Woetzel has been seen as a potential successor to Peter Martins, who has led City Ballet since 1983, first with Jerome Robbins and, since 1990, alone. “It obviously would be a great honor someday,” he said, “but I’m an employee, and it’s not open. Am I equipped for it? Yes. Does going to Harvard make me more equipped? Definitely. Is that why I went to Harvard? No.” If the job were open, he later wrote in an e-mail message, he would be “very interested.”

Oh, please, please, please

I will be very sorry to see him leave the stage, but seeing him in the BMinC's chair would definitely compensate.

I follow NBT and BRB (but not exclusively), having been converted to a classical ballet fan on 26th May 1984 (London Festival Ballet - Onegin - Marcia Haydee and Richard Cragun).

I imagine that Haydee and Cragun in Onegin could persuade even those most hostile to ballet. How wonderful that you can pinpoint the exact moment of your conversion!

One of our favourite NBT dancers is now with Alberta Ballet - Jonathan Renna. Alberta Ballet are fortunate to have him and you are lucky to be able to see him dance!

Yes, JMcN, Alberta Ballet obviously feels fortunate to have him also since he's given many prize roles to dance. He's done the Nutcracker, Cinderella's Prince, Tybalt and was deeply funny as the Knave in Alice in Wonderland. Renna has also danced the leads in many other ballets by AD Jean Grand-Maître, including Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons, the Lead Angel in Vigil of Angels and Escamillo in Carmen. More recently he's done Balanchine's Rubies and was the Bearer of Time in Emily Molnar's Carmina Burana, which required him to dance "O Fortuna" as solos, no easy task. I also enjoyed him very much in Edmund Stripe's Unquiet Light. Alberta Ballet does not divide its dancers into different ranks, but Renna is a principal in all but name. Hopefully BT's small contingent of Alberta residents will be able to keep you informed about his performances.

I look forward to reading your impressions of Northern Ballet Theatre performances. Many people in Canada still remember David Nixon as a principal with the National Ballet of Canada, as well as Yoko Ichino, of course. I can't claim to be especially familiar with Nixon's work as a choreographer, but I have seen his Madame Butterfly, which he staged for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet some five years ago.

I gather that Benjamin Pech has been injured, is unable to complete his run in Giselle and has been replaced by Mathieu Ganio. Which means that at the moment Ganio is scheduled to dance Coppélia on the 29th, Giselle on the 30th and Coppélia again on the 31st, with two more performances on the 2nd and 4th. Is it just me or does this sort of schedule strike anyone else as utter madness?

But you piqued my interest by mentioning the style of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, since I was terribly dismayed by the loss of otherworldliness when Adam Cooper, who was a superb classical dancer, had to be replaced. To my mind, it only works when the swan is beautiful in THAT WAY, like Grace Kelly, nobly proportioned, inscrutable, mysteriously reserved at the core -- when MB's Swan Lake came through here this year, the swan was alas unable to make the white swan happen -- he could do things, and he had a teddy bear quality that was at times powerfully endearing, but he was gross.

I remember at least one critic pointing out that although Jerome Robbins had access to the finest Broadway dancers, he cast two ballet dancers as Maria and Tony in Jerome Robbins' Broadway. (And Bernstein used opera singers for his recording of West Side Story, which makes me wonder whether the piece could ever be staged to everyone's satisfaction.) It's obvious enough that there is something ineffable about ballet dancers, even in our mongrelized aesthetic age.

For my part, I wish ballet dancers wouldn't venture too eagerly into other styles of dance. They seldom have the necessary weighted quality to do modern works properly. Their centres of gravity are simply too high. Zizi Jeanmaire was a sensational jazz dancer, but many ballet stars attempting jazz come across as suffering from "goofy white guy" syndrome. More problematic is the execution of national dances. Even some great ballet companies look pretty silly doing the character dances in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Coppélia, and that's a serious problem.

But back to the questions leonid raised. Certain body types have always been considered aesthetically superior. Long limbs have always been considered preferable to short ones. For at least the last 100 years slim dancers have been preferred to hefty ones. High insteps have always been preferred to flat feet. Dancers have always aimed to raise technical standards also. They've been aiming for greater turnout, higher extensions, faster pirouettes and bigger jumps all along. So why is it that when a Zakharova, with her long, thin limbs, bulging insteps, emphatic turnout, sky-high extensions and speedy fouettes appears on the scene, many ballet viewers, myself included, recoil in horror? I wonder, did people find Ekaterina Maximova's high extensions offensive? Were Alicia Alonso's quintuple pirouettes considered objectionable? What about Maya Plisetskaya's giant leaps? Or did the virtuosos of the past put their skills at the service of ballets in a way that the Zakharovas of today can't seem to grasp?

If I understand correctly, leonid's basic argument was "Great, but not in 19th century classical ballet!" Presumably he wouldn't object to Zakharova turning her pelvis inside out while performing William Forsythe. But I don't think the decline of the Russian style can be blamed on the Guillem effect. The vulgarization of Russian school traces its origin to the beginnings of the Soviet period with its Spring Waters-style throws and one-armed lifts. And it's not just the English style that's in decline today. Lis Jeppesen has bemoaned the deterioration of the Bournonville style at the Royal Danish Ballet, which she blames on the decreased presence of Bournonville ballets in the company's repertoire and the increased presence of foreign-trained dancers.

The entire ballet world seems more and more to be drifting into its equivalent of Esperanto.

How true. And it's possible that once sensitivity to stylistic variations is lost, ballet descends more rapidly into an acrobatic competition because the physicality is all that's left.

Speaking as a former modern dancer, I objected to Zakharova's assertion that classical dancers can dance modern works (but not vice versa). In my experience, classical dancers often can't dance modern works very well at all. (Here I presume she's referring to modern dance and not contemporary ballet.) Specifically, ballet dancers from the former Soviet Union are particularly bad at rolling. But that's just an aside.

By the time a woman is on pointe, she's a "foot" taller. Certain moves, such as finger turns, with hand overhead, are very awkward if the man is not tall enough for his hand to be above hers when her arm is outstretched. of course, a great deal depends on the length of the arms.

Of course a woman on pointe wouldn't actually grow her entire foot size because her instep is contracted. Isn't the rule of thumb that a man ought to be four inches taller than his partner? A 5'6" woman, unless she's got really long feet, probably wouldn't need a partner taller than 5'10". But then I suppose the RDB isn't really expecting to hire any men 6'5" tall. I see your point. Being pretty tall myself, I have bad memories of very awkward finger turns. Leigh Witchel's point about the company's particular needs at the moment is also very sound.

I found this notice interesting in the NYCB context and the discussion about Martins hiring short dancers to cope with hyper-fast tempi. How odd that NYCB, which always had a reputation of showcasing tall dancers, should grow progressively shorter while the RDB, tiny stage and all, grows taller.

While we're still talking about height, here is a notice about forthcoming auditions for the Royal Danish Ballet. The basic requirements are:

• Applicants must have strong classical ballet technique and be on an advanced level as a dancer.

• Applicants must be 16 - 24 years of age.

• Height/Ladies: 1.62 m – 1.68 m or 5.4 – 5.6 ft

• Height/Men: 1.80 m – 1.95 m or 5.11 - 6.5 ft

• The audition will include pointe work for ladies

http://www.kglteater.dk/site/OmKunstartern...ons%202007.aspx

What I found was strange was the height restrictions for women. If the RDB is seeking to recruit only tall men, why not also hire women taller than 5'6"?

What really struck me as I was reading Zakharova's interview was her preoccupation with the physical aspects of dance. For her, the body is something that must be conquered for the sake of conquering it. Not once did she state that the purpose of mastering the body is to make it as expressive an instrument as possible.

Zakharova, pt. 4

Asked what it feels like to be a star, Zakharova says that few people recognize her, certainly not traffic cops. (In fact, her family is reluctant to let her drive at all.) She doesn't go in much for discotheques or the movies, but likes to shop, particularly in Milan. She pays no attention to designer labels and is happy to find anything that fits.

Asked about future plans, she mentions her recent performances in Parma, the first gala performances built around her. She'd like to do more programs of that sort, probably in Moscow, though she admits that so far she's done little to bring them into being. Evidently she needs someone else to do the organizing for her.

Well, dear Ballet Talkers, I hope that's helpful.

Zakharova, pt. 3

When asked about which dancers she considers truly great, Zakharova names Farukh Ruzimatov and expresses regret that he had not been born later and that she hadn't been born sooner. She believes he's in great shape and has found a sort of second wind. She also admires Mikhail Baryshnikov and says that when she watched him on video as a child, she never noticed his ballerina. When asked why she prefers Baryshnikov to Nureyev, Zakharova believes that Baryshnikov is more contemporary and has a charisma, warmth and light that appeal to her. She'd happily watch him standing still. But she also admits that she's seen fewer films of Nureyev. "No doubt it's the same as in figure skating: there is Plushenko, there is Yagudin..." (She declines to say which skater she prefers.)

As a child she also idolized Sylvie Guillem. The first time she saw Guillem she couldn't believe that a body could be mastered to such an extent. When asked why Guillem is considered ballerina #1, Zakharova explains that Guillem could do things that no one else could. Zakharova considers Guillem equally incomparable in her current repertoire. If a person has a good body and has command over it, a viewer cannot tear himself away.

Asked if she regrets never having had the opportunity to work with Balanchine, Zakharova says yes, because Balanchine loved tall dancers with long arms and legs and good extension. When she joined the Mariinsky Theatre she began dancing Serenade and Apollo soon after. But though she likes dancing Balanchine, she wishes he'd made more story ballets. She also prefers to look forward rather than back and working on new choreography, such as her Revelation solo.

Since she'd been dancing the classics for ten years, at this point she finds contemporary works more interesting. The appeal of classical choreography lies in its difficulty and the knowledge that few people can do it. Classical choreography danced cleanly is a victory over one's own self and over the classic. "There is nothing above the classics. A person who dances the classics can, in principle, dance modern. Worse, better, but he can do it. A person who dances only modern can't dance the classics."

Zakharova, pt. 2

Zakharova's first experience working abroad came at age 20 when she was invited to dance Bayadère at the Paris Opera. She was thrilled to work there because the POB's own troupe is very strong and guest artists are invited infrequently. She believes that the spirit of Nureyev is still strong in Paris and that his productions are preserved carefully. She also enjoys working at the New National Theatre in Tokyo, the Met and Covent Garden, but says that the Japanese are the most accommodating, though the audiences are reserved. She believes that success in Japan is determined by a full house rather than loud applause.

Among her favourite partners is Roberto Bolle, whom she describes as a genuine Apollo, a beautiful man, a very good partner and a good person, or "bella persona." She says all her partners in Paris have been good, but that she particularly enjoyed dancing Giselle with Laurent Hilaire and Swan Lake with Nicolas Le Riche, even though she'd had only one rehearsal with him before the performance. When asked how much depends on a partner, Zakharova says everything does, physically and emotionally. She has yet to be dropped on stage ("knock wood").

Asked if double work is frightening, she says that her intial pas de deux classes were a bit scarry, but no longer. Much depends on the ballerina herself being helpful, and she believes that good partnering technique is more important than low body weight. She also believes that intelligence can compensate for physical shortcomings.

I suppose the reading knowledge of Russian I was forced to acquire in university is about to become useful. Here is goes.

Zakharova, pt. 1

The interview begins with the journalist stating that it had been her dream to become a ballerina but that her family decided it was an unsuitable profession. In Zakharova's case, it was the opposite. Her mother had wanted to dance, but being an only child her family was unwilling to send her away to Kiev to study. The younger Zakharova wasn't especially interested, and while she agreed to audition, she insisted that she'd come home even if accepted. However, when she arrived in Kiev, graduation exams were taking place, and she was so captivated by what she saw that she decided to stay. Soon after her father, a military man, was stationed in Germany, and though the plan was for Zakharova to remain in ballet school, she was homesick and chose to move with her family. In Germany she was enrolled in an ordinary school and felt that she'd made a terrible mistake. Before long Soviet armies began to withdraw from East Germany and she returned to ballet school in Kiev, where she studied for the next six years before completing her last year at the Vaganova school.

When asked about the disappointment young dancers face when they realize they'll never get leave the corps, Zakharova notes that her class in Kiev was very close and very strong, but that most of her classmates ultimately didn't pursue a career in dance: some went to drama school, some into business, some had babies. Among her classmates, only Denis Matvienko, with whom she has danced when he has appeared as a guest with the Bolshoi, stuck with a ballet career.

When asked about eating disorders, she says they're more common in ballet school than in ballet companies, but that it's a self-defeating behaviour. A dancer who doesn't eat enough doesn't have enough strength to keep up with the program, and that this rather than weight issues is what gets young girls expelled from ballet school. For herself, she doesn't eat, drink or party too much because she needs to feel fit for morning class, but she admits to eating pastries and ice cream and says that she holidays like everyone else. If she goes on vacation feeling especially tired, she rests completely for ten days before attempting any sort of exercises. As for adult beginners, she thinks ballet class is most useful for improving posture.

This process of the POB has always remained a mystery to me. If is an entirely honest,unprejudiced and independent process, it doesn't seem such a bad way of elevating dancers from the ranks.

No doubt it was designed to eliminate favouritism, though no system can ever be perfect.

Woetzel is a fabulous dancer. But he does not have ideal proportions -- his face and everything about his body makes him look a little rough-hewn.

It's true that proportion is very important to how a dancer is perceived. Woetzel's big head conspires against him. I was simply surprised to read that he is considered tall because at 5'10" Manuel Legris is one of the POB's smaller étoiles.

But getting back to the relationship between size and speed. I'm not a physicist either, but looking at carbro's clock analogy I can only point out that the mechanism required to run Big Ben is a whole lot bigger than the one inside a wrist watch. Leigh Witchel's pinwheel analogy illustrates a similar point.

Damian Woetzel is tall?

Tall enough to be considered tall. He's partnered such tall ballerinas as Kyra Nichols, Darci Kistler, Monique Meunier and looked just fine partnering them on pointe.

Please don't misunderstand me. I'm a big fan of his and always make a point of seeking out his performances when I'm in New York. But he's never struck me as particularly tall. Of course, I speak from the perspective of a 5'9"-tall woman who always had trouble finding sufficiently tall dancing partners. For me a male dancer has to top six feet to qualify as tall. Hallberg, Charles Askegard, Jean-Guillaume Bart and José Martinez are what I'd call tall dancers.

I gather you prefer the taller dancer of the David Hallberg or Damian Woetzel type

Damian Woetzel is tall?

Today France 2 evening news included a story on Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant's "Push," opening in Paris in a couple of days. Use the menu on the right to skip ahead to the report 28 minutes past the hour. The broadcast will also be available for the next week under Les éditions précédentes.

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

Also, from TF1: Sylvie Guillem : portrait d'une danseuse hors du commun

Could another reason for the hair being worn in a bun is to reveal the neck and the line of the body through to the top of the head without the "confusion" of hair?

Pulled back hair worn in a bun can look very sophisticated and elegant and it clearly defines the shape of the head and never conceals any part of the face.

No?

Absolutely! A high bun can also correct the appearance of an excessively flat head and makes an excellent platform for a tiara.

Would it be fair to say that Bart isn't especially favoured by the POB's management? Has he been stereotyped as a dancer? Is it likely that he will be given an opportunity to choreograph for the company as Belarbi and Le Riche have? Please excuse me if I'm asking obtuse questions, but I'm interested in the observations of people who've had more opportunities to see him than I have.

Well, health issues are not a choice... and unfortunately, injuries are quite common.

Some injuries really are accidental, but many are a consequence of a structural flaw in a dancer's anatomy, a technical weakness or overexertion. I wonder what sort of injury prevention and treatment programs the theatre has.

At the same time he also didn't make a secret of it that he is quite fed up with some of the roles he has been dancing for years, especially the prince characters which were never his choice in the first place.

I must admit I was taken aback by this sentence. Surely, dancing the princely roles is one of the most important responsibilities a male étoile has. I suppose it hadn't occurred to me that a dancer could love the classical vocabulary and care deeply about the style, but not be especially interested in dancing the big classics himself. It reminds me of a comment Allegra Kent made in the film "Dancing for Mr. B.," something along the lines of "I knew I loved ballet, but I wasn't sure I liked ballets." Perhaps Bart would have been happier at a different company.

It is a pity that his health is not as strong as it could be. Age 34 seems too young to begin winding down a dance career. Nicolas Le Riche is the same age and joined the Opéra in the same year and he certainly isn't showing signs of slowing down.

Oops, I'm running a bit late with this one. On 20 December France 2 evening news included a story on the POB's Coppélia, featuring Nolwenn Daniel, Benjamin Pech and José Martinez. It can be accessed for the next few days under "Les éditions précédentes." Then use the menu on the right to skip down toward the end of the broadcast ("Le ballet Coppélia à l'Opéra de Paris").

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

Balanchine choreographed two versions of Variations for Orchestra as a solo for Suzanne Farrell, and that is not a short piece, nor is the opening of Tzigane, also a solo for Farrell, and there was also Pavane. None of them are aerobic virtuoso allegro pieces, but they are sustained.

Actually, allegro variations are anaerobic while slower variations are aerobic, so they can be sustained for a longer period of time. We mammals are aerobic, which is why aerobic fitness can be extended to the point where human beings can complete an Ironman race. But there is relatively little that can be done to improve anaerobic fitness. There is no way that the speeds of a 100m dash, produced in anaerobic conditions, can be sustained over 400m, let alone 800m. If a dance is slow enough for a dancer to be able to breathe properly, he or she could keep going for 20 minutes, though most choreographers don't seem to think it's worth the effort. (And, fortunately, most operatic composers didn't think so either. I mean, does anyone actually enjoy Erwartung?) But if the variation demands more oxygen than a body is capable of taking in at that level of exertion, the muscles will eventually grind to a halt. This is why the dance of the cygnets will never get any easier. (And, incidentally, why ballet class is a lousy way to lose weight.)

Gosh, it's been years since I've had cause to regurgitate those old anatomy lectures!

There are also several ballets made from song cycles. A ballet that uses opera arias does not have to be a series of long solos; an extended adagio could match some of the long phrases. There could be room for solos, corps, pas de deux, pas de trois, pas de quatre, etc. depending on the music that was put together.

Song cycles are a completely different ball of wax. They have a musical and thematic unity. But precisely because audiences are expected to sit still for extended periods of time without the benefit of scene changes and intermissions, cycles have all sorts of variety built it. Each section also tends to be more sustained in a particular tempo and mood, which lends itself more readily to choreographic treatment than arias, which can include fairly radical fluctuations in tempo and dynamics. I suppose most choreographers don't think that stitching together disparate arias into some sort of coherent whole is worth the effort if a beautifully crafted song cycle already exists.

By the way, he isn't mentioned often on this board, so if some people would like to talk about him either as a dancer or as a choreographer, this topic is open !

Unfortunately I haven't had many opportunities to see him on stage in recent years (and he dances fewer long roles now) but a few months ago I had the luck to see him in the Mazurka of Lifar's "Mirages", and it was a wonderful lesson in style and class.

In fact I had been wondering why he doesn't seem to dance the major classical roles anymore. He's younger than Manuel Legris, and yet Legris is still doing full-length Giselles and Bart is not. Do you know why?