volcanohunter

I would think it depends on the length of the aria... and most that I am familiar with are not 20 minutes long...

Of course not. But there are far more 20-minute arias out there than 20-minute ballet solos. You were asking about ballets choreographed to operatic arias, and thus far we haven't been able to come up with many, so there must be a reason for this. The fact that the average aria is longer than the average variation is an important factor to consider. The fact that song cycles and liturgical works are used far more frequently than vocal operatic music may reflect your point about individual arias not being able to sustain a ballet from either a thematic or musical point of view. It's also possible that choreographers don't believe they can add anything to an aria by setting movement to it, just as Balanchine never choreographed to Beethoven: "Now you could dance Mozart, but Beethoven you can't, unless it's walking. The sound produces [a] certain type of enjoyment, and if anybody moves, you will just disturb and you don't add anything." Of course he also said, "Verdi: from beginning to the end you can dance his opera," yet he only choreographed to music Verdi wrote specifically for ballet. It may simply be that arias and dance aren't that compatible. Perhaps arias don't have sufficient rhythmic consistency or drive to be "danceable."

I'M sad for Aubane Philbert

Perhaps she was exhausted from all those peasant pas de deux she's been dancing.

Ok, I live in Seattle, which is not New York of San Francisco, but isn't a slouchy opera town. The closest 'theater near me' is in Springfield, Oregon.

Geez, now I feel guilty that the opera is being shown in two theatres in Edmonton, Alberta. Very strange planning indeed.

Not to mention it being extremely exhausting for the dancers.

I think this is an extremely important factor to consider. Ballet is frequently an anaerobic activity, not unlike sprinting, which is why the average classical variation rarely exceeds a minute and a half. (Shorter for very fast variations, perhaps a bit longer for adagio variations during which a dancer can actually breathe.) After that the body simply runs out of oxygen. But some arias can go on for 20 minutes. Arias are written with breaks for the singer during which the orchestra plays by itself. It would be difficult to pull off something similar in dance.

And let's not talk about the length of Meistersinger!!!!

I've always said that I'd only consider seeing that opera live if I could listen to the overture then leave to go shopping, have dinner, maybe visit a museum, and come back 5 hours later for the prize song and final chorus. :grinning-smiley-001: Unfortunately, opera houses frown on that casual attendance thing these days.

It's a pity that La Peregrina is almost never performed in context. Don Carlos is a very long opera even with the ballet removed, but it would be nice to see it in its original grand opera form. The opera would still be shorter than Meistersinger! I'm pretty sure that the La Scala video of Vespri siciliani, while performed in Italian, does include the Four Seasons ballet. Like Robbins, Kenneth MacMillan also choreographed a separate ballet to this music. In general I wish more choreographers would follow Balanchine's lead and rescue ballet music discarded from operas.

I would think that the promotions of dancers like Duquenne and Ciaravola would be a source of encouragement for the company's dancers. From what I gather, Duquenne had been a sujet for 13 years, so he must have made several unsucessful attempts at the exam and watched many others leap-frog ahead him. I'm sure it was very discouraging, but he didn't give up. If Duquenne has set some sort of record for being oldest sujet ever promoted to premier danseur, congratulations to him!

Perhaps there isn't any one pattern for promotion at the Opéra these days. Ganio became an étoile very early (and so far young Mathias Heymann is speeding along in a similar pattern), Moussin and Romoli were promoted late, and Moreau was named in his late 20s, which has been the more usual pattern. It could be that the system is more sensitive to individual development than it may appear to be on the surface.

Kent Stowell used the pastorale from Pique Dame, complete with female vocals, in the first act of his Nutcracker.

I think it's just about the loveliest thing about the production.

Hasn't Roland Petit used part of Tchaikovsky's opera score for his ballet of Pique Dame, recently staged for the Bolshoi?

I believe he used Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony.

i think the ronald hynd one was out there on video too at one point, though.

The Australian Ballet and National Ballet of Canada productions have been filmed.

Of course, when choreographers undertake ballets like Carmen, Fledermaus and Merry Widow, they nearly always have the scores reorchestrated to remove the vocal parts.

Two years ago Margie Gillis choreographed a plotless piece for Alberta Ballet called Rivers Without Bridges set to operatic arias by Handel. I'm sure there are many other examples.

As for more literal interpretations, there was that production of Orpheus and Eurydice that Balanchine did at the Met back in 1936 which was very controversial because he consigned the singers to the orchestra pit. Decades later Mark Morris did the same thing with Dido and Aeneas and no one batted an eye.

the pelvis is thrust forward and the torso tilts back, then the pelvis is tilted back and the spine leans forward, and so on and so forth.

I have always loved this typical Balanchine movement which is most often described as 'jazzy'. But this movement, for most of us, was our entrance into this world---and it's completely involuntary on the part of the mother. Isn't this a more subtle form of Graham's 'contract and release'?

Ooh, I'd have to leave that answer to people who've actually danced Balanchine. Obviously contraction, release and high release are also different ways of placing the spine in relationship to the vertical axis. But I think that in Graham contraction there is an additional emphasis on contracting the upper chest that isn't present in ballet. There is a film of Donna Wood performing "Cry" during which the camera zooms in on the upper third of her body just as she begins a contraction. The first time I saw it, it took my breath away because I hadn't thought it was possible for a sternum to move that much. Her chest looked as though it would collapse on itself. Theoretically, this is what modern dancers aim for in spinal contraction, but in most people the two joints of the breastbone don't move quite as much as Wood's. (In fact, the average person has practically no mobility in those joints.) Ballet shares "high release" in common with modern dance, but while ballet dancers certainly bend forward, I'm not sure contraction of the chest is what they're after.

I imagine a diffculty here would be that dramatic time, ballet time and opera time are very different. (Sorry if my terms are clumsy.) "Dramatic time" is faster than "ballet time," which in turn is much faster than "opera time." Think of how long it would take for Pushkin's Tatiana to recite her farewell to Onegin. Then compare that hypothetical length with the length of the final pas de deux in Cranko's ballet and the final duet of Tchaikovsky's opera, which is quite long indeed.

When Cranko was choreographing his ballet he used Tchaikovsky, but not a note from the opera. Likewise, MacMillan used Massenet for Manon, but again nothing from his opera. There have been several stagings of Lady of the Camellias, but the two versions I've seen used Chopin rather than Verdi's Traviata.

Ultimately I think certain plots lend themselves more to some dramatic forms than others. I'll probably sound like a Philistine, but I think that Romeo & Juliet works better as a ballet than as a play. To my mind, the sight of two dancers pitching themselves recklessly at each other through space captures the exhilarating essence of young love much more effectively than even Shakespeare's poetry. (And definitely more effectively than Gounod's opera, which, to my ears, doesn't even sound like Shakespeare.) I think Othello works best as an opera. A tenor striving with all his might to be heard over a blaring orchestra while singing "Si pel ciel marmoreo giuro" captures the essence of jealous fury perfectly. (Besides "Sangue! Sangue! Sangue!" sounds so much better than "O, blood, blood, blood!") As for the ruthless politicking of Macbeth, I think it's best left to dramatic actors.

Certainly, I've seen choreography to operatic arias of the Baroque period, but these ballets never attempted to put across the content of the original libretto.

I'd say that in Balanchine there's an acute awareness of the vertical axis, but the body itself is constantly being pushed off that axis. For example, in the opening sequence of Rubies, the dancers begin in a vertical position but they immediately begin to tilt forward and backward in relationship to the vertical axis: the pelvis is thrust forward and the torso tilts back, then the pelvis is tilted back and the spine leans forward, and so on and so forth.

Here's to wishes coming true. I really should stop being a snob and read the Edmonton Sun more often.

http://jam.canoe.ca/Theatre/2006/12/15/2805682.html

Next year will be last show of this particular production.

And there's talk of bringing Alberta Ballet's delightful Alice in Wonderland (created by [ballet master Edmund] Stripe from Lewis Carroll's classic adventure) here along with The Nutcracker next year.

In any case, in the following year after that, in 2008, you'll see a different production of The Nutcracker "with new sets, costumes and choreography - new everything," said Stripe.

Well thank heavens for that

And another interesting piece of Nutcracker news.

The Secret of the Nutcracker, a high-definition movie to be aired on CBC television next year, is the first project of the newly formed Woman's Guild of Creation.

The made-in-Alberta film will use local settings and talent, including dance scenes directed and performed by Alberta Ballet from their annual holiday classic The Nutcracker.

The Secret of the Nutcracker also adds new layers to a story that has been told primarily through ballet. Written by John Murrell, the screenplay is based on E.T.A. Hoffman's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Edmonton composer John Estacio will interpret Tchaikovsky's score for the film, which will cast actors in the roles of Drosselmeyer, Clara and her family.

The Secret of the Nutcracker will tell the tale of 12-year-old Clara - who lives in the Rocky Mountain town of Snowy Valley - and her magical Christmas journey to rescue her father from a Second World War prisoner-of-war camp. The show will be produced by Calgary-based Joe Media group and broadcast nationally on CBC in December 2007, with subsequent international release on DVD.

"Our main objective is to help put Alberta Ballet on the international stage," said Millie Kim, one of the guild's founding members, yesterday.

The guild will dedicate themselves to bringing in new creations for ballet. For example: the aforementioned movie, and a commissioning of a new Nutcracker ballet in 2008-2009.

I attended The Nutcracker yesterday afternoon in Edmonton. The production itself, choreographed by Mikko Nissinen, is completely conventional, so I won't go into great detail. I wish I could tell you how much of this production was grafted onto his subsequent staging for Boston Ballet, but I haven't seen that version.

As far as I can tell, Alberta Ballet is labouring under all sorts of injuries and is struggling to fill all the roles, despite the presence of eight additional dancers from Ballet British Columbia. So many cast changes were announced before the start of performance that I simply couldn’t keep track of them all. Several dancers seemed fit enough to do the party scene, but not act 2.

Yukichi Hattori was excellent as the Nutcracker, soaring in the battle scene and using his hands very expressively in the second-act mime. Unfortunately, his scheduled partner was injured. Being too short to partner replacement Sandrine Cassini, Hamilton Nieh was her cavalier instead. In principle I don’t object to this sort of shuffle since I have never liked combining the Nutcracker and the SPF’s Cavalier in one role. After that big battle scene it seems very ungallant for the Nutcracker to abandon Clara in favour of the SPF. Nieh, though talented and equipped with a fine looking set of legs, was obviously a last minute replacement. He got through the adagio with only a couple of glitches, but his solo and the coda were cut, and the SPF’s variation was moved to earlier in the act à la Balanchine. Ungallant or no, I do wish I'd had the opportunity to see Hattori in the grand pas de deux because I’m guessing he would have been spectacular.

Among the other dancers, Anthony Pina, who recently graduated from the Onassis School, was very good as the Harlequin and in the Chinese dance. He's light and speedy, with all sorts of flexibility and high elevation. Reid Bartelme, who has a fluid movement style, was also good in the Arabian dance, though I think he should consider using some body make-up before going bare-chested in harem pants. As it stands he’s just too blond and too pale for the part. Meanwhile his partner, Alexis Maragozis, was burdened by a dreadful costume. She may be Alberta Ballet's most agressively sensual dancer, but she's not especially tall or elongated and looked as though she'd disappear under all the beads on her bodice. She looked much more at ease in the simple tutu of the Snow Queen. It’s definitely time for Alberta Ballet to mount a new Nutcracker, if for no other reason than to get rid of the awful costumes by Paul Daigle in the current production. He manages to make all but the thinnest women look buxom and chunky, which certainly doesn't make for convincing snowflakes.

The Russian dance was disappointing, despite of the loud ovation. I can’t believe that the company is completely lacking in dancers with good barrel turns. But the Flowers acquitted themselves well, with Ballet BC's Fei Guo as a delicate Butterfly, and Makaila Wallace from Ballet BC, Igor Chornovol and Kelley McKinlay did a good Spanish dance. In general I have to say that the dancers look much more comfortable performing academic choreography than they have in years past. They'd always look confident and uninhibited in contemporary ballets, but as soon as the Nutcracker rolled around they'd get that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look. I’m guessing that new ballet mistress Flavia Vallone is a positive influence. Since she’s spent most of her career dancing at La Scala, she also knows a thing or two about projecting in a large theatre such as the Jubilee Auditorium, which has been a weak spot of AB dancers in the past.

Naturally, there were lots of kids in the audience. It would be sensible for regional companies to program another kid friendly ballet in late spring of each season to attract the pre-teen crowd. This season Alberta Ballet will be aiming to do that by reviving its Cinderella. Until then I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will survive its forthcoming Nutcrackers in Calgary and Vancouver.

Yesterday I watched the St. Petersburg 300th anniversary gala from the Mariinsky Theatre. The ballet selections weren't exactly the smoothest part of the concert. Gergiev conducted the Kingdom of the Shades and Polovtsian Dances at insanely fast speeds. I know that NYCB dancers are trained for speed, but I doubt whether even they could have kept up. On the other hand, he conducted the Dying Swan very slowly. The Le Corsaire pas de deux seemed to come off best, although the impression that Zelensky's solo created was so unmusical that I couldn't help wondering whether he and Gergiev were working at cross purposes. (If Zakharova was unhappy with the tempi she wasn't letting on.)

I don't know what this means for Gergiev's performance with NYCB, but my guess would be that his allegros will be very, very fast and his adagios will be downright lugubrious.

More Alagna footage on France 2 today. This time he's singing outside La Scala since they won't let him in. Skip ahead to the last segment of the broadcast ("Roberto Alagna répond à la Scala de Milan").

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

Actually, there's more entertainment value in the preceding segment on Candide.

The Hurel/Ganio pairing was a real treat last weekend - they looked lovely together and they both acted their parts incredibly well.

I have heard Ganio express admiration for the Albrechts of Baryshnikov and Le Riche. Does his performance resemble theirs in any way? I have a difficult time imagining that it would since he doesn't resemble either one of them physically.

I just realized that Dvorovenko is the only one who will be performing both Nikiya and Gamazatti during spring Met season. Is this going to be a Nikiya debut for her?

Didn't she dance a complete Nikiya in D.C. a few years ago? Or was it some other U.S. city?

Oh how I would love a recording of that particular Giselle!!!

I think many of us would love to see it. Why is it that Paris Opera Ballet telecasts make it to DVD reguarly, while the Royal Ballet's rarely do? Those of us on the other side of the Atlantic can actually see something of what goes on in Paris, whereas we can only read about dance in London. Already Brigitte Lefèvre has announced that the POB's Giselle will be coming to DVD in HD. Shouldn't centuries of Franco-British rivalry make Covent Garden eager to keep up?

Of course I realize that if it were up to you, fandango, all of the Royal Ballet's telecasts would be available on video, but your post has made me wonder anew about the strange policies of the BBC, which readily exports television comedies and murder mysteries, but seems determined to keep the "high" arts of Britain hidden from the rest of the world.

There was a brief report on the POB's Giselle on the evening news of France 2 today. Click on the link and use the menu on the right to skip ahead to 34 minutes past the hour to see Aurelie Dupont and a little bit of Nicolas Le Riche. It will also be available under "Les éditions précédentes" for the next week.

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

And Johnny Hallyday is moving to Switzerland for tax reasons. (Seriously, I don't understand why producers of news programs think stories like this merit top billing.)

France 2 showed footage of the incident on its evening news. You can view it, for the next 24 hours or so, by clicking onto the following link:

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

It will also be available for the next week under "Les éditions précédentes."

Use the menu on the right to skip ahead to the segment at 32 minutes past the hour. (Scala de Milan : les suites de l'affaire Roberto Alagna...)

On a happier note, it's followed immediately by a report on the POB's Giselle, with Aurelie Dupont and Nicolas Le Riche.

to the best of my knowledge this telecast was not put on the commercial market.

What a pity. I remember that clips of the telecast were used in Schaufuss' "Dancer" series, which isn't available either. I've also seen a very grainy pirate of the entire performance, though without the interview richard53dog mentioned. What I have seen makes me long for a commercial release. Evdokimova's romantic style is exquisite, Schaufuss' virtuosity indisputable and the artistry of Larsen is a potent argument for retaining mime. I wonder what it would take to convince the BBC to pull this stuff out of its vaults.

Does anyone know whether Peter Schaufuss' staging of La Sylphide for London Festival Ballet has ever been available on video? I'm thinking of the BBC telecast from 1980 with Eva Evdokimova, Schaufuss and Niels Bjorn Larsen. (Something like my dream cast!)

Rats... now I'm picturing Endymion sleeping somewhere onstage, hopefully not being trampled by barrel turning satyr...

Not that this relates directly to Diana and Acteon, but John Neumeier's Sylvia includes a pas de deux for Diana and Endymion in which he is obviously supposed to be sleepwalking. I wonder what sort of approach Petipa adopted.