Estelle

On October 8th I attended a performance of Heinz Spoerli's "Goldberg Variations" by the Zürich Ballet at the Maison de la Danse in Lyon. The Maison de la Danse is the only French theater scheduling only dance performances, but unfortunately ballet performances only are a small part of it- so an opportunity to see a ballet company in a ballet work was not to be missed... I didn't know what to expect, having never seen that company before, nor any choreography of Spoerli (he is not well known in France- the POB used to perform its version of "La fille mal gardée" in the early 1980s, but as far as I know it hasn't been performed for more than 20 years), and it turned out to be a very pleasant evening. It was an abstract ballet for about 32 dancers in leotards, performed on a bare stage (the only changes were the colors of the leotard and of the backdrop, and the lights) and the music was played by the pianist Luigi Largo in the orchestra pit. I regret not having had another opportunity to see that work to understand it better, but on the whole I found it very interesting (and not at all monotonous)... Spoerli uses a clearly classical vocabulary, with a few modern dance movements, but it is hard for me to compare his style to that of another choreographer (perhaps Kylian, but more balletic, or Neumeier, but more musical). The structure of the ballet reminded me of "Dances at a gathering", with a succession of solos, pas de deux, pas de trois, etc. (and only a few sequences with a larger corps de ballet). I especially enjoyed some of the female solos, musical and witty. It is difficult to single out any of the dancers, as I don't know who danced what and also there were no "major" roles, but from what I saw the company seemed to have a good level, with a clean technique, nice ballet bodies and also a real commitment to the choreography. The audience was very enthusiastic at the end of the performance (and the pianist got his share of applauses too). Actually I find it a bit surprising (and sad) that Spoerli isn't better known in France (his works seem to be performed mostly in German-speaking countries), as he has had a long creative career, choreographing since the early 1970s, both story and abstract ballets. (Well, unfortunately, the POB's direction seems more interested nowadays to invite fashionable modern dance choreographers rather than paying any attention to ballet choreographers working only a few hundred kilometers away...) Anyway, I hope that the Maison de la Dance will invite the Zürich Ballet again in the next seasons... By the way, perhaps it'd deserve a thread of its own, but I wonder what Robbins' version of "The Goldberg Variations" looks like (and also whether some other choreographies of this piece exist).

I wonder if the Balanchine Foundation has a role in the choice of companies who are authorized to publish a video of a Balanchine work ? Also perhaps the ballet was planned to be filmed to be released on DVD (and perhaps also shown on French TV- I do hope so !), as the POB seems to have a more active filming policy now than a few years ago, and so it was more convenient for PBS to show that video rather than organizing the filming of another company ? I do regret a bit that it wasn't filmed a few years earlier, before the retirement of some dancers (e.g. Isabelle Guérin, Elisabeth Maurin, Fanny Gaïda...) but well, "never look a gift horse in the mouth"

Thanks a lot for your review, bee2 ! Your first review is very interesting (and well-written IMHO). I'm a bit surprised at the choice of "colors" for that program: while white clearly is associated to "Suite en blanc", and one can understand the "red" for "Boléro", it's not clear to me why blue should be associated to "L'Arlésienne"... It is interesting to see that two of those three works haven't been performed in Paris recently, as far as I know: the last time the POB performed "Suite en Blanc" was around 1997 (and unfortunately Lifar's repertory was much neglected, and the 100th anniversary of his birth completely ignored ), and I don't even remember a performance of "Boléro" in recent years (though it was in the company's repertory in the 1970s and early 1980s, with dancers like Patrick Dupond, Charles Jude, Sylvie Guillem or Florence Clerc), but it will be performed by the company next July. I think that "Boléro" is one of Béjart's best known works, and probably considered as one of his major works. However, it probably depends a lot on the main dancer... Also there have been several versions of it: the first one, created in 1961, was with a female soloist (Douchka Sifnios) and male corps de ballet, but later it was also performed with a male soloist and either a female or a male corps de ballet (and it was one of the most famous roles of Jorge Donn, he can be seen in that role in a movie by Claude Lelouch "Les uns et les autres"). I suspect that it can easily look dated... I don't think that "L'Arlésienne" is considered as a major Petit work, his most famous works were those he created in the 1940s and 1950s like "Le jeune homme et la mort" or "Carmen"... "L'Arlésienne" was created much later, in the mid-1970s, and I think it depends a lot on the main male soloist. I saw it once with Manuel Legris and found him absolutely mesmerizing from the beginning to the end (but well, I admit being a Legris fan and have seldom been disappointed by him) but the corps de ballet choreography isn't very interesting in my opinion, and with a less exceptional dancer than Legris I guess that it can become a bit boring.

bee2, if you'd like to write a review of the Beijing performance(s?) you saw (preferably in a separate thread), I'm sure many people here would be interested in reading it !

Wow! That's a surprise ! It is the first time in a very long time that someone was promoted to étoile during a foreign tour (if I remember correctly, the last time was Manuel Legris in NYC in 1986). I wonder if the promotion happened on stage, or after the performance ? During the Hugues Gall period, the promotions were done backstage after performance, which was IMHO a bit frustrating for the audience (and probably also for the dancers themselves), but Gérard Mortier seems to prefer to do it on stage as before. Here's Pech's biography on the POB web site: http://www.opera-de-paris.fr/?Rub=ToutSavo...ub=BenjaminPech Actually I don't know when it was last updated (and they could have taken a better photo...) Pech, now 31 and in the company since 1992, was a premier danseur since 1999 and had been dancing principal roles for years (especially as several of the present male étoiles are about 40 and so less active than before). I'm happy that he finally got promoted !

Well, I don't think that the POB can be considered as responsible for the Maryinsky's DVD policy... :rolleyes: And actually I regret that the POB released so few videos for a long time, as there are so many dancers (like Platel, Loudières, Maurin, Jude...) which appear in very few videos.

This is just a note to let you know that I edited the various typos in the words "pharaon" and "pharaohs" (having the correct spelling is useful when one uses the search engines, for example).

I suspect that my dad would agree with you, because he's completely allergic to Michel Legrand's music...

Well, I don't know how successful it was in the US, but in France it was really successful, with more than 1 million viewers, which is a very good total for a foreign movie whose actors were not well known in France previously. Even the CD of the score was a big success... By the way, do you like "Chungking Express" ? It is quite different from "In the Mood for Love" but I find the second part so moving and lovely, with a special sense of humor. About Lone Star: well, I did find it very interesting and moving, but there were some elements in the love story which did make me feel quite ill at ease ! Another movie I forgot to mention was Marco Tullio Giordana's La meglio gioventu (was it released in the US ? In France, it was an unexpected success in summer- especially as it is six hours long). The movie does not primarily deal with romance (it is about the life of an Italian family, and especially two brothers, between 1966 and 2000) but it includes some beautiful romances, and especially Matteo's last appearance always make me cry.

That sounds more like a dramatic use of nudity where Albrecht wasn't dancing. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well, I realize my description was not complete: Albrecht is in fetal position (if I remember correctly) when the Wilis exit the stage, but then he does move a little bit before Hilarion enters the stage. However, the whole scene is quite short (at least it's what I remember- I haven't seen it in a while). By the way, I don't remember any trees or bushes hiding Albrecht, just that the lights were rather dark (and I never saw it for orchestra seats...) dirac wrote: It reminds me of a very boring piece by Andonis Foniadakis called "Lava Nama" for the Lyon Opera Ballet: I'm afraid one of the only thing I remember from it, besides some totally uninteresting videos of volcanos, was a naked female dancer with a sort of transparent cage-shaped costume who crossed the stage several times doing incoherent movements and looking more or less insane, I really felt some pity for the poor dancer who had to dance such a silly role ! Mashinka, now that you mention it, I remember some nudity in Ek's "Swan Lake". But I thought that it was the prince's mother who was naked (well, anyway the plot of that "Swan Lake" is not easy to understand sometimes...)

Ek's version is very different from the classical version (but as far as I know it doesn't pretend to be ballet), and the second part takes place in a psychiatric hospital (the Wilis are inmates). See for example the following reviews: http://www.dancemagazine.com/dance_magazin...383d2a3968253d3 http://www.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh1999/St...,203011,00.html At the end, Albrecht is surrounded with the Wilis and falls on the ground, and when the Wilis exit the stage he appears naked (more or less in fetal position at first, if I remember correctly). Then Hilarion comes on stage, and gives him a blanket as a gesture of compassion. I think that so far it is the only dance piece I saw in which nudity made sense: to me it looked like a kind of rebirth for Albrecht, who is no longer the superficial playboy with a white suit that he was in the first act, and who looks far more vulnerable and fragile at the end of the ballet after the encounter with the Wilis. And it is not shown in a gratuitous, provocative way (the stage is relatively dark in that part of the ballet and that scene is quite short). There also is a brief moment of nudity in Ek's "Solo for two" (a piece for a male and a female dancer): both dancers take off all their clothes, then stare at each others for a few seconds with some sort of shivering, and then dress with each other's clothing and continue dancing. It is a strange work, with a sad and sometimes moving atmosphere. I don't think that the nudity was very important in itself in the piece, and the dancers could probably have kept their underwear, but didn't find it especially shocking either.

Nice topic ! But I'm afraid as I had to look for many of these titles on imdb.com, especially as for some of them I only know their French titles... Those are not always "romantic" movies, but here are a few ideas: Ladyhawke (Richard Donner, 1985) The African Queen (John Huston, 1951) - the book (by C.S. Forester, the author of the Hornblower series) is great too... West Side Story (I first saw it when I was a little girl and the ending was sooo sad- I think I probably had never heard of Romeo and Juliet back then...) Benny and Joon (Jeremiah S. Chechik, 1993) Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, 1990) (another Johnny Depp film, Don Juan de Marco (Jeremy Leven 1995) is somewhat odd but there are some nice romantic things) Chungking Express (Wong Kar Wai, 1994)- especially the second part, one of my very favorite movies...) In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar Wai, 2000) (Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung are so beautiful and elegant in that movie) Marius et Jeannette (Robert Guédiguian, 1997) The Ghost and Mrs Muir (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1947) Peter Ibbetson (Henry Hathaway, 1935)- though I prefer the book... Senso (Luchino Visconti, 1954) (the love story itself it completely depressing, but the film is so beautiful...)

Here are Denard's roles at ABT as listed in his biography by Sylvia Chaban (I don't know which ones were danced with Cynthia Gregory): Paquita, The River, Gaieté Parisienne, Etudes in 1971, La Symphonie inachevée, Helen of Troy, Giselle in 1972, Coppelia, Variations for four, Swan Lake in 1973, Apollo, Lilac Garden, Napoli, Les Sylphides in 1974, La Sylphide, La Symphonie inachevée, Flower festival in Genzano in 1975. "Grand pas classique" is not listed (but Chaban's list might be not complete). The ABT web site says the company premiere of Grand pas classique was performed in November 1972 by Cynthia Gregory and Ted Kivitt.

Thanks for your reply, carbro ! There are more and more multiplexes in France too, but fortunately there still is a decent number of not too big cinemas and small "artistic" ones... I do miss the cinemas of the Quartier Latin in Paris, because there is so much choice there and always a lot of good old films to see (well, even just having the three ones of the rue des écoles / rue Champollion would be fine for me :grinning-smiley-001: ) but the cinemas in Lyon are not too bad, and there is one which shows some movies a few months after they've been released with tickets at 5 euros... One problem sometimes it that it can be difficult in cities outside Paris to see movies with subtitles instead of dubbing (and my husband hates dubbing).

Err, could someone please explain what "concessions" are ? Is it things which are sold in some cinemas like pop-corn, ice-creams, etc. ? (The French word "concession" generally is related to graveyards, but I suspect it has nothing to do with the English one in that context )

coda: I cannot be sure of the answer as I had never seen any of those two dancers before. But the programme was more recent that the other listing, so Stepanenko sounds more likely.

coda, this might be a detail, but from what was written on the program notes, the Black Swan pas de deux was performed by Galina Stepanenko, not by Nadejda Gracheva. Also, I'd suggest that the debate about dancing the classics would deserve a topic of its own (probably in the "aesthetic issues" subforum of subtexts and contexts"), while the discussion about the gala and that "Black Swan pas de deux" performance should continue here. I've seen that pas de deux, but to be honest don't remember much about it (partly because I was quite exhausted at that moment, and also I'm really not a fan of that kind of out-of-context pas de deux) so I don't feel qualified to comment...

Oh yes, it was "nye" not "bye", sorry for the typo ! Your translation makes sense.

Thanks for the explanation ! I finally managed to get a ticket too, though it took quite a lot of time (the queuing system was a bit difficult to understant for us non-Danish speaking tourists, so we queued from about 3 PM to 5 PM- were you queuing then too ? Perhaps we were both there at the same time...) As the gala started at 6 PM and ended at almost 10 PM, that was a lot of time at the Royal Theater But we were quite happy with our seats (a bit up, but in the center, and it was a good view, especially for "Napoli"). I have to say that in general I'm a not a fan of galas, especially as I find that often a lot of pas de deux or solos which are excerpts of a longer work lose much of their strength when presented alone (and sometimes it becomes a bit too "circus-like", let's count the fouettés, etc. And also all the recent galas at the Paris Opera were awfully expensive.) But as I had seen no ballet performance since last fall, I was eager to grasp any opportunity to see some ballet at last, and also seeing the theater (which reminded me a little of the of the Paris Opera, but with less red velvet) itself was a treat. There were a few differences between the program posted by Jorgen and the printed program we were given: the printed program listed Galina Stepanenko instead of Nadejda Gracheva in the "Black Swan" pas de deux, and as Mary wrote, the "Lady of the Camellias" pas de deux was performed by Lucia Lacarra instead of Anna Polikarpova, and the "Corsaire" pas de deux was performed by Andrew Bowman instead of Gennadi Saveliev. Also it seems that the pas de deux by the Chinese choreographer Fei Bo was called "Lianyi" instead of "Ripples" (but since the program was only in Danish I'm not sure- the sentence reads "Fei Bo's bye vaerk har skiftet navn fra Ripples til Lianyi", if someone can help with the translation...) and the order was a bit different from the previous list. On the whole, it was a bit hard to understand exactly why many of the works of that program were chosen (not being able to read the program notes didn't help): it included two world premieres by Pär Isberg and Renato Zanella, a recent work by Fei Bo, two pas de deux after Petipa, and all the rest were various pas de deux from the 1970s whose link with Bournonville I failed to understand... The exercises from Bournonville school looked too familiar to the Danish audience, but for a foreigner like me it was quite instructive, and actually I wished it would have lasted more. The new pas de trois by Pär Isberg from the called "Sondag den 3. september 1843" (I don't know how to type the o with a / in its middle...) Thanks Mary for providing an explanation for the plot of this ballet, as I had no idea what it was supposed to deal with. The dancers were good looking with nice white costumes but I'm afraid I don't remember much of it (being quite sleepy didn't help- a delayed flight is partly to blame) and I didn't find the score (by Edvard Grieg) very interesting... And actually I had the same problem with the new pas de deux by Renato Zanella called "From Vienna with love" on some music by Carl Nielsen which was performed later in the evening (starting with a bizarre short comical part with strange exaggerated old-fashioned costumes, and then continuing with leotards). It was only the second time I saw "Duo concertant" (the previous one was in Edinburgh five years ago, with Nilas Martins and Yvonne Borrée). I have to say I have trouble appreciating Stravinsky's score, I do like some of his other scores like "Agon" or "Apollo" (and of course earlier works like "The Firebird", "Petrouchka", etc.) but this one really isn't easy for the ears. However I enjoyed the choreography more than the first time, and I wish I wish I could see it a few more times again (unlikely to happen, alas ) I did enjoy very much Silja Schandorff's and Nikolaj Hübbe's very musical dancing. Fei Bo's new work, whatever its title was, was a strange mixture of traditional Chinese music, Chinese-inspired costumes and crossover choreography; I was not crazy about the choreography itself by the lightings (unfortunately the lighting designer was unnamed) and costumes were extremely good looking and, as Mary wrote, poetic and so was the music, so it was an enjoyable moment. (More later...)

He had become an Austrian citizen in 1982, but I don't know which was his citizenship before. He spent quite a lot of time, but I remember reading in a book by Mario Bois (the widow of the late POB dancer and ballet master Claire Motte, who was quite close to Nureyev) that he managed to never spend more than 6 months in France every year, to avoid paying any income tax (which didn't help the writing of some of his POB director contracts, as it could be quite complicated). Well, sorry to get a bit off-topic. Ms Tonkin in listed on the Australian Ballet web site as a Ballet Mistress: http://australianballet.com.au/education/t...tisticstaff.htm

The following page on the web site of "Pointe Magazine" includes some information about salaries in various non-US companies. http://www.pointemagazine.com/backissues/m...e_foreign.shtml I remember that in her solo ballet by Jerome Bel, the Paris Opera Ballet dancer Véronique Doisneau said that she earned 3500 euros (which would be about 4250 USD) a month. (In general in France people talk about monthly salaries, not weekly ones). At the Paris Opera Ballet the salary is paid for 12 months; also all "normal" French jobs include a pension plan, health care and at least 5 weeks of paid vacations (so comparing salaries between countries is, as GWTW, a bit like comparing apples and oranges, also the cost of life can vary a lot depending on the country). She is a soloist with the company and it was her last year (she was 42) so I guess it probably is among the highest salaries (except for the principals). But I have no idea what really is included is that figure, for example POB dancers might get some extra money if they have many performances every months, or some extra rehearsal time besides usual hours... So I don't know what is included exactly in that 3500 euros/ month figure. By the way, what is the difference between an "union company" and a "non union company" ? Such a difference doesn't exist in France. [Edited to add] I found some information about ballet dancers salaries in a book published in 1997. Of course such figures would have to be re-evaluated, and converting the currencies is difficult, as the figure are in French francs and the conversion rates have varied quite a lot in that period (I believe 1 USD was about 5.5-6.5 French francs). Also the salaries which are listed are "brut salaries" so it does include some sorts of compulsory taxes and pension-related things and so it isn't what people do receive at the end of the month. Quadrilles (the lowest corps de ballet category): about 12900- 14900 francs/ month. Coryphées: 14700- 17000 FF/month. Sujets: 17400- 20100 FF/month. Premiers danseurs: 20600- 23800 FF/month. Etoiles: depending on their contract. Those figures do not include the extra salaries for many performances, long hours, etc. Here are also the figures (of 1997 or a bit earlier) of the dancers of the Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse, there were then four categories of salaries depending on how long they had worked for the company: 1st (< 3 years in the company): about 9000 FF/ month. 2nd (between 3 and 7 years): about 9350 FF/ month. 3rd (between 7 and 11 years): about 9500 FF/ month. 4th (more than 11 years): about 10050 FF/ month.

And if I remember correctly, Charlotte was proposed twice in her early 20s, by the brother of her friend Ellen Nussey and by a clergyman, and had refused both (well, I have no idea if they would be counted in the "prosperous" category); also her early death might have been related to her pregnancy (exchaustion due to excessive morning sickness- though it might have been tuberculosis or some other disease, there's no way to be sure now...)

Dupont was supposed to premiere the ballet but was injured, and it was Clairemarie Osta who danced the Paris premiere (a bright performance from what I was told, but she and Legris seldom are paired together, I don't know why). But I don't know who was supposed to be filmed in that work (sometimes the casting policy of the POB for films is a bit diffigult to understand...) During its first season, there were a lot of injuries, and last-minute cast changes almost every night. But I don't know when the DVD was filmed (actually I didn't see it) and also I seem to remember reading that the last act was shortened after its first season (some variations being suppressed- I don't know why) but am not sure. I saw that Paquita with Marie-Agnès Gillot and José Martinez during its first season (if I remember correctly, it was in 2001) and enjoyed it very much (and I really liked the costumes too)- especially considering that for once Ms Lefèvre had chosen to show a classical work, instead of the umpteenth half-baked modern work using one tenth of the corps de ballet and never to be seen again on the POB stage (I don't object the POB performing some modern dance works, but many of the works created for them in the last decade were very dull and uninteresting in my opinion). And actually it was very successful with the POB audience. Paul, I'm sorry you had such a poor opinion of Fanny Gaïda. The tour probably was a few years ago as, if I remember correctly, she turned 40 in 2001 and retired then. Did you see her in some other roles ? She never was famous for her technique, but I really liked her sensitiveness in some Roland Petit and Jerome Robbins roles, for example.

That discussion reminded me of the most depressing library I ever entered: the library of my high school (where I studied, not the one I teach in now). Theft was alas a common problem, even for books which didn't exactly look easy to steal- for example a volume of the Encyclopedia Universalis was missing. Their literature collection was quite awfully empty, and one of the librarians even told me that at least, since they had so few interesting books, there would be a smaller chance for them to be stolen I remember a friend who was quite depressed when realizing that the copy from "Henry V" that she had borrowed still had most of its pages uncut, and it had been printed around 1947. They had a grand total of two books about dance (that was the period when I started being interested in ballet), dating from something like 1956 and 1964 (that was in the early 1990s). And one day a friend and I found that they had a collection of books of Victor Hugo printed in 1882 (so it was before Hugo's death in 1885) and several other books dating from the mid and late 1800s (well, that's not so rare, but we were impressed), and they were all dusty on a forgotten shelf... I'm not blaming the librarians (I suspect it must have been a really un-rewarding job, and with a small budget) but really it was a depressing place (even the library of my junior high school was much better).

There's a work by Hans Van Manen called "Black Cake" and which seems to be in the Munich Ballet's repertory, perhaps it's that ?