Estelle

I'm glad that you finally could see it, and that you liked it! I agree that the "family saga/ tv series" can be a bit worrying, considering the poor quality of such sagas on most of the French TV channels in summer (lots of stereotypes, mediocre acting and filming, plots filled with unbelievable coincidences...) but that one really was different. After seeing it I often found myself thinking about it, remembering the characters and all the little details of the plot (not to mention Matteo's beautiful eyes :wub ) It seems to have been fairly successful indeed, especially when one considers that it was released in summer which generally isn't a good period for films in France, and that it was shown only in a handful on cinemas (by the way, in case you'd like to see it a second time, it still is shown in three cinemas in Paris: UGC les Halles, Saint-Germain des Prés and Balzac). But I regret that it was not shown much outside of Paris, I'm sure some of my relatives would have loved it if they could have seen it but it was not shown where they live. Now I'll just have to wait until there is a DVD... ;) Have you seen some films by Robert Guédiguian? "Nos meilleures années" made me think about some of his movies, which also have a lot of characters (and in his case, always with the same group of actors for more than two decades) and some kind of empathy with them, but in his case instead of various Italian cities it focuses very much on Marseille, and especially on l'Estaque.

Yes indeed, both the Ballet de Nantes (now defunct, alas) and the Ballet du Rhin performed it, and actually with the same director, Jean-Paul Gravier, who first directed the Ballet de Nantes and then the Ballet du Rhin. I really regret not having seen that production- it was performed in Lyon around 1993 or 1994, but I could only see one of their programs then and saw the other one (Tudor's "Lilac Garden", Limon's "The Moor's Pavane", and Jooss' "The Green Table" and "Pavane for a dead princess"). So the only part of that production that I saw was a pas de deux in an open rehearsal that they did in Grenoble a few years later- enough to make me regret not having seen it... all the more as it has disappeared from the Ballet du Rhin's repertory since Jean-Paul Gravier's departure.

Err, what does VD mean?? :shrug:

I saw "Sechs Tanze" by the Nederlands Dans Theater (Kylian's company) and the Lyon Opera Ballet, and it is one of my favorite ballets by Kylian, and one of the funniest ballets I know. It is a piece for several couples of dancers (if I remember correctly, three couples), with white costumes looking a little bit like 18th century costumes, and powdered wigs for the men. There is no plot, it is just a succession of humorous, joyful and slightly absurd scenes between the characters. I also saw "Petite mort" and liked it, but my main memory is that I absolutely loved the music (one of Mozart's piano concertos), and also the opening scene with male dancers holding swords (well, the French word for it would be "fleuret", the lightest kind of sword, but I don't know the English name for it).

About l'Ombre: yes indeed, I remember reading about it (it was a few months after I saw my first ballet, how frustrating it was that I couldn't travel to see it!) and seeing some excerpts on TV. The former POB principal Noëlla Pontois (and probably some other dancers) danced the main role, she retired a few months later when she turned 50. By the way, what a pity that nearly all the repertory that Lacotte had built in Nancy was lost when he left the direction of the company a few years ago... I know his reconstructions often are controversial, but at least it's ballet (and also he had added quite a lot of Balanchine and Ballets Russes works to the repertory of the Ballet du Rhin).

perky, actually manhattnik had started a thread about a similar topic about one year ago: http://balletalert.ipbhost.com/index.php?s...t=0entry48226 But it's worth asking the question again, as probably there are a lot of new members who hadn't seen the previous discussion, or some people who hadn't replied to the poll.

By the way, about another formed POB dancer: I hadn't noticed that before, but Rachel Rufer (former POB coryphée, and former SFB dancer) was promoted in 2002 to "première danseuse" (= principal dancer, there) of the Grands Ballet Canadiens.

I've just had a look at the web site of the Hamburg Ballet: http://www.hamburgballett.de/e/ and was pleased to notice that Sébastien Thill, a former coryphée of the Paris Opera Ballet (he had danced there between 1991 and 2001) who had joined the Hamburg Ballet in 2001, has been promoted to soloist.

Mel, I've sent what you wrote to my correspondent, we'll see what he'll reply... Victoria, Violette Verdy was in the film "Ballerina" in 1953 (directed by Ludwig Berger), on imdb.com is says that it also was known in the US as "Dream Ballerina". I've never seen it, just heard about it... What is most puzzling is the presence of Fokine and Vaganova in the credits. If they were in the film as actors, then it must have been filmed before 1942 (Fokine's death). But perhaps, as Mel suggested, they were in the credits not as actors, but as choreographers or teachers?

I've just received an email from someone trying to identify an old ballet film. Here are some excerpts: "I saw a film on TV (Cable, here in the US) maybe 10 years ago (Turner Classic Movie channel - TCM) about a young dancer from the Paris Opera Ballet, I think it was called "I want to be a Dancer" that had Fokine and Vaganova in the cast among so many others. I have tried to contact TCM about it and they have not returned my emails... Essentially the movie is about a young ballerina student at the Paris Opera Ballet school and I think it must have been made at the beginning of talking films? I didn't know Fokine and Vaganova were in it until I read the credits!!" and also (in a second message): "The film I refer to was filmed at the Paris Opera Ballet I am almost certain in the 30's. A heart warming story about being a young ballerina and being in the Paris Opera Ballet school. I do not think it was dubbed into english but I may be wrong - what I saw seemed to be done in British English, not American English. The title was I think "I Want to be a Dancer" and was in Black and White. In the credits I was astounded to see Fokine and Vaganova! among others possibly Massine..." So could someone help identify that film? The only ballet movie of that period dealing with the Paris Opera Ballet I've heard about is Jean Benoît-Lévy's "La mort du cygne" (1938), with Janine Charrat (as a kid), Yvette Chauviré (as a young ballerina) and Mia Slavenska. But I've never heard about Fokine and Vaganova being in it...

Really, I don't know much about the Marseille audience, especially as I haven't gone back to Marseille in more than one year. During the first season of Pietragalla, I remember some disappointment in the audience, as most of the marketing was focused on "Pietragalla the ballerina, the former POB principal" while she danced mostly modern roles. It is possible that the audience has evolved in the last few years. Also, now the company performs in several theaters (while Roland Petit's company performed mostly at the Marseille Opera), it might be for some technical or financial reasons (as much of the Marseille Opera season is taken by some operas and operettes, and administratively there is as far as I know no link between the opera company and the ballet company) but perhaps also because the audience to those theaters (which mostly show theater) is different of that of the opera. Anyway, Marseille should be a big enough city (about 1 million people, the second or third French city depending on how one counts) to have audiences for both ballet and modern dance (especially as there are few outside dance companies touring there), but now the opportunities to see some ballet are scarce...

The 2003-2004 season of the Ballet de Marseille has been announced on its web site: http://www.ballet-de-marseille.com/ So it will include: -"Out of focus", a world premiere by Carolyn Carlson (Sept 27- 0ct 1, at the Théâtre Toursky) -"Don Quichotte", a new production of Marie-Claude Pietragalla after Marius Petipa (Nov 7-9, at the Marseille Opera) -"Ni Dieu ni maître", by Pietragalla (a production premiered in January 2003)- -Nov 28-30, at the Théâtre Toursky) -a triple bill with two new choreographies by Pietragalla, "Ivresse" and "Métamorphoses II"- dates and a world premiere by Tero Saarinen, "The Captain" (March 10-20 2004, at the Théâtre de la Criée) Well, their repertory seems to shift more and more away from classical ballet... And it is more and more the "Ballet National de Marseille- PIETRAGALLA".

"Till Eulenspiegel" was performed by the POB in the mid-1990s, under Patrick Dupond's direction. I didn't see it, but the reviews were a bit tepid, the most interesting point was the costumes, which indeed looked great on photographs, but the choreography wasn't very interesting (I don't know if it was because it was not well reconstructed, or simply because the original choreography was not especially good).

There also are some sculptures of dancers on the following site: http://www.imagidanse.com/francais/collect...collection.html (click on the picture at the left)

So vila, did you manage to see it? And did you like it? grace, it is shown in two parts of three hours each (I saw them on different days). But I really didn't find it too long (and the reaction of the audience was quite enthusiastic).

You're welcome, Farrell Fan. B) And actually seeing this film made me wish I could understand Italian (I also get the same impression when being in Italian restaurants :grinning: ), well, that's yet another thing to add on my "things to be done someday" list...

Yesterday I saw the second part of the Italian film "La meglio gioventu" (its French title was "Nos meilleurs années", which means "Our best years", but I think the original title means something like "The best of youth", it is also the title of a book of poems by Pier Paolo Pasolini), by Marco Tullio Giordana. It is a very long film, as originally it was made as a miniseries for the Italian public TV channel RAI: it lasts six hours, and so is cut in two parts of three-hours. But for me there was not a second of boredom in those six hours- and actually when the second part ended I even wished it had been longer, because one feels so close to the characters that it's hard to tell them "good bye"... It won a prize at the Cannes Festival a few months ago, in the "Un certain regard" section. The main two characters are two brothers, Nicola and Matteo Carati, and the film follows them between 1966 (when they try helping Giorgia, a young woman with mental problems who is ill-treated in a psychiatric hospital- and both of them more or less fall in love with her...) and 2003. Many important events of Italy's history are evoked in the film, some tragic ones like the terrible flooding of Florence in 1966, the terrorism of the "Red Brigades" in the 1970s and 1980s or the murder of judge Giovanni Falcone in Sicily by the Mafia in 1992, and also some lighter ones like some matches of the Italian team in the soccer world cups- but this is integrated into the story in a very clever way, it doesn't feel artificial. All the actors (most of whom come from theater and haven't done much cinema so far, with the exception of the mother played by Adriana Asti who has played for many famous film directors like Visconti, Fellini, Pasolini, Bertolucci...) are excellent, and the characters are depicted with much humanity and sensitiveness. There are a lot of moving scenes- take your handkerchiefs for the second part... Well, I have no idea if this film is shown in other countries than France (and as far as I know it hasn't been shown yet on the Italian TV) but if you have an opportunity to see it, don't miss it! PS: here's the only review of it in English that I found so far: http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/st...,960327,00.html

Hi Camelia, and welcome! I've just edited the title of this thread so that it's easier for people to see what it is about. I've had a look at the Boston Ballet official web site at: http://www.bostonballet.org/ and Sylvain Gillet is listed in the corps de ballet. Perhaps some people from Boston will be able to tell you a bit more about what he does in the company?

Are you quite sure about that, citibob? My French-speaking friends from both Canada and France have told me otherwise, though perhaps I am misunderstanding. Perhaps Estelle could clarify...? Well Hans, after some further thinking it is quite a complicated thing... I think that in French there are no strong stress-accents (it's far less strong than in English), and for example in French dictionaries there is nothing about stressed syllables when the phonetic pronunciation of the word is written, and I don't remember being told anything about it in class. But I think there is a small stress, following the rules I had given in another post (and as it is a rule which applies for all words with no exceptions, that's perhaps why nothing was said about it in class), and for example I remember it was quite striking when I attended Spanish classes, and some people were likely to pronounce Spanish words as it they were French (and so stressed the wrong syllable in most of the words ending with a vowel) and it really sounded weird! And perhaps also the accentuation of words is a bit stronger when it's in the context of a sentence than for isolated words (and for example it has an importance in classical poetry, for example in an alexandrine it sounds really bad if the 6th syllable is on a syllable or word which isn't accented normally). Also there are quite a lot of differences between regional accents (I was quite aware of it, as my parents both were from another region than the one where I grew up, and so as a kid there were a lot of words that I didn't pronounce the same way as my schoolmates- and even now my own accent depends quite a lot on where I am and who I'm talking with ) but not that much in the accentuation, I would say one difference might be the pronunciation of "e muets" which can vary, in Paris they're almost not pronounced (my name would sound like "Estel"), while in some southern regions they are more pronounced but the accent is on the penultimate syllable (Es-TEL-le). Paul, about the number of syllables... my name does have three syllables, but the last one would be less strong that the others, if it makes sense. Err, I'm afraid this thread is getting transformed a bit too much in a French linguistics thread And Mel, you're right that Marius Petipa's name was known through a Russian filter, and so the Russian pronunciation probably was the most important... (But what about Lucien Petipa? ;) )

A Yahoo article in French about Duchâble's penultimate concert (and he did indeed throw a piano in a lake, after playing Beethoven's 3rd concerto and Saint-Saëns' 2nd concerto). The last one will take place in the small village of Mazaugues on August 31st, and after that one he will burn his concert suit. He's 51 and gave his first concert when he was 16.

Well, rg, I woudn't like to sound picky, but Louis XIV (fourteen) was the king before Louis XV (and his great-grand-father), and it was Louis XVI (sixteen) who was the successor Louis XV (and his grandson, as his father Louis le Dauphin had died when he was a kid) and who got married with Marie-Antoinette :grinning: I had mentioned Louis XVIII because from what I've read the name "Le Désiré" was used quite a lot for him and seemed to be his "official" nickname like Philippe IV "le Bel", Henri IV "le Grand", Louis XIII "le Juste", Louis XIV "le Grand", "Louis XV "le Bien-aimé", etc., while for Louis XVI it seemed to be used less often. By the way: do the Russians use Florimond or Désiré for the Prince? Mel, I wonder if someone ever used the end of the tale (with the Ogre mother-in-law) in a ballet. When I had heard that Mats Ek would make a "Sleeping Beauty", I thought it would be well-suited to his style, but unfortunately he didn't use it (and on the whole I found his "Beauty" far less interesting than his other full-length works...)

rg, surely you meant Louis XVI, not XIV? Actually, it seems that the name "Louis le Désiré" was used much more often for Louix XVIII, Louis XVI's younger brother and successor (I don't know the origin of the name, perhaps that was his reign came after the troubled period of the Revolution and the First Empire (actually he wasn't that popular, but probably such names were given by the court rather than the people?...)? And I wonder why Louis XVI was called "le Désiré"- perhaps his parents were looking forward to having another child, after the death of their second son just a few months before? Also Désiré probably already existed then as a first name, and Désirée for the women (for example there was Désirée Clary, a mistress of Napoleon and later wife of Bernadotte and Queen of Sweden).

Oh la la! Well, if it's a talking role, then it will really become a comical film (I don't know if Van Damme is known for that too in the US, but in France there even have been books making fun of his interviews and quotes, because every time he opens his mouths it's a real festival of grammatical mistakes, English words mixed with French ones, and complete nonsense which himself seems to consider as deep philosophy.)

And also Perrault's tale starts by saying that Aurora's parents had some difficulties to have a child ("Il était une fois un roi et une reine qui étaient si fâchés de n'avoir point d'enfants, si fâchés qu'on ne saurait dire. Ils allèrent à toutes les eaux du monde, vœux, pèlerinages, menues dévotions; tout fut mis en œuvre, et rien n'y faisait. Enfin pourtant la reine devint grosse, et accoucha d'une fille")... But well, perhaps after Aurora was born they had no problem having other children, sometimes it happens in real life ;) By the way, it's interesting to notice that in the original text of Perrault none of the characters have names (it's just "the princess", "the prince", "the good fairy", etc.- there's just the small dog of the princess called "Pouffe" (well, it wouldn't be a name to use now, as it has a derogatory meaning in French slang, as "stupid, vulgar woman" ) and also Aurora's children are called Aurore and Jour). I wonder how Petipa chose the names he used?

Thanks for the information, Farrell Fan. Was it performed again after 1884?