Estelle

grace, I didn't suggest it was translated I just said "nonsensical" because it's hard for me to take such a manifest seriously (and I had read it in English). Well, I'm 28, but someone had mentioned her name and manifesto in a discussion on a French feminist forum, and so I had looked it up on the web and had come across that biography, that's all Farrell Fan, thanks for the information about Puccini's opera. Do you know if Puccini knew about "Giselle", or if it was just a coincidence that he used the theme of the Wilis too? And actually it makes me think about Robbins' "The Cage"...

This is getting really off-topic, but actually a lot of "weird" genotypes can occur, like X (Turner syndrom), XXY (Klinefelter syndrom), XXX (triplo-X), XYY (once called "gene of crime" because of an incorrectly made study but in fact many men have it and are perfectly normal physically and mentally...) Also Mel, you wrote: "When that happened, I wondered what had happened to her to make her so bitter. " Actually, when reading that nonsensical manifesto I had thought the same... And actually she didn't exactly had a wonderful childhood (sex abuse, being homeless at 15, prostitution...): http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Solanas (of course I'm not saying that it's an excuse for what she did...) There's a novel by Gautier called "La morte amoureuse" (literally the "dead woman in love") but I've never read it- Mme. Hermine, perhaps it's one of the novelettes you mentioned?

Well, google helped a lot B) And actually, I'm thinking the same when reading about the ballet performances in theUS...

-the Théâtre de Saint-Quentin en Yvelines, near Paris: http://www.theatresaintquentinyvelines.org/ So far only a PDF file about subscriptions is available. It seems that the only dance performances will be modern dance performances by Olivia Grandville ("Come Out"), Dominique Boivin and Pascale Houbin ("Bonté divine"), the Ballet de Lorraine (Armitage- Gallotta mixed bill), Marion Ballester ("Neptune"), La La La Human Steps ("Amelia"), Jean-Claude Gallotta ("Trois générations"), the Ballet Preljocaj ("The Rite of Spring" and "Helikopter"), the Batsheva Dance Company ("Decadance"), the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and the Grand Ballet du Théâtre de Genève ("Daphnis et Chloé" by Lucinda Childs). -the Ballet du Rhin, performing in its three home cities of Strasbourg, Colmar, and Mulhouse: http://mail.opera-national-du-rhin.com/ Four programs: -"Swan Lake" by its director, with "choreographic quotes" (citations chorégraphiques) by Lev Ivanov and Vladimir Bourmeister (I wonder where Petipa has gone? ) -a Bartok double bill with "Le prince de bois" by Philippe Tréhet and a world premiere "Le mandarin merveilleux" by Lucinda Childs. -a (weird :green: ) triple bill with George Balanchine's "Concerto Barocco", Jiri Kylian's "Stamping Ground" and Maurice Béjart's "Le Marteau sans maître" -"Carnets de bal" (content not announced) Also the company will tour to Paris and Chalons-sur-Saône with a Lucinda Childs program, and to Caen, Joué-les-Tours, Vichy and Laval with Jo Stromgren's "Nutcracker". -the Opéra de Lyon: http://www.opera-lyon.org/ Four programs by its home company, the Lyon Opera Ballet: -in September, a quadruple bill with William Forsythe's "Duo" and "Appoximate sonata I,V", Trisha Brown and Steve Paxton's "Milliseconds" and a new work by Mathilde Monnier. -in December, Maguy Marin's "Cinderella". -in March, "Tricodex", a new work by Philippe Découflé (who had already made two works called "Codex" and "Decodex" for his own company). -in May, a double bill with Mats Ek's "Carmen" (with Sylvie Guillem as a guest star) and Ohad Naharin's "Black milk". And also, as a guest company, the Paris Opera Ballet School, with the same trible bill (J.G. Bart- Charrat- Bessy) which had been shown in Paris a few months ago. -Odyssud, a theater in Blagnac near Bordeaux: http://www.odyssud.com/ ten programs, including the National Ballet of Beijing in "The Red Star", "Coppélia" (Enrique Martinez's production) by the Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse, and in March the Paris Opera Ballet in "Jewels" (already sold out!)

The dance festival of Aix-en-Provence has been cancelled too: http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=125804

And also: -the Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse (the Théâtre du Capitole itself will be closed for renovation, so they will perform in other theaters of Toulouse): http://www.theatre-du-capitole.org/sommair...ire/accueil.htm So far, strangely the only ballet program announced on their web site is a Stravinsky mixed bill with "The Firebird" (choreography by Michel Rahn, the company's ballet master) and "The rite of Spring" (choreography by Mauricio Wainrot) in November. -the Ballet National de Marseille: http://www.ballet-de-marseille.com/ (their web site is a bit dysfunctional) in September 2003 it will perform a world premiere by Carolyn Carlson, "Out of focus", at the Toursky Theater in Marseille. -the Ballet de l'Opéra de Nice: http://www.ville-nice.fr/francais/culture/...allet_2003.html five programs, including Massine's "Le Tricorne", and a "Cinderella" by Marc Ribaud (the company's direction) -at the Rennes Opera: http://www.opera-rennes.fr/page/saison/saison.htm "Europa Danse", a new work by the Ballet Biarritz (on Beethoven's "Les Créatures de Prométhée") and "Giselle" by the Ballet du Rhin (Maina Gielgud's production) -at the Metz Opera (I didn't even know there still was a small ballet company there! If only it were closer to Paris, I'd go there just to support the existence of such a company! ) http://sortir.mairie-metz.fr/opera "Coppélia" in November and December, a double bill with "Peter and the Wolf" and "Carnival of the Animals" in January, and a "Homage to Diaghilev" (Pétrouchka, The Firebird, Polovtsian Dances) in May. (I hope they tour a little bit, because a total of 12 performances in the whole year isn't much... But the dancers probably also perform in some of the operas or opérettes.) -the Théâtre Alexandre Dumas of Saint-Germain en Laye near Paris: http://www.ville-st-germain-en-laye.fr/act...t/ag/st.html#da Seven dance programs, including "The Red Star" by the National Ballet of Beijing, and a "Cinderella" by the Ballet of Kiev -the Théâtre de Suresnes near Paris: http://www.theatre-suresnes.fr/ (Anecdotically, if I remember correctly, its director is Brigitte Lefèvre's husband...) 12 programs, including the Ballet de Lorraine (Cunningham- Airaudo- Godani mixed bill) and the same Roland Petit program as in Lyon. -the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris: http://www.theatredelaville-paris.com/ a very busy season as usual, including only modern dance (the only companies with a remote link with ballet are the Ballet du Rhin, with a Lucinda Childs program, and the Lyon Opera Ballet, with a Mats Ek program). As you can see, there is very little ballet to be seen in France except at the Paris Opera... :angry:

Here's what I've found about the 2003-2004 season for some French theaters: -the Massy Opera (near Paris): http://www.opera-massy.com/ One can download on their site a PDF file about the next season. It will include: -a Limon (The Moor's Pavane, Missa Brevis)-Cunningham (Crises (?)) mixed bill by the Ballet de Lorraine (now a modern dance company) -"Babelle Heureuse" by the Montalvo-Hervieu company -Nacho Duato's "Duende" by the Compania Nacional de Danza 2 (indeed, it's a bit strange because I thought it was not long enough to fill a whole evening) -"Giselle" by the Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse (production by Nanette Glushak) -a new work by the company Blanca Li -the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris: http://www.theatrechampselysees.fr/ only two dance programs, a Gala in September with dancers from various companies (Alexandra Ansanelli, Charles Askegard, Lucia Lacarra, Cyril Pierre, Dimitri Goudanov, Svetlana Lunkina, Tamara Rojo...) and some tango "Tango Pasion" in December. -the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris (with sloooow web site): http://www.chatelet-theatre.com/index.php very little dance: only a tango program "La Argentina", "Epouses et concubines" by some dancers of the National Ballet of China, and a musical "Fosse" -the Maison de la Danse in Lyon: http://www.maisondeladanse.com/fran/prog/0...4/spec/p_00.htm 30 different programs, with mostly modern dance, but also the National Ballet of China in "The red detachment of women", Julio Bocca in a tango program, "Europa Danse" with a mixed bill "Bigonzetti, Ek, Kylian, Van Manen, Système Castafiore and Duato), the Victor Ullate Ballet with three works by Ullate ("Jaleos", "Itu... Bailas?" and "Sola") and Eduardo Lao's "Burka", a program by and with Roland Petit, and the students of the Lyon Conservatoire.

Hans, you're right about the pronunciation of "Marcovici" in French (except that perhaps the last syllable could be "see" instead of "chee")- but as you wrote it is originally an Italian name (or perhaps Corsican, I don't know) and in Italian it would be Mar-co-VI-ci. Such questions are difficult indeed- for example I know some French people whose name is originally from Germany, some of them insist on the German pronunciation and others prefer a "French-ized" one (for example "Siegel" pronounced "See-eh-zhel"), in such cases the only way to know is to ask the person! :rolleyes: An example of name whose pronunciation isn't even consistent among French people is Guillem: some pronounce it "Guee-YEM" and some "Guee-LEM". I don't know how herself pronounces her name (there's a first name "Guilhem" which exists in Southern France, and is pronounced "Guee-YEM", but I don't know if there is a link with her last name). You're right about "pied", in general it's considered as one syllable (the only exception would be perhaps in classical poetry, but it's quite complicated and off-topic here). By the way, his name is a bit like that of Petipa ("Mille pieds"= one thousand feet).

I don't know much about classical singing, but perhaps it's a bit the same as in poetry: when the "e muet" is followed by a consonent, it does count as a syllable (but not when it's followed by a vowel), and also in classical poetry, some "e"s which wouldn't be pronounced at all in modern French (like the final "e" in "envie") are pronounced. For example, in Verlaine's verses "Il pleure dans mon coeur / Comme il pleut sur la ville", the final "e" of "pleure" does count (so that each verse has 6 syllables), it's the same for Baudelaire's "Une atmosphère obscure enveloppe la ville": the final "e" of "enveloppe" does count while those of "atmosphère", "obscure", and "ville" don't. But well, I'm a getting a bit off-topic... Are there any rules about where to put the accent in English or American names? And just by curiosity: how are Millepied and Marcovici pronounced?

Well, you're almost right. The rule is: -when the last syllable has a "e muet" (mute e, I don't know if it's the correct word in English), like in "sucre" (sugar) and in a lot of other words (e.g. "danse" (dance), "danseuse" (female dancer), "jambe" (leg), "épaule" (shoulder), "valse" (waltz), "sissonne", "pavane", "arabesque", "chorégraphe" (choreographer), "ballerine"...) then the accent is on the penultimate syllable (SU-cre, DAN-se, dan-SEU-se, JAM-be, é-PAU-le, VAL-se, etc.) Actually the final "e" is almost not pronounced (but it depends a little bit on the regional accent). This happens in general when the final "e" is just after a consonant. -else the accent is on the last syllable (dan-SEUR (dancer), bal-LET, opé-RA, chorégra-PHIE (choreography), je-TE, soubre-SAUT...) But it seems to me that in general the stress on the accented syllable is a bit less strong in French than in English (but it probably depends on the regional accent...) Actually memorizing where the accent is in English words is not easy for a French speaker! In French arugula is "roquette" so it's indeed the same word as "rocket"! There's also "riquette" which is another kind of salad (of the region of Nice, I think) but very similar. And even in Italy, arugula has a lot of different names (rucola for example). About Petipa, just to make everything more complicated I wonder how himself pronounced his name? Perhaps it is of Italian or Provençal origin, and so it was Pe-TI-pa? Anyway his name always makes newcomers laugh because it's pronounced the same as "petits pas" (small steps)... By the way, how is pronounced "Balanchine"?

Nearly ten years ago, I studied in class a short story by Balzac which mentioned quite a lot "Robert le Diable"... And thanks to google, I managed to find an English translation of it online: http://www.meyerbeer.com/Balzacs%20Meyerbeer.htm

Actually, in French it would be "pet-ee-PAH", I think.

Some other festivals have been cancelled, for example that of Pau, "Les tombées de la nuit" in Rennes, the "Scènes estivales" in Albi, the first week of the outdoors cinéma festival of La Villette in Paris... Also the first day of the Avignon festival has been cancelled, and it is not sure the rest of the festival will take place.

Err, I have just tried to edit my earlier post to add something, but must have made mistake. So I wanted to add that Guest (in his book "Le Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris"- is that the one you thought about?) mentions no less that two Victoire Saulnier: one dancing with the POB between 1804 and 1820, and a more famous one dancing there between 1784 and 1794 and who premiered some major roles in Gardel's "Télémaque" (1790- a big hit indeed, as it was danced no less than 408 times between 1790 and 1826) and Le jugement de Pâris" (1793- danced 189 times between then and 1825). And I've just checked his "The ballet of the Enlightenment" (a book I haven't read so far but that I should read...) and the earlier Saulnier is mentioned often. Also it is said that the later one had a sister called Marie-Joseph, also known as Mimi, and they perhaps were nieces of the earlier one (and they also danced Calypso in "Télémaque"). The other ones are not listed (but it's probably because they danced in a later period).

I just received an e-mail asking me for information about a dancer called Yvonne Daunt: "I am trying to gather some information about Yvonne Daunt who danced with the Paris Opera Ballet probably in the late 1919 period or early 1920s. My reason is that in 1924 she married Allan Stein, the nephew of the writer Gertrude Stein. (...). I believe, but am not sure, that she was born in Australia and was Dalcroz trained. She was divorced from Allan Stein in the late 1920s or early 1930s." I haven't found anything about Ms Daunt so far... So if anybody can find something, please post it here! And it reminded me of an message I had received a few months ago, asking for information about the following 19th century dancers: "A. Hilariot, Eugene Durand, J. Mathieu, A. Polin, Olimpia Priora, Lise Noblet, Cremieux, F.G. Berthier, Victoire Saulnier, Esther Guimont, Marie Gaugain, Melanie Hirsch, Désirée Lobstein, Emilie Laus et Mariquita." Well, perhaps the person who had asked me has found some information since then, but anyway I think it can be a funny game to try to find some information about unknown dancers... -Mariquita (Alger 1830- Paris Oct 7 1922) was French, danced at the Théâtre des Funambules in Paris in 1845 and at the Théâtre des Variétés in "Les Bibelots du Diable" in 1858. She became a ballet master: "théâtre de la Gaîté, Folies-Bergère, Opéra Comique, 1898-1920). She choreographed "Javote" on Saint-Saëns' music in 1896 in Lyon (Staats made a second version of that ballet later). -Ivor Guest says that there were two dancers called Victoire Saulnier: one of them danced at the Paris Opera between 1804 and 1820, and another one (more famous) danced there between 1784 and 1794, creating Gardel's "Télémaque" in 1790 (as Calypso) and "Le jugement de Pâris" in 1793 (as Venus). That's all I could find so far... Here's what I had found so far: -Lise Noblet (Paris, Nov 14th 1801- Sept 1852) is listed in Koegler's dictionary (and also in a French "Dictionnaire de la danse" printed in 1964 and in Ivor Guest's POB book), she was trained at the POB school and joined the company in 1816. She created many roles: Aumer's new versions of Dauberval's "Le page inconstant" (1823) and "La fille mal gardée" (1829) and his "La Belle au Bois Dormant" (1829), the role of Effie in Taglioni's "La Sylphide" (1832) and also his "La révolte au sérail" (1833) and "La fille du Danube" (1836), Mazillier's "Le diable amoureux" (1840). Also she danced in quite a lot of operas (Auber- Aumer's "La muette de Portici" (1828), Rossini-Gardel's "The Siege of Corinth" (1826) and "Moses" (1827), Auber-Taglioni's "Le Dieu et la Bayadère" (1830), Halévy-Taglioni's "La Juive" (1835)). She was a rival of Elssler as a performed of Spanish dances. Some quotes (author not mentioned) from the French dictionary: "le dernier produit de l'école française, aux poses géométriques et aux écarts à angle droit" (the last product of the French school, with geometric poses and right angled ?), "Une danseuse qui ne fait jamais de faux pas, qui préfère le cercle des amis à la foule des amants, qui vient au théâtre à pied et s'en retourne de même" (a dancer who never makes mistake, who prefers its circle of friends to a crowd of lovers, who comes to the theater by foot and goes back home by foot). Now I'd really give much to be able to see a little bit of all those ballets, and Lise Noblet on stage... -Olimpia Priora was listed somewhere as a pupil of Blasis, but I don't know anything more about her.

That sounds really weird! I had heard about François-René Duchâble before (for example a search on amazon.fr about him lists about 20 CDs, but from that article his behavior now really seems crazy...

Mel, what you wrote reminded me of Ghislaine Fallou, a very promising POB première danseuse, who stopped dancing quite abruptly a few years ago when she was in her early 20s and never came back. (But I find it's a bit unfair and morbid to put such dancers with a "broken" career in the same category as those who passed away!) Jacques Garnier had died of AIDS around 1989 when he was about 47 (he had been a POB sujet in the 1960s, then had left the company with Brigitte Lefèvre to create their own company the Théâtre du Silence, then had come back to the POB in the late 1970s to be the director of the GRCOP. Unfortunately, it seems that only one of his choreographies has survived). His mother had written a small book about him and especially about his last days, it really was heart-breaking. Jorge Donn (principal dancer of Béjart's company) died from AIDS at 45 in november 1992- shortly before Dominique Bagouet (a prominent French modern dance choreographer) at 41, and Rudolf Nureyev at 54... I remember an issue of "Les Saisons de la Danse" with all those obituaries, and its late director André-Philippe Hersin, who was a close friend of Donn and Bagouet, had only written a few words instead of his usual editorials because it was too hard for him to write more... The former POB principal Claire Motte died in 1986, when she was 49, from cancer. She had stopped performing, but was one of the POB's ballet masters, and left two young sons. Well, that's really a depressing thread...

I don't remember if it has already been mentioned, but in Billy Wilder's "The private life of Sherlock Holmes" (which I saw last week), Holmes and Watson attend a performance of "Swan Lake" by the "Russian Imperial Ballet" or something like that... but it's supposed to happen in 1887, so before Petipa's version! :rolleyes: However, what they dance looks rather close to traditional versions, except that there are several hunters on stage on act 2. And Tamara Toumanova plays the great "Madame Petrova" (it's the first time I saw her, I regretted that she has such a thick make-up), the tyrannical diva of the company, who wants, errr, Sherlock Holmes's chromosomes to be part of her offspring. There's also a scene with a drunk Watson who's dancing on the Cygnets music with several ballerinas...

Thanks for the explanation, Major Mel! How did the dancers you mention die?

What happened exactly to Lidia Ivanova? Well, there is poor little Giuseppina Bozzachi (who had premiered the role of Swanilda in "Coppélia" shortly before) who died on Nov 23, 1870, just on the day of her 17th birthday, from "variole" (I don't know the English name of that illness), it was a tragic period as it was during the French-Prussian war, in a hard winter and Paris was besieged by the Prussian army. Yuri Soloviev died in 1977, when he was 36- Koegler's book says "was found shot in his datcha, in rather mysterious circumstances". Nijinsky wasn't especially young when he died, but one can consider he really had a tragic end... (And actually Livry died in 1863- she was burnt in 1862, but the poor creature survived 8 months before dying...)

http://fr.news.yahoo.com/030629/85/3a9yv.html http://www.tageblatt.lu/edition/article.as...?ArticleId=6480 The dance festival of Montpellier, one of the biggest French contemporary (modern) dance festival, has been cancelled after just a few performances. It has started on June 26th and was supposed to last until July 5th. A few days ago, a reform of the status of the "intermittents du spectacle" (it's a bit complicated to explain, but it's a special status for the people who work in the field of performing arts and who don't have a steady job; if they work enough hours in a year then they can get some unemployment benefits for a period) was decided, but it was signed only by a union which represents only a small minority of the people in that field, and the main unions didn't sign it. The whole topic is a bit complicated... There have been some demonstrations of the "intermittents du spectacles" in many cities, and also many strikes which have caused the cancellations of some performances (for example a performance of Pina Bausch's company at the Théâtre de la Ville). In Montpellier, several of the first performances had been cancelled, and the director of the festival decided to cancel it (and said he agreed with the strikers' motives). There might be some other cancellations soon in the other big French artistic festivals of the summer (Aix-en-Provence, Avignon...)

Well, outside the country too: there will be 7 Balanchine works in the next POB season, and also some in the Royal Ballet season... But well, let's say that with such a program for the NYCB Balanchine Celebration, it's a bit less frustrating for me to be far from NYC. ;)

From what I've read in her autobiography "Blood memory" and in Agnes De Mille's Graham biography, yes, he was her first husband (and, a far as I know, the only husband she ever had).

rkoretzky, go for it! Also, if you can get tickets for the premiere on Oct 2, the program will also include the Défilé of the corps de ballet, which is quite impressive (and was seldom performed in the last seasons). And that program (also including "The Four temperaments" and "The Prodigal Son" provides an opportunity to see much of the company...

I haven't seen "Les Bourgeois", but it was performed several times in some Jeune Ballet de France performances. Ben van Cauwenbergh seems to be a fan of Jacques Brel, as "La chanson des vieux amants" is another song my him... Is Luca Masala still dancing with the Toulouse ballet?