Estelle

You're welcome. Have you already been at Garnier or Bastille? Bastille isn't exactly a nice-looking building, and there have been serious complaints about a lot of dysfunctional things off-stage, but it has the advantage that one can hope to see the whole stage from nearly all seats. In Garnier, that's harder, in general it's better to be as close to the center as possible (the amphitheater is not so bad- well, if you're not very tall or with long legs, because the seats are small!) Good luck for your trip! [ March 12, 2002, 04:01 AM: Message edited by: Estelle ]

Calliope, when will you be in Paris exactly? In May, there will be a Stravinsky mixed bill (Douglas Dunn's "Pulcinella", Pina Bausch's "Rite of Spring" and Balanchine's "Stravinsky Violin Concerto") between May 4 and May 21 at the Opéra Garnier, and "Don Quichotte" between May 2 and May 18 at the Opéra Bastille (alternating with two operas: "Carmen" and "Le vaisseau fantôme"). The booking for "Don Quichotte" is already open on the web (at http://www.opera-de-paris.fr ), but I don't know if there still are available seats that way (there is a quota of seats for each mode of booking), the phone booking for it will open next monday. The Internet booking for the Stravinsky program started today (phone booking starting on March 25). The prices for "Don Quichotte" are (in euros) 64, 56, 48, 39, 26, 17, 8; those for the mixed bill are 64, 51, 34, 19, 9, 6, 5. The last two or three categories have bad visibility (especially in Garnier- in Bastille it can be OK) and probably are sold only at the box office. If you know more information, just ask...

Thanks for replying, Jeff! Could you tell me a bit more about Rioult's style? Is it close to Graham's?

The Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre will perform in Saint-Quentin en Yvelines and in Nanterre at the end of March, and I was wondering if it would be interesting to attend it. The program includes four work on some Ravel music ("Home front" on "Le Tombeau de Couperin", "Wien" on "La Valse", "Bolero", and "Prelude a la nuit" on several pîeces) and I really love that music. I know very little about Pascal Rioult, only that he was a dancer of the Martha Graham Dance Company. Could anybody tell me a bit more about his style or his company?

On March 16 and 17, there will be special Nureyev program in Paris, organized by the Cinémathèque de la Danse and several organizations (Rudolf Nureyev Foundation, Cercle des Amis de Rudolf Nureyev, American friends of the POB...) The full program is available at: http://www.imagidanse.com/francais/cinematheque/cinema.html It will take place at the Cinemathèque in the Palais de Chaillot, and will include a lot of films. Sat 16, 7 PM: a short documentary about Nureyev's grave at the cemetery of Sainte-Geneviève des Bois and a documentary about his "Bayadère" at the POB (with also the acts II and III with Guérin, Hilaire and Platel). Sat 16, 9 PM: MacMillan's "Romeo and Juliet", with R.N. and Margot Fonteyn, filmed in 1966 with the Royal Ballet. Sat 16, midnight (well, they obviously haven't thought about people using the metro): "Swan lake", filmed in Vienna with Margot Fonteyn in 1966 (Nureyev's version). Sun 17, 11 AM: "A tribute to Nureyev", documentary by Judith Mackrell, 1993. Sun 17, 12 AM: several short videos, including "Les Sylphides" (1964, with Fonteyn and the Royal Ballet), "Petrouchka" (1976, with the POB), "Afternoon of a faun" (1980, with the Joffrey Ballet),excerpts from "The King and I" (1989). Sun 17, 3 PM: "Nureyev in Spolete", documentary, 1964. Sun 17, 4:30 PM: "I am a dancer", documentary, 1973. Sun 17, 6:30 PM: "The Nutcracker", filmed in 1968 with the Royal Ballet (with Merle Park), Nureyev's choreography. Sun 17, 8:30 PM: "Valentino", film by Ken Russell (1977).

Thanks for the information, Marc. It's great to see that the Kirov will finally come to Paris after so many years... But it's a pity they don't bring "Jewels" or their "Sleeping beauty". By the way, the ballet season of the Chatelet will also include another company (in june 2003): the Ballet de Bordeaux with a "Picasso and dance" mixed bill including Massine's "Le Tricorne" and "Parade" , Lifar's "Icare" and some flamenco by Christina Hoyos (all those works with sets and costumes by Picasso), with the Orchestra of Bordeaux.

quote: Originally posted by Ari: How about the Grand Défilé as POB's signature piece? It's not really a ballet, but no other company has anything like it. Oh yes, I hadn't thought about it, but that's definitely something characteristic of the POB (and quite symbolic of its hierarchical system). Well, also that's another thing which has been almost absent since Lefèvre's arrival (and in the current state of the company, it'd be hard to organize a defile with only three female principals!)

quote: Originally posted by Ari: How about the Grand Défilé as POB's signature piece? It's not really a ballet, but no other company has anything like it. Oh yes, I hadn't thought about it, but that's definitely something characteristic of the POB (and quite symbolic of its hierarchical system). Well, also that's another thing which has been almost absent since Lefèvre's arrival (and in the current state of the company, it'd be hard to organize a defile with only three female principals!)

quote: Originally posted by alexandra: Other examples. A small one -- Washington Ballet was known for years by "Fives" and people are still angry that they don't get to see that now. (New directors fire not only dancers but ballets.) I think one of the things POB fans reproach to Lefèvre is that "Etudes", "Palais de Cristal" and the Lifar repertory have been absent from the repertory since her arrival. It's interesting to read that "Etudes" was mentioned in that thread about ABT, the Royal Danish Ballet and the London Festival Ballet; I've never seen it (it was last performed just before I started attending POB performances regularly) and don't know which style it had in Paris, but I've often read articles in French dance magazines mentioning it as a POB signature piece (also, I believe the Paris version is a bit different from the original Danish one). For "Palais de cristal"/"Symphony in C" it's a bit the opposite of "Etudes": for that one, the French version is anterior to the American version... I wonder if there are real stylistic differences, and if Balanchine used some characteristics of the French style when creating the ballet? (By the way, I think that it's a pity no POB director has ever considered adding "La Source" to the repertory, as it is a homage to the French school...) Watching the current POB repertory, it's hard to find a real "signature piece" (again, the homogeneization of the repertories...) Nureyev's productions of the classics are danced a lot every season- well, personally I don't like much his choreographic style, but perhaps it's become typical of the POB... The work which has been performed the most often in the company's history, with a continuous tradition since its premiere, is "Coppélia", but there have been so many changes in productions (and the production which is danced now, by Patrice Bart, has very very little to do with the original, and it seems that there is no intention to revive a more traditional production) that it doesn't mean much.

quote: Originally posted by alexandra: Other examples. A small one -- Washington Ballet was known for years by "Fives" and people are still angry that they don't get to see that now. (New directors fire not only dancers but ballets.) I think one of the things POB fans reproach to Lefèvre is that "Etudes", "Palais de Cristal" and the Lifar repertory have been absent from the repertory since her arrival. It's interesting to read that "Etudes" was mentioned in that thread about ABT, the Royal Danish Ballet and the London Festival Ballet; I've never seen it (it was last performed just before I started attending POB performances regularly) and don't know which style it had in Paris, but I've often read articles in French dance magazines mentioning it as a POB signature piece (also, I believe the Paris version is a bit different from the original Danish one). For "Palais de cristal"/"Symphony in C" it's a bit the opposite of "Etudes": for that one, the French version is anterior to the American version... I wonder if there are real stylistic differences, and if Balanchine used some characteristics of the French style when creating the ballet? (By the way, I think that it's a pity no POB director has ever considered adding "La Source" to the repertory, as it is a homage to the French school...) Watching the current POB repertory, it's hard to find a real "signature piece" (again, the homogeneization of the repertories...) Nureyev's productions of the classics are danced a lot every season- well, personally I don't like much his choreographic style, but perhaps it's become typical of the POB... The work which has been performed the most often in the company's history, with a continuous tradition since its premiere, is "Coppélia", but there have been so many changes in productions (and the production which is danced now, by Patrice Bart, has very very little to do with the original, and it seems that there is no intention to revive a more traditional production) that it doesn't mean much.

Henrik, when people say "Break a leg", it's because of a kind of old superstition that saying "good luck" would actually bring bad luck, and on the opposite saying something negative like "break a leg" would bring good luck... Saying "merde" (which is a bad word in French- perhaps that's why they didn't use it in "The red shoes") comes from the same kind of superstition. (By the way, "merde" for your audition! )

Also another aspect of Béjart's works is that he loves to mix a lot of elements from various arts (he made ballets about Pasolini, Malraux, Molière, Wagner, Chaplin...) and also from various cultural backgrounds (in the 1960s or 1970s he converted to islam- "Bhakti" is inspired by India, "Golestan" by Iranese traditions, "Dionysos" and "Seven Greek dances" by Greece...) and his last works have included more and more texts, biographical elements, etc. Personnally I find it a bit irritating (especially the pretentious program notes and the rather empty "philosophy") but some people seem to like it, also some works probably reflected the atmosphere of the period when they were created.

quote: Originally posted by alexandra: Good point about Balanchine and Europeans, Richard. There are undoubtedly Americans who love Bejart -- and certainly all Americans don't worship Balanchine. I suppose there's no "all" in any of this. Also there are quite a lot of differences between European countries- Europe might look small when seen from the USA, but there are big cultural differences. Béjart and Petit are quite popular in Italy, but not at all in UK, for example. Also, I suppose that asking people about the "greatest living choreographer", depending on the European country where you are you might have quite a lot of answers in favor of William Forsythe, Pina Bausch, John Neumeier, Jiri Kylian or Hans Van Manen... About the original question: I have only seen one performance by the Cunningham company and one by the Taylor company, plus a few Taylor works danced by ballet companies, so I really can't have an opinion about it (besides, asking "who's the greatest" often has as much meaning as "which is better, tea or coffee?"...) I think that in France Cunningham would be likely to get more votes, because he's better known: his company tours to France quite often (in March, they'll perform in Alès, Le Havre, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon and Mâcon- not exactly very big cities, there must be about 50000 people in Alès and about 35000 in Mâcon), come almost every season to the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris with sold-out performances and very positive reviews. Things have changed quite a lot since "Un jour ou deux" created a scandal at the Paris Opera in 1972! The Taylor company comes to France less often, and has received less enthusiastic reviews.

quote: Originally posted by alexandra: Good point about Balanchine and Europeans, Richard. There are undoubtedly Americans who love Bejart -- and certainly all Americans don't worship Balanchine. I suppose there's no "all" in any of this. Also there are quite a lot of differences between European countries- Europe might look small when seen from the USA, but there are big cultural differences. Béjart and Petit are quite popular in Italy, but not at all in UK, for example. Also, I suppose that asking people about the "greatest living choreographer", depending on the European country where you are you might have quite a lot of answers in favor of William Forsythe, Pina Bausch, John Neumeier, Jiri Kylian or Hans Van Manen... About the original question: I have only seen one performance by the Cunningham company and one by the Taylor company, plus a few Taylor works danced by ballet companies, so I really can't have an opinion about it (besides, asking "who's the greatest" often has as much meaning as "which is better, tea or coffee?"...) I think that in France Cunningham would be likely to get more votes, because he's better known: his company tours to France quite often (in March, they'll perform in Alès, Le Havre, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon and Mâcon- not exactly very big cities, there must be about 50000 people in Alès and about 35000 in Mâcon), come almost every season to the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris with sold-out performances and very positive reviews. Things have changed quite a lot since "Un jour ou deux" created a scandal at the Paris Opera in 1972! The Taylor company comes to France less often, and has received less enthusiastic reviews.

Leigh, I hadn't thought about that- that sounds like a good reason. Perhaps also there is a question of sets: some of the works of their repertory have rather big sets, and it must be expensive to transport it (I wonder if they will take the sets of "Coppélia", by the way). Also "Péchés de jeunesse" was created especially for the school, and "M pour B" was a special version for the school, so perhaps Ms Bessy wants to show some works made especially for them. I've checked my programs of the POB school recitals: "Dessins pour six" was danced in 1997, "M pour B" was danced in 1991 and 1994 (I haven't seen those two works). BW, there's a page about Béjart on my own web site at: http://www.cmi.univ-mrs.fr/~esouche/dance/Bejart.html but it hasn't been updated for ages, and some links don't word (and it's just a short biography of him). Béjart's popularity or unpopularity in various countries is a complicated topic. As Leigh wrote, perhaps one of the reasons why Béjart isn't popular in the US is that the audience was mostly familiar with Balanchine, and Béjart's style is more based on theatrical effects and less musical (and some might find there's quite a lot of "bad taste" in some of his works). That would deserve a topic in itself, but it seems to me that, in France, Béjart was very popular in the 1960s and 1970s, partly because it was a period when there were not many company besides the Paris Opera, which was quite rigid, and his company performed in more "accessible" places (big halls, outdoors festivals...), also he had a lot of bright dancers in his company, like Jorge Donn, Paolo Bortoluzzi, Suzanne Farrell for a while... And he had a sort of "avant-garde" reputation. Now Béjart still is one of the better known choreographers in France (he's based in Switzerland), but most French critics were quite negative with all his recent works. I've seen "Sept danses grecques" when the POB school danced it two seasons ago, and found it rather pleasant, it's mostly an opportunity to show some bravura male dancing, on a score by Mikis Theodorakis inspired by traditional Greek music. There are some photos of "Péchés de Jeunesse" and "Sept danses grecques" (taken at the school recital two seasons ago) on the following page: http://imagidanse.com/francais/presse/30-A...EcoleDanse.html

I hope that some members of this board will attend it and post their comments... I find the choices of repertory a bit odd. It's different from this year's annual program, which will take place in April (Balanchine's "Western Symphony" and a version of "La fille mal gardée") and from last year's program (Lacotte's "Coppélia"and Neumeier's "Yondering"). "Péchés de jeunesse" is a work created especially for the school two seasons ago by the principal dancer Jean-Guillaume Bart, "Sept danses grecques" is a Béjart work which was danced in the same program (the third work being Fokine's "Firebird"), and the other two works "M pour B" ("B" stands for the late king Baudoin of Belgium, that work was dedicated to him) and "Dessins pour six" haven't been danced by the school for quite a while. It's a bit strange to choose two Béjart works, considering how unpopular Béjart is in the US... [ March 06, 2002, 04:45 PM: Message edited by: Estelle ]

Well, what I found a bit ridiculous in Frétard's article is that, more or less, she insists on it while saying that Belarbi doesn't want people to insist on it... Also she makes a rather silly and inappropriate pun on "beur" (a term used for French people whose parents are from Marocco, Algeria or Tunisia). And from what I've read in interviews, Belarbi is a bit fed up with being considered as a symbol, especially by people who imagine him as a stereotypical example of "Algerian boy from a poor suburb who managed to succeed in spite of hard conditions", while in fact his mother is French, and his father was an officer in the French army- so he considers he was in a rather privileged background, and such comments are embarrassing. Well, perhaps it's just that I have read quite a lot of articles and interviews by/of him, and perhaps Frétard mentioned it because she thinks that the average reader of "Le Monde" isn't aware of it (and there are a lot of stereotypes associated to people's names. Had his father been French and his mother Algerian, it'd have been different). But I wish the articles about him would focus more about him as a dancer and choreographer. [ March 05, 2002, 07:06 PM: Message edited by: Estelle ]

I clicked on "culture" at the left of the page, and then there was a list of titles, including it. Well, actually I had first clicked on "version texte" at the left, because I find that format more convenient (and easier to load- the web site of "Le Monde" often makes my Netscape crash...), and then on "culture" (the difference is the "VT" or not in the URL). By the way, for once I agree more or less with Dominique Frétard on some points, but I find the beginning of her article quite questionable (insisting once again on Belarbi's Algerian origins on his father's side- Belarbi himself seems quite fed up with the fact that so many journalists insist on it).

I saw a part of it on TV, but I'm afraid my only memory is that Ivan Liska was very, very handsome...

quote: Originally posted by Tancos: To the names mentioned above I would add Debussy ("Faune" and maybe "Jeux" -- I haven't heard the latter in a while), Ravel ("Daphnis and Chloe") and Bartok ("The Miraculous Mandarin" -- a *long* way from Tchaikovsky and not for everybody, but spellbinding nevertheless). How could I have forgotten "Daphnis et Chloé"... Also, among Ravel's work, "Bolero" was composed as a ballet for Ida Rubinstein, and if I remember correctly "Ma mère l'Oye" (I love it) and "La Valse" were planned to be ballets. Ed, probably there still is a statue of Meyerbeer somewhere on the facade of the Opéra Garnier... In hugh school, I remember studying a short story by Balzac which mentioned the ballet of nuns from "Robert le Diable".

Sonora, thanks a lot for your review. It seems that Ballet Arizona is very lucky to have such a talented director- choreographer! I hope that you will report about the other programs of the company. Ib Andersen was one of the candidates for the direction of the ballet de Marseille after Roland Petit's departure, but the people who decided (from the ministry of culture and the city of Marseille) preferred Pietragalla because she was more famous in France...

I saw it yesterday evening, and will see the other cast tonight. On the whole I liked it (and especially the great scenography) but wasn't really convinced by the music- and it's really hard to understand when one hasn't read the novel. It was very successful (full house, lots of applauses). There are some links about it in the "links" section, I think. I'll write more about it later...

Alexandra, I've found a shorter link: http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,5987,3246--265159-VT,00.html

I think that "Agon" was commissionned especially by the NYCB as a ballet score (and on the CDs of it, it's often written "Agon, ballet for twelve dancers"). It might seem a bit curious now, but Tchaikovsky himself admired Delibes' scores quite a lot (I don't remember if it was "Coppelia" or "Sylvia" that he considered as superior to his own "Swan Lake"...) It is not very well known, but I do love Edouard Lalo's "Namouna" (used later by Lifar for is "Suite en blanc"). Henri Sauguet's "Les Forains" (for Roland Petit) is really cute. Among the Stravinsky works composed for ballet, there's also "Petrouchka" and "The rite of spring"... About "La Fille mal gardee": it seems to me that the score which is used today has changed quite a lot from the the original version (and is by several composers).

Thanks for your review, Jeannie. It's great to be able to know about the Kirov performances "at home" thanks to you- and they do seem to have a long list of talented young dancers...