Estelle

So here's what I had posted to alt.arts.ballet: --- On January 27, I attended a performance of a new production of "Paquita" at the Paris Opera. The first version of "Paquita" had been premiered at the Paris Opera of the rue Le Peletier in 1846: it was a two-act ballet, set to music by Edouard-Marie-Ernest Delvedez and with a choreography by Joseph Mazilier (who also was to choreograph "Le corsaire" in 1856). The main roles were danced by the same cast as that of "La sylphide", which had been premiered five years earlier: Carlotta Grisi and Lucien Petipa. The ballet wasn't danced in France after 1851. But Marius Petipa (brother of Lucien) danced and staged "Paquita" in Saint-Petersburg in 1847, and later, in 1881, he staged a new version of it, adding especially a pas de trois in the first act, a Grand Pas at the end, with some new music by Ludwig Minkus. The main role was danced by Ekaterina Vazem, who had premiered the role of Nikyia in "La Bayadere". The plot is a somewhat melodramatic story taking place in Spain (Spanish stories were quite fashionable then, for example Taglioni's "La Gitana" had been premiered eight years earlier), under the occupation by Napoleon's army. The heroin of the ballet is a young gypsy girl, Paquita. In fact, she is a girl of noble birth who had been carried off by gypsies when she was a baby. She manages to save the life of a young French officer, Lucien d'Hervilly (an evil Spanish governor wanted to have him killed by Inigo, a gypsy chief), and discovers at the end, thanks to a medallion, that in fact she is the cousin of Lucien, and can marry him. A "divertissement" combining the Pas de trois and the Grand Pas, choreographed by Oleg Vinogradov, had entered the POB's repertory in 1980. Pierre Lacotte, who had already made reconstructions of several works of the Romantic period, decided to stage a new version of "Paquita" for the Paris Opera Ballet. Himself had studied with Lubov Egorova and Carlotta Zambelli, who both had danced Paquita in Saint-Petersburg at the very beginning of the century. He found in Germany some notes by a French ballet master depicting the staging and the pantomime of "Paquita", and some variations by Mazilier. In the program notes, he admits that much of the choreography had to be re-invented (or sometimes modified, for example some parts used to be danced by female dancers en travesti). The music by Develdez and Minkus was revised and orchestrated by David Coleman, who also conducted the Orchestre Colonne for all the performances. The series of performances by the Paris Opera was plagued with several problems of injuries: the principal dancer Aurelie Dupont was supposed to premiere the role of Paquita, but she had to cancel all her performances because of an injury. Several other dancers who were supposed to dance the main roles were injured too and had to cancel some of their performances, so that some couples had to perform after having had very little time to rehearse together. Much credit is due to the premiere danseuse Clairemarie Osta, who danced the premiere with Manuel Legris and also danced with Jeremie Belingard, and to the premiere danseuse Marie-Agnes Gillot, who substituted for Agnes Letestu for some performances with Jose Martinez, and also danced with Jean-Guillaume Bart as planned. The performance I saw was danced by Gillot and Martinez. They were well-suited physically, both tall, brown-haired and thin, and in spite of the short rehearsal time together, their partnership was very good. The ballet looked very difficult technically to me, with a lot of variations for both soloists, ending with the long Grand pas, but the steps never looked artificial. It was interesting to notice the difference of styles between the parts choreographed by Petipa (pas de trois and Grand Pas), and those re-choreographed by Lacotte after Mazilier, with more petite batterie. Gillot displayed both a bright technique and some talents for mime (the second part of the first act is almost entirely mime- it made me regret not to be able to see the ballet a second time, because there were so many little details that I probably didn't notice many things). Since the beginning of the season, she has proven her versatility in several programs, dancing contemporary works by Preljocaj and Forsythe as well as classical ones by Balanchine, and it wouldn't be surprising at all if she became the next POB principal. Martinez was excellent in all what he did, very clean and elegant. In the supporting roles, Karl Paquette was expressive as the evil Inigo, and I also admired Richard Wilk as Lucien's uncle, and Jean-Marie-Didiere as Don Lopez de Mendoza. In the pas de trois, Emmanuel Thibault received some "bravos" for his virtuosity, and Clairemarie Osta and Fanny Fiat both were excellent. The whole corps de ballet was very good (and Lacotte had given them many scenes, with Spanish dances, lovely waltzes...); I especially noticed Geraldine Wiart and the very joyful Sandrine Marache in the Grand Pas. The children of the POB school had a polonaise in the last act; there were a few problems, but the steps perhaps were a little bit too difficult for children aged about 10, and on the whole they deserved some applauses too. One of the definite good points of that production was the nice sets and wonderful costumes by Luisa Spinatelli. The lovely tutus and the gorgeous pastel-colored dresses were a delight for the eye. I don't remember much of the music, but it was pleasant and suitable for the dance. The Opera Garnier was full, and the audience was very, very enthusiastic, and the dancers received several curtain calls. It was far more successful than most of the new works which entered the repertory recently, and I hope that the direction of the Opera will keep that ballet in the repertory, and that it will be danced again in next seasons.

In a recent review on http://www.imagidanse.com , Rene Sirvin wrote that the principal dancer Carole Arbo will dance her last official performance on March 8, 2001, in a Robbins program. On that night, she will dance the second pas de deux of "In the Night", and also "Other dances" with Manuel Legris. Usually principals choose a full-length work for their last official performance (often "Giselle" or "La Sylphide"), so it's quite unusual to say good-bye in a mixed bill. I hope that Carole Arbo will be thanked by the audience on that evening... She became a principal dancer quite late, in 1993, at the age of 32, but had already danced quite a lot of big roles before then. Other news: it was announced one week ago that Monique Loudieres, a former POB principal (now 45) had just become the director of the Ecole Superieure de Danse de Cannes (founded by Rosella Hightower).

I saw it twice last summer in Edinburgh, and at one of the performances, there also was a moron with a cell phone It seems that part of the audience in Edinburgh didn't like it much, but I really liked that work (and especially Peter Boal, Kyra Nichols and Helene Alexopoulos). Now I really regret not having seen it in Paris when they danced it in the early 90s. Many of the dancers who had been chosen by Robbins to dance it (Loudieres, Guerin, Platel, Arbo...) are retired or close to retirement now, and I really would have liked to see them in that ballet.

leibling, unfortunately, I started being interested in dance after Noella Pontois' retirement. But my mother has fond memories of her at the Paris Opera in the early 1970s. And Catherine (who sometimes posts on this board with the screen name Francoise) probably would have much to say about her, I remember she wrote on ballet.co.uk that Pontois was one of her favorite dancers. Also perhaps Alymer would have some comments about her? Yes, her first name is Noella with a "a" (and there should be a Umlaut on the "e"). In French, "Noel" means "Christmas", and she was born on Dec 24, 1943, so that's why her parents chose that name. She was trained at the POB school and was a POB principal between 1968 and 1983, and still performed as a guest star later (her last performance was on her 50th birthday, in Neumeier's "Nutcracker". Her daughter Miteki Kudo, who is a POB soloist now- and a very delicate and elegant dancer in my opinion- performed on that day too). I think she was one of the most popular dancers of her generation in France. She often danced with Atanassoff (dancing classical roles in alternance with Michael Denard and Ghislaine Thesmar), in ballets such as "Swan Lake", "Giselle", "La Sylphide", "Coppelia", "The Sleeping Beauty"... Now she is one of the teachers of the POB corps de ballet. I remember seeing her in the audience at some performances. All the comments I've read about her said that she was a very kind person. I wish there were more videos of her. I only saw one of "Petrushka" in which she danced the doll (Nureyev danced the main role, and Jude danced the Moor).

Jeannie, I attended the performance of Jan 27, and my impressions were very very close to yours! I really hope that they'll program that work again in the next seasons. I've written a review for it for alt.arts.ballet, and plan to post it on this site when I have time (now I'm in a hurry and have to rush to take the last bus!)

There are not many opportunities to see Balanchine works in Marseille, where I live: the Ballet de Marseille only danced "Who Cares" two seasons ago, and is going to dance "Tzigane" and "Rubies" next May, and that's all (in general, there are no tours of ballet companies in Marseille). However, I often go to Paris, and the POB has quite a large Balanchine repertory, even though it has not performed much of it in recent years (this season "Jewels" and "Apollo", last season only "Rubies", two seasons ago "Apollo" and "Concerto Barocco"...) Also I try to catch any opportunity to see Balanchine works performed (such opportunities being unfortunately rare), so since 1993 I saw some works of his performed by the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, the Ballet du Rhin, the Ballet de Nancy, the San Francisco Ballet, the POB school, the Conservatoire of Lyon and the Conservatoire of Paris- also last summer I went to Edinburgh only to see the NYCB during the festival. Also my videos of "Serenade" and the Balanchine Celebration probably are starting to fade after being viewed too often. A diet of Balanchine-only would be a bit narrow for me, but I definitely would like to see more of his works.

There have been some discussions about it on ballet.co.uk (but mostly in French). Most of the people who posted seemed a bit disappointed by that production (especially by the fact that Guillem cut many parts of the traditional variations). Clement Crisp's review in the "Financial times" was very negative. I've only read two reviews in the French press yet: one by Marie-Christine Vernay in "Liberation", which was positive (but Vernay is a critic who generally is interested only in modern dance, and it seems that what she liked most was that it was different from the traditional version, which Vernay seems to loathe), and one by Luc Décygnes, in Le Canard Enchaîné, which was very negative. The fact that Guillem was not exactly modest in her countless recent interviews in the French press probably didn't provoke indulgence...

Oh, I'm sorry I wasn't clear: Maurin doesn't appear on that tape, it is Belarbi who is in one of its videos (in "Les Noces"). Unfortunatelym I have never seen Arbo in "Giselle" (I wish I could go to Paris more often!) but have read good reviews about her in that role. I saw her once as Myrtha (in 1993, it was the day when she became a principal dancer) and she was very good. By the way, I think that she's a dancer who hasn't had the career she'd have deserved: she was in a generation with many excellent female dancers (Platel, Guerin, Gaida, Pietragalla...), and so there was much competition, and she became a principal a bit late. Moreover, soon after becoming a principal she had a child, and so danced less for a while (of course I don't criticize her for that, I'm happy for her that she has a busy family life).

I really hope that she will have opportunities to perform as a guest dancer with the Paris Opera. She's such a wonderful dancer... And also the company probably will be lacking experienced dancers for some roles- for example, the only "remaining" principals who have danced "Giselle" are Letestu and Maurin (and I think it is a role which gets better with experience). That doesn't surprise me much... I remember calling the Paris Opera and asking about the "adieux" of some other principals, and in general the people I got at the end of the line seemed surprised that I was interested in such a silly detail. The POB administration doesn't seem very interested in such things. Surely Garnier would be a nicer place. But then she'd have to retire earlier... By the way, some people posted on ballet.co.uk that Carole Arbo might retire after the Robbins program. I think that's especially true for videos of galas (sometimes the rehearsal conditions and filming conditions are not as good as those of bigger productions). I had forgotten to write in my answer to CygneDanois that I do find Kader Belarbi quite handsome and sexy (but of course that is subjective! )

Unfortunately, I've never seen Larissa Lezhnina (but remember seeing some very positive reviews about her on this site by Marc Haegeman). And I haven't seen that "Nutcracker" video either... There seem to be contrasted opinions about Maurin. Her silhouette is a bit unusual (well, she has a bigger bust than many ballerinas), and it seems to put off some people... I haven't seen her very often, but have found her interesting in many roles, she has both a good technique (even if it's probably not as good now as it used to be) and great acting talents. Do you know when and where it was filmed? I vaguely remember reading about a tape of a Russian gala with Belarbi and Arbo, is it that? It must have been filmed quite a long time ago. Unfortunately, as far as I know there are no interesting videos with Arbo (she became a principal in 1993 when she was already 32, and anyway there are not many available videos of the POB); all what I remember is that she probably has a secondary role in the "Cinderella" video (Nureyev's bizarre production). "Le Tricorne" isn't available as a commercial tape here, it was part of a "Picasso and dance" program which was shown a few times on TV (it also included Nijinska's "Le train bleu" with Maurin and Le Riche). "Paris dances Diaghilev" is a tape which seems to be available on amazon.com, and I think it's worth seeing.

She's born in 1961, and POB female dancers officially have to retire when they turn 40. So it is the last official season for Guérin, Gaïda and Arbo. Retired principals sometimes are invited as guests, for example Elisabeth Platel, who officially retired in 1999, was invited a few times for "Raymonda", but it doesn't seem to happen often- for example, from what I've been told, Monique Loudières (now 44) still takes company class every day, but she hasn't been invited since 1997 (she premiered Neumeier's "Sylvia" then). Such a fixed age for retirement has always been criticized, because there are many dancers who still are in good shape at 40, and who are artistically excellent. There have been plans to postpone the age at 42 (the retirement age for male dancers is 45, it dates back from a period when the company was lacking male dancers) but no measures seem to have been taken... Probably it's quite a complicated subject, as the Paris Opera has many administrative rules. I have no idea about the plans of Guérin after her official retirement (I don't even know when she will retire in the season). Among the former POB dancers who retired recently, some continued to dance for a while (like Platel or Loudières), some became involved in teaching or coaching (like Claude de Vulpian or Clotilde Vayer), some directed companies (like Jude, Lormeau or Pietragalla) and some disappeared more or less, probably taking care of their families (like Legree). Elisabeth Maurin is born at the beginning of 1963, so she will retire within two seasons. I think that that "Casse-Noisette" was filmed in 1988 (she became a principal then), so she was not so young (or perhaps it was another video?) Actually, she's said to still be very good in "little girls" roles such as Clara in "The Nutcracker" (there were reviews about her recently on ballet.co.uk). People are expecting new principals to be chosen soon, as after the retirements of Arbo, Guérin and Gaïda there will only be three female principals: Maurin (38), Letestu (30), and Dupont (28). There have been lengthy discussions about it among French fans on ballet.o.uk, and a lot of hypotheses... The most likely candidate now seems to be Gillot. Well, I think that purely classical roles probably aren't his best ones (and now he rarely dances such roles). He's more at ease with demicaractere roles: for example he danced most of Roland Petit's ballets in the POB repertory ("Carmen", "Le jeune homme et la mort", "Le Loup", "Notre-Dame de Paris", "Le rendez-vous"...). I have good memories of him in roles such as Fokine's "Petrouchka", De Mille's "Fall River Legend" or in Balanchine's "The Prodigal Son". Sometimes he has a wonderful stage presence- I remember that in Taylor's "Speaking in tongues", when he was on stage I hardly saw anybody else. Also he often dances in contemporary works (Forsythe, Ek...) and was chosen by Robbins for the POB premiere of several of this works (for example the second pas de deux of "In the night"). There aren't many videos of him, but he can be seen in "Les Noces" as the bridegroom in the "Paris dances Diaghilev" video, and also I found him really great as the Miller in a video of Massine's "Le Tricorne". There also is a video of the contemporary trio "Aunis" by Jacques Garnier with him and two other POB dancers, which I find really nice (and it's filmed very well).

This is a copy of a review I have posted to the newsgroup alt.arts.ballet. Some other reviews of that program have been posted on that site, by Francoise (Catherine) and Jean-Luc: http://www.balletalert.com/ubb/Forum13/HTM...TML/000415.html http://www.balletalert.com/ubb/Forum13/HTM...TML/000419.html http://www.balletalert.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/000847.html There also were some reviews on ballet.co.uk, some of them in French, and some English ones by Ann Williams and Kevin Ng. Balanchine's full-length ballet "Jewels" was supposed to have its much anticipated Paris Opera premiere on December 15. But, as several other ballet and opera performances, it was cancelled because of a strike of some of the technicians. It finally was premiered on December 19, and about 7 or the originally planned 11 performances actually took place. After spending more time that what I'd have wished queuing at the box office, I finally managed to get some seats for the performances of Dec 29 and Dec 30. The Paris Opera had commissionned some new sets and costumes to the fashion designer Christian Lacroix for that production, and most of the French media paid far more attention to that rather than to the choreography. It probably had the advantage that the costumes were not affected by the strike, but I couldn't help feeling a bit irritated that the choreography itself received so little attention, while it was in fact the real "jewel" of the program... The first part of "Jewels", "Emeralds", is on some music by Gabriel Faure, from "Pelleas and Melisande" and "Shylock". It is supposed to be a tribute to the French school of ballet, and it was the part of the evening that I loved the most, with its lovely music and its romantic atmosphere. Also, after seeing several half-satistfying modern dance performances, what a relief to see real ballet arms, expressive and graceful! In the first cast, it was Elisabeth Maurin who danced the first female role; I have sometimes found that Maurin was a bit miscast in some Balanchine ballets, but in that role she was very beautiful and moving (and there is something in her silhouette which is not so different from Violette Verdy, who created the role). In the second cast, I had the joy to see Isabelle Guerin, back on stage after a one-year absence (she gave birth to a baby girl last summer), as gorgeous and lyrical as ever. Both were partnered by Jean-Guillaume Bart, supremely elegant in everything he did. The second main couple was danced by another of the senior ballerinas of the company, Fanny Gaida, lyrical and graceful, and Kader Belarbi (one could only regret his role was not a bit more substantial). Gaida and Guerin will leave the company at the end of the season, and surely it will be hard to replace them. In the pas de trois, Clairemarie Osta, Laetitia Pujol and Stephane Phavorin (first cast) and Christophe Duquenne (second cast) showed much vivaciousness combined with elegant classicism. Lacroix's costumes looked nice to me, but his sets (a kind of photograph of emerald stones) were quite cold and uninteresting. The second part, "Rubies", on Stravinsky's Capriccio for piano and orchestra, already was in the repertory of the Paris Opera (under the title "Capriccio") since the mid-70s. I had already seen it several times, and found it more interesting in the context of the whole work than when presented alone; I'm likely to find it a bit "too light" sometimes, but it provided an interesting contrast with the other two parts. The main roles were danced by Delphine Moussin, Lionel Delanoë (replacing Carole Arbo and Eric Quilleré) and Marie-Agnès Gillot on Dec 29 and Delphine Moussin, Manuel Legris and Delphine Baey on Dec 30. The change of cast showed me the difference between a very good male dancer (Delanoë) and an excellent one: Manuel Legris was at his best in such a role, and, as in Robbins'"Suite of dances" last fall, I was in awe at his lightness, speed, wit and purity of style (and also his perfect partnering). In the soloist role, Marie-Agnes Gillot displayed much authority and stage presence. Lacroix's sets were mostly a big red diamond shape on a grey background, I didn't find it especially nice, and the costumes were a bit too agressively bright for my taste. The last part of the ballet, "Diamonds", is a homage to the Russian school and St-Petersburg, one some music from Tchaikovsky's "Symphony n.3". While many elements of "Emeralds" remind one of the Romantic period and of ballets such as "Giselle" or "La sylphide", that part makes one think of "Swan Lake". In the first cast, Agnes Letestu and Jose Martinez showed much style and elegance, and their usual good partnership. I was a bit disappointed by the second cast: Marie-Agnes Gillot didn't look completely at ease (but she's far less experienced than Letestu in such roles, and probably she will improve with time), while Nicolas Le Riche looked a bit too interested in showing his virtuosity and jumping as high as he could, at the detriment of style. It seemed that some part of the audience liked it, as they applauded vigorously at the end of most of his variations (and also Gillot's), which I found quite annoying- one almost had the feeling to be at a sports event. There even was a moment which made the audience giggle: at the end of a big jump at the left end of the stage, Le Riche disappeared backstage and a big "BOOM" was heard. People couldn't help laughing... I learnt later that his knee had hit some hard prop and that his fellow dancers had been worried for a few minutes that he might not dance the end of the ballet because of the pain, but of course the audience couldn't know that. Lacroix' sets were a silver shape above the dancers- it probably was supposed to have something to do with stars, but I couldn't help thinking about a giant fishbone... On the whole, that was a very pleasant program, and I really wish that the POB will perform it again in the next seasons (especially as part of its potential audience couldn't see it because of the strike).

Here's a link with a review by Patricia Boccadoro on culturekiosque (with some photos): http://www.culturekiosque.com/dance/review...rhemixbill.html

Thanks for all those references, Ed. I like Tchaikovski's music, but am quite ignorant about music in general, and have no idea if the recordings I have are considered as good or not (most of them were bought when I was an undergraduate student and one of main criteria was "it's cheap"). However, here are a few ones I like: -Violin Concerto: Nathan Milstein, Wiener Philarmoniker conducted by Claudio Abbado (DG, coupled with Mendelssohn's violin concerto). -Piano Concerto n.1: Sviatoslav Richter, Vienna Symphony Orchestra conducted by Herbert Von Karajan (DG, coupled with Rachmaninoff's Five preludes) Also some time ago several interesting CDs by the Russian label Melodia were available in France, but I don't remember the exact references. For example, there was one (quite interesting for balletomanes) with "Suite n.3" and "Suite n.4 Mozartiana".

Here are a few belated comments on a POB performance I attended on October 21. It included two works I had already seen, Balanchine's "Apollo" and Robbins' "Suite of dances", and two contemporary works by French choreographers, Angelin Preljocaj's "Annonciation" and a new work, "Yamm", by Lionel Hoche. It began with "Apollo", given there in the version with the prologue (which was an opportunity to see two of the apprentices of the company, Aurore Cordellier and Dorothee Gilbert, as the goddesses). At first, Laurent Hilaire was supposed to dance the main role, but he had to cancel all his performances after a bad injury in Milano. He was initially replaced with Nicolas Le Riche, but Le Riche temporarily sufferred from a back injury, so that the role finally was danced by Jean-Guillaume Bart. Bart had a busy schedule (dancing also in "Raymonda" at the Opera Bastille), and looked a tiny bit tired sometimes, but on the whole I found his performance very good. He has a great line and purity of style, and with a little bit of experience I think he'll be wonderful in that role. Agnes Letestu was a graceful Terpsichore (even if perhaps a little bit too tall for Bart), accompanied with Delphine Moussin as Calliope and Karine Averty as Polymnie (nice to see her back, after her problems of injuries!) Actually, my initial reaction when seeing "Apollo" in the season program was something like "Again!", because it had been danced two seasons before, and I would have preferred to see other Balanchine works. But as soon I started watching the ballet, I felt enthralled again, and could only admire the wonderful choreography. The following work, Preljocaj's "Annonciation", didn't exactly deserve the same compliments. It had entered the POB's repertory in 1996, after Preljocaj's successful creation "Le Parc". I had found "Le Parc" quite over-rated (nice sets, nice costumes, nice music, and imho hollow choreography), but found that one far worse. It is a long female duo which is supposed to be inspired by the theme of the annonciation St Mary. The musical score included some excerpts of Vivaldi's Magnificat, but most of it was a "creation sonore" by Stephane Roy called "Crystal Music", and which I consider as one of the ugliest things I've heard in a long while, including all sorts of noises (like planes taking off, for example). From the amphitheater seats, it was quite impossible to see the facial expression of the dancers, and the choreography itself looked especially repetitive to me -even gifted dancers like Marie-Agnes Gillot and Clairemarie Osta couldn't save it. It included many long unison parts, and I couldn't help comparing it to the wonderfully clever duo of Calliope and Polymie in "Apollo"... Fortunately, the third work was far more enjoyable: I've rarely seen anything as exhilarating as Manuel Legris in Robbins' "Suite of dances". Legris is as his best his such roles, displaying his great virtuosity, a wonderful sense of musicality, and a touch of humor. Everything looked so light and so easy... Those 15 minutes were too short. The last work of the program, "Yamm", was a new work commissioned to Lionel Hoche, on a new score by Philippe Fenelon. Actually, it's hard for me to remember anything precise about that work (and it already was hard a few minutes after seeing it). The score was not unpleasant, but to me not very well suited to dance- it was very noisy, with a lot of percussions but no easily danceable rhythm (and no easy melody), and to me sounded a little bit like the soundtrack of a movie dealing with apocalypse. The choreography (for 16 dancers) included mostly ensemble parts, which often looked like fights, and didn't give many interesting things to do to the main three soloists, Celine Talon, Yann Bridard and Guillaume Charlot. Anne-Marie Pecheur's designs were quite nice (four big semi-transparent blueish shapes at the back of the stage), but her costumes increased the general anonymousness of the dancers. I've been told later that several other choreographers had been offered to choreograph on that music and had refused, and that Hoche himself had created his work on a two-piano reduction of the score, and had heard the final version (quite different) only two weeks before the premiere- it surely didn't help... On the whole, that program was quite close to my expectations: two nice works by Balanchine and Robbins, and two disappointing contemporary works.

There have already been some discussions on this site about critics and reviews, but it was about the ballet viewer's point of view. I was wondering about the point of view of the people who are actually implied in performances (dancers, choreographers, ballet masters, costume designers, lighting designers, etc.) I've often read interviews of artists (mostly actors or singers) who said they never read reviews about their own work, or that said very negative things about critics in general, and I was wondering about how general such an attitude was. So, for the people on this board who have had the opportunity to have reviews written about their own work: do you pay some attention to such reviews? Is it important for you? Have you ever read some reviews which made you feel very happy or proud, or on the other side depressed or angry ? Did it influence your other works ? Do you feel that the reviewers sometimes neglect some aspects of ballet performances ? (I remember that Jeff Salzberg complained about the lack of attention to lighting design...)

Leigh, how many kids went out crying from that "Little match girl" ballet? I always founf that one so unbearably sad as a kid (and also "The little mermaid", but that one would make a good ballet plot, I think). What about "The ugly duckling" (ducks with brown and green tutus, etc.)? Perec ballets- I hadn't thought about that! The adaptation for "La disparition" would need to have some strong choreographic constraints ("La disparition" is a novel without the letter "e", it has been translated in English- still without "e"- as "A void"). But, as strange as it may seem, there have been some adaptations of works by Perec for the stage: last year, there was something about "Espèces d'espaces" ("Species of spaces", a very abstract work) at the Opera Bastille, and also some time before a musical work after his text "L'art effaré" (literally "frightened art", but in fact it was a text written only with syllables sounding like musical notes, "do-re-mi-fa" etc.) A ballet after Asterix (very famous comics in France) would be somewhat dreary, with all those flashy colors and big men fighting- but it could hardly be worse than the film made after it last year. What about ballets about super-heroes? They already have tights...

If I remember correctly, there also a was a production of "The three musketeers" by Andre Prokovsky (it was danced in Belgium or Netherlands a few seasons ago). What about "The count of Monte-Cristo"? Among Andersen's tales, I think that "The little girl with the matches" wouldn't be very successful as a ballet... And among Perrault's, "Snow-White and the seven dwarves" doesn't seem to have motivated many adaptations... Manhattnik, I loved your "Flatland" idea (for those who don't know it, "Flatland" is a very original little book written by Edwin A. Abbott at the end of the 19th century, in which the main characters are two-dimensional polygons, and one of them discovers the existence of a third dimension). I was also thinking about J.J.Rotman's "An introduction to the theory of groups"- probably not many dancers would like to be cast as symmetric groups, nilpotent groups or homomorphisms. It reminds me of a high scholl classmate of mine who was said to have spent all the end of a party (after quite a lot of drinking) saying that he was a cosine (and asking people if they remembered the cosine of which angle he was... ) What about Albert Cohen's "Belle du Seigneur"?

Catherine/ Françoise, this is getting off-topic, but could you tell us more about that "Wuthering heights" by Kader Belarbi next season? Will it be a full-length ballet or a shorter ballet? What music will it use?

http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=you...a=3&p=2&r=9&m=1 Igor Youskevitch in 1950 (pity one can't get larger photos!) http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=you...a=3&p=1&r=9&m=1 Youskevitch, Alonso and Kriza rehearsing "Aleno" in London, in 1953 (photo ID HU057854) http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=lec...a=3&p=3&r=9&m=1 Tanaquil Leclercq in "Bourree Fantasque" in 1950 (photo ID HU005696) http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=kri...a=3&p=2&r=9&m=1 Shirley Eckl and three male dancers (can someone identify them) in "Fancy free" in 1946. http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=kri...a=3&p=3&r=9&m=1 A group of dancers in "Fancy free" in 1946. http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=fou...a=3&p=1&r=9&m=1 The Miami City Ballet in "The four temperaments" in 1991 in Edinburgh.

Some photos of Alexandra Danilova: HU001212 in 1926, with Lifar and other dancers (I wonder whom?) in "La Pastorale" HU001214 in 1927, with Lifar, Massine and Tchernicheva in "Le Pas d'acier" HU001207 in 1927, with Lifar in "The triumph of Neptune" HU005769 in 1928, with Lifar in "Apollo" HU001128 in 1929, with Anton Dolin in "Le Bal" HU005767 in 1929 (with a bizarre costume with a wig, I wonder where it comes from?) HU028443 in 1934, with a doll of herself as she appears in "La boutique fantasque" HU037598 in 1934, in "La boutique fantasque" HU001235 in 1934, in "La boutique fantasque" with Massine HU005766 in 1938, with Lifar in "Giselle" (as Myrtha) HU005765 in 1949, in "Coppelia" BE020127 in 1966, dancing with Sol Hurok at a party And a nice portrait (undated) in short tutu: PEN3801

Thanks for the explanation, Alexandra. Does anybody have clues about that bizarre Tchernicheva photo (I've never heard about any "Cesar and Cleopatra" ballet by Balanchine, as early as 1920... ) A few other nice photos: http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=vyr...a=3&p=1&r=9&m=1 Nina Vyroubova in Lifar's "Les Mirages", in 1950 (photo ID: HU005807) http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=dow...a=3&p=4&r=9&m=1 Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell in "The Nutcracker" in 1968 (photo ID: HU005735) http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=ber...a=3&p=1&r=9&m=1 Svetlana Beriosova in "The Sleeping Beauty" ca. 1950 (photo ID: HU005884) http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=ber...a=3&p=2&r=9&m=1 Svetlana Beriosova and Michael Somes in "Rinaldo and Armida", in 1954 (photo ID: HU005772)

There seem to be so many ballet photographs on that site that posting all the URLs would be too long, but here is for example what I found for Margot Fonteyn (I just post the photos IDs, just type it in the search engine and you get it directly): CA003426 CA003425 CA003428 CA003429 CA002793 CA005306 CA003430 CA005308 CA003427 CA005310 Portraits taken in 1935 (she looks so young!) HU002204 (in 1937, beautiful portrait with a mask) HU005763 (in 1937) HU031942 (in 1942) HU005761 (in 1943 in "Swan Lake") HU005757 (idem) HU005760 (in 1946 with Alexis Rassine in "Giselle") HU001236 (in 1946 in "The Sleeping Beauty") HU019801 (in 1946 in "Symphonic variations") HU005756 (in 1947 with Massine in "The three-cornered hat") HU005728 (in 1950 with Balanchine) HU005758 (in 1950) HU031956 (in 1951 in "Daphnis and Chloe") HU005881 (idem) HU005759 (in 1951 in "Swan Lake") HU031958 (in 1953 in "The Sleeping Beauty") HU005880 (in 1953 in "Swan Lake") HU028441 (ca. 1954, coached by Karsavina for "The Firebird") HU023839 (in 1955 with her husband) HU007311 (in 1956 in "Firebird") HU011272 (idem) HU031957 (in 1956 in "Birthday offering") U1100077 (in 1956) BE024751 (in 1960 teaching a class) HU005515 (in 1960 with the Royal Family) HU005755 (in 1960 with her husband) HU005879 (in 1962 with Nureyev- it seems to be in "Giselle") BE025355 (in 1962 with Jackie and Robert Kennedy after a performance) U1258001 (in 1964 with her husband) U1433596 (in 1964 with Nureyev on the beach in Lebanon) HU028494 (in 1965 with Nureyev, rehearsing "Marguerite and Armand") BE045548 (in 1965 with Nureyev and many bouquets) HU041626 (in 1965 with Ashton, Helpmann and Blair in "Cinderella") HU001240 (idem) HU005852 (in 1965 with Blair in "Cinderella") BE045509 (in 1965 with Princess Grace) BE020266 (in 1967 with Nureyev, reharsing "Paradise Lost") U1591190 (in 1968 with Nureyev) HU028458 (ca. 1969 with Nureyev, rehearsing "Pelleas et Melisande") BE064745 (in 1975 with B.Ford, M. Graham and R. Nureyev) HU001155 (in 1979 with Nureyev) BE027037 (in 1988 at a gala honoring Nureyev) Unknown dates: HU005851 (in "Apparitions") BE020970 (with Nureyev) HU028457 (with Nureyev, who his showing his version of "Paquita") BE032449

There are quite a lot of pictures on the database corbis.com, and with a bit of luck, one can find some interesting ballet ones... For example, typing "Royal Danish Ballet" leads to about 15 old black and white pictures of performances in the 50s (plus a photo of Erik Bruhn). There are several Balanchine-related pictures, including the one: http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?q=HU0...&v=1&s=HU005728 It's supposed to be George Balanchine and Margot Fonteyn in 1950 in London (is it really Fonteyn? I don't recognize her on that photograph...) Also there is a photo of him instructing a ballerina in Copenhagen (date not given), at: http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=bal...a=3&p=2&r=9&m=1 (picture ID BE031545) Does anybody know who that ballerina was, and can you recognize the ballet? The pictures are quite small, and sometimes the legends are very unprecise (dancers not credited, etc.), but trying to find ballet photographs and to identify which dancers or ballets were photographed can be an amusing game on my opinion. A few other photographs: http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=bal...a=3&p=9&r=9&m=1 Title "David Blair copies ballet postion" (sic), Sept 8, 1950. The man in the middle is Balanchine, but who is the ballerina? http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=bal...=3&p=13&r=9&m=1 A nice photograph of Tallchief and Skibine in "Concerto Barocco" in 1948. http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=bal...=3&p=11&r=9&m=1 Yvonne Mounsey and Francisco Moncion in "The prodigal son" in 1950. http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=bal...=3&p=12&r=9&m=1 The legend is really odd: "Russian ballerina Lubov Tchernicheva portrays Cleopatra in the Balanchine ballet Ceasar and Cleopatra. Ca. 1920." http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?s=lif...a=3&p=1&r=9&m=1 Tchernitcheva, Lifar, Danilova and Massine in Massine's "Le pas d'acier" (There are quite a lot of pictures of Danilova: in "Coppelia", "La boutique fantasque", "Le Bal", "Giselle", "Apollo"...) People are welcome to post the URLs or photos IDs of the photos they find interesting.

Oh, that's a great example of cultural divide (even though I think that opinions probably are more nuanced now than before). And for example, it's a bit odd for a French person to read Forester's "Captain Hornblower" stories (it takes place during the French Revolution and Napoleon period, and the main character is a captain in the Royal Navy)- Napoleon is depicted as if he was almost Hitler's twin (and the French have nice boats but are incredibly messy, etc.) That doesn't surprise me much- that seems quite close to what I often have read... Even now, Ashton still is almost unknown in France. It was partly thanks to this site that I understood how important a choreographer he was. Do you remember the names of the authors? I saw that revival of "Soir de fete" when it was revived in 1997. I liked it (and the music was quite lovely), but had the feeling that I was lacking some clues to fully appreciate it. As you wrote, the revival didn't sound very "serious": I don't think that the company will dance it again soon... To get back on topic: I agree about Neumeier being an example of "cultural divide", he seems to be far more popular and respected in France and Germany than in the US (I don't know about UK). Some cultural divides may change with time: Leigh mentioned Balanchine, and also there are examples in modern dance (the first French tour of the Graham Dance Company in the 50s was a failure, while their tours in the late 80s and 90s were very successful...)