Alymer

ralphsf, you ask if Fonteyn had an exciting stage presence. You bet she did! She could light up the entire theatre and was the very opposite of a cold fish. I saw her dancing occasionally in the 1950s and then frequently from the mid sixties through to the end of her career and if, for example, I think of her in the Rose adagio I remember her with a beautiful classical line, balancing seemingly endlessly and effortlessly, and wreathed in smiles.

But this posting has raised what for me is an interesting point, and one I've often wondered about. And that is just how much sense of a performance do you get from a video? Leaving aside the Fonteyn question, I was lucky enough to see Vasiliev's Spartacus on a number of occasions and whatever I might think of the ballet as a whole I found his performance sensational on any number of levels. But for me, very little of that comes through on the video. And the same could be said for a number of other performances I've seen in both live and recorded versions. Also I've seen footage of Chaboukiani which shows him to have been an impressive dancer, but I don't really get more than a glimpses of what made him one of the major artists of the last century, according to people whose opinions I respect. So, what I wonder is how much do you really get from a video and can you judge a dancer fairly on that basis alone?

I remember the Robbins ballet as being absolutely charming. I'd love to see it again. John Cranko also used the score for his ballet Beauty and the Beast. That used the entire score with the exception of one section.

Hans Van Manen and John Neumier also created versions of Daphnis and Chloe as, I believe did Glen Tetley.

I recently came across a comment by Ninette de Valois on Fonteyn's technique which people might find interesting.

In reply to a question about whether on not Fonteyn's technique had continued to develop over the years de Valois replied:

"I call her technique very sound. She's no virtuosity dancer - that is something quite different..............she has an extremely neat accurate technique in my opinion. I would regard her work on the whole as exceptionally tidy and beautifully placed. After all, line, placing, phrasing, recision, control - everything comes into technique. And there is a state of perfection there, which is what technique means. One hides technique, one doesn't display it as such. Definitely Margot's technique is hidden in the apparently effortless perfecting of every movement she does."

Lu, I would suggest that you are confusing virtuosity with technique and would also add that there is a great deal more to dancing than steps.

Estelle, This is all very timely since on Saturday evening I lerned from a Swedish contact something about Europa Ballet. Seemingly it is supposed to be the dance equivalent to the European Youth Orchestra; that is to say a group of young dancers from a number of European countries spend a period working together, taking class and learning ballets which they later perform. Sounds like a great idea and I'm even more sorry the performance was rained off so yu couldn't report on the results.

You are right about the Ashton performances in Nice being cancelled but it was due to strike action. I don't know how much influence Cartier had on the Opera repertory - he was there only for a short period and his apointment and career there were very much mixed up with Pierre Berge's political manouvrings there. For instance, Cartier was appointed while Nureyev was Artistic Director, but without any consultation. This isn't the place to go into all those dirty dealings, but you are absolutely correct in your estimation of him. If you can find anything about Ballet Theatre Contemporain you might find it interesting. For instance, decors and lighting were always beautiful - often from well-known artists -and usually worked in favour of the choreography, which is not always the case.

Estelle, You've solved a mystery for me because I was wondering what had become of Jean-Albert Cartier. Very briefly, and without dates if you will forgive me, his background was in visual arts but he has been involved with dance for something like 30 years. He first ran Ballet Theatre Contemporain in Amiens - a classical company with a policy of dancing only works tht had been created in the 20th century. The company moved to Angers, and then to Nancy. He was, as you say at the Paris Opera, but only for a short time. He was also in charge of the Chatelet theatre in Paris for a period. He also ran a company in Nice - one of the ballets he staged there was Ashton's Deux Pigeons. He's a charming man with a very wide culture, who did some excellent work but he has suffered from political problems - ie a change of local adminstration decides that a contemporary dance group rather than a classical company - however modern - is what they are prepared to fund. He also had a period when he stopped work because of a personal tragedy. I'm glad to know he is still about. If you are intersted enought to want more details, then please email me.

I've seen a photograph of an old Royal Danish Ballet production of Swan Lake where children/students were clearly performing the dance of the little swans, which seems to me not a bad idea - I find the number terminally cute although it's clearly an audience favourite. I don't know exactly when the picture was taken but I would guess from the fact that one of them was Vivi Gelker - later Flindt - that it must have been no later than 1956/7 and probably a year or two earlier. Personally, I liked the retinue of baby swans, and the mixture of black and white tutus in Act IV. But I prefer all the female corps de ballet in long skirts for this ballet with just Odette in a short tutu.

There were some empty seats at most of the seven performances I attended - Le Corsaire was the exception.The 16 June matinee of Jewels had row upon row of empty seats in every part of the house. I sold my ticket for Manon and went to see Rambert instead so I don't know about that - but I was told the house was far from full. And I didn't buy seats for either Swan Lake on the Fokine programme.

I think the reasons were the very high prices - £62 to sit in the second or third row of the balcony, and a largely familiar repertory. I suspect Corsaire sold well because it hadn't been seen in London for many years.

Mashinka, In fact, as well as taking Ivan the Terrible into the repertory the Paris Opera gave the premier of his Romeo and Juliet with Bessmertnova dancing on the second night. I was there and remember it only too well!

I'm not sure I agree with you about Pigeons. It's a very delicate piece and I I always think at its best when danced by a young company. When I've seen the gypsies danced realistically it seems to unbalance the ballet. I have the idea that they are not real gypsies but spiteful children and in fact all the characters are children, until the last pas de deux when the lovers finally reach maturity.

I saw Ananiashvilli dance Lise and she was pretty good - but there have been an awful lot of good Lises. As to her jumping higher than anyone since Nerina - categorically no.I can think of at least one who jumped even higher than Nerina herself.

Paul Russell danced with Scottish Ballet at the time when Peter Darrell was running it. He was the first Golfo in their production of Napoli and was really good - though very different in approach from the usual stock baddie. However I guess Poul Gnatt who staged it, must have approved and I know that Kirsten Ralov, who came to see the production said that she liked his interpretation. I think he probably danced Gennaro at later performances.

Darrell also made a role for Augustus van Heerden, a black dancer from the Boston Ballet in the Scarlet Pastorale. It ended with him being strangled by Fonteyn. The role was later danced by Antony Dowell, but he didn't seem to be quite as home in it.

Your point about internationalism and not wanting to see NYCB dancing Spartacus is a good one Alexandra. I remember shuddering when it was proposed that the Royal Ballet should take it into their repertory in the 1970s. Would Nureyev have danced Crassus or Spartacus do you suppose? And what about Fonteyn? The good girl or the bad?

But while watching the Bolshoi's recent London season and before I had heard about the proposal to dance Ashton's Fille, my husband and I were commenting on how well they could have cast The Dream, given just the dancers they brought with them to Drury Lane. Not something I would ever have thought of in the past.

The Ashton ballet to be taken into the Bolshoi repertory is La Fille Mal Gardee. There is also supposed to be a new creation from Yuri Grigorovitch based on Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita.

It's not a Ballet Alert topic but I'm intrigued by the remarks in trhe Scotland on Sunday piece about the poor state of the Bolsho opera. When it came to London two summers ago it received deservedly wonderful reviews. We've just had two weeks of Verdi from the Kirov. I didn't see any of it - the prices were horrific - but I doubt that Gergiev has ever received such a critical pasting in his life. I think it will be a while before the Kirov Opera comes to London again with a Verdi repertoire.

[ 07-23-2001: Message edited by: Alymer ]

Also from the Opera de Paris and about the same generation as Vu An, there is Jean-Marie Didiere whose father (I think) is from Senegal. He now does a lot of mime roles - the High Brahmin, Lord Capulet,but has always been a very interesting dancer. At one time I seem to recall he took some time out to dance with Karole Armitage.

Other Ashton ballets that are certainly revivable/revived are Sinfonietta, Valses Nobles et Sentimentales and Capriol Suite. I find it hard to believe that Persephone could not be revived although Antony Rusell-Roberts (Ashton's nephew and the heir to a number of his ballets) says not. However, that's what he said about Dante Sonata.

I'm also sure that at least some parts of The Creatures of Prometheus could be revived.

Incidentally, the waltz in ActI of Swan Lake was originally a pas de six. It was expanded for the Helpman production in 1963, but the original was retained in the Touring Company's production. I always thought it was a better version.

Sadly it seems to be the younger generation of London critics who are engaging in this 'one good, therefore the other must be bad'game. Neither Clement Crisp in the Financial Times or John Percival in The Independent, both of whom have been watching the Russian companies from their first tours to the West, are indulging in these silly games.

I gather that the Bolshoi proposed the programmes currently being given at Dury Lane. I enjoyed the first one enormously and I'm looking forward to seeing the others, just as much as I'm looking forward to the Kirov performances. And how often do you get to see even a pas de deux from Flames of Paris, or the Gorsky Fille Mal Gardee?

I did a very quick count and discovered to my astonishment that I've seen at least 14 productions of Giselle, plus three versions by Peter Wright for the Royal Ballet companies.

Of the Wright versions I remember the original, which he did for Stuttgart as, the most satisfactory, followed by his production for the RB touring company, the ancestor of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. I somehow feel that as he has gone on revising, he's got further away from the best aspects of his first thoughts.

The most complete was Mary Skeaping's for Festival (now English National) Ballet which used every bar of music and was very long! Sheincluded the second pas de deux for Albrecht and Giselle in ActI, plus a pretty variation for Giselle to a flute solo. And in ActII she included the fuge of the Wilis. Had she been a better choreographer I think it would have been more effective.

The best effects - genuinely amazing, were in a production given in Dusseldorf. They had some kind of film, beautifully done, which showed the Wilis rising from their graves as misty emanations which then became girls, and at the end of Act II (after we has seen the Wilis return to their graves)Giselle simply disappeared into the rising sun. There were other elements of the production which were markedly less successful, not least the replacement of the mime by extra steps!

The most interesting and in many ways the most satisfying was by the late Peter Darrell for Scottish Ballet which set the action of Act I in a completely believable setting - Giselle and her Mum kept the village inn. Wilfred was a retired servant from the castle who lived opposite, the hunting party came to taste the new vintage, etc - Darrell also dispensed with all the music not by Adam.

None was perfect - I suspect the perfect production doesn't exist.

Leigh, Estelle; I'm about to leave for a few days work in Munich, but I'll post something as soon as I get back. Can I just say though that although I wouldn't describe any of those productions as being, from my point of view, "the ideal production" if indeed such a thing exists, I think you can make an arguement for them, in that theatre, at that time.

Can I add to the discussion about the Paris Company. I saw them first in about 1968/9 and they had some really impressive dancers, but the theatre was generally very troubled. There were endless labour problems, strikes, etc and good as the dancers were no one could have described it as a disciplined company, and most of the rep was, frankly,awful.

When Andre Malraux (excuse my spelling) was made Minister of Culture he decided to do something about the house. Rolf Lieberman was appointed general director with a much enlarged budget and the house was closed for a year, partly I believe for renovation and partly so that new working agreements could be put in place. Lieberman was an extremely cultured man, he had been director at Hamburg, and had a reputation as a composer.

Raymond Franchetti was a very popular teacher - not at the Opera although many of the company went to him for class - and he was given charge of the ballet, but my impression was that he dealt with the day-to-day running of the company while Lieberman and his assistant, Huges Gall, had a very considerable input into both repertory and casting. (Incidentally, I should stress that young Franchetti certainly deserved his nomination to etoile.

The first Lieberman season opened with ballet programmes including Giselle with Maximova and Vasiliev and I remember the Wilis as amazing - every girl a star with slightly different hair and make-up. Then came a production of Gluck's Orfeo which finished with the ballet choreographed by one of Lieberman's close friends - George Balanchine. To my lasting regret I didn't see it, but I'm assured it was breathtaking and beautifully danced by Thesmar and Denard in the leads.

Gall put together some really interesting and memorable programmes, and the quality of the dancers was amazing, but the reputation of the company was still such that first-rate choreographers were reluctant to work with them. The exceptions were Balanchine and Robbins - POB got a complete Ravel programme shortly after the Ravel Festival - I believe that Lieberman helped with negotiations with the Ravel Estate for the music.

In a way it was Rosella Hightower who finally made the company manageable. She managed to get permission for regular seasons at the Theatre des Champs Elysees and I actually heard her say "I'll keep them so busy they won't have time to plot".

By the time Nureyev arrived a lot of work had been put in and I guess the company was ready for him to take it to heights it had never previously dreamed of. In a word, he was both intelligent, (he judged what both the dancers and the audience needed), and he was inspirational. I could perhaps argue more strongly for the merits of his productions of the classics, but I think I've already gone on far too long.

Estelle,

The Cramer reconstruction of Fille was absolutely charming. I saw it twice and would go to quite some trouble to see it again if the opportunity ever arose. And the dancers all sing!

By the way, you might be interested to know that the Gorsky version of Fille (Moscow 1918)is notated, at least in part. That uses the Hertel score and I've seen a pas de deux staged for a gala which looked very interesting. A production of the ballet which was done many years ago somewhere in what used to be Yugoslavia used real chickens - seemingly an old russian tradition. I gather they did what chickens tend to do and the smell was appalling.

Re Lynn Seymour's Giselle. A very distinguished British critic, now alas dead, who had seen any number of dancers in that role (including Spessivtseva) remarked of Seymour's performance that she was the only Giselle who convinced him that she had been sleeping with Albrecht for some time! I should say he was both a fan and a friend of Seymour.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Marcia Haydee as an actress/dancer. I found her extraordinary in the Cranko ballets, and in ballets like Giselle,Swan Lake and even Raymonda, her dancing and acting were inseparably linked.

You have raised an interesting topic James. My guess is that a strong element of personal taste enters into your definition of the ideal Giselle. For instance, I could never believe in Besmertnova's portrayal as she seemed to me so timid that she would never have spoken to a strange man in the first place. I guess I've seen nearly all the Royal Ballet casts since about 1968 and Fonteyn with Nureyev apart, the ballerina who really stands out in my mind is Margaret Barbieri who was a dancer with the touring company (now Birmingham Royal Ballet). She was a real High Romantic type and in Act II she could make it seem as if the air around her had more substance than she (if that makes sense). Another really lovely Giselle was Trinidad Sevillano whose first performance I saw. Later she was coached by Gelsey Kirkland and also (I beleive) by Makarova and she appeared to have absorbed what she was told but still give a performance that was entirely her own.

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Hotels in Edinburgh during the Festival can be a real problem Estelle, but the French Ibis chain has a hotel located quite conveniently for the Playhouse and you should be able to book that quite easily from Marseille. It's also quite reasonably priced as Edinburgh hotels go, but you will need to move fairly quickly.

Although the stage at the Playhouse is big,I'm surprised to learn that it is the biggest stage in Britain, but I bow to Eugene's superior knowledge.

Anyway, my impression after several visits is that the sightlines in the theatre are generally quite good, so getting a reasonable view shouldn't be too difficult. I seem to recall the balcony is pretty good. But back balcony would be quite some way from the stage. Circle is excellent if you can manage it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy both NYCB and the city.

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[This message has been edited by Alymer (edited June 23, 2000).]

Laura, Gregory and Bujones danced Giselle at a Saturday matinee during an ABT season in London some years ago. I remember it as a really enjoyable performance. They both danced beautifully - his sixes certainly were wonderful - and the whole thing really worked because of the seriousness of their approach and the respect with which they treated the choreography. I remember it all the more because in the evening we had Kirkland and Baryshnikov who individually and jointly treated the audience to the most self-indulgent excesses I've ever seen in that ballet - or any other for that matter. The contrast was quite striking .....

But returning to emploi - I've been trying without success to find something that Ninette de Valois wrote about this subject. As I remember she defined the types as Danseur Noble, demicaractere and character dancers. But then she added that the most useful dancer was the really good demicaractere artist because, at a pinch, he or she could substitute for either of the other categories. Practical thinking if you ar running a company on a limited budget I suppose.

[This message has been edited by Alymer (edited March 01, 2000).]

Seymour did have problems with her weight all through her career, but even at her slimest she always had a rounded, very feminine body. I don't think she was particularly short - about the same height as Antoinette Sibley who was her contemporary. In the UK at least Alexandra, she was thought of as a dramatic, rather than a romantic dancer, and McMillan used this aspect of her dancing in roles like Anastasia and Marie Vetsera in his Manon. Ashton made the Isadora Duncan waltzes for her in 1975, to dance at a gala in Hamburg. Barishnikov appeared on the same programme, dancing with Seymour in Spectre de la Rose (he wore plain white tights, but she wore Fonteyn's costume for Spectre). On that same programme Barishnikov also danced the pas de trois from Le Pavillion d'Armide. The Isadora number was such a success that the following year Ashton added two? extra numbers and it became Five Brahms waltzes in the manner of Isadora Duncan. That same year Ashton made the role of Natalya Petrovna in A month in the country for Seymour, and I think it was the last thing she danced with the Royal Ballet. I've never seen anyone dance that role better than she did.

On the subject of ballet in France during the war, there is an interesting account by Jean Babilee in his autobiography of his experiences at the time. He left Paris before the German occupation and went to Cannes which came under the aegis of the Vichy Government. He danced there in a company directed by Marika Besobratsova, but when the free zone was occupied by the Germans at the end of 1942 he went back to Paris and auditioned successfully for the Opera. It was well known there that he was Jewish and he was subjected to some racial harassment. He narrowly missed being rounded up with most of the Jewish population of Paris (his pasport was in his real name, Jean Gutmann)but when the order came to join a compulsory labour brigade in Germany he escaped and joined the maquis (resistance) and remained with a group in Touraine until the Liberation. It's amuch more interesting account than I've paraphrased, and gives a first-hand view of how dance caried on in France during that period, but unfortunately the book is only published in french as far as I am aware.