Alymer

Going back several posts to the "authenticity" of the Royal Ballet's Swan Lake, one thing to note is that the choreography of the first act pas de trois was substantially changed for this production. Dowell brought in Irina Jacobsen to help with the staging and so this number is now very much "fancier" than the version originally done by the Sadler's Wells/Royal Ballet. And I'm pretty sure that there have also been changes to the second act - even leaving aside the omission of Benno. I'm fairly sure there have been changes to the choroegraphy for the "big" swans and as we no longer have the huntsmen supporting the corps de ballet swans, there are obviously changes there. There have also been some minor changes to the choreography of the last act making it more elaborate. But here the story always was that there was a gap in the notation which de Valois filled. However, I also remember being told that the missing part was only a matter of around a minute or so. I first saw the Royal Ballet Swan Lake back in in the 1950's and there have been constant changes in all the productions since then. Dowell's version I find particularly unattractive; wrong-headed designs, rudeness, drunkeness and no sense of classical style. I couldn't say whether it is the most "authentic" version on the stage today, but I can state from my own observation that it has changed considerably in the past 50 years.

Fascinating variation and charmingly performed. Whose music? Do any of our contributors know? Drigo perhaps? Don't know the composer, but Mary Sleaping used that music in her production for Festival/English National Ballet.

I'd give a good chunk of money to the setting up of an Ashton Foundation. Specifically to recording what people remember who created roles, or were actually coached in them by Ashton himself. And not only principals. Dancers far lower in the rankings have valuable contributions they could make - but they are never asked and so many of Sir Fredericks ballets exist now only in bowdlerised versions, robbed of many of their important details. And some of them are on the verge of being lost forever.

Marisa, you might be interested to know that Richard Buckle's biography of Diaghilev contains an interesting account of the family background and his early years.

Vicky Powell a dancer with Sadler's Wells (now Birmingham) Royal Ballet studied law, qualified as a solicitor and is now prominent in London local politics. She was made DBE for services to the community and is now Dame Sally (her real name) Powell. And I seem to remember Arthur Mitchell saying that one of his dancers had become a surgeon, but I don't think he mentioned a name.

I believe Chaconne is actually a version of the dances Balanchine choreographed for Rolf Lieberman's production of the opera, originally shown in Hamburg and later in Paris where Ghislane Thesmar and Michael Denard took the leads. And don't forget the wonderful Polish dances in Glinka's A Life for the Tsar which used to be a Bolshoi showpiece - there is a video of them dating from the 1950's , though I don't know if it is commercially available. The dances in the Polish scene of Boris Godounov were attributed to Lopukov and there are a number of dance scenes in Ruslan and Ludmilla, some of which are very interesting. Petipa speaks in memoirs of arranging the Lezginka in Ruslan,which also formed part of the dances which made up Le Festin, though I think nowadays all the choreography of Ruslan is attributed to Fokine. Again, an entire production of the opera has been recorded complete with the ballets. Much more recently Michael Tippett's Midsummer Marriage has important dance elements which form an essential part of the plot, and these were originally choreographed by John Cranko.

Certainly. It's Renee (Zizi) Jeanmaire and it looks as if she's wearing one of the costumes from Carmen.

I've also seen them described as "calcons de precaution", and you can see glimpses of them in some of Degas' painting of dancers. But I thought people might be amused by this quotation from the journal of Mrs Arbuthnot who was one of the Duke of Wellington's flirts. It's dated 28 July, 1821: "I went to the Opera where the Duke (of Wellington) came to me. We were admiring the ballet and the Duke told me he would tell me a very odd story if I wd.promise not to be shocked or angry. He said that when Bonaparte came to Paris from Russia the whole town talked of nothing but the loss of the army and it was felt to be very desirable to give them some other topic of conversation. Bonaparte's expedient was to make the women dancers at the Opera dance without their undergarment! and actually sent an order to that effect! The women, however, positively refused; but did any one ever hear of such a proposal? Tho' the Duke said that, if the women had consented, he did not doubt but that it would have obliterated all recollection of the Russian losses, for in that country they have not the decency which, in this, wd. cause women so dressed to be hisssed off at once. This anecdote he said he knew for a fact."

The evening was filmed, but the film was damaged subsequently. I believe it was kept in a cupboard near to a radiator - or so I was told. Incidentally, Fonteyn was wearing her original costume for the Nocturne excerpt. It had been purchased in some kind of charity sale by the writer GBL Wilson who loaned it for the gala. Apparently Fonteyn slipped into it after all those years without a single alteration required. Would that some of us could say the same!

And don't forget Pepe, the little dog in Ashton's A Wedding Bouquet.

I've just learned that Clive Barnes died in the early hours of this morning (Wednesday). He was 81 years old and had recently been diagnosed with cancer of the liver.

Not at all. and I read it a second time to be sure.

Third member of the cast was Anthony Dowell. The theme cited in the programme is two brothers whose relationship is threatened by tha advent of a young woman.

Could it be Espinosa's studio?

It was actually John Cranko who did Brandenburgs 2 and 4 for the Royal Ballet in 1966. It didn't survive for long but the suggestion in John Percival's biography of Cranko is that it proved impossible to find substitutes for the first cast when they were unavailable.

I should think your guess about Lopukova is correct. Evgenia Lopukova was Lydia Lopukova's older sister, and like all the children in that family joined the Mariinsky company. Evgenia appeared as a corps de ballet dancer in Diaghilev's first Paris season, but by the time Lydia was invited to take part in the 1910 season, Evgenia had married a young engineering student, according to Judith Mackrell's biography of Lydia, but she continued dancing, eventually giving up classical ballet for musical comedy.

David Wall was ballet master of English National Ballet until a short time ago. He did a remarkable job and was very highly spoken of. He has now officially retired, though I'm not certain that he has entirely stopped working. I saw him at a performance only a month or so ago with his wife, the former ballerina Alfreda Thorogood.

I agree. Far too light, far too 'classical'. I think it was a sad day when the major Russian companies stopped having recruiting a group of specialist character dancers - that is to say not those dancers who play Kings, Queens, Dukes, Pashas, etc, but a group of dancers who did things like the Danse Basque, Taras Bulba, the dances from Ivan Susanin, the national dances in Swan Lake, etc. When the Kirov came to the Festival Hall in London in 1970 - they brought a repertory consiting mainly of short pieces, including excerpts from Gayaneh, Taras Bulba, Flames of Paris and Ivan Susanin - and those character dancers were terrific. I remember them as absolutely holding their own in their own way against wonderful dancers like Kolpakova, Komleva, Makarova, wonderful Soloviev and even our first sight of the young Barishnikov. There was a remarkably beautiful young women Olga? Zabotkina who did all the principal women's parts in these numbers and she was wonderful. However, I have to admit it was pretty odd in the extract from Vainonen's Nutcracker to see as the Cavaliers in the Rose Walts a procession of gentlemen of markedly heavier build than the four young men supporting Kolpakova. I had the distinct impression that it was some years since most of them had gone on stage in white tights and white wigs. But seriously, it was one area where you had to say that russian companies beat their western counterparts hands down, but now they're all young, thin and light.

From a quick reckoning I calculate that MacMillan's Romeo accounted for 18% or the Royal Ballet's performances this season. A triple bill which included two of his ballets accounted for a further 6%. If Lady MacMillan holds the rights to these works and then tells the Board of the Opera House (of which incidentally she has been a member), that she will probably withdraw the rights, then it's disingenuous to say the least to pretend she does not have considerable influence over their decisions. But perhaps more interestingly, what would have happened if she had carried out her threat? The ballets would not have been lost as they are notated and several are in the repertories of companies other than the Royal Ballet. At the very least it would have resulted in a major re-think as to what the company should be doing, and might have brought about the 'up-dating' the Board claimed it wanted from Dowell's successor. And a final thought with regard to the Acosta interview: I'm sorry to learn that he's not prepared to accept correction. It might account for some of the performances he's given in London this season.

I find it hard to believe that Stretton was given only 24 hours to prepare that gala. He must have known that there was to be a gala for the Queen's golden jubilee and the the ballet would be playing a major part. Certainly most of the interested public knew several months in advance. If the news really was kept from him then that in itself must be quite a story, or does he mean only one day's stage and technical rehearsal. Even so, the programme consisted only of extracts from work that had been given that season - there was nothing new or specially prepared for the occasion, a major point of dissatisfaction. I would add however that although the gala was generally regarded as a disaster I think Southgate's public criticism was totally out of order. Reading only extracts from the interview in Valerie Lawson's story it's hard to form a balanced judgement. But certainly hostility towards an outsider from some members of Royal Ballet staff is an old story. That Norman Morrice faced the same difficulties I know on reliable evidence. And one or two of Stretton's quoted criticisms of the state of affairs in the Royal Ballet probably have a more complex back story than appears here. Deborah MacMillan certainly does have a reputation as a fearsome champion of her husband's work and that was the case long before he died. I can't help wondering though, whether having now granted performing rights for Manon to English National Ballet who give regular seasons of in-the-round classics at the Albert Hall, she will get her wish and we shall see Manon in the round in the near future. Presumably with 60 whores rather than the 60 swans the company fields for Swan Lake.

And the dancers are Darcy Bussell and Adam Cooper.

[My recollection is that the designs for that production were by Lila di Nobili and Rostislav Doboujinsky rather than Julia Trevelyan Oman, but they were Victorian Gothic (think the Houses of Parliament) rather than genuinely medieval. There were certainly some very pretty effects, but for me the real problem was that Peter Wright tried to make it a Romantic ballet rather than a classical ballet. On the other hand, when you think what we've had since...........well, it wasn't so bad. However, much as I admire Ashton's choreography for the awakening pas de duex, I question whether it really fits into the story. After all, the Lilac Fairy has destined Florimond (or Desiree) for Aurora from the moment of his conception. They recognise each other immediately. They already know each other. And I have an idea that in the original story immediately on waking she says something like "My prince, you have been so long in coming".

The man on the extreme right of the picture - in the three-piece suit - might be Bill Como who was editor of Dancve Magazine in the 1970s.

Well said!

Oh dear. Once you start you can't stop. On page 563 there is a reference to Carolyn Carlson which describes her as dancing with the Ailey company. Actually, she was one of Alwin Nikolais' dancers, though given that she had the whitest skin imanginable and the palest blond hair, the thought is interesting. Going on from there, the reason the 1950 Graham season in Paris was cancelled was because Graham injured herself seriously on the first night. It may have been disliked by Le Figaro, but that wasn't the reason for the curtailment of the season. (There's more of a story to that, but not for now.) Kavanagh says that Paris audiences had little experience of modern dance. Well, off the top of my head they had certainly seen Cunningham, Nikolais (who had a big success) and Taylor. In addition, while the country didn't have the host of post modern choreographers it now enjoys, there was Ballet-Theatre Contemporain based first in Amiens and then at Angers. That company's policy was to dance nothing created before the 20th century, with a large proportion of creations. In addition to works made by french choroegraphers, they had ballets created by Louis Falco and Lar Lubovitch and they toured widely. Plus, there was a significant and continuous programme of modern dance at the Theatre de la Ville in Paris with companies such as Netherlands Dans Theatre.