innopac

The automaton was a popular phenomenon in eighteenth-century Europe and one that filled Hoffmann with horror, representing as it did the insolent attempt by human reason and the human will to usurp the prerogatives of nature. In a letter he contemplated the possibility of a human person dancing with an automaton, and asked with fascinated repulsion, "Could you witness such a scene even for a minute without shuddering?" from page 51 in The Double in Nineteenth-Century Fiction by John Herdman. Have you seen any productions where this was a subtext? Or do most productions make Dr Dr Coppelius an object of ridicule and/or sympathy?

This is off topic but it broke my heart.... Beresford talking about his childhood: "Well, I think I first fell in love with movies when I was only four or five. I got an 8mm camera when I was about 11 or 12 and I started making little films - comedies and little dramatic films with school friends. And I made literally dozens of these and I had a little editor and I used to make up all of these films. And one of the things that really split me up with the family was that I got home one day from school and I went into my room and all the film stuff was gone and my parents had thrown it out. They said, "You're spending too much time with that stuff, we got rid of it." I was devastated." quote from an interview on ABC TV

"Best piece of Lyric Theatre foyer gossip: the movie version of Li Cunxin's Mao's Last Dancer, directed by Bruce Beresford, will be choreographed by Graeme Murphy, former artistic director of Sydney Dance Company, with the SDC's Hickson Road studios being transformed into the studios of the Houston Ballet, where Li danced as a principal artist. Birmingham Royal Ballet principal Chi Cao will star as Li in the movie." quote from Foyer Whispers

Thinking about this thread I just re-watched the Schubert pas de deux with Ekaterina Geltzer and Vasili Tikhomirov (from the dvd The Glory of the Bolshoi) which is also now on YouTube. Once you get beyond the costuming and melodramatic poses of another time it seems to me that there is a moment that many dancers of today would have difficulty with where Geltzer gets up from a kneeling position to go on pointe without assistance. Or is this just showing my ignorance?

I recently read an interview with Natalia Osipova regarding her Giselle - I can't seem to find it again now that I want to post a link to it - in which she states that in her performance of Giselle she went back to the more "original" choreography in some places which had been abandoned or changed because it was considered too difficult (for which she was apparently criticized, the audience being under the impression that she'd made it up). This backs up the point canbelto mentioned. Is this the Interview? Osipova talking about Giselle: "But if we are talking about the second act, there we did add some technical challenges to the duets, and more precisely to the lifts, which in fact were choreographed that way a long time ago. At the end of the adagio, for example, we do the “swallow”. Everyone had always done it. People started to say, “What have they done!” But Marina Victorovna said, “What are you talking about, thirty years ago we all danced it like that.” In her time, all partners lifted their ballerinas in a “swallow”.

Thank you Klavier. What I am wondering is if that same level of discussion of "historical performance", "performance practice" and "authenticity" exists in the world of ballet?

It looks like this is movie called both Pavlova: a woman for all time and Anna Pavlova: a woman for all time. The following information is from WorldCat: Filmed on location in Russia and England, this colorful and entertaining feature film re-creates in glorious detail the fascinating life story of the legendary ballerina Anna Pavlova. Executive producer, Frixos Constantine ; written and directed by Emil Lotianou ; Western version supervised by Michael Powell. Starring Galina Beliaeva as Anna Pavlova, James Fox as Victor D'Andre, Martin Scorsese as Gatti-Cassaza, Roy Kinnear as the Gardener, and Bruce Forsyth as Alfred Batt. Originally produced as a motion picture in 1983 Publisher: Kultur ISBN: 0769721389; 9780769721385

I agree that music has a firmer basis of notation, however there is a wide range of discussion on type of instruments to be used, ornamentation, phrasing and pitch. It just seems to me, even with classical ballet, that there is less interest in striving for historical "authenticity". Or is this a misguided view?

Would it be correct to say there is a more of a movement towards "authenticity" in the area of early music than there is with "early" ballets?

Is there a point where a ballet work becomes a "historical" work and therefore should remain sacrosanct? Wiley seems to be arguing that ballets shouldn't remain frozen in time but maybe the difficult issue is setting the limits of the "flexibility" that he is talking about in the quote below. "And if, for example, one has ever seen Ivanov's steps to Swan Lake danced by a ballerina who was not physically similar to Pierina Legnani, for whom they were created, one understands that the need for flexibility in choreography is genuine, and that modern day insistence on exact duplication of such individually modelled dances can be historically and artistically misguided. For Petipa a change of cast, and particularly of ballerina, might automatically call for the reshaping of a work, something to which the literature bears witness again and again." page 1 of Roland John Wiley's Tchaikovsky's Ballets

I have been asked to post the following question by a friend. Does anyone know the significance, meaning, or historical origin of the gesture of reaching up and back and touching the head during a dance, particularly a Russian folk dance?

You could try emailing Szwede Slavic Books. They might be able to track down the book for you. I have found them very helpful when they were at their previous location in Palo Alto. Also there are these contact details from 2002 for a Galina Dobrovolskaya on the Web Rossiyski Institut Istorii Iskusstv (Russian Institute for History of Arts) St Pb. 19000, Isaakievskaya pl. 5 - Tel. 314.41.36 Researcher: Galina Dobrovolskaya

Is it partly when the dancer is tense or afraid of being lifted? A bit like when you ride on the back of a motorcycle?

It now looks like the dvd of Proust has been released in France. Proust

If anyone is interested here are some links about the ballet Relâche and the film by Rene Clair, Entr'acte, that was shown between acts of the ballet. I have been told that the music for the film by Satie was the first example of music that was composed to a film and not a pastiche of already composed music. The film Entr'acte (1924): Entr'acte Documentary with Rene Clair: Rene Clair Go to page 2 of article by Samuel Dorf for "The Ballet Relâche: Entr’acte in Context": Relâche

In Ballet Talk for Dancers there is a post by Mel Johnson about lifting in ballet... "And Bob is really correct about practically any male dancer being able to press-lift any female dancer. In partnering, the woman works just as hard as the man. " My question is how does the ballerina work to make the lift easier for her partner? In Karsavina's memoir she writes of being advised to cut her nails. What other things are important?

Hello alaneE, Have you danced any of John Neumeier's works? I am trying to find out more about him and his choreography but there doesn't seem to be very much written in English. For example, are there difficulties for dancers specific to his choreography? How does Neumeier work?

Thank you all -- I feel like a kid in a candy story -- lots to look forward to!

Thank you very much rg. Your post is much appreciated. I will follow these up.

Could someone recommend a couple of books about Russia at the turn of the 20th Century? I would especially like to learn more about the structure of society, the life of the people and their social mores. It would be great if there is one that also discusses the place of ballet in society. I have tracked down Solomon Volkov's book, St. Petersburg: a cultural history which Bart mentioned in another thread. Any other suggestions would be gratefully received.

I would like to know too, Amy, how a benefit worked. Kschessinska writes that the Tsar usually gave an "Imperial present" on the day of the benefit performance. The men would get a gold watch and the women would get a jewel in gold or silver, perhaps mounted with precious stones and "bearing a crown or Imperial eagle." She let it be known that she didn't think these gifts were particularly beautiful and so, on this occasion, she was given a "magnificent brooch, a kind of serpent in diamonds coiled into rings and bearing in the middle a large cabochon-shaped sapphire." She also mentions receiving "a vast number of gifts and ninety-three bouquets or baskets of flowers."

This is from Kschessinska's memoirs Dancing in Petersburg page 75-6. In this passage she describes how she was granted an audience with the Minister of the Imperial Court in which she requested that she be granted a benefit performance after ten years of service. Generally benefit performances occurred after twenty years of service or retirement and the approval for benefit performances "not covered by the regulations" had to be given by the Tsar. I loved the subtext of this passage because it shows her confidence in her position and also her ability to charm. ... "seeing him [the Minister] well disposed towards me, I told him that I owed my capacity to perform thirty-two fouettes without flaw to him. 'I am delighted,' he said, a little confused, 'but I do not quite see...' Obviously he did not see at all, and did not understand how such a responsibility was his. 'It's very simple,' I resumed. "To dance fouettes in one spot one has to have a clearly visible mark ahead every time one turns. You always sit in the middle of the front row of the stalls, and when it's dark your decorations glitter in the footlights!' My explanation delighted him and he again assured me that I had no need to worry about the outcome of my petition. Of course I was allowed my benefit performance, once again thanks to the Emperor!"

I was interested to read Andre Yew's comments on watching HD-DVDs and thought this deserved more discussion. What are people's experiences switching from watching ballet on an old CRT television to a high definition LCD or Plasma screen? And what are the pros and cons of watching HD-DVDs? Andre mentions a focus problem in his post: "But the high resolution also exposed production problems. The cameramen that night had issues with their focus. The director would cut to a closeup, and you'd see the camera hunting for its focus as the picture went into focus, then out, then in again. I never saw this on the regular DVD."

Alicia Alonso “Life is not unjust with anyone,” she says in an interview with The Associated Press. “One is unjust with life because it always increasing[ly] demands you to do what you really can do.”

Unfortunately, there are no credits given for the salamander, no mention at all, even in the rolling credits at the end. Would that usually be the case if there was a stand-in?