innopac

The Magic Nut. A prologue to The Nutcracker. by Mihail Chemiakin Skira Editore, Milan, 2005 Distributed by Thames and Hudson and available on Amazon 151 pages "The idea of staging the whole Hoffman tale, including the story of Pirlipat and the magic nut, first arose about thirty years after the first production of The Nutcracker, when choreographer Fyodor Lopukhov commissioned Shostakovich to write the music. Unfortunately it was right after the composer was savaged by the press for his music for the ballets Bolt and The Limpid Stream, and Shostakovich backed away from ballet scores." from introduction by Mihail Chemiakin, page 2 This is a beautifully produced book of the sketches created by Mihail Chemiakin for the production of The Magic Nut. (The ballet premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre on 14 May 2005.) Mikahil Chemiakin, Sergei Slominsky (composer) and Donvena Pandoursky (choreographer) each have written a page of text as an introduction. A short synopsis of the ballet introduces each set of sketches. I only wish there were texts in english to explain each sketch but perhaps they felt that would take away from the overall design of the book.

I have just found one very recent review on Amazon (4 July) of The Bolt. Has anyone seen any other reviews of the dvd? Thanks.

This is what Li Cunxin says in his memoir about his experience with a raked stage. After he defected from China he went to Russian for a competition.... For the competition in Moscow we competed on the historic Bolshoi stage. It was huge, but it was also raked. When I jumped up the stage it felt like I was pushing uphill. When I did my turns my weight fell towards the audience. Becoming accustomed to this type of stage takes two to three weeks but this entire competition only ran for two weeks. American stages were all flat. Most European stages were raked but the Bolshoi was famous for its very steep rake and it proved disastrous for me. Two minutes before the curtain went up on my first round, I slipped just as I was taking off for a grand jeté. My body crashed to the floor and I landed hard on my back. [He had at two herniated disks in his lower back.] Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin Viking, London, 2003 page 386

These two dances are on the Stars of the Russian Ballet compilation. Does anyone know the plot of these ballets? Stars of the Russian Ballet Volume two, chapter three "BAYANA" / 1984 year shooting / - 5'45". Music: Vila-Lobos / Choreography: L.Lebedeva NATALIA BOLSHAKOVA and VADIM GULYAEV Volume two, chapter four 6. "ANGARA RIVER" / 1979 year shooting / - 3'52" Music: A.Ashpay / Choreography: Y.Grigorovitch /1976/ LYUDMILA SEMENYAKA and BORIS AKIMOV

Coppelia: Ballet by Delibes G. Stepanenko (Swanilda), V. Taranda (Coppelius), A. Malykhin (Frantz) - Bolshoi Theatre 1987 This production is a very lighthearted one with Doctor Coppelius portrayed as a Drosselmeyer type character. In the second act, during the scene in his workshop, he helps Swanhilde make Franz realise how foolish he was for falling in love with a doll. And in the final act the toymaker helps organise the village festivities and produces his doll for the amusement of the local children. It looks to me like the production was done by the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. There are many younger dancers, especially in the third act. It is available from Opus TV through the Brightcove site as a download rental or purchase to watch on your computer with Windows Media Player. Opus TV

The case covers are in Russian and there are no booklets. I would be happy to photocopy the covers and post them to one of you if you wanted to translate the publication details. My copies came from www.tvshows-dvd.com Stars Of The Russian Ballet Format NTSC Region All Subtitles: English Russia 2006 From experience: If you are ordering from this site and you are having the dvd sent to a non NTSC country but still want the NTSC format I would suggest clarifying that in the order. If you want a PAL version it would be worth emailing them and asking them if one is possible. But these two dvds are also available elsewhere, including Amazon Market. The Amazon Market copy says it is Region 1 -- US and Canada. Note: For newcomers to ballet, like myself, there is another dvd with exactly the same title: Stars of the Russian Ballet / Plisetskaya, Ulanova, Chabukiani, Dudinskaya, Sergeyev, Gusev, Bolshoi Ballet (1954).

This may be combined from other compilations of televised dances and is mainly from the 70s and early 80s. You will need to be willing to accept an inferior quality of sound, occasional abrupt cuts, disruptive effects and amazing curtains ;). However, I bought it because of wanting to see more of Vladimir Vasiliev and Ekaterina Maximova and have not regretted it for a moment. The highlights for me are Icarus and Walpurgis Night and Romeo and Juliet. There is also a wonderful Don Quixote with Nina Timofeyeva and Alexander Godunov. Stars of the Russian Ballet [contents copied from the web] Volume 1 129 minutes Chapter 1: 01."SWAN" / 1975 year shooting /- 3'30" / Music: C.Saint-Saens/ Choreography: M.Fokine MAYA PLISETSKAYA 02. "DON QUIXOTE" / 1972 year shooting / - 620". Music: L.Minkus / Choreography: M.Petipa / EKATERINA MAKSIMOVA and VLADIMIR VASILIYEV 03. "MELODY" / 1970 year shooting / - 3'50" / Music: A. Dvorjak / Choreography: K.Goleizovsky / NATALIA BESSMERTNOVA and ALEXANDR LAVRENYUK 04. "BUTTERFLY" / 1983 year shooting / - 10'15" / Music: J.Offenbach / Choreography: M.Taglioni / P.Leconte / IRINA KOLPAKOVA and SERGEY BEREZHNOY 05. "MAZOUR DANCE" / 1972 year shooting / - 3'00" / Music: A.Skryabin / Choreography: K. Goleizoovsky / EKATERINA MAKSIMOVA 06. "PERI" / 1983 year shooting / - 6'40" / Music: F.Buergmuller / Choreography: V.Timofeev / LYUBOV KUNAKOVA and MARAT DOUKAYEV 07. "MELODY" / 1978 year shooting / - 3'40" / Music: K.Gluck / Choreography: A.Messerer / MARINA KONDRATIYEVA and MARIS LIEPA 08. "LA BAYADERE" / 1979 year shooting / - 11'00" / Music: L.Mincus / Chereography: M.Petipa / NADEJDA PAVLOVA and VYACHESLAV GORDEYEV 09. "DON QUIXOTE" - "GIPSY DANCE" / 1971 year shooting / - 2'55" / Music: V.Zhelobinsky / Choreography: K.Goleizovsky / TAMARA VARLAMOVA and BOLSHOI ballet dancers 10. "SWAN LAKE" / 1973 year shooting / - 9'35" / Music: P.Tchaikovsky / Choreography: M.Petipa/Llvanov / MAYA PLISETSKAYA and VALERY KOVTUN Chapters 2: 1. "SWAN LAKE" / 1973 year shooting / - 6' 58" / Music: P.Tchaikovsky / Choreography: M.Petipa & L.Ivanov/ 1895/ MAYA PLISETSKAYA and VALERY KOVTUN 2. "NARCISSE" / 1971 year shooting / - 4'47" / Music: N.Cherepnin / Choreography: K.Goleizovsky VLADIMIR VASIUEV 3. "ESMERALDA" / 1983 year shooting / -6'56" / Music: C.Puni / Choreography: M.Petipa / A/Vaganova TATYANA TEREKHOVA and NIKOLAY KOVMIR 4. "LAYLA ana MAJNU" / 1971 year shooting / - 3' 32" / Music: S.Balasanyan / Choreography: K.Golelzovsky MARIA GORODSKAYA and ELLA KASTERINA 5. "GISELLE" / 1978 year shooting / -10' 15" / Music: A.Adan / Choreography: J.Coralli, J.Perrot, M.Petipa / 1841/ MARINA KONDRATYEVA and VALERY KOVTUN 6. "VENICE CARNEVALE" / 1983 year shooting / - 3' 31" / Music: C.Puni / Choreography: M.Petipa / 1895 /SVETLANA EFREMOVA and VALERY YEMEC 7. "DON QUIXOTE" / 1976 year shooting / - 7'30" / Music: L.Minkus / Choreography: M.Petipa /1869 / & A.Gorsky / 1902 / NINA TIMOFEYEVA and ALEXANDER GODUNOV 8. "LEGEND of LOVE" / 1978 year shooting / -5'27" / Music: A.Melikov / Choreography: Y.Grigorovich / LYUDMILA SEMENYAKINA and ALEXANDER BOGATYREV 9. "ROMEO and JULIA" / 1979 year shooting / - 13' 30" / Music: G.Berlioz / Choreography: M.Bezhar / EKATERINA MAXIMOVA and VLADIMIR VASILIYEV Volume 2 121 minutes Chapter 3 1. "The SLEEPING BEAUTY" / 1977 year shooting / - 5' 32". Music: P.Tchaikovsky / Choreography: M.Petipa / 1890 / MAYA PLISETSKAYA and BOLSHOI ballet dancers 2. "ICAR" / 1978 year shooting / - 1'51" Music: S.Sionimsky / Choreography: V.Vasiliyev / 1971 / EKATERINA MAXIMOWA and VLADIMIR VASILIYEV 3. "VARIATION" / 1978 year shooting / - 1'51". Music: D.Ober / Choreography: M.Fokine MARINA KONDRATYEVA 4. "BAYANA" / 1984 year shooting / - 5'45". Music: Vila-Lobos / Choreography: L.Lebedeva NATALIA BOLSHAKOVA and VADIM GULYAEV 5. "ESMERALDA" / 1976 year shooting / - 6'39" Music: C.Puni / Choreography: M.Petipa / 1886 / NINA TIMOFEYEVA and YURI VLADIMIROV 6. "GISELLE" / 1978 year shooting / - 3'37" Music: A.Adan / Choreography: J.Coralli, J.Perrot, M.Petipa / 1841 / LYUDMILA SEMENYAKA and MIKHAIL LAVROVSKY 7. "BIRD of PREY" / 1971 year shooting / - 3'31" Music: M.Ravel / Choreography: K.Goleizovskiy ELENA RYABINKINA 8. "VALPURGY NIGHT" / 1974 year shooting / - 9'11" Music: C.Gunot / Choreography: L. Lavrovsky EKATERINA MAXIMOVA, SHAMIL YAGOUDIN, STANISLAV VLASOV 9. "DON QUIXOTE" / 1968 year shooting / - 7'45" Music: L.Minkus / Choreography: M.Petipa / 1869 / & A.Gorsky/ 1902 / LYUDMILA SEMENYAKA and MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV 10. "ROSA's DEATH " / 1978 year shooting / 10'00" Music: G.Maler / Choreography: R.Petit MAYA PLISETSKAYA and VALERY KOVTUN Chapter 4 1. "ROMEO and JULIET" / 1955 year shooting/ - 4'54". Music: S.Prokofiev / Choreography: L.Lavrovsky / 1940 year / GALINA ULANOVA and YURI ZHDANOV 2. "SWAN LAKE" / 1983 year shooting / - 9'23" Music: P.Tchaikovsky / Choreography: M.Petipa / Y.Grigorovitch / 1969 / NATALIA BESSMERTNOVA and ALEXANDR BOGATYREV 3. "RAYMONDA" / 1976 year shooting / - 3'00" Music: A.Giazunov / Choreography: Marius Petipa / 1 898 / IRINA KOLPAKOVA and VADIM SEMENOV 4. "FLAMES of PARIS" / 1977 year shooting / - 8"12" Music: Y.Asafyev / Choreography: V.Vainonen / 1933 / MARINA KONDRATYEVA and VALERY LAGUNOV 5. "FLOWERS FESTIVAL in JENZANO" / 1977year shooting / - 7'46". Music: E.Helsted / Choreography: A. Bournonville / 1839 / TATYANA TAYAKINA and VALERY KOVTUN 6. "ANGARA RIVER" / 1979 year shooting / - 3'52" Music: A.Ashpay / Choreography: Y.Grigorovitch /1976/ LYUDMILA SEMENYAKA and BORIS AKIMOV 7. "SPANISH CAPRICCIO" / 1973 year shooting / - 4'02" Music: N.Rimskiy-Korsakov / Choreography: V.Gonsales / M.Kamaletdinov LARISA TREMBOVELSKAYA and SERGEY RADCHENKO 8. "DON QUIXOTE" / 1991 year shooting / - 10'35" Music: L.Minkus / Choreography: M.Petipa / 1869 / ILGIZ GALIMULLIN and LYUDMILA VASILIYEVA

"Bolshoi ballerina Ludmilla Vlasova, centre of a Soviet-U.S. confrontation last month when she left her defector husband in New York City, is regretting her decision to come home, Bolshoi sources report. Miss Vlasova is being shunned and ridiculed by fellow dancers, who will not talk to her because they think she ''sold her soul'' to Soviet officials in return for better roles, the sources say." quoted from "Ballerina sorry she left". The Globe and Mail. 11 Sept 1979. p19

Yes, Godunov was married to the ballerina, Ludmila Vlasova. She was the woman in the plane. By saying "no wife" Brodsky is referring to Godunov being on his own from the point his defection started. According to Brodsky during the volatile situation that unfolded in August 1979 there was a request by the Soviets that they be allowed a meeting with Godunov. Godunov's lawyer, Orville Schell, suggested that one of Godunov's conditions be a meeting with his wife so that she could decide of her own free will if she wanted to stay in the US. This meeting never happened. Brodsky: "For me there is absolutely no doubt that Mila was extremely dear to Sasha. They had been married for seven years, and when seven years of conjugal life goes up in smoke, exclusively due to political considerations, it's unbearable even to contemplate." p 175 "I don't think even Sasha's mind was totally clear, because until you actually defect, you don't understand what's involved. Sasha simply could not have thought it all through down to the details, which would have been impossible to imagine anyway! Evidently, he proceeded from the assumption that everything would work out somehow. Godunov guessed that after New York they were planing to send him back to Moscow. He realized there was no time, that the discussions with Mila would stretch out indefinitely. He might have talked her into it eventually, but the moment would have been lost. It's one thing to make plans to defect in the Soviet Union and another in New York City. That is when Sasha decided to carry out at least the one part of the plan that was paramount for him, because for him the main thing was his self fulfillment as an artist. After all, Godunov was and foremost an artist and only then a husband." page 175-6

I am not an "avid balletgoer" but a very recent "avid ballet viewer" so feel quite inadequate in terms of knowledge about ballet. But I know I love watching it. In my small, but growing collection, the ballets I am enjoying the most at the moment are: Anyuta with Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev; The Golden Age with Irek Mukhamedov, Natalya Bessmertnova and Gediminas Taranda and The Legend of Love with Maria Bilova, Alla Mikhalchenko, Mukhamedov and Taranda. I discovered BalletTalk because it kept appearing when I was looking for information on the web. When I found that it was not possible to do searches without being a member I decided to sign up and have been enjoying reading your website ever since. This is such a wonderful source with so many interesting and informative posts. Thank you for making it available to anyone.

Solomon Volkov: "I've met many people here who fled Russia at one time or another, and in my conversations with them I have seen that their defection was a terrible psychological trauma, a wound that won't heal, even if sixty years have passed since that day." p168 Joseph Brodsky: "On the other hand, Godunov had been a star from early on and consequently corrupted to a certain extent by success and admiration. At the moment of his defection he was absolutely alone--no mama, no wife, no friends, no one. He had absolutely no one to turn to, and he could expect nothing but dirty tricks on all sides." p171 "This was a leap into the absolute unknown on Godunov's part." p171 From: Volkov, Solomon. Conversations with Joseph Brodsky: a poet's journey through the twentieth century. The Free Press, New York, 1998. pp306 Individuals who have defected lose so much more than the possibility of return. Writers must face the loss of unity of place and language, the cultural basis of their creativity. Some have continued in isolation to write in their birth language while others make the difficult transition to the language of their new world. There are comedians who have found their humor is no longer understood because its cultural basis has been removed by their leaving of their homeland. Reading the quoted passages above made me want to ask if there are hardships unique to ballet that dancers who have defected would have had to face.

Thank you so much for your clear and detailed response. I have been puzzled as to "the how and why" the floor was made. It is difficult to tell from ballet videos.

Could you say something about the wooden stage floor at Covent Garden during Fonteyn's time? I have been told it was composed of long wooden planks, laid in both directions, mixed with large square pieces? Is this correct and was this for aesthetic or practical reasons?

Alexander Godunov Runs Nowhere Film by Lily Buginoy http://www.brightcove.com Has anyone seen the online documentary that you can rent from Dance Channel TV? It seemed to me to lack a factual basis in a few areas and I would be very interested to hear what other people think. 1. About Godunov's defection to the US. (A different version to what Joseph Brodsky has written.) Narrator: "They wanted to eliminate all possibilities of him returning to Russia" Igor Makunin (reporter) "The Americans knew this and were able to trap him into staying." 2. About the relationship between Baryshnikov and Godunov. (I just don't believe this.) Narrator: "No one knows the reason Baryshnikov was not happy with him. Experts are looking at reasons like jealousy and the instability he felt because of Godunov's talent. After leaving the company, Godunov opened his own company." 3. And about his death and the disappearance of his manager. I was also disappointed there were not more dance clips of Godunov. There is really only part of the clip that has also been on youtube of Godunov dancing in Don Quixote. But there were interesting snippets of interviews: Maya Plisetskaya About Godunov's relationship with his father "He was very depressed that his father left them. Then one day a letter came to his older brother congratulating him on his 16th birthday. After this he waited with the hope that on his 16th birthday, he too would receive a letter. He never did. Never. When I asked him if he was really worried about it, he told me that he was depressed." About his general behaviour in Russia "He did everything he wasn't supposed to do. When his hair was unclean and they wanted to brush it down for Swan Lake, he said, "No, I want it like this." I couldn't never understand what he was thinking or why he did things this way. He was purposely breaking the rules." About problems with drinking. "Much of it was his fault. Ballet dancers cannot drink. Theatrical actors can but not dancers. You lose your jump from vodka." Lewis Segal (dance critic) "I do not think that Godunov was unable to live with freedom and I am not saying that America destroyed him. When you change the country you live in, you can make so many mistakes that by the time you realize what you've done, it is too late." Nina Alovert (photographer) "It was very tragic life for him, not freeing himself and his talent. But it is nobody's fault that he didn't know himself, and also there was no one around to help him."

Thank you so much for telling me about this book. I will follow this up... and am especially looking forward to the essays on Primo Levi, Vaslav Nijinsky, Joseph Roth and Italo Svevo.

"The reluctant prodigal" by Joan Acocella. The Guardian, February 28 1998. Here is a quote that might interest some of you about Alexander Pushkin, Baryshnikov's teacher at the Vaganova Choreographic Institute. It is from a wonderful article -- part interview, part history and part description -- about Mikhail Baryshnikov's return to Riga in 1997 for the first time since his defection to the West. "Next to his mother, Pushkin was probably the most important person in Baryshnikov's early life. Pushkin had begun his own ballet training in the studio of Nikolai Legat, who had helped train Nijinsky. When Baryshnikov joined his class, Pushkin was 57, and past dancing, but he had performed with the Kirov for almost 30 years, mostly in secondary roles. `Pas de deux, pas de trois,' Baryshnikov says. `Sometimes substitute for a principal, but he was not principal type. Not very handsome -- big nose, long legs, short body -- and not very expressive. But classical, classical. Old-school, traditional, square. Academician. Usually, it's those kind of people, people who dance 25 years the same parts, who know more about technique than people who are advancing and trying out other sort of areas. Twenty-five years you come back after summer vacation and tune your body into same routine, you figure out timing, you figure out method.' Pushkin had begun teaching early, at the age of 25, and he soon specialised in men. His classroom manner was famously laconic. He rarely offered corrections, and when he did they were of the most elementary sort. (It was said at the school that he had two: `Don't fall' and `Get up.') Rather, as Baryshnikov explains it, what made Pushkin so effective was the logic of the step combinations he taught -- the fact that they were true not just to classical ballet but also to human musculature. They seemed right to the body, and so you did them right. And the more you did them, the more you became a classical dancer. Another thing about Pushkin, his students say, is that he was a developer of individuality. He steered the students towards themselves, helped them find out what kinds of dancers they were. `Plus,' Baryshnikov says, `he was extraordinary patient and extraordinary kind person. Really, really kind.' If there is a point in classical art where aesthetics meet morals - where beauty, by appearing plain and natural, gives us hope that we, too, can be beautiful -- Pushkin seems to have stood at that point, and held out a hand to his pupils. In any case, he was a specialist in calming down teenage boys, getting them to work and to take themselves seriously. Out of his classroom in the Fifties and Sixties came the Kirov's finest male dancers -- notably Nikita Dolgushin, Yuri Soloviev, and Rudolf Nureyev."

Could someone write something about the surface of the stages of different ballet theatres? A friend of mine has read that one of the great Russian theaters has a grooved floor which makes it easier for the dancers and helps to prevent them from slipping. She also commented that in the dvd of the 1972 Tennant/Nureyev Sleeping Beauty there are mats on the floor of the stage. Is it correct that different kinds of stage flooring -- grooved, canvas, mats -- all have been used for ballet?

Also, if any one could suggest a good source for reading about the staging of ballets through history I would be very grateful. Especially if there is one that isn't too technical and perhaps was more appropriate for a nonprofessional. Thank you once again.

Could you clarify what you mean be a "special stage" and its problems? Presumably the tracks are not permanent. How would they be secured? And thank you very much for answering my question.

How is it when the Prince and the Lilac fairy go in search of the Sleeping Beauty that their boat always seems to know its own way, twisting and turning magically through the forest and across the stage. How has this illusion been created, both in past times and today?