rg

the first cast of Rubies in JEWELS was McBride, Villella and Patricia (not Colleen) Neary. soon thereafter if mem. serves Marnee Morris took on the role, then, eventually C. Neary.

indeed, the Bejart work was called LIFE, it played in NYC which is where it prompted the "Cocteau drawing" comment of Croce's. NYPL cat. entry: Life : Chor.: Maurice Béjart; mus.: J.S. Bach, with percussion by Tom Crocker; lighting: Alan Burrett. First perf: New York, Minskoff Theatre, Ballet du XXe Siécle season, Mar. 14, 1979, created for Jean Babilée.

NB: i've removed my post which failed to understand that the original post was a joke.

the following has come in regarding NYC showings of LOST ILLUSIONS, obviously not live: It is confirmed that Village East Cinemas will screen Lost Illusions on the following dates/times: Saturday, 3/1 at 12:00pm and Thursday 3/6 at 7:00pm $20 tickets Address of the theater: 189 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003 (212) 529-6998

if mem. serves when Arlene Croce wrote about Babilee in his later years, as showcased by Bejart, she noted, as an admirer of his, that the still handsome aging dancer then resembled "a creased Cocteau drawing."

keeping with the Chinese connection, something tells me there might be photos of the "kicking" grand jete from performances of this ballet, which dates from 1927 and which originally featured Yekaterina Geltser as the leading female character Tao Xoa, followed next by Victorina Krieger in the same role. here's the NYPL cat. entry: <<Red poppy : Original title: Krasnyi mak. Chor: Lev Lashchilin (Acts 1, 3 and character dances) and Vasilii Tikhomirov (Act 2 and classic dances); mus: Reinhold Glière; lib & scen: Mikhail Kurilko. First perf: Moscow, Bolshoi Theater, June 14, 1927, Bolshoi Ballet (Company)>>

this just in from the press rep. (no further information beyond what's stated here.) f.y.i. << Without warning or notice to either Pathe Live or Emerging Pictures, BIG Manhattan Cinemas, the Manhattan venue for the LIVE HD performances of the Bolshoi Ballet, closed its doors at the end of last week. Though a strenuous effort was made, no Manhattan venue could be equipped with a server/satellite in time to make this Sunday’s broadcast of “Lost Illusions” possible. While the LIVE HD broadcast will proceed as planned in other venues across the country, it will not be available in Manhattan. The March 30th broadcast of the Bolshoi’s production of “Marco Spada” is on track and, by then, a Manhattan venue should be fitted out with the necessary equipment. >>

scan of another photo, meant for publicity purposes for a show about Edward Villella, called "A Man Who Dances," from the time of the first season(s) of JEWELS, which may have been previously posted on this site. unfortunately Villella's costume is largely obscured. f.y.i.

f.y.i. the black-and-white version of the photo reproduced in Bentley's Karinska book taken for publicity purposes for the first outings of JEWELS in '67, thus w/ Karinska's original designs.

Karinska was not known to do costume sketches, per se. Edward Bigelow, her good friend and longtime NYCB staff member said that she would sometimes do costume sketches AFTER the fact because individuals asked for them, as keepsakes, one assumes. there's a color photo from the same session as the one from twitter noted above, from Bentley's KARINSKA book, (see black&white scan further down in this thread). the frou-frou skirt on McBride's tunic was used for the first or first few seasons and then seeming changed at Balanchine's and/or Karinska's behest to the more "Roman" one that came after. Villella's "Roman"ish costume, with kilt-like skirt and tunic, might be a descendant of Karinska's design for him as Oberon; one NYCB follower in the time of MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM said that Karinska was said to be very taken w/ Villella. as to why the costumes were altered, detail-wise over the years, the ones made in Balanchine's/karinska's time must have been made according to their sometimes changing tastes. i imagine a dancer might suggest something for a change but sense it was the designer's and/or choreographer's actual choice in the end. i rem. however a post-Karinska, post-Balanchine comment from a balletmistress to me when GOUNOD SYMPHONY was being prepared for a revival, mostly with notes made by Vida Brown when the ballet was transferred from City Center to the Palais Garnier. when asked about the costuming, i was told that the Karinska costumes were being re-done but, said the NYCB staff member, more or less rolling her eyes, "not with that ball-fringe on the skirts' hems," which really gave me pause. i wondered how a balletmistress's taste and personal preference could overrule the wishes and design scheme of the designer being credited with the costuming. sure enough, when the production was remounted the edging detail in question was nowhere to be seen. in sum, and in general, one can presume that costume designs get rethought when being rebuilt to the satisfaction of the current regime with no particular reverence for what was specifically done before.

i'm not sure if this point has made already on this site, but if not, f.y.i. Ratmansky's LOST ILLUSIONS is another of his remakes of earlier earlier soviet ballets, in this case a 1936 ballet by Zakharov with music by Asafiev, created ostensibly for Ulanova, who danced the leading role of Coralie. NYPL cat. listing for the ballet's '36 credits: Lost illusions: Original title: Utrachennye illiuzii. Chor: Rostislav Zakharov; mus: Boris Asaf'yev; lib: Vladimir Dmitriev after Balzac's Les illusions perdues; scen: Vladimir Dmitriev. First perf: Leningrad, Kirov Theater, Dec 31, 1936, Kirov Ballet (Company)

there seems to be some transitional period right now for these transmissions. the press rep. for Emerging Pictures' JEWELS sent word that he'd no longer be handing this 'series' and that, if i understood his message correctly, Pathe was going it alone, or some such. so while the Bolshoi Ballet is 'on' for the next two transmissions, it seems no one is clearly 'on board' for distributing them, at least locally. if any new information surfaces on my radar i'll post it.

a friend and colleague in London has written to say that he's had a letter from a local colleague who's noted that dance historian and curator Jane Pritchard has been awarded an MBE on this year's Honours list. i have no further information or confirmation but assuming this is so, and I have no real reason to doubt it, it's a well deserved award. Pritchard was responsible in good part for overseeing the grand Diaghilev exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where she's a curator, which ended in early 2011 and which reached Washington's National Gallery last year, closing, after being extended in October. I've also just heard that Gillian Lynne's been made Dame, which, again, I trust is accurate.

the following was sent by the press rep. for the JEWELS telecast, which one supposes might have necessitated a few changes due to unforeseen snags in getting the ballet on stage, but it's up-to-date enough to have included Stashkevich in place of Obratsova. by 'corps' for the Diamonds cast, the list apparently indicates what are sometimes called the demi-couples, and not the full corps de ballet. f.y.i. JEWELS CAST – January 19, 2014 Conductor Pavel Sorokin Emeralds Two leading couples Ivan Alexeyev Vladislav Lantratov Anastasia Stashkevich Anna Tikhomirova Pas de Trois Yanina Parienko Igor Tsvirko Ana Turazashvili Corps Xenia Averina Bruna Gaglianone Cantanhede Svetlana Gnedova Alesya Gradova Anastasia Gubanova Olga Klypina Elizaveta Kruteleva Irina Serenkova Anastasia Shilova Margarita Shrainer Rubies The leading couple Ekaterina Krysanova Vyacheslav Lopatin Soloist Ekaterina Shipulina Corps Batyr Annadurdyev Mikhail Kochan Mikhail Kryuchkov Alexander Vorobiyov Daria Bochkova Bruna Gaglianone Cantanhede Daria Gurevich Daria Khokhlova Yulia Lunkina Ilona Matsiy-Kiryushkina Svetlana Pavlova Maria Vinogradova Diamonds The leading couple Semyon Chudin Olga Smirnova Corps Karim Abdullin Ivan Alexeyev Artemy Belyakov Angelina Karpova (Vlashinets) Anna Okuneva Ana Turazashvili Maria Vinogradova Klim Yefimov

Beaumont’s COMPLETE BOOK OF BALLETS includes mention of nymphs in Act II, sc. 1, set in “an arena with a triumphal arch. In the background is a statue of Venus Victrix.” A triumphal procession precedes some festivities, which Beaumont notes thus: “First, there is a dance by nymphs, bayaderes, graces, negroes and half-castes.” After noting that Nisia consents to take part and take the part of Venus, “A new dance begins in which Nisia, cupids, nymphs, and sylphs takes[sic] part.” The dance named by Beaumont as “the Dance of Diana” is evidently separate from the Pas de Venus, in which Henriette d’Or excelled originally. The “Dance of Diana, in which Endymion and a satyr take part” opens the proceedings of Act IV, sc. 2, set in “A hall in the palace of King Candaules.” O’course Beaumont is describing the first 1868 production. It’s possible, one supposes that by the time of Vaganova’s ‘re-staging” of the pas de deux a trios, as a pas de deux, the nymphs from the Pas de Venus were added to the Pas de Diana. Not sure this is of much help…

f.y.i. the following information re: TheBolshoi Ballet in JEWELS has come from the NYC publicist as follows: <<Date, location and time (this is a live broadcast from Moscow): THIS Sunday, January 19th, BIG Cinemas, 239 East 59th Street. Because of time differences in Moscow, this performance is at 10 a.m. NOT 11. >>

a color photo on the cover of Theatre Arts, Oct. 5 with Le Clercq in this role shows her make-up more clearly than the more familiar black and white photos do. f.y.i.

thanks, Jane, i hadn't realized the legendary MS had lived such a long life. i've seen her dance only on film where her sylph-like airiness is duly documented, and think i caught a glimpse of her in Copenhagen on one or two occasions at social events. the attached scans show a newspaper archive publicity foto of Schanne as the sylph in LA SYLPHIDE, probably her most iconic role, sent around during the Royal Danish Ballet's '56 tour to the States. the reproduction of this same photo that was on a wall in a former old apartment sometimes had visitors guess it was Fonteyn, and i saw what they meant.

the implication here is that the ballerinas in the feud are all staying at Hotel Capulet.

stills with captions for the '38 movie showing moments from numbers choreographed by Balanchine, which included the participation of dancers in The American Ballet company. the photos appear to be casually chosen, to put it mildly; the captions have a Hollywood language all their own.

from general recall but not specific checking, both NYCB and ABT tend to name all the dancers in program credits per performance, even corps de ballet names, tho' o'course only the leading or solo dancers get noted in a slip or announcement if the planned cast needs changing after the program has been printed, so checking back in a program of a performance one didn't see or that one didn't personally cross reference doesn't guarantee that the dancers named were the dancers who actually appeared. i suspect the appearance of a stager at a ballet's first outing is dependent on whether or not the stager is still on the premises (and o'course acc'd to company tradition). Borne and/or Neary might not have been on hand in the instance of these recent JEWELS performances. also if a company has an arrangement with the holder of a ballet's copyright saying that after the official staging is done the troupe may rely on its records and in-house ballet masters and mistresses, then the initial stager need not be on hand for subsequent revivals. i think the Balanchine Trust licenses a ballet for finite period during which the company is meant to maintain the staging, and then, after a specified time, must again re-negotiate the license and the staging stipulations, etc. i'm not aware of too many US companies notating stagings acc'd to formal notation for their archives. to the best of my understanding neither ABT nor NYCB has a resident choreologist.

for the occasion:

slightly off or on topic here, i rem. when corresponding w/ Arlene Croce about Adams on film as Myrtha in a truncated, studio-filmed GISELLE, that it was worth seeing, even as the performance in question was given "in a broom closet."

it's the Legat name(s) that can be confusing, i suppose. this photo from Wiley of the Clara and the Prince Nutcracker, as opposed to Prince Coqueluche, shows Sergei Legat, Nikolai's younger brother, as the child character, not Nikolai. Nikolai L. is documented as the Sugar Plum Fairy's partner in some historic photos with Preobrajenska, who assumed the role of Sugar Plum in 1900. (in 1892, Preobrajenska was the the Columbine doll in act 1 - i don't know if Nikolai L. played any part in the '92 cast.) i think the act 2 photo of Belinskaya and S. Legat from Wiley (scanned above) shows the two main children from Act I, i.e. Clara and Nutcracker-turned-prince, as a 'wedding' couple of act 2 being feted by the divertissements of the "Land of Sweets", very much acc'd to Balanchine's outline/scheme for act 2. my hunch is that neither of these children's roles nor that of Fritz (originally performed by Vasily Stukolkin) was a dancing role, but only involved pantomime, again as in Balanchine's version.

in keeping with the sentiments of this thread, two perhaps familiar, but not, it seems, over-familiar illustrations documenting the first production of NUTCRACKER in 1892 Petersburg. (both from The Life and Ballets of Lev Ivanov by Roland John Wiley.) the one of Mikhail Bocharov's sketch for the fir forest/snow scene; the other of the two leading children in their roles of Clara and Prince Nutcracker in act 2, Stanislava Belinskaya and Sergey Legat, respectively.