rg

footnotes to joining nycb from another company. i've checked my programs from 1970, the year h.tomasson joined nycb. there is no asterisk or co. affiliation for his initial perfs in such ballets as 'swan lake' 'stars and stripes' 'the nutcracker' 'a midsummer night's dream' (divertissement) in the case of martins' the asterisk seems to have been on his name thru mid-1970. for the fall/winter season of '70 the asterisk is gone. the wording btw is not guest as i mistakenly noted above but goes as follows, with apt co. affiliation in the apt place - for example, this was how the asterisk next to jean-pierre bonnefous's name was spelled out in the winter 1970/71 season that he first(?) appeared at nycb: 'jean-pierre bonnefous appears through the courtesy of the paris opera ballet' or earlier, 'peter martins appears through the courtesy of the royal danish ballet'

i don't know of any dancer w/ NYCB from a company - that is, NOT a dancer joining directlyout of whatever school the individual trained in or one who was 'between jobs' at hiring time - who did not appear w/ the troupe as a 'guest artist' crediting the related company by means of an asterisk, tho' i think the way of listing the co. roster that we're now used to was only formulated in the 1970s. that's how peter martins began, ditto a.luders, i.andersen, p.schaufuss, etc. (tho' i'm not sure w/ e.bruhn if he was listed as guest of ABT or somewhere else.) in any case almost all such dancers end up full-fledged members w/out the 'guest' status. in the case of ask lacour, i'd assume as a corps de ballet dancer he might not warrant an asterisk/guest indication on nycb's roster. this tratition would seem to allow both sides a trial part, i.e. the co. sees in the individual in question is workable and if said individ. likes the work, etc. etc. re: danes, with the exception of bruhn and somewhat longer but not all that long 'lived' schaufuss in nycb, these danes have stayed and stayed.

i WANT you to be right, here, as well as elsewhere, mel. the 'surreal' aspect of that scene - most pronounced by the moments you relate here - makes the tchelichev attritbution ring true. i'll keep poking around myself. i have a few references that MIGHT lead to leads. i'll letcha know if do, meanwhile, many thanks for the 'hope' your post gives.

i don't know if this was stated yet but in case it was not: the 'swan lake' dancers in 'i was an adventuress' were vera zorina and lew christiansen here's how the NYPublic Lib. for the Perf. Arts lists one excerpt in its collection: I was an adventuress (1940): excerpt (11 min.) Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, 20th Century Fox. Directed by Gregory Ratoff. Choreography by Balanchine. Music: Tchaikovsky. After a brief interlude with Vera Zorina in practice clothes, a fantasy parody of Swan lake is performed by Zorina and Lew Christensen. oddly w/ ref. the initial post's ref. to the white swan pdd: this fantasie duet has the zorina's swanqueen dressed in all-black, including tights and toeshoes. i suspect that part of the 'logic' to re-dress balanchine's own stage 'swanlake' after his death in the black designs by a.vaes was based in part on this precedent. however the nouveau version under the direction of martins & kirstein, dresses the corps de b. in black tutus but not black tights and toeshoes and leaves odette in white. huh? btw, what a fascinating piece of info. you offer mel, re: tchelichev!!! i guess i've not read my references carefully enough over the years. makes sense tho' even as it's escaped me all the while. can you rem. where the credit was spelt out? i'd love to read it and further cement it in my ever curious but often confused brain.

all i can say for certain is that it WAS available, along with the individual booklets (one per variation in two folders of say 16 and 17 each) of piano music and choreographic breakdown in words and some photos - all in russian - around the time these were made in soviet russia. i suspect however that the outfit that initially produced them went the way of so many perestroika enterprises. i have not seen it around anywhere since i first saw it for sale in the old 'ballet shop' on broadway in n.y.c. subsequent to seeing it there i was able to purchase the booklets from our also now defunct russian-language bookstore - the late lamented (at least by me and a few russophile friends) kamkin on lower broadway. i do believe however, and our washington/virginia readers could say more for certain, that those who ran kamkin still run a major russian-language book etc. mart somewhere in virginia. the 'ballet shop' mentioned above went out of business and was replaced by a 'lite' version of itself called the 'ballet company' but that too has gone out of business. the location where the one followed the other is now a T-Mobile cellular telephone store. sigh. maybe some of our russian readers know of sources for the tape. as i say i haven't seen it around since 1990, when it was released. sorry to say.

ah if only videostreaming were something yrs.trly. could do and that websites could mange... oh well, some day. i'll have to dig out my 33 variations tape and try to divine some of the things you mention. re: the 'fan solo,' do you know the toumanova variant on this solo in 'that's dancing'? it's worth a look. unless o'course i misunderstand what's meant by the 'fan' variation - and i've been known to misunderstand easier things than this... re: ANATOLE OBOUKHOFF (acc'd to IED) i have a number of russian postcards of this seemingly memorable dancer. do you know, & i hope you do, david vaughan's heavenly memoir of his beloved teacher at school of american ballet? it's called 'beautifully dance' which one learns from reading d.v. is how the mild-mannered teacher would 'ask' his dance students to dance... the a.simon info. re: gorsky's 'esmeralda' btw was gained by me at prodding from john-michael - one of balletalert's most devoted and knowledgeable 19-ballet-music members - and which i then found in elizabeth souritz's SOVIET CHOREOGRAPHERS IN THE 1920S; her likely even more specific vol. on gorsky has not alas been translated into english, but i have a copy in russian which i look at longingly and pick thru only haltingly. in case you don't have d.v's article on a.o. here's the info about it: Vaughan, David, "Beautifully dance" : Anatole Obukhov. Ballet review. v. 24, no. 4 (winter 1996), p. 16-32. ill.

you are tooooo kind, silvy, but truly i cannot say that i've untangled ANY net, and can say that i may well have tangled some further, however, the info. i posted is info. in my files and for those who understand music better than i do - you could hardly understand it less! - i offered it w/ all good intentions. i suspect that given the musical and choreograhic acumen of others on this site, there might be some feedback for your query regarding these variations on tape. i suppose that RSE has found it, but if not keep looking, as the same press kit that offered the credits for vasiliev's DonQ offered a little bio of a.simon from grove. (this same composer is connected to gorsky's version of 'esmeralda' called 'gudule's daughter' or as follows: Esmeralda Original title: Doch' Guduly. Chor: Aleksandr Gorski; mus: Anton Simon; lib: Gorski after Victor Hugo; scen & cos: Konstantin Korovin. First perf: Moscow, Bolshoi Theater, Nov 24, 1902 (O.S.) if mem. serves, the bolshoi brought a Paquita to new york state theater in 1990 i THINK i wrote about that season but can't rem. where at the moment. if i find i've got any cogent notes on the season and any paquita perf. i'll let you know. i've never heard of any anatole(?) oboukhov credit for some staging in the west, tho' i'm not saying i shouldn't have so heard, but what vari. is credited to him? as for the acts of DonQ they are one of russian/soviet ballets many variables. note how/where the tavern scene is placed in this or that staging of DonQ: sometimes before the dream scene sometimes after... ah yes, RSE, the 'wonders' of divining dance history hither and yon...

so many thoughts presented here, so little time, overall, to follow through, esp. as aging takes away one's hoped for sharpness. but to try to get to a few points: i hope it didn't seem as if i was bungling the spelling/naming of dear ole maestro minkus. i used my most primitive cyrillic transliteration to indicate the way the text of the russian book on pakhita was written, if i'd had to refer to minkus in my own work i'd use what the International Encyc. of Dance gives: Le[acute]on Minkus, not saying this work is the last word, just the 'standard' one i tend to use when i need to 'nail' something down. re: where i get my info. overall. in the case of this paquita list, it was from the recent book from russia, i just copied the list as given, and prob. didn't offer sufficient apologies for not being conversant enough w/ musical notation, russian, and choreographic notation to be more specific for all of the readers of this thread who really know their variations and videos backwards and forwards. re: my info. otherwise, i get if from whatever most strikes me as having fed my curiosity on a given subject over the years. for example, press kits can be of some use. the one provided by ABT for the version of DonQ staged by vasiliev in 1991 (for jane hermann's ABT) included a fascinating list of provenances: tho' the music credit overall was given to Ludwig Minkus (now i'm reading from the kit) the following musical indications also were given: Mercedes' Dance, Act II, Valery Zhelobinsky Dryad Fairy's Vari. Act II, Anton Simon (my own note to myself in the kit indicates that is is the vari. i associate w/ Sizova in the 'graduation' perf. of the pas de deux from "Le Corsaire" w/ R.Nureyev, i.e. that w/ the huge grand jete de cote details) Kitri's Variation in Act II (given in another source work i have, from russia of 'classical variations' [see below] as choreographed by Gorsky), by R.Drigo Espada's Variation in Act III by Rheinhold Gliere Mercedes' Variation, Act III, Anton Simon March music, Act III, Yuly Greber, Fandango, Act III, Eduard Napranik the production's overall staging, very much in the Moscow tradtion, was by Vasiliev with special choreographic credit given to Kasyan Goliezovsky for 'the gypsy dance'. regarding my ref. the Pas de Trois from Paquita, as Petipa's Golden Pas de Trois, if mem. serves i picked that up from roslavleva. (tho' i could be misremembering.) to clarify, i did not mean to present the variation list offered earlier from the recent book on Paquita as jibing necessarily with the current kirov staging, or with the tapes available w/ the kirov. quite right, the cherepnine is nowhere to be seen in the book's list and i can't tell you if the author/editor of the book explains what his precise sources are and why he finds them definitive. the perf. on tape and the one most referred to in this thread is the vinogradov version. the previous one dudinskaya was somewhat different, i think, and the one dolgushin did for the maly th. was still different from these other two leningrad versions. the booklets i have under the rubric: Klassicheskoe nasledie: variatzii iz baletov Russkikh khoreografov also has music and choreographic breakdowns, it is a companion publication to the following tape at the NYPub.Lib.for the Perf. Arts. Classical heritage: Thirty variations from ballets by Russian choreographers 1990. 60 min. : sd. color Co-produced by Soyuzteatr and Sintez. Chief producer: A. Murtazin. Producer/writer: F. Slidovker. Camera: A. Tafel. In Russian with English subtitles. Issued in conjunction with the Russian-language publication by Soyuzteatr entitled Klassicheskoe nasledie: variatzii iz baletov Russkikh khoreografov (see: *MGTM 90-9614) SUMMARY: Compilation of variations performed in the studio to piano accompaniment, in practice clothes, as a choreographic record. CONTENTS: Swan lake: Act II, Odette's variation. Chor: Ivanov. Danced by Tatyana Chernobrovkina. -- Swan lake: Act III, Odile's variation. Chor: Grigorovich. Danced by Galina Shlapina. -- Swan lake: Act III, Odile's variation. Chor: Petipa. Danced by Chernobrovkina. -- Swan lake: Act III, Siegfried's variation. Chor: K. Sergeyev. Danced by Vladimir Malakhov. -- Swan lake: Act III, Siegfried's variation. Chor: Grigorovich. Danced by Malakhov. -- Swan lake: Act I, Pas de trois, male variation. Chor: K. Sergeyev. Danced by Malakhov. -- The sleeping beauty: Act I, Aurora's variation. Chor: Petipa. Danced by Shlapina. -- The sleeping beauty: Prologue, Lilac Fairy's variation. Chor: F. Lopukhov. Danced by Tatyana Yatsenko. -- The sleeping beauty: Act III, Désiré's variation. Chor: Sergeyev. Danced by Malakhov. -- The sleeping beauty: Act III, Bluebird's variation. Chor: Petipa. Danced by Malakhov. -- The nutcracker: Act II, Princess Masha's variation. Chor: Vasily Vainonen. Danced by Ludmila Vasilyeva. -- The nutcracker: Act II, Prince's variation. Chor: Vainonen. Danced by Malakhov. -- The nutcracker: Act II, Marie's variation. Chor: Grigorovich. Danced by Tatyana Paliey. -- The nutcracker: Act II, Prince's variation. Chor: Grigorovich. Danced by Stanislav Isayev. -- Raymonda: Act I, Raymonda's variation with a scarf. Chor: Petipa. Danced by Shlapina. -- Raymonda: Act III, Raymonda's variation. Chor: Petipa. Danced by Susanna Avetisova. -- Chopiniana: Prelude. Chor: Fokin. Danced by Svetlana Tsoy. -- Chopiniana: [Woman's] mazurka. Chor: Fokin. Danced by Olga Ivanova. -- Chopiniana: Waltz. Chor: Fokin. Danced by Ivanova. -- Chopiniana: [Man's] mazurka. Chor: Fokin. Danced by Dmitry Zababurin. -- Don Quixote: Act IV, Kitri's variation. Chor: Petipa. Danced by Paliey. -- Don Quixote: Act IV, Basil's variation. Chor: A. Ermolaev, V. Vasilyev. Danced by Vadim Bondar. -- Don Quixote: Dream scene, Kitri's variation. Chor: A. Gorsky. Danced by Chernobrovkina. -- Don Quixote: Act IV, female variation. Chor: Gorsky. Danced by Liliy Musovarova. -- Coppélia: Act III, Swanilda's variation. Chor: Gorsky. Danced by Vasilyeva. -- La fille mal gardée: Act II, Lise's variation. Chor: Gorsky. Danced by Paliey. -- La fille mal gardée: [act unspecified], Colin's variation. Chor: Gorsky. Danced by Malakhov. -- Le corsaire: Act II, Slave's variation. Chor: V. Chabukiani. Danced by Ilgis Galimullin. -- La bayadère: Act II, Gamzatti's variation. Chor: Chabukiani. Danced by Vasilyeva. -- La bayadère: Act IV, Kingdom of the shades, Solor's variation. Chor: Chabukiani. Danced by Bondar. now i've gone likely so far OT that everyone's gone to sleep, or to get the hook.

RSE: i've just keyboarded the following by picking thru this volume i was given from russia on the paquita grand pas classique. i trust some of it will be redundant to what you point out was a separate thread on paquita the ballet vs. paquita on video. but so be it. here's what gleaned w/my primitive reading of cyrillic: BOLSHOI KASSICHESKOIE PA IZ BALETA ‘PAKHITA’ (2000) 14 Variations and pas de trois *Variation 1 (3/4) – Riccardo Drigo *Variation 2 (2/4) – Aleksei Papkov *Variation 3 (2/4) – Riccardo Drigo [the note here says, as stated earlier on this thread that this music is from the ballet ‘SYLFIDA’ (1892) – when yes, indeed Petipa staged the ballet to Schneitzhoeffer with additional music by Drigo – the variation is further defined as that composed for V. Nikitina, Petipa’s first-cast sylph] *Variation 4 (4/4) – Edouard Tsabel *Variation 5 (3/4) – Aloishus Ludwig Minkus [a note says this variation is from another 1892 ballet: NAIAD AND FISHERMAN and that the variation was composed for A. Johansson] *Variation 6 (4/4) - Riccardo Drigo *Variation 7 (6/8) - Aloishus Ludwig Minkus *Variation 8 (3/4) - Aloishus Ludwig Minkus [a note indicates that this variation dates from 1881 and was composed and choreographed especially for Ekaterina Vazem] *Variation 9 (3/4) - Riccardo Drigo *Variation 10 (3/4) – Yuli Gerber *Variation 11 (3/4) - Aloishus Ludwig Minkus *Variation 12 (3/4) [with a note of a change(?) to 4/4] - Riccardo Drigo [there would seem at this point in the book to be an alternate(?) variation, making 13, but to the same(?) music as 12] [there is also some music here for a 14th variation, specially noted as being by Drigo and from ‘Paquita’ tho’ I think there is no specified choreographic text to go with it] Pas de Trois – has musical credit to both Minkus and Edouard Marie Ernest Delvedez: NB in the music portion of the book Delvedez’s name is attached to both female variations along w/ Minkus’s, as I read it) *Woman’s variation No. 1 (4/4) - Aloishus Ludwig Minkus *Woman’s variations No. 2 (6/8) - Aloishus Ludwig Minkus *Man’s Variation (4/4) – Adolf Charl Adan[sic] – from, if I’m getting the gist correctly: DIABLE A QUATRE the individual illustrations include, in addition to a headshot of the editor(?)/author - German Prib'lov, pictures of: Minkus, Petipa, Vazem, Kshessinskaya, children from the 'polonaise and mazurka,' Karsavina,Vaganova, E.Gerdt, E.Vil' and P.Vladimirov (in the Pas de Trois), N. Legat, S. Legat, M. Fokine, Nijinsky, Adan[sic], Pugni and Drigo. the kind courier who brought me mycopy said it wasn't published in 2000 as scheduled because of a shortage of paper; i believe it finally came out in 2001.

it was i believe alastair macaulay who pointed out that in all likelihood it was m.f.kschessinska who started the tradition of so many 'party' variations in the 'grand pas classique' from paquita. i know that current kirov/maryinsky tradition includes a variation which asylmuratova may do on one of these tapes - i don't have my cassettes handy to check - in any case it's often danced there in an emerald-green-trimmed tutu - and was taught to asylmuratova by her teacher e.evteyeva, in any case the dance is by fokine, the music by tcherepnine, and the variation comes from 'pavillon d'armide' (and to confirm its provenance this same variation was staged by alexandra danilova when she staged a version of the 'pavillon' pas de trois for school of american ballet in i-forget-just-when.) when i spoke w/ nikita dolgushin, whose version of the grand pas for the maly theater was telecast in britain in the late '70s, he noted that the variants in his staging, which is simililar at times and different at others from the kirov staging - which i believe long had credit to natalia dudinskaya - came to him in good measure from moscow, specifically from advice given him by elizaveta gerdt (pavel's daughter and a favorite dancer in her day of georgi balanchivadze). all you balletalerters w/ keen ears and finer musical memories than mine will be able to discuss all these variants for tempo, type, etc. i'd not heard of one of the variations being famously taken from 'humpbacked horse' tho' why not? as i say, alastair macaulay pointed out that m.f.kschessinska noted somewhere, likely in her memoirs, how she invited her ballerina friends to dance in her grand pas classique from paquita and to do so bybringing with them their favorite variations. the tradition seems to have held and evolved ever since. yes, the vari. we think of today as cupid's from DonQuixote is regularly in this suite. when the kirov did their version of 'paquita grand pas' here in the 1980s when the leading ballerinas alternated performances, they would change their tutu colors - white for the main ballerina - but not their variations, which they were known to dance when they were in a cast led by another ballerina. i recall, for example, that lubov kunakova would do the lead and then one of the soloist ballerinas: when she danced her variation as the lead she'd be in the white tutu, when she was not the lead she wore whatever color was relegated to her role, but in both cases she'd dance HER variation. i hope i'm making a little bit of sense here: i've just come from 24hrs. sans electricityand 48 sans DSL. so i'm discombobulated more than usual.

the question mark on the date is the way the tape is listed in the new york public library for the performing arts. my assumption is that the tape was given to the library without full dating so the date given in its listing refers to the year the tape was first put in the collection. i assume the tape itself doesn't have a date on it so the library can't say for sure. i hope this makes some sense.

re: MF as perseus, the russian postcard i have of this is a vertical; MF striding as if in clouds, brandishing a sword - a cross between a machete and a scimitar - he's in contrapposto/profile; efface legs; eyes downcast over a downstage, epaule arm; upstage arm holds the weapon over his head. winged shoes on feet. he looks calm, determined, not bored. (i think the pic of him seated is reproduced elsewhere too, maybe in lynn garafola's 'petipa diaries', maybe elsewhere...)

is this the information sought? (pardon the duplication if this has been answered already.) Onegin [videorecording] / ZDF [Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen] ; directed by David Sutherland ; choreography by John Cranko ; music by Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, arranged by Kurt-Heinz Stolze ; libretto by John Cranko after Aleksandr Pushkin. Germany : ZDF, [1976?] (88 min.) : sd., col.Danced by the Ballett der Württembergische Staatstheater, Stuttgart [stuttgart Ballet]: Heinz Clauss (Eugene Onegin), Marcia Haydée (Tatiana), Joyce Cuoco (Olga), Egon Madsen (Lensky), Jan Stripling (Prince Gremin), and others. Music played by the Württembergische Staatstheaterorchester, conducted by Stewart Kershaw. Scenery and costumes, Jürgen Rose. Recorded in the Sporthalle Böblingen, Germany. Television adaptation of a ballet originally presented onstage in 1965. In German.

i believe v.durante did this same 'no thank you' to one or more cavaliers as she held her balance witout taking any but one, or two cavaliers' hands. also, re: NN and swanilda, she was filmed in one of m.dale's distinctive films in COPPELIA; it's around still, i believe.

not sure what i might post: if you mean a picture, i do have one pic. of fokine labeled: perseus but not identified as being from 'awakening' still, i don't have the ability to post pix. and i believe that alexandra doesn't normally include pix, etc. which i imagine would get most unweildy to arrange on the site along w/ our posts, etc. i can't say however that i find the same distaste telescoping from MF in the pic i have. maybe it's different or maybe it's my diff. reading of MF's expression. in any case i don't know much of anything about valkyrien, tho' i too adore the score, etc.

stanley williams staged a 'vestale' for school of american ballet. patrick bissell danced it the year the left the school. the following is the film in the linc.cent.library/dance coll. alas it's permission required: School of American Ballet workshop performance 1977. Videotaped during the 12th annual workshop performance, May 23, 1977 (7 p.m.), at Juilliard Theater, New York. Performed by students of the School of American Ballet, with the Juilliard Conductors Orchestra, conducted by Victoria Bond. CONTENTS. - Cassette 1 (46 min.): La vestale, pas de deux. Choreography: Auguste Bournonville, restaged by Stanley Williams. Music: Gasparo Spontini. Danced by Vicky Hall and Patrick Bissell. Pianist: Lynn Stanford another cast was also filmed - Lindy (Melinda) Roy & Douglas Hay, but same 'permission required' restriction. here's the library's 'authority term' for the williams' staging: Vestale pas de deux (Choreographic work : Bournonville) Authority Note : Chor: August Bournonville; mus: Gasparo Spontini. First perf: Copenhagen, 1834; Lucile Grahn & August Bournonville.//Revival: New York, Juilliard Theater, May 23, 1977; School of American Ballet annual workshop performance; staged by Stanley Williams.

i hope i did not seem to imply that petipa used girl pupils in boys' roles regularly. just that perhaps here the covention was used. to the best of my knowledge, maryinsky/kirov tradition uses boy pupils where such are called for, and girl students when they are wanted. as i recall the retinue of violinists is for adolescent dancers and maybe petipa wanted girls for the 'purpose'; i can't say w/ any authority. perhaps wiley's appendix indicates the gender(s) used in the original, or perhaps doug can relate what the notations say for these roles.

neither rings any bells in my belfry, but if someone gives you a jingle, i hope you'll let all those devoted to dance on film here a full ear.

whenever one asks who choreographed what in a particular ballet, i suppose the answer can only be found or guessed at by asking what staging is being scrutinized. the violinists (and doug could answer this more definitively if he has the notation info at hand) are likely original, they appeared in latest 'reconstructed' kirov version as well as in a staging of the dance by alexandra danilova for SAB years back. i think they may never have been danced by actual boy pupils but by girls dressed in boys' attire, as i think was a convention at the time. perhaps too wiley tells of the breakup of the hierarchy of aurora's friends in this act. my suspicion is that the royal - once sadler's wells - ballet version(s) by n.sergeyev were adjusted for the numbers of personnel available. along the way one would have to check with archivists and authors such as d.vaughan, or a. bland, etc. to divine the actual 'hands' at work on various stagings of 'beauty' during the 40s, 50s, etc.

what a find. have you ordered from this place? if so, and if you found service satisfactory, it would seem this is a prime site to surf and perhaps shop. thanks for the tip.

i do believe that skeaping's GISELLE made use of the wili fugue, so did the one the Trocks put on some time back, w/ if mem. serves e.gorey's decor; the most recent use of the fugue that i know of is the one peterson did in hartford. NYPLibrary for Perf. Arts ref. as follows: Giselle : Chor.: Kirk Peterson; mus.: Adolphe Adam; scen.: Gianni Quaranta, borrowed from American Ballet Theatre; cos.: Anna Anni, borrowed from American Ballet Theatre. First(?) perf.: Hartford, Conn,. May(?) 1997; Hartford Ballet.

re: seeing red! or green! i swear i once read in some prose by karsavina that the jewel associated with odette was the emerald. i assumed thereafter that the ruby affixed to pavlova's tutu was a modification of this "swan," different in kind from odette. (i have combed 'theater street' somewhat but haven't come across this statement again; perhaps i missed it - the confounded book has no index! - tho'o perhaps the green-gemstone mention is elsewhere in karsavina literature.) if anyone here knows of a statement to this effect, i'd love to know where. rodney: what source do you have that notes fokine's use of the 'Umirayushtshi Lebedy' title for the dance's premiere? lynn garafola's rather solid-seeming appendix to fokine's work simply calls it "the swan"; the copy i have of fokine's memoirs (in russian) also says, in the 1907 section of the chronology, simply, 'lebedy.' however in my files i also have a russian theater program - UNdated, alas - but definitely pre-1917 as its cast is given as artists of the imperial theater, one of the numbers on the bill's second half is given as 'Umirayushtshi Lebedy' performed by one Margarita Ferdinandovna Kirchgem (pardon the crude transliteration) - she appears to have in the imperial theater's ballet troupe from 1912 onward. so within russia, sometime between '07 and '17, the 'dying' description became part of the program copy. as for whence i cometh the ident. of emerald or ruby stones on 'swan/ballerina' tutus, i cannot say.

historian Elizabeth Souritz, who speaks excellent English, recently visited NYC and presented her hostess w/ a copy of a recently published collection of Volinsky's writings, in Russian, alas, for those of who don't speak that language. so she'd likely know someone who would know more about this key figure in Russian ballet's academic and theoretical realms. there was a somewhat lengthy article in the British publication DANCE RESEARCH by I think an American, perhaps Charles Joseph the author of the recent Balanchine/Stravinsky study. NYC's Lynn Garafola might have some connections to related sources. Souritz has some students who worked under her that might be of help. One, Masha Ratanova, speaks some English and was recently in the States to help the Lib. of Congress catalogue its Nijinska holdings. I don't know if the person responsible for the collection of Volinsky's writings speaks English, nor if this person is in St. Petersburg or Moscow.

just read this thread: is one of these the DancingTimes article you remembered? Guest, Ann Hutchinson. Title :Saint-Léon revived. The dancing times. London. Nov 1976, p 81-82. illus The author describes the process of transcribing the choreography from Saint-Léon's notation for the Pas de six from La vivandière, and her experiences teaching it to the Joffrey II Company. Guest, Ann Hutchinson. Title :Vivandière for the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet. The dancing times. London. Mar 1982, p 424-425. illus About the author's reconstruction of the Pas de six from Saint-Léon's La vivandière.

is it possible that oliver messel had something to do w/ re-christening the characters in accordance w/ his designs?