rg

the excerpt you saw was likely one from kenneth macmillan's version of this fairy tale, to benjamin britten's score of the same name. although there are some 6 or 7 versions of the ballet catalogued in the NY Public Library for the Perf. Arts, the only one that is on video to the best of my knowledge is MacMillan's, which was filmed with Darcey Bussell (as the princess Rose) and Jonathan Cope, the prince who has been bewitched into the form of salamander. British readers of this site can undoubtedly give you a full account of the plot but if mem. serves from the few performances I saw of this ballet at the Lincoln Center Festival some years ago, is that it comes from the first of 3 acts, where Rose dances with the Prince in a kind of dream, as i THINK he's still a reptile at that moment in the plot. (The designs, btw, are by Nicholas Giorgiadas.) Neither my video nor my programs are at hand now, but the full plot is rather complicated, and not all that clearly delineated on stage. Overall the story has a King Lear-like theme with an aging father, a land divided by him and given to his daughters, one of whom is the virtuous Rose and the other of which is Epine, who devious and selfish. i have just found the following on google: With the always-entrancing elements of a fairy-tale - a wicked sister, transforming spells, a handsome prince - Kenneth MacMillan's 1989 full-length ballet adds that extra pyschological twist, as much about the real world of human emotions as an imaginary one of storybook characters. On the betrothal of his favourite child Princess Rose to a handsome Prince, the old king divides his kingdom between his two daughters. Princess Épine, furiously jealous, turns the Prince into a salamander and banishes him from the kingdom. With the help of the Fool, Rose is taken to a subconscious twilight world in search of him, pursued by the threatening kings of the four corners of the world spurned by Rose and now on the side of Princess Épine. Not recognizing her Prince in his reptile form when she finds him in the land of the Pagodas, it is her compassion for him that finally breaks the spell. Faced with the now united Prince and Princess, Épine loses her powers and flees. Benjamin Britten's score for this full-length ballet sparkles with its rhythmic and inventive orchestral score, given an extra exoticism through the influence of gamelan music, while the stylized Elizabethan designs of Nicholas Georgiadis complete a work rich in colour and fantasy.

ailey's "lark ascending" is recorded on at least on AAADT video, one that includes 'night creature' 'cry' and 'revelations' it may still be on the market.

i'm not sure what's included in this 'set' but i suspect these are the nonesuch/balanchine-library cassettes, or at least 5 of them. SERENADE has NOT been put, to the best of knowledge, on the commercial market. it was shown, on public television on a 'dance in america' program called 'balanchine in america' that presented SEREANDE and WESTERN SYMPHONY. the 'dance in america' programs that the nonesuch/library markets are those that were originially aired,during balanchine's lifetime, as 'choreography by balanchine' (made in 4 parts). the later program, w/ SERENADE was made and aired after balanchine died.

alas the gifted richard (known as rick) hoskinson did die, can't rem. when. he was a wonderful cavalier/partner, esp. as he showed those gifts when he was still quite young. balanchine even cast him opposite suzanne farrell on some occasions (in "monumentum pro gesualdo, for ex.) to give some indication of how highly g.b. thought of r.h's skills. he was also most handsome and was said to have had a wickedly witty sense of humor. he had a serious knee injury which cut short his stage career. after that he recovered enough to begin teaching, which i think was done to some degree in the pittsburgh PA area. i'd lost word of him until i heard that he died.

and let's not forget g.balanchine's horsey NATIVE DANCERS, which alas didn't last long.

FIREBIRD is essentially a conflation of two russian folk tales. one as given here by dirac, of the 'firebird' who as balanchine liked to stress was more a bird of 'light' = radiant lightness, russian speakers here will know the word ZHAR, which isn't exactly translatable as 'fire' (balanchine emphasized this for one version of his staging when he had karinska make a golden costume for kyra nichols when she took on the role. the second tale interwoven here is that of kastchei the immortal, a skeletonlike figure who cannot be destroyed unless someone finds and destroys his soul, which it turns out is kept in a secret casket in the form of an egg (all of which was enacted in pantomime in fokine's version.) did PA Ballet annouce whose staging it was performing? in any case no traditional staging i know of has an unhappy ending, most end w/ the wedding of the tsarevich and his princess, kastchei vanquished and the firebird flown.

probably i'm answering far too late. but as i just noticed this, fyi: there WAS a makarova/nagy SWAN LAKE available on video, bel canto released the live telecast from lincoln center w/ ABT (this in the prod. that was overseen by david blair and that has been discussed and in some cases admired on this site). the video, alas, has been withdrawn from the market. it just might resurface in the seemingly stronger market now for dvds. i won't go into possible alternatives here as these might well have been discussed alrready to your satisfaction elsewhere on the site.

i'm not sure if mel j. already answered this, but to add to the 'promise', when questioned specificially on this at a talk given when the Kirov was recently playing at the Lincoln Center Festival, Makharbek Vaziev said without hesitation that yes, both the recently staged versions of THE SLEEPING BEAUTY and of LA BAYADERE are due to be recorded on CD and DVD, but as indicated here, those plans remain just plans, no date for release is being mentioned.

to confirm: the trocks 'dying swan' is now included on both of the recently released videos, billed as "LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO" Program I and Program II. i've seen the dvds but maybe there are cassettes too. i think they've been shown on cable, and i believe they've been discussed here. but if you'd like to see the 'swan' mentioned here you have 2 diff. chances. both programs are quite well filmed.

somewhere in my none-too-organized papers is a copy of info. about the other ESMERALDA CD. i didn't pay much attention once i realized it didn't have any additional tracks to those on my odessa disk. i THINK the other was a slovak orchestra recording. if i find the paper w/ the full credits i'll post it. i bought my CD about a year or so ago. if i find an additional copies on my travels i'll post it here. i tend automatically to look in the adam, pugni, minkus, drigo bins of any CD selections i come across. often alas if there is a tab for any of these composers it's empty. but i keep looking.

a good friend who has a fab collection of ballet music CDs has alerted me to the recent release of LA FILLEULE DES FEES (The Fairy's God-Daughter). 1849, originally the leading role of Ysaure was danced by Carlotta Grisi. the 2-disk CD says: Adolphe Adam (with Alfred,Comte de Saint-Julien) marco polo label Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Mogrelia 3.223734-35 playing time2:06:33 echos of GISELLE and (hints?) of LE CORSAIRE float throughout. and for those of us who love this sort of thing, much of it makes for happy floating.

hadn't seen this before, so pardon the lateness. (probably jeannie hasn't seen it either, or she'd have added to the info. here.) when i was in st.petersburg in 1995 the maly theater ballet then renamed mussorgsky theater, was still doing an ESMERALDA (full-evening prod. in 2 acts), i think the staging's provenance came via tatiana vecheslova, once a famous esmeralda herself, who helped gusev stage this version; probably in '95 the prod. had been tinkered w/ by boyarchikov, the maly theater's ballet master. both the 'diana and acteon' and the famous 'pas de six,' w/ the tambourine, were there, tho' any number of details read about from the Perrot era were not. (that production led me to realize that music we'd associated w/ LA BAYADERE was in fact formerly from ESMERALDA - i refer here the music k.sergeyev's BAYADERE uses for the nikiya/slave duet in the rajah's palace and then used by makarova for the candle dance in her BAYADERE's last act. and to be sure now the kirov notes for the recent BAYADERE revival claim that this musical selection is indeed music from ESMERALDA and thus by pugni.) jeannie once noted that the 'diana and acteon' number was one that had precedent in another petipa ballet. (was is ROI CANDAUL?) in any case the 'diana and acteon' we see nowadays, often given as a highlight on gala programs, is the work vaganova after godknowswho; the PAS DE SIX, for La Esmeralda, Gringoire, and a quartet of tambourine-tinkling women, is still credited nowadays as petipa's work, tho' likely reworked by any number of further hands. both these are variously recorded on videotape. alas there is no commercial recording of the maly theater's more nearly complete production. there are btw at least 2 CD recordings of the score. one that i have is 'ESMERALDA, music from the ballet by Cesare Pugni in a 'jewels of russian ballet series' played by the odessa symphony orcherstra of opera and ballet. it's one disk. ADRO RECORDS, 1999 and does not include the music for 'diana and acteon' or for that matter the 'slave/nikiya' number, so perhaps this latter is pugni music originally meant for a diff. pugni ballet. recently i learned there was yet another recording of this music, but also only in a 1-disk version and w/the same number of tracks, some 23 scenes all told.

here are some particulars of both filmings: *American Ballet Theatre in San Francisco : 1985. 105 min. : sd. color Notes:A National Video Corporation production. Producer: Robin Scott. Distributed by Home Vision, Chicago, Ill. Directed for television by Brian Large. Live performance from the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, recorded March 1, 1985. Danced by artists of American Ballet Theatre. CONTENTS. - Airs. Choreography: Paul Taylor. Music: George Frideric Handel. Costumes: Gene Moore. Lighting: Jennifer Tipton. Danced by Lisa Rinehart, Kristine Soleri, Anna Spelman, Christine Spizzo, Peter Fonseca, Johan Renvall, Thomas Titone. - Le jardin aux lilas (Lilac garden) Choreography: Antony Tudor. Music: Ernest Chausson. Scenery and lighting: Tim Lingwood. Costumes: Raymond Sovey. Danced by Leslie Browne, Martine van Hamel, Robert La Fosse, Michael Owen. - Swan lake, Act III: Black swan pas de deux. Choreography: Marius Petipa. Music: Peter Tchaikovsky. Scenery: William Pitkin. Costumes: Nicholas Georgiadis. Danced by Cynthia Gregory and Fernando Bujones. - Romeo and Juliet, Act I: Balcony scene pas de deux. Choreography: Kenneth MacMillan. Music: Sergei Prokofiev. Danced by Natalia Makarova and Kevin McKenzie. - Great galloping Gottschalk. Choreography: Lynne Taylor-Corbett. Music: Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Costumes: Gretchen Ward Warren. Lighting: David K. H. Elliott. Danced by Susan Jaffe, Elaine Kudo, Deirdre Carberry, Lisa Lockwood, Christine Spizzo, Kristine Soleri, Robert La Fosse, Gil Boggs, and Johan Renvall. *A Tudor evening with American Ballet Theatre : 1990. 58 min. : sd. Notes :A co-production of WNET/Thirteen, New York, and Danmarks Radio. Telecast by WNET/Thirteen, New York, on the Great Performances: Dance in America series on April 13, 1990. Producers: Judy Kinberg and Thomas Grimm. Executive producer: Jac Venza. Production executive: Rhoda Grauer. Ballets directed by Thomas Grimm. Documentary directed by Judy Kinberg. Writer: David Vaughan. Choreography: Antony Tudor, staged by Sallie Wilson. Lighting: Jorgen Johannessen and Tim Hunter. Performed by members of American Ballet Theatre. Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Barker. Lighting, Jorgen Johannessen and Tim Hunter ; executive producer, Jac Venza ; production executive, Rhoda Grauer ; writer, David Vaughan. Jardin aux lilas / music, Ernest Chausson ; scenery, Zack Brown ; costumes, Hugh Stevenson ; danced by Leslie Browne (Caroline, the bride-to-be), Ricardo Bustamante (her lover), Michael Owen (the man she must marry), and Martine Van Hamel (an episode in his past), with Lucette Katerndahl, Julie Kent, Rosalie O'Connor, Amy Rose, Ethan Brown, Christopher Mattox, Scott Schlexer, and John Summers (friends and relations) ; violin solo, Eric Wyrick. Documentary on Tudor's life and works, including excerpts from the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony in 1986 (presentation speech by Agnes de Mille) and footage of interviews with Tudor, Dame Marie Rambert, de Mille, and Maude Lloyd. Dark elegies / music, Gustav Mahler ; poems, Friedrich Rückert ; scenery and costumes, Nadia Benois ; cast: Scene 1, Laments of the bereaved: I, danced by Martine Van Hamel ; II, danced by Leslie Browne and Michael Owen ; III, danced by Johan Renvall ; IV, danced by Kathleen Moore ; V, danced by Danilo Radojevic, with Shawn Black, Elizabeth Ferrell, Hilary Ryan, Mary Wilson, and Daniel Chait ; Scene 2, Resignation, danced by entire cast ; singer, Christopher Trakas. Telecast by WNET/Thirteen, New York, on the Great Performances: Dance in America series on April 13, 1990.

i didn't realize this had gone off the market. just maybe if you did a search for AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE IN SAN FRANCISCO (spelling ABT out) you might come up w/ something. or keep checking the ballet offerings on somewhere like e-bay for anyone selling off a copy. also you might also ask around for a second filming of 'JARDIN' (which is paired w/ DARK ELEGIES), this one in a studio, with closer range shots than those of the SF/live perf. filming, it's called 'A TUDOR EVENING WITH AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE' 1990, which was a 'dance in america' production.

don mcdonagh, who wrote, among other works, a biog. of martha graham, 'the rise and fall and rise of modern dance' and 'the complete guide to modern dance' spells his name differently, as here: DON MCDONAGH

to the best of my knowledge this title has been discontinued and has not been re-released. it was shown on A&E early on, when it was known by its longer, Arts and Entertainment, moniker. so, off-the-air copies are likely around. but official/commerical releases seem to be gone.

and let's never underestimate the pervasiveness of grade inflation. an A nowadays is an average grade.

current Don Q casting: 17 jul. mat. as given 17 jul. eve. Tarasova/Fadeyev

swanlake: 16 jul. gumerova/korsuntsev swanlake: 20 jul. mat. part/TBA

dept of further clarification: a program printing mix-up re: swan lake casting somehow had Dmitri Zavalishin confused w/ the dancer performing the jester. for the record, according to a correction in the sat. program following the uncorrected thurs. 11 july prog. rothbart was performed by Dmitri Zavalishin (he of the long legs, long face, long nose) and the jester was danced on thurs. 11 jul. by Andre Ivanov; on 13 jul. mat it was zavalishin, again as rothbart and Kiril Simonov as the jester. (i assume zavalishin did rothbart again at the eve. perf. but i can't say for sure as i was not in attendance.)

the particulars of the video in question are as follows: The Royal Ballet :1960. Notes:A J. Arthur Rank presentation. Produced by Paul Czinner Productions for Poetic Films Ltd. in association with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Producer and director: Paul Czinner. Performed by the Royal Ballet, London, starring Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes. : CONTENTS: Swan lake: Act II excerpts (Valse, pas de deux, pas de quatre, rondo, and coda). Choreography: Frederick Ashton and Nikolai Sergeev after Ivanov and Petipa. Sets and costumes: Leslie Hurry. Cast: Margot Fonteyn (Odette), Michael Somes (Prince Siegfried), Bryan Ashbridge (Benno), Leslie Edwards (Von Rothbart); Ann Howard, Mavis Osborn, Clover Roope, and Antoinette Sibley (Cygnets), and corps de ballet

the number in question here is 32: typically after entering down their incline(s) russian shades number 32, 4 rows of 8, (or 8 rows of 4 depending on how see the rows) tho' in speaking at a lincoln center symposium yesterday makhar vaziev said he wished he could have brought the 48 used in st. petersburg (jeannie i believe has confirmed this from may 31), ideally, he said he'd like to fill the stage w/ 64! (i think a moscow prod. once actually used 64.)

i THINK the overtime clock starts at 11:00

only a guess: i think it's a russian tradition to be good and ready before you dance a big solo. perhaps the readiness means catching a deep breath, doing some extra stretches/plies, or whatever. russian men have traditionally quit the stage more obviously and for longer periods of time than male dancers from other traditions: they just leave, sometimes when the ballerina is bowing after a pas de deux to 'prepare'. i once wondered this aloud to arlene croce and she thought maybe the went in the wings to spit. (not to be taken literally necessarily.) i don't think in the case of solor's pas d'action solo that finding the bow can be the reason: neither fadeyev nor samodourov danced w/ the bow and each took his sweetnatured time before showing himself ready to launch into his dance. in sum then i think it's just the way the russians do things, or at least the way russian men do their thing.

re: jane's query about the tulles/clouds karsavina mentions, it's really odd that for all the stage directions and decor details this production attends to, it altogether misses the direction clearly noted in wiley's translation of the original 1877 libretto concerning the kingdom of the shades scene: the scene that precedes the 'kingdom' scene, the one called 'the appearance of the shade' in 'solor's room in the rajah's palace,' clearly notes, upon ending that 'clouds descend' and then after the shades scene plays out it concludes, following 'A large concluding dance of the shades' once again the same direction: 'clouds descend' all that's done in the current 1900-ish production at these points is a lowering of a plain greenish-gray scrim, with no cloud indications and certainly no 'tulles' at all. odd, especially as so many of the libretto's directions are duly followed. i wonder if somehow, like the full-panorama missing from the kirov's new/old 'beauty' on tour, these clouds and/or tulles weren't packed up for touring. tho' it seems unlikely. if the company could pack and ship the temple pillars that come assunder in the 'wrath of the gods' cataclysm it would seem fairly easy to pack up some 'tulles'. but then again karsavina goes on a good deal about the light of the scene, in her phrase that 'blue transparency of night' and this shades scene is definitely not bathed in a blue-cast light of any kind. also no attempt has been made here to re-do another detail she emphasizes, that is the 'flying up' (the the flies?) of the veil from scarf dance. this version simply repeats the effect we've seen for years, in which solor just whisks the veil away himself during his exit, leaving nikiya to dance her solo manege.