emilienne

Alas my eyes and the blurry video! Well, it's still one more clip of Ivesiana that I've seen... I do wonder whether they just circulate the same clips over and over out of sheer laziness. I really don't know anything about policy and rights - except that I hope someday soon more videos will be allowed to come out of the archives where they rot But re Allegra in Ivesiana: we wish! I have seen the Schoonejans doc you mention (Dance of the Century) and the Ivesiana clip it contains is the exact same one that appears in the Balanchine documentary (the long doc that is on dvd) where the dancers are identified as Suki Schorer and Deni Lamont.

I was digging through my local university library a few days ago and came across a 90s documentary that seems to have only been released in Europe. It's made by a woman named Sonia Schoonejans for Amaya (or Sept Cinéma). It doesn't present much in the way of information, but I was struck by the sheer wealth of clips that was included the hour-long feature (it's tape 2 out of a 6 part documentary on ballet). A partial listing: kinescope of Adams and Le Clercq in Concerto Barocco (this seems to a favorite of several documentaries) von Aroldingen in the Bransle Gay (in full) for German television Serenade from the same Allegra Kent in the Unanswered Question from Ivesiana (edited: apparently she's Suki Schorer. Sorry Ms Schorer!) a painfully short clip of McBride in Tarantella in the female variation There were quite a few more, but I was struck more by the wealth of clips that they included. It brought to mind a few questions about copyrights. Please forgive me, I used to work in university programming and (cough) copyright clearance is a fascination of mine. Does the Balanchine Foundation have control over what filmmakers can include in their documentaries (I presume yes) and how have they exercised their control? Do you observe any trends in the ballet content that documentaries have chosen to include (not that there are many balanchine documentaries, or films of his choreography, to begin with) and has that changed over time (more stringent, less?)? emi

(Edited, edited, edited) Are these German films commercially available, or widely available, at all? I'm not sure about the copyright in this situation but there is a way to record German television online.

My hope is that some very nice fan will capture portions of it for viewing on (dare I say it) on Youtube. It's quite a treasure trove of foreign television captures. There's a very nice person, for example, who very helpfully put up a complete, recent recording of Symphonic Variations. emi

Try this link . Video 1 is Raymonda Variations, video 2 is Agon, video 3 is Tarantella.

Nothing after looking through the balanchine catalogue. There are notations about changes to Emeralds primarily but nothing else. It must have been sometime last year or the year before - someone on BT had commented on mime in Balanchine (was it popularlibrary, perhaps?) and somehow there was discussion of d'Amboise miming something to Farrell in the Diamonds pas - had it disappeared after the first season? I cannot remember and fear that this may be a misremembering (I do remember talk of mime in other places), but it is quite an *odd* misremembering.

In connection to the lost Emeralds Choreography topic that's also in this forum, I wonder if anyone would be willing to comment on choreographic changes in Jewels in general. For example, I know that the pas de sept was added in the 70s, but what else? Gillot talks about the 'original' Neary choreography, so how did it get changed along the way? Was it merely steps or was it also the styling? Also, rather more in detail (and BT's search function is pretty useless), someone had talked about _mime_ in the Diamonds pas when it first premiered. Was there actually mime or a suggestion of it in the choreography? Was it Farrell to D'amboise or vice versa? Can anyone remember what it read? Any information (especially in connection to the mime question) would be greatly appreciated.

What a marvelous introduction to Serenade live. I think I dreamt about that snap to first by the corp last night. Quite unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to see Farrell in the role though I would dearly love to. I don't go into New York very often and I spent the day before in the library feasting on older recordings of Concerto Barocco (though the 16 mm of McBride and Villela rehearsing Rubies did make my afternoon). As to Mozartiana, I've seen it once in the Third Ring (and unfortunately forgot most of what I saw), and saw Part in City Center from orchestra where I could not see the floor pattern at all (Part remains the benchmark in this ballet for me even despite her falling off pointe at the height of the music). Last night's Minuet did not crystallize into a conversation - there were murmurs and overtures toward coherently ambiguous patterns, but as it was remained a jumble. Many ovations for Piano Concerto No 2. I've seen Lopatkina in it in a recording but then promptly forgot most of it. Do wish that I had a better frame of reference by which to judge Reichlen but she was indeed excellent in the role. Does the role want more warmth or more regality and command, or are they compatible qualities in a dancer, especially in this ballet? I can't decide, especially after last night's performance with Reichlen as the latter and Lowery embodying the former.

I was referring more to the filmed and historic versions as danced by people's troupes during the Cultural Revolution. I did quite a bit of history and film work at university on Cultural Revolution media. However, it's not quite relevant to ballet in China, as I don't really consider it...Ballet, in China. It's more mass dance with rather terrible ballet technique. Basically, if you can dance en pointe, you can perform for factory workers and peasants in the countryside. Ability to turn out was not a stringently enforced requirement. Dance schools in China have the luxury of selecting body types (as do the most selective in the rest of the world), and they've definitely followed the Russian trend in selecting the more elongated bodies. Many of the dancers are still selected from lower income families, with the understanding that the dancers will have better lives (dancing for the sake of enriching one's academic resume is a relatively new thing). Sometimes it's not really about love of dance as it is about sticking it out for the eventual benefits, unfortunately. It is true that the acting is more introverted, but then the dancer runs the risk of being stone-faced. It's one thing for the dancing to tell the story entirely, but there's also the risk of disconnecting the face entirely from the action, which happens sometimes. I'm not sure I'd call it Chinese, so I'll just leave it as introversion. I'm not sure about the politics behind this, but there has been a rash of officially approved modern works lately. However, they are very much in the soviet mode of unitard ballets with rather gymnastic lifts. Most of them are set to traditional Chinese themes and music but unfortunately have very little lasting value. The music situation seem to mirror that of artistic gymnastics floor music from the 1990s, in which many of the former Soviet countries encouraged their gymnasts to use 'traditional' folk music in order to show solidarity or identity, something like that. Youtube has some interesting clips from national dance competitions and modern pieces that have been broadcast on Central Television - searching for Central Ballet in English should turn up the terms, and more clips will pop up in associated searches.

Unfortunately the last time I saw the Central Ballet was in 2006. To the best of my recollection I guess I'd describe the style as being restrained Russian with less emphasis on the port de bras. I was struck mostly by the fact that they weren't as 'floppy' as when hyperadagio goes horribly wrong. Unfortunately I've noticed that limbs tend to get out of control once in a while, though I think that's more a function of the body types that ballet seems to favor nowadays (darn it, I want a fireplug!). I'd probably have more to say about the Revolutionary Ballets (Red Detachment, White Haired Girl) but it'd be off topic here so I won't. It is, however, a great throwback to the Cultural Revolution and definitely a symbol of what ballet could be if only geared toward the (Socialist) masses.

Russian Treasures Friday 22 February Third Ring This was my first time seeing Serenade live, and it was quite a thrilling experience. I've seen random taped segments of companies (Mariinsky, Tokyo, etc) performing Serenade, but nothing quite matches the atmosphere of a live performance. The NYCB performs it with much more 'snap' than I had expected. I must confess that I gasped when everyone turned out to first in unison - I knew it was coming but it was quite thrilling to see everyone open their bodies and their feet out to their audience in preparation. Quite unfortunately the strings sounded quite thin - it could not be avoided, but I was distracted at odd moments by the thinness in the texture of the violin-playing. I thought Yvonne Bourree was very brittle especially at the beginning of the ballet. She relaxed into the dancing as the piece went on, but her movements did not flow as the choreography seemed to demand. As to Kaitlin Gilliland, I marveled at her port de bras while she was on-stage; her arms were meltingly beautiful, if I may butcher adverbs for a minute. Darci Kistler had some very beautiful moments but they did not sustain themselves. It seemed to be very much of a "end of career" performance as she looked through the corp looking for her place and then at the end, when her body language indicated desperation at being carried away toward Heaven. It was her time but she did not want to go yet. But, as stated, the moments did not last long. Kistler's flexibility was limited and she fumbled with her hair (both hands on her bun, why..won't...it...flow...?) at the crucial moment. I've seen Mozartiana three times now - first time with Whalen and the second time at the ABT with Part and Beloserkovsky. I'm not a big fan of Mozartiana, unfortunately, as I find it very difficult to get into with its starting and stopping (especially in the Variations). Whalen is very much in command, but I find her dancing to be beautiful in a very cold, earth-bound sort of way. Tom Gold did an excellent job in the Gigue, very beautifully clean footwork and all. However, I've always thought that the music demanded more authority in the execution of the choreography as counterpoint, otherwise the dancer seems to float on top of the music and become a bit o' fluff. I seem to remember a BT thread talking about Ib Anderson in the role and the subsequent casting in the 80s based mistakenly on size than on personality...? I can't decide whether the Menuet needed more rehearsal time. It was a very nice performance but occasionally I would focus on the floor pattern and realize that there was none. The orchestra and piano had a few risky moments nearing going out of sync at the beginning of Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2, but they settled down as the dancing started. This is my first time seeing the piece - and corp posed on-stage with their glittering finery was a particularly beautiful sight. It also establishes the regality of the imaginary setting right away. I took a while to get into Reichlen's dancing - she looked a bit tentative at the beginning but built onto her performance with every appearance. It was, again, a very cold and regal sort of beauty. In comparison, I thought that Lowery as the 'princess' took command of the stage immediately (in contrast). Her dancing was very full and womanly (I can't think of another word for it). My long-suffering friend and I in the Third Ring felt her warmth and wanted very badly to be part of _her_ retinue.

Many Russian and Eastern European tour groups also make passes through the big cities, as do some smaller regional touring dance groups (Liaoning, etc). You can check online as well - ticket services will usually have someone speaking English on the telephone hotline. They will arrange to deliver tickets to the door and the usual practice is cash on delivery (though no guarantee that anyone delivering will speak english). There are two primary ticket websites for mainland China: Piao.com and Piaowutong. Piaowutong's website hangs on a lot of browsers, but I find that piao's offerings are often out of date. Piao Beijing is at http://www.piao.com and Piao Shanghai is at http://www.piao.com/yanchu/index-sh.asp This place does not have an English website but the Shanghai hot line is at 021-58873272 For Piaowutong: There is an English site: http://en.piaowutong.com (this only goes to the Beijing website) The Shanghai website is here: http://sh.piaowutong.com (only in Chinese) The Shanghai's reservation hotline is 021-51086048...I seem to remember an English speaking service, but I'm not positive. Beijing and Shanghai have been competing in recent years to bring "the arts" to their respective cities. I saw the Bolshoi and Paris Opera Ballet in Beijing. I've also seen the Central Ballet, and I do hear that the Shanghai Ballet is quite good. Their training is basically Soviet, and their body types have become more...Mariinski-like (think very long and very lean) in recent years. Aside from a few 'modern' pieces and revolutionary ballets, the core repetoire of the bigger companies is actually very traditional (Swan Lake &tc, though no Sleeping Beauty). Hope this is of some use. emi

Dear whitelight - it's probably too late for any sort of use. The yang ban xi - the eight model works, were the model song and dance dramas (including two ballets) permitted to be shown during the Cultural Revolution. They comprised of several stock plays and themes that Madame Mao (Jiang Qing, once an aspiring Nora) permitted to be performed in various permutations. They are more spectacle than pure dance or pure song - think choreography with ballet steps done to Peking opera. The point of these dramas wasn't choreographic complexity but to educate viewers on the merits of the revolution. The two ballet works are the "White Haired Girl" (out of print, incredibly hard to find. The only commercially available version is of a chinese opera made ten years before the ballet) and the "Red Detachment of Women". The Central Ballet, which had produced soviet works such as Swan Lake before the revolution, diverted most of their resources to performing these works all over the countryside to enlighten the peasants. As to the choreography, most of it is in the dramatic pantomime tradition with lots of dancing en masse and posing by the heroes (there was a strict code of what heroes could and couldn't do). Solos tend to consist of simple ballet steps, including (oddly enough) a lot of Kitri jumps. A few of the ballet dancers became quite famous. For example, the male military hero in Red Detachment (who gets burnt at the stake by the villains) rose to become the Vice Minister of Culture by the end of the period, but in general, male technique seemed to be fairly low, in the Bolshoi 'beef cake' fashion (they prepare for turns in the Russian way). Women technique seem to be better, though some of the corp girls had pointe technique that was suspect. Turn out seemed to have been not as high on the list of priorities as it is now! emi