Dancecreature

In the Giselle recording of Bonynge there is a pas de vendanges that is a piece that I have only seen in a shortend version of the Seymour and Nureyev film recording. Is this the pas de deux that you are talking about or was it from Adam?

Thank you so much for the information! Dancecreature.

The whole Pas de Six has a very beautiful music (that is really never played in many productions). I find though the Variation II is way to long for a variation (solo piece). I see it more as a pas d'action where Odile tries to convince that she is the swan princess he loves. This piece also has a oboe melody that one can relat to the Odette. That is my own interpretation.

When I saw her in Frankfurt in Swan Lake (1999) I didn't find her fat. She was a really beautiful swan princess. The version she danced was the one by Vasiliev. His version didn't have a Black Swan (Odile).

Interesting. I really like Margots feet. They have and air to Markova's.

I turned up curious about La Péri when I read in a book that Carlotta Grisi actually let herself fall from a ramp into the arms of Lucien Petipa. I have been researching quite a while on the ballet. Does anybody know if Coralli left any notes about the choreography? I do have the recording that Boynge included in his CD pack: Fete du ballet. But is it the whole score as it was produced in Paris? Does anybody know/have the piano reduction of this ballet or where to get it? I have seen that the piano reductions of 19th century ballets are very useful because they describe the action under the bars and give a clear vision of the story in relation with the music. If you could give me a hand I would be so thankful! Dancecreature

The two productions of La Sylphide are very different. Both have the same plot but the choreography and the music have major differences. The Taglioni/Lacotte production has a different sense of choreography and the patterns are much more ornamental than in the Bournonville production. The both music scores have a different motivs regarding the caracterization of the roles. Both are beautiful and have their own special values. The Schneitzhöffer's score reminds me of a work between two musical ages because some pieces seem to have a slight classical touch and in other the romantic sense of music is clearly heard. Lovenskiojd's better known work is more romantic (as it is also newer than Schneitzhöffer's). To me his music score is very joyful in the 1st act and very mystical and sensual in the 2nd. Bournoville's choreography is very conected to the score and makes alot of sense. As I hear the music I always visualize the steps. In the choreography of the two productions the big differences are that Taglioni's/Lacotte's version have Effie and her maidens dance in point shoes (in Bournonville's version they have character shoes). Also a big difference is that the Paris Opéra have alot of lifts in the dance sequences. Bournoville's choreography has very little partner work, it displays more solo variations in a divertisement sequence. I have heard the Bournonville didn't like lifts, he said he found them vulgar. Dancecreature

Hello to all that form this website. I'm so glad that many people from all around the world can comunicate to each other about ballet. The site is also very profesionally made. Well I'll come to know you all hopefully and open up my mind on the topic learning and being alert of the past and present of this wonderful art. Dancecreature

The Library of Congress has some pieces from the ballet Sylvia in piano reduction. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natl...ner.html?page=1

One of the first productions of Satanella was the one by Paolo Taglioni. It was arranged in a prologue and four scenes/acts. The music is credited to Hertel and Pugni. Some of the dances (pas), as written in the theatre program of Taglioni's production in the Teatro y Circo de Madrid, in 1874 mention a seduction pas de dix, an infernal mazurka, a quadrille, pas de fleurs for 48 female corps de ballet members. This version is prior to Petipa's and surely didn't include the today known Satanella pas de deux.

Hello to all i'm new and this is my first post. I have been asking myself quite some time on how the dancers used and holded there arms in the 19th century. As I have been dancing parts of Giselle, La Vivandìère Pas de six and also Les Sylphides (a 20th century ballet on the romantic era). If one takes a look at the prints of Taglioni, Grisi, Elßler etc. one can clearly see that they pose in more rounded and uneven positions. For example: Taglioni in Chalon's Pas de Quatre print shows a much more upon and forward bended fifth positon and Grisi in a print of Coralli's La Péri positions a kind of fifth position with one arm lower the the other. I have many logical visions on this subjet. I would say that Filippo Taglioni had a large influence on the fashion and style of movement in the 19th century. It is known that the rounded positions originated, is due to the very long arms of his daughter Marie. I want to also mention the Escuela Bolera (the spanish ballet school (Elßler's spanish style). This school had it's birth in the 18th and already used the rounded arms to play the castanets more comfortable. Does Carlo Blasis have a large influence on arms positioning in this century and can one link his dance form to Filippo Taglioni's? I see also a logical answer to contect the height of the arms with the dress worn by the female ballerinas. The clothing of the ballerina consisted of a corset with made her waist firm. Because it was quite ugly and unnatural to stand tall and straight the ballerina contrasted it with bending her torso slightly forward and bending from the shoulders to the sides. As a consequence the arms are lowered. But what is with the male dancer. He didn't wear a corset. Where his arms then higher than thoses of women? Last year I had I teacher who told us the importance of the placement of the arms in different pieces of the ballet repertoire. One should not dance Giselle with the same arms as in Sleeping Beauty. One thing I really was astonished about was the arms in Les Sylphides. My teacher told me I had to lower the left arm and put my left hand under the right hand so that my middle finger would touch the other hand. He said that was the meaning of love in the romantic period. Fokine used it alot in his ballets, one can point out Le Spetre de la rose and Les Sylphides. It is curious that Alicia Alonso in the documentary DVD (Alicia Alonso: Giselle, Una Leyenda, (2006)) she speaks about the importance of the lower left hand in fifth position especially in the second act. In conclusion I relat the left to the heart and therefore the link to love.This is a very interesting matter. My teacher also told us that this stlye of the "hanging, soft arms and hands" ends with the Sleeping Beauty (1890) where the arms evolve to a more lineal and higher form. Any thoughts, comments, addtions would be great. Dancecreature