whetherwax

Yes indeed, Sandik, I am very grateful for your reply. I was recently able to ask someone at the Australian ballet whether they could do Pharoahs Daughter and they said that they would have to ask Lacotte and that it would cost a great deal. (they also said that the Aust ballet could not field the cast of thousands that the Bolshoi can command.) Your reply makes me begin to understand the immense cost of staging ballets.

When I first discovered this site I said that what I wanted were educational DVDs and although I've learnt more and more through buying DVDs, reading here ,and going to live ballets I am with James on this. I would love to see, say Giselle, with a choreographer on another track explaining the steps and why they were appropriately delivering the emotional charge etc etc. The music , the design. In big blockbuster DVDs such as The Lord of the Rings there is a director's commentary. I'm am convinced that a similar commentary on each ballet ( which could or could not be accessed at the whim of the viewer) would be invaluable.Reading RG and then looking at the ballets is great ,but a voice over commentary which one could access would be heaven.( Just being told that this step is a revoltade or a renversee and that it contibutes here because...... would be great).

If a ballet company wanted to stage a ballet like say, The Pharoah's Daughter which seems to belong to the Bolshoi and Pierre Lacotte, how would they go about it? Would Lacotte have to come and supervise? What kind of negotiations would need to be made? Are there processes?

Maybe balletomanes need a reasonable income too, to support multiple viewings???

I voted no, because although I have a suscription to 5 ballets this year and will go to 2 Cinema showings of Royal Ballet performances as well as buying many DVDs, the real ambience surrounding the word is KNOWLEGE. All those who vote yes will have a vast store of knowlege and be able to critique various performances. As well , as Jonellow says, certain demographics are important. Europe, Russia and North America are the centres of ballet life, and Although the Australian Ballet is robust and full of brio it is the only one we have. Comparison feeds knowlege.

I too have just bought this DVD and share your opinion of it, Smitty. I am really happy with it and would say that I have watched parts of it every day for a week. I know the music is not sublime but I must say bits of it continue to run through my brain. The dancing pleases me enormously and the whole ridiculous story is fun.. I would love to know more about the making of this version as the costuming and cast of thousands are a delight. My only regret is that I now have DVDs of all the big narrative ballets and despair that there will be no more.( Hoping that POB Raymonda this year will be good)

Thank you all. A good lesson to reinforce the need to comb this site before any major decisions!! Mind you, the packaging says that the dvd is suitable for world wide viewing.

I can' t find it, and I wanted to reread some of the entries.

I have recently purchased this DVD. I am VERY disappointed. I was looking forward to my first Balanchine ballet (except for A Midsumer's Night dream, by Pacific Northwest Ballet which I love). I was keen to learn about the classical aspects of Balanchine's choreography. The dvd seems to have bad production values, so that although one can see some of the dancing, any quick movements are blurred and lack focus. In fact the dvd causes some headache in the faster sections. It is as if they used a camera which could not record speedy movement. Some Amazon buyers have complained too. I wondered if any other Ballet Talk members had had a similarly disappointing experience?( It cost a great deal too.) Does the trust keep an eye on such things as well as policing youtube?

Does anyone know of a book ( in English) discussing the design for the Lacotte revival of this ballet. I am delighted by the costuming and would love to know more about the way it was bought into being. There is a short relatively uninformative doco on the disk ( nowhere near as valuable as the Peter Wright commentary on Het National's Sleeping Beauty). I would love to know more. Surely there was a lovely glossy produced?

In my youth Iris Murdoch was de rigeur. I remember "Under the Net" fondly. Yet I couldnt read any of her stuff now. Too full of boring people.( as is the Conversations) She was definitely one of the people considered to be of lasting importance does anyone think so now? I think I'd put Housekeeping on my list of lasting books, but I found Home and Gilead nowhere near as exciting.

I work in a small bookshop and see all the new novels come in, but my taste is very much non fiction. I do have a residual feeling that literature is "good" for you. That it will make you a better person etc. But, at the risk of sounding vilely arrogant , I think that by 69 one has learnt most of the improving aspects that novels can offer.The lessons are always about compassion and understanding and there are only seven narratives ,so they say. I think the lessons for me are best learnt in nonfiction form - reading ,say Charlotte Joko Beck or Pema Chodron. Also there are SO many novels these days produced because of the growth of creative writing courses. Many are boring but published because the publishers hope to make a quid.

I've just aquired the DVD of the Bolshoi 2003 performance with Zakarova and Filin. On the accompanying documentary Pierre Lacotte talks of trying to recreate Petipa's choreography. Other sites have suggested that it was too difficult to re create. Im just flying a kite here, based on a very limited understanding of choreographic history and ballet steps - but I thought that Lacotte could have said that he was paying homage to Bournonville. In some of the dancing done by Filin, in particular, full of jumps and leggyness, I thought that Taor was channelling James, from La Sylphide. Does anyone else see similarities? I'm not suggesting that Lacotte was plagiarising but there does seem to me to be great congruence in parts. I enjoy the DVD partly because I am reminded of La Sylphide.

Oh yes - so would I.

Why does Don Lopez want to kill Lucien? Is it because he and Serafina are against the French?Are they Spanish patriots? Or is it merely that Lucien's affection for Paquita is insulting to them both? If Serafina wanted to marry Lucien surely bumping him off was counterproductive?Maybe killing Paquita would be more sensible?

When the wedding day was continually put off, it may have been hard to continue. Then again perhaps they could have run away together and emigrated to Australia thereby starting the Australian wine industry earlier.

I came to ballet on a similar trajectory to that of Bart ( the lessons were abandoned after the knee joints gave out). I was seduced by Mia Slavenka hopping backwards on her toe in the film Ballet Russes. I think it important for newcomers to learn some of the steps so that you can reflect on different dancers abilities. The books Bart mentions have been invaluable to me and I agree totally with Innopac as to their value. I enjoy the music but have not had my pleasure lessened by the fact that I dont know much about it. The fact that the music for Manon doesnt feature that from the opera by Massenet is but a passing fact to note. A good collection of DVDs has been invaluable for me because I can replay them and I do value the fact that i have several of the same ballet by different companies. That for example allows me to enjoy Zakarova's dancing in Giselle but hate her acting, and indeed to MUCH prefer the overall presentation of the Australian ballet DVD of Giselle with Christine Walsh for it's overall emotion. Watch lots!!!

I have a copy of Romeo and Juliet done by the POB and so far I have not been able to watch it through. Not because it is not gloriously staged etc., but because I am too squeamish about the violence and pain it reflects. This is pretty weird isnt it? The narrative is several jumps away from me - it is from a renaissance play, it is set in another time, it is transposed into a melange of body lines, movements and music and yet I am too frightened to actually subject myself to the emotion it protrays. It is mainly the confrontation I find difficult. I wonder is it just that with age one becomes more frail about human conflict and suffering or are there others who find certain ballets so confronting? Do some of you find certain ballets hard to watch?

Have other ballet companies done this ballet? Or is it only danced by the Australian ballet?

In my DVD of Graeme Murphy's Nutcraker,there are a collection of lovely black and white images of Russian dancers . They are used as a nostalgic and poignant reminder of the losses of the early years of the 20th century. They serve in the ballet as a transition for Clara as she moves from her pre revolution life to her life as an emmigrant and traveller. They are very evocative as part of the DVD, but I would like to know who they are. I think I recognise Karsarvina but the others are unknown. Can anyone help?

I ask because the music is so lovely that I cant understand why there isnt a truly fabulous ballet made for it.

Taped for television! Does this mean that there will be a DVD for those who cannot get french TV?? OH Please.

I see that there has been a ballet called Peer Gynt offered in 1963 by Festival Ballet and choreographed by Orlikowsky. Is it ever produced these days ? Has Grieg's music been choreographed by others?

It certainly looks full of vitality. Pity Melbourne is so far away. I think there is an Australian dancer in the Scottish Ballet(?) Campbell McKenzie.

Curses. Because our State Government wouldnt cough up a measly million or so, Brisbane got the POB instead of Melboune - what were they thinking!!! we are the culture city!!! So one would have to travel a long way to see them as well as paying for the tickets and finding accomodation, so I wonder if anyone might know who would be likely to be coming out to dance La Bayadere??I'll have to start having Lamington Drives to pay anyway, so knowing who might be dancing could make it worth while.