Peasant Pas de Deux

[tango49]

Over the years I've seen only a few Giselle performances but really never noticed whether there were two male variations in the Peasant Pas. The very last one I saw didn't even have one and the music for the Peasant Pas was turned into a Pas de Six mainly I believe for the company male dancers to show some of their virtuosity and to feature some female soloists as well. It was well done and very enjoyable. My son is performing Peasant on Sunday and the only problem he's come across is difficulty with his stamina. He has two variations with about 50 sec (girls variation) between them and wonder if this is the norm for that Pas generally speaking? To go off stage to catch a breath seems to break the whole

interaction between the two dancers. Has anyone danced this...he's really never had a stamina problem but then again he hasn't done a whole lot of full Pas recently either! Any info on this I'd be anxious to hear about...Thanks! Tango

[Mel Johnson]

Yes, there are two periods in the PPdD for the male dancer alone. The first is his actual variation, and the second is the first part of the coda. It's part of the ritual formalism of the Romantic-era pas de deux, and what you hope for is that your partner does an extra-good job with her variation, so you get more breathing time. This thing was the first thing that I danced where I felt like I was outside myself, watching myself. It became a lot less strenuous after that occurred.

[tango49]

Thanks Mel for your answer. Yes I was wondering if the second was part of the coda...yet still a full male variation. From your description "out of yourself" it sounds pretty strenuous...I suppose it's a great part to have but a most difficult one to perform! Yes I can see how those longer bows could do the trick...hope the audience is a good one in this respect! Thanks again.

[Guest Mark]

MajorJohnson. Don't you mean that the female begins the coda with a short 'variation' and the male joins her?

[Mel Johnson]

No, the order in Peasant Pas de Deux goes like this:

1) Entrée - 3/4 tempo di polonaise

2) Adagio - 3/4 andante moderato

3) Male Variation - 2/4 allegro moderato pesante

4) Female Variation - 2/4 allegro vivace

5) Coda (Valses "Souvenir de Ratisbonne")

a. man's entrance - 3/4 tempo di valse

b. woman's entrance - 3/4 tempo di valse lente

segue at accelerando to

c. finale for both dancers together

It's like this in "Flower Festival in Genzano", too. What happens to make the coda entrances different from the actual variations is first, what happens to the man when the woman dances. After his variation, the man leaves the stage; after the first period of coda, he stays onstage, at least in fully-staged productions of the ballet. In concert, I've seen the man leave the stage, but I don't think that looks good. Rather rude. It's been awhile, but I believe that in the score, the variations end with a Fine double bar. One thin line and one thick. In the coda, the sections are separated only with periodic double bars - two thin lines.