All's Well That Ends Well

[BalletNut]

Which ballets have you seen that have the best endings? The kind of grand finale that leaves you feeling totally satisfied?

I like:

Etudes

4 Temperaments

Theme & Variations

Sleeping Beauty

[Joseph]

Story:

Onegin (Cranko)

Manon (MacMillan)

Giselle (Maina Gielguld's Version)

Romeo and Juliet (Choo San Goh's Version)

La Bayadere (Natalia Makarova's Version)

Swan Lake (Anthony Dowel's Version)

Neoclassical:

Four Temperaments (Balanchine)

Serenade (Balanchine)

Theme and Variations (Balanchine)

[carbro]

Subject to modification:

Best Happy Ending: Pillar of Fire

Best Sad Ending: LaSylphide

Most Perfect Not-Happy/Not-Sad Resolutions: The Four Temperaments, Vienna Waltzes. Part of the magic of VW's ending is that when the dancers hit their final positions, stop and face us in the audience, the ballroom suddenly becomes a stage, changing the context of what we've just seen.

Also, Tchaikovsky Pas ends with the fish dives and the final overhead lift in attitude off stage. That's pretty exciting.

Joseph, I loved the Bayadere ending the way Martine van Hamel used to do it -- Nikiya approaching the steps with the motif from the Entrance of the Shades. Not all Nikiyas do it that way, though.

[Farrell Fan]

My favorite ballet ending is that of Ashton's Fille Mal Gardee in which things turn out happily for everyone, including for the dorky Alain, blissfully reunited with his umbrella.

As for Balanchine, I too like the ending of The Four Temperaments, and, even more, that of Symphony in Three Movements, which is always thrilling. Even though I've had years to think about it, I still don't know which ending to Apollo I prefer -- the "sunburst" arabesques of the truncated version, or the original stairway to Mount Olympus.

[dirac]

I cast my vote for Fille and Four Ts, too.

Regarding Apollo, I much prefer the Stairway to Olympus. It's a real ending, showing us the completion of Apollo's journey from cub to fully fledged god and leader of the muses.

[Ari]

In Fille, I also like the way Ashton choreographed the bows, with each principal being hoisted up by a circle of dancers to receive their applause. Very festive.

[Paquita]

Mine are:

Onegin

Opus 19/The Dreamer

Apollo

A Delicate Battle (Mrozewski)

[Dale]

I always loved the ending of Balanchine's Raymonda Variations, with the lead woman jumping headlong towards the audience only to be caught by the lead man, who has just got there in time. Timing is important. Nobody takes risks anymore, so the ending now isn't as exciting as it used to be with Farrell and McBride going for broke.

[sandik]

As for Balanchine, I too like the ending of The Four Temperaments, and, even more, that of Symphony in Three Movements, which is always thrilling. Even though I've had years to think about it, I still don't know which ending to Apollo I prefer -- the "sunburst" arabesques of the truncated version, or the original stairway to Mount Olympus.

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Stairway. Absolutely the stairway.

[perky]

Balanchine's Symphony In C. Although I've always wondered what it would have looked like with the different colored costumes in the Paris original instead of the mass of white at the end.

[Gina Ness]

Another vote here for "Sleeping Beauty"...Although not one of my favorite Balanchine ballets, his Western Symphony's spinning hoe-down finish (the entire, very large cast all doing "tours de finis" (consecutive piroettes to fifth position) while the curtain closes is pretty exciting... Bejart's "Firebird"...."Etudes"....

[bart]

Not a ballet but involving dance: the end of Faust at Palm Beach Opera this season. (Note: second cast did this, not the first.)

Musical attention at the end of the opera is on Marguerite and the angelic chorus. There is some ambiguity about what actually happens to Faust, and this has been presented in a variety of waysand to make quite different moral points.

In this production, Faust and Mephisopheles rolled very slowly into the darkness offstage, in the power of something much greater than either of them. At the very last moment, Mephistopheles extended his arm and upper body over the prone Faust. If God has power over me, he seemed to be thinking, at least I have power over Faust.

An extremely emotive ending to their story, somewhat lost because of the focus on the striking image of of Marguerite who was at stage center and who broke her chains and moved slowly, arms extended, downstage towards the light.

Both sides of the moral dichotomy -- salvation and damnation -- are served. And all is in balance in God's universe.