Questions about the 1964 film of Sleeping Beauty

[canbelto]

Hi, I recently got the 1964 film of Sleeping Beauty, with Alla Sizova and Yuri Soloviev. I think that the dancing is beyond reproach, but I'm puzzled by the reshuffling of the music. The Rose Adagio comes before the garland waltz, and then in Act 3, Desire and Aurora's pdd is again the first dance. It's followed by the traditional divertissements (including a young Natalia Makarova as Florine), but then it's back to Aurora and Desire's variations and the coda. Also, the traditional Lilac Fairy variation is missing in this film. Does anyone know why these changes were made?

[Alexandra]

My guess is the changes were to make the ballet appeal to a general audience and be more like a movie. There's a mid-50s "Swan Lake" THAT CUTS THE PAS DE TROIS! I've assumed that was because audiences at that time didn't want to see extended passages of classical dancing. They liked the character dances and the "story." Not the mime, but the story (and so we have the Prince slicing his way through to the palace. He has to be a Hero; not enough to have a Lilac Fairy tell him what to do.) There's always been a group that thinks the grand pas de deux should have been placed right after the Prince kissed Aurora awake, so this version may be correcting that "error."

[rg]

i suspect the soviet ballet powers-that-be saw this as a film, not a filmed ballet. someone sat down and decided how to make the film, what to include, what to cut, etc. - in it's limited, set time, all motivated by the task of telling the work's story.

i suspect the cut 'pas de trois' in the SWAN LAKE film might also have come about in order to hold to a time constraint and thus seeing the pas de trois as a divertissement, as an extra, rather than vital part of the 'narrative' itself.

this SLEEPING BEAUTY movie serves as a reminder that while 'authenticity' seems to be a concern of some in the ballet world, it is not and rarely has been one for soviet ballet, or for that matter the imperial ballet. ballets were there for the re-staging and re-presenting for the current generations and alterations, etc. were understood as a part of the 'renewal' process.

clive barnes was one writer to point out, not that long ago, that CHOREOGRAPHY as such, copyrighted and 'set,' was really only a 'fetish' from fokine forward, motivated during fokine's time by a desire to claim usage fees.

[canbelto]

. They liked the character dances and the "story." Not the mime, but the story (and so we have the Prince slicing his way through to the palace. He has to be a Hero; not enough to have a Lilac Fairy tell him what to do.)

I noticed that too, and thought it was weird. In fact, this film marginalizes the Lilac Fairy. First of all, she's not even in Lilac -- her tutu is some kind of grayish color. And second of all, she pretty much disappears after the Vision Scene. She doesn't lead the Prince to Aurora's bed.

[bart]

i suspect the soviet ballet powers-that-be saw this as a film, not a filmed ballet.

...

this SLEEPING BEAUTY movie serves as a reminder that while 'authenticity' seems to be a concern of some in the ballet world, it is not and rarely has been one for soviet ballet, or for that matter the imperial ballet. ballets were there for the re-staging and re-presenting for the current generations and alterations, etc. were understood as a part of the 'renewal' process.

Two very interesting points. Thanks, rg. The second, especially, really deserves a discussion topic of its own.

[papeetepatrick]

I just watched this, adored it. I am just getting really familiar with 'Sleeping Beauty,' sort of a backward way to go about things since it's so basic, but that's that. Saw it with Nureyev and either Seymour or Sibley in 1973, then never have again till I have been watching 3rd act on RB tape. One difference here I don't quite get is that Makarova's Princess Florine dances with the Bluebird. And there's just one Jewel Fairy who does what either Park or Parkinson did (whoever was the one on the left and tinier). In RB tape it's Prince Florestan and his sisters, Park and Parkinson. But Brian Shaw's Bluebird dances with Sibley's Bluebird, so why isn't Makarova called Bluebird instead of Princess Florine; or was the RB's way unusual. I just would have assumed that Princess Florine would be one of the Jewel girls.

I never heard of Alla Sizova. She is so gorgeous I could die. However, I think I'd rather watch this many, many times than perish any time soon. Mr. Soloviev is pretty sublime too. I wondered about those brown shoes, they aren't like anything I've ever seen. Might have been a period thing. I liked this better than any USSR thing I've ever seen--first time I ever thought Soviet imagination really existed. They were cleverer than I thought.

Thanks.

[carbro]

. . . so why isn't Makarova called Bluebird instead of Princess Florine[?]

The basis of this pas is the existing fairy tale of Princess Florine, sequestered in her tower, and the Bluebird who visits her. This is traditional. The pas is named after the guy, but I guess it could just as easily be called the Florine Pas de Deux!

[bart]

There are a number of long and interesting discussions of the Bluebird/Florine relationship, in the Ballets Forum (Sleeping Beauty). Here's just one of them:

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=21139

[papeetepatrick]

carbro and bart--thank you. That link is marvelous, full of fascinating minutiae--that's the kind of thing that makes you really excited and want to get into all of it more and more. This especially makes me want to get hold of some fairy tale collections. Any particular recommendations?

[Mel Johnson]

The Blue (Red, Green, Yellow, etc.) Fairy Books are still available, and will afford hours of both nostalgia and the joy of discovering "new" old tales you never heard before.

[Juliet]

carbro and bart--thank you. That link is marvelous, full of fascinating minutiae--that's the kind of thing that makes you really excited and want to get into all of it more and more. This especially makes me want to get hold of some fairy tale collections. Any particular recommendations?

Yes. Jack Anderson wrote an excellent article in the March 29, 1992 New York Times :

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...agewanted=print

Very good for those wanting more background on the characters at Aurora's wedding........

[bart]

Thanks, Juliet, for that article. It was nice to be introduced to the stories of Mme. d'Aulnoy.

There's a choreographic challenge in the tale of the White Cat that goes far beyond that in the story of Princess Florine and the Blue Bird. How do you choreograph the following?

The white cat now orders the youngest prince to chop off her head and tail. Reluctantly, he does so -- and behold! A ravishing enchanted princess stands before him.

[Mel Johnson]

Well, she's been more fortunate in her choice of escorts. She's partnered by Puss in Boots, not some Prince or other.

[carbro]

There's a choreographic challenge in the tale of the White Cat that goes far beyond that in the story of Princess Florine and the Blue Bird. How do you choreograph the following?

The white cat now orders the youngest prince to chop off her head and tail. Reluctantly, he does so -- and behold! A ravishing enchanted princess stands before him.

Same way Balanchine et al. transformed the Nutcracker into the Prince -- with the help of a clever costumer!

[papeetepatrick]

Juliet--thanks. The Anderson article is a really good start--I can't believe I didn't know about Perreault writing all those stories we all know. D'Aulnoy fascinating with the Bluebird and White Cat stories, though. I love it about Troutine (or Truitonne)--so witty-malicious. Whole milieux are opened up when you think of these ladies like Mme. D'Aulnoy. These will be the first ones I'll go and look for full versions of.

This one looks promising and has stories both by Mme. D'Aulnoy and Perreault.

WONDER TALES

New York : Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1996, c1994.

edited and introduced by Marina Warner ; with illustrations by Sophie Herxheimer.

[bart]

Balanchine et al. transformed the Nutcracker into the Prince -- with the help of a clever costumer!

And that old stand-by, the well-placed puff of smoke.