Alonso-Vasiliev "Giselle"

[papeetepatrick]

To take the ballet away from Giselle, how would one feel if a dancer insists on Spectre a la Rose even when he can no longer jump, much less make a huge leap out a window, even if said dancer was Nijinsky himself? Or how about having a dancer who specializes in adagio dancing (like Uliana Lopatkina) take on something like, say, Ballo della Regina?

It would be according to the person(s) viewing it. When Nureyev could not really dance anymore and continued to, many people still went to worship at the altar of the Nureyev-god, and many are still yelling about how horrible it was. It's a matter of what the market for something is. It is not something that can be proven. Those who enjoyed Alonso's dancing when she was very old do not have to look at it as some failing on her part that she 'didn't know when to stop.' More important than that is simply the fact that she did it, and fauxpas has pointed out that even in 1984 there were some things she could still do extremely well. I've already stated that I do not care for this ancient-ballerina kind of thing personally, and did not care for Alonso's Giselle in 1979. But I simply do not see it as a serious offense when the star has clearly 'paid her dues'. Perhaps I would if I also loved Giselle, but even I did not think her dancing in 1979 was 'grotesque', just not that of a young person. I liked that she had the nerve to keep on doing it, and so did many others, it's a kind of fire that certain 'monstres sacres', as faux pas puts it, do have. Whether they 'have the right to do this' is beside the point in a sense, because they did go ahead and do it. What I do if I find something offensive, as I think I would find the current ABT 'Sleeping Beauty', is to inquire about it and then decide to not ever see it (which I quite profoundly have done.) If I see it anyway and find it offensive, I can still say so, but not expect to convince anyone else that this is so--after a point, one 'knows when to stop'. If somebody ancient and technically not still able to do Aurora were trying to do it, I would not want to see this, as 'Sleeping Beauty' matters to me the way 'Giselle' does to you. I don't go to the ballet for an 'emotional punch' so much, and in any case, I've already been explicit about what Giselle does for me (little).

I admit I do have a hard time hearing voices that have become intolerable to the ear, and have never quite understood how Gwyneth Jones was allowed to sing in the Chereau/Boulez 'Ring Cycle' at Bayreuth in the early 80s, as her voice had become extremely harsh in places--but if Boulez allowed it, he had to have known what he was doing, so I accepted it. But old artists always have their fans to support them, almost no matter what they do. I'm not fan enough of any one performer to continue forever with a star myself, otherwise I'd be as interested in Suzanne Farrell's dance company as I have long been in her own dancing--but I'm not, so in that sense I am not able to be the full-fledged fan that Farrell Fan and a couple of others are on this site, whether of Alonso, Farrell, Nureyev or whoever else.

[FauxPas]

Carla Fracci danced Giselle with ABT in 1991 at the age of 55 and this is when I saw it. I wouldn't be surprised if it was not her last Giselle. This was during Jane Hermann's brief period as artistic director. Anyway, supposedly Hermann went on and on saying how poetic and wonderful Fracci was in the role and did you see how she did this piece of business?, etc. Susan Jaffe told her "Listen, when I start to look like that, shoot me!". I wonder if Jaffe would have been as brutal when she was facing her own farewell in her early forties in the role of Giselle.

I was of two minds about the performance, I got a lot out of her acting and she improved dance-wise as the evening went on. There were several places where you could see exactly why Fracci was a huge star and famous in the role. I wasn't seeing her in 1967 but what I saw gave me a clear idea of what her prime was like. There were many moments where no mental adjustments and projections had to be made. Many people in the audience, her fans, had seen her in 1967 with Bruhn and they were able to superimpose over the current reality an image of what they remembered. The 1991 Fracci would jog these memories and sometimes compete with them. Others, like me, had to use their imagination to fill in the gaps. The compromises and cheating were fairly obvious and Julio Bocca's youth emphasized her maturity but she nonetheless owned the role in her way.

Somehow I don't think we have the kind of unique superstar ballerinas today who people will want to see stumble through their roles in their sixties and seventies as we have done with Fracci, Alonso, Fonteyn and Plisetskaya. Once the technique falters, most of today's ballerinas will hang up their toe shoes in their forties. I think Darci Kistler hangs on not only because she is Peter Martins' wife but because she was Balanchine's last muse, the last link to the company's founding genius and choreographer. With Nichols already gone, when Darci finally retires a last link with the past will be broken.

[richard53dog]

This is an inactive thread but this evening I just happened to wander into youtube land and came across some of the excerpt from this video.

I remembered reading about it here and watched the big scenes from the performance on youtube.

Alonso is much shakier than I imagined her to be. I saw her a number of times from the mid 70s on and her control was still very good as was the very soft quality she brought to her dancing. But I didn't see her in anything as demanding as Giselle and this video is certainly not the way I would want to remember her.

She seems to fall out of so many of the steps and keeping balance is very difficult SO much of the time.

As an added unfortunate detail, her makeup is awful, she looks almost clownlike.

I can appreciate Giselles that need to "minimize" the choreography and am willing to meet them at what point they can still bring something special to the part. I saw Fonteyn's last Giselle in NY, it was on a small scale but still very sure and very magical. Alonso seems to be fighting for survival seems almost clumsy in so many moments (the solo in Act 1 was very sad, with the hops on point going both forward and backward)

I'm sort of sorry I stumbled on this, I sorted to regret seeing Alonso in such unfortunate condition.

[cubanmiamiboy]

But remember, Richard, what we all have agreed about in this board at some point..a video will never "tell" you in a 100 %what that live performance was...(Even Suzanne Farrell in her book says that watching her own videos she just want to tell people that this is not really her, and that this is not the way she wants people to remember her). Alonso's Giselle was in 1980...well, I was lucky enough to see her still dancing the role in 1991 and 1993-(mostly fragments)...and THOSE are just some of the VERY FEW really MAGICAL moments of my whole ballet viewing history that I treasure...It's definitely impossible to describe it, as this is just something that comes from the very deep inside...but most of all-(and I don't get tired of repeating it)-from the very fact that all those performances were taken by us, the youngsters, as part of something else...bigger, misterious, NOBLE...a nurturing feeling, a reassurance message to us by Mme. that in each and every one of her performances she would be there for us, one more time, making us forget the miseries of the daily living. I should write about this at some point. The ballet during the horrifying 90's was sometimes all we had to dream a little, to go home without thinking too much on the empty dishes...it was Mme's duty to make sure that we all had a beautiful night. From the moment that you were able to grab that ticket after hours in a line-(and sometimes the whole overnight)-until many days post performance, you were part of SOMETHING...a surreal, nurturing, marvelous bond that included hundreds of us. I still can't explain it very well with words-(language barriers also doing their thing)-but if anything, just think on a loving mother praising her kid with blind eyes despite the probable absence of some virtues which can only be seen by her as a result of a rooted, unconditional love. That's how I remember those performances, and that's why I ended up placing ballet in my life as something that goes beyond aesthetics...

Many years have passed, and many great technicians have I seen onstage doing all sorts of tricks...NEVER have I felt what I felt watching Mme's performances.

Here's the final scene from her 1991 Giselle, trembling thumb and everything. She was 71 years old.

[leonid17]

But remember, Richard, what we all have agreed about in this board at some point..a video will never "tell" you in a 100 %what that live performance was...(Even Suzanne Farrell in her book says that watching her own videos she just want to tell people that this is not really her, and that this is not the way she wants people to remember her).

A filmed version of any ballet is not to be compared to the physical experience of a live performance and therefore comparisons are of a limited

measure.

I generally avoid watching films of live performances I have admired, less my memory become clouded by the later experience.

I saw Madame Alonso in Giselle when she was 59 years of age and it was a revelatory experience not to be compared, but to be savoured. It was the act of a becoming a role, perfectly attuned to a traditional reading and sensitive to living the music and revealing great theatrical art which entirely diminished the problems of her failed eyesight.

There was always something about her presence off-stage that was arresting, whether dressed casually teaching class at the Varna Ballet competition in 1968 or some years later when being guided up the stairs in the old Royal Opera House. On the latter occasion you were aware of an extraordinary aura not just from the sense of her historical perspective, but also in the physical presence. Madame Alonso like a number of great dancers has that quality of being quite extraordinarily different from not just other dancers, but most other people, in fact a rara avis.

[richard53dog]

But remember, Richard, what we all have agreed about in this board at some point..a video will never "tell" you in a 100 %what that live performance was...

And I agree with this too, a video is different from the live experience you have in the theater. But a camera doesn't record details that aren't there. If someone

can't execute steps and falls off point, the camera doesn't lie about it, it CAN'T. And the large amount of failed details by Alonso throw this performance over the line

of acceptability for me.

I've seen lots of performers whose best period has past and some still can offer wonderful experiences. I first saw Alonso when she was around 55 and she was magical in Spectre de la Rose. With performers at this stage it's usually a question of adjusting expectations, including allowing for a bit of a glitch here and there.

And often the performer is operating under a more limited scale. For ballet dancers, maybe the leg isn't lifted so high, the turns are slower and more careful, off center moments are limited.

I think a lovely example of this is Kolpakova's Sleeping Beauty film. She dances on a somewhat small scale but she is wonderful within that scale. There may be a bit of adjustment here and there but I find the overall effect to be beautiful.

But I don't come away from watching the Alonso/Vasiliev Giselle video with the same kind of reaction. I don't want to see a dancer fall out of seemingly every pirouette. I don't want to see a dancer shaking so much. It bothers me to see a dancer who has so much trouble controlling the direction their body is moving in.

It's like a singer who can't control the steadiness of their voice and can't find the pitch of the notes and no longer has enough breath to get to the end of phrases.

These are all very basic requirements and the repeated failures throw this video over my limit of tolerance.

Also, I'm not talking about the stage performance, I wasn't there and can't comment on what the people in the theater experienced; and often there is an extra dimension taking place there.

But as a video performance, which is it's own kind of experience, I felt this was poor. I was saddened to see it .

[leonid17]

But remember, Richard, what we all have agreed about in this board at some point..a video will never "tell" you in a 100 %what that live performance was...

I think a lovely example of this is Kolpakova's Sleeping Beauty film. She dances on a somewhat small scale but she is wonderful within that scale. There may be a bit of adjustment here and there but I find the overall effect to be beautiful.

In the theatre Irina Kolpakhova was never in my opinion small scale. For most critics of the day she was generally considered the most complete classicist.

You are right when you say the overall effect was beautiful and for me it was the epitome of what academic classical ballet should be,

free of unwanted accents and technique for the sake of technique and the essence of a crystalline, refined performing style, absolutely suitable for the role of Aurora.

richard53dog, when you say, " But a camera doesn't record details that aren't there.", you are correct in one way, but the only place to genuinely experience the very act of a balletic performance is in a theatre where one's responses are naturally somewhat different to that of a film.

Whilst Irina Kolpakhova was considered to remote for some, for others she remains the bench mark for Aurora's classicism although I would record that Alla Sizova( a truly great dancer) whose career overlapped her senior colleague was extraordinary in another manner, ie more expressive, but somehow less academically classical.

You mention Dame Margot Fonteyn's "Giselle" as also somewhat small scale and I wonder not only why you would consider this to be a case and how you measure what is the appropriate scale for a Romantic ballet and "The Sleeping Beauty", a ballet of 19th century classicism.

[richard53dog]

Leonid, I mentioned Kolpakova' Sleeping Beauty film as an example of a preformance by a dancer "no longer yioung" but then neglected to include the a referrence to her age at the time of the filming. I believe she was past her 50th birthday and my intent was to comment that if she had made any adjustments to compensate for the passing of time, they weren't apparent. There are none of the unfortunate glitches that are peppered through the alonso Giselle.

Again, I'm in agreement that watching a video doesn't equal seeing the same performance in the theater. But I think ballet videos have their own appeal and ertainly get a lot of enjoyment from them.

[leonid17]

Leonid, I mentioned Kolpakova' Sleeping Beauty film as an example of a preformance by a dancer "no longer yioung" but then neglected to include the a referrence to her age at the time of the filming. I believe she was past her 50th birthday and my intent was to comment that if she had made any adjustments to compensate for the passing of time, they weren't apparent. There are none of the unfortunate glitches that are peppered through the alonso Giselle.

Again, I'm in agreement that watching a video doesn't equal seeing the same performance in the theater. But I think ballet videos have their own appeal and ertainly get a lot of enjoyment from them.

Of course, I was thinking of Irina Kolpakhova at 28 years of age.

You are right that there are moments of Alonso's performance on the film in question that are difficult to witness, in fact I was less than happy when I saw her dance Giselle in the 1980's and only stayed to applaud the legend and the moments that were still telling.