Amy Reusch Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 After the Jan 5th Dance on Camera screening of Sleeping Princess, a documentary on Olga Spessivtseva, there was mention in the discussion of her writing a book of her practice exercises. A voice in the audience called out claiming to have a copy, but I didn't see who spoke. I thought perhaps it was you, rg? I'm very curious what might be in it, for, while obviously technique has developed since then, I suspect there are some things which have been lost, particularly in pointe work. I wonder if the book(let?) is decipherable to one who doesn't read Russian? I tried to see on-line if the NYPL Dance Collection had a copy, but couldn't quite figure it out from their listings. Perhaps they do, but I didn't know the keyword to search for it. Spessivtseva seemed to bring up a box of correspondence and a book, but it didn't seem to be an exercise book. Are there pointe exercises listed in it? Link to comment
rg Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 yes, i answered joanna ney's asking if anyone had a copy of the book 'by spessivtzeva' in the affirmative, b/c i did/do? when i came home, after another attendee at the screening asked about its particulars, and looked for my copy, i could not locate it. it's a slender, plain-looking paperback, which i got about 2 years ago and THOUGHT i shelved w/ my other books on ballet technique, but it seems not to be there. so i can't put my hands on it at the moment; i trust it will turn up, someday/somewhere... meanwhile here's the library's listing of what i take to be the same book: Spessivtzeva, Olga, 1895- Technique for the ballet artiste. [London] F. Muller [1967] 95 p. plates. 22 cm. Link to comment
Mme. Hermine Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Amazon is showing 7 copies on sale for as little as 8 dollars! Link to comment
Hans Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 I read through it a long time ago. The exercises are, as I recall, extremely difficult! Spessivtseva must have had amazing strength and stamina. Link to comment
carbro Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 Her "amazing strength" is evident in the film in the diagonal of hops on pointe from Giselle's Act I variation. I've never seen those done so securely yet apparently casually. It looked absolutely effortless. Link to comment
Amy Reusch Posted January 11, 2008 Author Share Posted January 11, 2008 Thank you so much!! I wasn't getting very far with my digging. I bet the exercises are brutal... Link to comment
Hans Posted January 12, 2008 Share Posted January 12, 2008 One that stuck in my mind was, "eight temps levés in second position with demi-plié, then eight more temps levés in second position without demi-plié." Link to comment
cubanmiamiboy Posted January 12, 2008 Share Posted January 12, 2008 One that stuck in my mind was, "eight temps levés in second position with demi-plié, then eight more temps levés in second position without demi-plié." :blush: Link to comment
Paul Parish Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Sally Streets has given sautes without plie in her class - -we did them in first, and she said "they'll tell you the truth about your feet.' I have that book -- dedication to the Countess Tolstoy (on whose farm she lived out her days), intro by Anton Dolin, many photographs showing Valya Simoukova ( a student of Dudinskaysa's, who helped with publication) illustrating the steps. though it says on hte back cover that she wrote it at the height of her powers, in fact, it's clear from DOlin's intro that this is a SECOND book, which she wrote after recovering frmo mental illness; hte first she wrote in Paris; the MS would seem to be in the archives of the Paris opera ballet. She gives 6 classes, Monday-Saturday (a la cecchetti and , i think, Bournonville). Monday's barre begins with grands ronde de jambes en l'air, slow, to open the hips, then plies in 1st 2nd, fifth front and back (I guess they're grand plies)then 16 slow tendus encloche (careful attention to head positions), then 32 faster (there's no mention of second position -- but since these tendus go through first, probably??? she included tendus to the side closing in first [but forgot to mention them?]) anyway next is rond de jambes a terre, then adagio, then grand battements, then petit battements sur le cou de pied.center begins with more tendus, (pirouette from 2nd), frappes, a devilish temps lie with little ronde de jambe en'l'air as the preparatory step for pique into arabesque..... some releves -- then there are several adages, and THEN allegros, beginning twith hans's 8 jumps in second, with and out plie, then releves in second, ditto -- very good medicine -- followed by 5 assembles over, the first 4 coming forward, the 5th travelling sideways, and a soussus) These are the kind of thing that clean you up.There are 8 more allegro exercises, and port de bras at the end with back bends to be continued. Link to comment
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