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Arlene Croce in her "Dance in Film" article in Afterimages states there is a film record of Spessivtzeva rehearsing Act I of Giselle, taped in 1932, bits of which was used in the documentary about her called The Sleeping Ballerina. She describes it as "marvelous". Does anyone have any info on it? I did a Google search and came up empty as to its current owner or location. My thoughts were to locate it, and seek to have the NEA or NEH fund a film restoration and commercial release. Is this something that ABT could do without much labor?

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garybruce, by coincidence I came across the same reference only a few days ago. The Sleeping Ballerina is the title of a book about Spessivtseva, with a foreward by Marie Rambert, which has actually been discussed on Ballet Talk. Here's the thread:

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/lofiver...php/t21473.html

Apparently there is also a film with the same title. According to Croce:

There is a maraellous record of the legendary Spessivtseva in portions of Giselle Act I, crudely yet tenaciously filmed from a box during a rehearsal in London in 1932. This fragment has been incorporated into a documentary about Spessivtseva, The Sleeping Ballerina (1964), where it is combined with a piano accompaniment and an affecting narration by Marie Rambert. Those who have seen it have had a glimpse of a great dancer still at her peak.

Or is Croce confusing this with the Portrait of Giselle video? Anna Kisselgoff discussed the video in the NY Times in 1982;

But Spessivtseva, the only one Pavlova's admirers have even ranked as greater than Pavlova in ''Giselle,'' is a constant reference point in the film. In her own books, the Soviet historian Vera Krassovska, even sees Markova and Chauvire as descended from the Spessivtseva model. Tragedy is predictable in their portrayals just as Spessivtseva is always doomed from the start in ''Giselle.''

The 1932 film presents a peasant girl - in short tutu - remarkably full of life. The force of her dancing, its volume, its sweep, the disjointedness in the mad scene, all have a stormy power that will obviously be in contrast with the spiritual and ethereal imagery for which Spessivtseva was famous in Act II. Six of the ballerinas are seen dancing Giselle's big solo in Act I (interpolated by Spessivtseva from her Russian version in 1932) and Spessivtseva's technique is still the strongest.

<a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...;pagewanted=all" target="_blank">http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...;pagewanted=all</a>

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It's my understanding that Dolin's videotape, Portrait of Giselle, utilized a clip from the original 1932 taping, and clips were also used in the 30 minute documentary called The Sleeping Ballerina by the BBC in 1964. But where is the original 1932 film?

I think I'll write to the folks at ABT and the Lincoln Center branch of NYPL and cross my fingers -- their resources should probably be able to pin down its current location and owner. Since the BBC and Dolin both were able to access it, it may well be in England.

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a quick search of NYPL dance coll. comes up w/ no entry for the film, complete.

i suspect there is a copy of the original - or the only original - in the archives of the rambert ballet/dance co.

as i understand it that archive was carefully kept. perhaps the more fragile films were sent to a bigger british archive of film.

i know only of the film's inclusion in PORTRAIT OF GISELLE and THE SLEEPING BALLERINA.

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RG, many thanks for that lead. I've pinpointed the source for the English Giselle. June or July 1932 at the Savoy Theater, where one Walter Duff filmed Spessitzeva at a dress rehearsal of Giselle, produced under the auspices of the Camargo Ballet Society (1930-33), which Sir Anton Dolin helped to establish. I'll try the Rambert people and let you know.

In the meantime...

The NYPL DOES have this film of Spessivtzeva dancing Giselle at the Paris Opera Ballet.

Giselle: Act I excerpts (Motion picture)

Imprint [1938?]

Description 1 reel. 6 1/2 min. 160 ft. : si. b&w. ; 16 mm.

Call Number *MGZHB 4-1000, no. 158

Location Performing Arts - Dance

Can New Yorkers go to the NYPL dance library branch and arrange to watch this excerpt and report back to Ballet Talk?

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Some of us were lucky enough to see "The Sleeping Ballerina" at the Film Society of Lincoln Center' Dance on Camera Festival this past winter. You can read our brief reports here.

I did see "A Ballet Called Giselle" at a friend's when CBS' ARTS cable network was still arts-related -- could it be 30-some years ago already? :) I don't remember whether the Spessivtzeva Giselle footage from that beautiful documentary is the same as that used in "The Sleeping Ballerina," but it was certainly revelatory.

Whether restoring and promoting it is something that would interest ABT, that's a whole different issues. Have they ever involved themselves in film or video projects that weren't of themselves?

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Well, there is some of Spessivtseva's Giselle posted on the internet; you can imagine, I think, that when I accidentally found it, I was very very happy. :wink:

You will find it, if you type "gispe" in the search box on http://video.yahoo.com/

the voice of anton dolin (this is from 'a portrait of giselle') does say that it is the only film of her and that it was filmed at the savoy theatre in london.

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as any videophile knows, claiming X, Y or Z is 'the only film of [fill-in-the-blank]' is risky speculation.

someone's always coming up w/ another clip or more. (see the NYPL library copy of the Paris film listed above)

the dubiousness of such assertions is esp. true for the likes of dolin, who was one of the first talking-heads who spoke as a scholarly expert when in fact all he was was a practitioner who passed himself as far more learned than he actually was.

given the number of celeb. 'experts' we've had since then, he now seems an innocent example of this unfortunate syndrome.

for starters see Frank Augustyn on the FOOTNOTES video series for a mess of misinformation.

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oh dear!

well is it possible, then, that the film used in 'portrait of giselle' and the film at the library are the same and that the library is correct in saying it was filmed in paris and dolin was wrong? (aside from the question of whether or not there is any other film of her anywhere).

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Just came across the following in Croce's collection Going to the Dance (p. 374). Discussing Megali Messac's performance as Giselle in Baryshnikov's version for ABT in 1981, Croce writes:

Dancers often confuse correct style with conformity to a physical type. A film of Spessivtseva (whose type is closer to Messac's than, say Makarova's is) shows her to have been a forthright Giselle, with big legs and a fat braid hanging down her back.
Wh would have thunk THAT?
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Whether restoring and promoting it is something that would interest ABT, that's a whole different issues. Have they ever involved themselves in film or video projects that weren't of themselves?

Carbro, you should know that Spessivtzeva taught at Ballet Theatre in the late 1930s-early 1940s, just before she entered a mental institution for 20 years. So ABT would be honoring one of their own if they would rejuvenate video of her dancing in the role that made her famous.

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Well, there is some of Spessivtseva's Giselle posted on the internet; you can imagine, I think, that when I accidentally found it, I was very very happy. :)

You will find it, if you type "gispe" in the search box on http://video.yahoo.com/

Lidewij... hank you so much for that hyperlink to the video clip--it correlates to the description of the filming of the Giselle rehearsal at the Savoy Theater from one of the boxes there. I do wonder how long the original film is, though. I've emailed the Rambert Ballet in England but no answer as to whether they have it or know of its whereabouts.

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I just noticed Lidewij's link and have now seen the video. (Thank you so much, Lidewij. I never would have found it on my own.)

Even allowing for the era and the fairly primitive videography, her dancing puzzles me, especially the upper body and what resembles an older person's attempt at skipping. Dolin's style is much more recognizable and comforable to me, as is Pavlova's in the film of her Dying Swan.

For those who've had the chance to watch this: what did you think? This is, after all, one of the legendary dancers of the early 20th century.

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http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...;pagewanted=all

No mention is made of Anna Pavlova's Giselle, generally conceded to be more suited to the role than Karsavina. But Spessivtseva, the only one Pavlova's admirers have even ranked as greater than Pavlova in ''Giselle,'' is a constant reference point in the film. In her own books, the Soviet historian Vera Krassovska, even sees Markova and Chauvire as descended from the Spessivtseva model. Tragedy is predictable in their portrayals just as Spessivtseva is always doomed from the start in ''Giselle.''

The 1932 film presents a peasant girl - in short tutu - remarkably full of life. The force of her dancing, its volume, its sweep, the disjointedness in the mad scene, all have a stormy power that will obviously be in contrast with the spiritual and ethereal imagery for which Spessivtseva was famous in Act II. Six of the ballerinas are seen dancing Giselle's big solo in Act I (interpolated by Spessivtseva from her Russian version in 1932) and Spessivtseva's technique is still the strongest.

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That clip is taken from the "A Portrait of Giselle" video which also used extracts from the 1932 film. BTW: those Camargo Society sets and costumes seemed to have resurfaced when the early Sadlers Wells did "Giselle" - I have seen clips circa 1938 of a very young Fonteyn and Helpmann in the first act of "Giselle" and its the same set and duds. I was told that the short cloth skirt was due to the fact that there was no tulle available due to budget constrictions. Weird that Spessivtseva didn't have her own personal costume - hell, Ananiashvili and Guillem always bring their own tutus even today!

What is missing is the clip of the Mad Scene - that has the most haunting empty black eyes you have ever seen. Like twin black holes sucking you into a dark world of confusion and heartbreak despite the grainy old film. In pictures of Spessivtseva she looks rather frail and spectral but here she looks healthy and robust and her dancing has strength and attack. Lots of strong pointwork and holding balancing arabesques before doing jetés.

It would be interesting to see her Act II to see if she does different things with the Wili Giselle.

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