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Name of Male Steps in the "Flower Festival in Genzano"


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Hi,

Could any of the experts here kindly tell me the technical steps of the first male sequence in the Flower Festival of Genzano?. It starts at about 0:30 of the youtube recording of Cojocaru/Kobborg (I think I'm supposed not to post the link) and lasts until 1:00.

If someone could pair the timing with the name of the steps, I'd very much appreciate. I've looked at the ABT dictionary for help, but I'm not always able to make the correspondence.

I find this duet amazing (I have it at home with Nureyev/Tallchief with a breathtaking Nureyev at 24, on DVD).

Thanks.

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Hi,

Could any of the experts here kindly tell me the technical steps of the first male sequence in the Flower Festival of Genzano?. It starts at about 0:30 of the youtube recording of Cojocaru/Kobborg (I think I'm supposed not to post the link) and lasts until 1:00.

If someone could pair the timing with the name of the steps, I'd very much appreciate. I've looked at the ABT dictionary for help, but I'm not always able to make the correspondence.

I find this duet amazing (I have it at home with Nureyev/Tallchief with a breathtaking Nureyev at 24, on DVD).

Thanks.

You'll need to post the link. The youtube vid I find has her dancing at 0:30. He does start dancing at 0:40, though, ending at 1:11. If that's the section you mean, there are a lot of steps packed in there! Any step in particular that you can't ID? Perhaps you can describe it a bit?

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Could any of the experts here kindly tell me the technical steps of the first male sequence in the Flower Festival of Genzano?. It starts at about 0:30 of the youtube recording of Cojocaru/Kobborg (I think I'm supposed not to post the link) and lasts until 1:00.
You'll need to post the link.

Moderator's note:

The prohibition against YouTube links was from an earlier era -- the olden days, before many ballet companies and video companies started using the site to post their own videos -- from a time when the majority of the ballet postings were illegal and YouTube monitored them laxly, if at all.

This is a new age. :wink:

We accept links to YouTube now. Please do post it, JerryS, so we can all be on the same page.

And welcome to BalletTalk! :)

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The youtube link is:

Cojocaru and Kobborg in FF

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B31LC_htB4E

Indeed, he starts at 0:40.

For now, I am interested in the names of his steps at:

0:41-44 he jumps ahead coming diagonally from our left towards the right, twice, I think

0:48 he jumps ahead with his left arm high above his head; grande jette en avance?

0:52-54 he jumps vertically with his right knee very high, seems from a seconde, left/support leg straight in the air under him

0:58 he moves to his right with small steps which seem entrechats to me, but what is the name of the whole movement, are those chasses too?

1:07 which pirouette is that?

Thanks.

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0:41-44 - He does a grande sissonne en avant followed by a quick ballonné with the left leg and then steps into a grand jeté en avant

0:48 - Another grande sissonne en avant

0:52-54 - Double rond de jambe en l'air sauté

0:58 - Glissade, entrechat-cinq, glissade, jeté battu (if you want to get really specific, it is glissade derrière de coté sans changée, but that is quite a mouthful!)

1:07 - Pirouette en dehors

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Jerry, he begins with a small assemble over, then springs forward in a sissonne change in attitude croise, and landing does a small ballone, and steps into a quick preparation for grand jete in attitude, from which he does a petite jete battu onto the other foot, and two more petite jetes battus, changing feet, and then a small assemble over and the sequence recommences and is repeated exactly except that it closes with assemble simple closing back.

The new phrase begins with a sissonne into a double rond de jambe, from which he steps close to himself and does a big jete passe that runs quickly into several quick petite jetes battus, thence he glissades to the side upstage on the diagonal, does entrechat-cinq, and another glissade, whence he springs up into entrechat trois and changes his facing, thence glissades backwards on the new diagonal, where he does entrechat-cinq and a couple of jetes battus, a little emboite into coupe-front, and thence throws his leg up a la seconde for a preparation for a pirouette en dehors, and finishes in fifth position with a big flourishing gesture towards his partner.

It's a brilliant performance, with the characteristic Danish modesty and sweetly engaging head positions that somehow soften and tone down all hte sharpness in the legs -- his footwork is very clean and fast, and indeed some of the small steps are so quick I had to look hard to see which foot was in front. Entrechats with odd numbers end on one foot, and all of them in this dance do land on one foot.

The main characteristic of this dance is the clever alternation between steps which begin with a spring (sissonnes, entrechats) and those which begin with a brush (jete, glissade, assemble) -- this produces the fascinating laciness of the very quick steps -- and of course, the careful placing of BIG steps like the big plants in a garden, few and far between. the very big steps come at the beginning and end of the dance, with the only other big steps at the beginning of the second phrase. A long pirouette counts as a big step even though it does not leave the ground.

This was fun, kind of like diagramming a sentence. Thanks for asking.

It's also remarkable as well that the dancer can cover almost as much ground with small steps, like glissade, as he can with the grand jete -- it pumps air into the variation -- and that the jete passe at the beginning of the new phrase, though it is big and high, does NOT travel at all. And in fact, some of his glissades are WELL traveled, they are almost jetes fermes.

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Many thanks, Hans! I had to watch the steps at 58" five or six times before I could see the individual steps.

Edited to add: I like this performance by Gudrun Bojesen and Mads Blangstrup very much, particularly her energy.

Warning: the recording isn't very good.

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Thank you all.

Now I really need to study:-)

BTW, I've compared many of the recordings at youtube with the 1962 Nureyev/Tallchief performance in the NBC Bell Telephone series (available on DVD in his series with Erik Bruhn) and I honestly don't think they can touch that. I'd recommend that DVD to anyone just for this duet, in which Nureyev is absolutely great.

Nureyev at 24 has a charm, sleek body (he got a bit heavier later), speed and height which are amazing, IMHO.

The fact that he benefitted from Bruhn's help (which he had to replace on that night), both based on their relationship and the fact that this was a Danish work, might have counted for a lot in terms of the refinement and his deportment. Also, there's a special communication between Nureyev and Tallchief and the fact that they two had (another!) relationship at the time (if one reads Kavanagh's book one really sees everything as a menage a trois, at least for a short time) might have contributed to some of the radiance they have on this film/recording towards each other.

Other interesting couples, in the same piece, at youtube, are:

The great Yuri Soloviev and Alla Sizova (wonder about the year?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr25NoQtWRE

Sizova seems to have been great too, great body, very graceful. First time I see her in a recording.

From the new Kirov, Obraztsova and Sarafanov:

A little light for my taste, Sarafanov, but great dancing.

From these mentioned in this thread, I like most Sizova from the females (and the diaphanous skirt helps putting her to advantage; also great arm work, perfect, refined, thin, body) and Nureyev in men, followed closely by Soloviev.

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BTW, I've compared many of the recordings at youtube with the 1962 Nureyev/Tallchief performance in the NBC Bell Telephone series (available on DVD in his series with Erik Bruhn) and I honestly don't think they can touch that. I'd recommend that DVD to anyone just for this duet, in which Nureyev is absolutely great.

Nureyev at 24 has a charm, sleek body (he got a bit heavier later), speed and height which are amazing, IMHO.

The fact that he benefitted from Bruhn's help (which he had to replace on that night)...

:)

I remember when this was first broadcast: I was anxious to see Bruhn and when it was announced that he would not be dancing and the substitute would be this Noorv... Nyerv... Nivry... person, I was so annoyed I wanted to skip the whole thing. Fortunately, my mother pointed out that, after all, he was Russian and you never know, he might not be so bad... :wink: I've always thought that Tallchief looked a little uncomfortable (btw, have you seen The Art of Maria Tallchief DVD?), but Nureyev was a revelation at the time. I have since learned to pronounce his name.

Sorry for the digression.

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I remember when this was first broadcast: I was anxious to see Bruhn and when it was announced that he would not be dancing and the substitute would be this Noorv... Nyerv... Nivry... person, I was so annoyed I wanted to skip the whole thing. Fortunately, my mother pointed out that, after all, he was Russian and you never know, he might not be so bad... :D I've always thought that Tallchief looked a little uncomfortable (btw, have you seen The Art of Maria Tallchief DVD?), but Nureyev was a revelation at the time. I have since learned to pronounce his name.

Sorry for the digression.

Thank you, Peggy, for sharing this personal memento with us. When I looked first at Maria Tallchief in this piece I wasn't too impressed. She doesn't have, perhaps, what I believe could be called a perfect ballet body (a bit generous on the hip side) and those teeth may be ... well a little on the too-expressive side. However, after comparing her with Cojocaru, Sizova, and the others mentioned in this thread, and looking back at the DVD, she radiates a special something in that piece, a special warmth, which surpasses some of them (perhaps it's the honest feeling for her partner?), and with Nureyev, as a couple, is in a winning position. It might be this warmth that endeared her to ballet lovers, I don't know, I don't have a longue acquaintance with her art in particular.
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a sissonne is a spring from two feet, while a jete is a jump from two feet that begins by brushing the floor with the working leg -- they both travel forward, in both cases the front leg is like a javelin, but in the sissonne the feet spring into place, the legs rise simultaneously, while in the jete the front leg brushes the floor in its rise and initiates the jump, leaving the floor before the other one pushes off....

>0:41-44 - He does a grande sissonne en avant followed by a quick ballonné with the left leg and then steps into a grand jeté en avant

Did I correctly identify another grande jete en avant at 0:49

in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B31LC_htB4E

?

So, the question for me is:

How does one quickly separate between grand sissonne en avant and grand jete en avant?

Thanks.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B31LC_htB4E

> 0:52-54 - Double rond de jambe en l'air sauté

Thanks to you both, Hans and Paul.

One thing I don't understand is where the term "rond" comes from for this one en l'air saute, as I don't see the circular motion which I see in the

Rond de jambe a terre en dedans

at the ABT dictionary.

It is a bit difficult to explain, and I don't have my ballet dictionaries with me at the moment, but basically the dancer raises his/her leg to 45º or 90º and moves the working foot in toward the supporting knee and back out again with the working toe tracing an oval shape in the air. It can be a bit difficult to see the "rond" from directly front sometimes.

>0:41-44 - He does a grande sissonne en avant followed by a quick ballonné with the left leg and then steps into a grand jeté en avant

Did I correctly identify another grande jete en avant at 0:49

in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B31LC_htB4E

?

So, the question for me is:

How does one quickly separate between grand sissonne en avant and grand jete en avant?

A very basic definition is that a sissonne is a jump that starts from two feet and lands on one, while a jeté is a jump that starts on one foot and lands on the other. So when he does sissonne, he starts in 5th position and finishes on his front leg with his back leg raised behind him (although in this case he has to bring it down quickly for the ballonné) and in the grand jeté, he brushes the front leg forward and jumps off the back leg onto the front leg (soaring beautifully through the air in between, of course!). I hope this helps. :D

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Tallchief was a fabulous dancer of a very different type from that which Flower Festial calls for. She can DO FF, but the action is too emphatic, and her arabesque is too Nijinska-esque. The eagerness is right, andthe connection with Nureyev is lovely....

You should see Tallchief in Balanchine -- Orfeo, or Firebird, to see how that intensity brings thremendous things into focus.

An ideal dancer for Flower Festival would be Rose Gad or Lis Jeppesen or Mette-Ida Kirk. Cojocaru is in fact not right -- her arabesques go too high, the rebound from the jumps is not cushy enough, andhte mystery of the lacy steps done SO close to the ground is not fascinating enough.

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Gentlemen, Paul and Hans,

Your great definitions, together with the ABT dictionary files, in slowmo, have clarified for me the issue of

grand jete vs. grand sissonne:-)

Thanks a lot.

BTW, the grand jete at the ABT dictionary site is executed by Vladimir Malakhov. He looks great in it.

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It's a brilliant performance, with the characteristic Danish modesty and sweetly engaging head positions that somehow soften and tone down all hte sharpness in the legs -- his footwork is very clean and fast, and indeed some of the small steps are so quick I had to look hard to see which foot was in front. Entrechats with odd numbers end on one foot, and all of them in this dance do land on one foot.

The main characteristic of this dance is the clever alternation between steps which begin with a spring (sissonnes, entrechats) and those which begin with a brush (jete, glissade, assemble) -- this produces the fascinating laciness of the very quick steps -- and of course, the careful placing of BIG steps like the big plants in a garden, few and far between. the very big steps come at the beginning and end of the dance, with the only other big steps at the beginning of the second phrase. A long pirouette counts as a big step even though it does not leave the ground.

You're writing great, Paul, and are clearly putting feel into it.

Keep it going. This is the commentary we need in this art.

I hope that from time to time you're able to publish your opinions on a for-fee basis.

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Great indeed.

She's definitely one of the best in the role, long lines, extension, great musicality. For once, the orchestra didn't run too fast through the female parts, as in Cojocaru's, who didn't have enough stress in some of the points, IMHO.

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Another work from Bournonville, the "William Tell Pas de Deux". The piece is fiendishly difficult, given the amount of times the dancers cannot use their arms, but must hold them folded and parallel to the floor. I particularly love Diana Cuni's passe releve sequence starting at 1'30", and I love everything that Thomas Lund does.

At the very end, the first bows are to the Royal Box.

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3:43: a sissonne (that leads him to the fouette, below)

3:48-49: fouette en l'air (other term? grand fouette? dancers usually just call this fouette for short, and it's never confused with fouettes (as in fouette turns))--unlike the related tour jete, this one keeps you on the same leg.

4:05 pirouette en dedans

5:43 double tour

6:11 develope a la seconde, out of a pirouette

Edited to add: listen to Hans, whose post came after mine--he's far more precise.

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