Dramballet

[innopac]

There is a small amount of information on the web about “dramballet” and two examples mentioned are The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (Zakharov) and Flames of Paris (Vainonen).

However, one author writes: “This pejorative term evokes the failed attempts of Soviet choreographers to fulfill the rigid requirements of social realism, as prescribed during the Soviet epoch, components fatally unsuitable for classical dance.”

Is “dramballet” a pejorative term?

Also, is there a book in English about this kind of ballet?

[leonid17]

There is a small amount of information on the web about “dramballet” and two examples mentioned are The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (Zakharov) and Flames of Paris (Vainonen).

However, one author writes: “This pejorative term evokes the failed attempts of Soviet choreographers to fulfill the rigid requirements of social realism, as prescribed during the Soviet epoch, components fatally unsuitable for classical dance.”

Is “dramballet” a pejorative term?

Also, is there a book in English about this kind of ballet?

Although answers.com may sometimes be lacking in academic rigour, there is an article on the choreographer Rotislav Zakharov that clearly points of the political

overshadowing of his work and others to present "soviet ballets."

See: http://www.answers.com/topic/rostislav-zakharov

In the soviet period the story line of ballets were overseen by the resident theatre dramaturge who ensured that the story telling followed the correct political ideology with its themes and that there was a storytelling clarity in the the action for audiences unfamiliar with ballet which also had to have an historical content. It has been said that the drama was almost semaphored.

[Alexandra]

I never thought of dramballet as a negative term. It is said that the dancing is "minimal" and I think that depends on how you define "dancing." There's a lot of character dancing; there's gesture rather than formal classical mime.

We just did dramballet in one of my classes this week -- and I showed them the brief versions of The Fountain of Bakhchisarai and Flames of Paris. The vast majority of the students loved them, and, rather sadly (and unprompted by me!) said the ballets couldn't be performed today, because "we don't dance like that anymore." (They were also fascinated by how small tthe dancers were - and how powerful.)

Edited November 21, 2009 by Alexandra

[leonid17]

I never thought of dramballet as a negative term. It is said that the dancing is "minimal" and I think that depends on how you define "dancing." There's a lot of character dancing; there's gesture rather than formal classical mime.

It became a pejorative term when western reviewers thought the histrionic portrayal style and the paucity of choreography was an underwhelming feature, especially when combined with historic political overtones.

Like many others, I was introduced to dramballet via two films of truncated versions of “The Fountains of Bakchiserai” and “The Flames of Paris.” I admired them at first viewing and I still admire them today.

When all aspects of public life were controlled in the old Soviet Union, the theatre was also restricted in its presentations of both old works and new.

With the classical ballet companies, a Communist Party literary person (dramaturge) was employed in all theatres to ensure that all stories and actions were integrated to reflect the new order and passages were to be excised, amended or extended to fit the newly introduced non danced dramatic elements, which became known as a dramballet presentation.

Dramballet was inseparable from politics in Russia, serving as a function of the state simplifying dramatic actions and re-enforcing characterisations as symbolic of the good and entirely happy communists and those that were clearly the enemy of Soviet society. It extended so far into productsions that when “Romeo and Juliet” was being discussed as a suitable story for a ballet, it was proposed that the lovers would not die but live happily ever after and of course, “Swan Lake” had a happy ending with Odette and Siegfried walking towards a sunrise shining beyond the lake.

Certain choreographers responded with dram ballets that were over laden with conceptualised socialist dogma but were still, effectively produced for audiences in terms of dance and spectacle.

Rotislav Zakharov was the leading figure in staging dram ballet and the Maryinsky website where Zakharov’s career started, states, “A pioneer of new Soviet ballet, he was one of the most important influences in the spread of ‘dram-ballet’, although his critics complained about the lack of truly inventive dance in his productions. “

The Bolshoi website states, “The 30's of the last century, saw the age of 'dram ballet'. Theatre directors actively collaborated with the choreographers. Dance was called for only when justified by the development of the action. And the plot unfolded via pantomime, various forms of 'walk' and other devices of the sort.” http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/season/ballet/eve...=2&id26=977

In reading your comments, "We just did dramballet in one of my classes this week -- and I showed them the brief versions of The Fountain of Bakhchisarai and Flames of Paris. The vast majority of the students loved them, and, rather sadly (and ump4ompted by me!) said the ballets couldn't be performed today, because "we don't dance like that anymore." (They were also fascinated by how small the dancers were - and how powerful.)" I would hope that many of your students will go beyond

the, "we don't dance like that anymore" and become artists rather than mechanised humans reaching for the stars with a pointed toe rather than with a heart that loves ballet.

[Mel Johnson]

I don't know that "dramballet" is any more derogatory than "well-made play" (pièce bien fait), which used to be considered quite damning, except that playwrights kept using the style and construction because it works. It would not be a bad thing for choreographers and dancers to be able to essay such works successfully.

[Leigh Witchel]

So are ballets like Grigorovich's Ivan the Terrible a sort of dramballet or actually the polar opposite in that all the story is to be told via dance vocabulary?

[Alexandra]

The latter, I think. Grigorovich's approach to ballet (all dance, just a few major characters, big effects) is what happened after dramballet. Dramballet is 1930s and '40s.

[leonid17]

The latter, I think. Grigorovich's approach to ballet (all dance, just a few major characters, big effects) is what happened after dramballet. Dramballet is 1930s and '40s.

Absolutely.

Zakharov was incensed by Grigorovich's productiions of, "The Stone Flower"(1957) and "The Legend of Love" (1961) with their character interaction through dance and denounced him for turning his back on dramballet.

Zakharov was to call his production style of mimetic acting overlaying dance as, "dancing through the characterisation" or "dancing through the personality" in which a clear story was delineated and elevated above abstraction in the choreography and thus evolved the term "dram-ballet."

[Catherine]

Just a note that is perhaps tangential, but I think still relevant. The "happy ending" issue was not new to drambalet or socialist realism in Russia-- Vaganova noted around the time of her revision to "Esmeralda" in 1935 that in its 70 year history (to that date), the ballet had already previously been edited per Tsar Nicholas I's request to have a happy ending. I think it should be remembered that in Russia, the ballet was essentially funded by the Imperial family and thought of as their personal entertainment -- the tsar & family could thus influence what was shown or produced. After the Revolution this practice continued, only it was no longer the Imperial family dictating measures, it was the Soviet government -- but in both cases, not an internal, theatre directorship who decided such measures.