Works & Process: Doug Fullington's "After Petipa"

[Helene]

This has been discussed piecemeal in other forums, but I wanted to post a heads up that Doug Fullington will be presenting "After Petipa" this Sunday and Monday 13-14 May at the Guggenheim as part of it's "Works & Process" series.

According to the Guggenheim website, Sunday night is sold out, but there are still tickets for Monday. The presentation will be screened via web. Here is the PNB press release, with details:

Works & Process, the performing arts program at the Guggenheim to live stream

PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET – AFTER PETIPA

Tune in at www.ustream.tv/worksandprocess

7:30 pm EDT (4:30 pm Pacific)

Sunday, May 13 and Monday, May 14, 2012

“The Best Way To Get Smart About Dance”

– The Village Voice

“An exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process.”

– The New York Times

For over 27 years and in over 350 productions, Works & Process has offered New York audiences unprecedented access to our generation’s leading creators and performers. Each 80-minute performance uniquely combines artistic creation and stimulating conversation and takes place in the Guggenheim’s intimate Frank Lloyd Wright-designed 285-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater. With both nights sold out in advance, Works & Process has announced that it will live stream the May 13 and 14 performances of Pacific Northwest Ballet – After Petipa.

Many ballets are credited with choreography “after Petipa,” but what does that mean? In After Petipa, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Education Programs Manager and dance historian Doug Fullington and company dancers take a fascinating look at three famous classical duets—the Black Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake, and the Blue Bird pas de deux and Grand pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty—to explore how they have evolved over time. Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Artistic Director Peter Boal will introduce the program on Sunday, May 13.

To watch the live broadcasts of these performances, visit www.ustream.tv/worksandprocess on Sunday, May 13 and/or Monday, May 14 at 7:30 pm EDT (4:30 pm Pacific). Follow the conversation on Twitter with @WorksandProcess and #WPlive. For more information, visit www.worksandprocess.org.

Made possible with the assistance of Arlene C. Cooper.

PANEL: Doug Fullington, PNB Education Programs Manager

PERFORMERS:

Carla Körbes, Principal

Seth Orza, Principal

James Moore, Soloist

Sarah Ricard Orza, Soloist

Jerome Tisserand, Soloist

Leta Biasucci, Corps de ballet

Joan Acocella wrote a (physical) column about the presentation in "The New Yorker", but it's only available to subscribers. There was another mention of the program in "Goings on about Town: Dance" in the magazine (dated 14 May):

“WORKS & PROCESS”/PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET

This excellent troupe, led by the former N.Y.C.B. star Peter Boal, returns to the Guggenheim. With the help of Doug Fullington, the company’s in-house ballet historian, the dancers will reveal how certain repertory favorites—such as the Bluebird pas de deux from “Sleeping Beauty”—have evolved, from their creation in the late nineteenth century to the present day. Both sessions are sold out, but the shows can be seen at ustream.tv/worksandprocess. (Fifth Ave. at 89th St. 212-423-3587. May 13-14 at 7:30.)

Note that the website does not list the Monday show as being sold out; more tickets may have been released between publication of this note and today.

[Helene]

Pointe Magazine online has an interview with Doug Fullington with four excellent questions:

http://www.pointemagazine.com/blogs/works-and-process/evolution-ballet

[Paul Parish]

Scrappy notes

Legat's variation was pretty wonderful.

Much of interest in this, though the transmission was very choppy, terrible, in fact -- disrupted very frequently, and it stopped for a full 60 seconds at one point, on TOP of which the commercials would burst in right at any time, of course at the peak of a dance.

So I'm not sure what I learned -- I did not see any bourrees for the man in the bluebird coda, which I THINK he asked us to notice -- the Bluebird DID do chaines, could that be what Doug was talking about?

I DID like to see the ballerina dance a ring around her man. Seemed to be wedding-magic to me.

Gold and sapphire variations deadly boring -- no wonder they got cut.

Well, lecture demos are always kinda drab. Antoinette Sibley danced Florine SO much better than that, the whole body alive and aflutter. Korbes was lovely most of the time. They all had some good moments - the developpes a la seconde instead of the fish dives were surprisingly effective -- but it's very hard to judge how to take any emendation....

And i'm pretty certain that in 1895 the black swan 's adage did not have supported grands jetes a la seconde at 90 degrees -- those were glissades. 90 to nothing.

[Helene]

I thought it was my Wifi. I missed the beginning through the Florine variation rebooting my computer, and finally went to the wired laptop, where there were only a few interruptions until the end. (The commercial only came up again after I clicked the "Popout" button.

The stage is very small, making the two stages that SFB used during the War Memorial seismic renovation look huge. Most dancers look like they're marking a bit there in every presentation I've attended live or seen streamed.

[EricHG31]

I haven't posted here in a while, but the little note in the New Yorker got me excited for this. I should have tried to watch it live--I've checked for about five days now, but the archive of the video (which at least does run smoothly) stops at 11 minutes, right when the dancing really starts, and they don't seem to have uploaded any of the rest! Extremely frustrating--this is the kind of thing that fascinates me. Hopefully the situation will be dealt with... http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22594157

[rg]

with regard to the archived footage of Works & Process, the situation described above may just be some glitch with the site, but it might also mean that union restrictions prevent the dancing from being posted after the fact.

you might try reaching Works & Process to see if the footage is meant to be archived fully or if it was only meant for the time of the live stream due to restrictions of one kind or another.

[sandik]

I'm a union supporter, but I really hope that they're not the sticking point here. The work that Doug does with the Stepanov notation has the potential to add significantly to our understanding of the art form in general, and the original intention of the choreographers he studies in specific -- I'd hate to think that we can either protect the rights of performers today or discover more about their heritage.

[Amy Reusch]

This is what waivers were invented for.... I hope one was signed and filed....

[doug]

Thanks, everyone. AGMA granted our waiver to have the presentations live streamed and posted in perpetuity. I assume they'll be up before long.

[Helene]

Great news doug! I'm looking forward to seeing this again, and it was great to see Biasucci and Tisserand in new roles/choreography.

[Paul Parish]

Great! It will be good to go back and study the differences -- e.g., Florine's variations. They went by so fast!

[doug]

The complete presentation is now posted:

[Helene]

That is great news, doug! Thank you for letting us know so quickly.

[vipa]

That is great news, doug! Thank you for letting us know so quickly.

Thank you - thank you

[sandik]

It was great to see this again! I don't want to rub anything in, but in Seattle, I think the studio is a wider space than the stage at the Guggenheim -- there was a little more room to expand.

[Amy Reusch]

Thank you so much for persevering!! I love seeing the counterpoint between danseur and ballerina in the original...

If the danseur variation was typically petit allegro instead of grand allegro, where did Petipa use grand allegro? I'm so used to seeing it in the danseur variation I can hardly imagine it elsewhere... or was it saved for the coda?

[innopac]

Thank you so much for posting the youtube. What a privilege to be able to watch a lecture like this.

[innopac]

One question. Perhaps I misunderstood but I thought that later choreographers used less mime and tried to incorporate characterization into the choreography. I would like to understand better why characters were often more fully developed with the earlier works. Would this be because of the loss of mime?

From the pointe article mentioned above:

http://www.pointemag...volution-ballet

How are the notations different from the

Swan Lake

and

Sleeping Beauty

that audiences are used to seeing today?

The choreography is often simpler (though not in the case of petit allegro variations for men!), the mime more prominent, the characters often more fully developed and the plots more involved.

[cubanmiamiboy]

Wow, wow, wow...what a wonderful conference..! (Is there a part-part-part-time job for a nurse who's hopelessly enchanted by all this world of ballet investigation..? Just kidding...I certainly WISH I could be part of such elite of connoisseurs and researchers. My COMPLETE admiration, Mr. Fullington! .. )

About the male variation in the "Black Swan PDD"...I need to go back over Doug's dates, but I always thought that because there had been no grand PDD for the ballroom act-(but instead the Pas de Six involving the fiancees)-until Petipa's 1895 reworking of the ballet, the trumpet Act I Merry Maker "Tempo di Valse" piece-(which I assumed was being danced pre-1895 by the female "Merry Maker", as it was placed second following the violin one that now serves as Siegfrieds's and which I thought was danced by the male "Merry Maker")-had never been used by anybody, male or female as part of the new structure. In other words, I thought that the dancing design was was as follow:

1877 all the way 'till 1895. Act I. Pas de deux for two Merry Makers.

Entree-(our current BS Entree)

Adagio-(our current BS Adagio)

Male variation-(the "violin variation", our current Siegfried's variation, MUSICALLY speaking, not choreographically)

Female variation-(Tempo di Valse..what I now know was at one point used and choreographed by Gorsky for Siegfried's solo.Pre-1895/Petipa..?...that would be my big question)

Coda-(our current BS coda)

1895-Act III. Odile/Siegfried/Rothbart Pas

Adagio-(the ex Merry Makers Adagio)

Siegfried's variation-(the ex male Merry maker "violin variation", with the violin segment now heavily orchestrated)

Odile's variation-("L'espiegle")

Coda-(the ex Merry Maker PDD coda)

What am I missing here...?

[cubanmiamiboy]

Wow, wow, wow...what a wonderful conference..! (Is there a part-part-part-time job for a nurse who's hopelessly enchanted by all this world of ballet investigation..? Just kidding...I certainly WISH I could be part of such elite of connoisseurs and researchers. My COMPLETE admiration, Mr. Fullington! .. )

About the male variation in the "Black Swan PDD"...I need to go back over Doug's dates, but I always thought that because there had been no grand PDD for the ballroom act-(but instead the Pas de Six involving the fiancees)-until Petipa's 1895 reworking of the ballet, the trumpet Act I Merry Maker "Tempo di Valse" piece-(which I assumed was being danced pre-1895 by the female "Merry Maker", as it was placed second following the violin one that now serves as Siegfrieds's and which I thought was danced by the male "Merry Maker")-had never been used by anybody, male or female as part of the new structure. In other words, I thought that the dancing design was was as follow:

1877 all the way 'till 1895. Act I. Pas de deux for two Merry Makers.

Entree-(our current BS Entree)

Adagio-(our current BS Adagio)

Male variation-(the "violin variation", our current Siegfried's variation, MUSICALLY speaking, not choreographically)

Female variation-(Tempo di Valse..what I now know was at one point used and choreographed by Gorsky for Siegfried's solo.Pre-1895/Petipa..?...that would be my big question)

Coda-(our current BS coda)

1895-Act III. Odile/Siegfried/Rothbart Pas

Adagio-(the ex Merry Makers Adagio)

Siegfried's variation-(the ex male Merry maker "violin variation", with the violin segment now heavily orchestrated)

Odile's variation-("L'espiegle")

Coda-(the ex Merry Maker PDD coda)

What am I missing here...?

Never mind me...I went back to doug's narration and saw that the "Tempo di Valse" trumpet piece was danced in 1895 by Gorsky as a fourth nameless cavalier-(and probably choreographed by him as well). So it looks as if that piece of music was not cut off for the 1895 reworking, but was somehow erased-(along with the character)-later on. Then the WHOLE music of the Merry Makers PDD made it to Petipa's new staging, so the big changes were that Gorsky used that music as his variation-(whereas I assume it was given to the Merry Maker female dancer in 1877)-plus the brand new "L'espiegle" for Odile. I also find interesting that doug mentions that Odile DID dance a part in the 1877 Pas de Six-(was Odile's participation danced to the Russian Dance, which is attributed to Pelageya Karpakova?) What I've read is that this dance was added at one point after the premiere, but I'm not sure if Karpova was dancing Odile's part, or if she was just another national divertissement dancer. And if she was not Odile, and the Russian Dance was just a simple character piece, then what was Odile's part/music in the ballroom act from 1877 to 1895...?

[Amy Reusch]

I know... now we need a transcript! (if one ever exists, I hope a link goes up here)

[cubanmiamiboy]

Wow, wow, wow...what a wonderful conference..! (Is there a part-part-part-time job for a nurse who's hopelessly enchanted by all this world of ballet investigation..? Just kidding...I certainly WISH I could be part of such elite of connoisseurs and researchers. My COMPLETE admiration, Mr. Fullington! .. )

About the male variation in the "Black Swan PDD"...I need to go back over Doug's dates, but I always thought that because there had been no grand PDD for the ballroom act-(but instead the Pas de Six involving the fiancees)-until Petipa's 1895 reworking of the ballet, the trumpet Act I Merry Maker "Tempo di Valse" piece-(which I assumed was being danced pre-1895 by the female "Merry Maker", as it was placed second following the violin one that now serves as Siegfrieds's and which I thought was danced by the male "Merry Maker")-had never been used by anybody, male or female as part of the new structure. In other words, I thought that the dancing design was was as follow:

1877 all the way 'till 1895. Act I. Pas de deux for two Merry Makers.

Entree-(our current BS Entree)

Adagio-(our current BS Adagio)

Male variation-(the "violin variation", our current Siegfried's variation, MUSICALLY speaking, not choreographically)

Female variation-(Tempo di Valse..what I now know was at one point used and choreographed by Gorsky for Siegfried's solo.Pre-1895/Petipa..?...that would be my big question)

Coda-(our current BS coda)

1895-Act III. Odile/Siegfried/Rothbart Pas

Adagio-(the ex Merry Makers Adagio)

Siegfried's variation-(the ex male Merry maker "violin variation", with the violin segment now heavily orchestrated)

Odile's variation-("L'espiegle")

Coda-(the ex Merry Maker PDD coda)

What am I missing here...?

Never mind me...I went back to doug's narration and saw that the "Tempo di Valse" trumpet piece was danced in 1895 by Gorsky as a fourth nameless cavalier-(and probably choreographed by him as well). So it looks as if that piece of music was not cut off for the 1895 reworking, but was somehow erased-(along with the character)-later on. Then the WHOLE music of the Merry Makers PDD made it to Petipa's new staging, so the big changes were that Gorsky used that music as his variation-(whereas I assume it was given to the Merry Maker female dancer in 1877)-plus the brand new "L'espiegle" for Odile. I also find interesting that doug mentions that Odile DID dance a part in the 1877 Pas de Six-(was Odile's participation danced to the Russian Dance, which is attributed to Pelageya Karpakova?) What I've read is that this dance was added at one point after the premiere, but I'm not sure if Karpova was dancing Odile's part, or if she was just another national divertissement dancer. And if she was not Odile, and the Russian Dance was just a simple character piece, then what was Odile's part/music in the ballroom act from 1877 to 1895...?

The 1877 trumpet "Tempo di Valse" piece has always been an enigma to me, since I thought it had never been used post Reisinger. Thanks to Doug's master presentation, I know now that it was used by Gorsky for the "nameless fourth cavalier" in the ballroom Pas de Quatre. Interesting to me, the Skeaping staging that is used in Cuba since 1954 uses it as a variation for Siegfried IN THE WHITE ACT-(in a sort of truncated way, musically wise)-, right after the White Swan Adagio/Love duet, and before Odette's variation-(the one with the a la seconde poses)-, which makes it for a complete Adagio/2 variations/Coda formal PDD. Other than that, I've never seen this piece of music used in any modern staging of SL. I'm curious to know if there's any history about this, or when did the "nameless cavalier" variation dissapear. Could it had happened at the turn of the century, or even later on..? Could Skeaping had any sort of reference to this by the time she staged the Cuban SL...?

Here's a clip of it. Anette Delgado as Odette, Osiel Gounod as Siegfried.

Love Duet starting at 04:03

Siegfried's variation to "Tempo di Valse", Odette's variation and Coda.

[puppytreats]

I watched this on Monday before the power went out at home due to the hurricane (it is still out, but I am elsewhere), and Jerome Tisserand's performance merits special praise. His dancing was beautiful. I am curious as to how he is received by audiences at home.

[sandik]

He has been dancing really well, and has filled in for some injured people recently, which has given him even more exposure.

[Helene]

He's been cast prominently, too, and I think he is a Soloist in name only.