Alexandra Danilova and Frederic Franklin, Gaité Parisienne

[pherank]

Gaité Parisienne at Jacob's Pillow

http://danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/dance/alexandra-danilova-frederic-franklin?ref=artist&refcar=/artist/c-d

You will see they also have a video link to Danilova dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy variation in 1952.

[sandik]

The Jacob's Pillow website has some lovely clips of all kinds of work -- I have to be careful when I'm browsing there or I look up to realize a couple hours have passed.

[Michael]

Surprising how little of Massine's work you see performed. MP

[sandik]

The Joffrey has had a number of Massine's ballets in their repertory at one point or another (Robert Joffrey was very important at getting some of them reconstructed) but they aren't always in production and it's so very easy to lose work that isn't being performed.

[bart]

Another version with Danilova/Franklin -- taken from a Ballet Russe performance -- can be found here. (Skip the add unless you want to break the mood.)

I am hesitant to admit that I am not fond of Danilova in either video. Franklin, on the other hand, gives everything just the finish I look for to save this kind of piece from charges of trivia.

[Mme. Hermine]

The whole thing! We must agree to disagree, Bart, I liked her very much!

[Amy Reusch]

I like the above so much better than this Hollywood version (with another stellar cast)... The cinematography is just so manipulated that the dancers start to look incongruent compared with typical movie characters we are used to seeing on such movie settings, and the choreography is interfered with, obscured and sqished into new dimensions... As if the director was just trying a little too hard.

[Marcmomus]

Victor Jenson recorded Gâité Parisienne in 1954 and it is still available on DVD from VAI.

[Mme. Hermine]

Just about right, but I think I recall hearing that the video had been recorded in snippets over a ten-year period and the audio recording made about 1954.

[sandik]

Just about right, but I think I recall hearing that the video had been recorded in snippets over a ten-year period and the audio recording made about 1954.

The visuals are compiled from several years of diligent filming, in small takes (he used a spring-loaded camera that made for short takes), and the audio is from a single performance in the 50s. It was edited together much more recently (can't get to my copy to check) and is an excellent record of that work and those artists, despite the wonky aspects of its creation.

[Paul Parish]

o AMy, I don't agree -- I like the crazy direction of Jean Negulesco, the dance reflected in hte mirror and all that. I think the ballet benefits from the condensation, and I enjoy the way the whole thing feels both trivial and expensive, it suits the music. Mit Schlag!