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Markova/Ulanova. Giselle from scratch...?


cubanmiamiboy

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In our modern society, access to figures of reference in ballet seems to be at ease. One can just enter a vast world of full lenght videos a click away from our own phones. Coaching is greatly expanded also, and now there are more and more dancers worldwide that are able to share previous knowledge in the classics when changing companies and even countries. However, reading yet another book on Dame Markova-(I feel a very special attraction for her type of dancing, sort of aloof and with a particular sense of center and self control that I find fascinating)-I started ruminating in the way she started developing and molding her Giselle, the differences with our current vast access to points of comparisson and the way her work influenced future generations of Giselles in the western hemisphere. In Maurice Leonard's "Markova: the legend", she talks at lenght about it, and about her scarse points of guidance-(an early performance she saw with Pavlova, which she couldn't remember very well, but mostly the vision of Spessivtzeva in the role, Alicia still a very young teenager dancing already with Diaghilev.

Then, during the early 30's comes her breakthrough with the role, in which she had only the even more aloof Nicolas Sergueev as her regisseur, with zero demonstrations and little to say besides the basic choreography. Long story short, it seems to me that what we all know about Giselle in the western side of the world comes from a very strong line via what Markova developed-(Pavlova might had danced it worldwide too, but I don't feel there are remaints of her interpretation). Alonso then was a continuation of Markova's style, and from then on, the imitation continued in Cuba full force. I might add that it has greatly extended to whenever Cuban ballet coaches teach Giselle.

Then there is Russia/Soviet Union and Ulanova. I have never read a book on Ulanova, but..could it be that her interpretation was also a work from scratch like Markova's..? She had Vaganova as a teacher, but Agrippina did dance the role only one time and was not a success, according to her biography. Who might had helped Ulanova develop the character...? I'm more inclined to think that she, like Markova, molded it greatly on her own.

My final question then would be.. Could the Giselles we watch today be a somewhat derivative product of either one of this two ballerinas...? More often than not I find, when watching a sequence of performances in a course of days, too little to differentiate from ballerina to ballerina-(the Russians being the hardest).

Then I saw the Osipova/Acosta video and, for the first time in years, I saw a different Giselle.

Any thoughs...?

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In our modern society, access to figures of reference in ballet seems to be at ease. One can just enter a vast world of full lenght videos a click away from our own phones. Coaching is greatly expanded also, and now there are more and more dancers worldwide that are able to share previous knowledge in the classics when changing companies and even countries. However, reading yet another book on Dame Markova-(I feel a very special attraction for her type of dancing, sort of aloof and with a particular sense of center and self control that I find fascinating)-I started ruminating in the way she started developing and molding her Giselle, the differences with our current vast access to points of comparisson and the way her work influenced future generations of Giselles in the western hemisphere. In Maurice Leonard's "Markova: the legend", she talks at lenght about it, and about her scarse points of guidance-(an early performance she saw with Pavlova, which she couldn't remember very well, but mostly the vision of Spessivtzeva in the role, Alicia still a very young teenager dancing already with Diaghilev.

Then, during the early 30's comes her breakthrough with the role, in which she had only the even more aloof Nicolas Sergueev as her regisseur, with zero demonstrations and little to say besides the basic choreography. Long story short, it seems to me that what we all know about Giselle in the western side of the world comes from a very strong line via what Markova developed-(Pavlova might had danced it worldwide too, but I don't feel there are remaints of her interpretation). Alonso then was a continuation of Markova's style, and from then on, the imitation continued in Cuba full force. I might add that it has greatly extended to whenever Cuban ballet coaches teach Giselle.

Then there is Russia/Soviet Union and Ulanova. I have never read a book on Ulanova, but..could it be that her interpretation was also a work from scratch like Markova's..? She had Vaganova as a teacher, but Agrippina did dance the role only one time and was not a success, according to her biography. Who might had helped Ulanova develop the character...? I'm more inclined to think that she, like Markova, molded it greatly on her own.

My final question then would be.. Could the Giselles we watch today be a somewhat derivative product of either one of this two ballerinas...? More often than not I find, when watching a sequence of performances in a course of days, too little to differentiate from ballerina to ballerina-(the Russians being the hardest).

Then I saw the Osipova/Acosta video and, for the first time in years, I saw a different Giselle.

Any thoughs...?

Galina Sergeyevna did study with Vaganova, but importantly she also studied with her parents Sergey Ulanov and Marie Romanova.

While Fedor Lopukov was artistic director at the Kirov, he took a special interest in her development. He had recognised her rare potential when she was in the school. "She has a secret hidden in her soul" he once said. (John Gregory)

Vaganova had originally cast her as Myrtha. Fortunately, Yelena Liukom, the first prima-ballerina of Soviet Ballet, and a revered interpreter of Giselle, saw at once that it was Ulanova's part and coached her for her debut in the Ponomaryov production after Petipa.

See:http://www.ballet.co.uk/old/legend_js_alicia_markova.htm

See: https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A7x9UnZ7QZtTrBYA9YR3Bwx.;_ylu=X3oDMTBsZ3ZhODNnBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2lyZAR2dGlkAw--?p=Galina+Ulanova+films&hspart=avast&hsimp=yhs-001

Having spent almost three hours with Galina Ulanova with a colleague Geoffrey Whitlock watching Pavlova dance on film, she become most (gently) agitated at so many movements and moments that it was apparent that she was possessed with a gentility of spirit which was much more than humilty.

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Vaganova had originally cast Ulanova as Myrtha. Fortunately, Yelena Liukom, the first prima-ballerina of Soviet Ballet, and a revered interpreter of Giselle, saw at once that it was Ulanova's part and coached her for her debut in the Ponomaryov production after Petipa.

Galina Ulanova was not just outstanding, world-famous ballerina, she alone is an epoch in the history of Russian ballet epitomising, its artistic and high aesthetic pride.

Ulanova's sensitive expressive performances remain spiritusly unique. Ulanova was compared with the Venus by Botticelli and Raphael's Madonna. Touchingly, beautiful and tragic as the Swan Princess she was considered impossible to forget.

Over the years of her success Ulanova would become an immortal image, which is impossible to forget as senior members of the company would confirm.

Perhaps different in some ways to the 19th century balllerina's in the roles of Odette/Odile and Giselle I have found those that saw her talk with a hushed voice never wanting to describe what was called a miracle

of dramatic and aesthetic execution.

She won the hearts of audiences with Giselle - mysterious, as if becoming a levitating light shadow, yet at the same time filled with great spiritual power.

In “The Fountains of Bakhchisarai as Maria her dramatic measured sense of gesture and the plastique of her poses responding to her fate are filled with images showing that the drama of her captiivity which was doomed to soon end echoing the heroines of Pushkin and Shakespeares through dance.

Although a pupil of Agrippina Vaganova, her parents Sergey Ulanov and her mother Maria Fyodorovna were both ballet dancers. Galina Ulanova destiny arose from her parents and which through her mother an outstanding teacher. she would grow into a legend. Oddly, Ulanova was at first a reluctant pupil extremely shy and often tearful at the strain of the daily routine of the yet she performed out of a sense of duty to her parents.

Yet inescapable from her daily routine of the class, a sense of duty arose perhaps more so when she experienced the thrill of taking part in performances.

Over time she gained confidence and made a great friend in Tatyana Vecheslova also destined to become and outstanding member of the now Soviet Ballet of Russia.

Maria Fedorovna who coached her daughter through four of the years of her ballet training was never quite sure that Anna would succeed.

When a graduation performance arose, the final performance of a school year for senior pupils , Anna was among the dancers immediately allocated one figure, which was particularly plastique, expressive and soulful. Her mother looking closer at the stage realized it was her daughter.

Alicia Markova had no such journey to becoming a ballerina.

Pushed from the beginning of her dance classes you would find this,”Little Pavlova,” dancing a version of “The Swan” up and down English seaside resorts before she was twelve years old.

Born in the same year as Pavlova she was encouraged to take ballet lessons as she had weak legs.

Pretty much soon after she made her stage debut aged ten , she was later billled as “Little Alicia the child Pavlova.

In London she was to study with Serafina Astafieva Born 1876 who studied at the Boshoi Ballet school and graduated from the Imperial Theatre school in 1895 who had danced withe Diaghilev Ballet Company.

Astafieva as a somewhat statuesque character dancer(and a Russian Princess) had earlier married Josef Kshessinsky) brother of the Imperial Ballerina Mathilde Kshessinkaya.

For two years(1909-1911) Astafieva had appeared with Diaghilev Ballet Company. Her pupils at various times included, Rambert, Fonteyn, Markova, and Dolin.

Unlike Ulanova, there is regrettably little film of Markova(later Dame Alicia) there is no way I can make a proper assessment of her abilities.

However I did see a revival of Chopiniana that Markova staged for English National Ballet and I sometimes think it was the best staging I have ever seen.

Markova was definitedly admired by older balletomanes I knew and I found her to be a warm and generous person on the occasions that we met with no side or sense of grandeur.

At an intimate occasion at the Pavlova Museum in Ivy House she talked and described events of here life and times with her great friend the most charming grande dame Alexandra Danilova.

Markova's solid legacy has been The Festival Ballet(later The English National Ballet) she founded with Anton Dolin(later Sir Anton which had changed its name over the years and remains today as The English National Ballet.

The National Film Theatre in London has a record of the films of Alicia Markova appeared in as follows in no particular order.

Markova and Ashton (1931)

Alicia Markova Frederick Ashton

Markova (1972)

Derek Batey & Alicia Markova

Dame Alicia Markova (1974) Dame Alicia Markova (1985)

Featuring

Mavis Nicholson Alicia Markova

Dame Alicia Markova and Doris Marks (1991) Synopsis

Prima ballerina Dame Alicia Markova and her sister Doris Marks, nee Barry, who had a successful career on the stage, particularly at the Windmill Theatre, talk about their background, their different careers, the triumphs and traumas.

Tales of Helpmann A Profile of Sir Robert Helpmann (1990) Cast

Dame Alicia Markova: The People's Ballerina (2000) Synopsis

A profile of Dame Alicia Markova, as she celebrated her 90th birthday. Traces the four decades of her career from its beginnings in 1924, when she left London to became a teenage star in Serge Diaghilev's Ballet Russe company.

Dame Alicia Markova: The People's Ballerina (2000) Dame Alicia Markova and Doris Marks (1991)

See:http://www.ballet.co.uk/old/legend_js_alicia_markova.htm

See: https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A7x9UnZ7QZtTrBYA9YR3Bwx.;_ylu=X3oDMTBsZ3ZhODNnBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2lyZAR2dGlkAw--?p=Galina+Ulanova+films&hspart=avast&hsimp=yhs-001

Having spent almost three hours with Galina Ulanova with a colleague Geoffrey Whitlock watching Pavlova dance on film, she become most (gently) agitated at so many movements and moments that it was apparent that she was possessed with a gentility of spirit which was much more than humilty.

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Thank you both Leonid and Atm711 for your responses. I still find a bit intriguing the fact of how much-( or how little)-of visual background/direct female coaching in the role these two ballerinas had available by the time they were both rehearsing the role. I know that Markova had at different stages access to oral accounts by different sources-(Kschessinskaya, Astafieva, Vladimirov, Dolin via Sppesivtzeva)-who might had helped her with certain points, but my feeling and original interest in this topic is about the fact that I don't think she ever had a previous great Giselle next to her in the studio teaching her the role. Ulanova might had experienced something similar on her own, although she was the product, unlike Markova, of a structured ballet school with a past. But, from that past I wonder, after the estampede of ballerinas post revolution, if there was a Giselle teaching her verbatim about steps and role development.

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It was after seeing the Camargo Society performance of Giselle with Olga Spessitseva and Dolin in 1932 that Markova first realized the possibilities of the role for her(She had seen Pavlova dance in 1919.)

Markova's first performance with the Vic-Wells Ballet Company took place on New Year's Day 1934 at the Old Vic in a production staged by Nicholas Grigorovich Sergeyev in which Markova had a triumphant success partnered by Anton Dolin.

Sergeyev was trained at the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet School, joining the company in 1894 and was promoted to soloist and régisseur, or stage manager of the Mariinsky Ballet, In 1904 he became régisseur-général in 1914.

In time Giselle became Markova's most significant role and the one whose depth of expressive possibilities she continued to develop throughout her career.

It was Diaghilev who changed her surname from Marks to the more Russian sounding name Markova.

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I remember reading, probably in Markova's autobiography, that she spent a lot of time preparing Giselle in Cyril Beaumont's bookstore looking at old lithographs of romantic ballet dancers. What an interesting question! Mary

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I remember reading, probably in Markova's autobiography, that she spent a lot of time preparing Giselle in Cyril Beaumont's bookstore looking at old lithographs of romantic ballet dancers. What an interesting question! Mary

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I remember reading, probably in Markova's autobiography, that she spent a lot of time preparing Giselle in Cyril Beaumont's bookstore looking at old lithographs of romantic ballet dancers. What an interesting question! Mary

Lovely to hear of Cyril Beaumont's bookshop in Charing Cross Road.

It was absolutely crammed with books, lithographs and objects. I so wanted to obtain several lithographs but on every occasion I viisited he would say they are not for sale so I gave up.

One day I met him gong into the stalls circle of the Royal Opera House.

He said, "I wondered what happened to you?"

As he began to drift towards his seat (I was in standing room), he stopped and turned round and said, " You know I was red-headed like you once upon a time, but I never gave up so easily."

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Then I saw the Osipova/Acosta video and, for the first time in years, I saw a different Giselle.

Any thoughs...?

I agree with you that Ulanova probably did a lot of the work on Giselle on her own, but I actually don't think many other Soviet/Russian ballerinas use her interpretation. Ulanova's Giselle is pretty fiery, and a lot of the other Russian dancers, particularly since the 1970s, seem to have a very delicate, frail Giselle.

I was most interested that you thought Osipova's Giselle was a genuinely different interpretation. I also saw that production (in the live broadcast, sadly not live) and was floored by Osipova's performance. I haven't really seen enough Giselles, particularly not enough Western Giselles, to judge, but I agree that there's something unique about her - especially the way she floats in the second act. She has huge physical power being channeled into making Giselle seem unearthly, almost inhuman.

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Leonid and atm711...you always have great stories! atm711...I very much would like to hear more about Markova,s Giselle, given the veneration her interpretation has always generated in Alonso and all she has always said about her role model. Leonid...your encounter with Beaumont is a fascinating story! I did not know his store was in Charing Cross. I have stayed in Soho when in London, and always stroll up and down that street!

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At one time Charing Cross Road was packed with bookshops and a few still remain on the eastern side, Beaumont's shop was on the other side of the road. A large stretch of the road was demolished though and is now incorporated into part of Chinatown. I think the shop was in that area. Of course Foyles still remains on the western side but further up past Cambridge Circus,

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I remember reading, probably in Markova's autobiography, that she spent a lot of time preparing Giselle in Cyril Beaumont's bookstore looking at old lithographs of romantic ballet dancers. What an interesting question! Mary

Lovely to hear of Cyril Beaumont's bookshop in Charing Cross Road.

It was absolutely crammed with books, lithographs and objects. I so wanted to obtain several lithographs but on every occasion I viisited he would say they are not for sale so I gave up.

One day I met him gong into the stalls circle of the Royal Opera House.

He said, "I wondered what happened to you?"

As he began to drift towards his seat (I was in standing room), he stopped and turned round and said, " You know I was red-headed like you once upon a time, but I never gave up so easily."

PS

The address of Beaumont's bookshop was 75 Charing Cross Road.

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Galina Ulanova.

When I think of the tributes that Ulanova received ,(Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Anna Pavlova Paris Academy of Dance (1958), Commander Order of Merit in the field of art and literature (France),People's Artist of the USSR (1951). Award "Golden Mask" in the nomination "For the honor and dignity" (1995). I join with others in wishing I had seen her dance.

The parents of Galina Ulanova were the ballet dancer and director SN Ulanov and Marie Feodorovna Romanova, classical dancer and an outstanding teacher.

Galina Ulanova was a reluctant pupil realising how difficult the life of a ballet dancer would be.

This was especially so since she was growing up in the difficult post trevolutionary years.

Galina was necessarily taken in the evening through the St.Petersburg snow carried by her mother to the cinemas where her parents worked part time for a ration of bread then dancing before the films were shown.

Naturally, Galina even as a child began to realize how difficult the life of a ballet dancer, especially growing up in the dark post revolutionary years.In her memoirs, Ulanova recalled the reaction of the people sitting in the unheated room "....smiling, happy that they see a beautiful and easy dance, full of joy, light and poetry. "

I think of a modest, centred, smartly dressed woman generous of her time Ulanova's performance can never live on one plain only the swiftness of a fleeting expression, the bending of her body the outstretched yearning of her arms and her arabesque seemingly reaching to escape in moments of turmoil are unforgettable.

Ulanova onstage would somehow leaves normal dramatic expression behind drawing out of the audience a oneness with her experiences in a number of roles.All though Ulanova (born 1910) would grow up during the turmoil of the Russian Revolution which would later influence some highly politically characterised ballets.

At times she dances in a lighter key than that you find in Anna Pavlova's most expressive performances. But when Ulanova enters into a world where our most sensitive reactions are frailly laid, we cannot help but be carried away by her emotional yet subtle actions that resonate with our hopes and fears.

However when Ulanova graduated from the school in 1918 the political climate in Petrograd was bordering on the dangerous following the 1914-18 world war and fear reigned in the former Imperial capital.It is questionable that she was entirely a Vaganova pupil as no where on film, do you see a steely attack in her line or the intensive expression of some of Vaganova's other pupils.

Galina Ulanova was the daughter of two Mariinsky dancers of some note. Her mother Marie Romanova taught her at the Imperial Theatre School and later she was taught by Agrippina Vaganova. Her father was a dancer of some note and a regisseur in the early Soviet era.

Dickie Buckle eulogised over Ulanova as "Giselle" in "Buckle at the Ballet," having also earlier said," That no one can dance Giselle like Markova but when the Bolshoi visited London for the first time he added that,"Now I have seen Galina Ulanova I can say that she too, in quite a different way, is amazing and wonderful."

When on a visit to London with Bolshoi Ballet, I invited Galina Ulanova to the Pavlova Museum in Ivy House the former home of Anna Pavlova.

She was enraptured when watching films of Pavlova, making comments on her gestures and technique.

When examining items that had belonged to Pavlova, Ulanova seem to silently muse on the objects becoming withdrawn to another world for just a moment oblivious of those around her..

When I think of Ulanova I also think of her totally engrossed watching films of Pavlova and responding with joyous expression at various moments and pointing out the more than felicitous moments.

Geoffrey Whitlock and I took Ulanova on a tour of the Ivy House garden where we had prepared a tree planting of a Silver Birch for her to complete filling the earth around the young stem. Not saitisfied with the job done, Ulanova bent down to pat the earth tight and flat with her hands and then stood there silently for some moments.

Ulanova had of course a relationship with Pavlova through her parents, who had come to London

as members of her ballet company more than a century ago and was deeply touched when I gave her a photocopy of a programme with her parents name listed.

As she left the museum I asked her to sign the Museum's visitors book..

Ulanova simply wrote "Thanks to her."

The Eulogies of Ulanova abound.

ALICIA MARKOVA

Dame Alicia Markova (Little Alicia the Child Pavlova) was born in the same year as Ulanova and would begin to dance on medical advice to strengthen her weak limbs. She came from a background some what removed from Ulanova's.

At various times, her teachers would include Seraphima Astafieva, Nikolai Legat, Enrico Cecchetti and Vincenzo Celli.

Markova made her stage début at age ten, performing the role of Salome in the pantomime “Dick Whittington and his Cat” for which she was billed as Little Alicia, the child Pavlova.

At the age of 13, Markova was observed in the studio of Astafieva by Diaghilev, who was visiting London in search of new talent for his ballet company. He invited her to join the Ballets Russes in Monte Carlo, which she did in 1925, one month after her 14th birthday acquiring her stage name. Due to her age, she performed a number of roles which were specially choreographed for her.

Markova appeared in "Le Rossignol" and "La Chatte." for Diaghilev.

In 1931 Markova was invited by Ninette de Valois to join her new ballet company, the Vic-Wells Ballet with Anton Dolin as her partner. Markova returned to appear in England following Diaghilev's death and began working with Marie Rambert and Frederick Ashton as the leading ballerina of ,"The Ballet Club" founded by Marie Rambert.

Cyril Beaumont in his,”THE BALLET CALLED GISELLE ” published in 1944 was to write, “Markova's interpretation is remarkable for its grace and poetry and its technical beauty, so that the most difficult movements seemed effortless. Her portrait of the peasant girl, like that of Spessivtzeva's delicately balanced hypersensitive quality so rarely encountered, while in the second act Markova is so light, so intangible, so seemingly indifferent to the laws of gravity, that she resembles a wreath of mist.

Ashton was invited to become resident choreographer and the rest as they say is history except, that Markova would leave the company with Anton Dolin and in 1950 they formed a highly successful company simply called, "The Festival Ballet" to coincide with the shortly to be staged "Festival of Britain".

Markova would not retire until 1963 with an extensive record of notable performances from her earlier career as both Giselle and Odette-Odile.

One of the last works I saw her re-create was, “Les Sylphides” and for atmosphere and dancing, I have hardly ever seen a better production anywhere.

Markova was a much admired ballerina who became a legend in her lifetime encompassing a wide range of roles.

I was to meet Dame Alicia on a number of occasions notably when she brought Alexandra Danilova to visit Ivy House to show her old friend Pavlova's Furniture, which she had inherited and loaned to the "Pavlova Museum" collection founded by Roberta and John Lazzarini.

Dame Alicia had a somewhat very clear stylised manner in her speech which took one back to an earlier era of time.

Always very elegant and frequently generous of her time I was fortunate to meet Dame Alicia on several occasions.

SEE;- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/dame-alicia-markova-6156634.html

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