pherank Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Former NYCB dancer John Clifford's YouTube page contains many NYCB rarities. Audio and video quality is often poor, but even so, these are some historic performances. For example, a 1966 Concerto Barocco with Suzanne Farrell, Marnee Morris and Conrad Ludlow, a 1968 Apollo with Martins, Marnee Morris, Von Aroldingen and Farrell (the entire performance), Agon with Allegra Kent, Square Dance with Wilde and Magallanes, a 1973 La Valse, and more. The Trust seems to be allowing Clifford to post whatever he can find. Perhaps they have finally realized that this keeps up interest in the Balanchine ballets, and there is little harm done in making these old videos available.https://www.youtube.com/user/jcliff26/videos Someone else has Duo Concertante with Kay Mazzo and Peter Martins (you will most likely see the link in the right hand video thumbnail column), and "Balanchine's Funeral", a mini-documentary - we see many familiar faces in the crowd outside the cathedral. Not sure if this was shot for a New York audience primarily.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FONK5omBIdU Link to comment
KarenAG Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 (edited) Greetings, pherenk, and thank you for your post. I have seen a couple of John Clifford's YouTube offerings and they bring me back to my experiences with NYCB at Saratoga. I can't wait to see more of these, thanks to your posting the link! HappyHolidays. Edited November 27, 2016 by KarenAG spelling Link to comment
pherank Posted November 27, 2016 Author Share Posted November 27, 2016 (edited) 1 hour ago, KarenAG said: Greetings, pherenk, and thank you for your post. I have seen a couple of John Clifford's YouTube offerings and they bring me back to my experiences with NYCB at Saratoga. I can't wait to see more of these, thanks to your posting the link! HappyHolidays. Happy holidays to you, Karen. ;) John Clifford is one of the interviewees in the much recommended "Balanchine, Broadway and Beyond" series:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQbhP0SLZS0 Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwVoppmPMPk Part 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnOx5kmN9bE "When Balanchine was choreographing a pas de deux for Arthhur (Mitchell) and Suzanne (Farrell) there's a place where [omitted dialog] which is very sexy, and very wild - at the premiere gala some man was drunk in the second row of the audience, and Suzanne does this very sexy step, with three big fan kicks, and then he grabs her waist, and she throws herself into a back spin, totally abandoned, and some guy in the audience screamed, "go baby, go!" Edited November 27, 2016 by pherank Link to comment
Helene Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Also in the much-too-short two-part interview for MCB dancers Rebecca King's and Michael Sean Breeden's Conversations on Dance podcast: Part 1 Part 2 Link to comment
pherank Posted November 27, 2016 Author Share Posted November 27, 2016 (edited) 20 hours ago, Helene said: Also in the much-too-short two-part interview for MCB dancers Rebecca King's and Michael Sean Breeden's Conversations on Dance podcast: Part 1 Part 2 Excellent interview - "Cleefurd" can talk, and talk! But he has a great memory for details, and is always amusing. The part about Balanchine and the opening tableau/pose for Rubies reminds me of the line, “Good artists borrow; great artists steal”. Certainly, great artists know what to do with something they see as worthwhile. The lesser artists, and general public, tend not to know how to distinguish between useful or innovative, and hackneyed. Edited November 28, 2016 by pherank Link to comment
sandik Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Clifford was certainly on the spot for a significant chunk of 20th c American ballet history. Link to comment
lmspear Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Clifford also has a blog where he has posted several chapters of an autobiography manuscript. I haven't heard about it from any other source. This link goes to the chapter on Goldberg Variations and PAMTGG. http://johnclifford26.blogspot.com/2013/09/ch-28-goldberg-variations-reveries-and.html?m=0 Moderators, I wasn't sure where this would fit in the writings on ballet forums. Please post where it is appropriate. There are several chapters that are scattered among the blog entries. Thanks, Lisa Link to comment
pherank Posted November 28, 2016 Author Share Posted November 28, 2016 Yes, that's a great read, Imspear. I recall reading that PAMTGG (Pan Am Makes the Going Great) was a commissioned ballet - by Pan Am, of course. But I don't remember where I read that. It was at the PAMTGG premiere, just before the curtain rose, that Balanchine announced to Barbara Horgan that there would be a Stravinsky Festival "this time next year". Kind of ironic that people would be saying he should retire from ballet - after the PAMTGG fiasco - assuming he had lost his good taste and talent for choreography (as if talent were something that could be used up). Link to comment
sandik Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 4 hours ago, lmspear said: Clifford also has a blog where he has posted several chapters of an autobiography manuscript. I haven't heard about it from any other source. This link goes to the chapter on Goldberg Variations and PAMTGG. http://johnclifford26.blogspot.com/2013/09/ch-28-goldberg-variations-reveries-and.html?m=0 Moderators, I wasn't sure where this would fit in the writings on ballet forums. Please post where it is appropriate. There are several chapters that are scattered among the blog entries. Thanks, Lisa Thanks for the link! Link to comment
pherank Posted December 28, 2016 Author Share Posted December 28, 2016 For La Valse fans, Clifford has a video of Marnee Morris dancing with Anthony Blum, 1973: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ-vvsyJhgI And the final Pas de Deux w/ Sara Leland and Jean Pierre Bonnefoux, 1973:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCQ1UJak2r4 Link to comment
pherank Posted February 17, 2017 Author Share Posted February 17, 2017 Mr. Clifford has posted a good quality video of the POB performing Robbin's Opus 19/The Dreamer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHT3oDLOKBk He provided a long comment about the piece which is interesting reading: "Here's a wonderful performance from the Paris Opera Ballet from a few years ago, of one of Jerome Robbins' more Balanchine inspired works. "Opus 19/The Dreamer." I saw the first season of this and actually was pretty unimpressed...even though the leads were Baryshnikov and Patricia McBride. Now however...after all these years, I appreciate it much more. Please understand that Balanchine was still alive then, and all I could see was Robbins' choreographic references to Balanchine's "Stravinsky Violin Concerto" and other Balanchine works. Now this blows me away with it's musicality and freshness of thought. It holds up really well compared to most of the anemic new ballets that to my eyes look more like gymnastics to repetitive "machine" music than actual "dancing." I have a bit of a history with this score too. Originally Balanchine had given this music to Edward Villella to use for his 2nd ballet for the company. Villella couldn't find his way through this music, so Balanchine asked me, a 20 yr-old new dancer in the company, to get a Stravinsky ballet I had started choreographing for the school, SAB, ready to replace Villella's on the Spring season! That was my first ballet for the NYC Ballet and Mr. B was pleased enough to ask for 7 more before I eventually left the company. Then flash forward 10 years and I use this same Prokofiev Violin Concerto for my own LOS ANGELES BALLET. It was a success and Polly Shelton, Ken Mraz, Johnna McHugh (Kirkland), Charles Flemmer, and myself were the leads. Then Jerry Robbins did this version. (His was better than mine I think) What I LOVE about this Paris Opera version the most is Mathias Heymann. I find him to be the best of his generation. Elegant, stylish, perfect proportions, sterling technique, and an understated quality that lets the choreography shine through...in whatever he is doing. His beauty of line and movement quality always impresses me. I actually much prefer him to Baryshnikov in this...and that's a very tough act to follow!" A couple of the YouTube commentators felt that the performance continued to lack something. Link to comment
Quiggin Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 (edited) John Clifford has posted a video of the original cast version of Stravinsky Violin Concerto (Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux in Aria I) with some significant choreographic differences from the 1977 Dance in America version. As noted in the comments there's a wonderful short short stretch of dancing from 2:02 to 2:38, later dropped, and the ending seems a little different. I'm sure I'm a minority but I do like the "bad" editing and the way it pulls out all sort of details that you miss in the later version. (More in the style of a Dziga Vertov or lesser Eisenstein film – which might have pleased Stravinsky more than Balanchine.) You really notice the graphic quality of Balanchine's compositions in each still frame, the maltese cross-like layering of hands and feet. Makes the case for Violin Concerto's kinship to Agon, at least in Aria I. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84aGjY3V8Dw&spfreload=1 Edited March 6, 2017 by Quiggin Link to comment
miliosr Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 I love following Clifford's Instagram feed because he always has some tart comment like this one from this weekend: "Yes kids . . . LA did have a fully professional ballet company once upon a time." Me-ouch! Link to comment
pherank Posted October 8, 2017 Author Share Posted October 8, 2017 22 minutes ago, miliosr said: I love following Clifford's Instagram feed because he always has some tart comment like this one from this weekend: "Yes kids . . . LA did have a fully professional ballet company once upon a time." Me-ouch! Millepied's LA Dance Project is still very much "balletic", imo, even if they are pursuing a non-pointe shoe, contemporary aesthetic. The choreography that they employ isn't all that different from the contemporary repertoire at major dance companies in North America and Europe. Clifford may be thinking, "that's not ballet", but I'm not sure everyone else is going to agree. I do like Clifford's pointed commentary though. ;) Link to comment
miliosr Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 15 hours ago, pherank said: Millepied's LA Dance Project is still very much "balletic", imo, even if they are pursuing a non-pointe shoe, contemporary aesthetic. The choreography that they employ isn't all that different from the contemporary repertoire at major dance companies in North America and Europe. Clifford may be thinking, "that's not ballet", but I'm not sure everyone else is going to agree. I do like Clifford's pointed commentary though. ;) I actually thought he was taking a shot at Colleen Neary's Los Angeles Ballet with the comment about "fully professional". I think you're probably right that Clifford considers LA Dance Project to be "non-ballet". He may be guilty, though, of living too much in his memories and wanting to freeze dance as he knew it (which was Balanchine dance) in time. Link to comment
dirac Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 On 11/28/2016 at 11:08 AM, lmspear said: Clifford also has a blog where he has posted several chapters of an autobiography manuscript. I haven't heard about it from any other source. This link goes to the chapter on Goldberg Variations and PAMTGG. http://johnclifford26.blogspot.com/2013/09/ch-28-goldberg-variations-reveries-and.html?m=0 Moderators, I wasn't sure where this would fit in the writings on ballet forums. Please post where it is appropriate. There are several chapters that are scattered among the blog entries. Thanks, Lisa Thank you for the link. I hope he writes a book. So much fun to read. Link to comment
lmspear Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 I would love to see a book. Link to comment
pherank Posted November 17, 2017 Author Share Posted November 17, 2017 John Clifford posted this video of Gene Kelly with Tamara Toumanova Link to comment
pherank Posted December 30, 2017 Author Share Posted December 30, 2017 (edited) John Clifford has posted what I believe is a complete broadcast of A Midsummer Night's Dream (NYC Ballet)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrfiusNHCls Titania Maria Calegari Oberon Ib Anderson Puck Jean-Pierre Frohlich Hippolyta Victoria Hall Thesus Cornel Crabtree Titania's Cavalier Jock Soto Helena Stephanie Saland Hermia Judith Fugate Lysander Kipling Houston Demetrius Peter Frame Bottom Laurence Matthews Butterfly Katrina Killian Act II Divertissement Merrill Ashley Adam Luders Edited December 30, 2017 by pherank Link to comment
Mme. Hermine Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 I remember this broadcast, I think it was about 1986. -- yes, the following from the library: Event Recorded at New York State Theater, New York, N.Y., and telecast live by WNET as part of its series Great performances: Live from Lincoln Center, on May 24, 1986. Credits Scenery, David Hays ; costumes, Karinska ; lighting, Ronald Bates ; production supervised by Peter Martins ; writer, Danny Abelson. Performer Danced by New York City Ballet. Cast Maria Calegari (Titania), Ib Andersen (Oberon), Jean-Pierre Frohlich (Puck), Victoria Hall (Hippolyta), Cornel Crabtree (Theseus), Jock Soto (Titania's cavalier), Stephanie Saland (Helena), Judith Fugate (Hermia), Kipling Houston (Lysander), Peter Frame (Demetrius), Laurence Matthews (Bottom), Katrina Killian (Butterfly), Merrill Ashley and Adam Luders (Act II divertissement), members of the New York City Ballet, and students of the School of American Ballet.Mari Performer Conductor: Robert Irving. Host/interviewer: Patrick Watson. Commentator: Martin Bookspan. Singers: Elaine Linstedt (soprano), Mary Ann Hart (mezzo soprano), and others. Link to comment
pherank Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 (edited) I don't think this was linked to before: NYCB dancing Symphony in C with Allegra Kent (1973) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn1ZVGp0plc Oh the joys of dancing on a concrete floor. ;) Edited February 15, 2018 by pherank Link to comment
cubanmiamiboy Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 I have been following Clifford's videos for quite a time now. My first one was "Valse Fantaisie"-(the second version). I wanted to see how it looked like as Villella has the ballet in MCB, but in it's 50's, original version. The 70's one I have never seen it live, so it was a good comparison point. Link to comment
nanushka Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 11 hours ago, cubanmiamiboy said: I have been following Clifford's videos for quite a time now. My first one was "Valse Fantaisie"-(the second version). I wanted to see how it looked like as Villella has the ballet in MCB, but in it's 50's, original version. The 70's one I have never seen it live, so it was a good comparison point. I love seeing Sara Leland in a number of Clifford's video's, including that Valse Fantaisie. She has such a delightful air. Link to comment
miliosr Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 Clifford has posted the famous Bert Stern photo of Allegra Kent and Edward Villella in Balanchine's Bugaku (w/ interesting comments) on his Instagram feed: https://www.instagram.com/p/BgkQXF_l-PL/?hl=en&taken-by=john_cliff26 There's also a lively back-and-forth with commenters including Alastair Macaulay (!). But how accurate some of what Clifford writes is definitely open to debate. FYI -- Sarasota Ballet is performing Bugaku this spring. Now may be the time to see it because who knows if it will be performed again. Link to comment
nanushka Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 (edited) 7 minutes ago, miliosr said: But how accurate some of what Clifford writes is definitely open to debate. Thanks so much for the heads-up about the comments; I might've missed them. And the above is always true hah. 7 minutes ago, miliosr said: FYI -- Sarasota Ballet is performing Bugaku this spring. Now may be the time to see it because who knows if it will be performed again. Oh I would love to see the piece live! When was it last in NYCB's rep, anyone know? Edited March 22, 2018 by nanushka Link to comment
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