The Ballet Bag » Ballet History

Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement

Emilia & Linda — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:04:49 +0000

If you are in London this autumn, you should plan a visit to Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement currently on display at the Royal Academy. This wonderful exhibition, curated by Richard Kendall, Jill DeVonyar and Ann Dumas, focuses on the Impressionist painter and sculptor Edgar Degas’s interest in movement and his dedication to classical ballet and dancers throughout his career.

The exhibition opens with some of Degas’s most famous masterpieces including “Two Dancers on the Stage” (pictured below) and a painting of the “Ballet Scene from Meyerbeer’s Opera Robert le Diable” or the “ballet of the Nuns”, a supernatural scene considered to be a blueprint for the Romantic ballet movement.

Visitors familiar with the choreographer August Bournonville will immediately spot the links between Degas’s ballerinas and Bournonville’s “classroom ballet” Konservatoriet.

Much like Degas, Bournonville’s experience in Paris left a lasting impression. His memories of the dance classroom in those early days inspired his choreography and kept coming up in his ballets long after his return to Denmark.

Before you step into rooms 1 and 2 of the exhibition, we recommend a look at dance writer Tobi Tobias’s excellent essay on Konservatoriet and its evocative ballet school scene.

The second room is entirely dedicated to ‘The Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen’ (1880-81), showing Degas’s extensive preparatory studies to achieve a perfect three dimensional likeness of his subject, Marie van Goethem, a dance student at the Paris Opera School.

These sculptures and sketches show us Degas’s complete understanding of the classical dance vocabulary.

During the 1880s Degas became increasingly preoccupied with recording dancers in movement. Observing dancers in action, such as in this early footage of a Tarantella (from Bournonville’s ballet Napoli), he was able to translate movement into small-scale models which he kept privately for his own research.

The exhibition brings together more than 80 works, including paintings, sketches, sculptures, and photography by Degas as well as examples of dance footage and photos by Etienne-Jules Marey and Eadweard Muybridge, whose images influenced Degas’s own work.

In 1895, at age 60, Degas bought a camera (see negative on the left) and started to experiment with the medium. At that time, the Lumière brothers were also exploring movement on film, capturing performer Loïe Fuller‘s Serpentine Dance (1896) for posterity (pictured right).

The exhibition ends with Degas’s late drawings and pastels. His sequential, frieze-like compositions are shown as a direct influence and natural progression from his experiments with photography, creating more energetic forms.

Not to be missed, Degas and the Ballet, Picturing Movement runs until 11 December 2011 at the Royal Academy of Arts.

With thanks to the Royal Danish Ballet and the Royal Academy of Arts.

Photo credits:

Bournonville’s Konservatoriet – © Costin Radu / RDB
Exhibition Photos: © The Ballet Bag

René Blum & The Ballets Russes

Emilia & Linda — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 10:16:08 +0000

In her newest book, RENÉ BLUM AND THE BALLETS RUSSES: In Search of a Lost Life, dance historian Judith Chazin-Bennahum looks at the tragic story of the theatre producer who was responsible for resurrecting the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo after his friend Sergei Diaghilev’s death, but who was arrested in 1941 during a roundup of Jewish intellectuals and ultimately sent to Auschwitz, where he died.

Based on Chazin-Bennahum’s extensive research of previously undiscovered letters and documents from the Arts du Spectacle, the Archives Sciences Politiques in Paris, and the New York Public Library’s dance collection, the narrative centers on Blum’s life and his key role in the development of dance in the United States. Blum’s efforts to save his ballet company eventually helped to bring many of the world’s greatest dancers and choreographers – among them Fokine, Balanchine, and Nijinska – to American ballet stages, shaping the path of dance in the country.

By courtesy of the author and the publisher, Oxford University Press, below we reproduce a fascinating extract from Chapter 8, focusing on Michel Fokine and the first new work he choreographed for Blum, L’Épreuve d’Amour. The full chapter is also available for free download (see image at the bottom).

Blum Brings Michel Fokine into the Fold

(…) Blum’s Ballets de Monte-Carlo began optimistically on April 3, 1936, with the ballet master Nicolas Zverev and dancers Vera Nemtchinova, Marie Ruanova, Nathalie Krassovska, Hélène Kirsova, Anatole Vilzak, Anatole Oboukhoff, and André Eglevsky. They surged ahead with Blum’s almost divine plans to rescue a company that he so believed in. Soon a new ballet master, George Gué, took over. Other dancers were hired in June: Woizikovsky, Raievska, Tarakanova, and Igor Youskevitch. De Basil kept some of the repertoire and a number of the original performers, including Baronova, Riabouchinska, Lichine, and Danilova, who returned to Blum in 1938. As the company’s performances increased in number and success, Blum engaged more dancers, especially English ones. Soon the company would have more than ninety dancers. The fact that some of his most celebrated soloists stayed with de Basil seemed not to distress the ever-optimistic Blum.

Blum was constantly appealing to his superiors for one thing or another, and in 1936 his tone reflected his oppressive sense of isolation. Writing from Paris on March 3, 1936, he asked Delpierre for more rehearsal time, and said that he was facing more difficulties during the spring season than ever before: “I have a new company, new choreography, and new productions. How can I get six different ballets ready for performance when there is so little rehearsal time in the theatre?” Blum was convinced that a successful opening night was essential to attract the favorable attention of impresarios in London and New York. Once again, he reiterated the enormous sacrifices he had made for the new company, to the sum of 700,000 francs, not to mention the emotional toll it had taken.

Michel Fokine, by then fifty-six, took over as ballet master when René Blum finally extricated himself from his ties to de Basil. Fokine longed to reclaim his fame in European capitals, as his time in America had disappointed and exhausted him. With Fokine and the other Russian dancers, Blum tried to sustain the glorious tradition of Russian ballet despite world economics that stressed the very core of the company’s ambitions. Blum refused to admit defeat, and plowed on to achieve his dream of a ballet company, with Fokine as the inspiration.

Fokine’s first new work for Blum, L’Épreuve d’Amour, premiered April 4, 1936, with scenery and costumes by the exciting artist André Derain. The music, thought originally to be by Mozart, actually was by several composers for a divertissement performed in 1838. The ballet came to be appreciated not as one of Fokine’s most experimental or brilliant productions, but as a charming, beautifully arranged piece of “Viennese Chinoiserie.” Jack Anderson quoted Cyril Beaumont, who noted poetically that “‘it possessed the charm of porcelain vases,’ while Fernau Hall thought that it was ‘expertly crafted.’ Most important, Fokine found a way to disguise the weaknesses of the young Blum company. . . . Unfortunately the American audience did not take to it.”

The ballet’s elaborate story, created by Fokine and Dérain, includes four leading roles: the Mandarin, his daughter Chung-Yang, her lover, and an Ambassador from a Western country. The curtain opens to reveal a group of monkeys whom the pompous Mandarin soon dismisses. Maidens enter with the lover, whose duet with Chung-Yang is interrupted by her father. The Ambassador arrives with gifts, and executes some stunning virtuosic movements. While seeking the affections of the young girl, he is attacked by a dragon who is actually her lover. The Ambassador is frightened away, and then set upon and robbed by friends of the young girl. The Mandarin finally agrees to the marriage of his daughter to her beloved, whereupon the Ambassador’s goods are returned to him. The devious Mandarin, seeing the Ambassador as a better prospect for his daughter, changes his mind. But in the end, the Ambassador refuses the marriage, feeling that he prefers to be loved for himself. The young lovers wed, leaving the Mandarin with his monkeys, a butterfly, and his dreams of a wealthy life. An old silent film L’Épreuve helps somewhat to understand the kinds of movement themes Fokine designed. For example, in the beginning he held close to reality with figurative and gestural motifs, while still using the ballet vocabulary. For the monkey group, Fokine chose stereotypical animalistic imagery. In the same comedic manner, he exaggerated the overweening qualities of the Mandarin, giving him the villainous qualities of a silent-film character.

The movements for the daughter also recall the caprices of film heroines, fawning and meek, with hollow “Oriental” poses, at the same time keeping to the ballet lexicon. Vera Nemtchinova, the original Chung-Yang, admitted in an interview to the “simpering” behavior that Fokine insisted on, in order to give the character a more farcical style. The Dancing Times hailed “Nemtchinova for her brilliant dancing and miming as the daughter, and especially for her turns sur la pointe.” The review extolled the beauty of a lovely pas de deux with Eglevsky and Nemtchinova, and commented, “If the choreography of L’Épreuve d’amour is, as I heard some say, a trifle old-fashioned, then give me old-fashioned choreography. I enjoyed every minute of it.” The Paris journal L’Illustration adored Fokine’s treatment of the music, extolling the ballet’s “finesse, and light touch, following the score with an impeccable awareness of its details.”

Fokine’s several new productions remain important contributions to the repertoire. Critic A. V. Coton spoke of this “resurrection” of Fokine by Blum as the major happening in the spring of 1936 and critics rejoiced on both sides of the Atlantic. Dance writers called Fokine “the father of modern ballet” as he did not approve of using ready-made dance steps, short skirts, and pink dancing shoes. Fokine believed that the time period and character of the nation represented should be researched and reflected in the dance, and that the corps of dancers should be used for expression, not just ornamentation. He believed an attempt should be made to harmonize music, scenery, and choreography.

Fokine, as a dedicated and passionate composer of ballet movement, was praised by Cyril Beaumont who remarked that Fokine knew the music exceptionally well, and worked for days on its sequencing: “He knows what phrase of movement is to be interpreted, where there is to be a pose, and for how long. He composes like a painter, sketching a few movements here, arranging a few details of a pose there; it is one of the most entrancing experiences to see these apparently isolated elements gradually set in their proper order and combined to form a beautiful dance.

Judith Chazin-Bennahum © RENE BLUM AND THE BALLETS RUSSES (Oxford, 2011)

Click on the image to download a free copy of Chapter 8:

RENÉ BLUM AND THE BALLETS RUSSES: In Search of a Lost Life, by Judith Chazin-Bennahum (Oxford, 2011) is out now in hardcover and Kindle edition.

Dance Rarities Curated in a New Performing Arts Catalogue

Emilia & Linda — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:00:02 +0000

A catalogue of film and video materials held by the archives and collections of BFI, Arts Council England, LUX, Central St Martins British Artists Film & Video Study Collection is now available as a free downloadable pdf from the British Film Institute website. Aimed at encouraging engagement between the arts and the moving image, the catalogue documents the histories of theatre, acting, dance, music, performance art and oratory (from politics to poetry) on film and television.

The catalogue references about 3,500 film and video titles held by the above mentioned collections, including titles from the very beginnings of cinema (1895) through to recent works and shows the richness and particularity of the different collections. It offers a new resource for programmers, curators, researchers, students, performers, practitioners, artists and filmmakers.

Margot Fonteyn in The Little Ballerina (1947) ©BFI

BFI’s classical dance resources can also be browsed online:

Ballet Film Collections
Two significant collections, of independent amateur filmmaker Lord Wakehurst (1895-1970), and BBC film director Margaret Dale (1922-2010)

Classical Performers
Focused on the world’s most famous ballet dancers, including Anna Pavlova, Alicia Markova, Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev and Sylvie Guillem.

Choreographers & Companies
The international ballet companies and individual choreographers most influential on the form historically and to date, from Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes to Matthew Bourne.

Ballet Films
A chronological listing of various ballet films ranging across era and genre, including documentaries, commissions and experimental work.

Composers
Including the works for ballet by Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Benjamin Britten.

The Performing Arts on Film & Television Catalogue was commissioned as an Arts Council England initiative to support projects and develop strategies that promote engagement with the arts through the moving image.

Ballet in Peril: A Conversation With Jennifer Homans

Emilia & Linda — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 20:08:50 +0000

Is ballet ready for its close-up? Is it indeed bursting with vitality; the art form to watch in 2011? We reach the end of 2010 with mixed messages. On one hand, some positive signs: NYCB’s Architecture of Dance Festival and its seven premieres (four of which “narrative” ballets), Alexei Ratmansky’s new works for ABT and the Bolshoi, Christopher Wheeldon’s new Sleeping Beauty and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Closer to home creative forces like Wayne McGregor, Liam Scarlett and Kristen McNally (we recommend her well-thought out blog post on the future of narrative ballets) to name but a few.

On the other, alarm bells: we are having a pallid autumn/winter ballet season in London. Too many Cinderellas and Swan Lakes have made us question our own position as classical ballet audience. We have also been wondering to what extent lavish ballet reconstructions steal the thunder of new works. All these issues have given us much to reflect on (watch this space over the coming months) and a few weeks ago we had the opportunity to exchange views on where the art form is heading to with ballet personality of the moment Jennifer Homans, whose new book Apollo’s Angels – with its much debated “ballet in peril” epilogue – has been chosen as one of the best of 2010 by the New York Times:

TBB: Let us start with your book, which we both found fascinating. Is it true you committed 10 years to it, where did it all start?

JH: 10 years… well, these are lifetime projects. It started when I was a dancer, just wanting to read a book like this myself and wondering where it all came from, how it all began? I was passionate about dance, I didn’t think very much about its history, I wasn’t educated in it, it’s not part of dance education. Oddly, to study the history you have to self-educate, it’s not like in the music academy world where you are forced to take history of music to understand where the sound came from, so I was curious about it. And then when I stopped dancing and I became a historian, I couldn’t quite get it off my mind, I couldn’t stop thinking about dance. As you probably know there are histories, but they are not as broad as what I was looking for, or very specialised, a study of French ballet, or Russian ballet, but not all in one place, trying to understand the connections with politics and culture.

TBB: Yes indeed, like Ivor Guest’s books on French ballet or certain compilations of essays. These can be very rhetorical and very dense, whereas we get the sense you’ve written Apollo’s Angels in a way that it might be easier for dance fans as well as other reader demographics to pick up. How was this transition from dancer to historian because you just don’t wake up and say “I want to be a historian!”…

JH: No, you wake up five to ten years later! Like most dancers I had not gone to university, so when I stopped dancing in my mid to late twenties I went back to university and then started this long road. I spent four to five years doing that and then I did a doctorate in history. During the course of that, realising I now had the tools of a historian, I thought “what if I could write this history that I always thought should be written” and I set out to do it. Did my motives change? I am not sure they did. What I found changed the way I saw the history, but I approached it like a dancer, every day at the barre, every day at the computer…

TBB: How did you reconcile your position as a historian with that of dance critic? Because as a historian, you can research, talk to people and reconstruct a puzzle, explain how something evolved, but then in the later part of your book you talk about things that you’ve seen and were involved with. And you were already in that environment, so you have an opinion and that might make a difference…

JH: I am not sure it does actually, it’s definitely different as you say, but I was very aware throughout the writing, it was extremely important to bring my critical eye, whatever that is, to the history, because history without a critical position, without an interpretive idea, it’s just a bunch of facts, it’s just stuff. You have to attempt, even though I admit it, it is incredibly hard, so many dances of the past, we don’t know what they looked like, we can’t see them, so I am working from fragments, from accounts, images, a variety of sources, trying to paste them together in my mind. In order to know where it fits in the history, you have to evaluate it critically.

So those tools are really always playing back and forth; the historians say “well this matters because it happened in a certain time and a certain place.” But does it really matter? Was it any good? How did people see it? How do we evaluate it? So it is true that is clearer and easier for works of my time, like Balanchine, Ashton and MacMillan, and some of the Bolshoi work, late 20th century work that I lived through and saw. Then I can write with great confidence because I was there and I know how it looked like. I might have tapes or the works are still performed. So it’s hard but I tried to apply critical tools throughout the book even though it’s a history.

TBB: Have you been following all the buzz about Apollo’s Angels? That initial article that came out in the New Republic was widely circulated across social media channels…

JH: I’ve read some of the discussions on the New York Times’s ArtsBeat blog. I would love to know more about what people are saying elsewhere.

TBB: Well, on Twitter for example, you had opinions from all the different dance tribes. The dancers, for instance, were saying “how can ballet be dead? This is what we are doing!”

JH: But I don’t say that “ballet is dead.” In fact in the second to last paragraph of the book, I say “I hope I am proven wrong”. I, of all people, want to be proven wrong, and I leave the door wide open, I say “this art form has renewed itself across its history and we are in an uncertain moment, we don’t know what’s going to happen, let’s not take it for granted.”

TBB: True, and you do say in the beginning “when cycles change it is worth looking back and taking stock”… But we think there are various ways of reading all this, depending on whether you are a critic, a dancer or an audience member; to some it might have looked as an attack…

JH: I think if people really read it in the spirit of the book, they will see that I am trying to be as tough with the art form as it is with itself. When you say something is dying and people get all worried about that, you know you’ve touched a nerve, there is something amiss today. What I say is “bring it on! I’ll talk about it, let’s discuss it!” Already just the fact that I’ve asked the question has put it right back in the centre and I’ve been in every BBC program they have on the radio for the last two days. Partly because of this epilogue. I didn’t plan it that way, believe me! But if it opens the discussion and it makes them want to talk about ballet, it is all good.

TBB: Maybe the problem in discussing is seeing it objectively; those who are very passionate about ballet might wonder “if I think too much about it then that passion will somehow vanish…”

JH: Or maybe they just genuinely like it that way. Maybe they don’t feel anything is wrong.

TBB: We were discussing this yesterday. There are many ways to approach classical ballet. There is a joy of course in seeing something many times, but there comes a point when you’ve seen it a zillion times in a very short span. Then you question why companies have to keep bringing things back (“not another Cinderella!”). However there are many fans who will go every single time, no matter what.

JH: Well, there is nothing wrong with that, ballet has always had its balletomanes, just like opera. There are fans who just want to take in every detail and every moment, whatever is being offered. I am not challenging that or saying that there is anything wrong with that. People may think “who is she to say this thing we love, is not loveable any more, is in peril”. My response to that is only “open your eyes to another way of seeing things.” What I am saying is that the tradition has been preserved with a lot of care and detail, there is no peril in the sense of the old ballets in how they are performed; they are probably performed more magnificently than they were ever performed before outside of Russia, but ballet needs more than that, it also needs new works and a kind of vital connection to the culture that is holding it.

TBB: Since you mention opera… In the opera world they’ve managed to keep certain works relevant via reinterpretation from a psychological angle; the further you go into Europe, the more layers of interpretation. There’s no room for Valkyries in winged helmets nowadays, whereas classical ballet has tried to keep traditional production values. Do you think this could be a solution or a way for ballet to open itself and evolve?

JH: I think the ballet world needs to open itself up. It is more conservative right now than it has been in a hundred years; it is more conservative today than it was when I first came into ballet. They were far more radical elements then, today it is very conservative and I do think it would help. I’m not an artist so I don’t know what the solution is; it’s my job to say “this is what I see, let’s think about where we are.” But I think you are right, why not opening up? Bring in poets, and painters, they do to some extent, but it is all very adventureless.

TBB: Hasn’t John Neumeier tried to do that, to an extent? Sadly we don’t get to see much of his work here, but what is your take on him?

JH: I think he is part of a Continental, German tradition in a way. They have a more expressionistic sensibility. Personally I find his work a bit pretentious, but that’s my personal opinion, I am not saying it has no place in the dance world, it is just like MacMillan, we don’t have to like everything in order to say that it has a place. People who love the art can disagree and that’s important…

TBB: He seems like someone who has tried to take ballet to new directions, tried to give it more symbolism. For instance, he invites us to look at Swan Lake from a different angle.

JH: All of this is valuable. Whether it works or not, it’s a critical judgement. For me, a more important figure is Forsythe, he was hugely influential.

TBB: Does his work fit within your definition of ballet as a set of well-defined principles?

JH: Yes, and I heard him talk about this as well. Forsythe really took ballet and figured out a way to deconstruct it, take it apart, turn it upside down. And when you do that, you still keep the principles, they are there, because it is opposed to, so I do see it as ballet. But now he has moved more and more towards theatre, his work is less dance based. He has deconstructed ballet to a point where there is nothing there anymore, to really hold on to and build from. I think it was the natural conclusion to what he was doing, and then he ends up with theatre and his work is still very interesting but the dances in there are almost destructive, very disjointed, like pulling apart the meaning.

TBB: Perhaps for ballet, new works should mix languages, be less explicit and blend with other art forms… like theatre exactly. For instance, budding female choreographer and Royal Ballet dancer Kristen McNally mixes a lot of different elements: high heels and mini skirts with classical arms. Maybe this is a path which ballet can explore to evolve?

JH: It is funny you should bring this thing up, because I was having a conversation with somebody the other day, and I went away thinking, can’t we get rid of these categories “narrative and abstract”? Why do you have to commit to one? Those categories came out of a desire of people to define their own position at a certain moment in post-war history, and to defend artists. Balanchine was never an abstract artist, his work is incredibly theatrical, a lot of it is narrative or includes narrative forms, so for me it is a false distinction. One of the things I hope the book can do is to show that these categories have a history too and there are lots of options of how you can mix them, match them and experiment. Balanchine used to say “everything has already been invented you just have to remember it again” or something like that, but there is a way in which a musician or a painter can go back to 16th, 17th, 18th century work and find inspiration or a new way to use it in their art, ballet hasn’t had that so far.

TBB: We recently saw Black Swan. In the beginning, one of the dancers says “No one comes to see Beth Macintyre anymore”, to which another one retorts “Nobody actually comes to the ballet, full stop.” What do you think of the way Aronofsky portrayed ballet in the movie?

JH: That’s right, it does sort of recognise what’s happening. I think Aronofsky is a very skilled filmmaker, Natalie Portman is great actress – though she is not a dancer and that is very clear to anybody who knows ballet, her arms are not dancers’ arms – The movie brings out everything that is horrific and awful about ballet and magnifies it to the nth degree. There is no question that it is a story of self-mutilation and self-destruction, but it’s also a portrait of an art form that has lost its soul.

Natalie Portman in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. Photo: Fox Searchlight ©

TBB: It’s been interesting to see the movie generating such strong opinions in the dance community! You have people saying how they think it is great and others who say it is silly and unrealistic. For instance, many objected to the fact that the AD is trying to seduce Natalie Portman. But the way we read it had more to do with him putting on an act to provoke an artistic reaction. It made us think about your account of Antony Tudor breaking his dancers…

JH: Everything that Aronofsky picked out on the movie, is there in the ballet world. But what he lost, what he wasn’t interested in – I don’t think he doesn’t know it, I think he just wasn’t interested on it – is that there is no poetry, there is no sense of joy. “Why would anyone be a dancer?” If you just watch that film you would run a mile away! There is no joy, she doesn’t love dancing, she is only attached to it.

I’ll tell you which film I really enjoyed. It was Frederick Wiseman’s La Danse. I thought it was a very fine film, of course a documentary. I thought it was a very moving portrait of what it’s like to be a dancer, the kind of work that’s involved. So I thought it was quite magnificent to be able to do it, it is not as easy as it seems with so many clichés, to have something just kind of down-to-earth. I thought it was very insightful.

TBB: What do you think about ballet on the internet?

JH: I think is great, I don’t see why there shouldn’t be ballet on the internet. It doesn’t mean people won’t go to the performances. On the contrary, I think they would go more. I am always on YouTube, it is a great research tool. The Balanchine Foundation has severely limited what is available, but for me it’s a great pity, it is a mistake. Of course, I don’t know what are the legal and financial implications are, but it is a great resource. You can go online and watch Margot Fonteyn, and how great is that? You are never going to see her live, so you can at least watch her on film!

TBB: Coming back to Apollo’s Angels, there is another thing that has been creating buzz in your epilogue, mainly the fact that you mention a few names…

JH: Well, it was not intended to be a list. They were supposed to be examples and I say “there are others, but there aren’t many others”; I don’t think there are many truly great artists. These are names of people I admired and have followed quite closely.

TBB: And the ones you didn’t mention…

JH: There were 2 reasons for that, and I thought about it long and hard. The first is that this is a history of 400 years of dance up to the present, and a lot of people were left out. Only the people I think are really the great artists of their time were included, and some that should be included are not because it’s a story, and it has to have a shape, the point is more the argument than who gets this credit or who gets that credit. So if you look back over 400 years, the present is a sliver, a tiny sliver at the end, just because we are living it, it doesn’t mean that is huge. The artists of the mid/late 20th century, Balanchine, Ashton, Tudor, Robbins, etc. these were great great masters. We don’t have people today that are yet in that category. And that’s the second point. We are in the present. The end of the book shifts back to a more personal tone. The very beginning has a personal note, and the end is more personal. But before the idea is to try to paint a larger picture of where we are today and what the trends are, so I precisely didn’t want to get into a who’s who, or a fighting match. I wanted to try to outline some of the trends, that the national traditions are dissolving. It is not a critical assessment of each artist, that wasn’t the place for that. I’ve done some of that in my criticism, and people can go back and read what I have to say about Wheeldon. They can go back and read what I have to say about Ratmansky. But in the book there wasn’t a place for that, it is too early and it was the wrong note to end on.

Jennifer Homans. Photo: Christina Holmes ©

TBB: But there’s also the fact that people like happy endings…

JH: I know, and the book is kind of a fairy tale in a way, but it doesn’t have a very happy ending of sorts. It is more that the story is still unfinished. But a fair critique of an art, is a defense, not an attack, and the end of the book is not an attack, it is a defense of a great art form that we all love. You can’t just go along and say “it’s all the best of the best” when it’s not, you have to be honest and face your own experiences and feelings.

The question that I’m trying to ask is actually a bigger one. It’s not really is this artist good, or is that one failing or is this one succeeding, it is more that our world has changed dramatically in the last couple of decades, explosion of visual culture, vast globalisation, communication; it’s transforming everything. We clearly live very fast, uncentered lives, the national traditions have pretty much evaporated, choreographers are moving between urban centres. So what I am saying is “let’s look at the boundaries that are behind classical ballet, do they have a place in the modern world?” This is where my real worry comes in. It’s not so much “Is Christopher Wheeldon a good choreographer?” Well yes, he is very talented but something is not working. What is it? Culture throws up great artists, it nurtures them in some way and right now I think the challenges for artists are huge.

TBB: So what’s next? You have devoted 10 years of your life to such an enterprise, it must feel sad in a way or maybe you are glad that it is over for now?

JH: I am sure I’ll write another book but I need time to think, I have some ideas and I teach too, so I’ll be going back to University and try to develop these courses on the History of Dance. You’ll hear from me soon!

What do you think dear readers? Is ballet in peril? Weigh in on the debate

Sylvia

Emilia — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:29:01 +0000

Is this ballet for you?

Go if/Skip if: Whether you should see Sylvia or not heavily depends on which version you are looking at. If you’re a “ballet newbie” we’d recommend you skip the Ashton version for the reasons explained in our recent review. We hope the notes below can help you decide which version might appeal to you the most. Maybe give one of them a try because Delibes’s music is gorgeous and the ballet is of historical importance.

Zenaida Yanowsky as Sylvia and David Makhateli as Aminta in The Royal Ballet's production of Ashton's Sylvia. Photo: Bill Cooper / ROH ©

Dream cast: for Sylvia a “Long Tall Sally” like Polina Semionova, Gillian Murphy, Zenaida Yanowsky, Marianela Nuñez, Sofiane Sylve or Aurélie Dupont.

Background

Sylvia has an important role in the history of dance: it was the first ballet to be created at the Palais Garnier and the first to break with Romantic ballet conventions; if not choreographically, at least in the idea of a strong female character, a masculine huntress in contrast to the ethereal image of the fairy or Sylph. Sylvia represents an important change in the image of women in ballet.

Gaylene Cummerfield as Diana with Artists of Birmingham Royal Ballet in David Bintley's Sylvia. Photo: Bill Cooper / BRB ©

The idea for a ballet of Sylvia ou La nymphe de Diane originally came from Jules Barbier and the Baron de Reinach who adapted Torquato Tasso’s pastoral play Aminta (about a shepherd who falls for a chaste nymph) for the Paris Opera in 1875. Louis Mérante premier maître de ballet at the time was chosen as choreographer and he worked closely with composer Léo Delibes in creating what would become one of the most remarkable ballet scores of all time. Sylvia premiered 14 June, 1876 to relatively muted reception. Its plot was considered very thin and subsequent productions, seeking to improve upon Mérante’s version – including Ivanov & Legat’s for the Mariinsky (1901) and a later one by Lifar for the Paris Opera (1941) – failed to make the ballet a great success.

Ashton’s Sylvia

Frederick Ashton rechoreographed Sylvia as a vehicle for Margot Fonteyn in 1952, finally succeeding in popularising the ballet. Legend has it that Ashton’s interest was sparked around 1946 after Delibes had appeared to him in a dream and had given him the task of revitalising this underrated work. Recognising its weaknesses Ashton tweaked the libretto while retaining essentials. Choreographically Ashton kept a “classic feel” but with a contemporary touch. One can spot new and interesting techniques like the blending of mime and dance and more intricate, typical Ashton footwork (watch out for his signature “Fred Step” as the peasants push their carts in Act I).

The ballet’s centerpiece is Sylvia and Aminta’s challenging Pas de Deux in Act III, which contains the tricky pizzicato solo (see video examples below) designed to show off a ballerina at her technical best. Sylvia was first performed at The Royal Opera House in London 3 September, 1952 with Margot Fonteyn in the lead role and Michael Somes as Aminta. Despite initial critical acclaim, when dance critic Clive Barnes famously wrote of its lead “Fonteyn triumphant, Fonteyn bewildered, Fonteyn exotic, Fonteyn pathetic, Fonteyn in excelsis” and “the whole ballet is a garland presented to the ballerina by her choreographer”, Sylvia gradually became outmoded and Ashton finally reworked it into a one-act piece in 1967. However in 2004 Sylvia was reconstructed as a full length ballet by Christopher Newton for the Royal Ballet’s celebration of Ashton’s centenary. Since then it has been revived twice.

Zenaida Yanowsky in The Royal Ballet's production of Ashton's Sylvia. Photo: Bill Cooper / ROH ©

Synopsis

Act I: A Sacred Wood

Woodland creatures dance before the shrine of Eros but are interrupted by the arrival of Aminta, a shepherd in love with Sylvia. Arriving on the scene with her posse to celebrate the success of their hunt, Sylvia mocks the god of love. She discovers Aminta observing her and in fury turns her bow towards Eros. Aminta protects the god of love and is himself wounded by Sylvia’s arrow. Eros retaliates with his own bow shooting Sylvia who is now disoriented and leaves with her companions. Orion, a hunter, has also been watching the action and gloats over Aminta’s seemingly lifeless body. As Sylvia returns to mourn him we see the effect of Eros’s arrow: she has fallen desperately in love with the shepherd. She is captured by Orion and taken away to his island cave. Peasants grieve over Aminta’s figure until a cloaked Eros revives the shepherd. Eros reveals his true identity and informs Aminta of Orion’s actions.

Zenaida Yanowsky as Sylvia and Artists of The Royal Ballet in Ashton's Sylvia. Photo: Bill Cooper / ROH ©

Act II: Orion’s Island Cave

Captive in Orion’s hideout, Sylvia is bribed by him and his minions with jewels and wine but she continues to grieve over Aminta, nostalgically cherishing the arrow that pierced her heart. As Orion steals it from her, she realises the only way to escape is to get her captor drunk until he is unconscious. Sylvia feigns interest as they dance together and she keeps giving him wine. Orion eventually collapses, she retrieves her arrow and appeals to Eros for help. Eros arrives and shows her a vision of Aminta waiting for her at the temple of Diana where they now depart to.

Act III: The Sea Coast Near the Temple of Diana

Various deities dance at a festival in honour of the god Bacchus. Sylvia arrives with Eros. Reunited with Aminta she dances with him a sumptous Pas de Deux. Orion shows up seeking Sylvia and fights with Aminta; Sylvia barricades herself in Diana’s shrine and Orion attempts to follow. The goddess of the hunt is outraged and smites Orion. She also forbids the union of Aminta and Sylvia. Compassionate Eros shows Diana a vision of Endymion, the shepherd the goddess herself once loved. Diana has a change of heart and gives Aminta and Sylvia her blessing.

Lauren Cuthbertson as Sylvia and Sergei Polunin as Aminta in The Royal Ballet's production of Ashton's Sylvia. Photo: Tristram Kenton / ROH ©

Neumeier’s Sylvia

Very different to Ashton’s concept is John Neumeier’s Sylvia for the Paris Opera Ballet (June 1997), also staged by Neumeier’s own company Hamburg Ballett in December 1997 and currently in their repertory. In the early 20th century a more modern Sylvia, as proposed by Diaghilev and his collaborators Bakst and Benois for the Imperial Theatres, had failed to get off the ground. John Neumeier was the first choreographer to realise a modern version of the ballet. Subtitled Three Choreographic Poems on a Mythical Theme Neumeier’s Sylvia makes almost no use of Barbier’s plot. In order to effectively deal with the weaknesses and twee elements in the story, Neumeier devised it as a metaphor around the characters of Tasso’s play.

Neumeier’s Sylvia is a character at the crossroads between adolescence and womanhood. Torn between strength and vulnerability, she has difficulty finding a balance between aggressiveness and tenderness, between denial and self-abandon, and only succeeds in discovering true love with the awakening of her own sensuality. The choreographer says he did not necessarily try to match the narrative in the score to what was happening on stage so that “scenes, movements and emotional situations all maintain a sometimes surprising dialogue with the music”. His setting is also quite minimalist, Greek-chic. For that he collaborated with Greek painter Yannis Kokkos, whose blue tree standing before a green wall is designed to evoke Eluard’s metaphor “The World is as Blue as an Orange”.

Silvia Azzoni in John Neumeier's Sylvia. Photo: Holger Badekow / Hamburg Ballett ©

Synopsis

Part I Diana’s Sacred Wood

The God of Love descends into the wood and takes on the appearance of Thyrsis a shepherd (NB: Tirsi is Aminta’s companion in Tasso’s play). Aminta, a real shepherd, enters the sacred wood secretly hoping to find Sylvia, Diana’s nymph. Diana and the nymph-huntresses appear in the wood to take a rest from hunting and to bathe. Sylvia and Aminta meet. Diana and the huntresses discover the tender exchanges between the shepherd and the nymph. Taken by surprise, Sylvia betrays Aminta.

Left alone, Diana remembers handsome Endymion, doomed to eternal sleep. At daybreak, the shepherds, their curiosity fired, enter the sacred wood and find Endymion asleep. Eros/Thyrsis is with them. Aminta’s heart is broken and he is obsessed by the vision of Sylvia. Even though Eros feels sorry for Aminta he takes on the form of handsome Orion in order to seduce Sylvia. She lets herself be led on by him.

Alexandre Riabko as Aminta, Silvia Azzoni as Sylvia and Artists of the Hamburg Ballett in John Neumeier's Sylvia. Photo: Holger Badekow / Hamburg Ballet ©

Part II

Scene I: Love / Orion’s Party

As Sylvia matures she now gets in touch with her feminine side. Her sensuality aflame, Sylvia is overwhelmed by the memory of Diana and Aminta.

Scene II: Winter

Many years later, Aminta returns to the sacred wood. Sylvia too returns and they meet. Their love seems to live again for an instant. Diana observes them. She is tempted to separate them but Love disarms her. In the end it is life itself that steals Sylvia away from Aminta. As for Diana, she remains alone, the eternal huntress.

Otto Bubenicek, Silvia Azzoni as Sylvia and Alexandre Riabko as Aminta in John Neumeier's Sylvia. Photo: Holger Badekow / Hamburg Ballett ©

Other Notable Versions

David Bintley’s for Birmingham Royal Ballet (1993). This version has since been revised by Bintley himself (and you can watch his Sylvia video diaries here). It embraces comedy à la Marriage of Figaro and provides a more human story to assist plot development. The story is set in the fifties in Italy (land of Tasso) and the main characters are members of a rich but unhappy household. Amongst them the womaniser Count Guiccioli (Orion), the governess he tries to seduce (Sylvia), her love interest (Aminta), the lonely Contessa (Diana) and Eros who, disguised as a gardener, decides to restore order and happiness by casting his spell on the household, time-switching them into Tasso’s play. In this mythical world they encounter gods and goddesses, slave girls and even pirates.

Nao Sakuma as Sylvia and Chi Cao as Aminta in David Bintley's Sylvia. Photo: Bill Cooper / BRB ©

Mark Morris’s for San Francisco Ballet (2004). The first full version of Sylvia produced by a US ballet company and in direct contrast to Neumeier’s more abstract production. Morris devised his own homage to Mérante in this full-length revisionist Sylvia which is set in 19th century style – yet with Morris’s own choreographic signatures – and features colorful sets and costumes.

Balanchine’s Sylvia Pas de Deux (1950). Before Ashton choreographed his now famous Sylvia Act III Pas de Deux, Balanchine had created his own 13-minute Pas de Deux complete with adagio, variations and coda for Maria Tallchief and Nicholas Magallanes.

Videos

Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Nao Sakuma in David Bintley’s Sylvia [link]
Les Chasseresses from The Royal Ballet’s production of Ashton’s Sylvia [link]
Marianela Nuñez as Sylvia and David Makhateli as Aminta in Act III pas de deux of Sylvia [link]
Polina Semionova and David Hallberg perform the Act III solos (incl Sylvia’s pizzicato variation) of of Ashton’s Sylvia at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma [link]
Darcey Bussell in the pizicatto variation [link]
Manuel Legris as Aminta and Aurélie Dupont as Sylvia in the Paris Opera Ballet production of John Neumeier’s Sylvia [link]
Aurélie Dupont as Sylvia and Manuel Legris as Aminta in the Pizzicato from John Neumeier’s Sylvia [link]
Aurélie Dupont: as Sylvia becomes aware of her femininity she is is overwhelmed by the memory of Diana (Marie-Àgnes Gillot) and Aminta (Manuel Legris) [link]
Martine Van Hamel and Patrick Bissel in Balanchine’s Sylvia pas de deux [link]

Nao Sakuma as Sylvia and Chi Cao as Aminta in David Bintley's Sylvia. Photo: Bill Cooper / BRB ©

Music

The most notable element of Sylvia is probably Léo Delibes’s sumptuous score. Born in Saint-Germain-du-Val in 1836, Delibes studied composition at the Paris conservatory under other famous ballet figures like Adolphe Adam (famous for the scores of Giselle and Le Corsaire).

Léo Delibes was initially an organist in the St. Pierre de Chaillot church in Paris. He then worked as an accompanist at the Theatre Lyrique. His first foray into ballet came as a result of a collaboration with Léon (Ludwig) Minkus in a series of divertissements for oriental-themed ballet La Source (1866). However Delibes only became well known after the success of his ballet Coppélia (1870). Coppélia revolutionised ballet music at it was the first score to provide descriptive tones and sophisticated leitmotifs to help advance the plot.

Sylvia, Delibes’s second ballet, is considered to be the best pre-Tchaikovsky dance music. Delibes worked closely with the choreographer Louis Mérante building the music in parallel with the dances. Mérante would often request changes to accommodate his choreography and Delibes would adapt the score accordingly. When Sylvia failed to create a stir in Paris in 1876, it was Delibes’s score which kept audiences interested in the ballet. Sylvia also heavily influenced composers like Debussy and Tchaikovsky, with the latter having famously said: “…what charm, what wealth of melody! It brought me to shame, for had I known of this music, I would have never written Swan Lake”.

Silvia Azzoni, Joelle Boulogne and Artists of the Hamburg Ballett in John Neumeier's Sylvia. Photo: Holger Badekow / Hamburg Ballet ©

The most famous extracts are Les Chasseresses (entrance of the huntresses) an energetic piece with echoes of Wagner – of whom Delibes was said to be a great admirer – and the pizzicati in the third movement. The score sets the mood for the various scenes, but also announces the action via its leitmotifs. There is a striking use of brass instruments and even a saxophone – so rarely employed at the time – which is central to several of the wind sections.

An essential iPod / Spotify list for Sylvia would include the following tracks:

1. Prélude
4. Grand Pas des Chasseresses
5. Intermezzo
6. Valse Lente
14. Chant Bacchique
15. Scène et danse de la Bacchante
17. Grand cortège de Bacchus
19. Danse Barcarolle
20. Variation dansée (Pizzicati)
24. Galop Générale

For the full listing of dances and scenes, see Wikipedia

Natasha Oughtred as Sylvia and César Morales as Aminta in David Bintley's Sylvia. Photo: Roy Smiljanic / BRB ©

Mini Biography

Sylvia ou La Nymphe de Diane

Choreography: Louis Mérante, Libretto: Jules Barbier / Baron de Reinach
Music: Léo Delibes
Designs: Jules Chéret, with costumes by Lacoste
Original Cast: Rita Sangalli as Sylvia, Louis Mérante as Aminta
Premiere: 14 June 1876, Palais Garnier, Paris.

Choreography: Sir Frederick Ashton
Music: Léo Delibes
Designs: Christopher and Robin Ironside. For the 2004 revival: Peter Farmer
Original Cast: Margot Fonteyn as Sylvia, Michael Somes as Aminta, John Hart as Orion, Alexander Grant as Eros
Premiere: 3 September 1952, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.

Choreography: John Neumeier
Music: Léo Delibes
Designs: Yannis Kokkos
Original Cast: Aurélie Dupont as Sylvia, Manuel Legris as Aminta
Premiere: 30 June 1997, Palais Garnier, Paris.

Nao Sakuma in David Bintley's Sylvia. Photo: Bill Cooper / BRB ©

Sources and Further Information

Wikipedia Entry for Sylvia (ballet) [link]
Hamburg Ballett Notes for Neumeier’s Sylvia [link]
Ballet Met notes for Léo Delibes, composer [link]
History of Art: A History of Classical Music – Léo Delibes [link]
Wikipedia Entry on Léo Délibes [link]
Royal Ballet Sylvia. Review by Graham Watts at Ballet.co. November, 2004 [link]
Programme Notes for The Royal Ballet’s Sylvia.
Dance Review: Sylvia, Birmingham Hippodrome, by Judith Mackrell. The Guardian, February, 2009 [link]
Dance Review: Mark Morris’s Sylvia, by Michael Wade Simpson. San Francisco Gate, May 2004 [link]
Balanchine’s Festival of Ballet by George Balanchine and Francis Mason. W.H. Allen, 1977. ISBN-10: 9999265111

Diaghilev & the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes

Emilia & Linda — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 08:27:11 +0000

Earlier this week we attended a preview of Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, 1909 – 1929, a must see exhibition that opens tomorrow at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

The exhibition captures the glamour and excitement of a revolutionary age in ballet, showing Sergei Diaghilev’s genius; his ambition and determination to generate entirely new ballets via key collaborations with the most avant-garde artists, breaking up with ballet’s past conventions. Through its many galleries we witness how each Ballets Russes work took up a large proportion of the company’s time and energy: inspiration boards, set designs, music sheets (new scores were commissioned for nearly half of Diaghilev’s ballets), memorabilia of legendary dancers, ornate souvenir programmes and posters, original costumes and even two magnificent stage cloths.

In this photoblog we give you a glimpse at the variety of objects on display. Most were sourced from the V&A’s own collections (out of 300 objects, only 100 are loans). Of course nothing replaces the awe and wonder of seeing them in person, which is why we highly recommend a visit.

Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes at the V&A London

The exhibition begins around 1905, with the origins of the Ballets Russes in Tsarist Russia and Diaghilev’s life in St Petersburg. This is where Diaghilev started to work in promoting the arts, publishing the magazine Mir Iskusstva (The World of Art). Below are some of Diaghilev’s personal objects including his opera glasses, top hat, clock plus a caricature of him by Mikhail Larionov (1924).

Diaghilev's personal objects & Annual of the Imperial Theatre

A print depicting a London production of the Snowflake Ballet from Voyage to the Moon a ballet-féerie (fairy tale ballet) with music by Jacques Offenbach and choreography by Aimé Bertrand (1883). This is what ballet looked like pre-Ballets Russes…

Voyage to the Moon, Snowflake Ballet

… while this set model for 1924′s Le Train Bleu (Music Darius Milhaud, choreography Nijinska, designs Picasso, costumes Chanel) shows what ballet looked like after Diaghilev and his company presented their first full evening of dance in Paris (1909):

Le Train Bleu Set Designs

There are over 70 costumes including some from the very first seasons of Ballets Russes (1909-14). Below are pieces worn by Lydia Lopokova, Ida Rubinstein and by Tamara Karsavina in the ballets Salomé (designed by Serge Sudeikin – 1913); Schéhérazade (Zobeide costume designed by Léon Bakst – 1910) and Chloé (designed by Léon Bakst – 1912).

Costumes from the Ballets Russes First Seasons (1909-14) - Overview. V&A Collections.

Léon Bakst‘s costumes stunned Paris with their radical use of colours in exotic and oriental fantasies. There are various intricate, heavily beaded costumes worn by Nijinsky – left to right: a costume for Albrecht in Giselle (by Alexandre Benois – 1910), two versions of a costume for the Prince in Le Festin – a series of divertissements which included The Bluebird Pas de Deux from The Sleeping Beauty (by Léon Bakst – 1909, 1914). Later Diaghilev would also collaborate with Natalia Goncharova, whose designs used a more acidic palette and drew heavily from popular peasant clothes.

Costumes from the V&A Collections.

Among the many pictures and drawings of legendary dancer Vaslav Nijinsky there’s this lovely 1968 quote from Marie Rambert: “When he danced Spectre he was the very perfume of the rose because in everything he extracted the essence.” Here a Jean Cocteau sketch depicting Nijinsky in Spectre de La Rose which belongs to the John Neumeier Foundation:

Nijinsky in Le Spectre de la rose by Jean Cocteau. Pencil on paper (1912).

Rite and Riot: At the time of its premiere The Rite of Spring caused more surprise than any other Ballets Russes production. Dealing with the sacrifice of a young woman to ensure the return of spring, Rite meant to shock the audience. Stravinsky’s music was thought disorientating, movements were radically different. The ballet was only given 9 performances in total: five in Paris and four in London.

Costumes from The Rite of Spring

Tamara Karsavina‘s tiny pointe shoe. Made by Nicolini and worn for a performance of Les Papillons (1914).

Ballets Russes Dance shoes display. V&A Collections.

Diaghilev’s five principal choreographers were Fokine, Nijinsky, Massine, Nijinska and Balanchine. All made major contributions to the language of dance; adapting and rejecting traditional ballet, employing stylised gestures and character dances, creating inventive steps that extended modern dance technique. These dance patterns for Les Sylphides (Music by Chopin, choreography by Mikhail Fokine – 1909) form part of the Elements of Production section:

Dance Patterns for Les Sylphides. From the Pallant House, Chichester.

A large scale installation features ENB dancer Begoña Cao performing as the Firebird. This is presented alongside Natalia Goncharova‘s monumental backcloth for the 1926 production of this ballet…

Begoña Cao as the Firebird

… and also a video display with a stream of Goncharova’s original designs and pictures of Tamara Karsavina, who created the role of The Firebird.

From the V&A Collections.

Inspiration Board, Russian Fairy Tales. Clockwise from left: a souvenir print from Contes Russes featuring Massine’s Parade (1917), programme for Théâtre des Champs-Elysées based on a print by Fedorowsky (1913), a print featuring Kikimora, a tale that inspired Massine’s Contes Russes

Russian Folklore Images

Mikhail Larionov’s costumes for Chout (Music by Prokofiev, choreography by Massine – 1921):

Costumes from the V&A Collections.

Diaghilev promoted the finest associations of artists, choreographers and composers. Cut off from Russia after the war and Soviet revolution, he turned to Paris-based artists, inviting Pablo Picasso, André Derain, Henri Matisse, Georges Rouault, Georges Braque, Giorgio de Chirico and Chanel to design for his productions. Below are de Chirico’s costumes for Le Bal (Music Rieti, choreography by Balanchine – 1929) and his modernist conception of a Sylph (1929):

Costumes from the V&A Collections.

Exhibition co-curator Jane Pritchard notes: “the designs from the Ballets Russes, still impact on the fashion and theatre worlds. That would come through particularly with the couture outfits of Yves Saint Laurent [...] and very appropriately, in terms of this being fashion week, they have influenced the current work of Erdem” Below Ballets Russes collections by Yves Saint Laurent. From left: Collection Opéra Les Ballets Russes (A/W 1976), Collection Hommage à Picasso et Diaghilev (A/W 1979), Collection Robe à Capuche, Le Manteau d’Organza. (S/S 1991), Collection La Blouse Roumaine (A/W 1999).

Yves Saint Laurent Ballets Russes Collections

All photos by The Ballet Bag ©. Additional images here:

With many thanks to the V&A and to Sara at 1 Woman Band.

Not to be missed: “Diaghilev and the Golden Age of Ballets Russes, 1900-1929″ runs 25 September 2010 to 9 January 2011 at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

For further information and bookings visit the V&A website.

Time Has Told Me: Reconstructing Ballet

Linda — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:53:51 +0000

Last month I attended the opening night of Laurencia by the Mikhailovsky Ballet. This Chabukiani ballet, very popular with audiences in the Soviet era and a vehicle for Russian virtuoso performers, had been dropped out of repertory somewhere around the seventies. For a while all that was left of it were selected extracts performed in galas. If the ballet had not stood the test of time why bring it back now? Would this reconstruction spark the interest of modern audiences?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYQQoYyrf7o

Artists of the Mikhailovsky Ballet in a rehearsal of Chabukiani’s Laurencia,
with Irina Perren as Laurencia

A few days later the Bolshoi Ballet brought to London four historical reconstructions: Coppélia, Petroushka, the Paquita Grand Pas and Le Corsaire. These productions were a success with critics and audiences and it was easy to see why. They are grand, with lush costumes and elaborate designs. Despite the fact that works like Coppélia and Le Corsaire are over one hundred years old these stagings felt fresh. I thought again of the restaged Laurencia – which had not been as heavily publicised over here – and its place in ballet history; the way it bridges the classical tradition of Petipa and the strong dramatic vein of works such as Grigorovich’s Spartacus. I am now hoping it won’t disappear from repertory again.

Unlike a piece of music or a painting, choreographic works are not set in stone; performers, coaches and modern choreographers, all contribute to their evolution as You Dance Funny’s Steve Ha recently discussed. With so many reconstructed works being toured around, I wanted to better understand what goes into them and, in particular, the intricacies of recreating Petipa’s originals:

Artists of the Bolshoi Ballet in the Ratmansky/Burlaka reconstruction of Le Corsaire. Photo: Damir Yusupov / Bolshoi Theatre ©

What is a reconstructed ballet?

The term refers to a work that is restaged after having virtually disappeared (dropped from repertory) or restored to its original form post substantive alterations.

Ballet Notation & Nicholas Sergeyev

Ballet notation was adopted in Russia in the late 19th century to preserve choreographic text. Before then, ballets were passed down from teacher to student “word of mouth”. The Imperial Ballet was the first company to document repertory using notation with the assistance of young anatomist Vladimir Stepanov. In 1893 Stepanov experimented notating Lev Ivanov’s one-act ballet La Flûte Magique and Jules Perrot‘s Le Rêve du Peintre. The project was approved by a committee led by Petipa and funded by the State and, thus, other choreographic works began to be notated.

Stepanov died in 1896 leaving Alexander Gorsky in charge of notating works. In 1900 former danseur Nicholas Sergeyev took over the job. The Russian Revolution broke in 1917 and Sergeyev left Russia, taking the notations with him. He fled to the West where he began staging Petipa works, including:

The Sleeping Beauty for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes (1920).
Giselle for the Paris Opera (1924).
The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Coppélia and The Nutcracker for the Vic-Wells Ballet (in the Thirties).

Sergeyev died in France in 1951. He left the notations to an associate who sold them to Mona Inglesby, who at that time headed a touring company (International Ballet). She sold them for little money to Harvard University. The collections were thought to be of historical value but no practical use as they required decoding the intricate Stepanov notation.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzXkZEg2Qa8

The Rose Adagio from the Mariinsky’s reconstruction of The Sleeping Beauty
with Evgenia Obraztsova as Aurora

What goes into a reconstruction?

The notations part of the The Sergeyev Collection were conceived as Aide-mémoires rather than definite records and some are incomplete. Scholars, choreographers and ballet masters working to revive Petipa’s masterpieces need to decode the difficult Stepanov notation and fill in any gaps by creating new choreography or lifting passages from other productions of the same era. Often interpolating passages from other ballets – choreographic text common to a number of ballets – are used to that end.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3h-nLnUD4Q

“Le Jardin Animé” scene from the Bolshoi’s reconstruction of Le Corsaire
with Svetlana Zakharova as Medora and Ekaterina Krysanova as Gulnare

Reconstructions also involve researching original music, sets and designs. The Sergeyev Collection includes music (mostly for piano and/or violin) but, in general, additional sources need to be consulted for tracking back and rearranging musical passages. The process of restoring sets and designs is relatively simple by comparison: the Collection includes an extensive library of photos and additional records of Petipa stagings can be found at the St. Petersburg State Theatre Library or the St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music.

Reconstructing Petipa Ballets

The first modern use of the collections happened in 1984 when Sir Peter Wright and Roland John Wiley researched the 1892 Nutcracker to assist with their production for the Royal Ballet. But in the late nineties Sergei Vikharev, a Mariinsky dancer, became interested in preserving Petipa’s classics after observing how much work was done to safeguard Balanchine and Fokine choreography. With the support of Mariinsky director Valery Gergiev, who had an interest in uncovering Tchaikovsky’s original score, Vikharev tapped into The Sergeyev Collection to restage The Sleeping Beauty. This reconstruction premiered in 1999 to great acclaim. Other recent reconstructed works include:

The Pharaoh’s Daughter by Pierre Lacotte for the Bolshoi (2000). With the assistance of American scholar Doug Fullington, Lacotte used notated choreography for the Grand Pas d’action.
La Bayadère by Sergei Vikharev for the Mariinsky Theatre (2001)
Jardin Animé scene from Le Corsaire by Doug Fullington for the Pacific Northwest Ballet School (2004)
Le Corsaire by Doug Fullington for the Bavarian State Ballet (2006)
Variations from Raymonda and Le Réveil de Flore by Doug Fullington for the Pacific Northwest Ballet School (2007)
Le Réveil de Flore by Sergei Vikharev for the Mariinsky (2007)
Le Corsaire by Alexei Ratmansky and Yuri Burlaka for the Bolshoi (2007)
Paquita Grand Pas by Yuri Burlaka (2008)
Coppélia by Sergei Vikharev for the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre (2001) and for the Bolshoi (2009)
Esmeralda by Yuri Burlaka and Vasily Medvedev (2009)

Many other works that were dropped from repertory during the 20th century have been reconstructed from photographic, video and other records by various scholars given their historical importance:

Nijinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps by Millicent Hodson, Kenneth Archer and Robert Joffrey, for The Joffrey Ballet (1987)
Sir Frederick Ashton’s Sylvia by Christopher Newton for The Royal Ballet (2004)
Messerer / Gorksy Swan Lake by Mikhail Messerer for the Mikhailovsky Theatre (2009)
Fokine’s Petroushka by Sergei Vikharev for the Bolshoi Theatre (2010)
Chabukiani’s Laurencia by Mikhail Messerer for the Mikhailovsky Theatre (2010)

Reconstructions Today

Some arguments have been made against reconstructed ballets. A number of experts claim it is virtually impossible to fully interpret the historical notations and therefore a work can never be fully restored back to original form. There are also those who feel that works built on top of past productions have already improved upon the original. Those who worry about ballet getting “stuck in the past” feel reconstructions stand in the way of creative freedom, innovation and authenticity. Yet, recent interest in undertaking reconstructions and restorations seems to point to a change in perception. As historians would say, it is important to look at the past to understand the present.

The Mariinsky Ballet in Petipa's Le Reveil de Flore (The Awakening of Flora). Photo: Natasha Razina / Mariinsky Theatre ©

In our globalised times, where every major ballet company has adopted the same type of repertory, reconstructions go beyond the curiosity factor. Modern audiences might be drawn to their serious approach and the way they present a contrast to later productions which have become either diluted or overblown. And given the revived interest for narrative ballets, stylish productions of vintage masterpieces do have their place. Besides, as Mad Men proves, Retro is “in”.

Anna Okuneva and Anna Tatarova as Swanilda's Friends in the Bolshoi Ballet's production of Coppélia. Photo: Damir Yusupov / Bolshoi Theatre ©

Sources and Further Information

Reconstrucing Ballet’s Past – part I: Swan Lake, Mikhailovsky Ballet by Ismene Brown. The ArtsDesk, July 2010 [link]
Reconstructing Ballet’s Past – part II: Master restorer Sergei Vikharev by Ismene Brown. The ArtsDesk, July 2010 [link]
Interview with Millicent Hodson by Suzanne McCarthy. Ballet.co Magazine, September 2002 [link]
The Kirov’s Reconstructed Sleeping Beauty by Doug Fullington. For Ballet Lovers Only, 1999 [link]
Fateyev discusses Mariinsky’s direction in Ballet by Kevin Ng. St Petersburg Times, May 2009 [link]
Wikipedia entry: the Sergeyev Collection [link]
For Ballet, Plots Thicken, or Just Stick? by Alastair Macaulay. The NY Times, August 2010 [link]

The Bolshoi Ballet

Linda — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:12:09 +0000

New chapter in our ongoing series of Ballet History articles, Linda looks at what the Bolshoi is made of:

Bolshoi means big, an adjective that perfectly describes this ballet company. As the recent London season proves, they are bold, stylish and know how to put on a show. They are also resilient, having lived through revolutions, lack of appropriate investment, defection of dancers to finally meet a blossoming period of renovation. The Bolshoi remains one of the world’s most famous ballet companies – according to the Guardian’s Sanjoy Roy even Lady Gaga is a fan – and their current repertory showcases a mix of heritage works and contemporary pieces by the world’s best choreographers.

The Theatre

At the end of the 18th century there was an increase in theatrical events over Russia which led Prince Peter Urusov, aristocrat, imperial officer and arts patron, to push for the construction of a theatre in Petrovka Street, Moscow to house operas, ballets and plays. For this project he had the support of ex-acrobat and English entrepreneur Michael Maddox.

In 1825 – after a fire tore down its premises – this theatre gave room to the Petrovsky Theatre. Designed by architects Ossip Bovet and Andrei Mikhailov (who also built the nearby Maly Theatre) the new theatre became the exclusive home of opera and ballet, with an in house dance company of around 50 dancers. Opera houses at that time were called “Grand Theatres” or “Bolshoi” (literally “big”) so the Petrovsky Theatre became known as “the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow”.

The theatre’s inaugural performance was the ballet Cendrillon with music by Fernando Sor. At that time most ballet productions were choreographed by locals such as Adam Glushkovsky, yet ballets from the French and Italian masters slowly started to make their way into the repertory. The company grew in size and towards 1840 it had 150 dancers trained in the French style associated with Jules Perrot‘s ballets. The opera company also flourished, staging the first productions of operas by Glinka and Tchaikovsky.

The Bolshoi burned down again in 1853. Theatre fires were very common because of the gas lamps used to light the stage and it took 3 years for the building to resurface with new designs by Alberto Cavos, grandfather of Alexandre Benois.

Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow. Photo: Andrew F. Griffith ©

To preserve its structure, modernise facilities and restore acoustics which had been modified during the Soviet regime, the Bolshoi Theatre entered a renovation phase in 2004, with government funding. The main stage is currently closed and is expected to reopen October 2013. In the meantime, the Bolshoi performs nearby in a provisional stage referred to as “The New Theatre”.

The Ballet Company

In 1900 Alexander Gorsky, Petipa’s former assistant, was appointed manager and subsequently Premier Ballet master at the Bolshoi Theatre. The company started to develop its identity during this pre-Soviet period; pieces like Don Quixote (1900), Saint-León’s Coppélia (1901), Swan Lake (1901), La Fille Mal Gardée (1903), Giselle (1911), Le Corsaire (1912) and La Bayadère (1917) were revised and staged. During his tenure Gorsky also brought in such choreographers as Rostislav Zakharov (The Fountain of Bakhchisarai) and Leonid Lavrovsky to assist in creating popular new works.

Maria Alexandrova as Kitri and Yuri Klevtsov as Basilio. Photo: Damir Yusupov / Bolshoi Theatre ©

The Bolshoi Ballet: Evolution

1917 - Moscow becomes the capital of the Soviet Union. Politicians get involved in discussions around ballet repertory, favoring works strongly connected to the people via revolutionary themes and characters (ex: The Red Poppy, 1927).

1924-1937 – Gorsky and his successor Vasily Tikhomirov reorganise and continue to develop the company. The Bolshoi uses its share of public funding to nurture new talent: dancers from within the school and from the Kirov, choreographers (Zakharov, Fyodor Lopukhov, Leonid Lavrovsky) and composers (Shostakovich, Khachaturian). Heritage pieces like The Bolt (1931), The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (1934) and The Bright Stream (1935) are created.

Scene from Act II of The Bright Stream. Photo: Damir Yusupov / Bolshoi Theatre ©

1941 – During the Nazi invasion the company is evacuated to Kuibyshev by the Volga river. It remains there until 1943.

1942- Leonid Lavrovsky is appointed chief choreographer. He is given the task of modernising the company in the post-war. The ballet Gayane is premiered.

1945- Premiere of Cinderella, a new ballet from Prokofiev, who had been responsible for Romeo and Juliet‘s successful score, choreographed by Rostislav Zakharov.

1946 – Lavrovsky becomes Artist Director.

1953 – The Bolshoi visits the West post Stalin’s death. The international tours are a worldwide success. Ballerinas such as Galina Ulanova and Maya Plisetskaya become known by their virtuosity and dramatic intensity during the 1957 and 1958 tours to London and New York.

1964 – 1995 Lavrovsky is succeeded by Yuri Grigorovich. His long tenure is associated with grand productions, ie. Spartacus (1967), The Stoneflower (1957) and The Legend of Love (1961). A new generation of starry dancers flourishes, including Vladimir Vasiliev, Ekaterina Maximova, Natalia Bessmertnova and Maris Liepa.

1995 - 2004 Grigorovitch retires. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union the company faces financial woes and many new Artistic Directors appear in quick succession: Vladimir Vasiliev (1995 – 1998), Alexei Fadeyechev (1998-2000) and Boris Akimov.

The Bolshoi Ballet: Today

During the early nineties the Bolshoi had lost its predominance. The Mariinsky, by comparison, had started to broaden its repertory with a selection of contemporary and neoclassical works. The company would be revived under Alexei Ratmansky. Appointed as AD in 2004, Ratmansky’s achievements include:

Reviving Bolshoi cornerstones The Golden Age, Le Corsaire, The Flames of Paris.

Re-choreographing lost Shostakovich ballets The Bolt and The Bright Stream.

Acquiring contemporary works for the company (Balanchine, Twyla Tharp) and commissioning new ballets from choreographers like Christopher Wheeldon.
Fast-tracking young talent (ex: Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev).

In 2008 Ratmansky left to devote himself to choreography although he remains associated with the Bolshoi as a guest choreographer. Current AD Yuri Burlaka is a former dancer and répétiteur who specialises in old ballet classics. During his tenure he has been involved in reconstructing Le Corsaire together with Ratmansky (2007) and restoring the Paquita Grand Pas (2008) and Esmeralda (2009).

Natalia Osipova as Esmeralda and Denis Medvedev as Pierre Gringoire. Photo: Damir Yusupov / Bolshoi Theatre ©

The Style

The Bolshoi has an historical rivalry with St. Petersburg heritage ballet company, the Mariinsky. Both have developed very different performing styles: the Bolshoi has a more colourful and bold approach, whereas the Mariinsky is associated with pure and refined classicism.

The Bolshoi style is also characterised by its power. It combines phenomenal technique and athleticism, expressiveness and dramatic intensity. These attributes go all the way back to Gorsky who considered acting to be as important as dancing, with Grigorovich’s melodramatic ballets (Spartacus, Ivan The Terrible, The Golden Age) bringing out poise and flamboyance.

Compare and contrast the styles : Marius Petipa’s Don Quixote, which was created for the Bolshoi in 1869, is a company trademark. Compare this clip of the Bolshoi’s approach to the ballet with this one by the Mariinsky.

Ivan Vasiliev as Spartacus. Photo: Yelena Fetisova / Bolshoi Theatre ©

The company has an associated ballet academy (the Moscow Choreographic Institute) whose syllabus has been tailored to fit the Bolshoi style. Students spend 8 years in the academy which feeds directly into the company. Dancers who graduate and join the company are individually coached by retired Bolshoi dancers, ensuring the continuity and strength of the style while remaining adaptable to modern repertory.

Videos

Legends

Yekaterina Geltzer and Vasily Tikhomirov in a fragment of “Russia: The Missing Years – History of the Bolshoi” [link]
Galina Ulanova and Mikhail Gabovich dance the bedroom pas de deux from Lavrovsky’s Romeo & Juliet [link]
Maya Plisetskaya as Kitri in Don Quixote Act I [link]
Marina Semyonova and Yuri Kondratov in Act II Pas de Deux of Swan Lake [link]
Vladimir Vasiliev, Ekaterina Maximova (Phrygia) and Māris Liepa (Crassus) in Grigorovich’s Spartacus [link]
Natalia Bessmertnova dances Giselle‘s Act I variation [link]
Ludmila Semenyaka and Irek Mukhamedov (Jean de Brienne) in Raymonda [link]

Natalia Osipova and Artists of the Bolshoi Ballet in Giselle. Photograph by Elliott Franks ©

The Current Generation

Maria Alexandrova dances Gamzatti’s variation from La Bayadére [link]
Svetlana Zakharova dances Odile’s variation from Swan Lake [link]
Svetlana Lunkina and Nikolai Tsiskaridze in Act II of Giselle [link]
Natalia Osipova dances Kitri’s Act I variation [link]
Ivan Vasiliev and Nina Kaptsova (Phrygia) in Spartacus [link]
Yekaterina Shipulina dances the Queen of the Dryads variation from Don Quixote [link]
Yekaterina Krysanova, Natalia Osipova and Anna Nikulina as the three main shades in La Bayadère [link]
Svetlana Zakharova, Yekaterina Krysanova and Bolshoi artists in Jardin Animé from Le Corsaire [link]

Natalia Osipova as La Sylphide. Photo: Yelena Fetisova / Bolshoi Theatre ©

Sources and Further Information

Bolshoi History by Clement Crisp. Bolshoi Programme Notes, July 2010
Wikipedia Entry for The Bolshoi Theatre [link]
Answers.com entry for The Bolshoi Ballet [link]
Bolshoi Ballet: Power and Poise, Judith Mackrell. The Guardian, July 2010 [link]
The Bolshoi Ballet: A Step-by-step Guide to Dance, Sanjoy Roy. The Guardian, July 2010. [link]
Alexei Ratmansky Q&A, Graham Watts. London Dance, July 2007. [link]
Interview with Natalia Osipova, Ian Palmer. Ballet.co Magazine, June 2007 [link]
The Bolshoi in Paris: An Interview with Alexei Ratmansky, Patricia Boccadoro. CultureKiosque, February 2004 [link]
Interview with Maria Alexandrova, Marc Haegeman. Dance International Summer 2003. For Ballet Lovers Only [link]

One Step Closer

Linda — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:12:27 +0000

As the Royal Ballet’s founder choreographer, Sir Frederick Ashton is to them what Bournonville represents to the Royal Danish Ballet. He nurtured Ninette de Valois‘s young company and gave it an identity through pieces created to help develop its dancers. Ashton’s creations for the Royal Ballet shaped the English style of ballet, combining classical purity with expressive qualities.

The current Royal Ballet season features such Ashton gems as La Fille Mal Gardée, Les Patineurs/Beatrix Potter and Cinderella, while the next 18 months will bring revivals of Sylvia, Rhapsody and Scènes de Ballet along with another taster of Cinderella, Les Patineurs and Tales of Beatrix Potter. There’s also a Royal Ballet DVD of his masterpiece Ondine due this week, so it’s high time for us to look at Ashton and his incredible talent for turning different concepts, narrative and abstract, into pure classical dance.

Frederick Ashton in a Nutshell

Frederick Ashton was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador in 1904. He spent his early years in Lima, Peru. At age 13 he saw Anna Pavlova perform and from then on he knew he wanted to be a dancer (“She injected me with her poison and there was an end of me”). A year later he was sent to boarding school at Dover College in England but he would only start taking ballet lessons six years later. By the time he started training (in secret) with Léonide Massine, the famous dancer & choreographer, Ashton was 20 years old.

When Léonide Massine had to leave England he advised Ashton to continue his studies with Marie Rambert. Ashton dreamed of becoming a great dancer, but the reality of his late start and particular physique dawned on him. Rambert had noticed Ashton’s ability with choreography and encouraged him to start creating pieces for her company. He was 21 years old when he choreographed his first ballet, A Tragedy of Fashion (1926). He used designs by Sophie Fedorovitch who became a close friend and collaborator.

In 1928 Ashton was hired as a performer with Ida Rubinstein‘s company in France, dancing under the direction of Bronislava Nijinska. There he continued to learn more about choreography and became influenced by Nijinska’s work. Returning to London he carried on developing pieces for The Ballet Club (later renamed Ballet Rambert).

Ashton’s ballet Capriol Suite was noticed by none less than Anna Pavlova. She asked him to create a piece for her but this dream collaboration never materialised as she died soon afterwards. However he did get to collaborate with renowned ballerinas Tamara Karsavina, Lydia Lopokova and Alicia Markova during his days of dancing and choreographing for The Camargo Society.

Ashton’s work also got the attention of Ninette de Valois and she started commissioning pieces for the Vic-Wells Ballet, her fledgling company and Ashton’s future home:

In September 1931 he created Regatta, first of a series of collaborations. In 1935 he was officially hired by the Vic-Wells as a guest dancer and choreographer .

During this period he created successful ballets such as Les Rendezvous (1933), Le Baiser de La Fée (1935), Les Patineurs, A Wedding Bouquet (1937) and Dante Sonata (1940). Ashton danced in many of these pieces but created most of the principal roles on Margot Fonteyn (who would become his muse) and Robert Helpmann.

Having joined the RAF, Ashton spent several years away from the stage during World War II. He returned in time to follow Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet’s move to its new home at Covent Garden and developed what he would later refer to as his “choreographic credo” – works as Symphonic Variations (1946) and Scènes de Ballet (1948).

In 1948 he became an Artistic Director and later, in recognition of his contribution to the company, Associate Director (a more prestigious post at that time).

In 1949 Ashton’s successfully premiered his first 3 act, full-length ballet à la Petipa, Cinderella. The ballet was included in the company’s American tour and despite Cinderella’s lukewarm reception overseas, Ashton was invited by NYCB to choreograph for them.

In 1950 Illuminations premiered in New York at New York City Center. With designs by Cecil Beaton, Ashton’s first ballet for a US Company was a great success and captivated American audiences.

His most successful ballet to date, La Fille Mal Gardée, premiered at Covent Garden in 1960 and is currently in the repertoire of more than 22 companies around the world.

In 1963 Ashton succeeded De Valois as Director of The Royal Ballet a position he kept for 7 years. In recognition of his services he was awarded with the perpetual title of Founder Choreographer upon his resignation.

During his directorship Ashton ensured Nijinska’s ballets Les Noces and Les Biches were frequently staged and that ballets by Tudor and Balanchine were brought to the repertoire. He also created ten further ballets including Marguerite & Armand, The Dream, Monotones I & II and Enigma Variations.

Ashton kept choreographing for The Royal Ballet well into the 80′s; mainly short pieces created on specific dancers for gala events or operas. His last work was Nursery Suite (1988) for the Queen’s Sixtieth Birthday Gala. He died on 19 August 1988 at his country home Chandos Lodge in Eye, Suffolk, at the age of 83.

Ashton’s Ballets

Ashton’s early ballets were created to develop the technical and interpretive demands of dancers from De Valois’s company. With their mix of lyricism, precision and vibrancy they were instrumental in shaping the English style: small & speedy footwork with use of the upper body. Dancers often remark on his demanding choreography which, to audiences, should look completely effortless.

Sir Fred’s influences ranged from Pavlova and Bronislava Nijinska to his training in the Cecchetti system. He was renowned for structuring ballets; matching music to action and creating characters out of steps (good examples are Fille or Les Patineurs). He would go into rehearsal with an idea of the overall effect he wanted but without specific steps. Demanding from the dancers certain movements or shapes (ie. a tree, a fountain, etc), he would observe them, refine and revisit. The dancers were active parts of the choreographic process but it was always Ashton’s eye that would prevail.

NY Times critic Alastair Macaulay has likened Ashton’s choreographic skills to those of composer Haydn:

Ashton choreographs the way that Haydn composed: he takes a motif, adds to it, plays with it, changes its dynamics, sets it against something dissimilar, turns it inside out, extends it, transforms it. Notes on the Fred Step, 2004

One of Asthon’s most recognised and admired qualities was his use of classical vocabulary in dance making. Rather than resorting to a severe transformation of ballet steps (as Balanchine did) Ashton created works that were purely classical but felt modern at the same time. In his own words:

All ballets which are not based on the classical ballet and do not create new dancing patterns and steps within its idiom are, as it were, only tributaries of the main stream.

His ballets covered a wide range of styles:

Comedy/Satire as in A Wedding Bouquet and Façade
Narrative as in Le Baiser de la Fée, La Fille Mal Gardée, Apparitions and Nocturne
Divertissements as in Les Rendezvous
Abstract as in Symphonic Variations, Scènes de Ballet, etc.

Lauren Cuthbertson, Miyako Yoshida, Sarah Lamb and David Makhateli in Ashton's Symphonic Variations. Photo: Dee Conway / ROH ©

The Fred Step

Ashton might not have been overly superstitious but he always found a way to include a signature combination of steps as a personal tribute to his beloved Pavlova. Principal dancer Michael Somes said at the time “even when a new work was completed, room must had to be found for [Ashton's] signature step.”

Ashton called his lucky step the Pavlova (as it originated from a step she performed when dancing a Gavotte) but nowadays this combination is referred to as the Fred Step. It goes like this:

Pose en arabesque: dancer steps onto one leg with the opposite leg stretched behind
Coupé dessous (sometimes in fondu): dancer extends leg down to the front with a step, picking up and placing the other foot behind the ankle.
Petit développé à la seconde: dancer slightly lifts foot behind the ankle along the supporting leg and extends to the side
Pas de bourrée dessous: Leg is brought to the back and dancer performs a series of “sideway steps” with the legs interchanging and the back leg finishing at the front in fifth position (see Pas de Bourrée under)
Pas de chat: A jump to the side with the knees bent ending in fifth position.

You can also check each of these terms separately in our Bag of Steps section.

The Fred Step can be found as early as 1933 in Ashton’s ballet Les Masques. The step is usually “hidden”, ie. it is not usually done by the principal dancer, but by a corps member or by a supporting character.

Finding the Fred Step

Cinderella: in Act I the dancing master teaches this step to one of the Ugly sisters and Cinderella later tries to copy it.

The Dream: done by Moth, the last fairy onstage, at the end of her dance as Oberon comes behind her.

A Month in the Country: done by Natalia Petrovna and her admirer Rakitin as they exit the stage arm-in-arm, with their backs to the audience.

La Fille Mal Gardée: done by the peasants in Act 1, scene one and reprised on both flute dances in Act 1, scene two. See video below:

Awards and Honours

CBE in recognition of his work as choreographer and dancer, 1950.
Knight of the British Empire, 1962
Named Companion of Honour, 1970
Member of the Order of Merit, 1977
Member of the Legion d’Honneur, 1962 (France)
Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog, 1963 (Denmark)
Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award from RAD, 1959
Gold Medal from the Carina Aria Foundation in Sweden, 1972
Honorary degrees as Doctor of Letters from the Universities of Durham (1962) and East Anglia (1967)
Honorary degrees as Doctor of Music from the Universities of London (1970) and Oxford (1976)

Some of Ashton’s Works

A Tragedy of Fashion (1926)
Suite de Danses (Galanteries) (1927)
Capriol Suite (1930)
Façade, Regatta (1931)
Les Rendezvous (1933)
Le Baiser De La Fée (1935)
Apparitions, Nocturne (1936)
Les Patineurs, A Wedding Bouquet (1937)
The Wanderer (1941)
Symphonic Variations (1946)
Valses Nobles et Sentimentales (1947)
Scénes de Ballet (1948)
Cinderella (1948)
Illuminations (1950)
Daphnis and Chloë (1951)
Sylvia (1952)
Homage to the Queen (1953)
Romeo and Juliet (Romeo og Julie, 1955) – The Royal Danish Ballet
Birthday Offering (1956)
La Valse (1958)
Ondine (1958)
La Fille Mal Gardée (1960)
Les Deux Pigeons (1961)
Marguerite and Armand (1963)
The Dream (1964)
Monotones I and II (1966)
Enigma Variations (1968)
Tales of Beatrix Potter (1970)
Meditation from Thäis (1971)
A Month in the Country (1976)
Tweedledum and Tweedledee (1977)
Rhapsody (1980)
Nursery Suite (1986)

Videos

Margot Fonteyn in a solo from Nocturne [link]
Roberta Marquez, Belinda Hartley, Laura Morera, Federico Bonelli, Ludovic Ondiviela and Steven McRae in Symphonic Variations [link]
Miyako Yoshida in a solo from Scènes de Ballet [link]
Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg in Cinderella, Act II Pas de Deux [link]
David Makhateli and Marianela Nuñez in Sylvia, Act I Pas de Deux [link]
Katherine Healy (Juliet) and Patrick Armand (Paris) in Romeo & Juliet [link]
Thiago Soares and Darcey Bussell in the Birthday Offering Pas de Deux [link]
Margot Fonteyn in Ondine, Act I [link]
Marianela Nuñez and Carlos Acosta in La Fille Mal Gardée [link]
Robert Parker and Nao Sakuma rehearse BRB’s The Two Pigeons [link]
Margot Fonteyn & Rudolf Nureyev in a documentary about Marguerite & Armand (extract) [link]
Alessandra Ferri & Ethan Stiefel in The Dream [link]
Zenaida Yanowsky, Iñaki Urlezaga and Edward Watson in Monotones II [link]
Thiago Soares and Leanne Benjamin in Meditations of Thäis Pas De Deux [link]
Lynn Seymour & Anthony Dowell in A Month in the Country [link]
Tamara Rojo in Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan [link]
Wayne Sleep and Graham Fletcher as the twins and Lesley Collier as Alice in Tweedledum and Tweedledee [link]
Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lesley Collier in the pas de deux from Rhapsody [link]

Sources and Further Information

La Fille Mal Gardée Programme Notes, Royal Ballet 2009-2010 Season
ABT Biographical Notes on Sir Frederick Ashton [link]
Wikipedia Entry on Sir Frederick Ashton [link]
Secret Muses: The Life of Frederick Ashton by Julie Kavanagh. Faber and Faber, ISBN-10: 0571190626
Ballet Biographies by Gladys Davidson. Werner Laurie, London 1952.
Ashton Now by David Vaughan. Following Sir Fred’s Steps: Ashton’s Legacy. Edited by Stephanie Jordan & Andrée Grau. Dance Books 1996. ISBN-10: 1852730471. Ballet.co [link]
Character and Classicism in Ashton’s Dances by John Percival. Following Sir Fred’s Steps. Ashton’s Legacy. Edited by Stephanie Jordan & Andrée Grau. Dance Books 1996. ISBN-10: 1852730471. Ballet.co [link]
The Influence of Cecchetti on Ashton’s Work by Richard Glasstone. Following Sir Fred’s Steps. Ashton’s Legacy. Edited by Stephanie Jordan & Andrée Grau. Dance Books 1996. ISBN-10: 1852730471. Ballet.co [link]
Notes on the Fred Step by Alastair Macaulay. The Ashton Archive, Danceview 2004 [link]
Can This Choreographer Be Saved? by Mary Cargill. The Ashton Archive, Danceview 2003 [link]
Chronological Listing of Ashton’s Ballets. Compiled by David Vaughan. The Ashton Archive [link]
Step-by-step guide to dance: Frederick Ashton by Sanjoy Roy. The Guardian, March 2010 [link]

The Royal Danish Ballet

Linda — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:59:31 +0000

Tradition and heritage are strong words but they fit The Royal Danish Ballet like a glove. They are one of the oldest classical dance troupes in Europe and direct descendants of the Bournonville lineage. With a repertoire that also includes the most prominent choreographers of the 20th century, the Danes have much to be proud of with their home Company.

The Theatre

Combining opera, drama and ballet, The Royal Danish Theatre has long been considered the cultural heart of Copenhagen. Danish theatrical tradition can be traced back to the 18th century and Ludvig Holberg’s comedy series in the Commediehuus (Comedy House) in Lille Grønnegade. Inspired by its success a group of 12 actors, including 1 female and 2 male dancers decided to form a company in 1748. Initially funded by the monarchy, one century later (around 1849) its control passed on to the State.

The Theatre has always stood at Kongens Nytorv but it was shaped by several renovations throughout the years. The original smaller theatre gave room to a new one designed by Danish architect Jens Vilhelm Dahlerup in 1874. This building, together with an adjacent section added in 1931, is now known as Gamle Scene (Old Stage) and houses Ballet including studios, administration offices and workshops. Opera and Theatre now occupy special purpose-built premises, respectively, the New Copenhagen Opera House and the New Royal Danish Playhouse but the 3 art forms are still connected by the same governing body, The Royal Danish Theatre.

The Company

Dance already existed in Copenhagen before The Royal Danish Theatre was inaugurated but this paved the way for the development of a national dance company. Initially the theatre relied mostly on ballet guest artists from Germany, Italy and France. The creation of The Royal Danish Ballet School in 1771 and the arrival in 1775 of Italian ballet master Vincenzo Galeotti attracted local dancers and a national identity began to flourish. Besides creating over 50 ballets for The Royal Danish Ballet (including the only surviving piece and oldest ballet in the world The Whims of Cupid and the Ballet Master from 1786), Galeotti introduced the Ballet d’Action in which pantomime was used to advance the plot.

The Bournonville Years

The most famous figure in the history of Danish ballet is August Bournonville, the French ballet master who gave the company its characteristic style and raised its profile. Bournonville created about 50 ballets plus divertissements in operas and plays, working with a variety of themes and genres and developing the use of complex mime. La Sylphide (1836), Napoli (1842) and A Folk Tale (1854) are some of his masterpieces.

During his tenure as ballet master, Bournonville supervised the development of generations of dancers, raising their technique standards. Giving male dancers important roles he created a tradition for high standards of male dancing in The Royal Danish Ballet and some of them became historical dance figures.

Bournonville’s successor Hans Beck carried on with that tradition and repertoire. From 1894 until 1915 he programmed revivals of Bournonville ballets which remained popular with the audiences. He also developed the “Bournonville School”, a training programme focused on the preservation of the style which was used by the school until the 30s.

For more on Bournonville and his style read our Dear Mr. Fantasy article [link]

The Royal Danish Ballet: Evolution

1909 – Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes great dance revolution steamrolls through Europe. They abstain from visiting Copenhagen so the Danish scene remains largely unaffected by the movement.

1925 – Michael Fokine is invited by The Royal Danish Theatre to stage some of his works (Petroushka, Chopiniana – Les Sylphides and selections of Prince Igor) which are well received by the audience.

1930 – Balanchine stages his new piece Apollon Musagète for the company, but the work falls under heavy criticism for being no more than “pure gymnastics”.

1932 – Appointment of Harald Lander as Artistic Director (AD) and beginning of a new era of modernisation, with a view of increasing technical standards. Introduction of Russian Style technique (Vaganova) and new repertoire to challenge the dancers.

1940 – A programme to preserve the Bournonville tradition is implemented, with at least one revival of his productions per year.

1948 – Premiere of Études, the most famous piece by Harold Lander. This iconic ballet is famous for its technical demands; only troupes with the highest standards are capable of dancing it.

Fernando Mora, Gudrun Bojesen, Kenneth Greve and Artists of The Royal Danish Ballet in Lander's Études. Photo: Martin Mydtskov Rønne / RDB ©

1951 - Renowned ballet teacher Vera Volkova arrives and serves as principal teacher for more than 24 years. She develops future international stars Erik Bruhn, Peter Schaufuss and Peter Martins.

Niels Bjørn Larsen is appointed as AD. RDB adopts a Summer Festival and tours the UK and the US where dancers are praised for their technical and dramatic abilities. Danish male dancers are “discovered” internationally.

1955 – 1961 - Ballets by Ashton (Romeo and Juliet, 1955), Balanchine (Apollo, 1957), Cullberg (Moon Reindeer, 1957 and Miss Julie, 1958), Petit (Carmen, 1960 and Cyrano, 1961) and Robbins are added to the repertoire.

1966 – Flemming Flindt is appointed AD. He implements a plan to modernise ballet as an art form, to make it appeal to new audiences.

1971 – Flindt’s polemic piece The Triumph of Death is premiered. It features a nude scene and music by Danish rock band Savage Rose.

1968 – 1978 – Modern dance is incorporated to the RDB repertoire, including works by Paul Taylor (Aureole, 1968), José Limón and Glen Tetley, among others.

1974 – First staging of Neumeier’s Romeo and Juliet and the beginning of a long collaboration with this American choreographer.

1978 – Henning Kronstam is appointed AD. Together with Kirsten Ralov (associate AD) they look back at reviving Bournonville tradition.

1979 – The First Bournoville Festival is organised to commemorate the centenary of his death. Within one week the company dances all Bournonville ballets in the repertoire, raising awareness to their tradition.

1985 - 1992 – Frank Andersen is appointed AD. Under his tenure John Cranko‘s Onegin is staged for the company and the second Bournonville Festival, celebrating the 150 year anniversary of Napoli, takes place.

1994 – 2002 A constant change of Artistic Directors causes turmoil. They include Peter Schaufuss (1994-1995), Johnny Eliasen (1995-1997), Maina Gielgud (1997-1999) and Aage Thordal-Christensen (1999-2002) before Frank Andersen finally starts a second term as AD.

2003 - Kenneth MacMillan‘s Manon is staged in Copenhagen.

2008 – Former Principal dancer Nikolaj Hübbe is appointed AD.

The Royal Danish Ballet: Today

Despite the high turnover of ADs in the 90s, the last two decades have seen a continuous flow of new works with a strong narrative component. Broadening the repertoire has allowed dancers to further develop their trademark storytelling and characterisation skills. Brandstrup, Cranko, MacMillan, Neumeier, Ratmansky and Rushton have contributed important full-length works. New productions of Bournonville’s Napoli and A Folk Tale (due to premiere next season) seek to preserve the company’s heritage while making these ballets fresh and relevant to modern audiences. The company looks reinvigorated under new AD Nikolaj Hübbe.

For a glimpse at the Company and its modern headquarters see our recent photolog [link]

The School

The Royal Danish Theatre Ballet School has trained most of RDB’s dancers since the 1770s. Its headquarters are at the Kongens Nytorv theatre, with two provincial departments at Odense and Holstebro. The school integrates both academics and ballet for 6-16 year-olds. It was founded by French dancer Pierre Laurent and reorganized under Bournonville in 1847. It is now funded by the State.

During Harald Lander’s tenure a new training system was implemented and the Bournonville “schooling” was restructured to become a complement to the syllabus. Vera Volkova arrived in the 50s and was credited with improving the technical standards of the school.

Out of 250 girls and boys who apply to the Royal Danish Theatre Ballet School every spring, less than 70 are admitted. A further 4-week intensive program sees a dozen accepted as full time students. There are close to 70 students between the ages of 6-17, divided into 7 levels in mixed classes.

The students are often called upon to perform in the company’s ballets. A fourth of them end up as apprentices with the company. They will still go to school but now their classes are taken with the company and they take part in rehearsals, etc. Apprenticeships last two years, with an examination at the end of each year. Only successful apprentices are hired as corps de ballet dancers.

Must-See Danish Ballets

Bournonville: La Sylphide, Napoli, The Kermesse in Bruges, Le Conservatoire (Konservatoriet), A Folk Tale & The Flower Festival in Genzano.
Cullberg’s Miss Julie
Lander’s Études
Flindt’s The Lesson
Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid
Ratmansky’s Anna Karenina

Big Danish Ballet Stars

Danseurs: Ib Andersen, Peter Martins, Lloyd Riggins, Børge Ralov, Erik Bruhn, Henning Kronstam, Peter Schaufuss, Nikolaj Hübbe, Thomas Lund, Johan Kobborg.

Ballerinas: Lucile Grahn, Adeline Genée,Margot Lander, Else Højgaard, Sorella Englund, Silja Schandorff

Videos

Études with Gitte Lindstrøm and Kenneth Greve [part1, part2, part3].
Flindt’s The Lesson with Gudrun Bojesen and Johan Kobborg [link]
Ratmansky’s Anna Karenina with Mads Blangstrup and Gitte Lindstrøm [link]
Neumeier’s Romeo and Juliet highlights [link]
Mads Blangstrup and Femke Slot in a rehearsal for Neumeier’s Romeo and Juliet [link]
La Sylphide with Thomas Lund and Gudrun Bojesen [link]
Flower Festival of Genzano with Gudrun Bojesen and Mads Blangstrup [link]
Kermesse in Bruges with Yao Wei and Dawid Kupinski [link]
Lis Jeppesen in a Napoli Solo [link]
Pas de six from Napoli‘s Act III with Cecilie Lassen, Susanne Grinder, Amy Watson, Femke Slot, Nicolai Hansen and Kristoffer Sakurai [link]

Sources and Further Information

The Royal Danish Ballet by Aline Storm. Edited by Sofie Rask Andersen and Aline Storm. Published by The Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen 2005. ISBN 87-989870-7-0
Royal Danish Ballet Wikipedia entry [link]
The Royal Danish Ballet Website. History. Last Updated April 2009. [link]
The Royal Danish Theatre Ballet School by Kate Snedeker. Ballet-dance Magazine at CriticalDance.com, May 2004. [link]