Ballet thread!

In 2011, Alexei Ratmansky was commissioned by the National Ballet of Canada to choreograph a new Romeo and Juliet. Ratmansky's version was staged a few times in between 2011 and today in the US and Canada, where it almost always receives acclaim.

In 2017, Ratmansky was asked by the Bolshoi to re-stage his 2011 Romeo and Juliet for their Second Stage. This production--filmed for theaters a few weeks back--is considered controversial by Russian critics and most Bolshoi fans and has received mixed reviews in Russia.

The controversy comes from Ratmansky putting on a very un-Bolshoi production. He re-introduced certain mime elements, took away the Grigorovich style of costumes and sets and approached the staging with a simplistic eye; incorporated Friar Lawrence into the heart of the story (he participates in the wedding pas de deux and his anguish at his role in R&J's death is highlighted, for instance); removed the element of Lady Capulet and Tybalt having an affair; placed more focus on the effect of the male-dominated feud on the women of both families, as well as the stifled nature of Juliet and her mother's lives.

And finally, most controversial of all: eliminating the "death pas de deux" where Romeo finds Juliet's seemingly dead body in the crypt and has a last dance with it, as the ballerina playing Juliet strikes elegantly subtle dead poses throughout. Instead, Romeo comes to the crypt, anguishes, poisons himself while holding Juliet's dead body: before he dies, she awakens and tries to dance with him, unaware of the poison. He collapses. She takes his dagger and stabs herself. And again, controversy because he then depicted the families entering and embracing each other in sorrow and grief, ending the feud. Russians have especially complained about Lord Montague, after embracing Lord Capulet, kneeling and pressing his head on Lady Montague's hand to ask forgiveness, which she gives.

I went to go see the recent Russian production broadcast, for the music. I liked some of the music, and went to see San Francisco's production broadcast. I liked its more exciting and lively choreography. After listening to it more, I got completely addicted to the music, and listened to little else for two years. It's now my favourite. Prokofiev said that it's both new/modern and enjoyable to listen to, and I agree. It's a rare example of it.
I bought three different recordings in search of the ideal one. Mogrelia recording is the closest to ideal, but its recording quality is bad. Most other recordings are too slow in important parts like the balcony scene and the epic 3rd act intermission before Juliet meets with the Friar. I'd like to hear a Yuri Faier recording, but it's not originally digital, and therefore difficult to find on the Internet.

The absolute each which Prokofiev's score lends itself to choreographing Romeo and Juliet's story has made it a favorite of many choreographers. Many ballet companies will find themselves with their 'own' versions from resident directors, which they may or may not add to their repertoire on a steady basis.

pic related: Stanton Welch of the Houston Ballet staged his own Romeo and Juliet about 2 years ago.

The Russian/Bolshoi production from about 2 weeks ago? Or the one that aired in 2016 or 2017?

I also have a mini guide to the DVDs, but have to get to work now... will post it later!

Around May of 2015. Probably Bolshoi. Then I saw the San Francisco one on August of that year. I emailed somebody at Lincoln Center about how to obtain the San Francisco recording, but they never got back to me, other than to tell me to wait for a real response.
I dug out my highlights list for beautiful melodies (I like other parts too, but these are the beautiful ones):
youtube.com/watch?v=HMqTaHljRDc
Highlights:
0:00 - 2:50
22:15 - 23:48
44:43 - 45:40 (Love theme)
54:07 - 1:02:30 (Love theme, variation, and love dance)
1:46:18 - 1:52:00
1:56:26 - 2:00:40
2:02:15 - 2:04:30 (Love theme)
2:10:56 - 2:11:40
This is the Mogrelia recording, which is available here:
play.google.com/store/music/album/Ukraine_National_Symphony_Orchestra_Prokofiev_S_Ro?id=Beoxsojd3hxykzdejdtvdiz3taa

Ah good news! That San Francisco production was just released on DVD in April of last year.

Thank you for the link to the Mogrelia recording. I've never been able to decide on an orchestral recording I prefer, maybe this will be the one!

Thanks. I did assume it would be out eventally, but did not bother checking the past few years.
I remember chuckling at Mercutio and Benvolio playfully doing a high-five behind an angry Tybalt's back as part of the choreography, and being impressed by the energy in the balcony scene dance. They also did a good job in showing the text excerpts from the original play between scenes.

As for recordings, I also like this: youtube.com/watch?v=W6Tb84v-KdA
but the uploader doesn't know its source.

While looking up the dvd, an ad told me that there will be a live performance of the ballet by my city's ballet company in two weeks. I looked it up, and all of the good seats are already taken. Arghhh!
Still going, of course.

There's only one ballet stage in my city and recently it became trendy to go there, so all the performances in the next two months are sold out.
Fucking normies

Ballet is too popular!

Holy shit, its balletanon again. Thank you for quality threads. Is there any sort of darker underworld to the ballet business, and are there any books I can read on the topic?

Tankies absolutely BTFO'd

What company? Maybe you can try Stubhub? I sometimes managed to get cheap tickets last minute there from people desperate to sell them.

Orlando. I'll try that, thanks.

You are my favorite user, I always learn from your threads. Could I trouble you to ask you some questions?

1. Why is tragic genre so popular in ballet? I too favor it above all other genres and often wonder why? I am aware of paradox of tragic pleasure but could you give your thoughts?

2. Why does Russian culture adore ballet so much? What pathos or what sensibilities does ballet evoke in Russia?

3. Is Swan Lake the pinnacle of ballet as a art form?

Ballet is making a real come back in the last 5 years or so. It's pretty neat.

Or I guess I should say, it's making a real comeback with the general public, outside of Nutcracker productions even.

Seems so.

I didn't manage to catch it in theaters, but I'll definitely check it out soon now. I love little details that add actual character to the narrative, which is ideal for a story-heavy ballet like Romeo and Juliet!

>Is there any sort of darker underworld to the ballet business, and are there any books I can read on the topic?

Oh, for sure. What type of "underworld" we're talking about really depends on the country and company.

American ballet's darker underbelly is mostly related to two things: intense competition creating an environment where drug use, eating disorders, and mental breakdowns are common; and certain dancers getting roles/promotions over others for a myriad of seedy reasons (sleeping with the director, sleeping with a millionaire donor, threatening to use negative publicity against the company).

The Balanchine era for American ballet was particularly hard on dancers because Balanchine was obsessed with ballerinas being extremely slender and weightless and fitting a very specific ethereal mold. Almost every one of Balanchine's favored dancers developed anorexia or bulimia or a mixture of both, and at least 4 of his major 'muses" admitted to turning to drugs because of the intense pressure to perform--even when you were starving yourself so hard that you nearly passed out on stage. Some dancers under Balanchine even got plastic surgery so that they would appear more suitable to him. The Balanchine-era was really cut-throat. Displease Balanchine, and you could be cut from the company and practically blacklisted in American ballet for the foreseeable future.

American ballet is still highly competitive, especially with the larger companies, but I have hope that the trend of obsessing over dancer's fitting a specific mold is starting to wane. American Ballet Theatre has some ballerinas right now whom the earlier American ballet masters would have never considered.

I think the fact that American ballet didn't truly gain a foothold until the mid-20th century has a lot to do with the lack of any truly horrific secrets compared to European countries where ballet has been an institution for centuries and has a different context.

Non-American ballet is a different ball game. It's less "she slept with the director so she got the role" and more "this director didn't cast me so I threw acid in his face!"

So, in Russia and France in the 18th and 19th centuries and to an extent 20th centuries, ballerinas at the Imperial Ballet and Paris Ballet were encouraged to prostitute themselves out to wealthy patrons, ranging from rich nobility all the way to royalty, with the goal being to secure a courtesan position so you could whisper in their ear and get them to fund money and support back to the ballet company. If you were a top ballerina in that era, 99% likely you were also playing "girlfriend" to someone with money.

In Russia, this tradition continues today in at least some form, with the Bolshoi company holding patron-exclusive dinners where dancers are highly, HIGHLY encouraged to attend and "play nice" with patrons. At least one former dancer claims that the company subtly punishes ballerinas who don't attend by not casting them in roles and more or less let dancers know that if a patron solicited them they need to play along. Another dancer--an American import to Bolshoi--said that she was told that she had to pay $10,000 or start a relationship with a sponsor in order to get promoted to soloist.

The competition at the major Russian companies, especially Bolshoi, is incredibly intense. Dancers get paid next to nothing by the company unless they get solo roles or are promoted to soloist or principal, so there's a lot of pressure to get cast so that you can have at least a minimal living wage. This type of pressure is what the dancer who ordered an acid attack on a (now former) Bolshoi director cited in his defense--that dancers were being given roles not on merit or experience, but on who they slept with and how much their sponsors paid the company.

Russia cont:\

Russian ballet's current underbelly is underscored by the fact that the patrons of the Bolshoi ballet, and the patrons who throw in their support for favored ballerinas, are mostly politicians and government officials. So there is a completely different context at work, when a patron makes it known that they want their favorite dancer to headline a certain production or get a promotion--and that patron could have you arrested if they felt like it. The recent arrest of a choreographer who created a ballet based on the gay Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev (who died from AIDS complications) has made many fearful that, to quote a Bolshoi dancer, a "new era of censorship is upon us."

And as for books!

I'd recommend

Ballerina: Sex, Scandal, and Suffering Behind the Symbol of Perfection by Deirdre Kelly

-A look into the past, present and (hopeful?) future of the underbelly of ballet.

Bolshoi Confidential: Secrets of the Russian Ballet from the Rule of the Tsars to Today by Simon Morrison

-A study of the development of the Bolshoi ballet and its various secrets, scandalous and otherwise, from imperial Russia to modern Russia. The book does better with the historical scandals/secrets than modern Bolshoi, but that's to be expected when it's harder to fish out the truth from current dancers.

And some memoirs from dancers who don't shy away from how fucked up ballet can be, 3 of these 4 were Balanchine "muses" whom he spit up and chewed out to varyin degrees:

Dancing on my Grave by Gelsey Kirkland
Holding on to the Air by Suzanne Farrell
Winter Season by Toni Bentley
Once a Dancer by Allegra Kent

And of course Apollo’s Angels by Jennifer Homans, which isn't specifically about ballet scandals but is an interesting study of ballet's history nonetheless.

thanks! I'm glad you like them!

1. I think the popularity of tragic ballets boils down to audiences loving to watch them and dancers loving to dance them. For the audience, tragic ballets are often based on stories that they are familiar with and so they don't feel like they have to study the synopsis like a final exam or worry about being "lost" as to what's going on; tragic ballets are often more dramatic and dynamic in terms of narrative, so they're more interesting to watch especially if you aren't a ballet-devotee; and as you mentioned, the paradox of tragic pleasure. We just love watching it. And the more we watch tragic ballet, the more companies make from tragic ballet. The more companies make from tragic ballet, the more they'll continue to do them. A cycle of tears!

For dancers, tragedy provides them with the opportunity to inhabit a character and a role using nothing but their body, their movements, their steps, a turn of the head, and so on. It's very fulfilling for dancers to perform in those sorts of roles, and it's fulfilling in a different... deeper, maybe? way that isn't possible for light roles like adult Clara in the Nutcracker or one of the gift-giving fairies in Sleeping Beauty. Not that those roles can't be fulfilling, but it's a very different sort of performance that you give in a tragic role vs a light one.

1/2

2. Ballet holds such a high place in Russian culture because it is viewed as both historically important and a contemporary example of something which Russians are the best at.

In the imperial days, pretty much any star ballerina or director or choreographer came from either Russia or France. At least half of the "classical ballets" that companies perform today were created by Russian choreographers and dancers.

When the Revolution occurred, Russian ballet was on the cusp of being suppressed because it was viewed as being a leftover court entertainment decadent, imperial Russia. But a group of dedicated ballerinas, including pic related, took great risks to convince the new government that ballet was inherent to Russian culture and that the immense success of Russian ballet dancers and choreographers abroad was a perfect example of how superior Russian art could be. Ballet was allowed to stay, and then the Russian government was begging Russian dancers and choreographers to return to Russia so that the ballet houses could boast of their international stars.

I think the Revolution really cemented it as part of Russian culture because of the Soviet-era emphasis on using Russian choreographers and artists as a whole. It went from being 'oh, here's a ballet created by a Russian but premiered in France and then carted around Europe" to "here are all these Russian-based productions with a Russian choreographer and Russian dancers and Russian stage designer, look at how Russian ballet is so superior!"

oop, one more.

3. I'd say it's certainly the most "ballet" of the classic ballets. It has everything one might expect from a traditional ballet. A corps of ethereal young women in matching dresses. Romance which--depending on the production--is either destined to end tragically or has the potential to conquer evil with the strength of love. Impressive yet not over-stated physical choreography. And a basic story which can be modified depending on the moods or themes the director wants to tackle. And swan arms... can't forget the swan arms.

And it is certainly the most revered ballet, to the point where a good chunk of the choreography is considered practically untouchable except by the most daring of artistic directors. One does not simply perform Odile without the 32 fouettés!

I like Die Sieben Todsunden.
youtube.com/watch?v=eoPNiB8YYxQ

Speaking of tragedy...

The invention of the gas light killed an unknown number of ballerinas in the mid-19th century, both in Europe and North America.

This illustration depicts a tragedy which occurred at the Philadelphia Continental Theatre in 1861.

The gauze material from one of the dancer's gowns brushed against one of the gas tubes used in the theater, igniting it immediately. The dancer's sisters--all ballerinas--came to her aid but caught fire themselves. At least 9 ballerinas were burned to death--four of them sisters.

Balletanon, what is the single worst performance in the history of ballet, and what was the worst production that you've ever had the displeasure of seeing?

...

>what is the single worst performance in the history of ballet,

I'm sure there were worse performances, but the premiere of the Rite of Spring which caused a mini-riot in the theater and got people arrested ranks up there.

>what was the worst production that you've ever had the displeasure of seeing

I've never seen anything absolutely horrendous. Most of what I see live is either a professional company that brings the classics here on tour, or something that I pay to travel to see in which case I do everything in my power to make sure it's not bad before I spend my money.

Anywho, the worst: It was a Swan Lake from one of those touring Russian companies. I can't remember if it was Moscow Festival or Russian National or what, it was a few years ago. It wasn't a horrid performance by any means, the dancers all performed technically correct steps, but it made me realize 1) the Russian Swan Lake added too many unnecessary elements and characters (why jesters? Why) and 2) Swan Lake with a happy ending just isn't as satisfying 3) these touring Russian companies who work their dancers to the bone are just not my cup of tea. Pre-recorded music. The dancers looked mentally tired and most of them don't have the energy to put much emotion into their performance. The costumes/sets were dingy, you could see fading on some of the fabrics. The companies don't even care enough to tell you who is performing. And the intense stress that a grueling tour schedule causes leads the dancers to feed on any applause or positive audience appreciation, to the point where they milk it a bit too much (multiple bows after every solo or pas de deux, even in emotional moments, nooo).

Another ballerina victim of gas lamps: Clara Webster, the only English dancer from her era who was considered to be on her way to rivaling the great Russian and French ballerinas who dominated the scene. In 1844, she was performing when her dress brushed up against one of the lamps and she went up in seconds. The fire buckets in the theater were empty, and none of her fellow dancers would go near her as she burned in front of the audience. A brave stage hand finally just threw himself onto her and beat the flames out himself. She died 3 days later.

From a contemporary newspaper:

>Her (Clara Webster) skirts caught one of the jets of gas which was too near the elevated place on which she stood. She began to run, and actually traversed the scene twice in a column of fire, amidst the shrieks of the people, which mingled with her own agonizing cries for help.

>Juliet's Death

How is it possible for a score to be so beautiful?

I love Rite of Spring, I don't know how many dancers are in this thread but performing it was the most fun I had when I was dancing. I still listen to the music sometimes because of how much I loved it.

I like you balletfag you're alright.

And a couple questions: Who is your favorite dancer of the modern era? Favorite historical dancer? Are there any historical performances/companies you wish you could go back and see live as it was in its first form?

Same. I like to imagine what contemporary audiences felt watching it for the first time.

The Joffrey Ballet reconstruction is a strange delight: youtube.com/watch?v=jF1OQkHybEQ

>Who is your favorite dancer of the modern era?

I have a hard time picking favorites. Gillian Murphy although she's sadly injury prone lately. Sarah Lane, although ABT does her dirty. Yuan Yuan Tan is certain roles. Ekaterina Krysanova now, after seeing her Juliet at Ratmansky's R&J.

>Favorite historical dancer

Does Fonteyn count? Unless we have to get really historical in which case Marie Sallé sounds like she would have been interesting. Or the (in)famous Mme Parisot.

>Are there any historical performances/companies you wish you could go back and see live as it was in its first form?

Taglioni going en pointe for the first time. Or any of the "revolutionary" ballet performances from the late 18th century or early 19th century, which broke away from the traditional use of ballet at the time, would be neat to see.

Any of the "classic" ballets from the mid to end 19th century in their first form would be so interesting to see. Ratmansky's sort-of reconstructions, and a few of the Mariinsky's reconstructions of historical works, are compelling but I wish we could see the original choreography performed by an actual then-contemporary ballerina.

All right, DVD guide is done, made a few comments for the versions I've scene, the ones I haven't are just what choreography they used.

>1954: Bolshoi Ballet

A film version of the Lavrosky-Bolshoi production. Filmed on outdoor sets designed for film, so not a "live on stage" recording. Beautifully filmed and still vibrant considering its age, the DVD transfer is surprisingly nice considering the age and how few of Russia's filmed ballets from this period have made it through unscathed. Sadly the DVD producers cut 40 minutes from the film to save money.

Clip: youtube.com/watch?v=n2c6e3n7NOI

>1966: Royal Ballet

A film version of the MacMillan-Royal Ballet production, starring Fonteyn and Nureyev. No major abridgements, designed for theatrical release and filmed on Pinewood Studios on a replica of the Royal Opera House stage. Classic, beautifully shot, and I'll never get tired of Fonteyn's dignified, naive Juliet.

Clip: youtube.com/watch?v=rshfTFWaEII

>1974: Bolshoi (Maximova & Vasiliev)

Filmed live on stage, Lavrosky's choreography. The only complete DVD recording of the full Lavrosky choreography, not counting a Mariinsky reconstruction streamed live in theaters but not released on DVD. Unfortunately the DVD video quality is not great, especially in pivotal scenes where the lighting is low. Worthwhile if you want to see more of Lavrosky's choreography.

Clip: N/A

>1984: The Royal Ballet (Eagling & Ferri)

Filmed live on stage, MacMillan choreography. There's a lot of wonderful things about this production (Ferri is transcendent as Juliet) but I'll be damned if I can't remember much about it right now except Eagling (Romeo) forgot to take off his backstage warm-up pants before he came on for the final scene.

Clip: youtube.com/watch?v=N1JOJCiLVEM

>1984: Paris Opera Ballet

Filmed live on stage, Nureyev's choreography. As mentioned above Nureyev follows the Shakespeare text closely and based much of the look of his production on the 1968 Romeo and Juliet film. Just a really interesting production, definitely check it out for Tybalt's death scene alone, jesus Nureyev, you mad genius.

Clip: youtube.com/watch?v=LLi4YEfX3mw

>1989: Bolshoi (Bessmertnova & Mukhamedov)

Filmed live on stage, Grigorovich's choreography. Not really worth a look unless you are super invested in seeing the early version of Grigorovich's choreography, since the lighting is horrid and you can see nothing but black behind the dancers for 99% of the film.

>1992: Opera de Lyon

Filmed live on stage. Angelin Prelijocac's choreography, some additions/alterations to the score. In some ways this production hearkens back to the "original" version Prokofiev&co dreamed up, with the primary subtext making Romeo and Juliet symbols of love which overpowers the old order of things. Definitely an "alternative" version n terms of costumes, sets and theme.

Clip: youtube.com/watch?v=ieLqRGoSSEs

>2000: La Scala (Ferri & Corella)

Filmed live on stage, MacMillan's choreography.

Clip: youtube.com/watch?v=KS10pzxE4eQ

>2007: The Royal Ballet (Rojo & Acosta)

Filmed live on stage, MacMillan choreography.

>2012: The Royal Ballet (Bonelli & Cuthbertson)

Filmed live on stage, MacMillan choreography. The best option if you want to see a newer MacMillan version in high definition. Nice performances, nothing groundbreaking.

Clip: youtube.com/watch?v=zWBVa2m_4Fs

>2015: San Francisco Ballet

Filmed live on stage, Helgi Tomasson's version as performed by the San Francisco ballet.

Clip: youtube.com/watch?v=1ZTvQPzokCc

>2017: La Scala

Filmed live on stage. MacMillan's version, performed by the La Scala company, starring Roberto Bolle and Misty Copeland. Classical/"standard" take, if you feel like watching the only video of Copeland in action without PR team curation, here you go.

Clip: youtube.com/watch?v=P5qwctVrRvg

So this is by no means a list of all the available DVDs of the Romeo and Juliet ballet, just the Region 1 DVDs that are easy to access. There are some productions which are on DVD in their home country (France especially).

There are also a number of productions which were filmed or streamed live in theaters but never released on DVD or any sort of purchasable media. Some might eventually make it to DVD, others might not. Bolshoi has a habit of waiting lately to release their productions on DVD because they like to re-release them in theaters instead of streaming every production in the season live.

Bump

There's a lot of free ballet on Youtube though it gets deleted from time to time

Pic related: Mathilde Kschessinska, who was mistress to Nicholas II before he got married and later had affairs with at least 2 other grand dukes including one of whom got her pregnant.

She became one of the stars of the Imperial Ballet, thanks to her talent but also thanks to her imperial connections which not only gave her some serious clout, but allowed her to wear legitimately stunning gems and jewels on stage, making her stand out for audiences and most importantly, critics. Critics could make and unmake ballerina's careers, so it was important to stand out and never let anyone else upstage you. (This backfired on Mathilde when she coached Anna Pavlova in a role, thinking Pavlova would be ignored at best by Russian critics and audiences--but audiences ended up adoring Pavlova's then-unique willowy and ethereal style of performance.)

Fellow dancers and directors didn't particularly care for her Famous choreographer/dancer Marius Petipa (creator of many now-classic ballets like Don Quixote, La Bayadere, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, etc) called her a "nasty little swine" in his diaries. In 1906 a role she wanted was given to someone else--her influence had waned considerably by this time--and she released live chickens on stage during the ballerina's first variation. The ballerina (Olga Preobrajenska) did not miss a beat despite the live chickens running around, and the audience roared with applause after she finished. Oops!

Thank you, balletanon!

1. Could you give me your own thoughts on paradox of tragic pleasure? It is a fascinating element of Western civilization that has been debated over since Aristotle. I have read quite a few historians of Western art who claim that only the West produced tragic genre, and that tragedy is the greatest form of art, people like Sir. Roger Scruton or George Steiner claim this.

2. Ballet was seen by Bolsheviks as a art form of nobility. Lenin wanted to destroy Bolshoi yet Stalin stopped him. Do you perhaps know why Stalin stopped him? I ask since you mentioned a group of ballerinas who tried to convince the new government that ballet should stay.

On both questions, of tragic paradox and history of ballet in USSR, could you recommend books?

Thanks in advance!

Bump

What are some controversial ballets? Besides Rite of Spring

This was interesting to read.

Mmmm. Pretty much any ballet that has to do with the Holocaust will fit that bill, especially a recent production based on "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" which got almost universally panned. Not necessarily for being a ballet set in the Holocaust but for being based on a very fictionalized book with a controversial premise.... and for featuring goosestepping ballet Nazis. There's been multiple "Anne Frank" ballets, including one filmed on a sound-stage for British television in the 80s, which have had varying degrees of critical reception.

Aside from that...let's see.

MacMillan's final ballet, The Judas Tree, was controversial than and is still controversial now. MacMillan himself said, about it: "There are things in me that are untapped and that have come out in this ballet that I find frightening. This is a dark one."

Here's the synopsis of the most recent Royal Ballet version:

>... staged in a way that is reminiscent of West Side Story. A single woman is in the presence of three main male dancers in a bleak urban landscape. Although it is not explicit in the choreography, the woman is physically abused at several points, raped, and eventually murdered by a wider gang. Although she is sometimes portrayed as a victim, she is not always a passive participant, but also wields what power she has to attract, rebut or humiliate some of her suitors. The narrative ends with one of her lovers being blamed for her death, and betrayed by a kiss from the real culprit. The man is murdered by the gang, and the culprit then hangs himself from the scaffolding. The programme notes recommend that this is not a ballet for children under the age of 12.

The Royal Ballet came under criticism recently for featuring many new ballets that depict women being raped or abused, namely The Wind (based on a novel) and Frankenstein ("based on a novel" but also this ballet version has implications of sex slavery for Frankenstein's monster and others? it's odd).

Then there's the recent Nureyev ballet based on the life and death of Rudolf Nureyev, an internationally acclaimed Russian dancer who defected to the US and eventually died from AIDS-related complications. The ballet was supposed to premiere at Bolshoi in the summer of 2017, but the Russian government pulled it from the roster--hence a "We are afraid this is a new era of censorship" comment one of the star dancers made--presumably because of the homosexual content, as Nureyev was openly gay.

The director of the ballet was arrested--no charges filed yet--for supposed fraud/theft (many believe it was a political power play because the director has been outspoken about Russia's 'homosexuality propaganda' laws) and has been under house arrest since about August of 2017.

It did eventually premiere to a 2-show performance this past December, but the Bolshoi to only released a minimal amount of tickets to the general public for Russian patrons only (ticket holders had to bring their passports!). The rest of the tickets went to the elite patrons, many of whom are Russian politicians and celebrities.

The ballet itself told almost like a documentary, and features audio-visual material including clips of Nureyev, quotes from contemporaries, and so on. I believe for the premiere they removed a controversial clip which showed Nureyev completely nude.

The show is slated to play again in June of this year, so we'll see.

Some others:

The Cage by Jerome Robbins caused quite a stir. It's about a group of cannibal women insects who seduce and eat the men of their species for food. Most modern productions portray the groups as human or humanistic rather than insects. One ballet historian called it the "ugliest and most disturbing ballet of all time." It's not staged very often, and there are no professional recordings but here's an audience camera version:

Full performance: youtube.com/watch?v=vLX-KJHBTME

The Green Table by Kurt Jooss. It's a series of ballet vignettes depicting the horrors of war in a Danse Macabre style, with various interludes depicting a series of Masked Diplomats who incite the wars but do not die from them. There's at least one full recording which is a reconstruction staged by the creator's daughter.

Clip: youtube.com/watch?v=FaZQsZUsytc

The Lesson by Flemming Flindt. It's very rarely staged because it's about a serial killer ballet instructor who gradually becomes enraged at his "stereotypically sweet" ballet pupil until he finally kills her, aided by a woman who plays piano for him. After they hide the body another pupil shows up at the door. It played at the Royal Ballet a few years ago but they pulled it from student matinees and replaced it with something else.

Clip: youtube.com/watch?v=LoBSKFJVPWQ

I think the The Wind wouldn't have been included in the latest criticism if it hadn't premiered just as The Judas Tree ended. The Wind is a tragic Western which happens to contain a rape as the catalyst for a shocking ending, whereas The Judas Tree is something MacMillan recognized as a dark, brutal ballet whose sole narrative revolves around violence.

I don't know if they filmed The Wind but I hope they did. Even Frankenstein got a DVD release, after all.

Who here has seen a ballet or ballets live? Which one? What did you think?

1. I'll try! I think tragedy is thrilling and pleasurable in its own way for most people to watch because we can connect to the emotions of the tragedy and to the experiences and fate of the people/characters in a more immediate and even intense way than in any other genre. You might laugh at a comedy, but do you feel compelled to put yourself in a comedic character's shoes? Do you think about the ways the comedic character's story could turn out differently, if only if only? Whereas with a tragedy, you can feel the loss, you can cry with the characters, you can lament over their fates, you can wish they did not fare so poorly (though if they hadn't, you might not have liked the play/book/movie/ballet as much...)

There's a quote from an author note on a fictional Titanic book that I think of when I consider why we like tragedy, too.

>[Titanic lives on because it has...] at its heart, a little empty space, a space just big enough for us. In our private Titanic story are we a baroness or a lift boy, a second officer or a penniless peasant woman of Europe?

I don't know about anyone else, but I certainly find little spaces for myself in tragic stories. It's oddly thrilling to imagine yourself in the (ballet) shoes of Juliet, dramatically considering a sleeping potion or leaping around your bedroom frantically, trying to cram in those last moments of enjoyed life before an unknown fates takes over, or screaming in horror at the dead body of your love.

1/2?

2/?

2. I'm not an expert by any means on the Revolution or Stalin, so someone feel free to correct me if they know more. From my understanding, I don't know that Stalin so much literally stopped Lenin from destroying the Bolshoi so much as Lenin was content to let the Bolshoi fade away from existence by not giving it state funding, and when Lenin died, Stalin was free to begin funding the struggling ballet and opera houses again. Stalin loved ballet and rarely missed any premiere. Between the Revolution and the the mid 1920s, ballet was kept alive through ballerinas who continued to dance and teach (especially notable is Agrippina Vaganova, whose ballet instruction method is still incredibly popular today, was an Imperial ballerina who transitioned into teacher and eventually an artistic choreographer during the Revolution; Vaganova kept in touch with Anatoly Lunacharsky, minister of education and culture in Soviet Russia, who believed that the arts were essential for the people because it encouraged a solidarity which could be likened to religion.

I'm not sure about books regarding tragic paradox, but for ballet under the USSR:

>Swans of the Kremlin: Ballet and Power in Soviet Russia by Christina Ezhrahi

Pretty much "the" book if you want to learn about ballet companies under the Soviet regime, starting from the early struggles in the Lenin era to the peak of popularity in the '50s and '60s when the Russian companies were used as political and diplomatic tools.

>Ballet's Magic Kingdom: Selected Writings on Dance in Russia, 1911-1925 by Akim Volynsky

Akim Volynsky was a respected Russian cultural critic. The book contains 40 articles written he wrote during the peak of his career, ranging from notes and reviews of specific productions or dancers (including Pavlova!) to his treatises on the state of ballet in Russia and the future of ballet/dance as a whole.

2/3

>Bolshoi Confidential: Secrets of the Russian Ballet from the Rule of the Tsars to Today by Simon Morrison

Morrison is the one who staged that recreation of Prokofiev's original concept for Romeo and Juliet, and the book is best when it's talking about imperial Russian ballet and 'early' Soviet ballet from the late 1920s to the 1940s or so. The Prokofiev material is the best part of the book because the author was given special access to previously unknown material.

>I, Maya Plisetskaya

She was one of the few Soviet-era dancers who did not defect, though the fact that she was considered high risk for defection and was always accompanied by KGB minders may have had something to do with it. Her father was executed during a purge and her mother exiled to a gulag. Her aunt and uncle were celebrated Bolshoi dancers and took her under their wring. She was pretty candid about her experience in dancing under the Soviet Union, which she referred to as the "swamps of Stalinism."

>Alla Osipenko: Beauty and Resistance in Soviet Ballet by Joel Lobenthal

Osipenko had a troubled relationship with Soviet authorities because she was outspoken and often ignored the guidelines for public conduct regarding politics and general opinions about the government. She was more or less kept in Russia after 1961 when her primary partner, Rudolf Nureyev, defected. Osipenko is still alive and the author was able to secure personal interviews with Osipenko about her experiences. Really good book for learning about the state of Soviet ballet in the 1950s-1970s.

Houston Ballet will be performing Swan Lake in Dubai this year, for 4 days in October. Interesting choice for a tour date.

Poor Houston Ballet. Their theater was damaged during the Hurricane, just 2 weeks before they were set to do the American premiere of Mayerling. They managed to finagle out 2 performances in a different theater, obviously not what they had hoped for this renowned premiere. And the theater is still too damaged to perform in so they're having to perform at various theaters throughout the season.

>not counting a Mariinsky reconstruction streamed live in theaters but not released on DVD.

Doing some research, I was wrong! The Mariinsky Lavrosky version--not sure if it really counts as a reconstruction, but they did use the Soviet-era Lavrosky choreography--is available on a b-2 blu-ray.

Thank you, balletanon!

One more question, how do you see future of ballet with progression of technology? I have heard that there are plans for highly intricate stages that are tech heavy, with things such as high quality smell/aroma dispenser devices placed through theater.

No problem!

I think that heavy use of state of the art technology will remain, at least for the foreseeable future, exclusive to new modernesque productions (or avant garde versions of classical ballet) rather than be something used to reinvent classical ballet as we know it. Frankenstein, Nureyev, a lot of European productions of non-classical ballet, are a lot more tech-heavy than any productions of classical ballet, but I don't see them becoming standard in ballet by any means.

Practical technology is becoming easier to use on stage and I think we will see more development in practical technology in classical and classical-leaning ballet, such as using wind machines for "The Wind" which is an unusual type of (old, but still) technology to use for ballet. The Wind also had smaller fans temporary installed so that the audience could get a feel for the wind, so I suppose that's similar to aroma dispensers in that it's a adding a sensory experience.

But I think unless the demographics of ballet audiences changes, we don't see any widespread "high tech" ballets, because people overall prefer the classical style.

Any good ballet documentaries?

There's a few on Netflix that are worth watching, can't remember the titles though

Who was the biggest qt in ballet?

>Bolshoi Babylon

Bolshoi Ballet! Drama, scandal. Focuses mostly on the company in the aftermath of the acid attack on Sergei Filin.

>Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan

Follows the waning ballet career of one America's most popular ballerinas, Wendy Whelan. The first half focuses on her surgery and the consequences of it for her ballet career. Second half focuses on her retirement and later attempt to re-invent herself for a dance career outside of ballet. Pretty interesting--I don't follow NYCB myself very much--and one gets a sense of how depressing it is ballerinas to no longer to be able to perform the same way once they get older.

>First Position

Follows the stories of 6 younger ballerinas who are hoping to begin professional careers in dance as the yprepare for the Youth Grand Prix in NYC. Most of the dancers featured did end up with jobs at professional companies, so it's not as bleak as other documentaries.

>LA Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet

Follows the Paris Opera Ballet through seven different performances. A very intimate, unique look at the company as it operates today. I'm not big on the POB company myself but this documentary made me appreciate it more.

>Ballets Russes

About the Ballet Russes and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Russian companies who tured the USA and were one of the primary introductions to ballet to Americans outside of New York for many years. The dancers of these companies also ended up founding their own companies throughout the United States, and are considered to be the "mothers and fathers" in a sense of American ballet and American's love for ballet.

There's also Ballet 422, which follows the now-current choreographer of the NYCB as he creates a ballet from the original concept all th eway to the premiere. Interesting concept but I honestly found this one a total slog to get through because of how it was filmed. Very static and boringly shot to me, but give it a shot, maybe it's just not my cup of tea.

In the past? A lot of 19th century ballerinas were cute.

As for modern dance I've lately been enamored with how pretty Hee Seo is as Juliet.

Oh!

How could I forget "The Dance Goodbye," which follows another NYCB ballerina in her retirement. I think this documentary is a little more poignant.

And if you're in the mood for a radio documentary, A Dancer Dies Twice. Features a few different retired ballerinas talking about their retirements and last dances, and how they have (or haven't) coped with ending their ballet careers.

soundcloud.com/fallingtreeproductions/a-dancer-dies-twice

>A dancer dies twice; once when they stop dancing, and this first death is the more painful.