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Sebastian

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    Alexander Shiryaev: A Belated Premiere

    in Ballet / Dance news & information

    Posted

    Shiryaev wrote an extended memoir, mostly about the period before the revolution, ie his work as a dancer and assistant to Petipa during the glory days of the Imperial Ballet. 

     

    Nadine Meisner refers to this rare document in her recent biography of Petipa. The book was finished but never issued: it was prepared for publication in 1941 but the whole edition was destroyed in the siege of Leningrad. Luckily a single advance copy survived in the Russian National Library (Meisner used a photocopy). It was eventually published in full in 2004 in a Russian film journal, after which it was translated into English and published in 2009 as part of the book "Alexander Shiryaev: Master of Movement".

     

    This excellent English-language publication is hard but not impossible to find. One can try writing to the Italian publishers, who offer the book for sale (there is also currently one copy available from a reseller on Italian Amazon). Although the British Library do not hold a copy, nor does the BFI Library, there is a copy in the library of the University of Bristol.

     

    The memoir is well worth seeking out by anyone interested in learning more about Shiryaev and Petipa's era at the Mariinsky. We know - direct from Petipa - that Shiryaev had an excellent memory, so this may be a more reliable account than most, with stories about Pavlova, Kschessinskaya, Marie Petipa and other stars of the period. 

    • Like 1

    Two great £11 tickets for Fille du régiment this Thursday?

    in Opera & Music

    Posted

    As posted elsewhere, ROH Fille du régiment is not nearly sold out this Thursday, despite the presence of the new super tenor, Javier Camarena. However the slips are pretty much sold and I happen to have the best of the Upper Slips, DD1/2, £11 each, but can sadly no longer attend.

     

    Etickets therefore easy to send. Anyone interested please send me a PM as well as posting here

    Sleeping Beauty drawings by Pavel Gerdt - more information?

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    Apologies if this information has already appeared elsewhere on the Forum but the discovery is perhaps important enough to warrant its own topic. Drawings of Sleeping Beauty Act III PDD by the first Prince Désiré, Pavel Gerdt, were discovered in Moscow in 2018. Some of the drawings have since started to come into circulation as they were recently used by Ratmansky for the latest revival of his Sleeping Beauty reconstruction for ABT.

     

    Thanks to others I have found a few links which show a little of this new found treasure:

     

    https://tinyurl.com/yxdvku3o

     

    https://petipasociety.com/2018/12/16/sketches-by-pavel-gerdt-released-by-the-bolshoi-theatre-museum/?fbclid=IwAR1hn4B3T_1tvEUnCE5fLLVoPUksOqCm0gw9FvIbvWorrEiPzoOxTEGdL_I

     

    http://oteatre.info/petipa-ps/

     

    It would be great if the full set of drawings was properly online somewhere, does anyone know if this has been done? The last link (the Russian one) apparently credits one snapshot to otzyv.ru but that doesn't seem to lead anywhere (however I may well have misunderstood)

     

    Any further information very gratefully received. Short of a video from 1890 (!) this is as good and as early as has been discovered to date when it comes to at least one part of this ballet.

     

     

     

     

     

    • Like 3

    Insight: Fonteyn and Me Tues 4th June 6pm

    in Ticket Exchange & Special Offers

    Posted

    3 hours ago, MichelleS said:

    I have a spare for this due to a last minute work commitment

     

    Clore C12

    £17

     

    It's an e-ticket so easily transferable - please send me a PM and ideally also post here if you are interested

     

    Thanks, MichelleS

     

    Many thanks Michelle, I think my friend is still looking for a ticket (as at her limit with such bookings!) Will do what I can to get you a quick response! 

    Beryl Grey / Swan Lake / 1951/52

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    On 21/04/2018 at 06:35, Geoff said:

    As a postscript to the recent discussion on 32 fouettés, here is a clip of Beryl Grey, probably while still a teenager, doing Black Swan/Odile with John Field (the reference in the Huntley archive says the film has sound but this poor quality YouTube sample is silent) More information would be welcome.

     

     

     

     

    The film has not disappeared, see this listing from the BFI’s catalogue:

     

    http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150021215

     

    However it is not clear from this information whether the BFI holds enough to project this in 3D, does anyone happen to know more? 

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