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Sebastian

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    Novelty dancing

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted · Edited by Sebastian

    Apologies if I have muddled things at all by using both the terms novelty and speciality dancing. One way to look at this is as a continuum running from acrobatics and comedy at one end - even circus routines - all the way through tap to dancing of a kind one might even see on the stage of the ROH (dances intended to get a laugh or astonish with acrobatic skill alone or crossover with popular entertainment). The edges are rather blurry and the skills of the performers often overlapped with others, such as juggling, contortionism or even classical ballet dancing. And both white and black performers are featured. Sorry if I unintentionally implied anything narrower.

     

    However I rather take issue with the notion that there is (or rather was, we are not talking about present-day performers) a national divide. As I know from watching many recordings for research purposes some years ago, some now happily available on YouTube (often newsreel reports feeding off both British music hall and US vaudeville acts), such highly skilled entertainers existed on both sides of the Atlantic and both sides of the English channel. A notable example of the so-called Apache Dance - impossibly unPC now - appeared successfully in night clubs etc in various European cities and also in Hollywood (for example in a film with The Three Stooges). Indeed one online writer suggests the husband and wife team who perfected this particular act were German Jews, travelling to stay one country ahead of the Nazis. 

     

    What makes these routines so special - and so interesting to those of us whose eyes have grown accustomed to the modern way of rehearsing and performing - is the sheer brilliance which comes from touring the same short act around for years, the best performers getting more and more skilled - faster, stronger, funnier, more flexible, sharper timing, whatever - as they honed what they did over literally thousands of performances.

     

    Novelty dancing

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    As a seasonal treat we watched the rare film "King of Jazz" (Paul Whiteman and his band, 1930). This epic of Hollywood folly disappeared for many years and was never licenced to television. There was a much reduced and poor-quality version released on VHS back in the 1980s but in 2016, following a special screening of a restored print at MOMA in New York, the full glory of this multimillion dollar extravaganza became available again. There is now a dvd / BluRay release so, after seeing a clip in the first episode of Neil Brand's recent BBC series "The Sound of Movie Musicals", we got ourselves a copy. Here's some more about this curious film:

     

    http://www.criterionconfessions.com/2018/03/king-of-jazz-915.html

     

    My reason for posting here is a wonderful novelty dance - My Ragamuffin Romeo - which is viewable in a (very poor quality) YouTube clip. In it a ragamuffin doll is thrown about in a way which only years of the dancers performing this routine in vaudeville would make possible. A must watch, one way or another.

     

    Incidentally, the internet and the dvd booklet refer repeatedly to the dancers as Don Rose and Marion Stadler, whereas the film itself credits the girl who (seemingly) risks her neck as "Marion Stattler".

     

    What are people's favourite novelty (or speciality) dances or dancers?

     

     

     

    Dance on terrestrial TV

    in Ballet / Dance news & information

    Posted

    On 15/12/2018 at 11:40, Angela said:

    The Mariinsky "Raymonda" will be on arte tv in Germany and France on Sunday, 23.12. at 21.50 CET, with Tereshkina, Parish and Zverev. They announce it with the title "Ballets Russes" which is kind of true but rather misleading... 😕

    https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/082239-000-A/ballets-russes-im-mariinksi-theater/

     

    available online here for streaming from tomorrow:

    https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/082239-000-A/raymonda-by-marius-petipa/

     

    Many thanks Angela! The online stream will work till February. A blogger has commented here:

     

    https://classical-iconoclast.blogspot.com/2018/12/glazunov-raymonda-petipa-gergiev.html

    • Like 1

    Marius Petipa Documentary

    in Ballet / Dance news & information

    Posted

    20 hours ago, FLOSS said:

    For those who may be interested there is a documentary about Petipa available on the french television channel Arte until the 29th December. It is called Marius Petpa le maitre francais du ballet russe. It is available in French and possibly German

     

    Here are the two links:

     

    https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/076621-000-A/marius-petipa-le-maitre-francais-du-ballet-russe/

     

    https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/076621-000-A/marius-petipa-der-meister-des-klassischen-balletts/

    • Like 2
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