yvonnep

My friend and I are going to London for a treat of Mayerling marathon in Oct but failed to get seats we want for the performance on Oct 15. We will be beyond happy if anybody has two tickets in Amphitheatre center for sale. Thanks a lot!

I personally like the 1968 BBC broadcast best because of two reasons: 1. It doesn't have a lot of close-ups and allows us to see the full picture all the time, which I think is really important for Ashton's choreography. (But of course it is lovely to see close-ups too because their gazes at each other are also so intriguing. ) 2. The musicality is better and the movements are more fluid. I had thought that the Ed Sullivan recording was the best reconciliation pdd ever, but after watching the BBC recording and thinking of Ashton's coaching, I realised that the latter is even better. I remember two things especially: that most difficult movement of Sibley folding and unfolding under Dowell's arms looks more natural and at ease, and the way that Sibley was able to quickly arrive at this position and hold (which Ashton explicitly pointed out in his coaching) also matches the music perfectly. Judging from the fact that the Ed Sullivan show as in 1966(?) and the BBC broadcast was in 1968, I think their interpretations grew more mature and natural over the years in practices and performances. I doubt I can take to anyone else as Titania after watching Sibley. The way that Sibley moves every part of her body to incorporate the role and the aura of magic and dream it produces are simply incomparable. I did see both recordings of the RB performance with Park at the Met and the ABT performance of Ferri. I would say that the RB performance is way better and more true to the spirit of the ballet. Park was very good, (perhaps because she was also coached by Ashton?) and that RB recording still remains the best full performance of The Dream we can see today on the Internet.

Oh and how can I have forgot to mention that they also have the full recording of a dress rehearsal of The Two pigeons with Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/3c8814e0-f87e-0130-4822-3c075448cc4b I spent that whole afternoon indulging myself in watching it again and again... I can't even imagine that such cuteness existed...

I usually don't post on the forum but feel that I have to rely to this one to share information about these recordings. The 1968 recording of the original cast of The Dream is preserved by the Jerome Robbins Dance division at the Library of Performing Arts (LPA) of New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, New York. It's not digitalised yet and I had to seek LPA staff's help in finding the recording and playing it. The tape can only be watched once at one time, because to watch it again it has to be rewound by the staff and the rewinding usually takes 15 to 20 minutes. The performance was inexplicably beautiful, almost magical. Sibley and Dowell were so wonderful together. I have to say nobody can ever hold a candle to them in these two roles. And I think they also have the recording of Symphonic Variations here: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/87437fd0-4b52-0133-4044-60f81dd2b63c . It's been digitalised, so one doesn't need the staff's help to watch it. However it can only be viewed onsite on one of the computers at the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of LPA. I haven't checked it out yet but judging from the cast information listed on the page, it is the recording you mentioned. I'm now living in New York. Since discovering the archive that LPA had a couple of months ago I have paid several visits to it and had the chance to find a few hidden gems there: Act IV of La Bayadere by Fonteyn and Nureyev, Clips of Giselle by Fonteyn and Nureyev with Sibley and Shaw dancing the Peasant PDD, Sibley&Dowell&Seymour&Nureyev in balcony PDD in a promotion video of Romeo&Juliet, etc. There is a lot more to explore and I'm so grateful that NYPL has made an effort in preserving these recordings. I hope one day they will be able to digitalise all of them (right now they're short of funds as far as I know, so the digitalisation has been very slow).

Agreed! Sorry to veer off the topic a bit. Speaking of footage, do you know if there is any chance I can find a recording of the 1969 BBC broadcast of Sibley and Dowell's Sleeping Beauty anywhere? I've been desperate to find one...