Jamesrhblack

One of the most sheerly memorable debuts I have ever seen. Subsequent performances of the ballet, including theirs, have remianed haunted by it…

There is no Liberal less liberal than a Liberal with whom you disagree…

But it was a “delusion” that Franziska Schanzkowska sustained to the end of her life. She is even interred under the name of Anastasia at Castle Seeon.

An interesting point, and I can see its validity at one level. However, Anna Anderson was always very clear in her assertions that she knew well who she was (whether or not this was a sly reference to the fact she knew she was a fraud or she really did believe in her claim) and I think the ballet still works as an examination of identity. The redesigns certainly make it clear that the entire ballet is set in the hospital with the skewed angles emphasising we are watching Anna’s version of her “past.” This is, of course, a personal point of view and not offered as fact…

Unlikely if, as originally, played by a boy 😉

I do indeed mean a farthingale, my point being that there was a corset whose lace strings could be cut to relieve a palpitating heart …

And Shakespeare’s Cleopatra was first played by a boy in a crinoline, “Cut my lace, Charmian…| etc etc etc

Hirano / Hay seems almost as challenging visually as Clarke / Campbell…

Except that the tempo is rather brisk at this point …

Love thie idea of drifting mist. I’d always read it as the Wilis consecrating their particular place…

That is one way of looking at it. Macaulay’s point, with which I agree, is that by emulating the Wili’s travelling arabesque hops and looking towards the ground as they apparently did originally (the Wilis being creatures of ground and grave quite as much as air) her inner Wili, the Wili that dances a man to death at Myrtha’s command is coming to the fore, and she does indeed finish the sequence leading the company in the sauté foutées en arabesque (I hope I have the terminology correct) in which Myrtha previously led them. We will all respond to moments differently. For me, these moments when Giselle’s submission to Myrtha and love of dancing (which Berthe, of course, in Act worried would lead to the Act 2 situation) come to the fore add a depth and resonance to the Act, very much in accord with the Romantic notion of the idealised woman as destroyer as well as redeemer, that make it much more interesting than a simple, she was betrayed, she forgives narrative. Puccini’s Le Vili offers an interesting development of this perspective too.

Many of my thoughts are inspired by Alastair Macaulay’s fascinating Giselle, and her problems which examines the ballet with reference to the original sources. He does refer to the Wili’s arabesques voyagées as”cow hops” and points out that it is this step in which Albrecht supports Giselle with her face turned down towards the grave. I don’t imagine I’m allowed to give the link but it’s easily findable on google search and is well worth a read.

Interesting to have the technical explanation. Watching though, it still seems very much the same intention….

Hmm, that’s not how I interpret that aspect of the choreography which suggests me to me her succumbing to the demon within as I watch it (given that she is directly quoting steps executed by the Corps de Ballet and Myrtha). The music is also farly frenzied at that point too.

But it’s undoubtedly the same step which always suggests to me Giselle’s inner Wili surfacing at this crucial moment. The sequence even ends with Giselle leading the corps de ballet in the same sequence as Martha earlier in the act.

It’s not intended as rude. I’ve definitely seen the corps de ballet sequence referred to as that and it’s definitely the step Giselle is performing which always suggests to me that her Willi side with the love of dancing is taking over.

It’s the jumps across the stage that the Willis execute adding row by row until all are cross crossing “consecrating” their place. When Giselle comes on at the end of the coda of the Act 2 duet from the upstage wing Albrecht is partnering her as she executes that step.

It is indeed a Fugue from the original score and it is in the Ratmansky version too. Apparently, the idea was to represent the Willis as relics of a former judgemental world as opposed to the new world of understanding and forgiveness (although that doesn’t stop Giselle succumbing to her own inner Willi and seeking to dance Albrecht to death at one point in the Act Two coda when he partners her doing the “Cow hop” step…

I think there was at one time a policy that the then junior principals only did two of what were then the three major full length classics: Merle Park was assigned Giselle and The Sleeping Beauty; Lynn Seymour danced Giselle and Swan Lake; and Antoinette Sibley danced The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. Others had more limited opportunities still, Deanne Bergsma and Monica Mason dancing only Swan Lake, and Vyvyan Lorrayne only Beauty. Even in the 1970’s, Alfred’s Thorogood had very limited opportunities as Odette/Odile, a single Giselle and not many more Auroras; Ann Jenner danced Giselle and Aurora but not Odette /Odile, wfilst Jennifer Penney didn’t dance Giselle until 1980. More recently, Deborah Bull was cast as Odette / Odile and Kitri, but never as Giselle or Juliet and Aurora only as a replacement, whilst Laura Morera did one Kitri as a jump-in, but never again, and, inexplicably, was never cast as Juliet.

Did Alexander Campbell say on an engagement interview when asked whether they would be dancing together words to the effect that he didn’t think Cuban heels were allowed in ballet. I’m baffled, yet again, that he hasn’t been cast as Siegfried, unless he is cast with Takada should McRae still be out.

He certainly did. My late father took me to see them and I can still see them in my mind’s eye in the Fanny Essler pas de deux coda. I don’t think I have ever seen two people move quite as quickly again …

And here are the prices

Sorry, misunderstood. I thought you meant that WB was “relatively late in his career.” Inevitably, lockdown added to the cycle of repertoire scheduling has affected the point at which he first dances Basilio. Unfortunately, I’m not interested enough in Don Q as a ballet to invest the funds to buy a ticket, although I’ll try for the cinema showing. Incidentally, wasn’t Merle Park 35 when she danced her first Odette / Odile, roles that she kept in her repertoire for only four years (although she danced them a lot) unlike Giselle and Aurora.

“A relatively late stage in his career” ??? He’s 32…

Ditto