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Just a couple of observations on some of the reviews. Gerald Dowler thinks that in the finale of "Apollo" the god is leading the muses up to Mount Olympus. Not so, Mount Parnassus is the home of the muses and at its foot is Delphi where the oracle was sacred to Apollo.

 

Regarding the solo for "Le Beau Gosse" I've seen it said that this is all that survives from "Le Train Bleu", but I distinctly recall seeing this ballet on French TV some years ago. Of course I can't say how authentic this performance was but some of the work for the corps was very reminiscent in style to "Les Biches" and the whole ballet certainly had the appropriate chic, trendy 1920s look. That being said, I didn't feel that it was anywhere near the calibre of "Les Biches".

 

Edited to correct spelling.

Edited by Wulff
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Is Les Biches ever performed these days? I'd like to see it.

 

The Royal Ballet performed it six or seven years ago......

.......In fact, I've just checked the performance database. It was in a mixed bill in June 2005. I remember enjoying it enormously.

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Les Biches and Les Noces were the two ballets which Nijinska herself taught to the RB at Frederick Ashton's invitation during his time as director. Ashton was a great admirer of Nijinska having worked for her when she was ballet mistress and choreographer for Ida Rubinstein's company in Paris in the late 1920s, and he was much impressed and influenced both by her choreographic and teaching methods. By the time of her visit to the RB she seems to have become a rather eccentric old lady, speaking a mixture of Russian and French and no longer nimble on her feet. Despite the difficulties of working for her the dancers considered themseves privileged to have done so and felt that they were in the presence of a genius. David Drew recounts a number of amusing anecdotes from that time. The RB's versions of both the above ballets are no doubt the most authentic in existence having come direct from the choreographer herself.

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"I don't suppose that it will ever be performed by ENB now that Wayne Eagling is going."

 

I doubt it would have been, even if he were staying. It's the Royal Ballet who have the link to Nijinska, surely?

 

(This is what happens when you leave a page open for several hours without actually hitting "Post": wulff's response sneaked in unnoticed :), so I've added aileen's quote for clarity)

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I recall Monica Mason at an Insight evening several years ago desribing what it was like being taught 'Les Noces' by Madam Nijinska. The dancers were all rather terrified of the old lady, who would work them for hours on end without a break. One of the male dancers called, I think, Keither Mason, was able to persuade her to let them stop for a tea break by the simple method of wordlessly holding his fingers up in a 'T' formation!

 

Funny how these little details stick in the mind - I just wish I could remember more of what Monica said of this privileged experience, but I'm sure when the RB does 'Noces' again there'll be another Insight evening and she may be persuaded to roll out her treasured memories again.

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I hadn't known of this link between Nijinska and the RB. I had always assumed that there was a stronger link between the Ballets Russes and ENB through their founders who had been dancers with the Ballets Russes.

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Regarding the solo for "Le Beau Gosse" I've seen it said that this is all that survives from "Le Train Bleu", but I distinctly recall seeing this ballet on French TV some years ago. Of course I can't say how authentic this performance was but some of the work for the corps was very reminiscent in style to "Les Biches" and the whole ballet certainly had the appropriate chic, trendy 1920s look. That being said, I didn't feel that it was anywhere near the calibre of "Les Biches".

 

 

 

I've been wondering about this too. I have a recollection that some time in the 1990s (I think) there were adverts in the dance press for a production of Le Train Bleu which a French or German company was planning to bring to the UK - maybe the Coliseum ?. But it never happened. It gave me the impression that there might still be a production "live" out there somewhere. Does anyone recall this ?

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...I'm sure when the RB does 'Noces' again there'll be another Insight evening and she [Mason] may be persuaded to roll out her treasured memories again.

 

There's no Insight Evening for the upcoming triple bill which includes Les Noces but that's not to say it might not be covered in a Royal Ballet in Rehearsal. And there's always the In Conversation with Monica Mason on 11 June...

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I hadn't known of this link between Nijinska and the RB. I had always assumed that there was a stronger link between the Ballets Russes and ENB through their founders who had been dancers with the Ballets Russes.

 

I find this a very curious thing to say. I thought it was very common knowledge that Ninette de Valois was a member of the Ballets Russes (when Alice Marks was still a young teenager). Also, if I recall correctly, wasn't the role of the Hostess in Les Biches created on de Valios?

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I've been wondering about this too. I have a recollection that some time in the 1990s (I think) there were adverts in the dance press for a production of Le Train Bleu which a French or German company was planning to bring to the UK - maybe the Coliseum ?. But it never happened. It gave me the impression that there might still be a production "live" out there somewhere. Does anyone recall this ?

There was a French company (Bordeaux Ballet?) which brought some, I think, Ballets Russes works to Woking, and Le Train Bleu may have been on the list. Unfortunately, it was a really busy week and I couldn't get down to see it. Mind you, I think I have a flyer for it ... somewhere ...

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I find this a very curious thing to say. I thought it was very common knowledge that Ninette de Valois was a member of the Ballets Russes (when Alice Marks was still a young teenager). Also, if I recall correctly, wasn't the role of the Hostess in Les Biches created on de Valios?

Yes, you are correct that de Valois created the role of the Hostess. I would say that what remains of the Ballets Russes rep is split pretty evenly between the two companies with RB having the two Nijinska works, both companies having Petrouchka and Les Sylphides with different producers, both companies having Apollo, ENB having Scheherazade and Spectre (possibly RB has this somewhere in its history) etc. There are also the Massine works with both companies at some point having Tricorne in the rep (would love to see those Picasso sets again). These are off the top of my head but there are probably many more.

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I've been wondering about this too. I have a recollection that some time in the 1990s (I think) there were adverts in the dance press for a production of Le Train Bleu which a French or German company was planning to bring to the UK - maybe the Coliseum ?. But it never happened. It gave me the impression that there might still be a production "live" out there somewhere. Does anyone recall this ?

 

 

It may have been the POB, there is a DVD available of them dancing it, I believe it dates back to the 1990's, the other ballet on the DVD is Three Cornered Hat, it's called "Picasso and Dance" and there is also a documentary. I often watch Train Bleu, it's not as good as Les Biches but very similar in theme.

 

I would like to see the RB revive Les Biches too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Train Bleu which the Paris Opera did in the 1990s was, I believe, a reconstruction - not a revival - by the dance scholar Frank W.D. Ries, made in collaboration with the choreographer's daughter, Irina Nijinska, and with some input from Anton Dolin. It was first done for the Oakland Ballet in 1989.

 

(And by the way, Markova's real name was Lilian Alicia Marks.)

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Also, just to clarify for anyone coming new to all this, it's true that Nijinska worked out the role of the Hostess in Les Biches on de Valois, but she (Nijinska) actually danced the first performances herself.

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I would say that what remains of the Ballets Russes rep is split pretty evenly between the two companies with RB having the two Nijinska works, both companies having Petrouchka and Les Sylphides with different producers, both companies having Apollo, ENB having Scheherazade and Spectre (possibly RB has this somewhere in its history) etc. There are also the Massine works with both companies at some point having Tricorne in the rep (would love to see those Picasso sets again). These are off the top of my head but there are probably many more.

 

Don't forget BRB in all this :). They have Petrouchka (which is pretty much dormant at the Royal, I'd have to say), and they've done Tricorne far more recently than the RB, assuming they used to do it in the first place. RB does indeed also have Spectre, although hasn't done it since about 2004, I think.

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Don't forget BRB in all this :). They have Petrouchka (which is pretty much dormant at the Royal, I'd have to say), and they've done Tricorne far more recently than the RB, assuming they used to do it in the first place. RB does indeed also have Spectre, although hasn't done it since about 2004, I think.

Sorry, I always think of RB and BRB as two sides of the same coin! As you say, Petrouchka is very much dormant at the RB (don't think its's been done since the Fonteyn/Nureyev period as I certainly haven't seen it there and I've been going to performances since 1977(!) so it is good that BRB has taken it over if only occasionally. I didn't realise that BRB now do Tricorne which is great as the RB haven't done it since the 1950s (Fonteyn was always praised for her Miller's wife) and I don't think ENB have done it since they were LFB but I could be wrong about that.

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As you say, Petrouchka is very much dormant at the RB (don't think its's been done since the Fonteyn/Nureyev period as I certainly haven't seen it there and I've been going to performances since 1977(!)

 

Mukhamedov and Kumakawa danced it, I think - to not very good reviews, I remember - so I'd guess it was last done in the mid-90s. David Bintley at BRB was reputed to be one of the best Petrushkas ever.

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Mukhamedov and Kumakawa danced it, I think - to not very good reviews, I remember - so I'd guess it was last done in the mid-90s. David Bintley at BRB was reputed to be one of the best Petrushkas ever.

I must admit I didn't go to many ballet performances in the mid 90s so I guess I missed that revival although I do remember seeing Mukhamedov so that might have been either on film or with another company. I definitely saw Bintley and yes he had that wonderful 'floppy' vulnerability so necessary for the role. I saw BRB at Sadlers Wells a few years ago, as Aileen mentions, but I remember thinking the production was not as lively as the wonderful ones I remember by LFB in the 1970s/80s at Festival Hall.
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