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BBC Ballet on TV season - March 2014


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I wish somebody would seize the opportunity to make a longer programme with the wonderful dancers who appeared in Dancing in the Blitz before it's too late.  There's obviously nothing at all wrong with their memories and they are such great characters.  I loved the documentary film with the survivors of the Ballets Russes - surely there could be another film like that about the early days of the company that would become the Royal Ballet.

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I heartily endorse this thought. I still cannot believe that Gillian Lynn is 88 and Beryl Grey 87, let alone Henry Danton.

 

I think it is something of a waste that we know a fair bit about Dame Gillian's work in the commercial theatre and very little about her ballet days. I was also impressed with the way she defended de Valois.

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I heartily endorse this thought. I still cannot believe that Gillian Lynn is 88 and Beryl Grey 87, let alone Henry Danton.

I kept staring at them, wondering how those spring chickens could possibly have anything to do with the Blitz.

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The 'extended' version of the Fonteyn / Somes Beauty is now on iPlayer, all 95 minutes of it.

 

Grrr - and I've just used up my broadband allocation for the month :(

 

Does anyone know whether it's possible to download the iPlayer software onto a large-capacity USB stick and run it from there?  If so, I could make a trip to the library ...

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I have just finished watching ArtWorks Scotland: Peter Darrell: Scotland's Dance Pioneer on i-player. It brought back lots of memories because Scottish Ballet was the first company that I got to know after I had left home and thus had an income for theatre tickets and ballet lessons.

 

The first dancer whom I followed was Elaine McDonald.  It is good to see her again on TV. This time in a programme about ballet rather than in a news item on her claim for social care against the borough of Kensington and Chelsea which went all the way to the Supreme Court.

 

There is an interesting contribution from Matthew Bourne. He said that Darrell's Swan Lake was the first ballet he ever saw and that it influenced his own work. Having seen Matthew Bourne's work on Tuesday it is still fresh in my memory. I can see the connection

 

There are some precious clips of Mods and Rockers, Cheri.and some of Darrell's other works.

 

I was lucky enough to meet Darrell briefly on two occasions: once when Scottish Ballet performed at The Whitehall theatre in Dundee and I was requisitioned by John  Steer to provide transport for Kenn Wells and another dancer and the other time when they danced at St Andrews.

 

I am glad to see that Scottish Ballet intends to revive Darrell's Nutcracker at Christmas. That will require another trip to Glasgow.

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Yes Terpsichore, I share your praise for this programme. I am not too familiar with Peter Darrell 's choreography & I have only seen stills of Western Ballet Theatre productions, so this was a revelation to me. I found the pas de deux from Cheri extremely moving and I am interested to know if any of Darrell's work has been, or is currently, in the repertoire of other companies. Certainly Scottish Ballet appear to have been left a wonderful legacy. It was also interesting to hear Michael Clarke recall his appearance as Fritz in the Nutcracker - was he the Fritz in the televised version?

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Grrr - and I've just used up my broadband allocation for the month :(

 

Does anyone know whether it's possible to download the iPlayer software onto a large-capacity USB stick and run it from there?  If so, I could make a trip to the library ...

there is software to download from iplayer but i dont want to break any forum rules :(

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I have never been lucky enough to see Scottish Ballet although I did see Elaine McDonald a couple of times at galas.  I thought it was very sad to see how frail she is now and to think how unfair that she lost her claim for care.  It just shows what can be waiting for all of us, both dancers and non-dancers.

 

I found the programme really interesting and I was pleased to see such a remarkable life as Peter Darrell getting some acknowledgement.  I had not appreciated how influential he was and this was a story worth telling.  One of the best features of this ballet week is that it has covered other companies, not just the Royal.

 

British ballet is full of fascinating characters and stories and it has been great that some of them have been uncovered like this.  More please, or failing that, can we have greater access to some of the footage which has been dangled in front of us in an almost teasing manner.

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Two Pigeons

 

I enjoyed your post very much.

 

If you want to see Scottish Ballet, you will get an opportunity if you live within easy reach of London. The company is bringing its Romeo & Juliet to London in mid-May. The company has evolved a long way since I first knew it and it seems to have a good artistic director in Christopher Hampson.

 

If you would like to learn more about Peter Darrell the Peter Darrell Trust website has lots of materials including a very good appreciation by Clement Crisp. Although we do not see much of his work nowadays Darrell was regarded very highly in his day. Looking through my old hoard of Dance and Dancers from the late 1960s and early 1970s his name came up as often as John Cranko's and Kenneth MacMillan.

 

I feel desperately sad about Elaine McDonald and I am reminded of Anjuli-Bai's post on a ballerina's perspective on retirement. As Lord Brown said in the opening judgment on her appeal "ill health can be dreadfully cruel." She was and remains one of my favourite ballerinas. It was good to see her again in the programme. I saw flickerings of her old self several times, especially when her smile returned.

 

At the Northern Ballet Open Day PhillUpNorth told me that Northern Ballet also traced its roots to Bristol. I had always thought Northern Ballet had started life in Manchester in 1969 but I see from the obituary of its founder Laverne Meyer that he had worked with Elizabeth West in Bristol and indeed with Darrell even after Western Theatre Ballet moved to Scotland.  Now that I am aware of the connection I can see more than a slight resemblance between the two companies.

 

You are right that there are lots of fascinating characters and stories in British ballet and with the internet it is now very much easier than it once was to uncover them.

Edited by terpsichore
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Terpsichore please may I return the compliment. Many thanks for these links, I shall enjoy exploring them.

 

All in all I think this week of dance has given us balletomanes a lot to consider and new avenues to explore. It would be greedy (and probably fruitless) to ask for more of the same. However, ever the optimist we can only try.

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Many thanks for the link to the extended version John. I was hoping to download it via the Sky catch up service but it does not seem to be available there.

 

I have just watched it on my tablet. I am sorry that the Acts 1 and 3 variations were not filmed but it was great to have an extra helping of Antoinette Sibley doing the first fairy - Crystal Fountain or Beauty depending on you preferred production.

 

When the credits came up I was rather amused by the very ordinary and utterly Anglo names of most of the cast. Clearly a long way from the days of having to Russify all dancers stage names.

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Terpsichore and others: I think we will be seeing more of Darrell's choreography. When Christopher Hampson took over as AD, I think he stated that it was an aim of his to bring back some Darrell ballets. If Bruce is around, I'm sure he'll be able to provide a link to the piece.

 

Edit: no need - I've found it myself: http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/1834-press-release-scottish-ballet-announces-plans-for-201314/?hl=darrell

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I have just watched it on my tablet. I am sorry that the Acts 1 and 3 variations were not filmed but it was great to have an extra helping of Antoinette Sibley doing the first fairy - Crystal Fountain or Beauty depending on you preferred production..

Lucette Aldous as the Lilac a Fairy was another surprising treat.

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I've found that watching these programmes a second time is even more satisfying, thought Dancing in the Blitz really interesting and was amazed at the colour rehearsal film for Symphonic Variations, perhaps my dream of seeing long lost colour film of Fonteyn and Somes in Sylvia and Daphnis and Chloe is not so far-fetched after all :)

 

What a difference colour makes though, very hard to appreciate the SB extracts in black and white, I mostly noticed how lucky the RB were to have Michael Somes, the perfect danseur noble, also how the Lilac Fairy's variation has become easier over the years, it really looked tricky at the end, even for Lucette Aldous.

 

Looking forward to tonight's, should see lots of ENB dancers!

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I watched the 95 minute version of SB. It was interesting to see the dancing from different angles and to see close ups of the dancers round the crib. I was impressed with the fairies; they had so much charm and personality. The garland dance, with its complex patterns, was much more attractive than the current incarnation. Did anyone else think that the ballet was quite fast?

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I've commented on this several times before, that the music for all the classics seems to have slowed down considerably over the last 30 years.

 

I love it when the dancers go at a faster pace, it gives the steps such zest and life. 

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There was an earlier documentary on the Royal Ballet in wartime, back in 2007. You can find discussion on it on this thread from the old forum

 

here

 

http://www.ballet.co.uk/dcforum/news/3547.html

 

and here

 

http://www.ballet.co.uk/dcforum/happening/6124.html

 

I went to an event in the Cabinet War rooms about this. The interviewees then were very lively, and I recall them discussing the difficulties of making pointe shoes last. 

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Yes, I agree.  The dancing formed a backdrop to some really interesting personal accounts of a unique period, not only in ballet, but in the history of the 20th century. 

 

The tale of the dancers performing Les Sylphides, and being on stage as they heard a doodle bug coming over, actually made me laugh out loud.  I just had this mental image of rows of dancers, frozen on point, while the audience cowered under the seats and various members of the orchestra hid beneath their instruments.  A huge bang, a pause, the orchestra rearranges itself, the music starts up again, and the dancers' arms begin to undulate gracefully one more. 

 

It is a scene worth of a Hollywood movie, except probably nobody would believe it!

I agree it illustrates the "stiff upper lip" but I'm afraid i couldn't help wondering where the doodlebug did actually land and what lives were destroyed as a result.

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Did anyone else think that the ballet was quite fast?

 

Yes, definitely - and I don't think it was an effect of the film/soundtrack.  I was very impressed with Brian Shaw's batterie in the Bluebird pdd - especially managing to fit it all in at that speed.  It shows that today's Bluebirds, good as they are, are still missing something.

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I agree with Ian Macmillan that Good Swan Bad Swan was a great success.  

 

I learned a lot from her step by step analysis of the pas de deux in Acts II, III and IV.

 

I suppose only a ballerina who has danced that role can gain such insight.

 

It has been a good season and I shall be a little less resentful at renewing my TV licence.

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I also really enjoyed the Rojo programme.  It had the right balance between dance clips, narration, interviews and history.  As one of the best interpreters of the role for many a year, the BBC chose the right artist to present the show.  Another reason is that Rojo exudes intelligence, wit, insight, passion, knowledge and artistry.  With that package, you can't go wrong.  I've been watching Swan Lake for almost 50 years (I was a little girl the first time I saw it!) and I still learned things last night.  One of the fascinating things is how differently Odile can be interpreted by different dancers.  I was very interested to see that Rojo seems to portray her as arriving at the ball as herself, who just wants the challenge of seducing Siefgried and ruining him and Odette because that's what her father wants her to do.  Usually, Odile is presented as being made to look just like Odette so the prince will fall for her.  Here, he falls for her simply because she is feisty, stunning and erotic, and it's not until the vision of Odette appears that she decides to become more like her in order to distract Siegfried.  Fascinating.  I think I'll watch it again!

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Tiny quibble about the Good Swan Bad Swan.  I thought it was very bad manners of the director not to credit the various Siegfrieds online in the course of the programme.  OK, they were on the final. credits, but if you didn't know already, you wouldn't know that Matthew Golding did most of the dancing, with just one rehearsal where Muntagirov was suddenly there instead.  Otherwise I thought it was most interesting.

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