Pups_mum Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 A friend sent me this link to a short film made in 1948 and I thought I'd share. Enjoy! http://film.britishc...s-of-the-ballet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amum/Cathy Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 That is an amazing piece of history, and I can't believe what good quality the film is. Thanks for posting. Think I will try to work out who some of the dancers are - fasinating to see Robert Helpman narrating it. They seem so much shorter than today's dancers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Wow - what fun to see this! If you scroll down a bit the dancers are listed. The body shapes certainly are different - less angular, more shapely. Didn't see much in the way of banana feet. The allegro sections are surely not as crisp, but the adagio is certainly elegant. The men are not as turned out and technique is quite different - not nearly as sharp. Fifth position for the men in the beginning and finish of a turn is "let go" for the preparation and jumped back into at the finish. No split grand jetés at all - in fact no splits anywhere and thus no ....well, what I call....er.....when a split is overdone or photographed from below......a crotch shot. It was all more dance and less gymnastic. No buns - even at the barre. Because of the lack of banana feet the women's feet look smaller. The lower extensions - though we are no longer used to them - do, however, match the lines of the arms. Thank you so much for posting this. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlingDD Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 I really enjoyed that. Thank you for posting as it was wonderful to watch and so different from ballets performed today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pas de Quatre Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 amum/Cathy - the dancers are credited below the screen. Haven't had time to watch yet - but look forward to doing so! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletla Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Robert Helpman was the child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Was he a dancer before that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomuchtallent Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 loved it!! loved the hair,body shape and the pianist smoking! it was danced quickly with lots of charactor,this is what i loved best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Ribbons: Bobby Helpmann was most certainly a dancer before 1948: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Helpmann 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petipacat Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Loved watching it ,dd laughed at the hair styles they must have used a lot of hair spray ! Thanks for posting pups_mum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 I love things like this, especially love the "womanly" shape of the dancers and how different the feet were! Fabulous. :-) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O`Brien Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Thanks so much for posting this. Did i see the dancer take the female choreographer`s coat off her, and she then just threw it on the floor? !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O`Brien Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Yes,she DID throw it on the floor. Hysterical.!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Those who have enjoyed this film may also find much to like amongst the many shorter newsreel clips of a similar vintage in the British Pathé archives: http://www.britishpa...ch/query/Ballet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowan Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Very interesting. Thanks for posting, Pups_mum. I find it hard to believe that Robert Helpmann was Australian after listening to him speak - an English accent last heard somewhere around the time of "Brief Encounter"! Were the dancers good? I've looked them up and I can see they had long-established careers, but I have to say... (whispering it quietly) ..I think I'd expect more from a ballet dancer today. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Were the dancers good? I've looked them up and I can see they had long-established careers, but I have to say... (whispering it quietly) ..I think I'd expect more from a ballet dancer today. I think it's not a matter of "good" - but different. The style was different. But this was not just in ballet - it was also in drama - different style of acting. This is easily seen in old movies. Originally ballet was not about technique, but about dance, grace, portraying a role and mime. A ballerina was judged as much by her ability in mime as in emotive quality of dance. The dance was not seen as a technical exercise which if not "correct" then the entire performance was discounted. People used to go to the theater to seen differences of interpretation, not who could jump higher or turn more times. At one time what we seen now would have been considered vulgar - certainly not artistic. So, I think our expectations are what we are led to believe is to be "expected" by what's in style. However, one could ask, based upon what is happening now - legs going past the ear and oversplit grand jetés - where will it go next? Leg all the way past the opposite ear and coming out the other side? 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ja Sm Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 Thanks for this pups mum, I found it really interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 At one time what we seen now would have been considered vulgar - certainly not artistic. So, I think our expectations are what we are led to believe is to be "expected" by what's in style. However, one could ask, based upon what is happening now - legs going past the ear and oversplit grand jetés - where will it go next? Leg all the way past the opposite ear and coming out the other side? Mrs M trained just a little later, in the 50s - and came to know some of those involved in the film. She reckons she was perfectly capable of getting her leg by her ear, but that was simply not allowed at the time, by the RAD, the RBS or in the company. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaperone Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 (edited) Thought some of you may be interested in this film in the British Council archive which I think is newly available online. http://film.britishcouncil.org/steps-of-the-ballet Edited May 29, 2014 by chaperone 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O`Brien Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 OMG his accent.! Hysterical. And did dancers not know how to point their toes in those days??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Technique was not the be all and end all it often is today. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dramascientist Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 My thought exactly, Thequays! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O`Brien Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 I know it was different back then,but their dancing just looks so sloppy compared to today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Such womanly figures aren't particularly welcome these days either. I mean, they have fairly obvious bosoms. Oh, the horror... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowan Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 I think there was a little discussion on this film a while back. It's a thread called "Doing Dance in 1948." Actually, I like it better on this second viewing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Ukkk I could only watch five minutes of it because the commentators voice was grating on me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 As both threads were discussing the same film, I have merged the two. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 This film would have had my late friend drooling! Certainly Gerd Larsen, Alexander Grant and Peter Wright achieved fame, if not the others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 In her wonderful autobiography, "Dancing in St. Petersberg," the Prima Ballerina Assoluta Mathilde Kschessinskaya talks about style and suiting that style to the character - and it is well worth reading. There is a picture of her in the book in the role of a goat herd in the ballet "Esmeralda." She is not turned out at all. In her time she was chided for this. But her response is interesting - paraphrase - "A girl herding goats would not be turned out - it's not in the character." She was entirely comfortable to have her audience then - and her audience now - by way of a picture she allowed to be taken and was happy to include in her book - to be seen not turned out because the character she was portraying was her priority - not her technique. She didn't feel the need to be constantly proclaiming her technique. Is that not how an artist would see it? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O`Brien Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 I have a wonderful,old,heavy[expensive !] book by Gordon Anthony[in fact I have most of his books].This one,Ballet Camera Studies,in one of the first inside pages has a signed photograph of Kschesinska. It says," To Gordon Anthony with thanks and good wishes Princess Krasinsky London 1936. Underneath the photo it says,Princess Romanovsky-Krassinsky,famous as Mathilde Kschesinska,Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the Maryinsky Ballet. Joy.!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 I have a wonderful,old,heavy[expensive !] book by Gordon Anthony[in fact I have most of his books].This one,Ballet Camera Studies,in one of the first inside pages has a signed photograph of Kschesinska. It says," To Gordon Anthony with thanks and good wishes Princess Krasinsky London 1936. Underneath the photo it says,Princess Romanovsky-Krassinsky,famous as Mathilde Kschesinska,Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the Maryinsky Ballet. Joy.!! Ok - I'm now officially jealous. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O`Brien Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Ok - I'm now officially jealous. LOL,Anjuli. Before I started collecting pointe shoes and Moulin Rouge memorabilia,the first thing I collected was ballet books. The main reason was because ,having moved around so much i had sadly lost all the lovely ballet books I used to have as a child. But before long i had nearly 100 ballet books,and decided to be a bit more discerning in my choice of ballet books I bought in future. I came across several Gordon Anthony books [he was the brother of Ninette De Valois] online,all called Camera Studies. I think I am correct in saying he made 10 Ballet Camera Studies books and one of the actor,John Gielgud.The other Ballet Studies ones I have by him are The Sadlers Wells Ballet Camera Studies, Ballerina;Further Studies of Margot Fonteyn, and Studies of the Sadlers Wells Ballet Company.There is also Markova, Massine,Robert Helpmann, Sleeping Princess and Russian Ballet Camera Studies; most copies of which sell for about £200.It is my ambition to have a copy of every one of his ballet ones. One day,perhaps.!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now