#la fille du pharon

[ballet-symphonie]

Mariinsky Asks

I was wondering if you've seen the pictures and videos of La Fille du Pharaon premiering at the Mariinsky. I've been waiting with trepidation. I have the video of this ballet staged by the Bolshoi and their make up was very problematic, to the say the least. Especially Aspiccia's maid in full on blackface. I don't think I've managed to watch the entire thing because it REALLY bothered me.

I was very pleasantly surprised with the costumes at the Mariinsky! Such stunning costumes! Probably their most beautiful. I didn't see the entire thing but, from what I've watched, no blackface to be seen and I breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully this is a first step in the right direction. Maybe next thing they'll be changing around some other makeup in other ballets? (Especially in The Bayadere, I have to skip the entire part featuring children) Baby I steps? cannot speak for the cultural appropriation and aspects of Egyptian culture being used because it's not my place to but I'd be curious about it, too.

Sure its better because there’s no blackface but that’s the lowest bar ever.  I’m not sure this is a ballet I’d really want to see. It’s not dramatically captivating, and some of the variations just look downright uncomfortable to get through (unless you’re Kimin Kim). I personally didn’t like the costumes, for how much money they must have spent, they looked a little tacky and overly shiny to me. I have also read reviews saying this ballet REALLY dragged with excessive pantomime. Like its 3.5 hours long- absolutely obnoxious. Haven’t found many clips of the pantomime, obviously because no one is interested. It is an interesting concept of reconstruction, but it almost feels like something that belongs in a museum and not on stage. 

Hey, Ale, first of all big love to you for your great blog 🫶🏼 Concerning Anastasia Plotnikova, I feel like she’s kind of become the 2020 graduate with the most featured roles at MT. Others like Valeria Bespalova and Lizi Avsadjanishvili (before she left) seemed to stand out more at Vaganova. Still, Plotnikova seemed to get more soloist parts that seem to lead the path to promotions for new graduates (shades solo, odaliaques solo, variation in Paquita) while the others didn’t. I think the biggest part she’s gotten is the Queen of the Dryads. I don’t know if that’s considered a principal role? But I think at least a big soloist role? :D I just think it’s interesting how things for the 2020 class are working out. They are the first Vaganova class I followed as students already and to me, it seemed that they would take over the theatre like Khoreva and friends, only that their year had even more red diplomas. I was a bit surprised that it seemed that they were given opportunities so much slower than at least the 2018 year. I’m really interested in hearing your thoughts on the 2020 graduates, especially because I thought it was so fascinating that 5 girls danced Masha in the Nutcracker, when only two years later no girl in the graduate year was deemed good enough.

Plotnikova has definitely adjusted to professional life better than expected and is certainly making the most of herself and separating herself from the rather mediocre classes from 2020-2022. Queen of the Dryads is a good step forward. I theoretically would worry about her getting pushed aside for the 2023…but since the ‘big 3’ are all going to BT, I think we will be seeing more of her. 

A red diploma doesn’t guarantee anything. There are girls who are soloists without one, and there are girls who are sitting in the corps for life with red diplomas. It’s important to remember that the diplomas take their dancing and their academics into account. For example, Elya Sevenard doesn’t have a red diploma. You need one to work in the theater of course, but that’s it. 

Regarding the VBA’s Nutcracker casting, I truly have no explanation. Principal roles in public shows should be kept for the strongest students of the graduating class. Not juniors with 2 more years left and certainly no poaching MT boys. 

What did you think of Bulanova’s recent black swan pas? I’m not sure she’s quite ready for a debut, although her turns were great as usual. Tbh I’d be more concerned about her odette in this case, but I’m hoping to see her in more classical leads. I really hope she debuts kitri soon, and i dream of seeing her as aurora although that probably won’t happen anytime soon lol

O/O is not a walk in the park and I don’t think she’s ready. Shakirova, who is also very much not the O/O type, found her technical shortcomings front and center in the White acts. I don’t think Bulanova would be any stronger honestly. I’d think about giving her a shot at Kitri, but I think she’s even worse suited for Aurora than O/O. 

It looks like as of 4 April Mariinsky finally promoted some of their men, Roman Belyakov and Evgeny Konovalov are now first soloists! Also a couple of Tsiskaridze´s boys are now coryphees too

Took them long enough, it’s what they deserve. 

Is it just me, or Lukina's dancing seems a bit "jerky" to me? Like I never feel comfortable when watching her, especially during more technical choreo like the Medora variation, etc. I feel much better watching Bulanova, but it seems that Lukina will be promoted first. Thoughts?

Lukina is generally not the strongest technical dancer and has had a string of injuries resulting in tendencies to be tentative with harder choreography. However, she is known to have powerful people pushing for her in the theater in addition to a comparatively better physique.  On the other hand, Bulanova is seemingly fearless and will dive head first into anything she’s given but is subjected to heavy typecasting and is also more limited in terms of her options for a partner. 

Did Alina Somova leave the Mariinsky?

This is very old news no? But yes, she’s at Ananiashvili's State Ballet of Georgia. Her husband is Georgian and has appeared in Ukrainian benefit galas in Zurich. 

[riannejmarriott2-blog]

Ballet essay

Ballet first originated in the Italian renaissance courts. It first began in the 15th century. The renaissance courts was a very good period of culture change and achievement, this began in Italy and it was in the 14th century and lasted up until the 16th century. Ballet spread to France, and it was with the help of Catherine de’ Medici. Where ballet was developed and spread even further under her influence. The first ever formal court ballet was staged in 1573, and it was called ballet des polonais. Originally the ballers were performed by royalty in their rooms and their gardens, which then spread on to performing for other people on royalty.

Academie royale de musique was founded in 1669, it was know as d’opera and it was such a big milestone in history, and this meant that quite a lot of dancer were associated with operas.

Court ballet was ballet performances that were performed in the 15th century up until the 17th century in the courts.

Pierre Beauchamps was the creator of the five foot positions in ballet, Beauchamps was know as the ultimate ballet master.

The first court ballet was performed in rooms and gardens of aristocracy and royalty. The first ever performance was called ballet comique de la reine it was a very well known performance and this was performed in 1581,

In the 18th century women abandoned corsets for floating styled dresses and this emphasised their body and meant that they could perform a great range of movements, they also started to ware flat ballet slippers which showed great flexibility in their feet and women began to develop the trick of rising up onto their demi pointe.

The 18th Century was best known for because of king George, and he was a mad king a lot of the public were going mad as they couldn’t handle the information on new technology after the industrial revolution. But also as this was going off some good things were happening such as pointe shoes were beginning to become invented and more people were started to see dance in different ways and it was expressed massively.

Three famous ballet masters from this period

Hester Booth

Nancy dawson

George Balanchine

Cralos Blasis was born in Naples on the 4th November 1797  Carlo was an Italian dancer and choreographer and is well known for his very rigorous dance classes which these sometimes lasted for hours long. Blasis insisted in his students learning their theory and definitions of all dance steps. some well known pieces were the code of Terpsichore, on the ballet, and theory of the art of dancing.

Here I’ve attached a YouTube video of a ballet from the 18th and 19th century 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y94SdIlmjbQ&list=PLdcONZVimCyl2_xh2nBp0TnIlKH3DQNI2

in this video they are wearing shoes with heels on which is very different to now. There movements are very upbeat and jump whereas these days ballet is very gentle and elegant. They are spinning around and jumping from foot to foot a lot of the time. They use their feet a lot and jump around most of the dance.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EjfGgvsldM

The plie’s and routines have become a lot quicker and shorter, movements have also become more modern and developed and made harder in some places.But all the positioning of the feet has always stayed the same throughout the centuries.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/o/origins-of-ballet/

Romantic ballet was a big style of ballet in the early nineteenth century. The dancers were often performed in romantic tutu, these were long tulle skirts that would either go down to their knees or to their ankles. This is why it was called romantic ballet.

Marie Taglioni was from sweden and was a ballet dancer from the romantic ballet era she influenced it a lot, and she became one of the first people to dance on pointe. She also created a new style which was marked by floating leaps. The tutu was created to expose her foot work. She was one of the best ballet dancers anyone had seen, she was well known all over the world

The romantic costumes changed throughout the era starting off as a long dress that went down to the ankles it was very light floaty material, it then progressed onto being a tutu which was also long but it went out more and was a little higher it was very good for showing their elegant movements. The final change to the costume was the tutu but more improved it was higher as it only went to knee height which helped the audience to see their leaps and leg work so much better and clearer.

some famous romantic ballets for this period.

LA Sylphide

Giselle

Coppelia

Giselle- I like this performance I think that it is very elegant, and they make the dance look pretty, i can see their is a story through the dance, and I like the fact that their is a story within the music and dance it makes it very intriguing! But something I don’t like about the dance is that quite a lot of the dancers are just in the back and they are still, I feel they need to get involved with the story/dance more if that was possible.

British ballet;

Britain took ballet to a wider audience, they did this by travelling the UK doing tours, they did this during the war time. Swan lake was a very big ballet performance and was well known and is still well known all over the world, but It also influenced many people from the UK to the style of ballet.

Marie Rambert;

Marie was born in 1888, she really wanted to be a professional dancer for many years but her family didn’t agree with this and so they made her study medicine instead but when the first world war began she moved to Britain to teach dance in private homes and schools. Marie married a man called Alex Duke who supported her in her work of dance which meant she went on to owning her own dance school, she has her own company called ballet Rambert and even today it is very well known!

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marie-Taglioni

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/r/romantic-ballet/

http://www.rambert.org.uk/about-us/our-history/dame-marie-rambert/

The Royal Danish Ballet and the Imperial Ballet of the Russian Empire were founded in the 1740s and began to flourish, especially after about 1850. in 1907 the Russian ballet turned back to France. in the 20th century styles of ballet continued to develop and spread out throughout the world.

Marius Petipa was a French and Russian ballet dancer and choreographer. Petipa was known to be one of the most influenced ballet dancer in the whole of history. He has performed loads of well known shows such as swan lake and giselle, but at that time them ballets were as successful as they are to this day, they are now the most popular dance pieces ever! Marius invented a performance called La fille du pharon this piece ended up to be one of the most successful pieces of that time. In 1869 he was made the premier ballet master of the imperial theatre.

Michel Fokine was a Russian dancer and choreographer, he was a very talented dancer and musician, he also was a very good painter. Fokine attended the imperial ballet school at a very young age in 1889. Fokine believed that the mime should have only been used when it was necessarily needed, he said that it had no meaning to it unless they expression different emotions throughout their dancing piece. Michel started his last ever piece of ballet which was called Helen of Troy, which was for the American ballet theatre, before he passed away but his piece was finished by a man called David Lichine and the ballet was premièred at Mexico city in 1942.

George Balanchine is a huge influence into Ballet in the USA. Find out how Balanchine adapted ballet into a more modern way and what classical pieces he recreated.

George Balanchine is a ballet choreographer, he was the co-finder of the New York City ballet in1948, and he stayed as its director and choreographer, nearly every ballet company have performed parts of his work. Balanchine presented the company with many well known pieces one being the Nutcracker. He also took a like in to choreographing for Hollywood movies and musicals which were in the Broadway. All of his work never really had a specific meaning, he felt that the dance should be equally as good as the dancer dancing the piece.

http://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/opera-and-ballet/marius-petipa/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michel-Fokine

https://www.nycballet.com/Explore/Our-History/George-Balanchine.aspx

Classical ballet is formal, it is actually the most formal style out of modern and contemporary, they are very strict sticking to there set of rules. Classical ballet is very well known for its movement and technique, and it also includes pointe work. Contemporary ballet include both modern and classical into its movements and techniques, this allows the body to flow into anyway it possibly wants to because there isn’t a strict ballet rule applied to contemporary.

Modern dance was founded in the 20th century, it is a very well known style and it is also known to go against the traditional rules of ballet. Isadora Duncan was the originator of modern dance and is known for using his upper body movements. Martha Graham is another practitioner who had a different outlook on this style of dance, which included contractions, spine/back work and different ways of pointing the feet and the positioning.

Ballerina’s now a days need to be bale to use their skills and adapt to them, they need to be able to be open to all idea’s including new and old ones, they like to look out for exciting things that they haven’t seen before or things that can take to the next level. Bussell thinks that modern dance “21st century stars would do well to learn to be incredibly diverse” He also said that the dancers today need to bringing something to the dance to keep it high in fame and following the history tradition.

William Forsythe was born in 1949, in New York City. He didn’t start dancing until he was in his teens, later on in his life he was given the job of an artistic director of ballet Franfrut which was made into one of the best dance companies of all time.

Methods of training: Research into Cecchetti ballet training and find out who created this method and what makes it different to other methods. What skills can be learnt from this method?

Who is AugusteBournoville? What type of ballet did he create? Discuss the method of training and how he choreographed pieces, e.g. by using his observations. What skills could be learnt from this method?

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/classic-ballet/

https://danceappreciation4.wordpress.com/classical-ballet/

[chloe-cater-blog]

Ballet research part 4

As the 19th century was nearly over, ballet moved to St Petersburg where the art was supposed to be spare's.  Besides this ballet remained as an import from Western Europe, the only production that had any link to a Russian theme was The Little Humpbacked Horse (1864), choreographed by Saint-Léon who worked in Russia. Petipa basically controlled The Russian ballet from 1870-1903, changing the repertoire to his own using his own ballets, Such as; The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker and Swan lake. Through many years the company emerged the Russian Style, with the company teaching the Italian style and the French style being taught together they formed the foundation for the Russian  School.  Denmark was probably one of the latest countries to have ballet and ballet companies; it wasn't till the late 20th century they established ballet companies.

  Marius Petipa was a French and Russian ballet dancer and choreographer. Marius is known to be the most influenced ballet dancer and choreographer in history. He collaborated with Tchaikovsky in 'The Nutcracker', he has also presented versions of different ballets that have been revived frequently; Swan Lake, Raymonda and Giselle. Even though at the time these ballets were not immediately successful they are now known to be the best classical ballets, they are now the most popular ballets.  Around the late 18th century Marius still wasn't very well known as a choreographer because of the people he was working for but this didn't mean he was going to give up. Four years later Marius invented a performance called 'La fille du pharon' which ended up being one of his most successful pieces because of this invention it lead him to being choreographer-in-chief of the Imperial Theatre; Later on in 1869 he was then made the Premier Ballet Master of The Imperial Theatre.

  Michel Fokine was a Russian choreographer and dancer, he wasn't just talented as a dancer he was also talented as a musician and painter. He attended the Imperial Ballet school at Mariinsky theatre at a young age in 1889.  Michel believed that the conventional mime should only be used when it is needed, he also believed that dancing and mime have no meaning unless they express different emotions such as; dramatic.  He stuck to his belief of meaning being expressed through the whole body which should follow in solo's and group performances.  Michel started his last ballet called 'Helen Of Troy'  for the American Ballet theatre before he sadly passed, his piece was continued and finished by David Lichine and was premiered at Mexico city in 1942.

  George Balanchine is a ballet choreographer, he was the co-founder of  the New York city ballet (1948) and stayed as its artistic director and chief choreographer, nearly every ballet company has performed parts of his work.  George presented the company with over 150 pieces of ballet, such as 'The Nutcracker' which is now one of the most popular and famous ballets that has been revived many times.  In addition to being a ballet choreographer he choreographed Hollywood movies and Broadway musicals. Before George was co-founder of New York city Ballet he was a ballet master at Ballets Russes until the company was stopped due to Diaghilev's death in 1929. His work never had a specific meaning, his work never had a well known dancer as he felt that his whole performance should 'outshine' an individual by making the performance as equally as good as the dancer.

    http://www.biography.com/people/george-balanchine-9196284#synopsis

https://www.britannica.com/art/ballet

http://www.biography.com/people/george-balanchine-9196284

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michel-Fokine

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marius-Petipa

[everythingplus-thekitchensink]

my new sketches. :p

[ballet-symphonie]

More Bolshoi Asks!

More Bolshoi Asks!  +  an extra ?

I didn’t realize how Bolshoi was more diverse in terms of body types until you pointed it out. Thank you for that. 🙏🏼 Could this be perhaps the reason why Bulanova seems overlooked at MT? I feel like she has a bit more skill over Daria, but management seems to like Daria more

Well, let’s clear here. Looking at the big picture, ballet body types are far from accepting and Russian companies tend to be especially strict. Bolshoi is really only more ‘diverse’ in terms of body type when directly compared to MT. 

I disagree that Bulanova has been overlooked, she’s been given a lot of opportunities in a wide variety of repertoire. Ionova’s first really significant debut came just recently with Gulnare. They are both favored and rising now, but their strengths are suited for different roles. 

Speaking of bolshoi corps ballerinas Vlada is lovely, I also would like to see more of what she can do. Bruna Cantanhede also dances soloist roles, what do you think do her and also of Oksana Sharova( she is always cast for Mercedes) and Stanislava Postnova?

I have only seen Bruna Cantanhede dance one of the river variations in La Fille du Pharon. She was light and charming but I don’t know anything about her and can’t comment further :(

Sharova is a good character dancer, especially strong in Spanish styles. I think she’s danced practically every character dance in DQ, Mercedes, Gypsy, Fandago, Bolero, commendable for sure! She also does Hungarian style nicely, with excellent musicality (think Czardas in both Raymonda and Coppelia).

Sigh, I have such a soft spot for Postnova because she has a genuine persona that just lights up on stage but really struggles with stability. She is one of the people that has really benefitted from more time in the corps as her technique (adagio aside) was not solid when she joined the theater. She dances A LOT in the corps, often in smaller groups, and it has paid off for her with successful small solos. Her Cupid was adorable but she still had some issues with transitions and turns. However, I truly loved watching her Manu (La Bayadere ‘jug’) debut, she was quick footed and charming and her jumps in particular had much more lift. If you compare her dancing there to the Peasant PDD she danced 3 years ago right out of school, it’s like night and day in terms of her improvement. I really hope she keeps proving everyone wrong and keeps trending upwards. 

Is it harder for male dancers to be promoted? I heard somewhere that because it takes time for them develop strength to lift a dancer, it might stall their career

I don’t think it’s ‘harder’ per say, one could easily argue that it is easier for a man to be promoted simply due to the gender imbalance in most companies!

However, I think male dancers definitely get promoted slower than women due. You are correct, it has a lot to due with puberty and muscle development. A fresh graduate at 18-20 will lack the strength of a 25 year old. Also, with the way big classical ballets are structured, there are less small solo opportunities to test up and coming male dancers. There’s not really a Shades PD3 or Sleeping Beauty fairy equivalent for men to dance. With limited non principal solos, most male debuts will demand partnering and lifts. 

There are many gifted boys who have all the technical necessities to do a variation well, but are shaky with difficult partnering elements (press lifts, fish dives, rotating lifts, overhead lifts etc). It’s really not safe, for the guy or the girl, to test them in big time PDDs unill they gain the necessary strength. 

[riannejmarriott2-blog]

Ballet research task four

The Royal Danish Ballet and the Imperial Ballet of the Russian Empire were founded in the 1740s and began to flourish, especially after about 1850. in 1907 the Russian ballet turned back to France. in the 20th century styles of ballet continued to develop and spread out throughout the world.

Marius Petipa was a French and Russian ballet dancer and choreographer. Petipa was known to be one of the most influenced ballet dancer in the whole of history. He has performed loads of well known shows such as swan lake and giselle, but at that time them ballets were as successful as they are to this day, they are now the most popular dance pieces ever! Marius invented a performance called La fille du pharon this piece ended up to be one of the most successful pieces of that time. In 1869 he was made the premier ballet master of the imperial theatre. 

Michel Fokine was a Russian dancer and choreographer, he was a very talented dancer and musician, he also was a very good painter. Fokine attended the imperial ballet school at a very young age in 1889. Fokine believed that the mime should have only been used when it was necessarily needed, he said that it had no meaning to it unless they expression different emotions throughout their dancing piece. Michel started his last ever piece of ballet which was called Helen of Troy, which was for the American ballet theatre, before he passed away but his piece was finished by a man called David Lichine and the ballet was premièred at Mexico city in 1942.

George Balanchine is a huge influence into Ballet in the USA. Find out how Balanchine adapted ballet into a more modern way and what classical pieces he recreated. 

George Balanchine is a ballet choreographer, he was the co-finder of the New York City ballet in1948, and he stayed as its director and choreographer, nearly every ballet company have performed parts of his work. Balanchine presented the company with many well known pieces one being the Nutcracker. He also took a like in to choreographing for Hollywood movies and musicals which were in the Broadway. All of his work never really had a specific meaning, he felt that the dance should be equally as good as the dancer dancing the piece.

http://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/opera-and-ballet/marius-petipa/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michel-Fokine

https://www.nycballet.com/Explore/Our-History/George-Balanchine.aspx