28 replies to this topic

[Solor]

I just watched the "Children of Theatre Street" - I had'nt seen it in a long time. I found it very interesting when Princess Grace said something to the affect of the Petipa ballets still being danced at the Kirov "exactly as he envisaged them"....even Konstantin Sergeyev listing the ballets that still "retain" Petipa's choreography" - what a laugh! I also found the all of those staged scenes to be very amusing, particularly the rediculously fake scene where the boy being profiled "sneaks" into the girls dormitory. Also there was that wonderful brief shot of little Altynai Asylmoratova, looking no more than 10 or 11 years old. I found it very interesting to see the young Galina Mezentseva and Konstantin Zaklinsky dancing the "White Adagio" from "Swan Lake".....Mme. Mezentseva had extremely under-arched feet when she was young....the Kirov teachers really must have worked her, because her feet looked nothing like that when I saw her dance.

I was wondering the fate of the 3 students who were profiled - there was the older girl, Elena Vorantsova - I have seen her in the film of the Kirov "The Sleeping Beauty" w/ Kolpakova as the fairy Coulante. There was also the little girl in the 2nd year class I think, and the little boy, whose names escapes me. As well, there was also the girl who was "Elena's freind"....I believe her first name was Michalena (spelling?)....she was from Chechoslavakia, and after her graduation she was going to the USA to study.

[Mel Johnson]

I think that we have to remember that at the time the film was made (1976-77), the Conventional Wisdom was that the Kirov was the one and only repository of "pure Petipa".  So much so, that even people who knew better had bought into the myth, and continued to advance it.  It has been only within the last twenty years that more rigorous scholarship has been applied to the whole question of Petipa survivals and a far more nuanced view of preservation has emerged.

[Solor]

Mel Johnson, on Mar 3 2006, 03:24 AM, said:

I think that we have to remember that at the time the film was made (1976-77), the Conventional Wisdom was that the Kirov was the one and only repository of "pure Petipa".  So much so, that even people who knew better had bought into the myth, and continued to advance it.  It has been only within the last twenty years that more rigorous scholarship has been applied to the whole question of Petipa survivals and a far more nuanced view of preservation has emerged.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

76-77? I know it says that on the back of the packaging but - Assylmoratova was born in 1961 - in the brief shot of her she looks no more than 10 or 11 years old...so I would think that this film was done in the early 70s, as in "backstage at the kirov" she is 21 (1982).

[Joseph]

Solor-

I believe that Elena Vorantsova is a faculty member at Vaganova School. (And, if my mind serves my right - she was the instructor of the third year class girls, at least in June of 2002!)
Angelina, I think, but am not sure, is on faculty at the Universal Ballet Academy.
The boy - no clue, and Elena's friend - no clue either. Hope this helps... But, it may not be completely up to date and accurate...

[Mel Johnson]

Solor, on Mar 3 2006, 09:29 AM, said:

Mel Johnson, on Mar 3 2006, 03:24 AM, said:

I think that we have to remember that at the time the film was made (1976-77), the Conventional Wisdom was that the Kirov was the one and only repository of "pure Petipa".  So much so, that even people who knew better had bought into the myth, and continued to advance it.  It has been only within the last twenty years that more rigorous scholarship has been applied to the whole question of Petipa survivals and a far more nuanced view of preservation has emerged.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

76-77? I know it says that on the back of the packaging but - Assylmoratova was born in 1961 - in the brief shot of her she looks no more than 10 or 11 years old...so I would think that this film was done in the early 70s, as in "backstage at the kirov" she is 21 (1982).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Even more argument for the dated historicity of the text.

[sylphide]

Solor, are you 100% sure it is AA in that shot? It sure looks like her but who knows, maybe it is some other little girl that has features similar to hers
Hence the discrepancy in time of AA birth

[canbelto]

Quote

Solor, are you 100% sure it is AA in that shot? It sure looks like her but who knows, maybe it is some other little girl that has features similar to hers

Yes it is definitely her. She looks older than 10-11; I'd say she's about 13 in the shot.

[Cygnet]

Hi Solor!

The boy's name was Alec Tomishin.  There's also a quick snippet of footage of Altynai in class with the late Zubhovskaya.
In the film, Mme. Zubhovksaya seemed so open and approachable outside class.  She seemed like a second mama to her students.  I especially like the segment, when she invited Altynai, Elena, Angelina and other students to her home for tea.  

Vorontsova was an excellent corps member.  I don't know if she advanced as far as say, 1st soloist rank, but she had wonderful technique.  Her Coulante in Kolpakova's "Beauty" DVD was faultless.  In addition to teaching at V. Academy, she's also listed on the roster as one of the company's repititeurs; however, the website may not be up to date on this.

[canbelto]

Altnyai graduated from the class of Prof. Inna Zubkovskaya so it makes sense that there's some brief footage of her. I don;t remember seeing her at the tea party though ...

[Cygnet]

canbelto, on Mar 3 2006, 10:09 PM, said:

Altnyai graduated from the class of Prof. Inna Zubkovskaya so it makes sense that there's some brief footage of her. I don;t remember seeing her at the tea party though ...

Hi Canbelto!  Look for the kid with the very long, thick dark hair joining in the folkdance with the other guests.
That's Altynai.  

Veronika Ivanova is no longer listed on the roster.  She was a principal dancer in the very early 1990s
under Vinogradov.  Makhalina and Lopatkina were both starting out at that time as soloists, so maybe she
was unable to compete with their advent.  She didn't survive into Vaziev's regime.  Does anyone know if she's
on the faculty at V. Academy?

[Solor]

thanks guys - yes for certain that is little Altynai Asylmoratova sitting in class (not ballet class but, like, regular "desk" class), as well shes doing the 'folk dancing' at Mme. Zubkovskaya's house w/ Alec Tomishin........I'd be interested to know what happened him.

There were also some dances being performed in the film that I have never seen/heard before.....Id love to know their origins.

During the Graduation performance, Vorontsova and her partner Logamere Tafta (spelling?)  perform the "fascination" pas de deux from "Satanella" (AKA the Carnival in Venice pas de deux) to the music of Cesare Pugni. Princess Grace gives the date of this number's inception as 1870, but according to "The Diaries of Marius Petipa", the pas was first staged by Petipa on 2/12/1859 as the "Venetian Carnival Grand Pas de Deux", and the music as 'Cesare Pugni based on a theme by Nicolo Paganini'.

Right after that Princess Grace says "heres the pas de deux from "Talisman" - its obviously a the Coda from some 19th century Imperial-Era Grand Pas de Deux, danced by Tatiana Votkopayeva in a lovely baby-blue tutu w/ an unidentified partner. The music doesnt sound anything like the "Talisman" pas de deux, and sounds far too 'rum-ti-tum' to have been written by Maestro Drigo - the music sounds Cesare Pugni-ish to me......what is this piece???

The other piece, only shown being rehearsed on the Mariinksy stage, is an elaborate Grand Pas of some kind, in the spirit of the "Rose Adagio". The music sounds very much like something that would have come from the hand of Rubenstein, but Im no musicologist. Princess Grace calls it (try not to laugh at my fo-net-ik spelling, as english and 'ballet-french' are the only languages I speak) - "The Divertessment Bree-ent" ('ent' = the sound the letters e-n-t make when together in the french language). It is danced by Vorontsova's freind - and here goes my speeeeling again- Me-ky-ella. What is this piece?

[carbro]

Solor, on Mar 4 2006, 03:00 AM, said:

Princess Grace calls it (try not to laugh at my fo-net-ik spelling, as english and 'ballet-french' are the only languages I speak) - "The Divertessment Bree-ent" ('ent' = the sound the letters e-n-t make when together in the french language).

Brilliant?  Looks like English, but the French is the same, as in Balanchine's Allegro Brilliante (feminized).  The double L in French makes a sound like our initial Y (You).

Solor, on Mar 4 2006, 03:00 AM, said:

It is danced by Vorontsova's freind - and here goes my speeeeling again- Me-ky-ella. What is this piece?

Michaela?  Or possibly Mikhaila?

[sylphide]

Quote

It is danced by Vorontsova's freind - and here goes my speeeeling again- Me-ky-ella. What is this piece?

Michaela Černá is her name. Brilliant in French is brillant. For the piece, I don't know.

[Estelle]

carbro, on Mar 4 2006, 09:32 AM, said:

Solor, on Mar 4 2006, 03:00 AM, said:

Princess Grace calls it (try not to laugh at my fo-net-ik spelling, as english and 'ballet-french' are the only languages I speak) - "The Divertessment Bree-ent" ('ent' = the sound the letters e-n-t make when together in the french language).

Brilliant?  Looks like English, but the French is the same, as in Balanchine's Allegro Brilliante (feminized).  The double L in French makes a sound like our initial Y (You).

Actually, though "brillante" (no "i" after the two "l"s) is French indeed, "Allegro brillante"  doesn't make much sense in French ("allegro" would be masculine)- perhaps it's in Italian  (like "allegro vivace", "allegro molto agitato", etc. on music sheets).

[vrsfanatic]

Allergo brillante does make sense as an Italian musical term.