Hi - I have got hold a video called "Alicia", featuring world famous prima Alicia Alonso. I was particularly impressed by her Black Swan in which she turns FIVE EN DEHORS PIROUETTES (unsupported, of course), at the beginning of her variation.

I mean, I know that she was a virtuoso, but cud it be THAT VIRTUOSO? Or maybe the video was altered somehow...

Apart from that, I admired the fact that the focus of her performance was artistry all along the ballets she danced, not only virtuosity. Maybe after one virtuoso display she did very simple steps, so you was that her objective was NOT to show how good she was, in the tecnical sense.

She seemed to have a perfect sense of what a truly prima was, and of the difference between a virtuoso and an artist.

Can anyone still clarify this issue of the 5 pirouettes for me? I find it hard to believe!!!

thank you!!!!

silvy

I haven't seen the video, silvy, however I have no doubts that Ms. Alonso was quite capable of 5 pirouettes! She was indeed both an artist and a virtuoso

silvy, someone whose memory of the film is fresher than mine could tell you more about that, but my understanding is that Alonso was virtuoso enough to accomplish that, and more. (Balanchine made the ballerina role of Theme and Variations on her, just to give you an idea, and apparently she made it look easy.)

Any other insights for us? atm711?

I noticed from the video I am talking about that Alicia is teaching new ballerinas a good lesson:that it is not enough to be pyrotecnnically brilliant to make you a prima, but that you need other ingredientes as well. I mean, I see too much enphasis on the technique (a clear example of that is, for me, ABT's Corsaire), but perhaps not enough depth into the roles. And going back to Alonso, I remember hearing her say in a TV docummentary that a dancer shud study and get information on a ballet before dancing it. I think that made the difference in her case.

Tell me what you think

silvy

Alonso was very technically accomplished and the video of which silvy speaks proves it AND she wasn't all that young in that video......I highly recommend anyone/everyone viewing it if they can.

One of my first teachers was in her company in Cuba in the late 50's - just before Castro came in to power - and he had many stories to tell of Alonso's technique AND artistry.

Best,

B

There will never be another Alicia Alonso. She was artistic, yet virtousic, musical yet technical. I think she brought ballet a big step forward. To think that she originated the lead role in Theme and Variations is only a testament to her talent. (As you can tell, she is a huge favorite!).

Rachel

Yes, Alonso was a virtuoso---but what I have always loved about her technique was her impeccable turn-out---it was "text-book illustration" perfect. Seeing her do multiple pirouettes were fine---but to see her in the variation of the Bluebird PDD doing echappes was every bit as exciting. I remember a particular performance of 'Giselle' with Youskevitch partnering her. It was in Act II---with Youskevitch supporting her while she was on pointe---she did a developpee a la seconde and Youskevitch released his grip and slowly walked backwards towards the back of the stage--and there she stood--unsupported. I was so caught in the reverie of her performance that I hadn't noticed--until my friend nudged me and said "Look at that!" She made it look easy and natural.

Yes! Her turnout is impeccable! The only dancer I can recall that can do an arabesque with minimal opening of the hip! When I saw Alicia Alonso I noticed her walk - almost completely turned out. I only wish I could have seen her perform live - being a ballet student I learn so much from watching her on film.

Rachel

Oh, I can say I did see her dancing, but it was around 1986, and she was long past her prime. It was in Montevideo, and she came with the National Ballet of Cuba. She danced Swan Lake, second act, and her arms were still marvellous. She also danced a ballet called "la Diva", in which she impersonated Maria Callas, and I did not like her at all in this particular piece.

Anyway, I also took a course of the Cuban School of Ballet in Buenos Aires in 1991. This course was directed by her daughter Laura (who is a ballet mistress), and Alicia herself gave a master class, and it is one of those memories that remain with you forever. She showed the differences in styles, even within the different romantic ballets (I distinctly remember her showing how the pas de bourree for preparation for a supported pirouette shud be different in Fille than in Giselle, for instance). She also had 4 dancers modelling for the Pas de Quatre final pose, and I remember how she approached each one to correct details (with her poor eyesight and all!!!).

She also encouraged us to do strenghtening exercises for our pectoral? (spelling?) muscles to assist us in supported promenades.

Great Alicia - Most unforgettable!!!

Silvy

The ARTS channel (shown on cable) is currently showing the Alicia Alonso video of the Black Swan. Her pirouettes and her balance are truly incredible! If you haven't seen her dance before, tune into ARTS and try to catch the video when it airs. She was amazing!

I've seen the same clip Amy's Mom. Due to the rather shaky quality of the film, I'm wondering if it enhanced the speed of her pirouettes.

Rachel

she is so amaing and she is capable of doing 5 pitouettes

russianptaylor

Oh, God...this is an old thread, but i can't resist to dig in, being a hardore fan of Mme. Alonso In an interview about her famous recreation of "Giselle', she stated that the first time she was given the role , it was by accident. Alicia Markova, who was supposed to dance that night, fell ill, and Alonso's Giselle was born. Refering to that first performance, (and many others before se created her own version for Ballet Nacional de Cuba), she said that she used to dance the role "a la Markova" (given the fact that Markova has always been her idol), and it wasn't until later on that she began to investigate the character, look at old lithographs of the ballet, understand the way that it had been danced 'till then by the most famous ballerinas of her time, all this in an attempt to go "back in time" to "feel" the romanticism of the plot to finally "DESIGN" her own Giselle and give the role her personal signature (in such a way that she became , for some critics, the best Giselle ever). She also stated that she NEVER danced Giselle the same way twice, saying that she would decide right before the performance how did she wanted that night her Giselle to be, more on the flirt mood , or more sad, or more fragile and sick, or even if she, earlier in the first act, wanted to let the non expert audience "feel" that a tragedy was about to happen later on. Having seen lots of her Giselles, i can give testimony of this. THEY WERE NEVER THE SAME CHARACTER.

I have recently had the privilege of seeing 2 performances of National Ballet of Cuba's Giselle. We saw Anette Delgado in both performances (with Joel Carreno) and she was terrific. Alicia Alonso came on for the (non) curtain calls at both performances and brought down the glass roof. This very traditional Giselle is a testament to her amazing commitment and dedication to dance. The whole company looked wonderful and Anette Delgado was everything you could ask for in a Giselle - very strong in both technique and acting, but looking very fragile at the same time. The corps were just awesome.

Alicia Alonso was obviously an amazing dancer but when you think of the dancers who have come through her company and are adored world-wide for their technique and style you begin to realise her genius.

I was persuaded by cubanmiamiboy's recommendation to get the VAI dvd Alicia Alonso: Prima Ballerina Assoluta. It's a collection of abbreviated performance clips from 1958 (her portions of the Black Swan pdd) to 1985 (something from La Peri, with Jorge Esquivel). It's astonishing to think that Alonso was a principal with Ballet Theater before even the more elderly of us were born.

A couple of impressions that surprised me, and didn't quite fit with my previous impressions:

1) She obviously took complete artistic control of the way she is presented on video. Even regarding tempi. For example: the extremely slow, almost lugubrious adagio portion of the Giselle pdd (with Azari Plisetsky) -- switching abruptly to the fastest sequence of perfect soubresauts I've ever seen. I mean FAST. Both put the focus on things Alonso did particularly well.

2) Her hilarious, absolutely wacky scene with the mother in Fille Mal Gardee (1968) She was over 50, but she distills the manipulative teenager, just staying on the right side of caricature. You have to see it to believe it. Then there's her 1968 Swanhilda, posing as the doll, deliberately confusing and makiing fun of Dr. Coppelius. Wickedly funny, as Coppellia usually is not (for me at least). Yet it was as technically pure in its way as something very classical.

3) Something perhaps best forgotten -- the older Alonso's bedroom scene from Oedipus Rex, with a bare-chested and very young Esquivel and a weak, derivataive modernist score by the Cuban composer Leo Brouwer. Considering that Jocasta was, indeed, Oedipus's mother, the age difference may actually make sense. But it's an exercise in egoism and faux-modernity that is rather embarrassing.

The 1960 Pas de Quatre with Hayden, Kay, and Slavenska -- already mentioned on another thread -- is on this dvd.

I, too, finally succumbed and bought the Alonso tape. The Black Swan with Youskevitch was a great disappointment. I hate to think of people who never saw him perform live would judge him by this tape; (he was about 46 at the time). I have always admired Alonso's aristocratic manner in this pas; no trace of the Vamp here. She also performed Florine's solo from Bluebird with this same aristocratic manner. She was the only dancer I saw who performed it this way---and to this day I cringe when the Florine's get too cutesy. (I wonder, cubanmiamiboy--how is it performed in Cuba?) I can live without most of the tape. I never cared for her Cuban Giselles, and especially her partners, nor the Alberto Alonso choreography. A taste of the real Romantic Alonso comes through in the PDQ; it's the reason I bought the tape after seeing it on youtube. I am very pleased at the way she was captured in this performance. When she first started performing Taglioni she would alternate with Markova; and unfortunately picked up on an annoying (for me!) habit of Markova. When striking an arabesque the foot on her extended leg broke at the ankle and pointed upward--(or, the leg was east and the foot was northeast). I was so pleased to see that this did not occur in this recorded performance.

I too am a fan of Alonzo's Pas de Quatre, everything about it, the head positions, the shoulders, the subtle changes in hte ribs, the arresting balances -- but most of all the POINTED FEET in jumps. her little cabrioles are the prettiest things anywhere, the ankles, insteps, toes have such alacrity to them....

Absolutely true. I think that the Alonso phenomenom goes way beyond the ballerina herself. It is the school,(the biggest worldwide), the training method, the spirit and finally, the assimilation of the latin flavor by the public within the very euro-centered ballet world. That's what makes Mme. Alonso a genious.

I was recently reading an old program from Ballet Nacional de Cuba from october 2000, when Mme. Alonso organized a program called "Gala tribute to George Balanchine" during the XVII Havana Ballet Festival. The program notes is based in an interview in which Mme. Alonso describes some of her experiences working with Mr. Balanchine. I thought it would be a good idea to translate some of these notes . Here they go:

Mme.Alonso on Balanchine and the music/interpretation/pure dance issue:

"I remember the polemic discusions in United States, between those in favor of psichological/dramatic ballets, a la Tudor and Agnes de Mille, and then the tendency basically represented by Balanchine, in which form and music were enough reason, ojective and starting point. Some would criticize Balanchine for he would not create ballets with a story to tell, with an argument, to which he angrily answered "I create ballets to dance, not to suffer. To have that, i would rather go to a dramatic theater play!" In fact, his position wasn't as closed as it would appear, because in some ocassions he tried to create this "meaningful" type of works, althought he never achieved with them the success of his abstract and non-argument creations. With Balanchine i couldn't dance a ballet the way i was used to, for i had to go and interpret a score no by its melody, but basically by its rythm. Even though the dificulties, i totally enjoyed his choreographies. It really amazed me the fact that musically, he maintained a specific rythm, and that he would play with it due to an imagination that seemed to have not limits."

Mme. Alicia Alonso

This video will be released by VAI:

My old long time dream finally comes true...

I'm impressed by their honesty about this.

Or you can take it as a warning that the final product is a jolt fest.

In any case, for the Alonso/Vasiliev resurrection...!

Mme.Alonso on Balanchine's Theme and Variations" staging with her and Youskevitch.

Alonso's variation:

"About my variation, i sill recall the intense rehearsals. Balanchine would take musically a tempo of four counts of repetitions of a given step and would ask me to dance 5 of them, and that was crazy, because i would listen to the music catching up while i was still turning! But then, he would establish a phrase system in which one,somehow, would connect the end just in time with the music. That was a hard mental and physical test for the ballerina. It was a divilish game between music and technique, very typical of Balanchine."

Mme Alicia Alonso

Mme.Alonso on "Theme and Variations":

"In 'Theme and Variations" Balanchine kept testing me all the time, stablishing a kind of fight between my technical strenght and his choreography. So he would ask me, for instance:
G.B-'Do you think you could do entrechat-sixes here...?'
A.A-'I'll do them!'
...and then he would say...
G.B-'So, could you do now pas de chat en tournant..?'
A.A-'If you want to, i'll do it!'
...and so he would keep torturing me , adding new steps, new dificulties, to see if i would say 'No, i can't ', but i never gave up! That's why the version of 'Theme and Variations', as it was presented on the premiere, was technically and musically very, very complicated. When other ballerinas danced the role later on, some of them that were my friends-(among them Maria Tallchief, who was Balanchine's wife)-would tell me 'But Alicia, how did you let him put this ...?!, or that [b]...?!, now we are in trouble!', and I would answer: 'Well, it was Balanchine who put it there!...'Another thing that i can't forget is that with 'Theme and Variations' Balanchine made his debut as orchestra conductor, and aside for the importance of it, I will always rememer this because the tempo was madly fast. We all ended up breathless!"

Mme.Alonso on Balanchine and "Theme and Variations".
Youskevitch's variation:

"The variation that Balanchine made for Youskevitch, so celebrated by the critics, had its evolution during the stage phase of the work. Initially, i remember that he [B] created a variation very par terre, technically simple, based on positions and designs of diferent angles of [Y] body's line. Then he overheard that Youskevitch wasn't pleased with the variation, because he considered that i had too little technical complexities. B. acepted the challenge and said:
G.B: 'All right, we will do a variation based on three brilliant choreographic themes', and it resulted in what probably is the variation with the highest technical virtuosism among all those that he created for men"

Thank you for your translations of these notes, Cristian. Let me say, as a long-time devotee of Ms. Farrell, how much I am struck by and admire your devotion to Mme. Alonzo.

Thank you for your aknowledgment...and it'is an honor and a pleasure to write them...

Mme. Alonso on the staging of the White Swan PDD by Balanchine for her and Youskevitch:

AA- "I remember that it was Balanchine who made me realized of a characteristic thing of my dancing that i had for instinct without realizing. One day, after watching me dance the II act of Swan Lake, he said to me:
GB-'You, your arms...they dance the melody more than the rythm'
Youskevitch and I had the wonderful experience that the master personally rehearsed us on that II Act. Of all those rehearsals i haven't forgotten one little detail from him : the importance he gave to trying to keep inmaculate the ballerina's tutu. That means that, during the performance, one have to treat the costumes in a technical way which, in general, express the extreme attention that the partenaire should give to the ballerina."

Mme Alicia Alonso

Mme.Alonso: "Tribute to Balanchine".

"In 'Theme and Variations' Igor [Youskevitch] and i developed a hard and passionate work. We both were achieving our own particular concept of the PDD, with an essentially expressive feeling, like a dialogue, very warm and personal and way far from the usual form established by Balanchine. That's why we couldn't avoid , on the execution of the new choreography, to interpret it in our own way, as much as what the enormous technical demand would allow to. To give a sense of dancing to a melody, to express a sensibility, to follow a theme, to achieve a humanization, or in other words, to make a duo between a man and a woman. As it was expected, Balanchine noticed, but for some reason, he didn't criticized us; he stared at what we did, silent, but he respected it. He only told us:
G.B-'Is not exactly what i'm asking , but i like it..."

Mme. Alonso.

Mme.Alicia Alonso: "Tribute to Balanchine"

"I didn't have a chance to see Balanchine towards the end of his life, but i often received his messages. I remember,for example ,in 1976, when i was dancing at the Matropolitan Opera House as a guest artist of the American Ballet Theatre, doing "Carmen". Back there, i was receiving some physical therapy by an ex ballet dancer friend of mine, Bill Weslow. Balanchine also was having some treatments with Billy, so he [B] gave him this message to me :
GB-'Please, tell Alicia that many years have passed but so far nobody has ever danced "Theme and Variations" the way she did'. I appreciate a lot, coming from the master, that judgment and that he still remembered me. "

Mme Alonso "

From Irina: ballet, life and love. Viking 2005

Irina Baronova writing about a memory from the tour to Havana where they performed at the Pro-Arte Musical.

"One day Mr Yavorsky asked Jerry and me to come and watch a young girl in his class whom he considered very, very talented. Tania and Lichine came as well, as they were always interested in seeing new talent. The young student was just fourteen, beautiful to look at, already quite strong technically, and possessed that elusive special quality that a person is born with--either you have it or you do not. That young girl had it all. Her name was Alicia Ernestina de la Caridad dei Cobre Martinez Hoyo". page 206

aka my beloved Mme. Alicia Alonso
Thank you, Innopac!

Try fitting Alicia Ernestina de la Caridad del Cobre Martinez Hoyo and Igor Youskevitch on the same marquee. (Does anyone know Youskevitch's patronymic, so that he could demand additional space?)

Here also is a beautiful photograph of Alicia Alonso taken around 1945
Alicia Alonso

Alas! I had that same photograph autographed to me by Alonso --if my memory serves, it said---un carinoso saludo--- Unfortunately, about 20 years ago (during a move) I sold part of my old memorabilia to the Ballet Shop in NYC.

Silvy, Alonso was remarkable in every way, not least as a virtuoso. There was also (some time ago) a video on YouTube of Alonso dancing Black Swan on a checkerboard (black and white, probably) floor; as the squares are vividly delineated, it is possible to see EXACTLY how little the ballerina travels in her fouettes. Quite stunning, and may still be up.

This clip is material from a fimed documentary. The piece with the fouettes is from an odd but complete Black Swan pdd. In her varation she executes 2 two pirouettes, each with 5 revolution. There are also extended portions of a Pas de Quatre, Giselle and Carmen.

There are also extended interviews .

I dodn't know if the program has been released on DVD. My copy (which I can't seem to locate) was on VHS.

this VAI release includes much of what was on the video cassette originally marketed as ALICIA:

http://www.vaimusic.com/VIDEO/DVD_4343_AliciaAlonso.htm

Not only on a checkerboard floor, but against backdrop of columns.

Alonso, to me, illustrates how it is possible to incorporate the "tricks" to artistic purpose.

Not only the checkerboard floor and the columns backdrop...but all this at 46 and blind!

I don't know, I just watched the Alonso clips to refresh my memory, and I have to say I prefer Beriosova. The way Alonso slowed down the music to accommodate her pirouettes in her variation (the changes in the choreography could have been due to a lack of space) as well as her long preparation time for them signifies what was apparently more important to her. Maybe one really needed to see her live for her magnetism to come across.

Amen. That's totally right.

To Cristian and other fans of Ms. Alonso, I got a link today that may be of interest -- it is possibly up on the "Links" thread, but I thought I'd pass it on directly.

http://www.cubaheadlines.com/2007/12/03/74...ears_later.html

I hope to read and collect all of Cristian's translations of Ms. Alonso's remarks about Mr. B. soon -- but am now in the midst of some very intense personal (good) preparations, etc. Thank you for those in advance!

having been priviledged to witness Alonso perform regularly in Havana in the 60's and 70's I can assure all that she was capable and regularly opened her Black Swan fuettes with 6 piruettes, counted, 32 single fuettes and close with 6 piruettes, granted, since the music cannot accommodate all these turns at the speed she did them, it would only kick in when she came down from the piruettes and stop reight on the 32nd until she completed her closing turns. And she did not travel, in any direction.

Always a pleasure !...

And now called "Prima Ballerina Assoluta". Thank you rg for the link. This is its content:


Alicia Alonso: Prima Ballerina Assoluta

A compilation of performances from 1963 to 1985 includes many of Alonso’s most celebrated roles. These range from Giselle, Swan Lake, Don Quixote & Coppélia, Romeo & Juliet, and others. She is joined by members of her company, The Ballet Nacional de Cuba. As bonuses are performances from the CBC (with Igor Youskevitch,1958) and Bell Telephone Hour (with Melissa Hayden, Nora Kaye & Mia Slavenska, 1960). 74 min., Color, B&W. Playable in all regions.

Swan Lake: Black Swan Pas de Deux
Music: Tchaikovsky
Choreography: Alicia Alonso, after Petipa
Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Azari Plisetsky, Hugo Guffanti
1968

Romeo & Juliet: Bedroom Scene
Music: Berlioz
Choreography: Alberto Alonso
Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Azari Plisetsky
1970

Giselle: Act II Pas de Deux
Music: Adam
Choreography: Alicia Alonso, after Coralli & Perrot
Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Azari Plisetsky
1963

Coppélia: Dr Coppélius and the Doll (Swanilda)
Music by Léo Delibes
Choreography: Alicia Alonso
(after the original by Arthur Saint-Léon and the version by Marius Petipa)
Dancers: Alicia Alonso, José Parés
1968

Don Quixote: Act III Pas de Deux
Music: Minkus
Choreography: Alicia Alonso, after Petipa & Obukhov
Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Azari Plisetsky
1968

Pas de Quatre
Music: Pugni
Choreography: Alicia Alonso, after Perrot
Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Mirta Plá, Loipa Araújo, Aurora Bosch
1968

La Fille Mal Gardée: Lisette Keeps Her Love a Secret
Music: Hertel
Choreography: Alicia Alonso, after Dauberval
Dancers: Alicia Alonso, José Parés and Alberto Méndez
1968

Oedipus Rex; Bedroom Scene
Music: Brouwer
Choreography: Alicia Alonso & Jorge Lefebre
Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Jorge Esquivel
1971

La Peri
Music: Burgmüller
Choreograhy: Alberto Méndez
Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Jorge Esquivel
1985

Carmen Suite: Variations & Habanera
Music: Shchedrin, after Bizet
Choreography: Alberto Alonso
Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Azari Plisetsky
1968

All with Ballet National de Cuba
National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba
Manuel Duchesne Cuzán conductor

Bonuses

Black Swan Pas de Deux (First Adagio)
Music: Tchaikovsky
Choreography: Petipa
Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Igor Youskevitch
Orchestre de Radio-Canada, Jean Beaudet
December 4, 1958

Pas de Quatre
Music: Pugni
Choreography: Anton Dolin, after Perrot
Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Melissa Hayden, Nora Kaye, Mia Slavenska
Bell Telephone Hour Orchestra/Voorhees
April 1, 1960

Edited: Post erased.

This is another pic of Mme. that i would like to identify
Any help will be appreciated-(choreography, music, costume design, etc...)
thanks!
http://home.comcast.net/~thomas.o.lee/Alicia.jpg