the following is a photo of John Kriza as The Green Skater in THE SKATERS for Ballet Theatre, c. 1946.
the decor and costumes for this production were the work of Cecil Beaton.
the photo is a black-and-white glossy print.

I just caught up with this great photo. Kriza was especially successful as the showoff in "Patineurs'. He had a wonderful droll sense of humor in this particular role---think Tom Hanks at his 'droll-est'. (Giannina--where are you?--I know you saw this).

I've often wondered about this ballet -- what it looked like in performance. rg's picture made me turn to Edwin Denby's 1946 review:

I saw ABT do this at City Center in the early 70s; it's a charmer of a piece. I wish they would revive it, they certainly have the dancers for it but maybe it's viewed as too old fashioned.

Mary Cargill reviewed it for DanceView Times in 1998 but I don't know if it was done after that.

http://www.danceview.org/reviews/ABT/abt98.htm

Mary Cargill's excellent piece mentions many turns (Ethan Stiefel, Gillian Murphy). She also gives a detail I haven't seen in reading about this: the corps moving on demi-pointe. Does anyone have any further description of how the skating motions (particurlary the gliding) were mimicked?

Richard Glasstone, in an article in Following Sir Fred's Steps, says 'an important element of the movement texture [in Les Patineurs and other Ashton ballets] is provided by the gliding motion of the Italian chassé - in which the whole foot slides along the floor, unlike the lighter, ‘pointed foot’ chassé of the Soviet Russian school'. I think it's that which is the clearest 'skating' imitation. And Glasstone complains that it's not taught much these days.

And Bart, please don't refer to Patineurs in the past tense! We still see it sometimes at Covent Garden and it's still near-perfect in its apparent simplicity.

if only someone would arrange for the commercial release the JOFFREY BALLET LIVE FROM ART PARK (see below) everyone could see the Chappell production of LES PATINEURS (as opposed the the Beaton production for Ballet Theatre), which the Joffrey co. danced so well, and led in this case, unforgettably, by BT member glebb.

as follows:

The Joffrey Ballet live from Artpark 1978. 120 min. : sd. color NTSC.
Telecast on WNET-TV on August 30, 1978 from Artpark in Lewiston, New York. Producer: Wiley F. Hance. Director: Emile Ardolino.
Performed by the Joffrey Ballet and guest artist Rebecca Wright.
Les patineurs; chor: Frederick Ashton; mus: Meyerbeer arr. by Constant Lambert; scen and cos: William Chappell; lighting: Jennifer Tipton; danced by Lisa Slagle, Ann Marie De Angelo, Ursula Burke, Laurence Blake, Carol Messmer, John Grensback, Susan Stewart, Jeffrey Hughes, Carole Valleskey, Gregory King, Mark Goldweber, Denise Jackson, Gregory Huffman, Cynthia Anderson, and Patricia Miller. -- Interview with David Midland and Joanne Allison of Artpark. -- Interview with Gerald Arpino. Valentine; chor: Gerald Arpino; mus: Jacob Druckman; danced by Rebecca Wright and Christian Holder. -- L'air d'esprit; chor: Gerald Arpino; mus: Adolphe Adam; cos: A. Christina Giannini; ltg: Penelope Curry; danced by Francesca Corkle and Kevin McKenzie. Interview with Robert Joffrey. -- Cakewalk; chor: Ruthanna Boris; mus: Louis Gottschalk; scen: William Pitkin; cos: Robert Drew; ltg: Thomas Skelton; danced by Diane Orio, Denise Jackson, Cynthia Anderson, Christian Holder, Krystyna Jurkowski, Carole Valleskey, Rachel Ganteaume, Laurence Blake, Philip Jerry, Jerel Hilding, Paul Shoemaker, Ursula Burke, Amy Danis, Susan Frazer, Donna Gowen, Carol Messmer, Beatriz Rodriguez, Trinette Singleton, Ellen Troy, Gregory King, John Grensback, Gary Chryst, Lisa Slagle, Charlene Gehm.

Thank you, Jane, for that description. I love the phrase "movement texture."

As for the use of the "past tense" -- I have confidence that the ballet, and all Ashton's works, will continue to be revived. But the chances of seeing this performed at the highest level in south Florida, where I reside now and where ABT recently cancelled its touring visit, are statistically right up there with the snowball's chance in Hell.

My dd danced in it at Louisville Ballet a few years ago. Helen Starr staged it.

Les Patineurs is an absolute gem of a ballet & I always think that Ashton was at his best making these short ballets rather than full length evening ballets. I've seen at least 3 professional companies tackle it (not always successfully) & a dance school (Rambert I think) who danced it with Ashtonian panache. The steps are often simple in appearance, but deceptively hard for a dancer to perform & make it look easy!

It's also a ballet that crops up in a lot of dancer's interviews or biographies as many of it's casts seem to particularly recall dancing in it & they frequently talk about the challenges of the piece, but their enjoyment of it is also evident. It last popped up in London 2 christmases ago with a variety of casts & some dancers were more successful than others in capturing its style & atmosphere, but really its almost dancer-proof because as soon as the curtain rises on those fabulous designs most audiences are captivated.

My dd said the style was different than she was used to and her thighs were sore with all the "skating" due to being in plie so much!

When skaters pay tribute to "Les Patineurs":

Brian Boitano, 1988 Short Program (Oh, how I miss Jim McKay...)

John Curry, with Lorna Browne and Cathy Foulkes. Foulkes (hair up) also danced with Boston Ballet.

Helene, thank you! The Curry version especially is sweet, leisurely, and charming beyond belief. I especially loved the choeography for the girl with the dark hair pinned up -- the sequence of pirouettes and fouettes was lovely -- and only later saw your note that she had danced with Boston Ballet.

Being new, I hope I am doing this correctly.
I have what might be construed as a nit picking question. Why did the Blue Boy (originally Harold Turner) turn into a Green Boy (John Kriza in the photograph) when the ballet crossed the Atlantic? The last time I saw the Royal Ballet do it, their Blue Boy was still blue. Did all the costumes change,
or just his?
marisa

there was something of a tribute at the end of the 1988 calgary olympics as well.

concerning the colors etc. yes, when Ballet Theater (now ABT) took LES PATINEURS into its repertory in 1946, nine years after its premiere in London with Sadler's Wells, BT chose to have its production designed by Cecil Beaton.
these designs dressed the 'solo' male skater in forest green, even though in the UK this dancer was likely then nicknamed "Blue Skater" (or Blue Boy) because of the color scheme etc. of William Chappell's original designs.
it's useful to rem. that "Blue Boy/Skater" was never Ashton's wording - Harold Turner, the original in this central male role, was simply listed by his given name in the program for in sections Ashton called "Variation" and "Pas de Trois"
also yes, too, all Beaton's colors (and cuts for his costumes) were different, more or less, from those in Chappell's production - the setting was also completely different.
Beaton's palette was mostly in primary colors - scarlet, green, yellow, lilac? - Chappell's were more mellow and what are sometimes called 'fashion colors' - powder blue, navy blue, burdundy? etc. the only color that remained in the same in the '46 BT production was for the couple originally danced by Fonteyn and Helpmann - long nicknamed the "The Lovers" - these remained white.
again, the color-identified names are those that the dancers in these roles acquired over time from balletwatchers and maybe used by the dancers themselves, but still they are just that, short-hand reference names, and not specific character names printed in the program.
thus Kriza was identified in BT's programs for LES PATINEURS (or THE SKATERS as it was called) for his "Variation" and "Pas de Trois" and not by any other name.

Thank you so much for posting the John Curry 'Les Patineurs'. I saw him skate in London when he was very young, watched him on televison many times and met him at the ballet on a number of occasions when we discussed ballet classes that he had taken and he explained the different placing of the weight in skating to that of ballet. He felt that he would never win the major prizes due to Russian and other countries voting practises. Later of course he studied in the USA with both Gus Lussi and Carlo Fassi which led to him winning both the World and Olympic championships in 1976. As a pastiche or a tribute to the Ashton choreography it is honourably re-choreographed for the ice and clearly shows echoes of the original ballet.