DANCE APPRECIATION 101
Prof EA Garza
University of Nevada, Reno
Spring 2018 08M18
JC Langelle
“Jewels”-- Three Part Ballet by George Balanchine
Russia, not the birthplace of ballet but certainly a major contributor to its preservation and development. St. Petersburg, the Mariinsky Theater, where the art form has moved from the court of Romanov to the proletariat, although aesthetically and financially, it may still be beyond the reach of the masses. I will be the first to admit to a complete lack of the basics of ballet, but have been able to review the three part performance in Photoshop so that an accurate timestamp of the movements could be recorded. Below, are those recordings. Hopefully, I have given credit to the various dancers as they appear in the sequences, and apologize for not being able to identify completely and correctly.
“Emeralds”-- Female dancers wear green costumes, the male dancers have light colors with dark vests. The stage is immense, dwarfing the performers, draped in large green curtains on each side with a large green backdrop, obviously alluding to “emeralds.”
[00:00] Open, credits run:
The Mariinsky Theater presents “Jewels” Ballet in three parts
Choreography-George Balanchine
Ballet Director -Makhar Vaziev
Art-General Director-Valery Gergiev
Orchestra Conductor- Tugan Sokhiev
Scenery-Peter Harvey
Costumes- Karinska
Director-Brian Large
Music by Gabriel Faure.
Cast: Zhanna Ayupova, Denis Firsov, Daria Sukhorukova, Dmitry Semionov, Yana Selina, Xenia Ostreikkovskaya and Anton Korsakov
[01:39] Conductor enters pit
[02:10] Curtain rises to Denis Firsov & Zhanna Ayupova, flanked by female couples, five in all; two downstage to right and left, the others upstage, all perfectly still.
Various stage maneuvers, up, down, hither and yon, away and together; eventually breaking at 7 1/2 minutes to
[07:38] Ayupova solo, bows, exits stage right
[10:35] Sukhorukova solo, enter stage left,
[14:44] Dmitry Semionov
[16:58] following a series of ballet moves, Semionov exits stage right leaving single female dancer, she is replaced by the second dancer.
principal male returns with first dancer from stage right and second dancer exits stage left All dancers soon are onstage to complete the sequence, taking a bow upon exit stage right.
[18:45] Korsakov enters from upstage left and is joined by Yana Selina (?) from upstage right. Movement, exit stage right.
[22:00] 2nd principal male and female dancers enter stage left, go through routine, exit stage right.
[25:24] Firsov returns for solo, stage right. He is joined by two male, two female dancers. More females, males exit. Males, females platoon on and off the stage.
[29:34] end.
**
“Rubies”--
[00:00]
Again, the performers begin from a freeze frame, wearing tight red (ruby) outfits, an extreme from the classical first "emerald" cut. Stage curtains and backdrop in red. Zhanna Ayupova appears to be the lead again.
The movement is far more risque and suggestive compared to the seemingly innocent patterns of "Emeralds." The stage clears except for a happily bouncing duet. While in the first part, the flute played a key role in the composition, the piano is more noticeable here.
[06:18] principal female , flanked by the rest of the troupe, is placed into a number of positions by four male dancers.
[07:21] male female duet slinking center stage to piano. The two appear to be Xenia Ostreikkovskaya and Dmitry Semionov.
[14:19] Ayupova is back with the troupe in a rather avant-cosmo off Broadway style. Piano enhanced by the string section. One segment of five male dancers romping around the stage.
[20:41] The curtain drops to applause and raises as cast bows to audience.
[23:20] Following flowers and a number of bows, the curtain closes.
***
“Diamonds”--
Cast: Ulyana Lopatkina and Igor Zelensky, supporting dancers.
Music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
[00:00] It is back to basic classical costumes as the stage is glittering in white with the troupe introducing the principals. The females are decked out with tiaras loaded with diamonds. Wind and string instruments replace the piano from the last section.
[06:32] Lopatkina appears upstage left, Zelensky enters downstage right; both in white. Impressed by Lopatkina's legs which seem to bend in physiologically impossible angles.
[16:28] Lopatkina's performance is stunning, certainly befitting the title of diamonds it portrays. Flawless, the en pointe impossible, the pirouettes will make you dizzy watching them. Zelensky, on the other hand, served more as the dancer's bar throughout the sequence.
[17:00] the dancers return to the floor. followed by a Zelensky solo, upstaging his own previous performance with Lapotkina. He exits downstage right and the floor fills with male dancers. The orchestral accompaniment leans toward a military type horn salute. The ladies return and join the troupe.
[20:37] Lapotkina enters upstage left for a solo. The two principals dash in and out from each side of the stage, matching pirouette spin for spin.
[23:19] dancers, in pairs, enter, upstage right performing a sort of grand march. For a minute I thought I was watching a Paris ballet, the influence is somewhat evident, with a bit of a waltz tossed in.
[26:06] the dancers disappear and are replaced by the principals.
There are at least three cameras, as many as five, covering the ballet, the main one is directly in the center.
[33:49] presentation of the conductor and the flowers
finis.
Initially, Bolshevism and ballet did not mix. Balanchine, originally Balanchivadze, (1) became an expatriate and left Russia when it became the Soviet Union. He was hired by Sergei Diaghilev, another expatriate and eventually migrated to the United States. As for ballet behind the Iron Curtain, Joseph Stalin, following a great deal of convincing, allowed it to continue as a cultural heritage program to influence and persuade the lowbrow capitalists of the superiority of the socialist movement. (2)
A Footnote: I would highly recommend watching this on Photoshop, as the clarity is unsurpassed, there is a time counter and the file in the program does not suffer many of the glitches encountered watching it online at the rather crude, and ever so proletarian, “YouTube” site.
References:
- George Balanchine, by Brian Seibert, Rosen Publishing (2006)
- Dancing Up a Storm, the 1917 Revolution and Russian Ballet, by Carolyn Pouncy, published in Culture Matters, 19 March 2017
- Links for downloading the entire three parts of the ballet can be found at: http://hdvidzpro.pro/video/Mariinsky-Orchestra-and-Ballet