Review of 3 Ballets

Michel Fokine’s “Petrovchka”

            “Petrovchka” was an interesting ballet to watch, it did not fit the style of the other classical ballets.  In fact, Fokine eliminated the usual structure of the grand ballet completely.  There were no soloists, all the roles were character roles, even the main ones; which made it confusing watching the video because I was expecting the main characters to come out and stand out with solos, especially the ballerina, but that never happened.  On the contrary Fokine mocked the classical style of ballets as was seen when the three puppets came out at the beginning, before they were charmed to life with the magician’s flute.  They all danced maniacally and in harmony, as a satire to the old ballet; with the conventional, pre-made steps, and predictable movements.  Fokine also downgraded the importance of the old ballet stars.  There were no majestic pas de deux’s or variations usually present to celebrate and showcase the talent of the principal dancers.  Numerous characters had their moments to shine; every group took center stage at one point of the performance.  Even the two ballerinas that performed at the fair at the beginning, who were not one of the principal characters, stood out.  Fokine did something interesting with these ballerina’s choreography, he did a pas en unison; dividing the stage with the crowd and the dancers did different choreography at the same time.  I had never seen that before and it was one of the most interesting parts of the ballet.  Fokine even incorporated Russian dance in his choreography, showing the range of styles present in the piece.  Another interesting aspect of the choreography was the evolution of the puppets as they came to life.  At first they executed more doll-like movements, with flexed feet and rigid robot-like arms, however, these softened and started going away as the show went on.  The ballerina however, was the only one who maintained some of this rigidity though the entire segments.   The Moor and Petrovchka on the other hand, did a lot of miming with some classical dancing in it, not typical of regular ballets.  Nevertheless, it was interesting that the Moor and Petrovchka’s personalities were reflected through their individual choreographies.  The Moor being more extroverted and self-assured had more en dehors or “turned out” steps.  With his body positioned front and center, forward to the audience, with more exaggerated movements.  While Petrovchka on the other hand, was more frightened, introverted, pitiable and it was reflected in his more en dedans choreography.  Even his arms were never fully extended and his shoulders were pulled up.  Fokine showed further parody of the classical style in the duet between the Ballerina and the Moore.  The entire scene looked awkward; she looked really stiff, and he was not controlling her properly, when he turned her he actually let her go and she fell over.  Reflecting the stiffness of the classical dance through the choreography and supporting it by having it danced by dolls.  Stravinsky’s orchestration was fitting to this ballet.  The fair scenes were held on rapid changing rhythms and the slower moments took place on softer piano tunes and flute. 

Frederick Ashton’s “Monotones”

            In the introduction to the performance, Sir Frederick Ashton disclosed that his intention behind the creation of this dance was to express how people might be on the moon.  And he did that brilliantly through the overall mood, choreography, music, and costumes.  All were very lunaire and other worldly.  The three performers came out in white body suits with white caps on their heads, and danced on Debussy’s lighthearted airs.  There were two males and one female who held hands practically the entire time, as if to prevent each other from flying away in zero gravity.  Their moves looked like something you would see in a water ballet.  They were very light, airy, effortless, and elongated movements.  Elizabeth Parkinson (the female performer) was always synchronized with one of her partners and all three were following each others movements.  They stayed connected to each other through practically the entire performance but in the instances when the dancers did pull away from each other, they always pulled back together, as if attracted by a magnetic pull.  Ashton insinuated that he preferred and was more faithful to the classical style of dance, something that was reflected in the choreography.  The abstract style Joffrey ballet is known for is reflected yet, this dance was more classical in style.  Monotones II was beautiful to watch, the movements were very pure and simple, something that can also be attributed to the dancers’ talents.  The symmetry of the choreography throughout the piece was intriguing as were the lines and angles created by the three performers.  All three seemed in complete command and control of their movements and of the situation which added to the overall theme of serenity and unearthliness of the piece. 

“Sinfonietta” by Jiri Kylian

            The two previous pieces described about have demonstrated the innovation of the choreographers and the result of blending styles. One strayed away from the classical scene, the other stuck to it and in this piece Kylian who also comes from a classical background, presents yet another unique blend of styles.  Like Ashton, the performers also gave a sense of light and airiness.  The choreography was romantic, fluid, and took up the entire stage.  The performers leaped on stage at the beginning of the piece, the men doing grand jetes around the stage, something repeated at the end of the performance.  It was interesting to see the use of different speeds.  The dancers ran, then suddenly stopped, or started just standing there and then started moving.  They were even going trough lifts really fast, yet at the same time exhibiting control.  It is also reflected in the choreography of the steps in general which formed smooth and elegant lines reminiscent of a classical ballet.  However, at the same time the movements were sharp and hard hitting to the music, which in combination with the change in speed added to the duality of the performance.  The dancers also had an aspect of symmetry, there were always at least two couples mirroring the exact same steps on stage.  They also did a lot of coming together as a group and them breaking apart into independent performers while still sticking to the same steps.  Kylian seems like he enjoyed the concept of optical illusions as seen when several dancers came together to appear like they formed one line then folded to the floor into a perfectly geometric shape that also looked like there were only two people lying there.  There was always a parallel characteristic to the choreography, in relation to where the dancers were standing, in the reflection of the same movements, in the direction the dancers were moving on stage.  At one point two male dancers and one female dancer were performing and it was sort of reminiscent of “Monotones”.  Another noticeable feature of the piece was that each time a new portion began either the men or the women started by staying immobile and the other gender began dancing, and the rest followed later, working together and each pair using each others bodies to accomplish the desired movements. There were a lot of jumps and turns through the entire performance adding to the airy feel of the performance.  The loosely fitted tops on the men and the flowing dresses on the women did too.  One last aspect of the performance that stood out was the lighting of the background it seemed to get darker as the piece went along, as if representing the day passing; that started at sunrise and gets darker as the sun set.  Overall it was a very energetic and fast pace piece with constant activity filling the stage. 

substitute teacher review

It is always interesting to change dance teachers, although change is not always comfortable it opens our eyes to new techniques a fresh way of looking at exercises.  A change of pace is also good for our bodies.  Our substitute teacher for dance class this week provided an opportunity to work on all these things.  Her way of explaining exercises was different than our usual class and I did learn a couple new things about myself and techniques to improve my work.  The slower movements also allowed us to work on our strength and feel the steps, working on elongation and technique, slowing the pace is essential to do sometimes.  Questions were welcome and the steps were coherent and clearly explained.  The class would be a perfect starting point at the beginning of the semester especially for students whose strengths do not necessarily lie in ballet to introduce them to what to do and not do, and then build on what we did throughout the semester.  Adding steps to the exercises and making them harder. I personally enjoyed the class, they were steps I like doing.  Hence, overall it was a good class, the teacher was delightful, and the movements were coherent and enlightening.  It is a class I would definitely take again. 

Entrechats

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica the entrechat is most likely from the Italian word intrecciare meaning “to weave” or “to braid”.   The same source defines the step as

“beginning in the fifth position, during which the dancer crosses his straight legs at the lower calf. Numerous rapid crossings make the entrechat a spectacular jump. Numbers (trois, “three”; quatre, “four”; and so on) are affixed to the term to designate the amount of leg movement (entrechat-quatre has two crossings; entrechat-dix has five). The dancer lands on both feet for even-numbered and on one foot for odd-numbered entrechats.”

The first woman to perform this step was Marie Anne de Cupis de Camargo.  She was a French/Belgian dancer in the early 1700s. Thing have changed since the simple entrechat-quatre performed by Marie Anne however, through the years the goal has become to do as many entrechats possible in row, and the more complicated the entrechat, the better.  Only the best of the best have been able to carry out the supremely difficult steps like the entrechat-dix and douze.  Vaslav Nijinsky, referred to by certain newspapers of the early 1900’s as the greatest male dancer of all time, was the only one to achieve the entrechat-dix.  A record not broken until 1973 when Wayne Sleep performed an entrechat-douze on British television; the entrechat-douze requiring the legs to cross six times.  To achieve that many legs changes in a row the dancer has to jump high, have fast legs, a tremendous amount of talent and be a risk taker, all characteristics shared by Sleep and Nijinsky.  Since then male dancers usually stick to entrechat-six’s and maybe huit’s during performances, but to get the dramatic effect an entrechat can create, the performers execute numerous in a row.  Iñaki Urlezaga for instance, did 32 entrechat-six in a row in his performance of Giselle in 2007.  The women on the other hand also stick to lower numbers, sometimes entrechat-six’s as well or entrechat-quatres.  However, with women the step can be complicated through pointe shoes.  Add a pair of pointe shoes and the movement can be done on pointe, requiring the dancer to jump and land on pointe instead of on flat.  Olesia Novikova most recently in 2011 did 30 entrechat-quatres in pointe in her performance of Raymonda.  Hence, through the years, the end goal of performing a difficult step has always been to create a jaw dropping moment on stage.  To push the body to the maximum of its abilities and shock the crowd with something the everyday person would never be able to accomplish.  The entrechat has been one of the steps that has provided such moments, showing that the simplest moves can always be complicated.  The entrechat-dix and douze have only been accomplished by the best of the best, making this step something very special one can only aspire to.  So the next best way to complicate the step today is to find ways to complicate the lower numbered entrechat. 

“Entrechat.” Encyclopædia Britannica. March 18, 2012

<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/188998/entrechat>

Balanchine

Balanchine’s Jewels & Stravinsky Violin Concerto

            After watching a video of Emeralds and Diamonds from Balanchine’s Jewels ballet, several thematic premises permeate.  Even though the two dances are very different in style, vision, aim, origin, and music the two pieces were both designed around the concept of gems.  Allowing the performers to shine individually like precious stones and also reflecting Balanchine’s personal history and experience of dance.  “Emeralds” was more of a romantic piece, set around the theme of emeralds. Their color, an intense green, was reflected in the green lighting and costumes and in the jewels that incrusted the costumes.  Green is the color of beauty, love, and harmony and Balanchine manifested those notions in the choreography.  The dances whether they were pas de deux’s or with all the dancers were moving in unison, flowing together beautifully.  At the same time emeralds are also sophisticated gems with lots of patterns and edges.  An idea also reflected in the style of dance with the performers forming numerous patterns on stage as they came together, like the facets of the stone would.  For instance at one point some of the female dancers were in arabesques around the kneeling male dancers, all were in a circle which formed linear movements that looked like shapes from the audience’s point of view, making the entire thing look like the edges of an emerald.  And the sophisticated dance coming together to actually look like a gem, very symmetrical and geometric.  At the same time the whole piece also had this delicate aspect to it, a trait also shared by the emerald. 

            Whereas “diamonds” on the other hand had more of an aspect of grandeur and hard quality to the piece, which are characteristics shared with the actual stone.  Diamonds are very cubic, hard, and disperse light which are all things Balanchine successfully incorporated in the piece.  These are reflected in the white lighting and white costumes, a white tutu for the woman, very sharp and classical, pure in a sense to the traditional ballet Russian style.  A style also reflected in the choreography of the piece.  The number had a certain edge to it with very precise moves.  The grandness of the choreography and the two dancers on stage made it look like the couple owned to stage, they covered the entire space.  Tchaikovsky’s music also contributed to this overall feeling.  Here again, the performers get to shine individually like a diamond would in real life, their costumes are glittering with (fake) jewels, and purity of the ballet style is reflective of an authentic diamond. 

            The last piece we saw on the Stravinsky violin concerto on the other hand was far more abstract and contemporary in style.  Stravinsky in this piece expressed a stylistic assortment of music which Balanchine was able to reflect through his own choreography.  There was a lot of slower movements each followed by quick, rhythmic steps full of energy.  There were many sharp, elongated moves, also heard in the music, but at the same time very fluid with intertwining of bodies.  The couples performing were following each others movements, complimenting each other.  As seen in the several movements, the male would align his legs or his body to the shape the female was making, blending behind her in a way and becoming one.  Matching her movements at times while near the end we could observe a switch and the female was the one complementing the male dancers’ movements.  The shapes the bodies were making were reminiscent of the choreography and style in jewels.  In the sense that Balanchine used the dancers’ bodies to form shapes and silhouettes that came in unison with the music to form the overall theme. 

Glissades

February 20, 2012



      Glissade literally translated means to “slide”. And there are several types of glissades in ballet including glissade dessus, glissade dessous, glissade devant, glissade derriere, glissade en avant, and glissade en arrière. The glissade is a step usually used to connect other steps together.
It is a ballet move that is done from a demi-plié in the fifth position, with one foot sliding away to another point on the floor. And the other foot following by pushing off the floor and pointing the feet, straightening the knees, and shifting the body weight toward the first foot and landing in a fondu, with the second foot sliding in and finishing with both feet in fifth in demi-plié (Grant, 60). The differences between the types of glissades rests in the position the glissade starts in and the direction it is going in. Hence, the different types of glissades are defined bellow.

     The terms dessus and dessous have to do with movements that travel sideways with dessus meaning “above or over”, therefore denoting that one foot will be closing or moving over the other or in front of the other foot. While dessous means “underneath or below” so one foot will be moving or closing underneath or in other words behind the supporting foot. So when applied to glissades, glissade dessus would start in fifth position with the right foot back if you are moving to the right first, it travels sideways with the back (right) foot starting first and finishes with the left foot in back so that the right foot ends up in the front. Gail Grant explains the movement perfectly in her “Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet” explaining the glissade starts in“[f]ifth position R foot back: demi-plié and slide the pointed toe of the R foot to the second position. With a slight spring from the L foot, shift the weight to the R foot, bending the knee, and slide the pointed L foot to the fifth position back, lowering the heel and bending the knee” (60). Glissade dessous would also be travelling to the side but here the right foot starts in the front in fifth position and finishes in the back. In all these scenarios it would work the same way for the left side. But in this case the step starts in “[f]ifth position R foot front; demi-plié and slide the pointed toe of the R foot to the second position. With a slight spring from the L foot, shift the weight to the R foot, bending the knee, and slide the pointed L foot to the fifth position front, lowering the heel and bending the knee” (Grant, 60).

     The words devant and derrière on the other hand have different meanings, devant means “in front of” while derriere means “behind”. In reference to normal dance steps it would mean closing or sending your foot out in front of you or behind you. In terms of the glissade however, glissade devant is a glissade in the front, but it is still travelling to the side, so you start with the front foot which will also finish in the front. The step would start in “[f]ifith position R foot front; demi-plié and slide the pointed toe of the R foot to the second position. With a slight spring from the L foot, shift the weight to the R foot, bending the knee, and slide the pointed L foot to the fifth position back, lowering the heel and bending the knee” (Grant, 60).
While a glissade derrière is a glissade in the back like the term suggests. So you would start with the back foot which would finish and stay in the back when you land in fifth at the end. The step here for example starts in”[f]ifth position R foot back; demi-plié and slide the pointed toe of the R foot to the second position. With a slight spring from the L foot, shift the weight to the R foot, bending the knee, and slide the pointed L foot to the fifth position front, lowering the heel and bending the knee” (Grant, 60).

     Finally you have the terms en avant and en arrière. En avant means “forward” while en arrière means “backwards” both referring to the direction of a step. So here the glissades will be travelling forwards or backwards rather than sideways. A glissade en avant starts with the front foot which finishes in the front but you will be travelling forwards either directly in front of you, or in croisé or effacé en avant. This would start with “[f]ifth position R foot front; demi-plié and slide the pointed toe of the R foot to the fourth position front. With a slight spring from the L foot, shift the weight to the R foot, behind the knee, and slide the pointed L foot to the fifth position back, lowering the heel and bending the knee” (Grant, 61).
On the other hand the glissade en arrière is a glissade backwards so you would be starting with the back foot that also finishes in the back again your entire body travelling backwards directly behind you, or in croisé or effacé en arrière. This glissade would start for instance in “[f]ifth position R foot back; demi-plié and slide the pointed toe of the R foot to the fourth position back. With a slight spring from the L foot, shift the weight to the R foot, bending the knee, and slide the pointed L foot to the fifth position front, lowering the heel and bending the knee” (Grant, 61).


Resources:

Grant, Gail. Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet (3rd ed). New York: Dover
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