What are your favorite ballets? Ballets you haven't seen but want to? Do you think that DVD/home video releases of ballet are ever comparable to seeing it live?
>>933598
How was the ABT sleeping beauty?
>>933662
It was fucking miraculous. It set the bar so high I'm not sure I can see a standard Sleeping Beauty live again, because it was so refreshing and so well done, and so much more engrossing than other productions I've seen. The original Pepita steps give every role so much more vitality and character than they normally have nowadays. I've been watching other clips of Violente and none of them come even close to capturing the feisty, fun and genuinely temperamental (which is the point of her gift, after all) version from ABT. Same with the other fairies and even the more mimed characters. It was like breathing new (but old, I guess, considering the context) life into these people. They weren't just Presentations, they were Characters. I was interested in Catalabutte, for goodness sake--Catalabutte!
The mime was much more engaging as well. The standard mime for Sleeping Beauty has gotten bare-bones, but this version (which I don't know if it's taken from Pepita's notes or is Ratmansky's variation on it) was a lot clearer and more expressive than it normally is, and there was more of it. I loved seeing Sleeping Beauty acknowledge while dancing with the prince that she loves him, and the way she beckons during the vision sequence wasn't just generic longing but genuinely expressed: "come to me!" And thank goodness Ratmansky introduced the original ending of Carabosse--she's forgiven and invited to the wedding, and she attends with the Lilac Fairy. In modern productions nowadays she tends to be brutally murdered, which is against the spirit of the show.
oop 1/2
>>933758
Oh, and the way the mime was incorporated was a revelation.The mime was part of the dance itself, a fluid movement. There was something the director said during the talk before the show, "Imagine that you live in a world where you don't communicate with words, but with dance and gestures." And the show perfectly captured that completely.
The only thing I wasn't 100% sold on was Hee Seo's Act I version of Aurora, who was much more like Act I Giselle than Aurora. She didn't have the regal air that normally accompanies Aurora. Yes she's bright and innocent and fun-loving but she was missing the little touches that should have been there, like acknowledging her suitors with a nod of her head, that sort of thing. Her Adagio was perfectly executed... truthfully I think that sequence is overrated and always looks too tension-filled no matter the dancer, I would rather have something fluid there, but I get why it's impressive. She was much more interesting in Act II and III, with the romantic scenes and the post-awakening where you could practically see 100 years of dreaming about this day fall from her shoulders.
And I'm almost sorry to say it, but woah is Misty Copeland overhyped. She was fine, not any better or worse than the other dancers for the fairy tale roles in the wedding, but she was getting wild cheers for name recognition alone. It makes me feel bad for the other dancers who had way more complex work to do but didn't receive screaming cheers every time they showed up on stage. I'm glad that they revamped Princess Florine, though, and made her a Princess once again.
If you haven't seen it, and you have the opportunity to see it, go see it. I'm reminded of something that was written to Pepita after the premiere of the original show: "Your ballet has become a kind of obsession... people have ceased saying to each other 'How are you?' Instead, they ask, 'Have you seen The Sleeping Beauty?'"
>tfw Tim Burton gave Matthew Bourne permission to film his Edward Scissorhands ballet for DVD release but Bourne either didn't or hasn't released it yet
c'mon
Does anyone know of any series similar to the Ballet Evolved videos from the Royal Opera House?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auDNcfK0Wcs&list=PLFEuShFvJzBww3lVbFABGB0HbIxNQ2TiA
>>933777
It's nice to see someone with this level excitment.
>>933598
Well i never really was into ballet, but you got me excited, any favourite shows OP?
>>938798
Well, the ABT's The Sleeping Beauty for sure!
Most of the classics (Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, La Bayadere) are really enjoyable. One of the reasons they've stuck around for so long is that they have easy to follow narratives that contain everyone a traditional ballet stories want: joy, romance, tragedy, in various orders. There are a lot of versions you can watch on youtube for free at the moment, though they're usually older so the video quality isn't always there. I believe The Royal Ballet releases their shows in high definition. I watched their Giselle on DVD and enjoyed it.
One of the things I love most about modern ballet is that people are trying new things all the time. Matthew Bourne (who did the >>934774
Edward Scissorhands ballet mentioned here) has done his own versions of several classic ballets and created something new from them. He has a version of Sleeping Beauty that is envisioned as a dark, gothic fairytale and a male version of Swan Lake with some pretty striking choreography. Particularly with his version of Sleeping Beauty, there's a greater element of story and narrative because of all the twists he's made to the ballet, which makes it really engaging to watch, even on on DVD.
Looking outside the classics, there are so many wonderful, intriguing and even shocking ballets that, after viewing, made me rethink what ballet could be. Kenneth MacMillan is definitely a stand-out. His one-act version of "Anastasia" is available on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvqB1iUVkYk) and shouldn't be missed. Mayerling, also by MacMillan, is another stand-out from him. I don't know if the full production is available for free anywhere, but here's a teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Ps_XVPfTM
1/2
>>940959
John Neumeier is another favorite of mine. His version of The Little Mermaid is bizarre and heartbreaking. I saw it live and there is a scene where the mermaid, trapped in her human body and practically going mad from its limitations and the confining nature of human life, beats on the walls of her room. During the performance I saw, the dancer was so intense she ended up cutting her knuckles, leaving blood streaks on the walls. (This was not intentional--on the DVD version, there is no blood.) In addition to telling the story of The Little Mermaid, the show was telling the story of Hans Christian Anderson, and his own heartbreak and how/why he brought The Little Mermaid story to life. Trailer/teaser here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k27lDDj07Z4
There's also The Rite of Spring, which when it premiered in 1913, almost caused a riot in the audience. The Rite of Spring is more or less the story of a young girl being chosen to be sacrificed. The Joffrey Ballet did a reconstruction of the original 1913 production in the 80s.
Out of the classics, my favorite is definitely Giselle. Peasant girl falls for prince, prince is revealed to be engaged, peasant girl goes mad and dies, peasant girl is resurrected by the spirits of dead women who haunt the forest at night and make any men they meet dance to death, they find the prince and Giselle has to decide whether to exact revenge or save him. Good stuff. My favorite part about Giselle is how intense the choreography can get, and the great contrast between the beginning of the ballet and the end. The beginning is this bright cheerful peasant village and everyone's dancing around and having a good time, then in Act 2 it's just depressing and haunting. The last version I saw was from the Houston Ballet (sadly I don't think they ever release recordings) and I swear the ballet dancer for the prince was going to collapse from exhaustion--the audience clapped practically through that entire scene.
>>941006
Oh and I almost forgot to mention The Green Table/Danse Macabre in Eight Scenes. It was oriiginally staged in 1932, recently reconstructed by the daughter of the original choreography and professionally released. It's eight scenes depicting the horror of war. I always wonder if any company will attempt to get the rights to rework this one, and extend its aesthetics through WWII and beyond.
Out of what I've seen, I really liked Giselle, La Sylphide, Le sacre de printemps, Le spectre de la rose, L'apres midi d'un faun, DSCH. Got into ballet just recently, so I haven't really seen a lot, but I remember being fascinated with Le sacre. I used to watch the 'reconstruction' once every week, the 1989 Joffrey version. Even back then I realised there was something terribly wrong with the Mariinsky version though.
>>941132
What don't you like about the Mariinsky Sacre de printemps?
>>942390
The dancers felt clumsy and unprepared.
