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EDNOTE. Nicolas Nabokov was VN's cousin and helped the latter in his early years
in America. Nicolas mentions VN in his charming memoir "Bagazh".
----- Forwarded message from spklein52@hotmail.com -----
Date: Sun, 01 May 2005 18:12:59 -0400
From: "Sandy P. Klein" <spklein52@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: SPKlein52@HotMail.com
http://www.playbillarts.com/features/article/1882.html[2] A Quest
Fulfilled
PlaybillArts, NY - 17 hours ago
... Choreographing to a commissioned score by Nicolas NABOKOV,
Balanchine portrayed Don Quixote as both a sainted fool and martyr, a
tragic hero with a remarkable ...
Kennedy Center, May 2005
A Quest Fulfilled
By Valerie Gladstone
01 May 2005
_Suzanne Farrell resurrects a classic ballet by her mentor, George
Balanchine._
When George Balanchine died in 1983, he bequeathed three of his
ballets to Suzanne Farrell, his cherished muse. A tribute to her
talents, the gift was also prescient. The young woman he knew simply
as a dazzling dancer would become in 1999 the artistic director of
The Suzanne Farrell Ballet and have the opportunity to set these
treasures on her own troupe, which is produced by the Kennedy Center.
Since then Farrell has staged _Meditation_ and _Tzigane_, leaving only
the full-length _Don Quixote_, based on the Cervantes novel, to be
revived. From June 22 to 26 in the Kennedy Center Opera House, she
presents the haunting ballet, which was last performed by New York
City Ballet in 1979 with Farrell dancing the role of Dulcinea.
_
Suzanne Farrell and George Balanchine in the original production of
Don Quixote_
"I've wanted to do this work for a long while," Farrell says, "but I
needed more experience with my company. The 400th anniversary of the
publication of the Cervantes novel seemed a perfect time. I think the
world may be more reflective now than when Mr. B choreographed the
ballet in 1965, and its theme may be even more affecting. It's
especially meaningful to me because at the time we were just becoming
close collaborators."
Choreographing to a commissioned score by Nicolas Nabokov,
Balanchine portrayed Don Quixote as both a sainted fool and martyr, a
tragic hero with a remarkable vision that is misunderstood and
maligned by society. As he campaigns to liberate people from
servitude and ignorance, he finds inspiration and comfort in a young
woman who visits him in a variety of guises, notably as Dulcinea, who
first appears as a maiden threatened by warriors.
The fearless Spaniard could be described as an artist pursuing his
ideal, spurred on by an unattainable muse--a frequent theme in
Balanchine's work--or the ballet could be seen as the quest of
ordinary individuals for justice in an unjust world. In the first
performances, Balanchine played the Don to Farrell's Dulcinea, and
created the ballet's most glorious dances for her. Later, he also
took on the role on special occasions to please Farrell, for
instance, when she had a childhood friend in the audience and on her
mother's birthday.
"Mr. B didn't tell me too much about the ballet as we began working
on it," Farrell says, "which was typical of him. It was my first
excursion into a story ballet and I was excited and frightened. I
started reading the novel and was surprised to find that my character
didn't come in for a long time. But then, I saw that Mr. B would be
faithful to the spirit of the story, not so much follow it incident
by incident. He had danced the Petipa version as a boy in St.
Petersburg, and had fond memories of it."
As was often his custom, Balanchine tinkered with _Don Quixote_ long
after its premiere, adding and subtracting elements. He also regularly
changed steps to accommodate individual dancers. Knowing his habits,
Farrell felt comfortable making a few changes for continuity and
timing in the first act and condensing the musical score.
"I think in a sense," Farrell continues, "that Mr. B gave it to me
to see what I could do with it, as a challenge. In one version, he
added a lovely Spanish divertissement but it gets in the way of the
plot. Just when the story is being established, here comes this
distracting dance. Then you have to establish what's going on all
over again. So I took that section out. Mr. B would expect me to try
alternatives--he was preparing me to find my own way into his
ballets."
Farrell tries to prepare her dancers in the same way. "Mr. B would
give you the movement and then you had to figure out the character
yourself," she says. "You didn't use unnecessary gestures or facial
expressions to get across the meaning. I remember how strange it was
for me to do _Don Q _at first. I didn't know what I looked like. I'd
never moved that way before. There's been so much excitement
surrounding this ballet for my dancers because, like me back then,
they don't have any visual references. Conveying an emotional story
requires very different skills than performing abstract ballets. You
have to work on a lot of different levels, all at the same time."
In the third act, Farrell realized that the arm movements in one
sequence resembled the movements of windmills, with the arms
crisscrossing in patterns. "Nothing Mr. B did was by accident," she
explains. "It illustrates how he got ideas across without being
literal or using old-fashioned mime. It's also a very musical way to
understand the Don's confusion. When the dancers saw what these
movements looked like, they could understand how they underlined and
intensified the meaning of the scene."
Because _Don Quixote_ requires a cast of 57, Farrell had to add
dancers to her 38-member company, plus nine children. Fortunately,
she could arrange to have dancers from the prestigious National
Ballet of Canada join her for the Kennedy Center performances. To
find the children, she held auditions locally for 8- and 9-year-olds.
"When I saw them walking down the hall in the Kennedy Center, they
looked so tiny," she exclaims. "I gave them a few exercises at the
barre to see how focused they were. They giggled a lot. They were
very cute. They are only on stage for a few minutes, so they don't
have to have a tremendous amount of concentration. The best part was
seeing how interested they became when I told them all about _Don
Quixote_."
Farrell talks excitedly about the new production. "We'll use the
same original scenery by Esteban Francés and new costumes by Holly
Hynes, with the first act set in Don Quixote's library, the second
set in a castle ballroom, and the third, outside the castle walls.
Just look how long the story has lasted. I think in every era, he
means different things to people. Fundamentally, the story is about
someone with such strong belief and conviction that nothing will
change his mind. I'm sure there's a little of him in all of us."
_Valerie Gladstone writes frequently about the arts. _
Links:
------
[1] http://www.playbillarts.com/index.php
[2] http://www.playbillarts.com/features/article/1882.html
----- End forwarded message -----
in America. Nicolas mentions VN in his charming memoir "Bagazh".
----- Forwarded message from spklein52@hotmail.com -----
Date: Sun, 01 May 2005 18:12:59 -0400
From: "Sandy P. Klein" <spklein52@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: SPKlein52@HotMail.com
http://www.playbillarts.com/features/article/1882.html[2] A Quest
Fulfilled
PlaybillArts, NY - 17 hours ago
... Choreographing to a commissioned score by Nicolas NABOKOV,
Balanchine portrayed Don Quixote as both a sainted fool and martyr, a
tragic hero with a remarkable ...
Kennedy Center, May 2005
A Quest Fulfilled
By Valerie Gladstone
01 May 2005
_Suzanne Farrell resurrects a classic ballet by her mentor, George
Balanchine._
When George Balanchine died in 1983, he bequeathed three of his
ballets to Suzanne Farrell, his cherished muse. A tribute to her
talents, the gift was also prescient. The young woman he knew simply
as a dazzling dancer would become in 1999 the artistic director of
The Suzanne Farrell Ballet and have the opportunity to set these
treasures on her own troupe, which is produced by the Kennedy Center.
Since then Farrell has staged _Meditation_ and _Tzigane_, leaving only
the full-length _Don Quixote_, based on the Cervantes novel, to be
revived. From June 22 to 26 in the Kennedy Center Opera House, she
presents the haunting ballet, which was last performed by New York
City Ballet in 1979 with Farrell dancing the role of Dulcinea.
_
Suzanne Farrell and George Balanchine in the original production of
Don Quixote_
"I've wanted to do this work for a long while," Farrell says, "but I
needed more experience with my company. The 400th anniversary of the
publication of the Cervantes novel seemed a perfect time. I think the
world may be more reflective now than when Mr. B choreographed the
ballet in 1965, and its theme may be even more affecting. It's
especially meaningful to me because at the time we were just becoming
close collaborators."
Choreographing to a commissioned score by Nicolas Nabokov,
Balanchine portrayed Don Quixote as both a sainted fool and martyr, a
tragic hero with a remarkable vision that is misunderstood and
maligned by society. As he campaigns to liberate people from
servitude and ignorance, he finds inspiration and comfort in a young
woman who visits him in a variety of guises, notably as Dulcinea, who
first appears as a maiden threatened by warriors.
The fearless Spaniard could be described as an artist pursuing his
ideal, spurred on by an unattainable muse--a frequent theme in
Balanchine's work--or the ballet could be seen as the quest of
ordinary individuals for justice in an unjust world. In the first
performances, Balanchine played the Don to Farrell's Dulcinea, and
created the ballet's most glorious dances for her. Later, he also
took on the role on special occasions to please Farrell, for
instance, when she had a childhood friend in the audience and on her
mother's birthday.
"Mr. B didn't tell me too much about the ballet as we began working
on it," Farrell says, "which was typical of him. It was my first
excursion into a story ballet and I was excited and frightened. I
started reading the novel and was surprised to find that my character
didn't come in for a long time. But then, I saw that Mr. B would be
faithful to the spirit of the story, not so much follow it incident
by incident. He had danced the Petipa version as a boy in St.
Petersburg, and had fond memories of it."
As was often his custom, Balanchine tinkered with _Don Quixote_ long
after its premiere, adding and subtracting elements. He also regularly
changed steps to accommodate individual dancers. Knowing his habits,
Farrell felt comfortable making a few changes for continuity and
timing in the first act and condensing the musical score.
"I think in a sense," Farrell continues, "that Mr. B gave it to me
to see what I could do with it, as a challenge. In one version, he
added a lovely Spanish divertissement but it gets in the way of the
plot. Just when the story is being established, here comes this
distracting dance. Then you have to establish what's going on all
over again. So I took that section out. Mr. B would expect me to try
alternatives--he was preparing me to find my own way into his
ballets."
Farrell tries to prepare her dancers in the same way. "Mr. B would
give you the movement and then you had to figure out the character
yourself," she says. "You didn't use unnecessary gestures or facial
expressions to get across the meaning. I remember how strange it was
for me to do _Don Q _at first. I didn't know what I looked like. I'd
never moved that way before. There's been so much excitement
surrounding this ballet for my dancers because, like me back then,
they don't have any visual references. Conveying an emotional story
requires very different skills than performing abstract ballets. You
have to work on a lot of different levels, all at the same time."
In the third act, Farrell realized that the arm movements in one
sequence resembled the movements of windmills, with the arms
crisscrossing in patterns. "Nothing Mr. B did was by accident," she
explains. "It illustrates how he got ideas across without being
literal or using old-fashioned mime. It's also a very musical way to
understand the Don's confusion. When the dancers saw what these
movements looked like, they could understand how they underlined and
intensified the meaning of the scene."
Because _Don Quixote_ requires a cast of 57, Farrell had to add
dancers to her 38-member company, plus nine children. Fortunately,
she could arrange to have dancers from the prestigious National
Ballet of Canada join her for the Kennedy Center performances. To
find the children, she held auditions locally for 8- and 9-year-olds.
"When I saw them walking down the hall in the Kennedy Center, they
looked so tiny," she exclaims. "I gave them a few exercises at the
barre to see how focused they were. They giggled a lot. They were
very cute. They are only on stage for a few minutes, so they don't
have to have a tremendous amount of concentration. The best part was
seeing how interested they became when I told them all about _Don
Quixote_."
Farrell talks excitedly about the new production. "We'll use the
same original scenery by Esteban Francés and new costumes by Holly
Hynes, with the first act set in Don Quixote's library, the second
set in a castle ballroom, and the third, outside the castle walls.
Just look how long the story has lasted. I think in every era, he
means different things to people. Fundamentally, the story is about
someone with such strong belief and conviction that nothing will
change his mind. I'm sure there's a little of him in all of us."
_Valerie Gladstone writes frequently about the arts. _
Links:
------
[1] http://www.playbillarts.com/index.php
[2] http://www.playbillarts.com/features/article/1882.html
----- End forwarded message -----