#Ufa-Ballet

[gorbigorbi]

Irina Sapozhnikova and Rustam Iskhakov, "Rachmaninov. A Lifelong Symphony ", libretto, production and costume design by Ivan Skladchikov, direction and choreo by Oleg Gabyshev, music by Sergey Rachmaninof, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Modest Mussorgsky and Karl Czerny, Bashkir State Opera and Ballet Theater, Ufa, Republic of Bashkortostan (March 30, 2024)

Photographer Oleg Menkov

[iconauta]

Ballet Mécanique (19124) Fernand Léger

Ballet Mécanique ( Mechanical Ballet) is an avant-garde film made by the cubist painter Fernand Léger with the assistance of the American director Dudley Murphy . It is the best known example of cubist cinema and the only film work made by Lèger. Originally this film was intended to accompany the ballet by American composer George Antheil , but due to disagreements between the various authors, the film was presented without any musical accompaniment. Today, the ballet and the film would be considered two separate and independent works, although there have been numerous attempts to adapt Antheil's music to Léger and Murphy's Ballet Mécanique*.

The first public screening took place on September 24, 1924, in Vienna, but the best known remains the one in Berlin in May 1925, when Ballet Mécanique was presented at an evening entitled Der Absolut Film organized by the artists of the Novembergruppe in collaboration with the UFA . On the occasion other avant-garde films were screened in addition to Léger's work including Entr'Act by René Clair , Symphonie Diagonale by Viking Eggeling , Ryhmus 21 e Rythmus 23 di Hans Richter and Walter Ruttmann's Opus II, III, IV . All of these works shared the intent to absolve cinema from theatre and literature thus giving it a new form that went beyond only a narrative expression.

"The error of painting lies in the subject. The error of cinema, in the script. Freed from this dead weight, cinema can become a gigantic microscope on things never seen and heard," , said Fernand Léger about his work.

"Léger has completely freed the object from its rational, anecdotal, symbolic meaning, to build the film only on its plastic value, without any concern for its current meaning" declared instead Hans Richter crediting Léger with being the first to create a totally pure form of cinema.

The film consists of a swirl of kaleidoscopic images that mechanically reproduce human movements and inanimate objects. But it is only the images that move; the camera remains motionless without making any movement. No narrative binds the images held together only by the mechanical rhythm of the projection. To accentuate the sense of unreality, Léger colorized some versions of the film, while in others he preferred black and white; he never arrived at a final version of Ballet Mécanique .

Performers in the film include, in addition to the two authors, Kiki de Montparnasse , the smiling woman and Katherine Murphy: the girl on the swing (00:37). Charlie Chaplin also makes an appearance in the film in the form of a cubist puppet, the work of Léger himself, who is given the task of opening (00:27) and closing the ballet (15:55).

nda: over time numerous attempts have been made to adapt George Antheil's music to Léger's film; several of these versions are available online. We preferred to write a new soundtrack inspired by Léger's own statements:

"Nous insistons jusqu'à ce que l'oeil et l'esprit du spectateur ne l'acceptent plus. Nous épuisons sa valeur spectacle jusqu'au moment où il devient insupportable."

“We insist until the eye and mind of the spectator no longer accept it. We exhaust its spectacle value until it becomes unbearable.”

[tcm]

Paul Henreid: Actor, Director, Father By Susan King

Who was the most romantic actor during the Golden Age of Hollywood? For me, it was Paul Henreid. He was tall-6’3”-handsome, with a gorgeous Austrian accent and a nobility and intelligence that could sweep women off their feet. Like that iconic scene in NOW, VOYAGER (‘42) where he lights two cigarettes at once giving one to Bette Davis; or when he utters the words “if I were free, there would be only one thing I’d want to do – prove you’re not immune to happiness. Would you want me to prove it, Charlotte? Tell me you would. Then I’ll go. Why, darling, you are crying.”

And this exchange with Rick (Humphrey Bogart) in his most famous role as the noble resistance leader Victor Laszlo in the Oscar-winning classic CASABLANCA (‘42):

Rick: “Don't you sometimes wonder if it's worth all this? I mean what you're fighting for.”

Victor: “You might as well question why we breathe. If we stop breathing, we'll die. If we stop fighting our enemies, the world will die.”

But Henreid was so much more than those two roles. He was dashing and sexy as a pirate in the 1945 Technicolor swashbuckling adventure THE SPANISH MAIN, he gave a complex and haunting performance as the mentally troubled composer Robert Schumann in SONG OF LOVE (‘47) and proved he could be a wonderfully vile film noir bad guy in HOLLOW TRIUMPH (‘48).

He also survived the blacklist, directed numerous episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, as well as the delicious thriller DEAD RINGER (‘64) with Davis. Even before he came to Hollywood, Henreid made his U.S film debut in the terrific romantic war drama JOAN OF PARIS (‘42); he had been a star on the Vienna stage as a member of the legendary Max Reinhardt’s theater company and also appeared in films. He was offered a movie contract with UFA in Berlin with the caveat that he join the National Socialist Actors Guild of Germany. Henreid turned down the offer.

Henreid went to England where he earned good reviews on the London stage as Prince Albert in 1937 in Victoria Regina. Though he played a sympathetic German in GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS (‘39), he was typecast generally in Nazi roles such as in Carol Reed’s classic NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH (‘40). He even played an odious German consul in his first Broadway show Elmer Rice’s Flight to the West in 1940. Then came Hollywood. And a name change from Von Hernreid to Henreid.

He was 84 when he died in 1992.

I recently chatted via e-mail with his daughter Monika Henreid, an actress/writer/director who is currently working on a documentary about her father.

You always talk so lovingly about your father on social media. What was he like as a husband, father and friend?

My parents were in love…really in love. They were best friends, confidants, colleagues for almost 60 years. So, my guess is, he was a wonderful husband!

He was a hands-on father. He invested time and money to make sure I had all the arts, sports and education a growing girl needs. He always asked how the day went, what I did, what did I enjoy, what did I learn. He was willing to help with or review homework. When my mother didn’t want to attend events, meaning premieres or films, ballets, operas, concerts, etc., I was fortunate enough to be his date.

As a friend to others, he was devoted. Friendship meant a lot to him. It wasn’t always easy to separate real friends from the ‘Hollywood’ type friends. But once he knew, through trial and error and behavior, he was a great person to have as a friend.

Was it difficult, albeit, dangerous for your parents to leave Austria for England?

My father had a successful stage career in Vienna and, because of his reputation, had the opportunity to do a play in London. After that play, he returned to the Viennese stage and some film. When it was time to really leave because of the political situation, he had another offer in London. That allowed for a good structure, but they were scared for the families on both sides. Eventually, most of my mother’s family moved from Austria, but my father’s stayed. My mother did have numerous interactions with the Gestapo, but she was smart and charming and always released without incident.

How was your father discovered by Hollywood? When NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH was released in New York City, my father was appearing in the Elmer Rice play Flight to the West on Broadway. Simultaneous double whammy. He was very visible and got a lot of press. Good press! He said a lot of scouts and agents came around, but Lew Wasserman made the move to Hollywood possible. Lew became my father’s agent and later, my godfather. 

He made so many classic films in 1942, what was that like for him to become a Hollywood star so quickly? He had already achieved ‘stardom’ in Austria and England, so I don’t think it was that difficult. He never talked about it at home. I think it was more the Hollywood lifestyle and the American way culturally that was jolting. Did he enjoy being under contract to Warner Bros.? He was happy to be working and felt secure with the studio system contract, but he wanted some control over his projects. He was always interested in more challenging character parts, so was quickly tired of being pigeonholed as the handsome, romantic leading man. He took SPANISH MAIN to Jack Warner who turned it down. So, he went back to his first Hollywood studio RKO, where it was made. He was suspended a number of times [at Warner Bros.] because he refused to do ‘crap’ scripts and soon learned he really preferred his independence. Your father was one of many actors and directors including Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and John Huston, who went to Washington, D.C. in 1947 to oppose the HUAC investigation into communism in Hollywood. Did his support lead to him being blacklisted? Absolutely. He was immediately blacklisted by all the Hollywood studios. Offers stopped right away. He talked to his agent and was told what the studio reaction was. He couldn’t believe it! And there were no longer invitations to lunch or dinner from the ‘Hollywood friends.’ Luckily, he could work for independent producers and in England and Europe. 

Your dad was removed from the blacklist when he became a director in the 1950s on the classic TV anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Had he been good friends with Hitch? His friendship was with [producer] Joan Harrison, Hitch’s ‘right hand man.’ Had your father wanted to direct before he joined the series? He was a very ‘educated’ artist. He went through all the rigors of the drama school in Vienna and graduated qualified as a professional. Directing was just an extension of his training and experience. He was a man who loved to be in charge in any way. It was his nature-so a rather organic move when the first opportunities as a director or a producer presented themselves. Would you talk about his bond with Bette Davis? They were so wonderful in NOW, VOYAGER and DECEPTION (‘46), and he directed her in a Hitchcock episode as well as the fun thriller DEAD RINGER. He and Bette were friends, colleagues, flirts and best of adversaries. They respected each other and were capable of pushing each other’s buttons. There was a tremendous trust and so, we get these wonderful performances from both of them. He was a wonderful director because he understood the actor. I should say that my mother was included in the friendship. She was also creative, smart and talented and often contributed to make that duo a trio. He directed you in DEAD RINGER. What was that experience like? Great. I was fortunate enough to have that experience a number of times. We were really good about keeping the job and the home life separated. Work was work. Home was home. There was an expectation of excellence, but that was an everyday experience. He was a bit of a perfectionist but then, so am I. He didn’t push or shove but rather guided. Ask anyone he worked with how calm and gentle he was. You may not be able to answer this question! But what is the favorite film of your dad’s? That’s difficult to answer! My favorite film is THE SPANISH MAIN because it’s most like HIM – smart, athletic, funny, thoughtful, charming, daring, gorgeous. As far as acting talents go, a toss-up or mixture of SONG OF LOVE, DECEPTION and HOLLOW TRIUMPH.

[haropro-confessions]

A tweet rant by an H!P wota went a bit viral with Japanese fandom saying that basically now UFA prefers to pick girls who come from well off family homes and it's discouraging. Either because families pay for KSS (which has a monthly fee) and KSS debut or girls with tons of dance/musical (which is expensive) pass auditions like Layla with ballet and the 3 BEYOOOONDS girls who have extensive musical or dance training. I don't care if a girl debuts with tons of experience IMO.

[fibula-rasa]

The Vamps Part 3: Pola Negri and Exoticism

CW: I will be referencing the Roma in this essay and the slur g*psy will pop up from historical sources.

In the first post of this series, I mentioned that modern critics draw a deeper connection between Vamps and bloodsucking vampires than existed in the teens. So, forgive me that this Vamps entry is going to focus on another trait often shared between Vamps and vampires: otherness. In the Bram Stoker tradition, the undead-other and the foreign-other coincide. Stoker didn’t invent the concept, but Dracula and its Eastern European evil infiltrating the west has informed most vampire stories since his novel was published.

Likewise, Vamps are often explicitly foreign or vaguely coded as such. Most often this foreignness is steeped in a stereotypical conception of the East. This East at the time was really anything east of Western Europe, from Slavs to East Asians. As you could probably surmise–it’s usually problematic and insulting. Although, since Vamps were an international phenomenon, this is by no means universal.

Enter Pola Negri.

Pola Negri was born Apolonia Chalupiec in Lipno (now Poland) in 1897 to a single mother. Her Slovak father was a resistance fighter sent to prison in Siberia when Negri was a small child. Now, according to Negri, her mother was from an impoverished line of Polish nobility and her father had “probably more than a touch of the bohemian gypsy in his blood.” This is probably made up. Negri averred these “biographical” details when building her image in America and reaffirmed them in her memoirs, published in 1970. It’s hard to put an exact date on when and where these fictions emerged in her life or in her career. I can speak from experience that Polish-Americans often love relating embellished tales of their ancestry, so this may have been Pola, the person, as much as it is Pola, the movie star. If it’s the latter, it would be very Pola. No one before or since has committed to a bit quite like her.

Pola started out as a successful ballet dancer in Warsaw and transitioned to acting after she fell ill with tuberculosis. She took on the name Negri after a favored Italian poet, Ada Negri. Pola found significant success on the Polish stage and she made the leap to the new medium of film in the presumed lost Slave of Sin / Niewolnica zmysłów (1914). (Yes, she did all that by 17.)

In Pola’s only surviving Polish film, The Polish Dancer / Bestia (1917), she’s an energetic young woman who stays out too late partying. After Pola flees her parents’ home, she becomes a cabaret dancer and manages to throw the lives of two men into chaos. So, Pola was cast in vampy roles from the very start. Bestia’s Vamp tale is a bit more sophisticated than a simple morality play though. Pola is a strong-willed and independent woman taking advantage of weaker men. But, Pola feels remorse. She’s a woman who carries trouble with her wherever she goes, but simply because she doesn’t hold with society’s standards and expectations for women. Whether or not Pola is the bestia (beast) referred to in the title is definitely up for debate. Pola is more a careless Vamp than a malicious one, as Theda Bara is in A Fool There Was (1914). This, of course, doesn’t save her characters from a tragic end. Pola’s Polish roles are very much akin to the types of vampy tragediennes Greta Garbo would soon stake her claim on in America.

Though Pola had played a few exotic roles in Poland, on stage and screen, it was moving to UFA in Germany that brought those roles in spades. Her success was middling in Germany until she met Ernst Lubitsch. I would liken the Negri-Lubitsch team up much like Jack Lemmon and Billy Wilder. Lemmon and Negri are both quite good on their own, but pairing with Wilder and Lubitsch brought out the absolute best in the performers. For UFA, Pola’s vampy image began to crystalize and along with that came the exotic, ethnic bent. In films like Carmen (1918) and Sumurun (1920) she plays a Romani Vamp and and “Oriental” Vamp, respectively. These films distilled the image of Pola as an agent of havoc in weak-willed men’s lives that was introduced in some of her Polish films.

The embargo on German films to America was lifted in 1919, partly due to the huge popularity of Pola’s film Madame DuBarry (1919). Pola’s impact on the American movie market was instant and many of her German films were bought up for American distribution. After an unofficial endorsement from Charlie Chaplin, Pola was signed to a contract with Famous Players-Lasky (soon to be Paramount).

Despite Pola arriving hot on the scene, the studio struggled to build her image. Pola was a new quantity. She was Hollywood’s first explicitly foreign star. A lot of effort was put into assuaging the xenophobia of American movie fans, while also highlighting her exotic nature. (Yes. In 1921, Poles were exotic.) If you recall from the Theda Bara post, in the early days of the star system the performer’s star image tied directly into the roles they played. If Negri was going to play all these femmes fatales from “the East” they couldn’t couldn’t wholly whitewash her Slavic ancestry. She’s quoted as saying at the time:

“They do not understand me. I am a child of my race, a Slav. I have no the restraint of the Anglo-Saxon.”

Essentially, Hollywood worked out the kinks of developing foreign stars for the American market with Pola. Pola was out there paving the way for Garbo once again.

Of course, Pola’s American career wasn’t a complete mess. She still made popular films–notably blockbuster Hotel Imperial (1927), directed by Garbo’s first champion, Mauritz Stiller. Pola and Paramount struggled to manage her image regardless of box office successes. Finding the line between the dramatic emotionality of Pola’s characters and the dramatic emotionality of the actress herself was difficult. A series of missteps regarding her relationship with Rudolph Valentino and his untimely death and then her untimely marriage to an impoverished Russian prince put her in a tough spot. On top of all that, talking pictures were roaring into theaters and there was likely concern about Pola’s viability as a talkie star.

But, after her divorce from said prince, Pola faced the microphone and surprisingly it was her singing that revived her faltering career. With the success of the song “Paradise” from A Woman Commands (1932), Pola hopped back over to Europe where she resumed working for the studio that made her a star: UFA. If you know anything about Germany in the 1930s, you can probably predict that these years were complicated for Pola. Hitler was fond of her work, even though her Aryanness couldn’t be proven. Pola arranged to live in France while working for UFA, but it was an arrangement built to bust. In 1938, she returned to the US and chose semi-retirement from film. Pola was getting older and the Vamp archetype that was originally her bread and butter had gone stale. In the end, I feel that many of Pola’s Vamps are the branching off point for the femmes fatales we know and loves from films noir of the 1940s and 50s.

To me, it says so much about who Pola was that she was always so willing to walk away from film. She didn’t seem to have much invested in being a huge star. Not that there’s anything wrong with that drive, but it’s such a modern-seeming departure from how film stars were managed and presented by studios in early Hollywood. Pola’s star image may have been centered on her exoticism, but it’s her fierce independence that I find so compelling.

Learn How to Get the Look BELOW THE JUMP

The Costume

Number one most important thing with a Pola costume: do not dress up as a stereotypical representation of a Romani woman. Just don’t. There’s a lot more to pull from that isn’t insulting an entire ethnic group.

The Makeup

Pola’s trademark is her heavy lids. Carve out a distinct shape with your eyes and use a dark shade almost up to your eyebrows. Use colors by all means, especially a shade that might make your eyes look deeper. For me, that’s using another shade of green. For you, it might be a blue or brown or purple. Now Pola regularly sported a glossy eye, which absolutely adds to the heavy lid look. Glossy lids, regardless of which product you’re using, is not going to last long. If you’re going out in this costume, you might want to opt for a fine shimmer as I did. That way, you won’t have to worry about touch ups.

Pola’s eye makeup somehow looks both mournful and judgmental. She’s somehow always looking down her nose at you even if she’s looking out from under her eyebrows.

The eyebrows should be distinctly drawn in though not super thick and curved to match  Heavy lids, long curved eyebrows. Like Theda Bara, leave the blush behind. Pola also had a beauty mark under her left eye that she often drew in for high contrast. I drew one on using the same dark brown shade I used on my brows.

As for lips, go with a thin silhouette and focus more on a sharp shape than a soft pout. Pola often wears a gloss over her lipstick–likely almond oil or petroleum jelly.

The Hair

Pola most often stuck to curly or wavy bobs. In some films Pola leans more toward a lob, which is trendy today, so you very well might have the appropriate hair cut already! I think I would do a full wet set if I were to tackle this look again, but I think the curling wand did an okay job. How neat you want to make the waves or curls is totally dependent on which film you want to mimic. I was going for Die Bergkatze / The Wildcat (1920) so unruly was the way to go.

Of course, Pola was high-key into turbans and headscarves. So, that’s an option.

The Clothes

This is where Pola makes it easy on modern imitators. She has a great range of (non-appropriative) costumes to choose from. I tried to recreate her mountain-dwelling attire from The Wildcat. But if you go back and look at her dance costume from Bestia (seen above), she rocks a very modern-looking gothy look. So, I’d recommend checking out a few of her films (some of her work with Lubitsch is currently on Filmstruck *nudge* *nudge*) then look in your closet and make an adventure of it. And remember, nothing is too over the top for Pola.

Read Part Two

[melmothblog]

Ask Responses: Vaganova

Do you know what happened to Svetlana Savilieva? Per her instagram photos it looks like she had surgery of some sort (on her knee?).

She had extra bones (Os Trigonum) removed from her ankle. Apparently, it’s a pretty common problem with dancers. Although, she did mention that the condition hadn’t actually been confirmed. So it looks like the operation may have been a bit of a gamble... Sveta seems in good spirits though, and has documented the whole thing in insta stories. I hope she makes a quick recovery, but I don’t think we’ll see her in “Nutcracker” this year. Which is disappointing.

You said in a recent post that only 5-10% of students who start in grade 1 complete their studies and that Katerina Kuzmicheva was especially impressive as she has. Is that different than any other student (Say, one of the girls showcased in the Little Swans documentary or Khoreva or Ionova) finishing their schooling or am I missing something and Kuzmicheva is extra special?

Sorry, I should have worded it better / clearer. What I was trying to say is that any student who makes it through all eight years at Vaganova deserves respect and admiration, because it is an incredibly hard training program to survive.  

1st of all, thank you for the Vishneva interview translation! 2nd, regarding your comment about Katya Kuzmicheva, I find it interesting that, along w/ her, actually most of her class has made it from first to grad year: Sevenard, Bogdashkina, Uzanskaya, Frolova (who never left VBA), K. Spiridonova, Y. Spiridonova, Ustyuzhanina, Legacheva... this MUST be more than in previous years, no? Really of those graduating, only Khiteeva, Savelieva & foreign students joined after 1st yr. Seems remarkable!

You’re very welcome! Yes, you’re right, there are quite a few girls in Kuzmicheva’s year who made it through the entire Vaganova training program. I’m not sure how it compares to the class of 2018 though. The number varies from year to year, but it is generally pretty small. 

Re the new paid option for students starting in 1st grade, it was anounced that selected candidates who passed the first and second part of the audition but not the third, would be eligible to pay. So I envisioned a class of paid students. But it appears that only a couple of first year students were accepted as paid students, and they are integrated into regular classes. Do you know if this is correct? Will there be a switch if these students perform better than the others in the annual exam?

As I am not affiliated with Vaganova Academy, I can’t give you the exact information about the paid program. If I had to venture an educated guess, I would say that the number of paid places would be strictly limited, meaning that there wouldn’t be enough paid students to make up an entire class. Also, it wouldn’t make sense to train the paying students separately or otherwise treat them differently. Logically, there should be a relatively small number of paying students who are integrated into the rest of the cohort. 

What did Svetlana S said about her weight in her insta?

She detailed her experience of achieving rapid and extreme weight loss, what triggered it, how she did it, what effect it had on her body, and how she recovered. I have read similar accounts by Vaganova students and grads before, and they’re not pretty. I briefly considered translating some of them, as they highlight the dangers such choices pose, but then I realised that I will potentially be giving some vulnerable people step-by-step instructions on how to starve themselves. Tumblrs is already filled with pro-ana crap and I don’t want to contribute to it.

This summer I discovered that YouTube was a hot bed for ballet videos and thanks to the RT documentaries there I found myself watching many Vaganova graduation performances. Questions: Do graduates like Khoreva, etc—dancers with great primal potential—happen every year? And how many have corporate sponsors? Khoreva has Bloch & Nike—even young Olya Morgulets is a Merlet ambassador!

No, students of Khoreva’s potential are pretty rare. Obviously, Vaganova generally produces graduates of a very high caliber, but I’d say that ones like Masha come along once or twice in a generation. And that’s if we’re lucky. 

None of the students have corporate sponsors, but some do develop working relationships with major brands (that’s a bit different from having a sponsor). 

I had also been wondering about Alena Lebedeva. She still has the Instagram account alionas_kate but it isn’t clear if she is still a Vaganova student.

It looks like she may now be a student of the Rudolph Nureyev Ballet Academy in Ufa.

In the past ten years, who do you think the top 5 VBA grads have been?

Olga Smirnova (2011)

Renata Shakirova (2015)

Anastasia Lukina (2015)

Alena Kovaleva / Maria Ilyushkina (I couldn’t decide between them) (2016)

Maria Khoreva (2018)

That’s just my personal view.

d i s c l a i m e r

[martinnecas]

Everything you need to know about Brock McGinn

~AGAIN, I MADE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE GIFS. DON’T STEAL THEM WITHOUT CREDITING ME. IT TAKES A LOT OF TIME TO DO THIS~

Name: Brock McGinn 

Nickname: Ginner 

Edit: Shoutout @svchnikov for reminding me of his other nickname “McPing” due to his consistent shots at the goal post

Other Nickname: Big Cock Brock

Born: February 2, 1994. 24 years old. Aquarius.

Birth Place: Fergus, Ontario, Canada

Height: 6 ft

Position: Left wing (Shoots left)

NHL Draft: 47th overall, 2012 Carolina Hurricanes

Brock played for the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League

·       2013–14 season, he had a junior career high where he recorded 43 goals and 85 points

·        In 2014–15, while on the Charlotte Checkers, Brock scored 15 goals and 27 points in 73 games.

·        2015-16 season he ranked second on the Checkers with 19 goals and tied for fifth with 35 points, even with only playing 48 games with them. Tied for the team lead with 7 power-play goals. Topped his goal, assist and point totals from his rookie season in 25 fewer games. Scored two goals, with one being the game winning goal in the Checkers’ season-opening game. Had a season high (7) ‘shots on goal’ in the team’s second game of the season

·        Danced with the Charlotte Ballet

·        After scoring 2 goals in 2 games to start the 2015–16 season in Charlotte, McGinn received his first NHL recall and made his debut on October 16, 2015 against the Detroit Red Wings. In his first shift, McGinn scored his first NHL goal only 55 seconds into the game. It was the fastest debut goal since Alexander Mogilny (Buffalo Sabres) scored after 20 seconds in 1989.

·        Brock (On the right) is the younger brother to Jamie (On the left, 30 years old) and Tye (In the middle, 28 years old). Jamie plays with the Florida Panthers. Tye is currently a UFA.

·        This summer they are hosting a beautiful street hockey charity event for boys AND girls ages 7-17. Learn more about it at https://www.themcginnbrothersbiggame.com/

·        Along with his father and two brothers, he is one of the owners of the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs of the Southern Professional Hockey League.

·        Growing up, Brock’s favorite team was the Montreal Canadiens and his favorite player was Richard Zednik

·        His favorite movie is Stepbrothers and his favorite TV show is Family Guy. He enjoys country music and his favorite food is chicken parmesan. Brock says drawing is his biggest talent outside of hockey and he can also speak French "a bit". His favorite team outside of hockey is the Toronto Blue Jays

·        He enjoys scaring me during warm ups

·        Last but not least, we can not forget, he’s also feisty.

That’s all I have I hope you enjoyed! We love and support one of the Hurricanes biggest fighters!

~ALL gifs made by me~

~All photos and information were easily found throughout google~

~All videos were easily found on YouTube~

~I was going to make a resource page, but it was getting extremely long. If you want any specific links let me know.~

[arbitrarygreay]

The man is "Carnival Miura" (Tohru Miura), a choreographer who was very active in the 80s, including Matsuka Seiko, Candies, Nakamori Akina, Oginome Yoko, Honda Minako, Wada Akiko, Moritaka Chisato, Tunnels, Pizzicato Five, Horiuchi Ken, Onyanko Club, and Pabo, that last one probably being the in for working with UFA (Satoda Mai was a part of Pabo). omg also according to JP Wikipedia he did the dance for Yatta!?? His technique here is pretty strongly rooted in ballet and jazz dance, where it's all about posture in sync. His emphasis appears to be on getting those pristine foot angle, which then force the desired twist of the hips and arch of the back. The choice of Angerme for this is pretty great, because Dawa's somewhat unique in how much she adheres to this kind of posture, but this has influenced her team members. Despite there being other H!P girls with ballet training (such as Maria), they have pretty much acceded to non-ballet posture as their dance models. Also when the full routine comes out I am totally going to do a ACL One edit pfffft. Seeing the focus on foot placement was pretty cool, as that does tend to be a thing I myself notice. It's one of the things that seems to (imo) drive Kanako of Momoclo's dancing ability above Momoka's, that she has such precise foot placements, which further enhances the martial arts sequences in Z no Chikai. On the other hand, I dislike how the strict emphasis on posture matching is only washing out the individual personalities even more. I much prefer loose sync, instead.

[toddynhodokookieblr]

50 Fatos Sobre Mim

Bom...tá aqui gente,mas sinceramente não sei como vai sair kkk,só to escrevendo o que vem na cabeça kkk.De qualquer maneira espero que gostem

1-Vamos pelo básico:Meu nome é Diana,mas podem me chamar de Diih

2-Eu ODEIO o apelido Didi,então please não me chamem assim

3-Minhas cores favoritas são preto,branco,roxo e vermelho

4-Eu nasci no dia 09 de fevereiro de 2003 (o que significa que meu niver tá chegando,que vou fazer 15 anos e que sou aquariana)

5-Meu ascendente e minha lua são em touro

6-Eu não sou viciada em signos mas também concordo com algumas coisas

7-Eu perdi o bv pouco depois de completar 14 anos

8-Eu nunca quebrei nenhum osso

9-Eu tenho 1,63 de altura e,provavelmente,esse será meu tamanho mesmo

10-Eu calço 37

11-Eu não tenho um "tipo de estilo",vario de acordo com a minha vibe.Vcs podem me encontrar toda gótica cheio de preto e no dia seguinte me encontrar com um vestido fofo ou uma saia rodada e uma sapatilha,depois me encontrar com aquela calça jeans ou shortinho com uma camisa/camiseta/cropped

12-Eu sou meio estranha na questão extrovertida ou introvertida.Fazendo um quiz em inglês eu achei um termo bom pra mim chamado "ambivert" ou seja,eu posso ser extrovertida as vezes e introvertida em outras vezes.Geralmente eu sou tímida só em inicio de festas,primeiro dia em colégio novo e locais onde não conheço ninguém

13-EU FALO MUITO KKK.É sério gente meu pai até reclama,mas eu também sou uma ótima ouvinte e sei dar conselhos quando preciso

14-Eu não sou do tipo de ficar chorando toda hora mais as vezes eu choro ouvindo uma música se eu me identificar com a letra,alguns vídeos também me fazem chorar

15-Eu sou totalmente,completamente e eternamente apaixonada pela saga Jogos Vorazes e também pelo filme A Culpa é Das Estrelas

16-Eu já namorei por 6 meses

17-Eu amo assistir desenho e filme de criança kkk

18-Quando eu nasci,de parto natural,o médico me puxou pelo ombro ao invés da cabeça e ele acabou deslocando o meu osso do ombro direito

19-Eu sou filha única

20-É muito dficil me irritar,porém,quando conseguem,ninguém me leva a serio pq me acham fofa,já que eu fico vermelha de raiva

21-Eu sou apaixonada por crianças e animais,são simplesmente as coisas mais fofas do mundo

22-Eu não sei lidar muito bem com elogios kkk,eu fico toda sem graça e as vezes até coro um pouco

23-Eu gosto de ler

24-Eu tenho um problema horrível que me irrita demais,eu sempre faço uma lista de séries e livros mas sempre fico com preguiça de começar e demoro um tempão,mesmo que eu queira muito

25-Eu tenho muito medo de cobras e ratos

26-Por falar em rato...esse animal me rendeu uma historia muito engraçada e constrangedora que posso contar depois se vcs quiserem

27-Eu amo viajar de carro kkk...É muito bom,por ser filha única eu fico com o banco de tras todo pra mim m completo silencio então eu ponho os fones e fico pensando na vida kkk

28-Eu não sei dizer não pros outros e sempre tenho medo de magoar as pessoas

29-Eu virei Army há um ano e quatro meses,por ai

30-Meu UTT é o Kookie mas Park Jimin sempre me perturba e me deixa confusa

31-Em setembro do ano passado eu conheci o SHINee por causa da amizade do Jimin com o Taemin e desde então já escolhi como bias de cara ele e o Jonghyun,mas infelizmente eu não tive muito tempo com o BlingBling,mas continuo o amando muito

32-Fora BTS e SHINee eu ainda não parei pra conhecer o trabalho de outros grupos mas quero conhecer EXO,RED VELVET e BLACKPINK(Aproveitem pra me dar mais opções de grupos se quiserem)

33-Recentemente me apresentaram a uma droga muito boa chamada "doramas",então se quiserem me recomendar também será perfeito

34-Eu gosto de tudo um pouco quando se trata de tipo de musica e de filme/serie/dorama/programa de tv

35-Músicas que não saem da minha playlist são o álbum Press It do Taemin e também o primeiro mini álbum dele Ace,o álbum novo(e ultimo do JJong) Poet/Artist fora Love Yourself/What do U mean/Where are U do álbum Purpose do Justin Bieber,Theres Nothing Holdin Me Back,Treat you Better e Stiches do Shawn Mendes,Crying in The Club e Havana da Camila Cabello,Shape of you,Perfect,Thinking out loud do Ed Sheeran,Go Go,DNA e MIC DROP do BTS,KO KO BOP do EXO e Deixe-me ir do 1kilo

36-Eu roi unha até os 11 anos

37-Eu já mudei de casa 14 vezes

38-Até meus 12 anos eu odiava café,depois passei a gostar e hj sou viciada

39-As vezes tenho crises de insônia pesadas

40-As minhas amigas tem uma "invejinha" de mim pq eu estou sempre sorrindo.Se estou com cólica estou sorrindo,com dor também,eu acordo de manha cedo sorrindo...Sorriso sempre

41-Eu já tive que me mudar do meu estado natal por causa do emprego do meu pai,porem so passei minhas férias morando la,depois de 3 meses voltei

42-Eu já fiz três anos de inglês porem o curso não era muito bom,por isso depois que sai passei a ler algumas coisas em inglês e também pesquisar as letras de musica gringa pra acompanhar

43-Então,pelo fato acima eu leio inglês mas não sei falar e inglês...Ainda

44-Eu amo dançar e acho que danço bem

45-Eu já fiz ballet clássico e sapateado dos 4 aos 8 anos

46-Eu sei cozinhar

47-O meu cabelo é super difícil de explicar...ele é liso na raiz ondulado na altura dos olhos ate o nariz e com uns cachos de lá pra baixo,até o meio das costas.Ele é castanho claro e tá dando umas mechas loiras escuras naturais

48-Eu sou péssima com esportes

49-Eu estou em duvida se faço faculdade de medicina ou de veterinária

50-Estou no 1 ano do Ensino Médio

Ufa,deu trabalho!!!Espero que tenham gostado

Se cuidem,beijos <3

~Diih

[shadowfromthestarlight]

By 1934, all the Jews had been purged from Ufa, the only studio on the planet Hollywood took as serious competition, but even in a 'judenfrei' film industry, the below-the-line craftsmanship was as technically proficient as one would expect of a machine shop operated by Germans. The sheer visual sumptuousness and lavish production values of the films—the gorgeous costuming, florid set design, balletic choreography, and flawless cinematography—is astonishing, especially in the wartime productions, when the real Germany was threadbare, starving, and in ashes. The Hamburg-set Grosse Freiheit Nr. 7 (Helmut Käutner, 1944), described by Suchsland as 'perhaps the best film of the Third Reich,' had to be completed in Prague: The original location had been obliterated by Allied bombing. The color photography, which looks like it was shot yesterday, possesses definition as crisp and vivid as anything from the MGM labs. If the Nazi assembly line wasn’t as prolific as the one in Hollywood, it maintained a quality control that expressed the genius of its own system.

Hitler’s Hollywood

[gorbigorbi]

Sofya Saitova as Aegina and Oleg Shaybakov as Crassus, "Spartacus", libretto and choreography by Yury Grigorovich, based on the novel of the same name by Raffaello Giovagnolli and plots of ancient history using the script by Nikolay Volkov, music by Aram Khachaturian, scenography and costume by Simon Virsaladze, Bashkir State Opera and Ballet Theater, Ufa, Republic of Bashkortostan (October 8, 2023)

Photographer Oleg Menkov

[ralph-n-fiennes]

Ralph Fiennes visiting a ballet school in Ufa, Russia (5 APR 2016)

[bm2ab]

Arrivals & Departures 03 January 1897 – 01 August 1987 Celebrate Apolonia Chałupec [Pola Negri] Day!

Pola Negri (/poʊlə ˈnɛɡriː/; born Apolonia Chałupec, 03 January 1897 – 01 August 1987) was a Polish stage and film actress and singer who achieved worldwide fame during the silent and golden eras of Hollywood and European film for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles.

Raised in the Congress Kingdom of Poland, Negri's childhood was marked by several personal hardships: After her father was sent to Siberia, she was raised by her single mother in poverty, and suffered tuberculosis as a teenager. Negri recovered, and went on to study ballet and acting in Warsaw, becoming a well-known stage actress there. In 1917, she relocated to Germany, where she began appearing in silent films for the Berlin-based UFA studio. Her film performances for UFA came to the attention of Hollywood executives at Paramount Pictures, who offered her a film contract.

Negri signed with Paramount in 1922, making her the first European actress in history to be contracted in Hollywood. She spent much of the 1920′s working in the United States appearing in numerous films for Paramount, establishing herself as one of the most popular actresses in American silent film. In the 1930′s, during the emergence of sound film, Negri returned to Europe where she appeared in multiple films for Pathé Films and UFA, and also began a career as a recording artist. She made only two films after 1940, with her last screen credit in Walt Disney's The Moon-Spinners (1964).

Negri spent her later life largely outside the public sphere. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1951, and spent the remainder of her life living in San Antonio, Texas, where she died of pneumonia secondary to a brain tumor for which she refused treatment, in 1987, aged 90.

[kattorav-blog]

DANCE  MAGAZINE  march 1962: NUREYEV

NUREYEV

 Who is he? What is he like as a person?

What will happen to him away from the security of the Kirov Ballet?

 INTRODUCTION

The Russian dancer who has joined the dance world of the West is stubborn in his determination, temperamental in his range of emotion, and electric in his effect on an audience.

When Rudolf Nureyev was in New York recently we spoke to him briefly — long enough to confirm the reports of his sharp wit and great intensity. Speaking excel­lent English, he said at that time that he hopes to make the United States his headquarters. But that he is not yet cer­tain if and when that can be arranged.

Just before presstime it was announced by Columbia Artists Management that Nureyev will make his U.S. stage debut with Ruth Page’s Chicago Opera Ballet on March 10 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Other commitments, including a re­appearance on the Bell Telephone Hour, are possibilities.

In August ’61, Dance Magazine pre­sented a photographic study of Rudolf Nureyev a week after his defection from the Kirov Ballet. The photos revealed the special qualities of this remarkable per­former, as well as the unmistakably de­cadent atmosphere of the ballet company that had won him to perform at a salary of $2,000 a week. On the pages that fol­low, we acquaint you more extensively with the recent activities and thoughts of Nureyev, and with the reactions of others who have followed him closely since last June 16, the day when he asked asylum in France rather than return to Leningrad.

The article by Alexander Bland, dance critic of London’s “Observer,” gives us an English view. The interview that follows it, written by Franz Spelman for “Show Business Illustrated” (by whose kind per­mission we here present it), was made in Frankfort, Germany, where Nureyev, on brief leave from the Marquis de Cuevas company, had gone to tape a 20-minute TV show (for which he was paid $4,000). The dancer’s frank, disarming, and bril­liantly clear answers to the interviewer's questions are in themselves a memorable experience.    

 Lydia Joel

NUREYEV IN ENGLAND

By Alexander Bland

 I first met Rudolf Nureyev in Dame Margot Fonteyn s drawing room. It was seven o’clock. Dame Margot had left for the theatre; she was dancing Giselle that evening. My wife and I sat alone among the gilt embassy furniture (Dame Margot’s husband is Panamanian ambassador in London) waiting anxiously for the young Russian dancer who was staying with her. He had just arrived on a secret visit to England, and we were to smuggle him into Covent Garden for his first sight of the Royal Ballet. The performance was at half past seven. At five past seven there was still no sign of him.

Then the door opened and a young man stood there blinking. He was wearing a dark sports shirt and tight trousers, and had a gypsy look with his tousled hair and hollow cheeks. How was this strange figure to be slipped unobtrusively into the formal dressed-up audience at Covent Gar­den? Were these all the clothes he had?

He bowed courteously and smiled. “I am sorry,” he said. “I was asleep.” Calmly he disappeared. Five minutes later he entered again, a totally different person — slim, smooth and handsome in a well-cut dark suit. “I am ready,” he said, grinning like a child. We reached the theatre as the curtain went up.

In those first few minutes I had caught a glimpse of Nureyev’s character and per­ceived his astonishing power to change.

Nureyev had jumped into the world headlines last June when, after being faced with the threat of an ignoble return to Russia, he broke away on a Paris air­field and sought asylum in the West. He bad been the big success of the Lenin­grad Kirov Ballet Company’s Paris season; but in his spare time he had insisted on going round by himself, making his own friends, shirking the organized tours and generally failing to toe the line out of working hours. When it came to the pros­pect of similar behavior in London where matters might be even worse, as he (Over p. 42) had taught himself to speak the language – the  authorities drew the line. As the rest of the company lined up to board the plane for England, two men suddenly appeared at Nureyev's side and started to steer him towards another plane with a different destination — Russia. It was a moment for a quick, desperate choice. He chose the West.

[FOTO] IN THE USA: On Jan. 19, without fan­fare, Rudolf Nureyev appeared on NBC-TV’s Bell Telephone Hour and evoked a decidedly positive reaction from a national  audience (see p. 23 for more).

[FOTO] Above and opposite: The ex-Kirov Bal­let dancer and Maria Tallchief in the pas de deux from Bournonville’s “Flower Festival at Gensanoas” taught to them by Erik Bruhn. Below, off-stage during dress rehearsal at NBC’s Brooklyn stu­dio: Bruhn, Tallchief, Nureyev.

The souvenir booklet prepared by the Russians to introduce the Kirov Ballet to non-Russian audiences last summer origin­ally contained a paragraph (it was hastily expunged after Nureyev's defection) that revealed something of the background of this drama. To begin with it showed just how high he was rated. "A great dancer with a brilliant future" was the actual way he was described  — no empty praise in a country where standards are higher than anywhere in the world. But a curious sentence followed — particularly curious in a publication which was frankly intend­ed as a piece of publicity. Nureyev had so far failed, the writer complained, to learn “that the leading role is after all only part of the artistic whole to which even the most gifted premier danseur must sub­ordinate his individuality.”

Nureyev has the kind of individuality which is not easily subordinated, as any­body who has met him or seen him dance knows. It is this, in fact, which is his strength as an artist, making him some­thing more than just an exceptionally gift­ed performer. Like the great names in all the arts he emanates a mysterious, strong­ly personal vitality, so that even his small­est movements seem to be expressing some­thing big. Dance experts may praise his enormous leaps, his extraordinary turns and beats, his combination of softness and strength. But what lends him that extra something that appeals instantly to the most untrained eye is the potent dramatic quality we vulgarly know as “glamour.”

He is a quiet young man of 23, with something of the alert, elegant charm of Balanchine and the same suggestion of a wild catlike nature beneath a civilized manner. You might mistake him for a Parisian art student, though his slanting eyes and high cheekbones — reminiscent of Nijinsky’s — betray his Tartar origin.

His parents are poor country-folk in a remote village near Ufa beyond the Ural mountains, three days’ journey from Le­ningrad. Like many youngsters he joined a folk dance troupe, and was soon perform­ing in the local town, Ufa. He was 17 — middle-age for a ballet student — before he went to Leningrad with the folk dance group and was invited to stay.

He set to work in Kirov Ballet School, with such success that within three years he was appearing with the company, and almost immediately in leading roles, From the start he insisted on his own methods. He entrusted himself to a single teacher, by the name of Pushkin, and rehearsed only with him. In the unhurried, commer­cially untroubled world of Russian bullet a year may go by in the preparation of a single role, and weeks to perfect a single performance. Nureyev likes to sink him­self in a role like a Method actor. His foppish, slightly condescending interpre­tation  of the Prince in the Kirov Sleeping Вeauty was a fine example. This approach fan be worked out only in private, not at committee meetings or group discussions, which he heartily dislikes.

Though he clearly suffers from his total isolation (he ejected himself into the western world with no plans, and fifty francs in his pocket), he seems outwardly quite undismayed. He exudes the courage — both moral and physical — which comes from long years of independence and lone­lines, together (as he frankly admits) with a strong dose of obstinate egoism. “I do not like to be pressed,” he says.

He was not out of work long. Within a few weeks he had joined the de Cuevas Ballet Company and was dancing classical parts to enthusiastic audiences. With that company he performed in many parts of France, in Germany, Italy and Israel. In November he made his debut in London, at a gala matinee organized by Dame Margot Fonteyn, stopping the show with his “Black Swan” solo.

In December he joined Sonia Arova, Rosella Hightower, and Erik Bruhn in concert performances in Cannes and in Paris. On that first secret visit to England, he stayed five days with Dame Margot and discussed details of the London debut. The English ballerina loves a plot (she was imprisoned in Panama several years ago when her husband Senor de Arias was implicated in an attempted rising). Nur­eyev went unrecognized to performances at Covent Garden — I was astonished to find that the names of even the junior soloists were familiar to him from his study of ballet magazines — and he even attended a company class of the Royal Ballet, where Dame Margot introduced him by casually asking if a friend of hers, might join in at the class. His extraordi­nary feats soon had the other students ap­plauding; but with characteristic British reticence they discreetly refrained from asking his name.

Off stage Rudolf Nureyev is modest, elegant, courteous and unpunctual. He  moves with fastidious deliberation. There is something formidable behind his inscrutable gentle manner, and his physique, slight from a distance, is tough when you get close. His normal expression is one of faint amusement, and when over his shyness he laughs easily.

He has bright watchful eyes, and not much misses him. He found his way around London by bus from the first day he way there, and has definite views on what he has seen, which he expresses with a pleasing candor. He still thinks Russian ballet training the best in the world (and who would disagree?), but he admires very many things in the West. He finds some excellent things in the de Cuevas version of Sleeping Beauty in which he had been dancing; at Covent Garden he par­ticularly admired Ashton's Symphonic Variations; he venerates the Danish dancer Erik Bruhn; and of all the choreography he has seen he rates that of Balanchine highest, though he much enjoyed Jerome Robbins’ N.Y.Export: Opus Jazz, which he saw in Paris.

One thing is certain. Nureyev is not just one more dancer of first-class talent. He is something much more rare. He is one of those strange, haunted artists that ballet throws up from time to time, danc­ers through whom some intense, urgent message seems to be passing. Such indi­vidual performers are not always the easi­est to fit into organizations, or even into society. But what they have to contribute is unique.

 END

 NUREYEV ANSWERS QUESTIONS

 By Franz Spelman

FS: Had you been planning to make this bolt for freedom, or did you just jump at the spur of the moment?

NUREYEV: What do you mean — freedom? And what do you mean by bolt? I didn't plan. I jumped. Suddenly I felt that things had been closing around me. But, mind you, I never had any politics in mind. Politics mean nothing to me. And I myself mean nothing to me. All I felt at that moment was that there might have been some danger that I couldn't dance any more — or at least not as much as I wanted. So I jumped to this side where I felt I still would be able to dance. Perhaps I was wrong. I’m not sure yet.

 FS: Didn't you get enough opportunities in Leningrad?

NUREYEV: I didn't think so personally. Perhaps it is unjust to say this. I don t know. Perhaps I didn’t like the fact that, in the Kirov Theater. I was just a cog in an enormous, slow-moving organization. Sure, it's a wonderful body as far as training, teaching and the performances themselves are concerned. But everything is so slow.

 FS: Didn't you have quite я career there al­ready? When you did “La Bayadere,” in Paris, everyone believed that you were the featured star of the show.

NUREYEV:  This might have looked so in Paris. In Leningrad  I was just one of the 10 solo dancers, and one of the youngest at that. In Russia no one attains anything until he is well in the middle of his thirties. It may be that I'm too impatient. But I felt it was unbearable that I would have to wait for another 15 years until I was given all the opportunities, before I could be myself, before I could dance more than two to three times each month. I’ve felt like someone suffocating for too long.

 FS: Do you think that your career will run more smoothly in the West?

NUREYEV:  Well, at least this flashed through my mind when I ran for it. I already had a conception of what I could expect here before this. But I also knew that matters would be far from easy, and that much would depend upon me. Nothing has happened in the past few weeks to make me change my views.

 FS: Why have you revealed so little about your background?

NUREYEV:   Above all, in Russia we are just not accustomed to people putting their noses into one’s private life. Only the secret police does this, and it isn’t up to me to judge whether they are right or wrong in doing so. It should be enough if you judge me from my work on the stage. It shouldn't really matter whether, in my private life. I prefer vodka to tea, whether I'm a single child or have 20 brothers, or whether my father was a mem­ber of the Council of Ministers or a habitual drunk hack in the country. Besides, if I tell too much about my family and friends, matters might grow unnecessarily uncomfortable for them - especially if the press continues to distort what I say.

  [FOTO] Those who have become acquainted with Nureyev personally are struck by his many-faceted personality, as reflected by the photos above.

 [FOTO] IN ENGLAND: Early last fall, as house guest of Mme Roberto de Arias (also known as Dame Margot and as Margot Fonteyn), wife of Panama's Ambassador to England, Nureyev became acquainted with the English dance scene. On Nor. 2 he appeared at the Charity Data Matinee (See Dec, ’61 issue, p, 38), causing great excitement among England's balletomanes. He is currently in England again, following his U.S. TV appearance, to dance Albrecht to Miss Fonteyn’s Giselle with the Royal Ballet on Feb. 21, March l and 6.

 FS: Couldn’t  you tell us something about your background?

NUREYEV:   All right, here are a few facts about my life. I’m an East Siberian, and I've some Tartar ancestry. There is noth­ing had in having Tartar ancestry, espe­cially for a dancer. I was born in a small village the name doesn't matter - near Irkutsk, on Lake Baikal. My father taught me folk dancing when I was very young.

I then took up with a local group, and this is where my bаllet training began. It was a fine group, and so it was sent to Leningrad to perform, seven years ago. We played the Kirov Theater, and this is where Sergeyev - their bullet master saw me first. He immediately asked me whether I wanted to remain there. This was exactly what I wanted him to suggest, because that was why I came. I'd wanted to become a ballet dancer from the day I tried my first dance step. In Russia it goes like that. Before I came to Lenin­grad. I had seen the Kirov and the Bol­shoi in the flesh, in the movies, on TV, and I had read everything about them I could lay my hands on. I also knew then that I didn't care to go to the Bolshoi. That’s too showy and vulgar.

 FS: You make it sound easy.

NUREYEV:   Don’t believe it was simple. I was a latecomer. A boor and a latecomer. First, I had to go to school, I was there a much shorter time than most of my colleagues. There was so much I didn't know, and also there was a lot I did better than anyone else. I made no friends. After I graduated, I always felt myself surrounded by people who didn’t want to let me go through to the top. In those four years, my entire stage repertory consisted only of seven parts. I do hope that now I will find a broader field.

 FS: Aren’t you afraid of reprisals?

NUREYEV: Why should I be? I'm not important. And I’m not an enemy of the Soviet Union. I’ve told all this to the men of the Soviet Embassy in Paris. All one can blame me for is having taken premature advantage of the greater artistic freedom which I believe, ultimately, will be inevitable in the Soviet Union, too. There is a change of generations coming in the artistic world. Right now, the cul­tural reins are still in the hands of the people who cling to the theories of the past. But the cleavage between the young and old is growing. I just happened to be more impatient than the rest.

 FS: Are you losing many privileges?

NUREYEV: Yes and no. Not financial. I never cared for money anyway. In Russia I made 2000 rubles a month, which is far less than the $8000 I rejected when I de­cided not to become a permanent member of the Cuevas Ballet. Yet, if I was look­ing for security alone, I would have been wiser to remain in Russia. Even though I didn't belong to that group of top artists in Russia who have everything, I had just as much as I wanted - a nice small apart­ment and a good phonograph to play my records. Here, in the West, I feel I’m going to ask for as much money as I can obtain because the amount of money one receives is what decides one’s worth.

 FS: What do you think of the West, now that you have been here for a while?

NUREYEV: It is still far too early to make a judgment. What I've seen of France I didn't like very much. I didn’t like the way in which I was dished up as a sensation, and I resented the public curiosity about everything concerning my person.

Above all, I didn’t like the way the Cuevas people dressed me up like a Christmas tree -  all bangles and beads. On the other hand, I’ve felt considerably calmer since coming to Germany. People were curious, too. But after they had a glance, they let me work.

 FS: How would you define the difference between Russia and Western Europe?

NUREYEV: The West isn’t as separated from the Russian mind as one might as­sume. In the provincial parts, yes. But certainly not in Leningrad. This isn’t perhaps as valid for Moscow. We have a saying that the Muscovites are too con­cerned with looking at the navels of their inflated stomachs to see anything else.

But in Leningrad the presence of the West is never absent. It oozes through in many channels: the radio, visitors, a thousand other things. [p71] In Russia, art is taken far more seriously, the artists command more respect. Audiences are better in Russia. For them, the ballet is a major experience in their lives  - or a major escape, if you want to put it this way. In Europe, though, art still remains very much the privilege of the wealthy. But this, despite all the flippancy and the amateurishness and the commercial exploitation, is compensated for by the liberties which are offered. In Russia, with all the opportunities given to concentrate on one's work, the real creative person is ultimately bound to arrive at a position where he just can’t develop further. This is perhaps the ad­vantage of the West which counts most.

 FS: Can you provide a sample of such Western achievements?

NUREYEV: I believe that much of what emerges from America in painting, liter­ature which has always intrigued me - and in music - especially jazz - is a step ahead. And of course there are the innovations in the dance. I admire Jerome Robbins. I saw If West Side Story and I thought it was marvelous. I saw his Opus Jazz and I felt that this would be the kind of choreographic theme which I would like to approach myself. Of course, I also have some criticisms. With Jerome Rob­bins I have an important objection, and it may seem funny that it comes from a Russian. But I do feel that the one thing wrong with his work is that his choreo­graphy tends to be too abstract, too collec­tive. Everything tends to negleet or to overpower the individual dancer. This is what always was done at the Kirov Theater, too.

 FS: What are your plans for the future?

NUREYEV: I’m on my way to see the people of the Danish Ballet. Later on I shall go to London. From there, I hope to go to New York. Of course I would like to work under a man like Balanchine. And l cer­tainly would like to appear at Covent Garden. But I don't want to go on any­where in the circumstances which existed in Paris. I don't want to be considered as a freak, or as a curiosity. I want to retain my own dancer's identity. But now I'm aiming for it: my own identity - as a dancer, and later on as a choreographer and teacher - even if this would mean forming my own group.

 FS: What would happen if you fail to achieve your identity?

NUREYEV: Frankly speaking I haven't thought about this. The West and I have given each other a chance. If we don't succeed, I may – perhaps - go back.

 END

 [ DANCE MAGAZINE March 1962]

[wildwechselmagazin]

Dornröschen-Märchenballett in Marburg

Das Dornröschen-Märchenballett kommt nach Marburg! | Foto: (c) Dietmar Scherf Ein märchenhaftes Ballett voller Eleganz, Anmut und tänzerischer Höchstleistungen: Das St. Petersburg Festival Ballett präsentiert am 11. Januar 2020 im Erwin Piscator-Haus in Marburg das Märchenballett Dornröschen in drei Akten mit Live-Orchester. Als eines der berühmtesten und populärsten klassischen Ballette nimmt „Dornröschen“ im OEuvre von Peter I. Tschaikowskys einen ganz besonderen Platz ein. Der Komponist selbst bezeichnete das 1890 uraufgeführte Meisterwerk sogar als sein bestes Ballett. Es entstand in enger Zusammenarbeit Tschaikowskys mit Marius Petipa, dem wohl bedeutendsten Choreografen des 19. Jahrhunderts, und fasziniert aufgrund seiner formalen Vollkommenheit und seines hochentwickelten choreografischen und musikalischen Ausdrucks. Und in der Tat, „Dornröschen“, das auf einem alten Märchen von Charles Perrault basiert, wartet mit tänzerischen Höchstleistungen der vielen Solisten wie des gesamten Corps de ballet und einer zu Herzen gehenden Handlung auf. Der einzigartige Zauber des Märchens, die wunderbare Musik und die choreografische Poesie entführen die ganze Familie in eine märchenhafte Welt voller Fantasien und Träume. „Dornröschen“ ist ein Meilenstein des klassischen Stils und eines der bezauberndsten Ballettstücke überhaupt. Nur die Liebe kann den 100-jährigen Schlaf besiegen Lange mussten König Heinrich und Königin Katharina warten, bis sich ihr großer Traum erfüllt: Eine kleine Tochter kommt zur Welt. Zur Taufe von Prinzessin Aurora erscheinen aber nicht nur Freunde und gute Feen mit Geschenken, sondern auch die böse Fee Carabosse verschafft sich Zutritt. Sie belegt das Kind mit einem Fluch: An ihrem 16. Geburtstag wird sich Aurora an einer Spindel stechen und sterben. Der Fliederfee allerdings gelingt es, den Todesfluch in einen 100-jährigen Schlaf abzuschwächen, der nur durch einen Kuss echter Liebe beendet werden kann.

Das Live-Orchester | Foto: (c) HFO

Das Live-Orchester | Foto: (c) HFO

| Foto: (c) Ovation Events Trotz aller Vorsicht tritt ein, was prophezeit wurde. An seinem 16. Geburtstag sticht sich das Mädchen und fällt – gemeinsam mit dem gesamten Hofstaat – in einen tiefen Schlaf. Erst 100 Jahre später überwindet Prinz Florimund auf der Suche nach der Prinzessin alle Hindernisse, die ihm von Carabosse in den Weg gelegt werden, und findet Aurora. Er erweckt sie mit einem Kuss, und der Hochzeit und einer glücklichen Zukunft der beiden steht nichts mehr im Wege. Eingebettet in die zauberhaften Bühnenbilder des renommierten Theater-Designer Vjatscheslav Okunev, der auch für die wunderschönen Kostüme sorgte und u. a. für das Mariinski Theater St. Petersburg sowie die Mailand Scala tätig ist, präsentiert sich „Dornröschen“ als Märchenballett auf höchstem Niveau. Russische Ballettkunst auf höchstem Niveau – das St. Petersburg Festival Ballet Aufgrund seiner hohen technischen Ansprüche kann das St. Petersburg Festival Ballet seine klassische Eleganz und perfekte Könnerschaft in dem romantischen Meisterwerk unter Beweis stellen. 42 Tänzerinnen und Tänzer, allesamt Absolventen der besten russischen Ballett-Schulen wie der Vaganova-Akademie von St. Petersburg, der Moskauer Akademie der Choreografie, der Ufa Ballett-Schule und der Perm Ballett-Akademie, bilden eine der renommiertesten Ballett-Kompanien, die man aktuell auf der Bühne bewundern kann. Das hochkarätige Ensemble brilliert mit einer Tanzleistung, die so vollkommen ist, dass sie den Zuschauern schier den Atem raubt. In vollendeter tänzerischer Harmonie haucht das St. Petersburg Festival Ballet der historischen Choreografie von Marius Petipa neues Leben ein.

Samstag 11. Januar 2020 Dornröschen • St. Petersburg Festival Ballet 19:00 Marburg Erwin-Piscator-Haus - Stadthalle Marburg  Typ: Tanz   Weitere Veranstaltungen in Marburg:

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Ask Responses: MISC

Lopatkina announced her retirement, but she's still listed on the Mariinsky company page as a principal. Is this just a formality? Also, will someone else be promoted to take her place when she's "officially" not employed by the Mariinsky anymore?

Lopatkina isn’t the only principal dancer listed on the Mariinsky website who doesn’t perform with the company anymore (Makhalina, Pavlenko and Vishneva are other examples). I’m not sure why they’re keeping the names on the website. I suppose they are trying to maintain the “prestige” those names have brought the company, but I don’t think this should affect promotions in any way.

Do you think there is a certain 'type' of dancer, in terms of style/lines/etc in the Bolshoi and Mariinsky respectively?

I think the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky have their own unique styles, even though the lines are becoming more and more blurred with so many Vaganova graduates going over to Moscow. To put it simply: the Bolshoi style is fiery and larger-than-life, while the Mariinsky style is more lyrical, refined and aristocratic.

Hey, I was wondering if you knew why when a Russian company produces Swan Lake they change the music where Odile dances the 32 fouettés. Thx!

Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean. Which company are you referring to?

What are all the ballet schools in Russia? Not small studios but what are all of the big schools?

Vaganova Ballet Academy and Bolshoi Ballet Academy are the main two ballet academies in the country. Then, there is the Perm State Choreographic College which, if you want to get technical, is an off-shoot of Vaganova. And then, there are smaller regional schools like the academies in Novosibirsk and Ufa (Nureyev Ballet Academy).

Is it Alena Kovaleva or Alyona Kovalyova? I‘m a bit confused since I have read it on the Bolshoi‘s page.

I suppose, Kovalyova is correct because that’s how her name is pronounced in Russian (the “e” in Kovaleva is pronounced as “yo”).

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