Ballets Russes 2009
 

Please don't yell at me for posting in the "wrong" forum, since Ballets Russes <i>was</i> based in Paris.

There is a week-long Ballets Russes 2009 festival planned in Boston, celebrating the centenary of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. There will be concerts, dances, exhibitions, lectures, fashion shows, and film screenings during mid May.
http://www.ballets-russes.com/calendar.html

And ballets by the Boston Ballet:
http://www.bostonballet.org/season/p...sRusses09.html

Ballets Russes Costume exhibition is on view at Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford from now thru July:
http://www.wadsworthatheneum.org

And at Theatre des Champs-Elysees for those lucky enough to be in Paris in October http://www.theatrechampselysees.fr/s....php?t=3&s=134

Oops, sorry, wrong year. (Wonder why their site still has a "buy tickets link).

MlleFifl - You're <i>not</i> going to Paris in October? :o

Thanks, yk. I only wish I could get down to Boston for that. The lectures look interesting, as does the Boston Ballet's mixed program.

Here's an interesting short film (from the BBC I think) that re-creates the opening night of The Rite of Spring. It was considered to be a huge disaster of course. People booed throughout the entire performance and the dancers could barely hear the music over the audience.

Nijinsky was way ahead of his time. Amazing to think of what he would have done if his career wasn't cut short.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je2Et...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MECqq...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ6MN...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzhXP...eature=related

(film is broken into 4 parts)

Hey Apres- you can come down to Boston and we can have a mini-GTG here (instead of London).

in Stockholm - BALLETS RUSSES IN PARIS 1909 - 2009
Museum of Dance (Dansmuseet)
http://www.danzaballet.com/modules.p...ticle&sid=2820

and more centennial events around the world listed here:
http://www.forum-dansomanie.net/foru...63d790128219a8

Oh, and another excuse to revisit London:
http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/fut...lev/index.html

I'd love to go to Boston in May - sadly I'm tighening my belt right now :(

Thanks for the other links, Fifi. I'm happy to see that the V+A exhibit is scheduled for 2010. I'd love to see some of the orginal Ballet Russe costumes. That was a facinating period, I love the music and ballets and designs done for the Ballet Russe. A hundred years later and so much of it still seems very modern.

Apres, did you go to the opera house in Rome? I just saw that they will be doing a Ballets Russes program in May, and also this http://en.operaroma.it/stagione/cart...2009/futurismo which lists Carla Fracci among the performers-- can that be THE Carla, or is that a common name in Italy? Looks like the Futurismo program is sold out anyway, but if it's her I'll have to find out if they sell standing rm or any other last-minute tickets (I'm still bummed about having missed the Nureyev/Fracci/Fonteyn Romeo and Juliet in NYC by a few weeks when I was 12 years old).

Oh wow, this YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYJDQBK1wac shows that she did perform in Rome at the age of 70, so maybe it IS going to be her in the Futurismo program? How would you like to be able to move like that at 70-- looks like she's in much better shape than Alonso was.

Duh, I'm so out of touch. Of course it's her-- she directs the company. http://en.operaroma.it/artisti/corpo_di_ballo/organico

When I was in Rome there wasn't anything interesting playing, just Nutcracker and an opera I wasn't particularly interested in. I'm not sure if they hold back last minute tickets, but seeing Carla Fracci would be wonderful, hopefully someone knows if it's possible to get tickets to sold-out shows...

I had no idea Carla Fracci was still appearing on stage. She looks fantastic in that clip! She's like Maya Plisetskaya. Ageless.

I can't help myself- here's Maya rehersing Marie Anges Gillot- it's more of a fake rehersal for filming, they're basically marking Odile, but Maya has got to be at least 80 years old here.

About half way through she gets caught up in the music and sort of loses herself, it's amazing to watch and it's also kind of funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNA40ott0Kw

Apart from the May celebration, there will be a Ballets Russes Symposium and Art exhibition organized by Harvard University in mid-April:
http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/hou...symposium.html

The exhibition is held at the Pusey Library at Harvard, which includes more than 200 original documents and art works in the Harvard Theatre Collection.
http://hcl.harvard.edu/info/exhibiti...hilevs_ballets

At Palais Garnier Dec 12 through 28 and new year's eve,
Ballets Russes: Massine/Fokine/Nijinsky
http://www.operadeparis.fr/cns11/liv...N=SELECT_EVENT

and an exhibition Nov '09 through April 2010
http://www.operadeparis.fr/cns11/liv...e.php?&lang=en

Thank you for all the links about one of my obsessions from a costuming point of view. Several years ago Harvard put on a diaghilev exhibit and I will be happy to go again; hadn't heard about Wadsworth Atheneum and am making plans.... And CAN'T WAIT to see what the V&A cooks up next year. Thx again!

And thank you Fifi for posting the POB link, I didn't know they had announced their next season.

Now I'm thinking seriously about Paris/Madrid at xmas. Apres Midi d'un Faun is one of my favourite ballets.

Fidel - don't know where you live, but if you're making a trip to the Hartford Wadsworth Atheneum, take a look at their website under Calendar and/or Events. There are some special lectures related to the Ballets Russes exhibition, eg, on April 15 there will be a lecture by Alistair Macaulay, Chief Dance Critic for the New York Times.

ttt

Off topic but having to do with ballet in France: the Centre National du Costume de Scène (http://www.cncs.fr/), in Moulins sur Alliers, is showing costumes from Nureyev's ballets through November 11.

(Lots of photos on the website even if you can't go in person).

For anyone who's interested, the Ballets Russes in Australia - from the National Library of Australia's collections (plenty of costume shots & etc)

http://tinyurl.com/p4euno

I posted the following on the same thread in the US forum:

yk on Jun 24, 09 at 07:37 PM
I know we're in June already, but I finally got around to see the Diaghilev exhibition at the Pusey Library at Harvard University today.
http://hcl.harvard.edu/info/exhibiti...hilevs_ballets

It was much better than what I had expected. Lots of original drawings for costume and set designs, photographs, ballet programmes, orchestra scores. A few of the ballets had designs by Miro, Matisse, as well as Picasso. Well worth a visit if you're in town. The exhibit ends August 28, 2009.

Admission is free, but the library is only open M-F 9-5.

yk on Jul 2, 09 at 10:28 PM
In case anyone is interested, last chance to see the Ballets Russes exhibition at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT. The show closes July 12.
http://www.wadsworthatheneum.org/vie...57&type=Future

I went today, and I really enjoyed it. Lots of drawings of original set and costume designs, but the highlight of the show is the display of original costumes - by Leon Bakst, Juan Gris, Matisse, and Giorgio de Chirico.

Here are a few photos I took

Le Spectre de la Rose costume
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...9/IMG_4076.jpg

Costume designed by Juan Gris
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...9/IMG_4080.jpg

Costume designed by Giorgio de Chirico
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...9/IMG_4086.jpg

Thanks for the report and photos! (I should have done a day-trip today).

Hi fifi, you can click on my name and see my day trip report to Hartford.

Thanks for posting this here yk! (I probably would have missed it otherwise) I wonder if the V&A will get those same costumes for their exhibition next year?