Quick viewing(Text Mode)

Alexei Ratmansky on ABT’S Harlequinade

Alexei Ratmansky on ABT’S Harlequinade

Spring-Summer 2019 Review

From the Sp/Su 2019 issue of

Alexei Ratmansky on ABT’s Harlequinade

Cover photo by Paul Kolnik, NYCB: Joseph Gordon in at a Gathering.

© 2019 Research Foundation, Inc. Ballet Review 47.1-2 Spring-Summer 2019 Editor and Designer: Marvin Hoshino Managing Editor: Roberta Hellman Senior Editor: Don Daniels Associate Editors: Joel Lobenthal Larry Kaplan Ballet Review is a nonprofit Alice Helpern journal pub lished by the Dance 168 Webmaster: Research Foundation, Inc. It David S. Weiss is supported in part by funds from the National Endowment Copy Editor: Naomi Mindlin for , the New York State Council on the Arts, The Fan Photographers: Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Tom Brazil Foundation, and individuals. Costas Contributions to the Dance Associates: Research Foundation, Inc., Peter Anastos 100 Hudson St. – Apt. 6B, Robert Greskovic New York, NY 10013, are 76 George Jackson tax-deduc tible. Elizabeth Kendall Board ofDirectors: Paul Parish Hubert Goldschmidt, Roberta Nancy Reynolds Hellman, Marvin Hoshino, James Sutton Nancy Lassalle, Dawn Lille, Edward Willinger Michael Popkin, Theodore C. Sarah C. Woodcock Rogers, Barbara E. Schlain, David Weiss. * For the latest information on subscriptions, see our website: balletreview.com. Current 95 double issue: $35. Editorial correspondence, books for review, subscriptions, and changes of address to Ballet Review, 100 Hudson St. – Apt. 6B, New York, NY 10013. Manuscripts must be accom- panied by a self-addressed, stamped returnenvelope. E-mail: [email protected]. * 207 ©2019 Foun- dation, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in China. issn: 0522- 0653. Periodical postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. 4 Philadelphia – Eva Shan Chou 5 New York – Karen Greenspan 7 Los Angeles – Eva Shan Chou 9 New York – Susanna Sloat 11 Williamstown – Christine Temin 12 New York – Karen Greenspan Susanna Sloat 16 Tokyo – Vincent Le Baron 95 Rennie Harris and Ronald K. Brown 18 Jacob’s Pillow – Christine Temin Celebrate Alvin Ailey 20 Toronto – Gary Smith Robert Greskovic 22 Boston – Jeffrey Gantz 100 Chopiniana 25 London – Joseph Houseal 25 Vienna – Vincent Le Baron 109 Judson Dance Theater 27 New York – Susanna Sloat Michael Langlois 28 Miami – Michael Langlois 114 Awakenings 29 Toronto – Gary Smith 31 Venice – Joel Lobenthal Karen Greenspan 32 London – Gerald Dowler 119 In the Court of Yogyakarta 35 Havana – Gary Smith Marian Smith 37 Washington, D.C. – Lisa Traiger 125 The Metropolitan Balanchine 39 London – John Morrone 40 Chicago – Joseph Houseal Gerald Dowler 42 Milan – Vincent Le Baron 141 An Autumn in Europe Sophie Mintz 44 Staging Petipa’s Harlequinade 146 White Light at ABT Lynn Garafola George Washington Cable 151 , 1946 56 The Dance in Place Congo Karen Greenspan Michael Langlois 161 Drive East 2018 63 A Conversation with Karen Greenspan Clement Crisp 168 A Conversation with Maya Joseph Houseal Kulkarni and Mesma Belsaré 76 A Quiet Evening, in Two Acts Francis Mason Ian Spencer Bell 171 Ben Belitt on Graham 82 Women Onstage Gary Smith Michael Langlois 175 A Conversation with Grettel Morejón 86 A Conversation with Hubert Goldschmidt 177 Rodin and the Dance 207 London Reporter – Louise Levene 218 Dance in America – Jay Rogoff 220 on Disc – George Dorris Cover photo by Paul Kolnik, NYCB: Joseph Gordon in . Harlequinade. (Photo: Rosalie O’Connor, ABT)

44 Ballet review Staging Petipa’s historically informed stagings of Petipa bal- lets) and I found some dances in boxes with Harlequinade at ABT other . More generally, Harlequinade is not among the very well-recorded works. Nevertheless, about one hundred pages of no- Alexei Ratmansky tations give us information on almost every number (except for the “Temps passé, temps This article originated as a talk, via Skype, to present” dance for Marie Petipa and Sergei the Petipa International Scientific Conference Legat, which was cut after the premiere). in Moscow, “. The Ballet Empire: Half of the numbers are recorded twice, in From Rise to Decline,” held in June 2018 at the varying degrees of detail. This is explained by Bakhrushin State Central Theater Museum. the fact that different tasks were put before Ratmansky’s Petipa reconstructions are the different notators: one person concen- (, with Yuri Burlaka, trated on the , another on the 2006), (Bavarian State Ballet, soloists, another on the children. Sometimes with Doug Fullington, 2014), The Sleeping Beau- it was necessary to notate different versions ty (American Ballet , 2015), of the same dance. ( Ballet, 2016), Harlequinade (ABT, pre- There are a few prized examples of nota- miere June 5, 2018), and La Bayadère (Berlin tion – for instance, the solo for Columbine State Ballet, fall 2018). — Marina Harss (Preobrajenska) from act 2, initialed by A.K. According to Sergei Konayev, this was Alexan- Our Main Source: dra Konstantinova. I have tender feelings for The Stepanov Notation this Alexandra. Unlike her colleagues, she The choreographic text of this new/old Harle- recorded all the positions of the arms and quinade is a set of notations written out in the body in each movement of this . Stepanov system by Nikolai Sergeyev, the ré - In fact, the absence of notations for the arms gisseur of the Mariinsky Theater, and his as- should not concern us. At the time of Petipa, sistants. The notation mentions the perform- ports de bras was less codified, the arms moved ers in the main roles: , Georgy Ky - freely and were often simply allowed to hang aksht, , Lyubov Egorova, down (this was called bras au repos or bras bas). Sergei Lukyanov, and others. This was the cast You can see this in surviving films of Zam- for the on October 17, 1904. belli, Baldina, Pavlova, Spessivtseva, the Danes It is likely that it was during the rehearsals in Bournonville dances, or the Italians in Ex- for this performance that most of the chore- celsior. Also, according to many dancers, Bal- ography and mise-en-scène was recorded. At anchine, who took a lot from Petipa, often did the time Petipa was still listed as the first cho- not specify the movements of the arms when reographer of the theater and periodically vis- he was in the studio choreographing, leaving ited rehearsals (he was eighty-six years old). this part to the dancers. There had been only ten since In today you will not find two bal- the premiere of the ballet in February 1900 on lerinas dancing the same variation with the the of the Hermitage Theater in St. Pe- same arms. Usually, in the process of prepar- tersburg, so there is no reason to believe that ing for a performance, the port de bras varies, the had changed significantly. and, together with her coach (who says, “Try The notations are currently stored in the these arms. Try another set.”), the ballerina Harvard Theatre Collection. Some are mis- finds a suitable option for herself. Every move- filed. My wife Tatiana (and assistant in my ment or pose has a certain number of allow- Translated and revised by Alexei Ratmansky, with able arm positions based on classical coordi- additional editing by Marina Harss. nation. ©2019 Alexei Ratmansky 45 Where the positions are unusual or a cer- In such cases, we carefully watched all the tain pattern is important, they are marked in existing productions (especially the versions the Harlequinade notations. For example, arms of Balanchine, Gusev, and Karsavina), and if behind the back in the jeté en tournant in Har- something in them coincided with the records lequin’s first act variation, or hands “on the in the notations, we took it to mean that we hips” in Pierrette’s first entrance. most likely were seeing fragments of the old So it is with the endings of the . staging, and used them. Some clues were also Often in the records we see just the fifth po- found in other sources, such as photographs sition of the legs, with the arms down. It is from the imperial theaters, old reviews, and difficult to imagine solo variations ending in eyewitness accounts; an animated film called this way. Most likely it was an indication that The Joke that Alexander Shiryaev there were several options, depending on the (Petipa’s assistant) made in 1909; the director’s preferences of the performer. For example, it notes in the piano and violin score; the draw- is known that Preobrajenska preferred to end ings of Gerdt, Goncharov, and brothers Legat; variations in arabesque on pointe. Apparent- and even Fokine’s Carnival of 1910, in which ly, she easily got on her axis and loved to show there are quotations from the old Petipa pro- her balance. Quite often one finds a pose in duction. fourth position plié with a lifted heel for the By the way, it is a curious fact that Fokine, back leg – a position that has disappeared to- such a passionate ideological opponent of con- day. This pose appears in the notations for ventional mime and eclecticism, not only al- Beauty, Swan Lake, Paquita, and, also, in Harle- most literally quoted images from Petipa’s Har- quinade, for both the men and the women. lequinade in his ballet , but also, at the For Harlequin here, we went with a differ- request of Kschessinska, in 1916 composed for ent ending. According to Preobrajen ska, as her and Vladimiroff an insertable number for described by Pedro Consuegra (conveyed by Harlequinadeto the music of Rondo Capriccioso Ka tya Anapolskaya), at the end of his first-act by Saint-Saens. Fokine – so sensitive to dis- variation, after the pirouettes, he struck the tortions in his own ballets and an advocate for stage on the final chord, with the golden bat authorial rights throughout his life – at the given him by the Fairy. Here we preferred the request of a ballerina, quietly made an inser- memories of someone who danced in the pre- tion into someone else’s ballet. In any case, he, miere to the notation score as written. like Balanchine, appreciated Harlequinade and singled it out from other works by Petipa in Completing the Puzzle: his memoirs. Additional Sources This “detective” work – finding steps where Much more problematic for us was the absence there were none in the notations – was the in some places of any indication about the trickiest aspect of our work. It is necessary to movements – nothing but arrows denoting the find simple and logical combinations that will formations of the dance and certain key pos- not look foreign in the context of 1900 chore- es. Both of the large classical ensembles – “Le ographic style and that don’t contradict the Rendez-vous” in the act 1 and “La Chasse aux patterns indicated in the notations. The hard- Alouettes” in act 2 – are recorded in this way. est thing for me was recreating this elegant It is possible that somewhere more detailed simplicity, which has disappeared from mod- records exist, but we have yet to find them. ern choreography. In this regard, our work is The variations for the soloists in both acts are not finished. As more performances take place, beautifully recorded, but in the adagio, as well we will continue to refine the details. as in the codas for the Larks and the main char- In general, the work is similar to putting acters, there is almost nothing – just floor together a puzzle or, rather, restoring an old plans. fresco with missing fragments. True, accord- 46 Ballet review and James Whiteside. (Photo: Rosalie O’Connor, ABT) ing to today’s scientific standards, the lost pointe or on pointe, on the floor or in the air, fragments of frescoes are left empty. Restor- how the weight is transferred from one foot ers no longer attach hands and heads to an- to the other, the number and direction of the cient statues, as before. But in the theater this turns. This is all mechanics. In this way, the is impossible; the audience expects to see con- coordination and technique of classical dance tinuous action. in the time of Petipa comes alive miraculous- In those cases when the notators had enough ly. What the Notations Reveal time and patience for detailed recording, like about my idol Konstantinova, the notations accu- rately convey all the mechanics of the chore- Reconstructions based on notations are not ography and leave almost no room for doubt. about stylization or the introduction of cer- Here I must refute the popular view that tain “mannerisms” of the late nineteenth and the notations are not accurate and can be in- early twentieth centuries. That style, in any terpreted however you like. This is not true. case, is inaccessible to us. The process of re- The peculiarity of the Stepanov system con- construction entails the staging of the texts sists of the precise transmission of dance of Petipa’s ballets, as they were written by move ment. French terms are not used. Instead Sergeev and his colleagues. each step is decomposed into its component I must say that in the process of studying parts. In notations, we see the height and di- the notations, we discovered very interesting rection of the legs, whether they are bent or things – for example, that saut de basque was stretched, the angle of the bend in the knee performed with two bent legs, and not with and hip, whether the step is executed in demi- one, as it is now. I was happy to find confir- spring-summer 2019 47 forward toward the audi- ence. In the notations this older method is clear. In tour jeté, instead of a forward fol- lowed by a fouetté, they used to do the battement imme- diately into arabesque to the back, with the feet changing in the air behind the back. Also, arabesque is recorded with a slightly bent leg or, more accurately, a free – not overstretched – leg. In con- trast, in pas de chat the first leg was stretched, as one of- ten sees in Balanchine. In pirouettes, the work- ing foot is recorded at dif- ferent heights: at the ankle, in the middle of the calf, or at the knee, which gives the pirouette three different possible colors. The same is true of chaînés: sometimes they are done on pointe, sometimes on demi-pointe. Stella Abrera as Pierrette. (Photo: Erin Baiano, ABT) In The Sleeping Beauty Auro- mation of this recently in Karsavina’s 1962 ra starts doing chaî nés on pointe only in the book, Classical Dance: The Flow of Movement. She variation of the last act; before that, she exe- describes saut de basque in this way: throw- cutes them on demi-pointe. All these details, ing the leg, folding one leg, folding the other in my opinion, give the choreography of Peti- leg, landing. In Cecchetti, this movement is pa many shadings. It becomes more three-di- called jeté en tournant en avant. mensional, livelier, more musical. In chaînés and series of piqués on the diag- When we tried to reproduce these subtleties onal, the spot was kept to the front, into the onstage, first in Paquita, and then, even more audience, and not toward the corner, as now. carefully, in Beauty – we realized how difficult In the book Vaganova: Articles, Memories, Mate- these steps actually are. Our current idea that rials, there is a letter by Vaganova’s student ballet has greatly moved forward in terms of and assistant Galina Ber ezova (Tatiana stud- technique vanished. Stretching, amplitude, ied with her in Kiev in the late 1970s) written the number of rotations – these all have cer- at the end of the 1930s in which Berezova asks, tainly increased. But this change has caused a “Dear A. Ya., where should the dancer spot in sharp and, I’m afraid, already irrevocable a diagonal of rotations – to the corner or to slowing of tempo. In terms of small technique, the front?” We do not know Vaganova’s reply, we have regressed. And this, despite the fact but most likely she answered – toward the cor- that jumps on pointe, pirouettes, and balances ner, as it was in the Soviet method. Balanchine used to be done in much softer and narrower preserved the earlier style of keeping the spot toe shoes. 48 ballet review in the approach to their use. There are several fun- damental questions that each stager – there are not many of us! – must answer, each in his or her own way: Does one need to follow the notations to the letter? Or should one adapt them for the convenience of today’s dancers? Is it right to take the notations as just a point of departure and call the resulting choreogra- phy a “reconstruction”? Should we, like the Soviet editors of the classics, fol- low the immortal dictum “save the best, remove the outdated”? Then, I would ask, what is the point of looking to the notations at all? In my view, they offer an impor- tant window into the orig- inal choreography. Why not use them as fully as James Whiteside as Harlequin. (Photo: Marty Sohl, ABT) possible? After all, what Regarding the diversity of dance coordina- seems obsolete today may turn out to be in- tion, a lot has been lost in pursuit of greater teresting again tomorrow. Why should we effects. Take a simple step – glissade (as a pre- judge Petipa from the standpoint of today’s paration for a jump or pose), which ought to fashion? go from fifth position to fifth position – at least In our work we proceeded from the idea in principle, as taught in school. Today, going that the records reflect the choreography of through precise positions of the feet causes Petipa as it was seen during his lifetime, as he major problems for the dancers. That is true rehearsed it. The notations obviously demon- in New York, Milan, or Zurich. In Russia, strate a deep knowledge of the laws of the stage where I have not yet tried to do a stylistical- and an accurate understanding of ballet coor- ly precise reconstruction, I do not know what dination. This, of course, speaks to the pro- would happen. If you do everything as writ- fessionalism of Nikolai Sergeev and his team, ten, and with brilliance, you get a conversa- but first of all, reveals the skill, experience, tion in a completely different language. And and talent of Petipa himself. as a choreographer, I find this language in- More than once we have had the opportu- teresting and exciting. nity to see the importance of every minute detail of the notations. We don’t accept the Different Approaches notion that the choreography was distorted The divergences one can see between differ- during the act of notating it. After all, the main ent interpretations of the same notations lies task of the notators was to record as accu- spring-summer 2019 49 rately as possible what they saw before them chine and Gusev, I composed a simple dance in the rehearsal studio or on the stage. Besides, for four couples and Harlequin. We worked on the notations were not hidden in a private this scene for a long time, but weren’t satis- archive, but were used as working materials fied. to revive old ballets and teach the dances to Imagine my delight when, after returning new casts. All graduates of the imperial the- home from a rehearsal, I came across a men- ater school were able to read them. tion on Facebook of a movie that I had never Of course, mistakes occur. These are draft heard of, in which Karsavina seemed to be re- manuscripts, not carefully prepared for print- hearsing Harlequinade. In the comments peo- ing, as in Gorsky’s book on Stepanov notation, ple wrote that it could not be Harlequinade, and published in 1899. But our experience shows was most likely Carnival. But it turned out to that what appears at first glance to be a error, be Harlequinade after all. After searching and with more careful study, as a rule, reveals a negotiating, we obtained a complete record- key to deciphering the misunderstood move- ing of the production, thanks to Hazel Moor, ment or pattern. As I said, the gaps in the no- former assistant to John Gregory, and every- tation that need to be filled are the main diffi- thing immediately fell into place. The Sere- culty. nade is a mime scene, not a dance. In Petipa, Mime the ballerina usually first appears dancing, In Harlequinade, all the mime, or as it was then but the hero is most often introduced with called, “mimika” (“facial expression”), is re - mime. Think of the first entrances of Basil, corded in great detail, not in Stepanov nota- Solor, Siegfried, Désiré, Conrad, Lucien, and tion, but in words. Each note is allotted a cer- Albert – all . tain number of measures in the notations, so In this “speech,” on the last chords, Harle- it’s not difficult to break down conversations quin tells the audience about his “crazy” love or monologues rhythmically. Each line is for Columbine. He is surprised that she does recorded in the form of a sequence of stage not come out of her house and, after some gestures, for example, “You kiss me not.” There thought, asks his musician friends to play are some difficult phrases, like “one Harle- louder in order to wake her. Columbine, ap- quin,” “go cook porridge,” “I love her madly,” pearing on the balcony, explains that she has or “steal the key.” In these cases, I was helped been locked up by her father, and that the key by my experiences in Denmark, not only at is hidden under ’s pillow. When Har- the Royal Theatre, where the pantomime bal- lequin suggests that she steal the key, she re- lets of Bournonville are performed, but also sponds with a refusal, but at this moment a at the Pantomime Theatre in Tivoli, where I triumphant Pierrette appears on the balcony worked as a Harlequin one summer. (The com- with a key in her hand. We have no doubt that pany there preserves thirty-five nineteenth- this scene is authentic. Thanks to the amaz- century in its repertory.) ing skill of Karsavina, we discovered some Another great gift to us is a 1965 English important details – for example, how “to lis- film in which Karsavina rehearses the Sere- ten” differs from “to hear,” and that “pretty” nade of the Harlequin, staged by her for a small is different from “beautiful.” troupe led by a student of Nikolai Legat, John In general, pantomime, which has been Gregory. I like to think of this film as a per- largely eliminated in the twentieth century, sonal gift from Tamara Platonovna, “Queen of was the most important part of Petipa’s aes- Columbines,” as she was known, intended es- thetic. He was himself an unsurpassed mime pecially for our use. The fact is that Harle- and master of mise-en-scène, which he com- quin’s in act 1 is sparingly notated, posed with the precision of a jeweler. In each with only two phrases explaining the action. of his ballets there are bright pantomime Therefore, following the example of Balan- roles, principal and secondary, male and fe- 50 Ballet review (Photo: Erin Baiano, ABT) male, completely different in character, de- Petipa always paid close attention. This is a signed for great artists. matter of scenic time, of the ability to alter- I was brought up on the textbooks of the nate theatrical stunts with parades, Soviet era, which copiously quote Fokine, who pantomime scenes with dances – dramatic or had an aversion to traditional pantomime. , children’s groups with virtu- How ever, my negative attitude changed when osic solo dancing. And the notations demon- I worked in Denmark. I saw firsthand how a strate this all with particular clarity. well-performed mime scene could be no less Other Versions of exciting than a virtuoso solo. It can bring tears Harlequinade or delight the viewer. Everything depends on the skill of the performer. I would like to briefly touch on other versions In Bournonville’s ballets, no one would ever of the ballet. First of all, we considered two think of replacing the mime scenes with danc- dissimilar extant productions, George Balan- ing. Everyone understands that with out the chine’s and Peter Gusev’s. The timeline here pantomime they would not be Bournon ville. is interesting. In 1965 Balanchine created his But with Petipa, for a long time – without his recension for . Gusev consent – this was not the case. staged his at the Leningrad Chamber Ballet in Petipa’s mime was cut out of his ballets for 1967. (According to Gusev, the dancers were a long time, and many people still consider it taught by Boris Shavrov, the last Harlequin optional and obsolete, but that loss impover- performer of the old production.) ishes and distorts his ballets. It violates the In 1973 Balanchine made a new version, and balance of dance and acting scenes, to which in 1975 Gusev made another one at the Maly spring-summer 2019 51 [Leningrad State Academic Maly Opera The- are several points of overlap with the nota- ater (MALEGOT)]. Maybe it is just a coinci- tions. One example is the grand pirouette à dence. Maybe there were rumors from across la seconde at the end of Harlequin’s act 2 vari- the ocean, and they thought, “They staged it, ation, and, in part, in the children’s dances. let’s do it too.” I don’t know. There are practi- Balanchine wrote that he considered Harle- cally no similarities in the choreography of quinade an important monument in the histo- the two productions. ry of dance, a kind of benchmark of comedic In Dobrovolskaya’s book about Lopukhov, ballet. He was enthusiastic about “its genius his 1933 version is described. In that staging, in telling a story with clarity and grace.” Harlequin and Leander sang aloud, Columbine The Gusev Harlequinade of 1975 was almost and Pierrette jumped from the balcony, re- canonical in the Soviet Union, but stylistical- placed after the premiere by perform- ly and structurally it turned out to be much ers. And instead of the Fairy there was a farther from the original Petipa than Balan- dressed as a rich American uncle, and so on. chine’s. To begin with, it is in one act, not Her book says that the in the Lopu - two. The main characters have one variation khov choreography was still being performed instead of two, and there is only one adagio, in concerts. Probably, she means the dance not two. filmed by Leningrad TV, with Ninel Kurgap- In addition, in the pas d’ensemble of act 1, kina and Nikolai Kovmir. Petipa had two pairs of soloists dancing side In England at one time, there was a popu- by side (the Harlequin with Columbine and lar pas de deux set by Alexander Volinin, a Pierrette with a cavalier, plus four couples), star of the Bolshoi in the 1910s. This is a charm- which is very unusual in structure for an ada- ing and very effective number, although half gio. Gusev had one solo couple and six couples of the music is from The Fairy Doll. Perhaps in the ensemble. This dramatic change seems there was something left in it from Gorsky, to have happened back in 1917, when Pierrette who staged his version on the Bolshoi in 1907. is not mentioned in this scene. Also a singer The scenery and for Moscow were was added to Harlequin’s Serenade. borrowed from the Mariinsky. For the first scene of the ballet, Gusev uses In the RGALI [Russian State Archive of Lit- the introductory music to present the main erature and Arts] there is an epic correspon- characters. In the original Petipa, the music dence between the Petersburg and Moscow of- was played with the curtain closed. Here fices of the Imperial Theaters, about unwashed Gusev unwittingly gives himself away, be- socks and torn-off buttons, including reports cause in Petipa the main characters never written by Moscow dressers and laundresses. appear right away. At the same time, Gusev According to them, everything came from St. eliminated the very heart of the ballet, the big Petersburg in poor condition, and the Moscow act 2 “La Chasse aux Alouettes,” a beautiful staff was not to blame. meta phor of love, where the Harle quin/hunt - In 1950, Balanchine set a pas de deux to the er pursues the Columbine/lark and wounds music of Drigo for and André her. Eglevsky. And there are three other concert Petipa had a history of staging “lark hunts”; pas de deux from Harlequinade, each with dif- the first was for a piece made for the Theater ferent choreography. We studied all them in School in St. Petersburg, and later in the orig- order to search for points of overlap with the inal 1869 for the Bolshoi, in a scene notation. We did not find any. with comedians. After the Harlequin/hunt er In Balanchine’s 1973 Harlequinade, we see an shoots the Columbine/lark, a big adagio be- exact replica of Petipa’s scenario. Almost the gins with a dozen corps dancers portraying entire plan is used, with minor cuts, but the larks, accompanied by Drigo’s beautiful mel - choreography is Balanchine’s, although there ody. Over the course of a difficult four-minute 52 Ballet review (Photo: Erin Baiano, ABT) variation, accompanied by a lullaby, Colum - ska’s version. She danced the role of Columbine bine can no longer hide her love for Harle- at the third performance. Kschessinska was quin. not satisfied with her part. She considered it Gusev did not include this, nor did he in- not very interesting in pure dancing terms, clude the children’s Harlequinade, a seven- and when she returned to the role in 1910, to minute dance for thirty-two children dressed make it more exciting, she added tours from as little , , Polichinelles, fifth to the coda, as well as a manège of turns. and Scaramouches. I shall not dwell on other We know this from the reviews. None of it is differences in the Gusev production, as there in the notations. are many, but only state the obvious – that he We also managed to see very interesting set himself a completely different task and fragments of a production by Boris Romanov not a re-creation of Petipa’s original at all. In- for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in a record- stead Gusev’s version was made in the spirit ing from the 1950s, with Alicia Alonso in the of “save the best, remove the outdated.” The role of Columbine. The Ballet Russe dances are ruthless hand of the editor is visible both in interesting, extremely difficult, designed for the Ballabile for the and in Harlequin’s Alonso’s phenomenal technique. Serenade, as well as in , although, Before that, in the 1920s, Romanov staged to be sure, Gusev preserved many of Petipa’s The Millions of Harlequin with his troupe Ro- ori ginal steps. mantic Ballet for his wife . Un- The variation for Columbine differs from fortunately, Romanov’s choreography has not the notated one and is somewhat similar to been preserved. We did not notice any over- the version of Karsavina. It must have been lap with the notations, but it is more than like- performed differently by various soloists. ly that he knew the original. In Sergeev’s notations, we have Preobrajen- I would also like to mention the work of spring-summer 2019 53 the reconstruction of petipa’s -*2/,13.0*+, A89 : 1. La clef dérobée (Cassandre, Pierrot, Pier- A89 ; 1. Polonaise (Columbine, Harlequin, Pier- rette): 100 percent Petipa. The scene for Pierrot and rette, cast): 100 percent Petipa, even though the Pierrette is notated twice (notation was in the file polonaise step itself is not notated, but there is of another ballet), with minor differences, so we no doubt here. The children’s polonaise is very made choices. 2. Ballabile par une compagnie des well notated. The trick with the money fountain (Bobèche and his wife, 16 corps couples): is described in the Mariinsky production book 100 percent Petipa, except the number of couples; (all the props are described there in great detail). originally there were twenty-four couples and we 2. Harlequinade (16 children’s couples): 90 per- only had sixteen. Each of the three front lines at the cent Petipa. Well notated with some small gaps. beginning consisted of eight couples (we had six in The last 56 bars I had to invent. I took my inspi- each and used two couples, who already had entered, ration from Balanchine (a big circle that breaks repeat in the last row). 3. La serenade (Co lumbine, into little circles). 3. La reconciliation de Pier- Harlequin, 4 solo couples): Not notated. We took our rot et Pierrette(Pierrot, Pierrette, 4 women from version from Karsavina’s 1961 staging of Harlequin’s the solo couples): 100 percent Petipa. Very well Serenade. 4. Le rendez-vous des amou reux, pas notated, twice, with minor variations (one nota- d’ensemble (Columbine, Harlequin, Pierrette, her tion is from the “miscellaneous” file). Chaînés for cavalier, 4 solo couples): The adagio is poorly notat- women are notated on pointe. 4. La chasse aux ed. Only floor plans, pirouettes, a couple of poses, alouettes (Columbine, Harlequin, 12 women): “on pointe” symbol, and some descriptions in words Har lequin’s entrance is mine. It’s not notated like “lift,” “attitude,” “ara besque,” “holding hands,” (some quotes from Legat’s 1909 film “Valse- “carry” “on the knee,” “pas de chat,” “2 times.” We caprice” with Alexandra Baldina and Fiodor Ko- worked on it for five months and I kept changing zlov). The quality of notations for La Chasse is and changing, because it is so unusual to have two similar to Le Rendez-vous, sketchy, not precise, equally important couples, with one slightly subor- with gaps. Luckily everything is notated twice dinate. The last change was made on the day of the and so there are different details here and there. opening: we had the four men change costumes from We followed all the floor plans and all the remarks blue to gray, as in the original. The dance for Har- such as “run,” “on the knees,” “arms down / lequin’s friends and Pierrette is well notated, twice. up,” “carry,” “walk,” “turns under the arm,” “ara - I would say 90 percent is Petipa (no actual steps are besque,” “head movements,” “arm on the floor,” written for the four men, only a floor plan, so we “by the stick,” “tour jeté,” “ballonné,” and so on. took some steps from Gusev). Colum bine’s Preobra- Some of poses and movements are given in the jen ska variation is beautifully notated (it was found Stepanov notes. It was less challenging to inter- in the “miscellaneous” file). Another version, also pret than Le Rendez-vous, because the struc- for Preobrajenska, is slightly different. That is why ture is more traditional. I would say the organi- our principal women were given op tions. (Skylar zation is pure Petipa, but two-thirds of the cho- Brandt does the most difficult variation; the whole reography is mine – except for two variations: first part is on one leg.) So the Co lumbine variation both Harlequin’s and Columbine’s are 100 percent is 100 percent Petipa. 5. La batte enchantee (Fairy, Petipa. Colum bine’s Preobrajenska variation is Harlequin, 8 little harlequins, 5 squires, officer, 6 the best ever, notation initialed A.K. (Alex andra soldiers ): All mise-en-scène (except the soldiers, Kon stantinova), also from the “miscellaneous” which are my invention) done according to floor file. The Harlequin and Columbine coda is mine. plans and word descriptions. Harlequin’s variation The chaîné turns for twelve larks when Harle- is 100 percent Petipa. There is another version, very quin shoots Columbine are notated on pointe. sketchy, with a different final diagonal. The Sere- 5. des merveilleuses (8 corps couples): nade of Leandre is mine, including the steps for the 90 percent Petipa. I added little chassés here and little harlequins (I looked to Balanchine and Gusev). there, as in the quadrille. 6. Galop (entire cast): The final little dance for Harlequin, Colum bine, Pier- two-thirds is mine. The children are no tated well. rette, her cavalier, and their four friends’ couples, The steps for the four women and the larks are after the balcony descends, is not notated, but since also written down. No codas for the principals the music repeats the galop from the dance or the concluding galop. The final stage picture we quoted from it. is described in the notations. — A. R. the choreographers Natalia Voskresenskaya, the fountain; 4. the lowering of the balcony who reconstructed Shiryaev’s choreography with Columbine and Pierrette on it with the from his animation The Harlequin Joke, and Yuri help of Harlequin’s ; 5. the transforma- Burlaka, who staged Gusev’s version, adding tion of the notary into the Fairy (an instant the original version of Harlequin’s act 2 vari- costume change); 6. the fountain of gold coins ation (from the notations) to the act 1 ensem- emerging from the table top through Harle- ble. There was also an interesting production quin’s magic. by Alexander Mishutin, who staged a two- After the golden fountain, which is the last act Harlequi nade in Tbilisi. This is what we stage trick in the ballet, the dances begin: chil- managed to see on YouTube. I applaud my col- dren, Pierrette’s variation, larks, quadrille, leagues with respect, but I must say that, judg- and gallop. The dance logic is to warm the ing by what we saw, we all set ourselves com- audience’s attention as soon as it wanes. That pletely different tasks. same purpose is served by Harlequin’s slap- stick and an umbrella fitted with mirrors, used Designs and Scenic “Tricks” during the lark hunt. We might have over- For the first time in my practice (with the ex- looked these details if not for the production ception of the swan costumes for Swan Lake in books and lists of props from the collection of Zurich), we decided to use the original sets and the theater museum in St. Petersburg, impor- costumes, of 1900, as the basis for our designs. tant sources of information about the ballet. I had always thought that the choreography * of Petipa was the most important element in I should talk in more detail about the “dan - any reconstruction and that new designs could sante” quality and artful dramaturgy of Ric- connect the old ballets with our day. But, I cardo Drigo’s wonderful score, about the con- must admit, Harlequinade changed my mind. It struction of Petipa’s dance phrases and the seems to me that we were right to use the orig- harmony of his ensembles, about the way in inals. which all the characters in the ballet are The American artist Robert Perdziola used balanced and how each has his or her own production sketches by and special moments. And also about the exact Orest Allegri, kindly provided us by the St. passages in which I was forced to create my Petersburg State Museum of Theater and own choreography to fill gaps in the text. (See Music. The extravagant costumes, with their opposite page for a summary of each section bold com binations of colors, aroused doubts of the ballet and its sources.) at first. But, combined with the scenery and Of course I would like it if our work could the intricate patterns of dancing and the var- be evaluated in terms of its faithfulness to the ious groupings, they created a balanced whole, source, but who would do that? Dig into the and, in the end, seemed the only possible archives, read the notes, which are now free- choice. Once again, this convinced us of the ly available on the Harvard website? I think wisdom of Petipa and his colleagues. It seems no one will. Only fellow reconstructors could they knew much more about theater than we do it, and professional courtesy will probably do now. For me, it is obvious. inhibit their comments. What I can say is that Take, for example, what we might call “the- we made a sincere homage to Marius Petipa atrical tricks.” There are several of them in and, in accordance with that idea, presented Harlequinade, all of which provoked a lively re- his work, not our own. We were guided, and action from the audience: 1. throwing Harle- limited, by the desire to restore it as it was. quin (a mannequin) from the balcony; 2. tear- With each restoration project, we understand ing apart the mannequin, followed by his res- more. The opportunity to be Petipa’s appren- urrection; 3. the appearance of the Fairy from tice is a great privilege. I can’t complain. spring-summer 2019 55

Top View