Marius Petipa: the French Master of Russian Ballet
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Denis Sneguirev, dir. Marius Petipa: The French Master of Russian Ballet. Brooklyn: Icarus Films, 2019. DVD. 54 mins. $29.98 Reviewed by Jennifer Boivin (University of Alberta) Published on H-SHERA (February, 2021) Commissioned by Hanna Chuchvaha (University of Calgary) Marius Petipa (1818–1910) is perhaps the most rival in Russia and rise to fame. In this part, the emblematic figure in classical dance and is per‐ filmmaker puts in context the importance of ballet ceived as the father of ballet as we know it. Born in in Russian imperial society and Petipa’s use of his France in 1818, the aging dancer came to Saint social skills to achieve his goal of becoming a cho‐ Petersburg, Russia, in 1847 where his career flour‐ reographer. His first ballets, such as The Pharaoh’s ished. We owe him the creation and revival of Daughter (1862), included little dancing and were some of the most celebrated ballets in the world: heavy on artifice: a real fountain with running wa‐ Paquita (1847), La Fille mal gardée (1855), Don ter in the middle of the stage; fake and living Quixote (1869), La Bayadère (1877), Sleeping Beauty horses, camels, monkeys, and lions; and elaborate (1890), Swan Lake (1895), Raymonda (1898), Giselle sets and magnificent costumes. While the critics (1899), and Le Corsaire (1899). deplored “the abysmal superficiality of this slick Within dance and dance academic communit‐ and gaudy production,” the audience loved it due ies, Petipa is the object of profound respect and ad‐ to Petipa’s use of the Egyptian themes that were miration, and somewhat of a highly idealized char‐ fashionable at the time because of the new con‐ acter. Literature dedicated to his work is abundant struction of the Suez Canal. As Sneguirev demon‐ —although not very recent—and most scholars de‐ strates, Petipa was at first a poor choreographer, pict him as a genius choreographer. The fifty-four- but he had a strong sense of entertainment and minute documentary Marius Petipa: The French knew how to take advantage of the zeitgeist of the Master of Russian Ballet presents a more sober time. portrait of the ballet master. Basing the document‐ The second part of the film, “Becoming an ary on four major ballets and on different inter‐ Artist,” focuses on how Petipa gained respect as a views of specialists and dancers, director Denis choreographer. This section presents La Bayadère, Sneguirev traces Petipa’s career in Russia and cre‐ whose story is set in a romanticized India where ates an interesting, complex, and well-balanced geopolitical tensions are expressed through rivalry film. between princesses. Largely based on the style of Sneguirev’s documentary is organized in five the Orientalists, this ballet was made specifically parts, all discussing an aspect of Petipa’s work to please the military who regularly attended the through a specific ballet. The first part, titled “Cel‐ theater. For them, Petipa chose to address a specif‐ ebrated Choreographer,” focuses on the man’s ar‐ ic political issue: the Russian conquest of Central H-Net Reviews Asia and the British attempt to block their expan‐ Through the work of contemporary choreographer sion toward India. Sneguirev argues that La Bay‐ Nacho Duato, the filmmaker shows how classical adère truly exposed Petipa’s poetry in dance as it ballet must be adapted to contemporary audi‐ never did before with one specific act. “The King‐ ences: shorter narratives, faster music, less time dom of Shades” was set in an unusually modest de‐ for the preparation of each movement, and more cor where thirty-six ballerinas moved in a serpent‐ important roles for male dancers, as seen in the ine line from upstage to downstage, filling the example of Carabosse, the wicked fairy godmother space with their presence. As they repeated the traditionally danced by a man. In today’s eyes, same simple classical arabesque and cambré Petipa’s work is perceived as “static,” and more flu‐ movements in perfect synchrony, they created id versions, expressed for example in an emphasis what the filmmaker calls a “meditative” and al‐ on the upper body, seem necessary to generate most “hypnotic” effect, dedicating the stage to emotion from the audience. According to Duato, it dance in its purest form. is today’s “more advanced technique” that allows This new approach to dance and the profound us to modify and yet to remain true to Petipa’s vis‐ changes in dance technique resulted in the Sleep‐ ion. ing Beauty, also the title of the third section of this Particularly interesting aspects of this docu‐ documentary. Inspired by Louis XIV’s (1638–1715) mentary are the notions of transmission and ad‐ court in Versailles, it was a true hymn to mon‐ aptation of dance that are not fully addressed but archy. Once more, Sneguirev demonstrates how remain recurrent themes in the film. Throughout these choices were influenced by the political the documentary, Sneguirev mentions the diffi‐ events of the time: French-Russian diplomatic re‐ culty in teaching Petipa’s original work as the col‐ lations. This production represents all of Petipa’s lective memory was kept “from one leg to anoth‐ achievements: impressive costumes, grandiose er” or from one prima ballerina to another. Some sets, and new intricate and different variations other ways developed to teach and archive dance that were never seen before. To this day, specialists are shown to the viewer as well. One of them con‐ perceive Sleeping Beauty as the perfect symbiosis sists of the use of papier-mâché marionettes on a between music and movement and the perform‐ miniature stage and stop-motion animation. This ance that opened the door to the twentieth cen‐ technique is unfortunately barely addressed in this tury. In this part, Sneguirev does not just focus on film although Petipa was known to use it when Petipa but also acknowledges the collaboration working on group choreographies. and work of Ivan Vsevolozhsky (1835–1909), the Another technique to record dance is revealed new director of the Imperial Theaters and the first in the notation of Petipa’s assistant, Vladimir major artistic curator in Russian dance history. Stepanov (1866–96). Stepanov, who is unnamed in Vsevolozhsky’s ambition, to create great Russian the documentary, was responsible for creating a art, was characteristic of the post-Crimean War dance notation system that encoded dance move‐ era, which brought a time of cultural self-definition ments with the musical score instead of using the and questioning in Russia and eventually led to a complex traditional labanotation based on ab‐ stronger sense of nationalism in the arts. Unfortu‐ stracted symbols. Alexei Ratmansky, a researcher nately, this aspect is underdeveloped in the docu‐ and choreographer, uses this archival material to mentary, arguably to keep the focus on Petipa’s ca‐ reconstruct Petipa’s original versions of the reer. dances. This entire section in the film, titled “Re‐ In this part, Sneguirev also addresses today’s constructing the Dance,” is dedicated to Rat‐ constant reinterpretation of Sleeping Beauty. mansky’s work in the archive, his analysis of the 2 H-Net Reviews material, and the revival of Petipa’s original work. the basis for understanding the golden age of Rus‐ It is especially interesting to witness the reactions sian ballet before Sergei Diaghilev drastically mod‐ of New York City Ballet dancer Tiler Peck as she ernized it and shows how the imperial ballets were tries to adapt to nineteenth-century style and her intertwined with Russian imperial society. For this difficulties in performing this “tedious” and “spe‐ reason, the film represents excellent material for cific” set of steps. While this section breaks with research and for use in the classroom for those the film’s main theme, it also shows that Duato’s who study dance, Russian culture, and nineteenth- earlier perception of Petipa’s original steps is not century visual culture. With interviews, archival necessarily accurate, and that taste and the way material, and videos of contemporary dancers re‐ dancers move had changed but not because the hearsing and performing, the filmmaker creates a technique is better nowadays. dynamic and accessible narrative that will delight In the last part, Sneguirev goes back to Petipa’s the nonspecialist as well as the academic. Marius biography and addresses one of his masterpieces: Petipa is built on subtleties. Indeed, the filmmaker Swan Lake. The section opens with the original suggests with images and information without Swan Lake based on Ratmansky’s work. Filled with bluntly imposing his opinion. Just as in La Bay‐ heavy mime and long pauses, Petipa’s most fam‐ adère’s “Kingdom of Shades,” Sneguirev made a ous work also presented a faster tempo than the documentary in its almost purest and most object‐ one played currently. One of the reasons why it ive form. was played so fast according to conductor Mikhail Jurowski is because at the end of the nineteenth century, dancers “didn’t do all of the elaborate things that were gradually added by the dancers who made it more complicated to perform the mu‐ sic.” Once more, Sneguirev subtlety suggests without clearly saying anything: is it possible that today’s dancing is more concerned with the virtu‐ osity and emotion of the dancer and less con‐ cerned with music like it used to be one hundred years ago? Is musicality so deeply different now? Or can we conclude that we have lost a part of the symbiosis between dance and music that was so precious to Petipa? These questions are never answered. Despite tackling two distinct subject matters —Petipa’s career in Russia and the challenge in teaching, adapting, and reviving his work— Sneguirev has created a well-balanced document‐ ary.