World of Dance Walter Terry

Contest in Moscow just first-class; they were the best that their countries—those with state thea­ "EVERY TIME you danced," said the So­ ters — could produce," he reports. viet Union's most famous ballerina, "Here were the highest standards of Maya Plisetskaya, "I gave you my dance I had ever seen. Unbelievable! twelve points." The Bolshoi Ballet's I rehearsed every day, but I tried to star was addressing the Iceland-born see all the contestants. One fascinating Helgi Tomasson, who represented the dancer after another. It was nerve- United States (as a principal dancer of wracking, but I couldn't stay away." the Harkness Ballet) at the First Inter­ Tomasson arrived in Moscow with national Ballet Competition — or, as five solos. Because of a misunderstand­ the Russians themselves call it, "Olym­ ing caused by translation of contest pics of Ballet"—this summer in Mos­ rules from Russian to English, he did cow. Awards—for duos, solo male, solo not know that if he lasted until the female—were given in gold, silver, and final stage of the competition, he'd bronze, and Tomasson won the silver need a sixth. He did, of course, reach in the male soloist category. the finals and the closing gala, but Helgi Tomasson, who represented At his own expense, he took along what to dance? He elected to do the American ballet at the First Inter­ his wife, Marlene Rizzo (also a Hark­ solo from the "Black Swan Pas de national Ballet Competition in Moscow. ness dancer), and had his parents baby­ Deux," a work originated in Russia and sit in Iceland (both his wife and his one that many of the contestants were Le Corsaire, one after another, and a son are Americans, and he will be in doing. But he had no costume. He sent day that was de\'oted almost exclu­ due course). He found that he needed for one in New York, but his cable sively to Don Quixote. Marlene not just personally but pro­ never got through. So at the last min­ For his own offerings in the three fessionally. "Almost every one of ute, with the permission of that great stages of the competition, with two the eighty-nine entrants—they came ballerina of just yesterday, Galina solos for each stage, his dances were: from nineteen different countries — Ulanova, chairman of the board of (stage 1) solos from Anton Dolin's had teachers or coaches or trainers judges, he was given access to the Variations for Four and Brian Mac- with them. I could have done the same, Bolshoi Ballet wardrobe. He was donald's Zealous Variations; (stage 2) but I didn't understand that, so Mar­ proud to dance in a costume worn by a solo from Jerome Robbins's Dances lene worked like mad seeing that lights the Bolshoi's major young danseur, at a Gathering, in which he was re­ and their cues were okay, that my re­ Vladimir Vasiliev. For "Black Swan" hearsed by Robbins himself, and a new hearsal tapes were played at the he had only two hours of rehearsal, yet solo, to Berlioz's score for Romeo and right speed, and that everything went earned a tremendous response from Juliet, created especially for him by smoothly. (I was under terrible pres­ the public. Norman Walker; (stage 3) "Black sure, for I really felt that I was repre­ "Black Swan" was a popular vehicle Swan" and a solo from Balanchine's senting America.) for all contestants, but Tomasson re­ Sylvia "Pas de Deux." The biggest suc­ "They — the contestants — were not calls seeing six or seven excerpts from cesses for him with the public that jammed the Bolshoi were the Dolin, Robbins, and Petipa solos.

e rehearsed three to four hours Heach day in one of twenty-six studios at the Choreographic School. Time was allotted in the Bolshoi The­ ater itself for rehearsals in a stage-size studio. He practiced with tapes he'd brought along, but performed with the Bolshoi Orchestra. He had ten minutes with the conductor to set tempos for each final rehearsal. "There was only one conductor," he reports, "and a wild \'ariety of tempos for just one ballet. But he never missed; I was amazed." For his daily ballet lesson, he worked cither with a taped class made in America or took class with the Danes present. "I could have had class with the Russians," he says, "but it would have been dangerous to work, at this late stage, in a ballet style and method The committee of judges takes a vote. At extreme different from what I was used to." right, Galina Ulanova, who served as chairman. The audiences, he tells, picked favor- SR/AUGUST 9, 1969 39 PRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED ites from the start. He was one that the audiences applauded when his name was mentioned. As for the danc­ TV-Kadio ers present, he says, "Choreographical- ly, with all my new pieces, I was a gold Robert Lewis Shayon mine. The dancers from all the coun­ tries crowded the wings as I danced Robbins or Walker or the others, and Cosmic Nielsens sized headline: MEN WALK ON THE they whispered 'AmerikanskU' There MOON. It was the same edition that ran were other whispers, too. The audi­ UP THERE at Tranquillity Base, Eagle's two full pages of comments from pub­ ences were very knowledgeable. If any­ television camera could afford us, from lic figures under the heading: REAC­ one hopped at the end of a pirouette, its fixed position, only a limited view TIONS TO MAN'S LANDING ON THE MOON you could almost hear a mass whisper, of the astronauts' activities as they SHOW BROAD VARIATIONS IN OPINIONS. 'He missed a point.' But they were danced man's first lunar choreography. In some of the press handling of the marvelous." No one could quarrel with that par­ moon landing there were context, a Except for "Black Swan," Tomasson ticular barrier to our vision: to crea­ search for meaning, a sense of related- had planned a non-Russian repertory. tures on spaceship Earth it was manna ness. On the networks there were ten­ "I felt I couldn't compete with the from the moon. Down here at the TV sion, suspense, bits of information, Russians in their repertory, so I receiver's end, network reporters and marvelous pictures, impressive simula­ brought something of an American commentators deployed their cameras tions, and artful animations—but one repertory to show them our way of along a rather narrow intellectual would be pressed hard to say the doing classical ballet." Using this ap­ range; their rigidity was a matter of in­ coverage was not a full-blown com­ proach, he won a silver medal from a stitutional policy—and disappointing. mercial for the government, NASA, the board of twenty judges that included The moon landing was fraught with space industry, and the broadcasters. ten Russians (Mme. Ulanova, Pliset- deep currents of ambivalence—rip­ Wherever explorers go in the future skaya, Chabukiani, Khachaturian, Ser- tides of incredible and even thrilling accompanied by television cameras, gueff among them), and Chauvire technological achievements crossing they will be actors, making their nebu­ (French), Flindt (Danish), Haskell sluggish drifts and backwaters of lous exits and entrances for the benefit (British), De Mille (American) among Earth's poisoned psychic as well as of multi-planetary audiences. Nowhere the rest. physical environment. Television's en­ will there again be pure events (if ever Tomasson's award was not only the coding of that multidimensional event there were); everything hereafter will silver medal but also 2,000 rubles, was depressingly one-dimensional. be stage-managed for cosmic Nielsens, equal officially to $2,200. But aside It was all sunshine and public rela­ in the interests of national or universal from being taxed on it (300 rubles), tions and hurrah for our side. From establishments. Vision filters, however, he was not allowed to change it into the Sea of Tranquillity, where the flag ought to be more than one-focus af­ other currency or take it out of the was planted and the plaque enshrined fairs. One of the sharpest contrasts in country. He had one day in which to (nationalist prestige in a collectively television's coverage of the moon land­ spend it, so he and his wife settled on explosive world), to the White House, ing was that which distinguished the sable skins (on which he had to pay Disneyland, the Vatican, and the man language of numbers—used almost ex­ U.S. duty). "It's enough for part of a in the street, there was no area of dark­ clusively by the astronauts and their stole," he says. ness or even earth-shine—^just prog­ earth command—from the often inade­ ress, mechanistically defined, laden quate verbalizations of the network ut the rewards were in his medal, with the attitude that today is no time commentators. The spacemen, making Bin the competition itself, and, for critics and cynics. Walter Cronkite, computer talk, spoke a kind of quanti­ most of all, in the prestige that the for CBS, who seemed unflaggingly ex­ tative poetry—eloquent, pellucid, terse. Russians bestowed upon the four-day hilarated despite his wearying task, il­ The reporters, at moments of highest (three days of contest and the conclud­ lustrated the dominant mood when he tension, were admittedly speechless, or ing gala) affair. "They felt it was as im­ exclaimed, shortly after the Eagle had remarkably colloquial. One, when the portant as the Tchaikovsky Competi­ touched down on the surface of the lunar module successfully fired the tion," says Tomasson. "You've prob­ moon: "People have the audacity to engine that lifted it from the moon's ably read that Londoners were in­ say nothing new is going on these days. surface, cried out, "Oh boy! Hot dig- censed when the Bolshoi Ballet arrived I'd like to know what those kids are gity dog! Yes, sir!" The emotion was there without the new Swan Lake that saying who pooh-poohed this. How genuine and understandable, but one had been promised to them. But I can can one turn off from a world like can spin an implication off his remark: tell that to the Russians the competi­ this?" Later he held up a copy of the Man talking numbers and command­ tion was far more important than get­ next morning's New York Times to ing things is master of sophisticated ting a new Swan Lake ready for show the camera the historic record- communications; man relating to oth­ export. The next competition will be er men is sadly tongue-tied. This is the held in three years, instead of four, state of the world and this is televi­ that's how successful it was." sion, alas! But is despair in order? Competition winners were: Duos, Perhaps when space ships are shut­ Nina Sorokina and Yuri Vladimirov tling between Earth and moon and of the Soviet Union and Francesca crews in controlled environments will Zumbo and Patrice Bart of France, be readying for farther reaches into gold medals; SOLOISTS, Malika Sabi- space, television will have winged its rova, Mikhail Baryishnikov of the So­ way over its public relations barrier viet Union; silver medals for soloists and will give us a deeper representa­ Tomasson, U.S.A., Loipa Araujo, Cuba, tion of such events, as well as a poetry and Hideo Fukagawa, Japan. (Bronze of qualitative experience to match the medals were won by contestants from brilliance of the quantitative mode in Japan and the Soviet Union.) -yff^M^ the realm of science and technology. 40 SR/AUQUST 9, 1969 PRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED