Grace, Mystery... Charm

Ashton, Makarova... Pavlova.

Long Ago and Far Away

My first experience of live theatre came at the age of five. Pretty lucky five-year-old: my parents and I attended Prokoviev's ballet of Cinderella, performed by the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London. It was choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton, who also played one of the ugly sisters, with Robert Helpmann as the other. Antoinette Sibley was Cinderella, and her long time dance partner, Anthony Dowell, was her Prince Charming, one of the most renowned partnerships in the Royal Ballet's history. On arriving at the opera house, my father saw Dame Margot Fonteyn, who wasn't dancing, entering the stage door, which was very exciting!

So it was with great delight that I found that production on DVD. I bought it for my parents a couple of years ago and we watched it again recently. There is something particularly English about the choreography, which isn't the most thrilling, but it has an absolute charm. When a transformed Cinderella appears at the end of the first act, her carriage pulled by mice, it was heart stopping then, and it still is. Is it any wonder so many little girls go mad for ballet?

Apparently at intermission my parents rose to go and get a drink and beckoned me to follow them, at which point I burst into tears and refused to get out of my seat. I thought they were trying to trick me to leave, and I didn't want the magic to end. Not even the promise of an ice-cream budged me. I've been a fan ever since, and the tears still occasionally happen.

Tree Ornament of the Day #6

This little ornament reminds me of the National Ballet of Canada's beautiful production of The Nutcracker. It's choreographed by former artistic director James Kudelka and designed by Santo Loquasto, who's worked on many of Woody Allen's films, in a long and varied career.

It's the visuals of this production of Nutcracker that entrance me. It's based on a Russian theme, with the ballet opening on a party scene in the lovely barn of Marie and Misha's home.

There are many thrilling theatrical moments, such as the skating bears, the magical growth of the Christmas tree to fill the entire stage, and the opening of a huge Fabergé egg to reveal the Sugar-Plum Fairy. My favourite sequence of all is the scene with a flock of little lambs which are played by the littlest children in the National Ballet School. They are dressed as small Victorian girls, with ears attached to their bonnets and small gloves that make their hands look like little hooves. They are all in pale pink, except for - you guessed - just one, who is in black. The audience melts when they come on stage. This link has pictures and videos of this delightful production.

As for my tree ornament, I bought him at the Ballet Boutique, the company's lobby shop that is open during performances. I never attend the ballet without buying something tree-worthy there, and I'll be showing more of those purchases that now reside on my tree in days to come. You see the tassle between his legs? You pull that and his arms and legs go up and down. Okay, that sounded saucy. Excellent! This blog has been sauceless for too long!

A Classical Evening at Home

We started out with a DVD of Fidelio. Karita Mattila is a moving and wonderful Leonore, with a supporting cast of Rene Pape and Ben Heppner, etc. It was filmed live from the Met in 2002. I've never really been interested in this opera but this production, and this particular performance, was just wonderful. Moving and illustrative of all opera can be, and how - when all the elements come together - it is such a great theatrical form.

And now a historic DVD from 1967 - Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn in Swan Lake. It's sightly dated, but quite wonderful, and I always love seeing the two of them dance - what chemistry they had. They first danced together in 1962: she was 43 and thinking of retiring and he was 24 and just newly defected from Russia. She had a magnificent second career and he - of course - was just starting his and, together, they formed the most famous dance partnership in ballet.