Flamenco

Flamenco is a folk art, around 200 years old. It is from Southern Spain and is individualistic, yet structured. Song, dance and guitar are blended into passionate rhythms which are often improvised and spontaneous. Flamenco will have any imaginable theme, from up to date stories, to politics, to love, to history, to humor, etc. Often however, the tragic lyrics and tone of flamenco reflect the sufferings of the gypsy people from whom it originated

Flamenco exists in three forms: Cante, the song, Baile, the dance, and Guitarra, guitar playing. The source of Flamenco, however, lies in the tradition of singing. The singers' role is very important with the guitar playing an accompaniment to the song. Today the solo guitar flamenco has developed into a separate art and is fashionably blended with jazz, blues and pop music.

Baile (dance)

El baile flamenco is known for its emotional intensity, proud carriage, expressive use of the arms and rhythmic stamping of the feet. As with any dance form, many different styles of flamenco have developed.

In its most authentic form, flamenco can be seen danced informally at gitano (Gypsy) weddings and

celebrations in Spain. There is less virtuoso technique in gitano flamenco, but the music and steps are fundamentally the same. The arms are noticeably different to classical flamenco, curving around the head and body rather than extending, often with a bent elbow.

"Flamenco puro" is considered the form of performance flamenco closest to its gitano origins. In this style, the dance is always performed solo, and is improvised rather than choreographed. Some purists frown on castanets (even though they can be seen in many early 20th century photos of flamenco dancers).

The type of dance most Europeans would call "flamenco" is a commercialized style, developed as a spectacle for tourists. To add variety, group dances are included, and even solos are more likely to be choreographed. The frilly, volum

inous spotted dresses are derived from a style of dress worn for the annual Feria in Seville (the original is actually too tight to dance in!).

"Classical flamenco" is the style used in modern Spanish flamenco dance companies. It is characterized by a proud, upright carriage - for the women, the back is often held in a marked back bend. Unlike gitano flamenco, there is little movement of the hips, the body is tightly held and the arms are long, like a ballet dancer. In fact many of the dancers in these companies have trained in ballet as well as flamenco.

Modern flamenco is a highly technical dance style requiring years of study. The emphasis for both male and female performers is on lightning-fast footwork performed with absolute precision. In addition, the d

ancer may have to dance while using props such as castanets, shawls and fans.

"Flamenco nuevo" is the new wave in flamenco, characterized by pared-down costumes (the men often dance bare-chested, and the women in plain jersey dresses). Props such as castanets, fans and shawls are rarely, if ever, used. Dances are choreographed and include influences from other dance styles.

In traditional flamenco, young people are not considered to have the emotional maturity to adequately convey the "due

nde" (soul) of the genre. Therefore unlike other dance forms, where dancers turn professional early to take advantage of youth and strength, many flamenco dancers do not hit their peak until their thirties and will continue to perform into their fifties and beyond.

Etymology

There are questions not only about the origins of flamenco, but also about the origins of the word itself. There are many theories (summarized below), but no solid evidence for any of them. The word was not recorded until the late 18th century.

George Borrow asserted the word flemenc [sic] is synonymous with "gypsy". Blas Infante, in his book Orígenes de lo flamenco y secreto del cante jondo, suggests the word may derive from Andalusian Arabic

fellah mengu, "Escapee Peasant", referring to the Muslim Andalusians (Moriscos) who stayed in Spain and mixed with the Romani newcomers when the Spanish reclaimed their land.

Other hypotheses include "Fleming, native of Flanders" (Dutch Vlaming). Spain ruled Flanders for many years, and Charles I of Spain is said to have brought to Toledo an entire Flemish court. His father Felipe de Austria's Spanish wife brought Andalusian musicians to Court, and the Habsburg Spanish troops in their Netherlands domains were accompanied by musicians, and on their return to Spain these became known to other Europeans, including the players of more sober traditional Andalusian music as 'Flamenco', the flemish style.

The entry for "Flamenco" in the 1786 Diccionario español e ingles (Volume 1), gives the following definition: "f.m. a bird that has a red breast and pinions". "Flama" in Spanish means flame or fire, and "enco" or "endo", is a suffix which means a quality-of, or having a-similarity-to, or pertaining-to. This association between a fiery-breasted bird and the deep, flaming passion expressed in Flamenco music, song and dance, is wholly appropriate.

Flamenco today

From it's roots in eighteenth century popular theatre, most flamenco performers were professionals. Originally they learned from other performers in the manner of an apprenticeship, not in conservatoriums or dance schools as is usually the way now. Today, most guitarists undergo rigorous professional training and often can read and play music in other styles like classical guitar or jazz and many dancers take courses in ballet and contemporary dance as well as flamenco.

Flamenco occurs in four settings - the juerga, in small-scale cabaret, concert venues and in the theatre.

The juerga is an informal, spontaneous gitano gathering (rather like a jazz "jam session"). This can include dancing, singing, palmas (hand clapping), or simply pounding in rhythm on an old orange crate or a table. Flamenco, in this context, is organic and dynamic: it adapts to the local talent, instrumentation, and mood of the audience. This context invites comparison with that other creation of a dispossessed class, the blues. The Gypsy Blues, or even the European Blues as a means of providing a frame of reference to those new to the genre.

One tradition r

emains firmly in place: the cantaores (singers) are the heart and soul of the performance. A Peña Flamenca is a meeting place or grouping of Flamenco musicians or artists. There are also "tablaos", establishments that developed during the 1960s throughout Spain replacing the "café cantante". The tablaos may have their own company of performers for each show. Many internationally renowned artists have started their careers in "tablaos flamencos", like the famous singer Miguel Poveda who began in El Cordobés, Barcelona.

The professional concert is more formal. A traditional singing performance has only a singer and one guitar, while a dance concert usually includes two or three guitars, one or more singers (singing in turns, as flamenco cantaors sing solo), and one or more dancers. One of the singers may play the cajon (a wooden box drum played with the hands) if there is no dedicated cajon player, and all performers will play palmas even if there are dedicated palmeros. The so-called Nuevo Flamenco New flamenco may include flutes or saxophones, piano or other keyboards, or even the bass guitar and the electric guitar. Camarón de la Isla was one artist who popularized this style.

Finally, there is the theatrical presentation of flamenco. However, it is now an extended and sophisticated performanc

e in its own right, comparable to a performance of ballet

Palos

Flamenco music styles are called palos. Songs are classified into palos based on criteria such as basic rhythmic pattern, mode, chord progression, form of the stanza, and geographic origin. There are over 50 different palos flamenco, although some are rarely performed.

There are traditions associated with each palo. Some of the forms are sung

unaccompanied, while others usually have guitar or other accompaniment. Some forms are danced while others are not. Some are the reserve of men and others of women, while some may be performed by either. Many of these traditional distinctions are breaking down; for example, the Farruca is now commonly performed by women too.

Palos are traditionally classified into three groups. The most serious forms are known as cante jondo (or cante grande), while lighter, frivolous forms are called cante chico. Other considerations factor into classification, such as whether the palo is considered to be of gypsy origin or not. Forms which do not fit either category are classified as cante intermedio.

The Story of David Nixon's Carmen

ACT 1

From the opening, the ballet is infused with the traditions and mysteries of Spain and the belief in the power of Fate. From the midst of the group emerge one man and one woman whom Fate binds together, sealing their destiny with a flower.

We see Carmen in the cigar factory where, more inclined to revel in life than to work, she and two gypsy friends begin to dance. At the height of the dance, a fight breaks out between Carmen and a woman, who ends up being cut by Carmen's knife. José arrives with the soldiers to arrest Carmen; but, as José approaches her the room stills and Fate once again shows her power. Left alone to question Carmen, José falls prey to her charms. He makes her a deal that he will allow her to escape on the way to the prison.

Stripped of his rank and imprisoned, José reflects on this woman who has seeped into his being. He attempts to throw away the flower but Fate will not allow this.

At Pastias, a tavern, where Carmen and her friends dance until the late hours before setting out on their nightly adventures, we encounter Escamillo. Proud and elegant, he relates in dance his conquests of the day. He seeks to win over Carmen, who initially leads him on, but in the end Escamillo leads the revelers into the streets. Carmen is about to leave too when José appears from the shadows. She is amused and ready to honor her debts. José, no longer able to resist Carmen, possesses her for a moment. When he shows his nervousness, Carmen mocks José and, feeling her debt is paid, kicks him out.

José struggles to keep his attention on his guard duties but he is haunted by Carmen. In the shadows lovers meet and dance. In all the women he thinks he sees Carmen. Obsessed, he seeks out Pastias again.

José finds Carmen, but in the arms of his captain, Zuniga. She refuses José's demands that she come away with him. In desperation, José challenges Zuniga to a fight in which Zuniga is killed. Drawn by the bond of spilt blood, Carmen leads José safely away and to her way of life.

ACT 2

Carmen appears in disguise among the women of society in order to lure the wealthy men into her net. In the shadows, the fugitive José tries to steal a moment with Carmen. Rejected, José reflects upon his life . . . although he has lost forever his old life and its values, he does not have Carmen's love. He is whisked away by two gypsies. Carmen is successful in leading the wealthy men into the shadows where José and the gypsies rob them.

At dawn, José must retreat from the public eye. From his hiding place he sees the street children, the dragoons, and is shocked to see Carmen flirting with Escamillo. When the crowd departs, José emerges worn and destroyed. He longs to shed his fate but finally he accepts it.

Carmen is preparing for the bullfight. She has taken a new lover. Frightened by the vision of Fate in her mirror, she is relieved to find it is only José. He desperately tries one more time to possess Carmen but she will not be tamed. When he threatens her with a knife, Carmen only laughs at her fate . . . she will not be possessed or caged.

In front of the arena, the people display their best dresses. Carmen arrives with Escamillo and together they fire up the fiesta. José arrives, externally transformed to his former self but internally he is driven by one thought and one passion. The tension grows as Carmen refuses him and continues to dance with Escamillo. As the celebrations proceed into the bullring, José forces Carmen back. He will possess Carmen or deny her to anyone else. Carmen equally of one mind, refuses him. As Carmen turns and sees her fate, she falls upon José's knife. Was it her fate to be stabbed, or did she buy her freedom on his knife? As Carmen kisses José good-bye, she pulls the fated flower from his pocket. Fate removes the flower and leaves José in eternal possession of Carmen.

Carmen as a Ballet

Petipa, before his days as the great choreographer of Russian ballet, drew on Mérimée's Carmen for his Carmen et son Toréro in Madrid, 1845, some thirty years before Bizet's opera.

Carmen was one of the popular ballets produced at London's Alhambra Theatre and was seen in at least three different incarnations: October 20, 1897, with choreography by A. Bertrand and music by Georges Jacobi; in 1903 with choreography by Lucia Cormani and music by Georges Bizet & George W. Byng; and again in 1912, choreography by Augustin Berger and music by Georges Bizet, George W. Byng and George Clutsam.

During the late 1800s ballet in Europe was out of favor and dancers were usually engaged only for incidental dances in operas. In London ballet took root in two great music halls, The Alhambra and the Empire in Leicester Square, where it occupied a large part of the program alongside variety acts. Ballet flourished in these theaters and attracted a large following. However, the raising of artistic standards was not paramount. These audiences were seeking light entertainment and above all wanted to feel that they were experiencing a show that was up to date. Initially there was little dramatic action in these ballets but by the 1890s ballets with complicated plots were being presented.

The Alhambra maintained a large corps de ballet and engaged celebrity choreographers including A. Bertrand, Carlo Copi, Alfred Curt and Joseph Harness. Male dancers were at a premium and usually confined to dancing a national dance or an eccentric number; a pure classical dancer was regarded as effete or even loathsome. For this reason the roles of young men were often taken by women following the British traditions of the "principal boy" in "pantos" being played by a female. The music was generally arranged by the theater's musical director, George Jacobi, who held the position for twenty six years during which time he was associated with some one hundred ballets. He was succeeded by G.W. Byng in 1898.

No expense was spared on star ballerinas who included Emma Bessone, Maria Bordin, Cecillia Cerri, and most famous of all, Pierina Legnani who performed her famous thirty two consecutive fouettés at the Alhambra before introducing them in Petipa's Swan Lake.

The first adaptation of Bizet's music to full ballet was by Roland Petit for his Ballets de Paris in 1949. The many dance rhythms in Bizet's score make it ideal for dancing. The music for Petit's ballet (in five acts, that loosely follows the opera), was re-arranged by André Girad. Renée (Zizi) Jeanmaire was Carmen, and Petit took the role of Don José himself. It was for Carmen that Renée Jeanmaire first cropped her hair and thus initiated a fashion, as did Antoni Clavé with his designs that made the corset type bodice a fixture of ballet design of the period.

Petit's Carmen has been filmed for television including one version with Jeanmaire, Baryshnikov and Petit's Ballet de Marseilles.

Apart from selections from the original Bizet score and the subsequent orchestral suites, the most used adaptation of Bizet's music is that composed by Rodion Shchedrin for the ballet created for his wife, Maya Plisetskaya, by Alberto Alonso.

Alonso began to create his Carmen before a note of the music was prepared. Two years before he visited Moscow and worked with Plisetskaya he began working out movements with members of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba. Only once Shchedrin saw the rehearsals with Plisetskaya did he commit to writing the music. The scenario was developed by Alonso and departs from the familiar opera plot. The emphasis is on the characters of Carmen, Don José and the toreador rather than the plot. The setting is an abstraction of a bullring with dancers in masks seated on tall stools representing the spectators. The fatal contest within this arena of life is between Carmen and her Fate - in the manifestation of a black bull. Neither is victorious; they die simultaneously because, as Plisetskaya explains, "Carmen and her fate are one and the same." Boris Messerer designed the set. The premiere took place April 20, 1967 with the Bolshoi Ballet.

SIMONA NOJA-Principal Dancer of the Vienna State Opera Ballet

Born in Huedin, Romania, SIMONA NOJA received her ballet education at the Arts University in Cluj - Napoca and in 1994 has also completed studies in Philology with a State Degree at the University „ Babes- Bolyay “ from Cluj - Napoca .

Between 1986 and 1991 soloist dancer with the Romanian Opera in Cluj- Napoca, and from 1991 to 1995 Soloist at Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf, she joined Vienna State Opera as a principal Dancer in 1995.

Her Viennese repertoire includes: Odette - Odile in Rudolf Nureyev`s Swan Lake , Aurora and Enchanted Princess in Peter Wright`s Sleeping Beauty , Hippolyta / Titania in John Neumeier`s A Midsummer Night`s Dream, Constanze Mozart in Renato Zanella`s Wolfgang Amade, Gamzatti in Vladimir Malakov`s and Patrice Bart´s Bayadere , the title parts in Nureyev`s Raymonda, John Cranko`s Romeo and Juliet, Kenneth MacMillan`s Manon and Zanella`s Mata-Hari.

She also dances George Balanchine`s Apollo, Theme and Variations, Violin Concerto, Tschaikovski- Pas de deux, MacMillan´s Song of the Earth , Hans van Mannen`s Black Cake , M. Balkan` s Don Quixote Roland Petit`s Carmen, Zanella`s Duo Concertante, Movements, Love Beyond, Laus Deo and has created the leads in Zanella`s Sacre du Printemps, Thin Air, Alles Walzer, Wiener Blut , Beethoven Opus 7 , Bolero and Nutckracker.
Her previous repertoire includes also William Forsythe`s In The Middle…Somewhat Elevated , Nils Christe`s Before the Nightfall and Heinz Spoerli`s Swan Lake, Giselle, Firebird, Nutckracker, Goldberg Variations, Verklärte Nacht .

From 1995 to 1997 SIMONA NOJA is also a soloist at the Deutsche Oper Berlin where she danced in Roland Petit`s Les Intermittences du Coeur and Ray Barra`s Snow Queen.

She guested with Frankfurter Ballet, The Royal Swedish Ballet, The Bavarian State Ballet, The Romanian State Opera, Hannover Ballett, Ballet Estable del Teatro Colon and danced at Gala performances in Helsinki, Moscow, Arnheim, Stuttgart, Ludwigsburg , Seoul, Miami and with the solo piece Strauss incontra Verdi, created for her by Zanella , in Citta di Castello.

In 1990, SIMONA NOJA is the winner of the Silver Medal in the 4th International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mss. USA.

During the season 1999-2000, SIMONA NOJA is the Artistic Director of the Romanian company „Teatrul de balet Oleg Danovski“.

In 6.9.2000 SIMONA NOJA dances the role of Esmeralda, in the premiere of Notre Dame de Paris, from Roland Petit, beside Manuel Legris (Paris Opera) and Massimo Murru (Scala di Milano ), in Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires.
In 2001 she got the price Danza&Danza for the best dancer.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov (Russian: Михаил Николаевич Барышников, Latvian: Mihails Barišņikovs) (born January 28, 1948) is a Soviet-born Russian American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974 for more opportunities in western dance. After freelancing with many companies, he joined the New York City Ballet as a principal dancer to learn George Balanchine's style of movement. He then moved to New York to dance with the American Ballet Theatre, where he later became artistic director.

Baryshnikov has spearheaded many of his own artistic projects and has been associated in particular with promoting modern dance, premiering dozens of new works, including many of his own. His success as a dramatic actor on stage, cinema and television has helped him become probably the most widely recognized contemporary ballet dancer.

Biography

Born in Riga to Russian parents, now in independent Latvia, Baryshnikov began his ballet studies there in 1960. In 1964, he entered the Vaganova School, in what was then Leningrad (now again St. Petersburg). Baryshnikov soon won the top prize in the junior division of the International Varna Competition. He joined the Kirov Ballet and Mariinsky Theater in 1967, dancing the “Peasant” pas de deux in Giselle. Recognizing Baryshnikov's talent, in particular the strength of his stage presence and purity of his classical technique, several Soviet choreographers, including Oleg Vinogradov, Konstantin Sergeyev, Igor Tchernichov, and Leonid Jakobson, choreographed ballets for him. Baryshnikov made signature roles of Jakobson's 1969 virtuosic Vestris along with an intensely emotional Albrecht in Giselle. While still in the Soviet Union, he was called by New York Times critic Clive Barnes "the most perfect dancer I have ever seen."

While on an excruciating tour in Canada with the Bolshoi Ballet in 1974, Baryshnikov defected, requesting political asylum in Toronto, and joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.He also announced to the dance world he would not go back to the U.S.S.R. He later stated that Christina Berlin, an American friend of his, helped engineer his defection during his 1970 tour of London. His first televised performance after coming out of temporary seclusion in Canada was with the National Ballet of Canada in La Sylphide. He then went on to the United States.

From 1974 to 1978, he was principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), where he partnered with Gelsey Kirkland. He also worked with the New York City Ballet, with George Balanchine and as a regular guest artist with the Royal Ballet. He also toured with ballet and modern dance companies around the world for fifteen months. Several roles were created for him, including roles Opus 19: The Dreamer (1979), by Jerome Robbins, Rhapsody (1980), by Frederick Ashton, and Other Dances with Natalia Makarova by Jerome Robbins. He returned to ABT in 1980 as dancer and artistic director, a position he held for a decade. On July 3, 1986, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. From 1990 to 2002, Baryshnikov was artistic director of the White Oak Dance Project, a touring company he co-founded with Mark Morris. In 2006 he launched the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York.

Dance

Baryshnikov's talent was obvious from his youth, but the Soviet system in which he grew up was ill-suited for developing it. Shorter than most dancers, he could not tower over a ballerina en pointe and was therefore relegated to secondary parts. More frustrating to him, the Soviet dance world hewed closely to 19th-century traditions and deliberately shunned the creative choreographers of the West, whose work Baryshnikov glimpsed in occasional tours and films. His main goal in leaving the Soviet Union was to work with these innovators; in the first two years after his defection, he danced for no fewer than 13 different choreographers, including Jerome Robbins, Glen Tetley, Alvin Ailey, and Twyla Tharp. "It doesn't matter if every ballet is a success or not," he told New York Times dance critic Anna Kisselgoff in 1976, "The new experience gives me a lot." He cited his fascination with the ways Ailey mixed classical and modern technique and his initial discomfort when Tharp insisted he incorporate eccentric personal gestures in the dance.

In 1978, he abandoned his freelance career to spend 18 months as a principal of the New York City Ballet, run by the legendary George Balanchine. "Mr. B," as he was known, rarely welcomed guest artists and had refused to work with both Nureyev and Makarova; Baryshnikov's decision to devote his full attentions to the New York company stunned the dance world. Balanchine never created a new work for Baryshnikov, though he did coach the young dancer in his distinctive style, and Baryshnikov triumphed in such signature roles as Apollo, Prodigal Son, and Rubies. Robbins did, however, create Opus 19: The Dreamer for Baryshnikov and NYCB favorite Patricia McBride. In 1980, he became Artistic Director of American Ballet Theatre and his role changed from performer to director.

Nevertheless, his fascination with the new has stood him in good stead. While his technique has lost its flash, his mastery of gesture and stagecraft remains compelling. As he observed, "It doesn't matter how high you lift your leg. The technique is about transparency, simplicity and making an earnest attempt.” The White Oak Project was formed to create original work for older dancers. In a run ending just short of his 60th birthday in 2007, he appeared in a production of four short plays by Samuel Beckett staged by avant-garde director JoAnne Akalaitis. Joining discipline and charisma, he has fashioned an exceptionally long career and cast a long shadow over the contemporary dance world.

In 2000, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. He has received three Honorary Degrees; on September 28, 2007 from Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University, on May 11, 2006, from New York University, and on May 23, 2008 from Montclair State University.

For the duration of the 2006 Summer, he went on tour with Hell's Kitchen Dance, which was sponsored by the Baryshnikov Arts Center. Featuring works by Baryshnikov Arts Center residents Azsure Barton and Benjamin Millipied, the company toured the United States and Spain.

In late August 2007 Baryshnikov performed Mats Ek's Place (original Swedish title, Ställe) with Ana Laguna at Dansens Hus in Stockholm. He has been quoted to say "dancing is living".

Film and television

Baryshnikov made his American television dancing debut in 1976, on the PBS program In Performance Live from Wolf Trap. During the Christmas season of 1977, CBS brought his highly acclaimed American Ballet Theatre production of Tchaikovsky's classic ballet The Nutcracker to television, and it has remained to this day the most popular and most often shown television production of the work, at least in the U.S. In addition to Baryshnikov in the title role, Gelsey Kirkland, Alexander Minz and many members of the American Ballet Theatre also starred. The production was videotaped in Canada. After being shown twice by CBS, it moved to PBS, where it was shown annually every Christmas season for many years, and still is by some PBS stations. It was first released on DVD by MGM/UA. The remastered DVD of the performance, issued by Kultur Video in 2004, is a bestseller during the Christmas season. The DVD has now been released in the UK by Digital Classics.

Although Tchaikovsky's ballet has been presented on TV many times in many different versions, the Baryshnikov version is one of only two to be nominated for an Emmy Award. The other one was Mark Morris' "The Hard Nut," Morris's intentionally exaggerated and satirical version of the ballet.

Baryshnikov also performed in two Emmy-winning television specials, one on ABC and one on CBS, in which he danced to music from Broadway and Hollywood, respectively. During the 1970s and 80s, he appeared many times with American Ballet Theatre on Live from Lincoln Center and Great Performances. Over the years, he has also appeared on several telecasts of the Kennedy Center Honors.

Baryshnikov performed in his first film role soon after arriving in New York. He portrayed the character Yuri Kopeikine, a famous Russian womanizing ballet dancer, in the 1977 film The Turning Point, for which he received an Oscar nomination. Additionally, he co-starred with Gregory Hines and Isabella Rossellini in the 1985 film White Nights, choreographed by Twyla Tharp, and the 1987 film Dancers. In the last season of Sex and the City, he played a Russian artist, Aleksandr Petrovsky, who woos Carrie Bradshaw relentlessly and takes her to Paris. He co-starred in Company Business (1991) with Gene Hackman.

On November 2, 2006, Baryshnikov and chef Alice Waters were featured on an episode of the Sundance Channel's original series Iconoclasts. The two have a lifelong friendship. They discussed their lifestyles, sources of inspiration, and social projects that make them unique. During the program, Alice Waters visited Baryshnikov's Arts Center in New York City. The Hell's Kitchen Dance tour brought him to Berkeley to visit Alice Waters' restaurant Chez Panisse.

On July 17, 2007, the PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer featured a profile of Baryshnikov and his Arts Center

Family

Baryshnikov has a daughter, Aleksandra Baryshnikov (born 1981), from his relationship with actress Jessica Lange. When Baryshnikov and Lange met, he was able to speak very little English. They communicated in French instead.

Baryshnikov is in a long-term relationship with former ballerina Lisa Rinehart. They have had three children together: Peter (born July 7, 1989), Anna (born May 22, 1992), and Sofia (born May 24, 1994). In an interview with Larry King, Baryshnikov said that he didn't believe in marriage because the commitment that people make to each other didn't have anything to do with a legal marriage. He stated that he wasn't religious, so standing in front of an altar would not mean anything to him.

Baryshnikov currently owns a home at the Punta Cana Resort and Club in the Dominican Republic.

GISELLE

Giselle, ou Les Wilis is a ballet in two acts with a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier, music by Adolphe Adam, and choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. The librettist took his inspiration from a poem by Heinrich Heine. The ballet tells the story of a peasant girl named Giselle whose ghost, after her premature death, protects her lover from the vengeance of a group of evil female spirits called the Wilis. Giselle was first presented by the Ballet du Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris, France, on 28 June 1841. The choreography in modern productions generally derives from the revivals of Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet (1884, 1899, 1903).

Libretto

The pervasive atmosphere of the ballet was indebted to the works of Victor Hugo, Heinrich Heine, and the ballet critic Théophile Gautier. The librettist Verney de Saint-Georges had first been attracted to Hugo's Orientales with its evocation of a ballroom where dancers were condemned to dance all night, and to Heine's De l'Allemagne and its depiction of the Wilis, Slavonic supernatural beings who lured young men to death by dancing. The notion may have been based on St. Vitus's dance, the dancing mania of the Middle Ages.

Plot summary

The ballet is set in the Rhineland of the Middle Ages during the grape harvest. When the curtain rises on the first act, the cottage of Giselle and her mother Berthe is seen on one side, and opposite is seen the cottage of Duke Albrecht of Silesia, a nobleman who has disguised himself as a peasant named Loys in order to sow a few wild oats before his marriage to Bathilde, the daughter of the Prince of Houston. Against the advice of his squire Wilfrid, Albrecht flirts with a peasant girl named Giselle who falls completely in love with him. Hilarion, a gamekeeper, is also in love with Giselle and warns the girl against trusting the stranger, but Giselle refuses to listen. Albrecht and Giselle dance a love duet, with Giselle picking the petals from a daisy to divine her lover's sincerity. The couple is interrupted by Giselle's mother, who, worried about her daughter's fragile health, ushers the girl into the cottage.

Horns are heard in the distance and Loys retreats from the scene. A hunting party enters and refreshments are served. Among the hunters are Bathilde and her father. Giselle returns to the scene, dances for the party, and receives a necklace from Bathilde. When the party departs, Loys reappears with the grape harvesters. A celebration begins. Giselle and the harvesters dance but the merriment is brought to a halt by Hilarion who, having investigated the Duke's cottage now brandishes the nobleman's horn and sword. The horn is sounded, and the hunting party returns. The truth about Loys (Albrecht) is learned and Giselle goes mad and dies. Although Giselle takes Albrecht's sword, her death is actually a result of her weak heart.
The second act is set in a moonlit glade near Giselle's grave. Hilarion is grieving Giselle's death. He is frightened from the glade by the Wilis, female spirits who, jilted before their wedding day, rise from their graves at night and seek revenge upon men by dancing them to death. Giselle is summoned from her grave and welcomed by the supernatural creatures who then quickly disappear. Albrecht enters searching for Giselle's grave, and she appears before him. He begs forgiveness. Giselle, her love undiminished, readily forgives him and the two dance. The scene ends with Albrecht in pursuit of Giselle as she disappears into the forest.
Hilarion enters pursued by the Wilis who throw him to his death in a nearby lake. The Wilis then surround Albrecht and sentence him to death. He begs to be spared but Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis refuses. Giselle protects him from the Wilis when they force him to dance. Day breaks and the Wilis retreat to their graves, but Giselle's love has saved Albrecht. By not succumbing to feelings of vengeance and hatred that define the Wilis, Giselle is freed from any association with them, and returns to her grave to rest in peace.

Performance history

The ballet was first presented at the Paris Opéra's Salle Le Peletier on 28 June 1841 with Carlotta Grisi as Giselle, Lucien Petipa as Albrecht, and Jean Coralli as Hilarion. Scenery was designed by Pierre Ciceri and costumes by Paul Lormier. On 12 March 1842, the ballet was first presented in England at Her Majesty's Theatre, London with Carlotta Grisi and Jules Perrot in the principal roles, and, on 30 December of the same year, the ballet was first presented in St. Petersburg at the Bolshoi Theatre with Elena Andreyanova as Giselle. In Italy, it was first presented in Milan at Teatro alla Scalla on 17 January 1843 with choreography by A. Cortesi and music by N. Bajetti. In the United States, the ballet premiered at the Howard Atheneum, Boston on January 1, 1846 with Mary Ann Lee and George Washington Smith in the principal roles.
The version passed down to the present day was staged by Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet (today the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet). Petipa staged his definitive revival of Giselle in 1884 for the Ballerina Maria Gorshenkova, but made his final touches to the work for Anna Pavlova's debut in 1903. It is said that the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet still dance the ballet in Petipa's original design nearly unchanged. Petipa's final work on Giselle was notated in the Stepanov method of choreographic notation around the turn of the 20th century, and is today held as part of the famous Sergeyev Collection in the Harvard University Library Theatre Collection.

Giselle passed out of the repertory of the Paris Opera Ballet in 1867, and did not return to the western stage until Petipa's definitive version was performed by the Ballets Russes in 1910 at the Palais Garnier.

The role of Giselle is one of the most sought-after in ballet, as it demands both technical perfection and outstanding grace and lyricism, as well as great dramatic skill. In the first act Giselle has to convey the innocence and love of a country girl, the heartbreak of being betrayed. In the second act Giselle must seem otherworldly, yet loving. Some of the most accomplished dancers to perform this role include Carlotta Grisi (for whom Théophile Gautier created the role), Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Olga Spesivtseva, Galina Ulanova, Alicia Markova, Alicia Alonso, Chan Hon Goh, Beryl Goldwyn, Karen Kain, Margot Fonteyn, Natalia Makarova, Gelsey Kirkland, Irina Kolpakova, Ekaterina Maximova, Natalya Bessmertnova, Carla Fracci, Margaret Barbieri, Altynai Asylmuratova, Alessandra Ferri, Viviana Durante, Eva Evdokimova, Diana Vishneva, Svetlana Zakharova, Alina Cojocaru, Nina Ananiashvili, and Polina Semionova. Famous Albrechts include Lucien Petipa (creator of the role), Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Robert Helpmann, Erik Bruhn, Mikhail Lavrovsky, Vladimir Vassiliev, Sir Anton Dolin Vladimir Malakhov, Vladimir Muravlev. Julie Kent (American Ballet Theatre).

JULLIARD

The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory. It is informally identified as simply "Juilliard," and trains about 800 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, visual art, drama, and music. In 2007, the school received 2,138 applications for admission, of which 162 were admitted for a 7.58% acceptance rate.

History

The school was founded in 1905 as the Institute of Musical Art. It was formed on the premise that the United States did not have a premier music school and too many students were going to Europe to study music. At its formation, the Institute was located at Fifth Avenue and 12th Street. In its first year, the institute enrolled 500 students.It moved in 1910 to Claremont Avenue in Morningside Heights. In 1920, the Juilliard Foundation was created, named after textile merchant Augustus D. Juilliard, who bequeathed a substantial amount for the advancement of music in the United States.In 1924 the foundation purchased the Vanderbilt family guesthouse at 49 East 52nd to start the Juilliard Graduate School.[4] In 1926 it merged with the Institute of Musical Art under a common president, the Columbia University professor John Erskine.The schools had separate deans and identities. The conductor and music-educator Frank Damrosch continued as the Institute's dean, and the Australian pianist and composer Ernest Hutcheson was appointed dean of the Graduate School. In 1937, Hutcheson succeeded Erskine as president of the combined institutions, a position he held until 1945. As of 1946, the combined schools were named The Juilliard School of Music. The president of the school at that time was William Schuman, the first winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music. In 1951, the school added a dance division.

William Schuman graduated from Columbia's Teachers College (BS-1935, MA-1937) and attended the Juilliard Summer School in 1932, 1933 and 1936. While attending Juilliard Summer School, he developed a personal distaste for traditional music theory and ear training curricula, finding little value in counterpoint and dictation. Shortly after being selected as president of The Juilliard School of Music in 1945, William Schuman created a new curriculum called "The Literature and Materials of Music" (L&M) designed to be taught by composers. L&M was Schuman's reaction against more formal theory and ear training, and as a result did not contain a formal structure. The broad mandate was "to give the student an awareness of the dynamic nature of the materials of music." The quality and depth of each student's education in harmony, music history or ear training was dependent on how each composer-teacher decided to interpret this mandate. Many questioned the quality of L&M as an approach to teach the fundamentals of music theory, ear training and history.

William Schuman resigned his position as president of Juilliard after being elected president of Lincoln Center in 1962. Peter Mennin, another composer with directorial experience at the Peabody Conservatory, was elected as his successor. Mennin made significant changes to the L&M program—pulling out ear training and music history and hiring the well known pedagogue Renée Longy to teach Solfege. In 1968, Mennin hired John Houseman to lead a new Drama Division, and in 1969 oversaw Juilliard's move from Claremont Avenue to Lincoln Center and shortened its name to The Juilliard School.

Dr. Joseph Polisi became president of Juilliard in 1984 after Peter Mennin died. Polisi's many accomplishments include philanthropic successes, broadening of the curriculum and establishment of dormitories for Juilliard's students. In 2001, the school established a jazz performance training program. In September 2005, Colin Davis conducted an orchestra which combined students from the Juilliard and London's Royal Academy of Music at the BBC Proms, and in 2008 the Juilliard Orchestra embarked on a highly successful tour of China, performing concerts as part of the Cultural Olympiad in Beijing, Suzhou, and Shanghai under the expert leadership of Maestro Xian Zhang.

In 1999, The Juilliard School was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

Juilliard manuscript collection

In 2006 Juilliard received a trove of precious music manuscripts from the billionaire collector and financier Bruce Kovner. The collection includes autograph scores, sketches, composer-emended proofs and first editions of major works by Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Chopin, Schubert, Liszt, Ravel, Stravinsky, Copland and other masters of the classical music canon. Many of the manuscripts had been unavailable for generations. Among the items are the printer's manuscript of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, complete with Beethoven's hand-written amendments, that was used for the first performance in Vienna in 1824; Mozart's autograph of the wind parts of the final scene of The Marriage of Figaro; Beethoven's arrangement of his monumental Große Fuge for piano four hands; Schumann's working draft of his Symphony No. 2; and manuscripts of Brahms's Symphony No. 2 and Piano Concerto No. 2. The entire collection has since been digitized and can be viewed online.

The Pre-College Division

The Pre-College Division teaches students enrolled in elementary, junior high, and high school. The Pre-College Division is held on every Saturday from September to May in The Juilliard Building at Lincoln Center.

All students study solfege and music theory in addition to their primary instrument. Vocal majors also must study diction and performance. Similarly, pianists must study piano performance. String, brass and woodwind players as well as percussionists also partake in orchestra. The Pre-College has two orchestras, the Pre-College Symphony (PCS) and the Pre-College Orchestra (PCO). Placement is by age. Students may elect to study conducting, chorus, and chamber music.

The Pre-College Division began as the "Preparatory Department" within the Institute for Musical Art. It is now called the Pre-College Division, with Olegna Fuschi as its first Director. The Fuschi/Mennin partnership allowed the Pre-College Division to thrive, affording its graduates training at the highest artistic level (with many of the same teachers as the college division), as well as their own commencement ceremony and diplomas. Following Fuschi, directors of Juilliard's Pre-College Division included Linda Granito and composer Dr. Andrew Thomas. The current Artistic Director of Juilliard's Pre-College Division is pianist Yoheved Kaplinsky.

The Pre-College Division gives Juilliard an important role in training the most talented young musicians at the highest musical standards. Juilliard Pre-College's graduates are counted amongst professional musicians, educated concert goers and financial supporters of classical music.

Performing ensembles at Juilliard

The Juilliard School has a variety of ensembles, including chamber music, jazz, orchestras, and vocal/choral groups. Juilliard's orchestras include the Juilliard Orchestra, the New Juilliard Ensemble, the Juilliard Theater Orchestra and the Conductors' Orchestra. The Axiom Ensemble is a student run and managed group dedicated to larger 20th century works.

In addition, several ensembles of Juilliard Faculty, called Resident Ensembles, perform frequently at the school. These groups include the Juilliard String Quartet, the American Brass Quintet and the New York Woodwind Quintet.

Fundraising

The Juilliard Second Century Fund aims to raise $300 million to enable The Juilliard School to sustain its leadership position in performing arts education well into the school’s next century. Expanded and renamed on the Juilliard’s 100th anniversary, the fund supports six key components that will help Juilliard continue to recruit the world’s best young artists and faculty, offer educational programs that uphold the quality of a Juilliard education, and increase the size and functionality of Juilliard's physical plant.

Fundraising specifically targeted to the Pre-College Division began in 2004 with a benefit concert given by The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony. The event raised $90,000 to establish a Pre-College Parents' Association Scholarship Fund. In 2005, Juilliard produced its own benefit concert for the Pre-College Division featuring its own students led by faculty member Itzhak Perlman and hosted by Bill Cosby to add to this fund.

In April 2009, it was announced that the Music Advancement Program (MAP) would be curtailed due to budget cuts. After strong opposition to the cuts, the program, which helps inner-city children get music lessons, was then reinstated after several donors pledged money to support it.

ISADORA DUNCAN

Isadora Duncan (n. 27 mai 1877, San Francisco, d. 14 septembrie 1927, Nisa) a fost o dansatoare americană, creatoare a unui stil expresiv în arta dansului, inspirat din dansul antic grecesc, care a influenţat coreografia modernă a secolului al XX-lea.

S-a născut la San Francisco într-o ambianţă familiară modestă, cu numele ei adevărat de Dora Angela Duncan. În timpul adolescenţei, s-a deplasat împreună cu unii din membrii familiei la Chicago sau New York, apărând ca balerină în diverse spectacole, fără vreun succes deosebit. Cariera sa profesională începe în 1896 cu ajutorul producentului Augustin Daly, care o convinge să înceapă un turneu în Europa. Ajunsă la Londra, în faţa unui public cultivat şi înstărit, obţine un succes enorm, ceea ce i-a permis să-şi continue turneul pe scenele teatrelor din Viena, Budapesta şi Berlin. În 1904 deschide o şcoală de dans la Grünwald în Germania, propagând astfel noul său stil de dans, în care interpreta coreografic muzică de Beethoven sau alţi compozitori clasici. Urmară alte două şcoli la Paris (1914) şi Moscova (1921). Un turneu în Statele Unite în anul 1908 este mai curând un fiasco, publicul american neacceptând dansul pe o muzică ce nu fusese creeată anume pentru balet. În viaţa privată, alături de succesele profesionale, duce o existenţă dezordonată şi este lovită de evenimente tragice. Doi copii, o fiică dintr-o legătură cu scenaristul Edward Gordon Craig şi un fiu dintr-o aventură cu industriaşul Paris Singer, celebrul producător de maşini de cusut, mor într-un accident de circulaţie în 1913 la Paris, precipitându-se cu un automobil în Sena.

La sfârşitul unei perioade de depresiune psihică, regăseşte energia necesară pentru a se ocupa intens de elevii săi, dintre care a adoptat şase, deveniţi oarecum înlocuitorii propriilor săi copii dispăruţi. În 1922 se căsătoreşte cu poetul rus Serghei Esenin, de care se separă după un an, neputând suporta excesele alcoolice şi violenţele acestuia. Viaţa sa a luat un sfârşit tragic în 1927 la Nisa, murind strangulată de un şal lung ce-l purta în jurul gâtului, prins de roata automobilului descoperit.

Stilul de dans al Isadorei Duncan era caracterizat de mişcări libere, curgătoare, încărcate emoţional, oglindind fascinaţia idealurilor antice cu privire la corpul omenesc în mijlocul elementelor naturii. În mod obişnuit apărea îmbrăcată intr-o tunică scurtă cu braţele, gambele şi piciarele goale, cu părul fluturând în aer, dând impresia unui dans improvizat. Stilul său coreografic a fost preluat şi dezvoltat de maeştri ai baletului ca Mihail Fokin, Ted Shawn şi de dansatoarea Ruth Saint Denis.