To all those that call this, "Balanchine kitsch" you are out of your minds! Firstly this was staged by Stanley Williams, a Bournonville expert, and he would have never altered anything to suit Balanchine. Secondly, Balanchine was the ballet-master for a year for the Royal Danish Ballet after the death of Diaghilev, and it is clear in many Balanchine ballets. like, "Donizetti Variations," for one, that he owed a debt and respected greatly the Danish technique. He brought Stanley to his school!
Another personal favorite! My first memory of watching Darci Kistler and Ib Andersen dance. She looks so naturally shy that it's just a joy to watch, not to mention the obviously stunning dancing.
The speed of this dance is definitely faster than usual so we have the feeling of dancer's feet seldom hitting the floor. After all, she is on the air most of the time. I think most dancers will slow down when they age. But there is nothing wrong for dancers to push the limit to fulfill their potentials while they are young. This combination of Stanley Williams/Darci Kistler/Ib Andersen was brilliantly done with speed, endurance, elegance and grace. There is nothing more we can ask from them.
I love this and for all the Balanchine haters....ha ha as every successful person has always told me in the business world.." You know you're doing something right when people start to hate you! " . Brava to a stunning and spectacular display of technical virtuosity of dancing by Kistler and Anderson!
The speed and lightness and simplicity capture the Bournonville aesthetic so beautifully. I do wish the whole TV program were available; it was solely devoted to little excerpts from the Bournonville rep as danced by NYCB dancers.
As a student of Stanley's at the School of American Ballet, I learned many of the Bournonville ballets from him. He felt strongly the ballets had to reflect the generation in which they were being performed, He would adjust port de bras and such because he found some of it too old fashioned. Certainly this is debatable but I simply take offense at this being called Balanchine kitsch. Stanley had his views and they were reflected in his stagings, they were, after all, for City Ballet not the RDB.
I remember seeing this when it was danced back in the day, and I love rewatching the very nicely filmed recording. I'm shocked by people calling it "kitsch" or thinking that it's too speeded up. Bournonville IS fast. It's light, it's ballon, it flies. No one could have done a better job of staging it than Stanley Williams. As for the injuries, I think they were no worse in NYCB than in other companies--excepting perhaps for the sheer amount of performances done there. Many dancers performed just about 6 days a week in at least one ballet a night. As for Baryshnikov's problems, mentioned below, it's worth remembering that only a very short span of his career was spent with Balanchine--no more than a few years. I hardly think that Balanchine is to blame for that.
I remember seeing a wonderful rehearsal clip of Stanley working with Darci on this; it was part of the same telecast. Wonderful to see her in her prime here! Wish there were more videos! Anyone know what year this was? In the 80's sometime for sure.
@the follow 2 posts:Balanchine kitsch? You do realize this is choreographed by Bournonville, not Balanchine? And if you find this kitsch, or tasteless as the meaning of the word implies, you are in fact not offending Balanchine but rather Bournonville. This was also not staged by Balanchine but by Stanley Williams, who was a product of the Royal Danish Ballet and its School. As for Ms. Kistler`s career, it is worth noting she danced 30 years, until the age of 46. Hardly a career destroyed.
@shivastotravali This is Bournonville, not Balanchine...you are obviously ill informed about ballet..and who did what. Do a little research...And Darci and Ib are wonderful dancers....both from NYCB ...Ib by way of Denmark...
Actually shiva has a point. Balanchine loved the Bournonville rep and technique, he poached many a male virtuoso from RDB including Anderson, what is suicidal for a dancer's body is that he sped up the Bournonville rep with his own technique and inflection, including his penchant for not placing heels on the ground after each jump. With this kind of multiple petit batterie the longterm effects are potentially hazardous, as Kistler's catalogue of horrific injuries proves.
Ahhh, the Balanchine take on Bournonville, sadly you can see from whence came Kistler's later horrific injuries heels never touching the ground once in petit & grande allegro, the shock of what Mr. B's advances for speed lightness and elevation have destroyed & marred many a promising career. On a lighter note Anderson's costume is the gayest one ever created for a male dancer.
This has however had the NYCB breakneck tempo and attack applied to the Bournonville technique. Look at the video of Cuni & Lund in the same PDD. Far slower, giving the dancer enough time to place both heels after each jump and take off again from a demi plie.
