Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: February 24, 2021 at 4:12:21 PM EST > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-SHERA]: Boivin on Sneguirev, 'Marius Petipa: The > French Master of Russian Ballet' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > 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 > > Marius Petipa (1818-1910) is perhaps the most emblematic figure in > classical dance and is perceived as the father of ballet as we know > it. Born in France in 1818, the aging dancer came to Saint > Petersburg, Russia, in 1847 where his career flourished. We owe him > the creation and revival of some of the most celebrated ballets in > the world: _Paquita_ (1847), _La Fille mal gardée_ (1855), _Don > Quixote_ (1869), _La Bayadère_ (1877), _Sleeping Beauty_ (1890), > _Swan Lake_ (1895), _Raymonda_ (1898), _Giselle_ (1899), and _Le > Corsaire_ (1899). > > Within dance and dance academic communities, Petipa is the object of > profound respect and admiration, and somewhat of a highly idealized > character. Literature dedicated to his work is abundant--although not > very recent--and most scholars depict him as a genius choreographer. > The fifty-four-minute documentary _Marius Petipa: The French Master > of Russian Ballet_ presents a more sober portrait of the ballet > master. Basing the documentary on four major ballets and on different > interviews of specialists and dancers, director Denis Sneguirev > traces Petipa's career in Russia and creates an interesting, complex, > and well-balanced film. > > Sneguirev's documentary is organized in five parts, all discussing an > aspect of Petipa's work through a specific ballet. The first part, > titled "Celebrated Choreographer," focuses on the man's arrival in > Russia and rise to fame. In this part, the filmmaker puts in context > the importance of ballet in Russian imperial society and Petipa's use > of his social skills to achieve his goal of becoming a choreographer. > His first ballets, such as _The Pharaoh's Daughter_ (1862), included > little dancing and were heavy on artifice: a real fountain with > running water in the middle of the stage; fake and living horses, > camels, monkeys, and lions; and elaborate sets and magnificent > costumes. While the critics deplored "the abysmal superficiality of > this slick and gaudy production," the audience loved it due to > Petipa's use of the Egyptian themes that were fashionable at the time > because of the new construction of the Suez Canal. As Sneguirev > demonstrates, Petipa was at first a poor choreographer, but he had a > strong sense of entertainment and knew how to take advantage of the > _zeitgeist_ of the time. > > The second part of the film, "Becoming an Artist," focuses on how > Petipa gained respect as a choreographer. This section presents _La > Bayadère_, whose story is set in a romanticized India where > geopolitical tensions are expressed through rivalry between > princesses. Largely based on the style of the Orientalists, this > ballet was made specifically to please the military who regularly > attended the theater. For them, Petipa chose to address a specific > political issue: the Russian conquest of Central Asia and the British > attempt to block their expansion toward India. Sneguirev argues that > _La Bayadère _truly exposed Petipa's poetry in dance as it never did > before with one specific act. "The Kingdom of Shades" was set in an > unusually modest decor where thirty-six ballerinas moved in a > serpentine line from upstage to downstage, filling the space with > their presence. As they repeated the same simple classical arabesque > and _cambré_ movements in perfect synchrony, they created what the > filmmaker calls a "meditative" and almost "hypnotic" effect, > dedicating the stage to dance in its purest form. > > This new approach to dance and the profound changes in dance > technique resulted in the _Sleeping Beauty_, also the title of the > third section of this documentary. Inspired by Louis XIV's > (1638-1715) court in Versailles, it was a true hymn to monarchy. Once > more, Sneguirev demonstrates how these choices were influenced by the > political events of the time: French-Russian diplomatic relations. > This production represents all of Petipa's achievements: impressive > costumes, grandiose sets, and new intricate and different variations > that were never seen before. To this day, specialists perceive > _Sleeping Beauty_ as the perfect symbiosis between music and movement > and the performance that opened the door to the twentieth century. In > this part, Sneguirev does not just focus on Petipa but also > acknowledges the collaboration and work of Ivan Vsevolozhsky > (1835-1909), the new director of the Imperial Theaters and the first > major artistic curator in Russian dance history. Vsevolozhsky's > ambition, to create great Russian art, was characteristic of the > post-Crimean War era, which brought a time of cultural > self-definition and questioning in Russia and eventually led to a > stronger sense of nationalism in the arts. Unfortunately, this aspect > is underdeveloped in the documentary, arguably to keep the focus on > Petipa's career. > > In this part, Sneguirev also addresses today's constant > reinterpretation of _Sleeping Beauty. _Through the work of > contemporary choreographer Nacho Duato, the filmmaker shows how > classical ballet must be adapted to contemporary audiences: shorter > narratives, faster music, less time for the preparation of each > movement, and more important roles for male dancers, as seen in the > example of Carabosse, the wicked fairy godmother traditionally danced > by a man. In today's eyes, Petipa's work is perceived as "static," > and more fluid versions, expressed for example in an emphasis on the > upper body, seem necessary to generate emotion from the audience. > According to Duato, it is today's "more advanced technique" that > allows us to modify and yet to remain true to Petipa's vision. > > Particularly interesting aspects of this documentary are the notions > of transmission and adaptation of dance that are not fully addressed > but remain recurrent themes in the film. Throughout the documentary, > Sneguirev mentions the difficulty in teaching Petipa's original work > as the collective memory was kept "from one leg to another" or from > one prima ballerina to another. Some other ways developed to teach > and archive dance are shown to the viewer as well. One of them > consists of the use of papier-mâché marionettes on a miniature > stage and stop-motion animation. This technique is unfortunately > barely addressed in this film although Petipa was known to use it > when working on group choreographies. > > Another technique to record dance is revealed in the notation of > Petipa's assistant, Vladimir Stepanov (1866-96). Stepanov, who is > unnamed in the documentary, was responsible for creating a dance > notation system that encoded dance movements with the musical score > instead of using the complex traditional labanotation based on > abstracted symbols. Alexei Ratmansky, a researcher and choreographer, > uses this archival material to reconstruct Petipa's original versions > of the dances. This entire section in the film, titled > "Reconstructing the Dance," is dedicated to Ratmansky's work in the > archive, his analysis of the material, and the revival of Petipa's > original work. It is especially interesting to witness the reactions > of New York City Ballet dancer Tiler Peck as she tries to adapt to > nineteenth-century style and her difficulties in performing this > "tedious" and "specific" set of steps. While this section breaks with > the film's main theme, it also shows that Duato's earlier perception > of Petipa's original steps is not necessarily accurate, and that > taste and the way dancers move had changed but not because the > technique is better nowadays. > > In the last part, Sneguirev goes back to Petipa's biography and > addresses one of his masterpieces: _Swan Lake_. The section opens > with the original _Swan Lake_ based on Ratmansky's work. Filled with > heavy mime and long pauses, Petipa's most famous work also presented > a faster tempo than the one played currently. One of the reasons why > it 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 music." Once more, Sneguirev > subtlety suggests without clearly saying anything: is it possible > that today's dancing is more concerned with the virtuosity and > emotion of the dancer and less concerned 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 documentary. While > academics might find that he does not delve deeply enough into many > of the topics he presents and disregards many of Petipa's ballets, he > arguably presents a long overdue and significant contribution in > reintroducing the life and work of the ballet master. The film > certainly sets the basis for understanding the golden age of Russian > ballet before Sergei Diaghilev drastically modernized it and shows > how the imperial ballets were intertwined with Russian imperial > society. For this reason, the film represents excellent material for > research and for use in the classroom for those who study dance, > Russian culture, and nineteenth-century visual culture. With > interviews, archival material, and videos of contemporary dancers > rehearsing and performing, the filmmaker creates a dynamic and > accessible narrative that will delight the nonspecialist as well as > the academic. _Marius Petipa _is built on subtleties. Indeed, the > filmmaker suggests with images and information without bluntly > imposing his opinion. Just as in _La Bayadère_'s "Kingdom of > Shades," Sneguirev made a documentary in its almost purest and most > objective form. > > Citation: Jennifer Boivin. Review of Sneguirev, Denis, dir., _Marius > Petipa: The French Master of Russian Ballet_. H-SHERA, H-Net Reviews. > February, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55920 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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