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Remembering Maria Tallchief

April 12, 2013 by 4dancers

by Catherine L. Tully

Elegant and intense. That is how I’ll always remember her.

I can still recall the first time I ever saw Maria Tallchief in person. I had been dancing at her school, Chicago City Ballet, for a month or so, taking classes with her sister Marjorie and other instructors there. One day I arrived early as usual to get my spot at the barre and warm up. Students filed in one-by-one, taking their places.

I turned around to check the time and saw her sweep into the classroom. You see, she didn’t just walk in–she made an entrance. Dressed in black from head to toe, she had a cape-like wrap on and a few unique pieces of jewelry. She wore her thick hair down and held her chin high–every bit the prima ballerina.

The class was silent which was typical, but there was an electricity in the air. We were about to take a technique class from one of the most famous American ballet dancers of all time. Talk about pressure! I looked around the room and noticed that all eyes were completely focused on her with a sense of anticipation. Even the pianist seemed to be sitting up a little straighter than usual.

As she demonstrated the steps her voice matched her appearance–dramatic and strong. For the next hour and a half, I tried with all my might to memorize each detail she pointed out and every correction she gave. As she touched my hand to adjust it, I was keenly aware that this same hand had also touched Balanchine, Nureyev and countless others. It was hard to wrap your head around.

I was thirteen years old and I had never been more intimidated. Or more thrilled.

Over the next few years I would have the opportunity to learn much more from Ms. Tallchief, but the most valuable thing I ever received from her was garnered simply by watching her move. By studying the way she gestured with her hands and turned her head–just so. It’s something you just can’t capture in words, and it’s something that became part of me as a dancer from that moment forward.

She really made an impression.

To me, Maria Tallchief will always symbolize the grandeur and mystery that people are so fascinated with when it comes to ballerinas. It was difficult to be comfortable in her presence because she didn’t just act like a prima ballerina, she really was one to her very core.

And I am so lucky to have experienced that.

Filed Under: 4dancers Tagged With: balanchine, Ballet, chicago city ballet, maria tallchief, nureyev

DVD Review: Les Sylphides, Coppelia and Giselle

March 13, 2013 by 4dancers

by Emily Kate Long

les sylphides, coppelia, giselle dvdPart of the ICA Classics Legacy series, this triple bill of Les Sylphides, Coppelia, and Giselle is truly a treasure. It is a rare look at some of the mid-twentieth century’s greatest dance artists performing three of ballet’s most enduring works.

Michel Fokine’s Les Sylphides, to the music of Chopin, was restored from a black-and-white 1956 BBC broadcast. It features Nadia Nerina and Philip Chatfield, with Rowena Jackson and Julia Farron in the Waltz and Prelude. On display here is absolute technical purity: subtle, precise bourrees for the women, effortlessly soaring grand jetes and impressive batterie for Chatfield. The mix of proscenium shots and moving cameras give a dreamy, dizzy air to the whole ballet—appropriate for one of the first abstract or plotless ballets. We float right along with Chatfield as the Poet through beautifully geometric formations of sylphs.

Margaret Dale’s 1957 adaptation of Charles Nuitter’s Coppelia is enchanting. It plays out convincingly enough to look more like a silent film than a ballet. Here Nadia Nerina is the star of the show; for one thing, she’s the only woman in this version dancing on pointe. Her costumes are also the only tutus; the rest of the characters are clad in heavier clothing and character boots. Nerina’s alignment and the precision of her incredibly streamlined legs lends easy sweetness to all her choreography, even the devilishly quick Scottish dance. The steps fall away to show her off as quite the comedienne. The overall liveliness and charm of the dancing and acting make the characters come vividly to life.

Last on the DVD is a restored 1962 recording of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev in the Act 2 pas de deux from Giselle. It’s one of his earliest performances in the West, and one of the earliest in their long partnership. Nureyev’s skill as a partner and Fonteyn’s reserved technical style allow Giselle’s story to shine through, even in such a short excerpt. The wonder with which he cradles her makes her seem unreal. Throughout the duet, we see a Giselle who is deciding whether or not she can forgive the man who so carelessly broke her heart. By the end, Albrecht’s remorse merits her forgiveness so she may rest in peace. This excerpt is a really interesting study of variations in style and mechanics. For example, Nureyev’s high retire position when turning and the fluidity of his upper body are both a contrast and a complement to Fonteyn’s conservative but wholly expressive movement. The pas de deux is the traditional Perrot/Coralli version, but these two legends make it look like something all their own.

BBC/ICA Classics. Black and white, 100 minutes.

dancer doing arabesque
Emily Kate Long, Photo by Avory Pierce

Assistant Editor Emily Kate Long began her dance education in South Bend, Indiana, with Kimmary Williams and Jacob Rice, and graduated in 2007 from Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School’s Schenley Program. She has spent summers studying at Ballet Chicago, Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, Miami City Ballet, and Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive/Vail Valley Dance Intensive, where she served as Program Assistant. Ms Long attended Milwaukee Ballet School’s Summer Intensive on scholarship before being invited to join Milwaukee Ballet II in 2007.

Ms Long has been a member of Ballet Quad Cities since 2009. She has danced featured roles in Deanna Carter’s Ash to Glass and Dracula, participated in the company’s 2010 tour to New York City, and most recently performed principal roles in Courtney Lyon’s Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, and Cinderella. She is also on the faculty of Ballet Quad Cities School of Dance, where she teaches ballet, pointe, and repertoire classes.

Filed Under: 4dancers, DVDs, Reviews Tagged With: fonteyn, giselle, goppelia, les sylphides, michel fokine, nadia nerina, nureyev, philip chatfield

Finding Balance: Recommended Reading For Dancers

March 14, 2012 by 4dancers

by Emily Kate Long

Emily Kate Long, Photo by Avory Pierce

Being the daughter of a librarian has its advantages. My mother was head of collection development—in layman’s terms, the book buyer—at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, for over twenty years before she retired last May. She is also a closet bunhead. I have her to thank for the bulk of my personal dance library: Jock Soto’s memoir, Stephen Manes’ Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear, Kavanaugh’s Nureyev biography, the anthology Reading Dance, Homans’ Apollo’s Angels, No Fixed Points by Reynolds and McCormick, and several volumes by Gretchen Ward Warren. She showers me with books faster than I can plow through them, and most of these treasures are at least the thickness and weight of a brick. As a result, I have become a literary grazer. This installment of Finding Balance is my “Recommended Reading List: Works for Enrichment and Escape.” Enjoy, and please comment with your personal favorites!

Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside the Land of Ballet by Stephen Manes was waiting in a package at my doorstep one January evening when I got home from rehearsal. Delight! Manes spent a season as a fly on the wall at Pacific Northwest Ballet. Reading inside details of the dance world from an outsider’s perspective is both amusing and informative. Manes is a thorough storyteller, examining each aspect of the ballet—organizational machine, community institution, and artistic creature. I wish there could be a new book every season.

I was less than halfway done with Manes’ stellar work when Mom brought me Jock Soto’s Every Step You Take. Of course I couldn’t help but peek inside. Anecdotes, reflections, and recipes fill this easy-to-read, yet profound, memoir. Now forty pages in, I’m having a hard time setting this one aside. It’s like sitting and having a conversation with a living legend. [Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers, Books & Magazines, Dance Gifts, Finding Balance Tagged With: Ballet, dance resources, emily long, jock soto, nureyev, stephen manes, where snowflakes dance and swear

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