Caught on tape: Ballet, “Walpurgis Nacht,” and Plisetskaya
I grew up in New York City during what may have been the golden age of ballet. My parents loved dance, and so they took me at an early age to see the greats—the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater, the Royal Ballet, and then the Bolshoi and other Russians when they came to town.
If there was a famous dancer of the 50s, 60s, or 70s I didn’t get to see, I don’t know who it might have been. I have fond memories of it all—which is a good thing, because dance is an exceptionally ephemeral art best seen in three dimensions rather than on film or video. There’s something about the power of dance, the sheer physical energy and the sweeping dimensions, the height and the breadth of the leaps and bounds, and the intensity of the emotions, that is sadly diminished when viewed in two dimensions only.
But two dimensions are all we have now for looking at the greats of the past. So they will have to do.
I’ve been taking notes for a post (still forthcoming) on one of the favorite ballet dancers of my youth: Maya Plisetskaya, whom I first saw in the late 50s when she was allowed a rare visit to this country with her company, the Bolshoi. The Bolshoi (means “big”) dancers were a revelation at the time, bold, dramatic, and powerful, and quite over-the-top. In retrospect, they may—and often do— appear corny and sensationalistic and overly emotional. But back then the Bolshoi Ballet was extraordinarily exciting.
Plisetskaya was a unique combination of femininity and power. Her leap was legendary, high and strong. Her arms were also renowned, as well as her ability to inhabit the roles she took on. She was perhaps best known for her “Swan Lake, ” in which her rippling, seemingly-boneless arms appeared to hardly be human.
But my favorite role of hers by far was in an obscure and very funky old warhorse that is rarely, if ever, performed in this country. This was the ballet “Walpurgis Nacht” from the opera “Faust.” It featured revels in which Bacchantes and satyrs cavorted in what was meant, I suppose, to be an orgy (although I didn’t know it at the time).
Plisetskaya as head Bacchante wore a flaming red dress of flowing chiffon to match her flaming red hair. She seemed the very personification of lighthearted fun combined with wild and sensual abandon. Quite a heady mix for the times.
And as luck would have it, by the magic of You Tube, someone has posted part of a grainy old film of Plisetskaya performing this very dance, and so I’m able to reproduce it here and let you see at least a tiny bit of what I’m talking about. Remember that those were simpler times, and we were more easily impressed. Remember also that the film cannot even begin to give you a sense of the rare power and scope of Plisetskaya’s dancing. Remember that this film is in black and white, hardly a showcase for the vivid colors involved, and is a chopped-up excerpt from a longer work.
But, as I said, it’s all we’ve got at this point—and I, for one, was very glad to find it (note especially her leap at :56, her hops on pointe at 1:03, her languid and sensual pose at 1:10, and her hurling herself at her partner at 2:14-2:18):
And now please compare another excellent Bolshoi dancer, Maximova, doing nearly the same choreography about fifteen years later (note the same leap at :56, and the same hops en pointe at 1:02 followed by the same pose, less languid and sensual this time):
I submit that these tapes show why Maximova is a good dancer but Plisetskaya a great one. Maximova is an innocently playful child, fawnish and Audrey Hepburnlike. You’re always aware, however, that she’s dancing, trying to make beautiful shapes in the air. Her upper body remains in the standard upright ballet posture, and although her movements are fluid there’s a certain restraint there.
Plisetskaya is utterly different, although the steps are almost exactly the same. She’s playful too, but never innocent (note the subtle differences in the costume as well: although Maximova’s skirt is a bit shorter, Plisetskaya’s is more torn and ragged).
You actually believe that play is the main thing here for Plisetskaya; she’s having a whale of a time, and the fact that she’s dancing seems merely incidental. This illusion (or is it an illusion?) is accomplished by the unusual freedom and plasticity in her upper body, which retains the erect carriage of the ballet dancer without ever being rigid. Her dancing is light and buoyant without being in the least ethereal.
No, Plisetskaya is always corporeal—taunting, teasing, aware, and provocative. Watch how she uses her hands and upper body to flirt and toy with the satyrs while she performs the hops on pointe at 1:09. They are fiendishly (pun intended) difficult to do, but you’d never know it by Plisetskaya. Maximova tries a little bit of the same business, and although she’s light on her feet one is always aware that she’s doing steps and playing at playing.
When I saw Plisetskaya on the stage so long ago, and the moment came towards the end of the ballet when she threw herself at her partner (2:14-2:18 on this tape), the audience let out a huge gasp. We actually feared for her safety. Although in the intervening years we’ve grown more used to this sort of thing via pairs ice skating, at the time the sheer recklessness and abandon of her toss was thrilling.
Ballet technique has improved in the decades that followed. The legs have gotten higher, the turns more numerous, the dancers ever thinner. But there’s still no one who can touch Plisetskaya for spirit, for the sheer joy of movement and the exhilaration she could transmit to the viewer. It was a treat to watch this great dancer transcend that humdrum choreography and turn it into art.
Still is.
[NOTE: I’m almost certain that the Plisetskaya video was originally a silent movie, with the music added later. Therefore, although Plisetskaya was an intensely musical dancer, this video does not show that off.]
Thanks for posting this, neoneo. I always enjoy your posts about ballet. I do some dancing myself, but not ballet dancing, and I enjoy reading about the differences and similarities between ballet and my form of dance.
I watched the videos you embedded and even though I know very little about ballet, I did notice the difference you mentioned–the greater rigidity of Maximova versus Plisetskaya. The first video, Plisetskaya made it look easy. She looked like she had no bones. Maximova looked like she was working the whole time. I could almost sense the effort there.
This may be a silly question, but again, I don’t know much about ballet so I ask your indulgence: How old was Plisetskaya in the first video vs. Maximova in the second? I ask because in my form of dance, it’s widely believed that a performer cannot be a truly great dancer until she’s reached a certain age, no matter how good her technique, because she doesn’t have enough life experiences to bring to her performance. I was just curious to know if something similar might be going on here.
Plisetskaya was breathtaking! What an exciting dancer she was.
I’m so glad you posted the Youtube, and your post is spot-on, catching exactly what makes a dancer great.
I was a first string clarinetist in my youth… and later a bit of a graphic artist, but when the change to arts to abstractions and things took hold, i knew the writing on the wall.
anyone remember the book the Naked Communist? there was a list of goals in the book, its interesting to read them now and compare them to what has happened. note that the list was in print in 1963, so it was created before that.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
number 38 i guess would be important to psychiatrists and psychologists
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].
but basically the idea was to destroy uplifting art. so from then on, great master oil works devolved, dance devolved, music devolved (see adorno), and the rest of the arts devolved.
the ballet still exists as does opera, but its almost like its private for a small collection of rich and priveleged. almost as if keeping it going preserves for them a little bubble and perception of the world that keeps them from seeing whats out there. why look? its the same as its always been.
[i performed at lincoln center in an orchestra, my cousin had his own there a pianist/orgnist. a great photographer was a freind of the family, his wife an opera singer, the whole family an ‘arts’ family]
the public cant sit through a full opera, a full ballet.
heck, the edited version of the silent movie Greed (highly recomended), is nine hours long.
no our common ability to focus and think has been attenuated to the fifth grade level. we used to be able to read Fenimore Cooper as a lads novel.
you have seen the golden age, or the last tail of it…
500 years from now, if there is any history left, they will look back and the period of our best will be seen like the rennaisance, or the industrial revolution..
Altfldgr: she was born in 1925.
Neo, look at her hands here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA9NFk11EAo
Also, listen to her talking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3LSZBfGn2s
A small nitpick: the word “Bolshoi” should not be used in connection to “dancers”; it is part of the name “Bolshoi teatr” (“Big theater’), as opposed to “Maly teatr” (Small theater). The latter is not an opera & ballet company but Drama; the need for differentiation comes from the fact that both theaters are situated on the same square, called [what else?] Theater square; there is also a third theater there (Moscow Youth Drama Theater), that one definitely not in the same league.
“Bolshoi dancers” sounds as if you’re criticizing unsightly girth of members of the Company…
With all this unimportant matter I forgot to say an important thing: I so love it when you write about ballet.
There are not so many ballerinas who can express verbally their thoughts about dance (Plisetskaya, f.ex, as evident from the clip I offered, isn’t that great in this regard). I haven’t read her book, and don’t think I will… I prefer to watch her.
Do you know anything about her uncle, Asaf Messerer, also a dancer at Bolshoi? He started taking lessons at the unthinkable age of 18; an incredibly rare thing in classical ballet. After his career as a dancer was finished, for many years he has been a famous ballet technique teacher and a choreographer. [and now, for a shameless gloating moment: I have his, very rare, book! Next time you’re in NY, I can show it to you]
Wow. After viewing the clips you linked, I viewed several more- and I’ve never been much for ballet.
I was immediately struck by her skill level being so high that the technical component of the dance was effortless, so that she could be theatrical and ‘alive’ while dancing. She clearly was a master of the fourth dimension, where too many dancers only manage to master three. Fluid is too rigid a word for her movement. Also, her abandon- that leap where she is completely committed- no hesitation, no sense of fear- total confidence.
For me the problem with ballet is that, despite the fact that the raison d’etre of ballet is to look as if it is defying the laws of gravity, too often the effort is so in the forefront of the performance that the laws of gravity are thrust in your face instead. Not so with Plisetskaya. Truly amazing.
I think one lesson I get from this is- if you have the chance to see someone considered one of the all-time greats in their field (be it artist, athlete, speaker) see them- even if their art form or style aren’t your preference- those who truly excel are worth watching because they transcend the art form they work within. They understand that the art form is the medium, not the goal itself. Reaching other people at their souls is the goal.
Fantastic stuff. I agree that Plisetskaya is the better of the two. Effortless doesn’t even begin to describe how she makes it look. But, as Neo and the other dancers here surely know, it is bloody-awful hard work, no matter how much you might enjoy doing it. I remember seeing a 60 Minutes (I think) segment on Edward Vilella when he was with the NY City Ballet many years ago, and they showed him not just on stage, but backstage between scenes. After those powerful, athletic, and repeated leaps of his, he would dance off-stage, and, as soon as he was out of audience view, promptly collapse to all fours in a desperate attempt to catch his breath before the next scene. The man was in absolute agony. This from a dancer at the top of his art. So yeah, it’s gorgeous to watch, but even more impressive to me is the preparation that goes into making it look that easy. A friend of mine who plays classical piano once told me a similar thing about playing Mozart: when his music is played right, it sounds as if it were written effortlessly (probably because it was), but it’s not effortless to play. There’s a lot of work for the performer to get to that point.
Yes, there is tremendous effort in effortlessness. But some people are made of some sort of stuff that makes the result especially astounding, and Plisetskaya was one of them.
As I said, I’ve got another post coming on her.
Tatyana,
thanks for the information, but i know that already. the famous photographer that was a close family friend growing up was Maurice Seymour. (It rubbed off as i am signed to a top agency, and its not even what i do)
i couldnt find his photo of her, but i did find a place that has some of his work for sale. some of the pictures i remember. file cabinets full.
when he left chicago and his first wife (who i never knew), he married an opera singer.
as i said, i came from an arts and sciences family (i attended bronx science, cousin top of his class at juliard, grandmother research chemist before feminism, etc)
DANILOVA, Alexandra
http://www.rgrossmusicautograph.com/dance2/danilovab2.jpg
seymour in his time was quite famous. he is the man who photographed the russian ballet.
if it wasnt for him, you wouldnt know what most of them looked like (they cheated the other photographers, maurice taught me to always get paid first when dealing).
FONTEYN, Dame Margot
http://www.rgrossmusicautograph.com/dance2/fonteyna2.jpg
maurice was a head shot photographer. his photos are the portraits that famous people used to get jobs, and to give out as autograph photos.
[i am a celebrity photographer, a software engineer, solutions designer, and more]
this post makes me a bit meloncholy.. maurice loved to play chess. he and my father would play the guys in the park, and later when he was in NJ he would play chess with me. i was not so good, but he loved playing me because when he cornered me, i would whip out moves that kept me alive till a numbered draw.
this was the time of the russian and american chess masters always squaring off…
i went off to live life and forgot for a while, by then he was gone.
I come from a poor family (we lost everything thanks stalin, and hitler, then stalin again), while we didnt have much, we did somehow manage to be connected or where one wouldnt expect us. My father being the black sheep in the family doing ‘art’.
And maurice always said to me that Bolshoi was “Great” as in large grand big… in that way it always made a bit more sense to me.
MARKOVA, Dame Alicia
http://www.rgrossmusicautograph.com/dance2/markovaa2.jpg
and just to make it fair and the last
MASSINE, Leonid
http://www.rgrossmusicautograph.com/dance2/massine2.jpg
i remember the ballet photos more non specifically, though american stars and people i remember well, like his photos of amos and andy that got him his whole career… and blue eyes, and even milton berle (a photo can be found in this http://www.rrauction.com/content/pdf/309pdf/ent.pdf pdf of a young berle by maurice)
thanks for the walk down my childhood lane…
Ples seems to be able to better become still in synch with the melody/music. Both her arm movements and body movements flow with the music, like Audio Surf.
Thank you for guiding this novice’s eyes…. I noticed that the two stagings brought the satyrs into close interaction at different times in the piece. During the passage common to the 2 clips, Maximova is interacting with the satyrs, while Plisetskaya is not. But wow – Plisetskaya is doing her hops while “high-fiving” the satyrs and other business!
Pingback:ballet
Neo, have you changed you mind about second post on Plisetskaya? I have been checking your blog in hope.
Just returned from this performance and have been thinking: you’d like it . especially the first part.
No, I haven’t changed my mind. I don’t know when I’ll write it, though.
That BAM performance sounds most unusual and intriguing.
It was marvelous.
Dancers-technically superb, scenography – excellent (stage designer is educated as an architect). Dance as continuous happening, simultaneoulsly on multiple planes. Costumes – in tandem with backdrop.
Best concerted effort I’ve seen in a long time.
The choreography using this “japanese lithograph” method, in all 11 movements: the frame of the stage, like margins of a painting, are only limiting our vision, but not the continuous action.