Violette Verdy in Balanchine’s “Liebeslieder Waltzer”
It’s no secret how highly I think of the late and very great ballet dancer Violette Verdy (here’s a list of my previous posts).
She was exceptional.
I hadn’t seen this video before. It’s a production of Balanchine’s “Liebeslieder Waltzer” from the late 70s. I’ve only seen the ballet one time in person—long long ago, probably in that very era of the 70s—and I don’t remember being particularly taken with it. It’s glorified balletified ballroom dancing, a mood piece that conjures up an era of elegance and restraint. Now that I’m older it appeals more, and of course Verdy is (as always) a revelation.
Note the unusual choreography in this section I’m highlighting (I’ve cued it up to start at 6:55, where the segment I’m referring to begins, and it goes till about 7:38). It’s all about gaze and the delicate emotional nuances between two people:
Is that a glimpse of Peter Martins as your cued up clip ends?
Ben David:
Martins was in the cast, yes. He is always recognizable because he has a big head compared to his body, and the blond hair.
The entire cast was, I believe, Violette Verdy, Kay Mazzo, Patricia McBride, Karen Von Aroldingin, Peter Martins, Conrad Ludlow, Frank Ohman, and Jean Pierre Bonnefous.
I was in a play in high school–had the male lead in Arms and The Man. I’ve never been able to get into a play, and few movies, since then. I’m watching the performance, not the play. The exceptions, for some reason, have been the top-flight work of our high school doing the old stand-bys–West Side Story, Showboat, Oklahoma, Sound of Music, etc.
I am amazed that Neo can still enjoy ballet for itself instead of dissecting it. That’s a gift.
I recall an interview with a leading Brit dancer who lamented that there’s no emotion in the platinum-standard movement.
How do you summon up emotion every evening and twice on Saturdays?