Maya Plisetskaya
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300088571
- eISBN:
- 9780300130713
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300088571.003.0040
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
In this chapter, Maya Plisetskaya recalls her experience working with Western choreographers Roland Petit and Maurice Béjart. After Maya received the Legion of Honor from François Mitterand, the ...
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In this chapter, Maya Plisetskaya recalls her experience working with Western choreographers Roland Petit and Maurice Béjart. After Maya received the Legion of Honor from François Mitterand, the president of France, she met Petit at the Repetto store owned by his mother. Petit asked her to work with him. Wanting to be in Petit's new ballet, Maya flew to Marseilles on January 1, 1973. In Paris, she danced La Rose Malade with her partner, Rudy Bryans. Meanwhile, her communications with Béjart began after she saw Dushka Sifnis dancing his Bolero. When she got back to Moscow, Maya wrote a letter to Béjart expressing her desire to dance his ballet. They made three rehearsals of Isadora, which premiered in Monaco. However, her work with Béjart upset the ballet community in Moscow.Less
In this chapter, Maya Plisetskaya recalls her experience working with Western choreographers Roland Petit and Maurice Béjart. After Maya received the Legion of Honor from François Mitterand, the president of France, she met Petit at the Repetto store owned by his mother. Petit asked her to work with him. Wanting to be in Petit's new ballet, Maya flew to Marseilles on January 1, 1973. In Paris, she danced La Rose Malade with her partner, Rudy Bryans. Meanwhile, her communications with Béjart began after she saw Dushka Sifnis dancing his Bolero. When she got back to Moscow, Maya wrote a letter to Béjart expressing her desire to dance his ballet. They made three rehearsals of Isadora, which premiered in Monaco. However, her work with Béjart upset the ballet community in Moscow.
Maya Plisetskaya
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300088571
- eISBN:
- 9780300130713
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300088571.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
Maya Plisetskaya, one of the world's foremost dancers, rose to become a prima ballerina of Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet after an early life filled with tragedy and loss. In this memoir, Plisetskaya ...
More
Maya Plisetskaya, one of the world's foremost dancers, rose to become a prima ballerina of Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet after an early life filled with tragedy and loss. In this memoir, Plisetskaya reflects on her personal and professional odyssey, presenting a unique view of the life of a Soviet artist during the troubled period from the late 1930s to the 1990s. Plisetskaya recounts the execution of her father in the Great Terror and her mother's exile to the Gulag. She describes her admission to the Bolshoi in 1943, the roles she performed there, and the endless petty harassments she endured, from both envious colleagues and Party officials. Refused permission for six years to tour with the company, Plisetskaya eventually performed all over the world, working with such noted choreographers as Roland Petit and Maurice Béjart. She recounts the tumultuous events she lived through and the fascinating people she met—among them the legendary ballet teacher Agrippina Vaganova, George Balanchine, Frank Sinatra, Rudolf Nureyev, and Dmitri Shostakovich. She also provides fascinating details about testy cocktail-party encounters with Nikita Khrushchev, tours abroad when her meager per diem allowance brought her close to starvation, and KGB plots to capitalize on her friendship with Robert Kennedy.Less
Maya Plisetskaya, one of the world's foremost dancers, rose to become a prima ballerina of Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet after an early life filled with tragedy and loss. In this memoir, Plisetskaya reflects on her personal and professional odyssey, presenting a unique view of the life of a Soviet artist during the troubled period from the late 1930s to the 1990s. Plisetskaya recounts the execution of her father in the Great Terror and her mother's exile to the Gulag. She describes her admission to the Bolshoi in 1943, the roles she performed there, and the endless petty harassments she endured, from both envious colleagues and Party officials. Refused permission for six years to tour with the company, Plisetskaya eventually performed all over the world, working with such noted choreographers as Roland Petit and Maurice Béjart. She recounts the tumultuous events she lived through and the fascinating people she met—among them the legendary ballet teacher Agrippina Vaganova, George Balanchine, Frank Sinatra, Rudolf Nureyev, and Dmitri Shostakovich. She also provides fascinating details about testy cocktail-party encounters with Nikita Khrushchev, tours abroad when her meager per diem allowance brought her close to starvation, and KGB plots to capitalize on her friendship with Robert Kennedy.
Brent Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780813147215
- eISBN:
- 9780813151502
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813147215.003.0020
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The chapter discusses Walters’ direction of Broadway’s By the Beautiful Sea, his run-ins with composer Arthur Schwartz, and his decision to leave that show during out-of-town tryouts. Returning to ...
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The chapter discusses Walters’ direction of Broadway’s By the Beautiful Sea, his run-ins with composer Arthur Schwartz, and his decision to leave that show during out-of-town tryouts. Returning to M-G-M, he re-teams with Leslie Caron for The Glass Slipper (1955). Chapter 20 presents an in depth look at that film’s development, including Walters’ collaboration with writer Helen Deutsch, producer Edwin Knopf’s interferences, and the inclusion of Roland Petit’s classical ballets. This chapter also looks at Walters and Deutsch’s work developing the biopic I’ll Cry Tomorrow, as well as Walters’ studio suspension when he refuses to direct Susan Hayward in the role of Lillian Roth.Less
The chapter discusses Walters’ direction of Broadway’s By the Beautiful Sea, his run-ins with composer Arthur Schwartz, and his decision to leave that show during out-of-town tryouts. Returning to M-G-M, he re-teams with Leslie Caron for The Glass Slipper (1955). Chapter 20 presents an in depth look at that film’s development, including Walters’ collaboration with writer Helen Deutsch, producer Edwin Knopf’s interferences, and the inclusion of Roland Petit’s classical ballets. This chapter also looks at Walters and Deutsch’s work developing the biopic I’ll Cry Tomorrow, as well as Walters’ studio suspension when he refuses to direct Susan Hayward in the role of Lillian Roth.
