Anne Searcy
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- October 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190945107
- eISBN:
- 9780190945138
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190945107.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
Chapter 2 analyzes American Ballet Theatre’s (ABT’s) often-overlooked 1960 tour of the Soviet Union. The tour took place under highly fraught circumstances. Ballet was considered a uniquely Russian ...
More
Chapter 2 analyzes American Ballet Theatre’s (ABT’s) often-overlooked 1960 tour of the Soviet Union. The tour took place under highly fraught circumstances. Ballet was considered a uniquely Russian art form in both the United States and the Soviet Union. At many points in the spring and summer of 1960, both the Soviet and American governments threatened to withdraw support from the tour. In dealing with these concerns, ABT director Lucia Chase developed a strategy for presenting her company and the United States as the leader of an international, elite art form. Through repertoire and casting choices, she balanced the troupe’s profile, showing it as both an international company and an American organization. Moreover, the company’s American works bore striking similarities to Soviet drambalety and were therefore praised by Russian critics for displaying common aesthetic and political values. Much to the surprise of everyone involved, the strategy was successful.Less
Chapter 2 analyzes American Ballet Theatre’s (ABT’s) often-overlooked 1960 tour of the Soviet Union. The tour took place under highly fraught circumstances. Ballet was considered a uniquely Russian art form in both the United States and the Soviet Union. At many points in the spring and summer of 1960, both the Soviet and American governments threatened to withdraw support from the tour. In dealing with these concerns, ABT director Lucia Chase developed a strategy for presenting her company and the United States as the leader of an international, elite art form. Through repertoire and casting choices, she balanced the troupe’s profile, showing it as both an international company and an American organization. Moreover, the company’s American works bore striking similarities to Soviet drambalety and were therefore praised by Russian critics for displaying common aesthetic and political values. Much to the surprise of everyone involved, the strategy was successful.
Toba Singer
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813044026
- eISBN:
- 9780813046259
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813044026.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
The Cuban names we know best are Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and the exquisite ballet star, Alicia Alonso. Yet there is another Cuban whose fascinating story has until now been circulated exclusively ...
More
The Cuban names we know best are Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and the exquisite ballet star, Alicia Alonso. Yet there is another Cuban whose fascinating story has until now been circulated exclusively by Cubans and ballet insiders: that of Fernando Alonso, Alicia’s first husband, and the architect of a teaching method that has produced a bevy of classical ballet box office favorites the world over. Alicia and Fernando danced in Broadway musicals and were founding members of New York’s groundbreaking Ballet Theatre. Returning to Cuba, they joined Fernando’s brother Alberto to build a national ballet company on the eve of Batista’s fall. The triumph of the 1959 revolution brought with it long-awaited support for ballet and the encouragement Alonso welcomed to share the method he created on Cubans with the world. Readers will welcome Fernando Alonso’s rich reminiscences and those of such ballet luminaries as Alicia Alonso, Carlos Acosta, Menia Martínez, Jorge Esquivel, Lorena and Lorna Feijoo, and Yoel and Lázaro Carreño. Singer’s interviews transport us to the Cuban ballet studio and stage, just as the Buena Vista Social Club brought us the bountiful legacy of Cuban music.Less
The Cuban names we know best are Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and the exquisite ballet star, Alicia Alonso. Yet there is another Cuban whose fascinating story has until now been circulated exclusively by Cubans and ballet insiders: that of Fernando Alonso, Alicia’s first husband, and the architect of a teaching method that has produced a bevy of classical ballet box office favorites the world over. Alicia and Fernando danced in Broadway musicals and were founding members of New York’s groundbreaking Ballet Theatre. Returning to Cuba, they joined Fernando’s brother Alberto to build a national ballet company on the eve of Batista’s fall. The triumph of the 1959 revolution brought with it long-awaited support for ballet and the encouragement Alonso welcomed to share the method he created on Cubans with the world. Readers will welcome Fernando Alonso’s rich reminiscences and those of such ballet luminaries as Alicia Alonso, Carlos Acosta, Menia Martínez, Jorge Esquivel, Lorena and Lorna Feijoo, and Yoel and Lázaro Carreño. Singer’s interviews transport us to the Cuban ballet studio and stage, just as the Buena Vista Social Club brought us the bountiful legacy of Cuban music.
Rory Foster
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813034591
- eISBN:
- 9780813046297
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034591.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This chapter traces the historical development of ballet pedagogy, covering ballet in Russia, the Italian influence, ballet in the Soviet Union, the Royal Academy of Dancing, August Bournonville, ...
More
This chapter traces the historical development of ballet pedagogy, covering ballet in Russia, the Italian influence, ballet in the Soviet Union, the Royal Academy of Dancing, August Bournonville, George Balanchine, the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum, and Romantic ballet and the introduction of pointe dancing.Less
This chapter traces the historical development of ballet pedagogy, covering ballet in Russia, the Italian influence, ballet in the Soviet Union, the Royal Academy of Dancing, August Bournonville, George Balanchine, the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum, and Romantic ballet and the introduction of pointe dancing.
Dean Speer
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813034386
- eISBN:
- 9780813046280
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034386.003.0010
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This chapter describes the career and teaching philosophy of Roni Mahler, who has been a principal with the National Ballet of Washington, D.C., and a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre. She is ...
More
This chapter describes the career and teaching philosophy of Roni Mahler, who has been a principal with the National Ballet of Washington, D.C., and a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre. She is on the faculty of the Juilliard School, and defines technique as the vehicle which moves you around the stage so that you can communicate with the audience. Mahler also says that a true teacher knows how to guide every different body—to stand up, not fall down—and to make people care about what you are doing onstage.Less
This chapter describes the career and teaching philosophy of Roni Mahler, who has been a principal with the National Ballet of Washington, D.C., and a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre. She is on the faculty of the Juilliard School, and defines technique as the vehicle which moves you around the stage so that you can communicate with the audience. Mahler also says that a true teacher knows how to guide every different body—to stand up, not fall down—and to make people care about what you are doing onstage.
Dean Speer
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813034386
- eISBN:
- 9780813046280
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034386.003.0008
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This chapter describes the career and teaching philosophy of Cynthia Harvey, who has been a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre and the Royal Ballet in London. Harvey currently teaches ...
More
This chapter describes the career and teaching philosophy of Cynthia Harvey, who has been a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre and the Royal Ballet in London. Harvey currently teaches in Europe and around the world, and defines technique as the detail that is applied to create the ultimate ease of expression. She imparts technique by trying to draw upon the years of methodology or training that has been influential upon her own path of knowledge. This includes ideas and concepts acquired from teachers with whom she has studied.Less
This chapter describes the career and teaching philosophy of Cynthia Harvey, who has been a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre and the Royal Ballet in London. Harvey currently teaches in Europe and around the world, and defines technique as the detail that is applied to create the ultimate ease of expression. She imparts technique by trying to draw upon the years of methodology or training that has been influential upon her own path of knowledge. This includes ideas and concepts acquired from teachers with whom she has studied.
Anne Searcy
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- October 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190945107
- eISBN:
- 9780190945138
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190945107.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
During the Cold War, the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union developed cultural exchange programs, in which they sent performing artists abroad in order to generate goodwill for ...
More
During the Cold War, the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union developed cultural exchange programs, in which they sent performing artists abroad in order to generate goodwill for their countries. Ballet companies were frequently called on to serve in these programs, particularly in the direct Soviet-American exchange. This book analyzes four of the early ballet exchange tours, demonstrating how this series of encounters changed both geopolitical relations and the history of dance. The ballet tours were enormously popular. Performances functioned as an important symbolic meeting point for Soviet and American officials, creating goodwill and normalizing relations between the two countries in an era when nuclear conflict was a real threat. At the same time, Soviet and American audiences did not understand ballet in the same way. As American companies toured in the Soviet Union and vice versa, audiences saw the performances through the lens of their own local aesthetics. Ballet in the Cold War introduces the concept of transliteration to understand this process, showing how much power viewers wielded in the exchange and explaining how the dynamics of the Cold War continue to shape ballet today.Less
During the Cold War, the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union developed cultural exchange programs, in which they sent performing artists abroad in order to generate goodwill for their countries. Ballet companies were frequently called on to serve in these programs, particularly in the direct Soviet-American exchange. This book analyzes four of the early ballet exchange tours, demonstrating how this series of encounters changed both geopolitical relations and the history of dance. The ballet tours were enormously popular. Performances functioned as an important symbolic meeting point for Soviet and American officials, creating goodwill and normalizing relations between the two countries in an era when nuclear conflict was a real threat. At the same time, Soviet and American audiences did not understand ballet in the same way. As American companies toured in the Soviet Union and vice versa, audiences saw the performances through the lens of their own local aesthetics. Ballet in the Cold War introduces the concept of transliteration to understand this process, showing how much power viewers wielded in the exchange and explaining how the dynamics of the Cold War continue to shape ballet today.
