NYC Ballet's (Mis)Adventures with Bournonville: Part Two, The Seminar

Before we saw the all-Bournonville program at NYC Ballet on Sunday, May 24th, I had attended a dress rehearsal of 'La Sylphide' on May 5th and together we went to the NYC Ballet Seminar: 'La Sylphide' and the Bournonville Style on May 18th.  This is the second of four posts about these events.

May 18th Seminar: "Peter Martins' 'La Sylphide' & the Bournonville Style":
On May 18th we attended the NYC Ballet seminar about 'La Sylphide' and Bournonville style.  It was moderated by Faye Arthurs -- a long-time member of the company.  In addition to Peter Martins, the panelists included the lead dancers from the first cast of 'La Sylphide' -- Sterling Hyltin, Joaquin De Luz and Georgina Pazcoguin; the stager, Petrusjka Broholm; the stage manager, Marquerite Mehler; and the set and costume designer, Susan Tammany.

Ms. Arthurs first presented a brief history of 'La Sylphide' which originated at the Paris Opera Ballet in 1832 in a production made by Filippo Taglioni as a vehicle for his daughter, Marie Taglioni.  The score was by Jean-Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer.  It was the first ballet that integrated dancing en pointe into the plot.  Taglioni had her skirts shortened -- which was considered scandalous -- to show off her excellent pointe work.

Marie Taglinoni dancing 'La Sylphide' in Filippo Taglinoni's Paris Opera production of 1832.

Bournonville saw 'La Sylphide' in Paris and began to prepare a production for Copenhagen.  Stymied by the high price demanded by the Paris Opera for Schneitzhoeffer's score, he commissioned a new score from the Danish composer Herman Severin Lovenskjold.  The Sylph was danced by Lucile Grahn and Bournonville himself danced James.  The Danish version premiered in 1836 and has remained in the Royal Danish Ballet's active repertory ever since.

It is this version that Peter Martins danced in as a child and later in the mid-1960's he danced the role of James with the Royal Danish Ballet.  He staged this version in 1985 for the Pennsylvania Ballet with decor by the artist Susan Tammany.  
In discussing Ms. Tammany's sets, Ms. Arthurs showed a slide of  'Mountains at Collioure' painted in 1905 by the Fauvist, Andre Derain.  With the Act II 'La Sylphide' set behind and the Derain painting on a large screen in the center it is certainly plausible to see the connection between Ms. Tammany's set design:

Backdrop by Susan Tammany for Act II of Peter Martins' staging of 'La Sylphide'.

and Derain's painting:

'Mountains at Collioure' by Andre Derain, oil on canvas, 1905.

In discussing the costume designs, Ms. Tammany noted that the colors for the tartans of the three main human characters were chosen to reflect aspects of their characters -- blues and purples for James, the dreamer; browns and rusts for Gurn, the practical farmer, and blues and greens for Effie, the optimist. 

Skirts in tartans for (left to right) Effie's clan, James' clan, and Gurn's clan in NYC Ballet's Costume Shop.
Photo from NYC Ballet website.

Petrusjka Broholm, the stager, worked with the company for eight months teaching and perfecting its Bournonville dancing in order to mount 'La Sylphide' in the Danish style.  All of the dancers on the panel -- Ms. Hiltyn, Mr. De Luz, Ms. Pazcoguin, and Ms. Arthurs -- agreed that Ms. Broholm's Bournonville classes had improved and strengthened their overall technique.

Peter Martins spoke briefly about the importance of effective mime passages for the audience's understanding and appreciation of 'La Sylphide' and of the need to train NYC Ballet dancers in the Danish style of mime.  All of the dancers expressed the view that Peter really wanted to play the mime role of Madge, the old fortune teller and witch, but Peter denied it.

Peter Martins working on a mime passage with Georgina Pazgoquin (Madge) and Joaquin de Luz (James).

This was an impressive debut for Faye Arthurs as a seminar moderator.  She had clearly prepared for the program with extensive research and had a definite agenda that she followed, but with enough flexibility to allow the panelists to expand on their responses to her questions and make additional comments where appropriate.  It was also to her credit that there was enough information presented that there were only two questions/comments from the audience. (The questions and comments from the audience are usually the low point of the NYC Ballet seminars, since they are often silly or self-serving.  So the less, the better in our view.)
  
The seminar handout points out that Ms. Arthurs was the valedictorian when she graduated from Fordham University and from her performance here we know why.  You can read Faye's blog, 'Thoughts from the Paint' here:

http://www.thoughtsfromthepaint.com/

It's interesting to read about NYC Ballet from the viewpoint of an intelligent, articulate dancer immersed in the company's activities.