We All Came Out to Montreux

A. Gardel postcard for Fête du Narcisse in Montreux, Switzerland (1928)

In what makes an interesting side note and a nice addendum to the article on the Diaghilev exhibition in the Winter issue of Performance!, history was made recently when the first known film of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes company was identified by Victoria & Albert Museum Dance Curator, Jane Pritchard, after she was directed to it by Susan Eastwood of the London Ballet Circle.  The 1928 festival footage, which had been posted on the British Pathé historical archive Web site, includes a brief rehearsal (one hopes) clip, which is believed to show Serge Lifar and the company in a sequence from Les Sylphides. Diaghilev, of course, was adamant about not allowing his company to be filmed, which makes this discovery all the more exciting.

Can spring really be far off now?

In the meantime, you can view the clip for yourselves here.

Image credit:  Digital ID” Fel_018135_RE, ETH Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv

 

Winter Issue of “Performance!” Now Available

 

Promotional still from “N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz” (2010); photo by Jody Lee Lipes.

So much for my November promise of more frequent postings, but just a quick announcement to let you all know that the Winter issue of the newsletter of the SAA Performing Arts Roundtable is now available online:

http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/performart/newsletter/PArtsNews2010win.pdf

The issue features an article about the Diaghilev exhibition at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, as well as interviews with New York City Ballet dancer Ellen Bar (about her film adaptation of Jerome Robbins’ 1958 ballet, N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz) and Brooklyn Academy of Music archivist Sharon Lerner.

 

Two Reviews of NYPL Diaghilev Show

Portrait of Lydia Lopokova from color brochure advertising Ballets Russes 1916-1917 American tour

For those of us who can’t be there right now, the appearance of a couple of reviews of the current exhibition at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Diaghilev’s Theater of Marvels,  recently made us pick up our ears.  One is an overview, by Julie Bloom, in The Paper of Record, complete with the by-now-expected “multimedia” feature, which also includes information on some additional, upcoming Diaghilev tribute events in the New York area.  The other, which admittedly did more to thaw the frozen cockles of our heart, was a blog post by Oregon Ballet Theatre soloist, Adrian Fry, recounting a recent whirlwind weekend in New York, in which, along with taking class and checking out dancewear, he found the time to visit the Diaghilev show (and also tracked down a Manhattan venue that served Stumptown coffee).

We love to see stories about performers and practitioners actually using libraries and archives!  We also love coffee!  When in Portland (and even sometimes in Seattle) we enjoy the occasional visit to  Stumptown, but when in New York, we often can be found at Café Grumpy.  Counting the days now!

Image credit: NYPL Digital Gallery ID# BALRUSSE_BR01