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Ballet Alert! Quiz #44
June 28, 1999
A Basic Sleeping Beauty Quiz

1. Who composed the score for The Sleeping Beauty?

Tchaikovsky

2. Who was the choreographer?

Petipa

3. For what company was The Sleeping Beauty originally created?

The Russian Imperial Ballet at the Maryinsky Theater; just plain "Maryinsky" also accepted.

4. Who danced the roles of Princess Aurora and her Prince at the premiere?

Carlotta Brianza and Pavel Gerdt

5. The great dancer, Enrico Cecchetti, danced two roles in this production. What were they?

He doubled the roles of Carabosse and the Bluebird

Extra credit questions (so those already Advanced won't get too bored):

1. Who choreographed the fish dives that are now part of the Grand pas de deux in Act III?

Bronislava Nijinska (for Diaghilev's London production)

2. Many dancers and dance people were greatly influenced by The Sleeping Beauty. Name at least ONE whose life was changed by that first production, and tell how it influenced/changed him/her/them.

Everyone named either Balanchine's experience dancing as a cupid when he was 12 (it made him understand the theatrical aspects of ballet; made him love it) and Pavlova's seeing the ballet at the age of 8, and deciding she wanted to be a dancer.Ballet Alert! Quiz #43
June 21, 1999
A British Colonials Quiz

All of the dancers listed below were important dancers with the Royal Ballet in the 1940s, '50s, '60s and '70s. All of them were born in a Commonwealth country other than Britain. For each question, name the Dancer and his or her Place of Birth.

1. He was Fonteyn's first regular partner, choreographed several ballets for the company (including Adam Zero and Miracle in the Gorbals), and acted in plays in his spare time.

Robert Helpmann, Australia

2. She was known primarily as a dramatic dancer, and was muse to both Ashton and MacMillan, creating roles in Ashton's Two Pigeons and Month in the Country, and MacMillan's The Invitation.

Lynn Seymour, Canada.

3. He was a virtuoso demicaractere dancer and created roles in dozens of Ashton's ballets, including Alain in La Fille Mal Gardee.

Alexander Grant, New Zealand

4. She eventually became a leading ballerina, but she did it the hard way. A very musical dancer, she tackled all the major classics and created the title role in MacMillan's Isadora.

Merle Park, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)

5. Her first created role was that of the Chosen Maiden in MacMillan's The Rite of Spring. Although she danced roles such as Odette and Nikia, she was more known for character or modern roles, and a very great Carabosse.

Monica Mason, South Africa

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Ballet Alert! Quiz #42
June 14, 1999
A Diana Adams Quiz

1. Diana Adams was muse to two of the greatest choreographers of this century -- very different men. Who were they? [This is not a trick question!]

Anthony Tudor and George Balanchine

2. Adams made her debut in a musical in 1943. Which one?

Oklahoma

3. Adams created too many famous roles to list them all, but we'll settle for two (different choreographers, please, just to make it interesting).

Lots of different answers, as I'd hoped. But please note: when we ask for ROLES we mean ROLES, not just the names of the ballet. Almost half of the Quizzers just listed ballets, but I was in a kind mood. Anyway, here's what you all came up with:

The Mother in Fall River Legend; DeMille
The Pas de Deux in Agon; Balanchine
Marguerite Gautier in La Dame aux Camelias; Tudor
Shadow of the Wind (Tudor)
Pied Piper (Robbins)
Liebeslieder Walzer (Balanchine)
Mother/Medusa in Undertow (Tudor)
Facsimile (Robbins)

4. One role that Adams created in a ballet that is now lost was that of Iseult in a ballet of Ashton. Which ballet, and for which company?

Picnic at Tintagel for NYCB

5. Adams ended her career as a teacher and scout for the School of American Ballet. She is credited for discovering and encouraging her successor, a great NYCB ballerina who succeeded Adams in many of her roles.

Suzanne Farrell

Extra credit question. Adams appeared in two movies, dancing in one with Gene Kelly Invitation to the Dance and in the other with Danny Kaye Knock on Wood. Which movies?

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Ballet Alert Quiz #41
June 7, 1999
A Bournonville Quiz

(Note: Not all of these ballets are in current reportory)

1. Some say this is the most "Danish" of all ballets. It's a comedy, was choreographed in 1860, and has a subtitle of "A Costume Ball Aboard Ship." It was last performed in 1992 and is not scheduled for performance at the Royal Danish Ballet's "Bournonville week" scheduled for January 1999.

Far From Denmark (Fjent fra Danmark).

2. Besides La Sylphide, Bournonville mounted his versions of several popular ballets from the Paris Opera's early 19th century repertory for the Danish Ballet at the beginning of his tenure as balletmaster there. All have disappeared. Name one.

La Somnambule (1829)
Les Pages du Duc de Vendome (1830) (A failure, by the way, becaues he had the soldiers played by men instead of women, as had been done in Paris)
Paul et Virginie (1830)
Nina ou la Folle par amour (1834)

Note: Several people suggested ballets that were really suites of dances in operas, or operas, or opera ballets. If you start counting those, we'd be here all year. But these four, with La Sylphide, are full ballets that he staged. Anyone interested in Bournonville's amazing output should consult Knud Arne Villumsen's The Bournonville Tradition, The first fifty years, 1829-1879, no matter how much it costs (100 bucks). It lists over 600 items.

3. One of Bournonville's greatest and most popular ballets disappeared in the 1930s (most likely because it was too "heavy" for the tastes of an audience that wanted light comedies) and was about the life and death struggle between two kings, taken from Danish history. It was choreographed in 1835 (when Bournonville was 30), and starred Bournonville and Lucille Grahn.

Valdemar (NOT Vladimir, although I was in a kind mood and accepted that)

4. In many ways the heart and soul of the Bournonville repertory, this ballet about the love of a young nobleman whose fiancee turns out to be a troll for a young lady who turns out not to be a troll was choreographed in 1854 and is still in repertory. The wedding waltz from the last act is performed at Danish weddings today.

Et Folksagn (lit., "A Folk Legend," but translated into English as "A Folk Tale" for some reason)

5. Another Bournonville ballet that is in danger of being dropped today is a late one, choreographed in 1871 that almost disappeared in the 1940s but was brought back by the late Hans Brenaa after it had been out of repertory for nearly thirty years! (He had a good memory; notation not required.) The hero is a philandering lieutenant who is tricked by his wife at a masked ball into flirting with her, and is then unmasked, as it were. Supporting characters include two young farm couples and two town ladies and their military fiances, and the population of a small village. (This has one of the weirder titles, given in about 4 variants. Anything recognizable will be accepted.)

Livjaerne paa Amager (The Life Guards on Amager, or The King's Voluntary Corps on Amager, or the King's Guards on Amager)