A Painter's Passage

27 April 2011

Alla Shelest: Nikiya, La Bayadere

Alla Shelest was considered to be one of the most lyrically perfect, dramatically mesmerizing, and technically correct ballerinas of the Kirov Ballet. She was adored in the Soviet Union. Hardly known in the West. Sad timing. She was born in 1919, and graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School in 1937. She became a soloist with the Kirov Ballet directly upon graduation. At that time, life for anyone in Leningrad was beyond difficult. She would be a Kirov star during the seige of Leningrad. She danced during the war years and later was included in one foreign tour with the Kirov, to London, in 1953. The Kirov's Artistic Director at this time was Konstantin Sergeyev. His wife was Natalia Dudinskaya, the Kirov's Prima Ballerina. Alla Shelest would not receive the attention her talent deserved. She would rarely be assigned Opening Night performances. And yet, when people heard that she would be scheduled to perform, lines would immediately form for tickets.

Rudolf Nureyev would graduate from the Leningrad Choreographic School in 1958 and immediately become a soloist with the Kirov Ballet. Alla Shelest was his favorite ballerina. He would not miss seeing one of her performances. He adored the lyricalness of her dancing and her gift to truly inhabit the roles she would perform. He would partner her in performances of 'Laurentia'. They would also dance 'Giselle' together. He didn't dance 'La Bayadere' with her at the Kirov. She would not be included in the 1961 Kirov Tour to Paris and London. He would make his Paris debut dancing a solo as Solor from 'La Bayadere'. The Paris audience went crazy. He was called 'The New Nijinsky'. He would not be on the plane to London. He would seek asylum in Paris. Throughout his career in the West, he would choreograph and dance 'The Kingdom of the Shades' act from 'La Bayadere' many times. He would rely on his memory of performances seen and performances danced from his time at the Kirov to reconstruct the Petipa choreography. The lyrical beauty of his choreography for Nikiya bears a resemblance to Alla Shelest's style. He would need to wait until 1992 to finally choreograph and produce his complete three act 'La Bayadere' for the Paris Opera Ballet.

18 April 2011

Nijinsky: the Golden Slave

Vaslav Nijinsky: in costume as the Golden Slave, from the ballet 'Scheherazade'. He performed this Classical Ballet, choreographed by Fokine, with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1911. Parisians called him "The God of Dance". The West had never seen a dancer like him. This was at a time when Ballet was all about the Ballerina.

Nijinsky was born in Kiev, in 1889. His parents were both dancers from Poland, of Tatar decent. His father left the family when Nijinsky was eight years old. When he was nine, his mother moved to Saint-Petersburg and he started to study at the famous Imperial Theatrical School. He was a shy, introverted child, considered strange looking and exotic by both classmates and teachers. Academically, he was not a good student. He was taunted and called names. However, it was soon understood that he was an incredibly gifted dancer. His performances as a student were reviewed by the press. He graduated from school at the age of eighteen and immediately became a dancer with the Imperial Ballet - later named the Kirov Ballet and today, renamed the Mariinsky Ballet. The Prima Ballerina of the Imperial Ballet, Mathilda Kschessinska, knew that he was not only a great dancer, but also an amazing actor and would request Nijinsky as her partner. At the age of twenty, he met Diaghilev. The rest is history.

A history of celebratory highs and overwhelming lows. As a dancer, Nijinsky is a legend. As a choreographer, he was not well received in his lifetime. He was a visionary. Now it is understood that his work led the way towards the beginnings of Modern Dance. By the age of 29, his career was over. He would leave a diary of four notebooks, written by him in the six weeks prior to his being admitted to a psychiatric hospital. It would take many years for this diary to be published* in it's original form, including all four notebooks. It is his last heartbreaking statement to the world.

NOT FOR SALE

(*The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky (Unexpurgated Edition) Translated From The Russian by Kyril Fitzlyon, Edited By Joan Acocella, First Published in the United States (c) 1999 by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.)

12 April 2011

The Wisdom of Jupiter's Goat

Torn Between Dionysus & Apollo. One is Both. One Can Not be Both. But One Is.

Mysteries to Unravel From a Mystical Source. Who Speaks This Language? Discrete Discourse?

I have A Friend. At the Water's Edge. The Oracle. Jupiter's Goat.

03 April 2011

Death of The Temple Dancer

This painting was inspired by the ballet 'La Bayadere'. I am currently working on a large series of paintings and photographs titled: Nureyev's World. This is a piece from this series. The Russian Icon Trilogy is also from this series. Miles to go.

20 March 2011

Dance of Spring's Eve

It is surely, absolutely, finally, and most wonderfully S P R I N G!

$1150

(Unframed, + S&H)

14 March 2011

Stravinsky & The Riotous Spring

Igor Stravinsky was a wild, brilliant composer.

Vaslav Nijinsky was a visionary dancer/choreographer.

Serge Diaghilev was Diaghilev, the 'mad for beauty' man, the founder of Ballets Russes.

Diaghilev would bring these two together for the ballet called Le Sacre du Printemps / Rite of Spring. It would premiere on 29 May 1913 in Paris at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees.

During Act I, the audience started shouting - those who hated it, against those who liked it. There were fist fights in the aisles. The crowd was so noisy that the dancers couldn't hear the music. Nijinsky called out the beats. The police were called in. By the end of Act III, there was a riot.

Stravinsky would claim it was because of his music. The aggressive dissonances and complex rhythmic patterns were too new for many. The Rite of Spring would make Stravinsky internationally famous. He is now considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th Century.

Nijinsky's choreography was considered the real cause of the riot. This choreography was something that had never been experienced before. He used turn-in positions instead of Classical Ballet's turn-out stances. It was angular, rather than rounded. The main focus of dancing was from the core of the body, instead of the usual emphasis on the dancer's feet and legs. And it broke all tradition by yearning for the earth instead of the sky. Many in the audience were appalled. They did not realize that they were witnessing the foundations for the beginning of Modern Dance.

Diaghilev was very pleased with the entire event!

Diaghilev never allowed his Ballets Russes to be filmed. He thought that film technique would not capture the true performance. Until the Joffrey Ballet recreated the original Rite of Spring, using the original score, choreography, costumes and sets, in 1987, many people were left to wonder what actually happened on that stage. This is Act III:

(Uploaded by Fatovamingus,

10:00, Jan 30, 2010)

This portrait concludes my "Russian Icon Trilogy: Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, & Stravinsky"

11 March 2011

Prokofiev & The Star-Crossed Lovers

Sergei Prokofiev is the second portrait from my "Russian Icon" series.

His biography could have been a Tolstoy novel, a life full of starts and stops, as the world intervened.

His music was new, modernist, full of dissonant harmonies and strange time signatures. It perfectly mirrored the times he lived in: World War I, The Russian Revolution, Stalin's Reign of Terror, & World War II.

His death would be no different than the odd circumstances of much of his life. He would die in Moscow, on the same day that Stalin's death was announced to the Soviet Union. There would be no flowers available for his funeral and the music played would be on tape. The piece chosen was his "Funeral March" from the Ballet, "Romeo & Juliet".

Almost everyone knows his "Dance of the Knights" from "Romeo & Juliet". One of my absolute favorite musical pieces is his "Balcony Scene" from the same ballet.

Here is a short piece from Prokofiev's "Romeo & Juliet" that I always enjoy. A light hearted moment, right before Romeo meets Juliet:

(Uploaded by Plumbago,

2:44, May 25, 2007)