Designers of the Dance

Designers of the Dance
With stunning performances of five unique dance pieces, Designers of the Dance takes you a step further, into the studio with legendary dancers and choreographers to learn about the works and process that go into making these five ballets great: The Nutcracker, Leonid Lavrovsky’s Romeo & Juliet, Lar Lubovitch’s Othello, Alastair Marriott’s Lieder, and Yuri Possikhov’s Diving into the Lilacs.
TRANSCRIPT
>>ANNOUNCER: Designers of the
Dance is made possible in part
through the generous support of
Eskenazi Health, advancing the
role of art in health and
>>NARRATOR: Choreography is more
than ideas and steps, and
choreographers more than mere
It is their visions, their
ideals, their spirits that
present to us a reflection of
ourselves, of our lives and
cultures.
And it is through the vibrance
of this art form charged with
energy and emotion that
resonates through time, and
transports or enlightens us on
With music as their muse, it is
their calling to bring shape and
movement towards many facets of
And while each approaches the
artistic process differently,
and each emerges with their own
individual results, it is the
interactions that transpire,
hidden away in a dance studio,
when the relationships that will
define a work are forged, that
the physical and emotional core
While steps and movement are
among a choreographer's tools,
it is the essence within the
heart and soul of Man that
creates the expression, mood,
and spirit of what we call
It touches our humanity, and
>>GENNADI: We all came from the
same school, Bolshoi Ballet
School.
generations, so we are 10 years
apart each of us.
Yes of course.
>>GENNADI: You're the youngest
generation.
>>MARIA: Also, the school
changed as the time changed.
I was at school through the
'90s, which wasn't the best time
in Russian history, and they
have different memories from the
same place.
>>GENNADI: But the same
teachers, we went through the
same teachers.
>>MARIA: Through same teachers,
that's true.
>>GENNADI: They connect the
generations.
>>MARIA: It wasn't my happiest
time, that's for sure.
I remember being scared all the
time.
I mean, there were of course
happy moments, but somehow the
fear of...I don't know, being
scared.
>>YURI: We usually understand
each other when I will start to
talk about something, especially
about dance, about art, so there
is something common between all
of us that brings us together.
>>GENNADI: All part of one
>>YURI: Why lilacs?
Why it's a memory of the school?
Because bushes of lilacs had
been surrounded all over our
school.
>>GENNADI: In the yard of the
school, because it has a-
>>YURI: Even outside.
>>MARIA: And it always blooms
around May, June, when we have
exams.
The smell of it, the excitement.
>>YURI: You're taking class in
this school.
>>GENNADI: You take class.
Windows are open.
>>YURI: It smells everywhere.
It's our favorite, actually,
smell.
>>GENNADI: Same here, same here.
>>YURI: It's musical, but it's
Tchaikovsky so it's very Russian
music, very sensitive music.
Very powerful, everything.
For me, music is language.
There's a kind of new way of
choreography now that people
using music as background.
It's kind of music of help them
to keep reason as choreography.
Unfortunately, I can't do it.
As choreographer, for me it's
important to express each bar
that had been written by a
I have to first fall in love
with music, after I have to
understand or maybe to find my
own expression of this music.
So I would prefer in music
phrases, because phrases give me
chance to talk with audience.
There's no other way for me.
>>GENNADI: Yuri was ... He
helped me to develop as an
artist.
I learned how to move like he
does.
It's like when I was dancing I
was trying to mimic his body
position in order to produce the
same quality of movement in his
>>MARIA: I don't know, I
approach movement very similar
to Yuri, so for me it feels very
organic.
It's still challenging and hard.
It's classical, but it has this,
you obviously need to be a
classical dancer to do any of
Yuri's ballets, but it has this
freedom that for me classical
ballet is missing.
I feel like his choreography for
me now is what classical ballet
would be for people a century
ago.
Everything is much bigger, the
movement technique of it, it's
all taken in a completely
different level.
It's challenging, it's
beautiful, it has everything in
>>LAR: I intended from the
I did go to the Julliard School
and work with some wonderful
choreography instructors.
My main teacher there was Antony
The thing that I picked up from
Tudor was that it was a form of
poetry, it was a form of
movement poetry that we were
speaking of things.
We weren't just doing body
articulations or technical
exercises.
I think the ultimate objective
was not to dance to the music
but to be the music.
I often instruct dancers, even
now, in their approach to
dancing to become the music, to
be the music.
To be an additional line of
music that's not written on the
score.
The visual line of music.
That they're not dancing next to
or on top of music, but
basically within the music.
>>JULIE: It's always a great
working with Lar, because I
think, after all the years we've
been dancing together, he trusts
what we do together.
>>LAR: One does not create a
dance in a vacuum.
It's a co-creation of a
choreographer and dancers with
>>JULIE: It sort of builds and
grows and morphs and I think
sometimes opens his own eyes to
oh, what that could be.
>>LAR: Julie and Marcelo are
very inspiring to watch, and
because of what they're capable
of physically and poetically
they've had a good hand in
helping me solve some of the
problems that were left over in
From the idea of creating
Othello was put forward to the
time it actually happened was
very fast, it was really one
>>JULIE: It was a very intense
experience, I have to say.
It was very stressful.
The bulk of the stress was due
to the fact that Elliot
Goldenthal, the composer, was
literally writing the music and
handing it to Lar at five
o'clock in the morning, and Lar
would come in and have to
choreograph like that, like just
>>LAR: The energy created by
that sort of stimulus, the
tension required that one think
fast, move fast, work fast.
Tension is a good thing.
We think it's a bad thing, but
tension is balanced by release.
In relationship to the dancers
playing specific characters, I
never speak to the dancers about
their acting or how to interpret
the character.
I speak to them in terms of the
movements, the dynamics, the
relationship to the music.
The spacing.
I always feel that the dancer
who is a poet will find meaning
in that.
>>MARCELO: Othello made me
question my acting abilities
completely.
He is such a powerful being on
stage just by standing there.
How much power can you have with
both feet on the ground?
That was a really big learning
>>LAR: I felt very strongly that
I wanted to do a story dance.
Othello struck me as a story
that could be told in pictures
since its themes are so well
known to everyone, the theme of
>>JULIE: It really speaks to
Desdemona's love of Othello that
is so deep that even though she
doesn't understand why, she's
willing to sacrifice herself
>>LAR: Even as he must take away
her life, he does it as a
gesture of love in a very
What Othello is actually doing
here is reenacting a prayer of
sanctification that he preformed
at the very beginning of the
dance before his marriage to
Desdemona.
In this final moment, in keeping
with his beliefs, he must
sanctify Desdemona's body before
ending her life.
In his mind, he is purifying her
of sin before releasing her
soul.
He sees this sacrifice as an act
of love.
He believes that she has been
stainless her entire life, and
her purity has been part of what
has been his ... The depth of
his love, and this level of
purity had a connection, and he
believes he has been made impure
and is no longer the same
person.
He believes, and she believes in
fact, that she's going to a
better place by being relieved
of the stress of this life and
the dilemma that's been created.
In the very final moments of the
duet, she reaches up to him as
he puts the scarf around her
>>ALASTAIR: I did a piece with
Ned Warren, the composer, and I
read his diaries.
because nobody was writing the
kind of music he needed.
I understood what he meant by
that.
The people weren't
choreographing ballets that I
wanted to be in, or that I
wanted to watch, so I thought
well, maybe I could have a good.
Then, of course, people liked
it, so then before I knew where
I was, I was launched as a
choreographer.
Whereas actually it was just an
experiment to see if I could do
Well, I think Melissa has an
incredible body for a start.
It lends itself to romantic
ballets, whether they're
abstract or narrative because
it's so physical but very, very
beautiful.
It's kind of an aesthetic that
all dancers want to have.
It's one of those enviable
bodies.
But she's an interpretive
dancer, so she works very well
in narrative pieces.
So this piece, even though it
has abstract ideas, I think she
looks better when she tells it
Eric is a very physical
interpretive dancer.
We're used to seeing Eric as a
very strong presence on stage,
and he plays a lot of very
individual roles where he is
almost bordering on contemporary
dance in modern ballets.
He's a very a strong partner.
But he's also very handsome, so
he does a lot of modeling.
When you use him, it's almost
like a sculpture.
That lends itself instantly to
these pieces.
They physically match, even
though one is black and one is
white.
It has a kind of tension.
There's a sexiness to it,
because she's very fair and he's
very dark, that I think is
>>ERIC: We've built quite a
partnership.
I've danced lots of stuff with
Melissa.
You know when you just meet
someone and it just works?
I think we have like minds in
the studio for sure.
We get in there, and it's work,
and it's to try and get the best
outcome possible.
I think choreographers can see
that as well, the dynamic, and
they get the most out of us.
>>MELISSA: And to have ballets
that will one day be the Romeo
and Juliets and the [inaudible]
of our time.
I think it's an incredibly
special opportunity for us to
have, and always something new
>>ALASTAIR: He sings that
there's a burning tear.
It's very, very romantic, and it
talks about a burning tear on
the cheek, and "Where are you?"
And I think it's much more
sensitive when you think of it
as being a close up, like in a
film.
Do you know what I mean?
The more we just see eyes, and
kind of ... so when you crumble,
you should always crumble, I
think, with your fingertips
first.
>>MELISSA: And then the head
stays-
>>ALASTAIR: Because it's
much sadder than crumbling with
arms.
>>ALASTAIR: Yeah, yeah.
The final song is poetically
right that it should be the
saddest, because it's almost
like a reflection, something
that looks back in time.
It seemed poetically right that
it should follow that natural
course, so at the end of your
life you look back and realize
that the most important thing
>>ALEXEI: My previous work was
I spent five years as artistic
director.
At the end of this contract
time, I felt that administrative
work is a very heavy burden, and
it really limits my freedom as a
choreography.
Of course, Bolshoi was an
amazing experience for me, but
at the same time I really wanted
to explore the world outside and
Since my school years, I always
visualized, in my head,
movements when I heard the
music, which led me to thoughts
that I should be a
Well, I always loved ballet
history and collected books and
images, so this is part of me.
On the other hand, there was a
need for a lens for the story.
The theaters are always asking
>>GILLIAN: Alexei's always very
soft spoken, but always very
demanding.
He's very specific about how he
wants us to be dynamic in our
musicality and our physicality,
to change the levels.
Not just to be one level, but
really using a deep plié and
shifting from low lunges to be
lifts very quickly, and things
>>JAMES: It's kind of funny,
though.
When he's in the studio, he has
this sort of quiet demeanor.
He'll lean forward and ask you
to try something again and again
and again, and really
encouraging musicality and
dynamics, and you find yourself
completely ruined by the time
the rehearsal's over and you're
just in a puddle on the floor,
and then you have five more
>>GILLIAN: It's true.
>>JAMES: It's really hard.
He has such an eagle eye for
detail.
It's almost disconcerting at
first because the level of
detail can be a little
intimidating.
>>JAMES: When he's in the room,
I respect him and his work so
much that I want to work, which
unfortunately isn't always the
case.
That respect demands a certain
level of compliance, which I'm
willing to give, I don't know
about you.
Yeah?
>>GILLIAN: Sure.
>>JAMES: Me too.
>>ALEXEI: So, in our version, in
ABT's version,
Clara and Nutcracker are done by
>>GILLIAN: It's about Clara and
the prince's journey into
adulthood, basically.
They're instantly transformed
from being the children into
>>ALEXEI: I always felt that
Carries so much meaning that
it's very hard to find equally
impressive steps on stage.
There are moments in the music
that you clearly see Tchaikovsky
I think it was a difficult time
for Tchaikovsky.
His sister just died, and he was
depressed.
He was going through a lot of
emotional unsettlement.
Somehow, despite the sweet
story, he infused this music
with his own sadness.
I hear that, and it reflects a
little bit on the choreographer,
that even the happiest moment,
it goes by just like that.
Musicality, imagination, and
ability to let it go, to
improvise, not to have
everything set.
Of course the rest has to be
set, but then there is something
extra that they need to bring on
stage to communicate to the
So, because they're still kids,
even though they imagine
themselves and the audience see
the adults, they're not in love.
They don't know what love is,
but it's like an anticipation of
love.
Of course Clara is as, in life
the girls, and it'll foster,
to develop faster than the boys,
so she does feel it already and
the prince is just being a very
polite friend, supports her.
They just look up at the sky and
>>Then there is this beautiful
celesta solo that hits upon
the scenario he wrote.
We need to hear the sound of
>>VLADISLAV: I remember the
situation 10 years ago.
When Mikhail Lavrovsky picked me
out of the final exams at the
academy.
"Come to the Bolshoi.
You'll work with me and we'll do
very well." It was kind of a
gift from fate that such a
legend, such a person, such a
>>MIKHAIL: My parents were
artists.
My mother was a dancer, and my
father was a dancer for a very
short time before becoming a
choreography.
He truly loved his profession,
that of a choreography.
He never raised his voice.
He was calm, and dancers could
work together with him for up to
six hours at a time.
He commanded respect.
Not fear, respect.
He somehow allowed us to realize
our potential.
He would say, "Misha, keep in
mind that you can change
everything if you do it with
>>EVGENIA: The key thing is what
Mikhail Lavrovsky said in
today's rehearsal.
"What is needed here is an
You just need to completely
forget about the kind of set
poses that are typical in
classical dance and be a real
life person, and give the ballet
>>MIKHAIL: No one could
challenge my father directly.
Afterwards, people could say
things, criticize him, but when
they were talking directly with
him, Leonid was in charge.
My father was 100% a romantic.
When he started his work in 1943
on Romeo and Juliet, this was
how he saw things.
The production was completed
that the music of Sergei
Prokofiev was not well received
at first.
Prokofiev's score has many
musical themes which come into
conflict with each other.
My father liked the music very
much, it was a masterpiece, and
in 1956 it was finally largely
recognized as such.
Prokofiev was a very warm
person, and generally speaking
It's a short ballet with only
two themes.
The theme of love, and the theme
of fate.
But it's a big production, three
acts.
You need to develop every
character, which I think
Against the general background
of Italian life, where the
Renaissance was only just
starting to make its influence
felt, and the Middle Ages
retreating, he showed the
tragedy of people in love who
found themselves at this
He wanted to show everything in
this vibrant, wonderful life,
how people come into conflict
with each other, and then a
tragedy happens and society does
One gains ground, another
retreats, and then one theme
starts to prevail.
This is how Lavrovsky created
his productions.
He showed Verona as being full
of life.
Because there is no doubt ballet
has within the physical dilemmas
of people like Shakespeare or
Dostoevsky, it cannot be
understood without language.
Love, emotions, rage, outbursts,
striving towards the light.
These strong human feelings.
Ballet needs to have even more
Evgenia Obraztsova and Vladislav
Lantratov showed that once again
inspiration and great art have
returned to the stage.
The wonderful dancer Lantratov,
he is brilliant.
He is continuing the traditions
of Konstantin Sergeyev, who
There was a time we began to
move away from emotions, from
what Galina Ulanova, the creator
of Juliet embodied.
But there is Evgenia Obraztsova
from the brilliant Leningrad
School who has big emotions and
These are dancers who, in my
opinion, are able to honorably
continue the traditions of
>>ANNOUNCER: Designers of the
Dance is made possible in part
through the generous support of
Eskenazi Health, advancing the
role of art in health and