This is such a delight to see. I watched these wonderful dancers from the 70s onwards. Am still a Friend of Covent Garden since my 20s When I was a “Young Friend”. Such a wonderful inspiration to us all.
I was at this performance (HMQ 60th Birthday Gala) and its wonderful to be reminded of the glorious radiant dancing of Lesley Collier. This was the first item after the champagne filled interval and the audience is rightly very enthusiastic!
What a wonderful memory to have! I just watched Leslie tutoring Fumi in a rehearsal video for The Nutcracker. I was so impressed by Leslie’s kind instructions and obvious experience in principal roles, but I was not familiar with her dancing. So now I am, and she is wonderful…….. very lovely and talented. Now I want to see more of these vintage performances. Thank you so much for posting this delightful little snippet from the past 👏🥰
The most underrated dancer of the last century . I too was at this performance and it is only a small demonstration of her wonderful dancing . I would give anything to have footage of her matchless Aurora … the excitement she generated at the end of her Rose Adagio lives with me neatly 40 years later . It’s controversial but I think there was a lot of talent in the company in the eighties and nineties but people were too hung up on reminiscing about Fonteyn and didn’t appreciate all the varied and glittering dancers we had back then .
What a memory. I saw this in Chicago as a child the first year it was performed in honor of the company's 25th anniversary. Fonteyn and Somes were the leads. Now that seems like another world. Lovely to find it here. Thank you so much!
Lesley Collier is such a sunshine. She danced it with such bright energy and ellegance. So much attention to nuances! A joy to watch. Any information about this lovely piece of choreography? Music? Ballet? Choreographer?
+ukrainian ballet The ballet is "La Valse". Music by Maurice Ravel. Choreography Sir Fred Ashton. You can find a different, more recent version on this Royal Ballet DVD "Ashton Celebration" www.amazon.co.uk/Ashton-Celebration-Ballet-Dances-Frederick/dp/B00E1C4QVC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449529906&sr=8-1&keywords=ashton+celebration
+ukrainian ballet Here’s some more information. The ballet is called, “Birthday Offering”, presented on the occasion of the Royal Ballet’s 25th Anniversary in 1956. Back then, the Royal had a bumper crop of fine, fine ballerinas - Dame Margot Fonteyn, Pamela May, Svetlana Beriosova, Nadia Nerina, Rowena Jackson, Violetta Prokhorova Elvin and Elaine Fifield. The piece became very popular in the UK, less so in the United States, where dance critic, Arlene Croce, in writing about the ballerina variations sniped, “These ballerinas look positively brainless!” And then later on in the same review piece she writes, “Now that the audience is good and mad, the whole ballet ends on a tutti chord and everybody gets up and goes home!” I guess Sir Fredrick Ashton’s filigree choreography didn’t always translate well across the Atlantic.
Finally some substantial footage of this gem of a ballet (alas, usually underappreciated) with the lovely Collier and the superb cavalier Dowell brilliant as ever. Thank you! p s Some questions: Any info on the rest of the cast? Especially the women are in fine form. Were the variations on this occasion recorded?
+Peter Koppers Correction to my previous post; it was April 1986, part of a gala performance. Maria Almeida, the late Briony Brind, Fiona Chadwick, Wendy Ellis, Jennifer Penney and Genesia Rosato. Phillip Broomhead, the late Michael Crookes, Jay Jolley, Ashley Page, Mark Silver and Bruce Sansom.
@@susannahsmith617 Thank you so much for the post and the info on the cast. I remember all these dancers from their tour in 1981 (plus TV and films). I am very sorry to hear that Bryony Brind died so young. I believe she was still in the corps when I saw RB, but she was getting good roles like Lilac Fairy. I remembered the name because she is the female student "model" (not sure what else to call it) in a book I have about the RB's school. In the back, they have Bryony and a male student illustrating all sorts of ballet movements from simple plies at the barre to more complicated moves like the fish dive. I had lost track of her and was happy to read her Wikipedia article and see that she made principal and achieved some wonderful successes. (This is what distinguishes a balletomaniac from a balletomane, I guess---you like to learn who's dancing, and you tend to remember who's who and follow their careers even at a distance!) Again, thanks!
A few mistakes here, the music that opens this is Concert Waltz #1 by Glazunov. I have no idea what the slow 4/4 is though..but also definitely Glazunov. A shame the Concert Waltz was butchered so badly. it goes back into the Concert Waltz at 11.30 but again, heavily edited. and not very sympathetically, which is a shame. Perhaps the middle music is from Glazanov's Scene De Ballet.
It is an arrangement done for the occasion by Robert Irving. It is rather stop and go, I agree. The overture is from Glazunov's Seasons (Spring), and the waltz goes into an adagio taken from Glazunov's Scenes de Ballet.
Thanks, Peter. I'm not familiar with the Scenes de Ballet but assumed they probably used it here. Can you tell me where the Spring section is..timing wise? I can't hear any of The Seasons, which I know very well. Birthday Offering was originally done for a significant birthday of Elizabeth, Queen Mother. Not sure of the actual birthday though.
@@kevincoxhead7137 the ballet starts with said excerpt from The Seasons (the 'taking flight section' of Petipa's 1900 ballet), but it is not in this fragment which starts right away with the waltz. You can see the full ballet from Argentina here on RUclips (mistakably spelled BirthAday Offering). First done in 1956 for her HM's 30th birthday - the exact date you can probably find, likely not to have coincided with the actual date. And Scenes de Ballet is certainly used here: the adagio of the ensemble (minus the Trials of Damis, or Ruses d' Amour' if you will, allegro ending of that). 'Marionetki' of Trials is used for one of the variations, as well as the pas de deux and the ballerina variation Fonteyn danced (the ballerina in Argentina does another to The Seasons).
Many thanks for that, Peter. The ballet was presented in the late 70s as part of The Stars of the World Ballet season in Australia. I saw it and remember this section, oddly even some of the choreography, but only the Concert Waltz sections, possibly because I love this music so much. Thankyou for taking the time to explain in detail. Yes, that all makes perfect sense. Warmly, Kevin.
love this sparkling jewel - Collier and Dowell are exceptional!
Just saved that to my favorites.
This is such a delight to see. I watched these wonderful dancers from the 70s onwards. Am still a Friend of Covent Garden since my 20s When I was a “Young Friend”. Such a wonderful inspiration to us all.
wonderful Lesley and Sir Anthony.
I was at this performance (HMQ 60th Birthday Gala) and its wonderful to be reminded of the glorious radiant dancing of Lesley Collier. This was the first item after the champagne filled interval and the audience is rightly very enthusiastic!
What a wonderful memory to have! I just watched Leslie tutoring Fumi in a rehearsal video for The Nutcracker. I was so impressed by Leslie’s kind instructions and obvious experience in principal roles, but I was not familiar with her dancing. So now I am, and she is wonderful…….. very lovely and talented. Now I want to see more of these vintage performances. Thank you so much for posting this delightful little snippet from the past 👏🥰
The most underrated dancer of the last century . I too was at this performance and it is only a small demonstration of her wonderful dancing . I would give anything to have footage of her matchless Aurora … the excitement she generated at the end of her Rose Adagio lives with me neatly 40 years later . It’s controversial but I think there was a lot of talent in the company in the eighties and nineties but people were too hung up on reminiscing about Fonteyn and didn’t appreciate all the varied and glittering dancers we had back then .
What a memory. I saw this in Chicago as a child the first year it was performed in honor of the company's 25th anniversary. Fonteyn and Somes were the leads. Now that seems like another world. Lovely to find it here. Thank you so much!
It is just wonderfull and fantastique to see magnifique thank you Edward Arckless
Glazunov; Royal Ballet;Frederick Ashton;birthday Offering. We don't have the ballerina variations, but Collier is wonderful.
Lesley Collier is such a sunshine. She danced it with such bright energy and ellegance. So much attention to nuances! A joy to watch.
Any information about this lovely piece of choreography? Music? Ballet? Choreographer?
+ukrainian ballet The ballet is "La Valse". Music by Maurice Ravel. Choreography Sir Fred Ashton.
You can find a different, more recent version on this Royal Ballet DVD "Ashton Celebration"
www.amazon.co.uk/Ashton-Celebration-Ballet-Dances-Frederick/dp/B00E1C4QVC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449529906&sr=8-1&keywords=ashton+celebration
pvandck Many thanks!
+ukrainian ballet Here’s some more information. The ballet is called, “Birthday Offering”, presented on the occasion of the Royal Ballet’s 25th Anniversary in 1956. Back then, the Royal had a bumper crop of fine, fine ballerinas - Dame Margot Fonteyn, Pamela May, Svetlana Beriosova, Nadia Nerina, Rowena Jackson, Violetta Prokhorova Elvin and Elaine Fifield.
The piece became very popular in the UK, less so in the United States, where dance critic, Arlene Croce, in writing about the ballerina variations sniped, “These ballerinas look positively brainless!” And then later on in the same review piece she writes, “Now that the audience is good and mad, the whole ballet ends on a tutti chord and everybody gets up and goes home!”
I guess Sir Fredrick Ashton’s filigree choreography didn’t always translate well across the Atlantic.
Aves Raggiana Very interesting. Thank you. I adore Ashton.
ukrainian ballet You’re welcome. I love Ashton too.
Finally some substantial footage of this gem of a ballet (alas, usually underappreciated) with the lovely Collier and the superb cavalier Dowell brilliant as ever. Thank you!
p s Some questions: Any info on the rest of the cast? Especially the women are in fine form. Were the variations on this occasion recorded?
+Peter Koppers Correction to my previous post; it was April 1986, part of a gala performance. Maria Almeida, the late Briony Brind, Fiona Chadwick, Wendy Ellis, Jennifer Penney and Genesia Rosato. Phillip Broomhead, the late Michael Crookes, Jay Jolley, Ashley Page, Mark Silver and Bruce Sansom.
+Peter Koppers the variations were omitted on this occasion
@@susannahsmith617 Thank you so much for the post and the info on the cast. I remember all these dancers from their tour in 1981 (plus TV and films). I am very sorry to hear that Bryony Brind died so young. I believe she was still in the corps when I saw RB, but she was getting good roles like Lilac Fairy. I remembered the name because she is the female student "model" (not sure what else to call it) in a book I have about the RB's school. In the back, they have Bryony and a male student illustrating all sorts of ballet movements from simple plies at the barre to more complicated moves like the fish dive. I had lost track of her and was happy to read her Wikipedia article and see that she made principal and achieved some wonderful successes. (This is what distinguishes a balletomaniac from a balletomane, I guess---you like to learn who's dancing, and you tend to remember who's who and follow their careers even at a distance!) Again, thanks!
É muito bonito casal esplendido no que faz.
A few mistakes here, the music that opens this is Concert Waltz #1 by Glazunov. I have no idea what the slow 4/4 is though..but also definitely Glazunov. A shame the Concert Waltz was butchered so badly. it goes back into the Concert Waltz at 11.30 but again, heavily edited. and not very sympathetically, which is a shame. Perhaps the middle music is from Glazanov's Scene De Ballet.
It is an arrangement done for the occasion by Robert Irving. It is rather stop and go, I agree. The overture is from Glazunov's Seasons (Spring), and the waltz goes into an adagio taken from Glazunov's Scenes de Ballet.
Thanks, Peter. I'm not familiar with the Scenes de Ballet but assumed they probably used it here. Can you tell me where the Spring section is..timing wise? I can't hear any of The Seasons, which I know very well. Birthday Offering was originally done for a significant birthday of Elizabeth, Queen Mother. Not sure of the actual birthday though.
@@kevincoxhead7137 the ballet starts with said excerpt from The Seasons (the 'taking flight section' of Petipa's 1900 ballet), but it is not in this fragment which starts right away with the waltz. You can see the full ballet from Argentina here on RUclips (mistakably spelled BirthAday Offering). First done in 1956 for her HM's 30th birthday - the exact date you can probably find, likely not to have coincided with the actual date. And Scenes de Ballet is certainly used here: the adagio of the ensemble (minus the Trials of Damis, or Ruses d' Amour' if you will, allegro ending of that). 'Marionetki' of Trials is used for one of the variations, as well as the pas de deux and the ballerina variation Fonteyn danced (the ballerina in Argentina does another to The Seasons).
Many thanks for that, Peter. The ballet was presented in the late 70s as part of The Stars of the World Ballet season in Australia. I saw it and remember this section, oddly even some of the choreography, but only the Concert Waltz sections, possibly because I love this music so much. Thankyou for taking the time to explain in detail. Yes, that all makes perfect sense. Warmly, Kevin.
Exquisite music...beautiful ballet
The music is from "the fontaine of B." I love it too.