Choreographic forms. The famous ballet duet - Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn Forms of a choreographic work
A duet is a dance performed by two partners. Duets can be divided into three types.
The simplest of these is a dance in unison, such duets are called "twos", and they are usually performed by dancers of the same sex.
The second type of duet is the dance of a man and a woman. It can be composed on a specific topic: love or hate, the joy of meeting, the sadness of parting, etc. In this case, the two characters express their feelings and relationships in the dance.
The third and highest type of duet is a dance - a dialogue, when each of the partners carries out their theme in a plastic form, carrying thought and feeling. In the development and struggle of these two themes, they come to unity or victory of one over the other. The duet can end with the death of one of the characters.
Duet dance rules
The rules for performing a duet dance are studied in choreographic schools during support lessons, but in practice, deviations from these rules are sometimes observed, which leads to the destruction of the artistic impression of a dance work.
What does it mean to master the art of support? Is it enough for a dancer to have outstanding physical strength and know all the techniques of dealing with a partner in parterre movements and aerial lifts? Support in classical dance differs from acrobatic in that it must be art, and not dexterous work. The artist must know very well all the features of his partner's dance, feel her individual style of performance, as well as technical capabilities - the amplitude of the jump, stability in difficult poses on the fingers, the pace of pirouettes, the rhythm and dynamics of the dance. If this does not happen, there will be no duet in the full sense of the word.
Partners must work together so that all technical difficulties are completely imperceptible for the audience, only then it will be a dance, and not a school exercise. In this paper, an example of parterre support is given - support with one hand (strokes).
Leads with the support of the student by one hand are studied in all the main poses of classical dance. The hand of the student, for which the student supports her, can be in the first, second or third positions. In all cases, her arm is strongly tense (that is, motionless in the shoulder and elbow joints) and does not violate the adopted position.
duet dance DUET DANCE(duet), pair dance of a dancer and a dancer. It can be part of the performance or an independent number. At the beginning of the development of ballet art, any pair dance was called. OK. ser. 19th century pas de deux takes on a more definite five-movement dance form. D. t. is included in it as an integral part. Muses. form D. t. in most cases adagio.
D. t. are often used in classical ballets. heritage: lyrical Odette and Siegfried (ballet dancer L. I. Ivanov), heroic "Flames of Paris" (ballet dancer V. I. Vainonen), festive bravura "Don Quixote" (ballet dancer A. A. Gorsky). Not every communication on the stage between a dancer and a dancer is a D.T. A duet of two dancers or two dancers can be a "dance dialogue" or a duet scene of Maria and Zarema (ballet dancer R. V. Zakharov) or Othello and Iago (ballet dancer V. M. Chabukiani).
D. t. was developed in the 18th and 19th centuries. in performances by J. Dauberval, C. Didelot, J. Perrot, Aug. Bournonville. D. t. these ballet masters were built mainly on parterre support and dance. combinations (duets of the Rybak and the Bride in Bournonville's ballet "Naples, or the Rybak and his Bride"). Bright, technically complex D. t. received the greatest development in the ballets of M. I. Petipa, L. I. Ivanov, A. A. Gorsky. Gradually technique and others.maturgich. the construction of D. t. developed and became more complicated, air support, gymnastic and acrobatic elements appeared, which became an integral part of D. t.
D. t. received especially great development in the work of owls. choreographers, who introduced many new elements into it, enriching the choreographic. plastic. The duets created for concert programs by G. Ya. Goleizovsky, L. V. Yakobson, Messerer and others are expressive, permeated with poetry, and have the beauty of plasticity. drawing (, ballet. Goleizovsky, "The Hunter and the Bird" to the music. Grieg, ballet. Jacobson, "Spring Waters" to the music. Rachmaninov and "Melody" to the music. Gluck, ballet. Messerer). D. t. was widely developed in the work of Yu. N. Grigorovich. In his "Romeo and Juliet" five duets of the main characters reveal the whole story of their relationship.
Training in support technique in D. t. is included in the choreographic programs. schools as a compulsory special discipline for high school students.
Lit .: Vaganova A. Ya., Fundamentals of classical dance, 3rd ed., L.M., 1948; Serebrennikov N. N., Support in a duet dance, M., 1969.
A. M. Plisetsky.
Ballet. Encyclopedia. - M.: Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Editor-in-chief Yu.N. Grigorovich. 1981 .
See what "Duet Dance" is in other dictionaries:
duet- see duet; oh, oh. D e execution. Duet / t dance ... Dictionary of many expressions
adagio- [ital. adagio]. Muses. I. adv. Slowly, drawn out (about the tempo of the performance of musical works). II. unchanged; cf. 1. A piece of music or part of it at a slow pace. 2. In classical ballet: slow solo or duet dance. //… … encyclopedic Dictionary
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Bogatyrev, Alexander Yurievich- Alexander Bogatyrev Birth name: Alexander Yuryevich Bogatyrev Date of birth: May 4, 1949 (1949 05 04) Place of birth: Tallinn, SS ... Wikipedia
Serebrennikov, Nikolai Nikolaevich (dancer)- Wikipedia has articles about other people with that surname, see Serebrennikov. Nikolai Serebrennikov Birth name: Nikolai Nikolaevich Serebrennikov Date of birth: November 30, 1918 (1918 11 30) ... Wikipedia
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BBK 85.324 С32
Scientific editorial
and introductory article
T M. Veieslova
Designed by V. N. Dzyuba
Drawings of a ballet dancer
Y. S. Maltseva
Photos
Yu. A. Larionova and D. A. Saveliev
With 4906000000-0 55, 08. 85 © Art, 1979
025(01)-85 © Art, 1985, amended
Duet. So what is his strength? What conquers us? What gives us? Harmony! She connected the movement of souls, their high flight.
Duet dance is a broad concept. This textbook aims to tell only about the educational process, about studying the technical side of duet-classical dance and instilling the skills of stage communication of partners.
If a duet is performed by two dancers or dancers, then it is usually called a dance dialogue, for example, the dialogue of Maria and Zarema (“The Fountain of Bakhchisarai”) or Othello and Iago (“Othello”).
The dance duet and its highest form, pas de deux, existed as early as the 18th-19th centuries, when ballet performances were created by such famous masters as Dauberval, Didelot, Bournonville, Perrault, Petipa. Needless to say, in more than a hundred and fifty years, the dance technique, the dramatic structure of the duet, and the acting performance have changed. However, the laws of effectiveness, expressiveness, spirituality, discovered back in the 18th century, have not become outdated to this day.
In the second half of the 19th century, the outstanding choreographer Marius Petipa worked. His productions are masterpieces of choreographer's talent, inexhaustible plastic fantasy - they are inexhaustible founts of support in duet dance. Petipa, who composed dozens of ballets, can safely be considered a teacher of choreographers of our time.
Fyodor Lopukhov, a remarkable choreographer of the 20th century, like no one else, knew, protected and preserved his legacy. And when Lopukhov had to restore, and sometimes rearrange and add (revealing musical notes) individual dances and scenes in Petipa's ballets, it was difficult to distinguish the handwriting of the choreographer of the new era from the handwriting of the author. This is how Lopukhov created variations of Aurora and the Lilac Fairy in the ballet Sleeping Beauty. If Lopukhov decided on amendments, made changes to the performance, then in all this there was a sense of proportion, a thorough knowledge of the ballet, for the restoration of which he undertook. Here he was undoubtedly helped by a huge culture and professional memory.
After the Great October Socialist Revolution, a new audience fills the theater. Life itself dictates to the choreographer other dance forms, another language of plasticity, a new content of the choreographic performance.
Lopukhov was a bold reformer, he was always distinguished by an intense search, bold plans. Not all of them were successful, but much created by the choreographer is still the same manual in the field of modern dance for young choreographers as the creative heritage of past centuries.
In the duet dance, elements of gymnastic and even acrobatic movements appear. The Ice Maiden, The Nutcracker staged by Lopukhov, The Red Poppy and others required special dexterity, strength, courage, and risk from the performers. At that time, acrobatic teachers were invited for artists - the leap from traditional classical choreography to a new one was very great. A real revolution in the ballet theater.
In the 1920s and 1930s, in rehearsal halls, artists did “wheels”, somersaults, fore-sprungs, stood up on their hands, stretched into splits.
Many elements of today's modern dance were born in our country as a requirement of that turbulent time. The art of ballet searched, often made mistakes, but nevertheless came to new forms and plastic means of expression.
How many fruits we still collect, enriched by the creative experience of those years...
Learning the basics of support in elementary grades is one thing, but in the final grade it is already necessary to say that a duet is the harmony of two performers, their complete merging with music. Indeed, in ballet, music determines the character of the image created by the artist, suggests the necessary “intonation” of movements, positions, and poses. At the final stage of training, the duet should find the desired harmony, and the partners should become inspired artists.
A few words about pas de deux. This is a five-part form, consisting of entre, adagio, variations - male and female, coda. Pas de deux is distinguished, as a rule, by a complex kaleidoscope of dance movements, ingenuity of supports. To this day, artists can brilliantly demonstrate their ballet technique in pas de deux from Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda, La Bayadère, Don Quixote.
A duet in the modern sense is a dance filled with meaning and feeling, sometimes it is an important plot link that moves the action of the performance. Its musical form in most cases is adagio. Depending on the imagination of the choreographer and his idea, duets often abound in complex lifts, sometimes ground, and sometimes airy. Here it is necessary to name the duet of Asak and the Ice Maiden (“Ice Maiden”), the scene on the balcony (“Romeo and Juliet”), the duets of Laurencia and Commander (“Laurencia”), the Mistress of the Copper Mountain and Danila (“Stone Flower”), Mekhmene Banu and Ferhad, Shirin and Ferhad (“Legend of Love”), Phrygia and Spartak (“Spartacus”) and a number of others.
Beautiful duets can also be seen in concert programs. These are choreographic miniatures by K. Goleizovsky, L. Yakobson, G. Aleksidze, B. Eifman... They are imbued with a poetic mood, expressive with the beauty of plastic drawing. It is no coincidence that many of these performances have survived on various stages for decades. They almost always have virtuoso elements of support, but for performers who are deprived of acting skills, they lose all meaning, they turn into mere gymnastic exercises.
In recent years, duets have appeared without a single support. Previously, they met at Bournonville and Didelot, and Yu. Grigorovich revived them in the ballet "The Legend of Love" (duet of Shirin and Ferkhad from the first act). Here it is perceived as a superbly found technique. Shirin and Ferhad dance without touching each other, and this has a deep meaning: they seem to be afraid to frighten away a huge feeling that has just arisen in their hearts. This is a declaration of love, uttered "in an undertone." And all the more striking is their duet in the second act, where the characters are already talking about their love “out loud”. It is built on the most complex supports, the dancers' hands are whimsically intertwined, and nothing seems to be able to separate these two people.
From the moment when students begin to work with excerpts from performances or concert duets, naturally, one must demand from them an actor's understanding of the task.
In duets and pas de deux, not only technical staging and coherence are needed. The dancer must know the partner's hand, believe in her strength, sensitivity, dexterity, trust her; the ballerina must feel the mood of her partner at every moment of stage life, quickly respond to any of his "remarks", to unexpected nuances that are instantly born in a fit of inspiration.
I remember such duets filled with genuine harmony. E. Luke - B. Shav-rov, O. Mungalova - P. Gusev, G. Ulanova - K. Sergeev, A. Osipenko - D. Markovsky ... What was especially characteristic of them? It is not so easy to answer this. Technical consistency? Certainly. But many dance harmoniously, but there is still no duet. Probably, the main thing here is the unified inner mood of the actors, the unified tempo and rhythm, the unified understanding of music, the similarity of temperaments, the ratio of external data.
Luc, let's say, had a huge fantasy and intuition, she was infected, as it were, from herself and helped her partner a lot with her artistic fullness.
In the dance, she constantly appeared more and more new "intonations". When Luke "fish" threw herself into Shavrov's hands, it was not at all just a spectacular acrobatic stunt. In the throw, her soul trembled, there was a desire to reach her beloved hands as soon as possible, a desire to unite. And the audience did not applaud the stunt, but the flight, "full of soul."
Thus, especially in the last grade, the internal contact of students in communicating with each other is very important.
How many shades can be in the simplest movement - running to a partner. If it is a bravura, cheerful waltz, the student runs to the student in order to jump into his arms. In her emotional message, in her rapid run, in her outstretched hands, finally, joy should be reflected on her face - the joy of a welcome meeting.
But another task has been set: she runs in desperation. And then her hands and face will look completely different, and the partner she rushes to will wait for her in a different way. Depending on the internal state, running is emotionally colored in different ways. So, it must always be meaningful and justified. At the same time, of course, the technique of running and jumping remains unchanged. A. Ya. Vaganova insisted: "Running is the same dance."
The student approaches the student and stands in the attitude effacée position, taking his hand, then makes rounds. When this movement is studied in the first two grades as purely technical, it is difficult to demand special expressiveness and freedom of behavior from students, but if this movement is woven into the adagio from the Swan Lake ballet, then the approach to the student before the rounds should already have a certain coloring, mood. Speaking of tours: you can “twist” them with support up to ten, and they will not be spectacular and expressive if they are done with tension, outside the music, while three flawless tours, performed with brilliance, ease, without long préparation and with a stop exactly to the music, can make a big impression.
We often see very complex movements on the stages of our ballet theaters. We are amazed, surprised, we say: what the human body is only capable of, its possibilities have no limits. Right. But art should cause not only surprise - it should cause delight.
This is why students should be constantly reminded that they are preparing to be actors, not artisans.
In duet dance, as in the art of ballet in general, music plays a leading role. In the graduating class, the teacher, before studying this or that passage from the play, explains to the students the essence of the work, and they no longer perform the movements mechanically, but try to understand the meaning of the fragment, dictated by the peculiarities of musical dramaturgy.
It is important to teach dance not only to music, but also to “music itself” at school, from elementary grades, in all special disciplines. Then in the future the pianists, and later the conductors, will not have to "adjust" to the rhythm and tempo of the dancers.
Of great importance is the professional and ethical behavior of a student when she studies the subject "Support in a duet dance." She should be an assistant to the student, freeing him, as far as possible, from excessive physical exertion. In any position: on the hands, on the shoulders, on the chest of the student - she always needs to partially unload him from her weight. To do this, her muscles must be extremely collected and tightened, and her condition must be such that she is all directed upwards, into the air.
The student always needs to take care of the student's physical well-being also because after performing difficult lifts in adagio, he often immediately has to dance a variation.
There were cases when students with a fairly large weight, knowing how to properly “collect” their body during support, looked more graceful than students who weighed much less. The student's loose body rests like a heavy load on the student's shoulders, spine, and knees. The same applies to ground lifts: strokes in different poses, preparations for tours, etc.
The physical costs of students are enormous. Teachers need to remember this and treat students with particular care, given that the beginning of the study of the subject
"Support in duet dance" coincides with their physical formation. It is important and correct to adjust the load mode of the student - the future ballet dancer. An exorbitant number of rehearsals and performances, as well as a long downtime in work, adversely affects the muscles and ligaments. In ballet, a strict regimen and an exact distribution of forces must be observed.
I must say that the accuracy and at the same time the accessibility of the presentation of the subject "Support in a duet dance" is a significant difficulty. And because the language of the book is sometimes conditional and specific. Since the main contingent of readers will undoubtedly be ballet practitioners, we sometimes allow terms that have become firmly established in their everyday life. Forgive us for this stylists.
This textbook was created on the basis of teaching methods developed over the years at the Leningrad Academic Choreographic School named after Professor A. Ya. Vaganova. The author summarized what was found by his predecessors and colleagues, and also used his own rich experience as an artist and teacher.
Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR N. N. Serebrennikov performed with the leading dancers of the Leningrad Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after S. M. Kirov, and his art of support has always been distinguished by refined skill and sensitivity to a partner.
The textbook has stood the test of time. It is published for the third time in our country, has received recognition abroad and has already been translated into the GDR, Czechoslovakia, England and the USA.
Far from everything has been written about the duet dance. The history of its development deserves a detailed analysis, it is necessary to tell in detail about its place in a modern ballet performance, about improving the teaching of duet dance in schools and at the choreographic departments of universities, and much more.
The subject "Duet-classical dance" is one of the main special disciplines in choreographic education. In the process of learning, students master the technique of support, acquire the skills of stage communication. With the gradual complication of educational sketches, they eventually move on to the study of a number of dance duets from performances of the classical heritage and modern repertoire.
The Leningrad Academic Choreographic School named after A. Ya. Vaganova has accumulated considerable experience in teaching this subject, which should become the property of young teachers, ballet masters, heads of ballet studios, ballet dancers and students of choreographic schools.
Several generations of teachers of the oldest school participated in the development of the duet dance methodology: P. A. Gerdt, S. G. and N. G. Legats, S. K. Andrianov, L. S. Leontiev, V. I. Ponomarev, B. V. Shavrov, P. A. Gusev, A. I. Pushkin, A. A. Pisarev and many others. Each of them raised masters of the dance duet and teachers-followers.
Modern choreographers are developing duet dance: in search of new means of expression, acrobatic support techniques are used; in ballet performances, duets today carry a great semantic load. However, it should be taken into account that not every innovation created by a choreographer can be used in the educational process. It is necessary to make a selection and carefully weigh whether this or that technique is suitable as a training one.
The author took the trouble to explain the support technique in the duet dance, describe the exercises, give general methodological instructions and practical advice, use examples of lessons to determine the tasks of the teacher for each half year of the three-year training period.
The exercises (exercises) included in the proposed book are distributed according to the degree of difficulty and according to the classification of support techniques. Instructor in accordance with the course program,
i.e. years of study, selects the necessary elements and, varying them to the utmost, includes them in the educational process.
The book is divided into three parts: the first part includes ground support techniques, the second - aerial support techniques, the third gives examples of lessons for each year of study.
The book does not explain how a student should perform the various pas of classical dance, because this would make it difficult to describe and understand the subject. However, a duet dance teacher should know well the methodology of female classical dance and be able to professionally correct the student. He can get all the information in the textbooks on classical dance by A. Ya. Vaganova, N. P. Bazarova and V. P. Mei, V. S. Kostrovitskaya and A. A. Pisarev and others.
In this, the third edition of the textbook, the author made some corrections, made additions to the section "General questions of methodology and practical advice", gave an example of the first lesson, increased the number of photographs and line drawings illustrating the text and explaining the goals and objectives of the duet dance teacher. In the Afterword, the author touches upon a number of problems related to the further improvement of the teaching of duet-classical dance and the aesthetic education of future ballet dancers.
Much more needs to be written about how acting communication is gradually brought up, how contact is developed in a duet dance. This is a special task and it must be solved as soon as possible.
In conclusion, I would like to thank everyone who helped me with the work on the textbook. I express my special gratitude to T. M. Vecheslova, who took on the hard work of a special editor.
With great respect and love, I dedicate this book to the blessed memory of Boris Vasilyevich Shavrov, my teacher, mentor and consultant.
GENERAL PROCEDURES AND PRACTICAL ADVICE
The subject "Duet-classical dance" is studied in the last three classes of the choreographic school in full accordance with the program of women's classical dance.
Classes are held twice a week for two academic hours in all three courses. The successful mastering of duet dance depends on the degree of preparedness of the students in classical dance. All actions of the partner, all his techniques are designed for the correct form of poses and positions of the partner, established in classical dance. Therefore, if in the educational or rehearsal process any technique of support fails, it is necessary first of all to carefully monitor and check all the movements of the partner and, after making sure that her actions are correct, look for a mistake from the partner.
Before the lesson, a short warm-up should be carried out, since students come to the lesson after general education subjects with “unheated” muscles and ligaments. A few exercises from the classic exercise (relevé on the fingers, port de bras, running, etc.) will bring them into a state of readiness for work. This must be taught from the first grade, this is where professionalism begins. Warm-up should be accompanied by music.
Students who begin to study support in a duet dance should be told about the semantic load of a duet in a ballet performance, about creative contact and a sense of mutual tempo of partners in support, about the technique and forms of dance with supports, that is, a trio, quartet, quintet, etc., about the era and style of those excerpts from ballets that are provided for in the program.
It is not necessary to study completely duets, trios, quartets *,
* This is the task of the special subject "Dance Literature". Its program provides for the study of the best examples of female and male solo variations, duets, trios, quartets of classical heritage and modern choreography. Unfortunately, this subject is not taught in ballet schools at the present time. (Author's note.)
it is important to choose the most difficult supports from them, explain the technique of their execution and practically study them.
In ballet performances, one can often see how several partners lift one dancer, or one lifts and throws it into the arms of another, etc., etc. Group lifts require great coordination in the actions of all performers, and therefore they need to be carefully rehearsed.
The skills acquired by partners in duet dance supports are also extremely important in group lifts and throws, such as: a sense of mutual tempo, coordination of efforts, dexterity, the ability to quickly find one of the partners in moments of creative improvisation, etc.
The duet dance program does not include group support. However, in the senior class, it is necessary to introduce students to group supports that will be encountered in their stage practice.
Ground support in terms of technique and variety is much more difficult than air support. In the educational process, it is absorbed much more difficult and slower. Often, students do not attach serious importance to ground lifts, but tend to move on to the study of complex lifts and air throws as soon as possible. The instructor needs to explain the complexity of ground support with practical examples and require special attention when studying this section, since successful mastering of it will facilitate and speed up the process of learning air support.
During all three years of study, it is recommended to change partners at each lesson, that is, not to create certain pairs. This contributes to the development of dexterity, resourcefulness, a sense of mutual pace, the ability to navigate and quickly adapt in each individual case.
In the first year of study, the teacher arranges students, regardless of weight and height, since during this period the methods of partner support are studied.
In the second and third years of study, the placement of students requires a particularly careful approach, because each of them, in addition to physical abilities, develop individual skills: dexterity, resourcefulness, sensitivity. Depending on this, they master support techniques better or worse.
In pedagogical practice, such an arrangement of students gives good results when the strongest student is placed with a weak student and vice versa. In these cases, helping each other, they rather master the technique of receptions. However, the possibility of placing partners with equal abilities is not ruled out.
The first year is especially difficult for female students, as the movements are studied at a very slow pace and the supporting leg on the fingers gets very tired. Therefore, the dance combination should be short, and the physical load should be distributed equally.
measured on both feet of the student. It is recommended to repeat the combination no more than two or three times in a row.
In one lesson (double) freely fit: three or four adagios of 16 measures, two or three jump combinations in allegro tempo and one combination built on various types of pas balansé, pas de basque, pas chasse.
From the first lessons, it is necessary to strictly monitor the posture of the student. His poses should be harmoniously combined with the poses of the student to be sculptural and expressive. It should be ensured that the partner's hands during any supports move plastically, without fussiness.
In stage practice, a partner, when performing complex support elements, as a rule, forgets to follow the aesthetics of his postures and positions.
The physical activity of students and their placement in the lesson largely depend on the teacher. A. Ya. Vaganova in the book “Fundamentals of Classical Dance” expresses her point of view: “If a given class or group of dancers is overworked, if I know that they are loaded with work, sometimes for two weeks I give only light work in the lesson and lead the students very carefully. But then - some kind of relief, less work or some event shook up energy, you feel the possibility of more energetic efforts, then the lessons become tense, you use the time and saturate them with difficulties in a short time. In a word, one must be very sensitive to the conditions of work, so as not to turn the benefit of the lesson into harm. If a program is dictated to me, I would like not only to fulfill it, but also to surpass it. Nevertheless, my duty is to take into account the workload of my students and not tear myself away from life.
It is not always necessary to repeat the combination shown in the previous lesson. No need to memorize the movements in a certain sequence. Each time it is necessary to put students in new conditions (sometimes obviously uncomfortable), in order to develop in them a sense of dexterity, the ability to adapt to various situations.
An etude borrowed from another teacher can be studied in the classroom only with the obligatory consideration of the general preparedness of the students.
The combination should be shown no more than twice, so that students do not weaken their attention, acquire a professional skill to quickly memorize the proposed choreography.
When studying air lifts, the teacher should be especially careful with young students, given that the beginning of duet dance lessons coincides with their physical formation. Pupils weighing more than fifty kilograms should not be allowed to perform difficult air climbs. However, there is an exception: a student exceeds the protective weight, but she is fluent in the technique of solo classical dance, has
sense of pace and all the qualities of a leading dancer. In this case, if there is a partner in the class that corresponds to her weight and height, she can be allowed to perform complex lifts at the discretion of the teacher.
An insufficient number of young men in the class, as a rule, makes it difficult to complete the program, in such cases the school management invites young ballet dancers.
In the third year of study, it is necessary to conduct duet dance lessons in packs at least once a month. This is necessary when studying fragments from ballets of the classical heritage, since the costume obliges partners to a certain behavior in a duet and somewhat changes the conditions of support.
Men's shoes with a small heel are comfortable for the partner in all respects: the foot is in the usual position, its arch is more elevated and the support area is wider, the heel slightly increases the partner's height and thus creates an advantageous stage ratio of partners.
But in stage practice, especially in duets of the classical heritage (pas de deux), the partner is always in soft classic shoes, since after the adagio the male variation follows. Therefore, in the process of learning, partners need to be in soft dance shoes for more lessons.
Students should not have pins, hairpins, belts with sharp buckles, etc. in their costumes, because these items during supports can lead to injuries.
Professor A. Ya. Vaganova sometimes entrusted the students of the graduating class with conducting a lesson in classical dance under her direct supervision. Taking on the duties of a teacher, students acquire the ability to compose dance combinations, select movements in a logical sequence, create a choreographic pattern in accordance with the music, see the mistakes of their comrades, methodically analyze and correct them.
This pedagogical technique should also be practiced by teachers of duet-classical dance.
The ability to analyze the technique of one's own dance or another performer is a very important professional quality of a ballet dancer.
It is useful to offer one student to correct the mistake made by another. This will focus the student's attention, make him think, strengthen theoretical knowledge.
Students should know and be able to explain the technique of performing any support technique. Therefore, at the duet dance exam in the senior class, it is legitimate to ask students questions about the methodology.
Stage practice is often ahead of the classroom curriculum in terms of technical complexity. The teacher-tutor has to explain to the students the support method that was not covered in the lesson,
and if the explanation is inaccurate, then the technique is learned incorrectly, purity and ease of execution are violated, physical activity becomes more difficult, and excessive repetition leads students to injuries. Therefore, mutual creative contact between a tutor and a duet dance teacher is essential.
Sometimes a student, being in her partner's arms, seeks to relieve his tension, relaxes her body, violates the desired position-posture, tries to return to the floor as soon as possible, grabs his arms and shoulders. By this, it prevents the partner from performing the support technique, it becomes uncomfortable and more difficult. It is necessary to explain to the students that only a tense body will be lighter and more comfortable, that they must always strictly fulfill the task, maintain the form of classical dance, and completely trust the partner.
In pedagogical practice, there are cases when a student is afraid of the simplest air supports. The feeling of fear in a duet dance is unacceptable. Fear is also dangerous because it is transmitted to others. The teacher must take action at its first manifestation. Fear is a psychological factor, and therefore it is necessary to fight it with suggestion. It is necessary to convince the student, using the example of other students, that she will be able to perform support, that her partner will not drop her if she does everything as required, to convince her of a logical sequence of movements, of the safety of support, and be sure to secure the execution.
There are cases of failure of support, even dangerous ones, when both partners are in a state of fear and confusion. In this case, you must act very quickly: indicate the cause of the breakdown, that is, the mistakes made, immediately force the support to be repeated and be ready to prevent a possible breakdown. The support should be repeated several times so that the students gain confidence and overcome the feeling of fear.
The ballet theater is constantly looking for means of expression, new forms of dance are being born, the performances of the classical heritage and the musical dramaturgy of symphonic works are read in a different way. A successful experiment enriches the vocabulary of choreographic art, complements the programs of special disciplines of ballet schools.
Each teacher must follow new productions, carefully analyze them and select as educational material that which contributes to the acquisition of technical skills and serves to develop the artistic taste of future ballet dancers.
Acrobatic support has long appeared on the ballet scene. Choreographers use it as a means of expression, helping to reveal the characters of the characters, to understand their relationship, to delve into the content of the duet and the performance in
in general. In a duet, you need to carefully hide the support technique from the eyes of the viewer. He should not see the tension of the performers, as this prevents him from "reading" the content of the dialogue composed by the choreographer.
In the third year of study, it is important to introduce students to new supports from modern duets. Teachers are offered a choice of several line drawings and photographs depicting such supports that can be used in the educational process. For the sake of brevity, methodological explanations for figures and photographs are not given. A duet dance teacher can easily determine which group of techniques the support depicted in the figure or photograph belongs to, will be able to explain to students the technique of its performance and prevent a possible breakdown. The most difficult acrobatic lifts are studied optionally.
At the first attempts of stage communication in the lesson, students often experience false constraint, which fetters their movements, deprives them of the naturalness of their behavior and prevents them from performing the acting task. How to help children overcome shyness, constraint? First of all, the teacher needs to create a special creative environment in the classroom, require maximum concentration and attention, explain the purpose and task of etudes with elements of stage communication, select high-quality musical material and compose an etude in full accordance with the music. Music should be chosen that is understandable to students, defined by mood and content. The technical complexity of support techniques should not interfere with the performance of the actor's task. All the techniques included in the study should be well mastered by students in previous lessons. The etude is studied by the whole class, and performed by each pair separately.
In solving acting tasks, it is necessary to encourage the creative initiative of students in every possible way, to reveal the individuality of each, not to be allowed to copy each other and not to insist on pedagogical editing. Success here depends on the approach to students, on the tact and experience of the teacher.
In the second and third years of study, when studying excerpts from ballets or concert numbers, it is necessary to strictly preserve the author's intention, musical and choreographic version of the proposed fragment. The tasks of stage communication in the classroom are gradually becoming more difficult. The teacher should keep in mind that excessive interest in etudes may prevent the class from mastering the techniques included in the compulsory program.
Particular attention should be paid to the musical accompaniment of the lesson. From the beginning of training, when studying the simplest elements of support, students must perform all movements in accordance with the music. With each lesson, support techniques become more complicated, the duration and speed of the dance increase.
volley combinations-exercises, in etudes a certain mood is required, and sometimes not a very difficult acting task. An accompanist, helping a teacher, should offer emotionally rich music. The professional performance of a piece of music or improvisation creates a creative atmosphere in the classroom, helps students to correctly understand the tasks assigned to them, and, finally, contributes to the formation of artistic taste.
Improvisational musical accompaniment is convenient when studying various techniques of duet dance.
The musical material will allow the teacher to compose a dance sketch in advance, before the lesson, and when repeated, it will exclude the appearance of new nuances born by the accompanist.
The musical meter, that is, the speed of performance, is determined by the teacher in the lesson, and the experienced accompanist can choose the musical size at his discretion.
Premature acceleration of the pace does not benefit the students, but harms them.
Musical education starts from the first grades. It is necessary to teach the future ballet dancer to listen to music, to understand and feel it, to respond plastically to every musical nuance, as they say, "to dance the music itself." This can only be achieved through the combined efforts of all teachers of special disciplines in close collaboration with accompanists.
Any pose of classical dance, like a musical sound, can be given an infinite number of different shades by the performer. In the second and third years, it is necessary to offer students etudes, in which they would learn to convey their perception of music in a plastic way, revealing their individuality. It is very important at the same time that both partners act in a single plastic key, creatively help each other, sensitively listening to the music.
The teacher must prepare musical material and choreography in advance, before the lesson, taking into account the abilities and capabilities of this class. Both the music and the plastic solution should, of course, be available. It is necessary to explain the task well, to create a creative environment so that students do not feel false constraint, constraint, "tightness". It is necessary to give them the opportunity to freely improvise, to find various nuances in stage communication with a partner, to encourage the most successful finds in every possible way, but it is strictly forbidden to copy each other and act not in music. It is very useful to offer sketches in some national character.
The most important task of a duet-classical dance teacher in the process of teaching support techniques is to educate students on convincing examples of the past and present of a sense of plastic beauty, an understanding of the aesthetics of ballet art.
Today marks the 75th anniversary of the birth of the great ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev.
Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev in a scene from the ballet "Raymonda"
Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov - Intermission from the ballet "Raymonda"
The ballet couple Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn is one of the most interesting couples in the history of ballet. They successfully danced together for more than fifteen years, despite the big difference in age - Margot was almost twenty years older than Rudolf.
Ballet is an art that not everyone can master, which is why there are few outstanding dancers, and there are simply very few real duets. Experts say about the secret of the legendary duet Fontaine-Nureyev that it was a partnership-rivalry - each performed at the limit of his strength, which did not give the other partner the slightest opportunity to perform weaker.
Before meeting Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn was already a celebrity, she was forty-two years old and was thinking about ending her ballet career. But the meeting with a young dancer from Russia gave a new impetus to the continuation of her happy ballet life. A young and unusually talented partner did not give the opportunity to relax, so the famous ballerina had to match his youth and inexhaustible energy. She met Rudolf Nureyev in 1961 - he came to London for a charity concert organized by her in favor of the Royal Academy of Dance. After a personal meeting, they decided to try dancing together.
Their first joint production was the ballet "Giselle", this performance was an enchanting success. When Nureyev and Fonteyn came out to bow, they were greeted with an unprecedented standing ovation.
In addition to a long-term dance partnership, Margot and Rudolf shared a touching friendship. When Margot died of cancer at the end of her life, Rudolph secretly paid her hospital bills, which later surprised his acquaintances, since they knew him as a rare miser. Some biographers of this ballet couple attribute a love affair to them, but there was no connection. There are many reasons for this: Nureyev’s non-traditional sexual orientation, and the age difference, and the fact that Margo loved her husband, despite all the troubles that he caused her, and the fact that she was a man of duty, and this, first of all, in itself would become an obstacle to the development of the novel, even if there were no other objective reasons. It's just that these people were connected by a common cause and kinship of souls, souls who wholeheartedly loved ballet and faithfully served it.
Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev in Les Sylphides, Waltz No. 7
Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev - Waltz N7 from the ballet "La Sylphides" to the music of Frederic Chopin, another name for the ballet "Chopiniana"
Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev, known throughout the world as Nureyev, born March 17, 1938 - Soviet and British ballet dancer, choreographer. He was born on a train bound for Vladivostok, between Irkutsk and Slyudyanka, where his mother was on her way to the duty station of her husband, father Rudolf, a military political officer.
Rudolf began to dance in a children's folklore ensemble in Ufa. His father did not approve of dancing, considering it an unmanly occupation.
In 1955, Rudolf Nureyev entered the Leningrad Choreographic School.
After graduating from college in 1958, Nureyev was accepted as a soloist in the ballet of the Leningrad Theater named after Sergei Mironovich Kirov (currently the Mariinsky Theater). Prior to this, only two dancers had received such an honor: Mikhail Fokin and Vatslav Nijinsky. Usually graduates of the school began their ballet career in the corps de ballet of the theater.
On June 16, 1961, while on tour with the theater in Paris, Rudolf Nureyev refused to return to the USSR, thus becoming the first Soviet ballet dancer who did not return to his homeland.
Nureyev soon began working with the Royal Ballet in London and quickly became an international celebrity.
For more than fifteen years he was the star of the London Royal Ballet and was the constant partner of the great English ballerina Margot Fontaine. This partnership played a huge role in his artistic and ballet master's career.
Nureyev has performed all over the world (in Europe, USA, Japan, Australia), while he always had a very intense schedule. So, for example, in 1975 the number of his performances reached three hundred.
From 1983 to 1989, Nureyev was the director of the ballet company of the Paris Grand Opera.
Rudolf Nureyev participated in classical and modern productions, acted in films and on television, staged classical ballets.
He starred in 2 feature films as a dramatic actor. One of these films is "Valentino", which was a great success with Western audiences.
In the last years of his life, Rudolf Nureyev also tried himself as a conductor.
In addition to Nureyev's personal contribution as a dancer to the history of ballet, he is considered to be an innovator in the field of ballet art in relation to the role of male dancers - he changed the role of a dancer in classical ballet from a secondary one in a ballet performance compared to a ballerina to an equivalent one.
On January 6, 1993, the great dancer died near Paris as a result of AIDS.
Rudolf Nureyev is buried in the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois near Paris, not far from the graves of the famous Russian and French dancer Serge Lifar and Andrei Tarkovsky.
The author of this monument, made in the technique of mosaic in the form of an oriental carpet, is a famous Italian artist and architect
Ezio Frigerio. The artist chose such an unusual form in order to emphasize the origin of Nureyev and his love for oriental luxury.
Rudolf Nureyev in his house on his island. Old ceramic tiles on the walls. Rudolf bought it in Spain - he selected it and loaded it onto a truck with which he came to the antique dealer. She cost him fabulously expensive - several tens of thousands of dollars, since she also had to pay a large customs duty for it.
It is also interesting that this tile is floor, and Nureyev lined the walls with it. His good friend, who helped him in the search and purchase of this tile, dissuaded him from decorating the walls with it, but the stubborn artist did it his own way, although he later admitted that it was a mistaken decision.
Shot from the movie "Valentino"
Stolen Immortality - an investigative documentary film dedicated to the search for the multimillion-dollar legacy of Rudolf Nureyev
I will allow myself to moralize a little on the topic to which this film is dedicated. Life shows that to make sure that the money acquired by a person would be spent after his death for good deeds, you need to do everything possible for this while still alive, and not entrust this matter to the devil knows who, even if these figures call themselves lawyers and sirs.
This could well have been done, at least in terms of scholarships for young ballet dancers. After all, as much money as Nureyev earned during his ballet career is completely useless to one person - such unhealthy desires arise as the acquisition of islands and the storage of antiques. And then, after death, all this goes to dust and falls into the wrong hands. It would be better if he divided his inheritance between relatives and instructed them to organize a museum in memory of Rudolf Nureyev on the island that belonged to him. They would most likely fulfill his will, if only as a sign of gratitude and the opportunity to bask in the rays of his glory.
Rudolf Nureyev and Eric Brun. Eric Brun (1928-1986) - Danish dancer and classical dance teacher who played a large role in the creative and personal life of Rudolf Nureyev.
Erik Belton Evers Bruhn was born in Copenhagen, where he studied ballet from the age of nine at the school of the Royal Danish Ballet. At the age of eighteen, Eric Brun was accepted into the ballet troupe of the Royal Danish Ballet, and two years later he became its soloist. The most famous are his roles in the performances "La Sylphide", "Giselle", "Swan Lake".
Eric Brun was director of the Swedish Opera Ballet (Sweden) from 1967 to 1973 and the National Ballet of Canada (Canada) from 1983 to 1986.
Eric Brun died in 1986 from lung cancer.
Rudolf Nureyev met Eric Brun during his tour of Denmark. Brun was the closest friend and patron of Rudolf Nureyev for many years.
Rudolf Nureyev and Eric Brun
"Valentino" - feature film (UK - USA) (1977)
Starring Rudolf Nureyev
This film smells of Americanism a mile away, but it is curious that Nureyev here acts as a dramatic actor, and if he dances, then not classical, but ballroom dancing.
The Royal Box - a fragment of a television program dedicated to the exhibition "Rudolf Nureyev. Threads of Time" - 10/15/2010
Rudolf Nureyev (1991) - Documentary
"How the idols left. Rudolf Nureyev" - a documentary about Rudolf Nureyev
"Contract with Death" - a documentary about Rudolf Nureyev
Dame Margot Fontaine, nee Margaret Hookem, born May 18, 1919 in Reigate (UK) is an outstanding English ballerina.
Margot Fonteyn began ballet at the age of five with Grace Bosustow and continued to take lessons from various teachers, including Olga Preobrazhenskaya and Matilda Kshesinskaya.
At the age of 15, she entered the Royal School of Ballet in London.
Fonteyn made her stage debut in 1934 and was immediately liked by the public and critics for the amazing plasticity of the dance.
In 1939 she began collaborating with the choreographer Frederick Ashton, who composed for her such productions as Daphnis and Chloe, Sylvia and Ondine.
Margo toured extensively around the world, leaving the stage in the late seventies.
In 1955, Margot Fonteyn married the Panamanian ambassador to London, Tito de Arias.
In 1965, Arias was the victim of an assassination attempt and remained paralyzed for the rest of his life, and Margot devotedly looked after him until the end of his days. Her husband's serious illness required a lot of money, so Margot was forced to dance until she was almost sixty years old, overcoming joint pains. Each appearance on the stage became a feat for her. But even the big money she earned was not enough for the necessary medical expenses, so at the end of her life, being seriously ill herself, she was constantly in need of money.
In 1954, Fonteyn was made a Dame Grand Cross.
From 1981 to 1990 she was the honorary chancellor of Durham University.
In 1989, she starred in the biographical film The Margot Fonteyn Story.
Margot Fontaine spent the last years of her life on her farm in Panama. She passed away from cancer on February 21, 1991. At her request, she was buried in the same grave with her husband Tito, whom she survived by two years.
Margot Fontaine - a noble lady in life and on stage
Margo Fontaine - a documentary film in 3 parts (UK) dedicated to an outstanding ballerina
Margot Fontaine and Rudolf Nureyev - An Evening with the Royal Ballet (1963)
Film-ballet to music by Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev "Romeo and Juliet" (1966)
Juliet Part - Margot Fontaine
Romeo part - Rudolf Nureyev
"Swan Lake" staged by the Vienna State Opera (1966)
Choreography and staging by Rudolf Nureyev
Part of Odette-Odile - Margot Fontaine
Part of Prince Siegfried - Rudolf Nureyev
The ballet "Swan Lake" is a special one in the career of Rudolf Nureyev. Nureyev performed the role of Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake with great success during the legendary Paris tour of the Kirov Theater in June 1961, after which he remained in Paris.
Later, Nureyev created his own version of the ballet for the Vienna State Opera, where he and Margot Fonteyn performed the main parts. It is this version of the ballet that is presented in the proposed film.
In the Guinness Book of Records, one can find evidence of the huge success of this ballet: at the 1964 performance, Nureyev and Fonteyn were called to the curtain 89 times - no one has been able to repeat this record so far.
Margot Fontaine and Rudolf Nureyev in a scene from the ballet "Swan Lake"
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Grand Waltz from the ballet "Swan Lake"
VARIETY OF SMALL ENSEMBLES.
Classification of small forms
Small forms of choreographic ensembles are considered to be:
3. Quartet.
4. Quintet.
Duet
There are two main forms of duet dance:
2. Choreographic duet.
The choreographic duet today is an independent work of art, pas de deux - a dance action within a ballet performance.
pas de deux- five-part dance form. Traditionally, it is part of a ballet performance, but there are examples of independent, so-called. divertissement productions in the form of pas de deux.
pas de deux structure:
1. Entry - the introductory part, where both performers appear on the stage.
2. Adagio - a duet dance of a lyrical nature.
3. Male variation - solo dance of the performer.
4. Female variation - solo dance of the performer.
5. The coda is the culminating part of the whole form, where the performers demonstrate the virtuosity of the technically complex solo dance pas. This part, as a rule, ends with a duet episode, which is difficult in terms of technique.
Choreographic duet- the performance of dance parts by two dancers, during which the personal relationship of the main characters, their feelings, thoughts are revealed, filled with a plot link, which is the main idea of the ballet performance. In a duet, communication takes place, but not in the usual language, but in the language of choreography: through movements, postures, gestures, facial expressions. The general content of the entire production is determined precisely through the attitude of the performers to each other in a duet dance.
Duet dance, in turn, is divided into:
"Duet"
"dance of a woman and a man";
"dance-dialogue".
"Duet"- a dance performed by two dancers or dancers, which is the simplest form of a small choreographic production. Their compositional-lexical structure usually looks like a dance "in unison". But it happens that it is necessary to build these duets according to the principle of "mirror reflection".
"Dance of a woman and a man" created on a specific topic: love or hate, joy or sadness, etc. The two characters in this case express their feelings and relationships in the dance.
"Dance-dialogue" is the highest form of duet dance. Here, each partner, through individual plasticity, leads his own theme, which carries thought and feeling. Duets in the form of an effective dialogue are an essential part of a ballet performance. But it should be noted that the term has not been fixed in ballet usage, this is due to the fact that there is a moment of communication between the characters in every duet, for example, Phrygia and Spartacus, Giselle and Albert, etc. Communication, relationship with a partner is a single element in a duet with dialogue.
Trio
Just like a duet dance, it has two main forms of existence:
1. Pas de trois.
pas de trois- "dance of three" - one of the varieties of the classical ensemble, including the dance of three soloists. The compositional basis is pas de deux with an additional dancer performing her variation between the adagio and the dancer's variation.
Like other small forms, pas de trois has a canonical structure:
1. Introduction (entre).
2. Adagio.
3. Variations of each of the participants.
4. Common code.
Trio- dance form, presented in the form of a dance of three performers. Usually has a freer plasticity and variety in movements, not closed by the canons of classical ballet.
It can be in four versions:
two women's parties and one men's party;
three women's parties;
Two men's and one women's;
· three men's parties.
Quartet
pas de quatre- translated from French "quatre" - "four". The term was established by the 19th century. This dance form entered ballet along with pas de deux and pas de trois.
The construction of pas de quatre was largely built on the principle of pas de deux, preserving the entire structure:
2. Variations of four dancers.
Pas de quatre can be both divertissement (pure) and effective (plot). In addition to the canonical structure, there are other forms of building pas de quatre, for example, "Dance of the Little Swans" in P.I. Tchaikovsky "Swan Lake"
choreographic quartet. In the 20th century, this kind of small choreographic form is transformed into choreographic quartets. Their structure becomes more different, freer in the variational sense. This is also due to the fact that the possibilities for composing dances for four dancers are very significant: for four women, for four men, two men and two women, three men and one woman, three women and one man.
Pas de quatre of the canonical form are not as dominant in a ballet performance as pas de deux, but nevertheless they are often used as an expressive form. The most famous examples of the pas de quatre form to a wide range of spectators, in addition to the “Dance of the Little Swans” from P. Tchaikovsky’s ballet “Swan Lake”, is the dance of the Fairies: Gold, Silver, Sapphires, Diamonds from P. Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” (choreographer M. Petipa). In the form of pas de quatre, the choreographic fantasy of "Moor's Pavane" by H. Limon is built.
Quintet
Choreographic form with five performers. This form has no analogue in the canonical structures of classical choreography, however, starting from the 20th century. has become widespread in the field of folk and modern choreography.
FORMS OF A CHOREOGRAPHIC WORK.
