Video Identifier: V.2011-05-0463

Run Time
0h 25m 13s

Color
B&W

Sound
Mono

Date Produced
1977

Abstract
"Raymonda" is a ballet in three acts, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to Alexander Glazunov's Opus 57, and premiered by the Imperial Ballet at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia in January 1898. Konstantin Sergeyev remounted the ballet in 1948, as did Rudolf Nureyev in 1975. One of the most famous and frequently performed portions of the ballet is the Pas de Dix from the third act.

"Spring Waters" is a brief pas de deux choreographed by Asaf Messerer to a score by Sergei Rachmaninoff for the Bolshoi Ballet, sometime in the late 1950s or 1960s. Its U.S. premiere appears to have been in 1975 by the American Ballet Theatre.  

This video contains practice clothes rehearsals of both Eugene Tanner's staging of the Raymonda Pas de Dix and Spring Waters (apparently danced by Starr Danias and John Meehan). 

Description
The video begins with a dimly lit shot of a stage, on which a group of dancers stands in wait along the sides, near the wings. As the music begins, a couple enters from upstage left. Two more follow from upstage right, and after these four have danced together briefly, four more then join them as they stand posed in the downstage corners. All four couples then dance as an ensemble. Soon afterwards, the fifth and final couple enters and joins the rest. All then perform an adagio in their five couples, with the fifth and central couple occasionally breaking away from the rest. 

At the completion of this movement, all exit but the male partner from one of the initial couples. He performs a fast-paced solo and is then followed by his female partner, who performs a solo of her own. After she exits, a group of four male dancers enters and performs as an ensemble. Once these four bow and exit, another female soloist appears, and another after her. These are followed by another male solo, and then another female solo. 

Finally, the four initial couples all return to stage to dance a brief but energetic ensemble dance. As they exit, the male partner from the remaining couple returns for a solo. The four females from the four initial couples then move down the stage together, almost as an introduction for the femal partner from the fifth couple. Her partner soon joins her and they exit together before the rest reenter one and two at a time. Once they've all arrived, the group performs a very fast-paced ensemble dance in their four-couple arrangement. 

The group then exits once again to make way for the entrance of the fifth couple. After they dance a brief pas de deux, the female partner once again exits for the male partner's solo, though she soon follows with her own. He returns for a quick coda before the entire group reenters. The fifth couple joins this time and all perform the very brief finale together. 

The video then cuts to momentary static before returning to a re-rehearsal of the finale, beginning with the central male partner's coda. After all once again reach their final poses, the video cuts to static a second time, but for longer. It returns after almost a full minute of static. 

The video reopens with the same view of the same stage. This time, a single couple performs a dramatic pas de deux including a number of difficult jumps and lifts. It seems to end rather abruptly after two minutes; the video ends with it. 

Additional Credit

Actors, Performers and Participants