Don Quixote 3 Balanchine Variations

Описание: The 3 variations from the "Dream Scene" in the 3rd Act of Balanchine's DON QUIXOTE. This full-length ballet based on the Cervantes novel was one of Balanchine's rare misses. His version was not the frothy lighthearted romp that Petipa and Minkus dreamed up in 1869; which had little to do with the dark and somber original story. I was in it the second year after the premiere and we used to do two-weeks of this ballet at the end of our winter season. Balanchine kept tinkering with it, adding, or deleting, various divertissement, but in the end it never really worked. The saving grace was the extraordinary dancing of the young Suzanne Farrell, and some beautiful musical passages. Unfortunately most of the music was just too much of a downer. The very best of the ballet was an extended "Dream Scene" (I've posted the whole thing on YouTube) which featured wonderful solos for Mimi Paul, Marnee Morris, and Anthony Blum, and included here in that order. Farrell and Conrad Ludlow had one of the dreamiest Pas de Deux Balanchine ever invented, and her solo and coda are not to be missed. In truth, no one could replace her in this ballet. Now I think several NYCB ballerinas could do it justice, and I wish they'd bring back the Dream Scene, while Farrell is still around to coach it. Balanchine scheduled it as a stand-alone work when Farrell returned to the company, and it worked beautifully.