Michael Meylac | ||||
Conversation With Alexandra Danilova, 1992 |
||||
HomePiers Paul Read Ysenda Maxtone Graham Sophie FrankMichael Meylac Rosanna Kelly & Fiona MacphersonRonald HarwoodCharlotte FairbairnAdrian Bailey
|
Thoroughly grounded in the classical ballet tradition, Danilova had participated enthusiastically in Balanchine’s experimental company then known as Balanchivadzhe – the ‘Young Ballet’. She danced with him in Lopukhov’s first ‘Dance Symphon’ and in the ‘Greatness of the Universe’ with music by Beethoven. She found herself in the Diaghilev Ballet company with Balanchine and his wife Tamara Zheverzheeva, performing leading roles in his productions, and when Zheverzheeva went to America, Danilova became Balanchine’s common-law wife. (Balanchine famously refused to let 28-year-old Danilova into his troupe Les Ballets 1933 because he said that she was too old). After Diaghilev’s death she danced in the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo where she became a Massine ballerina. After the war Balanchine created the main roles in the ballets ‘La Sonnambula’ and ‘Concert Dances’ for her. – I assume you joined the corps de ballet at the end of school? This episode is described by S. L. Grigoriev, the ballet company’s director, in his reminiscences. He reproaches Nemchinova and her husband, Zverev, for their hypocrisy: the couple’s many years of work in Diaghilev’s company were done on trust as their devotion to Tolstoyism prevented them from signing contracts. However, it did not stop them from dropping Diaghilev at an inconvenient moment to take up an advantageous engagement in London, something Nemchinova, Diaghilev’s prima ballerina assoluta, later bitterly regretted. It has also been suggested that by expounding Tolstoyan ideas about the sinfulness of art to Nijinsky they contributed to his nervous illness. Nemchinova, by the way, studied for three years in all in Moscow, at Lydia Nelidova’s private school, but perfected her technique under Diaghilev’s wing. – But which productions in Diaghilev’s company were made especially for you? Interview © Michael Meylac 2009
|
|||