& 周五植樹:栽一棵“Pierre Lacotte” 樹

 

周五植樹:栽一棵“Pierre Lacotte

蜂鳥注:
  蜂鳥最敬重的芭蕾舞設計師之一,Pierre Lacotte 對失傳的古典芭蕾舞《Les Sylphides 》,在世界範圍內進行了艱苦卓絕的搶救及創新,終於使這朵瀕臨失傳的芭蕾奇葩重放光彩!

  在某一段視頻中,他興致勃勃地敘述了如何搶救及創新《Les Sylphides 》的逸聞趣事。關於這段視頻的出處嘛,暫且按下不表 :)

  Pierre Lacotte搶救及創新了許許多多芭蕾奇葩。

  下麵是另一段對他的采訪,同樣精彩動人(網頁上傳有欠缺,請見諒,您可本文末尾提供的網址查看圖文並茂的原文)。

  向Pierre Lacotte 致敬!

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Pierre Lacotte...
   Choroegrapher
       and Ballet Restorer




Lacotte Curriculum Vitae

‘La Fille du Pharaon’ review

‘Pharaon’ reviews?

all Bolshoi reviews

Bolshoi website



Pierre Lacotte is, these days, best known as a practical ballet historian - a man who recreates and re-stages ballets the way they were first seen. When we heard about his work in recreating ‘La Fille du Pharaon’ - Petipa's first ballet - for the Bolshoi we just had to know more.

Given the language difficulties - Pierre speaks only a little English and I speak practically no French - and also the problems with us all moving here, there and everywhere, we decided it would be best to do the interview on the web.

I duly submitted the questions back in January and the splendidly full answers (in French: a big thank you to Anne for the translation ) came back just before I went to see ‘La Fille du Pharaon’ at the Bolshoi in May. It was also an opportunity to say a fleeting hello to Pierre, drink a vodka or two, and congratulate him on a great night's entertainment... thank goodness the words are on email I thought as the after performance dinner became ever more hazy!



--oOo--



Question: What first kindled your interest in recreating 19th century ballets?

Lacotte: The ballets of the 19th century embody the purity of style of the works of this era. The vocabulary is very rich. The mix of the French and Italian Schools is of an exemplary quality. We must revive the great repertory - the romantic ballets bring to the world of dance the dream-like quality it needs.

The "ALLEGRO" is tending to disappear; the speed of the ballerina's "PETITS PAS", no longer exists, so to speak. The music has been able to retain all the nuances of interpretation and we must do the same - the virtuosity of the "PETITS PAS" in the manner of PUGANINI must still dazzle the audience. This classical technique can only survive with a repertoire which uses this language.



Q: Can you briefly tell us about some of the ballet you have recreated?

L: One of the ballets I reconstructed, like "La Sylphide" at the Paris Opera in 1972, is still in the company's repertoire as well as in that of the Tokyo Ballet, The Buenos Aires Colon Ballet, the Rio Opera, in Prague and Novossibilsk and at the Rome Opera and Helsinki. Amongst the great interpreters of this version, originally created by Marie Taglioni to Schneitzoffer's score which I restored, one can name Ghislaine Thesmar, Noella Pontois, Minique Loudieres, Dominique Khalfouni, Elisabeth Platel, Alessandra Ferri, Ana Botafogo and many others in various companies. Celebrated interpreters of James in this version include Michael Denard, Cyril Atanassof, Rudolf Nureyev, Fernando Bujones, Maximilano Guerra, Manuel Legris, Laurent Hilaire, Nicolas Leriche and Jose Martinez.

I reconstructed Marie Taglioni's "Le Papillon" to music by Offenbach , first for the Paris Opera in 1976, (I then danced it as my farewell to the stage with Dominique Khalfouni), then for the Kirov at St. Peter*****urg in 1979 for Irina Kolpakoya and Sergei Berejnov, as well as in Italy for Carla Fracci and Georgio Ianku.

"Pas de six de La Vivandiere" by Arthur Saint-Leon, translated from the choreographer's system of notation for the Paris Opera and the Kirov with ALIA Sizova.

"Marco Spada", ballet in 4 acts, music by Auber, after Mazilier, which I reconstructed at the Rome Opera with: Rudolf Nureyev, Ghislaine Thesmar and Michael Denard in 1981, then in 1986 at the Paris Opera with the same cast and Patrick Dupond, Monique Loudieres, Jean Guizerix and Cyril Atanassof.

"Coppelia" in 1973 at the Paris Opera, original version by Arthur Saint-Leon with: Ghislaine Thesmar, Michael Denard, Noella Pontois, Cyril Atanassof, Monique Loudieres, Rudolf Nureyev, Patrick Dupond.



Pierre Lacott
Photograph courtesy of Bolshoi



Q: How do you go about your research for a recreation and typically how long does it take to plan a work? And what about designs - are they recorded in good enough detail?

L: I have carried out quite lengthy research in museums and the private collections of former dancers, especially Lubov Egorova my teacher from the age of 10 to 24 who taught me the whole repertoire which she knew perfectly, having worked under the direction of Marius Petipa himself at St. Peter*****urg.

Carlotta Zambelli schooled me in the Italian style and Lubov Egorova in the 19th century French and Russian traditions.

None of the writings and original documents which I used were in sufficient detail. I had to complete the works in the style and with the vocabulary which I knew perfectly from the training I received from childhood at the Opera with Gustave Ricaux who possessed the heritage of the school of Saint-Leon, Jules Perrot and Louis Merante, in the pure French School tradition.



Q: Do you find you have to 'train' dancers in the original ways in which such works were danced? Is there a different mind-set needed?

L: Yes, I have to coach the dancers I choose for these works and make them work on the detail. The manner of dancing, the bearing, the musical emphasis are quite different and the precision and elegance of this era must be put over with respect.



A scene from La Fille du Pharaon
Photograph by Mikhall Logvinov and courtesy of Bolshoi



Q: Aside from La Fille du Pharaon what other old ballets would you like to revive?

L: Apart from "La Fille du Pharaon", I should like to reconstruct Jules Perrot's "Esmeralda" and "Faust". I have the good fortune to be asked by the Paris Opera to reconstruct the three acts of "Paquita" in January 2001.



Q: Many productions have changed 19th Century works substantially - have you ever wanted to recreate the original Swan Lake, Nutcracker or something else that is normally very well known?

L: I have revived "Le Lac des Cygnes" at the Ballet National de Nancy and am going to do "Nutcracker" in Athens.



Q: Do you find being involved in such recreations stunts your own creativity in any way?

L: This international work of recreating old ballets does not stop me personally from creating contemporary works, but for the moment I do not have time for it.



Q: Moving from the past to today... When not recreating ballets, what fills your time, or does recreating works occupy all your time now?

L: I love to see dance evolving and am not imprisoned in the old repertoire. I have taken up its defence out of passion, but I am capable of being impassioned by the colossal work of Balanchine, by the repertoire of Fokine, and I also find the ballets of Roland Petit, Maurice Bejart, Jiri Kylian, Jerome Robbins, Angelin Preljogaj. Agnes de Mille, Kenneth MacMillan, John Cranko, Frederick Ashton, Jose Limon, Martha Graham, Pina Bausch fascinating.

I hate snobbery and cliquishness.



La Fille du Pharaon - Act 3, Scene 6 - uner teh River Nile
Photograph by Mikhall Logvinov and courtesy of Bolshoi



About "La Fille du Pharaon"...

Q: Can you give us a brief synopsis of the story please.

L: "La Fille du Pharaon" is the first great ballet by Marius Petipa, created in 1862 at St. Peter*****urg to a score by Cesare Pugni. This ballet was restaged in Moscow in 1864 by Marius Petipa himself and later Petipa's pupil Alexandre Gorski was to arrange it in his own manner. The great interpreters of this work are: Rosati, Kchessinska, Egorova, Pavlova, Karsavina, Spessivtseva.

The story takes us to Egypt where an English tourist and his servant take shelter from a storm within a pyramid containing the tomb of Aspicia, the Pharaoh's daughter. Lord Wilson smokes opium and falls asleep. In his imagination the beautiful Aspicia leaves her sarcophagus and transforms him into an Egyptian from a bygone era. There he has to undergo a wild adventure with the Pharaoh's daughter in order to obtain the hand of his beloved, until his inevitable awakening when reality must wipe out this beautiful dream.



Q: What sources of information are available on the original work? Did Petipa keep notebooks for example?

L: I had to remodel and shorten this ballet: the writings of Sergueiv on the method of Stepanov are not sufficiently complete to be a true record. I had to have some variations by Douglas Fullington translated and two of them are introduced into my new version. I was also shown a solo for Aspicia's slave which I reintroduced. My memories of what Lubov Egorova showed me will certainly be inserted and I shall rework the rest of the choreography.



Q: When and where was La Fille du Pharaon last performed?

L: 1926 - Marina Semionova, the last interpreter of "La Fille du Pharaon" is still alive but unfortunately does not remember the choreography. It is true she only danced it twice at the age of 17 and is now 91, but she gave me her impressions and I admired her experience, her joie de vivre and her great distinction.



Q: I believe Petipa choreographed using models of dancers so that he knew exactly what he wanted when he got in the rehearsal studio... do you find yourself following his tradition? Will we recognise this as a piece of Petipa?

L: I follow the traditions of Petipa and I know exactly what I want at each rehearsal.



Pierre Lacott and Nina Ananiashvili working on La Fille du Pharaon
Photograph by Mikhall Logvinov and courtesy of Bolshoi



Q: Don Quixote is the first piece of Petipa that many will be aware of, but that came 7 years after La Fille du Pharaon and it's presumably an interesting point as to how much of Petipa's choreography can still be seen in any of the known productions, but what difference might we see between La Fille du Pharaon, Don Quixote and the later pieces?

L: There is considerable difference between "La Fille du Pharaon" and "Don Quixote"; the former follows the romantic tradition of bringing a dead person back to life - the exoticism of "La Fille du Pharaon" is a great spectacle, a fairy story. Don Quixote is a character ballet with folk dance and classical dance, spirited and full of life.

I preserve the flavour, the spirit of Petipa whom I admire enormously. I have had a lot of pleasure from dancing and watching his ballets. I think the revised work will inevitably be different but strongly inspired by the great Master.



Q: Is La Fille du Pharaon all coming together as you hoped - where are you in the process of getting it on stage with the Bolshoi?

L: I am very fortunate to put this work on at the Bolshoi. The dancers of this Company are exactly those who should rekindle the flame of this great ballet which is returning to the repertoire.

Rudolf Nureyev wanted me to do some research to put on "La Fille du Pharaon" at the Paris Opera. This project could not come to fruition because of his demise.

Vladimir Vassiliev had a good idea in asking me for this ballet for the Bolshoi troupe, as well as Alexis Fadeyetch.



Q: Are there any plans to tour La Fille du Pharaon - will we get to see it in the 'West'?!

L: I am delighted with the interest shown in this revival. Bringing back the dream of the past, with all the memories it contains, will interest many spectators and I am sure that the Bolshoi Ballet will also perform "La Fille du Pharaon" abroad.

{Subsequently we hear that La Fille du Pharaon might well be coming with the Bolshoi to London next year...}



Last but not least my very great thanks to Marina Panfilovich of the Bolshoi for her marvellous hospitality and help in making all this possible. Marina - you are brillient (though your car driving could do with some help!!)














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原文載於:http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_00/aug00/interview_pierre_lacotte.htm



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