Abstract

Abstract: Dance writers like to describe the dance as the most ethereal of art forms. With no standard system of notation, and recording of performances generally prohibited, how to locate the truth of a performance said to be ‘lost?’ In Russia today, the situation is even more complicated. With theaters mostly funded by the state and a new legion of fans making their own videos, the researcher’s task of documenting a production becomes ever more difficult. This presentation investigates these questions in analysis of excerpts from video documentation of Michel Fokine’s ‘The Swan,’ George Balanchine’s ‘The Nutcracker’, and Marius Petipa’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’, as well as Evgenii Bauer’s 1916 ballet-obsessed film, ‘The Dying Swan’.

The lecture is free and open to the public.