Pas de Deux A novel by Bronwen Welsh A Sequel to 'Antonette's Story' Copyright 2021

Chapter 9   Stravinsky and Spartacus

Back at the Company, the next program had been announced, and it was a change from our usual classical ballet program. This one was to consist of two ballets composed by Igor Stravinsky, two of his most famous works, 'Le Sacre du Printemps' ('The Rite of Spring'), and 'L'Oiseau de Feu' ('The Firebird') .You may wonder why works by a Russian composer have a French name, and I believe it was because they were both written for Paris seasons of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company. Both being relatively short ballets – the 'Rite' runs for around forty minutes and the 'Firebird' for about an hour, they would be presented as a single program. Although the 'Firebird' premiered in 1910 and the 'Rite' in 1913, the decision was made to present the 'Rite' first.

Many people are familiar with the 'Rite' from its presentation in Disney's 1940 'Fantasia' animated film where a heavily edited version accompanies a story of the birth of the earth. The ballet's subtitle is 'Pictures of Pagan Russia' and it is divided into two parts 'Adoration of the Earth', and 'The Sacrifice', with dances representing various rituals culminating in a young virgin being chosen as a sacrificial victim who dances herself to death. This part requires a young woman of great stamina as the movements choreographed require an enormous amount of energy. I was not surprised when I heard that Charlotte de Tomas had been chosen for this rôle. As a young woman she had plenty of energy and I knew that she would do a great job.

This work is the most controversial one that Stravinsky ever wrote, and is famous for a near riot at the opening night performance in Paris. The music was such a wrench from every musical tradition that preceded it, thatin 1913, some of the audience claimed it was the work of a madman! I'm glad to say that our opening night did not result in the same reaction. Charlotte in particular received many well-deserved curtain calls for her amazing performance.

'The Firebird' was written three years prior to 'The Rite', but the music is much more conventional. The story centres around Prince Ivan who is hunting in the forest when he captures the Firebird, and after sparing her life she gives him a magic feather which will summon her if he is in danger. This is not long in coming, since he has strayed into the realm of the evil 'Koschei the Immortal' whose soul is hidden in a magic egg. Prince Ivan then meets thirteen princesses under Koschei's spell and falls in love with one, but Koschei sends his monsters after the Prince. In mortal danger, he summons the Firebird who makes the monsters and Koschei dance until they fall down exhausted. She then leads Ivan to the hidden egg which he destroys, killing Koshei and releasing creatures he held captive including the princesses who awaken. The ballet ends with Ivan marrying his chosen princess.

Both the works are often presented as slightly shortened orchestral suites, but I find that presenting them as ballets with that extra dimension adds so much more to them. I was wondering what rôle I had been chosen to perform; not the 'Firebird' of course as I was sure that would be performed by Monique de Valois. When I was finally called to Miss Higgins' office I was guessing that maybe I would be one of the princesses or even the Tsarevna with whom Prince Ivan falls in love, as I sat down on the chair in front of her desk. Even though we now got on very well, I still felt like a schoolgirl in front of the headmistress.

“Well, Antonette, no doubt you are wondering about your rôle in the Stravinsky program, so I will put you out of your misery, we want you to perform the rôle of the 'Firebird'.”

I was so shocked, I'm sure my mouth dropped open and I said “But...”

Mis Higgins smiled, she still enjoyed surprising the artists, and never seemed to fail in my case.

“But why isn't Dame Monique performing the part? Well, I have some news which is not common knowledge yet, so please keep it quiet; Monique is going to be 'Artist in Residence' at the New York City Ballet for about four months and this includes the time of the Stravinsky productions. We had a discussion which included Dame Monique and after her work with you in 'Cinderella', she was strongly of the opinion that you should dance the rôle.”

I didn't know what to say, I was so shocked.

“I have some more news for you,” continued Miss Higgins. “Again, this mustn't be revealed for the moment, but Antoine, who was to play the part of Prince Ivan is leaving us to join the Royal Ballet and as a result, your husband Jack will be invited to dance the part. Now I don't want you to have to keep the news from him, so I am calling him to my office next to give him the good news about you both. Well if there's nothing else?”

“No; thank you very much Miss Higgins,” I said, and left her office. I could hardly contain my excitement but I had to until Jack had been to see Miss Higgins. About half an hour later I saw Jack in the corridor and we both exchanged a smile. There were people about so we couldn't say anything then, but as soon as we were on our way home you can imagine that we couldn't wait to say how excited we were at the news. I had already watched every video recording of the ballets that I could get my hands on, so I knew that there is a six minute pas de deux between the Firebird and Prince Ivan when he first captures her, and I love dancing with Jack so much, that this was something to really look forward to.

We would be performing the Stravinsky program at the same time that Kate and Ben were getting married, so I'm glad that it was being held in London, especially with the important part that I had been given. The Whites timed their flights to arrive on the Wednesday before the Sunday wedding, in order to give them some time to get over their jetlag. Kate suggested to me that all the family's women would love to attend a performance of the Stravinsky program, so I organised tickets for them all as a gift. That wasn't all, Kate asked if Jack and I would be willing to perform at her wedding in the same way that we had at the first one. I felt that it was a real honour, so I arranged with Miss Higgins for us to borrow suitable costumes from the Company wardrobe, in order to perform the pas de deux from 'The Sleeping Beauty'.

The start of the season approached and the advertisements on the billboards went up outside the theatre. For the first time, Jack and I saw our names featured on them.

I hope you won't think less of me if I say that I obtained a copy for our collection?

Rehearsals proceeded and I had to attend several sessions with the wardrobe department who were making my costume. This consisted of a 'bell tutu', so-called because of its shape. It was basically red in colour with embroidery on the skirt and bodice, and with a matching headpiece with what appeared to be feathers, since the character is a bird. Two costumes were made for me just in case of any problems, and a third costume made for my understudy, Lucie Manet, who while still in the corps de ballet was already a 'First Artist' and obviously a real talent and destined for great things. As was the Company custom, she would be performing during some of the matinée performances.

I should mention that 'tutu' is a generic name for a ballet costume, and it comes in five basic forms. The 'romantic tutu' which is often worn by the corps has a skirt made of multiple layers of tulle, often reaching to mid-calf. The platter tutu is the one most people associate with the name, and has a flat top decorated with embroidery. The pancake tutu is similar to the platter but has a pleated top. The 'bell tutu' is stiffened to hold its shape. Finally the 'powder-puff tutu' is a short skirt with several layers of netting which is softer and fuller, and moves freely with the dancer's movements.

Choosing Stravinsky was a calculated risk for the Company which usually specialised in classical ballet of an earlier era, but ticket sales were very good. The First Night arrived, and I'm pleased to say that it was very successful. We had a royal princess who is a great fan of ballet, in the Royal Box, and after the performance, she came backstage to meet the principal performers.

The reviews were uniformly excellent, including that by Anthony Ashton, who said some very nice things about my performance and also mentioned Jack very favourably. It's a known fact that some people wait for the reviews before they book tickets, and there is no doubt that the ticket sales rose after they came out. Not only artistically but also financially, the season was a great success.

Such was the success of the Stravinsky double bill, that later in the year, the Company directors decided on presenting another modern ballet 'Spartacus' with music by Aram Khachaturian, which he composed in 1954. It has had several choreographers, but the most successful is Yuri Grigorovich. Unlike almost every other classical ballet, the lead character is a man, one who actually lived in the first century BC. Nobody expects a ballet to be historically accurate, and yet the basic story is as the Romans recorded it; Spartacus leads a slave rebellion against Rome, which was initially quite successful before the might of the Roman army eventually prevails and he and his followers are killed..

Another variation from the usual classical ballet is that a larger than usual corps of men is required to play Roman soldiers and slaves. Miss Higgins set about contacting her counterparts in other professional ballet companies and requesting their assistance in loaning some male dancers. It says a lot for the reputation of the IBC that she easily organised a dozen men, including two from the Royal Ballet's own corps.

At this point I should give you an idea of the storyline as it is told in the ballet..

Act 1: Spartacus a captured and enslaved Thracian king, who, together with his wife Phrygia and many other captives are taken by the consul Crassus back to Rome. Phrygia is sent to his harem, and Spartacus, who is seen to be a brilliant fighter, is sent to a gladiator school, and is forced to kill a close friend in the arena for the entertainment of Crassus and his friends.

Act 2: Spartacus and other slaves escape and start a rebellion against their Roman masters. They rescue Phyrgia and other women from Crassus's harem. Aegina, a concubine of Crassus urges him to pursue the slaves who are enjoying their freedom. It is here that the most famous part of the ballet, the Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia is performed.

Act 3: Aegina discovers the slaves' camp and sends word to Crassus who sends his army in a surprise attack. In the ensuing flight, Spartacus is killed and his remaining followers recover his body and carry it off while Phrygia mourns her loss.

Jack was chosen to play Spartacus, with me as Phrygia his wife. Kal McBride played Crassus, a Roman consul, and Charlotte de Tomas, his concubine Aegina.

We started on rehearsals. While the ballet has some great music and dramatic scenes, the one part for which it is famous is the 'Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia', especially as the music has been used in various films and television programs. People have asked me what an 'adagio' is, and I explain that it means music played at a slow pace. In ballet it refers to a movement performed with the greatest amount of fluidity and grace, requiring perfect body control. It certainly requires a great deal of rehearsal to make it look effortless.

The scene in which it is performed is the slaves' camp at night. Phrygia appears first from a tent and performs solo for about five minutes, and then Spartacus appears and they perform a beautiful pas de deux. At one point as the music rises in volume to a crescendo, Phrygia runs across the stage and throws herself into the arms of Spartacus. Then follows some of the most spectacular lifts in any classical ballet. Naturally they require the ballerina to have total confidence in her partner not to drop her, and that's what I have in Jack. He has never dropped me, even once!. It is all very well to describe what happens, but the best thing is to see for yourselves which you can do on YouTube. There are two excellent performances of the Adagio with different dancers but using the same choreography by Yuri Grigorovich. There is also a recording of the complete ballet which I can highly recommend.

The production was a great success and usually ended in a standing ovation. When our relatives came to see it, they commented afterwards that some of our lifts in the 'Adagio' were as good as you would see acrobats perform in a circus. I take that as quite a compliment!

To be continued

Next time: Kate and Ben's wedding

Note: The complete Firebird and Rite of Spring ballets can be found on Youtube, also two excellent versions of the Adagio from Spartacus and the complete ballet..