Petipa and Bournonville: Ballet Seminar at Varna

SPECIAL REPORT PETIPA AND BOURNONVILLE Ballet Seminar at Varna Florence Waren In 1964, the "Olympic flame of peace, art, and friendship" flared up in the Open-Air Theatre for the First International Ballet Competition at Varna, Bulgaria. Held under the aegis of the International Theatre Institute UNESCO, these competitions have grown in prestige and importance . Less publicized, however, was the probing and serious work taking place behind the glamorous facade of the competitions. At each competition participants met and examined, discussed and analyzed theoretical problems of the art of ballet. In 1976 at the International Ballet Competition in Varna, the Dance Section (of the Musical Theatre Committee) International Theatre Institute of UNESCO, headed by a working committee co-chaired by Yuri Grigorovich of the Soviet Union and Robert Joffrey of the United States met for a working and planning session. Grave concern had been voiced by scholars, theoreticians, critics and historians alike over a worldwide problem which had become brutally apparent in Varna because of the very nature of the competitions, namely, the distortion of the masterworks of the classical ballet heritage. The working committee decided to organize an international ballet pedagogical seminar to be held every other year when there was no ballet competition scheduled for Varna. The purpose of the seminar would be not only to try to preserve the choreography of the great classic ballets, but to attempt to reconstruct "authentic" versions as close to the originals as possible and to share these approved versions with dancers and teachers of all countries. These standardized materials would be required of future participants in the ballet competitions. 85 To explore the Russian and Danish heritage, Pyotr Gusev, the venerable Petipa expert of the Soviet Union, and Kirsten Ralov, Denmark 's renowned Bournonville authority were invited to teach, and the Bulgarian government generously offered to host the first seminar at the Arts and Sports Palace in Varna from July 24th to August 7th, 1977. The miracle occurred, and the first seminar took place as scheduled. For those involved in bringing it to fruition it must have been a mammoth undertaking and the world of dance owes them a great debt. The countries represented at the seminar were Bulgaria, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, East and West Germany , Greece, Hungary, Israel, Holland, Poland, Sweden, the Soviet Union and the United States. Delegations from these countries differed slightly but were generally composed of members of royal or state theatres and ballet companies, students, teachers, dance historians and directors who had been especially selected by their respective countries and had received official invitations through the Bulgarian International Theatre Institute with either participant or observer status. The work at the seminar was intense and concentrated. A typical day's schedule began with-9-10:30 a.m., women's technique class; 10:30-12, men's technique class; 12-1:00 p.m., repertoire; 5-6:00 p.m., mixed technique class; and 6-8:00 p.m., repertoire. Ralov and Gusev alternated the morning and evening sessions. Additional pedagogical sessions and meetings were also held at various times. Kirsten Ralov was responsible for both the Bournonville technique classes and repertoire. Madame Roumyantseva (Mrs. Gusev in private life) and Madame Balabina, both of the Kirov School, taught the Russian technique classes, and Pyotr Gusev the repertoire, as well as some of the men's technique classes. The variations from the Russian repertoire were demonstrated by Elena Evteeva, Svetlana Efremova, Juriy Gumba and Konstantin Zaklinskiy, artists of the Soviet Union. Ralov did not bring any artists from Denmark to demonstrate the Bournonville repertoire.It was difficult and confusing to attempt to absorb materials from both the Russian and Danish techniques simultaneously. Because of the scheduling pattern, too much valuable time was spent on technique at the expense of important elements of style, theory and history, all crying out to be explored in detail. Since no advance notice had been given of the work to be covered, the seminar was robbed of any intelligent preparation the participants might have made before coming to Varna. Such preparation might have made an enormous contribution and permitted the sorely needed time for further exploration. However, lessons were learned...