ana lacerda

How I Became a Digital Archivist of Le Sacre du Printemps

le sacre du printemps

Or how to turn your toes in and your back on Swan Lake

It was a long time ago when I began a Blogger Called This Is Not Swan Lake (igorandmore was the link as I was quite devoted to Stravinsky and just tuning in to The Recovery of Le Sacre du Printemps). BTW…I will never call it a reconstruction.

RECONSTRUCTION: a thing that has been rebuilt after being damaged or destroyed. plural noun: reconstructions.

RECOVERED: find or regain possession of something stolen or lost.

Le Sacre du Printemps was both stolen and lost and by definition later recovered by Robert Joffrey, Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer. So suck it.

I’ve played that ecovered tune from the rooftops – and the gutters – on an old violin that turned out to be worth a fortune. I had no idea that I would become the “digital archivist” of Sacre. This is a humbling term given to me by Millicent Hodson. But really…what the hell? Why was nobody documenting this ballet? I became obsessive and at the same time I had insomnia and for some reason I was prescribed a pill that kept you awake.

You can’t get that anymore. It was a big pharmaceutical fuck up. Of course it wasn’t the “stay awake awesome have fun type of thing” it was more the “stay awake what’s wrong with me why can’t I sleep oh my God what am I going to do what am I going to do I’ll keep myself busy by looking up Stravinsky stuff.”

 That was actually on the label.

And so it was there in those rolling time zones that I bumped into people and situations that would change my life in ways I could never imagine.  From the ballet’s champion Millicent Hodson to 2 rude English ballerinas to the remarkable Marie Stravinsky to the Chosen One warriors like  Ana Lacerda  Alba Tapia Priscilla Albuquerque and Gaia Straccamore and then to dancers like my friend  in FInland Kirsi Tiilharjua to Anna Simondi of Zurich  and the entire archive catalyst Heather Aagard who, all 3 together,  were criminally not photographed in the most difficult solo in dance…from all of that and thanks to them I  became the finest version of myself. I had something to be truly and quietly proud of.

Millicent Hodson
Ana Lacerda
Marie Stravinsky
Alba Tapia
Gaia Straccamore
Anna Simondi
Kirsi Tiiliharju
Heather Hagaard
priscilla-albuquerque

I don’t believe they know this.  They changed my life.  And from there, I would do the same. 

My old blog tagline was “selling ballet one f-bomb at a time”  and somehow I ended up becoming syndicated in a rotation of ballet sites back in 2008.  I was in the top 10 which proves you can indeed sell ballet with f-bombs.  

My Youtube channel contained the only video of the 1987 Joffrey debut of Nijinsky’s recovered ballet and the place music theory students had to go in a Stravinsky course.  It was amazing to watch commenters learn something from me then teach the same thing 3 comments later to another. See?

I am a genius.

Yours until someone else wants me

Fatova

The Artistic Brilliance of Dancer Ana Lacerda

le sacre du printemps, Nijinsky's Warriors

I have watched more crappy videos of the various courageous ballerinas who danced the role of The Chosen One over the last 12 years but I’ve pretty much stopped looking. It still boggles the mind that such a jewel in a ballet company’s Crown was filmed so poorly by nearly everyone but the Mariinsky .

Of course there are other companies -I’m certain – that have nice quality but for some reason they don’t want to release it. I suppose there is a great fear that Philistines may become educated and then where WOULD we be? Or, they just weren’t good.

And then out of the blue I stumbled upon a 1994 rehearsal video – still crappy quality – of CNB’s  Ana Lacerda.

I had long thought it was impossible to get a greater lunge out of that solo then the one Zenaida  Yanowsky got but I was wrong. All of the extension and perfection only turned inward and awkward it’s just stunning. There is something very special about Ana Lacerda. She is an elegant ballerina an emotional contemporary dancer a gorgeous model and on top of all that she’s a sweet person. This combination doesn’t usually conclude with the words “sweet person”. I suppose you could say simply she is an exceptional person.

 

the

And I’m so glad that the video is rehearsal so that the dress is not covering what she’s achieving. She’s elegant,  she is right  on time boy right on each mark though sadly the video will show something a little different because it’s so old and the settings were a little weird.

I wish I could see rehearsal footage of each dancer just to see what is happening, what they’re doing with their body that you cannot see because of the costume.

Would that not interest you?  Doesn’t this amazing stunning video of Ana Lacerda make you want that?  If you are not saying “yes” then you may have wandered off the path from the Nutcracker or some other torturous thing. Cirque du Soleil.

Yours because no one else wants me,

Fatova