music

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

Challenging Dance Norms: From Nijinsky to Jookin

choreography

(orig: May 2009)

I’ve wanted to post this for a year. I can’t tell you why I haven’t except that maybe I’m not sure of the kid’s name and I didn’t want to seem like a dork calling him “Daniel the Mad Scientist”. But I think by now, it’s pretty clear that I’m going to be considered a dork (at the very least) in some crowds and furthermore, I don’t give a flying shit. Whoever this is, he can dance. It’s spellbinding. This a like “contra-moving”, going against everything the body wants to do naturally and then making it a natural movement. This reminds me of (of course) Vaslav Nijinsky.

In 1913 – as we know by now – Nijinsky created the first “antiballet” by by choreographing in opposition to refinement: angles, turned in feet…he was  staying true to the scenario of a Sun God dick a tribe’s survival and a suicide virgin.  She is picked by teenagers!

He abandoned traditional ballet to meet the time period. And it worked! Seventy years later. In 1913 it did him in. 

There are companies like “theatre du corps” making use of dancers like the kid in the above clip as well as martial artists and street dancers. These young people are touring the world now, making a living, learning other forms of dance and getting a chance to “become” with this unusual gift of artistry they possess which in most cases ends up going nowhere but the clubs.  Check out Julien Deroualt though.  These clips pf Daniel and other dancers – they could dance like this.  I’ve watched kids jookin in videos who could bring something more here.  

But I don’t know of any company from the Portugal, Russia., Finland etc who hangs around in garages performing for each other the way these kids were doing 15 years back with Jookin. Their commitment to their style and growth of it is so much deeper than anything I have seen or heard about from ballerinas and choreographers no matter who.  They have become trapped.  There is joy in their art but there is more in this:

So, “Daniel the Mad Scientist” if that’s who you are and if it is not please write me and let me know, and all of you who are dancing like this:   you’re gifted.  You’re creating motion against itself and you seem to be doing it organically, you know?

Aim high,  Send video and portfolios to the biggest creative companies.  Stay away from Jan Fabre and Marie Chouinard. Google it.

EDIT from 2024 Ruben Noel aka Rubix. 

This kid makes you wait.  He doesn’t deliver when YOU want but when he wants and shit he should have or could be a jazz player who never makes any money.  He is authentic and maybe the best dancer I have seen lately.  He’s breaking into some performance work like I haven’t seen in hip hop before. You can find better quality stuff of his with Kuty and Criminalz but I will conclude with this:

From Nikinsky to Memphis jookin to Julien Derouault of Theatre du Corps to Rubix:  they all are creating and dancing against the norm and when you do that…I believe…you wring everything out of yourself and leave it on the stage the streets, some school gym..for the next guy to learn from. That’s how it should be.

I remain, yours because no one else wants me

Fatova