Thread: Russian and American Influences in Arts

Originally Posted by fortheether

Mel Brooks did a film "The Twelve Chairs" based on the Ilf and Petrov book. Most Americans have no clue who Ilf and Petrov are.

Scott

interestingly, they also traveled across the USA in 1936 by car as correspondents with a Soviet newspaper; the result was the book named 'One-storeyed America'. 

Originally Posted by alexsms

interestingly, they also traveled across the USA in 1936 by car as correspondents with a Soviet newspaper; the result was the book named 'One-storeyed America'.

Yep and a few years Vladimir Pozner and Ivan Urgant recreated the journey and it was on TV in a 16 episode series. It was in Russian so I had no clue what they were talking about

Scott

Now on to Dance! (Part 1)

Biography | The George Balanchine Foundation

Mikhail Baryshnikov - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia a side not here... it didn't hurt that American females found Baryshnikov attractive and that he's not gay. This helped to bring men into the world of dance and others who might not have normally been drawn to ballet. When I was 14, I went to see a performance of The American Ballet Theatre. They had just started the performance and Martine Van Hamel fell. As soon as she did, a man who was sitting diagonally across the aisle from me went running up the aisle and out of the theater. They stopped the dance and we all waited around. Some people decided to leave as it was taking a long time and the figured they would cancel the show. Finally, an announcement was made that they were going to restart the show with Gelsey Kirkland and Baryshnikov and to please have some patience while the get warmed up. It turned out that the man in the seat across from me... was Baryshnikov. The crowd went wild (well as wild as you get at a ballet) and I must admit, he was amazing to watch in person.

Last year in my older daughter's advance high school dance class, they did study Baryshnikov.

May 19, 1975 Cover





http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/7524 (Lampda, this is for you )



The History of Ballet
Ballet In America

More than anyone, it was the Russian influence of choreographer George Balanchine that brought ballet to America. The now world-famous New York City Ballet was cofounded by Balanchine, who worked for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes as a young man, and who was invited to work in the United States by a wealthy patron of the arts, Lincoln Kirstein. Kirstein knew little about ballet and Balanchine knew just as little about America. Balanchine moved towards the creation of plotless ballets where the motivation was movement in response to music rather than to a storyline. His ballet Jewels, which he choreographed in 1967 was the first evening-length ballet of this type.


The Russian Men

In 1961, the world spotlight was on a powerful dancer of the Russian Kirov ballet, Rudolf Nureyev. When the Kirov began to organize a Paris and London tour, his offstage, personal disregard for Soviet ideals placed him in jeopardy of not going on the tour. He sought political asylum in France. After defecting, he paired with Margot Fonteyn as a dance partner with many companies.


Yet another young dancer at the Kirov Ballet, by the name of Mikhail Baryshnikov, was gaining notoriety. In 1974, while touring with the Bolshoi Ballet in Canada, Baryshnikov requesting political asylum. Soon after, he came to the United Stated and became principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre where he mesmerized audiences for five years. He went on to join New York City Ballet, where he worked with choreographer George Balanchine before returning to ABT in 1980 as dancer and artistic director. Baryshnikov never danced in ballets that required the male character to carry height, he was not tall and was rather known for his textbook form and technical excellence.