This morning, the New York City Ballet celebrated the 4th of July with a two hour rehearsal of Union Jack, Balanchine’s ode to Great Britain—oops. After that bit of treason we returned to our Raymonda variations. Balanchine wrote—in Balanchine’s Festival of Ballet: Volume II (co-authored by Francis Mason)—that the plot of the original, full-length Raymonda (1898) choreographed by Petipa was, “nonsense,” and, “difficult to follow.” Story ballets are rarely based upon great pieces of literature, nor are they paragons of feminism (or even character development!). They mostly involve virginal women trapped in odd bodily forms—swans, sylphs, etc.—until some gloomy squire comes to their rescue via swords and marriage. Raymonda is no different, but it is really a mess.
The story was written by a Russian columnist, Lydia Pashkova. Yuri Grigorivich (the Bolshoi Raymonda choreographer and the author of The Authorized Bolshoi Ballet Book of Raymonda) says of Pashkova, “[h]er works were not brilliant; they were entertaining.”I’ll try my best to summarize. The setting is a castle in medieval Hungary. A young noblewoman named Raymonda awaits the arrival of her betrothed, Jeanne de Brienne, who is off fighting in the crusades. In his absence a
The story was written by a Russian columnist, Lydia Pashkova. Yuri Grigorivich (the Bolshoi Raymonda choreographer and the author of The Authorized Bolshoi Ballet Book of Raymonda) says of Pashkova, “[h]er works were not brilliant; they were entertaining.”I’ll try my best to summarize. The setting is a castle in medieval Hungary. A young noblewoman named Raymonda awaits the arrival of her betrothed, Jeanne de Brienne, who is off fighting in the crusades. In his absence a
Saracen sheik tries to woo her. Balanchine’s account conflicts with Grigorovich’s on the order of what happens next but essentially, Raymonda refuses the Saracen repeatedly, and on the eve of her betrothed’s return Raymonda has a passionate dream in which de Brienne suddenly turns into the Saracen as Raymonda runs to passionately embrace him. Raymonda swoons in horror (or ecstasy?). Also, sometimes this dream involves a magical White Lady (yeah, weird), sometimes a tapestry of de Brienne that comes to life. Act II begins the next day at a palace party. There, the Saracen tries to abduct Raymonda. However, de Brienne arrives back from the crusades just in time to slay the Saracen and rescue his beloved. The third act is a Hungarian wedding ceremony for the reunited couple.
Of course, there are many problems with this plot. A major issue is that it is entirely static except for the attempted abduction and the duel. Otherwise, the main conflict is a battle of desire waged within Raymonda’s own head as the erotic exoticism of the Saracen faces off against the social convention of the European nobleman. (It’s strange that I find Balanchine’s Raymonda to be so hysterical these days, for the ballet’s history is more firmly rooted in Freudian hysteria!) In her waking hours Raymonda has no real agency. But curiously, despite all the sexism, this ballet provides one of the most coveted roles for any prima ballerina. With upwards of 6 solos (depending upon the production) for the title character, Raymonda celebrates the technique and stamina of one woman above all else. So even though Raymonda seems like a passive victim in terms of plot, she is the clear victor in terms of dance.
It is the male dancers who get shortchanged in Raymonda, which is why many male dancer/choreographers (like Rudolph Nureyev and Yuri Grigorovich) have tried to remedy the plot by beefing up the male leads. In the ballet’s original incarnation, de Brienne didn’t really dance until Act III, and the Saracen was an ornamental, character role (an inherently racist one too). Balanchine, along with Alexandra Danilova, set a full-length Raymonda (based upon what they remembered of the Petipa version) for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1946. During a fantastic Works and Process discussion at the Guggenheim in 2010, a 95 year old Frederic Franklin recalled the experience of dancing the de Brienne role in the Ballet Russe revival opposite Danilova’s Raymonda. He said she taunted him by listing all her solos and told him his role consisted of sitting on a chair for two acts and then carrying her around! He complained to Balanchine, who gave him a few more solos.
Though Balanchine didn’t care for the Raymonda story, he clearly loved the Glazunov score and returned to it often. He made three different ballets from it: Pas de Dix (1955), Raymonda Variations (1961), and Cortège Hongrois (1973). Cortège and Pas de Dix have overlapping music—all taken from Act III of the full-length ballet. Raymonda Variations mostly consists of music from Act I. Typically, Balanchine cut out all the dross and the three resulting ballets are plot-less and packed with high-octane dancing. But he did retain the focus on the dominant role of women in these ballets, especially in Raymonda Variations which has only one male in the cast. This is unsurprising of the man who coined the phrase “ballet is woman,” but Raymonda feels more intensely feminist than most of his other ballets to me. More on that next time…
Of course, there are many problems with this plot. A major issue is that it is entirely static except for the attempted abduction and the duel. Otherwise, the main conflict is a battle of desire waged within Raymonda’s own head as the erotic exoticism of the Saracen faces off against the social convention of the European nobleman. (It’s strange that I find Balanchine’s Raymonda to be so hysterical these days, for the ballet’s history is more firmly rooted in Freudian hysteria!) In her waking hours Raymonda has no real agency. But curiously, despite all the sexism, this ballet provides one of the most coveted roles for any prima ballerina. With upwards of 6 solos (depending upon the production) for the title character, Raymonda celebrates the technique and stamina of one woman above all else. So even though Raymonda seems like a passive victim in terms of plot, she is the clear victor in terms of dance.
It is the male dancers who get shortchanged in Raymonda, which is why many male dancer/choreographers (like Rudolph Nureyev and Yuri Grigorovich) have tried to remedy the plot by beefing up the male leads. In the ballet’s original incarnation, de Brienne didn’t really dance until Act III, and the Saracen was an ornamental, character role (an inherently racist one too). Balanchine, along with Alexandra Danilova, set a full-length Raymonda (based upon what they remembered of the Petipa version) for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1946. During a fantastic Works and Process discussion at the Guggenheim in 2010, a 95 year old Frederic Franklin recalled the experience of dancing the de Brienne role in the Ballet Russe revival opposite Danilova’s Raymonda. He said she taunted him by listing all her solos and told him his role consisted of sitting on a chair for two acts and then carrying her around! He complained to Balanchine, who gave him a few more solos.
Though Balanchine didn’t care for the Raymonda story, he clearly loved the Glazunov score and returned to it often. He made three different ballets from it: Pas de Dix (1955), Raymonda Variations (1961), and Cortège Hongrois (1973). Cortège and Pas de Dix have overlapping music—all taken from Act III of the full-length ballet. Raymonda Variations mostly consists of music from Act I. Typically, Balanchine cut out all the dross and the three resulting ballets are plot-less and packed with high-octane dancing. But he did retain the focus on the dominant role of women in these ballets, especially in Raymonda Variations which has only one male in the cast. This is unsurprising of the man who coined the phrase “ballet is woman,” but Raymonda feels more intensely feminist than most of his other ballets to me. More on that next time…
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