[М-ль Люсиль]

К сожалению, на обнаруженном мною ресурсе подшивки Globe and Mail доходят только до 1985 года. Так что мне по-прежнему нужно каким-то образом исхитриться и проникнуть в библиотеку, где хранятся полные оцифрованные архивы Globe and Mail. Вот только черт знает, как это сделать. Позарез мне необходим сердобольный канадский гражданин, записанный, допустим, в публичку Торонто и согласный поделиться данными своего читательского билета. Вот только где же этого сердобольного гражданина взять?
В общем, продолжим исследовать то, что есть. В Globe and Mail я отыскала несколько ну очень подробных статей, посвященных конфликту между Национальным балетом Канады и Константином Патсаласом из-за балета Патсаласа Concerto For The Elements: Piano Concerto. Очень хочется выложить их все, хотя я ума не приложу, кому это будет интересно - но вдруг все-таки кому-то интересно будет? Все-таки очень запутанная и неоднозначная история получилась. И хоть обе стороны конфликта, прямо скажем, выглядят не лучшим образом, но - простите константинопоклонника - Уайлдер и Уоллис все-таки производят более отталкивающее впечатление, чем Константин. Но может быть, я неправа. Итак, статья первая - от 6 ноября 1986 года:

National Ballet, choreographer air dispute Concerto goes to court

Patsalas is seeking an injunction to prevent the National from presenting the 23-minute ballet in its fall program at Toronto's O'Keefe Centre. It is scheduled for six performances beginning Nov. 19 and is part of a program that also includes Song of a Wayfarer and Etudes.
After hearing from lawyers for both Patsalas and the National, Mr. Justice W. Gibson Gray reserved judgment. Because his judgment will affect rehearsals for either a new ballet or Concerto, he promised a decision within "a day or two."
According to testimony, Patsalas left the company in September when he "couldn't form a constructive relationship" with its two associate artistic directors, Valerie Wilder and Lynn Wallis. He was asked to continue to help with the production of Concerto but has not attended rehearsals.
His lawyer, Arthur Gans, said Piano Concerto was first produced in Boston in 1979 to wide acclaim. When Patsalas first produced it with the National in 1985 he worked alone. Now that the National is proceeding with Concerto without him, the choreographer fears the production will not be true to his original concept.
The National assigned Wilder and Wallis to produce the ballet with the assistance of choreologist Ingrid Filewood. (A choreologist works with the choregrapher to record the steps and movements in a ballet.)
The company has two videotapes of the production. One, according to Gans, is "like looking at a ballgame from the top of the stadium through a snowstorm." The other, a tape of a rehearsal, is a walk-through and Gans said parts of the ballet are missing. The new choreographers are guessing and dancers are repeating mistakes, he said.
Gizella Witkowsky, who has danced in Concerto before and is cast as a principal dancer for the November program, stated in her affidavit that Wilder had never been involved with Concerto. However, Wallis was Patsalas' assistant for Concerto in 1985 and stated in her affidavit that she attended all stage and dress rehearsals.
The National's lawyer, Elizabeth Stewart, quoting from the affidavit, said that it was not essential or even usual for a choregrapher to be directly involved in the production of his ballet.
The National believes that it can mount the production and mount it well, Stewart said. The fact that ballet notes may not exist should not restrict the production, she said, adding that this is the case for about half of the ballets in the National's repertoire. "Otherwise, the ballet dies with Mr. Patsalas," she said.
The duplication of "every step, every nuance, can't be the test," Stewart said. The choregraphers are aiming for "as close a resemblance as possible to the original work."
She said Patsalas has been asked to attend rehearsals and has not done so. "He cannot complain now, that because he is not involved, it's going to be some kind of mutilation."
A change in the program would cost the National $30,000 in "provable costs" and a further $40,000 in non-renewed subscriptions, Robert Johnston, the company's administrative director, said in his affidavit.

Статья вторая - от 8 ноября 1986 года:

Patsalas fails in bid to bar ballet

In a written decision, Mr. Justice Gibson Gray rejected arguments by Patsalas that the scheduled five performances of the 25-minute ballet, to start Nov. 19 at Toronto's O'Keefe Centre, would cause him to suffer irreparable harm and prejudice to his ''reputation, profession and honor.''
Patsalas had sought a ban on the performances in conjunction with a suit for wrongful dismissal that he launched after leaving his post as the ballet company's artistic adviser and resident choreographer on Sept. 20.
Arguing in favor of the injunction at a hearing Wednesday, lawyer Arthur Gans said Patsalas is the only person who knows the choreography of Concerto and is able to teach, rehearse, stage or direct the production in accordance with its orginal choreography.
In the 12-page judgment, Judge Gray said it was ''quite apparent that the plaintiff is a world-renowned choreographer,'' but that after a careful review of the evidence, he couldn't agree that the performances would diminish his reputation.
The judge said a licence agreement dated March 20, 1985, ''clearly illustrates that the right to perform Concerto does not die with the plaintiff.'' He said a clause requiring the ballet to be staged ''with discretion'' should be interpreted reasonably.
Accepting assurances from Valerie Wilder and Lynn Wallis, the National's two associate artistic directors, that the production would be faithful to Patsalas's original concept, the judge added: ''Some slight variation of movement or nuance cannot constitute a breach of agreement.''
Judge Gray said he wasn't troubled by the fact the artistic directors didn't assert ''that they can unqualifiedly duplicate every step or nuance in every performance. It would seem to me that there may be many performances of a particular ballet over a lengthy season in which, on different nights, a particular nuance might be slightly differently performed.''
Observing that the National performed the same ballet only last year, he said that the evidence ''indicates to me that the collective effort of those connected with Concerto will not result in any harm to the plaintiff.''
He also expressed hope that principal dancer Gizella Witkowsky will reconsider, and perform in the ballet ''with artistic distinction in compliance with her professional integrity.'' In an affidavit to the court, Witkowsky had said that, without Patsalas, ''the inspiration for the dancers is clearly missing'' and she didn't want to go on stage ''if I cannot dance my role in Concerto as it should be danced.''
According to testimony, Patsalas left the company in September when he ''couldn't form a constructive relationship'' with Wilder and Wallis. He was asked to continue to help with the production of Concerto but has not attended rehearsals.
Concerto was first performed in Boston in 1979. When Patsalas first produced it with the National in 1985, he worked alone.
After learning of the court's ruling yesterday, National administrative director Robert Johnston said, "We've never had an injunction like this before and we were very concerned about its effect on the company.
"Had the decision gone the other way, then a precedent would have been set, not just in terms of us, but any other ballet company, because we all work the same way. Our repertoires are our life blood and, if any choreographer could come along and successfully prevent a company from performing their work, particularly on short notice, we'd all be in the greatest difficulty in retaining our responsibility to the audience."
As for Patsalas's contention that a proper performance of his work requires his presence, Wilder pointed out that most works in the company's repertoire are taught first by the choreographer or his assistant. "As we reproduce them later, we rely on our own staff to reproduce them from a combination of memory, video tape, sometimes long-hand notes and choreological notes."
However, she said, not all the ballets have been set down by a choreologist - who works closely with a choreographer to record the steps and movements in a ballet - because "it's very time-consuming."
"Besides," added Johnston, "in the seven years that I've been with the company, I've never known a choreographer to call us and say that we don't do a good job preserving their ballets."
"In fact," said Wilder, "the opposite is true. Our company has an impeccable reputation for this kind of thing. Choreographers always say that we do a wonderful job preserving the whole look of their work."

И статья третья - от 10 ноября 1986 года:

Patsalas says ballet not reproduceable

"If the choreography of the ballet is not done properly, the choreographer will face the risk of horrendous reviews. If his ballet is mutilated . . . the audience and artistic world are free to question if the choreographer still has it within him to produce ballets in his own style," said Frank Monteleone, legal counsel for choreographer Constantin Patsalas in an interview yesterday.
In an Ontario Supreme Court ruling on Friday, Mr. Justice Gibson Gray ruled that the 25-minute ballet, Concerto For The Elements: Piano Concerto, can proceed on Nov. 19 at Toronto's O'Keefe Centre without irreparable harm to Patsalas' "reputation, profession and honor."
While acknowledging that Patsalas is a "world-renowned choreographer," Judge Gray accepted assurances from Valerie Wilder and Lynn Wallis, associate directors of the National Ballet, that the production would be faithful to Patsalas' original concept.
Wilder had also pointed out that ballet works do not require the presence of the choreographer since they can be reproduced from a combination of staff's memory of them, video tape, long-hand notes and choreological notes.
Patsalas was removed from his position as artistic advisor to the company on Sept. 20 and was left only with his position as resident choreographer.
He said yesterday that upon his lawyers advice he ceased to do any work for the company, including attending rehearsals for the ballet, because to continue would mean an acceptance of these terms of employment. He is no longer with the ballet company.
Patsalas said that while the form of the ballet could be produced "to a certain degree," the content of the work could not.
He stressed that "it is important to understand the essence of the work, the reasons for staging it and the why and not just the what of the ballet."
The company has only two "bad quality" videotapes of the ballet, no notes and only Wallis attended a few rehearsals as "a passive observer," he said, adding that under these conditions it is not possible to reproduce his work as he envisioned it.
In a deputation to the court, principal dancer of the National Ballet Gizella Witkowsky confirmed that parts of the ballet are missing from the tape and that "some movements were done incorrectly (on the tape) and now the dancers are being asked to repeat the mistakes."
She also noted that no one was assigned to help Patsalas when he created the ballet and that errors on the videotape could only be corrected by him.

Ну, не удержусь, выложу и четвертую статью - уже из Toronto Star, так сказать, по итогам суда. Статья от 20 ноября 1986 года, автор - Вильям Литтлер, балетный критик Toronto Star.

Choreographer says fears came true

Notwithstanding his abrupt departure from the National Ballet in September, and his attempt to have the Supreme Court of Ontario bar the company from performing one of his ballets, Constantin Patsalas was still listed on the program handed out in the O'Keefe Centre last night as resident choreographer.
Moreover, the ballet in question, Piano Concerto, now titled Concerto For The Elements: Piano Concerto, was performed as scheduled, with a skeptical Patsalas in the audience.
How did the National Ballet perform Piano Concerto without its choreographer's co-operation and participation? By using videotapes and the memories of those who had taken part in or witnessed the ballet when it was unveiled in May of last year.
At that time it was introduced as a revision of a work set to Alberto Ginastera's First Piano Concerto, which had originally won first prize in the Boston Ballet's First International Choreographic Competition in 1979.
Inspired by the power of nature, embodied in waterfalls, plants, birds and so forth, the ballet's four movements (the concerto's second movement hadn't been used in the Boston version) ostensibly interpret the four elements identified by the Ancient Greeks (the choreographer's ancestors) as the basic constituents of all matter.
But while the imagery sculpted by the dancers can often be reconciled with the elements of earth, air, fire and water - Nicholas Cernovich's lighting even projects flames during one section - the music to which they dance is abstract, with its own powerful rhythmic and dynamic profile (hammered out with over-amplified, percussive impact last night by the Argentine pianist Luis Ascot) to which the dancers also respond.
The result is a ballet often divided in focus, albeit full of sensuous visual imagery, reinforced by the mottled leotards Patsalas himself designed for the dancers.
Several of last night's dancers also performed in the premiere, among them the energetically leaping Kevin Pugh, the lightly flitting Karen Tessmer (partnered by a wonderfully pliant, almost elfin Owen Montague) in the Scherzo, and the lyrical trio of Ronda Nychka, Rex Harrington and John Alleyne in the Adagissimo.
And how did the choreographer respond to their efforts?
"It was an evening at the improv," he remarked, sadly, during intermission. "I don't blame the dancers. They did their best. But there was no delicacy, no sensitivity. All four movements looked the same to me."
In other words, what happened last night was what Patsalas had feared would happen. The ballet he saw performed was not Piano Concerto as he had wanted to see it.
Alas, my own memories of the 1985 premiere aren't vivid enough to refute or substantiate his criticism. While it was easy enough to recognize last night's presentation as the same ballet that was danced in May 1985, it was also easy to see what Patsalas meant about a similarity of body articulation throughout last night's performance that diminished differences between movements.
What now? Well, flawed as it may be, Concerto For The Elements: Piano Concerto still possesses kinetic life and will presumably remain in the repertoire as long as the National Ballet wants to dance it.
As for Constantin Patsalas, he has reportedly embarked on a wrongful dismissal suit against the company. A productive relationship appears to be at an end.
Under the circumstances, the two remaining works on this week's mixed bill, Maurice Bejart's Song Of A Wayfarer (danced with commitment by Raymond Smith and Tomas Schramek) and Harald Lander's Etudes (in which Martine Lamy confidently stepped in to replace the injured Yoko Ichino part way through) can only be mentioned in passing.

Литтлер, по-моему, вполне сочувствовал Константину. А еще интересно, что, по-видимому, Гизелла Витковски и в самом деле отказалась танцевать в Piano Concerto, восстановленном без участия Константина. Конечно, Литтлер мог просто ее не упомянуть - но не исключено, что она действительно настояла на своем и вышла из игры. А год спустя, осенью 1987 года, приняла участие в вечере работ Константина, несмотря на возражения НБКшной администрации (видимо, все тех же Уайлдер и Уоллис).

@темы: Constantin Patsalas

Comments

[gr_gorinich]

Ишь ты, как подробно у них в газетах этот суд расписан был. И, к сожалению, результат-то предсказуемый, там правильно говорится, во второй статье: это же прецедент. Вряд ли Константин мог выиграть дело.
Про Гизеллу очень интересно!

[М-ль Люсиль]

gr_gorinich, само собой, шансов на выигрыш у него практически не было. Но само дело очень любопытно, на мой взгляд, потому что тут поднимается вопрос авторских прав: в самом деле, имеет ли балетная компания ставить балет при явно выраженном несогласии хореографа? И кому вообще в таком случае принадлежат права на балет - хореографу или компании, для которой он этот балет поставил? И где пролегает грань между аутентичной и неаутентичной постановкой авторского балета? В общем, куча спорных вопросов, а в данном конкретном случае проигрыш компании означал бы для нее еще и денежные потери.
Гизелла поступила очень решительно - ну и доказала наглядно, что балетные танцовщики тоже смеют свое мнение иметь в таких ситуациях.

[gr_gorinich]

М-ль Люсиль, на самом деле, я думаю, сейчас все эти спорные пункты прописывают в договорах, которые заключает компания с хореографами - а тогда вот, не прописывали, наверно, и возникала почва для несогласий. Да чего там, просто жаль Константина... и жаль, что он, впав в амбицию (в общем-то вполне справедливую), требовал снятия всех своих балетов с репертуара НБК. И, увы, в долгой перспективе так хорошо добился своего, что мы теперь выискиваем огрызки его балетов черт знает где.

доказала наглядно, что балетные танцовщики тоже смеют свое мнение иметь в таких ситуациях.

Это их Эрик, Эрик научил! ))

[М-ль Люсиль]

gr_gorinich, ну, Константин требовал, насколько я понимаю, снятия не всех своих балетов, а снятия вот этого конкретного балета, который тогда находился в активном репертуаре труппы. Но ничего удивительного нет в том, что потом, когда НБК убедительно доказал, что имеет право ставить балеты даже против воли хореографа, эти самые балеты благополучно исчезли из репертуара. Главное было - показать, кто тут главный. Ну и кроме того... хм, все ж таки, я думаю, нелегко было ставить балет без надзора хореографа, ориентируясь на черт знает какие видеозаписи и на смутные воспоминания участников прошлых постановок. Вряд ли НБК хотел потом повторять этот опыт.
Но история очень печальная, что и говорить.

Это их Эрик, Эрик научил! ))

Хех, на самом деле не Эрик их научил, а они сами научились, еще до Эрика.)) Это при авторитарной Селии Франке все боялись лишний раз пикнуть, а потом, когда Александр Грант пришел, атмосфера в труппе изменилась, и народ научился высказывать свое мнение. Хотя все равно - такое поведение Гизеллы было в чем-то из ряда вон выходящим. Но и сама ситуация тоже была беспрецедентной.