B a l l e t Tu b e

This column compares a selection of videos of the same piece danced by different artists. This time, we take
a look at the Flower Festival in Genzano, a jewel from Bournonvilles repertoire. The videos mentioned
can be found on YouTube channel: magazineBALLET2000

Flower Festival in
Copenhagen (and beyond)
August Bournonville created The Flower Fes-
tival in Genzano, one of the ballets born of his
romantic fantasising about Italy, in 1858. The com-
pany of the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen contin-
ued to dance the full version of the ballet until
1929. Only the pas de deux of the two main char-
acters, Rosa and Paolo, was retained thereafter
as study material by the Theaters school which
is why choreographer Harald Lander (at the time
director of the Danish company) was able to bring
it back on stage in 1949. However, unlike most
of the Bournonville repertory, this pas de deux
was destined to an international future. Suffice
it to run through the numerous videos available
on YouTube (from various eras and with vari-
ous dancers) to get an idea of how successful it
has been beyond the small Kingdom of Denmark.
Today the title The Flower Festival in Genzano
refers to the pas de deux and not to the full bal-
let which is now lost. During the entre a prel-
ude and short mime sequence (in which Paolo
invites Rosa to dance) introduce a serious of daz-
zling and mostly petit allegro combinations which
start off the piece: sunny and lively, yet elegantly
so. The adage, which has greater flourish, has a
subtle narrative thread with the two flirting and
teasing one another in a playful badinage that is Ida Praetorius, Andreas Kaas Royal Danish Ballet: Flower Festival in Genzano,
perfectly embedded within the dancing. The badi- c. August Bournonville (ph. Yi-Chun Wu)
nage extends and develops within the dance it-

Tatiana Paliy, Vladimir Malakhov
self, also in the four variations that follow (two
each, in alternation) in which Paolo juxtaposes
grand allegro steps with the typical batteries,
sissonnes and sauts de basque, while Rosa al-
ternates very fast and chirpy sequences with play-
ful coquetry. The coda, with its mirror-like steps,
brings together the two lovers, thereby closing a
cleverly-constructed pas de deux that pinnacles
the harmonious beauty and joyful energy that
define Bournonville choreography.
Its impossible to comment here all the vid-
eos available on YouTube. But there is no doubt
that among the more recent videos one of the
most significant ones exemplifying the authentic
spirit of this style is that with two principals
from the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen: Gudrun
Bojesen and Mads Blangstrup. The coquettish
zest in her dancing is devoid of any affectation
and rendered with natural and carefree deftness;
his dancing is all concentration and speed. Their
lines display the softness and fuzziness that
could be misinterpreted as a flaw of the Danish
dancers but which is, in actual fact, an essential
and extremely attractive element of this style. In
Bournonvilles era the aesthetic benchmarks were
different: the strict rigour and clear-cut lines of
Russian-Soviet classical ballet those to which
we are accustomed today had not yet imposed
themselves.
A video from the 1970s featuring Peter Mar-
tins, with his inimitable and charming sprezzatura,
is a revelation for us. He is dancing with New
York City Ballet star Merrill Ashley, a Balanchine
dancer who is able to speed it up and, hence, to
render effectively the brio of this piece and, in
conclusion, to demonstrate that (albeit with ob-
vious differences), Balanchine and the Bournonville
style have something in common.
At this point it will be all the clearer that this
style is hardly the Russians kind of thing. Lets
skip the videos with Rudolf Nureyev (who renders
Bournonville with his own special impulsive
frenzy) and the one where Natalia Bolshakova
and Vadim Gulyaev of the Kirov (1982) dance
The Flower Festival as if it were a grand pas
surrounded by a corps de ballet (Petipas sump-
tuous approach is wrongly applied to the inti-
mate atmospheres that characterise Bournonville).
In the video starring Leonid Sarafanov we note
the latters endeavour to bring breadth into the
movements, but this is out-of-place and even some-
what counterproductive, while Evgenia
Obraztsova (despite her natural inclination to-
wards the romantic style and her highly correct
execution of the mime) piles on old-fashioned and
contrived mannerisms.
Vladimir Malakhov is a case in his own right
and manages to merge the brilliance of his style,
which concentrates on speed, with his long femi-
nine lines: we can watch him in a 1991 video
alongside a technically-dazzling Tatiana Paliy. One
could however say that both of them err in per-
fection and Malakhov especially delivers a
somewhat caricatural interpretation of the badi-
nage, almost as if The Flower Festival were a relic
to be danced with insolent mockery. As if to say:
dont let anyone think for one moment that were
taking this seriously.
Cristiano Merlo

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