The flap about "Firebird"

Wow, are you for real, Baron Z? I feel as if I've come upon an exhumation.

I don't know where to begin, so mainly I won't, except to say, dance may not exist without music (a dubious assertion, but I'll let it go), but the music very much exists without dance. The idea that there is only one legitimate response to the music--the first, you say--is as primitive as the notion that a word-- say, "snow"--and its meaning are essentially linked. Forget "neige" or whatever "neige" is in Norweigan, Sanskrit, Farsi, etc.

Still, thank you for your impassioned response. And welcome to the 20th century--perhaps next year the 21st?
~) Apollinaire

I can't understand these comments. What I remember from Fokine's magical "Firebird," the only legitimate choreography, from my point of view, is Prince Ivan, the hands of the corps de ballet, Khastchei, so many images, and, yes, the Firebird herself. His choreography for the Firebird was, for me, the least convincing of the whole ballet, but I only know the Fonteyn/Royal Ballet video, which omits much of the choreography, sadly.

Ballets where the music and choreography are created hand-in-hand by two masters of their arts should never be tampered with. Even if you accept the idea of new choreographers stealing the music for their own "versions." Too few people have been able to see the original for valid comparisons to be made. It is not like Shakespeare, where more-or-less faithful production are not hard to be found. In ballet, it is exceedingly rare for the original productions to be maintained, even when they are masterpieces. Nowadays, when perhaps through the miracle of YouTube, we are able to see some rare film of the Ballets Russes, we get a glimpse of an esthetic world we can only dream of, or see a watered-down version of in the great movie musicals.

If Fokine, Massine and the other great choreographers were constantly produced everywhere, then we might be able to occasionally view someone else's attempt as a change of pace. Like movie re-makes, the new choreography is rarely as good as the original.
The real problem is the lack of effort choreographers and companies put into the music side of ballet. The biggest problem is the false notion that choreography, that dance exists without music, that it is a wholly independent art. Bullshit. Bad thinking.

Without music, dance is movement theater. On rare occasion, a brilliant choreographer can create the effect of silent music. Rarely, though.
For decades now, choreographers have simply put on records, pasted together music to suit their fancies, and produced piles of drecklich ballets. Even Balanchine is guilty.

In general, you cannot put together unrelated pieces of music in one ballet, even if they are by the same composer. No. You just cannot do that. You are diminishing the music, and thus diminishing the ballet. If you respect your art, you will respect the music. Find composers to work with, learn to work together.

Be artists, not milliners of movement. Forget Balanchine, please. He was a hugely destructive influence. Go see Massine, Fokine, Nijinska. Please.