Throwback Thursday and Dying Swan Film

Throwback Thursday and Dying Swan Film

Most dancers are familiar with Pavlova’s signature piece The Dying Swan. But there is also a 1917 film by the same name.

The plot of this drama goes as follows: “Gizella, who is a dancer and mute, falls in love with Victor, whom she met at the lake. She believes that love is mutual, but then sees Victor with another girl after he cancels a date with her. She becomes an object of sympathy for the artist Glinsky, who sees Gizella dancing The Dying Swan and uses her as a model for a picture on the theme of death.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dying_Swan_(film)

The movie starred Vera Karalli as Gizella. See my previous blog about her here: http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/search?q=Karalli

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Secret #229:

“The Dying Swan was a 1917 film.”

Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYWOT0Mu0Kc

Quote of the Day:

 “All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.”
― Seán O'Casey

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Leave a comment about any instructions, ideas, or images that worked best for you!

My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

Want to know more about me? Read my interview at Ballet Connections:

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For interesting articles involving mental health:

 http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/2018/05/

Throwback Thursday and Vergiu Cornea

Throwback Thursday and Vergiu Cornea

Vergiu Cornea Cornea was born in Romania in 1914. He knew from childhood that he wanted to dance but his family wasn’t supportive. Therefore, he studied at the Royal Academy of Art where he learned to create costumes, masks and elaborate appliqué paintings.

But his desire for dance would not be denied. He studied ballet with Vera Karalli and modern dance with Mary Wigman. Soon after Cornea came to Germany, war broke out, but he still managed to go from one dance job to another throughout the war. He became first dancer of the Berlin Comic Opera and ballet master of the Hamburg State Opera. But he was also conscripted into forced labor sewing Nazi uniforms, a time in his life he speaks little about. He said simply “I lived in Germany much longer than I wanted to.”

In 1956 he came to Ithaca, New York where Ithaca College asked him to choreograph The King and I and The Merry Wives of Windsor. He also became the founding artistic director of the Ithaca Ballet. He taught at Ithaca College from 1957 until he retired in 1979. His legacy as a teacher is far-reaching.

His influence is seen today in several areas. He performed in the movie The Red Shoes and his feet were stand-in’s for Robert Helpmann’s. He gave Jean Cocteau the idea of the arms holding candelabra for Beauty and the Beast; and he performed the Charleston with Josephine Baker. He can be seen in the movie An American In Paris at the end of the main dance number (see Link of the Day at 2:08). He is wearing a large turban.

Vergiu Cornea died on December 2, 2011 in Ithaca.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Dance History Secret #214:

“Vergiu Cornea was a dancer in the film The Red Shoes.”

Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z5LcIkWRmg

Quote of the Day:

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”
― Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Help expand the knowledge base!

Leave a comment about any instructions, ideas, or images that worked best for you!

My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

Want to know more about me? Read my interview at Ballet Connections:

http://www.balletconnections.com/?s=debrawebbrogers

Or "Like" me on my Facebook Author Page:

https://www.facebook.com/Violet-Rightmire-256648280108/timeline/

Or visit my Pinterest page:

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For interesting articles involving mental health:

https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/

Throwback Thursday and Vera Karalli

Throwback Thursday and Vera Karalli

Born in Moscow, Russia on July 27, 1889, Vera Alekseevna Karalli received her dance training at the Moscow Theater School. From 1906-1909 she performed as a member of the Bolshoi Theatre and appeared in works by Fokine and Gorsky. In 1909 she went to Paris with The Ballet Russes, under the direction of Sergei Diaghilev. She returned to Russia and continued to perform at the Bolshoi Theatre, dancing leading roles in “Swan Lake” and “Life for The Tsar”.

In 1914, she made her film debut in “Do You Remember?” produced at the Moscow film studio of Aleksandr Khanzhonkov. In 1915 she co-stared in the first film adaptation Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”. But it was her role as Gizella in the 1917 film “the Dying Swan”, (also called “Mad Love”) that made her internationally famous.

According to her biography on Imdb.com: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0179028/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm she was involved in a famous historical murder:

“She was also co-conspirator in the Feliks Yusupov's plot and murder of Grigory Rasputin in December of 1916. Karalli was present at the Yusupov's Moika Palace and allegedly she was there to act as a substitute bait for Rasputin, instead of Yusupov's wife Irina, who was initially shown to the lusty Rasputin as the main bait to lure him into the trap before he was killed. Karalli was chosen for the plot to murder Rasputin, because he knew of her as an actress, she was very pretty and was already a well known film star, who appeared in about twenty silent films in Russia. However, later some of her films were lost or destroyed during the chaos of Communist Revolution and the Russian Civil War of 1917 - 1921.”

After this, Karalli left Russia began traveling. She worked again for the Ballet Russe in Paris, then taught dance in Lithuania. She was ballet mistress for the Bucharest Opera in Romania, and later in her life she moved to Austria, where she died on November 16, 1972.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Dance History Factoid #113:  

“Vera Karalli was a Russian ballerina who was also an actress in silent films.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYWOT0Mu0Kc

Quote of the Day:

“For the average person leading an ordinary life, fame holds an hypnotic attraction. Many would sooner perish than exist in anonymity.

― Emily Thorne

                Help expand the knowledge base!

 Leave a comment about any instructions, ideas, or images that worked best for you!

Want to know more about me? Read my interview at Ballet Connections:

http://balletconnections.com/DebraWebbRogers

            Or "Like" me on my Facebook Author Page:

https://www.facebook.com/Violet-Rightmire-256648280108/timeline/