Kurt Jooss' The Green Table: horrors and fear (the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago)
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2021
- Kurt Jooss’ The Green Table is one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century dance. Its message of the futile, relentless tragedy of war is universal in its humanitarian appeal. Jooss created The Green Table for a choreographic competition in Paris, and the mood of post-World War I Germany helped to shape his concept.
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Jooss' original sketches for a personal solo based on the medieval Dance of Death yielded to his conviction that a second world war was brewing under the increasingly pervasive influence of Hitler and his National Socialists. Death’s solo became instead the vortex of a ballet for his full company about the cyclical recurrence of war, its impact on humanity and the evil cynicism of those who bring it about for power, pride or profit - the “Gentlemen in Black”. Within months of winning first prize The Green Table was an international success. Jooss’s vision and his intransigent refusal to dismiss Jewish members of his troupe (including the ballet’s composer Frederic Cohen) proved so unpopular with the rising Nazi power structure that he was warned by friends to flee Germany. He escaped, with his entire company, only eighteen hours before he would have been hustled into a concentration camp.
This studio recording, featuring The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, was staged by the choreographer’s daughter, Anna Markard, who endeavored to reconstruct his work as faithfully as possible. The sets and costumes follow the designs created by Hein Heckroth for the original 1932 production. The masks and lighting are by Markard’s husband Hermann, a painter and designer. Cohen’s score for two pianos is played by May Sofge and Fiona Boznos.
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seen in Amsterdam today and i was blown away, this video unfortunately is not catching the radiation, tension, sadness, the thrill, the absurdity of the message, the deep breathless silence in the audience
I've seen this at the Joffrey in NY before the move to Chicago. I'll never forget it and watch this video over and over. Thanks for the post.
Wonderful ballet, wonderful performance. Revived in America in the '60's and never went out of style. Unfortunately, in a way, as war hasn't gone out of style either.
Relevant story and with only music, costumes, makeup and movement. A masterpiece that live as long as there are dancers, dance company, pianists and an audience. Thank you for making this and sharing. Brava!
Saw this in preview night at Ballet west last night and it was so incredible and affective and intense and emotional.
I saw Ballet West's production last night and was blown away ! The Brothel scene especially was incredible
I went on Saturday! Dominic Ballard was phenomenal 💕
@@softtacos3086 I cried during the brothel scene I was so touched
@@ShayLaLaLooHoo I agree. He did soooo well. My best friend is the pianist you heard. He's their resident pianist. I was so blown away by the Red Angels number. That violinist was amazing.
@@ShayLaLaLooHoo I wish I could have seen Dominic's performance! He's one of my favorites. However I did get to see Adrian and he was amazing beyond words.
I saw the Joffrey Ballet/The Green Table way back in the 70s at the City Center in NYC. It was riveting. I have never stopped thinking about it. Thank you so much for posting this extraordinary work!
I saw it on public TV right around that time and it made a lasting impression. On hindsight, I'm pretty sure it in-formed my career as a mimedancer.
Same here
Unfortunately, how terribly appropriate for this moment in history. Who would have thought it...
I believe I saw a production in LA circa ‘64
I can't stop looking at this piece of art. Thank you so much for sharing it!
Thank you for posting this performance. I was looking for a recording like this for a few years!
Wonderful ballet. The music is also interesting, it sounds like a mixture between 'groupe de six', Stravinsky, and more German expressionistic influences. And reminds me also of silent movies of that period, I like to hear/see more ballets of this composer.
I had the privilege of seeing The Green Table by the City Center Joffrey Company in 1968, and by shear coincidence again, by Ballet Arizona, in 1998. In Arizona, the part of Death was danced by the son of the dancer of the role with the Joffrey. One anecdote told afterwards was that the dancer who performed Death had purposefully been isolated from the rest of the cast off-stage and in rehearsal, which, he said, had dramatically affected his being.
Seeing this ballet during the height of the Vietnam War was a personally moving experience, especially the young wife pleading with her man to NOT go to war.
Sooner or later, I will have one more chance to see this work - I hope.
I had the same experience in 1968 at the Jeffrey and saw American Ballet Theater do the ballet about 12 years ago. Amazing. The death march toward the end always gives me chills.
I so hope one day to be able to see this in person. From 7:18 on through the end of the farewells, that score and the choreography just cuts right to the bone 😢 so beautiful
Im Rahmen des Ballettabends "Krieg und Frieden" 2010 und "Courage!" 2023 wurde bei uns im Staatstheater Saarbrücken jeweils auch dieses Ballett gezeigt, eine erschütternde Aufführung immer und immer aktuell und gültig. Für mich eines der besten Stücke überhaupt. Danke für dieses Video , ich schaue es oft.
Thank you very much. The version was remastered, and it was great. JOOSS and his master piece deserve it.
Thank you for keeping this wonderfull ballet alive Edward Arckless ex Royal Oper Ballet Covent Garden and conservatoire de Ville de Paris France.and that I live next door to her in Wiesbaden untill she die. she went to Amsterdam a very wonderfull personne never to forget Edward Arckless do you know of the Purcell Oper Ballet that we did in Wiesbaden just fantastique and magique.
ch.1 00:00 - 03:19
ch.2 03:24, 05:30, 09:47
ch.3 09:54, 12:30
ch.4 14:30, 19:00
ch.5 19:48
ch.6 22:51,24:00
ch.7 28:52, 30:26, 33:20
ch.8 33:41
The music here is by May Sofge (first piano) and Fiona Boznos (second piano).
Very well performed, exactly like Jooss wanted it ! I worked with Jooss twice, in 1965, and in 1970, in fact I think I must have been one of the first to dance Death after he no longer performed the role. At that time I was still in the corpse de ballet at the Dutch National Ballet, just turned 23, Jooss gave me my first big role, I will never forget the way he worked with us, taking all his time, I remember Reuven ( the first cast for Death) and I spend 1 hour working on the eyes alone during the mowing -movement in the solo ! The only difference I noticed is that at that time we used more cambre in the solo ! Such a beautiful Ballet !
It is beautiful. What an experience that must have been.
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Who were the dancers? I saw a Joffrey performance many years ago when it was based in New York City, and I saw it then (I live in NYC). I feel it would be important to name the performers. In one well-known production by Joffrey in NYC, Robert Blankshine played a soldier (I don't know which one) and Maximiliano Zamosa played Death. In the NYC productions, the war profiteer handled huge dollar bills which were left out of this production. Notice that in the end, everybody dies and dances to Death's tune--except for the politicians who started the whole thing.
Tragically, Max Zamosa took his own life not long after his appearance as Death in the ballet.
One thing I notice in this video, though, is that the dancers didn't always seem to be in time with the beat. I realize it must have been difficult. Nonetheless, I'm grateful to be able to access this. I've watched it twice so far, and likely will again some more times. The music and choreography are wonderful. I'm glad Kurt Jooss escaped with his company, and I'm also glad to know about the history of this great ballet. There's humor as well as horror in it. It's quite beautiful.
Very amazing and powerful. I think the dancers should receive their due credit here. Who were they?
The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, but you're right. Sadly no individual dancers' names. Difficult sometimes to get that info.
♥️
Exquisite! Not only are the choreography and dancing flawless, the the lighting is amazing. Does anyone know who designed the lighting for this piece?
Kevin Drever I believe.