- Additional Authors
- Description
- 1 streaming video file (107 min.) : digital, stereo.
- Summary
- Adda Pourmel speaks with Janice Ross about her early dance training in Paris, including her classes with Madame [Olga] Preobrajenska; her classmate, Irina Baronova; her family background; Preobrajenska as a teacher; meeting Tanya [Tatiana] Stepanova [at the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo reunion in 2000]; joining the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and traveling with her mother [Sophie Pourmel], who became the wardrobe mistress; an anecdote about the musical comedy, The King and I, and the leading actress's costume; her mother as a wardrobe mistress; how Adda Pourmel came to be in the cast of the musical comedy Song of Norway [the 1944, New York production choreographed by George Balanchine]; how she met her first husband, Larry Haynes, a singer in the chorus; while looking at photographs of Song of Norway, including the 1962 production, Pourmel tells an anecdote about her husband being fired from the show; speaks about Mary Ellen Moylan; identifies various people in the photographs; speaks about the character "mirror dance" she performed in Act I [in the scene just before the song Freddy and his fiddle; Hill of dreams?], including the costumes; her short stature not being a problem at that time; an anecdote about Sol Hurok and a tall dancer in the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo; more on the "mirror dance"; her attempt to learn to sing, including an anecdote about her husband's view of her singing; the scene following the song Freddy and his fiddle. Adda Pourmel continues to speak with Janice Ross about the 1944, New York production of the musical comedy Song of Norway including, very briefly, the professionalism of the dancers and George Balanchine; various dances and scenes in Act II, including scenes Pourmel and Ross refer to, respectively, as the Chocolate shop pas de trois, Copenhagen, and Waltz eternal [name of song in the show], Peer Gynt [name of song in the show], Anitra's dance; the Concerto; Pourmel demonstrates some of the movements while commenting on them; speaks further about the dancing in Act II, including the difficulty of the choreography in the Concerto; Balanchine's insistence on technical competence; tells an anecdote about [Michel] Fokine and a production of Les sylphides in London; an anecdote about herself, Alexandra Danilova, Frederic Franklin, and Leonide Massine; speaks further about the Concerto; curtain calls; Balanchine's never duplicating himself; the Concerto as the dance to be reconstructed if it were possible to revive any from the show; the costumes in the Chocolate shop dance; Pourmel and Ross begins to talk about the dance set to the song Freddy and his fiddle; as recorded music from the show is played, Pourmel speaks about various topics including how Fokine, in contrast with Massine, never changed the choreography of his dances; a recording of the song Freddy and his fiddle is played as Pourmel demonstrates and speaks about the choreography; the song is played again. A recording of the song Freddy and his fiddle can be heard as Adda Pourmel demonstrates, for interviewer Janice Ross, the dance set to it; Pourmel speaks about the dance referred to as Anitra's dance; George Balanchine's strictness when working; leaving the production because she was pregnant; the favorable audience response to Song of Norway; reasons she and her mother did not think the show would be a success; her view that it was one of Balanchine's best Broadway shows; the composers [Robert] Wright and [George Wright]; tells an anecdote about auditioning for their musical comedy Kismet; speaks about marriages, including her own, that came out of the show; other people she knew from the show and from the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.
- Alternative Title
- Popular Balanchine collection.
- Subjects
- Genre/Form
- Dance.
- Video.
- Interviews.
- Nonfiction films.
- Note
- Audiotape of same interview is also located in the Dance Division, *MGZTL 4-2719 Interview with Adda Pourmel.
- Date taken from the audio interview (*MGZTL 4-2719).
- This interview was created for the Popular Balanchine Collection.
- This interview relates to the Popular Balancine dossiers (Boxes 28-29. Song of Norway) (1944, 1962 Los Angeles production) [Dance Division call number: *MGZMD 146, boxes 27-28], compiled by Janice Ross and Catherine Ryan Slavonia. Binder 1. Inventory, overview by Janice Ross and Claude Conyers, background materials on 1944 production (photocopy of original synopsis, typescripts and photocopy of excerpts from published works, typescripts of information on the dances), press releases on 1962 production, reviews and notices, photographs (digital scans, photocopies, and prints), and transcripts of interviews with Helena Bliss, Ruthanna Boris, Peter Deign, Frederic Franklin, John Kelly, Miles Kreuger, Mary Ellen Moylan, Adda Pourmel, Maria Tallchief, and Leland Windreich on the 1944 production and with Barrie Duffus and John Frayer, Roy Fitzell, Garold Gardner, Kenneth Johnson, Linda Keeler, Patricia Klekovic, Rachelle Reyes, and Leland Windreich and Brydon Paige on the 1962 production. Binder 2. Programs (photocopies and originals) and souvenir programs (photocopies). Binder 3. Photocopy of the libretto, photocopy of the annotated prompt book, photocopy of the musical score, sheet music (piano-vocal) for "Strange Music," and photocopies of telegram from Edwin Lester and news clip.
- Access (note)
- Patrons can access streaming video file online only onsite at the Library for the Performing Arts.
- Event (note)
- Videotaped during interview in Adda Pourmel's living room, in New Orleans, La., on Feb. 17, 2001.
- Source (note)
- George Balanchine Foundation.
- Popular Balanchine Foundation.
- Linking Entry (note)
- Forms part of: Popular Balanchine collection.
- Call Number
- *MGZIDVD 5-7322
- OCLC
- 809262965
- Title
Interview with Adda Pourmel [electronic resource] / interviewed by Janice Ross ; [presented by] The George Balanchine Foundation.
- Imprint
2001.
- Country of Producing Entity
U.S.
- Original Version
Original format: 1 videocassette ; 1/2 in.
- Restricted Access
Patrons can access streaming video file online only onsite at the Library for the Performing Arts.
- Performer
Interviewee, Adda Pourmel ; interviewer, Janice Ross.
- Event
Videotaped during interview in Adda Pourmel's living room, in New Orleans, La., on Feb. 17, 2001.
- Linking Entry
Forms part of: Popular Balanchine collection.
- Source
Gift; George Balanchine Foundation. NN-PD
Gift; Popular Balanchine Foundation. NN-PD
- Connect to:
- Added Author
Pourmel, Adda, 1920-2008. Interviewee
Ross, Janice. Interviewer
George Balanchine Foundation.
George Balanchine Foundation. Donor
- Added Title
Popular Balanchine collection.
- Research Call Number
*MGZIDVD 5-7322