Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Svetlana Beriosova. August 21 and 25,1976, 1976.

Author

Beriosova, Svetlana, 1932-

Publication

1976

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Harris, Dale, 1928-1996

Description

3 sound discs (approximately two hours and 27 minutes) : digital; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

• Disc 1 (approximately 48 minutes), August 21, 1976. Svetlana Beriosova speaks with Dale Harris about her speaking role in Frederick Ashton's ballet Persephone [short gap]; her childhood and emigrating to the United States at the outset of World War II; reminiscences of her father [Nikolaĭ Berezov] as a dancer; her impressions of Alexandra Danilova; studying with Ludmilla Schollar and Anatole Vilzak; joining the Marquis de Cuevas' ballet company [Grand Ballet de Monte Carlo]; briefly, Serge Lifar as a choreographer; Bronislava Nijinska; her time at the Metropolitan Ballet, including some of her roles; briefly Cecilia Blatch; the circumstances of her joining the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet; [ends abruptly but continues on disc 2].
• Disc 2 (approximately 50 minutes). Svetlana Beriosova continues to speak with Dale Harris about the circumstances of joining the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet; [Vera] Volkova as a teacher; an anecdote about Ninette de Valois and the Neapolitan dance in Swan lake; George Balanchine including his choreographing of Trumpet concerto for Sadler's Wells Ballet [now the Royal Ballet]; her image of the ideal Apollo [in Balanchine's ballet Apollo]; his ballet Serenade; Andrée Howard and her staging of her ballet Fête étrange; Frederick Ashton's The nutcracker; working with Ashton; judging one's own performance; dancing in Swan lake including an anecdote about a performance in Munich; dancing in Swan lake in [the former] Yugoslavia including the nature of the audience; her relationship with Ninette de Valois; some of the first roles she danced at [Covent] Garden including in John Cranko's work The shadow [ends abruptly].
• Disc 3 (approximately 50 minutes). August 25, 1976. Svetlana Beriosova speaks with Dale Harris about Bronislava Nijinska and her ballets Les biches and Les noces; Frederick Ashton's Enigma variations; performing including the importance of one's first entrance; John Cranko as a choreographer including his ballet The prince of the pagodas; Cranko as a person; his theatricality; his reasons for leaving the Royal Ballet; the circumstances of his becoming associated with the Stuttgart Ballet; mime, in particular in Swan lake; her belief that mime should be retained in the classic ballets [ends abruptly].

Alternative Title

Dance Oral History Project.

Subjects

• Cranko, John
• Enigma variations (Choreographic work : Ashton)
• Audiotapes > Beriosova, S
• Royal Ballet
• Ashton, Frederick, 1904-1988
• Sadler's Wells Ballet
• Noces (Choreographic work : Nijinska)
• Biches (Choreographic work : Nijinska)
• Beriosova, Svetlana, 1932-

Note

• Interview with Svetlana Beriosova conducted by Dale Harris on August 21 and 25, 1976 at Beriosova's home in London, England, for the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Division's Oral History Project.
• Title supplied by cataloger.
• Sound quality is fair. The recording is marred by extraneous noise including significant "tape hiss" (especially on disc 3) and occasional short gaps. However, the speakers' voices are almost always easily intelligible.

Funding (note)

• The conservation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-962

OCLC

84061026

Author

Beriosova, Svetlana, 1932- interviewee.

Title

Interview with Svetlana Beriosova. August 21 and 25,1976, 1976.

Production

1976

Type of Content

spoken word

Type of Medium

audio

Type of Carrier

audio disc

Event

Recorded by Dale Harris 1976, August 21 and 25 London (England.)

Funding

The conservation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.

Original Version

Original format: one sound reel (approximately two hours and 27 minutes); 5 inches; polyester, half-track; 1 7/8 ips.; transferred to wav file and compact disc formats in 2013.

Local Note

For transcript of interview: see *MGZMT 5-962

Former classmark: *MGZT 5-962

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Added Author

Harris, Dale, 1928-1996, interviewer.

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-962