Film program at the MFA, Boston

Consulate General of France in Boston

   As part of the Ballets Russes 2009 festival celebration of the Russian culture in the West in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Ballets Russes, on May 23, 2009 at the MFA there will be several film screenings and talks. This program is presented jointly by the Ballets Russes Cultural Partnership and the Film Program of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, with additional support by the Cultural Services of the French Consulate in Boston.
   This program is curated by filmmaker Alla Kovgan, a Boston-based filmmaker, born in Moscow (Russia). Her films and films that she co-directed have been presented worldwide including at the Sundance Film Festival, Cinema du Reel, Oberhausen Film Festival, ZDF (Germany), PBS (USA) and numerous others. Since 2000, she has taught and presented dance film/avant-garde cinema worldwide and acts as a Curator of the St. Petersburg Dance Film Festival KINODANCE (Russia) and as a co-Curator of the Balagan Film Series (Boston).

   Below are brief descriptions of the 3 programs that will be presented:

Program 1, 10:30am
At the crossroads of Choreography and Cinema
   An eclectic collection of shorts - some of the most inspiring dance films from around the world created within the last 15 years. Introduced by Alla Kovgan.
Total running time: 76 minutes

Triangle (9 min, 1994, UK) - Oscar nominated
Directed by Erica Russell

Beethoven in Love (15 min, 1994, UK)
Choreographed by Liz Aggiss and Billy Cowie
Music by Billy Cowie
Directed by Bob Bentley

Shake-off (9min, 2006, Netherlands)
Directed and choreographed by Hans Beenhakker

Motion Control (10 min, 2002, UK)
Devised and choreographed by Liz Aggiss and Billy Cowie
Directed by David Anderson

Ghostcatching (7 min, 1999 US)
Directed and Choreographed by: Paul Kaiser, Shelley Eshkar, and Bill T. Jones

One Flat Thing Reproduced (26min, 2006, France)
Directed by Thierry De Mey
Choreographed by William Forsythe

Program 2, 12:30pm
Keeping the Faith: Ludmila Lvova on Leonide Massine, the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, and more
   Betty Low, who performed with the Colonel de Basil's Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo as Ludmila Lvova, will speak about Leonid Massine and other dancers and choreographers who kept the spirit and creative legacy of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes alive throughout the 1930s and 1940s. She will also introduce an excerpt from Gillian Lacey's film "Play: On the Beach with Ballets Russes", in which she appears, and answer questions from the audience.
   Betty Low danced with the Colonel W. de Basil's Ballets Russes and the Sergei Denham-Leonide Massine Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in the years 1936-43, appearing in solo roles in Massine's Scuola di Ballo and Symphonie Fantastique. She performed with the Russian ballet companies under the stage name Ludmila Lvova, which she received from the choreographer Leonid Massine. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, she left Canada at an early age to accept two scholarships in London, one for dance with Nicholas Legat, the other for drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She also studied ballet in Paris with Mathilde Kschessinska. Following her Ballets Russes years, she joined the Broadway cast of Bloomer Girl at the invitation of Agnes de Mille, the show's choreographer. Subsequently, Ms. Low concentrated on acting assignments. She appeared as Octavia in the 1947 Broadway production of Antony and Cleopatra, starring Katherine Cornell, and in many other Broaway shows, working with Eva LeGallienne in The Royal Family, Shirley Booth and Melvyn Douglas in Juno, and Rex Harrison in The Kingfisher and Aren't We All? She last appeared on Broadway in My Old Lady by Israel Horovitz. She has acted in commercials and in "all the soaps" and can be seen on TV in re-runs of Law and Order.

Play: On the Beach with Ballets Russes (23min, 2008, England)
Directed by Gillian Lacey
Even dedicated dancers need time off for play. This film is comprised of informal archival footage of the Ballets Russes frolicking on the beach in Sidney, Australia during their 1936-1940 tours. No point shoes on the sand but some lively cartwheels, leaps and ballet poses in the edited fragments. We spotted the likes of Serge Lifar, Riabouchinska and raven-haired Tamara Toumanova and invite your guesses and comments after the screening. Alexander Balanescu wrote the score for the film as played by the Balanescu Quartet. Betty Low, a former member of the Ballets Russes, is in the film and lives in Manhattan.

Program 3, 3:00pm
Vaslav Nijinksy
Alla Kovgan will speak about capturing dance for the screen and the difference between that and dance film, and will then present Paul Cox's film, The Diares of Vaslav Nijinsky.
Nijinsky, The diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky (100min, 2001, Australia)
Directed by Paul Cox
   Paul Cox is an Australian director of Dutch origin. He directed over forty films. Among them are: Illuminations (1976), Lonely Hearts (1981), Man of Flowers (1983), Death and Destiny (1984), My First Wife (1984), Cactus (1986), Vincent - The Life and Death of Vincent Van Gogh (1988), Island (1989), Golden Braid (1990), A Woman's Tale (1991), Exile (1994), Lust & Revenge (1996), Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (1999), The Hidden Dimension (1997), Innocence (2000).

Still from the film
Beethoven in Love

Still from the film
Motion Control

Betty Low
stage name Ludmila Lvova

Still from the film
Nijinsky. The diaries of
Vaslav Nijinsky