Chopin — Waltz in A flat major, Op. 34, No. 1 "Valse brillante"
- Music:
Chopin — Waltz in A flat major, Op. 34, No. 1 "Valse brillante"
- Original choreography by: Isadora Duncan
- Categories: lyrical dances
A dynamic and charming dance, best presented as a group dance for four, which uses strong Duncan waltz vocabulary...waltz jumps and turns, waltz skips and lunges...in strong geometric floor patterns (diagonals, advancing and receding lines, serpentine flows).
Notes
Valerie Durham
This dance feels like sparkling jewels, coming together in the most brilliant and radiant setting. Dancers enter with energy, waltzing across the floor in a serpentine pattern, inviting, jumping, twirling. The dancers then come together from four corners, reaching for each other as they waltz together to the center, and opening gloriously as they waltz back. Skips with triumphant presses side to side burst forth in a jump as they pass each other to opposite quadrants. A duet section mirrors the two partnering gems as they sway, turn and pass each other. The quadrants motif changes to a unified line as the jewels come forward and back together, waltzing, skipping, pressing and jumping. At the end, the dancers intertwine in a coasting series of figure eights that pass and float by each other into a final connected spin, releasing into an ecstatic jump and rush away.
Videos
| Title | Date | Dancers | Full Dance? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peabody Dance-Valse Brilliante-March 2015 | 2015-03 | No | Excerpts, staged by Lori Belilove with company assistant Emily D'Angelo | |
| Dances by Isadora: Valse Brillante | 2014 | Kelli Edwards, Catherine Gallant, Irene Lutts, Sandra Zarotney-Keldsen | Yes | |
| Dances by Isadora: Valse Brillante | 2014 | Natalia Brillante, Catherine Gallant, Chriselle Tidrick, Margherita Tisato | Yes | |
| Isadora Duncan Dance Group: Valse Brillante | 2003-09-06 | Annette Mouret, Francoise Rageau, Christine Grant, Annette Spector, Yasuyo Sugimoto, KAZUMI | Yes | Staged by Barbara Kane |
| Duncan Dance Continuum performs Waltz Brilliante | 1993 | Beth Jucovy, Judith Ann Landon, Lynn Parkerson, Adrienne Ramm | Yes | Choreography as passed down from Julia Levien |
| Waltz Brilliante | 1989-04-23 | Ann Cogley, Mary Sano, Janice Blaisdell, Michelle Swanson | Yes | |
| Valse Brillante danced by Jeanne Bresciani and Lance Westergard | Jeanne Bresciani | No | Arranged as duet |
Related items in the Archives
The San Francisco Museum of Performance and Design > Programs > Isadorables — Dec 28, 1919
The Collection of Christy Cornell-Pape > Programs > Isadora Duncan Dancers — Nov 18, 1929
The Collection of Mignon Garland > Programs > S.F. Duncan Dancers — Feb 1974
The Collection of Mignon Garland > Programs > S.F. Duncan Dancers Centennial — 1977
The Collection of Mignon Garland > Programs > S. F. Duncan Dancers, 8th Annual Concert — 1980
The Collection of Barbara Kane > Programs > Isadora Duncan Dancers — Nov 13, 1929
The Collection of Barbara Kane > Programs > Isadora Duncan Centenary Dance Company — Jun 24, 1978
The Collection of Barbara Kane > Programs > Homage to Isadora — Madeleine Lytton — 1984
The Collection of Barbara Kane > Programs > Starry Night — Barbara Kane — Dec 20, 1991
The Collection of Barbara Kane > Programs > Retrospective Isadora Duncan — 1993
The Collection of Janaea Rose Lyn (McAlee) > Programs > Isadorables