Choreography of the Strauss Dance Suite |
 For the past two years Mark & Djana Siders (Zwei Alpentänzer) have been preparing
a suite of late 19th century ballroom dances for performance. They have chosen four
numbers by the Strauss brothers: a processional Mazur-Redowa by Josef to open the program,
followed by two numbers of Johann Jr., a Polka Schnell and a complex, multi-themed Walzer,
with a lively Böhmische Polka of Josef’s for the finale. All the numbers present the
steps, figures and styling that would have been seen and executed in ballrooms of the
period.Djana Bock-Siders spent months on historical research, consulting old dance manuals, dictionaries, encyclopedias and histories of music, dance and ballet, as well as period etiquette books. She was also able to make use of video performance archives of the Vienna State Opera Ballet, the Kirov Ballet, l’Opéra National de Paris, the Royal Ballet Covent Garden, historical films such as the Sissi trilogy and Il Gattopardo, and even Masterpiece Theatre productions. Using the material provided by his wife, Mark Siders choreographed three of the numbers over a 6 month period, from mid-October 2004 to mid-April ’05. The Mazur-Redowa and Polka Schnell took about eight weeks of work each, until mid-January; the Walzer, which is the longest piece of the suite at nearly 9 minutes, took the longest time span to choreograph, from late January until mid-April, a good twelve week stretch. For the Böhmische Polka, Mark & Djana are using choreography Frantisek Bonus created for the Czech National Folkdance Company that was later simplified by Richard Powers; Mark has made further modifications to this arrangement. |
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