Chopin — Waltz in A flat major, Op. 34, No. 1 "Valse brillante"

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 > Second American Tour — Irma Duncan — Isadora Duncan Dancers

The San Francisco Museum of Performance and Design > Programs > Isadorables — Dec 28, 1919

The Collection of Christy Cornell-Pape > Programs > Irma Duncan — Isadora Duncan Dancers — Nov 03, 1929

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 > Duncan Dance Festival — Isadora Duncan Centenary Dance Company — 1978

The Collection of Barbara Kane > Programs > The Dance of Isadora Duncan — Isadora Duncan Centenary Dance Company — Jun 10, 1978

The Collection of Barbara Kane > Programs > Isadora Duncan Centenary Dance Company — Jun 24, 1978

The Collection of Barbara Kane > Programs > Riverside Dance Festival — Isadora Duncan Commemorative Dance Company — Jan 24, 1979

The Collection of Barbara Kane > Programs > Isadora Duncan Commemorative Dance Company — Nov 16, 1979

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

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