Drew

I haven't seen a live full-length Raymonda in some years, but I should think that--like Aurora--Raymonda should be subtly different in each act. Fresh and youthful in her entrance certainly, though still a blue-blood and, by the end, radiating aristocratic grandeur. (At least "ballet" aristocratic -- which is as absurd in its way as "ballet" peasant. Though very beautiful.) And any good ballerina will mold the role a bit towards her particular strengths--the role has its requirements, but if the ballet didn't allow for some interpretive range it could be danced by holographs. Despite the damsel in distress aspects, the choreography endows Raymonda with more agency and character than the story does. I like that about Petipa.

A warm congratulations to Olga Smirnova .

This came as something of a shock...RIP http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jan/14/alan-rickman-giant-of-british-film-and-theatre-dies-at-69

Thank you for posting the cast information. I'm looking forward to seeing ALL of these dancers, and extremely excited to be seeing the ballet. Basically could not be happier that Mariinsky is touring Raymonda. But I am still a wee bit disappointed in some of the casting. The two Jean De Brienne's I was most looking forward to having a chance to see--Yermakov and Shklyarov--not coming. No Lopatkina even though she is dancing in NY later the same week and is an admired Raymonda (!!!) and no Tereshkina who opened the California run. And for myself, too, I would have preferred seeing Somova to Kolegova... That said, just reading all the different parts has me very excited about seeing the production.

I enjoyed Hyltin in Mozartiana when she danced it a few seasons ago. She didn't channel Farrell, but gave a lovely perforance full of subtlties.

Spartacus travels...and some of G's productions of nineteenth-century ballets. His works and productions have also been featured, including Legend of Love, in the international HD broadcasts. (At the Mariinsky Fateyev has said he hopes to bring Legend of Love on tour soon. I have been wondering if it will turn up at Kennedy Center on their annual visit.)

No one said the FB poster was responsible for inequities. In fact, no one said much about the FB poster at all before your post pushed the discussion in an entirely different direction from the initial fun-for-a-laugh "go PA ballet" responses. (If I were in the habit of accusing other people of being humorless, then I might reflect on your original intervention at greater length.) And even as the discussion has morphed, addressing the issues you raised, no-one said anything about what's in the FB poster's heart or even in his head. Just responding to his words and what they denote and connote in our society. Okay--obviously they don't denote/connote those things in your judgment; Well, say so then--as indeed you have quite clearly and forcefully done. But impugning the motives of those who respond to you,"you folks" as you say above, and claiming people are demonizing (or think they have "figured out") the original FB poster? Even that they are prejudiced against football players or football fans or men? What is that but questioning the motives of people who disagree with you in their analysis and reaction to the original post? And indeed assuming the worst about what they are saying or are trying to say and the feelings/experiences that lie behind their words? The very fact that the topic has now become "Mcarthyism" and "Witch-hunting" seems inexplicable to me. And, as accusations, these seem to me rather more unpleasant than anything that's been said about the FB poster on this thread. Let alone football fans, football players, or men.

Unfortunately I missed the PBS bio and read the older bios a very long time ago. But even if he would have loved any country in which he found work and ended up -- where did he find work and end up? (He did tell Lincoln Kirstein he was keen on coming to the country that had women like Ginger Rogers. And he seems to have supported US cold war opposition to the Soviets.) I think Balanchine's art would have developed in slightly different ways in different countries and/or under different institutional circumstances, but it would still have been his art no question...Still Agon and The Four Temperaments (score written by another European exile--in this case on the run from Fascism), might have looked somewhat different, though it's impossible to say exactly how or why. Though, actually Four Temperaments would not have happened since it was commissioned under very particular circumstances. Serenade, another one of his greatest works, also reflects something of the distinctive experience in the U.S. working with young dancers etc. That is, the "American" influences on his art may not just be reflected in Western Symphony or Who Cares etc. But, yeah, his art. Edited to add: Jack Reed and I were typing/posting at same time. I was writing partly in the same spirit.

Discovered this on Facebook--sensational Soviet dancing with a fab torchlift (beginning around 2:35), and the choreography is attributed to Gorsky in 1906. Perhaps one of the ballet historians on this site can comment on that? It's easy to imagine the Soviets added their own touches... https://www.facebook.com/christianmindris/videos/1675585082689350/?fref=nf I highly recommend watching the whole thing for wonderful 'old school' Russian/Soviet dancing--lifts, tosses, etc.

In this case decades after! It was this thread that got me remembering the whole thing...

"Finger wagging" was snider than I meant to sound--apologies for that. I don't think I'm judging any person--in fact, I've been pretty explicit in saying I don't take football fans lashing out too seriously one way or the other. But I do think my judgment concerning language usage is well within norms: that's nothing to do with what's in a person's heart--or whether a person is a jerk for that matter. When people call football players "ballerinas" or allude to tutus etc., I firmly believe they're in a tradition of insult that carries plenty unpleasant connotations whether the person speaking gives them a second thought or not. And a lot of them do (I speak from direct knowledge of sports fans--attendance at live games etc.). Enjoy that tradition if you will--dislike it if you will--remain indifferent if you will. Every individual will make different calls about that...But it exists. (My links were meant to give evidence of what I mean by tradition or, as said above, context--but anyone interested can do a google search on football players calling each other "ballerina.") By the by, some decades ago I was at a Yankee game at Yankee stadium with a friend who was loudly cheering for the other team while I stayed quiet. Among other things we were accused of being communists. I don't think it was a comment on our commitment to the class struggle--I assume it was a way of saying we were the enemy. But now I wish we had thought to turn around and say (more or less) "Every baseball player should contribute to the game according to his ability--and get his team's support making plays...according to his need."

I think it's a commoner stereotype than you imagine. Sports fans and players are not exactly wallowing in political correctness. Here are some articles on a recent incident dealing with the "ballerina" insult in male sports (I assume "ballerina" & "wearing a tutu" are more or less equivalent)--and giving some context for why one might, without much in the way of paranoia, want to raise a flag--or offer (as PA ballet did) a clever riposte. http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/14414750/cmon-josh-norman-best-got "In addition to using the word "ballerina" as an insult, Norman (and perhaps Beckham, too) supposedly also used phrases questioning Beckham's heterosexuality, as well as repeated use of the word "bitch." In fact, all of the insults had the same common denominator: being female, or like female, is the absolute worst." On the same incident: http://www.outsports.com/2015/12/22/10643980/carolina-panthers-josh-norman-giants-odell-beckham-gay-slurs Below is a different perspective focused on the accusation of direct homophobic slurs that was part of same episode. My point here is only that when there is a homophobic slur (as there may have been in this case) or sexist slur (as, I would say, there certainly was) and "Ballerina" is added--it doesn't take a genius or an "overly sensitive" person to suspect homophobia and/or sexism lurks behind "ballerina" as well. http://bossip.com/1265296/stop-saying-josh-norman-insulted-odell-beckhams-manhood-by-calling-him-gay/ One can't just ignore the context of these kinds of episodes when hearing/reading another insult involving "tutus." (A quick search turned up another recent "ballerina" insult w/o context, though I personally think the code is no mystery): https://www.facebook.com/BrianCushing56/posts/1174529502562092 As it happens I'm not all hot under the color about what some disappointed fan writes on Facebook even if I'm not crazy about it either. But I thought the PA ballet response was smart and funny--and especially enjoyable for ballet fans! Some of us anyway. And it did not question the motives of the person who wrote the remark; it just took him/her up on it literally: "Ballerinas eh...?" So I am kind of puzzled that it would be read any other way or, even if not read any other way, still taken as an occasion for finger wagging about "over sensitivity" to sexist/homophobic slurs. This response seems to me exactly the sort of humorous riposte that, while it may raise further issues for some readers, actually takes the sting out of the discussion. Bravo Pennsylvania Ballet--

How much of the ballet is reconstructable?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/04/philadelphia-eagles-santa-dead_n_7202414.html

By "it" I think you mean over-sensitivity or assuming the worst when it comes to sexist/racist/homophobic attitudes or other kinds of comparable injustice--e.g. calling people out when they don't deserve to be. I understand why you are concerned about that, but I would add that what also "happens a lot" are accusations of over-sensitivity that unfairly shut people down or put them in an easy-to-dismiss category when they are being mistreated in all kinds of ways--some more visible than others. There is more than one way to assume the worst and more than one kind of over-sensitivity.

Personally I think the original FB comment was a polite way of saying the Eagles were playing like P*****s and/or [insert derogatory epithet for gay men]. Expressions I have heard sports fans use on rather more than one occasion. "...wearing tutus" is less offensive wording, but uh...especially with that larger sports-fan context in mind, I would say it is definitely a "dis" of ballet dancers however indirect. Honestly, I don't much care, and I don't take everything said in the heat of sports-fan disappointment all that seriously. But I also don't think the FB poster was thinking about the "light" "delicate" and "entrancing" qualities of the players as they lost the game. The point was to insult not to analyze. But whether or not I'm right or wrong and whether or not one finds the original comment offensive or not, appropriate or not, amusing or not...I think the Pennsylvania ballet response is still both smart and funny. I certainly wouldn't describe it (to take a phrase from kfw above) as a "political weapon." Clever PR is more like it! That is, even if you take the original remark as the most innocent, un-sexist, un-homophobic way of saying that the football players weren't doing their jobs--even so, it's still fair game and (I think) good natured fun for ballet lovers to point out the ironies. As for taking offence too easily...probably the person who wrote the original comment can take some ribbing from the PA ballet and other ballet fans on social media. But if s/he can't...well, at least I wouldn't call him/her a ballerina...or a football player .

All casts in NY except for Lane/Cornejo (the cast I missed) did the fish dives. Seo was dancing with Stearns in NY and Murphy with Whiteside, but I expect DC will see some fish dives. Boylston/Gorak (both excellent dancers) performed them so awkwardly at the performance I saw that I could wish they had chosen to do the alternate 'original' choreography.

Absolutely!

Very much wish I could see this...looking forward to reading people's reactions.

Youtube does take stuff down when they receive complaints they take seriously -- as they should and, at any rate, must. I can think of a couple of youtube 'ballet' channels that have been completely shut down. But there also seems to be a lot of very obviously "bootleg" ballet video on youtube that several ballet (and film/television) companies clearly know about and have allowed to stand. If you persuaded me that the companies didn't know, then all I could respond would be that that level of ignorance in this day and age amounts to de facto approval. But you would have a hard time persuading me. There appears to be a lot of 'don't ask, don't tell' involved at least when it comes to stage performances.

Thanks for posting...

I have seen Roman identified in the Variety review of the film as Roman Abramov. A 2013 New York Times article about the Bolshoi "claque" features the same person. He is a key figure in the claque--organized groups of fans who, according to the article, pre-arrange to cheer for certain dancers in return for favors from them (eg free tickets). I was surprised the filmmakers presented him as no more than an especially passionate member of the Bolshoi audience. I don't doubt he adores the Bolshoi, but if the Times' article is accurate, then he isn't entirely outside its circuits of corruption either--for all his talk of the Bolshoi as a "temple." Here is a link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/arts/dance/designated-cheering-spectators-thrive-at-the-bolshoi-theater.html?_r=0

Doubtless writing a dictionary is what Freud would call "an impossible profession" -- hats off to those writers (male and female) by all means. But I'm still just fine with debating the choices dictionary writers/editors make. Discussions that playfully, seriously, ironically or ambitiously make the case for and against! Arguing about words is one of things words were invented to do. And if those words speak to larger realities, then all the more reason for debate--however playful or intense. In the case of this thread I'd have said often playful. As for "cygnet" -- Is it pissing in the wind to mourn a word dropped from a small dictionary for presumably sensible reasons? Probably. But who if not ballet fans can appreciate the specificity of "cygnet"? Why not mourn (if one wishes)...if only with a wink?

Ahh...I didn't remember the mention of singers. I still think that, at the least, the editing of the film is a problem here...at least I was bothered (as is pretty obvious I guess).

I too am unfamiliar with his character, and obviously some dancers hated him. Hated. But Evgenia Obraztsova for example --the great Vaganova trained ballerina he brought from the Mariinsky to the Bolshoi, has spoken very warmly of him in interviews and, responding to people who had suggested his injuries were fake, spoke about visiting him and seeing injured skin etc. But I imagine now that Urin, who openly dislikes Filin and has gotten rid of him as company director, heads the Bolshoi theater, dancers are not exactly going to line up to talk publically about how great Filin was. Repertory? In an interview translated by Ismene Brown, Urin himself has praised the Possokhov Hero of Our Time--a production that Filin was instrumental in making happen. Filin also brought Maillot to choreograph a Taming of the Shrew at the Bolshoi that is something of a hit and has garnered very good reviews--with raves for some of the performances. (It will be an HD film broadcast this year.) Otherwise, as I understand, Filin has brought international full length hits to the company, ballets that have been around a long time and are not all my cup of tea, but that certainly showcase the dramatic talent in the company (Cranko, Neumeier). And he also brought Balanchine's Jewels. Were these the best choices for the company? Well each of us may have an opinion, but it seems to me to signal some desire for the Bolshoi to look outward. Which has good and bad aspects perhaps. But, in my opinion, not all bad. Presumably dancer resentment of his casting includes the fact that he brought several new dancers into the company including Smirnova whom he fast-tracked to stardom and Obraztsova. I think these are great ballerinas (Smirnova still developing of course) and the Bolshoi has always occasionally imported Vaganova trained and/or Mariinsky dancers --which these dancers are. So, to my mind, that is not inconsistent with Bolshoi tradition. Zakharova, who was already a star when Filin arrived, was brought in from outside as well, trained mostly in Kiev and danced with Mariinsky. He also brought Hallberg an American (which I assume was controversial--certainly Tsiskaridze complained) as well as several Russian dancers from outside the Bolshoi. I'm not astonished Bolshoi dancers resent this, but I personally like a number of the dancers he brought in and he has also promoted and featured Bolshoi trained, in-house dancers. As for the concern that the company's style might be being diluted (which I've heard expressed by fans)...that was happening before he became director of the company. I tend to think it was bound to morph over time, however much I may lament that no-one dances like Vladimir Vasiliev anymore. I fear I sound like a special pleader for Filin--so I should say I know nothing about the ins and outs of how he ran the company day-to-day before he started being harassed with slashed tires and prank calls, let alone before he was attacked with acid. But there's a kind of vilification of Filin that really troubles me too. It's not as if any of his recent predecessors in the job lasted more than a few years, and indeed Genady Yanin was prevented from taking the job at all by an ugly campaign of sexually explicit photos (usually described as involving someone who "resembled" Yanin). So, really, coming from that world, what should one believe? That Filin was a bad guy? I tend to think he was probably an imperfect guy in an unspeakably bad situation. But I can't say I know either.