Amy Reusch

I wish Osipova was still on the roster...

Any info yet on the casting? The site just says "Bolshoi principals, soloists and corps de ballet". (well, one would hope so!) I've been interested to see this ballet for a while now. The trailer pretty poor, I usually bring a few friends, but I'm not sure I could use this trailer to entice anyone... https://www.fathomevents.com/events/bolshoi1718-flames-of-paris

So exciting!! I have never seen the company live but their costumes and productions look inspiring! I was so disappointed that ABT's new Firebird made so little of Osipova's gifts. I will keep my fingers crossed for Andersen's, the music is so ravishing.

No more Cranko? That's a shame, their performance of Cranko's R&J used to send chills down my spine.

You found Krysanova mechanical? And Sandik, I couldn't agree more about the Norwegian curling team.

And when Romeo launched himself skyward... assisted by the male market community...

I loved how admiring of Paris Juliet's handmaidens are... there were many nice dramatic touches...

One thing I did not understand... they said several times that this was the New Stage... which I see from Wikipedia was built in 2002 to the left of the historic theater... but weren't all the sudience shots and the talk of the chandelier from the historic stage? Isn,t the Bolshoi stage actually a rather large stage (or is this a misunderstanding of mine?) and was it simpler to remount the Canadian production onto a smaller stage? i would like to add that I wasn't crazy about the lighting design. I did not like the dancers moving forward out of their light and I didn't like the sudden darkness on Juliet after she was introduced to Paris (perhaps this was to mask a scene change?)

I did feel Ratmansky made characters beyond Romeo/Juliet, Tybalt/Mercutio more vibrant than in other productions.... Lady Capulet is given some serious acting, the friar too... there were recognizable characters among the townspeople... they did not just all blend into each other.

Thank you for the Ratmansky interview... I missed that. I understand what he is saying but I felt several times during the production that Lantratov's stage make-up was underdone and that he would have read better if we could see his eyes... the rest was ok, make-up wise but we need to see the lover's eyes more...

There were parts where Ratmansky's genius shone through and parts I found tiresome. I think part of the trouble is that we all fall in love with our first production. I went with some ballet fans some of whom had never seen a Romeo and Juliet (it is a big production to mount) , and others who had actually danced in productions of it. I missed Cranko's market scenes. I wished he had done something with Commedia della Arte characters for the buffons, but if he did, I didn't get it. i kept wanting to see a predecessor to an Entree Grave and a Saltarello, but the knights did not carry for me and there was somehow too much tossing of jumping women for me... but I know nothing reallly of these things... it just did not satisfy my imagination. There were ideas in it that I liked but it just did not come together. Almost as if the sound of the swords clashing was not formal enough... though I did like the kissing of the lady's hem finish. On the other hand, the part where Romeo & Juliet meet was the best I've ever seen. The balcony scene felt like too much, as if Ratmansky worked on the honeymoon scene first and coming up with too, used leftover material in the Balcony scene... it was too much too soon. Tybalt was wonderfully rendered, as was Mercutio. Benvolio... I would like to see more of this dancer, lovely float to his leaps. i felt Lantratov was better in some sections thsn others... the bits with the three friends sometimes looked more rehearsed than playful, but he was wonderful with Juliet... distinct steps dissolved into emotions... Kysanova was beautiful.. I liked her more here than in the Corsaire streaming. She left several in the audience here in tears. Never did I become distracted by her technique. The fractional moment of her run made me wish to see her do the run of other productions. i wonder what early ABT fans would have made of all the interior landscape acted out. I thought the Friar was a good actor and I liked the explanation behind the scrim. I also missed the lowering of Juliet into the crypt. Now I,d like to watch all the National Ballet Canada footage to compare. Who was that who came by & kissed Lantratov during the intermission interview? He seemed quite struck by it.

I complained. (Probably not the first person to do so, and hopefully one of many) Glad to see they fixed it.

I would like to see Tharp's Bakers Dozen done by more ballet companies... when I was young, I used to find her work too much "and the kitchen sink", but I've changed my mind. I think her work may look better in a small frame like a video tight shot than in a big frame like the opera stage... the quick details are harder to catch from the top ring.

BalanchineFan... and I believe stage managers are also AGMA. Probably confuses things further...

You've lost me... in that NY Times article there were two unions involved... the dancers' and the musicians'... neither union's name appears in the article, but I see no reason to think they were not AGMA and the AF of M.

I am aware of what AGMA stands for, however one might derive from your statement that the orchestra musicians for ballet companies would be members of AGMA.

The AF of M might take issue with that.

Okay, this is addressed generally, not specifically to the Martins situation, but given how widespread the MeToo movement now is: If flirtation is equal to harassment, then aren't there many women who have harassed their male co-workers? Is showing cleavage at work harrassment? What about the hemline? How far does this go? Are women all going to have to don the hajib at work to avoid harassing the men? Ask the men you know, has a woman ever flirted with them at work? I feel anyone who has been repeatedly "hit on" at work, after indicating a lack of interest, has a different situation than the casual flirtation or off color joke... but... we are talking about a slippery slope here... and there are whole generations of men who have been taught persistence is a virtue. There are magazine articles out there advising women to never accept the first invitation for a date because it's a turn-off, makes them seem "too easy"... There is a tremendous amount of subtext in flirtation, and it is possible to misread it. Some flirtation is never intended to go beyond a smile. I believe anyone who has been forced to have sex to keep their job has been horrendously abused and should be protected. On the other hand, I feel Leonard Lopate should have been left in his job at WNYC, and is a victim of the MeToo movement. Peter Martins? I don't know. I was not there. Clearly there is something. Was that something everything everyone has ever accused him of? I have no idea. I just don't like the mob justice situation, it makes me nervous. One should be able to face one's accusers. How are we to judge these situations where most of the time someone coming forward long after all evidence has disappeared is telling the truth. Until someone can assure me that 100% of the time no one innocent has ever been accused... I'm not in a rush to jump to any conclusions. Let's hear what the investigation turns up. In the meantime, he has lost his job and his reputation. I have no axe to grind. I do not think all situations are the exactly the same.

Agreed, but remember it was Farrell giving Balanchine an ultimatum over roles for her husband that clinched the departure.... one can certainly understand why she felt she had to make a stand, but dancers do not give ultimatums to artistic directors. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1990/10/11/dancing-for-balanchine/ "Finally one evening when Mejia was not given a role that he felt was his due—Symphony in C, third movement—Farrell issued an ultimatum: if Mejia didn’t dance in Symphony in C that night, they would both quit. To her utter astonishment, Balanchine took her up on it." I am not defending anyone's shameful actions here, but let's not lose the fine lines of history.

I was distinctly under the impression that Hayden, Kent & Von Aroldingen were the exceptions... http://articles.latimes.com/1995-01-02/entertainment/ca-15602_1_city-ballet : "Children had never entered my mind, and it was no secret that Balanchine thought ballerinas shouldn't have them." -- Suzanne Farrell,

I still take issue with this... and now you're suggesting he was impotent, is that also documented or just assumed due to the lack of issue (my understanding was Balanchine had significant concerns regarding pregnancy's effects on a ballerina's frame) ... Do you have the Taper quote? I've read both Taper's biography and Geva's autobiography, and it's not calling up any memories of the father being concerned... I do remember Geva's mother was Geva's father's kept woman before finally getting married against the objections of her mother-in-law.... perhaps the concerns about propriety were to to protect Geva's reputation in advance of any sex, particularly considering the breakdown of society just then. It was a very crazy time... if ever there were a time not to be temporal-centric it would be applying today's mores to Russia's social mores immediately after the revolution.

Ummm... .I take issue with this. Where is the evidence that Balanchine slept with his dancers? As far as I understand, with the exception of Danilova with whom he was understood to have a common law marriage, he married his dancers before he slept with them...

Thank you for posting this the coaching is wonderful! Is it so interesting to see how much difference where the dancer looks has on the shape of the movement. I could be wrong, but to me the Ashton coaches seem taking more care with focus than we often see.

I think judging Balanchine's behavior while he was dying of Creutzfeld jakob disease is highly suspect... would you judge someone with dementia the same as a healthy human being? https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Fact-Sheets/Creutzfeldt-Jakob-Disease-Fact-Sheet#3058_2

Yes... there is that issue... we do have to put up with mediocrity in order to glean out the masterpieces that will become classics.. one can't just assume every new work will be a masterpiece equal to the classics... that would be to misunderstand the environment that produced those classics... and I accept that was not your point.. But, is there a word for the kind of choreoographer in residence that Ashton was? It would be hard to say he fid not influence the look of the Royal Ballet dancers, even though he was not director until after DeValois' death... Think of Nureyev, whose choreography has not been universally loved, even his choreographic efforts shaped the Paris Opera dancers... If there is a way to give the resident choreographer that kind of influence with an artistic director involved in the design of the season... ok... but I'm not sure how to design that kind of relationship unless they were together at the founding of the company. A choreographer has a different stake in the abilities of the dancers than does an artistic director hoping to do justice to other people's masterworks... i wonder if Peter Martins would have been as good a director if he had not also been a choreographer... even if his work was not quite equal to the other masterpieces his company presents. It is a slightly different situation if one's own personal expression is involved...