Petite_Arabesque

Marika Besobrasova (Academie de Danse Classique Princesse Grace) passed away last weekend. Her funeral is to be held today in Monaco.

From the NJB website: International Ballet Star Jose Carreno To guest with New Jersey Ballet at Morristown's Community Theatre At Mayo Center for the Performing Arts, Morristown May 17 at 8PM New Jersey Ballet will bring down the curtain on its 2007-08 Saturday night series at The Community Theatre, Morristown, with a program featuring a guest appearance by International Star Jose Carreno. Also on the program, Swan Lake Act II, is one of the greatest works in the classical repertory, and The Life and Death of Spartacus, the tale of the doomed slave uprising against the mighty Roman Empire, re-created by Konstantin Dournev. Guest Star Jose Carreno, Cuban-born principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, will perform the Black Swan pas de deux with NJB principal Saule Rachmedova. Mr. Carreno is known for his performances of Black Swan, and the much-in-demand dancer has performed this pas de deux all over the world. Excerpted from the third act of Swan Lake, in Black Swan, Prince Siegfried is duped into believing an evil sorcerer's daughter is really his true love, the Swan Queen. Earlier, in Act II, Siegfried's first encounter with the Swan Queen sets the story in motion. The May 17 program will feature the Company premiere of Swan Lake, Act II, with New Jersey Ballet principals Mari Sugawa dancing the role of the Swan Queen (the White Swan) and Vladimir Roje as Prince Siegfried. Completing the program, New Jersey Ballet will present the world premiere of The Life and Death of Spartacus, a re-creation by Konstantin Dournev. Set to Aram Khachaturian's dramatic score. Spartacus, a Thracian gladiator-slave, escapes and leads an army of slaves against the mighty Roman Empire. New Jersey Ballet at The Community Theatre, 100 South Street, Morristown. Saturday, May 17 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets $40, $30, $20. Call 973-539-8008 or log on to mayoarts.org. New Jersey Ballet's Saturday Night Series at The Community Theatre is sponsored in part by the F. M. Kirby Foundation. For information on New Jersey Ballet and season schedule, call 973-597-9600 or visit www.njballet.org.

I noticed this as well! It seemed to me that more than half of the dancers (corps included) were wearing Gaynors. Having worn them in the past I can vouch that they are comfortable...but they don't let the dancer have full articulation of their feet. On Somova, who doesn't have the extreme arch of some of the other dancers, this was glaringly obvious. While of course dancers have the right to choose their own shoes, I wish more would stay with the traditional Russian shoes.

Natalia-You are NOT alone! I saw the Saturday matinee as well and although Gonchar dances cleanly, she just doesn't do it for me. I can't quite put my finger on it but there is just something very off-putting about her stage presence. Serenade-I was a bit shocked at the variety of body types on stage. I'm not saying it is a bad thing but this being my first time seeing the Kirov, I was expecting a little more uniformity. Having said this, the costumes are NOT supportive enough. The "bouncing" of the more well-endowing ladies was, for me, very distracting. Surely there is SOMETHING that can be done about it. Osmolkina was lovely as the waltz girl, beautiful on stage but not overbearing or fake. "Big Red" Kondurova was very well suited to the dark angel part in my opinion. Her arms are beautiful! Rubies-My favorite of the afternoon by far! Novikova (replacing Tereshkina, although the announcement was that she was replacing Vishneva which confused many around me haha as she was not slated to dance at all) was absolutely breathtaking. Smooth movements and an ease onstage which was nice to see, and was actually quite noticeable next to Gonchar who looked very severe and intimidating. Novikova has great facility and extension, but uses it quite tastefully IMO. Though the extensions were high they did not distort her whole body; I would love to see more of her. I do have a question though: are costumes for Rubies usually loud? Because the noise from the skirts was audible in the mid-mezzanine; it was a little strange and distracting. Other than that I thought this was a great piece. Bummed that I didn't get to see Tereshkina but Novikova was a welcome surprise. Ballet Imperial-Somewhat weak, in my opinion, with the exception of Vladimir Schklyarov who really stole the show for me. His dancing is very clean and accurate but without losing his manliness. Somova was ok althoguh there were some funky things going on with her hands that bothered me the whole time. They were splayed and I was half-scared that she would claw someone's eyes out. The corps was pretty sad looking, and shockingly their arms were terrible at points. The best description would definitely be bedraggled. I really think there should be a mandatory "How To Act at the Ballet" course for audience members. The people around me were terribly rude, worse than I can ever recall before. People took flash photos, not only during intermission and curtain calls (which is bad enough), but while the dancers were performing! How anyone can consider that appropriate behavior is beyond me. It was so bad that they had to make ANOTHER announcement about how photography is prohibited before the third act. As well, a couple behind me we snickering literally the ENTIRE performance. Why come to the ballet if you're just going to laugh at it?? There was nothing funny about what was happening on stage. In my opinion, almost nothing can ruin a perfectly good afternoon at the ballet like rude audience members.

I'll admit, as a current member of a ballet company and being long-involved with all things ballet, this article was a bit of the 'same-old, same-old' for me. As has been already noted on this thread, this article isn't particularly ground-breaking or shocking. HOWEVER. While we, as a small population of balletomanes, feel that we have heard this argument again and again, the American population at large has not. The fact is, most of these types of articles appear in ballet-related magazines, websites, etc. So I think we should be happy that ballet, in ANY shape and form, is being subtly advertised. I know that I need to explain to my boyfriend over and over that no, not all of they guys I dance with are gay. In fact, gay dancers are actually the minority in the company I dance with. The problem that I see with these so-called "macho dancers" is that they are also reinforcing a stereotype--if a male dancer isn't gay, he's sex-crazed. Of course they don't say it like that, but it is certainly implied. Again, if I tell my boyfriend that a guy I dance with is straight, he automatically assumes that he must be hitting on me. Part of this is of course is him being petty and jealous, but the other part is the fact that articles like this convey that straight male dancers are just in it for the girls. If these sorts of articles continue, I just wish that the "I got into ballet for the girls in tight clothes" excuse would be phased out. -Carmen

I suppose it wasn't so much that she is tall than it was that she seemed to be such a different body type--leaner than Rojo (not saying Rojo is big, AT ALL!), and, like you say, appearing taller. I think it is highway robbery what the Mann charges. It was very distracting for me to have people getting up and walking around during the performance, let alone the boxes of popcorn prevalent throughout the audience and the occasional car alarm and airplane heard over the music. I imagine that the dancers can get very distracted; I know I would.

Thursday, July 12 Swan Lake-Tamara Rojo, Federico Bonelli Well, the first act of Swan Lake has never appealed to me, and unfortunately it didn't tonight either. I sat patiently through it, and the dancing was fine enough. Act 2 was beautiful for the most part. Corps was mostly together, though I did spot one girl that seemed to forget the choreography/ timing. I did notice that there is a HUGE range of heights in the corps, and one of the four little swans was, in my opinion, too tall. A lot of the corps arm movements were too jerky for my taste, kind of like they were whacking their arms into position with no meaning....definitely NOT wings. Probably not their fault though, I imagine since they all did it they were told to do it that way. I also didn't like how the swans were on half pointe a lot of the time (for bourees, sous-sus, etc.), it looked strange. White Swan pas was beautiful; the only problem was some jerk repeatedly taking flash photos (meanwhile, my camera had been confiscated just because I had it in my purse). Rojo was wonderful; I wouldn't say that White Swan is her strength, because she is such an athletic dancer, but she was quite impressive. At the end of the 30 minute (!!) intemission, Monica Mason came onstage and announced, to my deep disappointment, that Rojo was injured and would be replaced in Act 3 by Roberta Marquez. She apologized for the long intermission and explained that Marguez and Bonelli had needed time to rehearse as they had never danced together before. Despite that, I think that they did quite well together; in fact, if I hadn't known that they had never danced together I would have thought nothing of it. Marquez is certainly a different dancer than Rojo--more elongated and certainly taller. There were a couple very very minor glitches in their pas but all in all it was incredible that they danced so well. Marquez couldn't have had that much time to warm up, and she was a little shaky but mostly great to watch. Her arabesque is one of the most beautiful I've seen. Bonelli's solo went well too. I imagine he was feeling some nerves at this quick change of partners but it didn't show; he landed his jumps and turns solidly enough. There was certainly a sense of triumph at the end of the coda! I didn't really care for the national dances, but then I'm not really a fan of character dancing. The Neopolitan couple was impressive and together though. The set bothered me a lot in Act 3...it looked like a whoel bunch of Mardi Gras beads strung across the stage. In Act 4 Rojo returned; I suppose maybe she hurt a hamstring and couldn't do the quick, acrobatic movements of Odile, although of course I don't know. It is just a theory I have because I didn't see any visible limping. She and Bonelli were emotionally connected in this act; when they weren't onstage I wasn't really interested. Corps work was ok but nothing special for me. One note that I have to make: WHY is Rothbart an evil, giant owl?? It just seems so bizarre to me...an owl is completely non-threatening, IMO. And the costume was jsut ridiculous, not scary or menacing at all. Weird weird weird. I much prefer the human Rothbart with a mohawk, as he appears in Act 3 -Carmen

Just wanted to second this, and ask where Ms. Carroll taught you. Also, I see Paul Sutherland in the third photo, left of center. He is hugging someone and has dark hair; he is behind a woman in a short black dress.

A DVD would be WONDERFUL! I hope it's true and comes out soon! -Carmen

Ohhh fandeballet I so agree with you! I saw one of those performances and it was just.....indescribable. I've never felt quite the way I did after the famous pas de trois. I constantly wish I could see that performance again!

Oh my...I must start saving money for tickets NOW, as there are so very many performances I want to see! As a side note, I saw Gelsey Kirland at the gala...sizing up her dancers for Sleeping Beauty, perhaps??

Very sorry to hear that! Hope she gets well soon! As far as the "natural turner" idea....I think usually it's not so much of actually being able to turn, it's more of a fear of turning itself, which gets amplified when one is onstage. And now I'll move on!

I noticed Part's uncertainty at the gala as well. From personal experience I know that if you are not a natural turner, turing onstage can be a really scary thing. And that turn is a HARD turn!! It's definitely 90% mental. Too bad though because she was beautiful otherwise. Funny, the only two times I've seen this classic Russian dancer have been in Balanchine pieces. I really need to see her in something classical, like Swan Lake.

I was wondering the same thing!! Does anyone know anything about it?

Last night was AMAZING. At least on the part of Vishneva/ Malakhov. I hadn't ever seen her dance before and I was totally satisfied (which is difficult!!). And I had only seen him do Lankendem in Corsaire, hardly a lead role, really. This was really one of the best performances I have seen at ABT, because there was actual ACTING, something I don't always see from ABT. I was in the fourth row orchestra and the acting didn't seem contrived or forced....it was natural. And the mad scene...ohh. Not TOO crazy or done up, really convincing for me. I could actually hear her breathing, a frantic gasp. Act 2 she was every bit the spirit with hardly any noise from her shoes--thank goodness!!! Her spins when she first rose from the grave were gorgeous....super fast but extremely controlled. I also noticed that her running in the second act was very nice....fluid and floating, no bobbing up and down!! Michele Wiles as Myrtha didn't do it for me at all. She wasn't commanding enough, or cold enough. She was grinning (grinning!) doing some jetes en tournant. Now I know Myrtha is a proud character but she shouldn't really be joyful at any time during the ballet. She danced decently but didn't measure up to the caliber of Vishneva and Malakhov (not that that's really a fair measurement). Corps was good in Act 1 for the mosdt part but a bit ragged in Act 2, like they knew they were just part of the background. Some of the faces on the corps girls were NOT ones of wilis....more like dancers who wished the performance was over! Having done the corps wilis part I know it's not one of the best things to be doing (all that standing on the side is terrible!) but when dancing with a company of this caliber there needs to be better faces and projection. The majority looked bored. And I wish they would deaden the noise from their shoes. All in all a very good performance. Now I'm hoping I get chosen for a super for Swan Lake so I may have the privilege of being onstage for her Odette/ Odile! :blush: