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Canary

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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    fan
  • City**
    Whitestone, N.Y
  1. I'm a student at a N.Y university, I study classical voice performance and personally feel that the Performing Arts Library has drastically declined in quality. The staff is generally inept and rude, there's a man who apparently is in charge of the music scores in the reserve floor who looks like a bum, I can't believe they have someone like that working there. The scores that are on reserve cannot be photocopied, what is the point of having these scores then? To take up space? They have scores that nobody can use. Personally, I never go there, I prefer buying the scores either on the internet or the Juilliard Bookstore.
  2. I think this article has some wrong information, Carreno is already married, no? Or maybe I'm mixing up my names.
  3. Canary

    Alina Somova

    I am not a Somova hater, but, Paul, what you just said in describing Alina's dancing is exactly why people criticize her. Namely because she doesn't move through the movements, there is no cantilena which is a very important part, not only of the Russian school, but of any school. Kirkland really had this, this was what was so amazing about her and why her weight never really mattered, if you know how to move through the movement you will never look heavy. Somova just does poses, it's like she's moving from one great picture to the next, first really deep penchee arabesque, then a developpe, the this, etc. there is no connection between the movements.
  4. Canary

    Alina Somova

    I've seen quite a lot of videos of Somova on youtube and interestingly I find her movement quality reminds me of another controversial Maryinsky ballerina: Galina Mezentseva.Same weird way of holding the arms and both super skinny physically. It's funny because like Somova, Mezentseva was a ballerina that many Westerners never "got", personally I have no idea why Mezentseva was such a star, she had a really weird way of moving, like her limbs were too long and her technique was not so strong.Maybe Somova is a throwback to Mezentseva, and that is why the Maryinsky management likes her, they also really loved Mezentseva.
  5. Is it just me, or are Asians the majority group at ballet competitions now? Most of the competitions lately seem to be dominated by Koreans, Chinese etc. Perhaps competitions are the only way dancers from these countries can progress.
  6. As an aspiring opera singer who lives in New York, I find the troubles that NYCO is having troubling. I simply cannot believe that New York is not able to sustain more than one opera house. New York is considered to be a world capital of culture, but this title does not stand up to reality. St. Petersburg, Vienna, Berlin, Paris and London all have more than one opera house, in some cases up to three different opera houses, and by these I mean three fully functioning, each with its repertoire of operas, opera houses. Having only one opera house in N.Y, considering that it is the largest, most cultural city in the U.S, is very limiting. Where are the experimental, chamber operas? What about the singers? If you are not hired by the Met, which if you are not a world star is practically impossible, you do not have a job? The ideal situation is Vienna, where the Staatsoper is the big institution, the Kameroper is the smaller, more varied rep. opera house, the Volksoper has musicals and operettas mixed in with traditional rep. In New York it seems that the Met has absorbed everything else, but the Mets rep is not able to be varied. the big Italian classics dominate season after season, while operettas, zarzuelas, Baroque and lesser known chamber operas are rarely if ever presented. For artists it is also difficult because to build up their career they have to leave New York.
  7. One of the difficulties of teaching character dancing in the U.S, in my opinion, is that children frequently have no clue where the countries that these dances come from are located. My mother came to the U.S to teach Spanish, and brought us along and for many years, well truth be told even now, some children had no idea where Spain was. They did not know it was in Europe, they thought Spain was in South America and they thought that all of Spanish speaking culture was tied up to South America, they had no clue that Spain was once the most powerful country of Europe, that it was the Queen of Spain who lent Columbus the money to discover America, that the medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque produced great music, theatre and literature, and these were high school students. Some of these high school students had also no idea of geography in general, didn't know where Austria was, had no idea of what Eastern European countries had created, like the mazurka, czardas, etc. In general I found there to be a huge gap in their geography and history curriculum and these things all add up to an artist's education. Dancers at the Royal Danish school are given a complete education, not just in dance but in all subjects, and this is important for dancers, that they know about the other arts, music, painting, etc.
  8. I Promessi Sposi is really good, definitely read it. I'm thinking of reading the Stieg Larsson novels, but I'm still not sure. Can anyone fill me in on this series, who is it suited for, what tastes, etc.
  9. Hans, exactly what you said is what I think, and I believe it is because of the huge influence Sylvie Guillem left in the ballet. It really was her that introduced hyper extension and super flexibility over everything else. What was unique about her was the fact that although she was hyper extended she was also very strong, she was a gymnast before being a ballerina, and what happened was that everyone like her physique and way of dancing and decided to copy it.
  10. It's true Nureyev discovered Guillem, but the image of Guillem that has remained in the public's mind is of her in that green tutu in In the Middle, with the hairstyle she currently had, a short bob and bangs, which later became part of the ballerina's costume in In the Middle, other ballerinas who now dance Guillem's part wear a wig. I remember reading that Asylmuratova, when she took over the Vaganova Academy said she wanted the girls to have the same feet and streamlined appearance as the Paris Opera girls, but I feel that what she really had in mind was Guillem, who has become associated with The Paris Opera look. It is true that the Paris style emphasizes high extensions and high arches but the real French school was different then the image that Guillem created.
  11. If Forsythe really is the creator of the modern ballerina, wouldn't that make Sylvie Guillem the most modern ballerina. Guillem radically updated the ballerina's image, in my opinion, more so then any other dancer before, so much so that even now we can see her legacy on the stage: Bussell, Zakharova, Letestu, Gillot, Kowroski, Lacarra, and the latest, Somova, all seem to be offshoots of the Guillem tree. An increased attention to hyper flexibility and extensions, the super perfect arches and hyperextended knees, the height, the super thinness, the almost exaggeratedly perfect technique, these were all started by Guillem.
  12. Pierrot le Fou was good, but only because of Belmondo's monumental performance. A Woman is a woman, the plot of the movie sounded good on paper but the movie itself didn't say anything to me. One director I always defend is Bergman his movies are uniformly good, and some of them are marvelous, they still have impact, they are like Mozart's operas, always a new angle is found.
  13. Wow, what an interesting topic, especially for a movie buff! I'm European so I'd like to talk about the movie scene in Europe. Directors I feel are overrated are: Lars von Trier- never have I understood all that rubbish about him being a great artist of the cinema, his movies are boring, misogynistic, pointless. I have never gotten anything out of his movies, of course be free to argue with me. Godard- never have I understood the fuss about Breathless, I thought it was one of his weaker movies. Almodovar- okay, I know this will be controversial but as I am from Spain I guess I can criticize. Why, with all the other wonderful directors from Spain, Bunuel, Garci etc. why does he appeal the most to foreigners? I always feel as if he is looking for ways to shock the audience, always the story of transexuals, nuns pregnant, drugs, sex, come on! Anyone would think Barcelona and Madrid are Sodom and Gomorrah, there are other ways of pushing the envelope. Anna Karina- always thought she was overrated, auteur muse or not when you are an actress you have to know some acting From U.S.A, Quentin Tarantino, again like Almodovar thinks he can shock when in fact his movies are downright boring and egotistic
  14. I would like to open an appreciation thread for the great Russian spinto soprano. To me she is one of the greatest voices of all time. The Phillips recording of her singing the Verdi and Tschaikovsky is superb. That said, I wonder if she is still performing? If she isn't, she has retired shockingly early. Such a great artist she was, is, capable of great dramatic performances.
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