Rackon

Aha...and also that some of the best casting for some works has not been seen by us miamians The news that this partnership will bring the MCB closer to the Midwest is pretty exciting. A 5+ hour drive to the Cleveland area is much closer to me than a 20+ hour drive to any point in FL. I hope they bring Symphony in Three movements and Square Dance when they perform.

I remember this occassion as I was a preteen living in Indianapolis - about 12 years old at the time. Our dance teacher took a small group of students down to IU to see the NYCB, (even though she was not a particular fan of Balanchine, she respected him and thought we should see any major ballet company within reach). Much to my profound disappointment, I wasn't able to go with them. NYCB also regularly toured to Chicago in the sixties, often at the Ravinia Festival. In adition to the Ford Foundation groups, quite a few major companies would have tours or residencies in the Midwest. Tours by the major international companies were not uncommon in secondary markets - the Bolshoi came to Indianapolis, Harkness had a residency at Clowes Hall in Indy, etc etc. I formed a terrible crush on Helgi Tommasson watching him rehearse. Although I don't know how much she's actualy in Bloomington these days, Violette Verdy has been a wonderful addition to IU. We get at least one or two Balanchine ballets every year by the IU performers, and sometimes a Robbins work too. Being associated with a major music school means yje IU ballets get live music, superbly played by the various student orchestras and choruses, and the dancers are beautifully coached. Now with Michael Vernon (former Royal Ballet, London Festival Ballet, Eglevsky Ballet), we also have Ashton ballets to look forward to (Les Patineurs last season). The IU Ballet Theater program a couple weeks ago was Four Temperaments, Tharp's rarely performed Sweet Fields and a new work by Vernon which featured NYCB principal Daniel Ulbrecht. It's a bit lonely being a Balanchine junky in Indianapolis. We don't have an active professional company (although Ballet Theater of Indianapolis is trying to launch).Since it's rather dificult to see performances by my favorite troups these days (NYCB, MCB, PNB), I've appreciated the program at IU, which is only a 50 minute drive away.

I'd put Bolender's Souvenirs in that category. And I think NYCB has dumped Balanchine's one-act Swan Lake there as well. ... To me, for instance, Les Patineurs feels incredibly dated and pursues no aesthetic purpose--I can't imagine the gain it confers on any company performing it. I'm sure others feel differently! I think perhaps there's a subsection of this side question -- ballets that need to take a break and come back after they've shifted from "dated" to "retro" (or whatever titles are appropriate at the time) For ages "Western Symphony" made me cringe, the cultural cliches grated on my sensibilities like chalk on a blackboard. But the last couple of times I've seen it, in the Pacific Northwest Ballet staging, I've been able to get beyond the stereotypes (and the pastiche score) to appreciate the wit and facility of the choreography. But then, I still love Patineurs in all its coy glory. I adore Les Patineurs, as well as Western Symphony. WS doesn't work well unless the dancers get the wittiness in the piece, which is hard when they try to oversell it. I would love to see PNB perform it. I haven't seen it on stage in over 10 years. When Michael Vernon staged Patineurs at IU last year I saw it twice, just for the sheer glory of seeing Ashton performed 40 miles from my house (in Bloomington, Indiana no less - one seldom gets to see Ashton of any sort performed in the Midwest). They actually did rather well. Alas, my ancient tape of ABTs PBS performance with Fernando Bujones, one of my favorite tapes of all time, has disintegrated.

Which was the reason why I was REALLY surprised that in the Teatro alla Scala production of Swan Lake (2004 DVD release) during Act III, during the Neopolitan dance sequence the dancers were hitting tambourines that were the real thing. Even in the 2006 Mariinsky Ballet performance of the same ballet in that same exact dance sequence, the dancers didn't use real tambourines. Someone quick, it's been too long since I've seen it live, but didn't the NYCB dancers in Tarantella have real tambourines? I thought I remembered McBride and Villella and then McBride and ??? banging tambourines, real ones. This has been an incredibly entertaining thread and I must thank you all for making my day. PS, I am on board with the cliches so far mentioned, and will add that courtiers faking conversations with each other between variations tries my already short patience for 19th century story ballets. It would be fun to know what they're *really* saying, although if my cousin, a former dancer with Chicago City Ballet and Hamburg is to be trusted, I might not really want to know.

Anne, I also remember reading about Nureyev's sometimes heavy landings, and in more than one book. You're not imagining things. I just hate those I-know-I-read-it-somewhere-moments. Thanks for raising the question and stimulating some interesting responses. And a belated welcome to the board! Ahhh, I have to de-lurk. Newbie here, but not to ballet. I saw Nureyev dance quite early in his career in the west, through the RB years, several Nureyev and Friends tours on up to pretty late into his career. The young Rudi was cat-like in his landings, a fabulous jumper. With age and injury, he lost some of that incredible height and balon (as will every dancer), but he always tended to push and take risks throughout his performing career, which means he had some less than perfect landings, especially in late career. I certainly remember thumps during Nureyev and Friends. But as already pointed out, he was maybe even more of a risk taker in his turns. In his late performances that could quite nervewracking to watch for one who remembered the brilliant young tiger of a star. Mel, I know what you mean. I always liked watching the RDB schooled dancers, with NYCB, their own company and elsewhere, for the quickness and fleet footedness in small and large jumps. They always completed steps, while maintaining clarity of line and "showing" you the whole step. Tempi were not a problem for them Anne, if you're hearing loud "bumps" from young, technically secure and accomplished dancers I wonder if the stage floor has something to do with it. I've never had the pleasure of seeing POB live.