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Peter Boal farewell performance


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I remember sublime  performances of Mozartiana and Chaconne with Susan Jaffe and Peter Boal. What a partnership that was!

You see this is the reason I hate the fact that I came to the ballet sooo late. Boal and Jaffe dancing together? Being coached by Suzanne Farrell in two of her signuature roles created for her by Balanchine? OK Farrell Fan give it up - what was the performance like? Give as much detail as you can remember.

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GeorgeB fan, I went back to the programs of the event (it was a miracle that I found them) to see if they'd jog my memory. But the first thing they brought back was startling, namely that in Chaconne, Jaffe and Boal were the secondary couple. I found a review in the Washington Post, by Alan M. Kriegsman, which somewhat justifies my confusion: "The lead couple -- New York-born Tamas Detrich and his German wife, Marion Jager, of the Stuttgart Ballet -- danced neatly, accurately and with much polish, but they did not quite take command of the stage. To an extent they were overshadowed by the subsidiary leads, American Ballet Theatre's Susan Jaffe and Boal, who were unremittingly excellent"

As for Mozartiana, Jaffe's Prehiera, despite her noisy pointe shoes, was the most devoutly prayerful since Suzanne's, and the variations were delightful. That same Mr. Kriegsman said of her performance that it "outdid anything she's previously shown in th way of artistic profundity and interpretive authority."

But the day after the Kennedy Center performances were over, Anna Kisselgoff's review of "Suzanne Farrell Stages Balanchine" appeared in the New York Times. Her verdict: "In all, a fine experiment." While not mentioning him by name, the clear implication of her article was that Peter Martins's way of staging Balanchine was just as good.

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Tan slacks:  Jenifer Ringer (with James Fayette on her right).  Black dress with white piping:  Yvonne Borree.  Black skirt/gray top:  Miranda Weese.  Those were his muses.  White slacks and top:  Ashley Bouder.

No...that's not Ashley Bouder, that's Maria Kowroski (in all white).

Who's behind Wendy (to HER left)?

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As a post-script to Peter Boal's farewell, Pauline Golbin in her Dancer on Dancer series shot Boal a series of one-liners backstage. I imagine it will be Linked here eventually. Yet again Boal comes across as a golden yet down-to-earth guy, even in this breezy Q & A.

Great picture hat, Pauline (from AMERICAN IN PARIS)... :wub:

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I loved this answer:

"Yesterday a fan gave me an umbrella with good wishes! "

Before I moved to Seattle, I was given a beautiful umbrella by my former co-workers, only to be told, once in Seattle, only tourists use umbrellas! I love the umbrella though, and it has a place of honor on the back dash of my car.

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