22 replies to this topic

[koskoff]

Jack Reed, on Mar 23 2006, 06:37 PM, said:

Bart, what you say at the end of your first post makes it look like the Kent-Villella discussion was in the Winter 2006 issue of Dance View but it's not in mine, even though the page numbers run consecutively (i.e., nothing appears to have been omitted).  This item must be pretty tasty.  Would you tell us where you saw it, please?

I hugely enjoyed Pardo's review - or, actually, enjoyed what she brought back of what I saw of Programs I and II, which says a lot about her powers of evocation, which sometimes need very few words: "Seay occupies a phrase fully and musically."  She's writing about Seay in Source, but her phrase applies more widely, I think.  Yes, yes, she does, she does!  And when I read something liike that, I put down the magazine until all the fragmentary flash-backs have subsided, and I can read on without being deprived of them.  So, unlike Pardo, I'm never surprised when I see Deay's name on the cast sheet, but I certainly do perk up.

On the other hand, some gremlin saw fit to repeat the caption for the picture on p. 19 under the one on p. 21, which is not of Catoya and Penteado in La Source, obviously, but of Catoya - and who else? - in The Quick-Step.  Can we fill in the names of the other four dancers clearly seen here?

Jack, the dancer on the right in the photo on page 21 is Alexander Dufaur and I believe the dancer on the far left is Bruce Thornton. I'm checking on the three in the middle and will post what I find out.

[Jack Reed]

koskoff, did you miss Post #6, on the previous page?

[carbro]

Just a technical point of clarification:

While some (probably most) members see this thread (at its present length) on two pages, it is not necessarily true for all.  On our individual control panels, we have the option of setting page lengths.  From my days with a dial-up connection and with little patience for the time it took each page to load, I opted for the max and get 40 posts -- if it comes to that -- per page.

These are within the Board Settings, under Options, in the left-hand column of menus.

[koskoff]

Jack Reed, on Mar 29 2006, 08:41 PM, said:

koskoff, did you miss Post #6, on the previous page?

Oops, sure did! Thanks for the pointer!

[Jack Reed]

I wish we could as easily straighten out what seems to me unfortunate about a picture in the second article about MCB in Dance View, the interview with Jennifer Carlynn Kronenberg.  The first picture is a good one of her performing on the speak-easy stage in Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, the second, which crops her image across the hips, is a fine portrait of her in costume (for Western Symphony), but the third, cropped through her thighs yet with lots of blank space over her head, doesn't convey very well, to the extent a still photograph can, her powerful performance as The Siren in Prodigal.  

But I'm glad to have the interview.

There was a time when I didn't want to know much about a dancer, fearing that that personal knowledge would distract me from their performances when I saw them (I'm still impatient with people rifling the page of their programs during performances to learn the dancers' names, because I think the main thing is to see as much as you can of what they do as the ballet unfolds and put names to the roles later, if you haven't read the program beforehand), but over the years I've learned not to worry so much especially in the case of dancers like Kronenberg who have such strong effect, sometimes even standing still, that that effect crowds other thoughts right out of my mind.

[jimmattimore]

Theres a great article about Edward and MCB in the April 23 issue of Newsday; the company willdance this upcoming weekend at the Tilles Center in Greenvale, Long Island.

JIM

[bart]

Thanks, Jim.  Here's the LINK to the article you mention:

http://www.newsday.c...0,4376176.story

This is one of the more interesting interviews with Villella that I've read --  especially in the way it shows his missionary drive to help audiences understand and appreciate Balanchine and neoclassical ballet.

So many ballet goers of a certain age remember Villella as the superstar dancer from the Ed Sullivan show as well as NYCB in its Balanchinian prime.  It makes sense for MCB to put Villella -- dancer, company founder, and a man with serious ideas about ballet --  in the forefront of its publicity work when touring the the NY metro area as well as south Florida, second home to so many City Center and Lincoln Center audience members.  

His curtain-raiser talks, referred to in the article, are almost worth the entire price of admission.  Especially when he includes reminiscences as one of the original dancers in roles that audiences can still see being performed today.  He returns again and again to his memories of things that Mr. B. said, taught, and demonstrated.

Several posters have mentioned Villella as a nurturer and educator of dancers.  I loved his statement:  "I don't ask the dancers to imitate what I or anyone else might have done.  I just want them to know everything I know."

[carbro]

bart, on Apr 23 2006, 07:10 PM, said:

Several posters have mentioned Villella as a nurturer and educator of dancers.  I loved his statement:  "I don't ask the dancers to imitate what I or anyone else might have done.  I just want them to know everything I know."

This is profound.  I am sure even the younger dancers can sense this.  It is a way of prolonging not only Balanchine's legacy, but building an important Villella legacy.

Damn, South Florida is lucky!

I am wracked with frustration and disappointment, unable as I am  to attend MCB's New York engagements.  Not sure I can trust public transportation to get me home, except from Purchase, for which date I have a prior commitment.