38 replies to this topic

[Krystin]

I just returned from the Thursday evening performance of Swan Lake, and I have to say all in all it was a good night!  Aside from the dancing I would say the best part of the evening was the fact that the main floor was packed.  Kudos to Ballet AZ's marketing and advertising department!

Now, onto the dancing.  The Pas de Trois in act 1 was refreshing.  At first my eye was caught by Ginger Smith because of her stage presence, but I was finally wowed by Chelsea Wilcox's entrechat six's.  They were perfect!  Unfortunately Ginger and Roman Zavarov had some awkward partnering moments.  The court dances were not precise which was a little bothersome, but two men, possibly Matthew Poppe (not positive) had a great duet section.  Astrit Zejnati, as Prince Siegfried, had a great solo at the end of the scene.  He has a surprisingly high arabesque line, and as always it was a joy to watch him.

In Act 1, Scene 2, the cygnets (I prefer to call them baby swans like we did when I was a ballet student) stole the show.  Jillian Barrell, Kendra Mitchell, Ginger Smith and Chelsea Wilcox did not put a toe out of place.  Natalia Magnicaballi was a graceful Odette, although she has never been my favorite dancer.  While she hits fantastic lines and poses, I find myself wishing there was more attack and passion behind her movement.  I found her much better as Odile, although she was unable to finish her 32 fouettes.  

I can't forget to mention Paola Hartley and Roman Zavarov who did a stellar job in the Neapolitan Dance.  While the dance is very short, they made the most of it.  The attack and vigor to their dance was exciting.  I can't wait to see Zavarov in leading roles...he seems to have a lot to offer.  

It was a great evening, and I can't wait to see the Sunday matinee.

[Helene]

Thank you so much for the review, Krystin!  I was hoping a Ballet Talker was there tonight.

Chelsea Wilcox is tall -- I would never have expected her to be one of the four cygnets!

Roman Zavarov's Apollo was a highlight of last season.  I think he's on his way.   I'm glad to hear about Hartley:  I didn't see her in the season-ending Balanchine program, and I don't think she danced the one performance I didn't see.

Fingers crossed that the rest of the run sells as well or better!

[stinger784]

Krystin, the two dancers you speak of were the Wozniak brothers, Slawomir and Michal, in the waltz in Act I.

Helene, Wilcox is not overly tall. She is one of those dancers where her height can go either way as needed.

[stinger784]

BTW Helene, Paola Hartley danced opposite Roman in Apollo. You must have been mesmerized by Roman as the young god.

[stinger784]

Here is our "review..."

http://www.azcentral...anrevu1108.html

[Alexandra]

Good grief!  That says absolutely nothing about the production.  Do they have no one in the state who can write about ballet? I really have never read anything liike this one -- it's worse than the "Giselle" from last year. No newspaper would put up with a baseball report that spend the whole time talking about evil in the world and suffering in Africa -- and nothing about hits, runs and errors.

[bart]

Now, now, Alexandra.  The man seems quite imaginative.  For example:

Quote

Perhaps it is the curious way the dancing in imitation of swans, with arms flapping and feet tapping the cackle of a herd of anatids that reconnects us with the world of nature that ultimately provides most of the material for beauty in our lives.

Could Arlene Croce or Edwin Denby have put it more unforgetably?  AND ... he knows what an anatid is!  Surely that counts for something.

When the reviewer is ignorant of a subject, perhaps his safest course IS to remain seriously  

On the other hand, I feel sorry for the dancers and other artists in the company, and for the audience.

[Alexandra]

Do you think anyone broke it to him that  at night, they're not swans?

[carbro]

Can anyone attest that Richard Nilson was actually in attendance?   This reads like a case of telecommuting taken too far.

[Helene]

stinger784, on Nov 6 2009, 02:08 PM, said:

BTW Helene, Paola Hartley danced opposite Roman in Apollo. You must have been mesmerized by Roman as the young god.

It is true that I was mesmerized by Zavarov's Apollo, and I am   at not remembering that Hartley was his Terpsichore.  (I do remember being sad not to have seen her in "Les Sylphides", but that was the Master of Movement program.)  After I read your post, I figured I must have written something about her performance in the All-Balanchine program, and when I looked for it, realized that while I had written the review, I never posted it.  It's pretty late in the day, but I did post the review in the Mother's Day program thread.

[stinger784]

Nilsen did attend opening night on Thursday as well as the alternate cast dress rehearsal Thursday afternoon. He was actually very happy with both casts and in his preview he was very excited about what he was going to see. Not sure what happened though. It is quite the interesting editorial though.

[Dansuer85]

Helene, on Nov 6 2009, 03:57 AM, said:

Thank you so much for the review, Krystin!  I was hoping a Ballet Talker was there tonight.

Chelsea Wilcox is tall -- I would never have expected her to be one of the four cygnets!

Roman Zavarov's Apollo was a highlight of last season.  I think he's on his way.   I'm glad to hear about Hartley:  I didn't see her in the season-ending Balanchine program, and I don't think she danced the one performance I didn't see.

Fingers crossed that the rest of the run sells as well or better!

Wilcox is not that tall, she's about 5'6 and she's fabulous!

[Helene]

Dansuer85, on Nov 8 2009, 10:48 PM, said:

Wilcox is not that tall, she's about 5'6 and she's fabulous!

One of my grandfathers was 5'1" -- to me, 5'6" is tall  

Wilcox can really dance tall.

[Krystin]

Yikes, that is quite the review in the Arizona Republic.  I guess I'd have to agree with the above posters.  If the reporter is not familiar with ballet he can't really make critical observations about it.  If something really bad or really great happened in the ballet he saw he wouldn't know...so he took a different direction with his review.  Leading off the story the way he did was an "interesting" choice, however.  It almost seemed like it was a parody or joking review.  But hey, at least there was a "review" of some sort.

[cubanmiamiboy]

Wow...

"About 2.5 million people have been killed in the Congo since 2004, as a result of civil and tribal warfare. There was ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia and death squads in South America..."

Now, THAT was intense...  Don't know what to say...