24 replies to this topic

[sandik]

Here.

Both weeks are up, though I imagine there will be changes at some point.  I have to copy everything down by hand to compare performances (new layout for website is still awkward here) but on first glance it looks like two full casts for the Kylian, partial cast changes during the run for Seasons and West Side.  Moore has opening night for Mopey, with Poretta and Griffiths later in the week.  Sar gets a chance at it during the second week.  And Postelwaite gets a chance at Riff in West Side then as well.

Hmmm....

[Helene]

The drop-down box cast list is truly disappointing. I await the Return of the Grid, but I'm not holding my breath.

The downside of school is that I have to miss weeknight performances, so no Sar "Mopey" and no Postlewaite Riff, which he said he rehearsed last season, but didn't get to perform, and no Tisserand Tony, for that matter. Grrr...

[olddude]

Went to the studio rehearsal last night, and we saw the Seasons choreography. Wow! I loved it - fast, dense, elegant, really shows off the depth of skill throughout the corps. I always enjoy watching good partnering; this has plenty for everyone. Pretty clear everyone was having a great time with this choreography, too.

I can't wait to see the sets and costumes, which I'm told are going to be pretty special.

[Helene]

Many thanks, olddude!  

It's the piece I most looked forward to seeing in this program, and I'm happy to hear good things about it.

[olddude]

I don't think you'll be disappointed! I have a vivid memory of the stage full of dancers doing pique turns en pointe and moving very fast in all directions. Dizzying and electric. And later, the stage full of couples doing real pas de deux (pas de douze if it was six couples?) - not just the simpler stuff the corps usually gets while the soloist gets the good stuff. Yes there are principals too. Peter Boal told us that while he's seen pretty much every kind of tutu there is, the costume department still came up with a new one.

Well, you can probably tell I'm excited.

[sandik]

I like Caniparoli's work very much, in part because he's got a varied repertory, so I'm looking forward to Seasons in part just to see what he's up to with a traditional score like this.

[Helene]

Doug Fullington will speak about the Directors Choice program at Seattle Public Library Main Branch on Tuesday, 3 November, from noon-1pm in the Microsoft Auditorium (1st Level).  The presentation will include video clips.

http://www.spl.org/d.....ntid=85970378

[sandik]

So who is going when?  I'm there tonight (Thursday) and Saturday matinee.

[Helene]

I'm there second weekend, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

[olddude]

I just got back from Thursday opening night; will go again a week from Friday.

Great show. The audience seemed pretty happy with The Seasons, but for myself, I was surprised so few stood for the ovation. (I did!) I think it has the potential to be a long-term audience favorite that PNB still dances 50 years from now. Really. I'm not saying it will radically remake dance and be seen as a major turning point, I'm saying audiences will always love it, and for good reason.

Perhaps it will take people a while to realize what they've seen. Clearly 21st century dance but with homage and references to the entire history of dance - I'm sure Petipa would like it, and even the Sun King would recognize it as ballet. I love the innocence and exuberance, and the cleverness. And the individuality of each dancer - this is not a corps as regiment, this is a bunch of demi-soloists. Costumes help, but the choreography really reinforces that idea.

Plus of course, any time you get to see Arianna Lallone and Carel Cruz dance a grande pas de deux, you are going to go home thrilled!  It's like "OK, class, now the advanced students are going to show you how it's done..."

Well, you can tell I really liked this piece. We'll see what the critics say, but I don't care, I'll pay to see this any time.

I could go on, there was not a false note the whole evening, but I'm still too absorbed by The Seasons.

[Helene]

Just a note that according to this Seattle Times article, an small electrical fire in McCaw Hall caused power outages today in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood in which Seattle Center and McCaw Hall is located.  Tonight's PNB performance was re-scheduled to start at 8pm.

http://seattletimes....routage12m.html

[sandik]

Helene, on Nov 13 2009, 08:02 AM, said:

Just a note that according to this Seattle Times article, an small electrical fire in McCaw Hall caused power outages today in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood in which Seattle Center and McCaw Hall is located.  Tonight's PNB performance was re-scheduled to start at 8pm.

http://seattletimes....routage12m.html

My son goes to school in this neighborhood, and they all got an impromptu day off because of the outage...

[olddude]

Helene, on Nov 13 2009, 03:02 AM, said:

...  Tonight's PNB performance was re-scheduled to start at 8pm.

http://seattletimes....routage12m.html

I think that was last night's performance (Thursday the 12th)? The article was not very clear. I'm going in time for 7:30 tonight, Friday the 13th, though, just in case...  :^)

[Jayne]

I went to the Thursday Nov.12 performance.  It was spooky walking towards McCaw completely in the dark, they allowed us into the front of the foyer, but it was very crowded, took a while to get everyone settled.   The lights came on around 7:15pm, I think the first performance was approximately one hour later.  We had to wait for the inspectors to check all the lights before they allowed the crowds into the theater.  I would say it was 80% full.

Peter Boal came and spoke, it didn't look like he'd had time to change into a suit, he was still in corduroys and a casual sweater.  He said they planned to cancel at 7:15pm, but voila! at 7:13pm the lights came back on.

Caveats:  the remainder of this post is the review by someone who is a casual ballet fan.  I enjoy it, I could not explain the difference between the Russian style, the French style or the Balenchine style (I can *see* the difference, but I lack the ballet vocabulary to explain it properly).  I've never danced or trained in ballet, but I've attended as my mother's guest (she has season tickets) for many years, and I went to see "The Nutcracker" religiously as a child.  So, caveats out of the way, here are my impressions:

Petite Mort: Just as Lindsi Dec notes in the PNB blog, I also first saw "Petite Mort" on The Arts Channel and fell in love.  And I also found it on YouTube this year, and have watched the original several times.  Googling the ballet, I was surprised how often it has been performed in the US - Tulsa, Houston, etc -  but only made it to PNB this year.  I believe the PNB dancers are well equipped to take it on and do it justice and I was not disappointed!  Karel Cruz and Lindsi Dec were last minute replacements for Carla Koerbes and Jeffrey Stanton.  I could watch this piece go on forever.  I wish Jiri Kylian had choreographed the full concerto, because it washes over you like a wave of warm water, just perfection.  I feel like a better human being for listening to the music - props to the PNB Orchestra and Allan Dameron!  I sat in the Gallery, about 10 rows back, so quite close to the stage.  I usually sit above, but this ballet gave me a chance to appreciate the athleticism of the dancers, and watch their facial expressions.  They were focused to the 9th degree to make this a success.  I was shocked there was no standing ovation, I thought the whole thing was spectacular.   Seattle especially is known for giving the easy standing ovation - often not deserved.  Maybe, everyone was too tired from waiting around?  

One odd thing towards the start, a short solo of Laura Gilbreath & Batkhurel Bold had a faulty lift.  Again, I am not versed in the proper language of the steps, but the lift was 'off'.  Behind me, I heard a comment 'come on! lift her, she's a beautiful dancer'.  I don't think it was lack of strength, just timing was off, but within about 3 steps, they were back.  I do think Kylian's choreography demands speed, which does not favor a tall dancer such as Ms. Gilbreath.  The swords were interesting, but I loved the use of the cloth tarp, and the dresses on wheels. I will say this for the audience, they were engaged and laughed at the humor of the dresses.  

I would see this again in a heartbeat, in fact, I watched it at lunch today on YouTube.  

Mopey: Gosh, I really wanted to like this piece.  I am a fan of Sokvannara Sar, I think his talent and commitment are fantastic.  The piece was a cross between modern dance and the choreography you see on "America's Next Dance Crew".  My mom liked it more than I did.  I didn't like "One Flat Thing" either, just call me a stick in the mud.

The Seasons: The music by Glazunov was accessible and I enjoyed Val Caniporoli's ideas.  Lucien Postelwaite was the Zephyr, and Kaori Nakamura was The Swallow.  I'd like to pause here and note that Kauri has developed into a lovely ballerina.  I remember seeing her about 10 years ago in "The Sleeping Beauty" and she struggled with a steady grasp with her partners, I think it was just nerves.  She was technically beautiful, but seemed a bit brittle - for lack of a better term.  Now she seems at ease with her partners each time and her acting skills are much warmer.  As The Swallow, she had loads of fun on stage, and there were a few dance spins straight out of Olympic ice dancing (I mean that in a good way).  Lindsi Dec and Stanko Milov played Bacchante / Bacchus, and they were a tall, languid leading couple, though I suspect with an additoinal week's practice, they would be much more authoritative.  Kudos to the acting skills of the fauns and satyrs.  I think 2nd round, this production will be polished to a fine gleam and we will begin to see even more of Caniparoli's intentions.

Regarding the new costumes, I thought they were hit and miss.  I enjoyed the snow, which were sheer flesh with black sparkles, and tutus of 1 layer of sheer black with a hoop.  They looked like "black ice".  I didn't think they were so much 'modern' - more 'The Jetsons'. I liked the blue feathers for the Swallow and Bluebirds, which were essentially attached to the same costumes worn by "black ice".  They had amazing hair feathers, straight out of the wedding scene from "Sex and the City", quite fabulous.  I wished their costumes were blue instead of flesh/black.    Moving on to the men, for the "black ice" consorts and Zephyr lead, the song "Glitter & Be Gay" kept coming to mind.  Nothing wrong with tight, tight briefs and blouson tops covered in glitter...but they looked like they were going to a fanTABulous party in South Beach, rather than "21st century winter snow".  Sorry, just my two cents on the matter.  The Fauns were better - dark red leather sleeveless jackets (ok, that sounds pretty gaybar too).  The Naiads wore fantastic fall leaves and dogwood branches in their hair during the Autumnal finale.  To top it all off, Bacchus got to wear gold lame' cargo pants covered in gold glitter.  Just think about that - Stanko Milov is PNB's ultimate Heroic Male Principal, and he's out there topless wearing glitter covered lame' cargo pants.  Maybe it looks just fine from the Balcony, I'll have to try that view next time.

West Side Story:  The evening ended with the happy return of Jerome Kerns' "West Side Story Suite".   I loved it last season and this year is even better.  Carla Koerbes was there as Anita, the girl can sing!  Seeing her up close I realized just how tiny she is, and good Brazilian girl that she is, she made Chita Rivera proud!  They were all fun and clearly enjoying themselves, but also very tired at the end.  Due to the similarity in looks, height, dance style and costume, I had a hard time telling Jerome Tisserand (Tony) apart from Lucien Postlewaite (Riff).  Couldn't tell if Lucien sang Riff's part, or if he lip synched, but the singing was very good in "Cool" and the corps handled the jazz beautifully.  I picked this night because there were multiple debuts in WSSS, and I wanted to see dancers try new roles.  Only Stanko Milov I felt was unsuccessful.  I love him in so many roles, but the man is Bulgarian and does not have a single latin cell in his body.  He tried hard as Bernardo, but lacks the panache required for the role of a Puerto Rican gang leader.  Plus, he is so much taller than Lucien or Jerome, it is difficult to take them seriously when they challenge Stanko to a fight.  He is a man among boys - but a very, very Slavic White Man among boys.   To their credit, I could not differentiate between the PNB school dancers and the regular company members.  Cheers to them for dancing Jerome Kerns so beautifully!

I clapped at the end, but half of the audience raced out of the theater, the stage manager arranged for the final curtain call and I think the dancers were a little taken aback that the audience moving to the doors without any "love" for them.  But it was nearing 11pm at that point, and I hope they realize everyone was rushing trying to get home, no offense intended.

I've been reading this thread for a while, finally got around to registering and posting, thanks if you read this far, I hope you'll take my comments with a large grain of salt. If any of the dancers run across this post, just know I adore PNB and look forward to the Spring season!

[SandyMcKean]

I've been very busy lately, so I won't post much.  (I went night #2 on Friday 11/6)

Bottom line, I was rather disappointed in this program.

Petite Mort was superb.  The choreography was inventive and pushed into new realms....particularly when combined with the completely traditional Mozart music.  This may be my first Kylian, and I am an immediate fan.  I'd love to see this again, or anything else by Kylian.  The rest of the program left me uninspired.  Mopey is terrific, but I think I've seen it too many times now.  It's mind-boggling at first, but I don't think it has "staying power".  It's a "wow" piece.  You can only be wow'd so many times.  The Seasons was a failure to me.  Perhaps because I found the music so boring....as in BORING.  I'm the kind of person that starts with the music; so if I don't like the music, the ballet doesn't have much of a chance with me.  In any case, I found myself unispired by this piece.  My prediction is that The Seasons will not outlive its premiere.  West Side Story was, of course, terrific.  Our PNB dancers *are* actors these days (thank you, Peter Boal), so they can now handle something like this with aplomb.  I think I saw it 4 times last year, and this was the best.  The dancers are so confident.  None the less, I was not very moved.  I guess I'm just ready for some Balanchine or something else more classic or neoclassic.  I've had enough WSS for a while