66 replies to this topic

[EricHG31]

ARGH, KCTS, the Seattle PBS I get, doesn't have this anywhere on their online schedule--unless I somehow missed it. Not impressed.

[SandyMcKean]

ARGH, KCTS, the Seattle PBS I get, doesn't have this anywhere on their online schedule--unless I somehow missed it.

Oh no!.....you missed it. It is in the KCTS schedule. You just missed the re-broadcast today at 2pm. Below is from their website:

PBS Arts from Miami: Miami City Ballet Dances Balanchine and Tharp
Air: Friday, October 28, 9:00 pm on KCTS 9 HDSeattle/Yakima
Future Airs: 10/30/11, 2:00 pm KCTS 9 HDSeattle/Yakima; 10/30/11, 2:00 pm KYVE 47Yakima

[EricHG31]

UGH I have no one but myself to blame--I did scan their website with no luck--though I admit I didn't look at the weekend afternoon slots... I've been pretty distracted this weekend between Halloween parties and essays... Lesson learned I guess. Thanks for your info!

[Natalia]

I have no problem with a beautiful smile! Perhaps I mistated my thoughts. I hated the constant camera-cuts to Jeannette's face during the allegro segments. The main problem was in the editing. It was wonderful to see everyone smiling during the allegro portions of the ballet, especially during leaps, entrechats (so precise & high by all!), etc.

[bart]

I hated the constant camera-cuts to Jeannette's face during the allegro segments. The main problem was in the editing.

Agree completely. Rapid and agitated cutting from one image to another is now the cultural norm on tv. (Are they trying to keep the audience awake?) The Kirkland/Baryshnikov Theme and Variation (Live from Lincoln Center, 1970s), which we linked to in an earlier thread, is so much friendlier to the integrity of the work and the artists.

A joy of attending live performance is that YOU become your own "editor," looking where your eye takes you. I find myself resenting -- and actually being stressed by -- sitting passively in a seat while a film director and/or editor forces me to look at certain images while forgetting about those which I am missing. Directors/editors, whatever their intention, seem to be interjecting their OWN work of art between me and the actual performance.

Mr. Diamond did his best. But the cutting to Delgado was indeed intrusive. Worse, it seemed arbitrary, minimally connected to music or choreography. (Better to have taken the trouble to print her NAME, along with Cerdeiro's, on the screen, as would have been done for just about any theatrical or musical performance I have seen.)

[atm711]

Re: Delgado's grin

The grin really works if there is a Caller.

[puppytreats]

"Solid gold dancers" -- that encapsulates the image perfectly, and makes me feel old, too.

"Real women" -- maybe I watch too many tapes of Svetlana and the Vaganova classes?

[dirac]

Bingo. I was afraid to burst the bubble of her admirers...but that's what I was trying to get at, above, when I wrote "the smile that never ends." The constant camera-cuts to show Jeannette's toothy grin, up-close-and-personal, almost ruined the entire experience for me.

It was a strange effect, no doubt, and if it hadn't been so distracting I'd not have mentioned it. As Merrill Ashley has said, the "Square Dance" ballerina must convey an I-love-to-dance effect, but Delgado's fixed beam didn't convey a carefree quality to this viewer so much as tension.

[cubanmiamiboy]

Delgado's fixed beam didn't convey a carefree quality to this viewer so much as tension.

It is precisely her LACK of tension what I really see stands out in all her performances...

re: her entrechats. My mom-(who's quite far from being a ballet connosseur)-made exactly the same observation.

[dirac]

I don't know what to tell you, cubanmiamiboy. As I said, I admired her dancing, but the big fixed smile weirded me out.

I also wondered why the dancers weren't identified. Generally a title would run with the name of the ballet, the choreographer, and a "Danced By" naming the principals.

[abatt]

The constant smile in Square Dance didn't bother me a bit. I didn't think that the male solo was performed at the highest level in Square Dance. The corps was excellent. Seeing the Golden Section reminded me of why I dislike most Twyla ballets. I enjoyed seeing the third movement of Western. I wish NYCB would perform it. Congratulation to Villella and all of his fantastic dancers. Miami is a lucky city to have such high caliber dancers. Let's hope that Villella's successor, whoever that may be, takes care of the Balanchine ballets with the same sort of love.

[cubanmiamiboy]

Seeing the Golden Section reminded me of why I dislike most Twyla ballets.

Ditto.

[GeorgeB fan]

I was surprise by the direction and editing. Matthew Diamond in general is excellent when it comes to directing dance on film and Girish Bhargava is by now a legend when it comes to editing dance on film. So it was disappointing. But then I started thinking that perhaps Diamond and Bhargava was overcompensating over the fact that the ballets was being filmed on such a small set. I mean the studio appeared to have been pretty tiny. When looking on the studio recordings of Balanchine back in the 70's, the studio was much bigger, making it possible perhaps to film those ballets with greater flexible and finesse - and of course Balanchine was there making sure they were filiming his ballets correctly - LOL. With this recording everything looked so claustrophobic, and I grant you, the extreme close-ups didn't help matters. It looked so cramped and I think that crampness may have stole some of Diamond's and Bhargava's abilities at recording those dances as well as they should have been.

That said, I still highly enjoyed the program. Square Dance I thought was danced wonderfully. You got the sense the dancers were truly enjoying themselves which in trun made me enjoy watching them. The choreography looked flesh, spirited and exciting. If I have one negative is that Renan Cerdeiro didn't perform the male solo as well as I would have hoped. Not that he wasn't fine - he was - but there was no sense of melancholy meditation to his movement in the choreography. Of course I've been spoiled by Manuel Legris's interpretation of the role thanks to the Balanchine Celebration video so comparing Cerdeiro to Legris is probably an injustice to Cerdeiro.

Despite it not being among my favorites, Western Symphony was nice and well danced. But the music sounded as if it was being performed way off in the distance in the beginning. The volume recording appeared to be on the low button instead of high.

As for Tharp...the less said about that "ballet" the better. A Robbins ballet would have been better or perhaps something by Christopher Wheeldon. Doesn't MCB perform Wheeldon? That would have been great.

I enjoyed the show and was glad to have taped it. MCB did themselves proud!!

[Amy Reusch]

I haven't seen the program yet... Did Mr. Diamond's directing resemble his work on the Paul Taylor Wrecker's Ball of several years ago?

[atm711]

. If I have one negative is that Renan Cerdeiro didn't perform the male solo as well as I would have hoped. Not that he wasn't fine - he was - but there was no sense of melancholy meditation to his movement in the choreography. Of course I've been spoiled by Manuel Legris's interpretation of the role thanks to the Balanchine Celebration video so comparing Cerdeiro to Legris is probably an injustice to Cerdeiro.

Complete agreement from me. I recently showed a large group of friends excerpts from Balanchine ballets, including the Legris clip and afterwards most of the questions were about him.

That said, I do believe Cerdeiro is on the right track and time will deepen his performance.