63 replies to this topic

[vipa]

Love the Bournanville flavor - speed, direction changes - in the variations.  Some of that seems to have been lost along the way.

[cubanmiamiboy]

You see what you guys do to me...? Now I HAVE to go see this...!!!           

Nice to finally put a face on such venerable poster as Mr. Fullington  

[Helene]

vipa, on 09 January 2011 - 05:55 PM, said:

Love the Bournanville flavor - speed, direction changes - in the variations.  Some of that seems to have been lost along the way.

Just gorgeous, which is why I wish the dancers had more time to work through their discomfort to do the original before the version decision was made.  Although Imler makes it look soooooo easy...

[cubanmiamiboy]

Who were those BEAUTIFUL ballerinas...?!?! Now, THOSE were really GREAT LOOKING female dancers..!      

Love seeing Berthe's mime being given the importance it deserves.  Alonso has retained it almost in a carbon copy of what I saw in the broadcast, all the way from her staging of the ballet-(with the help of A. Dolin and Mary Skeaping)-in 1948.  It can be seen better in her 1964 DVD.  On the other side, none of the productions I have on DVD has it, either Russians or from the West.

[Helene]

cubanmiamiboy, on 09 January 2011 - 06:02 PM, said:

Who were those BEAUTIFUL ballerinas...?!?! Now, THOSE were really GREAT LOOKING female dancers..!      

Giselle was Carla Korbes, who grew up in Brazil and was chosen by Peter Boal very young -- 14, I think -- to dance Terpsichore in a performance of "Apollo" that Boal did in Brazil.  He convinced her parents (through a translator) to allow her to attend SAB.  She moved away from her family to NYC and learned English from scratch.

She danced for NYCB, but many of us thought she was underused and under-appreciated by Peter Martins.  For us in Seattle, it has been a privilege to see her dance since she came joined PNB in Boal's first season.  Her Albrecht, Seth Orza, also came from NYCB, a few years after Korbes.  His wife, Sarah Ricard Orza, who wasn't in the program, joined the company, too, which makes us even luckier.  She's a beautiful dancer.

Carrie Imler mimed Berta and danced Peasant Pas de Deux (with James Moore) and Myrtha.  She's one of the finest dancers I've ever seen in any genre.  She was trained at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and later at Pacific Northwest Ballet School. Happily she was in the NYC tour to City Center in 1996, and she got a shout out (end of p. 2) from Anna Kisselgoff.  She makes time slow down in the most difficult virtuoso passages.

James Moore was Hilarion.  I love him in this role.  I was disappointed that there wasn't a reference to the scope of Hilarion's role in Act II in this production, but they couldn't perform the entire ballet in a relatively short presentation.

[Jack Reed]

SandyMcKean, on 07 January 2011 - 02:04 PM, said:

...Don't miss it if you can possibly tune in.

I'm not familiar with this site, having visited it for the first time today, thanks to this thread - and what a start! - but it looks like this video will be available for a time:  If you use the link in the first post, you will currently find two thumbnails down the page, either of which start the video if you click on it.

Thanks, Helene, and thanks for the identifications.

[sandik]

A few years ago, when Fullington reconstructed the Jardin Anime from Corsaire I thought that the whole thing felt a bit Danish, and then Alexandra reminded me that Petipa and Bournonville were both French trained -- it's all water from the same well.

[sandik]

Jack Reed, on 09 January 2011 - 08:40 PM, said:

[I'm not familiar with this site, having visited it for the first time today, thanks to this thread - and what a start! - but it looks like this video will be available for a time:  If you use the link in the first post, you will currently find two thumbnails down the page, either of which start the video if you double-click on it.

Thanks, Helene, and thanks for the identifications.

That would be great -- I've got a couple of friends who had to miss the program.

[bart]

A marvelous experience.  Tahnks, rg and Helene, for making us aware of it.  It was good to be there with other Balletalertniks.

How wonderful that the artisitic leadership of PNB has the desire to work on this level of detail and is willing to commit financial resources to do so.  you don't often find an artistic team as articulate and thoughtful as this, or so full of enthusiasm about engaging the audience in what they are trying to do.

Regarding the Bournonville look (to feet, anyway), Doug Fullington did mention that the strength of 19th century dancers were in the area of speed and lightness (rather than, for example, elevation).  I also liked his attitude towards reconstruction in general --  that "authenticity" must allow for the different technique of dancers today, as well as what makes their bodies "comfortable."

I was astonished to learn from Marion Smith that Giselle, in the original concept, was about "half and half" dance and mime/dramatic action, prior to the addition of the peasant pas de deux.  Smith's examples  of  the way in which music actually "expresses characterization" -- and even duplicates specific important words -- at key dramatic points was very valuable and will change the way I experience the ballet in the future.

Best for me:  the expansion and the great clarity of Berthe's pantomime, the excellent Hilarion, and the dance demonstrations from the peasant pas de deux..   I agree that it would have been nice to see more of Hilarion from Act II, had there been time.

Worst for me:  the frustrations about the image quality.. I watched the show on 2 computers -- my deskstop and a small notebook.  In both cases, the quality of the transmission left much to be desired.  I was wondering if anyone else had this problem.  My only experience with streaming is with conferences that do not require clarity of image to the extent that dance does.

I was impressed by Imler especially, and wanted to see more of her, but her rapid footwork as Myrthe came across as blurred on my screen.  This was especially the case when I went full-screen.  Lighting did not help, tending to make the  women's skirts seem opaque, even bloated, distorting line.  The blurring factor even made it difficult to follow arms and epaulement.  Switching to small screen improved the resolution, but then you had the distraction of the "discussion" column to the right of the screen.  (See below.)

On the whole, this was a thrilling experience, reminding me that ballet has a strong intellectual component, if its practitioners allow themselves the time to express it.    By the way, I was not counting viewers during the performance, but noted that 342 were watching online during the curtain calls.   Thanks also to the Guggenheim.  

Off Topic:  The non-stop chatter of some of the viewers during the program was astonishing.  Apparently they can watch a challenging program AND engage in vapid commentary at the same time.

[kfw]

bart, on 10 January 2011 - 04:27 AM, said:

Worst for me:  the frustrations of the image quality..I watched the show on 2 computers -- my deskstop and a small notebook.  In both cases, the image quality of the transmission left much to be desired.  I was wondering if anyone else had this problem.  I was very impressed by Imler especially, but there was a blurry effect to the way her rapid footwork as Myrthe came across on my screen.  This was especially the case when I went full-screen/  Lighting did not help.  In both screens the women's dresses seemed opaque and bloated, hiding line.

I know what you mean, but the quality was no worse than what I've seen before during streaming events. Of course most of those have been jazz sets from clubs, so the visual component was less important.

Quote

By the way, I was not counting viewers during the performance, but noted that 342 were watching online during the curtain calls.

The most I noted during the afternoon was 61. Both figures strike me as amazingly low.

[Helene]

The press release mentioned the live streaming for the 7:30pm performance.  I'm not sure how 61 people found out it would be screened in the afternoon.

Both were taped and are available on the website (scroll to find):
http://www.ustream.t...worksandprocess

As of a few minutes ago, there have been 104 views of the afternoon presentation, and 378 of the evening.  Hopefully there will be a lot more over time.

[sandik]

Helene, on 10 January 2011 - 09:22 AM, said:

The press release mentioned the live streaming for the 7:30pm performance.  I'm not sure how 61 people found out it would be screened in the afternoon.

Both were taped and are available on the website (scroll to find):
http://www.ustream.t...worksandprocess

As of a few minutes ago, there have been 104 views of the afternoon presentation, and 378 of the evening.  Hopefully there will be a lot more over time.

I'm wondering how I missed the afternoon screening as well, but was thrilled to see it whenever it was.  I've not had much luck with streaming events in the past, and so was feeling pretty smug that this one worked for me.

And Imler's feet sometimes look blurred in the theater as well as on screen -- she's mighty fast!

[shopgirl]

I enjoyed this program so much.  I thought that all the dancing was extraordinary, and was amazed that four dancers on a small, bare stage could bring the story to life like they did.  Carla Korbes is such a talented dancer, and her mime and acting skills are exceptional as well.  She danced Clara in a Nutcracker performance I saw recently, and I noticed that she brings this talent to every single role she dances in.  Carrie Imler seems to be at the peak of her dancing from what I have seen of her this season, and certainly from this live streamed performance.  I was equally impressed with Doug Fullington.  I found it interesting to hear not only the history of the ballet, but how complicated the whole process was in bringing this ballet back for PNB.  I liked the explanation about how the virtuosity of dancing at that time was in the quickness of the feet and steps, and thought that Carrie Imler demonstrated this part of the program so perfectly.  I was surprised to recognize that it was Alan Dameron who played the piano; the piano music was exceptional for this program.  I thought that Peter Boal and Doug Fullington did a great job in putting this program together, and it really showed the enormous amount of talent that PNB has.

[Helene]

shopgirl, on 10 January 2011 - 09:57 AM, said:

  I was surprised to recognize that it was Alan Dameron who played the piano; the piano music was exceptional for this program.  

It was beautiful.  It didn't sound like more typical rehearsal music, which is usually a more literal attempt to show the orchestration.  (Bang, bang, pound, pound -- must be the trumpets!)  Instead it sounded like a work that was written for piano, and I half wished that we could see a performance with this piano score, played with the sensitivity and coloring that Dameron did.

(It also makes me wish that Hershey Kay's orchestrations would be ditched for the piano versions in "Who Cares?" and a real band would replace the horrid orchestrations for "Stars and Stripes"...)

[SandyMcKean]

shopgirl said:

I was surprised to recognize that it was Alan Dameron who played the piano; the piano music was exceptional for this program

One of the most satisfying musical experiences for me ever was to hear Allan Dameron (2 "L"s BTW) playing the Chopin for Robbins "Dances at a Gathering" in 2009 (I saw it 4 times....in large measure just to hear Dameron again and again).  He played with such sensitivity and understanding.....if you think about it, it is that piano that gives much of the meaning and mood to that masterpiece of a ballet.

shopgirl said:

I was equally impressed with Doug Fullington.

Doug is a class act all the way.  The more one listens to him, the more one realizes how vast is his knowledge base.  He is also a very clear speaker who gets his points across in a deceptively simple and easy to understand way.  For those able to attend PNB performances in Seattle, I highly recommend showing up an hour early to hear the pre-performance lectures that Doug gives before nearly every performance.  You will be thoroughly entertained, learn a great deal, and catch bits of "inside story" along the way.

bart said:

Worst for me: the frustrations about the image quality.

I know computers, so allow me to take a stab at this. Images (espcecially video) take a lot of data.  Streaming and other websites address this "data overload" situation by reducing the size of the image (i.e.,  less pixels per inch hortizonally and vertically), or by reducing the information contained in those pixels (compression).  The data required to be sent can be reduced 10:1 (sometimes more, sometimes less) with these techniquees.  Of course, there is no free lunch, and what suffers is image quality.  Compression can make images lose detail (especially if the movement is fast), and smaller images can't be expanded without the images becoming pixelated ("blocky").  One can't do much about compression since information has been purposely lost and there is no way to recreate it; however, lack of clearness due to small image size is best handled by not attempting to make the image bigger than the original (IOW, don't try to watch it full screen).  Of course, in a smaller image it is hard to see detail, but you are still better off keeping it small instead of "blowing it up".