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Youth America Grand Prix presents Ballet's Greatest Hits!


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Daniel Ulbricht is truly amazing, and I think he really should be a much bigger star than he is. Every time I have seen him I am totally amazed. He could probably give Ivan Vasiliev a run for his money! Luckily, he is from St. Petersburg, FL, so I have had several chances to see him in Florida, because he must still have family and friends down here.

I agree about Ulbricht. Living in NYC I have seen him in many things. It's not only his huge jump and other technical feats but his focus and presentation. He is a great dancer. Unfortunately the NYTimes critic, Alistair Macauley has been IMO stingy in his praise of Ulbricht. I've always suspected it to be a body type thing. Maybe Macauley's assessment will change in time.

I guess he doesn't have that princely body type like Gomes, but who cares when he is so great?

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Birdsall, thank you so much for that information and window into the event. Did you have any thoughts about Stella Abrera? Now that Veronika Part is finally getting the acclaim she deserves, Stella is my most favorite dancer-in-waiting, so to speak.

I think she did a fine job as Myrtha. She was stern, and she also danced very well. Her upper body was nice too.

Thank you, Birdsall. I wonder daily what can be done to get this beautiful dancer more recognition.

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...Done with the trip. No Koundarova, no trip.

My thought too, cubanmiamiboy. Still, some good USA-based dancers appeared at the gala. I'm sure that Bouder was superb in Flames of Paris. Boylston, Gomes...not bad at all but the 'cache' of having a top ballerina fly-in from Russia (or France, or Denmark, or....) is gone, leaving a feeling of 'meh.'

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...Done with the trip. No Koundarova, no trip.

My thought too, cubanmiamiboy. Still, some good USA-based dancers appeared at the gala. I'm sure that Bouder was superb in Flames of Paris. Boylston, Gomes...not bad at all but the 'cache' of having a top ballerina fly-in from Russia (or France, or Denmark, or....) is gone, leaving a feeling of 'meh.'

And remember, Natasha...I want it so bad as my last taste of the Imperial stage was Skorik...

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LOL, cubanmiamiboy! The last thing that you want is to be hit with the Mariinsky's Unholy Triumvirate...also known as 'The SSK' (Somova, Skorik, Kampa).

Even the big NYC-based YAGP Finals Gala is famous for last-minute cancellations. It's always 'pot luck' when one invests in travel/hotel costs for these things...any gala, not just YAGP.

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Sorry to be late to the party, but I only seem to get onto Ballet Alert on the weekends. Birdsall's review of the YAGP in Tampa could have been written by me (and I had a lovely evening there and glad to get together with my new BA friend Bart Birdsall). Agreeing with Birdsall, Mack and Douthit from Alvin Ailey almost turned me into a modern dance fan overnight - they were phenomenal.

Angelica: Abrera was lovely as always and I share your frustration that she hasn't been promoted, though I find the role of Myrtha less than compelling no matter who dances it.

Like Birdsall, I was very impressed by Kondaurova and Seo, Gomes and Part. The Flower girl/Bridesmaid in Don Q, an ABT corps dancer, Skylar Brandt was a standout with a bright future.

The early reported programs had promised Tarantella which I assumed Bouder/Ulbricht would dance. Instead, it was Flames of Paris, not a favorite of mine, though they both showed off their amazing skills. The costumes were so incredibly awful I had trouble focusing on their dancing. If you've seen the small, no name touring ballet troupes from Russia that come through (and yes, I see them all) you've seen these appallingly cheap, unflattering costumes. Had I been Bouder, I'd have stomped my pointe show and said I'M NOT WEARING THAT!

Anyway, an enjoyable evening - wish they had identified the YAGP students dancing in the first act - many very impressive - hoping to get a better look at them if Ballet in Cinema gets this on the screen.

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Yesterday I was taking a class taught by Alicia Graf Mack and at the end of class she said she wanted to get to know us. 20 of us in a circle, she goes into the center and starts to dance for us. Her extension and movement is just beautiful to watch up close. You can see she loves to perform and she won't disappoint if you pay to watch her. Well she runs up to me and pulls me into the circle, my turn. Yes I had to follow her performance.

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The film's Kickstarter project surpassed its $35K goal by the 17 December deadline, and has been funded.

The plan is to use historical footage and interviews, where possible, to the gala footage, to be shown in movie theaters though its partnership with Emerging Pictures. We've been invited to give feedback by 1 February 2013 about what to attempt to include in specific roles and ballets.

Details are in the following new thread; do not reply to this thread.

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Thanks for the summary, Birdsall. I'm very confused by all this live-streaming,ballet in cinema stuff (same as with the other thread about Cameron's 3D Swan Lake). As I understand it from the Emerging Pictures website, the gala will be shown at our Proctor's Theater in Schenectady, NY Mar 31 at 2 pm, yet when I go on to Proctor's website, it isn't listed. I am going to call the theater, but as I understand the posts above, if they don't raise enough money, it will not be shown? Very confusing but admittedly, I don't spend a lot of time researching this aspect of ballet performance and due to time constraints, I tend to scan through posts sometimes. Also, I noticed that Proctor's has far less ballet in cinema as in years past, if the website is accurate. I'll check it out with them.

And to reply to Birdsall a few posts above, I think Daniel Ulbricht is a very fine dancer and lovely to watch. I've seen him quite a lot and I always enjoy him. He has a lot of satge personality. I find Macauley's criticim to be stingy on a lot of points, but what can you do?

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Not to be a curmudgeon, but wouldnt it be more apropos to say thank you for helping us drum up publicity and more of an audience for our project?

Considering that there was already a discussion about the film without us even knowing what the format would be, I'm not sure there's more audience here to mine. We're already their natural habitat.

Of course, there would be a much larger audience for the film -- and for other Emerging Pictures transmissions -- if they were available through downloads, streaming, and DVD for those who don't live near theaters showing them or for those who can't make the day-of-performance transmissions.

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