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Two new Principals, and other roster changes, at MCB


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tiphat.gifKLEBER REBELLO and RENAN CERDEIRO have been promoted to Principal, according to MCB's Facebook page. Also promoted were Christina Spigner and Sarah McCahill, to Corps de Ballet. Congratulations to all.

On a sadder note, Principal YANN TRIVIDIC is retiring after 13 years with MCB (interrupted by a few years back in France to earn a medical degree). Trvidic -- with his long, lean torso, arms, and legs -- is. always one of the most visually captivating dancers on the stage, one of the few who are hard to take your eyes from. His Romeo, danced with Patricia Delgado in Cranko's version a couple of seasons back, was marvelous.

Also: Facebook has an intriguing hint about MCB's travel plans for the future -- 3 photos of Patricia Delgado ...

...rehearsing in our studios ... for a mystery project in Russia! More to come on our blog.

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On a sadder note, Principal YANN TRIVIDIC is retiring after 13 years with MCB (interrupted by a few years back in France to earn a medical degree). Trvidic -- with his long, lean torso, arms, and legs -- is. always one of the most visually captivating dancers on the stage, one of the few who are hard to take your eyes from. His Romeo, danced with Patricia Delgado in Cranko's version a couple of seasons back, was marvelous.

bart...Trividic was barely used-(at least ever since I started following the company). He always looked particularly taller than the average short height of Villella's dancers, and as memory serves, never danced the leading role in any of the classical/romantic repertoire works staged by the company-(Giselle, Coppelia, Swan Lake white acts, DQ, Aurora's Wedding or even Nutcracker, although I might be wrong). My French friend always complained about this-(he really wanted to see his fellow countryman onstage). What I remember the most about him was his "Faune.." with Patricia Delgado. It was really very lyrical and beautiful.

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Thanks for reminding me of his Faun, Cristian. He did dance Drosselmeier (and very good he was), but I agree with you on the rest. I liked the Trividic/P. Delgado chemistry. Based on the Facebook post, it sems that Cerdeiro may being groomed to replace him in that partnership. It will be interesting to see how he develops.

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Your image of lying on th beach made me think of the opening of Afternoon of a Faun. It occurred to me that this would be a great role for Rebello, who has a langorous quality both in repose and in adagio. Even in allegro, his ability to toss of perfectly formed jumps and turns make things look so .... EASY. And, quite amazingly, he seems to lack that show-off quality that many young dancers bring to technical bravura.

For the past two seasons, Rebello has been cast in a variety of roles' and seems to be growing in all of them. He is even learning how to engage better with those around him on stage. Rebello 's definitely the kind of young dancer who makes me excited about sticking around to see what he does next.

I am having a harder time thinking about what Cerdeiro will become, despite his obvious talent.

Cristian and others who have followed MCB over the past couple of years, I would very much appreciate knowing your thoughts about both dancers ... and what you hope from each.

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My personal opinion is that Rebello seemed terrific from the start and destined to rise up the ranks. Cerdeiro has a much more lanky, lean (boyish maybe or coltish) look that took time for me to get used to, but last season I thought he had grown tremendously as an artist. For me it was like he transitioned from boy to man (professionally) this past season. Maybe because he just seemed more confident than ever. I don't know why.

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Cristian and others who have followed MCB over the past couple of years, I would very much appreciate knowing your thoughts about both dancers ... and what you hope from each.

bart...Rebello is crtainly qualified to be a Principal, technically wise. Now, it is a fact that he is a VERY short dancer-(I would say even shorter than Simkin, although not that baby faced...). MCB is a company of short dancers...Trividic was always noticeable taller than everybody else when onstage, so I think Kleber won't have problems partnering ballerinas. Catoya, Arja and Delgado are some of those I have seen him dancing with, and he looks fine. In another matters, I always picture Principal dancers as a whole package that should be able to go around the world and dance with any given company with a variety of styles and body types. Here' where Rebello fails. I don't picture him dancing with a number of current Principal ballerinas from certain important companies. (Now, he dancing a DQ with Valdes, THAT would be a thrill! happy.png ). Another issue I would like to point at is that Rebello hasn't really shown his skills in the great Romantic-Classical repertoire,and in my book that's a requirement. Not until I see an Albrecht-(Cerdeiro was able to dance the role)- AND Siegfried, AND Franz-(Rebello did dance it)-I can make a definite assessment regarding Principal status. For me, a Danseur should be able to, let's say, go and travel to Russia and pull out a good performance of Giselle with, let's say, Zakharova. A difficult ballet, a difficult style, a difficult ballerina to partner...the whole package is certainly a challenge. Hallberg, Acosta, Bolle and Gomes and some of those whom I can think have what it takes to really be called a Principal.

Cerdeiro is not ready for the title, IMHO.

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There's a post today in MCB's blog introducing Ariel Rose, who formerly danced with Boston Ballet, Ballet Municipal de Lima, and, most recently, Richmond Ballet:

http://www.miamicityballet.org/blog/2013/08/07/meet-our-new-dancers-2/

The most exciting news is that he's rehearsing the Paul Taylor solo from "Episodes" yahoo.gif Besides "Episodes" being my favorite Balanchine Black and White Ballet -- sorry "Agon" -- it's a rarity to see the Paul Taylor solo included. It was added back to "Episodes" in the Spring 1986 season, and it was danced by Peter Frame. It was also danced in the Winter 1987 season, and I have a note that it was scheduled and cancelled in the pre-Nutcracker week of rep in Fall 1988.

Paul Taylor did the reconstruction with Frame in 1986. I'm not sure if any other dancer learned or performed it. Have there been any reports about who is staging it? There certainly should be plenty of footage to jog the memory.

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on the contrary, i don't believe there is much, if any, footage of Taylor's EPISODES solo.

this restaging didn't last long in NYCB b/c it seemed to amount to little in this so-called revival when it was brought back for Frame; if mem. servers, it was said around the time that despite Taylor's part in the recreation, the original choreography couldn't be recalled very precisely.

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There's a post today in MCB's blog introducing Ariel Rose, who formerly danced with Boston Ballet, Ballet Municipal de Lima, and, most recently, Richmond Ballet:

http://www.miamicityballet.org/blog/2013/08/07/meet-our-new-dancers-2/

The most exciting news is that he's rehearsing the Paul Taylor solo from "Episodes" yahoo.gif Besides "Episodes" being my favorite Balanchine Black and White Ballet -- sorry "Agon" -- it's a rarity to see the Paul Taylor solo included. It was added back to "Episodes" in the Spring 1986 season, and it was danced by Peter Frame. It was also danced in the Winter 1987 season, and I have a note that it was scheduled and cancelled in the pre-Nutcracker week of rep in Fall 1988.

Paul Taylor did the reconstruction with Frame in 1986. I'm not sure if any other dancer learned or performed it. Have there been any reports about who is staging it? There certainly should be plenty of footage to jog the memory.

Pipe dream: that Suzanne Farrell will bring Rose to D.C. in November when her company presents Episodes again. I've only seen it three times, but it's my favorite over Agon (which they're also dancing again) as well.

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on the contrary, i don't believe there is much, if any, footage of Taylor's EPISODES solo.

this restaging didn't last long in NYCB b/c it seemed to amount to little in this so-called revival when it was brought back for Frame; if mem. servers, it was said around the time that despite Taylor's part in the recreation, the original choreography couldn't be recalled very precisely.

I apologize for not being clear: I meant footage of Peter Frame dancing the reconstructed solo from the 1980's. I found three listings in the NYPL's catalogue with Variations and Frame listed, two from 1986 and one from 1989.

But searching for "Peter Frame" I found the answer to my own question on a MCB blog entry on 5 August: Frame is staging the solo, and Patricia Neary is staging the rest:

http://www.miamicityballet.org/blog/2013/08/05/jovani-on-instagram/

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gotcha, H. thanks for the clarification.

i wonder if/when Neary looks at the one-time Taylor solo, if something might strike her that she could add or subtract from if it jogs her memory in any way.

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Helene wrote:

Paul Taylor did the reconstruction with Frame in 1986. I'm not sure if any other dancer learned or performed it. Have there been any reports about who is staging it?

According to MCB's Facebook page, it is Peter Frame, who danced it when it was revived by NYCB in 1986. Frame is a former NYCB dancer and a repetiteur for the Balanchine Trust. As you say, he learned the part from Taylor himself, so the new MCB Episodes will have a pedigree divided between Taylor and NYCB.

There's a stunning photo of Frame in the role, posted on MCB's Facebook page. (I hope it is okay to post something from Facebook, but it is directly connected to our discussion.)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151506518226090&set=a.78049846089.90769.10244171089&type=1&theater

Here's Frame demonstrating a portion of the choreography.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151503320976090&set=a.10151503320506090.1073741842.10244171089&type=1&theater

And here's Ariel Rose learning the role.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151503320701090&set=a.10151503320506090.1073741842.10244171089&type=1&theater

Rose's story is an interesting one -- as is Lopez's decision to cast him in this important role even before he has danced with his new colleagues. I wonder whether Rose might have caught Philip Neal's eye when Neal was in Richmond choreographing for the company last year.

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The picture of Peter Frame in performance is stunning. I agree that the original event was really a one-off -- we can't expect subsequent versions to have the same gravity, but Taylor did several works with ballet dancers around the time of this photo, and I think they were very interesting experiments.

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Accoarding to Jovani Furlan on the MCB blog, Patricia Neary has been down in Miami setting Episodes, along with Peter Frame. (Furlan is one of the most interesting young corps members.)

http://www.miamicityballet.org/blog/2013/08/05/jovani-on-instagram/

Webern was a daring musical choice back in America in 1959, for a ballet choreographer at least. I'm listening to the Webern Ricercata (a six-part fugue from Bach's Musical Offerings) as I type this. I plan on listening to all the Webern music before the performances. When I saw Episodes, I had not even heard of Webern. My firdst experience of the music back in 1959 or '60 (and the chance to see it, thanks to Balanchine's dancers) was an extraordinary experience and one which entirely re-directed my musical taste.

Here is Balanchine talking about Webern, as printed in Nancy Reynolds Repertory in Review.

Webern's orchestral music fills the air like molecules; it is written for atmosphere. The first time I heard it, I knew it could be danced to. It seemed to me like Mozart and Stravinsky, music that can be danced to because it leaves the mind free to see the dancing. In listening to composers like Beethoven and Brahms, every listener has his own ideas, paints his own picture of what the music represents. How can I, a choreographer, try to squeeze a dancing body into a picture that already exists in someone's mind? It simply won't work. But it will with Webern.

And, from Stravinsky:

Doomed to total failure in a deaf world, Webern kept cutting his diamonds, the mines of which he had such a perfect knowledge.

And, from Violette Verdy:

The one thing that disconcerted me at first was to dance with so little sound coming from the pit, but then I realized that what we had to imprint on top of the musical line was making its own time, and was in complete correspondence, and the sound came then as a kind of reward, rather than the expected motivation.

Here is the original January '59 cast of the Balanchine portions of Episodes:

-- Symphony, op. 21 (1928). Violette Verdy, Jonathan Watts, 3 couples;

-- Five Pieces, op. 10 (1911-13). Diana Adams, Jacques d'Amboise;

-- Concerto, op. 24 (1934). Allegra Kent, Nicholas Magallanes, 4 women;

-- Variations, op. 30 (1940): Paul Taylor;

-- Ricercata in 6 voices from Bach's Musical Offering (1935). Melissa Hayden, Francisco Moncion, 13 women.

I hope that South Florida audiences are ready for the challenge something unfamiliar -- a "new" ballet (1959) with "new" music composed from 1911-1940. West Side Story Suite (also on Program III) it is not. wink1.gif

Episodes is on Program III, which will be danced in Miami, Feb. 14-16 -- Fort Lauderdale, Feb. 21-23 -- and West Palm Beach, Feb. 28-March 2. I don't know the dates for Naples, but Program III is usually performed there as well. (That's the "Naples" on the Gulf of Mexico, not the one on the Tyrrhenian Sea.) Program III consists of Episodes *, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, and West Side Story Suite *.

(*) Company premiere.

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The latest company roster shows an increase in the size of the corps by 4.

One corps member has left, Ezra Hurwitz, who first came to MCB in 2006 as an apprentice.

The five new members are:

-- Briana Abruzzo. First professional position.

-- Nieser Zambrana Reyes. No information available yet.

-- Ariel Rose (mentioned above)

-- Eric Trope. Danced with Pennsylvania Ballet. Here is a brief interview from the MCB website:

http://www.miamicityballet.org/blog/2013/08/14/meet-our-new-dancers-3/

-- Damian Zamorano. Trained in Cuba and at MCB School; danced with Compania Nacional de Danza.

This is an increase of four in the size of the corps, three of them men.

Two familiar faces are back as "Guest Artists," former principals Katia Carranza and Jeremy Cox.

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