Moments

[altongrimes]

 Lately, I have been riveted to an old interview with Jimmy Stewart. In this fascinating encounter, he says the following: " There is a theory that I have always had that creating 'moments' in movies is the important thing. Nobody knows exactly how it happens. What you should do is prepare yourself the best you can to make those moments happen. Because in a movie, it's really not so much the performance, rather there are these 'moments' ".Now, when I heard him say this, my memory immediately began to race back to ABT's mystery "light" dancer, (as I later called her), Zhong-Jing Fang, whom I experienced in an unforgettable Romeo and Juliet performance in New York or the burning and searing revelation of Polina Semionova's iron technique and extreme delicacy in a Swan Lake production at The MET that rendered me completely overwhelmed for days. More recently, I will never forget the way Marcelo Gomes supercharged Stanton Welch's CLEAR so that I later wondered to the backstage door in some kind of hypnotic trance. Performers on this level would seem to be in possession of some transcendent quality , some "divine quality", perhaps, so that at any moment they can attract "the lightning". And you just never know when when that "lightning" might strike. And in the light of this interview, I realize more than ever that I fly to New York to expect the unexpected. I fly to New York to experience those 'moments'. And there have been many ....Thank you, Jimmy !

 

 

Edited November 7, 2016 by altongrimes
Typo

[Drew]

I'm sometimes struck when, in the middle of a performance that is good or even very good, suddenly-yet-subtly it changes and becomes something really special. I remember seeing a Ferri-Bocca Giselle that (for me) hadn't really taken flight, though basically excellent...and then at a certain point in one of the lifts in Act II, the atmosphere seemed to change. The beauty and drama of the lift certainly made for a striking image--it's an obviously 'big' moment--but also the whole performance from that point seemed more intense, more beautiful.  I might have written it off to my very personal experience of the performance, but the person I was with had the identical reaction which makes me think we were both reacting to something that happened on stage....

Edited November 8, 2016 by Drew

[altongrimes]

O yes ! How very true ! In my case, for example, so impacted by Zhong-Fang Jing's performance in an ABT Romeo and Juliet was I, that I was later able to confirm that it was, indeed, her. In an interview, Susan Smith (a ballet mistress at ABT, I believe) spoke of a kind of "light" she felt in Zhong-Fang Jing's dancing.Yes ! To this day, I can still recall that transcendent "light" of her gift. I will never forget the power of it . Wonderful of you to reply.