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balabanov11

Inactive Member
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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    Dancer/fan
  • City**
    New york
  • State (US only)**, Country (Outside US only)**
    NY
  1. I saw Saturday night from an excellent seat in the balcony, and I can attest to what another poster mentioned - the washed out look of many of the tutus and costumes, as well as the empty, bare look of the stage. From a straight on orchestra view, closer up, it may make a better impression in terms of color amd opulence. With no real view of the backdrops, the production relies on the costumes, which I would assume are inpressive up close, but look either overdone (court) or bland (pale tutus). I loathed the Rose Adag tutu and headgear - it makes Aurora look heavy-laden and quite old. While I enjoyed seeing this restoration for intellectual and historical purposes, I would not go back. The rejection of modern technique really hamstrings the dancers, and gives the entire ballet, with exceptions (trenary/diamond, copeland/florine, boylston's space covering jetes) a feeling of "isn't that quiet and lovely, but nothing exciting ever happens". It's makes for a very long evening of bland and pretty.
  2. Copeland is the most famous ballet dancer in America since Misha Baryshnikov. OF COURSE she was going to make a red carpet appearance - she's currently the company's biggest publicity asset, and she's whom the papparazzi want to photograph.
  3. Saw Skorik and Parrish - wow, I knew I wasn't seeing a top pair, but this was rather shocking in its mediocrity. She is a beautiful girl, with gorgeous legs and a uniquely supple upper back. Her beautifully hooked feet are quite lovely at the top of developpe. But she has zero charisma, stretches the music beyond her ability to fill it, and starting with the act 1 solo, which was a contest btw her and the conductor, really lost confidence, She clearly has no idea what to do with Odile, had no relationship with Parrish, and treated every phrase as a requirement to get thru, including the annoyingly Russian habit of making 32 single fouettes look like an Olympian task of will. Parrish was much worse. He has a beautiful line, legs and feet, but is a very weak partner, coming to grief numerous times in Black Swan, and giving her little support in white swan as well. He seemed incapable of finishing any of his pirouettes without dropping to his heel midstream, and was obviously labored in the overhead lifts. I was wondering how he got out of the corp, much less cast as Siegfried. Baybordin was open, generous, and fun as the Jester, but the best solo performance of the night, hands down, was the Rothbart - eating up the stage on his jetes, and smoldering for filth everywhere else. The corp made the performance all about the 1st act dances, the white act, and the very enjoyable, committed act 2 character dances. It's a shame the solo couple were not worthy of them.
  4. I just watched Somova and Fedeyev dance TchaiPax - it is truly the most egregious bastardization of a ballet that I have ever seen - neither of them have a clue as to the musicality, speed, phrasing, and position shape of this ballet. And Somova's reputation continues to confound me - she is a modern day horror of skeleton physique, splayed hands, open ribs, and complete lack of control in basic positions - her developee alone is a disaster. She's cringe inducing to watch.
  5. Like any of the above three would ever have the possibility of the kind of photo shoots that Misty regularly gets. That the above dancers haven't advanced in popularity and recognition, through the use of modern media, as Misty has, is not her concern. Misty doesn't have to try to be a role model for kids, she IS a role model for kids, and a great one, as literally thousands of kids would tell you today. The constant implied racism, and denegration of Misty's body and ability here, is tired and obsessive. She, by some, has committed the apparently unpardonable sin of making a lucrative and rewarding career for herself as a writer, personality, and public speaker, while continuing to seriously pursue her dancing. Certain posters here need to enter the 21 century, and realize what an asset she is to an art form that is dying in general population popularity. We need more dancers to find a way to make their stories palatable to regular people, and get them into the seats.
  6. I saw the original ABT cast - it was Cynthia Gregory and Martine VanHamel, so it was really well danced, and with decent speed, but definitely done in a grand style, as opposed to NYCB. as NYCB had dropped the ballet at that point for many years, most people were happy to have any rendition of it for historical viewing purposes, and it wasn't badly done.
  7. Why do you think he had to start an entirely seperate ballet company to give dancers of darker color a chance?
  8. There is a myth is certain obsessive ballet circles that Misty's recent acquisition of principal roles has been at the expense of Sarah Lane and Stella Abrera. THEY HAVEN'T. Misty has clearly earned by her dancing of the last few seasons the current opportunities she is getting, and she is making the most of them. It has nothing to do with Sarah and Stella. And ballet's inherent racism, and the apparent racism and body fascism of some of her more vocal detractors is a big factor as well.
  9. Then it's a good thing that only dance critics are forced to see dancers they'd prefer to ignore. On top of which petit allegro doesn't figure much into Odette's or Odile's choreography. But as I mentioned just a sentence previously, turning security and jete certainly do, and she's classically weak in both those areas.
  10. 1) i don't need Robert Gottlieb to tell me how is or isn't proficient. 2) I have seen Stella perform dozens and dozens of times, in many different roles. While she's very good in contemporary ballet, and can be effective in dramatic parts, she clearly doesn't have the technical strength to be effective in classical pas. I've had to suffer thru her Gamzatti at least 3 times, and she has never been comfortable in the 1st act pas - her weakness in turning and grand jete especially noticeable here. Plus the constant problem of her large, not well-stretched feet, which spoil her line, and the attractiveness of her petite allegro. Sorry, the idea of sitting through her as O/O is torturous.
  11. Of the 3 of them, Misty is CLEARLY the one most suited for O/O, as she has the most beautiful legs and feet of the three, for a short girl her legs are proportionally very long, and she has a killer developee and extension. And the idea of Stella Abrera mastering the technical demands of O/O are rather ludicrous - she can barely get thru the technical demands of Gamzatti. There is absolutely NO reason why Misty shouldn't have been given O/O among the three of them.
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