Basilio17

The Atlanta Ballet opened it season Oct.18. I saw it opening night, Thursday, and it was a very exciting evening. The Atlanta Ballet opened its season with George Balanchines Serenade. The company did a great job with Serenade. The leads were danced by Julianne Kepley as Russian Girl, Hye-Young Kim as Waltz Girl and Tamila as her Waltz boy, and Emily Cook as the Elegie girl. Ms. Kepley seemed to have a great time as Russian Girl. Everything she did was dead on and exact. Hye-Young Kim fluttered around the stage with great calm and related a lot to her partner. Emily Cook is a beautiful dancer with great lines and a beautiful face. She was very nice to watch. The corps was very together and seemed very well rehearsed. They maintained clean lines and postions and had very nice footwork. Also on the same show was a collaboration with the rock-folk group The Indigo Girls. This was an awesome event. The Indigo Girls performed live on stage with the dancers. This ballet was choreographed by Margo Sappington who did a great job with Indigo Girls songs. The company was rocking to the great sounds of the band and danced with tons of energy. The costumes and lighting were really cool as well. At the beginning we see the dancers clumped together listening and dancing to the tunes like they were at a concert. Then all of a suuden the dancers strip down from there street/concert wear revealing these awesome shimmering sexy costumes. The ballet was choreographed to seven songs. Each dance had a different theme. This was definitely an awesome program and seemed to do well with the audience. It is a must see.

I think Jennifer Anniston from Friends would be a great Auroura. Julia Roberts would be great in the Agon pas with those long legs.

For some reason, I love it when a dancer falls and gets back up with a big grin on his/her face and just keeps going. That just shows you how strong dancers are. I do however feel bad when it is a really bad fall and you can tell the dancer is in serious pain. It bothers me when audience members make a big deal about someone falling and judge the company on that one persons fall. I'm like HELLO!!, just because X fell doesn't mean that co. sucks!!! Come on lets loosen up people!!!

Today I had the opportunity to see MCB's matinee performance. On todays program was Agon, Villela's new ballet Waltz, and Raymonda Variations. In the first pas de trois in Agon, Erin Tyron, Joan Latham, and Jared Redick danced with precise musicality. Jared especially stood out in his solo. The second pas de trois was danced by Jeremy Cox, Renato Penteado, and Deanna Seay. Jeremy and Renato danced with great conviction and clearity. Deanna seemed to effortlessly hold her balance in attitude in the opening of the pas de trois. She had so much charisma and style in her castanet variation. Jennifer Kronenberg and Eric Quillere had a really cool quality in the pas de deux. Nothing was wacked and out of control. She seemed to be speaking to her partner with her movements. As a whole this ballet looked great. The wide varity of dancers and the different qualities that each dancer gave, made this ballet very intresting to watch and added texture. Edwards new ballet Waltz took you into a different era. Its sets were very nice and gave you the setting of a 1920s dance hall. It showed that the company could do something besides the usual Balanchine rep. and offered a very relaxing mood. Raymonda Variations closed todays performance. This ballet was such a joy to watch. Mary Carmen Catoya and Luis Serrano lead this ballet with such excitement. They technically mastered the pas and the challenging variations. Mary Carmen seems unreal. She seems almost possesed when she dances. I have never seen anyone like her before. She is just a natural. She tore through her variations as if they were nothing and finished with the greatest confidence. Luis showed great bravura and offered his all in the demanding pas. He seemed not to be all about the tricks and more about the presentation. He is a great dancer and a great asset to this company. The five soloists danced each of their variations very well. Joan Latham in the first variation made the difficult hops on pointe in arabesque seem to glide effortlessly across the stage. Tricia Albertson showed a very sharp and crystalline style in the 2nd variation. Michelle Merrell in the 3rd variation showed great musicality and commanded every step. She was almost a little bit too dramatic for such a calm and quiet variation. Callye Robinson was very bright and bubbly in her variation, but her loud shoes kind of spoiled the effect. Shannon Parsley in the fifth variation was very pretty and did a nice job with this variation. The corps de ballet was very together and seemed to have fun. A highlight of the performane was when Callye Robinson bit the dust in the finale. The audience gasped with terror, but she recovered and continued to dance as if nothing happened. Miami City Ballet is a great company with a lot of great dancers who seem to enjoy what they are doing. I can't wait to see them do the full length Giselle. That should be very interesting!!

That is really sad about what happend to Kate. She had so much potential. Do you know what her injury was? She went to Royal because she won a scholarship to go there at Prix. So many people could have taken that scholarship and used it well. Oh well, I guess that is life though.

Does anyone know what happend to Kate Cornish? I know she had a scholarship to Royal that she won at Prix? Is she in the company yet? She is really talented and I haven't heard very much about her.

If it seemed like I was bashing SAB I wasn't. How could I bash, I have trained there. I was trying to imply what you said Alexandra, but I think you said it a whole lot better. It's very hard sometimes because the boy in my class who does all the pirouettes does always get the approval from fellow students. But when it comes down to it, he is boring to watch and has no presence. In the long run, I feel that I have come out on top because when it's all over, all the praise from teachers comes to me.I feel with quality you must have some quantity, but never let quantity overpower you. I agree that Jose is a perfect example of quality and quantity.

Wow! I totally agree with you Alexandra.It seems these days that people think quantity is better than quality and that isn't the truth. I had a teacher who told me that quality is better than quantity.It took me awhile to understand that, but now I do.If you see a dancer who has clean technique and just presents everything so nicely, you are truly blown away. When you see someone who just muttles through little things, but always hits the big things, you definitely are left with the impression that they are a good dancer but seeing that guy who was so clean and made everything look so effortless you think they are an amazing dancer. There definitely is a difference between a good dancer and an amazing dancer.An amazing dancer will always be the cleanest and will always seem refreshed.He won't seem worn out and hard. Imaginig SAB students trying to do Konservotoriet, is really hard because number one they are trained Balanchine style and number two alot of them don't understand any other kind of style. They are so stuck in the Balanchine ways, that they don't give any other style a chance.They wack their legs and they do there SAB fingers and port de bras sometimes where it isn't needed. But anyway, I am glad that you brought this up because I see so many people who over due it and and lose quality while dancing things that are meant to be a breeze.I guess learning quality comes with time.

I would love to hear more about these ballerinas you have just posted about. They sound so amazing. I heard from an English friend that the English aren't the best at turning so it must be awesome to see someone turn like that. Is Marinella not in the company? Why isn't she (if she isn't). Give us the scoop on these two ballerinas! Thanks!