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JRB

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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    Parent
  • City**
    Hudson Valley NY
  1. I have only made it to Saratoga once so far this summer but I plan to go tonight. (Lawn seats). My comments will be directed more to the earlier curtain time. I still enjoyed getting back home before midnight (I live 1 1/2 hours away) but it wasn't worth it because the lighting was so bad. Maybe it was the ballets themselves but the costumes blended in with the backdrop for the men and their movements were lost. The lighting was abit dark and so it didn't carry to the lawn area. I realize that alot can be lost by sitting back there but with my DD at a boarding program during the year and at a SI now I just can't spend the money to sit inside anymore. The screens weren't visible until it got dark, and it was past the middle point of the evening. I hope tonight the ballets presented will be more visible or I hit the lottery and can pay for inside seats. Bottom line, I hope they will consider moving the curtain abit closer to the older time of 8:15, maybe compromise and go for 8:00?
  2. I live 1 1/2 hours away and I have mixed feelings about the change to 7:30. I used to leave work and run home, change, grab a picnic basket and race up to Saratoga to see the ballet. If I had the day off, I'd enjoy a dinner at one of my favorite resturants. Many of the ballet's are more special after the sun sets when the evening comes and everything sparkles. It will still get dark but now it might not be until the last performance of the evening. When my daughter was little, if we had lawn seats she'd take a nap if she was tired and then wake up to see the rest of the ballet. If we were inside she never slept during the ballet. Now as I have gotten older, the only advantage I see is that I'll get home earlier. I will be just as tired as usual, but I'll have 45 min. of extra sleep. Maybe missing out on those wonderful restaurants will help me slim down this summer. I'd rather have the calories! I am interested to hear what else is said as to the earlier start time. I know in the city there was a change but I thought that was only to one evening per week. As it is the season also seems shorter to me than in the past.
  3. Yup, It's true!! My daughter just called me back and he just did his last performance! I'll miss him.
  4. My daughter just called me to tell me that Jock Soto was just showered with flowers and about 7 curtain calls! Does this mean what I am afraid it could mean? She said that Ashley Bouder was incredible! She was so excited and is going to call me back later with more details. Anyone know anything about Jock? Oh, and Darci was also in on the curtain calls I think. She has never seen so many flowers being thrown onstage before.
  5. Possibly this has been mentioned in the past but I had a conversation several years ago with a shop owner in Saratoga and she told me that ( in her opinion) the people of Saratoga hated the rock concerts when they were at SPAC because the concert audience was so bad mannered. They did not shop, eat or stay in Saratoga. They came listened and trashed the place and then left. I won't say what trashing the place entailed but you can use your imagination. As for the next generation of ballet lovers... my daughter and her college friends are meeting at the Gala this Saturday for the fourth year in a row. Every year more of her friends want to come. She has been going to the gala for the past eight years. We also attend as a family several times during the three weeks. We make the drive back an forth and it is 1 1/2 hours away when there is no traffic. If we travel instead of staying in Saratoga we can see more ballets. I hope the NYCB is able to outlive the Great HC! The Opera is already gone, the Orchestra had better watch it's back, they could be next.
  6. Judging partly on costume is a scary thought too. All taste goes out the window when 30k is up for grabs. :dizzy: :green:
  7. Yes she was Polyhymnia, Leigh is correct. Darci was Terpsichore and Miranda was Calliope with Nikolaj as Apollo.
  8. I was lucky to be there for the opening night at SPAC. We have a friend that was a little pink girl in Circus Polka. They were all so cute. Ashley Bouder was wonderful in Apollo. I guess you could say it was the first time I was able to focus on her and she is so strong. Ms Sylve is beautiful to watch. I don't remember seeing Cortege in the past so I enjoyed it from a novice view point. Ms Ringer looked like she was having so much fun, you couldn't help but smile with her. Mr Hanna was so impressive, I could watch him any time. The Save The Ballet group was there with their flashlights on, waving in the air between performances and I was sad that I forgot mine. At the end of the evening the conductor Maurice Kaplow came onstage for bows and he had his flashlight too.
  9. Your opposing view is quite ok with me! I was trying to be PC with them. I too saw problems, like a Prince who looked like he was working too hard and never had a facial expresion other than concentration. The corps was in unison with all their moves and the little swans were quite good. Not being familiar with Swan Lake other than seeing Peter Martins I have nothing else to compare it with. There were other things that I noted and discussed with my DDs on the way home but they were technique issues and a few personal things such as "did you see her foot, what was wrong with that?" My bigger concern is the Theater Manager walking around and seeing the crowd that was there. I'd like more classical dance to be available in our area but now I'm worried that he'll bring them back to do a Nut and hurt the three regional companies that are fighting for an audience for the same 2-3 week time frame in December. My hope would be that last nights performance build an interest in dance and send more children into the local ballet schools.
  10. We just returned from seeing this company perform Swan Lake. There was a pretty good crowd for this area. Too bad we can't seem to attract the same numbers for our local companies in their performances. It was an enjoyable evening and they did a lovely job considering the difficulty of touring and adjusting to different stages all the time.
  11. Yes, it is.Radoslaw Kokoszka was also in the performance and is with them now. I saw that on the SAB Workshop.org page.
  12. I agree. At first glance I didn't even recognize it.
  13. I saw a young dancer wink to his partner on one of her first performances in Saratoga and from that moment I fell in love with the guy. It was the sweetest thing to do for a (possibly nervous) new dancer. So considerate and suportive.
  14. Several years ago DTH performed with NYCB in the same evening. It was a special event and I only remember the Slaughter on Fifth Ave being performed although there was somthing else done. We had a friend that was performing with DTH at the time and we went to see him. As far as DTH performing solo at Lincoln Center I don't know.
  15. This leaves it up to Retired NYCB members to carry on their own celebrations in their own way. Look around the country, are there any possibilites?
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