eugene

Thanks for your offer! You bet I want it! I sent you an email via the ballet alert web site listing what I have got which is not available in the US. If you have not got it then let me know by e-mailing me on eugdog@aol.com

Sorry I meant the $45 is what I shall pay to anyone who can send me a good quality copy of Swan Lake! Regarding DVD copying - there several machines that record material on to DVD - but not from DVD to DVD as there is copy right protection. You can record off the TV or video. There is no loss of quality and the sound is excellent! I am gradually putting all my videos on DVD to ensure permanant preservation. An NTSCvvideo source can be recorded to DVD but that DVD can only be played in an NTSC compatable DVD. European PAL videos covert to PAL compatable DVD. I cannot make a European PAL video to NTSC DVD. This is not a problem for European DVD as most are NTSC compatable. Blank one-write DVDs cost $12-15 and give about 2 hours at best quality!

I really want an original - not copied - recording on NYCB Swan Lake. I want to convert it to DVD on my DVD machine. I will also make a DVD copy for the person who sends it to me + $45 to cover postage and handling. It needs to sent to England (do not worry about NTSC video formats and other compatability issues - I will send you back a DVD in the American NTSC format!). Anyone interested - please email me on eugdog@aol.com BTW for the person who sends me it - I will put on DVD anything they want - either just send it to me or let me know what it is as I might have it.

Q: How many ballerinas does it take to change a light bulb A: None - as if she would degrade herself by doing such a menial task! Q: What are the four food groups for professional dancers as taught in ballet school A: Diet coke, cigarettes, coffee and ibupropine (painkillers) Q: Why do ballet orchestra players get up at 5 o'clock A: Because the banks and shops close at six.

This is a posting I have made on the British Ballet.co.uk web site. I hope others agree with me. I hope that New Yorkers will make a special effort to go to the ABT season in November. "Some of us have, quite understandibly, felt uneasy about going to ballet etc givin the atrocities in New York. Dance etc seem rather trivial compared to what is going on in the world. Also some felt that it would be disrepectful for the dead if we still enjoyed our entertainmemts. But I think people are wrong to take this view. Firstly this is exactly what the terrorists want us to do - to make us give up our way of life and to make us afraid. There is a old terrorist saying "kill one, scare a thousand" (in this case its "Kill thousands, scare a billion". I would not be pompous enough to say that going to the theatre is an act of defiance but it does send a message to the terrorist that we will not be intimidated. But perhaps even more important is that the dramatic fall in tourism will result in major financial difficulties. This is particularly so for the Royal Ballet which is particularly dependant on tourism. So they need our patronage! I note that on Broadway people are saying that going to the theatre is a civic duties. Things are so bad there that not even the Lion King sold out. 6 shows have already closed. Shortly after the atrocities I booked my flight to New York (from London) on American Airlines for the ABT season in November. I will not be intimidated."

The idea of any Russian ballet company doing Ashton's La Fille Mal Gardee is amazing. This is the most English of all English ballet, gentle, subtle and with restraint - ie everything what the Russian are not (est the Bolshoi). And what will the Russians make of the the happy peasants, clog dancing and the romanticized view of the English countryside. Not even Sylvie Gulliem who has been dancing in England for years can truly relate to it -"too long, too difficult, too stupid"

I agree that boycotting a ballet should be a matter of personal concious - ie the Cuban emigre who will not watch the Cuban Ballet. And of course there are extremes cases where a boycott maybe wholly appropriate. I remember seeing Spaticus which is clearly a crude work of Soviet propaganda. I certainly would not have seen that ballet during the 1980s but now things have change (but the ballet is pretty dire notwithstanding) :confused:

I suspect that there is not really a market for two classical ballet companies even in New York. They have to tour to access other markets. Moreover if they did stay in New York where could they reside. Only the City Center is big enough and in a satisfactory area (it really has to be in Manhatten close to the offices on NYC). But that place is hardly satisfactory givne the plush home of the NYCB. So if it cannot perform in New York it could consider other cities - possible Chicago, Los Angeles and DC. But that would in effect make it a regional company - it would loose its National Status and therefore considerable prestege! [This message has been edited by eugene (edited February 11, 2001).]

I adore Onegin - one the best opera ever writtin and deserves to be as popular as La Traviata (the tart with the heart opera)! I particularly like James Levine's powerful recording. Sleeping Beauty (pletnev) and Theme and Variations for Suite no 3 are my other favorites. But I think his symphonies are over the top and almost hysterical in their utterance. The only bit I admire in his 4-6 symphones is the ballet march from no 6.

Estelle, I would love to see you in Edinburgh. I shall be there for the two Saturday peformances - front balconey for the afternoon performances and stalls for the evening performances. Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful towns in Europe. I hope you get a chance to see some of it!

The theatre is huge! It has the biggest stage in Britain.

sadly I am not going to Vienna. It costs more to go to Vienna then New York from London and I do not want to go just for one event. When I go to New York I can see 3 different works in a weekend (and some baseball as well). I think the Rite of Spring was Pino Bausch's one. I do not think such a program would work in London and New York - too many ballet fans hate opera and too many opera fans looked on ballet as an inferior art (no flames please - I am just observing over peoples views)

The Vienna Opera have an interesting program. The first part is the popular one act opera Il Pagliacci. But the next part is not Cavielliera Rusticana (often billed as Cav and Pag) as is typical but the Rite of Spring. What a brilliant idea - a one act opera and act ballet!

I have not seen Pharoahs daughter so I should not critize it but it sounds pretty bad! It sounds more like grand spectacle then art. But I reserve judgement till I see it. I also saw Glass Pieces and I really liked it! One of the best modern ballet I have seen. It is a masterpiece in my view!! Now if only the Kirov would do that! There is nothing wrong with a museum but there a not really enough masterpiece to make the museum worth while - new work is so important. BTW Opera companies now do not cut Wagner (thank god!). I saw Gotterdamerung in NY this May, (Wagners longest opera). I notice that there were no cuts. In fact James Levine slow tempo ADDs another half hour to it making close to 6 hours . Most other conductors can do it in 5 and half hours

I would just like to add that if the Kirov is going to do new works I think it is better that they did say Apollo or Glass Pieces then "Daughters of the Phaoroah". Even the name puts me off!! Now I remember it was Olga Moiseyva who said Kirov should be a museum. It is apparent that given her last comment that "if you do not like do not come" she has not shed Soviet attitudes to customer services!