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  2. canbelto
    The Trocks aren't satire. Every time I've seen them I've been impressed at how much they love the ballets they are dancing. I'd call them tributes rather than satires.
  3. cubanmiamiboy
    Apologies accepted 🥰. Of course I was just talking about the "whole concept" of the Trocks troupe and their approach to the art form. About gender fluidity and such I wouldn't even try to discuss, as it is quite a Pandora's box and much of a complex, personal perception that is certainly not of general consensus.
  4. Buddy
    I watched the video for the first time last night. The dancing seemed to build brilliantly as the plot (and potential message) became more incomprehensible. I thought that the choreography in the final third to be possibly equal to Yury Grigorovich at his finest, for instance, Legend of Love. Does anyone have any thoughts about the plot and potential message? If there’s already a discussion or any good references, please post them here. I would certainly watch it again just for the highly inventive and exciting choreography that is performed equally well. The video can be seen in Marqee tv’s seemingly very good selection, available for a ’30-day free trial.’ https://www.marquee.tv/collections
  5. Today
  6. nanushka
    I was responding to your earlier post, where you seemed (to me) to be expressing doubt that some "whole concept" was "pure satire": I apologize if I misconstrued your tone or intent. Now I'm not sure what you meant.
  7. maps
    The Kennedy Center is selling tickets for June TWB Swan Lake and is continuing to sell Hamilton. TWB is a renter so if you're logged in it doesn't exist. This has been going on since Rutter's website update [Jan 2020?]. Articles had the KC at 90% refund while some others locally get 50-90% donate back. https://wtop.com/entertainment/2020/04/curtain-call-dc-area-theaters-hope-to-stage-comeback-after-coronavirus/
  8. cubanmiamiboy
    Nanushka... I didn't go that deep in my reflection. I merely stated that I perceived every single performance of Les Trocks as a ballet satire. That they can do fouettes and pirouettes on pointe with excellence..? No doubt. But I haven't seen one performance of theirs that hasn't ultimately shown a comical approach to the art form. Johnson filling up a female position on the ENB is a total different thing.
  9. nanushka
    Johnsey's clash with the Trocks was "professional" and did not "have...much to do with his personal identity"? That wasn't my impression at all. What is your view based on? In the interview cited at the top of this discussion thread he says the following:
  10. Helene
    It was, though, because at the time Johnsey left, he said that the company director insisted that the dancers' offstage presentation be male, and he refused.
  11. cubanmiamiboy
    I see... I got their gig wrong then, I suppose...
  12. volcanohunter
    I don't know what arrangements the Mariinsky or the Perm opera house have made, but Bolshoi Ballet recordings are actually owned by Bel Air Classiques, not the Bolshoi Theater, which is why normally they are streamed only for 24 hours and only on Russian territory. (The Bolshoi's geoblock is porous, but I don't like to draw attention to that fact on a public forum.) Presumably it made special arrangements with Bel Air Classiques to stream internationally under the circumstances, though again, only for 24 hours, and so far it has shown only ballet performances that have already been released on DVD, which may be a condition of the streams. Sort of as a full-length advertisement for the DVDs. (Again, it's Bel Air Classiques that gets to decide which of the cinemacasts are released on DVD, and most of them are not.)
  13. On Pointe
    Johnsey wanted to be taken seriously as a ballerina, but that's not what the Trocks are about. It's a drag comedy troupe, not a deep interrogation of gender (although their dance and choreography elements are high quality). A professional clash was inevitable. It doesn't appear to have had much to do with his personal identity. Years ago, a group of Russian dancers started a company where the ballerina roles were danced by men, because they felt that contemporary women had lost the essence of femininity. (And of course, being men, they were certain that they knew better than women how true female identity should be expressed!) But unlike the Chinese and the Japanese, the Russian public seemed to have no appetite for men in women's roles.
  14. Helene
    The Trocks were never about pure satire.
  15. California
    I remember the struggle to release the 1977 ABT Giselle with Makarova/Baryshnikov. When it was first shown on TV, it didn't occur to people that there would be a market for videotapes and none of that had been anticipated in the contractual arrangements with all the unions involved (dancers, musicians, stagehands, etc.) They had to go back and work all that out. There was also a very long delay in releasing the 1976 PBS show Live from Wolf Trap with Baryshnikov and Kirkland. We learned much later that part of the delay was Kirkland's reluctance and the statement from her at the end was a result of those negotiations. And some of us are old enough to remember that the program actually opened with the first movement of Push Comes to Shove. That was shown in the PBS broadcast, but omitted from the video (presumably at the insistence of Tharp). I've just assumed that agreements with European and Russian companies for future release take all of that into account and make it much easier for them to release these things, in comparison with the negotiations needed with North American unions, even now. Of course, it costs money to make broadcast quality recordings and release them. With the paucity of government subsidies in the US (compared with the European and Russian companies), it all makes sense. I'm just grateful that so much is available from the European and Russian companies.
  16. volcanohunter
    The Hamburg Ballet has just posted John Neumeier's St. Matthew Passion. It will be available for 48 hours from 16:30 CEST and then repeated for another 48 hours on April 18. https://www.hamburgballett.de/de/news/video_on_demand.php There will be further streams of Lady of the Camellias, Death in Venice, Beethoven Project and Illusions, like Swan Lake (the last being particularly interesting for the "period" staging of the white act, including huntsmen and the adage as a pas de trois).
  17. sofiabn
    It looks that European companies are more generous during these hard times, as they share their performances freely and for everyone around the world!
  18. nanushka
    Agreed, and I think it'd be nice if the New York companies started sharing any new (or even recycled but freshly or more officially available) performance content at this time, as so many other companies (especially abroad) have done. I'm sure they have their reasons for not doing so, but if there's ever a time to work past those, now is it. So far their offerings (e.g. social media features with dancers) have been disappointingly meager. If they want to maintain public engagement and encourage financial support, I think it would be very wise of them to consider sharing more. Unfortunately, I doubt that will happen.
  19. California
    What a treat! It would be nice, of course, if NYCB had recordings of these ballets that they would share... Here's the link:
  20. pherank
    Thanks TPC - I'll take a look later today...
  21. tpc
    On YouTube, Perm Ballet is showing a Robbins evening of The 4 Seasons and The Concert.
  22. nanushka
    Gender certainly can and has been the object of satire at times (including by the Trocks), but I don't see or hear anything that suggests Johnsey's gender identity — in either life or art — is or ever has been "pure satire," no. I hope that was not here on Ballet Alert that you got a not very kind response — but would also emphasize that disagreement is not the same as unkindness.
  23. cubanmiamiboy
    Oh...I see. The whole concept as a pure satire. Gotcha.😀
  24. pherank
    Ah, ha. So I have to think there's a reason why Sofiane wants to maintain a U.S. affiliation. Note: Veronika Part is also teaching at the Summer Intensive (and she's working for Gennadi Nedvigin at Atlanta Ballet too).
  25. volcanohunter
    Both companies will have taken enormous financial hits after so many canceled performances this spring. I have a feeling that touring, which is rarely a lucrative enterprise, will be an inaccessible luxury for a while.
  26. volcanohunter
    Dresden is home to one of the most important ballet academies in Germany. https://www.palucca.eu/en.html
  27. pherank
    Maybe it's just about running the summer intensive: https://balletsanantonio.org/summer-intensive/ But I bet SS has bigger plans.
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