brbropus39 Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 I'm curious as to why Joel Carreno receives such little recognition as a prominent male dancer in comparison to Jose Carreno, his brother at ABT. The only explanation I can think of Is that Joel is in Cuba, and Americans just aren't as familiar with him. I don't see why that would make a difference, though, because there are many other foreign male dancers who seem to have an American following. Roberto Bolle, Massimo Murru, and Johan Kobborg to name a few. Another Cuban that I think deserves more recognition is Rolando Sarabia. I have only seen him dance in several videos, but he appears to be of the highest possible caliber from what I've seen. Link to comment
BalletGirl Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 I'm curious as to why Joel Carreno receives such little recognition as a prominent male dancer in comparison to Jose Carreno, his brother at ABT. The only explanation I can think of Is that Joel is in Cuba, and Americans just aren't as familiar with him. I don't see why that would make a difference, though, because there are many other foreign male dancers who seem to have an American following. Roberto Bolle, Massimo Murru, and Johan Kobborg to name a few.Another Cuban that I think deserves more recognition is Rolando Sarabia. I have only seen him dance in several videos, but he appears to be of the highest possible caliber from what I've seen. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I could not agree more that Joel and Rolando Sarabia are not recognized for their extraordinary talents! Sarabia was supposed to come to Boston Ballet last year as a principal, but immigration issues became a problem. The thing about Bolle, Murru, and Kobborg is that they have a lot of coverage (Dance, Pointe, etc. magazines) that is seen in the US, while we don't usually ever see or hear anything about the Cubans. When I was studying at NCSA, I was completely obsessed with Cuba's incredible training and dancers and I wanted to go badly to learn what they learn. Don't get me wrong NCSA is a great school, but the Cuban schooling is so intense, focused, and driven. I revere the Cubans so much for their hard work, diligence, and excellence in ballet. I hope we will get to see more of Joel and Rolando in the future!! Link to comment
ismeneb Posted December 4, 2004 Share Posted December 4, 2004 I gave news of both of these exceptional dancers last month in http://www.arts.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main....13/btcuba13.xml. Ismene Brown Link to comment
oberon Posted December 4, 2004 Share Posted December 4, 2004 Two or three years ago, Yoel Carreno was announced as joining NYCB as a soloist. His name even appeared on the roster in the pre-season brochure but then suddenly the deal was off: immigration problems. It is unfortunate that we are sometimes deprived of seeing wonderful, interesting artists simply because they hail from the "wrong" country. The performing arts should be without boundaries. Link to comment
brbropus39 Posted December 4, 2004 Author Share Posted December 4, 2004 Ismene, I'm making an assumtion, but from your article, it sounds as if Alicia Alonzo might be responsible for Joel's ( Yoel's ? ) hault in immigration. You say that "She can kill visa applications with a phone call" and when you "ask about the New York frustration, his face clouds: 'I try not to think about it.'" Is this true, do you think? Do you think he will eventually join NYCB at some point? And is Rolando Sarabia going to be officially with Boston? In your article, the teacher of Carlos Acosta's nephew Yonah says, "He will be great, probably greater than Carlos." I think that's incredible. I've always thought that Carlos is as good as someone can be. It seems as if there's no room for improvement. It's exciting to think what Yonah and all the other Cuban prodigies will be like when they get older. Link to comment
ismeneb Posted December 4, 2004 Share Posted December 4, 2004 Yoel Carre–o's visa problems were entirely from the US Treasury Department end, I was told by both him and Nilas Martins of NYCB. They date back two years; the Treasury Dept kept Carreno waiting eight months before denying him permission go to New York. (He prefers the correct spelling Yoel to Joel, which has been done to assist English pronunciation. In Cuban Spanish the Y is pronounced close to a soft J, or a Russian Zh. J is pronounced more like H.) I understand that President Bush, since May 04, has removed the use of "cultural" or "educational" reasons to permit travel between the two countries. It appears that exceptional humanitarian circumstances are now the only standard justification for travel. Uncertainty over how the May guidelines had altered previous conditions was why Nilas Martins' group was scheduled for the Havana Festival but then was unable to travel there, and I understand from the Cuban end that this also explained the late withdrawal of DTH's Rasta Thomas and some Houston Ballet dancers. Two foreign nationals at Houston Ballet did appear. Rolando Sarabia told me personally, and with a big smile, that he would be back at Boston next year. I do not know why his and Carre–o's circumstances are considered differently. Ismene Brown Link to comment
brbropus39 Posted December 4, 2004 Author Share Posted December 4, 2004 Is Sarabia pronounced Saravida? (with the accent on the "vi" part) Someone told me that, and I'm curious what your answer is because you seem very knowledgeable about pronunciation of their names. Also, why do you spell Yoel's name Carreno as Carre-o? And how old is Acosta's nephew, Yonah? Just curious, thanks. That's really exciting about Sarabia being at Boston. I hope I get a chance to see him dance live instead of just on videos. Link to comment
Mel Johnson Posted December 4, 2004 Share Posted December 4, 2004 I have a feeling that the - in Ms. Brown's post is the result of an alt character that was not read by our software in the same way that it does on her computer - an "ñ" is alt 0241 by us. Link to comment
brbropus39 Posted December 7, 2004 Author Share Posted December 7, 2004 I was watching a copy of Born to be Wild: the leading men of ABT the other day, and noticed that Yoel Carreno can be seen dancing in the Cuban nightclub with Jose and some other people. Too bad they just show him "dancing" instead of actually dancing, if ya know what I mean. Just thought it was interesting cause I hadn't noticed it until now. Link to comment
EvilNinjaX Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 (edited) i recently watched a tape of Sarabia, Carreno, and one other male dancer working out after class. They were doing some sick virtuso stuff, like triple tours en l'air, triple saut de baseques, crazy turn combos. i also saw a tape of a couple of competition of Sarabia's. incredible. One where he goes from several a la secondes to about 5 pirouettes and then into a double tour en retire was stunning. i've also got these dvds of Tetsuya Kumakawa. He is the most impressive technically of anyone i've ever seen. he does a brilliant double tour combination in SWAN LAKE and his Don Q variation is mind-blowingly incredible. quite easily my favorite male dancer, even though he's not the stage presence, persona as Carreno, et al. i have no idea why these guys are not more well known, except that maybe guys like Rasta Thomas are "prettier" ? (Rasta's just plain sick in his own right, though!) -goro- Edited January 4, 2005 by EvilNinjaX Link to comment
brbropus39 Posted January 4, 2005 Author Share Posted January 4, 2005 What dvd's do you have of Tetsuya Kumakawa? Do you know if they're sold commercially? If so, where did you buy them? I saw a tape a while ago that had a few variations by Kumakawa: Corsaire, two different filmings of Solor's variation from Bayadere, and some jumps and turns in a studio. I also saw him last summer in New York perform Ashton's Rhapsody with the K-Ballet, originally made for Baryshnikov. He was so incredible. He did a series of 540's like they were a walk in the park. And his turns, my god, his turns. Link to comment
EvilNinjaX Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 What dvd's do you have of Tetsuya Kumakawa? Do you know if they're sold commercially? If so, where did you buy them? I saw a tape a while ago that had a few variations by Kumakawa: Corsaire, two different filmings of Solor's variation from Bayadere, and some jumps and turns in a studio.I also saw him last summer in New York perform Ashton's Rhapsody with the K-Ballet, originally made for Baryshnikov. He was so incredible. He did a series of 540's like they were a walk in the park. And his turns, my god, his turns. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'm jealous tha tyou got to see Teddy live. I almost made it out to Tokyo this spring to see Don Q. The DVDs i have are Carmen, Bolero, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Giselle, and Being A Dancer (documentary). The Being A Dancer doc has lots of variations including (otomh) Le Corsaire, La Bayadere, Swan Lake, Don Q, Giselle. It also has a 20min long made for tv Spectre de la Rose with a very nice re-imagining of the storyline, featuring a young girl who is now dancing in KBallet and danced in Coppelia (which i have on order) and an older woman who i believe may have been Teddy's teacher in his youth. There's also footage of him as a 12-14 yo doing donQ and of him as a 8yo doing chainees and stretching arabesque at the barre. it's way cool. he does 3 consecutive 540s in his Don Q variation. unebelievable. he also does 8 pirouettes, the last 3 with port de bras. of course, these dvds are (a) Region 2, (b) quite expensive ($70+ per disc) email me (evilninjax@gmail.com) we can discuss further, if you'd lke. -goro- Link to comment
brbropus39 Posted January 9, 2005 Author Share Posted January 9, 2005 (edited) EvilNinjaX, I can't find your post where you mentioned the two sites that sell the Kumakawa dvd's. I don't know if it was somehow deleted or if I just can't find it for some reason. Can you please post them again? Thank you. Whoops. I just realized that you emailed the web addresses to me. Edited January 9, 2005 by brbropus39 Link to comment
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