Angel Corella

[dirac]

Joan Acocella's article in The New Yorker of this week contained some interesting remarks about Angel Corella. Apropos of his appearance as Aminta in "Sylvia" she wrote:

All the Amintas were good, and Marcelo Gomes, accommodating those big, beefy legs of his to Ashton’s tiny, tatted patterns, was more than good. (As the man sitting next to me said, “When I grow up, I want to be one of Marcelo Gomes’s thighs.”) But the master of this role was Corella, who I believe is the most complete artist—the one who combines the greatest skill with the greatest warmth—in the male ranks of American ballet today. In the head-grasping moment, most of the Amintas I saw looked as if they were fitting Sylvia for a new pair of earmuffs. (That is what I mean by their not having enough time in the role.) Only Corella knew that he was hugging this woman, pulling her to his heart.

Complete article:

http://www.newyorker.com/critics/dancing/a...725crda_dancing

Comments?

[bart]

Interesting article with some beautifully expressed, classic Acocella appercus and opinions.

(Not to mention a fascinating review of Don Quixote, which will probably be controvesial on Ballet Talk. Maybe someone should start a new thread.)

About Corella: Acocella is in sync with John Rockwell, who recently called him "the ultimate poetic dancer." Here's Accocella on Corella: "the most complete artist -- the one who combines a great skill with the greatest warmth -- in the male ranks of American ballet today." I haven't seen enough of him to comment, but I hope she's right. He's certainly maturing, growing in a direction unaccessible to some of his colleagues. We need someone like that.

Acocella has an ability to fix an impression or description in a few memorable words that make you "see" what she has seen. She shares this with her predecessor at The New York, Arlene Croce. Here's my current favorite Acocellism, from this review:

QUOTE: "The choreography [of Sylvia] shows Ashton's tender connoisseurship of the classical-ballet vocabulary. The dancers not only do a thousand fabulous things in the air; when they land, they do so in an equally pointed, scrupulous manner, as if they were stepping into a pair of new shoes."

P.S. I was delighted to see Acocella's description of Suzanne Farrell's short solo in Act III of Don Q -- the one captured on pirate film -- as "the most remarkable piece of dancing I ever saw." Me too.

[scoop]

I'm DYING to see that pirated film of Farrell -- anyone know how to get a copy?? (I'm imagining myself in a dark alley, someone going, "Psssst.... looking for the good stuff??")

[carbro]

Scoop, you can make an appointment to view it at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. You're not so far from New York.

A segment of it is also included in the documentary of Suzanne.

[scoop]

Thank you! I've heard the library's collection is amazing.

[richard53dog]

Thank you!    I've heard the library's collection is amazing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's staggering. My partner worked there in the 80s as a page. the collection is divided up into individual archives.

Richard