sandik

Well, a severed head pretty much takes the cake in the “icky” category, though I think the whip in Eifman’s Hamlet would come in high on the list (my first thought on seeing it was “Kitten With a Whip”) Agree about the poor archery technique among many Swan Lakes. I’m always glad that, no matter how many crossbows there are, they hardly ever have any arrows. The Marzipan Shepherdesses in the Lew Christensen Nut had prop flutes -- in rehearsal the girls used to work with ballet slippers. And my favorite use of a prop is probably the ribbon in Fille -- I love the cat’s cradle trickiness of the whole thing, and the “X”s for kisses at the end makes me tear up just writing about it!

Ditto to what Helene says about links -- I follow the local coverage since I'm a critic, and send the links to dirac so she can post them to the Links section. I'm curious about Boston B, but don't always have the time to read every section here, so if it's not in the Links section I won't always see it.

I have no idea about Kylian's experience with fencing (though the use of the rapier as a prop in Petit Mort felt like it came from someone very familiar with the balance of the weapon) but perhaps it is a reflection of the early influence that fencing had on the development of ballet. The outward rotation, and some aspects of the primary positions are a descendant of fencing, which was considered as important a skill as social dancing for the well-educated Renaissance man.

For those with a curiosity about Nijinska, you might want to look at Marcia Siegel's new anthology of her ballet criticism, "Mirrors & Scrims." She wrote several times about the Hodson reconstructions and the place that kind of research holds in the larger repertory. Her descriptive powers are excellent -- it isn't as good as being there, but it is a big help. And as far as what I'd like to see, this weekends performances of New York Theater Ballet for Capriol Suite and Three Virgins and a Devil (which I've only ever seen on tape). Alas, I have no travel budget...

The press release is just out for the season-ender -- here it is in full. PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET PRESENTS ITS 2009-2010 Season Encore Performance FEATURING STEWART KERSHAW CONDUCTING THE PNB ORCHESTRA Performances include works by Balanchine – Caniparoli – Dove – Goecke – Hynd ONE NIGHT ONLY! Sunday, June 13, 2010 – 6:30 pm Marion Oliver McCaw Hall 321 Mercer Street, Seattle Center Seattle, WA 98109 SEATTLE, WA – Pacific Northwest Ballet wraps up its critically acclaimed 2009-2010 season with the annual Season Encore Performance, a crowd-pleasing reprise of the past year’s greatest hits. An evening of thrilling selections and inspired performances, the program will feature PNB’s entire Company, and the PNB Orchestra under the guest baton of retired Music Director/Conductor Stewart Kershaw. The evening celebrates Maestro Kershaw’s extraordinary 25-year career with PNB and includes selections from The Four Temperaments, The Sleeping Beauty, and Coppélia, among others, and will also contain a few surprises and special guests. Tickets to this special event will benefit the PNB Orchestra, raising much-needed funds to keep live music flourishing at PNB performances. The Season Encore Performance will be presented one night only, Sunday, June 13 at 6:30 pm at McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer Street. Tickets may be purchased by calling 206.441.2424, online at www.pnb.org, or in person at the PNB Box Office, 301 Mercer Street. “The Season Encore Performance is, without a doubt, one of the most memorable performances of the year,” said Artistic Director Peter Boal. “We will celebrate our dancers, remember an exciting repertoire, and applaud Maestro Kershaw for his remarkable tenure as Music Director.” The line-up for the 2009-2010 Season Encore Performance includes: Roméo et Juliette (Orchestral Selections) Music: Sergei Prokofiev The Sleeping Beauty (Rose Adagio) Music: Peter I. Tchaikovsky Choreography: Ronald Hynd (after Marius Petipa) Mopey (Excerpt) Music: C.P.E. Bach and The Cramps Choreography: Marco Goecke The Seasons (Fall) Music: Alexander Glazunov Choreography: Val Caniparoli Raymonda (Act III Entr’acte) Music: Alexander Glazunov The Four Temperaments (Choleric) Music: Paul Hindemith Choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust Red Angels Music: Richard Einhorn Choreography: Ulysses Dove Coppelia (Act III pas de deux and finale) Music: Léo Delibes Choreography: Alexandra Danilova and George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust (after Marius Petipa) TICKET & INFORMATION: Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Season Encore Performance will be performed one night only, Sunday, June 13 at 6:30 pm at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer Street at Seattle Center. Tickets range in price from $25 to $160 (with discounts available for PNB subscribers) and may be purchased through the PNB Box Office: · By calling 206.441.2424 (Mon.-Fri. 9am–6pm; Sat. 10am–5pm) · In person at 301 Mercer Street, Seattle (Mon.-Fri. 10am–6pm; Sat. 10am–5pm) · Online 24/7 at our website, www.pnb.org · 90 minutes prior to the performance at McCaw Hall, located at 321 Mercer Street. (Subject to availability.) · Discounts of up to 20% are available for groups of ten (10) or more by calling Julie Jamieson at 206.441.2416 or e-mailing juliej@pnb.org. Please Note: No student & senior rush tickets or Teen Tix discounts are available for this performance. # # # Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 2009-2010 Season is sponsored by Microsoft Corporation. Additional season support is provided by ArtsFund, the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, 4Culture – King County Lodging Tax, and Washington State Arts Commission. Programming subject to change. For further information, please visit www.pnb.org.

Oh, many thanks for this link -- it's full of lovely stuff!

Thanks so much for the link to the blog post on Nik -- he was a very special part of my dance education, and I'm thrilled to see him (and Murray) get some current recognition!

This reminds me of the documentary footage we frequently see of auditions for the Vaganova School, where the teachers manipulate the applicants' arms and legs to see their potential for flexibility. The children are so young, and the maneuvers are so matter-of-fact -- the whole thing has a very utilitarian feel to it that might look harsh or even predatory to someone who doesn't know the context.

It was kind of like a series of lateral passes in touch football, except he was both the quarterback and the receiver. Wow. I mean, well, wow.

Oh, I can see this distinction working really well! For me, it was stronger than her Odette. Vinson uses epaulment to great effect, especially anything looking over her shoulder, like renverse. Her Odile has a moment looking back at Siegfried where it seemed very much like a fisherman setting the hook in a prize salmon -- not a pretty image, but my father used to fish and I saw this often. Back to Square Dance... I am so sorry I didn't see them -- I feel like I really haven't had a chance to see her since she came back from maternity leave, and it sounds like I've missed a great opportunity. Plus the combination of "Seth Orza" and "scamper" -- I think I'd have to see it to understand it! This characterization made me laugh out loud! She is slimmer, and it seems like she may have lost some strength in her core. I loved her in that Italian Wedding piece during the humor festival -- she was paired with Jordan Pacitti and she just ate the material up. They have some physical differences, but apparently are good friends and work together off stage frequently. And it looks like the administration won't be making a choice about a new music director until the middle of next season, so I'm hoping that Dameron gets a nice long vacation this summer! The longer I think about this the more frustrated I get -- I know, I know -- they have to make economies, but it already seems like we hardly ever see certain dancers because there are only so many opportunities for them to perform. Boal is doing the right thing in trying to bring along the next generation -- they need to get the chance to step up and do real stuff (thinking back to seeing Maria Chapman in Symphony in C several years ago -- I thought she would faint after holding her breath that long, but she needed to do it). But every time we see a 'young person' in a big role we don't get to see one of the mature dancers, who're at a place where their technical skills and their interpretive abilities are at a fever pitch. Sigh... We can only hope. I thought he was a fascinating contrast to James Moore in Wheeldon's Carousel last year -- with more attenuated lines and more emphasis on shape rather than force it was a very different view of the character.

They were flushed with success. My father loved a good pun. He has been dead for several years, but on his behalf, I thank you!

Has anyone here seen this yet? I'm going to be down in Portland next weekend to catch the second week.

Honestly, I don't think you could find a woman who would consider this a trivial issue. My sister and I always think that theaters miss an opportunity when they do restroom expansions and don't ask for "naming" donations -- we would be thrilled to donate towards that, and get the chance to name it after our mother, who had trouble moving quickly and so wound up toward the end of the line more often than not. Just a discrete plaque, for the "Mary Delores Tharalson Kurtz Memorial Stall."

This is very long, but I really loved this program, and have been thinking about it all week: Lots of comments in the lobby and during the post-show chats about how nice it is to have a whole program of Balanchine's work. I know for me it was a real pleasure to see all these dances together, and to see the company measure themselves against them. Jordan Pacitti gave the curtain speech for Second Stage this year -- very clear delivery and nice to have it pointed out that, while college coursework is a valuable part of the program, they also exist for business/vocational training as well. Serenade It's been several years since the company performed the ballet, which seems odd. It's one of those works that everyone wants to do, that audiences want to see, and that dancers look good in. I don't know that I believe in “dancer-proof” works, but this certainly comes close. Because it's been so long, there are lots of debuts with these performances. Laura Gilbreath was very effective as the Waltz Girl (vulnerable without pathos), Chalnessa Eames reminded me of Shakespeare's description of Helena in Midsummer (though she be but little, she is fierce) doing those scissoring jumps as the Russian Girl and Ariana Lallone knocked me flat as the Dark Angel (as Helene points out, she is indeed very ready to dance Myrtha next season). For a ballet that isn't supposed to have much of a plot, dancers certainly take full advantage of the characterisation that's there. Leslie Rausch danced her first Russian Girl as well -- she wasn't quite as pointed as Kaori Nakamura or Eames, but she's really close to getting there. And those were just the dancers I saw - Carla Korbes danced the Waltz Girl and Lindsi Dec the Dark Angel Saturday night, and this coming week Carrie Imler dances the Dark Angel, which I am very sorry not to be seeing. There have been a couple of complaints in the local press about the corps not being quite perfect, but I didn't really see that. Serenade has been analyzed up one side and down the other by critics and scholars and dancers for ages, but this time around I thought I caught a little hint of Rite of Spring in the end -- she's been chosen, and she's going to sacrifice herself. Another idea to put in the file. Square Dance The original production is often assigned to the “Balanchine trying to use popular elements to make ballet accessible” category, like Western Symphony and Stars and Stripes, and that's certainly a part of what's going on. But I love to look at ballet performed to baroque music and think about their common roots, since much of what was codified as “ballet technique” by Beauchamp at the behest of Louis XIV is directly connected to baroque music. The caller, the bales of hay and the bolo ties were a clever addition, but I think the heart of the connection is in the structure of the dancing bodies. Square Dance starts out briskly, and hardly lets up at all, and yet there isn't that much of the big, thumpy run-and-leap that often comes to mind when we think of “hard dancing.” Instead, the trick is in keeping the motor running, corps and principals ticking away with extended passages of picky, precise stuff. Square Dance may look chipper to the audience, but it's also an endurance test for the performers. Despite the title, the inward-turned square of American square dancing doesn't really show up that much here, but there is a much more direct connection to a close ancestor -- contra dancing, sometimes called English country dancing. In manuals by teachers like Playford, they lay out the long line dances with multiple couples facing each other, and simple geometric patterns worked out over and over as the lead couple makes its way down the line and back to the top again. The direction “longways for as many as will” could be describing a corps de ballet as easily as a contra dance set. There really is only one break from the busy pattern-making, and that's the interpolated male solo. This time around I was really struck by how simple most of the steps were -- I think that, coming after Serenade, where most of the vocabulary is within the grasp of an advanced student dancer, I was ready to see that clarity. But instead of making the solo feel possible for a young dancer, as Serenade does. it seemed incredibly challenging. It's so exposed, and there are so many places that could fall apart -- my heart was in my throat over and over again during this section. Helene, who is much more familiar with the original casting and interpretation, seems to be looking for a very cool interpretation, which Lucien Postlewaite certainly delivers. He's at that happy place where his interpretive skills are coming up to match his impressive technique -- he can make choices about what he'll do and how he'll do it, and it's such a pleasure to consider those decisions. I like Benjamin Griffiths very much in the role -- he makes a slightly more dramatic impact (sharper accent on initiating movements, and a bit more emphasis on breath patterns) and I can see how that might be considered out of line with the original reading. But as we get further and further away from the first generation of these works, I think we'll be seeing more variety in interpretation, just as we get a plethora of readings of classic texts in other fields like music and drama. (Jonathan Porretta seemed to be sitting between these two performance styles -- he is by nature a more dramatic mover, even when I think he's really trying to turn that part of his style down.) Of the dancers I saw in the first weekend, Imler really owns this role. Rachel Foster and Nakamura are fast, but Imler was able to make each step individual and discrete -- she made gut-bustingly fast work seem almost leisurely by performing it completely. She's really internalized the difference between fast and quick, between the thrilling rush of one thing right after another, and a more punctuated flow. The term in ballet is “precipite,” and it's related to words like precise and precarious. It's a quickness followed by a pause -- a chance to see the result of what you've done. Which isn't to say that Nakamura wasn't astonishing. She's really amped up her performances this year -- she seems much more intense. She attacks the movement from the start of the phrase and finds all kinds of internal accents. Right now Foster is working hard and making big progress, but she needs to find a more balletic solution to the challenges she's working on -- currently she strikes me as a powerhouse modern dancer in a different environment. But this was her first go at the part, so who knows how far along she'll get by the end of the run. Four Temperaments 4 Ts is one of my favorite ballets ever, and it's always hard to watch it critically -- I just sit slackjawed and let it roll over me like a wave. PNB has been doing it for many years, but like Serenade, not that recently, so there were debuts here as well. Lots of good work in the themes -- Sarah Ricard Orza was very smooth in the first with Josh Spell, all kinds of swiveling and sliding so that the accents really showed up. As Helene said, Barry Kerollis bursts out of the wings in number two and keeps zooming along - he reminded me a bit of Porretta's entrance in Symphony in Three Movements. He had a great back and forth with Eames, but I had the bad luck to be sitting in just the wrong row, so that in the side to side shifting the man does, his eyes were the same level as her arms -- one or two rows back and I would have seen them clearly. Jordan Pacitti and Kylee Kitchens had a lovely and serious rapport in the third theme with great flow. I've always loved the part of Melancholic where the solo man pitches himself into an arabesque only to flip it around so that he's practically falling backwards, catching himself at the last minute before he's splat on the floor. It's actually a fairly simple sequence, but there is real excitement in the off-centeredness -- you have to be willing to take a risk, and trust that you'll catch yourself before the end. Modern dance is full of that kind of daring, but ballet not so much, which is one of the reasons it's thrilling to see it here. Postlewaite really throws himself into that moment, waiting until the last moment to shift and stop his fall. On opening night Porretta is a little more careful, so that you see his hands reach down first, which is unusual for him. Later in the run he's more bold, and the result is worth the effort. We haven't seen so much of Jeff Stanton lately, so it was especially sweet when he came bounding out with Nakamura for the Sanguinic variation. They were both very plush and round - if he's been injured you couldn't see it here. Seth Orza and Rausch both made debuts in these roles, Orza's was particularly good, as he covered space with clarity. Imler and B Bold frequently dance together, and you could see the ease that familiarity brings to this duet. Sanguine is related to blood flow, and Imler's performance here reminds me of that old phrase about blood singing in the veins -- she just shone. I think Olivier Wevers has been dancing Phlegmatic since he got to the company and he seem to have spent a lot of time considering all the possibilities of the shape and timing, He's made an incredible number of choices with this performance, and it's fascinating to see them all linked together as the variation spools out. He makes excellent use of his attenuated length, so that gestures like the arm extended with hand flexed really reads clearly, even far back in the theater. We don't see much passive weight in ballet work -- even when something is sustained or delicate there's a sense of control involved -- but toward the end of the variation Wevers just lets his arm drop down from overhead . We hear the hand slap against his thigh and feel the defeat that Phlegmatic implies. Karel Cruz is working on the role, but he's nowhere near as far along in his interpretation. Right now he's being very careful and very faithful about the shapes, so that the broken lines and in-turned limbs all register with us, but he hasn't found his way to connect them into a sequence yet. He's performing again tonight and hopefully he'll make a breakthrough with it. Ariana Lallone owns Choleric in much the same way that Wevers is attached to Phlegmatic, and with this set of performances she gets even deeper into the violence of the part. She's like watching an electrical storm as it rages in the sky -- you just sit a little further down in your seat and hope it passes over you. The thrill here is seeing a tall woman move quickly and sharply, with the same kind of quickness that Imler has so abundantly in Square Dance. But physics is not on her side -- it takes more force to move a longer lever quickly and precisely than it does with a shorter one, It would be one thing to see a small woman zoom through the choreography, but it's much more impressive when someone can perform against physical type. All three women I saw (Lallone, Dec and Gilbreath) nailed the timing of it, which in itself is fantastic. That they used that energy to create a specific impression makes it just that much more thrilling. Gilbreath is still finding her own way to the anger implicit in the role, but Dec really made a big step forward here. In the past, she's been the best and brightest cheerleader, but here she's found an implacable side to her dancing. Lallone is dancing on the other side of control with this part right now -- Dec is coming up to the edge, looking over, and then looking out at us. They are both great approaches to the part, and it's a thrill to see them side by side here.

Well, damn. I am even more sorry than I was before that I can't see this program again. During one of the Q/A sessions last week, Postlewaite said that when you dance with Carrie Imler, you're "there to put the cherry on the top" Oh this is good news. When I saw her last week I thought she could get there, but just hadn't yet. This is purely speculation on my part, since I've heard nothing about it, but he's been away from the stage so much lately I can't help but think that everyone, including himself, is putting a lot of emphasis on what he does while he's there. I'm very glad to see him back again with these performances.

Ray, thank you so much, for the initial links and for the restored Faulkner, someone I hardly ever get to read and now I'm feeling the lack. I do think that Leigh puts his finger on a big element with the observation that Lifar is talking about his contemporaries -- it's a truly valuable perspective, just as important as someone who writes with more balance from a distance. And it extends to critics writing about dances as well...!

Before its remodel, the Seattle Opera House (now called McCaw Hall) was notorious for the long lines for the women's rooms during intermission. As a critic I often get an aisle seat and so I could manage to get in line fairly quickly, but there were always women waiting in line for their turn (who had left the house promptly and not stopped off to chat or have a snack on their way to the restroom) when the bells rang for the next act. [Not to mention that there was only one ADA accessible bathroom, on the main floor, and so if you were in the balcony you had to get on the elevator, make your way down to the main floor, wait on line and then get back on the elevator to get up to the balcony. I heard of several instances where this took so long that the woman was late getting back to her place, and the usher wouldn't let her in to the auditorium. It looked like there was going to be a lawsuit filed, but the remodel fixed that problem] I was at the press conference where they were outlining the remodeling project, and every other PowerPoint slide was "More Women's Bathrooms" I felt like cheering.

I looked at the website and was bemused to realize that you had to click several times to find the actual location of the school. I assumed that it was in NYC, but that isn't really mentioned except on the contact page. I subscribe to several dance listservs and have noticed that, even when it's obvious that the readership is an international one, people have a tendency to forget to mention the city/state/country where some event is taking place. I've received elaborate instructions about what subway stop to get off at and which bell to ring at the door, but no information on the city where the subway and the bell are found!

I know, I know!

The world of the professional dancer was most likely very different at the time Balanchine arrived in the US. Some of his first 'students' already had extensive training, but from a wide variety of sources, and some had already been performing, again with a variety of outlets. The distinction between student and professional was much more permeable at that time. I've always liked deMille's description of an audition she ran for one of her first Broadway shows, several years after Serenade, where she had to eliminate the 'showgirls' who could walk and wear costumes, but couldn't do anything like the ballet-based choreography she was trying to create. We look at the Balanchine repertory today, at the influence his work has had on the development of ballet (no matter what you think of Sarah Kaufmann's point of view) and it's difficult to remember that early on he certainly was not recognized as the artist we know him to be now.

You have all been so helpful -- it is indeed the Chujoy photo I'm looking for, and had been hoping to find a copy online. I had a conversation with Sillman about the genesis of the work, and thought she would like to see that earlier look. This seems like an intermediary look, some time after the premiere but before the big shift to the romantic-style skirts. I wonder if Balanchine was avoiding them on purpose to discourage any comparisons with Sylphides...

I'm trying to find an online copy of that rehearsal photo from the Serenade premiere at the Warburg estate, the one where they're in their swim suits looking disgruntled. I Googled "Serenade Balanchine Warburg" and didn't find it -- does anyone here have a link to a copy. I'm trying to show it to a colleague without having to xerox a text...

I was taking something last summer with that effect and it was incredibly difficult to control I was in the middle of the prescription during the Ring cycle here -- I was able to minimize the problem, but not eliminate it. I am forever in debt to Ricola!

Oh my gosh -- what a fascinating set of artists. This is one of those times I wish I owned an airline, or at least had a generous travel budget!

Whatever the actual distribution of power is within the film industry (director/producer), the public perception is that the director runs the project, so that during the Academy Awards show, when the producer steps up to receive the "best picture" award, the general response is often "who is that?"