sandik

Does anyone know what the usual rules are about putting people on stamps in Belgium (in the US, the subject has to have been dead for at least 10 years (unless you're a former president) before you can appear on a stamp.

But with an institution like the Royal Ballet or New York City Ballet there are always people around to answer the telephone, deal with queries, print out the begging letters, stuff them in envelopes, make travel reservations, book studios, etc. etc. But if it is a small start-up enterprise, then if it's going to be done you have to do it yourself, no matter what your official title. But many of the things he seemed to leave City Ballet over (having to fit his work into existing rep, not able to collaborate outside the institution) would be even more significant in a company the size and gravitas of the Royal. I'm not sure how well running a small dance group really prepares you for a larger, more conventional company.

I have been fangirling all over the Norwegian's pants, but did not know this part of the story -- many thanks!

It's not just Swedish television -- NBC has been playing all kinds of games with their coverage. They don't think that there's much of an audience for the Olympics, and so they don't want to dislodge any of their usual programming. So everything is on time delay -- events that happen in the middle of the day get broadcast at 11:30 pm. I live in Seattle -- very close to Vancouver -- but I don't get the Canadian station that's broadcasting the games, so I've been staying up to all hours to watch curling and other stuff. And to answer dirac's query, in my house we like to alternate watching curling and snowboarding, especially the half-pipe, where everyone flies so high up and does so many complex rotations that I get a little nauseated trying to keep track. And then switch to a close up of someones fingers gently peeling away from the handle on a curling rock. And since Apolo Ohno comes from my part of the country, we have to watch speed skating.

This is my concern as well. The shifting messages over the last couple of days make everyone look amateurish. Is that Dance Galaxy?

Commiserations -- I find that as more stuff is available commercially, schools are really shying away from using "personal" (that is pirated!) media, especially in lecture situations. Don't chuck the POB recording of the Lacotte version, though -- you can use it later if you ever need to discuss contemporary revisions of historical stuff.

Thank you for carrying out all of this research! Absolutely!!! I've been thinking hard about these things since one of the better choreographers to come out of Pacific Northwest Ballet is starting up a company, and saying many of the same things that Wheeldon did when he began this new enterprise. (wants to work on own interests rather than fitting commissioned works into other reps, wants to work with dancers of own choosing, wants to encourage collaboration and collegiality among artists...) I think Deborah Jowitt's article in the Village Voice puts several fingers on some of the salient points (as she usually does), especially in the cultural differences between ballet and modern dancers and their expectations about choreography. Whether it's hard wired into people drawn to modern dance, or inculcated in the training, there is an expectation that everyone in the field will at least try to make their own dances as well as performing the works of others. This makes the founding of another ensemble more of an evolutionary step and less of a battle -- it's less fraught. Many, if not most, fail -- that's the nature of attrition in dance, but if there are more people trying, there are more groups that do have success. Ballet doesn't necessarily have this freedom anymore. It seems to me, looking through old newspapers and magazines, that there were more little startup groups in the 40s and 50s, and even into the 60s, that wanted to be what Wheeldon seemed to be hoping for -- a chamber sized ensemble with a mixed repertory. At that point, though, the whole regional ballet movement seemed to shift the attention to community based groups with larger ambitions, and things evolved as they have. On a tangential note, it occurs to me that if Wheeldon had been interested in mounting historic repertory as well as creating new work, he might have taken advantage of the Ballet Russe anniversary to slide a couple of those works into the Morphoses rep and perhaps gain some additional momentum that way. Those of you who have had a chance to see his group, do you think they might have been a good fit with that aesthetic?

Forgive my ignorance -- I haven't been following all the ins and outs of the company over the last year, but are there dancers whose primary (or possibly even only) contract is with Morphoses? When Lordes Lopez talks about having 6-10 dancers full time, does anyone know what the actual length of the contract is? I think what I'm trying to figure out here is what actually constitutes a dance company. In the case of Morphoses, it sounds like a group whose major players all have other, perhaps more exacting, commitments. Bob Joffrey started out in 1956 with six dancers, who toured in the infamous station wagon, while Joffrey himself stayed behind to keep the school running while they were performing.

Thanks so much for this link -- I missed it when I zoomed through the paper. Since they're both from Seattle, I was pleased with the local references, but also very interested in the commonalities in their perspectives on their work. I thought this comment, from Batali, but really applicable to both, was just excellent: "At the end of the day a great restaurant, like a great piece of art or dance, after a certain amount of time in your world, what you're really looking for is to remove the white noise, and make a very fundamental, simple step be the most important thing that the customer will appreciate." Often, when I see something that is really great, it has that inevitable sense. This particular step, or phrase, or thought -- this, and no other.

There are many kinds of performances that might induce a hushed atmosphere that could be disturbed by applause, though. It could be considered a little presumptuous to issue pre-performance directives that what you're about to see is "sacred," so hush up, everybody. It's kind of awkward to mandate an ephiphany, isn't it? It makes me think of someone with a faux German accent -- "You vill be moofed!" (or else?)

Here's another thought -- so far we seem to be discussing events where the "audience" is in agreement about the response, but what about individual experiences? I know that I can be having an epiphanal moment in the middle of a grocery store, if the right things come together. I can't and don't expect the rest of the world to come to a halt to honor the moment, but it's still significant to me. The Olympics are playing in the background, and one of the color commentators just said, about an ice dancing couple, that they "made a moment for themselves" during their performance. Sometimes, it is just about one or two people. Indeed, I've always felt that was a cheerful thing -- that somewhere, something important was happening for someone, even though I was having the most mundane day.

(dipping a toe in a very lively discussion) Early on, someone brought up the old real estate adage ("location, location, location") in trying to sort out when applause is inappropriate -- the implication being that inside a church, applause is questionable while outside a church it is not. Of course what they were actually getting on to was intention rather than location (since church buildings are often used for non-religious music concerts and public arenas are often used for religious services), which slides right into the discussion about requests to refrain from applause. If someone asks me to do or not do something, as an audience member I’m likely to try and comply, whether it’s turning off my cell phone, wearing the big headphones, or keeping my hands in my lap. I’m really more interested in how the audience wants to respond -- do they seem to want to applaud (or make some other kind of audible ‘comment’ on the performance) whether they’ve been told to or not. I saw a reduction of Sleeping Beauty a couple weeks ago, performed for an audience of 5th graders, most of whom had never been to the theater before, much less ballet specifically. At the end of one of Aurora’s variations, before the audience started to clap, the young man next to me asked if it was ok to applaud. Petipa’s choreography is designed so that applause is the logical response to the dancing -- the ballet is built like a tank. It was pure pleasure to tell this kid "yes."

"my thoughts on the Ice Dance Folk Dance portion of the competition! " Ok, I'm waiting... My partner asked me last night if they were required to perform something with an ethnic or world dance element, since they all seemed to make that choice.

Actually, this is slightly less complex than you imagine, since most touring companies are presented by a local or regional organization that should have access to information about local performances and the enlightened self interest not to book their own events on top of a competing program. It's very unusual now for a dance company or other touring group to book and present (and promote) their own events. Using Seattle as an example, there are several presenters in town that create whole seasons comprised of artists touring from outside the area. In some cases, they run a theater, which makes that element of the equation simpler, but in other cases they don't even control a venue.

Oh, you don't want to get me started on this topic. The dance community in Seattle seems to revel in scheduling on top of each other. The symphony, the opera and the ballet all used to share the same theater, and it was so very hard -- any growth for one group came at the complicated accomodation of the others. Despite the overlapping programming on some days, it's been much easier since the symphony got its own home, leaving the opera and the ballet to split dates.

Pite has made some very intriguing work for her own ensemble as well -- I'd be very curious to see what she does for this iteration of Ballet BC. Alas, I cannot be there that weekend. Will have to depend on the reporting of others...!

Oh this is going to be fun! I have to run (family stuff) but will think alot and come back soon.

Are there any other American companies currently performing the Cranko R&J?

Always one of my favorite games in Seattle! Any thoughts on the programming, though? I'm wondering what the holiday revue is going to look like.

Many thanks for the heads-up about this -- I'll start looking for it as well. After years of being in and watching rehearsals I've become very fond of reductions. I went to a school matinee of Sleeping Beauty here last week with a piano, a violin, a harp, a flute, and a clarinet. It was such an interesting view of the score. (and am currently listening to a disc by Trio Diaghilev, duo pianos and percussion. I've got Petrouchka, Sacre, and Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin -- all very fresh sounding.)

I apologize in advance -- this is very long, so just skip ahead if you get frustrated. Lots of thoughts and not room for them all in the paper, so I’m chattering away here. I’m not sure what it is (Valentine’s day programming, perhaps?) but it seems that everyone has been performing SB this month. It’s been great to follow along with all the discussions, and see what other communities think of their production. Different productions of this ballet emphasize different things -- some try to underline the fairy tale aspects of the story, some slice away as much of the narration/mime as they can so that it almost becomes “Suite from SB,” some come down heavy on the symbolic/metaphorical bits (historical accuracy of period costumes). Hynd’s production has some of the didactic, with careful period details and, more importantly, big helpings of what we believe to be the original choreography. In his symposium last month, Doug Fullington referred to that as “the King James version” of the work, and the care that the company has taken with it does have a vaguely religious sense to it. I saw all the Auroras over the first weekend, and then slid into the school matinee yesterday and caught a tiny snip of Leslie Rausch as well. But I’m still missing all kinds of castings, debuts, new pairings and old favorites, so I’m glum. My goal reviewing this time around was to talk about as many performers as possible, since this is such a great vehicle for individual performance, but I wound up having to talk about context as well. It’s always great to see different dancers appear in several guises throughout a performance. Retainers become nymphs, nobles become peasants, and the same group of people keep turning up at parties given 100 years apart. Wherever he shows up, William Lin-Yee seems to have great aplomb, which makes such a difference in the classical roles. He’s working hard, yes, but you don’t feel that he’s pushing past the aesthetic boundaries of the work. Liora Reshef had a great weekend -- between her corps work, her Fairy of Beauty and her Princess Florine, she really shone. I’m not sure if it’s the French part of her training, or just something innate, but she’s got lovely, flowy arms, which really help her phrasing, especially in linking steps or changes of direction. Aurora Kaori Nakamura (with Postelwaite) has a nice breath at top of the develop at her entrance. She’s not afraid of suitors, more confident than I remember her last go with this part. A bit knowing, looking over the shoulder, more like Odile than Aurora. Mara Vinson (with Orza) had a little too much control, doesn’t glow enough in Act 1. But anything like a renverse (focus over the shoulder) looks really pretty. She understands the head/chest connection in epaulment really well. She’s very meditative in the Vision scene, which is probably the best choice to make here. She’s not herself, so she’s not “meeting” a suitor like she did in Act 1 – she’s more of a cipher, and it seems to work well if she’s just a little removed. She beckons to him, but she’s got much less volition than he does. Best effects in final act – she really glitters in the grand pas de deux. I remember thinking that Odile looked easier for her than Odette – maybe this is a related thing. Carla Korbes (with Cruz) slides right into the pas de chat, makes nice long phrases, with lovely accents in the penchee arabesque sequence. She makes much of little – good choices with phrasing, coordination and accents. Easy arms, soft attack, clearly thinking of a young girl. Really floats through Vision scene. Carrie Imler (with Bold) skims left and right on first entrance, really sees people on stage, relates to them through her character. Ducks her head at praise from her father, shy of suitors to begin with. A couple shakes in her first balance but after that she’s settled in. The big circular port de corps were really nice (stable in the lower body) modulating timing, energy. Her Aurora was happy in Act 1, which is much harder to pull off than you’d think. Has really put thought into the character and arc of her development. Seems much more at home here than in Swan Lake, but could just be familiarity. Her grand pas just gleamed. Lilac Fairy Carrie Imler – you just don’t worry when she’s dancing. She could keep us safe from nuclear holocaust. Makes it clear that LF ranks higher than all the other fairies, she’s the one that directs the action (“now we’ll give our gifts, now we say our goodbyes.” She outranks, is more powerful than Carabosse, can make her behave (multiple bows, ”listen to me”) Carabosse does not surprise her – like the best mothers she has eyes in the back of her head – when Carabosse tries to sneak up on her downstage left LF turns around just in time to stop the attack with a well-placed hand. Her mime is visible, well-placed, good timing, an articulate “speaker” Carla Korbes -- very even, great sweetness, but not the same settled quality as Imler. Her power is less readable. Sara Ricard Orza -- very gentle, rules through kindness. Solicitous of King and queen after curse, after spindle. More active arm waving during blessing (seems to be at discretion of dancer) When she has a phrasing choice she leans towards the fleet rather than the languid. Laura Gilbreath -- had a very good start, but needs to develop her sense of command. She is the leader but she seems to look to others rather than take charge herself. Nice suspension in big waltz turn. Good timing with Wevers as Carabosse. She might look stronger in comparison if she were dancing with a different Aurora (not Imler). Prince Seth Orza does well with the mimetic work in Act 2 – he’s got clear relationships with the people in his world, and when the supernatural visits, in the guise of the Lilac Fairy, the arc of his doubt, shifting to belief (“You can’t really show me a girl I can love” to “Wait, show me again”) is cleanly modulated. He has a tendency to push in his solos, though, in both acts, and it keeps him from reading as a prince. He’s looking for someone to love, like Siegfried, but there’s not the same level of desperation involved, so the strain in his dancing just reads as awkward. Batkhurel Bold very assured of air work, is very believable as a prince even standing still (a tricky thing to pull off), is making a little progress on the facial expressions, (he even smiled Saturday night.) Karel Cruz had a very nice reaction to spell in Act 3, making sense out of long phrases. Could use a little more emphasis, all smooth, not enough punctuation. This especially clear in his variation in grand pas de deux Lucien Postelwaite is a danseur by nature, so any glitches in his performances are inside that context. So saying that he didn’t have his best night on opening with Nakamura means that he still danced fluently and convincingly, but wasn’t as spot on as I know he can be. But he was a great example of classicism in the Gold and Silver trio. Prologue Kylee Kitchens - Good contrast in Beauty between flow in middle of variation and snap at end. Light and quick, very clean in Purity Brittany Reid - Has very clean phrasing in Temperament, such a reliable dancer. I always look to her to see where things are supposed to be. Margaret Mullin - Nice flirty glance over the shoulder in Joy, more girl than bird. An interesting interpretation. Lindsi Dec - She’s bright and direct – when she uses that well (like the tall girl in Rubies) it makes her very appealing, but when it gets too fast for the context she loses the point of what she’s doing. (same goes for her work in Gold and Silver in last act) Nice suspension mid-way thoughthe Wit variation – needs to keep more of that, the feeling that there is time for a moment. Sara Ricard Orza - Gentle energy in Beauty, even in fast or quick stuff. Maybe a harbinger of her Lilac? Rachel Foster - In Joy, very capable in all the twinkly bits, nice modulating the flutter, more amplitude in upper body than other roles. In Temperament, she makes it a bit more accented than other dancers. Chalnessa Eames - Very sly as Wit, a cousin to the tarantella she dances in Stowell’s Swan Lake. She uses stillness well, very pretty as Generosity, but it doesn’t play to her strengths Leslie Rausch - In Generosity, good with the arms gesturing down the front (hard to pull off). It’s a little window into her Aurora. Eric Hippolito - Nice batterie in the ensemble section. Sean Rollofson - Nice bounding jumps as courtier. Carabosse – Wevers has beend oing this for quite a while and it’s a very well developed interpretation. His mime is almost conversational, it has the personal rhythm and individual “pronunciation”you only get with familiarity. Porretta emphasizes the limp, with fingers always going (spider-like, you need to watch out for those, that’s where the thinking and decision to make mischief happen) Rushes the “will die” in the curse mime. But then repeats the “dead,” which reads really well. Act 1 Are the hags trying to get Carabosse to stop spinning, or are they egging her on? Kiyon Gaines has been dancing in a flat hat and pink shirt for many performances and still looks like hecan’t imagine anything more fun to do than the Garland Waltz. He’s made some really interesting decisions as Catalabutte – his “oh no, I forgot the really nasty fairy” moment is especially fine. Barry Kerollis looks good in this section as well, very settled as a member of the court. I’ll bet the queen regrets begging the kind to commute the hanging sentence he wants to impose on Carabosse. Entrance of the tiny kids eclipses the entrance of the dukes. Michael Burfield is the third herald -- he’s the one that gets all three pieces of mime about Carabosse (flapping wings, big hump and long nose) and he does a great job of almost running the king over in his zeal to deliver bad news, and then ducks to avoid getting hit with the repercussions. The garland is still shedding on opening night, one of the corps manages to dribble the flowers off-stage, soccer style. Between the uniform chocolate brown wigs and big costumes for the suitors we can barely tell them apart. Act 2 Orchestra squeak on opening chord. Entrance for prince not that tah-dah, undercut by Countesses snit. But Postelwaite isn’t a big tah dah guy -- more modest. Jordan Pacitti is making some really interesting moves into character work. Gallison is not as full of detail as the tutor in Stowell’s Swan Lake, but there are places to make a legible character. Flemming Halby used to make a lot of little in this role, coming from the Danish school where they spent time working on character techniques. Pacitti might want to go back and look at some of the video of Halby’s performances, not to copy his work, but see what the possibilities are. Ariana Lallone really plays up the bitchiness of the Countess, recoiling from the peasant girls’ gifts and sneering at the other women trying to get the Prince’s attention. She has a real Cruella deVille vibe going. And when he does ask her to dance, she preens. She uses the riding crop much more than Dec does in this role. The Panorama really doesn’t do much (ground level fog makes it look like this is set in a bayou) I know that we don’t do the original effect with the scrolling/unscrolling landscapes and scenes, but with the developments in projection technology, someone could design a kind of slideshow or video sequence that really does show all the stuff in the original Petipa scenario. Simple structural effects make a big impression throughout this work. Gradation in size of Aurora’s envelopés (small to large) knocks you flat. Really saw lots of quotations from Swan Lake white acts here. We kill our evil fairies here -- Wevers falls backwards down the ramp and “dies” with his head at the bottom of the slope. Very effective. Prince kisses Aurora -- confetti snow turns into red hearts? Act 3 Gold and Silver: Andrew Bartee needs to relax shoulders and get legs a little more under him, but what a nice outing for him in this trio. He’s got a loose grand battement, so it reverberates through his torso just a bit, perhaps he could lower his leg just a bit to avoid the vibration. He’s paired with Postelwaite here, who is very at home in these roles, and so you get a picture of where Bartee can go next. Imler -- what a pleasure, fills out every phrase without rushing but still lets us know how tricky it is. Faithfully repeating energy and focus on the repeat facing upstage. m/m duo in 5/8 -- tricky and crispy but so fun. Imler nails the port de bras in the coda, which can so easily look like a semaphore message from a sinking ship. Dec big leaps, big jumps, big everything. Puss in Boots: Temptation to just go with the joke in this duet, but Pacitti has really put some thought into his phrasing. The quickness in the snatching gestures contrasted with the fluidity in the back to back squirming (especially the alternating coordination of pelvis and head) is just excellent. And how unusually sensual this is in the middle of a Petipa party scene -- I have a feeling that they wouldn’t do anything that overt if they weren’t wearing costumes that concealed their heads. Ricard Orza had a great light touch with the catfight. “Just what every girl wants – a dead rat!” Bluebird: Porretta has had this part for several years, and he’s still makes it look great. The brise vole sequence unfolds beautifully. He has a showoff facet to his performing that sometimes gets the better of less substantial choreography, but doesn’t seem to come out when the work itself is important. Rachel Foster as Florine has a great lower body working, but needs more amplitude in her arms. She keys into the vibratory element, but needs more of the connection from moment to moment. Griffiths sails through the solos and is a great partner for her, gets her lots of good looking turns, and really shows her off. His brise voles are as silky as Porretta’s – he really has the swimming quality, and when he and Foster do that last sequence down the diagonal she seems to get some of that easy energy from the contact and really opens up. Margaret Mullin makes a very nice debut – the enchantment is clear in her performance. Jerome Tisserand as Bluebird doesn’t try and strain. Instead he is very smooth with a lovely cumulative ballon. Red Riding Hood: Abby Relic has red hair to go with her red hood – very effective look. She’s got a great sense of the English Pantomime style that this duet uses – big, clear mime, vey direct use of focus. Tisserand manages to make that wolf head look like he’s ‘talking’ – not a simple trick. Leann Duge and Kerollis have some great turns in this, between this role and Bottom I wonder if he’s found a specialty -- “will dance wearing a big head.”

Last minute flash Today (Friday) they're doing a school matinee at 11:30 -- a cut down version of the work that lasts about an hour. I thought it was closed except for groups, but I've been told I can get a ticket at the box office (no online) for $3.50. Will report back if I get there...

What a span!

I know that there is an actual forum for DTH, in the 'companies who have folded' section, but I don't know how often that section gets any activity, and I'm curious. What's going on with the company? Last April the NY Times ran an article about a transition in the company, and named Virginia Johnson as the incoming Artistic Director, but I haven't really seen much since then, and the DTH website doesn't reflect anything about it. I know this is a no rumor and gossip site, so what do we know for sure? I would love to see the company back again -- they had a unique repertory.

I will have other things to say later on, but just wanted to mention that watching Lindsi Dec as the Countess flirt unsuccessfully with Karel Cruz as the Prince at the beginning of act two made me giggle a bit.