sunday

Curious. I was wondering about the mime thing myself, especially after seeing Darcey Bussell -in the Maryinski Swan Lake BR of '06 companion documentary- explaining the mime gestures used in the first encounter between Odette and Siegfried. Note taken about the books. Thanks!

This is a problem that occurs often when translating. The quick-and-dirty solution would be to use a different construction, even is some meaning is lost in the process. For instance: All BT members think of themselves as balletomanes. If the adjective or else is predicated of a known individual, usually the sex of the aforementioned individual is known, I suppose.

Wow! Thanks for that link! Youtube is a big recruiting tool to make ballet aficionados, really.

It seems that the spirits in Giselle are called Wiis in Spanish literature, not Wilis. So, one could imagine a Giselle second act full of dancing Nintendo gaming consoles, the poor Albrecht condemned to play Wii Fit game after game, and Myrtha playing Super Mario Kart searching mushrooms in the forest. I promise you that in Spanish is funnier! (Some mushrooms should help, anyway)

As a comparison, I can't help thinking of the now defunct LOCAL company Ballet Florida, whose largest budget a few years ago was actually a bit bigger than Corella's but who were much smaller and far from his league. I've thinking about that, and possibly the establishment of the Corella Ballet in Spain shows good business sense. Considering that: i) there are no classical ballet companies in Spain, so we've got a virgin territory. ii) the Spanish public wants ballet, as shown by the multiple tours foreign companies* do in Spain. iii) the major contribution of tourism to Spanish economy, and the old aspiration to change from sun, sea, and sex (cheap) tourism to high-brow city tourism, more profitable -and there are a number of summer classical festival in Spain- then, the Corella Ballet could make a killing from a business POW. And that'll be good for the Spanish classical ballet, and for the Spanish economy. Even we could enjoy a new staging of Falla's El sombrero de tres picos, originally arranged for Diaghilev's people. * If Osipova was not afflicted by a minor injury, we'll be looking forward to watch her this August at the Liceu, for example.

Agree. It sucks. And that journo deserves some unflattering calificatives.

I expect we won't arrive at this OTH, in another, unrelated forum* this same topic surfaced today, and one of the replies contained some proof that those felines are known users of biological warfare in order to advance their nefarious purposes. See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11007336 http://natur.cuni.cz/flegr/publ.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis *But one that uses the same InvisionBoard software. Curious.

The viola da gamba is a very sweet-sounding instrument. More so in Savalls' capable hands. Yep, he changed his nationality to Spanish, died in Spain, and was interred at a Madrid church*. And Spanish classical music is not only almost unknown in the US, but also in Spain (yours truly included :blush: ). Truth to be told, Renaissance and Baroque music aren't mainstream and Monteverdi or Palestrina aren't as known as Mozart. Also, Spanish folk music is very rich, as it comes from quite different origins. And it's not Flamenco only. If you are acquitted with Manuel de Falla music you'll have an idea. *Curiously, I used to go to Mass to that same church when I was living in Madrid. If you are able to read Spanish, his Spanish wikipedia page is more broad that the English one

Re Paquita: Fortunately, those days in Barcelona are some of a haven for would be ballet lovers: in addition to the Russian Stars Gala at Liceu in August, we'll have here the Moscow Ballet with another Lake and a Giselle at Teatre Tívoli. Re Helene: Thank you for your kind words. Your signature reminded me of the lackings of my reviews, as I don't have the necessary background to decouple my subjective preferences from true, objective, artistic quality. And if you could wait, the CB is going to NYC next March and, possibly, to the West Coast also. From the fotoescena forums I lifted this link to a blog entry in the LA times site: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemon...rs-at-home.html That entry contains also some answer to the questions asked by bart in this thread. Re 4mrdncr: Hi, Gerri! Thanks for the link. I saw your kind welcome, but waited to answer until having PMs enabled in order to keep inside the posting guidelines. Seems we have some common friends in Spain, and one of them have you in great esteem for sure. Terrific work, your video! I'm eager to watch the final result. About your PS, I expect you didn't try to have fun teasing my newly adquired ballet curiosity. More seriously, that footage would be a treat if you could manage to include it in your final movie. If not, well, some viral marketing in youtube could boost interest (hint, hint)

Thanks for the report, Helene. I love the performances of those obscure, but great Baroque composers by Savall. He enjoys a deserved great respect in this part of Spain.

Re: cubanmiamiboy Yep. A great time, full of nice, very unexpected surprises. Others not so very nice, like the reasons that make heavy moderation a must in Internet forums about ballet. And thanks be giving for that heavy moderation in BT! About Adiarys, I introduced myself, telling her that a friend on Ballet Talk told me to watch her (quite a bit of presumption on my part, really), and when I told her your name at her request, she showed a lot of fondness for you. And thank you for supporting my intuition about her as Odile. Re: bart They did received some sponsorship money by part of the Spanish various governments. The official name in the advertising material is Corella Ballet Castilla y León as a result of an agreement between the Corella Foundation and the regional govt of Castilla y León in order to boost the image of the later around the world. To discuss the politics of Spanish ballet, there are posters more knowledgeable that yours truly in this same forum, but I'm sure they prefer to remain silent. My POW is that in Spain public money comes with political strings attached, more so when there is a leftist govt in power. So, a future of Corella Ballet as Compañía Nacional does not seem very desirable. The fact that Ángel, knowing about the state of affairs in Spain about ballet from the inside, came back and strove to make a private Spanish Classical ballet company possible is admirable. Back to ballet: I went also to other two representations, both with Nehemiah Kish as Solor, Carmen Corella as Nikiya, and Ashley Ellis as Gamzatti, but one day (10th) with Yevgen Uzlenkov as Bronze Idol, and the other (11th) with Fernando Bufalá. The Three Shades were also different: Cristina Casa/María José Sales/Alexandra Basmagy, and Ana Calderón/Alba Cazorla/Cristina Casa. The 10th we had tickets for one of the orchestra boxes, at the very front in one side. About 30% of the stage wasn't visible, but we could see very well details in the visible stage. Relationship between dancers and orchestra was better, and there weren't slips with the violins. Carmen Corella's Nikiya was more on the line of the tall Nikiyas I've seen in youtube, like Lopatkina or Semionova. I saw a little bit of leg wobble in some arabesques, and thought it as a fault. However, after seeing Guerin in the POB documentary about La Bayadère doing the same thing I understood that "wobble" as a dramatical device to show Nikiya feelings. In fact, this ballet is the last one that I go to see performed live without watching it in video before. Nehemiah Kish, a correct, solid Solor, showed a little stress in the most demanding lifts, and had a little slip in one of the knee landings the 10th after the second series of jetés, visible from where I was seated but not much elsewhere, and was much applauded at the end. The gold-haired beauty of Ashley Ellis seems not the very best match for an Indian princess, but what lacked in color was more than equalized by her princessly demeanor, and made a very believable Gamzatti. Especially in the third act, where he was so able to convey her confusion about the behavior of her groom Solor, that one was almost forced to have pity for the poor thing. The descent of the Shades in the second act was invisible for me the 10th. The 11th, with a seat in the second floor of the rafters, was truly spectacular (with the provisos expressed in my first post) and the public was very impressed. I watched two Bronze Idols more, one by Yevgen Uzlenkov, impressively precise in the movement of the arms, and another by Bufalá that looked to me a bit less precise that the one of the first night, and another. Ladies (and girls) appreciated both in the now-traditional manner, but perhaps Bufalá received one or two woo-hoos more. Yours truly was also witness of an anecdote that shows the popularity of ballet: the 10th, after the performance, and when going to retrieve the car from a underground car park near the theater, in the first floor I heard someone la-la-laing a few notes of the first act of the ballet . "Nice", I thought "another balletgoer". When facing the stairs to the second floor, where the car was, I was amazed by the vision, in the next landing, of a pretty, black-gowned girl, turning in place, playing with a white scarf and la-la-laing the notes heard before. Until her turn put me in her field of view. Deer-in-the-headlights expression: "Uh, sorry!". So cute! Answer: "Carry on, girl, we come from the same representation", and produced my program for her. Her boyfriend showed also some quite unexplainable embarrassment.

Cast according to the hand program Coreography: Natalia Makarova Solor: Ángel Corella Nikiya: Alina Cojocaru Gamzatti: Adyaris Almeida Bronze Idol: Fernando Bufalá Trio of shades: Kazuko Omori, María José Sales, Ahsley Ellis My first contact with world-class ballet, my first Bayadère ever, and my first review attempt in BT. After resigning myself to not seeing at this time the stars of Corella Ballet, two days before the performance I was offered the chance of a orchestra seat. Cool! The performance matched my expectations. The orchestra was correct, some slips during the second act notwithstanding. Gorgeous, rich settings, somewhat marred by a lighting that was, unwillingly, somewhat "dynamic": there was a kind of UFO loitering the ceilings instead of, I suppose, the moon, and the final, very dark destruction of the temple -that I thought at first a nice touch of ambiance showing the unlighting of the world brought by the vengeful gods summoned by the wronged Nikiya- was really a lighting mistake, because the dancers in stage were supposed to be seen, as my companions told me after the representation. Well, so much for my rationalizations. Out of that, I think the lighting was adequate, albeit a bit dark at the beginning of the first scene. That bit of darkness made a bit difficult to appreciate the initial movements of Nikiya but, fortunately, not much. In the first act, the fluidity, gracefulness, and precision of Cojocaru's Nikiya were so striking that almost made me cry of pure joy during her second solo. Fortunately for my throat, it's no difficult to get used to good things and so I could enjoy the rest of her very brilliant performance. A truly prima. Corella movements seemed to me clean, elegant and with a precise bit of showiness. Impressive jetés, and pirouettes whirling enough to blur the figure of the dancer -something I thought not possible before seeing Angel. Almeida was really a discovery: very quick, sharp, clean cut movements, and an unbelievable ability to literally turn in a dime i.e. the radial movements of the point of her pivot foot were in the order of a inch, and less than three inches at maximum excursion. I'd like to see a Black Swan by her*. The entry of the 24 shades in the second act was correct enough. If I were a Corps Nazi, possible I'll find something to criticize, but seems that a company needs really a large, permanent, and seasoned corps to excel in this scene. As we haven't got here the corps of the Maryinsky or the POB, it was good enough. Omori, Sales, and Ellis looked very good as the Three Shades - excellent synchronization, accurate movements, and incorporeal enough to be easily taken as spirits. Arriving the Bronze Idol, Bufalá performance was good enough to almost move the distinguished ladies in the orchestra seating into the kind of frenzy that one usually associate with Beatles young female fans, and one that Corella not received always during that evening. Well, there is a bit of exaggeration, but surely you catch my drift. Bufala technique looked very good. This is a dancer to watch. The tragic counterpoint between Nikiya's ghost and the bride Gamzatti was well presented, with the dramatic tension in crescendo until the final (and dark) destruction of the temple. After a roaring applause, bravos, woo-hoos, and four curtain calls, the session ended. For me was a dream come true. Yours truly was able to chat to some of the dancers, and ask for a couple of signatures in the program booklet. I was amazed by how young the dancers looked. Adiarys Almeida revealed herself as a very approachable, charming young lady. I met the very happy, newly-ascended soloist María José Sales, who was also a dear. I met also a surprisingly tall Carmen Corella, and a promising temporary corps dancer, Andrea Palacios. I didn't dare to ask to be introduced to Ángel because being afraid myself of being struck by a case of Stendhal Syndrome, but he seemed a very natural and down-to-earth kind of guy. Well, from stuff like that evening, dreams are made. * After her scenes I bravoed her enough for my seating neighbors to notice, and a pair of quite distinguished-looking ladies turned to me in the interval, and in a very kind manner, almost asked me about my credentials as ballet aficionado. I was told later on that one of them was a known balletomane. I fervently hope I did not make a nuisance of myself!

Reporting that Adyaris Almedia was watched, appreciated, enjoyed, applauded, and "bravoed" at stage by yours truly. Thanks for the hint! After performance, I had a short but nice chat with her -the first time I have talked with a world-class dancer- thanks to the fotoescena guys. What a nice and kind young lady! She told me to send you many regards. Re your relative the painter, seems the acorn does not fall far from the tree, or de casta le viene al galgo, as we say in old Spain.

Nitpick: it's Los Tarantos, actually. See: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056555/ I suppose Saura's Carmen has already been mentioned. A good Russian movie would be the mammoth version of War and Peace directed by Sergei Bondarchuk. See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063794/ Not all the DVD versions are the same, however. There are battlefield coreographies even, but with battallions of extras on TDY from the Soviet Army, instead of dancers. The ball sections in the Natasha Rostova part are beautiful.

Guys, you truly scare me. I've fallen in the turned-out bit (well, I think) however. Unfortunately, one can take me for a dancer only if her only one exposure to Classical ballet was in the Fantasia movie. At midday, to be accurate.

Re all, Thanks for the your warm welcome. Re Giannina, Well, I've got a lot to learn. I only decided to create an account when the issue about the pronunciation of the surname of Sylvie Guillem -a matter in which I felt that I could make a somewhat worthy contribution- came up. So I'll be lurking a lot. Re Bart, Internet is a wonderful learning tool. For instance, I just searched for Black Swan PDD videos, and found more than ten, all by excellent couples. How much time and money did need a person to spend twenty or fifteen years ago to be able to be exposed to so much examples of dancing? Those videos aren't of the best quality, of course, but help. About the wellness of the education, I've been lurking here by two months almost, catching general hints. For following Corella's enterprise, I'll try to add my little bit. There are posters around here more educated, knowledgeable, capable, and willing to travel than yours truly, however. But for a Bolshoi in Madrid... In Barcelona there will be a Russian Stars Gala the 4th and 5th of August, for instance, with Alexandrova, Antonichevna, Vasiliev, etc. I suppose I should look for the thread in the appropriate sub-forum. Yep, the lucky ones. Fortunately some male dancers like Baryshnikov contributed to dispel the, with permission from the ladies, "girlie" haunting that hung over ballet. There was a good line in The Turning Point movie about that. Re Cristian, That Spanish phrase of you made me recall this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cGU0QTLYUE Hope you like pasodoble. Thanks for posting about Viengsay Valdés, another awesome dancer that made me appreciate the Cuban school, and understand why the Spanish dance in Swan Lake looked somewhat strange to me: the ballet-trained shoulders don't making the movements one is used to expect of Flamenco ballerinas was the reason. About the location of Corella Ballet, perhaps Segovia is a better place to keep Madrid, or even Barcelona, political intrigues away. I've read that Plisetskaya wasn't very happy during her Madrid stint because of that. I've watching videos of Almeida, agree with your opinion, and I'm eager to see her in the flesh. About Victor Ullate, honestly I don't know. BTW, if your surname is the one that appears on your signature, Have you got any familiar relationship with the painter Genaro Pérez Villaamil*? * I ask because the naval buff in me recognized part of the surname. Villaamil is a famous surname in the Spanish Navy. For instance, because of one Fernando Villaamil there is a whole class of naval vessels called destroyers, and he was the highest ranking Spanish naval officer killed in action at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. When searching to refresh my memory, I found the painter.

Hello from Barcelona! My name is José Luis, but in English language boards I found that Jose is more straightforward. I'm a middle-aged electrical engineer, with no professional relation with arts, interpretative or else, but with a fondness for Classical music since childhood. Tchaikovsky has been a favorite composer since ever, especially his ballet suites. About ballet, well the sorry state of the art around here that forced our finest -Corella, Rojo, Amatriain, etc.- to seek greener pastures elsewhere (or leave the international circuit even) is known. So the dance I was exposed to when young was of the dark, gloomy, abstract, experimental/contemporary ilk -which has its merits, and I'm begin to appreciate now- but it isn't the best to attract new customers. Especially prospective customers used to Baroque and Romantic music. Instead, I became an Opera fan -we have a strong opera tradition here- of the major works: Turandot, Madama Butterfly, Nabucco, Norma, Don Giovanni (Mozart's), Tanhäuser, Ring of the Nibelungs. Also of the works of the great Romanthic composers, and some obscure -but also great- Baroque ones. And Tchaikovsky. About ballet, I liked very much the White Nights movie with Baryshnikov, and that was all. Two months ago, enter a ballerina that introduced me to classical ballet and to all the very hard work that dancers must do to give the audience the feeling that gravity has no visible effect upon them. I began some research, seeing internet videos and reading biographies of dancers, composers, and coreographers, and using the comments on the videos* for orientation in the search of interesting ballerinas. After seeing in YT the Grand PDD of Don Q. with Angel Corella and Paloma Herrera, I was in awe. Light, energy, enthusiasm, enticing melodies, joie de vivre (excuse my French ). After seeing the little Russian hurricane also known as Osipova in that same Minkus piece, I had swallowed hook, sink, and line. Oh boy, there was one truly ballet-hooked engineer. Videos of DQ, Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Firebird, Giselle, Coppèlia, RJ, etc. were soon devoured - thanks to a quite capable home cinema rig**. Different versions of the Dying Swan were compared: Pavlova, Plisetskaya, Lopatkina ... Trockadero . The reason for calling Plisetskaya "Queen of the air" was soon evident, Guillem bendiness almost freaked me out, the grace, mastery, and thoughtfulness of Lopatkina were appreciated, also the armless fouettés of Maximova, the balance of Valdés, the ballon of Baryshnikov, the bourrées of Semionova, and much more. Also I watched three times Swan Lake by the Imperial Russian Ballet. In the meanwhile, I arrived to an interesting forum, aplenty with knowledge people, tips, and hints about which dancers to watch, and very interesting, and humorous, tidbits about backstage work, like techniques to cover tattoos in too-hip-ballerinas, possible origins of fan use in a Spanish-staged ballet, effects of artificial snow in mice population when Nutcracker is not on, etc. And some posters from Spain from who I obtained directions to Spanish websites, such as fotoescena, and unwillingly almost made me wanting to tear my hair off because of Osipova performing Kitri in 2008 at Two hour drive from home!, without me being aware . There were hints of a possible greening of the dusty Spanish soil: the Corella ballet. Thanks to one of those posters, and now friend, I'll be at their first Bayadère of this July, with the varsity: Corella, Cojocaru, and Almeida . Well, ladies and gentlemen, thanks for your time, and your patience. Also thanks for this magnificent site from which this dilettante newbie has a lot to learn, Jose * It's remarkable the depth of knowledge one can find in the posters on the Youtube ballet videos. Some cattiness***, also, but humans being humans... ** I have some knowledge of non-audiophile grade (i.e. relatively cheap but effective) AV equipment, so feel free to ask. At the worst, I'll redirect to the appropriate thread at AVSforums. *** The GREAT Plisetskaya a hippo compared with a quite ill Gelsey Kirkland? Oh, come on!

An Oc language - Catalan, the language spoken in Catalonia, on the North-Eastern corner of Spain, and as I'm a -more or less- native speaker, this is a topic on which I could make a useful contribution before scurrying back to the woodwork, and continue some learning while lurking . Guillem is a not-too-rare surname around here. In the ARTE documentary Ms. Guillem herself said she was a quarter Spanish. Guillem is also a Catalan name, equivalent to William. About the pronunciation of the "ll" bit, it's difficult for those who do not have Catalan as a mother tongue, somewhat between the "y" of year, and the "L" of length. Because of that difficulty, I suppose Ms. Guillem parents decided to Frenchify it, leaving Gee-LEM.