Leigh Witchel

Kochetova is the one on my radar as well, Peggy, but I had to choose my dates before the casting went up. Helene, we chose Sai Jai by metaphorically flipping a coin, and it would take me years to eat at all the places I wanted to in the Tenderloin. On a previous trip I checked out Cafe Zitouna, a Moroccan diner a few blocks down (maybe on Post?) which is as much an anthropological experience as a decent meal. Go to watch Moroccan folk (mostly men) hang out over coffee and lemonade. They do couscous as well, of course. I think we need to plan an SF weekend of ballet and food!

I was hoping de-sedimentation was something like Botox, but I fear it's more like colonic irrigation.

From the other spectrum of dance, I felt I had to share this press release: You just can't make stuff like this up.

I was there on opening night and Sunday as well. I'm reviewing so just brief comments - Peggy - I know what you mean about Feijoo. I didn't think her Odette and Odile undifferentiated, but she's like Katherine Hepburn to me. What's she's fabulous at is being Lorena Feijoo. There's a lot to be said for this, but she's not the sort who disappears into the character. I found Tan to be extremely sculptural as Odette, more believable as Odile and impressive but not moving. Tiit Helimets was carrying the emotional weight of the pairing. I agree with Rachel Howard in the Chron about it being a Jane Austen Swan Lake and having problems with that. I would have loved to see Kochetova - if anyone goes, report back! Little tips for nearby - I had time during the day so took a tour of City Hall - there's a fun sound exhibit in the rotunda (walk around and different natural sounds can be heard). I've found a new place for Banh Mi on Larkin Street (such a lovely area ) - Baguette Express. Much better than buy aboard - take two Banh Mi on your plane flight! Really good Thai food to be had around the corner from Larkin at O'Farrell - Sai Jai Thai. It's a diner-y kind of place with a fabulous kitchen. Also, if anyone goes to the Bhutan Exhibit at the Asian Museum I'd like to hear about it.

I'm in San Francisco (actually here for the new production of Swan Lake) but realized they were again showing Milk at the Castro Theater. I had been in the Castro last February when the street had been transformed back to 1978 (including the Chevron sign for gas at .69 a gallon) It felt very meaningful to see the film where it happened.

The RB is dancing their (much more coherent) version of the production at the same time - Ansanelli is dancing the Saturday matinee so I'm going. The alternative at Covent Garden for the Friday Part/Gomes performance is Yanowsky/Bolle, and since I can see Part in NYC, I'll go to the RB as well instead, but may try for the Sat night or Sunday performances.

McBride entered the company in '59 and left in '89 Merrill Ashley joined the company in '67 and left in '97 Nichols joined the company in '74 and left in '07 - I believe hers was the longest career.

One dancer's commentary is another dancer's wit - if it's properly integrated. It also depends on how we take it. I agree with Acocella by and large, but it's possible that the dancers she sees as chief offenders wouldn't be the ones on my list, and vice versa.

Re: In the Middle, Forsythe has made it clear that the competitive attitude of the dancers at Paris Opera weighed heavily on the mood of the piece - I think he recounts a story of one woman oh-so-casually showing off her arch before the audition, and then another, and so on. That became the first moments of the ballet. So that mood is there, but I've seen dancers telegraph that in performance so that the ballet becomes only about attitude. The attitude has to be in and through the dancing, not on top of it. I care most if a dancer seems dishonest to me, subjective as that sounds. Some dancers are naturally flirtatious; some smile all the time. Jeanette Delgado grinned like a madwoman all through Square Dance, but I think it's clear that's what inside (and so must Acocella, as she didn't complain about it.) Whether smiling or not, I've been in situations where a dancer didn't do what I asked on stage - but barring that, the criticism needs to be laid at the feet of the director, not the dancer. S/he's responsible for the look of the ballet, and that includes how the dancers are behaving. In the end, everyone involved needs to realize that mood is part of a ballet, and work appropriately.

Block programming may have also reduced press coverage. With block programming, each program would only be covered on its first night and possibly at a major cast change. While cast changes and debuts are work, and under-rehearsing and overwork causes injury, it's also newsworthy.

Bart, I think you've touched on one of the main differences between the largest companies and the others. In shorthand, when you hear some people discussing a good smaller company, they'll say, "but they don't have two casts." They may have the personnel, but not the right personnel to field two casts. Not that this doesn't happen with the big companies either - there are those dry periods when NYCB didn't really have someone to do Ballo, for instance, even though it was programmed.

The papers and web sites run the pictures they're provided, and they were not provided pictures of the actual casts that danced.

Interesting observations, and thanks to both of you. I'm glad I saw program II - I'm most fond of MCB in Square Dance and wished that they had opened program I with it, instead of Symphony in Three Movements, which I think was the wrong choice for the venue. The funny thing is Symphony in C fits City Center's stage better - even though it has a huge cast, until the finale there are fewer dancers onstage. Miami does the bigger, later version of the finale when Balanchine added dancers for the State Theater - but MCB would need to do that version at their home theater to fill it. What I found interesting watching MCB is that it's the opposite of San Francisco Ballet in its strengths. SFB has invested the bulk of resources into its soloist and principal dancers; they're the strength of the company and the corps de ballet is the weak link. SFB does (if this is possible) a lumpen Symphony in C. MCB's corps are extremely well rehearsed for things more elusive than just being together on steps - their accenting is excellent. I don't know this from first hand experience, but I'd make a strong bet that Roma Sosenko is a very good ballet mistress. MCB does have some interesting soloists (Kronenberg, Jeanette Delgado, Jeremy Cox and Alex Wong all come to mind) but I thought the casting and coaching was often odd. I've never seen a Kabuki version of second movement Symphony in C before. It depended on how you looked at it, one friend found Haiyan Wu ethereal; I found her too artificial and we're both right. That said, I'm glad to see MCB and want to see more of them.

Just let her not get the usual curse, please! (Many dancers so honored have unfortunately met with bad luck shortly after.)

Finger turns are 98% her As the guy, basically, you've just got your finger up there slightly forward of her axis so you're giving her something to hold on to and not throwing her back. You also hope you are tall enough, or at least have arms long enough to stand far enough away from her not to get her knee in retiré in your crotch.

Oh man. That brought back the worst memories of the girl who decided for reasons unknown to anyone to do a contraction while I had her in an overhead press. After I somehow got her down safely without injuring myself as well, we had a rip-roaring argument. That was not a blessed partnership. You never know what makes a good partnership - actually I think I do - I'd say most of the time it's a similar internal timing of movements. One dear friend of mine was extremely light but I dreaded partnering her. Whenever I was getting ready to lift her, her weight was somehow going down and it was as if she weighed 250 pounds. I was nervous partnering one of the best girls in the school - she should have been easy to partner, but I was never comfortable with the way she turned. A partnership forced on me by my teacher blossomed into a lifelong friendship - we discovered we had a lot in common as we worked out how to dance together as well; we both improved together. And one girl (Danielle Lehsten, who danced with Bejart before injury cut her career short) who should have been all wrong for me I still remember with the same excitement as getting to take a Lamborghini out for a test drive. She should have been too tall for me to partner but I innately felt comfortable with how she moved. The biggest trick of all for partnering, at least as a student, is *wanting* to dance with the other person. Once you get there, 50% of the work is done.

It depends on the dancer and it isn't always mirrored by culture. Some very liberated dancers I knew preferred a partner who was very hands-on. Others needed someone to let them do the work and then just come in at the end. Mostly, it depends on how the woman dances. The biggest secret a great female partner has is knowing how to allow the man to do his job. (Trickier than it sounds!)

Misa Kuranaga from Boston Ballet, and either Patricia or Jeanette Delgado (my guess would be Patricia) from Miami.

Wishing you a health, happiness and hope in 2009 Some transcendent ballet would be nice too. From all of us, to all of you.

I saw that same production - no surprise, but Kitt stole the show and I still remember her singing that number.

I didn't see it this go round, but did see Two Pigeons at its premiere last year, and it was worth the trip. It's not the Royal, nor Birmingham, but they did their absolute best by the ballet - which I love, and I think Iain Webb and Margaret Barbieri are a real asset to Sarasota. Keep them on your radar. I wrote a longer piece on the performance for Dance Now (not online, alas) and here's a sort report for DVT - http://www.danceviewtimes.com/2007/12/pigeons-comes-t.html

I'd have to say a lot of Helgi Tomasson's work - the interesting thing is that even if the choreography is beige, it's well-tailored, astute beige. When writing, one of the biggest dilemma is the beige performance, or as I put it, the one that's "fine." I was reporting for a magazine on a triple bill out of NYC on three ballets very familiar in NYC. It was fine. It wasn't bad. It was fine. It wasn't markedly different than the interpretations given in New York, the dancers weren't doing much that was notable, the ballets are well-known here and the performances just gave me very little to say. Reviews like that feel like having to give a 45 minute talk on a five minute topic.

Thank you for the report Cygneblanc - there were no premier danseur positions open to compete for this year?

Cuthbertson and Pennefather both made principal at the Royal this year after rocketing up the ranks - a lot of hopes are pinned to both of them because they're THE English principals (so is Watson, I believe) Pennefather got his major break in '04 when he filled in as Aminta in Sylvia (and I thought him the best of the lot). He was very good as Desire in Beauty and also James in La Sylphide. Cuthbertson was a particularly good Lilac. They're both quite young and being pushed forward quickly. I think you'd find them significantly better actors than either were when this was filmed.

I doubt she does anymore.