lmspear

If pantomime has generally been discarded on the grounds that modern audiences don't comprehend it - not bad reasoning, I think; if people are sitting there "reading" what's happening, they're apt to miss the beauty of the movement, or again, worse, if they go home thinking, That's what they do here? Never again!, they'll miss a lot more - they aren't entertained by it, in other words, compared to the few of us who were delighted by the enrichment of detail of familiar matters - to say nothing of the large clarity and flowing grace, the fullness, of these performers' movement - what about that problem? Is the PNB audience likely to "take it"? Or is this project a courageous gamble? Any word on what Boal and his circle think about this (beyond his passing reference to whether Giselle is suitable for kids)?

I think it's time to consider adding surtitles to ballet pantomime. The opera lovers I know really like them.

Graduation Ball. I only saw it once at an ABT performance in the late 70's. I can't say if it was the performance or the ballet; I'd be willing to give it another chance. As I was watching it I was overwhelmed by the cutesy hammy performances and had the strongest negative reaction I have ever had to a ballet. I was grateful that I had not brought along a newcomer to ballet thinking that this was the type of thing that caused people to really hate ballet.

Thank you, Mel. I had always thought of it as a children's film. I appreciate looking at it from a different point of view.

I just came across Hans Christian Andersen on the Hulu sight:

which made me wonder if it had been discussed as a ballet film here. I don't think I've seen it since I was a child and was wondering what people's views of it were. Between Roland Petit, Jeanmaire, and Erik Bruhn there's certainly major talent from the legitimate ballet world participating. I remember a lot of screen time being spent on the creation of The Little Mermaid Ballet and it's premiere. So how does it rate as a depiction of the ballet world and how does it compare to other recent films? If I remember correctly the ballerina had a flamboyant, manipulative personality, but she was sane as opposed to so many other film ballerinas.

While Aranofsky claimed his initial inspiration for the film was to make a live-action Swan Lake, it really doesn't seem that way. Yes, Vincent Cassell plays the Von Rothbart in that he is creating Odile out of Odette, but that's all that really matches. We're only TOLD that Nina is a "perfect Odette" but we never get the idea that she is. And it also seems like the film misses a fantastic opportunity to investigate something not explicit in the Swan Lake story (afaik), the origin of Odile. What exactly is Odile and where does she come from? What is her motivation? Was she also once a princess? Etc. etc.

Friends and I have often played at trying to fill in the blanks in the story. Aronofsky missed the boat as the script reduces the descriptions of the two swans to pure and sensual, good and evil, black and white. Odile isn't seducing Sigfried for her own pleasure, she's doing a job to please "Daddy" Von Rothbart. Odette is fighting for her life and freedom, the story told is that she must find a man who will love and be true to her, it doesn't state that she must love the prince, just that she must take a gamble and make the right choice if she is ever to become a full-time human being again.

The printed versions of the story always identify Odile as Von Rothbart's daughter. How does she imitate Odette so convincingly. The short answer is Von Rothbart's magic. Another possible answer (developed playing fill in the blanks in the plot with friends) is that Odette is also Rothbart's daughter. Odette's mime in act II states that the lake is filled with her mothers tears. We don't know if the mother and Von Rothbart started out as a happy couple or if she was tricked and trapped into the relationship. Did she die or escape and have to leave her daughter behind for whatever unknown reason. It's plausible that the angry grieving magician devised a spell which would keep his daughter with him for ever. We see Odette place herself between Sigfried's crossbow and Von Rothbart and know on a gut level that patricide isn't an option if the spell is to be broken.

It's not just the shared DNA that makes Odile's deception possible. She spent her life observing her big sister. This adds the possibility of serious sibling rivalry issues between O/O.

Accidental duplicate post. Please delete. Thanks.

Dancers Over 40 has posted their tribute to the Radio City Corps on youtube,

There are several segments and the discussion includes dancers from the early years.

Thank you, Bart and Natalia.

I guess that ever since I discovered Kirstein on the library shelf (when you're first allowed access to the adult books) and read everything there before moving on to anything else, I've conflated the collected works into one big glorious multi-volume book in my head. Silly me.

Have Homans and her reviewers and interviewers completely ignored Lincoln Kirstein's writings (i.e. Four Centuries of Ballet: Fifty Masterworks or Movement and Metaphor)?

My nephews who are 17 and 22 have been avid Natalie Portman fans since her first Star Wars movie came out 10 or 11 years ago. Normally they would go to one of her movies immediately. I asked them if they had seen or were planning on seeing Black Swan. After a short discussion they agreed that the commercials were "creepy" and they had no interest in seeing Natalie Portman mistreated and suffering. These are kids who have no problem with torture in spy movies or violence in science fiction or war movies (usually the bigger the explosion, the better). I wasn't expecting their reaction to my question at all. There may be a cohort of young men who refuse to see Black Swan for similar reasons that have nothing to do with ballet.

Francia Russell's comments on Concerto Barocco filmed when staging the work for the Het National Ballet:

Duplicate entry created by mistake. I couldn't see how to delete it. Sorry.

Wow!!! I am humbled and floored by everyone's responses to my little discovery. It makes me feel like I uncovered an artifact that supports evidence for the proof of Atlantis (substitute your Utopia of choice). http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif

Bart, I saw your post when I got back from Sunday brunch where they were playing Ella Fitzgerald in the background. Your post made me see McBride as a balletic Fitzgerald. The sunny personality and beautiful performance quality come to mind when thinking of either one, and then you remember the technical ability (the chops) to do seemingly anything. I would love to see McBride get a Kennedy Center honor in the near future.

I din't know if it's "legal" to post a link to the Chinese site www.tudou.com, but they have the 1973 Concerto Borocco posted here - http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/AnusOmR8-UM/#. The leads are danced by Patricia MacBride, Carol Sumner, and Peter Martins.

One person's "smart" and "snappy" can be another person's "snide" and "self-important".

And that is really part of the problem. It's a fine, thin line where "wittiness" ends and "nastiness" begins. It's SO easy to cross that line in certain contexts. And being in text/print flattens out some nuances of communication where in a coversation a particular comment might sort of "hover" on the acceptable side of that all important line. But in print, without any verbal shadings, the comment is blunt and mean.

Of course it's possible to be witty and nasty. This has example has probably popped into my head because it's food related. David Mamet's comments about Jeremy Piven wanting to leave acting and take up a career as a thermometer when he withdrew from the recent revival of "Speed-the-Plow" was laugh out loud funny the first time read it. My reaction to AM was just to wince.

At 3:21 in this clip from the Dancers Over 40 tribute to Agnes De Mille,

Christine Sarry tells how she was hired because ABT needed a dancer shorter than Lupe Serrano.

There are many treats in the Dancers Over 40 videos.

Olive Oyl!

Carla Fracci with Paolo Bortoluzzi at ABT around 1975.

I have not seen it. The revival did not get positive reviews from the NY critics but if you really want to see it (without the >$100 tickets) there are discounted tickets at the TDF website for some future performances.

Another source for discounted ticket information is the website - http://www.broadwaybox.com/

They have discount codes posted for Broadway, off-Broadway, and other things.

If you must drive into Manhattan for a performance, Icon Parking offers discounts if you present your ticket stubs along with a printed copy of one of the coupons available here - http://www.iconparkingsystems.com/Promotions_Specials.asp

Happy New Year to all!!

Who is the most evil Odile you've seen? I've yet to see a truly evil, complex and treacherous Odile. She's such a challenging character to play, not to mention the technical difficulty of Petipa's choreography. The role demands that she be seductive, magnetic and wicked, plus project enough of Odette's persona to trick Siegfried.

On video Maya Plisetskaya.

I didn't see a topic about this:

http://www.sofaentertainment.com/sullivan-...ends-p-185.html

When I saw this post the first thing that ran through my head was: "Please, please, please, let there be one of Villella's appearances be available at last." Nothing was listed in the information for the dvd. It feels like history is being erased (or at least a favorite part of my childhood). :-(

I saw one performance of the David Blair staging of Swan Lake for ABT led by Martine van Hamel and Jonas Kage that left me with a satisfied feeling that I had seen the best possible performance. Now I don't remember the details of that performance, just a beautiful feeling that that performance was Swan Lake as it was meant to be danced. It would be okay if I didn't get to see it again, but I would always want to see it if given the chance.