Victoria Leigh

An interesting question, Sarabeth I think there may be some slightly different thinking about this these days, with some gradual changes happening. More directors, teachers and choreographers are aware of the dangers inherent in the overly thin bodies that too many dancers were achieving through very unnatural means. While a dancers' body must still "look like a dancer", perhaps they don't have to be quite as totally emaciated as they were for a while. This would be good, I think, as long as it doesn't go too far in the other direction ;)

It has not yet been decided who will be taking over in Houston. Ben is there for one more year, technically. So, there really are no implications yet. It will be interesting to see what develops in the next year.

Take a look in the Adult Ballet Students' forum, primapink. There is a topic there on Books about Pointe Technique. It's an active topic, relatively new.

Just a note to clarify something on your list, Jeannie. Elizabeth Gahl did not enter the competition. She was accepted, but decided against attending.

It may have been that developpé up to her ear in Giselle that did her in, Paquita! It's fine for In the middle...but definitely not for Giselle

I don't know of any rules about it. Not sure why they are not called guests in this case. I doubt that many outside of the superstars can make a living at it, and I also doubt that there are many true free-lancers, although I don't have any statistics on that. I would hope that the dancers in the companies you mention above are company members somewhere, as they certainly cannot make a living with the number of performances available in these companies. I know most, if not all, of Farrell's dancers were from major companies, but I'm not sure about DanceGalaxy and Dance as Ever.

I was there last night, and agree very much with Alexandra, although not on a comparative basis, as I did not see the first night. However, I thought Maria Alexandrova was absolutely wonderful! I loved her last year in Don Q (as Mercedes, did not see her Kitri), and really wonder why she is still a soloist and not a principal. She is beautiful, incredibly strong, and does everything well. Her grand jetés are, to use the term my students would use, AWESOME! I LOVED Ivanchenko! Everything he did was clean, his elevation astounding and the landings like on a pillow! Never a sound. He did not "sell", or shove the technique in your face, ever. It was easy and elegant. Beautiful! Volochkova was a pleasant surprise, as, after reading some other things about her earlier, I was prepared to not like her. I liked her very much, except for the VERY noisy pointe shoes. Could not figure that out, because no one else made any noise at all. Either she has the world's worst shoes, or they were brand new in each act and not broken in, or, possibly she just does not use her feet well enough when walking or running, although it did not look like that. Anyway, she is very beautiful, and did a lovely job last night. The corps was very fine in all of the classical work, although I did also notice how thin their legs were. Found that quite strange. The production, in terms of the first two acts, is often over the top in unnecessary old-fashioned things like the Dance with the Drum, and the poorly done mime. My friend and I both thought it was reminiscent of Spartacus and other overacted Bolshoi work from the past. The drum dance was just horrendous, and that alone probably drove a number of people away before the third act. We were in the second row, way on the side, not good seats, but, after the second act we were able to move back a few rows and to see more of the stage and also the feet, which you cannot see from second row. We noticed several empty seats around at that time, which had not been there before.

Thank you, Michael. It is a real treat to read some positive words about ABT. So far this season it seems that opinions in general have been more positive, which is really lovely after what seems like a long time of struggle for this company, in terms of reviews, anyway

Sylvie, there is a another thread entitled SAB workshop, with several reviews already posted. It is in the Recent Performances category. I'm closing this thread, or it will get very confusing

Justafan, to answer your question on choreography, it appears to me that the contemporary choreographers, at least most of them, seem to have a very limited movement vocabulary. It all looks the same because it is all the same. Gimmicky, quirky, whatever, in order to try and make it look different, but it all comes down to still looking the same. (I am not speaking specifically of last night's performance, as I have not seen it all yet, only bits and pieces, none of which attracted my interest enough to make me settle down and watch it. I did not see the last hour at all.)

Glebb, to my knowledge (which certainly does have limitations :eek: ), there is no name for this position. But, maybe there is and I just don't know about it! How about rétiré devant à terre? Would that work? ;)

Just a thought from a different perspective, BW, and that is I'm not sure you want to learn to see it the way some of us do! The more you know, especially about technique, the harder it is to really enjoy a performance. As an audience member, and especially one who wants to express an opinion in writing here on the board, the main thing is whether you enjoyed it or not, and maybe some of the whys that you do know. You don't have to be technically knowledgable to know, for instance, that the costumes were glorious or ugly, or that the ballet made no sense, or that it made no sense but was still quite lovely to watch! And if the dancers looked very fine to you, then saying that is quite fine too The fact that some of us are going to pick them apart technically does not make your opinion any less valid. You have to remember that we do tend to be a bit hypercritical sometimes ;)

Thanks, 2Left, I had not heard of the Swayze/Thomas film. Sounds interesting. I understand that the Altman film is going to be using the Joffrey company!

Hello Amy_Dance, welcome to Ballet Alert! Online When responding to a post, please click on the Post Reply button under that post, instead of starting a new thread I am merging this topic into the topic which already exists on Julie Kent.

If elegantly beautiful, both off stage and on, constitute the title of this thread, then my vote goes to Toni Lander!

Ah, Alonso! I did see her then, Glebb, but I wish I remembered more. I was a bit young and not too aware at the time. I saw her with Youskevitch, in Giselle. Memories are vague.

Dance Magazine and Pointe Magazine are both very good, Em. www.dancemagazine.com www.pointemagazine.com

I think it is true, Em, in most cases anyway.

bumblebee, I believe it is Gage Bush.

Allegro, I have this book, and I know what you mean about her body type, but she was an amazing dancer! She was a major star of the Bolshoi Ballet for many years, and there are films of her out there somewhere. She is on some of the video tapes that are available too. I saw a film of her in Giselle, and I thought she was very special. But yes, the technique and the look are somewhat different today in terms of what one expects to see. But the artistry, that was the difference

Jeannie, I responded to that article on the place where it was originally linked, but not sure what day that was. Anyway, I felt that Anderson was extremely kind, but also inaccurate when he said half an hour. The Gala was scheduled for 7 and it started after 8. And he did not go into the serious problems that really happened there. The sound system damaged one variation. The sound technician damaged two other works, including the grand pas danced by Savaliev and Reyes. Badly. The dancers did indeed do a very good job of carrying on. The awards were, IMO, fair and well deserved. I had no problems with that part of it at all, other than the way they were presented. Lots of talent there from lots of places! But the event, all of it, not just the Gala, was a totally disorganized fiasco.

Hello HazelBee! You will receive a warm welcome from our "official" and most wonderful Welcome Lady, Giannina, later, but I just wanted to tell you that if you would like help from this board your question will need to be posted in an appropriate forum and the responses will come there. Your email address is not visible in your profile to anyone but the Administrator. The purpose of this board is to discuss topics about ballet, and certainly to answer any pertinent questions. There are forums for technique questions (Teens and Special Groups), History, Choreographers, etc. No one will do your homework for you, but some people might be able to help you find what you are looking for. There have been discussions on the board about the Bourne Swan Lake, but I don't believe I have ever heard of the other choreographer or those ballets. Perhpas someone else will know more. I'm not sure where to move this, probably Choreographers forum, but will leave it for now as I must rush off to work.

Oh pumukau, thank you SO much for posting that brilliant piece of writing! What an amazingly beautiful and insightful article about the great genius of Tudor. It made me realize all over again why I have always so loved his work. But I have never ever been able to articulate it, so it was heartening to hear that you also find it a challenge to write about his work. And what you said, in that last paragraph about the challenge being because he never told anyone what to think, also included the dancers. Instead he taught us how to think. He taught us how to develop a character that we understood, that we knew who we were, why we were there at that moment in time, and where we had come from. But he did not do it for us. He made us find it. It was an important part of his genius.

Washington Ballet's Spring Concert for their top level students will be May 23, 7:00 at Schlessinger Theater on the Northern VA Community College Alexandria Campus. This will be a first time in this venue, and I have not seen it yet. We have been at Lisner Auditorium in downtown DC in the past. Anyway, there will be sections of La Bayadere, Act I and all of the Shades scene, a Vivaldi ballet by Lynn Cote, and a new work that I have done for my Level 6 class. It is Tartini's Trumpet Concerto in D major and I'm calling it Trombe che balla, (Dancing Trumpet). There will also be a modern work presented by each of the three levels in this performance.

Thank you for posting that, Alexandra! I would like to send a bouquet to Joseph Carman for writing it, too. Wonderful article, but depressing too because of the startling lack of Tudor's work in NY and some of the ballets not having been seen in so many years. Romeo and Juliet is one that I never even saw, and would so love to see. I hope Kevin will be able to find the means to present it in ABT. It is a crime, IMO, that they are not doing Tudor every season. Very sad too that they don't seem to have the dancers to handle that repertoire.