Victoria Leigh

Great idea, Alexandra I will start off with a few that I think are relatively important ;): Barre - pronounced bar ( I put this in because a LOT of people misspell this word) Plié - plee AY; bending movement, as in demi plié and grande plié Tendu - tahn dew; from etendre, to stretch. It is a stretch of the foot to a pointed position in front, side or back. Dégagé - day gah ZHAY; also known as glissé or battement jeté. An elongated tendu, one which disengages from the floor. Rond de jambe - rond duh zhamb; round of the leg. The working leg moves in a circular motion, either front to back (en dehors) or back to front (en dedans). En dehors - on duh OR; outward, moving away from center, or front to back En dedans - on duh DAHN; inward, moving towards the center, or back to front Port de bras - por duh bra; carriage of the arms Fondu - just as it looks, fondu; melting acting, as in bending on one leg into a demi plié Frappé - frap AY; to strike. An exercise at the barre for quick ankle and knee motion. Can be done with an actual strike on the floor with the ball of the foot, or with a pointed foot. Different methods do this exercise rather differently. Retiré- ruh tee RAY; withdraw. A position of the working leg with the toe on the knee of the supporting leg, used for pirouettes and pointe work and on the way to a developpé. Developpé - dev low PAY; to unfold or develop. Leg moves from 5th with toe sliding up the leg to the knee and then unfolding outward to the front, the side, or the back. Petit Battement - puh tee bat mahn; small beats. Working foot moves very quickly back and front around the ankle in a sur le cou de pied position. Grand Battement - grand bat mahn; big beats An overgrown dégagé! Working leg goes through tendu and dégagé and is "thrown", or lifted, to a position as high as possible (within reason of course ;)), and comes down through the tendu and into the 5th position.

Okay, I think I have finally figured this out! When you are in View New Posts and you decide to respond to a post, and then after you post your reply you click on View New Posts, it takes you back to a refreshed page. This means that the page you had is now gone, and only posts made since you were last on that page show up. HOWEVER, if you go back to View New Posts by clicking the Back button, it will bring you back to the same page you had before, so that you can finish going down the list of those topics! It takes 3 clicks on Back instead of 1 on VNP, but, it works. :party: Love the new emoticon Alexandra!!!

I don't know any in Washington, but there is a very good one at Oklahoma City University. It is directed by Jo Rowan.

Sylvie, I have not seen the video, but I have been in productions of Giselle where she was the guest artiste, and I loved her in it, especially the mad scene! She was different every performance, and it was always very real and very moving. I found her quite fascinating!

Welcome to Ballet Alert! Online, Rosa Maria! We are delighted that you have joined us from Paris! (But we do miss you here at WB too. )

If you go to the forum for American Ballet Companies, San Francisco Ballet, you will see a topic on Othello on PBS, which is into it's second page of posts! I'm closing this one, as it is a duplicate topic

I'm afraid that my opinion differs quite a bit, Fred I had a hard time staying with it, and only survived because of the dancing by the principals, who I agree were wonderful. Desmond Richardson, Parrish Maynard, and of course Yuan Yuan Tan, were exceptional. However, I found the score horrible, and most of the choreography, with the exeption of the first pas for Desdemona and Othello, and a couple of other way too brief moments, quite ghastly. IMO these dancers deserved far better choroegraphy and this is not something I will ever watch again, even though I taped it.

Orchestra, no further back than middle, and of course center! Not that I can always do that, but that would be my choice. Don't like up or far back, can't see faces. Don't like watching ballet through binoculars

My TV is always on! I'm a news junky, but also love the dramas like West Wing, The Practice, Law & Order, The District, Judging Amy, and of course ER!

ABT at Carter Barron, many years ago. We were in the middle of Graduation Ball when the thunder storm hit. Within seconds people were sliding on the stage, and we had to stop the performance. Many audience members stayed, sitting there with their umbrellas open, hoping that it would stop, but it did not.

The two demi-soloists are called "miseries", but I don't think they are usually listed that way in the program. Not sure why or where that comes from, but I do remember them being called by that name.

Agnes deMille!

Florida. Need I say more? Not only was there little to no art emphasis in the schools, I did not have it at home either. I did have drama in junior and senior high school, but no music or art courses at all. How did I get into classical dance to this extent? Who knows? I was considered a total freak by my family ;) But, they supported me, and started my ballet lessons at 4, and from 13 on I was scholarshipped, so I guess I was one of the very fortunate ones, even without some of the things others had at home or school. I educated myself, with the encouragement of my ballet teacher. Ballet can be an education in all of the arts, as long as some one opens the doors and shows you the way. The appreciation and love for music came early, and I used to play opera and classical music in my bedroom at home. My parents did not like it. Knowledge and appreciation for other arts came later, and developed over the years as a dancer and even more during the years of becoming a teacher. The most important was the ballet teachers, and there I was very, very fortunate.

Thank you for finding and posting that, grace! Very interesting, and fun too

No, ABT has not "replaced" NYCB as the top company, it has always been the top company! ;) (Sorry, had to say it, but I know that my prejudice and loyalty in regard to ABT are well known here!) What I loved about Tobias' article is her wonderful description of Cojocaru, in terms of how she moves, but even more in terms of the things which are so hard to describe: "The most significant thing about Cojocaru, though, is her tremendous expressive power -- the very element missing in today's typical ballet star. I wouldn't say that Cojocaru acts her roles superbly -- her performances are uncannily innocent of contrivance -- but that she embodies them. She becomes her character, reacting so spontaneously that turns in the plot seem to surprise her. The last time we saw this phenomenon, this impassioned immediacy, was with Gelsey Kirkland. The model for it in living memory is Margot Fonteyn." Welcome back Tobi Tobias! "Impassioned immedicacy".... two words that tell us so much! Wonderful.

Oops, knew I should not have posted that! Sorry, but I think I will remove that post, as I simply do not have the time and facility to make multiple copies of anything. This is a 6 hour thing, and I have to do it at work at a time when I can find two machines not being used. That means doing it a bit at a time. Post above gone, bad idea! Sorry

Right Pamela, and a thought that brings us back to the original purpose of this topic, which was the idea of creating a "star" as opposed to an artist. It is my feeling that the competitions generally lend themselves towards the kind of work which may well create a star dancer, or one who is exceptional technically for her/his age, and can do lots of tricks with much flash and dash. Creating an artist is a whole different thing, and the long, slow training process, followed by a proper progression to performance is ignored. Developing an artist is just not about how many pirouettes or fouettés, or how high the jump or extension. My original "thesis" here was that competitions encourage the flashy whiz bang dancers with exceptional technical ability, and then companies take them and make them "stars" before they have had a chance to develop as artists and grow into the principal roles in major ballets. There is a certain amount of maturity necessary that sometimes is just not given a chance. When they become "stars" before they have matured to the point of being able to handle the major roles, UNDERSTAND the roles, and handle the pressure, it can destroy rather than build. I feel that this happened with Paloma, and the years of yo-yoing have shown that. The reports now that she is coming into her own and finally showing signs of becoming the ballerina that she showed the potential a long time ago to become are great news, however, I think those years of ups and downs could have been avoided.

No, because to do a classical Swan Lake you need classically trained dancers. NYCB has neither a classical Swan Lake nor classically trained dancers. ABT has the dancers. They need to go back to the Blair production, IMO. Maybe not perfect, but certainly far better than this one.

My understanding is that there is usually a list of variations for each category, juniors, seniors, men. The teachers or coaches, along with the students, then select the variation or variations they will present. Usually there is also a contemporary variation, which can be something new that is choreographed for the student by the teacher or someone from the studio they attend. In the professional competitions I would think that the company director would select the dancers and the work they present. I know that Ben Stevenson did whenever he took someone to Jackson, or even to Prix de Lausanne. He also choreographed their contemporary work.

Thanks, Glebb Actually, the one you speak of is dancing Odette, not Odile. While she is a solid and consistent turner, she is not the whiz bang fast turner doing the triple fouettés! However, she has indeed developed into a graduating senior with an excellent potential for a future in ballet. Her artistry and musicality, as well as technical strength are exceptional, and I am looking forward to her performances as Odette next week. Dale, thank you! I was indeed speaking totally about competitions in general, as well as expoloitation of talented young dancers, and not of any one competition. I also love the "spice" part of your post!

Tango, while I don't like the idea of competitions in ballet, I have also said before and will say again, if it helps dancers who are ready to enter the profession to get a job, then wonderful! I'm absolutely TOTALLY in favor of dancers getting contracts.....otherwise why would I be teaching! ;) For dancers who are 18 or 19, and ready to do this kind of work, as long as they are properly coached in terms of ballet being an art form and not a circus, if it leads to a better future for them I think it's great. However, I still thing that in general the wrong values are placed on competitions and that winning a gold medal should not be the ideal for an aspiring dancer. Winning a contract, however, well, that I can deal with!

I was not speaking of YAGP and did not mention it in my post. The only mention at all was in the quote used in relation to the photos. I am very glad to hear that some of the less "flashy" dancers won this year, and that there is more attention being paid to artistry. Perhaps some of the various rantings on this board have helped to bring about some of the changes, who knows!

Amen.

The following is a quote from a post by carbro on ABT Week 2 thread: "Paloma has undergone an amazing transformation. There has never been any doubt about her technical abilities. She has lovely line and a good ear. But this dancer has often failed to engage either dramatically or with her partner, to project personality or dramatic action, or to fill out adagio passages. Forget that old Paloma. The new Paloma brought to Nikiya a passion, a freshness, and moments of great beauty. Every act revealed a new aspect of a newly mature ballerina. This was the performance of her career." And this quote is by Dale, on the Dropped Crotch thread on Issues: "On the yagp web site, most of the pictures feature ultra-high extentions, over stretched jumps and contorted line, even in tutus. Probably not a good sign. " I chose these two quotes because they illustrate points I have made a few times before about competitions and about companies who exploit rather than develop very young talent. In the case of Paloma Herrera, my feeling has always been that she was enormously talented, however they chose to make her a big star before she had the chance to develop any artistic maturity. She did too much too soon. Huge roles, huge pressure, and she has been through some very rough years where her performances were like a yo-yo. I am delighted to hear that she has matured and is now looking like she is living up to that wonderful potential, but it should not have taken all these years. It's a wonder to me that she survived. Dales' quote says it all about competitions. The values they look for and applaud can, and probably will in many cases, IMO, develop the same kinds of problems. The focus is on how many, how high, how young, and promotes very young dancers doing the kinds of tricks and variations that were intended for mature dancers of ballerina and soloist status. Those who can do it, because of a lot of natural facility and endless hours of rehearsal on 3 variations, and of course solid technical training, are highly encouraged and win prizes. While some might be beautifully coached on the artistry and musicality, I find that most are not. While some in older teen groups are ready to work on these things, those in the younger teen groups are not. And, there is a risk with the younger ones especially, but with all to some extent, of overwork and injury. The kind of work needed for these events, if done during a growth spurt, could indeed lead to very serious injury. Is it worth it? The child becomes a "star", the studio and teacher or coach receive recognition, and everyone is happy. Hmmm.... *Note: This thread was copied from the Teacher's forum. It still exists there for Teachers, but moved it here so that parents and anyone else could respond.

http://www.yagp.org/eng/gallery.asp?setnum...me=2002&phnum=2 Check out the above for a photo of a REALLY dropped crotch grand jeté or saut de chat. However, there is another photo of this dancer that is lovely, and, I saw her and she is a beautiful dancer. This particular photo is singled out just to illustrate the real oversplit grand jeté that is beyond even that caused by hyperextension.