Victoria Leigh

You can see the hyperextension clearly in the extended leg in the top photo, as well as the front leg in the grand jeté. This much flexibility along with the hyperextension can make incredible lines, or it can cause the line to be destroyed by going too far. Hard to regulate sometimes, especially in a big jump! ;) I would add that this particular jeté was probably quite wonderful in action, and when not stopped at the top moment by the camera, as Amy questioned above.

Dancers who dance Tudor well are dancers who understand the meaning of subtlety Artistry depends on many things, but very importantly the ability to dance the role as conceived by the choreographer. If an "in your face" approach is called for, then it would be valid. Otherwise, I don't think so! But there are many roles which can be danced with a great deal of artistry and yet not be very subtle ;)

I haven't seen the video, silvy, however I have no doubts that Ms. Alonso was quite capable of 5 pirouettes! She was indeed both an artist and a virtuoso

Hello dancerscheese, welcome to Ballet Alert! Online Actually, we can have both, but it is a matter of teaching, coaching, and taste. Teachers and coaches who have enough taste to remain faithful to classical technique will not allow this nonsense of extension uber alles, however, there are some who seem to treat the dancers like circus performers and only work on the tricks and ignore the technique, musicality, and artistry. The competitions promote this to a great extent, which is why I don't have much use for them.

Sometimes they do, floss. It depends on the judges and their values. If they are looking for schooling and artistry, those who just get their legs up and pull off the tricks don't win, but it seems to me that it is usually the "whiz bangs" who win. I find this especially troubling in the younger teens, as it promotes the development of very young dancers ripping through classical variations which are intended for principal dancers, or soloists at the very least. The difficulty of these variations, which were not intended for children, forces them to focus on things which, IMO, are not the important things at that stage of their development. It can push them into too much too soon, and, with those who do have the physical facility to do it, develops prodigies. I find this potentially dangerous, and just not the best way to develop a dancer/artist. (I'm not talking about 17-18-19 year olds here, but the younger teens and pre-teens who are involved in competitive dance. The older teens should be working on these variations, and if the competitions can help them to get jobs, then I can accept that, as of course dancers getting jobs in companies is kind of important ;) However, I still would prefer to think that dancers get jobs through auditions rather than winning competitions. I may be old-fashioned in this thinking, but I still prefer to see dancers develop through the ranks. Sometimes they become "stars" before they become dancers, or at least well before they become young artists.

The styles are existing side by side. Whether they are putting the dancers at higher risk or not has not been proven, although there is a lot of speculation that the very acrobatic work of some of the choreographers could be causing more injuries. I don't believe any data exists on this however, and I would like to hope that at least most of the schools are still teaching essentially correct technique.

RAD, Vaganova and Cecchetti are methods. I was talking styles. ;) There are a lot of different company styles and choreographer styles out there. Many variations on the theme of what some of us think is classical technique.

Floss, your fear is not without justification, I'm afraid. The bigger, higher, better mentality exists out there in a lot of places, and it's fostered, at least in part, and also IMO, by placing ballet in the arena of competitive events. However, there are also some styles of training which do not seem to believe that having the leg in the back, as opposed to partially out to the side, is necessary. I guess they have a totally different sense of line than most of us have been taught to recognize.

One of the reasons is that extension has become the main focus. People are not seeing the lack of alignment, placement, position of the leg, rotation, LINE, or anything else, as long as the leg is whacked up as high as it can go. Those two photos illustrate rather clearly the difference. One has LINE, the other does not. The one in the tutu has a supporting leg that is not turned out, she is not all the way over the foot, the "arabesque" leg is not even close to being behind her, so it is more of an "alabesque", and it has no line. The whole position has no line. But even the students are not seeing this. They see the hip, but they still, at the least the ones who have responded so far, are not really seeing the back leg way out, nor noticing the supporting leg, nor seeing the overall lack of line. Very depressing. If the students don't see it, how is the audience supposed to see it?

No, but the company was rehearsing in our studios on Friday, and I have never seen so many TALL dancers in one place in my life! Lots of very tall males, and the females also extremely tall and long...and extremely thin. Many looked so much alike physically that is was almost scary. The extreme thinness was also scary.

Päivi, I think it's just a matter of a slight difference of interpretation, and perhaps also just use of certain words to describe it. While the French word épaulé does, in my understanding, mean shoulder, and épaulement would be shouldering I think, in the Russian school it seems to mean the general use of the upper body, ie, that it is always used as a normal part of movement. This exists in all methods too, however, some schools have specific positions they call épaulé, plus they use the term to mean add more upper body movement to the work. As Hans said, even in Cecchetti, there is a twisting, (or rotating of the upper spine) in certain postions. And, épaulement is used throughout even though it might not be called by that name. I don't believe anyone is indicating that the shoulders remain square to the hips at all times! I think when we see a dancer with a lovely upper body we tend to think of her/him as having wonderful épaulement, and even though this could mean a specific action in some ways, it really means that they are using the upper body well and creating movement which has a most pleasing shape and design and flow, as opposed to someone who might have great technique in many ways below the waist but does not necessarily have beautiful use of the entire body. Does this help at all?

Ever heard of wigs, balletstar? ;) But all Spaniards do not have dark hair. There actually are blonds there too

I would ask Tudor how he chose his stories and music, about his musicality, and how he managed to to teach me so much in a few rehearsals! Essentially, like Hans, I would ask for a choreography lesson!

Treefrog, a young dancer who is creative, imaginative, and especially, musical, first needs to become the very best dancer she can be. In college there are dance composition courses, history, and more music and arts studies that can broaden her horizons and lead towards development of choreographic skills. College dance programs, and there are a few good ballet programs as well as modern dance programs out there, provide the opportunity for choreography, and seriously encourage the young choreographers. A lot of the skills are learned by doing, and the sooner one starts, the better. When I had my own school we started the Level 2 students with improvisation for a minute or two on the Studio Concerts we had several times a year. By Level 3 they were led into a bit more structure in actually setting a very short solo for themselves. In Level 4 they were given more time for their piece, and more help on music, structure, use of space, etc. By the upper levels those who showed the interest and desire were starting group pieces and eventually, for graduation, a longer work for a group of top level dancers. Not all students did this, of course, however those who showed the potential were encouraged and developed. By starting them this way, choreography was not something quite so daunting, and many really wanted to do it for every performance! One year I had a young dancer who was about 13 or 14, still not even in top level, who was showing an absolutely amazing ability to move groups and come up with very creative work. She went on to major in dance, and, in addition to choreography she specialized in creative movement and ballet for very young dancers. She is now teaching pre-ballet in a major school while pursuing a graduate degree in Arts Management, and continues to do choreography for a group of her own. Another of our more promising students in this area has become a constantly working and award-winning choreographer for musicals and cruise ships.

Diane, your Private Message feature is active, so you can send and receive message It's done through the personal control panel, which is the little button up there that says user cp.

Silvy, I think, if I have the time to rehearse on the stage, that I would possibly adjust the direction of the turns a bit, and also just really hold the weight back further than normal on each turn and développé. Try taking the turns across the stage instead of on the downstage diagonal, or, start really far back and do a shallow diagonal instead of a steep one, so you don't end up so far downstage

Just a couple of thoughts about ABT in the past. During the years that I am most familiar with, especially the time that I was there, it seems to me that the eclectic repertoire was very much a part of "who they were", and it created the need for emploi among the dancers, especially the principal dancers. The roles danced by Toni Lander and Lupe Serrano were ususally different, although there were some crossovers there. But Ruth Ann Koesun and Sallie Wilson had their own roles, for the most part. Royes Fernandez was the classical prince, Bruce Marks the dramatic roles, Johnny Kriza the "Americana" roles or character roles, etc. There were often guest artists, usually in the very classical works. Erik Bruhn, Margot Fonteyn, Tallchief, and Nureyev all appeared during those years. Bruhn more extensively than others. The corps de ballet were dancers who were well trained but not stylized in one particular method, and seemed to be able to dance Les Sylphides, La Sylphide, Swan Lake, as well as the Tudor rep, the DeMille rep, Billy the Kid, Caprichios, some Balanchine work, and even some Tetley work. Some might argue, but I felt that we were able to adapt to the style of Tudor as well as to the classics and neoclassics which we were given to dance. Dimitri Romanov coached Les Sylphides to the eyelash! Tudor coached his own work, as did DeMille, Loring, Ross, and Tetley. We did Robbins Les Noces too, which I will say was definitely one of the more challenging works for many of us! So, I think, at least at that time, while there was "no style", it was intentional and it worked. IMO, of course, which is admittedly somewhat prejudiced! ;)

Well, there are numerous versions of Carmen as a ballet, and then there is Stanton Welch's Madama Butterfly. And there are some versions also of La Dame aux Camelia, which is based on La Traviata. And how about Carmina Burana? Is that not an opera?

Rachel, alt arts ballet is a newsgroup, not a web site. You get there by going to Newsgroups, and then alt arts ballet. It used to be a very good place, a few years ago, but that was when most of the people who are now on BA were there ;)

rkoretzky, I can't be there, however life here in DC is quite normal There may be a bit more security than usual around certain things, like the White House and the Capitol, but most of us see no change in our day to day lives at all.

I tend to think very much like Hans in most of this discussion, but I just have to say that, no matter how you think of it, it is a lot of fun to dance! It is challenging and interesting. But, that is how I felt about all of the Balanchine works which I danced. They were, for me, always a lot more interesting to do than to watch.

Hi silvy I'm going to move this post into the Ballets forum, where it will get the proper attention. The Pro shop is more about costumes and sets and design.

I believe Christopher is the son of Kent Stowell and Francia Russell of PNB

I'm totally with you on this, carbro! Not fond of the broken line at all.

Okay, I'll go out on a limb and say it. IMO, of course, bad taste was epitomized by two major works, Kevin's Nutz and Peter's Lac. The productions, the concepts, the sets, the costumes, and the choreography were....understatement of the decade....just not to my taste. :rolleyes: