Victoria Leigh

Hans, check today's Links. It's there. It was from the NJ Star Ledger. A totally "ghastly, abominable, and disgusting" review, IMO. I did not see the performance, but I just don't believe in using language like that in any review, much less with children

I'm here grace, but I haven't recommended anything on this thread! Have not posted on this one ;) I have recommended David Howard's CD's before, but not specifically the ones played by Lynn Stanford.

Unfortunately, primaballerina13, it's more than just "their" problem. When a phone rings during a performance it affects everyone within earshot, and is extremely annoying. Having them turned off should be a law. Banning them would be extreme, and certainly almost unenforcable. People have them, and they need them, and you can't ask them to come from work or wherever and not even have their phones with them. But, you can ask them to turn them off, and that could be a law with a punishable fine for not doing it!

Oh, that's good, Lolly! I like that idea

Living without a cell phone today is as bad as being without internet access! You're in the stone age! ;) Seriously, I don't think they can be banned. People have them. Most people. They carry them with them because they always want or need to be accessible, for many reasons. However, having them turned on, in the theatre, is inexcusable I forgot once, but the announcement woke me up, fortunately. People tend to not listen to the same old, same old annoucements, so maybe some way for the the stage manager, or whoever does the announcing, to make that particlular message something different, or louder, or an afterthought that startles them, or something. Anything. If jamming is illegal, there is no other solution but that and vigilent ushers, as with flash photos.

Some of them might be considered that way, depending on how they are handled and the type of coaching the dancers have and the kind of work and coaching they receive on the artistry and musicality and not just the tricks. Personally, I don't feel that ballet belongs in a competition. Competition indicates something that can be objectively decided, with a score, or time or a distance, etc. Ballet is totally subjective, and I do not find it suitable for competition. Ballet is not about winning, it's about art. It's the training and the performing that are important, not "winning". The only valid reason I can think of at all is for dancers who are company ready, and looking for a job. If they can be seen on stage and get a job that way, more power to them. But it's just not, IMO of course, about Gold Medals.

Thank you!

How long is this thing? The website does NOT say! I don't know how long to set the VCR!

Hello laureyj, welcome to Ballet Talk on Ballet Alert! Online I think you are preaching mostly to the choir here! Most of us feel very much as you do, but the problem is that many of the company directors, the boards, and maybe even the regular audience members don't seem to agree. They all want new and different, which is fine, as long as there are also classics and as long as the new and different are not garbage, which, unfortunately, so many of them are. There has been a lot of discussion about this here, in various forums and threads, but I think we all truly respect and love the classics. And the dancers, teachers, and critics do, for sure!

I have been saving this book for this particular weekend, because I'm doing an audition tour to New England by train! No better place for concentrated reading I have 4 days and a lot train hours, so really looking forward to it!!!

Interesting question, Jane. Also interesting response from Wendy Whelan, and I can understand what she means, although I did not have a lot of ballets created for me. Because of my legs and feet and extension, and very "classical look", I guess, I was always cast in the tutu roles, and there were a lot of dramatic roles which I really, really wanted to do! A couple of choreographers did discover this, and I had a few very good roles, but I doubt that the director at the time would have cast me in those roles. (Thank you Tudor and Ross, and then a few others which came after the ABT years! )

There are lots of great songs from Broadway shows which work wonderfully for classes! With a good pianist, or even with CD's using orchestrated (non-vocal) versions, these can be very effective. Of course I also love opera music, which many pianists use quite a bit. But the great music of Cole, Kern, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Weber, and especially Bernstein is really good for many types of ballet combinations. West Side Story has a lot of good things!

Hello Fred, and welcome to Ballet Alert! Online While I would not want to do a whole class with modern or pop or contemporary music, and I do feel it's important for ballet students to hear as many of the classics as possible, I do think it is not a bad idea to mix things up a bit...sometimes! Not all the time. After all, the students who are going to dance professionally may or may not be in a ballet company. Some may do modern dance, Broadway, Rock Video, MTV, whatever. (Not that I would use Rock music in class ;) ) And, in ballet companies today one will dance quite a lot of contemporary works with very modern music. My point is that some variety in classes is good, as long as it is used well and rythmically appropriate for the work.

I think perhaps the term "cookie cutter" is not quite what was meant in terms of a really beautiful and cohesive corps de ballet. Not sure what term would be used, but I think that the corps, as Leigh said, will be most effective if they all think alike, and have that "uniformity of impulse" which comes from the same schooling. Do they all have to be trained in the same school, as in the Kirov Academy? It makes it more efficient, of course, however I think that well trained dancers from different schools can be taught to work as a corps. The problem comes when there is no attention paid to these details and the rehearsal time found to bring them all into the same way of doing the choreography, hearing the music, placing their arabesques, and most especially the use of the upper body, arms, and head. Some companies in this country seem to be able to achieve this to some extent, others look as if they don't even try. I have seen the corps of ABT in recent years look absolutely wonderful, and I have seen them look ragged and far too diverse in both style and size. Different sizes, as long as the range is not too extreme, do not have to be a problem as long as they are blended well in terms of placing them. They do not have to all be 5'5" for instance, but, if you have some who are 5'1" and some who are 5'9", this could rather seriously affect the overall look of the corps in a "white" ballet. If they blend from about, say 5'3 or 4" to 5'6 or 7", with the right sizes between the two extremes, it can be fine. It can be a matter of how they are used and placed and trained to move, and if it is well done one will not even notice the size differences. In companies the size of ABT and NYCB, for instance, I don't see why they can't have a wide range of sizes in the corps, since there are enough of them to not use them all at the same time. In the regional companies large enough to do the white ballets but with 50 dancers instead of 80 or more, then they will have to have more at least similar size. In companies which perform mostly contemporary works a wide range can be effectively used as there really is no corps de ballet!

Where in Washington? Seattle? Tacoma? Spokane? Olympia? Or are you speaking of Washington, DC?

Marianna, that is fascinating information! Thank you so much for telling us about this history, and I will look forward to your next parts! Do tell us more about Ulanova, and how she helped the ballet develop in Alma-Ata! (By the way, your English is most impressive!)

One only needs to see the DVD of the Bell Telephone Hour performances to see it. And this is amazing, since those things were filmed in an impossible space on a more impossible floor! Some of the performances by others, including Nureyev, are totally underwhelming, however Erik Bruhn is absolutely gorgeous in every one of them! Even the first one on the DVD, which is a totally dreadful Don Q, horribly staged and using some most unattractive and unnecessary extra dancers to fill the spaces between sections of the pas. Really bad idea, which I understand was Erik's. And Tallchief in this one I won't even discuss. HOWEVER, HE still dances brilliantly! Take one look at the close up of him as the La Sylphide section opens. Here is the epitomy of the classical prince. No question. I'm not even putting "IMO" here, 'cause I just think it is so completely obvious Then he dances! I agree with everything Drew said. Every position is clean, every jump beautiful and perfectly landed, line and elegance and musicality and an ability to get totally into the character he is portraying. He is also a most beautiful partner! This is classical technique as it is supposed to be, executed by a most exceptional artist. I think what is most impressive about this is that what he did then would totally hold up today, whereas most of the other performances on this DVD show the major differences in technique then and now. One other thing about Erik Bruhn that I must add, and it relates to another thread going in Aesthetic Issues about real artists or geniuses and whether they can be decent people or not. I worked with Erik. He was as beautiful a person as he was an artist.

Dark Elegies works for me

Leigh, I'm not sure that I would consider "genius" and "real artist" to be synonymous. I think there are a lot of real artists in the world who are not necessarily geniuses (genii?). And there are certainly some geniuses who are absolutely not what I would consider real artists! In fact, I think I might question if there are any, or at least very many, who are both! As to whether a genius can be a decent person, absolutely! Not that they all are, however ;) I have known some who really do not have people skills at all, but are frighteningly brilliant or brilliant in what they do artisically. It seems to me that sometimes the genius aspect of what they do does not always apply to other aspects of their lives, which is why I wonder if the two terms of genius and real artist are that related. Does being a genius in terms of one thing, like choreography or music or performing artist or painting, make one a genius?

I voted for Hugh Laing because he is the only one of that group that I did not see on stage, and because he danced all of the Tudor works However, there is no one who tops Bruhn, in my opinion!

Spessivtzeva in Giselle. Taglioni as La Sylphide.

Violette Verdy

LOL! Very good, Alexandra And Hans, I agree totally!!! Would love to have those terms become history, along with calling a position of the foot a "coupé", grand plié in 4th, and watching anyone put their leg on the barre and slide into that awful position Oh dear, I better stop now! ;)

It does happen sometimes, Maxi. No way of knowing. If you know anyone in NY who is a member of the Met or ABT, they might have the same type of thing we have here for the Kennedy Center, which is a short period of time to get tickets for events before they become available to the general public. Members will receive a notice well ahead of time on when they have access to single tickets. Major company performances, especially those with big name guest stars, do sell out quickly here, and I think they do in NY too

Maxi3D, if you know the day that the singles go on sale, and contact them that day, you should be okay. Not sure of course, but I would certainly not buy a season subscription for ONE performance! Fly into La Guardia or Newark. Not Kennedy. Take shuttle bus to East Side Terminal, then get a taxi.