jsmu

On 12/22/2016 at 11:07 AM, cubanmiamiboy said:

Oh, I can imagine ballerinas are not fond of admitting they have trouble mastering the very base of their art form: the pointes. I just notice that falling off pointe is getting more and more AND MORE common nowadays, and that we as audience are also getting into the trend of placing the beauty of ballet in its "gorgeus" posing segments-(look, hight of the dancer...port de bras...slow tempi to over show...and so on and so forth)- rather than what they can do to their feet.

This. More AND MORE common, and hello? All one has to do is watch Tallchief, or Alonso, or Hayden, or Verdy, or any of the scores of great past ballerinas, to realize that with less fancy shoes and far worse stages they did FAR BETTER in pointe work than most 'ballerinas' these days. If the girl can't hop on pointe she shouldn't do Marzipan; it's rather like casting a girl who can't turn in Allegro Brilliante.....uh, NO..............

You are so right about the goddess Maximova (talk about freakin' strong feet!) Do you know her Don Q, I think, coda where she does EVERY fouette with hands on her HIPS?!?!?

On 9/19/2016 at 11:21 AM, miliosr said:

The funniest thing is . . . they're still using Joe Walsh in promotional materials for the current season:

http://www.houstonballet.org/Ticketing-Schedule/Season-Calendar/DIRECTORS-CHOICE-AMERICAN-INGENUITY/

So true. They still have Mimi Hassenboehler in a pic in Bizet Second Movement, and that pic is from performances eight years ago and she retired four years ago!

Hello Christian. The podcasts no longer seem to work have they been taken down?

But then, I've seen Elizabeth Loscavio dance this role, and nobody can measure up to the wit sensuality, and preposterousness of that -- it's as if ROssini had written it,the way she danced it, we were screaming.

To anyone else who loves Who Cares, please, try to find the CBC recording from when it was new -- KARIN stole hte show. The steps have been changed, but she just horsed around and it was out of this world -- none of those jetes battus, but man could she jump, and it was a house afire. And biding my time, the boys' dance, wasn't a bunch of bankers but Astaire-ish hoofers, sweeter guys, in light-colored trousers so you could see their legs. And Jacques was almost a lil Abner, he was so sweet cute and hunky , not corny exactly but very very appealing and "innocent." A wonderful wonderful thing.

Loscavio was indeed divine in this, as she always was in everything I ever saw her dance. What a loss it was when she left for Hamburg. She even did almost all the steps in the variation (unheard of after Morris, particularly after Watts got done destroying this among many other roles....)Acco

von Aroldingen indeed dances very well in the CBC filming (Croce says flatly, and I believe it, that vA later TRASHED the beautiful part Balanchine gave her.) but she hardly steals the show from the dazzling, brilliant, and vastly underrated Morris. According to the original cast and everyone who ever saw the ballet when he was still able to perform it, no one else has ever really danced the boy's part like d'Amboise, which is very sad. He was irreplaceable in many ways.

I don't get Miriam Miller, sorry. She doesn't seem to have the necessary extension for these kinds of roles, particularly in Agon, leaving aside her obvious "greenness." I didn't like her as Titania, and I thought the Agon pdd was so amateur looking that it brought down the rest of the ballet. In contrast, Tess Reichlen and Adrian Danchig-Waring were riveting in the Agon pdd. Although no-one really comes close to Maria K in that. I totally agree Unity Phelan would have been a better choice if they were looking for someone new -- she does have the extension and flexibility (and how) and is just beautiful to watch.

I'm not really an Ashley Isaacs fan, either -- she has a habit of scrunching up her shoulders and looking like she has no neck. Her Choleric was disappointing -- first, I don't like short girls in that role (even the amazing Ashley Bouder). Not only do they not stand out from the rest of the dancers, but the part where the guys have to duck under their arabesque is just awkward with a shorter girl. Ask la Cour had to really try hard to scrunch down to get under Isaacs's leg, and he still managed to bang his arm into it. I understand if it was her debut but to me it just destroys the effect when the dancer has to put her hand down on the stage to steady herself -- not once, but twice -- on that whirlwind Choleric entrance. Tess was amazing as Choleric on Saturday -- AND she has the most breathtaking, flying gargouillades across the stage I've ever seen in that role. (Isaacs barely did them). I'm not a fan of Martins's recent penchant for casting shorter girls in the Balanchine tall girl roles. How about trying out LeCrone, Phelan, or Kikta in some of these as opposed to Isaacs?? And ugh, if they cast Miller in Diamonds instead of someone like Laracey then there must be something weird in the water there.

Other standouts for me in the Black & White program were Veyette, Alberda and Applebaum in Agon; Ashley Laracey (such a beautiful dancer, wish I'd seen a lot more of her in the Balanchine ballets this season and a lot less Sterling Hyltin); Phelan and LeCrone in Episodes, and Sara Mearns in the Ricercata section -- gorgeous and moving (they should take Krohn out of that role, period).

Amen to that about Hyltin and Laracey. SIGH. Laracey is the most unjustly neglected and underused dancer in the entire NYCB and should have been a principal five years ago AT LEAST.

It seems that certain individual flourishes get baked into a role over time and are eventually assumed to be de riguer -- such as touching the head to the knee in penchée in the "Symphony in C" Adagio, for instance, which is something Allegra Kent didn't bother with in this performance, at least.

The same thing happens in opera; someone interpolates a high note or two into an aria and a decade later singers who don't include them are deemed inadequate.

Farrell started the head-to-knee thing. Like many other little idiosyncrasies, it is by no means compulsory, ESPECIALLY in Balanchine (Balanchine had different versions of many of his ballets for different principals, as they have all stated in various interviews.) Balanchine had so many different versions of the danseur role in First Movement Bizet it was unreal, for example. Verdy did a line of jumps/pas de chats/brisees in Raymonda second variation rather than the double pirouette/pas de chat sequence. Even Ashley modified Marnee Morris' impossible 'turning variation' in Who Cares? , and Balanchine approved.

I'm curious if there's any AD who doesn't get criticized by observers for under-casting certain talented dancers and over-casting other "lesser" ones.

I'm sure there is not. It's not an easy job and it's a job guaranteed to make enemies no matter how you do it. However, some ADs are far less toxic than others.

I think one reason for this is that Martins has successfully developed and promoted talent - Mearns, Bouder, T. Peck, Vedette, Huxley, the Fairchilds etc. He sometimes throws apprentices or new corps members into a principal role, which makes for a certain kind of excitement. While we can each complain that our that personal favorite is being ignored or under utilized, there are plenty of dancers being given opportunities. Meanwhile our favorites are out there dancing, even if they are not doing the exact roles we'd like to see them in. Personally I don't get Pereira and think Daniel Ulbricht vastly underused, but overall I think Martins tries to give dancers opportunities and does a good job of bringing up talent.

Precisely my point: many of our favorites are NOT out there dancing, and not out there dancing principal roles. (How many principal roles has Laracey been given , particularly until the past year or two???) Laracey, as I said earlier, is only the most glaring example; there are many, many others. It is not a matter of *a* favorite but a matter of many excellent dancers being passed over and neglected (to put the nicest possible spin on it.) It doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize or promote talent like Bouder, T. Peck, Mearns, Veyette, or R. Fairchild--any company would be thrilled to have those dancers and feature them all prominently. Bouder's jump alone is in the Osipova category, for example. Ulbricht is another compelling example of wasted talent. When Martins does give dancers opportunities it is usually a dancer like Pereira or Lowery who is vastly inferior to nine-tenths of the corps. The rash of Sugar Plum debuts last December was an *anomaly*, not a normal thing.

I have not seen published reports about the explanation for Aaron Robison's departure from Houston (as a first soloist) to join San Francisco Ballet as a principal - but I'm delighted (much easier for me to visit SF...)

He caught my eye in an Instagram video clip last summer in rehearsals for Houston's Manon (and gives me hope that SFB might do Manon in the coming years...):

https://www.instagram.com/p/6tB82IlJPB/embed/?v=4

HB is hemorrhaging good dancers and principals. They lost their best and studliest male dancer, Joe Walsh, to SFB a year or two ago. Robison was also one of the the best male dancers in the company. Welch needs to move on--the company has become a horrid showcase for his godawful 'ballets' and very little else, and as I said in my first post here he has a knack for alienating and losing good dancers......

Martins does not arouse the casting bitterness Mckenzie does, but I have sometimes wondered why Laracey doesn't get cast more.

I'd say far, far more bitterness of various sorts, not just casting. At least McKenzie finally promoted Abrera. Laracey, who should have been a principal years ago, is only the most egregious of Martins' sins in the department of neglect: King, Pazcoguin (now leaving--and who blames her?), Segin, just to name obvious examples. Then there are the Dancers Who Never Should Have Been Principals (Stafford....!!) Dancers Who Never Should Have Been Soloists (Lowery, Pereira) etc. Why was Craig Hall never made principal? Why weren't we seeing Laracey in the Bizet adagio, in Diamonds, in Swan Lake, in Agon pas de deux, as Aurora, ages ago?

Charles Louis Yoshiyama was promoted to Principal after Giselle performance on June 11, 2016. Well done and congratulations.

Welch had better promote Katharine Precourt PDQ--she should have been a principal five years ago at least and is still young enough to leave, which she should if he continues his disrespect of her. He already alienated Kelly Myernick and Melissa Hough--the company's two best female dancers along with Precourt--into retiring and leaving respectively.

Kretzschmar I believe.

No wonder she's so good. Thank you, Emma.

Thanks mussel! Can some of you compare the Sonatine of old (i.e., 1970's original GB-supervised production) with the contemporary version as seen here?

Many thanks.

Yes. The word most often used for the kind of ballet Sonatine is--the genre--is 'perfume' and in fact Balanchine often gave his ballerinas perfumes....he would say 'ah, Arpege--Kay is here (Kay Mazzo.) He made at least two ballets for Verdy in this vein (this one and 'La Source') and unfortunately, Verdy is gone now (she was one of the greatest coaches on earth in addition to having been an unforgettable ballerina and artist.) The sensibility Verdy brought to every instant she danced--the unbelievable musicality, the responsivity, the charm, the piquancy, the sudden seriousness, the drama, the acuity--is deader than a doornail now (with Martins having owned the company for decades now, this is not surprising)...Fairchild is a fine technician and a conscientious dancer--I admire her for her cleanliness and exactitude--but this ballet is completely and utterly beyond her: Tiler Peck is better (I have not seen Ashley Bouder dance the role--she is still out on maternity leave) but still not close to what Verdy was. It is true that no one can ever be what the creator of a role was--and it is useless to attempt to imitate directly in art--but sadly the divine sensibility which Verdy had, and for which this role was created, is no more. (The usual pig-dog piano playing of one of Ravel's great masterpieces does not help a bit either.) I wish you could have seen this with Verdy and Jean-Pierre Bonnefous (a great dancer as well, married to Patricia McBride.) It was a different continuum.

Anyone know who the blonde demi, stage left, in First Movement Bizet is? I thought perhaps Laracey but it doesn't quite look like her....?

Yes, Reichlin is stellar in Tschai Piano Concerto. Mearns is still working out the intricacies of the choreography and gives a good, but not stellar, performance. She may also be hampered by her partner, Ask LaCour. On Tuesday he flubbed the portion where he has to do a turn in the air and then drop to his knee while partnering the ballerina.

Tiler Peck's execution of the choreography last night in Tschai Piano Concerto was very, very impressive, as was her musicality. Nevertheless, I felt like the choreography lost some of its grandeur because she does not have long enough legs or feet to really show off all of the many elongated lines and extensions built into the ballet.

Of the three soloists in Tschai Piano Concerto, my favorite was Savanah Lowery. She dances with exuberance and covers a huge amount of space in jumps. She radiated joy. I thought both Scheller and Lauren King were too small scale and dull.

Garcia was just sloppy as James. The footwork and speed are too difficult for him at this stage of his career.

Reichlen has become even more brilliant in this role. However, the role was not made on a tall woman (Marie-Jeanne had long legs for her size, but she was rather short by today's standards) and many 'shorter' ballerinas like McBride, Mary Carmen Catoya, and Bouder have made huge successes in it.

I find Lowery's dancing ungainly and extremely crass. I found King utterly exquisite in the second ballerina role. Garcia, sadly, has been sloppy and inadequate for years.

I am not at all interested in who is "the best ballerina in the company in the Tschaik Concerto". I am very interested in the issue of size (and hair color, I guess).

It was a great honor and a privilege to have witnessed last night's performance of Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2.

Another lead part, another triumph.

And I could not care LESS about size or hair color.

Peck was indeed terrific, but Reichlen has reached a new level in this role (and she was always good in it, from the outset.)

An irreplaceable artist and teacher.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/10/arts/dance/violette-verdy-ballerina-with-flair-dies-at-82.html?src=me

Her coaching and teaching were as inspired as her dancing; the wonderful youtube video called "He Gave Valentines to Each of Us" is a good example.

Interesting point, Abatt. "Back in the day" Allegra Kent and Kay Mazzo did second movement Bizet.

Well, Kent was certainly not short--but in fact Mazzo was. Mazzo was capable of a considerably regal presence, though I never saw her in Bizet.

I've seen both Patricia McBride and Tiler Peck in "Who Cares." I cannot say that McBride was the better of the two. I certainly wouldn't say she was "definitive" in the role, especially after having seen Peck dance it.

To paraphrase Charles DeGaulle, the graveyards are full of indispensable dancers.

And to directly quote modern social media, whatEVER.

I was (pleasantly) surprised that Martins gave Tiler Peck Tschai Piano Concerto 2. That lead role usually goes to a tall to medium height woman. However, with Bouder out and Hyltin already in so many other lead roles this season, I guess it was Tiler's turn for this juicy, difficult role. Notably, Scheller remains in the soloist role, which she has been doing for a period of time. For whatever reason, Martins does not appear to regard Scheller as an artist worthy of significant advancement to new, important roles. I can understand why he passes over Abi Stafford and Krohn, but I don't get his attitude regarding Scheller.

I was flabbergasted. Martins typecasts constantly by size, so although I expect Peck will be the best ballerina in the company in the Tschaik Concerto I never thought she would be allowed to dance it. You're sadly right about Scheller--I was surprised Martins even made her a principal.

Backing up......

The double fouettees are not what I was referring to when I mentioned that in Marnee's solo (the turning girl solo of Who Cares?) had been modified with Pollack's and Isaacs' debuts.

There was an entire diagonal of turns removed and substituted for steps that did not involve turns. Double fouettees or not doesn't really matter much to me, as long as the fouettees are beautifully done.

Yes, Marnee's version of the variation was absolutely incredible. And btw, she had a little trick to staying on pointe, while turning, and in her fouettees, so that she didn't have to come off pointe. I've never seen anything like that since.

"The Most Dreadful....." sounds awful. Not a great evening overall either if they had hoped to encourage new audiences to attend. Sigh....

Yes. Understood. However, the doubles in this particular part mattered very much to Balanchine, as Ashley recounts in her autobiography when discussing this role and these steps. (probably because Morris was perhaps NYCB's greatest-ever turner.) Ashley also talks about the diagonal (in the middle of the variation yes?) of turns you refer to. Even she had to modify that step....

We aren't living in the era of Balanchine--for some, I guess that's condemnation enough of ballet today. It isn't for me though, however much Balanchine remains my touchstone. I would even say that we are living an era of renewed creativity and talent on many fronts especially at NYCB.

I said nothing about feeling that Nichols' performance wasn't exquisite and profound (it was) nor that I felt it wasn't valuable. I certainly did not say nor do I think my judgment was 'suspect.' I have seen Peck in the McBride role, and seen the video (admittedly a pale shadow of the real thing live) of McBride in Who Cares, and I disagree completely with Gottlieb on that one. Peck is very good in the part; McBride was definitive. That is not to say I don't enjoy seeing Peck dance the role, or that I didn't love Fugate's wonderful performance of the solo in the Balanchine Celebration, for example, or that Ashley (whom most would say was unsuited to that role physically) wasn't absolutely fascinating in it, though completely different. Elizabeth Loscavio, a goddess if ever there was one, at SFB, and Melissa Hough, at Boston and Houston Ballets, both gave incandescent perfomances of both Rubies and Theme and Variations; Lorna Feijoo, at Boston Ballet, did one of the most dazzling Ballo della Reginas imaginable. The point is not that roles cannot be assumed later on by great dancers who will be great and even magical in them; it is that this circumstance is rare and growing rarer.

Villella is a good example; even on film (and I was too young for him as well, sadly) his performances of the roles made for him by Balanchine are pinnacles unapproached since.

Clearly, I like and sometimes love Peck's dancing, and think she is a beautiful artist. I do not agree that she reinvents, reimagines, revivifies, or makes new either Emeralds or Who Cares, and I completely disagree that 'we are living in an era of renewed creativity and talent on many fronts especially at NYCB.' The death of Balanchine was inevitable; he himself called his ballets 'butterflies' and said that no one wanted to see last season's butterflies. He also, presciently, said 'Apres moi, le BOARD...' which sadly was the complete truth. The reason that NYCB's Jewels has for years been vastly inferior to those at SFB, MCB, etc, is that the directors of those other companies invited and welcomed the creators of all the ballerina roles to come and coach them. All you need do is read comments from any ballerina who worked with Verdy for example (Maria Chapman, Louise Nadeau, Mary Carmen Catoya, Deanna Seay--I could go on for hours) to realize what sort of experience NYCB ballerinas have been denied by Martins in this realm. This is, after all, the guy who fired Farrell, remember?

My disgust with what Martins has done to NYCB is in no way connected with the absence of Balanchine or with the unavoidable changes and differences which transpire in any living art form; it has to do solely with Martins' actions and their consequences, as eloquently chronicled by Gottlieb, Croce, and a host of other critics, as well as many amateurs and observers.

So, then, it would appear that Sonatine is an extremely esoteric work. Are some ballets so inextricably linked to the original artists that performed them that they are doomed to be quickly forgotten? Violette Verdy was evidently in her early 40s when this ballet was created. How can an American ballerina still in her twenties --forty years or so later-- be expected to grasp its "indescribable subtlety", and come across to the audience as being "insouciant/perfumed/sophisticated/piquant in that inimitable Gallic only-Verdy way"? And how, indeed, is a 21st century American audience without the slightest clue about any of this --those like jsmu in it excepted, of course-- supposed to realize what it is missing when viewing such a piece?

I saw Sonatine for the first time this past week and was again --as always-- overpowered by Tiler Peck's "elegance". And what about the strength she evinced? Moving around the stage on pointe with the knees bent??? Ashley Bouder appears to be strong, and is very strong. (How can anybody in the company, let alone Erica Pereira, be expected to fill Ms. Bouder's shoes in the third movement of Symphony in C is beyond me.) Tiler Peck does not seem to be particularly strong, but she is very strong anyway. I thought that Joaquin De Luz was typically excellent in Sonatine.

Depends on whom you talk to, I wouldn't say 'esoteric,' I'd say subtle in the extreme. Many people (most who saw Verdy) say Emeralds is permanently lost (this is also usually said of the Paul role in the same ballet); the wonderful and articulate Nancy Goldner says that Emeralds exists only in memory. This depresses me as I was too young for Verdy. I thought Nichols was divine in it but, of course, I didn't see Verdy...You are quite right about Peck's strength , which is both invisible and formidable (like McBride's or Kirkland's for example) and I'm glad you loved Sonatine with her. As I said, give her time--Bouder was not her most brilliant in her Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto debut, either, and she now dances it marvelously. You liked those bent knee piques and pointe steps huh? Verdy was not only a great artist but quite the technician; she danced all the big scary ballerina roles in her day.

When you say how is the audience supposed to realize, you strike the heart of the problem with the arts in today's society.

To be clear, which roles other than those in (presumably) Apollo and the second movement of Symphony in C did Balanchine create for "goddesses"? And who in NYCB's current roster has the "goods" to do these roles justice?

Good questions, like all of yours. Not questions with quick and easy answers. The term 'goddess' of course was used by the OP with a bit of tongue in cheek I think, as I also used it, but there is some truth there, too. Many of Farrell's roles fall into this category: Diamonds, Don Quixote (which sadly NYCB has not done in decades), Walpurgisnacht, Meditation (which I do not believe has ever been done without Farrell at NYCB, though her company has performed it in recent years), Chaconne....I would say Mozartiana but there's already a dogfight going on over that role and how it is NOW cast/performed, so the less said the better....LOL! I'd say Ashley's two ballets (Ballo and Ballade), several McBride parts (Harlequinade, Tarantella though it calls for a shorter dancer and is now given to nearly anyone, sadly, Rubies), just about all Verdy's roles (La Source, now also cast with almost anyone; Emeralds; Sonatine), and huge virtuoso roles such as the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto no.2, Allegro Brilliante, Theme and Variations, and Raymonda Variations. I'd say Square Dance but that ballet has been miscast beyond hope of salvation for years; only with Bouder do you see something resembling the actual choreography. Agon pas de deux was most definitely in this category in former times. Who has the goods? Bouder. Peck. Reichlen in some things. Laracey, sadly undercast and neglected. Fairchild once in a blue moon (like her recent Bizet First Movement). Mearns in some things (this latest Walpurgisnacht was the most brilliant dancing I've ever seen her do and startlingly Farrellesque in several ways). King if she were ever given big roles (grrrrr). Going out on a limb because I've only seen her twice, Unity Phelan in future, perhaps? Claire Kretzschmer perhaps? Isabella LaFreniere? Ashley Hod? I've always thought Pazcoguin could be wonderful in classical roles but Martins will not give them to her.

I was there too (Sat. matinee, 1/30/16). Loved Gordon! I thought he partnered both Phelan and Pollack beautifully. He also danced superbly with charm, gorgeous turns, jumps, ease with the choreography. Did I mention he is handsome with a great body for ballet?! And he's tall enough! Megan Fairchild was a very last minute substitute for Tiler who was a short notice substitute for Lovette.... Naturally, Joey Gordon and Megan Fairchild were a bit careful (and nervous) during the pas "The Man I Love." There are a few very tricky, difficult partnering moves in that pas de deux. I doubt Joey and Megan had more than one, very brief run through of it. But I was overall very happy and most grateful that Who Cares? was not replaced by Glass Pieces.... due to lack of female leads..... Did anyone notice that the choreography for the turning girl role in Who Cares? has now eliminated some of the turns? Both Pollack and last Thursday's Isaacs had their solos modified, and both were a bit nervous.

It's more that dancers leave out the double fouettes for convenience's sake, because they, like the rest of the turns in the role, are horrendously difficult.. Scheller, of course, can actually do them. Even the dazzling Merrill Ashley modified a few steps in Morris's variation, which in its original version is one of the three or four hardest which Balanchine ever made. Morris was a GREAT TURNER.....