jsmu

AND the audience appreciated it and the curtain calls were wonderful. Ms. Loscavio is one of perhaps three ballerinas (including Marnee Morris, on whom the role was made) who have ever done all of Balanchine's original steps in the notorious turning variation-- the role is usually simplified beyond recognition now. The especially egregious Heather Watts omitted quantities of difficulty when she was slaughtering this and so many other roles during her Eighties rampage, but even Merrill Ashley changed some steps in this role. Ms. Loscavio was a paragon.

Probably because, as Maria Tallchief says in her autobiography, Balanchine spent a lot of time and energy on the first movement solo for Patricia Wilde; Tallchief says that she herself jokingly said, 'George, I thought this was supposed to be a ballet for ME'-- but that she thinks he took this comment seriously, because he made no more choreography at all for Wilde in this ballet after that. Of such things is art made--like the girl who fell at Serenade rehearsal, and the Union 802 strike which eighty-sixed the ballet Balanchine wanted to do with Suzanne Farrell as Salome.

And, having seen Delgado burn up the stage in Square Dance (one of the best ballerinas I have ever seen in the role, almost equal to Ashley and Nichols), by all means... In fact, let's have her do that AND Ballet Imperial in the same performance; Ashley did that very thing on several occasions!

Yes, very promising young dancers do often get , as Hayden said about Kirkland, 'too much too soon without the right kind of ...support.' I don't think Diana and Acteon would suit Arja, though I did not see it; that's a Lorna Feijoo/Viengsay Valdes special, and that's not her provenance. one of the reasons I suggested her in the soloist role in Ballet Imperial is that it calls for impeccable and ravishing classical deportment, epaulement, and technique--three salient characteristics of Balanchine's Sugar Plum, in which role you both loved her.

OK, those balances are outrageous. And then there are Vasiliev's jumps. !

Well, I want Ms. Delgado making a debut in BALLET IMPERIAL. needless to say , as the principal ballerina... and how about Ms. Arja as the soloist?

Stecyk, I think Serenade has probably had as much impact on balletgoers as Swan Lake; it's plotless, of course, so this is a different discussion, but the beauty and sculptural nobility of the images, the endless opportunities for ravishing dancing, the tableaux (the opening one alone!), the divine score, the imagination of a young genius which is so apparent here--all these have spoken eloquently for years. I, for example, was not delighted to read about the idea of the women and the man in the Elegy (the final movement) being a sordid little love triangle with the Other Woman getting left at the end. To me this is not only odious, tedious, and loathsomely petit-bourgeois, it is asininely reductive in the worst POSSIBLE way; Balanchine himself used to say when asked what one of his ballets was 'about', 'Ten or fifteen minutes, dear..." which is an explication I vastly prefer, LOL. One more detail: should you listen to the Serenade before the performance (which I think is an excellent thing) you'll notice that the Tema Russo and Elegie are reversed in the Balanchine setting. in the score the Tema Russo is the finale. I believe it will be clear to you why Balanchine made this choice... It's been mentioned before in this thread that you should enjoy the ballet on YOUR own terms, as something you experience individually and personally, and I think that is essential. It's even okay if you don't think it's a 'masterpiece', lol, or if you 'don't go for splendor'--but I certainly hope you will.

Several people thought that PNB should ditch the Balanchine Act III. I love Act III, mainly because had Balanchine staged/choreographed "Sleeping Beauty", as he is said to have wanted to do for Darci Kistler, the fairy variations would have been restricted by the length of the music, and I love how the choreographer for Dawn, Prayer, and Spinner is an extended characterization for each that would have been restricted to the Lilac Fairy in SB. Exactly; the Act Three solos also provide the only ballerina dancing in the entire work except for Swanilda, who needs a rest SOMETIME... I think that, alas, the Act Three solos rarely have such deluxe casting as Imler in Dawn and Korbes in Prayer, who I'm sure were both nearly as good as the creators of the roles. Also, Dawn in particular was originally so difficult (especially the a la seconde turns and the final leap into a pose on pointe) that even Merrill Ashley changed/modified a few steps in it; its later exponents changed nearly everything in the variation, unfortunately, especially after Balanchine's death, and I doubt that unless Ashley staged it one would get most of the brilliant original choreography back. This is no disrespect to Fugate, who is a wonderful stager and teacher; simply how steps and variations get lost in ballet. two further examples of deluxe original casting were Colleen Neary in Discord and War (which may not be the greatest number, but Neary had presence for days) and especially Marnee Morris in the Waltz; I am sure no one has ever done the pique-fouettes in the recap the way she did, just as no one ever does her steps in My One and Only, sadly.

jsmu - I will be sure to pass on this post to Elizabeth. I first saw her in class when she was seven years old (her older sister was a wonderful dancer too) and we all knew she had "it" then. Hamburg was a wonderful place for her to be. As you may know it is a company that celebrates dancers as the get older and the repertory suited all of her (formidable) talents quite well. Plus she met and married a wonderful man (a dancer) and has two gorgeous children AND she's a terrific mom and very happy retired and living in place she loves very much. I do miss her greatly. Best, B Brioche, that's extremely kind of you--I appreciate it tremendously. I always regretted not having been able to tell her how much beauty and irrepressible joy her dancing gave me. I'm glad to hear that she is happy in Hamburg--really, I meant the tragedy was ours, to lose such a great ballerina...:-)

That is especially amazing because I once saw the equally divine Kyra Nichols fall (a BIG fall, not a little one) on her tush in Ballo! it wasn't a running section, but rather the series of turns into arabesque plie, which she went for as if the world was ending in ten minutes, and I'll never forget how gracefully she recovered. wasn't Feijoo great in Ballo? I once saw her in Diana and Actaeon and she's one of the only people who can make me sit riveted through that entire thing, much less actually enjoy it!

I saw several performances of Programs 3 and 4, last week. First, I'm astounded at what a darling of most audience members Maria Kochetkova seems to be; I find her stage presence horrid: brittle, utterly artificial, insincere, manufactured, and what is worse (especially in such a company of strong women) her technique is sadly lacking. Her port de bras, mannered and contrived at best, is dreadful in her turns (many of which are harrowing experiences and off-balance when this is clearly not the intention of the choreographer, as in Theme and Variations); her arms actually seem to twist and do various tense things against her body during the turns themselves, and she also hunches her shoulders during them. The fact that Tomasson casts her in everything is appalling; to give such a dancer plum roles like T&V with other dancers in the company like Sofiane Sylve?!??!?!! The only thing I saw Kochetkova do which seemed adequate was the Prokofiev--every bit of which choreography I cordially loathed. However, twisted, fast, smudged off-axis spins (those are not pirouettes) seem to suit her. That said, I thought almost every other dancer who appeared was excellent, and some, like Frances Chung, were divine. I fortunately did see Vanessa Zahorian in T&V, and remembered what the turns and pas de deux were supposed to look like, but am very sorry that I did not get to see Chung in it, which I think must have been superb. Everything I saw Chung do, even Artifact Suite (yawn), was near-definitive: her flirtatious, young, gossamer Irina in Winter Dreams, who was a bit giddy and yet very vulnerable and utterly devastated by the denouement; her wonderful jumping in the 'variation' in Trio, which makes one long for a revival of Ballo just for her, including a Plisetskaya kick-your-head jete which rivalled Maya on film... Everyone was good in Winter Dreams, which had a near-dream cast of Zahorian as Olga (she is equally convincing in a 'mature role'), Yuan Yuan Tan as Masha, and Chung as Irina; the balalaika/mandolin/guitar group is one of the most delicate and evocative things I've heard as a ballet score, and the set design was great as well. this ballet is very unlike most MacMillan--it is far more intimate, quiet, internalized, and I think for that reason far more difficult. The dancing in Trio was stellar: Zahorian burned up the stage in the first movement, and Joan Boada, her partner, was at once gracious, chivalrous, studly, and gallant. He is obviously one of the Best Partners in this or any other company, and he allowed Zahorian to take lots of chances, which is exciting. Van Patten was excellent in all the flings and throws and turns wrapped around one of the two men in the second movement, though the choreography was , er, recycled and derivative to say the least. Taras Dimitro was nearly as technically miraculous as Chung in the third and fourth movements, and as has been said elsewhere on this site, he dances BIG--devouring space and the stage, with a marvelous presence. He and Chung were great together; sadly there was hardly any pas de deux work for them in Trio. I've spoken a bit about Nanna's Lied elsewhere, so shan't repeat it here. The fire curtain schtick in Artifact Suite is so juvenile and so stupid as to make one wonder why one likes any of Forsythe's choreography, but some of his images are interesting. Sofiane Sylve was, as usual, a paragon in her part. Two of the demis in T$V were especially vibrant; I believe Sasha de Sola was one. what a ballet that is, and how lovely the corps was in the English horn variation in which they 'partner' the ballerina.

As with so many ballets of this "ilk" once the orignal cast is no longer available (IMHO) it should be retired from the repertory. "Nana" was tailored/created to a specific dancers abilities and talent and knowing the original "Nana" very well, what she brought to the role also reflected where she was at professionally and more importantly (and painfully), personally. My heart broke watching her "open that vein" publicly. However...... life experience (good AND bad) can be so beneficial to ones art form. I did not know Loscavio personally, but she was one of the greatest dancers anywhere, ever, and her abrupt departure for Hamburg was a tragedy. I saw her many times, most dazzlingly in Ballo, Rubies, Tarantella, Theme and Variations...and above all in the turning variation from Who Cares?, in which she is the only dancer I've ever seen or heard of other than Marnee Morris, the creator of the role, to do each and every gorgeous impossible original step. Her candor, technical brilliance, fire, honesty, and charisma onstage were riveting in every part. I am sure that Nanna's Lied was amazing with her; it may also have had better singing than the lamentably inadequate, utterly esthetically bankrupt performance I heard in the recent run (with Van Patten, who was in fact good). Lenya is irreplaceable, of course, but even so. The ballet is not something which imposes itself; it's intended to be elliptical and suggestive rather than clear, I believe. perhaps it should be retired, since so many audience members seem unwilling to give it any benefit of the doubt.

I would say she's worth a trip to Boston all by herself, if she's dancing anything at all good. smile. You should have seen her in Ballo della Regina a few years ago. Ashley said that Feijoo was pretty much her favorite current ballerina and that Feijoo could do anything. (VERY high praise, needless to say, from a preeminent Balanchine virtuosa)

3) I'ts also claimed -- by Joan Brady, in "The Unmaking of a Dancer" -- that Carol Sumner danced like this in class and Balanchine told everyone to dance like Carol." Brady is hostile ot ballet and to Balanchine, but this claim seems to be widely accepted. Sumner became a soloist in NYCB and danced a huge variety of roles, and upon retirement taught at SAB before opening a school of her own. Brady is 'hostile' neither to ballet nor to Balanchine; her extraordinarily fine books, of which "The Unmaking of a Dancer" is only the first, reveal brilliance and pinpoint exactitude of perception. Brady is unsparingly honest about the limitations and unfortunate circumstances which have often led promising dancers (of which she was certainly one) to leave ballet; she shows tremendous respect for Balanchine, for Doubrouvska, for Danilova ('the comment, and the ensuing time, comprised the most valuable single correction I received in all my years in ballet'), and for the art form which she loved. The fact that she is intelligent, acerbic, and unforgiving of stupidity means that she observes the ballet world as it is (as it was), not through a baby-pink follow spot, so to speak. It is not a 'happy' book, as it is realistic (Brady had a mother from hell worse than the mother of Allegra Kent, which is really saying something), but it is a wonderful, deeply informative, fascinating, candid one.

abatt, as has been said, Pennefather is handsome but dull and certainly no dazzling virtuoso. Nunez, on the other hand, is beautiful, brilliant, and an excellent actress as well. I heartily concur with every assessment here of her whistle-clean technical facility (in fact, I'd say she's one of the strongest and cleanest virtuosos anywhere now) and what has not been mentioned is that she is also versatile. As SimonG mentions Cojocaru, I must say that she leaves me ice cold and I have never seen the reasons for ANY of the massive hype; Nunez, however, dances Balanchine, McMillan, Ashton, and every other choreographer with remarkable specificity and distinction. In a way, it's a shame she's Giselle in this version, because her Myrtha (which is more stereotypically suited to her 'fach': tallish, strong, good jumper, etc) is one of the finest I've ever seen--something which made the temperature in the auditorium plunge fifty degrees with her first appearance. She owned every scene in which she appeared, and literally made one shiver-- in the best possible way.

To say the least, LiLing. Not only three Martins, but "Fool for You" and "Zakouski" !! Perhaps Martins will ALLOW the troupe to bring Apollo, Minkus PdT, Glinka PdT, etc, in the future?

I'm not sure which Tharp ballets you've seen, but they can be quite uneven to say the least--and Helene is quite right in saying that if it's badly danced they look like ballet dancers trying... I'm hoping you weren't subjected to "Nightspot", the worst Tharp ballet I've ever almost walked out on, but I suspect you were? Anything that made Rolando Sarabia look paunchy and out of shape, not to mention boring, speaks for itself in terms of DRECKITUDE. I was with a dear friend who knows even more Tharp works than I, and he wanted to leave after ten minutes. In SOME cases--with GREAT dancers--Tharp makes them look like them (Sara Rudner, being the Greatest Dancer Ever To Work For Tharp, as the shining example; Shelley Washington and William Whitener as well) , and if I remember Baker's Dozen correctly it's at least somewhat that way. Just remember, nothing 'compares' to Balanchine (as a confirmed Balanchinomane, I understand) very well (rather like nothing 'comparing' very well to Bach) and Sonnambula is sublime even for Mr. B--wait till you see the end!!!

Can't agree about Kistler in this role; vastly preferred every other NYCB ballerina whom I saw in it. Lopez would probably have been great in this but to my knowledge was never given it. Thought Alexopoulos, who was a gorgeous femme fatale to begin with, was excellent, and oddly enough Ashley was very good (which rather presaged her Carabosse); probably the best I've ever seen live was the sadly soon retiring Ariana Lallone, who was positively glacial--and utterly controlling. Lallone was like the descriptions of Adams and Gregory in this role--'ice cold'--and so strong in the difficult choreography that she could devote all of her attention to the character, not the steps or the cape.

I feel like this is an important issue. So much of the time, it is the dancer's ability to control and use her upper body that really shows whether she is an artist. This kind of artistry takes a lot more time, care, and finesse to develop than do 180 extensions - countless times I've seen young dancers who can easily keep their legs over their heads in adagio at the barre but when they get to the center cannot really "dance." I also wonder how the superstars of today, particularly in Russian ballet, are influenced by the popularity of 180 extensions vs. artistry. I feel that because graduates like Somova are made principles so young, they don't have time to properly develop their arm placement before they are expected to perform Swan Lake. Is it just me, or has the whole idea of "working your way up through the corps" (and hence gaining valuable experience and artistry)rather gone out the window in the attempt to create hyperextended stars? I vividly recall Fracci's unreal epaulement and body lines--even in her dotage. (See the thread elsewhere on Fonteyn's line, with several raves in detail from people who saw her) Such care and attention was the norm in those days; now we see Zakharova, Osipova, Bouder, etc. doing nothing but gymnastics, and I vastly prefer gymnasts for that. LOL. Sure, Zakharova does horrid Guillem from hell (well that's redundant) 'extensions'; sure Osipova can jump higher than almost anyone since Kolpakova or Sizova or Ostergaard, not that she's a patch on any of those ballerinas in any other way; sure Bouder can jump and turn, but none of them have much if anything to show us above the waist. it's boring. I occasionally see a lovely port de bras from Bouder and wonder where that is the other 90% of the time? VaganovaBallerina, you are exactly correct about training in the corps; there is an incredible Barocco on tudou (Chinese site), mentioned elsewhere in a Balanchine films thread, which has a corps of all-stars, as it should be, including MERRILL ASHLEY. the corps is so magnificent and so lovely it rivals McBride in the ballerina role--also as it should. This was filmed in 73, when Ashley was already dancing mostly solo roles and had already assumed the turning variation in Who Cares? and the soloist role in the Tchaikovsky Concerto, among others--the year before she was given Theme and Variations--and she's still in the corps of Barocco. That speaks volumes.

Watching this Barocco again, Bart is right--McBride is splendid as usual but it's true that people often think of her first in 'soubrette' roles, and she was equally as wonderful as a serious ballerina. Sumner was described perfectly by Joan Brady as having a body 'rather like Alicia Markova's....with the crisp springtime elegance of a daffodil', and she is a pleasure to see although she does seem to tire a bit near the end. (McBride, indefatigable and always buoyant, would be hard to keep up with as a 'partner', to say the least) One extremely noticeable thing, which has been mentioned glancingly by identifications of most of the corps personnel in this performance, is the extraordinarily gorgeous and strong corps dancing. Now it's true even now that Barocco is usually a plum corps role (and that with Susie H, Susie P, Peters, Redpath, Ashley, de Ribere, etc this was Future Soloists of America) but it does not look like this now at NYCB and has not in MANY years, lamentably. It is glaringly obvious that Balanchine was alive and rehearsing these dancers, as it is so sadly apparent now that he is not and that Martins obstinately opposes the idea of having the Balanchine repertory coached by great dancers who were great in it.

Thank you, Mme. Hermine, emilienne, nysusan, lidewij--now that I hear there are probably two vids, I'm just about sure I'm looking at Nioradze in First Movement; trust me, as much as I loathe Somova, I'd recognize her, especially despoiling Balanchine! I don't know Nioradze but this does resemble a photo I've seen, and the Fourth Movement ballerina is very fine, which would match Ayupova. I'm almost dead certain Vishneva is the jumper.

I'll refrain from posting the links, but I will also observe that there are also quite a lot of _whole_ Russian performances, including a Ananiashvili/Filin Giselle (1997) and various other captures of DVDs in wide release. In the Maryinsky Bizet, who are the First and Fourth Movement ballerinas? I think it's Lopatkina and Vishneva in Second and Third? and anyone know who all the danseurs are?

Balanchinette, she is indeed marvelous--I have loved her since the first time I saw her, as one of the First Movement Bizet demis (she so outshone Abi Stafford, the principal, that it was quite embarrassing). We can only hope Martins will allow her to dance the Tchaikovsky Concerto again, as well as other roles she hasn't been given much of lately (Rondo of Brahms-Schoenberg, Barocco, etc, etc, etc.); your ideas about Reichlen in Diamonds and Theme are wonderful. I'd also like to see her in the Divert sixth variation, the ballerina roles in Cortege and Ballade, and how about a tall Apollo with Reichlen as Polyhymnia? can't happen soon enough. Re Dewdrop, anyone with enough technical facility (and, sadly, a few without it) has danced this role--everyone from von Aroldingen, Reichlen, Govrin, and the Nearys to Schorer, Fairchild, Hlinka, and Sosenko. Verdy did it often--imagine how gorgeous that would have been.

Amen to the remarks that Macaulay does NOT need to appear on the Today Show, or any other television show, in order to keep this ludicrous farce going even longer. He does his job as a critic; yes, he made snarky remarks about dancers; yes, critics have done this since critics existed; yes, dancers have to be thinner than 'normal' human beings. The interlarding of the horrendous 'Black Swan' clips, as if that piece of CHEEZ WHIZ had any statement to make about anything on earth, much less an art form like ballet, clearly demonstrates the total idiocy of the public which is fueling this tired little sideshow. Ringer was gracious, sympathetic, charming, and completely poised (very much what one would imagine from her lovely dancing); I devoutly hope her well-mannered and well-spoken appearance will put an end to this drivel.

Yes indeed--and when Linda Hindberg and Lis Jeppesen , not to mention Sorella Englund, look squashed and 'wide', there's something wrong with the screen, LOL. Haven't seen them all yet, but Napoli and La Sylphide--!! I had never seen Englund even on film and am enraptured. Having seen Jeppesen only once when I was far too young to appreciate her miraculous ballon and grace, I'm stunned. She passed captivating a universe or two back. Villumsen is superb as he apparently always was, and the very young Eva Kloborg is good as Effie (she was later one of RDB's ballerinas). I do hope this will stay up as well--seeing this much fancy footwork, not to mention whistle-clean beats and jumps, is addictive. By the way, Patrick, the terrific girl in pink is Heidi Ryom, I believe, who danced a lot with Ib Andersen before he departed for NYCB. There needs to be much more of her. and how about the huge (even on squashed screen) jumps of the first guy (before James) who does a solo in Sylphide?