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Jayne

Senior Member
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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    avid balletgoer
  • City**
    Seattle
  • State (US only)**, Country (Outside US only)**
    WA

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  1. Three Days ago, Alexei Ratmansky posted a tribute on Facebook to the retired Ukrainian dancer Vadim Burton, repleat with video, photos, and a beautiful tribute.
  2. He is 65 now, and always wanted to first be a composer. I suspect this might be good timing to pull back on travel related conducting commitments. I hope he continues the Baltic Sea Festival for modern compositions. edit: grammar
  3. I believe this is the Ivan Nagy staging. He was Makarova’s favorite dance partner. A big compliment, because she danced with the best of the best in their prime years!
  4. They should keep the Hynd staging. I don’t mind projections in the modern works, but I like the classic 19c works to retain classic sets and costumes. i hope this is amazing, and I trust Paul Tazewell to create beautiful looks. But it would be a crying shame to lose the original steps. Leave the modernizing of SB to companies helmed by Matthew Bourne or Jean-Christophe Malliot.
  5. I visited Teatro Municipal in 2010 to see Verdi’s “MacBeth”. The building was undergoing an exterior renovation. The interior is very beautiful and the theatre staff was very helpful in finding me a libretto. I really enjoyed my visit. I only wish the ballet was performing during my time in the Capitol. Welcome!
  6. Contracts are usually signed in March for the following year, so a February audition would make sense. OTOH, promoting from within the company is a good morale booster for the company. Who would BalletAlert contributors promote?
  7. I cannot understand the system that awarded Russia the Bronze team medal in the adjusted results. Canada will appeal, as they should. I recall Gelsey Kirkland’s autobiography told of Mr.B suggesting that she (age 19) take amphetamine “vitamins” on the 1972 USSR tour. Amphetamines for energy and/ or weight loss were common in the 1970s, but would be judged very harshly today. Miss Valieva has apparently been training in a similar bubble with a cultish coach, in a rarified environment. I certainly hope she doesn’t suffer the same pitfalls that Gelsey did.
  8. Saw this over New Years, and while I enjoyed the “Fancy Free” excerpts, it felt awkward when the early parts of the movie had so much blending of the magical and reality, but abruptly switched to a straight forward biopic about the marriage. I finished the film really loving Felicia and mourning her early death. In their own way, they were devoted to one another. But IMHO Bernstein would have been a better as an episodic show like The Crown that explored Bernstein’s life and music decade by decade. If I could turn back the clock, I would have green-lit that long-form show instead some of the woe-is-me-the-millionaire-celeb/blue blood/athlete that NF has been rolling out.
  9. I had not heard of her, and this forum is not very Australia-focused. But she sounds completely fascinating. A quick Google search pulled up the National Library of Australia:   “Natasha Kirsta was born Princess Natasha Watchinadze in Russia in 1894. Her second husband was the Ballets Russes theatre designer George Kirsta. She left the USSR with George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova in the 1920s and lived in Vienna, later travelling to Berlin to direct Victor Gsovsky's ballet school. She co-founded Ballet Kirsta with Govsky in the early 1950s which performed throughout Europe. The company included Lesley Caron, Brigitte Bardot and Roland Petit. Rex Reid, who would maintain a close friendship with Kirsta, was principal choreographer and dancer. Kirsta moved to Australia in 1957, settling in Melbourne and working as a ballet school administrator. She was a member of the Australian Ballet Theatre Group, which held its inaugural meeting in October 1959 to discuss an approach to the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust regarding the formation of a permanent Australian ballet company. Kirsta forged friendships with European and Australian artists and performers including Jean Cocteau, the Stravinksys, Arthur Rubinstein, Marlene Dietrich, John Gielgud, Kathleen Gorham, Anne Church, Nadia Nerina, Rudolf Nureyev and Marcel Marceau. She died in 1982.”
  10. Jayne

    Sarah Lane

    Ah I had forgotten that detail. Thank you.
  11. I watched the digital Nut with my mom tonight. Cecilia Iliesiu is fantastic as SPF, Angelica Generosa was sparkly as Dew Drop and the corps looked good. Drawbacks were Dammiel Cruz-Gallardo’s expession on stage. He is very focused, but there is no joy, and the Cavalier should present SPF as if she is the pride and joy of his existence. Jonathon Baptista needed more spring as Candy Cane. He needs to look like he’s been shot out of a cannon and bouncy as a ball out there. I really enjoyed Coffee with Amanda Morgan and Miles Pertl. That’s a great paring of two tall dancers. I find the Balanchine version of the party scene boring no matter who performs it. I always get distracted. Just too cutesy for my taste. The tree growth and roomba bed are underwhelming. I still miss Stowell’s ppd to the snow prologue. The nephew nutcracker and Marie in a communion veil never really interest me. But I slog through it all because I love the borrowed Sleeping Beauty violin solo, and Robbins’ mice. The comedic staging of the fight scene never fails to amuse me. I not-so-secretly wish the mice win the fight, and then they get to go to the Land of Sweets! I guess I’m going to ballet hell!
  12. Jayne

    Sarah Lane

    Maybe he could be the new AD? And if he has a good experience with Sarah guesting, perhaps he would offer a 1 year contract to see if she can finally settle well at WB? I genuinely hope for both dancers to finish strong in their careers.
  13. Jayne

    Sarah Lane

    Some strange word choices in her social media announcement. But it’s really hard to judge without knowing more about the specific course of events. Sometimes everyone has good intentions and it just doesn’t gel.
  14. Urin is 75 or 76 now, and I think he was noticed by the Putin regime when he signed a letter in opposition to the war in 2022. So he had to go. Gergiev has long been a favorite of Putin for making Russia look good around the world. He is something of a political cat: he manages to land on his feet no matter what.
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