Jayne

Why does MCB have to perform all styles of ballet and/or dance? Why do all companies have to be rep companies - don't they all become the same thing after a while? IMHO, I'd like to see MCB (and many other companies) become specialists in a couple of styles. If MCB is going to do story ballets, I'd like to see them excel in the style they are trained in, and perform Balanchine's story ballets (and they have done many of them): Midsummer, Coppelia, Prodigal Son, La Sonnambula, Apollo (well, there is something of a story there), Nutcracker, Tin Soldier, Slaughter on 10th, . I'd like to see the big 5 regional companies (PNB, SFB, Boston, Houston and MCB) produce new sets to do a full Waltz Rep, as the Bolshoi will do later this year. I think a Waltz rep - especially for Valentine's Day - would be a big seller. I'd like to see MCB become a specialist in choreographers that they look good in: Cranko, Tharp, Page, etc. But the goal should not be "everything but the kitchen sink".

out of curiosity, I googled him to see if he is teaching anywhere, and found this: http://www.stankomilov.com/teacher.htm Good for him!

I do miss Stanko Milov this season, and I will feel even more in April when there are no options to see him in Apollo. I hope he is doing well, and out of pain now with his injuries.

Alright ABT groupies - baseball has the fantasy version, why not ballet? (A) Assume ABT is going further in the "all stars" direction of hiring big names from the biggest companies. Name your top 6 male principals that you would like to hire into ABT full time, and why they would be a good fit for ABT ballerinas. (B) Assume ABT is going to invest in their existing talent. Name your top 6 male soloists & corpsmen that you would promote within ABT, and why they are ready to partner ABT ballerinas. I will take a stab at the "A" option (hope Kevin McKenzie is reading): A.1. Sergei Polunin - currently unattached (even part time, he will bring electricity to NYC and sell tickets) A.2. Alben Lendorf - Royal Danish Ballet (bring all that Danish technique to the Big Apple) A.3. Vadim Muntagirov - English National Ballet (pair him with the Russian and Ukranian ballerinas) A.4. Vladimiri Shklyarov - Mariinsky Theatre Ballet (every international dancer needs a guest year in NYC) A.5. Joan Boada - San Francisco Ballet (ABT needs more Cubans on the roster) A.6. Mathieu Ganio - Paris Opera Ballet (those beautiful lines!) I can't answer "B" because I haven't seen ABT enough times to judge their corpsmen.

I did watch the men's final and ladies final yesterday, but ran out of time to post an artistic review. I agree that Ashley Wagner skated an entertaining program, though it was certainly not as balletic in her port de bras as I would have liked. I haven't seen Carolina Kostner's program to Mozart's Concerto No.23 since last fall, and I still enjoyed it tremendously, and the choreographic echos to Killian's Petite Mort. We had a second Die Fliedermaus tonight with Akiko Suzuki skating a fun program, though lacking the dance maturity of Kostner's program. I enjoyed Alena (Aliona?) Leonova's short program with a Pirates of the Caribbean, but her long program left me cold. She is a soubrette on the ice, so her short program music was a great match, but the deeply serious Adagio for Strings by Barber, and then theme music for Requiem for a Dream (the same music has been used by about 20-30 teams in the past 3 years, for the sake of the fans, please, a moritorium.) This music needs long stroking, great body lines, and expressive passion. Alena was trying to fake her way through it, but she would have been far better suited by a cheerier music. Mao Asada has lovely port de bras, long, clean stroking, soft knees, etc - but her nerves were her nemesis and none of her jumps came through. Such a pity for a program that suits her so beautifully. Skating now has a very long competitive season, and considering that Ms. Asada lost her mother unexpectedly just a few months ago - perhaps it was all too much to be mentally ready this weekend. For the men, as much as I've tried to like Patrick Chan's Spanish program this year, it just comes across as cold for me. He lacks the snap and flair of a strong Spanish dancer. But his posture, speed, stroking and spinning cannot be denied. Personally I preferred the brilliant Daisuke Takahashi. But this odd, jazzy music perhaps is not to all tastes. His extraordinary ability to dance with emotion, and express the music on skates is enormously pleasing for fans. In the past, he has been over the top, but he has tamed his expressions to match the music's tone and needs. Bravo. The next two years should be interesting, as the junior jumping beans mature, and the pressures of Sochi bear down.

Universal Sports is off the menu in the Seattle Comcast area, it was effective in January 2012. Fortunately we still have CBC (although they have lost the contract for the Olympics, so now I am stuck with NBC's prepackaged junk food produced version of the games, may need to take some vacation days to Canada this summer just to watch it on TV). Back to the figure skating, I will focus only on the artistic values, as the moderators prefer. Last night I watched the glorious CBC prime time replay of the competition held earlier in the day in Nice, France. The ladies short program and the dance teams long program. The ladies' short programs were mostly forgettable, from an artistic perspective. But oh my, what a feast for the second hour for the dance programs! All the top performers were interesting, with inventive choreography, an attack mentality, and tremendous physical athleticism, both in movement and stamina. The winning Canadians Virtue / Moir skated an absolutely charming program based on Fred Astaire / Audrey Hepburn's Funny Face. And the Silver placing Americans skated a fast, breathtaking waltz to Die Fliedermaus. I'm not a "homer" for the Americans, I prefer to root for my artistic favorites. Never ask me to choose between these two couples, they were both sublime. I'm sure the judges parsed out flaws, but I could not find them. the Bronze winning french team skated a "theme" dance to exotic music, they dressed as a mummy and a pharoah. I didn't think it was nearly as smooth, but it was fast, and tremendously athletic. Personally I preferred the 4th place Canadians more, for their artistic and emotional approach to a french torch song. The Italians skated a neat, pretty dance to La Strada music, but it wasn't going to blow the doors off, the way the Americans and Canadians skated. I am bemused by the changes over the last 8 years under the Code of Points. The ladies and gentlemens' artistic quality seems to be compromised, but the dance quality has thrived. Perhaps the dance athletes see the movement in placements as a positive sign to try new artistic things? I will be watching tonight, and will try to post a review as well. You can watch online here, but I'm certain there are youtube options as well : http://www.universal...ideo/index.html Enjoy!

Lucien Postelwaite will be a veteran after the completion of the 2011 / 2012 season. Just posted on PNB's FB page a few minutes ago: www.facebook.com/PNBFAN

thank goodness for CBC sports! The Americans are not showing anything live, but the Canadians show it live (super early in the morning Pacific Daylight Time) and then a repeat in primetime.

Casey Herd was an ABT corpsman before he moved on to PNB (I read an interview where he said he was tired of carrying spears at ABT and wanted his career to progress). Now he is a principal at Dutch National Ballet. http://www.ballet-dance.com/200706/articles/Herd200705.html

I'm always nervous about people's judgments when they are sampling columbian marching powder, as well as popping amphetamines, along with various pain meds for plastic surgeries. She was clearly unhappy at NYCB and was looking for reasons to leave. Through the lens of drugs, unhappiness and anorexia, she could easily find an artistic reason to depart. I like the Balanchine Coppelia, and I don't think the term "plastic" applies. It is very sweet, but has anyone ever seen a dark "Coppelia"?

More on Willian Levy, Looks like Mr Green settled the matter, before the big DWTS publicity roll out. http://www.hollywood.com/news/dancing_with_the_stars_william_levy_lawsuit/21225653

I'm also enjoying this series, please keep posting updates!

rough day at work, needed a little Farrell medicine to calm my frayed nerves. So I ran a search on youtube, and this is what I found. http://youtu.be/4HMVLCB_InU A little Farrell balm for my rough day. Now I'm sharing the wealth (but didn't want the Balanchine trust to pick on it too quickly)

there is a long line of shooting star athletes who felt pushed into their sports - tennis, golf, football, ice skating, etc. Not surprised there are a few in Ballet too.

Last minute substitution for today's performance - Andrew Stenson to replace William Burdon as Orphee. This was just announced on Facebook, apparently Burdon suffered a minor injury at last night's performance.

for me, Gould was a jazzman, his work withsic Bach's had many similarities to the Ellington / Strayhorn charts made of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.

From Dance Magazine January 2009: http://dancemagazine...uropean-Dreamin And the February 2012 edition: http://dancemagazine.com/issues/February-2012/Dance-Matters-A-Winning-Hand

I know of a certain former Scottish National Ballet director who might be a good fit....

Lovely to look at, all credit to the dancers, but the antagonist's costume looks like it should be in "Where the Wild Things Are".

as a friend of mine wrote on facebook: Her descent into drugs was like taking a Stradivarius and smashing it to bits. I feel so badly for her daughter.

I think the Balanchine Trust would require an approved stager, but would not stipulate that it must be Villella. I doubt the trust would jump into the controversy.

Feb.07 article http://www.miamihera.orylink=addthis Read more here: http://www.miamihera...l#storylink=cpy

I think the Mik deserves its own thread, rather than being lumped into the "other" category

I saw the full production today at the Sunday Matinee - Korbes / Cruz as Kitri / Basilio and Tisserand / Rausch as Espada / Mercedes. It was a lot of fun, and I sort of regret attending the dress rehearsal, only because the humor wasn't a surprise. I can't think of anything to say about the production that hasn't already been posted. I didn't think it was the "best that ever was" (there's a lot of other great ballet out there), but it was a ton of fun and the kids attending were enthralled. I thought Cruz's acting skills have improved since Giselle, and Tisserand's Espada had the flair and panache that Bakharold Bold was missing at the dress rehearsal. Leslie Rausch was ok as Mercedes, but could have been more dramatic. Korbes had plenty of latin flair, as befits her Brazilian heritage. Afterwards I attended the Q&A, and Peter Boal noted in his initial comments that how Karel fits into the basket has become a conversation on Ballet Alert. To answer the question - he says there is no "trap door" (he mentioned that was a solution proposed on B.A.). Korbes and Cruz then explained that they pretzel themselves inside, and there is little room for her to pin on the wig she wears to disguise herself as a gypsy. Now I ask the moderators - does reporting this information count as "commenting on the commentary"??? Korbes did not wear a wig in the show (though she did in the adverts), but her hair was darker than the usual honey blonde. She was asked if she dyed it for the roll, and she explained it's a temporary spray. A significant portion of the women did wear wigs, and they definitely had big Spanish hair. In contrast, Cupid has a wig straight out of That Seventies Show (Kitty Forman). Leta Biascutti played her as the soubrette intended - she is definitely a soloist in the making. I predict a promotion sooner than later. Most of the Q&A covered details already mentioned on this thread, or in the media articles, so I won't repeat it all. Peter Boal did mention that while rehearsing PNB, designer Jerome Kaplan showed sketches to Alexei Ratmansky for their next project for the Australian National Ballet: Cinderella. Maybe I will have to book a flight to Sydney??? This production reminds me that no matter how we focus on the difficulty of steps, their originality, forward-thinking design of costumes and sets, or injection of "contemporary" into ballet - at the end of the day the audience that buys tickets wants first and foremost to be entertained. Color, charm, humor, and passion and above all a great story for dance - are required for successful story ballet.

I saw the dress rehearsal last night, no cast was listed in the program, but looked to be the Saturday night cast, with Kauri Nakamura / Lucien Postelwaite as Kitri / Basilio. It was a lot of fun to watch, there were quite a few glitches with sets, the dancers kept going even as a portly man in tshirt and sweats ambled across the stage to fix something. Kauri was "on" but Lucien was marking some of his wedding dance solos in the 3rd act. PNB is acting better here, but the Spanish "flair" does not come as naturally to Balanchine style dancers, as it does for other styles. There was a particular lack of bravura on the part of the men, although the toreadors gave it their best shot. Very colorful and charming, though. Definitely in the Ratmansky naturalistic style. Not quite as "mannerly" as other productions.