Jayne

Regarding the music, I recommend a 20 year moritorium on the following overused pieces:

Carmen

Sheherazade

Requiem for a Dream movie soundtrack

Tosca

Otonal

Anyone want to add one?

Yu Na Kim just flew over the ice and she has the uncanny ability to make her choreography look like the most natural thing in the world to do whilst skating at high speeds. Loved her music choice, I've always wondered why Gershwin's Concerto in F was not used more often. Now I hope no one else uses it! Nice dress as well, nice to see she covered her midriff (another trend that needs to die - one does not have to resemble an egyptian or biblical bikini to enterpret music well). She had lovely serpentine footwork. Wish they would revise the points / requirement for the spiral sequences, which mostly look awful nowadays.

I enjoyed the rest as well, but felt Asada's music choice was too heavy for her style of skating, and made her efforts look labored. Joannie Rochette must have steel inside her bones, because she performed beautifully considering the circumstances.

Waiting to see if Plushenko will carry Asada's flag and publicly state that she should have won gold, because she performed two triple axels, while Kim performed zero. perhaps he will continue his argument that the sport if moving backwards, etc.

Nick Verreos of Project Runway adores figure skating and has been commenting for Universal Sports' weekday broadcast. He does really understand the lines skaters try to achieve and his comments are all to the point and respectful of the art in the sport.

http://nickverrreos.blogspot.com/2010/02/f...eos-figure.html

Will be interesting to see what the organizers do with the closing ceremonies, as it is usually a great party.

A shame that Karolina Costner's nerves continue. She is a lovely skater, and hopefully will find employment skating beautiful exhibitions in the future.

NYT Reviewer is not much of a fan of Whelan's Diamonds performance

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/arts/dance/27jewels.html

Is he just harder on NYCB than other companies? Does he have a point? I've seen several interviews with dancers who have left NYCB for other companies mention the lack of adequate rehearsal time...just a thought.

Paul - thanks for the kind words, hopefully you won't take them back!

If anyone wants to read an online blog of the ice dancing costumes, I give you this LINK.

No time today to discuss the ladies short program from Tuesday, but I'll just say that while I enjoyed all the performances, the hyperbole of the announcers is getting on my nerves. Regarding Joannie Rochette's bravura performance, I only wish the cameras had not done close ups that nearly went up her nostrils. They should have omitted any close up facial shots out of respect. God knows NBC sports journalism is pathetic, definitely the entertainment division runs the show in Vancouver - but still. Discretion is the better part of valor.

I think I know who is enforcing the ISU costume rule, Bob Mackie, Cher and Bjork.

Elite Figure Skating has always grown and harvested sour grapes no matter the country. I still remember Nancy Kerigan's disdain after being shut out of a gold by Oksana Baiul.

This is why I was so proud of both American teams last night - both of them were 100% gracious to the media and on the podium. I'm sure it helps that they train / have trained with V/M in Detroit. Nevertheless, if you looked up good sportsmanship in skating in the dictionary, you will soon find youtube clips of their media responses. I'm sure in private they all wish to win gold, but I think their good behavior last night will only help them win more fans, as Michelle Kwan's grace after winning Silver in Nagano only made us love her more.

A point of irony: in the original article that sparked this thread - there were quite a few comments from the dancers that they loved to see all the skating costumes. So maybe it wouldn't be the same sport if they weren't as colorful. I actually oddly liked the firebird costume on the second russian team, but all the skin-toned fabric is just low class. They're paying a lot of money for those dresses, $10-20k each - all for skin toned body suits with strips of ruffles tacked on??? The Protopopovs and Torvill & Dean never needed all that flash to win medals!

oops - to finish my thought...

I think Linichuk will have to re-evaluate choices in music, theme and choreography under the Code of Points, especially when trying to get audience reacton in North America - although I think the aesthetic is similar in Asia. All in all, a satisfying evening. Did it seem like there were 3 or 4 programs to "Requiem for a Dream" music???

Review of last night - have to agree with the others, V/M were amazing and deserved their win. Ethereal was the term that came to mind. They made it look effortless, when we all know it is not!

Today in the papers, some of the lower-scoring teams implied V/M received 'homer' scores, because of the standing ovations, etc. None of the reporters have mentioned this, but V/M put up amazing numbers at all their competitions all season long for their free skate - at Trophee Lalique in Paris, Cup of China in Beijing and Grand Prix Finale in Japan. Everyone saw score inflation at the Olympics compared to prior competitions, so I think what we saw last night was right in line with that.

Tracy Wilson (commentator for NBC) noted last week that the judging panel for this Olympic Ice Dance competition is heavily Eastern European. The way it works is that 2 judges have their marks thrown out by a computer that picks them at random, the remaining judges' marks are averaged in each category. My point being - this was a heavily Eastern European judging panel that chose two North American teams over a Russian team. So I think it was judged fairly. Maria Zueva is their Russian choreographer, so perhaps her style appealed to the Eastern European judges as much as the Russians D/S program did.

Obviously if you train for four years and don't make the podium - or make it in bronze position when you were the world champion last year - you will feel disappointed and say things that sound like sour grapes to our ears.

I really didn't get the point of the Russians' program. It was set to Requiem for a Dream, were they portraying heroin addiction? I couldn't figure it out. And yes, it did seem like a regurgitation of prior programs. This is a beautiful team of ice dancers, had they chosen a classical theme and music for their folk dance and free dance - they would have scored better. I thought the lifts where he swung her by the waist band was essentially bending a rule that isn't in place. Look for a new rule next year. BTW, there is an ISU rule about tasteful costumes - obviously not enforced. ;0)

I know the Code of Points has really limited choreography in search of points, but V/M and D/W seemed to transcend those limitations with their programs. Dancing is by it's nature emotional - it can express romance, grief, humor, love, longing, among other things. But it is a difficult venue to tell a sophisticated story, without 2 hours, an intermission, and program notes to help your audience. I think this is why the programs for V/M and D/W were successful, they found themes that could be related to the audience in 4 minute programs.

I did not like the B/A program. I think she was a fallen angel and he was trying to revive her spirit, but whatever it was - too deeply buried in ruffles, sequins, flying capes and skin colored fabric for me. B/A and the Russians D/S are both coached and choreographed by Natalia Linichuk.

random thoughts / facts presented in the NYT article:

1. The ED states the company employes 6-10 dancers full time.

2. Wheeldon states he needs more consistent dancers available to him to create new works for Morphoses.

3. Many companies only offer 36 week contracts.

4. Noted that Wheeldon could do better as artistic director of a medium sized company.

The best solution would be to turn Morphoses into a 3 month summer festival type of company. Employ dancers with gaps in their contracts, and Morphoses then performs during the summer. Wheeldon can then stage the works he creates in the summer with other companies during the remaining 9 months of the year.

So if Morphoses turned into a summer residency at Jacob's Pillow, or Vail, or the Spoleto Festival, etc, this could work well, and he would have some institutional backing. Wheeldon could employ some stars from regional companies, and Morphoses could become a real draw. Just my two cents.

Here is the LA Times Blog review

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemon...ne-program.html

Los Angeles Ballet entered a new phase this weekend, its dancers showing increasing mastery with a repertory that, while familiar, is unforgiving.

"my thoughts on the Ice Dance Folk Dance portion of the competition! "

Ok, I'm waiting...

My partner asked me last night if they were required to perform something with an ethnic or world dance element, since they all seemed to make that choice.

sorry, had to field a phone call for work. But now it's lunchtime....

Yes, the original dance was chosen last spring, must be a "folk" dance, some translate better to the ice than others...

I actually preferred the Indian Dance by USA's Davis/White over the Flamenco by Canada's Virtue / Moir, but I do agree the flamenco looked technically amazing. The 3rd place aboriginal dance by Russia's Domnina / Shabalin looked messy, I lack expertise in aboriginal dances to say if it was authentic, or the costume. I would have placed the Moldavin dance by USA's Belbin / Agosto in 3rd.

I do think the aboriginal dance was a poor judgment, in the Compulsory Dance, the Russians dominated - rightfully so - and they perform classical numbers very well. They should have chosen a European folk dance, then they would be in the hunt for the gold medal.

The great thing about CoP for dance is the fluidity in placements over the past 3-4 years, people are really being rewarded by their dances, not their reputations.

FREE DANCE PREVIEW:

Tonight - seriously - everybody needs to watch, because Virtue / Moir have a perfect free dance. It will bring down the house, and people will refer to it in the future in the same class as Torvill & Dean's Bolero, or the Protopopovs' Moonlight Sonata. If you want to see what it looks like, here is the

. You will feel your soul alight watching this.

I do like Davis / White (USA)'s

, but it is not as sophisticated. At the Grand Prix earlier this year, this program outscored the Canadians by about 1.5 points, based on superior technical difficulty. But right now the Canadians are leading by 3 points, so even if they place 2nd in the free dance, they can still win the gold medal.

For Bronze, I think Beltin / Agosto of USA could move up, although I hate their USA Nationals free dance costumes. It's like Vegas vintage 1977! Here's hoping they make a change!

Additional comments:

at the European Championships in their Free Dance to Requiem for a Dream. Powerful music, but the costumes don't help, and it still looked sloppy compared to the Canadians and USA's Davis / White. I don't like that he swings her around by the band in her costume. technically the steps look hard but it looks like they are working too hard, there isn't the sense of effortlessness that we get from the other top contenders. At Europeans, this scored in the low 90's, while the other couples scored in the 102-105 range on their free dance programs at the Grand Prix finale. I'm putting them in 4th place for now.

Sad, because I adored their free dance last year to Spartacus, which emphasized their strengths. Amazing how much comes down to choreography choices in the new system. Maria Zueva choreographs for the Canadians and USA Davis /White. Would love to see what she would do with a ballet company!

I started a new thread in the "other performance arts" secton, so we can discuss the meandering tangents to our hearts' delight.

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=31302

Today - my thoughts on the Ice Dance Folk Dance portion of the competition! Feel free to join in!

the purpose of this thread is to offer a place to comment on artistic aspects of the Olympic games.

Personally I disregarded pretty much everything Plushenko has said. He DEFINES sour grapes and poor sportsmanship. He evidently felt he had won ahead of time and the results must have been quite a shock. Talk about having a sense of entitlement.

I have been watching 'The Queen' tonight on TV, and reminded of the emotional reaction to Princess Diana's death, and the media's hysterical willingness to demonize the royal family.

Right now the media is whipping up hysteria both in Russia and North America over this issue. Athleticism vs Artistry has been a debate in figure skating since it became an Olympic sport. I remember this discussion in 1988 during the "Battle of the Brians" and the "Battle of the Carmens".

If you are a diver, you must perform 4 dives in order to win an Olympic Gold Medal. If you perform one amazing 5-turn piked somersalt and hit the water with decent entry, but perform your other 3 dives with large splash entries and wonky mid-air positions, you are not "entitled" to an Olympic Gold Medal. Another competitor could perform a 4-turn piked somersalt with perfect mid-air positions and minimal splash, and do the same with the other 3 jumps - obviously that competitor will score higher on the total dive score.

Same thing for gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, half pipe snowboard, moguls skiing, dressage, ski jumping and all the other judged sports. You have to complete all your elements with great positions to get high scores.

I think if Plushenko and his coach had lobbied the ISU a year ago to give the Quad higher points values, that would be ok. He could even say now "I disagree with the points value given, I think a quad should be worth more, to motivate the skaters to do them'. And yet, he knew what the Code of Points was all about, he won under that system in 2006. He chose not construct a program that took the most advantage of bonus points, or perform spins with higher point values. He has only himself to blame for the result.

To criticize the other competitor as "not a true champion" to the Russian media - not even to Lysacek's face, that shows poor sportsmanship. However, Plushenko always thought he was the winner, even in 2002 at Salt Lake City, under the old 6.0 point system, he and his coach complained to the media that Yagudin and his coach Tarasova were lobbying the judges, and the fix was in....and that was his compatriot! He was also running his mouth off that a "fix" is in because the Americans lack any professional skating opportunities, so giving Lysacek the medal would create them.

If Yagudin was a NFL player, he could face serious fines for criticizing the officiating. But I don't think such censure exists in the ISU.

BTW, I didn't dislike either program, but didn't fall in love with either. Lots of arm flailing masquerading as choreography. Actually I thought Yagudin was one of the best I've seen, light on his feet, great musicality, good scratch spins.

I'm an Olympics junky

so am I! And I ain't never going to rehab!

Regarding today's newsmedia controversy over Plushenko's disappointment with silver, I am linking the breakdown of the long program scores. What is most interesting to me is that Plushenko and Lysacek tied in artistic merit (82.8), but Lysacek won on the technical score (84.57) over Plushenko's (82.71).

What I really like about the current judging system in skating is that it rewards skaters who TRY, who don't give up after flubbing one jump - because you can still medal if your total content scores enough to overcome one flub. It also rewards the complete skater, who can skate well, spin, transition, and stamina to jump in the second half of the program. This is why, despite mistakes, so many skaters are above Jonny Weir's clean proram (though I felt he was underscored on his grade of execution).

http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-figur...sm010101eh.html

Click on the "plus" symbol on the right side, and you can compare and contrast the scores for each skater.

Plushenko received some very good scores on footwork (surprise!) but Lysacek received better scores on many of his jumps (surprise!) and his faster, longer, better centered spins. I was really shocked when I read through the scores. I think the old mentality of skating clean = win, or skating big jumps = win no longer applies. The sport is ice skating, not ice jumping.

I'm surprised Plushenko did not use Tatiana Tarasova as his choreographer. She is the master of creating programs that take the best advantage of the code of points system. She designed Shizuka Arakawa's gold winning program in 2006 and Lysacek's world championship winning program in 2009.

I adore figure skating, but ballet dancers deal with competition every single day at work to get roles! I only like ballet competitions to receive scholarship money. I would enjoy watching that on TV far more than watching a Miss America talent competition to win scholarship money.

Late night, just back from the ballet, thought I'd get my thoughts typed up, while they are still fresh.

The principals:

Carrie Imler was an excellent Aurora tonight. She handled the ACT One entrance beautifully. The audience clapped after the first balance, and cheered after the final 4 turns. She returned her hand slowly overhead for each and every one, and relaxed from attitude beautifully. I stifled the urge to yell out like a football fan; "YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH CARRIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" Instead, I limited myself to a strong "Brava!" and copious clapping. She did not attempt the Rockette kicks of Alina Semova, but maintained a romantic line throughout. She was light, with articulate feet, and extraordinary control. Ms. Imler has a strong, muscled physical stature that reminds me of photographs of dancers from before the Balanchine era, she is no 80 lbs anorexic nymph. As noted above, security is a great word for Ms Imler's dancing.

Batkhurel Bold was fine in the first and second acts as Prince Florimund. He is a rock solid partner, very tall, able to frame his partner beautifully. He lifts with ease, and he looked comfortable with the pantomime and dancing during The Vision and Awakening scenes (Act two). But during The Wedding (Act three), something changed, I don't know if he was injured during Act two (there are significant lifts), but during his solo, there was no flair or flourish, and it felt phoned in. I saw little - if any - acting of ardour during the finale or even the curtain calls. I cannot say he missed a step, but I felt like the air went out of his performance. In 10+ years at PNB, Mr Bold has always thrived in the modern ballets and he has never done well with the acting / ardour required for "cavalier" roles. Nevertheless he always impressed us with huge jumps, turns, etc. Something was very wrong tonight. I assume an injury. PNB has one other principal, Stanko Milov, who is the reverse side of Mr. Bold's coin, also strong and tall. Trained in the classic Vaganova style, he has flair to spare for the 'cavalier' roles, and it took a few years for him to tone that down for the modern roles. Unfortunately he is currently out with an injury.

The Soloists:

Lilac Fairy was Carla Körbes was lovely as Lilac Fairy, she is so smooth that it is easy to take her performance for granted. The other fairies were fine, though I couldn't tell you which one was purity, joy, wit, generosity, beauty etc. We were joking about additional fairy names at intermission. How about the fairy of truthiness? Blue Bird was Kyle Davis, who outdanced his partner, Amanda Clark. Gold / Silver pas de Trois was led by Lindsi Dec - but Andrew Bartee and Lucien Postlewaite didn't seem to be quite in sync.

Character Roles:

Former PNB dancer Uko Gorter was Catalabutte (I'm old enough to remember him dancing Cavalier in The Nutcracker when I was a kid, damn that means I'm getting old). Carabosse was PNB principal Olivier Wevers. He was great at pantomime, and the kids loudly booed him at curtain call. All the kids loved puss n boots.

Musical Direction:

Emil de Cou guest conducted the excellent PNB orchestra. I understand they are trying out conductors during this run. The strings during the The Vision were particularly beautiful, and deserved a separate ovation, Bravo!

Overall Production:

I agree with the NYT review, 3 intermissions were too many. Better to play music through 2 short set changes (I understand PNB does not use all the available music for The Sleeping Beauty). I don't remember this from the prior run, but this time the excessive use of lame in the costumes really bothered me. Otherwise the production was very close to the time period, but the shiny gold lamé on costumes was off putting and dare I say it - cheap looking. Especially on the Bluebird's back. The only big flubs were credited to the stage hands. They flubbed a few spotlights (it was very obvious) and during the finale, there was a dramatic shudder of the screen at the back of the stage. Plenty of kids in attendance (even a few babies) but everyone was silently attentive during Aurora's entrance in Act I and The Vision. I enjoyed Mr. Hind's choreography and was well satisfied with the results.

You Know You're in Seattle when...

...the guy behind you takes his shoes off during Act Two and has no qualms about the pungent smell of his feet. I was only surprised he didn't wear cargo shorts that night (trust me, this happens often in Seattle during the dead of winter). Clearly the girlfriend dragged him there, and he kept saying "this ballet was only meant for 13 year old girls". Then don't come! Clearly you only came in hopes of getting laid afterwards. Next time, stay home with the Xbox, and tell your girlfriend to bring one of her best friends - preferably someone knowledgable of theatre etiquette.

ok, now I'm totally going off topic...

Natalia - Enjoy the Olympics, I'm so jealous, I could not get tickets to any figure skating events. I sincerely hope Domnina / Shabalin are at the top of their game, they looked wonderful last season in Spartacus, but after watching the Russian National Champs I wasn't really "feeling" their Requiem for a Dream free dance. Spartacus was perfect for them, and enterpreted the ballet so beautifully. Wish they had kept it for the Games. Wish more dancers would enterpret the ballets. Domnina looked beautiful as a brunette too!

Injury? Dance isn't like professional sport, where every medical condition is disclosed, analyized, discussed on talk radio, and the player is finally put on the disabled list. Often we don't ever know if a dancer is injured, they either dance through it, or just drop off the schedule for a while...

Zuzin was weak last spring, during the Mariinsky Festival. Everybody has been noticing this for a while. He was wonderful 3-4 years ago.

Wall Street Journal review

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...1076973510.html

NYT Review

Seemed to like Kauri's presentation, I saw her as Aurora during PNB's last revival of this, and while the production doesn't stir memories, her portrayal was great. I'll see Imler this time around, on Thursday evening.

Additional NYT Review

This review is more about the overarching themes of The Sleeping Beauty.

I think Alistair McCawley might have the coolest job at the NYT, despite the recession. Think about it - he flys around the country and the world to review dance. 2 weeks ago he was in San Francisco to review Swan Lake, then to NY and Seattle for The Sleeping Beauty.

Nice Blog! On the issue of men in ballet, I would think it had gotten easier for boys learning ballet since "Billy Elliot" came out, but apparently not...

You know what? In fairness to Somova, who previously has been a dancer I absolutely couldn't stand for all the reasons mentioned on the boards, I had a look on Youtube at the most recent video uploaded of her, the Sleeping Beauty third act PDD - and I have to say it's like watching a totally, totally different dancer. She's really worked hard to overcome all her stylistic eccentricities and considerable technical problems.

I watched, and she has improved, but "Better" is fine for a soloist in training - but nevertheless, not good enough to be a principal at Maryiinsky.

The more I watch the Cynthia Gregory clip, the more I fall in love with it. I cannot say the same about the 2009 Somova clip, I just keep thinking "she is not ready yet for those role". I know the prior artistic director has compared her body to Sylvia Guillem, but I feel Sylvia was born with musicality that is her genetic gift. Somova would have been a wonderful rhythmic gymnast. But perish the thought that ballerinas the world over will soon be picked based on hyper flexibility and unusually long limbs, rather than musicality and technical purity.

Ah well, the world doesn't come to an end with Somova as a principal, it just means we watch the posted casting list more carefully to find the ballerinas we do like. What we do before youtube gave us this option to compare performances with a few mouse clicks?

Interesting article on preparing for Aurora:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m108...1/ai_n19053094/

Instead of watching the Superbowl pre-game nonsense, I sat down with my laptop, and went through clips of Alina Somova to find out what all the fuss is about. My attitude was "everyone on ballet talk must be a snob, she must be really good, or else why would she be a principal?" I was prepared to like her, I wanted to like her, I expected to like her.

I'm going to see The Sleeping Beauty next week at PNB, so I decided to look at Rose Adagios from various companies. Here are the versions I viewed:

Viviana Durante at Royal Ballet (which I thought was fantastic)

Aurelie DuPont at Paris Opera Ballet

Alla Sizova at Kirov

Alina Cojocaru at Paris Opera Ballet (sublime)

(watch 2:35 - 2:50 for her extraordinary control as she slowly unfolds from attitude) - this was a particularly emotionally involving performance

I am not sure when Somova's was posted, but frankly, her arms looked like tinkertoys attached by rubberbands to her body. Her developpe (sp?) to the back of the ear was distracting and unnecessary, nor called for in Petipa's choreography. What if everyone just changed the choreography because they liked to perform a specific move? What disturbed me most was the lack of musicality in her dancing, particularly the upper body.

I follow figure skating as well, so to make the analogy, Alina reminds me of the skaters who can do the big jumps, but have no artistry for the inbetween skating. Somova shown on YouTube is what Surya Bonoly was to skating for too long. Yes that sounds harsh, but I physically winced during her Rose Adagio. I sincerely do hope that she improves, and developes as an artist. I try not to be a snarky person about ballet. I do understand Miss Samova can perform physical feats that I can only dream of. But I feel she was promoted too early before she developed fully as an artist and learned to use her preternaturally long limbs in a graceful manner.

I have no idea how to finance it, but I would assume if it was once every 4 years, the companies could fundraise in advance, the venues could be reserved, and the tourism board might be willing to kick in some $$$ (ok, not this year, but when they are on better financial footing) to make it work, and find some NYC corporate underwriters. I doubt all the companies could bring their own musicians, would need to use local orchestras, but I still think it would be wonderful to pull it all together.

Also, maybe not the same companies every single time - maybe limit to 6-8 companies invited, with performances running over about a 10 day period (bookend 2 weekends).

Example - 1st Quaddrennial Festival:

New York City Ballet

American Ballet Theatre

Pacific Northwest Ballet

San Francisco Ballet

Miami City Ballet

Houston Ballet

Dutch National Ballet

That would be one hellova draw from around the world. This event could turn into a "Rings" Opera type of draw - with balletomines traveling from around the world to see it.

Switch out the invitations each quaddrenial - invite the Maryiinsky, Royal Danish, etc in different years, and some up and coming ballet theatres as well from Europe and South America, Asia and the US (Tulsa Ballet, etc).

Sorry if this is a little off topic - I would like to see a larger scale Balanchine festival of some sort in NYC- invite the full troupes that perform it best into the city for a great 2 weeks of dancing in January. Miami, PNB, NYCB, Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Dutch National, etc.

Maybe do it once every 4 years (like the Olympics). I think of NYCB as the original tree trunk, and the original dancers have branched off into other cities to form troupes that honor Balanchine, but also try new things. It would be a fantastic tourist draw in January for balletomines to visit the city, traditionally a slow time of the year. I would love to see a few of the midsize troups combine to perform Viennese Waltzes with the NYCB sets and costumes!

I know they have an occasional festival to invite a few principals from other companies, but I am thinking on a grander scale....

Laura Gilbreath was a superb Peacock, and she portrayed a trapped bird on display not through birdlike gesture, but by punctuating her phrasing with an almost staccato-like sense.

I am surprised Ms. Gilbreath has not yet been promoted to soloist - hopefully at the end of the 2010 season this will be rectified.