zerbinetta

Ooh, sad. I only saw Struchkova once, probably mid to late 60s in a Walpurgisnacht pas de deux which ended with a fish dive. She dove with such glee & brio & to such audience eruption that they had to repeat the fish dive twice.

It's a favorite ballet memory.

The prices are comparable to ABT in the prime orchestra : Bolshoi $95; ABT $92 & Grand Tier: Bolshoi $95; ABT $98.

And they are bringing their own orchestra, which is costly.

For my taste, Ananashvili is just about a perfect ballerina: technique, line, feet, arms, lyricism, musicality .. & that's just where it begins.

She has the ability to dance any style & make it look authentic, be it classic, romantic or neoclassic.

& yes, her fouttes are a marvel. In Odile, she usually does the first 16 on a dime & then travels to stage front with the second 16.

And I LOVE her face!

The Bolshoi Met engagement has finally made the Met's website. Phone & online orders begin on May 3.

The brochure may .. or may not .. go out next week.

As far a student performances went, my favorite was 12 year old Isabella Maylert  (I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly) from Brazil.  I saw her perform her classical variation all three times she did it throughout the weekend, and it improved every time.  She was really at her best technically and artistically on Monday evening.

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Iabella's last name is Maylart & she was, indeed, extraordinarily promising. Her pointe work was far stronger than one normally finds in a 12 year old but it was her musicality & those beautiful arms that really impressed me.

They seem to have some wonderful teachers in Brazil!

The Grand Tier is now the same price as the orchestra: $95. But the upper tiers are priced higher than would be proportionate.

The ad will run in the Sunday NYTimes, the same day the box office opens for the Bolshoi ticket sales.

The lateness of all the arrangements was due to the lateness of firming the contracts between the Bolshoi/MG (Jane Hermann) & the Met.

I remember the Bonnefouz (then Bonnefous) section as being rather pretty .. or maybe it was just the comparison to the other 2/3.

Wasn't this the one that ended with Nina Fedorova on a big platter?

Nice little preview of Tamas Solymosi, also, before his ABT appearances this spring/summer.

figueroa's "barber violin concerto" made you forget the rest of the orchestra was there, and the dancers also -- really from heaven

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... and the Berg, the Brahms, the Prokofiev, the Stravinsky, the Adams ...

Maestro Figueroa has been Musical Director of the Puerto Rico Symphony since 2000 & of the New Mexico Symphony since 2003. He still plays as well.Lucky Albuquerque!

I believe the top prices are $95 & $90 for orchestra & grand tier respectively.

Not bad.

I thought there was a brief improvement when Guillermo Figueroa was concertmaster but he's gone on to bigger & presumably better venues & the orchestra is sounding less "insieme" or "of a piece" since his departure.

The Toronto Globe? They're probably still smarting over Vince Carter's defection to our "other" local basketball team.

It was an excellent performance, KayD, very high energy & "out there", especially by Boal (who danced like he was 22), Whelan & Evans. Darci seemed a bit insecure from time to time but generally looked very good.

The Ailey Company performed excerpts from Revelations at the Monday fundraiser at City Center. I had not seen the company in some time & was astounded at the high level of dancing in the company now.

They are, perhaps, less "individual" than they used to be but such fabulous dancers, including one young man (sadly, I don't know his name) with one of those Zelensky/Malakov jumps that absolutely seize your heart.

Zoltan Solymosi was also a wonderful Onegin.

&, mercy me, GAWJUSS!!!

That was easy! Thank you for this.

Will you remind us again when we "fall back", please?

That's very funny but my companion was also without a notice. And there were none on the ground, as is usually where program slips like to go.

You don't see it as a chance to deal with all four new pieces in one fell swoop? 

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Surely, carbro, you aren't implying we might actually prefer to get it all over with at one sitting rather than drag it out for weeks?

True, but the program was put together by David Parsons, who would surely realize that this should not have gone unmentioned, don't you think?

At last night's dance benefit at City Center (for Facial Reconstruction for Children) members of NYCB danced Ulysses Dove's "Red Angels". Listed in the program were: Boal (yes), Whelan (yes), Evans (yes) & Kowroski (nope). The Kowroski role was danced by Darci Kistler.

No announcement; no notice on a board outside; no slip in the program.

Did they think we wouldn't notice?

There are different kinds of noisy in pointe shoes: there's thud thud, clomp clomp & bam bam, all of which can be momentarily distracting.

But then, there's click click & ticky tik. Merrill Ashley in Ballo did ticky ticky ticky tick & it was wonderful, on the beat & I've missed it since she retired.

The dancing Rothbart is a very major role in the McKenzie Swan. There is the monster Rothbart (mime only) & the seducer Rothbart (which would be the Acosta role). In the black act, he gets to dance a lot & seduce the princesses, the court, the Queen & anyone else within a 3 mile radius.

Perfect for Acosta! :-D

Would someone kindly keep us New Yorkers up to date on the state of Acosta's ankle? He is slated to dance quite a lot with Ballet Theatre this summer.

Thanks in advance.

The NY State Theater makes a very pleasant announcement right after the lights go down regarding turning off cell phones, pages & beepers & that they are verboten anywhere in the theater even during intervals.

I wish the Met would do that. Last year at a Rosenkavalier I was eagerly anticipating hearing what Renee Fleming would do with the "Jah, jah" in Act III. A fraction before the jahs, the cellphone of the man on the other side of the aisle rang.

If I had had a weapon ...

Alonso must have been in her sixties by then & she was wonderful. A bit rigid in the torso but her pointe work was still accurate & solid.

She still had plenty of fire.

I was (am) enamoured of the woman even though I never saw her live in her prime.

Ah, yes, I do recall that now. You do remember all the good stuff, carbro! :-D

She also had her partners from BNdeC. Esquivel was the Jose & Jhones the Escamillo, if memory serves.

I do have the program somewhere ...