zerbinetta

Didn't Aire (sp?) Hynninen stage the Tudor R&J pas for NY Theatre Ballet? She did a fine job.

I neglected to mention ticket prices for this weekend's performances.

The tickets are $35 at the box office with cash; $37.50 by phone or at the box office with credit card.

The seating is General Admission - no assigned seats.

The program and artists for this weekend's performances at DiCapo:

Dicapo Opera Theater and The Nilas Martins Dance Foundation present

DANCE AT DICAPO!

Three New Ballets. 26 April @ 8PM and 27 April @ 4pm

Dicapo Opera Theater 184 East 76th Street, NY, NY

Seguiti (‘to continue on’) Tobias Picker’s Suite for Piano and Cello (in four movements)

Choreography: Dario Vaccaro (premiere)

Dario Vaccaro, Lex Dones, Christine Freeman. Shanti Guirao, Heidi L. Freeman, Rosanne Ma, Ramon Thielen

Dario Vaccaro Dance Project

Piano- Simon Mulligan

Cello- Caroline Stinson

Intermission

SwingFlight for jazz quintet, in five movements by Ted Rosenthal (World Premiere)

Choreography: Nilas Martins

1st. movement: ‘Rosenthal for all!’ Hard Swing

Heather Gorres, Drew Jacoby, Monique Meunier, Anastasiya Zlatina, Ask la Cour, William Lin-Yee, Nilas Martins, Rubinald Pronk

2nd. movement: “One love is all!” Rumba Misterioso

Drew Jacoby and Rubinald Pronk

3rd. movement: ‘I want em' all!’ Bluesy Stride

Heather Gorres, Anastasiya Zlatina, Ask la Cour, William Lin-Yee

4th. movement: ‘I get em' all!’ Ballade Romantique-Valse Jazz

Monique Meunier, Nilas Martins and Rubinald Pronk

5th. movement: ‘SwingFlight for all!’ Fast Swing

Entire cast

The Nilas Martins Dance Company

Jazz Quintet: Trumpet-Philip Dizak, Sax & Clarinet- Janelle Reichman, Bass-Yasushi Nakamura, Percussion-Jermoe Jennings, Piano-Ted Rosenthal

Intermission

Nocturne, Five Songs of Billy Joel Choreography: John Selya and Nilas Martins (premiere)

Nocturne, Miami 2017, Leave a Tender Moment Alone, Get to Begin Again, Everybody Loves You Now, Nocturne (reprise)

Christina Dooling, Benjamin Bowman, Alexander Brady, Ask la Cour, Eric Otto

The Nilas Martins Dance Company

Piano and vocals- Brian Gelfand

Tel: reservations 212-288-9438 x 10

www.dicapo.com

Seating is General Admission

Having just read Michael Popkin's review of the Kirov in DanceViewTimes I recommend it to any here who have been disappointed with Macaulay's unrelentingly grumpy reviews. It's in Links today.

Thank you, Michael.

It seems to me that ballet has taken on new prominence in the arts pages of the NY Times since Macaulay became chief critic and that's certainly a good thing.

Yes, in a mere year he's reported from London, Miami, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco and Washington, DC. I don't remember Rockwell or Kisselgoff reporting from outside NYC so frequently.

Also Boston. And didn't he review Nina's Georgian Ballet in Chicago as well?

He has been getting around which may explain a certain grumpiness I find in the Kirov reviews. He seems to be accentuating the negative, like the complaint on using the same drop for two ballets. The Kirov probably doesn't have a big selection of small drops as City Center is no doubt one of the smallest stages they dance on.

There was a promising young man in the ABT corps named Ricardo Torres who left ABT for the National Ballet of Puerto Rico about three years ago.

He studied with Willi Berman in NY and worked very hard on improving his technique and, just when it might have been supposed he was due for a promotion, off he went.

I believe he is Puerto Rican born.

If you do go, glissade jete, let us know how Torres is doing, please.

Did anyone notice if Gergiev conducted for Shehezerade? When he came out during the bows I assumed that he had conducted the orchestra but I'm embarrassed to say that if it was him I must not have noticed when I applauded the conductor & orchestra before Shehezerade started..

I asked the orchestra people, and they said ( but don't put me accountable for that ;-)) that Gergiev directed the last act (Sheherezade), I was just curius to find out what was played before the Shopeniana curtains went up. The answer was Shopin (Mazurka?), the tune that opens the state radio in Poland....

Gergiev did conduct the Scheherazade Sunday afternoon. It was slightly faster, somewhat louder and a good deal less accurate than the night before under Sinkevich.

I too would guess that Gergiev is doing some damage control.

Chopin's Military March is the piece played before the Chopiniana curtain opens.

Edited to add: I should have mentioned that Gergiev has been in NY to conduct performances of The Gambler at the Metropolitan Opera.

Hey, this is good news.

Thank you sfherminator!

We atttended Thursday's opening night. A glorious program (Byzantium, De Suenos, Arden Court) gloriously danced.

The Mezzanine was perhaps one quarter full; the orchestra looked to be about 75% full.

This is not good.

Yes, indeed, the Chaconne was a disaster. Worse, it was unrecognizable. Even Nina, who had some fine moments, did not seem to be dancing Balanchine,. Odd, since she was so fine in Mozartiana. But she was coached by Suzanne in Mozartiana & by Calegari/Cook in Chaconne. That questing, thrusting front leg in the supported maneuvers lost its meaning.

The lute trio was all over the place. All three were overparted and the lute seemed to have a six foot neck.

The little duet pair couldn't even manage simplified choreography. The less said about this the better.

The Marzipan-like section worked best for me, with the lead girl having some promise (if she is young).

Doing this piece was no favor to the company. It is way beyond them at this point.

The Duo Concertant was sort of okay, save the dreadful violinist. Too much Indicating of emotion in an effort to "explain" the piece to us and Gogua (again, if she's young) very promising with a lovely body, great feet and the most beautiful knees I've seen in a long time.

The Ratmansky & Possokov pieces fared much better, probably because they were done on these dancers and lovingly crafted on their capabilities.

The audience was enthusiastic. On the way out I looked at faces. The majority of them seemed to have roots in the area of Georgia. They went home happy. We did not.

This company is not yet ready for the big leagues. Perhaps in five to ten years, with stringent teaching and coaching and a school they will be worth revisiting.

For now, you see far better dancing from students at SAB and at ABT 2.

Oh dear...just saw this. I wonder if I should follow-through with my trip to Brooklyn, NY, in two week's time to see the mixed bills? Aw, what the heck -- it's my first chance to see Georgia's national classical ballet live & in person. Their folk troupe (the much-heralded Sukhashvili) is amazing so the classical group can't be too far off the mark, I reckon.

Natalia, if you haven't already left, I would urge you to stay home. It would be one thing if the performance were just a bus trip away but the time and expense of a trip to see a company that is clearly not ready for prime time may not be justified.

They'll be back .. at a theater near you.

I think haute couture was probably an art through the age of Coco Chanel. Certainly Fortuny, Poiret, Babani, Gallenga, Boue Soeurs, Caillot Soeurs, Worth, Erte were artists, using the metier of women's clothing. They were sculptors, painters, architects of textile.

Since Chanel perhaps it might be called High Craft but there were still artists working in the field: Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Gaultier yes, Romeo Gigli (although he seemed to have lost his juice when he lost his muse), the early Charles & Patricia Lester, early Tom Ford and others (name your favorite).

Since the Golden Age of fashion (pre WWII), it would seem that men fare better than women in this industry. And it is an industry now. The "haute" couture creations are the loss leaders for the less expensive line and for the perfumes, handbags et al by the same designers.

And what do you so dislike about Oscar, dirac?

Just thought of another: Malcolm McDowell.

I've seen Bette Midler, Isabella Rosselini, Patrick Stewart, the late Claudette Colbert & Kurt Vonnegut,

Thank you, Globetrotter and PeggyR. I do hope Luke gets his chance soon and you are there to report.

Has anyone noticed Luke Willis (new corps) yet? Favorably, I hope.

At last night's interview with Nikolaj Hubbe, he did mention that he would return in the spring season for Watermill.

The role requires a certain Zen-ish quality missing in other in-house candidates for the role.

This will make it worth seeing.

My (mercifully) brief encounter with Bobby Fischer:

In the early seventies I took judo classes at the same dojo as BF. He was, then, a third degree brown belt; I was a raw beginner. Because of some added function taking up one of the rooms, the beginners and advanced classes were combined one day. I was partnered with BF. I was a 106 lb girl & BF was, I guess, in his early thirties & twice my weight and close to a foot taller.

Judo is about finesse & trickery, a physical sort of chess game. It levels the field by use of balance, fulcrum, quickness, sudden shifts of direction; it is not about brute strength.

In our encounter, Fischer picked me up by the shoulders and threw me to the mat. Three times, which was the match. Brute strength, no use of artistry or finesse whatsoever.

What remains with me is the rage I could see and feel emanating from him. I could understand disdain or mockery but, if they were present, they were consumed by this overwhelming and very personal anger. I was not embarassed; I was frightened.

After a couple of years, when I reached brown belt status, I hoped to get a re-match but I never did see Fischer again.

This was a very angry man.

Maybe he just shouldn't review full-length story ballets, considering his open disdain of, like, all of them.

Not so. Macauley is a great admirer of Kenneth MacMillan.

Go figure.

Growing up is overrated.

I have often pondered the implications of a dinner reservation held by a NYCB conductor when taking the evening's tempi.

I have often pondered the implications of a dinner reservation held by a NYCB conductor when taking the evening's tempi.

Well, this makes sense, Barbara. It also frees that index finger at the eyebrow to fiddle with the wheel in the middle.

Thank you!

He was immensley helpful, by the way, He even showed me the proper way to hold the binocs for maximum steadiness - who knew I'd been holding them incorrectly all these years!

Barbara: could you tell us the "correct" way to hold the binocs? Perhaps more than one of us has been doing it wrong for years.

And some ballets just look wrong with smaller dancers in the cast. A Mozartiana at ABT with with Corella and Ricetto was one where I could not see the choreography, which was made for Farrell. It just looked wrong. We've seen that at NYCB too, as when Judith Fugate was allowed to dance Chaconne.

And yet Nina Ananiashvili, who is likely shorter than Ricetto, was able to reveal the choreography wonderfully; she made it her own. But Nina dances Huge; Ricetto does not.