zerbinetta

You've got to admit that "intermission" sounds way more snobby than the earthy, common folk sound of "half time".

So what do we call the intervals between the first & second period and the third & fourth period?

I vote for "piccola pausa".

Nah, I'm not a snob.

A Debut Subscription would be terrific but do you think it would sell well at the Met? There are 3800 seats to be filled amd, if you add standing room, over 4000 tickets to sell.

There are probably under 1000 of "us". The rest of "them" probably look for know commodities.

I'd always thought James and Madge were known to one another before the meeting in Act I. There had been at least one unpleasant encounter which leads James to his inhospitable behavior.

He has never seen the Sylph before but she has watched him since he was a child, watched him grow into the man she loves.

Perhaps Madge has also watched .. and waited.

I just watched the Rose Adagio bart mentions. Yes, pretty ghastly. To stabilize my karma, I watched some Lopatkina.

Most ballerinas with extreme extensions have good to great jumps (Guillem, Zakarova, Vishneva) but this girl barely gets off the ground.

So distorted.

During their recent engagement at the Joyce Theater, the James Sewell Ballet presented a piece called "Opera Moves", pieces set to various arias, duets, etc. The ballerina Emily Tyra both sang and danced Kurt Weill's "Lonely House" from the opera Street Scene. An impressive tour de force.

Macaulay, in his NYTimes review, referred to her "lip synching". In the program it clearly stated that it was both sung live and danced by Ms. Tyra. A small and unobtrusive mike was evident. Six days later the Times printed a correction.

Her program bio states that Ms. Tyra has been studying voice for the past six years.

This is very sad news. She had one of the most charming faces I've ever seen. A very sweet girl, too.

I believe she married Afshin and moved with him to .. North Carolina School of the Arts maybe?

I opt for simplicity Given that we're asking the question on Ballet Talk, "onstage" is implicit.

I guess aurora and I opted for clarity. The (your) question posed was " .. body modifications - love 'em or hate 'em?"

I voted CCL as the question was specific: tattoos and piercings on ballet dancers, no mention of during performance.

Onstage, if visible, I find them a distraction. Offstage, the dancer should do as s/he wishes; it ain't my business. But please cover them up onstage.

So maybe I should have voted "Hate 'em"?

Chest hair: I noticed in the Wheeldonfest last week that Tyler Angle had impressive chest hair. No one else did. I found it distracting. I have nothing against (male) chest hair. Rather the opposite; I find it makes a great cushion. But onstage a single dancer with a hairy chest among the hairless stands out for reasons having nothing to do with the ballet being performed. I don't feel this way about dance but that probably has to do with the less "formal" nature of dance as opposed to ballet.

I quite like a beautifully done tattoo. The Japanese have made an art form of it as have certain NBA players. Unfortunately the majority of tattoos just look like body scribble.

The opera will be conducted at the Met by Louis Langree who has been Artistic Director of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center for five years.

Monique is no longer listed as a company member on the Complexions website.

It may not have been a perfect fit but it was an opportunity for her legion of local fans to see her.

Sylvie Guillem started out as a gymnast. I suppose an argument could be made about this being the beginning of the high extension phase.

Paul Taylor sits in the last row of the orchestra at City Center. He leaves immediately the curtain falls for each piece and goes backstage. No applause, nor does he wait to hear ours.

What a wonderful little clown! Delightful.

Reyes is a wrenchingly beautiful Giselle. She has a moment in the mad scene which my memory holds onto: at the start of the scene, she continues to hope there is some misunderstanding, desperately. Then comes the realization - she stands rigid for a long moment, just staring at Albrecht; time stands still, and something dies inside her; she stops breathing, stops living. Her Act II is exquisite. As is her joyous I.

Her two Giselles with Bocca just prior to his retirement were unforgettable.

Leo Lerman's journal ...

On January 9, 1971, he writes -- out of nowhere, and in reference to no one in particular -- the single sentence: "An actress with small eyes cannot be great."

Glenn Close?

In September of last year Christopher Wheeldon choreographed "The Dance of the Hours" for the Metropolitan Opera production of La Gioconda. The lead dancers were brought in from outside - Angel Corella and Danny Tidwell (sigh!) alternated the male lead and Letizia Giuliani danced all performances of the female lead.

The corps de ballet was the Metropolitan Opera's own dancers. It was not easy choreography and they performed very well.

Sara Mearns, making her Emeralds debut last season, was very beautiful, poetic and lyrical.

Oh, my! That just jolted free a memory fragment. Wasn't it Dowell who danced the Nutcracker for that half-Nut of Gelsey's which was valiantly completed by Rebecca Wright?

Yes! And Dowell and Wright collided in midair during the Grand Pas. It clearly hurt but they gathered themselves and finished rather brilliantly. At least he did. I never watched anyone else when Dowell was onstage.

Dowell was Kirkland's Basil in DC as well.

And they did a gorgeous Romeo & Juliet with the Royal in London just after her departure from ABT.

Why are these NYCB dancers portraying themselves as American Ballet stars? Why not NYCB Stars or New York Ballet stars or New York's Ballet Stars? The marketing name selected for this group invites confusion with ABT and hovers on the verge of misrepresentation.

This could be a decision made by the marketing department of the presenter, rather than the dancers. We've all seen ads for "Stars of the Russian Ballet" who may turn out to be Mariinsky or the Shminsk Dance Company.

Ms. Tharp’s Elfman premiere

Can't unravel this, but is has prospects: Could ABT's AD have commissioned a work by Ms. Tharp to honor Boris Eifman, much as NYCB's Chief honored George Balanchine by commissioning that ballet by Mr. Eifman?

Danny ELfman, composer, not Boris EIfman, choreog .. erm .. whatever

Hallberg's feet were not always wonderful. If you flash back to his corps days you will see how hard he has worked on the foot/ankle area, in addition to every other element of his dancing.

Well, Kavanaugh's already gone into grand detail about Ashton's sex life, so why not Nureyev's? I mean, it tells us so much about what made him a great artist.

It makes one glad not to be famous.

I would like to know how Nureyev's sex life made him a great artist? I know it made him dead.

I took this to be Leigh speaking tongue-in-cheek, which he does so well.

Leigh?

She danced Concerto Barocco -- first violin, of course -- In G Major, and, if I remember correctly, Emeralds.

You remember correctly, carbro. She knocked my socks off. Made me blub, actually. A first for me in Emeralds.

As all the tempo markings are in the usual Italian, it probably should be Serenata but perhaps Mr B felt it should be in English for an American audience?

The Worldwide Company Debut of Morphoses The Wheeldon Company was last Friday. It was simply splendid! All eight pieces were choreographed by Wheeldon.

According to the Macauley review, the Schubert pas de deux was choreographed by Edwaard Liang. Was there an error in the program, fandango?