little-junkie

Misty is dancing Firebird? That's a rather exciting news for me. I've been waiting to see when she would be given a chance to do a bigger role!

Found this clip on youtube, it's all in Japanese:

Here everyone, I used google to translate the two blog posts, the translation is a bit funny but nonetheless, we are able to get some idea of what has been written: http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://ja-ballet.seesaa.net/category/9459798-1.html&ei=37MoTqnRIYTW0QG08KzlCg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBwQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://ja-ballet.seesaa.net/category/9459798-1.html%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DE8N%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26prmd%3Divns

I actually see him as Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet, perhaps Don Quixote as well?

...after I read this.

I just bought my ticket last night, a year ahead of the performance, I feel like I'm borderline crazy...

I wasn't going to get up 3am in the morning to watch it live and I knew there had to be re-run. I was right and it went beyond that...it was literally no escape of the wedding as soon as I turned on the TV, on every single channel. But the best place to watch it was actually on youtube, at TheRoyalChannel. Their reboardcasting has no commentator. Just simply letting the whole event speak for itself from start to finish without missing a beat, like watching a live ballet performance

Mariinsky Theatre Fackbook page posted this blog review today of Millipied's "Without" dress rehearsal: http://drugoi.livejournal.com/3539505.html Great pictures!!

Thanks for the info everyone, I almost miss the entire season but I'm not going to let Coppelia slip away!!!

Natalia, your positivity is infectious I'm really not sure of Carreno's "suit", and not liking the choreography and the changes they made on the characters, but wonderful technicians. All the silly things aside, it's good to see ballet on TV.

They are coming in May, meaning the weather will be warm (no dragging around with giant winter coats), and the Tulip Festival is in full bloom!

Bolshoi is performing Don Quixote in Ottawa May 23-26, 2012, as NAC just announced its 2011-2012 Dance season: http://www2.nac-cna.ca/en/dance/event/610 Yes, I'll be there.

wish I can attend the performance...thanks for the links.

The music of la Bayadere has been stuck in my head since the performances...

Link to Scottish Ballet Live Stream Class March 2011 and other videos: http://vimeo.com/20881393

The trailer for Don Quixote featuring Principal Dancers Greta Hodgkinson and Piotr Stanczyk, and Second Soloist Elena Lobsanova http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NKPInQ5hIM&tracker=False

I have just stumbled upon an interview of Mr. Hallberg (p30 - p38) from the Arabesque magazine (The periodical Magazine of the Ballet of Tbilisi Opera & Ballet Theatre) Arabesque Issue 15 of 2010

Technically, a lot of dancers have done beautifully in both Odette and Odile, from past to present. A lot of great names have been mentioned in this thread (over the years!) but I can only write about the ones that I have seen. For a long time I didn't like Swan Lake, there was always "Giselle, Giselle, Giselle". But my interest has been renewed since I watched the Nureyev/Fonteyn's Swan Lake (1967) on DVD. I was most impressed by the way Fonteyn protrayed Odile with the use of her eyes. As soon as Odile busted into the ballroom, she gave one single look and that completely defined who Odile was. I haven't seen a lot of Odiles that would give me that "dramatic high". In recent years, thanks to youtube, I'm most memorized by Alicia Alonso (Odile), Gillian Murphy (Odette/Odile) and Svetlana Zakharova (Odette) to name a few...

Thanks for the links, Natalia. The reviews are as close as I can get since I'm not traveling to Toronto. Wish I could be there.

I understand it's been a while with the above thread but regard to lovesvetlana's comment about Hong Kong Ballet, it's not true at all. Some students would pursue a career in dance and some would choose over something else in life, as we all make that decisions in life. Academic studies are indeed regarded as an extremely important part of life, it is deeply rooted in the culture. Parents all want their children to be a straight A's model student who would also excel in everything he/she does, mostly it's a wish list but that is the ultimate goal for their children. Two students from Jean M. Wong School of Ballet were selected to study at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy last year (http://www.jmwballet.org/otherImages/PressArchive2010/SCMP_28Aug2010.jpg), and the Hong Kong Performing Arts Academy has been producing a lot of professional young dancers for at least 25 years now. Hong Kong Ballet has been selecting its dancers more locally and from mainland China than the last 20 years, and has created a lot of new pieces based on some of the famous Chinese epic stories, and true historial stories. In the past it was a big mix of different styles of dancers from a lot of places. Cynthia Harvey helped producing the Sleeping Beauty just last year, you can see a short interview of her

I can't help but to post a reply for this topic. Frankly, to take classes as an adult, is to feed my inner needs. Ballet is soul food for me, even if it starts to sound cheesy. Simply having the passion for dance alone wasn't enough to become a professional dancer, and that's my case, unfortunately. I wasn't born with the dancer body, didn't start the training early enough (age 11), didn't have the proper training (age 14) even when I managed to convince my parents to switch to a better established ballet school (was told to turn out but never advised on how to do it properly, was told to get a pair of pointe shoes with no instructions on how the fitting should be done etc.), and was often encouraged to give up the training (age 16) because no one saw any future for me as a dancer. But somehow it's not something that as a youth I would get bored with. I got over stamp collection, painting lessons, piano lessons, local children choir group, but ballet never left. Giving up the training was probably the inevitable, but the drive to dance has been always there to this day. Each class when it starts from the first position, I start to listen to my body, to feel every inch and piece of muscle stretch, to clear my mind and focus, and to dance even just to move my finger tips, my concentration is most serious and intense at this time. To watch a ballet or to read about it on books and articles is not enough sometimes. The dance itself is more liberating than anything else.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Cuban+dancers+refuse+leave+Canada/4366348/story.html

I was wondering about that last nite...the eight drum dance guys came out to bow, then I was expecting the 3 soloists, and nothing. I thought, "where did they go?" They were indeed very impressive. Did you also notice that they were left out at the curtain calls, for all three acts? Perhaps the character is considered too small to have any spotlight...

Not meaning to go sidetracked with the discussion of Albrecht's character... but I always thought Bathilde's social status/class is above Albrecht's, just from the way she came out of Giselle's little house, and questioned Albrecht on the why and how and what, how she would expect Albrecht to place a kiss on her hand, and how she turned and walked away from Albrecht after the hell broke loose and Giselle went mad. My thinking is if Albrecht didn't tell her about Giselle on purpose, for the risk of losing his social status or the marriage arrangement, that would be hinting that he was going to "marry up" himself. Not sure if I'm the only one reading her character this way, but if it's true, would that mean her marriage to Albrecht was officially void, and at the end Albrecht lost both women, and, possibly though we would never know, lost his social status and/or wealth as well? If he was aware of the potential loss of his status, that would mean he was already a calculated person, what he didn't take into consideration is that someone could die from a broken heart.

I know exactly what you mean, Natalia. As I saw Timofeev and Matvienko stumbled nearly at the same spot, both at the end of their own solo, I really hoped the little "bobbles" didn't do much damage. I thought it was a very minor thing, but it's just me. I found there were some small differences between each interpretation of Nikiya, and I enjoyed each personified version. Lopatkina was technically brilliant (not that anyone didn't know already). She and Korsuntsev made you believe that Solor and Nikiya were so much in love in Act 1, so tender and affectionate to each other. Her lines and her feet, ack...I am so envious. When Nikiya attempted to kill Gamzatti, she went over so quickly she almost "blanket" the princess if the servant didn't grab her arm in a nick of time. So I guess she could have killed her, but that's not how the story went In Act 2, she ran out and saw Solor and Gamzatti together, instead of throwing her wrap backward, she ran up near Rajah and dropped it in front of him. As I said I didn't want to compare, her Nikiya's death (the sorrow dance, the basket dance, and after she got bitten) was ok. Everything was there, acting was reasonably good, but I kept expecting some overwhelming emotions coming from a girl deeply in love, was betrayed, and had that put on dispay to add to the agony and pain. Perhaps I was expecting too much. Her timing was great with Korsuntsev when Nikiya fell to her death, Solor ran up to try to catch her and failed, this reminded me of Giselle in so many ways. Lopatkina's final diagonal spins across the stage in Act 3 were extremely fast and came to a complete stop at the edge of the right front corner, the audience just went wild. But I think it was the corps that stole the last act. I totally agree with you that Kolegova completely held her own artistically and technically, in my case on both evenings. She WAS a princess, commanding power over those below her.