Maxi3D

So ends a short and sad life of once Ballet Pacifica. RIP

Here is a recent article from New York Times about Ms. Ansanlli in the Royal Ballet. The comparison between Ms. Ansanlli and Ms. Kirkland in the article was interesting. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/arts/dan...rts&oref=slogin Edit: Sorry, didn't noticed that this link was already mentioned in another thread. Please delete.

Don't you know? Ballet is dead in southern California. Ballet Pacifica went from a mid-level ballet company with a dream of a world class ballet company to now a lowly regional ballet company all within one year. This is what ballet in southern California is like.

According to PlaybillArts.com Ms. Murphy is taking a year leave to dance with Ballet Pacifica in its 2006-2007 season with Ethan Stiefel at the helm Isn't that just wonderful or what! Not only that, the article also said that ABT artistic director Kevin McKenzie was supportive of her dancing in the west coast. In the same article, it also mentioned that Ballet Pacifica is looking to break out of its Orange County's confine and heads toward the L.A. area, specifically in the Music Center direction. Further more, Mr. Stiefel is trying to get the rights to Balanchine’s version of The Nutcracker just in time for December of 2006 at OCPAC Not only that, but Mr. Stiefel would like to take the company on tour. All this sounds great but not a done deal yet, and all depends if Mr. Stiefel could raise the money or not. Sources: Playbill.com's article Ocean County Register's article

Thus ends a wonderful two weeks of NYCB season in Southern California. Now I have to wait another four years for the company to come back again.

On Saturday evening's ballet preview talk Christopher Wheeldon was at the Music Center along with Zippora Karz. I was only able to catch the tail end of the lecture

Sure Carbro I will amplify it for you Sorry about being thin on the details, it was very late last night when I wrote it. Ms. Karz talked about how she started ballet when her mother took her sister and her to a ballet school in the valley. At first, she didn't understand ballet and had only saw ballet performance once on T.V. and was bored by it. In ballet school she had to played catch up with her sister. Ms. Karz's ballet teacher encouraged her to audition for the major companies around the country, especially SAB. She was accepted into the SAB in 1980 at an age of fifteen. Ms. Karz join the NYCB in 1983, the year when Mr. Balanchine passed away. She was greatly sadden by Mr. B's death but also felt excited to be dancing for the ballet company of her dream. Ms. Karz's first major role was to dance Sugar Plum(sp?) fairy while she was with the corps. She also told us that while at the age of 21 she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetic. She said it was great honor to be able to dance Mr. Balanchine's ballets and also to pass the ballets on to other ballet companies around the world as a repetiteur for the Balanchine's trust. Of the ballets that were performed on Wedensday and Thursday Ms. Karz told us on how to watch out on how the dancers move, especially at the beganning and at the end of a movement. For example, on how the emphasises were placed on how dancer brings her leg up and lower her leg to the floor so as not to plunk her feet. Ms. Karz also told us to watch out for on how the dancer's port-de-bras, she wanted us to see how the dancers hold their hands and other small but yet improtant details. This is as about as much as amplification as I can do and thank you Oberon for the John Adams info.

Does anyone know the names of both the music and the composer that were performed for Hallelujah Junction? The dueling pianists performances were outstanding, they almost overshadowed the dancers on stage. Also I would highly recommend everyone who are going to the L.A's performances to attend the ballet preview talk before the performance. Former NYCB soloist Zippora Karz was at the Music Center on Wednesday and Thursday, she shared with us about her experiences dancing with the NYCB, she also went into detail on the finer points of apperciating Balanchine's choreographs.

I will be at OCPAC on opening DAY!!! Thursday and Sunday evening performance WOOHOO I will also do the same at their L.A. performances also. I want to catch as many performances as I can, god knows when will NYCB will come back again.

Oh my gosh! Angelina Ballerina with ABT! my dream has come true

Yes, Bolshoi will be very nice, but it's next summer As ABT financial woes continues, I have a feeling that it will be more of a "stay at home" kind of ballet company. NYCB in September is the only thing that I can look forward to, but after that then what? Not even a Nutcracker, Nothing until Bolshoi gets here. Until then I will be suffering from major ballet withdraw

Just found out that ABT has cancelled its November tour in Orange Country ABT claim lack of funds was the cause. It's the first time that ABT has cancelled its tour in So. Cal. as far as I can remember. I hope it does not become a habit of ABT to treat its L.A. fans this way

I agree with you on Ms. Cojocaru's Giselle Art076. I always thought that she makes a great Giselle. I even go so far as to say that she was born for the role. Her physique and her talent just make her for a perfect Giselle. I wanted to go to her perfromance but I have to work early the next day :angry: Now I have to wait until the Royal Ballet comes around next time, hopfully, sooner than seven years

I was just looking over the sport section of the LA times and continuing to marvel the post mortem of the once great NBA Lakers and the exodus of its players. I was wondering if the Lakers franchise was able to assemble such a great team that the money can buy, then if you on the board of the directors for a ballet company with tons of money and esteems, which dancers and AD would you bring into your company in today's ballet world to assemble a great ballet dynasty?

Same Here art076, won't that be just wonderful! B) pipe dream. SIGH.

Friday found me at the stratosphere section at the OCPAC watching Giselle. The air up here is thin but we sure are having fun, could it be onset of hypoxia? Anyway Miyako Yoshida danced Giselle, Federico Bonelli as count Albrecht and Zenaida Yanowsky as Myrtha. Now this is my first time writing about a ballet that I saw so I'm not going into the technics and terms of how they danced, but I do wish to be fluent of them someday. Ms. Yoshida was great in her portrayal of the fragile Giselle, although the role of Giselle has been danced by many ballerinas through out the world, but still it is interesting to see an Asian playing a supposedly Bavarian farm girl. Ms. Yoshida danced with sureness of a concrete foundation, her turns and pointe works are spot on. Her acting was in keeping of a frail girl protected by her mother, but from my powerful pair of binocular through out act one she was grinning way too much. Ms. Yoshida's mad scene was great, her facial expressions and her body languages bring tears to my eyes and that was not because of the thin air up where we were. Mr. Boncelli and Ms. Yoshida in act two were perfect as far as I can see. They make Giselle so weightless that she seems to float. Everytime Albrecht lifts her, she would just seems to drift away from him, perfect. Ms. Yanowsky plays a cold hearted Myrtha, she and the corps de ballet seems to be dancing as one last night. Ms. Yanowsky exhibited elegant that makes Royal Ballet great, although after the preformance I had a chance to meet her and she was tall!! I'm 5'7" and I have to look up at her, HA!! Anyway the high point of the ballet was the corps de ballet itself, they were what everyother ballet companies should learn from. The Wilis floated across the stage with precision as the choreograph takes them through the differnt formations. I truly belived that a strong corps de ballet is a must for any ballet compay to worth its salt. The set designs of Giselle's village and the forest of the wilis were scrumptious, the best that I have ever seen in a touring company. The house looked real for a village house during the 16th century, and the grave site has the look of neglect and eeriness. Afterward, I get to meet some of the dancers including Ms. Yoshida, they were the nicest people that I have ever met and it just concludes a perfect evening at the ballet. P.S. In act one's peasant pas de duex, they changed it to pas de six instead.

Well I must said that if one wants to see this movie one has to want to see it badly. Even in L.A. it takes a train, a subway, and a bus ride to get to the theater that is showing it. From the reviews that I had read so far the major part of what tripped up the critics was the fact that this movie has no plot what-so-ever. But I think otherwise because this film doesn't needs a plot to tell a story; the dancing and the dancers are the plot of The Company. Although I must admit at some part of the movie I was confused about what was going on. This movie is different from the last ballet movie, Center Stage. In that movie it showed the life of a ballet student whereas in The Company it showed the life of a ballerina.

Me too, I'm going to the Sat. show at Cerritos. It will be mine third viewing also for this year. I'm ready for another ballet after this one

I voted yes in the poll because like many others I think that any publicity is good publicity. Now days ballet has become so low key in the world press it's almost boring. There, that is my two cents worth.

Paloma Herrera did not danced the whole ballet on Saturday matinee performance? Why do they have three different casts?

Oh, that is not true Dirac. I think she have a wonderful voice and her acting was much better than some other actresses that I had seen on screen.

Not to take this off topic but I wonder if there is a dramatic version of Giselle, in both book or film form? If not, could it be done.

Maybe through Ms. Leigh's experienced ears the Othello score by Elliot Golbenthal's is horrible :eek:, but to me it is everything that ballet music should be. The score was larger-than-life and with exciting mixture of sound that created a wall of sound to compliment the choreograph. It's one of only few ballet music I can listen from start to finish without falling asleep. Othello has earned a permanent spot in my iPod.

I guess the arts world just yet another one of the casualties when the tech stock bubble exploded. People at the Met and LA Opera should have seen this coming. In an article in LA times it stated that both Domingo and Vilar were longtime friends. Boy that gotta hurt some. Here's the link: http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/c...ith7jun07.story

I went to the Friday evening's performance and the parking was much better than Sunday's. I agree with Giannina that the young dancers from Festival Ballet have gotten quite impressive every year. This is my thrid years I went to their's performances, and the company this year have many talented dancers who complemented very nicely with Paloma Herrera on stage. I hope in the future I will see them dancing with the major companys. Does anyone know that if Festival Ballet will stage their next spring performance at the Orange Coast College? I had heard that due to lack of funding the college can't afford to sponsor performing arts at the theater. Is that true? :confused: