Birdsall

I love the cambre at the end when Suarez does it! That adds an impressive touch! We still don't have an answer to the original question. Even if Alicia Alonso learned this version of the coda at ABT during her time with ABT, who taught it that way? Where did it originate? No one seems to know. It had to be an addition at some point, since people say pointe shoes used to make hops on pointe much harder. But I wonder who originated it and when. It looks so hard that it is no wonder that it was thrown out, but let's hope some ballerinas will see these old videos and copy this little bit of choreography from time to time! It is quite exciting. I would love to see it done this way in the theatre and not just on video!!!

I'm hoping Kleber Rebello dances the Blue Boy in Les Patineurs!

Interesting to see Suarez-(an exiled "black sheep")-sharing space side by side with Araujo, the ultra-conservative pro-Alonso iron lady. Maybe they respect each other in ballet if not in other areas of life. You never know. I have Republican friends even though we disagree about issues a lot.

This may have been mentioned....not sure, but the Kravis Center booklet has a "Steven Caras introduces Miami City Ballet's Next Superstar Lourdes Lopez" event listed for Monday, January 14 at 11:30am. It will be an "intimate conversation" with her. I thought people would be interested in this info.

Here are the faculty members of the Summer Intensive that led up to the Carreno Dance Festival of the Stars: Loipa Araujo Yuri Fateev Rinat Imaev Julie Kent Gennadi Saveliev Magaly Suarez Eduardo Veitia I thought some people would find this interesting. A very interesting mix of teachers!

I just got back from Sarasota, FL where I saw the Carreno Dance Festival's Festival of the Stars (two shows). The first half starred Jose Manuel Carreno (Albrecht), Julie Kent (Giselle), Melanie Hamrick (Myrtha), and Gennadi Saveliev (Hilarion) in Act 2 of Giselle. Carreno and Kent showed that they are true artists. They were touching as the lovers. Carreno may not be as amazing as in his prime, but he makes up for it in being dramatically alert. Same with Kent who showed off better balances in the second show. Although she was hard working and good Hamrick made the role of Myrtha look as hard as it is. She's young, so there is time for her to grow in this. Saveliev was a great Hilarion. This was the Cuban version staged by Loipa Araujo and one example was that the Willis were much more aggressive (played by intensive students who took part in the summer intensive leading up to these performances) and demonic especially when killing off Hilarion than the American version. For once I got to see alternating dancers as Sulma (one of the solo Willis) lift their legs and circle completely around. That is so much better than the leg coming down behind. Cristian taught me about this. After intermission it was mostly modern stuff, although some nods to ballet. The first piece was done like a class for dancers. Then, came a "Spanish Fiesta" which I suppose is interesting and nice in its own way, but it looked mostly flamenco based with little actual dancing and lots of stomping of feet and arms moving up and down in unison. I think the student dancers gave their all, but the choreography by Eduardo Veitia was not very inspiring, in my opinion. I have seen Flamenco dancing at the Columbia restaurant in Tampa, FL many times that was more exciting. After that "A Contemporary Explosion" showing off the students doing all sorts of modern dancing which included ballet moves as well. I suppose it is wise to train young dancers to do this type of dancing since many of them will probably find work in music videos, but I have to say that for the most part, as much as I find it entertaining and occasionally impressive, it is not my cup of tea. There were some 6:05 or 6:10 leg lifts! Then, something totally unexpected. Rubinald Pronk (previously a dancer with the Dutch National Ballet and now a contemporary artist) did an amazingly flexible yet artistic and jaw dropping dance "L'effleure".....I've never seen anything like it. His body was like a snake who learned to use his arms like Mariinsky dancers. It was very modern yet very ballet derived and if modern dance were always THIS interesting I would want to see more! I had never seen him before but found clips on YouTube. You might want to check out this fascinating dancer. Pronk was supposed to dance a new piece with Misty Copeland, but she cancelled due to injury. Taras Dimitro was supposed to dance a piece with Gennadi Saveliev but he also cancelled, so they moved Saveliev to Hilarion in Giselle. The final piece was choreographed by Carreno. It was set to Ponchielli's famous ballet music Dance of the Hours" from La Gioconda which caused audience members to laugh. I guess they were reacting to knowing it from Fantasia. The first bars ("Hello, Mudder, Hello Fadder.....") were done while student dancers were seated in circles. I think that music cries out for pointe work myself, not just arms rising up and down. But they eventually did get up on pointe. It was very entertaining in the end and the young Arcadian Broad ended the show doing turns in second as the curtain fell (sort of like the Blue Boy in Les Patineurs. He is a young dancer to watch and the show gave him solo moments throughout. Overall, I had a good time, but I wish they would have done Act 2 of Giselle at the end instead of at the beginning. It was also unfortunate that Misty Copeland and Taras Dimitro cancelled (apparently both cancelled due to injuries).

I wouldn't mind seeing a reconstruction of Swan Lake either. That is the fun of ballet (to compare and contrast not just dancers but the choreography in different versions). However, like you mention (or imply) it is always a compromise. In reconstructions we sometimes lose a variation or sequence that was later added but so beloved. The reconstruction of Bayadere is fascinating but how you miss the Golden Idol, for example!!!! Have you seen the Royal Ballet's Swan Lake dvd with Nunez? I believe it contains more mime than any other version I have seen, if I remember correctly. However, it is not a reconstruction. The sets are a bit unusual and weird. But Nunez is a very sexy Odile. I have a feeling these reconstructions cost a lot of time and money and are a labor of love and then they aren't always successful with audiences. I think the recent Raymonda reconstruction is fabulous. I think the Bayadere reconstruction is a bit long winded. The final "lost" act somehow doesn't work dramatically (maybe I am just too used to the Makarova version). However, it is quite fascinating to see how much music was taken from the last act and stuck into the engagement party scene! I like the Sleeping Beauty one in some ways and in some ways I prefer the more traditional versions. But without a doubt it is always fascinating to see a reconstruction.....to see what it might have originally looked like....I am surprised there is no Swan Lake reconstruction. I think the Mariinsky version and the Royal Ballet versions include black swans dancing with the white swans in the last act. This is before the movie Black Swan came out, so they didn't do this to capitalize on the movie. But in many productions the only black swan is Odile and all the others are always white. I wonder if the black swans in the last act were originally part of Swan Lake. Does anyone know?

Yes, I think Carnival was the biggest donor until Arsht gave even more and the Center gave Carnival its donation back, I believe. I think it was designed to evoke a cruise ship. That is what I thought too, and it made sense when it was the Carnival Center. Thanks for reminding me of that!

Cristian, I understand why you don't like the Arsht, but did you ever see the Dade County Auditorium which was where Florida Grand Opera performed? I think it was the main performing arts center for a long time. Oh, my God! It was like a high school auditorium. Truly a provincial center. Miami was in DESPERATE need of a new performing arts center. The Arsht is not ideal, but the Dade County Auditorium was a total joke when Miami suddenly took off in the late 80s. All the performing arts organizations were very embarrassed. I think everyone was so embarrassed by it. The Arsht has a different set of problems but I don't think it is embarrassing. The lobby is too narrow, and it does have a coldness about it, but you don't go, "I feel like I am in a third world country!" like you did when you walked into the Dade County Auditorium! Bart

I love the Kravis lay out, but I hate the color scheme. I wish they had picked a different color scheme. I think the colors make it look a bit kitschy, but I guess I will live! LOL The lobby with grand staircase and big windows and the horseshoe shape of the inside is absolutely wonderful. My parents live in Jupiter (20 minutes north), so I have always made sure my visits coincided with opera (in the past) and now ballet. Bart

I've done some searching around in the past weeks to see if they are stopping anywhere else in Florida, and I can't find anything, but maybe some performing arts centers have not announced. I wish ABT would put up their touring schedule for this coming season. Even if they don't have confirmation on all the venues and dates they certainly have some performances confirmed and could post them to their website. People need to make plans and trips (for example, I will visit my parents in Jupiter when ABT is West Palm). Every other company lists what they are doing, but for some reason ABT drags its feet. I understand casting and some things can't be announced yet, but they could do a little better job at putting things up. I also have to juggle two subscriptions with one time events, so it would be nice to know when and where they will be performing.

By the way, it sounds like the audience has lots of young people (probably young dancers) cheering like crazy. I sat next to two very young girls (who I suspect were young dancers) when I saw the Bayadere with Vasiliev. They screamed and applauded like in this video, and it made the performance even more fun for me. I think we get stuck into the concept of acting elegant and being elegant, etc., when in reality this is supposed to be FUN! We are supposed to be having fun while we watch dancers. As we get older I think we forget this as absurd as it is. We are supposed to be having FUN!!!!! LOL

I love that video. These two dancers have personality and are creatures of the stage. They know what they do well and do exactly that. They don't try to be something they are not. They are literally showing off their strengths. I am astonished that some ballet lovers frown upon this type of behavior. In the opera world all the greats showed off their personal strengths, but now they are taught to not show off and opera has suffered and gone downhill as a result. Showing off in opera is not very common anymore and as a result it is boring. I don't even bother to go anymore, and I was a fanatic for 20 years!!! I think there are only a handful of singers I would even cross the street to see. By the way, what is Vasiliev doing at about 6:35minutes? He is spinning in the air and I think beating his legs at the same time. Is that an entrechat while spinning in the air? Is there a term for what he is doing?

I have read that Lopatkina's issue with the reconstructions are due to her loyalty toward the Sergeyev versions that she respects and probably loves. I like those versions too. She does an amazing Nikiya and the Slave PDD in the non-reconstruction Bayadere (not sure if that is Sergeyev or Ponomarev/Chabukian)...... I don't know about the others who responded to this topic, but I don't need to have totally faithful Petipa reconstructions (I do like later additions like the Nikiya and the Slave PDD and the Bronze Idol in later versions), but I hope that the Mariinsky will continue to show off their grounding in the classics whether reconstructions or other later versions. I am not against modern ballet but I find it a bit sad what is going on at the Mariinsky.

This is very depressing! I love Balanchine too, but NYCB and MCB are probably best at that rep since that is the training. Mariinsky is best at classical story ballets, so it is a waste to have them do modern things, when they are trained for the classics. I am sure the dancers enjoy doing some modern things to expand their repetoire personally, but everyone goes to the Mariinsky to see the classics. Most tourists will be disappointed if they are in Russia and the Mariinsky is doing Wheeldon!

Maybe Gergiev is also at fault for declining standards at the Mariinsky! I just went to see the September schedule of the Mariinsky online, and *My Fair Lady* is scheduled. That shocks me! That is an enjoyable musical, but it does not belong at a grand opera house, in my personal opinion. Others may disagree (Lyric Opera of Chicago tends to stage things like Showboat and this season Oklahoma), but I don't think the Met would stage *My Fair Lady*....maybe that is yet to come! I think La Scala has staged Westside Story. Maybe these "musicals" seem exotic to Europeans. I don't know, but to me it is not very promising to see that type of rep staged at the world's opera houses!

I have no problem with nudity in all art forms, but I do wonder sometimes if the people in charge (movie directors, play directors, choreographers, photographers, etc) are sometimes taking advantage of their positions to get young, good-looking people to strip. That is my main concern with the concept. As an audience member it doesn't bother me at all. If the "story" or photo shoot or play or concept necessitates nudity, fine, but if it seems to have no real reason, I wonder about the person who was in charge.

I read with interest in another topic thread, (but I can't find it) how the Mariinsky is no longer the best classical ballet company, and it is starting to do a lot of modern stuff. Is Yuri Fateyev at fault? Is he the one who makes decisions to focus on modern repertoire? I would think everyone in the world who takes a trip to Russia is interested in seeing the Mariinsky Ballet in Swan Lake or Giselle or even a Soviet ballet, but I wonder if anyone really wants to see them do a modern piece. Their arms, etc. are perfect for the classics and their training has historically been for the classics. How does everyone feel about the direction the Mariinsky is taking under Fateyev?

This ballet (Ballet Austin's *Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project*) will play Nov. 3 & 4 in Miami, and I might go down for it. I was glad to read the reviews of it here.

Maybe they should create a Star Trek ballet. I think the Kirk/Uhura adagio will be beautiful! LOL

The sets and costumes are gorgeous! The Mariinsky went all out for this production! The fire at the end rivals anything I have seen in Wagner's Ring! LOL

Alas, the price on jstor is $22.00 (U.S.) for a PDF file. You might check to see if your local library has databases that you can access on their computers for full text articles. Many libraries have subscriptions. Of course, you might not care enough to do this. Just wanted to throw an idea out if you did really, really want to access it. Yes, Birdsall, great suggestion. That's how I access it, through Toronto Public Library. It's fantastic to have this free resource to in-depth scholarly discussions. People forget about libraries and think they are dying, but they are busier than ever! And, yes, one of the great things is access to databases with full text articles to journals past and present.

Any Vishneva fans should check out her Facebook! She has a picture of her visiting Hachiko's statue in Japan! So cute!!!!

Your description makes me feel like I was there! This is a hard opera to cast. Even though Turandot is a short role time-wise it is a very difficult sing! I gave up long ago (as you sound like you have) of hearing a Turandot who isn't shrill......but the second cast Turandot sounds wonderful from the looks of it. That is unusual! Was she young? What seems to happen nowadays is that if they are young and have a great voice they are pushed to sing things like Turandot over and over and over and then they disappear after a couple of years, because they've ruined their beautiful voice. Have you read Caballe's bio? In it before she became the superstar she later became, she explains how in Argentina a conductor wanted her fired as Liu, because she would not sing out loudly like he wanted and she explained it is how she sings the role, and when she was fired and packing her bags, she was summoned to the General Director's office. There sat the conductor, Birgit Nilsson, and the General Director. The GD explained that Nilsson was not going to sing Turandot, if Caballe was not going to sing Liu. The conductor finally relented and said Caballe could stay but she had to sing it the way he wanted (loud and strong). Nilsson put her foot down and demanded Caballe sing it the way she wants. She told him that he will wait a lifetime to hear Liu sung this way if even that. Basically, Nilsson recognized the amazing Liu (and Caballe's Liu is the Gold Standard holding the piannissimi FOREVER) that Caballe sang even before Caballe was famous and went to bat for her. It was a great story to read. Can you imagine seeing Nilsson and Caballe in Turandot? You'd probably never need to see Turandot ever again!

Alas, the price on jstor is $22.00 (U.S.) for a PDF file. You might check to see if your local library has databases that you can access on their computers for full text articles. Many libraries have subscriptions. Of course, you might not care enough to do this. Just wanted to throw an idea out if you did really, really want to access it.