Birdsall

Agreed. And how refreshing is it so see the artistic director of an American company buck the prevailing, stifling orthodoxy and be be a freethinker? Yes, in a way, miliosr. He is eschewing the desire to craft yet another Alice in Wonderland, Vampire ballet, Peter Pan, Carmen or other pop-culture themes. However, anyone with so much Ashton is 'orthodox' (conservative) in another way. He is being a freethinker by going traditional...because America (the World?) is full of companies desperate to 'go pop-culture,' thinking that's the only way that they can fill seats or lure new audiences. Yet I bet most newbies to ballet would rather see the "traditional" Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty or other famous ballets first, so that they have seen the "real" thing first. I might go to Orlando Ballet's Swans: Black and White (which is an attempt to capitalize on the Black Swan movie I assume) at the end of the month, but I don't know if I would want a re-telling of Swan Lake with a twist if I had never seen a traditional Swan Lake before. You have this in opera also where ads try to sell how "sexy" an opera like Don Giovanni is. I understand why the companies do this, but I most friends who have gone with me to an opera who are newbies are disappointed when the sets are updated to 2012 and the costumes look like something bought off the rack at Macy's. They feel cheated, and I don't blame them. I am so used to updated or crazy productions in opera that they almost seem reactionary and old-fashioned now. Creating traditional sets and costumes is almost radical nowadays!!! LOL

I think Natalia saw it in Milan, but it is also on YouTube in 3-4 parts. You can watch the entire thing unless they've removed it recently. It is a reconstruction so it is as faithful to the original as possible and is wonderful. Great to know it is coming out officially as a commercial release!

I have had many cancellations over the years, but mainly with star singers canceling (Ceclia Bartoli, Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Mirella Freni, etc). Most of the time I got enough warning, but it is a big disappointment when you've looked forward to it. It does seem to be more rare to have the entire show cancelled though. Usually they will bring in someone else to substitute and in most of the cases I've experienced it is often a star of equal or almost equal status, but in your case this show was all about Diana Vishneva (her show), so putting someone else on stage in a totally different show would not have worked. Hope you can get your money back!!!

Is the reason that most ballet companies have a season (and a fairly short one it seems compared to opera companies) because they have to share venues with other companies? I know that ABT shares the Met with the Met Opera and so has to perform in two different places during the year. San Francisco Ballet has to share the War Memorial Opera House with the opera company. New York City Ballet had to share the Koch Theater. Regional companies probably can't afford a long season, so they have to have a season also. Just wondering if this is the case. Does the opera in Cuba perform in a different theatre? Or does the opera share with the ballet and how do they do that?

Sent you a private message, Jack!

OMG! I just noticed I am now part of the "Bronze Circle".....LOL I still feel like a newbie! LOL

What I was trying to say is that there aren't really any characters that you feel you get to know well in Khovanschina the way you get to know Boris Godunov, for example. All of the characters stay 1 dimensional.

I didn't listen, but I have watched it on laserdisc a long time ago! It is a fascinating opera about the Russian people, but you don't really get a good feel about any one character. I believe the laser disc (remember those?) had a young Olga Borodina as Marfa. She is one of my favorite mezzos. I bet she sang well on Saturday! It is nice the Met is doing some Russian operas. I wish they had done Khovanschina as one of their HD transmissions. I would have preferred to see that over some of the ones they did this season. Did you see their recent Boris Godunov in HD? I loved Rene Pape as Boris, and some people hated the very simple production, but I liked it. I am hoping that gets transferred to a commercial video in the future.

Just say, "No!" to mullets!!!! That wig maker for the Bolshoi must hate men! LOL LOL LOL

Just finished watching Le Corsaire online, and I enjoyed it, although I have never seen that final "marriage" scene with the wedding and Gulnare and Medora switch identities to marry the Pasha. I don't think the Mariinsky or ABT or anyone stages that scene, and the commentator said that the scene's dancing was all new and staged in the style of the time. So is this scene a total invention, or was it created because the original version had that scene but the choreography is lost? Does anyone know? Gorgeous production. The Jardin Anime makes the entire thing worthwhile!!!

Okay, watching the Bolshoi's Corsaire online, and the production is gorgeous, but the men's wigs are hideous. Mullets are never a good choice! The mullets have GOT TO GO!!!!

Just got home from Pilobolus Dance Theatre (matinee performance) here in Gainesville. I enjoyed it immensely. It is not really ballet (rather modern dance), but it gave the same kind of thrills as ballet ("Wow!" moments). The two modern dance companies that have impressed me are Momix and now this Pilobolus company. Both are worth seeing if you love dance. In both companies the women are very different (much more muscular than ballet dancers and compared to ballet dancers look almost husky but not fat). The women pick each other up at times also. Some of the moves are more like a music video dance performance, but there are beautiful moments as well and definitely moments where you say, "Wow!"

Isn't that when she enters and picks up flowers off the floor? I love Raymonda and have watched every commercial version available and some that are not commercial, but it has been months now.

That looks like a rose!!! Lovely!

Oh, that makes sense!! Henze is not Tchaikovsky! LOL I have to say that I would never choose Henze over Tchaikovsky or any 19th century composer! Maybe 20th century compositions are simply "too close" to us, but they don't seem to have the magic that makes us swoon like the 19th century composers seem to have.

What did you dislike about Ondine? I bought the dvd of it and enjoyed it. I think Ashton based all his ballets on classical ballet but made them modern at the same time. What is it that you did not like? Just curious.

That does remind me of Steadfast Tin Soldier!!! Except the doll does not fall in the fire but just becomes a rag doll again. Graduation Day looks good too. What is the actual story? Is it normally a full-length ballet or a short one?

Janet, It looks like Sarasota Ballet is an "Ashton" company the way Miami City Ballet is a "Balanchine" company. Maybe one day they will do his "Ondine!"

It will be nice to get a rare chance (in Florida) to see La Fille mal Gardee!

Sarasota Ballet 2012-2013 season The Sarasota Ballet presents The Paul Taylor Dancers in “The Uncommitted,” Oct 26-28, FSU Center for the Performing Arts Christopher Wheeldon’s “There Where She Loves,” Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Symphonic Variations” and Paul Taylor’s “Company B,” Nov. 16-17, Sarasota Opera House “The Nutcracker,” a world premiere production choreographed by Matthew Hart, accompanied by the Sarasota Orchestra, Dec. 14-15 (Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Sarasota), Dec. 21-21 (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Sinfonietta” and “Birthday Offering,” Feb. 1-3, 2013, FSU Center for the Performing Arts Sir Antony Tudor’s “Lilac Garden” and Dominic Walsh’s “Neapolitani,” March 1-3, 2013, FSU Center for the Performing Arts Sir Frederick Ashton’s “La Fille mal Gardée,” accompanied by live orchestra, April 18-19, 2013, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall “Theatre of Dreams,” new choreography by dancers of the Sarasota Ballet to live music, May 3-5, 2013, FSU Center for the Performing Arts “Ballet Across America III” at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.

Don't get me wrong. I love bel canto operas because bel canto allows divas to embellish the arias and really show off. I love divas who can show off and show off well. I even like singers to ornament Mozart's arias which was a big "no-no" for many years. But when singers do actually embellish the repeats in a Mozart aria I love it. It would be wrong, however, to ornament Wagner or Puccini. Even late Verdi would probably be wrong, but doing it in early Verdi and bel canto and baroque is just fine. I like singers to show off, and I do like Remola from what I hear. But "Caro nome" is an aria I love with the soft trill at the end. I just think it is just a beautiful ending to the aria. But if I saw Remola or another singer sing an elaborate cadenza in the aria during a concert I would cheer and applaud as long as the singer does it well! LOL

Besides the stratospheric high notes which very few sopranos can do, she also does her best to keep the trills in "Sempre Libera"....most sopranos omit the tiny fast trills that are very, very difficult to sing at that speed. Often sopranos will record the cabaletta with the trills in a studio recording but omit them in live performance. It is just too hard to sing all of them. "Caro nome" from Rigoletto was done with an elaborate cadenza that I'm not sure I like. Yes, it is thrilling as a circus act, but at the end of the aria when Gilda normally sings a long trill it is just so beautiful. I am not criticizing Remola. She sounds like an amazing talent and I am sure she thrilled audiences. I do think divas should show off, but I love the soft trill at the end of Caro nome that trails off which is normally sung. It creates a very dreamy atmosphere. It fits the drama better. But Remola's showy cadenza is perfect if she sang it in concert b/c when people go to a concert they are there for the diva. In the first video there is a short excerpt from Rosina's aria from Barbiere. That is really a mezzo role but for a while it was taken over by sopranos and all this coloratura and high notes were added. Today the trend is to keep it a mezzo role and I prefer it as a mezzo role, but I admit it is sort of fun to hear a coloratura soprano chirp away and change the aria. What is nice is that most "chirpy" coloratura sopranos have no lower register. To my ears it sounds like Remola also had a decent lower register and richer sound than some coloraturas. Thank you for sharing this incredible soprano with us!

I have mixed feelings, Ksk01, about those "new-old" tutus they're using for the reconstructions. Sometimes they're H-U-G-E-(as those used in Raymonda)-and they tend to get very droppy in the front, thus partially blocking sometimes the whole leg of the ballerina from her knees up. I much prefer those "rose" types of tutus seen by mid-century dancers-(like this one worn by Mme. Makarova)-, which are very high, to waist level, vs. the reconstructed hip level ones used nowadays-(as seen here by Novikova)-and by the XIX dancers-(Vaganova here). With the sort ones you can see the whole leg...(sometimes, I admit, they were so high you could see the ruffled underpants of the ballerina.. ) I thought you didn't like seeing crotches, Cristian! LOL I think I like it to be somewhere in between the two extremes you showed in the pictures. I like to see the whole leg but not quite as short as in the Makarova picture you showed us!

Thanks for that info, bart! Good to know! I saw Coppelia years ago as a student (local company) and I was not seriously into ballet back then. Just would go to anything that sounded good. Since then I have watched the Australian Ballet video and own the Royal Opera Ballet version with Acosta and Benjamin and like both videos that I saw. So it will be good to watch it live and know what to expect sort of.

This is an old message you posted, but I enjoyed reading it. Very informative! I will be seeing Coppelia in Miami soon, so I was reading old Coppelia threads.