Birdsall

I liked Neumeier's Little Mermaid! LOL I do love traditional Petipa ballets, and also hope the Bolshoi continues to do Ballet in Cinema showings, but occasionally I like to see something modern and unusual!

Vocalization during "Little Corsaire" would certainly fit in with the choreography, but it wasn't then that she shouted out. She was in a tutu, held up high, and triumphantly called out what did sound similar to what your wrote, although I would have understood "Au bord", so it wasn't that. I think it was at the end of Act I when Conrad's pirates "kidnapped" Medora, rescuing her from the Pasha, whereupon they all triumphantly left for the grotto. If she was held up high and it wasn't what I was thinking, maybe she was shouting at the male dancer not to drop her in Russian! LOL LOL LOL Maybe she felt his hands slipping!!! LOL

I think someone on Ballet Talk said that the Alice in Wonderland is being re-done to add more dancing. Maybe it will be better. I think that has been the main complaint about the new Alice. Not enough dancing. I sort of agree with that, b/c I bought the video. I actually enjoyed it, although it would never be on my top 10 or 20 list. But it is entertaining. If more dancing is added I think it might be much better. Maybe they've already added more dancing!

Penteado did get better and better as the performance progressed. Delgado tired at times, but she probably hasn't learned to pace herself, but I think she was a natural as Giselle as far as the acting went. Her dancing was very good too. She will be a great Giselle if she gets a chance to dance it more and more. She's not perfect but such an exciting talent! She had a lot of nightmares to deal with in her debut like the flower not wanting to be plucked, Bathilde not being where she expected when she danced backwards intending to bump into her, etc. She probably thought, "Anything that can go wrong has gone wrong!" yet she managed it all like a pro!

I read somewhere that Medora (during the Little Corsaire interpolation) historically shouted, "Au Bord" in a megaphone, but I don't remember where I read it. I think I also saw Alexandrova dance and shout it on YouTube (from the Corsaire reconstruction) and it doesn't sound like "Au Bord," but I assumed it was the Russian words for the same idea. Maybe someone who knows Russian can decipher what she says.

Any report on the Catoya Giselle at the Kravis? I wanted to see that one too, and Cristian says she was the best out of all the Giselles he saw. I just could not go to two in one day and ignore my parents while visiting them! LOL And I did not want to miss Delgado's Giselle, but Cristian says Catoya is more experienced and technically proficient and the best out of all the ones he saw.

Marga, were the spoken words during the interpolated "Little Corsaire" variation? I read that Medora shouts "Au bord!" (or a Russian version of that phrase) at the end of that variation. Maybe that was what you heard. I read that she originally shouts this through a megaphone or something. It was to keep in line with the nautical theme of Corsaire, although nobody is about to get on board a ship at that moment, so I don't quite understand. I missed this, b/c I was traveling home from Jupiter, FL by car after seeing 2 performances of Miami City Ballet's Giselle this past weekend. It was a great weekend, and I knew I would miss Corsaire, b/c the live feed wasn't playing anywhere in Jupiter or South Florida. Instead I was stuck on Florida's Turnpike passing 13 car accidents!!!! It was end of Spring Break for students and raining. Sure wish I had been watching Corsaire instead. I hope to see it during an encore presentation. You have whetted my appetite!

It was shocking not to give flowers to Delgado! A debut as Giselle is a major thing for a dancer, I would think!!!!

Wonder how a young man can hit an old man! Insane! So sad people don't know how to act anymore. I have gotten an usher when someone was in my seat and didn't believe he had made a mistake. I can't imagine hitting someone! Maybe the guy is on 15 medications like so many people are nowadays!

The Dutch National Ballet's videos of Don Quixote and Giselle are very good! You will have to report on live performances you see there to keep us informed! Welcome!!!

Just home from Delgado's debut in Giselle and loved her! She radiates youth and energy! Her acting is natural like she's just inhabiting the role instead of acting the role. She has so much charisma. Cristian can give a more technical analysis of her dancing, but I felt she excelled at jumps (grand jetes), foot work, and Port de bras. To me she created magic. She was a gorgeous young girl in love. I felt her mad scene still needs work, but it was great for a first time! She was also quite lyrical and spirit-like in the second act. I think it was an incredible first Giselle!!!!!!! She's already good! She will be GREAT with time!

It is sad to see how quickly FGO's standards have fallen. I'm sure it can't be helped in this economy, but I am not satisfied with seeing nobodies and student singers howl through roles. I suspect the company is doing its best with what it has, but they were really good in the 90's and 2000's before the bubble burst. I might go see Sonnambula next season. We'll see.

It was hard to recognize her! I'm not sure she wants to be compared to Bela Lugosi, Cristian!!!!! LOL LOL LOL But I understand what you mean. You always make me laugh!

I agree. Never did I feel Delgado was acting. To me she lived the part, and her dancing was gorgeous! She was a top notch Myrtha! I am a fan of the beautiful Delgado smile, but I am also thrilled to see her range in portraying serious personalities as well. I am glad she'll be able to use her smile in Act 1 today!

That program sounds wonderful. One of my best night's at the opera was seeing a terrific "L'incoronazione di Poppea" (Monteverdi) by Florida Grand Opera in the late '90's. Back then FGO was very good! I saw the same opera in San Francisco and it didn't compare to what I saw in Miami. They engaged conductor Harry Bicket and counter tenor David Daniels (who was in his prime back then), and the staging was lavish.

bart, Sorry we couldn't talk last night! I had to go back out to my mother, but I wanted to put a face to the name! Great to sort of meet you. I agree that their acting was great! I thought Kronenberg's mad scene was much better than the last time MCB did Giselle. I do see what Cristian means though too. This happens in opera also...as the dramatic interpretation deepens the technical elements falter a bit. Guerra and Kronenberg make a gorgeous couple on stage and the fact they are actually married in real life makes the audience love them together. They are MCB's "Love Couple" which is what the opera world called Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna when they married and started singing together. Guerra has a regal bearing in everything he does, so he makes a good prince. Kronenberg is a beautiful woman and acted the role beautifully. I did think they seemed technically stronger last time, but this time they interpreted the roles better. My favorites were Jeannette Delgado as Myrtha and Cerdeiro in the peasant pdd! Those two always impress me whatever they dance! Going back to see Delgado today as Giselle! She has shown she can be serious and dramatic. Her bourees were like floating on air! Wasn't sure she could be stern enough as Myrtha, but she was! Can't wait to see her range in the title role!

I wondered why casting was still not up on the MCB site this morning! I guess they were still deciding....

HOORAY!!!!!! I have just changed my plans.....already have subscription tickets for Friday night, but I will go to the Saturday matinee then!!!! I will miss Catoya, but I love Jeanette Delgado and was hoping she would be Giselle!!!!

My copy should arrive today according to my Amazon account! I can't wait! Thanks for the interview! It really is amazing that Cuba's population is so small (as Roca says it could fit inside NY) yet it has a company the size of the Bolshoi! Wow! Too bad they never perform in Florida!

Where will we find this on YouTube? Will we just go to YouTube and search "Corsaire and Bolshoi"? Or will the Bolshoi provide a link on its website to the YouTube performance?

Interesting that next season the Kravis performances of Program 3 & 4 will come before performances in Broward and Miami. The Kravis performances are usually the final performances of all programs. It will be fun to see some of the shows first for a change! LOL

It has more Balanchine on the program which is great. I guess that might be the way they are honoring Villella. Maybe Slaughter on 10th (which they did just a season or two ago it seems) as the final ballet of the season is Villella's message of how he feels. About to be slaughtered.....could it be an in joke to program that as his final ballet at MCB?

That diagonal is just not a part of MOST stagings. I don't know the MCB dancers and maybe you are right and they cant do it. I know it is very critical to you for a giselle. But for many people and many stagings it is not. I don't know if the omission of it is due to lack of technical proficiancy, and really I think it is a staging choice. You can hate that choice but i don't think its fair to chalk it up to lack of ability in the dancers. I'm sure ABT for ex. has had dancers who COULD do it. I KNOW that osipova could, but she doesn't. Is that because you basically have to do what the particular director of the particular staging tells you to do? I am asking b/c I want to learn. Cristian told me that the diagonal is done in Cuba, but rarely anywhere else because it has been omitted so regularly. If teachers are teaching dancers the choreography and teaching them the "usual" choreography it probably isn't a particular dancer's fault. I have no idea, but I assume that if a young dancer says that she wants to dance the Spessivtzeva version, a coach or teacher could hypothetically laugh in her face and say, "Who do you think you are wanting to dance that when the regular version is hard enough?" I imagine that it would take a superstar of ballet (someone like Osipova) to be willing to do the Spessivtzeva version. Otherwise the dancers are supposed to do as they are told. Am I correct in this assumption? I know in opera a young singer could not come to James Levine and say, "I have prepared Mozart's arias with embellishments the way they were done in Mozart's time, and I want to sing them!" James Levine (who is actually out sick and may or may not return to conducting at the Met) would probably laugh in her face and want her to sing the Countess or Susanna without embellishments. Now someone with a lot of pull (star status) like Cecilia Bartoli was able to interpolate arias not normally done in Le Nozze, and the director was mad! But Bartoli filled the house back then, so she got her way and the director had to stage the alternate arias that he hated instead of the traditional arias. So these things can happen, but you need to be a star to demand to sing (or I assume dance) the "different" aria (or variation).

As I mentioned to you earlier I will see this company here in Gainesville on March 18. Can't wait. I suspect it will be similar to Momix (the company I told you about). I'm glad you enjoyed a contemporary dance program!!!

Nicola Luisotti is an exciting conductor! He makes most works come alive. I was glad to finally see him conduct in person. He was at home in the Verdi and made the other pieces interesting as well. Watching him conduct is almost like watching a ballet dancer. He loves what he is doing. I can tell. Dawn Upshaw still has a beautiful voice although there were slight moments that betrayed that she is no longer in her prime. I am not a fan of most contemporary opera, but Golijov's 3 songs were very nice and I wouldn't mind hearing them again one day. Thank you for inviting me along to the Cleveland Orchestra concert. It was a great evening of music!