Paul Parish

Thank you Bart for the link to that photo -- I'd never seen it before; yes, the link to Stokowski is striking. the whole thing is SO Gothick. So Romantic.... "Aus der Heimat hinter den Blitzen rot, da kommen die Wolken hier. Aber Vater und Mutter sind lange tot, es kennt mich dort keiner mehr...."

oops, Drew -- i'm sorry, didn't mean to embarrass you. I just wanted to get the information out there, because LOTS of people don't know this. I haven't known it for long, myself. Evidently that Old VicRomeo and Juliet was like the first bombshell of the sixties....

Yes, Drew, it was Olivia Hussey in the movie. but that came later. Judi Dench played Juliet in 1960 in Zefirelli's revolutionary staging of the play RnJ at the Old Vic. She's had an amazing career http://www.ask.com/wiki/Judi_Dench

Elsewhere on these boards someone -- i think, RG -- has gone into Seymour the dancer's debt to Dench's performance as Juliet.

With respect, I think Fonteyn looked ravishing as Juliet EXCEPT when the camera closed in on her face; her neck was crepe-y, they should never have been allowed to [if they were going to use Fonteyn at all instead of Seymour] BUT when she ran up the stairs, Fonteyn was like a little girl -- she moved like a young woman.

They all told the story of Ulanova, when the company went to see the Bolshoi rehearse -- they were looking for the star, and there was nobody remotely glamorous anywhere onstage. There was this old lady wrapped up in woolies -- then came the moment, off came the woolies, she threw the cape around her and rushed around the stage and all the English dancers went out of their minds screaming. She didn't need to BE 14 years old -- she needed to be able to pretend to be 14 years old.

Curious, it was Zeffirelli's RnJ that did finally break the mold and put young Judi Dench in the role -- Macmillan, with Lynn Seymour, made Juliet YOUNG -- then management gave Fonteyn the opening night. She WAS great in the role. The movie mis-represents how she looked onstage.

It's not that mysterious. read Souritz.

Sounds like a fascinating resource of primary materials.

The subject of how ballet was "saved" and he Soviet style was born was given a very serious treatment in Soviet Choreographers in the 1920s by the great Russian critic, Elizabeth Souritz; new materials will shed new light on details, but the map of the territory is there. Souritz was deeply learned, and had a great mind. Wonderful book.

I've GOT to see it.... Luke Jennings convinced me.

I agree with miliosr in many things, but not on this matter.

I just posted the following to my fb page

Daniil Simkin promoted to principal dancer at ABT? -- this is FINE WITH ME. Yes, he dances like an elf. Yes, he is a delicate man. No, he's probably not a big enough guy to partner ABT's ballerinas -- so let them hire a short ballerina. Simkin is a FABULOUS DANCER. He's a poet, with a fantastic instrument. He is not just a pyrotechnician -- he is a very sympathetic partner. Check this out: Kochetkova is also a TINY dancer, but look how big she moves, and how happy she looks with him. Please ABT, don't poach Kochetkova. We love her in San Francisco.

rOSEN WROTE really WELL ABOUT MUSIC -- AS WELL AS TOVEY, WITHOUT BEING QUITE SO...oops caps lock. Well Tovey said that playing Beethoven's last piano sonatas was like rock-climbing, and that is so unbelievably true -- getting your fingers in between the black keys without scraping your knuckles is a notable if annoying fact of the matter while the sublimity of hte music is definitely like "o when I have hung above the raven's nest.

But Rosen was that observant and that imaginative and that insightful. They're wonderful books.

i only heard him play live once, in Berkeley at Hertz hall, the Diballi variations were on hte program -- maybe I came with expectations too high, but I was disappointed. He played all the notes....

Oh! when I have hung

Above the raven's nest, by knots of grass

And half-inch fissures in the slippery rock

But ill sustain'd, and almost, as it seem'd,

Suspended by the blast which blew amain,

Shouldering the naked crag; Oh! at that time,

While on the perilous ridge I hung alone,

With what strange utterance did the loud dry wind

Blow through my ears! the sky seem'd not a sky

Of earth, and with what motion mov'd the clouds!

Wordsworth was born the same year as beethoven, in 1770

I liked all three of the last couples -- it was wonderful to see the Chmerkovsky brothers united in their affection and admiration for Tony. That was really moving.

It's been clear for a while that the judges wanted Melissa to win, especially Len. He's said so flat-out, how beautifully he thinks she dances. she DOES have line and grace, timing and feeling.

The big difference between her and Shawn is that Shawn has the sort of body you don't want to look at in adagio -- her legs are short, her waist is thick -- she NEEDS to flash about the stage, opening and closing her configurations in syncopated bursts-- and of course she CAN do that, and Derek gave her great combinations -- but it does give the impression that gymnastics/acrobatics is what she does, not dancing. Actually, I think she came to be fabulous at dancing her tricks -- they have a dance rhythm. But it means she's limited to what Slonimsky [talking about Balanchine] called "the dance of Joy". It means allegro -- and happy dancing seems trivial against the kind of sentiment that Melissa can swim in.

I thought Derek made Shawn look great -- though his choreography at the end was not as inspired as it was in mid-season.

I really enjoyed this year of DWTS.

Tom Bergeron is my new model for how to behave in any situation.

Thanks, Ilya, for not rebuking me more soundly. I shouldn't have commented -- except to say that the management of great arts organizations is always extremely complicated, and thank you for keeping us informed with educated opinions. Please keep it up.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm... I'm not surprised. In all the dances, if it was the amateur who looked the best, I thought they'd win -- and they did. Karina always outshone Apolo, and Cheryl never looked less interesting than Emmitt.

Not that the fans don't make the difference -- BUT -- the fans can I repeat they CAN tell when Shawn and Melissa and Kelly are the ones that shine. That's the way it worked out -- and it's the work of good leads -- the choreographer is also leading, and the follow gets to shine. Melissa has line, and Shawn has dynamics. It's between the two of them, Melissa is a bottom, Shawn is a top. Maybe I should say, Melissa dances for sentiment, Shawn for joy. That's what I think. or what Tony and Derek think -- and look what they do for them Way to go, guys.

Thank you all for your thoughts on this -- Someone who dances with the incredible natural gift of Tskskaridze deserves to be heard, however odd his remarks might seem, given the depth of this gifts -- it's not just the ease and lightness and reach of his back leg in coupe jete -- though that is one of the wonders of the world-- but his musicality and graciousness to the audience are phenomenal as well, and his taste in both mentors [semionova], partners, and protegees is so penetrating. Divo is FINE -- maybe he's wrong sometimes, but please let him speak.

When I lived in England 40 years ago, I had Scots friennds who taught me to do the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, so I could comport myself at the Argyllshire Gathering, at the Ball. [Princess Anne was there.] it was a complicated version of the kind of dance Americans know as the Virginia reel, or Sir Roger de Coverley. There were many dances that night ["Duke of Perth," "the Dashing White Sergeant," the eightsomes were my favorites -- none as difficult in the figures as the "DnD of Edinburgh"]. I did not dance with Princess Anne, nor was I presented, but i did see her from across the room.

I wonder if there are American social dances in honor of our presidents -- aside from those created in honor of President Obama, of which there are many. Seriously, does anybody know of any? A George Washington, john ADamds, or Thomas Jefferson? A Dolly Madison, an Old Hickory Stomp? Washington was an excellent dancer. There is a Martha Washington cake, a Lady Baltimore cake. no dances in honor of our leaders? if there are, why aren't they better known?

This is my favorite of the Obama dances:

. Elegant, tricky, fun, danced to "Aint no stopping us now" [alternatively to "Signed, sealed, delivered.']

Recently, the hula master Patrick Makuakane of San Francisco invented a new hula "about the birth-certificate controversy." The fact that it's a satire should not undermine its status as a piece of new choreography in a vernacular mode that HAS AN IDEA IN IT -- here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy3L9AWoids

First I've heard of such a thing. Where did you see it, judith? What did they dance? How many contestants? Were they equally talented/accomplished in your view? Should we all be watching it? WHere?

So glad to hear your mother's got power now, Marga -- andthat you're back in touch with her. it must be awful for those who hve no heat.

Carley, I'm glad to hear your father's prognosis is good -- SO much better to break a few ribs than to break a hip!

My heart goes out to you all. I feel very involved. Partly because I grew up in what USED to be hurricane country -- oh my Lord. My mother drove through hurricane Camille the year her father was dying, trying to get to her family in New Orleans, her car hydroplaned off a big pool of water on the highway, she was rescued from somebody's pasture unharmed, she made it. Wouldn't wish that on anybody, but since it's what you live with it shapes your character in unusual ways -- i feel like I've got a little more in common now with New Yorkers, Jersey-ites -- New Jersey REALLY took the damage, sewage water backed up in the streets in Hoboken, now THAT's the kind of nastiness katrina brought about, and the water pouring through the house front to back and lifting it off the foundations, that happened to My grandmother's house on Canal Boulevard. It's terrible -- but hte neighbors do help, and we're all feeling for you and hoping the gasoline deliveries get in soon so those generators can get to work. Love to all the BA crowd.

BTW, I have to say, Bloomberg looks very good -- and I have to say, Christie looks like a very recognizable human being. He was right from the start, and the way he cussed at the mayor of Atlantic City made me want to make him an honorary Southerner.

Thank you, kbarber -- I thought 'Swipesy' was the opening number in the ballet-- which it resembles greatly but is NOT in fact the same. [Macmillan's tempo is way slower -- but the two pieces are very similar.]

Thank you, Acsballerina, for your gracious reply. I'm picturing your step and thinking it's beautiful - -and realizing I haven't been asked to do demi-contretemps since Brynar mehl's class. and remembering that hte chasse was a lovely feature of that step -- which failli has to a slight degree [as you come down on that foot it should slide forward a little before you jump from it, depending on how much time you have]. Was your teacher Cecchetti-trained?

@Mme Hermine -- i have also been trained to call that step emboite in attitude devant. But it would not be wrong to say it's hte ballet version of hte Cakewalk step, which was just coming into ballet at the time of Petipa's revision of Giselle [he used it a lot in Sleeping Beauty, too]. Check out this turn-or the-century footage, the step is done VERY clearly around ;30 till hte end:

you sometimes see African-American football players doing this step as they run into the end-zone, when they know they can't be caught before they make the touchdown.

Debussy composed a Cakewalk for piano -- here he is playing it himself

Here is Scott Joplin's Cakewalk "Swipesy"

{which Macmillan used in his ballet "Elite Syncopatoins"]. Unfortunately Macmillan didn't use hte cakewalk step much.

Debussy had composed a Cakewalk

The only person who taught me demi contretemps worked in he Cecchetti system taught it as a little airborne half turn with hte working leg bent, the back foot passing in a VERY low passe at hte ankle from the back to front by wrapping around hte ankle, then you'd chasse forward on that foot, from which it would be very convenient to do assemble.

This jump looks like what my ballets-Russes trained teachers would call Failli-assemble. where hte airborne jump comes through a low arabesque, with the back leg straight in hte air, then you fall onto it[similarly] and then do assemble. Failli-assemble is hella fun and a great way to skim across the ground -- you can travel a long ways in just a few of them. You don't have to jump high to jump FAR.

Very great opera -- very hard to sing.

How was 'Komm Hofnung'?

The best Florestan I've ever heard -- i have 5 recordings -- was Jon Vickers, not beccause the voice was perfect, but because the suffering was so convincing, and the vision was so piercing.

Ludwig was also great, and the chorus made you smell the fresh air.

Gwyneth Jones, i was very lucky, I saw her on a good day, was out of this world as Leonora. She sang all her most difficult passages beautifully that day -- and when she went looking among the prisoners for her husband, I was completely gone, it was so convincing, so moving, -- what a great actress.

There is nothing like 'Fidelio.'

Doug Fullington IS an authority on questions like these-- I would love to know his opinion on this issue -- or rather, ALL these issues, which are starting to look like a can of worms.

Mercy, wonder who choreographed Alonso's version, which -- though it's IMMACULATELY danced -- rarely touches down on the usual steps. I've never seen another dancer bourree upstage with her back to us in this variation before.

Thanks again for the wealth of information everybody.

Birdsall, sorry, my inbox is full. It was opening night, Wednesday, that my friend identified Ivanova as the first Swan out.

Thank you all for your thoughts on these matters. Especially Natalia, for that splendid collection of links, but really all of y'all, even those not sympathetic to my view, since it's such a stimulating conversation, and you all know so much.

Birdsall, you raise a point about why the men's variations -- I have not heard that argument, but I remember hearing it was common knowledge that Petipa did not choreograph the men's variations, but let the men choreograph their own most effective solos.

In the Bollywood dance, Peta kept taking my eye, too -- though I think that was because she had just learned the dance, could not teach it well, and Gilles consequently had no imagery to present, whereas she was getting a grip on it and came up with some interesting plastique. The rhythms of the choreography bored me, seemed very squared-off -- but she lenghtened her spine like a snake and carried her head in very interesting positions; while his head seemed stuck in place.

Derek and Shaun, what a wonderful use of the time and the space. When he got her into that handstand in the splits, it really seemed like hte final pose of the dance, and then he pushed down on her back foot and they were off again -- it's the most exciting useof stillness I've ever seen on the show. She can DO things -- lifts of course, but she can also chaine into a rockstep and anchor the new phrase with a powerful thrust off the down beat. I'm impressed with his choreography -- kinda like Balanchine's in that it put all the tricks into a rhythmic format that gave every little step its own life and all the big ones their chance to shine. I'm kinda raving here, but I really loved it.

Was Cecchetti one of her teachers? DId they have the same teachers in Milan? DId she do fouette with a direct stab a la seconde, or did she developpe front first and then swing it a la seconde like Ballets Russes-descended dancers do now?

Anybody know?

And while, I'm at it, why did Vaganova decided to do the fouette with the leg gonig straight to the side? Did she ever say?

TIara, if I was given false information by the director of the company, what would THAT mean?

And I would say, from my own experience as a dancer, that develope in ecarte with a releve is not a difficult step, BUT that the releve with double frappe pique into a releve with a developpe in ecarte IS a difficult step -- the small work requires a very strong standing leg, the beat must be brilliant, and the co-ordination is tricky to link all the moves into one phrase