Brioche

I'm watching this right now (a birthday gift to myself for making it to the age of 50- ha ha) and am enjoying it immensely. There are a number of wacky camera angles and edits, but some very beautiful ones as well (all the over head shots of the swan corps.) Letestu isn't warm by an means, but I like that and her strength and technique are a marvel.

More later!

It would be a great pity to keep the Guillem/Jude Cinderella and Maurin/Hilaire Nutcracker unreleased

Keep your eye on EBay and Amazon for these. After months of diligence I acquired The Nutcracker and I love it. A fantastic young Maurin (she was made Etoile on the set of this taping) and an equally amazing Hilaire.

Good luck.

B

Are any of these particularly recommended?

I really enjoy AND recommend:

Opus Arte

Nutcracker (Royal Ballet, with Cojocaru, Putrov, Yoshida, Cope et al.) The tempos drive me nuts, but the dancing and the production are quite beautiful

Jewels (Paris Opera Ballet) We've had a long discussion about this DVD on this site, not perfect, but it still has much to offer.

TDK

La Sylphide (POB)

Coppelia (POBS) - I love this DVD because in addition to showcasing some very beautiful young dancers, Mathieu Ganio for starters, the documentary about the school is wonderful.

Don Quichotte (POB) - I love this DVD. Dupont's solo in the "dream sequence" is worth the price. And there are many other terrific moments.

Appartement (POB) - I HIGHLY recommend this DVD. I think I've worn mine out. haha My students continually ask me to show them this DVD.

Is anyone going?

BAM Press Release

Moylan is featured in "Dancing for Mr. B", shot in the late 80s. She's articulate and intelligent, but rather matronly, so we have no idea of what she was like as a Balanchinian dancer

Having recently spent a long afternoon with Mrs. Moylan Hanks, I can assure you she is anthing but matronly.

Best regards!

BART stated:

I relish the chic but very danceable costumes and the use of brilliant color and light, and I admire the dancers commitment to their performances, despite a few unfortunate expressions and gestures caught by the camera. Although I do remember Verdy and Villella vividly, and also McBride and Farrell, the pleasure of remembering them did not take away from the pleasure of experiencing what Paris did with the same material.

For what it's worth, I agree. I LOVE this DVD. I've seen San Francisco Ballet perform Jewels a few times (a company I like very much) and remember little about any of those performances. After one viewing of POB I could tell you many things I loved!

Yes, perhaps not the ideal casting for Dupont, but its not as if she's a bad dancer. There are many things to enjoy about her performance - in my opinion anyway. Rubies on a whole is a bit "safe" from what I've seen other companys do, and Pat Neary staged it - and she's on tough cookie. I wonder if the "Parisians" softened her?

What about all of those Kaiser brothers?

Diablo Ballet in N California had the Kabaniaev twins - Viktor and Nikolai and the Jonas sisters - Lauren and Corinne, all dancing on the roster for a few seasons.

What a moving memory to share Gina. Time for you to write a book! PLEASE?

It appears Amazon has this in stock:

Paris Opera Ballet - Seven Ballets

I happen to love the original

The original ??

But it seems I'm hearing more criticism of Mark Morris's work

IMHO this is par for the course. Extremely popular and successful initially, then time to bring him down a notch or ten.

Tiresome to say the least.

Is Marina Eglevsy credited for staging this pas?

Gillot........looked like she was thinking way too much into the role.

Personally, I'll give her props if that were the case. I've witnessed "way too many" dancers on stage not thinking or not given what they are doing A thought.

The "tall girls" at San Fran Ballet tend toward a more sex kitten like interpretation.

In the documentary Gillot's devotion to the original tall girl - Patricia Neary - is endearing. To me anyway.

or a subtle romantic relationship of equal age

Like Balanchine and Farrell? One sided as it was!

Letestu was born in 1971 - Bart in 1972.

and in that time Bart can get a better hairdo, too.

Call me crazy, but with Bart's physique the last thing I'm looking at is his hair. hehe

Interesting about the "stagers." At Hamburg Ballet's premiere of Jewels recently the stagers were Karin Von Aroldingen, Patricia Neary, Elyse Borne (and a ballet mistress from POB, Malin Thoors, for tech week from what my buddy there told me.)

Letetsu and Bart are very slow and deliberate, I agree, but they IMO only expose the weakness of the choreography.

Well stated IMHO. Regardless of approach or interpretation, there is IMHO much to admire about most of the POB dancers.

I've seen Ansanelli in the Diamonds pas and while very entertaining, was an almost exact replica, again IMHO of Farrell's performance. And that doesn't have to be bad, just not very thought provoking on the dancers part.

I wish that her dance intelligence had matched her verbal intelligence in her Diamonds role. That would have been something.

As we all know, our opinions are subjective.

BTW, did anyone else notice that the POB dancers are very grounded for ballet dancers?

I have noticed that in terms of technique AND their personalities. I was remarking to a friend that the POB dancers sure are "gabby" lot. Between the Etoiles DVD and the Jewels documentary, I am very impressed at how well they express themselves verbally. I can say I haven't really experienced that with dancers (and I was one) very often.

I haven't seen it, but read about it endlessy - Kent Stowell's R and J for Pacific Northwest Ballet is apparently quite good. Perhaps the title is different ....The Trajedy of ............?

And it's a collection of Tchaikovsky's music as I recall.

And as a Marketing Manager at a small company - yes, programs with ballets of a narrative nature do sell better (to the general public) then a mixed program. We've only recently gone that way - out of neccisity for keeping the company up and running and building a larger audience.

I'm over stating what has been said, apologies, but I can't imagine Verdy ever "frowny." When Jewels was staged at San Francisco Ballet a friend of mine conveyed the same feelings that Pujol did in the documentary after seeing the clip of Verdy in Emeralds.

Personally I love Pujol in this. She looks so thrilled to be dancing AND to be dancing THAT role.

I love that we have this DVD of the full length Jewels to discuss. Here here to POB for filming it.

I would have loved to see her dance Lynn Seymour's role in A Month in the Country.

Helene, what a wonderful thought.

I just received this DVD yesterday I have a lot to say about it, but won't for fear of boring you all to tears.

In short though, I will say I feel very, very lucky to have this companys performance(s) of Jewels on DVD.

I've seen Jewels a number of times at San Francisco Ballet and enjoyed it. This companys take on Jewels is a revelation in terms of what I saw at SFB. No offense to the wonderful company in SF.

The documentary on the DVD is worth the price of owning it, IMHO.

Enjoy!

D

I just read books 5 & 6 back to back (finally!) and I miss the gang at Hogwarts very much. I may start with book 1 and work through again in anticipation of book 7.

I rarely read fiction, but HP has won me over.

Link to Amazon.com through Ballet Alert and look for that waltz. Most of the cd's available on Amazon let you listen to a short sample.

Hi Gina -

Here is another interesting link for Jack Cole:

Theatre Dance

And a link to Amazon regarding the biography written of him:

Jack Cole Biography

I would guess that when Ethan left BP, all those that he brought with him left also.

From the start I always interpreted it as a packaged deal. So no surprise there.

Mrs. Cisneros-Legate is/was a wonderful artist and totally committed to the art form. With so many "career transitions" happening at SF Ballet right now and her connections in general, it will be exciting to observe what Evelyn brings to BP.