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choriamb

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Everything posted by choriamb

  1. The people demand Chartreuse!
  2. The performances occurred in the same year (2012), oddly enough. The first cast was dominated by dancers who had started in the '90s/early '00s. The second cast was dominated by some of the dancers with better stagecraft who began in the mid-to-late '00s.
  3. Two cents from the dramatic/ABT/non-pure-dance side of the house here: I also remember finding Balanchine's MND completely bland when I first saw it at NYCB: partly because I had expected a blow-by-blow narrative and partly because the acting was rather weak. When I saw it a second time (with a few stage animals in the cast), it registered differently: like one of those stage-tastic films from the 50s and 60s with a lot of cross-cutting and flashbacks between modern-day stage players and the historical reality (or myth) which they were acting out. It really helped to have performers in MND Act I who would suddenly emerge from the mist, unseeing of the other characters, fully immersed in their own drama. It heightened one's sense that the characters lived in different worlds...and that one of those worlds wasn't meant to seem real. (And it seemed that the "fairies" were more real than the lovers.) I wonder if the scrim flattened that sense of independent worlds. (Act 2 is its own animal, and I've only seen it totally work once. It requires simpatico partners with technique, musicality, AND stagecraft...those are thin on the ground everywhere.)
  4. ...and that article seems to answer the question about ABT's Summer Intensive. (She's apparently seeing it through this summer.)
  5. The names of the dancers and choreographers in my list are much less elevated. But they all did the hard work of making art, and I wouldn't be the balletomane I am without them: -- James Sewell's Winter performed by The University of Tennessee Dance Theater showed me that ballet could be funny and human. -- A routine Chinese variation from The Appalachian Ballet's Nutcracker performed by Claire Barratt showed me what an exciting world an intelligent dancer can create on stage. -- A solid mid-century Swan Lake as performed by Indianapolis' Ballet Internationale was my first choreographic production with psychological depth. -- A duet from a small piece called Requiuum at Circle Modern Dance in Knoxville, Tennessee was the first truly moving ballet that I saw. -- The Four Temperaments as performed at Indiana University by Joseph Morrissey and Sarah Wroth showed me Balanchine-style musicality and mystique (respectively) for the first time. (I'm also surprised to reallize how much quality modern dance I saw in my early years in Tennessee...and how much it shaped me, too!)
  6. Totally agree with this. Too, the post-Baryshnikov regime change followed by the danger of collapse more or less cleared the decks: I imagine that naturally progressing into the company's staff probably appeared neither financially possible nor desirable. And I guess we've also found one unexpected virtue in having a larger roster of guest stars rather than home-grown types for many years...less family drama! Yeah, as they've been adding/reviving at least one Ashton work a year for a while, it seems a deliberate strategy. The coaching question is interesting. In terms of resolving both the Ashton/MacMillan coaching position left by Parkinson and the traditional Petipa technique coaching position that Kolpakova fills, I think Murphy makes more sense than anyone...that is, if she has the desire and the gift for it. (She's great in the American short works, too.) I'm a little surprised Gomes and Vishneva aren't mentioned more as potential future artistic directors, given their artistic stature and experience putting together shows (it's the experience that counts, not the quality). But not too much, given the whole white, US-born male thing.
  7. Congrats to both Kent and Barbee. Given Leon's comment in The Washington Post article that they're seen as a package deal, I think they'll both get their money's worth in artistic power...and a better pace of life for family time. I rather think McKenzie will be understanding: he studied in Washington and left ABT to begin his administrative career there, too. And ABT doesn't lack teaching artists with a command of its rep from recent generations (Salstein, Stiefel, Beloserkovsky, Gomes, Murphy) to step into their places.
  8. Thank you for the reminder, Helene: she'll be in my thoughts too.
  9. Given that Lendorf hasn't returned yet, perhaps McKenzie's keeping Gorak's schedule open in case a replacement becomes necessary late in the season for Swan Lake, etc.? (Although I do hope that Lendorf returns...I really want to see him live.) I'm curious about how the new Ratmansky work is affecting casting, too: each of the five movements of the Bernstein piece is named after a (male) speaker in the Symposium. If the dance was originally intended as a showpiece for the older and younger male dancers of the company--which wouldn't have been a bad idea before Lendorf and Hallberg got injured--some of the up-and-comers may be building that. (He's already serving the company's women in Firebird and The Golden Cockerel.) I bet Hoven will be good in Sylvia: Aminta suits his strengths like a glove.
  10. I attended the dress rehearsal in Seattle: Moore is good in Prodigal Son...the most convincing I've seen since Angel Corella. [ Begin unconstructive "different strokes for different folks" tangent ] For what it's worth, in the dress rehearsal of Square Dance that I saw, Biasucci actually seemed to be the dancer who was most conscientious about looking at her stage companions. I also--subjectively, of course--don't think Biasucci mugs. I suspect that she has simply been taught, seemingly like other CPYB dancers, that it's preferable to project too much than to project too little, particularly when one is nervous or playing an unfamiliar house. If that's a fault, she can console herself that it's one ascribed to Mearns, Bouder, and Peck too. [ End unconstructive tangent ] It was interesting to read how differently Cargill, Witchel, and Macaulay interpreted Rausch's performance. When I was watching the dress rehearsal, I too was surprised and pleased by the common thread that she brought to the Siren and the Aroldingen role in Stravinsky Violin Concerto. (In the latter, her interpretation was actually closer to the video of Aroldingen than any that I've seen live: most of the ballerinas at NYCB play it as an emotionless game of line/form...and in that vein she managed some lovely suspension near the beginning of the pas.) However, in both pieces her projection became less pronounced and head less subtly articulated the further away she was from her partner: it made one lose hold of the idea in both pieces that the movements of her body directly control the movements of her partner...which made the pieces go slack at times. (As she participated in both works for the rehearsal, I wasn't sure whether she was marking a bit when away from her partner in order to preserve herself for direct interactions.) I rather wonder if that accounted for the differences in critical opinion and perception of heat.
  11. What a wonderful description of Sylve...and a wonderful link, too!
  12. Do report back on Saturday's Bourree Fantasque: I've always been curious about that piece!
  13. I don't think criticizing dancers is taboo...it's just that ADs are so powerful from the dancer's perspective (often complete hire/fire/promote power in a competitive industry) that there would be absolutely no NEED for them to call out folks publicly. They say "jump," a dancer jumps. The only scenario where a dancer might have a (slight and still ill-advised) ability to ignore an AD would be if he were an internationally-renowned star. Even the POB concours is largely shaped by the AD. And union activity is invariably focused around protecting the larger group than saving an individual.
  14. Wow, that's interesting about the kids! It's funny. When I saw SFB as a full company for the first time on tour in NYC, I was shocked by how exciting Zahorian was in Classical Symphony--really the most kinetically exciting dancer of the night. Given the reviews I'd read, I'd received the impression that she was clean but rather workmanlike. (That said, I've never seen her in a dramatic role or a classical tutu variation that requires heavy lifting in the stagecraft department...that's what ultimately matters to me, too.) (I've been a fan of Sylve since her NYCB days.)
  15. I'll second everything in this post: I'd love to see her both as O/O...and as the next AD! You always feel a special respect for dancers who maintain their technique and stamina at such a high level for their entire career. (Thinking of Lopatkina's O/O run here.)
  16. I don't object to Balanchine at POB per se. It's that Balanchine is the one 20th century choreographer who seems in no danger of being lost (for many excellent reasons). However, if the POB doesn't perform Petit, Bejart, Lifar, Nureyev, Bart, etc., they're in active danger of slipping away. And I would miss them. And, in general, while the canon of 20th century neoclassical and abstract works is relatively healthy, one rarely sees 20th century dramatic works onstage anywhere. The POB is one of the few companies that serves up that repertory. (I think that's useful for other reasons. Balanchine does indeed hone technique and musicality. But when it comes to stagecraft in his works, you better arrive prepared...as some of the post-Robbins generations at NYCB have illustrated.)
  17. Agreed: congrats to Dupont! I think she may be the fourth--after Verdy, Rosella Hightower, and Lefèvre--not a bad record, by any means!
  18. At this point, NYCB's principal roster of principal women is solid: the problem is not the dancers, it's how they are cast. That's on Martins, not the dancers.
  19. Thank you for all of your help, seattle_dancer: Gallery 5 sounds like my spot, too! (I'm an itinerant Web/mobile site designer, hence the coastal hopscotching. I mostly work in NYC, but have recently returned to Seattle for my second project in two years. It's been fascinating to revisit PNB...the last time I was here before then was a decade ago!)
  20. Hi, y'all-- If a Ballettalk-er were rather tall, likes to see faces, temporarily impecunious, and wanted to catch PNB's R+J, where would you suggest that he sit? (I've heard that the sets for this production are spare but bulky, so I wanted to check on sightlines before I bought a cheap seat in orchestra.) Thanks! Ben
  21. I fluctuate between wishing that Abrera and Trenary had time to prep for the Met (for their sakes) and being glad that Detroit is getting well-polished interpretations (because they deserve no less and I like it when ABT tours within the US).
  22. Thanks, Natalia: I'm so glad that this turned out so well!
  23. After attending the penultimate "Proscenium Works" Trisha Brown program at the University of Washington last night, I met my sister for breakfast today and (lacking a balletomane friend to rehash the night) did what balletomanes do and subjected the poor woman to a lengthy one-sided historical review of this very topic. One of my crackpot ideas was that a school and a unique technique seem the best indicators of survival. It's less a matter of the quality of the choreography and more that a reasonably large amount of people have made an investment in a quite specific style. It's one of the reasons I fear for Brown's lovely dances: you can't patent skips and shrugs. (In some ways, the early works that involve heavy rappelling equipment seem more likely to survive.)
  24. Thanks for your post, Kathleen! (And though I'm not a devotee of Carla Korbes, I do wonder how folks who have seen both her and Farrell compare them in Diamonds.)
  25. Congrats to all! I don't know PNB's dancers well, but loved Lin-Yee's performance with Carrie Imler in Don Q last year: a thoughtful partner with good stagecraft (which allows one to appreciate that he is also a dreamboat with a clear conscience.)
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