pherank

Welcome cgc! There are quite a few forum members who have a thorough knowledge of the world of dance 'criticism', and hopefully you will receive many recommendations regarding articles. Macaulay is much discussed here. ;) I'm an SFB supporter myself, so more power to you. I would definitely recommend Nancy Goldner's two short books: Balanchine Variations, and More Balanchine Variations for a Ballet 101 class.

LOL - and this is why students are not allowed to rely upon Wikipedia as their main data source. Sorry Svetlana - you will have to wait along with everyone else.

I've wondered the same thing, volcanohunter - maybe the author is trying to will it to happen. ;)

I tend to agree that Lopatkina* is an obvious choice - and since she has remained within 'the state system' and not been a rebellious artist(!), she has little controversy surrounding her. But as cubanmiamiboy has mentioned, there is no formal process to this 'award', and the manner in which the honor is bestowed has differed between nations/cultures. I think the term is something of a relic of another age. The U.S. comapnies don't use the term, but wouldn't a Suzanne Farrell or Patricia McBride qualify as Kennedy Center honorees? *Perhaps I just purposefully forgot about it, but if Svetlana Zakharova can be made Assoluta of The Bolshoi, Lopatkina is certainly deserving.

The San Diego Opera has gone through tumultuous times, but is still operational (and putting on decent productions). All of these companies are fighting to stay alive in changing times.

I remember seeing that interview - I thought she still sounded pretty sharp. She can be forgiven for looking frail in her 90's. ;) She never was one to hold back about what she thought of various Hollywood people, though I don't think she was generally rude, or argumentative, in person. I had forgotten about this movie! It was on TCM a few months ago, as I recall. Lucille Ball was great in those early roles as well. Two clashing red heads - sadly, in black and white. O'Hara always comes across as a person of character, and fierce pride.

I was just watching the Humpback of Notre Dame on TCM last night, and now I'm finding out that my favorite 'pirate queen' has passed away: "Maureen O’Hara, the spirited Irish-born actress who played strong-willed, tempestuous beauties opposite all manner of adventurers in escapist movies of the 1940s and ’50s, died on Saturday at her home in Boise, Idaho. She was 95." http://http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/movies/maureen-ohara-irish-born-actress-known-as-queen-of-technicolor-dies-at-95.html RIP, Maureen - you will be missed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8qakgJqzeM

Vera-Ellen in Happy Go Lovely (with David Niven) - sorry aobut the typo in the post title. ;) The choreography is largley balletic in style (strictly demi pointe), rather than the usual 'Broadway hoofer' style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkesTxAoOXU (Dancing begins around 34:56) And then the finale with Vera-Ellen (solo) begins at 1:33:00

You still got to see the Kirov live, and that's what counts. ;) I do believe the Balanchine Trust continues to oversee performances of Mr. B's works - outside of the initial performances - so there must have been a repetiteur available for tour rehearsals, perhaps it was Farrell. Her autobiography goes into some detail about how difficult it was to pull things off at the premiere. The ballet culture at the Kirov, at that time, was quite different from the world of NYCB. I remember Farrell writing that the principals got to choose the tempo of their music (Balanchine tended to feel that it was the dancer's job to follow the music and conductor's choices). A dancer should be responding to the music and not the other way around.

I just ran into this quote that I saved from the Elizabeth Kattner-Ulrich dissertation (quite an interesting read, btw) [beginning on Page 35] 'In the West today, "Russian ballet" normally refers to the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow and the Maryinsky in St. Petersburg, known in Soviet times as the Kirov. For dancers and balletomanes, the "Russian school" is used to refer to the Vaganova method of training and style of ballet developed by Agrippa Vaganova at the former Theater School of the Maryinsky, now known as the Vaganova Ballet Academy. Although Danilova mentioned having been trained and coached by Vaganova in her last years at Theater School and as a member of the corps de ballet, the Vaganova method was far from developed in the early 1920‘s and none of the dancers of the Young Ballet, the Soviet Dancers or the dancers of the Ballets Russes spoke of her as being a great influence on their training. (Danilova 1988, 50-51) Since both Danilova and Geva claimed that the education given to dancers at the School of American Ballet in New York was exactly like the one they received at the original Imperial Theater School, and Vaganova later developed a system of education so specific that the school bears her name today, it is arguable that the tradition carried on in the West is as much directly descended from Petipa as the current Russian ballet.' Of course, as others have stated very well, Balanchine was very much interested in extending the tradition further - exploring all manner of possibilites.

Wow, I'm impressed, Jack - Farrell's work with the, then, Kirov to present Scotch Symphony for the first time in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) - with Francia Russell of the PNB coaching Theme and Variations - is a memorable part of Farrell's autobiography. I think it was indeed her first go as repetiteur for the Balanchine Trust. "In the Russian tradition, there were two formal dress rehearsals for an audience before the actual premiere. Because tickets are so difficult for the ordinary citizen to obtain--many are reserved for dignitaries, politburo members, and tourists who pay in dollars with American Express cards--these extra performances were crowded with children, who are not permitted at evening performances..." Did you see a performance in Russia? Or was it a foreign tour of the Kirov?

For anyone who might be interested - Dupont has her own Instagram page with many excellent images and short video clips... https://instagram.com/aurelie__dupont/

Packing for the China Tour - Sasha de Sola http://sfballetblog.org/2015/10/packing-for-the-china-tour/#more-10990 Yuan Yuan Tan Prepares for China http://sfballetblog.org/2015/10/yuan-yuan-tan-prepares-for-china/ I hope they brought oxygen with them!

That's pretty much what I thought. It's almost as if Skorik was being promoted as a dancer to please the foreign audience. But she's certainly 'controversial' outside of Russia, so that doesn't really make much sense. I think Kondaurova was one of the first dancers recognized (within the Mariinsky) as someone who looked believeable in modern and neo-classical ballets, and the foreign audiences were enthusiastic about her, but that didn't make it much easier for her on the long road to Principal Artist. I'm just noticing that the Mariinsky website only lists 8 female principals - that's not many for such a large company.

I don't recall Balanchine making such a specific statement (regarding Mariinsky/Vaganova), but he obviously had his own approach that was being taught at the School of American Ballet. Balanchine was particularly concerned that dancers demonstrate musicality at all times. The movement between 'positions' is also particularly important: “He disguised all his preparations,” says NYCB principal Teresa Reichlen. “He tried to make the in-between stuff look just as fantastic as the bigger steps.” Suzanne Farrell does a good job of promoting the Balanchine aesthetic with her own company. I should add that speed of movement, and the ability to "gobble up space" were also important to the NYCB aesthetic under Balanchine - he felt that speed was a particularly American attribute that could be exploited in his choreography.

How unusual is it for the Mariinsky to promote a dancer to principal - in a foreign country?

Well I now know why Sarah Van Patten did not take part in WBD, and doesn't appear to be part of the China tour (even as a tourist): https://instagram.com/p/7-9YT5HrnZdcnBxfmg-sILcFiUFyilPGPs86s0/ Life goes on. ;)

Suzanne Farrell Ballet's Tumblr page detailing their trip to Moscow: http://kennedycenter.tumblr.com/post/113997310170

Thanks for the alert Jack!

Great in-depth interview - thanks, Dirac.

Good find, Volcanohunter - thanks much. The first time through, there was an incredibly annoying load icon being displayed in the middle of the screen (throughout the entire video). Fortunately, on replay there was no icon in the way of things. T&V looks quite energetic. Is that Laura Hecquet in the lead role?

Congratulations to SFB's Myles Thatcher on his first commissioned piece for NYCB. From the NY Times review of the event: (Thatcher's Polaris has music by William Walton) http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/arts/dance/review-new-york-city-ballet-gives-a-dance-form-a-makeover.html A video excerpt from the Polaris ballet is available within the review.

To commemorate Maria Kochetkova's first tour with ABT, and the beginning of her period as principal with ABT: https://instagram.com/p/8sxv61EUSi/?taken-by=balletrusse Congratulations to Masha.

I'm sure many people would agree with you that it has changed - and probably can't help but do that. Even if every ballet company danced the same 6 Petipa/Ivanov ballets, and nothing more, each generation of dancers and coaches would impart something different over time. Question: who should teach the master class in arm and hand work?

I wouldn't mind it if SFB starting paying more attention to the hands - as Felipe Diaz says, "no spiders". ;) I think Tomasson realized that it would be easier to nurture the individuality of the dancers at SFB, rather than try to impose a single aesthetic on his dancers. The Corps at SFB is still expected to dance together as a cohesive unit, but any solo dancers are allowed to be themselves - to a point. The dancer obviously couldn't be 'expressing' herself in a way that Tomasson found to be annoying or offensive, or simply not within the boundaries of the choreography. But individual inflections are welcomed, and I think that is a good thing for that particular company. (The coaching staff has got to be superior to allow this individualized approach a chance to work.) There is of course going to be strengths and weaknesses to any approach. I also happen to like companies that have achieved a particular aesthetic approach: NYCB and Mariinsky, for example.