pherank

It's interesting to read all these rave reviews of the Swan Lake performance and then to see Gia Kourlas' sad, mean little review in the NYT. Contrary to all the posts here, she writes the same old stuff she always writes - it was boring, nobody but Gomes was good enough for her, Simkin can't partner, Hallberg was dull, the ballet didn't really start until Gomes came out. Not surprising from a modern dance person. But then she confuses Odette/Odile getting the parts mixed up. What does that say about the standard of dance writing at the NYT? If she can't tell Odette from Odile why would you listen to her about anyone's performance, or the tempi, etc. If they insist on retaining her why not assign her to performances that are more to her taste? That is to say, modern dance.

I'm actually more concerned that editors don't catch this type of thing (Odette/Odile) - it's a huge problem in the age of 'instant news' and Tweets. Writers, especially writers under a short deadline, can scramble things in their heads, to be sure. But editors are there to make sense out of things, ask pertinent questions, and bring the writer back down to earth if necessary. But I'm seeing very little 'editing' of online reports and essays these days.

Not to defend Kourlas, but I was reading Patrick Kennedy's Swan Lake review today, and I appreciated the fact that he pointed out what he thought were real issues with the SL costumes and staging - something I hadn't heard before. And he was cleraly not as smitten with the general performance aesthetic as some:

"In the realm of dance, Swan Lake occupies the kind of place that Pride and Prejudice occupies in the realm of literature-held up as a prim and pointless display of technique, subjected to endless riffs and parodies, but actually smart and challenging in ways that the detractors always overlook. There is an unruly, beautiful tangle of interpretive possibilities beneath the surface of Swan Lake, and the ABT production doesn't unearth any of them. It's all surface, all dazzling, melodramatic surface. Surface isn't enough."

I've been disturbed by Kourlas' interviews. I think some of the people she interviewed spoke too freely to their detriment. Given that she is a seasoned journalist, I sometimes feel that the people she is interviewing are relatively naive and inexperienced in dealing with publicity and the press, and that Kourlas is capitalizing on their naivete.

It's worth noting that most dancers have lived in a tightly controlled, closed environment, and are certainly not trained to handle themselves well with the press, or general public for that matter. Even though stage performers are normally thought of as 'public figures', at least to some degree, I think relatively few dancers qualify as true public figures or media darlings. In Russia, yes, it happens, but not in the West.

I attended Friday, and agree with everything abatt said about Cornejo. A wonderful performance - his bearing, the way he held the stage and his brilliant technique which was performed with an ease and eloquence befitting nobility.

Maria Kochetkova is a beautiful and accomplished dancer. There were very few glitches (there was the 2nd act diagonal of turns when she traveled so far she was barely on stage to finish), and lots to admire. She and Cornejo are well matched in size and proportions so their pas de deux work had many, many lovely moments.

She was not, however, transcendent. I should perhaps admit to where I'm coming from. I've been watching ballet for over 40 years, and at this point am not a fan of most full length story ballets. I usually stay away, but bought a ticket to see Alina Cojocaru do SL. To me she is a dancer of such musicality and imagination that she invariably reveals things to me that I didn't knew were there, or could be there. Kochetkova's performance was good and enjoyable, but there were no revelations. That said I look forward to seeing her doing rep. with the San Francisco Ballet when they come to NY.

I'm enjoying reading all the comments on the Friday evening performance.

I have to think that Cojocaru has a great deal more experience, not only with Swan Lake, but with this version of Swan Lake. I'm pretty sure that the last time Kochetkova performed Swan Lake was in Tomasson's version, 3 years ago (?), which is fairly traditional, but there are going to be differences in the choreography throughout. So what you are getting is a dancer who is game, thrown into the fire, as it were. I've learned to like the fact that Kochetkova forces you take her on her own terms - mostly because of her obvious short stature. She knew the Bolshoi or the ENB were not looking to nurture a "short" dancer in principal roles. But, Helgi Tomasson told Chris Wheeldon, "Keep your eye out for a short dancer", and the rest is history (for San Francisco). And lest people think she's the only gem at SFB, there are a number of these 'unique' dancers (male and female) in the company.

And now that Mathilde Froustey is apparently coming to SFB from POB, you get to see once again the interesting selections made for SFB. People who don't quite fit in at their home company, but just might have the ability to do big things in their own unique way, if allowed to do so. Is SFB getting 'the leftovers'? Possibly, but Tomasson is particular in his choice of 'leftovers', and they've all developed into interesting dance personalities under him.

The ABT model is simply different from the SFB model. ABT performs a whole lot of story ballets which are star vehicles for their (hopefully) world-class performers. SFB is much more flexible in its repertoire (especially given its comparative budget size), and has managed to create a really well balanced team of principals. There is an organic quality to the team which is lovely to behold. I don't think ABT can match that quality. What you can hopefully see at an ABT performance is principals with a big WOW factor, and great costumes and sets. But there's none of the "team" feel to the company you get with NYCB and SFB (or PNB, MCB), in my opinion.

Curtain call photo for those of us who couldn't be there:

https://twitter.com/leenahassan/status/348303026844471296/photo/1

I recall when last November she failed to win promotion or even rank in the top six among the sujets she expressed crushing disappointment on her Twitter feed. Scroll down and you'll find FoFs trying hard to console her. https://twitter.com/MFroustey Despite her early success on the competition circuit, for whatever reason she seemed to hit a wall at the POB promotion exam.

At 28 years of age, she is making the right move if she truly wants to dance principal roles: she must jump to a smaller company that is willing to give her a chance, and hopefully work with her to further develop her soloist potential. And Tomasson has shown good instincts regarding dancers - he knows who has special qualities, and is willing to work hard to learn new things, and leave their comfort zone.

Who knows if she's been looking around at various companies, but I think she will feel sufficiently challenged at SFB.

SFB Artist Spotlight: Maria Kocketkova

There isn't as much video of Masha available onlline as we might like, but here's a few interesting ones...

Maria Kochetkova performance from Seoul 2005 Ballet Competition, "Stranger"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_MAC9WELIc

Another excellent, inspiring interview with Masha at Anaheim Ballet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmRpNwb0NZ0

Masha at 19 years of age performing Esmeralda solo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcPOuO0Stio

With Simkin in Le Corsaire Pas De Deux, Tokyo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6hEkDjYqIY

Though obviously not a public speaker, Baryshnikov says some lovely things in this address.

Thanks California, I found this very interesting too. Apparently he asked Bill Clinton and Rahm Emanuel for speech advice. ;)

http://dailynorthwestern.com/2013/06/21/blogs/mikhail-baryshnikov-northwestern-commencement-2013/

[There's an article at the Chicago Tribune website on this subject, but I'm told that is a subscription only website]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-schmich-0621-20130621,0,5650922.column

Aging dancer in a new role — NU commencement speaker
Mary Schmich
June 21, 2013

The speech. What would he say?

He'd say that art is not just for the artist. That one of the highest compliments for anyone in any field is to be called an artist. That there's artistry to politics.

He would say these things to students far better educated than he was at their age. At 19, after growing up in a communal apartment in Latvia, sharing a single kitchen and a single toilet with other families, he'd gone straight to work, to dance, and before long to America.

"And then," he said, "life went like that."

He snapped his fingers to show how fast life happens.

Like that.

...but he remains one of the most famous dancers of all time, a fact that may be less relevant to the current college generation than his role as Carrie Bradshaw's temperamental older boyfriend on "Sex and the City."

In his season on the show, Baryshnikov was called "The Russian," and to many Americans, especially those old enough to remember when his ballets and romances made headlines, he will always be quintessentially Russian.

To himself, he's fully American.

Since his notorious defection in 1974, he has never been back to Russia, he said, though he has been back to Latvia, where his mother, who committed suicide when he was in his teens, is buried.

"I'm a product of Russian culture," he said, "but I never felt it was my country."

And sometimes he dances.

"It hurts more," he said, "and there's a longer warm-up."

He stays in shape with a regular dance routine, physical therapy and stretching.

"Choreographers use me as the old guy who still dances," he said. "Not that I put on white tights."

I personally love that SFB is getting a dancer from the POB school - Sofiane Sylve certainly has a French aesthetic within her dancing as well, but shows other influences (she's more 'international'). Froustey will be more 'pure' in her application, and I think that will be most interesting.

Would be nice to have a Vaganova trained dancer as well (male or female) in the SFB soloist ranks. I'm open to Big Red coming over from the Mariinsky. ;) But that's just me. Her interest in contemporary ballets would be put to good use.

Hopefully this means that Froustey is very interested in the SFB's particular repertory.

Footage of Mathilde Froustey in Serenade:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwudwT8ZwvE

And a more intimate, close-up filming of a rehearsal with Froutsey and Mathias Heymann

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPZmMziNwn0

And showing off her technique as Kitri (Don Q):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSyg7-1ltXg

As soon as I heard that Froustey was leaving POB I had a sudden premonition that she would appear at SFB. And now I'm shocked to learn that is exactly what has happened. Many of us have been wondering about certain disappearances from the rosters - either there was budget trouble, or the comapny was making room for someone new. Will there be more suprises for SFB this summer?

Maria Kochetkova contemplating a future in Swan Lake ;)

https://twitter.com/balletrusse/status/347177332827643904/photo/1

"First stage rehearsal yesterday" with Herman Cornejo

Here's Kondaurova's solo variation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPpwl0jGKX4

Early vintage Stars and Stripes with Hayden and d'Amboise:

http://youtu.be/leXASt3CZW0

Always a pleasure to see that team. ;)

The Bolshoi is filming a lot of stuff, but it has been slow to reach DVD. Since 2010 they have filmed 15 ballets in HD, but thus far only four have been released commercially, and they're not necessarily the ones I would most like to have. Of the ones still sitting in the vault there are a half dozen I would buy in a heartbeat.

The Bolshoi will give Jewels the HD treatment in January. Just as long as they don't give us Svetlana Zakharova in "Diamonds." Oy.

Hah! The Russians are very star oriented - and their DVDs tend to be star vehicles. We know Balanchine hated dealing with stars (of course he wanted choreography to be a focus of ballet, and not just the lead dancers). I do like the fact that the Russians film all these performances as part of their 'cultural patrimony'. But that will come to include the Balanchine works - works that never would have existed had he never left St. Petersburg/Leningrad and formed relationships with so many different people in the West...

I am concerned that the obstacles dealing with Unions in the US mean that there are no meaningful DVDs available of Jewels performed by NYCB or a branch on the family tree (PNB, MCB, SFB, etc). Someday someone might see Rubies as performed by the Bolshoi and think those are the original costumes and the style is the original.

Good point, Jayne. But it isn't simply the fact that we have "unions", but the way that US laws and regulations are written that has produced a tangle of self interests, and very little ballet media seems to get produced and distributed. The other issue is, of course, money - our regional companies rarely have media budgets that allow for this kind of recording and advertisement, wihle a state owned company such as the Bolshoi gets a great deal of backing (and meddling) from the powers that be.

I won't be surprised if the Russians rush to fill the knowledge gap by recording many performances of Balanchine on DVD. They definitely want to re-establish themselves as the be-all and end-all of ballet. If you want to see how anything should be performed - watch the Russian DVDs!

Now *that's* the review that Gia Kourlas ought to write!

LOL - Do I sound angry? I didn't really mean to go that far since much of the Jewels performance is definitely worth watching. I do think the Russians are getting better and better at much of Mr. B's choreography. But it doesn't make sense to wholeheartedly endorse their Jewels performances when Rubies really needs a lot of work.

Kourlas can be snippy at times, no? But at least Kourlas isn't writing empty praise like this:

"The Houston Ballet is known for its elaborate and beautiful productions. Every ticket purchased guarantees a performance filled with masterful dancing, brilliant choreography, remarkable sets, and music. Houston Ballet's much anticipated production of PETER PAN is no exception and nothing short of fantastic. Although many of us are familiar with the tale and have possibly seen it on film or stage, Houston Ballet makes it their own with whimsical choreography by Trey McIntyre and a Dance Company that keeps the audience on The Edge of their seats with every move…"

Greatest thing since sliced bread!!!

The cast of the Mariinsky jewels is interesting... it's recent, but aside from obvious exceptions, where have all those dancers gone in terms of being promising up-and-comers? Casting and promotion there is as mysterious as always.

I tend to favor the Mariinsky in terms of aesthetics, but having watched the video of the Bolshoi's recent version, I have to say that their Emeralds was impressive and Smirnova and Chuding in Diamonds were both great. I actually found them to be riveting. And I almost enjoyed Rubies this time. But the Russians are for some reason allowed to fudge many steps within Rubies to apparently make it more accessible to both the Russian audience and the Russian dancers. [The Stravinsky Capriccio is also rather soft and rounded sounded as performed by the Bolshoi orchestra, which is in itself depressing: normally playful and jarring, the music has lost its suprises and eccentricities.]

I find it really fascinating that the Balanchine Trust will bend over backwards for the Russians, but there is no way that North American companies would be allowed to remake steps and arm movements (and I don't mean just a few) to make a Balanchine ballet more technically feasible and more palatable to an audience in the West. These ballets are something to aspire to, not something to be dumbed down. Why is it that the Jazz/Broadway/Vaudeville inflected steps are deemed 'inconsequential' enough that substitutions can be made? I do feel like these changes suck all the delight and suprise out of Rubies, one of Balanchine's most perfect ballets.

I have so many copies of great photos that I can't ever really choose a "favorite". And that would disrespect many photographers doing excellent work. Here is one I ran into recently that is a great pose, though as the notes say, this was caught mid-rehearsal. Farrell and Martins in their prime:

http://www.kingdouglas.com/DANCEweb/Pages/Farrell%20Martins%20Fish.htm

Apparently nowadays we can drop out of high school and join the CIA/NSA. But, that's another story...

A story I'm not up on.

> My reference to the Eward Snowden "affair" currently in the news. Now back to Farrell: I think you've probably described her situation quite well, and I realize that gives a double meaning to Balanchine's remark, "Suzanne didn't resist." Farrell absorbed a great deal, seemingly.

The Mariinsky performs Jewels -

Emeralds
Jeanne Ayupova, Denis Firsov, Daria Sukhorukova, Dmitry
Semionov, Jana Selina, Xenia Ostreykovskaya, Anton Korsakov.

Rubies
Irina Golub, Andrian Fadeyev, Sofia Gumerova.

Diamonds
Uliana Lopatkina, Igor Zelensky.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ytYpPPaihk

There is a video of The Bolshoi performing Jewels in 2012 that can be watched online. The cast for that performance:

Emeralds
Laktratov, Obraztsova, Tikhomirov

Rubies
Krysanova, Lopatin

Diamonds
Smirnova, Chudin

I'll say! She's the best advertisement for dropping out of high school I've ever herd of!

Apparently nowadays we can drop out of high school and join the CIA/NSA. But, that's another story...

Karinska's hair, head, and bodice ornaments were well known for their detail and often their individuality, that is, for the uniqueness of each piece even on a set of would-be alike costumes.

Bentley's book has photos of some of this detailing. there's one particular shot of a beaded rosette in a series of pink and rose hues.

the LA VALSE photo which you note of Adams is a Platt Lynes, so finding a more full reproduction would give you a clearer sense of the detailing. i believe that shot was from a photo session meant for souvenir NYCB booklet around the time of the premiere of LA VALSE; those books, btw, were rarely dated with their year of release, presumably so they could be used for a few years running and not seem out of date.

somewhere i have a copy-print of that photo and if it surfaces i could scan it to see if the detailing would come up with further clarity.

That, would be fantastic!

I'll keep looking about for the Bentley/Karinska book. Apparently our Central Library is spending the summer moving into new headquaerters, so no books in the Central can be checked out. Arrrrgh.

thank you.

I work extensively with young people, putting on shows in which the stories are told only through dance (not only ballet), and we have encountered difficulty in portraying relationships - and in fact plots - clearly and consisely without programme-notes or text. (we have a very limited budget, so programmes with notes are out ot the question)

Hence my interest in how others have overcome such difficulties!

Knowlege of the stories and similar types of stories helps immensely, I am sure!

-d-

Hello Diane - hope you are well!

I am wondering how your foray into the world of pantomime has been going - are you learning more from works of the present, or the past, such as Petipa era story ballets?

i wonder if Bentley might have gotten the color wrong.

i believe silver is the color of the Rosenkavalier's rose.

re: costume details tho' this isn't anything so very mysterious, just a little hard to see by anyone but someone up close to the costumes in question, but the bodices for the women in Hot Chocolate (in THE NUTCRACKER) have lockets on them, some have a picture of Balanchine in them and some Kirstein.

That's funny - did it depend on whose good side you were on? Balanchine, or Kirstein. ;)

I've noticed that the original La Valse costumes had rather complicated looking jewelry pins on the bodice. It's almost like military insignia. Naturally those disappeared with time. In the famous photo of Dina Adams, featured on the cover of "Apollo's Angels", she has as many as five of these 'badges'. There's a photo of Verdy with a similar arrangement plus necklace.

That is a nice photo, RG. I can't remember seeing a photo of Karinska doing a fitting (though there may be a few in the Bentley book). Note that Farrell remembers Balanchine asking for a silver rose, and they got a gold one: hard to say what really happened.

It would be fun to know what other costume special additions were created, and were they only for the principal ballerinas.