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I do find myself loving the TCM channel these days - they are able to find so many rare films (many of which are not avaialble on DVD). Once upon a time, they were notorious for trying to colorize all the black and white films, but they seem to have grown a great deal since those amateurish times.

Well that's Too bad, but not exactly unexpected. A person could have all the talent in the world for choreography and their first piece will still have problems. If you are lucky, it will be described as, "promising". ;) It strikes me as being a bit bizarre to thrust Gillot onto a major stage for her first work, but they did what they did. Historically speaking, what master choreographer started out their career with a ballet for the POB, Mariinsky, NYCB, Bolshoi main stage? Precisely NONE that I can recall hearing of.

Those images definitely leave me wondering what exactly went on. ;) Hopefully there will be some video clips of the dancing at some point. What has the audience reaction been like?

Hello, Paris - I'll have to leave the technical details to some of the other, very knowledgeable, members on the forum (many of whom were trained in classical ballet), but I will say that there are often choreographed steps/movements that are not necessarily codified ballet steps. The language of ballet choreography is built up from those basics, but doesn't consist solely of those building blocks (if that makes any sense).

Anyone heard more on this subject? Apparently Osmolkina suffered a leg injury back in 2010, which caused her to follow the Lopatkina route, and dropped out of things to have a baby, then returned not long afterwards, apparently 'healed'. But it all depends on the actual type of injury. I wonder if it was the same problem reoccurring.

I don't think the Mariinsky has a forced retirement age (like the Paris Opera Ballet). And they seem inclined to keep popular dancers about, even if they probably need to step aside and give the young ones a chance. The Mariinsky used to be a strict hierarchy but in recent years there have been some odd promotions (some dancers moving up before their time, or later than seemed fair). I think Lopatkina will continue to dance for a few more years. Then she most likely will be hired into the administrative level of the company or Vaganova School, perhaps Ballet Mistress...

It wasn't bad - not fuzzy or garbled. The video displayed an "HD on/off" button and I set that to ON. But I can't say I noticed a real difference in video or audio having done that. I'm assuming the music was pre-recorded since I didn't notice any signs of a live orchestra.

Hello Jack, Yes, I too have seen Balanchine choreography danced live, on the Internet. And no illegalities to boot. Who'd a thunk it? My experience was the same as yours - the performance seemed to have started early and was cut into abruptly at 6pm/3pm with the actual broadcast. My hope is that this will be archived with the other Farrell Ballet videos and we'll get to the see things from the beginning. Dancing was very good throughout, just too short! I'm really, really happy to have seen some of the original choreography to "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" - I've been wondering what that looked like for some time. I only know the Gene Kelly version.

Just a reminder - the Suzanne Farrell Ballet presentation will be available online, today, at this URL: http://www.kennedy-c...ams/millennium/ 6pm EST/3pm PST Look for an additional video link to appear on the page right at 6pm/3pm. You may need to refresh the page at that time to see it (but if they're smart, their using a technology that will refresh the page for you).

Thank you - well hopefully no one gets injured beforehand. I'm not really familiar with Chaillet myself, but Pujol and Renavand should do fine in the modern piece.

Thanks Silvermash. Very interesting. It gave me the idea that having a choreographer/director on stage with the dancers should be part of the choreography. ;) I like those kinds of things. But I doubt that's what Gillot will end up with.

Thanks very much, I will do so.

[sorry for the late reply - I forgot to follow this thread} Thanks for that link, Dirac - I may need it! I will try again with M&M before long.

I am reminded also of the (now former) SF Ballet dancer Quinn Wharton, who has been doing photography/film work (such as the Tiit Helimets and Co. Estonia Tour 2011). Wharton's dance friends (such as Sarah Van Patten) appear in many of his still photos. http://www.kickstart...tonia-tour-2011 http://quinnwharton.com/

Thank you, Silvermash. I was wondering about the casting for this dance piece. I'm actually kind of shocked there will be pointe work. ;) Here's hoping it goes well for Marie-Agnès and company.

This may be asking too much, but can anyone provide an English translation of Gillot's comments on her upcoming choreographic debut? Can be simplified, rather than word-for-word. ;) http://gillot-cunningham.operadeparis.fr/sousapparence/

Welcome Kev, 3 performances - that shows real dedication. ;) I'm glad you enjoyed the performances.

Just to set the record straight - George Balanchine died in 1983. Felia Doubrovska (1896-1981) joined the staff of the School of American Ballet in 1949(?), teaching the advanced girls' classes, and she remained on its staff until a year before her death at 85. Alexandra Danilova (1903–1997) taught at the School of American Ballet from approximately 1964 to retirement in 1989. My apologies to the others for the off topic chatter. I do look forward to hearing more first-hand reports from Paris!

If interested, there are quite a few Katya photos (and video clips) at this URL: http://www.tumblr.co...rina+kondaurova A few are from the recent US tour.

Sounds great to me. ;) The POB are always respectful of the source material, and dance techniques, and even if they can't really transform themselves into graduates of the School of American Ballet, they do try very hard to get things right. I think they deserve credit for that. I still wish I could have seen it. And as a contrast - I've posted this link elsewhere, but it happens to contain a lovely 'demonstration' of the closing scene of Serenade (and since we don't get to see it in the Froustey video): http://www.kennedy-c...id=M4781&type=A (Skip to 29:30 in the video timeline. Note that there are long blackouts between scenes - that is not a technical problem.)

Hi Rock, I'm actually in agreement with you on most of your points. But I do think that the NYCB Corps, of say, the 1960s and 70s, had a more precise line than we see today. The impression I get looking at the more recent performances is that everyone is kind of 'doing there own thing' within the framework set down by Balanchine, but there's very little sense of the Corps operating as a truly unified whole, which we still get from the Mariinsky and POB Corps. A bit ironic given that Balanchine placed so much importance on ensemble dancing, rather than 'star turns'. Without Balanchine (Danilova, Felia Doubrovska, etc) overseeing the school, things are going to take a different tack of course.

I was reminded of this topic while watching the Suzanne Farrell Ballet demonstrate basic ballet steps in this excellent video: http://www.kennedy-c...id=M4781&type=A I found out about this particular video archive from a post elsewhere by Jack Reed. Note that there are 3 wonderful 'sample' performances along with the ballet step demo. The oddity being that there are a number of long 'blackouts' where the screen is blacked out and we wait in real time for the next piece to begin. But just be patient - it is worth it.

The video was great to see, btw. The only problem is that it's all about Mathilde Froustey, and keeps fading out when the ensemble is left alone on the stage. As if those are the boring parts!

Sorry to hear that the performance wasn't a particularly good one. I imagine different nights/casts did better than others. I can think of quite a few companies that could do with a little of the "academically correct" though. Balanchine performed without precision can be a fright. I happened to dig up the NYCB's "Bringing Balanchine Back" DVD to catch some glimpses of Serenade and that segment (with Darci Kistler) fairs pretty well, but Symphony in C, Symphony in 3 Movements and Western Symphony look all a muddle due to the Corps lack of precision. Energy and speed are there, but no precision. I laugh every time I hear the comments from the Russian dancers about NYCB: "The legs very good. The arms not so good." "Not so good" is putting it mildly - arms at every angle. And different degrees of curvature/straightness. No one seems to realize how much this blurs the choreography and renders it indistinct. Not so good. ;)

Thanks for the heads up, Jack. This sounds like a great service to know about. NOTE: the archived webcasts appear to work best in Internet Explorer. I have some trouble getting the video to show up in Firefox and Google Chrome.