pherank

Thanks for the heads up, SandiK.

What’s the SF Ballet Orchestra Listening to During Social Distancing? https://www.sfballet.org/discover/backstage/sfb-orchestra-cv19-playlist/

Recently posted by SFB - Ballet Myth Busters Episode 3: All About Food "Company class, rehearsals for multiple ballets, evening performances on the Opera House stage—SF Ballet’s dancers put in an incredible amount of work each day. But even when the ballet shoes come off, their work isn’t done. They must refuel both their minds and their bodies for the next day. But how do dancers do this? This month, we are busting another ballet myth." https://www.sfballet.org/discover/backstage/ballet-myth-busters-3/ And related: How SF Ballet Corps de Ballet member Joshua Jack Price Fuels Up for A Full Day of Dancing https://www.sfballet.org/discover/backstage/fueling-up/ Recipes from the Company https://www.sfballet.org/discover/backstage/recipes-from-the-company/

I'm not sure if we previously linked to this... Artistic Director & Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson and Principal Dancer Joseph Walsh discuss the role of Oberon in George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream https://www.sfballet.org/discover/backstage/helgi-tomasson-and-joseph-walsh-on-oberon/

As Madison Keesler, puts it: 'this "new normal" is starting to feel, well, normal'

Some things take a village. And some take a pandemic.

For the Record What does it take for SFB to license a ballet video stream? In the case of Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream - "San Francisco Ballet extends special thanks to The George Balanchine Trust, San Francisco Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet and its Artistic Director Peter Boal, Artistic Director, San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center, the American Guild of Musical Artists, American Federation of Musicians, International Alliance for Theatre Stage Employees, Local 16, Theatrical Wardrobe Union, Local 784, and Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild, Local 706, for their support in making the streamed presentation of San Francisco Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream possible." [quoted from the video stream web page] At least it's not difficult.

John Prine dies of Covid-19 complications - he was 73: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2020-04-07/john-prine-singer-songwriter-coronavirus

I'm sure you meant to say, "Streaming La Bayadère", not "Steaming La Bayadère". But I like the idea. 😉 Poached in white wine, please!

Ta da!

Yeah baby - I think they heard my pleas to see SS dance one last time. 😉

Not a video, but funny:

Kennedy Center Drops Furlough of Musicians as They Accept Pay Cuts https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/arts/kennedy-center-national-symphony-orchestra-coronavirus.html I'm not sure if this is better situation, but it is different.

Yeah, that's pretty much my situation too.

I've watched the Bespoke video a number of times, and it looks better to me each time I see it. Most of the ensemble now looks so comfortable and well-rehearsed that they can just fly through the proceedings. Jen Stahl was commanding, Angelo Greco, Wona Park and Sasha De Sola were all very much in their element. Lonnie Weeks was a blast to watch. My absolute favorite though was WanTing Zhao - she just looked glorious to me - even though near the beginning of her PDD with Morse, WanTing's pointe shoe drags across his thigh (the kind of thing we wouldn't likely notice from the audience). And Morse struck me as being a bit short for her, and not yet possessing the upper body strength (and experience) to really move her about "effortlessly" (as in that's the way it's supposed to look). It certainly wasn't bad, the lifts just weren't always as smooth and graceful as Welch likely intended. I'd like to see WanTing with Helimets or Birkkjaer, even Joe Walsh (he has the strength for these types of lifts). [Or Aaron Robison, when he returns.] Morse looked more comfortable with Jen Stahl, oddly enough given her height, but it may have been the particular movements that were a better fit. The trio section with Stahl, Park and De Sola was marvelous. Big smiles all around. The all male dances, and same-sex partnerings were all fun and well executed. In the solo sections everyone was dancing well and looking fully committed. If there were issues, they tended to appear during the challenging lifts. I noticed one missed lift, but no major mishaps. The women in particular seemed to be having a grand time. Please can Ellen Rose Hummel finally be given some more involved ballet roles? I think we've waited long enough (and I'm sure she has).

Btw, the email I received stated, Please note: This video link will expire at 11:59 pm on Tuesday, April 7th. I assume that means for everyone, so if anybody else is dawdling - watch the video now!

That does help some. I just wish the staging made sense of it. If the cavalier was part of T's retinue from the very beginning, I might suspend disbelief. EDIT: I went back and looked again, and Kozlov (the cavalier) does appear alongside Titania at her entrance, so it was just me not noticing. Apple TV is fun. ;) The ballet includes additional music from Athalie, The Fair Melusine, The First Walpurgis Night, Son and Stranger, and the Symphony No.9 for Strings. Lots of things to explore there. I highly recommend this version of Mendelssohn's AMND score: Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream Kathleen Battle, Frederica von Stade (vocals) Judi Dench (recitation) Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Seiji Ozawa Tanglewood Festival Chorus, directed by John Oliver Here's a short preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSR0N-ZQmyM https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0015RW4BU https://music.apple.com/us/album/mendelssohn-a-midsummer-nights-dream/1440722842

Finally watched the AMND video... A professional, well filmed dance video (definitely blu-ray/DVD quality, imo). And that is saying something given all the terrible examples of dance cinematography from the last 100 years. I found little to complain about in the camerawork - nothing much inappropriate or annoying. And that's really all I ask for. 😉 For me, De Sola was believably in character: proud and 'queenly' - at least until Oberon and Puck decide to make a fool out of her. She got the difference between playing a queen, and playing a princess. And she made the switch to infatuated lover well enough. So I had no issues with her mime acting. It was De Sola's wonderful PDD with Kozlov early in Act I that first made me listen for the inevitable big applause - except that it was all silence, as the theater was empty. That made the actual applause and cheers that occur at the end of the ballet - dancers applauding the orchestra, the orchestra applauding the dancers - all the more poignant. I enjoyed the Mukhamedov/Helimets partnering - I only wish the choreography allowed for more. Frances Chung with Ulrik Birkkjaer is, of course, a must see. But I'm starting to think Birkkjaer with whoever is a worthwhile expenditure of my time. It was great to see Lizzy Powell doing some dramatic acting again, and Ingham and Thatcher are always good character actors. It's just fun to watch them do their thing with glee. All the Corps and demi-soloist dancing was really solid, and in-sync and on tempo. At times it felt like the cast was shot out of a cannon and just keep zooming along to the never slackening pulse. I lost track of all the "nailed it" moments (the bobbles I noticed seemed really minor and didn't do anything to distract from the flow of things). It's a strong performance from beginning to end. Cavan Conley is a wonderful Puck; Lucas Erni turns out be a talented mime actor as Bottom; Julia Rowe shows unflagging energy and technique as the Lead Butterfly; SVP is always great in a dramatic role; Esteban Hernandez was excellent as Oberon both technically and dramatically - the list goes on. The ballet school children did a great job, and many were just beaming throughout. But now I'm really wanting to see the archive film of the celebrated 1st cast to compare approaches. Rachel Howard had previously mentioned how little time was actually spent staging this production: "Sandra Jennings, répétiteur for the Balanchine Trust, has pulled off a wonder that testifies to the strength of the current company. She staged a ballet that requires 100 dancers and 25 children — and features a flotilla of gut-busting principal roles — in just three weeks (plus a little touching up last month)." [Note: as the film credits say, "additional coaching by Helgi Tomasson"] That's just mind-boggling. It's hard to comprehend how all of this could be learned and organized in such a short amount of time. This production certainly reflects well on the entire SFB organization. For me, there are so many confusing aspects to the Shakespeare play, not to mention the ballet, that I just have to let go of my frustrations and watch the dancing. This production makes that a fairly easy task, so congratulations to all. But still, what the heck is Titania's 'cavalier'? A choreographic deus ex machina? Oh, never mind.

Good thing(?) their father is not dying from reaction to Covid-19. CNN also runs stories about family members having to use FaceTime calls to say goodbye to the dying. The MacKay's just need to get an actual flight...but that may not happen since the Russian government is likely controlling travel access.

That was nice - thanks for the video. I like the dogs tail suddenly making an appearance. The Xmas lights on the wall took me back to when I was a 20-something and had roommates - we had Xmas lights as our sole decoration, running along the living room wall just below the ceiling. Instant atmosphere!

For that matter, it's better to go directly to SFB's YouTube Channel page and not try to run the videos through this forum. Performance will be better for you, and for the forum. Oh, and be sure to set the video quality to 1080p (click the Settings sprocket icon below the video timeline). And then click the Fullscreen icon next to the Settings icon to really see something.

This is uncharted territory for SFB, and I commend them for doing it - free streaming of a number of performances (that is the implication). This is the link to the SFB webpage where the video is featured (casting information is provided): https://www.sfballet.org/sf-ballet-home/

OK, people will like this a lot - for one thing, it's FREE. 😉 SHELTER-IN-PLACE WITH SF BALLET Watch SFB in Stanton Welch's Bespoke, streamed online: Bespoke, RECORDED FEBRUARY 16, 2020 Available Friday, April 3–Friday, April 10 https://www.sfballet.org/sf-ballet-home/ BESPOKE Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach Choreographer: Stanton Welch Costume Design: Holly Hynes Lighting Design: James F. Ingalls Conductor: Martin West Violin: Cordula Merks CASTING Sasha De Sola, Isabella DeVivo, Ellen Rose Hummel, Wona Park, Jennifer Stahl, WanTing Zhao Alexandre Cagnat, Cavan Conley, Benjamin Freemantle, Angelo Greco, Steven Morse, Lonnie Weeks

Frances Chung and Joe Walsh rehearsing Justin Peck's Rodeo. Gotta love that effortless quality.