diane

It appears to be not a real "trailer" as such, but actually a joke. -d-

Thank you so much for these reviews! (I was unable to watch it) How generous of you all to put your thoughts to words and then post them here for us. I do hope that there will be at least excerpts of this up on one of the public video portals sometime. -d-

Oh, yes, thank you for the link. About the way Colbert was acting in the interview - I also think that it had more to do with the part he plays on his own show than in how he really is, as a person. Though, I may be wrong. It is still unfortunate that jokes have to be made at all costs. (did anyone say, "dumbing down"?) No, perhaps it is just that some things are so out of the realm of possibility for people that they cannot even begin to entertain an interest in them unless they are spiked with ridicule. How regrettable. -d-

so cool! Thanks! -d-

oh, my! Does anyone know any more about this? When and why was it choreographed? -d-

I hope you all had a lovely time for Thanksgiving - those who live in a place where they can celebrate that. (twas a normal working-day for us here; but I am expecting a full report from my family in the US on their Thanksgiving festivities!) Cristian, I can imagine how your cats were happy to have turkey! Lucky felines! -d-

^^ I totally agree, Rock! I am also learning so much through this discussion and of course this forum in its entirety. (whatever DID we do before there was internet and all these fantastic opportunities to exchange thoughts and ideas with others from around the globe?) Back to topic: Tsiskaridze is a very interesting character, and I wish I had known more about him earlier. It takes a lot of chutzpah to challenge the establishment, esp. in such an established establishment as these huge state theatres can be. Good for him if he is in fact speaking out in behalf of others, too, and not only to further his own cause. -d-

I agree that one could quite well use this music to good effect. (though I prefer to intersperse it with other things; otherwise it sort of gets "old" quite fast - such as when actors shout through a whole scene - I tune out pretty fast) I especially like Apocalyptica's renditions of some heavy-metal numbers and have used their versions rather often. (but I work with youths and not for "real" companies) I am also pretty sure that the use of heavy metal (and other perhaps not so "typical" ballet music) has been and being done in some smaller theatres of which we usually do not hear much. There is just so much music out there and a good amount of it is almost begging to made into a ballet - in some form. ;) I think it is great to have such a huge base to choose from. -d-

Yes, Cristian, I agree with you there. There are times and there are "fashions" in what one tells children, and of course there are cultural differences as well. My own children were always fascinated with the macabre and the dark, though they were truly very "dainty" little girls. I suppose these things help them to work through their fears and their own feelings, too. Key words, as you mention: well-prepared. I would of course like very much to see both of these - the "Alice" as well as the "Little Mermaid". (though I may wait until the price has gone down a wee bit...) I am happy that not everything is as WD does it. -d-

I also think it is lovely and so far easy to navigate! Thank you!! -d-

Thank you so much for posting this! I have just watched part of the first and most of the second parts. Wonderful. It is so interesting to see the styles and some of these people I have read about but never seen dancing. -d-

JMcN, that is kind of troubling, isn't it? It would seem to me that this disconnect shows how little the local population identifies with the theatre in their area, which in the long run could surely hurry along the ultimate demise of that theatre. There are not many dancers of very different skin colors in the bigger theaters where I live, either. Well, to be fair, the population as a whole is pretty homogen in most places, too. But, it is true - one is more likely to see a dark-skinned man in a ballet company than a dark-skinned woman. -sigh- -d-

thank you, MRR! I also could not get the original link to work, so this was great! I wonder if this film will ever be shown where I am? (Germany) -d-

oh, darn! I was so hoping he would pull through! This is sad. Thanks all, for reporting on this. -d-

oh, that was fun! Yes, wouldn't it be nice if other companies did the same? -d-

^^ True! The hops themselves are not "difficult"; it is the coordination of upper body, etc. And a reason for changing the hops is often because of some ankle-issue or something else in the foot, wherein repeated pounding would just make it worse for the rest of the performance. -d-

In my experience (as an old, ex-dancer), many dancers will work out an alternative version of something weeks in advance when (notice I did not say, "if") they have been fighting with some injury or an unstable-joint or something; especially if a gruelling run of performances is coming up. One never knows how the body is going to be "on the night", and esp. late in a season everything hurts and one does not necessarily want to risk a potentially careeer-ending injury for a few steps which could have been altered. Therefore, yes, this probably was carefully choreographed; but for use "in an emergency". Dancers almost always have a Plan B, you know. We may look spontaneous, but that is part of the illusion; just as it should _look_ effortless. -d-

Simon, thank you very much for the fascinating mini-history of that time! (those were the years I was dancing, but I was not in the UK and I only heard about some of what was going on) I do not _think_ the discussion was meant to belittle Sevillano and her dancing; I _think_ the question was really more like, "do you mind if steps which have become so iconic are changed in a variation?" I think that Sevillano was picked as an example of one of those changes - perhaps one of the few one can find on youtube? (and I do agree that youtube is not the final word on what is good or not good!!) The observation that a very sensitve and emotionally fragile personality has a harder time of it in the theatre business is very good. There are so many mosaic-stones involved in making an artist - dancer - and any one of them being slightly "out of place" (meaning not in the ideal position for putting up with a lot of "unpleasantries", to put it mildly), then the chances of one having a "stellar career" are diminished, to say the least. I am glad to have seen the clips I have seen of Sevillano; I obviously never saw her in real life. For that this board - and youtube - are great. -d-

Oh, yes! I agree. It sounds like just the sort of movie I tend to enjoy. Thanks for the reccomendation. -d-

Of course I am also used to seeing it with the "usual" steps, but I also do not mind variations, and I of course never know what the reason would be for changing them. Dancers change things all the time, to their good turning side (tours en l'air, etc.) and if this dancer has some issue with her feet or whatever - then that is fine for her to change it. It is also not a bad variation on a theme. (the hops on pointe are really not as difficult as they look, in my experience - changing them to something else could have many reasons, but probably being too difficult for the dancer is not one of them. Just my opinion. ) -d-

Luckily tanznetz.de also has an English language version. http://www.tanznetz.de/en/news.phtml?page=showthread&aid=197&tid=20867 -d-

Oh, my. Just curious: did you actually start smoking then? (When still a grade-schooler I remember drawing red circles with a felt-pen around the middle of my dad's cigarettes in an attmept to get him to stop. The anti-smoking ads of the late sixties showed someone doing that, so my little bros and I did it, too. Dad was furious. But, being a medical doctor, he finally decided he could not also be a hypocrit. So he quit.) -d-

People are complex, and dancers are no exception. -d-

I also smoked for a few years in my youth - due partly to leaving home quite young and being very immature and impressionable, stress, weight-control issues - and in fact I got much better control of my weight after stopping smoking. Back in those days more than 50% of the dancers I knew smoked - I am in Europe. Now it is quite different from company to company, I have seen. It also seems to depend on where the dancers come from. I have one DD who has asthma and she has serious trouble when confronted with cigarette smoke. Sometimes I compare smoking around others to blaring very loud music out of a ghetto-blaster: the person playing the music does not mind it, and some of the passersby may also like it or be indifferent, but there are probably going to be some people who are really, really bothered and will feel very uncomfortable and cannot get away. I tend towards a mantra of "my freedom stops where yours begins". Probably one has to sort of agree on how important it really is to have fairly clear air to breathe while out walking or waiting for a bus, and all of that. -d-

Oh, yes! Love it! Thanks. -d-