diane

What a good topic! Succinct and pithy synopses often take a very long time to construct. It takes a lot of work to distill things way down to their essence. It helps to read other people's work, for sure! -d-

This was great fun to watch. Thank you! sandik, I agree; and it is always a bit of a surprise to see just how very young most of the dancers actually are. Onstage they can be anything at all and ageless; offstage they are mostly unpretentious, young and sweet. Mostly. .d-

Buddy, that is true. (rarely see more than two rotations in the air, though some dancers _could_ do them) Someone once said, and i tend to agree, that, ".... I stop counting after three" pirouettes. It really does not interest me how many pirouettes a person is turning. Totally musical turns which may go on for the duration of the phrase and may be more than three or so - sure - once in awhile. But, like marzipan, too much is just sickening. I like the idea of having more roles into which dancers can grow. Artistically and humanly. -d-

Buddy, yes. But, on the other hand, I stopped dancing pretty much "as soon" as I felt that I was starting to have doubts as to my ability to offer the very best. I _wanted_ to be able to do everything; I did not want to do "less"; even if that had meant "more artistry". I wanted it ALL - or nothing. There comes a time when the physical powers you can muster are not enough to compensate for the pain. Now both of my DDs are professional dancers; they are still young, they are still strong. The challenges (physical) are stronger now, I think, than in "my time". We shall see what happens. I wish this new company of older dancers all the best. (editing to add: yes, I do think that some more artistry would be good, even at the "expense" of a few knock-out physical fireworks; but I do not think it is going to happen) -d-

It will indeed be interesting to see where this project goes in its initial two years of funding. (if I understand correctly...) There may well be venues for them; I would imagine also combined with other groups it could be quite good. There ARE many ex-dancers out there who went "into retirement" (though most are not getting any sort of "retirement money" - most of us are working several jobs to stay afloat) and many of them were really excellent performers in their day and could definitely bring something worthwhile to the stage again. Those who apply for this group will be able to leave their present jobs and families for the required amount of rehearsal months, etc. The comments about many ballet (and this goes for other dance) companies not keeping on dancers who cannot physically do "everything" are good. In an ideal world there would be enough money to at least hire these older dancers to do roles which would be better served by just that; but in reality it is not so in most cases. Sad, but true. -d-

Lovely anecdote, thank you! -d-

Thanks from me, too, Richard, for your story. She sounds like a remarkable woman. -d-

What a man! What a way to go. Sincere condolences for his family and friends and all who will miss him. -d-

Arrgh! SF's ballet-day contribution is gone again. I was away for the weekend, so could only watch a few little bits on my phone; now i am back, and it is gone. Oh, well. I am sure it was wonderful! It's a great idea to have all of this and broadcast it live - would be even nicer if done on a day when most of the potential viewers could be free from work and if the respective countries would not block everything due to rights-issues; but - hey - one cannot have everything. -d-

It sounds wonderful! I was unable to find anything on the website about a live-streaming... perhaps I looked in the wrong places? Does one just "go to that website" on the date and time mentioned, and there will be some "window" - does anyone know? -d-

Oooh, yes, wouldn't that be great? (if the extended performance footage appears somewhere) I love this ballet; mainly for the music, as Kochetkova said in one of the interviews. -d-

That is very dear, pherank. I am sure there are many people who feel very similarly; even if they are not crippled. (just being old and unable to do all those things we used to take for granted will sometimes cause us to have tantalizing glimpses in our dreams of what has past) -d-

Too cool! Thanks! -d-

Thanks for clearing that up; I was also wondering how that would have worked out getting help from Mr. Nureyev himself. At any rate, I certainly wish Mr. Polunin all the luck on his new path. It is seldom easy, this "acting business". -d-

I prefer to see ballet - and contemporary dance, and all dance, really - as an art, and not a sport. Doing something physically athletic, as has been so often and so eloquently emphasised, does not (to my mind) equal playing a sport. I do not like competitions; unless they are "against one's self". But, that is just me. -d-

Wonderful that they all got contracts! @cycological: The Royal Ballet School (upper school professional course) is three years. (most are, I think) The third year encompasses extensive performing experience, which probably makes it look as if it is not "school" anymore. See: http://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/training/full-time-courses/covent-garden/ - for particulars. -d-

^^ I agree! One sees the dates and thinks, "oh, no..... " -sigh- -d-

I am very sorry that he has died. It is surprising: Although he was in his eighties, he always seemed so vibrant and healthy. He will be sorely missed and very fondly remembered. -d-

Compared to the US it is not few, that is correct. There are many, many more companies here. (most of them are in smaller cities) Just an observation - "on pointe" does not always a ballet make. -d-

Thank you for your thoughts on this, sandik! These are things I also often think about, as where I live (Germany) nearly all of the dance companies are now "modern" or "contemporary" or "tanztheater" or some combination of all of the above, often combined with ballet. The dancers are expected to be able to move easily between the various modes of expression, and technical demands are high. The companies which perform mainly ballet are few nowadays. Not because that "does not sell" - but because ballet companies require more resources; at least, that is my opinion. (here, of course, most companies are also state-supported) So it is really interesting to read about what is going on in the US compared to here. -d-

Thanks for the link! It is an interesting way of looking at it. Lovely dancers! Actually, as a former dancer, I really prefer to see the choreography as if from the front - or at least from one, consistent point. Part of the enjoyment of watching dance - for me - is to see "how it is done", and to follow along. I find myself sort of "dancing" inside, and the constant changes of angle and point-of-focus sort of confuse and frustrate me. But I am sure many people really like this way of looking at dance! -d-

the clip linked above came up as: "this video is private". Any ideas what one could do about that? Or perhaps I am just "too late" and it has been taken down?# There was a small ballet company in England, called, I think, Adonais, which also did a version of "Taming"; back in the 90s or early 2000s, I think. They do not seem to exist anymore. I did not see it, but heard of it as I was looking around for ideas for my own version (with youths - which we did not do, after all). I actually quite liked the Cranko version, which was excellently played by the dancers of the time. (I have not seen it since way-back-when) -d-

Thank you for the clarification! It still sounds as if you had an amazing time, and I am happy for you and glad you took the time to tell us about it! -d-

Oh, that sounds amazing, cubanmiamiboy! I am so happy for you that yuo got to see and do all those things. About the opera: that sounds like the sort of things which are often done in Europe, as the theatres are usually quite well-subsidised and they feel that it is their job to "educate" and not to "entertain". (I have mixed-feelings about the education vs entertainment thoughts, as I think they should overlap... but - oh, well) When you mentioned that you did not have to pay to enter the museums nor stand in long lines: is that always the case there? That would be marvleous! -d-

As far as I can tell from the Bayerische Staatsoper page, it appears that Claudia Jeschke and Ann Hutchinson Guest were responsible for reconstructing "Faun". http://www.bayerische.staatsoper.de/922-ZG9tPWRvbTImaWQ9MzEzOCZsPWRlJnRlcm1pbj0xMzkzNQ-~spielplan~ballett~veranstaltungen~vorstellung.html -d-