sarez

Concerto 488: like Dufay said, the music was heavenly, and the high point of the piece. The choreography, though, wasn't very inventive and didn't really 'move' or say anything specific to me. The program stated that Lila York was a dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Compnay, then later became the Artistic Director of PNB Offstage, a program to develop and produce new choreography at PNB. Even though the dancers did wear ballet shoes, the movements also didn't strike me as particularly 'balletic', as most of the steps were turned in, etc.

The Firebird: The costumes were very, um, interesting. I remember reading somewhere that the costumes were supposed to look Mayan, or some other ancient South American civilization. Kastchei's costume and the Priestess' costume certainly did look South American, but most of the costumes didn't. The Princesses must have been very hard to partner because of their panniers, not to mention dancing by themselves. On a good note, the Firebird's tutu was beautiful, and the set was gorgeous!

As in Concerto, the dancers danced James Kudelka's choreography very well. But we didn't figure out who was who until the very end, and even now I'm still not sure what the purpose of some of the characters were. Except for Aranxta Ochoa (the Firebird) making her bird-like movements and Prince Ivan (James Ihde) carrying a bow, there was little or no characterization. An Old Reptile, an Older Beast (Jeffery Gribler!), a Jaguar, a General, Warthogs, Knights, Guards, a Sanke, and Lizards were virtually the same except for costumes. At the very end of the ballet, when Ivan and Vaislia were presumably getting married (?), a Priestess and a bunch of people in gold (princesses?) came onstage and stood there for about five minutes.

Overall, the actual dancing was wonderful. But if the PA Ballet wants to have a better known reputation, they need to dance ballets that make sense.

I think (not quite certain) that a cophyee is a female soloist.

Yes I agree... I had this teacher who had the most amazing technique, but when she danced there was no emotion on her face, it was like staring at a wall. Even though it is essential to have a certain emount of good technique, dancers also have the convey the story or emotion of what they're dancing.

Yes I agree... I had this teacher who had the most amazing technique, but when she danced there was no emotion on her face, it was like staring at a wall. Even though it is essential to have a certain emount of good technique, dancers also have the convey the story or emotion of what they're dancing.

Last night at NYCB's performance, I noticed something about almost all of the dancers (with the exception of Wendy Whelan). They're not sticks, and all of them are very healthy looking, and still look like dancers! Since NYCB is famed for having started the whole stick-thin craze, I was wondering... is the healthy dance body back?

Now that I've seen all of it on tape, I have an exception to my reply. I thought Red Angels was really good!!

I only watched about the first 1.5 hours, but it does all look the same. Martins definately does not have the talent Balanchine has, and it seems a lot of the choreographers in the Diamond Project are more interested in being Balanchine II then being themselves.

I came out a Stravinksy. Love the idea and his music!

I came out a Stravinksy. Love the idea and his music!

It's so good to post! Anyways...

I think I love ballet because I can express myself. I can dance the way I feel, not the way somebody wants me to feel.

Anyways, over here in the US it's R, which means Restricted. I have a poster of it, and you're right, there is a picture of him running with the ballet shoes with ribbons round his neck. But then, they have a picture of him in ballet class, and he looks like he's taking a boxing lesson.

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Anybody can "dance", but only a dancer can REALLY dance.

I went to a NYCB performence of Sleeping Beauty. In my row(row B)there were a bunch of kids aged 3-5. How annoying they were. Going on like everybody else has said kids do. I think, even once, one of them started to cry!

[This message has been edited by sarez (edited June 26, 2000).]

ms.leigh.........

yes the book i'm talking about is listen to the nightingale. it's a really good book, and i recomend it to anybody who likes reading books about ballet!

sarabeth

i also read this really cool book(it not that long, so you could read it anytime )by rumer godden. its about a girl whos being raised by her great aunt, whos the wardrobe mistress of a famous ballet company, and then........ well, i won't spoil it for you.

sarabeth

you could also try looking for nutcracker movies(and other movies too!) that are really old. i have one of the nutcracker from 1977, and it has baryshnikov as the prince, and gelsey kirkland as clara. the dancing is REALLY good !

sarabeth