Marga

In Sleeping Beauty, during the dream sequence when the Lilac Fairy "shows" Aurora to the Prince and he "dances" with her, her eyes help make the illusion work. Because Aurora is not really there, she cannot look at the Prince or take her gaze anywhere, for that matter. Her eyes should be somewhat glazed, of fixed, as her movements in the pas de deux should be surreal. Because he is physically there, Prince Desiré can show desire and/or love in his face and eyes. Aurora cannot respond in kind.

Oh dear, I'm not as ambitious as bookishmaud. I, too, own several hundred videos and DVD's, mostly VHS purchased via ebay over the years. I began by perusing the shelves at Towers. They had a pretty good sampling, but I could allow myself, at most, 3 videos a visit. I bought manyl Balanchine videos from Capezio's. Once I started bidding for them on ebay there was no stopping me. I used to catalog them, but didn't keep it up. It's interesting to have several versions of the same ballet, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, Giselle, La Bayadère, Don Q, for example. One problem watching the same tape over and over is it makes me want to see the dancers in person!

I read about her death yesterday and told my husband. He and I both liked her acting. My husband couldn't believe that she was only 80 and thought it must be a mistake. Of course, she would've turned 81 in 8 days, but still, young. So, I read more and saw that she started acting in movies at the age of 14! I liked her modest reserve which came through as her personality even when in character for her roles. Her quiet beauty affirmed it. Here's the link to her NYT obituary: Jean Simmons obituary

Thanks for the news, Helene. George Jellinek meant a lot to me, too, and especially to my mother. A couple of years ago I ordered his autobiography for her and when we last visited NY my husband read it at her house and was very impressed by his story. When my mom got a computer years ago, she first wanted me to look up articles about George Jellinek. That's how I learned all about him. I remember him and "The Vocal Scene" very well. I also remember him from the Metropolitan Opera intermission shows on QXR. Such a humble, lovely man! A great example of a fine human being. May he rest in eternal peace.

My mother bought tickets for us and my children to NYCB's Nutcracker when the kids were little. We were visiting from Toronto and this was my Nutcracker, the one I grew up seeing every year. She was a little worried about my 3 year old's attention span, but needn't have been. The tyke was mesmerized throughout the ballet. None of my kids fell asleep either! That child is 31 now and doesn't care one whit about ballet - it's her younger sister who's the professional ballet dancer - but I'll never forget how totally into it she was in 1981. Maybe it's just the NYCB Christmas magic. When that tree grows in Lincoln Center my heart still jumps as I automatically clasp my hands to it.

Oprah

I didn't know she was married to Bob Teague, a prominent TV news reporter when I was young. He was a calm, steady, confident presence, too. May she rest in peace.

Thank you, leonid, for your Royal Ballet memories of Ms. Parkinson. She will be missed internationally by several generations of dancers and ballet watchers.

Dancers have muscle memory, so their bodies usually know what to do - if well-rehearsed. With atonal music, such as what Balanchine and others have used, there is counting that has to be done, but it's not forgetting the steps that would be the problem. Rather, it would be messing up the count. Still, there are events which require improvisation, some of them even lapses in memory. Not all dancers learn the same way, nor have the same capacity for memorization of steps while learning. Some, famously - John Clifford comes to mind - only need to see something once, even impossibly long sequences, and they know it from there on out. Others take longer to get the movement into their bodies. By performance time, the dance is second nature, again with exceptions. The New York City Ballet, for example, has, at least in the past (I don't know about now, but I suppose it's the same), put dancers into a role at the last minute and they rely on their fellow dancers to talk them through the choreography onstage. But I was going to say when I began the preceding paragraph that there are other events which require on the spot adjustments. At the Erik Bruhn Competition a couple of years ago, Tina Pereira's partner injured himself during a pas de deux and had to be helped offstage. Tina kept on dancing, right through the rest of the pas, through her partner's variation, and ended with a long series of turns that she devised when faced with the situation of all eyes on her and the music playing. She won the competition, partly, I'm convinced, for her chutzpah.

Oh, that's so much better, Hans. Thank you for the link. Fracci had me at hello, as they say. She had me at that little breath-like rise she did before her developé. Fracci drew me into the world of her Giselle. Zakharova did not.

And to further clarify, or add info at least, the American Theater Dance Workshop (which is always a cumbersome mouthful for me) is what became of the Eglevsky Ballet School. The Eglevsky Ballet, essentially a pickup company now, occupies the same space. Katherine is married to Peter Burrows (who was her coach upon her return to skating) and also coaches and choreographs at the Peter Burrows Skating School in addition to teaching ballet at the Herricks Community Center.

How wonderful! I remember Marina's development from a slightly chubby teenage dancer performing lead roles in her father's company (The Eglevsky Ballet) to the sleek, sculpted professional she quickly became. She was featured on the cover of Dance magazine as a child, then again years later in 1969 with her ballerina body in a beautiful pose. Dressed only in a leotard, the monochromatic cover pic shows her in an arabesque (or is it attitude - I should remember this, I've stared at that cover so many times!) perched on her leg toward us, slightly thrust forward, as if we were sitting right in front of her in the studio and she was leaning toward us. Her beautiful slender arm is straight ahead in counterbalance (palm a little up I believe) in almost a Balanchine gesture. Her line is gorgeous! Her expression the serious look of a focussed dancer, she is the epitome of perfect Russian style - nothing ostentatious, just technical and artistic perfection. She was married to dancer/choreographer Salvatore Aiello until his death, and they both spent years in Winnipeg performing. I so wish I could watch her teach. Although the studios at Herricks are not very big, I hope she gets a large class of dancers who will appreciate the privilege they have being taught a class by her. Marina Eglevsky joined NYCB at 14. She inherited several Balanchine ballets after her father's death and asked permission to stage others, which she does around the world, including at POB and the Bolshoi. Her work is very respected in ballet circles. She is a gifted teacher and coach.

Would seem so, were it not veiled in an eerie, otherworldly solemnity.

Oh, how wonderful to read that. As I've mentioned a few times throughout the years on BT, Yurek Lazowsky was my character teacher. That you articulated the difference between character dance today and that of the old Ballet Russe school, you have elucidated for me why the character I learned was so different from the character being taught at the National Ballet School in Canada back in the 70s, for instance. I thought I had entered a new world when I first tried to do their barre (I bailed before centre) during a teacher training course in June 1973. Long live the memory of Mr. Lazowsky!

Excellent post, Hans! Well-worded and clear.

I agree with you, volcanohunter. It was not a good film. It also disturbed me that the peripheral characters hardly resembled the real people they were meant to portray. For one instance, the dancer who was supposed to be Jackie Kennedy was too short. "Nureyev" towered over her. This particular ballet dancer is my daughter's close friend and is 5'2" tall. When we heard she was chosen to be Jackie, I was perplexed as to the choice of role for her. She doesn't look a bit like Jackie, either. The pillbox hat and perhaps the hairdo were the only thing that identified her. Perhaps the filmmaker thought that these roles were such a blip in the whole film that no one would notice? Someone always notices! I think that Greta Hodgkinson at least resembles Margot Fonteyn somewhat. Her husband, Etienne Lavigne, also has something of Erik Bruhn in his face, if not in his manner. Nico Archambault had zero charisma, which is the worst casting error made in this film. It was his charisma that carried Nureyev throughout his life, even unto death. I liked Rosemary Dunsmore, who was looking better than ever with her longer hair. This film gets a pass from me and I doubt I'd want to sit through it again.

I can't wait to see it! In addition to everything else about it, it features one of my favorite dancers of all time, Patty McBride. Thanks again. I will truly treasure it.

Thank you so much for the heads up! I bought it.

As I've written before, Allegra Kent was my favorite dancer long before Suzanne Farrell came along. I used to salivate with glee and expectation when I saw her name on the program. She was as unique as a dancer can be, always following the beat of her own drummer. Alluring, indeed, sensuous, stunningly beautiful, instinctive as a ballerina, a dancer of gorgeous line, very musical, and charismatic to the nth degree. These days, I've bumped into her in the old Ballet Shop, at Steps, of course, and at ABT performances. Takes a little gild off the lily ;) to see her in everyday clothes and such, but she accomplished the ungilding herself with the writing of "Once a Dancer". That's where I found out that she once ran ads in New York Magazine looking for a mate and did other ordinary people things. She has the amazing gift of still being able to take class and not be bothered by ogling eyes, not at the barre nor in the dressing room. Her eccentricity manifests in her delightful quirky presence. These days, I've found - to my dismay - that when the doorway buzz is about "Kent" being in class at Steps, they're not talking about Allegra, but Julie, even with Miss Iris standing right in front of them at the end of the barre! Congratulations on the Dance Magazine honour, Ms. Kent! It is well-earned. Even your articles at Dance have been wonderful to read! A well-rounded dance career for an iconic ballerina.

With so many vignettes to choose from, my immediate reaction to the question is the achingly beautiful duet from Pearlfishers. I know mine is perhaps a predictable choice, but that doesn't lessen its impact on me every time I hear it, no matter who is singing.

I'm with you! In fact, I stopped sitting there over 40 years ago when I moved out of the country! (You took up my mantle!). I had a front row center subscription for years. These days I can't afford tickets in those rows on the occasions when I'm in New York, but when I have the chance to see a rehearsal, that's where I sit. Nothing better, as far as I'm concerned. I've tried close sides and every ring, but I yearn for the very front of the house!

I agree. As I've noted before, Veronika's father is Estonian (and the last name "Part" means "duck" as in the farm animal), and Estonian uses the Latin alphabet, with some practical omissions. For instance, there is no "c", that letter's job being done by "k" and "s". So, although she was born and grew up in St. Petersburg, Veronika does have Estonian roots, and in Estonia her name would definitely be written with a "k". And, of course, that's how she herself spells it in English.

I always thought Cory's ABT headshot looked like a model pic! Cory Stearns

Thank you, Pamela Moberg, for starting this thread. What an excellent choice for the Nobel Prize in literature! We need more voices telling the stories of what it was really like to live under Communism. I recommend Arved Viirlaid's Graves Without Crosses as an indispensible book as well. To read it in the original Estonian is mesmerizing as much as it is horrifying. Extremely readable, it is an unforgettable novel based on real-life events. The English language version, translated by a well-known and gifted Estonian academician, nevertheless does not do the original justice in the quality of writing. Some of the translation is too direct, thereby making it cumbersome in English. For example: Often when someone familiar appears at the door, the inhabitant exclaims "You!" before the visitor can state his/her business. This sounds quite awkward in English, while in Estonian, to exclaim "Sina!" is more a part of the vernacular. Other than that, the story is just as gripping as in the original. Müller's The Appointment, The Passport (A Surreal Tale of Life in Romania Today), Land of Green Plums and Traveling on One Leg are available in English. I await the translation of Atemschaukel, the Nobel Prize winner.

I want to thank everyone for their detailed reviews! Not being able to be in New York for the fall season was killing me, but this is the next best thing (actually the next best thing would be complete videos!). I also enjoyed the video clips on ABT's facebook page.