Marga

I don't know about Karen, but your post made me think of Veronica Tennant, an award-winning screenwriter, director, and producer as well as an author of children’s books, a narrator and TV host, since her retirement. Veronica Tennant

Such a jolt of sad news! I’ve always been impressed with the d’Amboise/George family. They’ve been through some hardships with the health of one of their sons, and have always been inspirational to me and my mother. May God bless her family and her precious soul.

Ron Reagan -- former Joffrey dancer and son of President Ronald Reagan -- now works as a political correspondent for MSNBC and covers dog shows for Animal Planet. Ron Reagan

Jennifer Gelfand, former principal with Boston Ballet, is also a real estate agent. Jennifer Gelfand -- Realtor

Canada's classical radio station, 96.3 FM, has been announcing all day that Chan Han Goh will be retiring in June. Chan Han Goh has also danced with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet. She was born in Beijing, leaving at the age of eight. Both her parents had been principal dancers with the National Ballet of China. She studied at her parents's ballet school in British Columbia, the Goh Ballet Academy. Joining the National Ballet in 1988, she became second soloist two years later, first soloist two years after that and principal dancer two years after that, in 1994. She is also an entrepreneur with her own dance supply company, "Principal", and has co-written her autobiography, Beyond the Dance: A Ballerina's Life (2002). There is a recorded message at the end of the news item, with Chan Han Goh speaking briefly about her career. She has high praise for Karen Kain, whom she said has always been encouraging to young dancers even when she was still dancing herself, and as for herself says she "will always be connected with the arts". Those of you in Canada will be able to hear this announcement at every newsbreak today (I assume) since it has been so since earlier today. Here is a link to her website: Chan Han Goh

I have seen Volochkova dance (after the brouhaha). I thought her performance in two solo pieces was wonderful, both technically and in interpretation. She also spoke onstage together with two other dancers as the 3 offered messages in English, French, and Russian. She was hardly taller than Patricia Barker, whom she was standing next to. They were in evening dress, so I don't know the height of the heels on their shoes, but, really, what difference does an inch or two one way or another make? Oh, and she had a beautiful slender, dancer's body which she used artistically and impressively.

A march is not always in 2/4 time. Actually, 4/4 (or 2/2) have been used as time signatures for marches that are not usually parade marches. Although 2/4 is accommodating to marching feet, 4/4 has been used for marches which are more aesthetic in movement, such as those in social and folk dances. John Philip Sousa even wrote a few marches in 6/8 time, notably the "Washington Post March". Suzanne Farrell is nothing if not musical. She has an innate understanding and relationship to music. It must hurt her sensibilities to see dancing which doesn't attach itself to the music being played either in technique or feeling, or both. Farrell is known for her musicality. Watching her dance and being pulled into her performance as you began to feel the music with her was an indescribably special experience.

Thanks for the news, Paquita! I am so excited. I've known Noah since he was 14 (he's now 22) and just starting to "look" like a dancer. He had quite a way to go back then. Being a hard worker, he worked wonders on himself, with great teachers and great determination. He's been featured in many solo parts in the last two seasons and this competition will be a wonderful challenge for him. I know he's up for any challenge! When he was 15 his older sister was "managing" his emerging career and she and I arranged for my daughter and her brother to prepare for a dance competition with a ballet pas de deux. They started learning the Grand Pas from last act Sleeping Beauty together under the coaching of Nadia Veselova-Tencer. (Noah was studying at the Academy of Ballet & Jazz at the time, before he went on to the Goh Academy). Noah's and my daughter's partnership didn't gel and they abandoned the project. That would have been his first competition in ballet. It would be a hoot if he were to compete with Elena with the SB grand pas! Noah is a wonderful young man and I'm crossing my fingers for him.

Are you sure it was Lana Turner? Montalban did play the part of a famous polo player in a musical comedy with Esther Williams and Red Skelton. I don't remember the name of it, but it was a pretty old film. Williams was given the "lacquered" treatment back then, too.

Was it "Madame X"? That's the film where Montalban's character falls to his death accidentally as he assaults her.

Ricardo Montalban was an actor I loved to hear speak. His voice was elegant and self-assured, irresistibly attractive. He was SO handsome, even as he aged, but especially as a young man, and I loved him best in his romantic roles. I saw a few episodes of "Fantasy Island" with Montalban in the role of Mr. Roarke, but I was never compelled to watch the show regularly. It was too formulaic for me, although some episodes had quite touching stories. I preferred his performances in TV shows such as "Dr. Kildare". My favorite Ricardo Montalban role was El Gallo in "The Fantasticks" when it was shown on TV. It was so long ago but I'll never forget his "Try to Remember". It was magical in its simplicity. John Davidson, whom I had a crush on and whose voice I adored, played Matt. I don't remember who played Luisa. It was my mother who first made me aware of Montalban (he was just four and a half years older than she) and we watched his films together. A charismatic personality, he displayed substantive character for his being deeply religious, for his passionate loyalty to his homeland, and for his love of his family. He will indeed be missed.

I went to the article because you mentioned that artistic staff would be laid off and was relieved to read instead that it is "25 percent of its administrative staff (italics mine) and not the dancers who will meet this fate. Not good, either, but at least it's not the dancers this time!

I thought Elizabeth Alexander's verbal delivery of her own work was terrible. Lowery would have given it a more dramatic read! Its measured, monotone recitation took much away from the redeeming qualities the poem, which I also thought was pretty bad, had, -- not the concepts in it, but how it was written. I agree with you, sandik, that reading it yourself gives the poem more clout, rhythm, and purpose than it achieved as performed this afternoon.

Ahh, the apprentice designation was not there yet when I saw the posting on January 8th. And, vrsfanatic, I also checked that day to see if Isadora Loyala was still back in ABT II and saw that she still was on the 8th. So, the changes to the ABT dancers' listings were in the process of being made. I wonder if there are any more coming?

I was very pleased to notice just now that Joey Gorak has finally joined the corps de ballet after well over 2 years in ABT II. Among his very many balletic assets (and a hugely talented dancer he is) are two of the most gorgeous feet in ballet (look out David Hallberg! ) Next, I saw that Jose Sebastian was also among the list of corps photos. Exciting times!

I chose "other - classical". My fantasy wish is to see the Estonian National Ballet. It is the company my daughter started her career with and because of my health, I was not able to fly over to see her perform with them. Oh, but she told me of her favorite dancers there! My choice of of ballet to see would be Romeo and Juliet with the amazing Sergei Upkin as Romeo and the sublime Luana Georg as Juliet!

Thanks for the information! Just a note .... I would hardly call Lopatkina and Vishneva "rising superstars" -- they rose and arrived in the heavens a long time ago. I would say that Zakharova has already arrived as well. Who's the sixth? edited to add: I just checked the link and saw that you copied and pasted the info as printed on the site. Shoddy blurb-writing, I say.

I'm so sorry that happened, carbro! Things like that have happened to me, too. Marcelo and Luciana were absolutely wonderful! I was looking forward to seeing Marcelo dance this, as I had seen José dance it with Luciana at Bard. Luciana was so much better in her performance with Marcelo! Maybe the packed to capacity venue and the fact that millions of eyes were on her in closeups, and that among them were so many glitterati, VIP, and celebrity eyes helped her shine more at the Honors. Or maybe it was just dancing with Marcelo. HE was ravishingly macho and menacing and romantic and bad boy and debonair! My gripe is that they only got to do 3 Sinatra dances and ...... no other dancers appeared in any other Tharp works. That would have been all right if the tributes to all the other honorees were in balance, but that was not the case. They imported what looked like a hundred New York City cops for Daltrey and Townshend and hundreds of singers for a short chorus for Streisand on top of all the soloists (Beyoncé was incredibly good and secure in her strong beautiful voice). Also, the singers of Who songs kept parading out one after another, presenting far too many songs, going beyond my endurance for them, that's for sure. I did enjoy all the country performers that paid tribute to Jones, among them Randy Travis and Garth Brooks. I'm not a fan of country, but I like it one or two songs at a time. Tonight was very pleasant and enjoyable, even with quite a lot of Jones's songs. It was still properly a tribute, while the Who's segment was pretty much a rock concert! In comparison, what bright minds thought that we could only "take" 3 Sinatra dances and, heavens to Betsy, no other dancers, please! -- who can stand so much dancing? Sheesh! For all the famous entertainers, including B.B. King and some jazz greats in their 90s, that were amassed to honor Morgan Freeman, one of my favorite actors (who, after Tharp, got the next shortest shrift), George Jones, the Who, and Streisand, they couldn't bring in a handful of extra dancers to perform a few energetic pieces from Baker's Dozen? Or Movin' Out? Or anything else Tharp? Color me very disappointed! Thank goodness we had Gomes and Paris and their extraordinary pas de deux.

Whitney Jensen debuted yesterday and will also dance Maria today in the Nutcracker with the Hungarian National Ballet. She is billed as a "ballet virtuoso" under her name on the website. Her partner for both performances is Vladimir Arhangelski who was until this season (when he started in Budapest) a longtime principal with the Estonian National Ballet. Is there a chance that anyone on BT saw or is seeing the performance?

The second dancer is Sara Michelle Murawski, 17, who has been extremely well-trained at the Rock School and by private coaches such as Galina Panova, Martine Van Hamel and Diana White. She really has a lot of inner strength. Take a look at this compilation of her work (see below). It shows her performing short clips of most of the common major variations in ballet, from Nutcracker to Swan Lake to Sleeping Beauty to Giselle to Le Corsaire and beyond. I think she is extremely strong, although she does tend to exhibit her amazing extension in an undiscriminating fashion. Since she's still young, it's possible that in time she'll develop more discernment. I remember a whole photo shoot that ballet photographer Gene Schiavone did of her earlier this year. Sara Michelle Murawski ballet montage

You are right, of course, Natalia. GITIS is for graduates of all kinds of theatrical programs, including "theatre historian and critic", not only ballet. Often, older and/or retired dancers enroll in the programs after they have finished their stage careers. In ballet one can be awarded the following two "qualifications": "director choreographer" (term of study 5 years, enrollment: regular, extension (correspondence) courses); "teacher choreographer" (term of study 4 and a half years, enrollment: regular, extension (correspondence) courses). Here is their website (English version): GITIS

I gave GoogleBooks a try, and while good for searching for books, it doesn't come near the ease of use for creating your own library that Librarything does.

innopac, I went straight from your post to start my own library at LibraryThing. It is brilliant! I've already entered 45 books easily by clicking on them from the amazon list or other members' libraries. I found in a shared listing that a BT VIP had also started a library today, so I'm in good company. Thank you so much for this link. I really needed it, having around a thousand dance books. My screenname there is "balleticabooks", "balletica" being my usual ballet screenname elsewhere on the net, but having been taken by someone else on LibraryThing a year and a half ago with the listing of a single book who then seems to have abandoned the effort. (It's not the first time a chosen screenname of mine has been locked up by someone on a site who then does not use it -- grr.) Finally, some order in my life! I can't thank you enough. Now I've got to take photos of most of my books for their cover shots! edited to add: the count is now over 130 books (that I've entered). It's such a kick to see my books organized online this way. I especially like looking at the covers. I'm fast approaching 200 books, so will be having to take out a year's membership soon.....

I do!

Solomon and Nadia Tencer are not producing a Stars of the 21st Century Ballet Gala this February at Lincoln Center. The decision was made even before they were asked to produce the Gala in Europe at the usual February time, which they will be doing. It is a very costly venture to mount it in New York.