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Marga

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Everything posted by Marga

  1. An interesting sidebar: The author of the article about Svetlana Lunkina (linked to in the post above mine) is John Fraser, who was instrumental in the defection of Mikhail Baryshnikov in Toronto in 1974. He wrote a detailed description of that story in his 1986 book "Telling Tales". Here is an article about that: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/sonycentre/2010/10/05/baryshnikovs_defection_is_one_for_the_books.html Among the ballet classes Lunkina is taking in Toronto are Kevin Pugh's (former principal dancer NBoC) pay-as-you-go Dance Teq classes in which she participates both as student and teacher. My daughter, who knew her from years ago when Lunkina guested with Canadian Ballet Theatre's Nutcracker, takes class with Kevin when she can and is always inspired when Svetlana is at the barre. The class is full of professional dancers, students and non-professionals, all working on their own needs, but a breath of fresh air is always welcome and Lunkina, lovely and kind as she is, has brought some rarefied air with her.
  2. Marga

    Evgenia Obraztsova

    Today is Obraztsova's 29th birthday!
  3. I used to watch open classes at the National Ballet of Canada studios (Kevin Pugh's Dance Teq) when my daughter took them as a young teenager. Kevin always had several NBoC dancers taking his classes because they enjoyed his teaching so much. Occasionally one of them would toss a pair of old pointe shoes in the trash bin (after having worn them in class for barre) by the door where I was sitting. I was never alone enough to surreptitiously remove them for my budding collection, but I sure wanted to!
  4. I have Martine Lamy's shoes, or rather, my daughter does, and Karen Kain's (which fit me perfectly!). My daughter's teacher gave her one of Anna Antonicheva's signed shoes many years ago (the other went to another top student) and I was surprised at how rock hard the sole and shank were - they didn't bend at all! She had just danced Giselle in them and she has an extraordinarily flexible foot with a high instep and arch. I do have others but don't remember whose at the moment! I always pore over the dancers' shoes at the sales tables. While shopping at Capezio years ago, I found shoes earmarked for certain ABT dancers in the bargain bin - rejected by the dancer in question. Btw, I've stuck my nose right in the used shoes and never smelled a thing!
  5. I was watching with my daughter, who's a ballet dancer and teacher. Both of us agreed that Makarova was concentrating intently on the dancers' movements, style and interpretation. Her face was the same as my own when I study a dancer. I thought she was deeply invested in what she was seeing. I don't think she was unhappy at all. How could she be, even given her expertise and preferences, when the performances were so stellar?
  6. Thank you, Helene, for the link to this good article about Ravi Shankar's life. I keep forgetting that Norah Jones is also his daughter. May he rest in peace.
  7. The Chmerkovskiys and Dovolani own a chain of dance studios together which were founded by Maks and his parents. http://www.dancewithmeusa.com/ http://www.dance-teacher.com/content/real-stars-dancing
  8. Daniil Simkin just posted on his Facebook page that he has been promoted to Principal at ABT! https://www.facebook.com/daniilsimkinfans/posts/445403242179898 Edited to add: News travels fast! Not ten minutes after his announcement, 120 150 people have already "liked" his post on Facebook.
  9. Thanks for saying what I didn't voice, abatt. I am not well, but I am alive! You may remember when I met you a couple of years ago at the State Theater doors before a performance of the NYCB, I didn't hang around with the rest of the Ballet Talk group. That was because I cannot stand for long and had to go somewhere where I could sit down. I am always in physical distress when I'm out and about. That I go to the ballet at all during my NY visits home is a testament to my deep love for it!
  10. Larry Hagman and I had the same doctor. In early 1994, I was assessed in Toronto by the surgeon, who was originally from Toronto. My oncologist (the surgeon's mentor in med school) thought the surgeon could perform a controversial new procedure to try to remove my adrenal gland tumour which had adhered itself to my liver. I would have gone to Cedars Sinai in L.A. for the surgery had I been accepted as a patient. There were reasons why the surgeon thought he shouldn't attempt the radical surgery on me. When I heard the following year that he was Larry Hagman's surgeon for HIS liver tumour, I admit I was a little put off! I thought, what does Hagman have that I don't? What makes his surgery possible, but mine not? Ever since, I've felt one degree of separation from Larry Hagman. We watched him in Dallas, I watched him before that in Jeannie, and I adored Mary Martin on Broadway and TV.
  11. Absolutely lovely performance from Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild as well as Anna and Val! What a pleasure it was.
  12. So sorry to hear about your dad, carbro! What irony! My mother just got her power back on LI two hours ago. I am so relieved! She's a gutsy 87 year old under her mild-mannered demeanor and elected to stay home alone. I wasn't to-o-o worried about her. Still, finally getting a telephone connection an hour and a half ago, just 20 minutes after her power was restored, was a burden lifted. We spoke for almost an hour as she told me about her week in the dark and cold!
  13. I am still waiting to speak with my 87 year old mother on LI. She has been without power and telephone since Monday. At least she has hot water and gas, but with no heat the coming weekend rainstorm, winds and subsequent drop in temperature has me worried even more for her comfort. My brother's basement on LI was flooded with one and a half feet of water. His family is also without power, I have cousins in New Jersey and Staten Island in affected areas and have no idea how they have fared. I know my mom and brother's family are safe - we got a call from my sister-in-law's mother who has power on LI - but my stomach will continue to be in knots until I speak with my mother personally.
  14. You're welcome, abatt and ksk04! vipa, I agree with you. It's frustrating not to know.
  15. @abatt: The evening cast list for 'In The Upper Room': Kristi Boone, Simone Messmer, Sascha Radetsky, Jared Matthews, Patrick Ogle, Devon Teuscher, Luciana Voltolini, Skylar Brandt, Craig Salstein, Nicole Graneiro, Arron Scott, Isabella Bolyston, and Herman Cornejo.
  16. I just got home from today's matinee at Bard. What a perfect performance! 'In The Upper Room' never fails to send you out of the theater with your heart exploding with joy and your feet way above the ground. Standouts this afternoon were Joey Gorak, Luciana Paris, and also in places, Katie Williams, but absolutely above all, Daniil Simkin. His heads-above-the-others technique and artistry had me watching only him whenever he was dancing, blond hair flying, body aloft, sudden twisting, pronounced sharp movements, glorious pirouettes. The others in this cast are Kelly Potter, Cory Stearns, James Whiteside, Roddy Doble, Nicola Curry, Gemma Bond, Eric Tamm, Renata Pavam, and Sarah Lane. Whiteside, Stearns, and Doble danced together in parts 1, 3, 5, 7, their female partners/counterparts being Luciana, Kelley Potter, and Nicola Curry. James Whiteside did a great job alongside the veteran ABT males. First on the program was 'The Leaves Are Fading' with Marcelo Gomes and Julie Kent as the lead couple. Second leads were Isabella Boylston and Gray Davis. Gomes/Kent is the partnership from heaven for this ballet. Mature, superlative dancing and easy artistry were the hallmarks of their performance. Kent, a positive wisp of a creature made for ballet, shone in the role, moving with seemingly no effort and with such a natural flow it was as if she were breathing out her dance. Paler than everyone else in the company, she reminded of of Suzanne Farrell, who was many shades whiter still, as if porcelain is the designated non-color of the ballerina assoluta. (I honestly thought, back in the 1960's, that Farrell must powder her skin before each performance, she was just SO white!) Marcelo is always a complete joy to watch no matter what he's dancing, that for me to be able to concentrate on him and Julie alone (since they were the only dancers onstage for a long time) was a sheer pleasure. I could really get into the mood of their pas de deux and marvel at the amazing beauty of it. Julie Kent is still extraordinary and deserves every accolade bestowed on her. The difference between her and everyone else in the company who danced tonight is a vast chasm which only years of perfecting one's artistry and technique can any other dancer even hope to begin to fill. Isabella Boylston was flawless in her pas de deux with Gray Davis and, as always, I relished her every movement. She delights us so consistently. I so wish I could see her Kitri in Barcelona! Gray Davis is a new partner for me to see her with, and I'm sorry I can't really report on his performance since whenever Isabella's on stage, my eyes don't leave her even for a second. The entire cast for 'The Leaves Are Fading' this matinee: Leanne Underwood as The Woman, Isabella Boylston, Brittany DeGrofft, Kelley Boyd, Karen Uphoff, Kristi Boone, Adrienne Schulte, Luciana Paris, Yuriko Kajiya, Gray Davis, Daniel Mantei, Arron Scott, Julio Bragado-Young, Patrick Ogle, Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes. 'The Moor's Pavane' was danced by what might be termed Cast B: Roman Zhurbin as the Moor, Thomas Forster as "His Friend", Simone Messmer as "His Friend's Wife", and Xiomara Reyes as "The Moor's Wife". I can visualize the same cast performing The Garden of Villandry, the similarity of intentional movement being the basis for my thoughts (and also, having seen Reyes in both). Zhurbin is a very good character dancer/actor and he plied his trade confidently in this Limon piece. Forster also did a good job, as did Messmer and Reyes. The star of the piece, of course, is the hanky...er.. handkerchief. The hidden star is the Limon technique, so comfortable for ballet dancers and beautiful for us to see, even if we don't realize what makes us like it so much - the fall and the rise, the push and the pull, the tension and the release. I'd have given anything to have seen tonight's performance with Marcelo as Othello, Julie as Desdemona, Cory as Iago, and Veronika as Emilia. I'm sure it had quite a different flavour! The matinee performance was wonderful, but I suspect the evening's was more remarkable. I'd also have loved to have seen Polina Semionova in Leaves this evening (and I told her so backstage - what a lovely vision she is!). She didn't dance at all this afternoon. Same with Stella Abrera, who had only Leaves are Fading for the Bard weekend, and who is on the list for the evening's performance (which ended two hours ago). Same with Roberto Bolle! Oh, I missed so much, but I saw so much, too! The evening cast list for 'In The Upper Room': Kristi Boone, Simone Messmer, Sascha Radetsky, Jared Matthews, Patrick Ogle, Devon Teuscher, Luciana Voltolini, Skylar Brandt, Craig Salstein, Nicole Graneiro, Arron Scott, Isabella Bolyston, and Herman Cornejo. The evening cast list for 'The Leaves are Fading': Karen Uphoff, Stella Abrera, Sarah Smith, Gemma Bond, Nicola Curry, Polina Semionova, Nicole Graniero, Zhong-Jing Fang, Sarah Lane, Roman Zhurbin, Gray Davis, Daniil Simkin, Alexei Agoudine, Alexandre Hammoudi, Hee Seo and Roberto Bolle. I suspect the above casts repeat twice each over the 4 performances at Bard (tomorrow's matinee is the 4th). I wonder if they will be the same for the City Center half week. As you can see, many company members aren't on the lists at all. My husband and I had an awesome time at the ballet. He was particularly in admiration of Luciana Paris in the Tharp. He was also particularly excited by the Tharp, as was the audience who gave it a standing ovation with lots of whoops and hollers. Even though I believe Upper Room always gets a standing O, there is plenty of good reason for it. Any ballet that makes you feel THAT good, that makes you want to burst out of your skin with happiness, that does indeed lift you up higher and higher with Bolero-like buildup, deserves to have the whole audience on its feet to laud it. I ALWAYS want to see it again!
  17. Marga

    Alla Osipenko

    Osipenko was a great dancer. Her staunch anti-communism is to be commended, especially in light of the fact that her career suffered for it. She was rivals with Kolpakova and should have had the same advantages and acclaim - and did, in the beginning, even moreso than Kolpakova - but her political convictions killed her opportunity for advancement and international fame. As for friendships between ballerinas, it does happen. Years ago Lunkina and Zakharova were best friends; I don't know if that is still the status of their friendship. In ABT there are many female dancers (who would have ballerina status in many other companies) who are besties with each other. Of course, the elephant is always in the room, but times have changed. I don't think too many pins are being placed in pointe shoes these days...
  18. A very worthwhile project! Since it is about Estonian colours, perhaps the spelling of Tiit's last name could be corrected. It is "Helimets", a beautiful Estonian name evoking a lovely image: "sound forest" or "forest of sound".
  19. Posted on his Facebook page is a callout for ballet dancer models from 3 countries, including America, for what sounds like a coffee-table book of dancer photos.
  20. Actually, Tanaquil LeClercq wrote that paragraph in the Balanchine section of The Ballet Cook Book.. Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale are quoting her!
  21. I won't offer my opinions to this thread because of my personal bias for Isabella Boylston, but I will provide a link to a delightful feature in this month's Dance Spirit. Four pages are devoted to a day in NYC with Isabella Boylston. You can see all 4 pages on the two FB pictures, but may not be able to read the small print. Dance Spirit's site doesn't have the article online. It's in the July/August 2012 issue. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151024667141858&set=a.10151024667071858.478860.15817871857&type=3&theater
  22. I'm bringing ami1436's post from the beginning of this thread here so that if there are more responses, the definitions of 'arch' and 'instep' will be handy.
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