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Marga

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Everything posted by Marga

  1. You'd know better than I about the Giselle video's availability. Let me take a moment, since you have addressed me personally, Marc, to praise you on your beautiful photos of Lunkina. She is such a lovely young woman, whether in costume or "civilian" clothes and you have captured her youthful beauty so perfectly in your images of her. She is a very sweet person, still vulnerable (she gets quite upset when her performances don't go well, according to her standards) and kind to all. I hope she never develops the unattractive "edge" that a few older Bolshoi ballerinas have which makes them behave as though they are above all others. Lunkina's innate personality lends itself so well to roles like Spectre and La Sylphide, but her dramatic flair emerges when she dances Kitri, Giselle, and Odile. I am eager to see her develop during the next decade!
  2. Interesting to ponder. (With your typo, your question could start to read as "I wonder who empt{ied} the house?" ;) I still think they would not have drawn much of a crowd. They simply are not a strong company right now -- have not been for years -- and almost never tour, so folks just don't know the dancers. A mixed program can be very stimulating, especially to introduce a seldom-seen company doing some familiar works. It gives the audience some meat to chew on. Unfortunately, no matter what the NBoC dances these days, so many in the audience go home uninspired, unuplifted (can that be a word?), and feeling like they haven't had anything to munch on that night. The National may just need another Nureyev to rescue them!
  3. The house was half empty when they were at City Center. They lost a bundle.
  4. Lunkina is classified as a "leading soloist" at the Bolshoi, not yet a Principal. To my knowledge, there are not any generally available videos of her as yet.
  5. A partial list of this May's Stars of the 21st Century gala companies/dancers: Alvin Ailey will be participating for the first time, as well the National Ballet of Cuba. From ABT, Herman Cornejo. There'll be a fabulous flamenco dancer (whose name escapes me). Gudanov (Bolshoi) will return with, I believe, Nina Kaptzova. And of course, Lucia and Cyril! The reasons Toronto hasn't been a stopping point for international companies on tour are probably more than a little political as well as practical. Toronto does not have a large enough ballet audience at this time, for one thing. Another good question (that many of us have opinionated responses to) is: why doesn't the National Ballet tour like it used to? Its costly trip to New York a couple of summers ago didn't even manage to fill half of City Center's seats. Some of the recently promoted dancers at the National wouldn't make it out of the corps in a world-class company.
  6. I just found this thread and wanted to add to it, since I have been the proud owner of this cookbook since 1969. I purchased it never realizing how special it would be to me now. I think it cost $5. I bought it because I was at a fundraising function at the State Theater and the NYCB dancers, including Mr. B., were obligated to show themselves. I suddenly realized I needed something for them to sign! I had bought a poster for Jewels, but only had Mr. B., Jacques D'Amboise and Kay Mazzo sign it. I didn't think it appropriate for those not in Jewels to do so. Hence, the cookbook purchase. I collected many signatures inside the front cover, including Alexandra Danilova's, Mr. B's and Tanaquil LeClercq's, who was wheeling around the balcony lobby in her wheelchair. Had I not been a shy 22 yr. old then, I would have accosted, er, approached many more dancers. If I only had had the nerve I have today.....
  7. currently: Marie-Agnes Gillot as Kitri. Tamara Rojo as the Black Swan. Heather Ogden as the Black Swan (or anything else) blast from the past: anyone but Arthur Mitchell as Puck. Karin von Aroldingen in many roles. Peter Martins in his first months at NYCB took some getting used to, no matter what he danced. I couldn't get past the size of his head and the stiff way in which he held it. He grew on me, of course.
  8. Ballerinas: Evelyn Hart. Anna Antonicheva. Darcey Bussell. Svetlana Lunkina. Irina Dvorovenko. Ballerinos: Ethan Stiefel. Dmitri Gudanov. Marcelo Gomes. Marcin Krajewski. Great husband and wife partnerships: José and Agnes. Cyrill and Lucia. Max and Irina.
  9. Jared guested with my children's ballet school here in Toronto in June, dancing Prince Siegfried in our 4-act Swan Lake (Kirov version). He was very, very good and a lovely young man to boot. He is now an apprentice with ABT.
  10. I think Jose Martinez and Agnes Letestu together are wonderful. I've seen them perform many times. I've only seen Marie-Agnes Gillot once, partnered in the Don Q Grand Pas by Marcello Gomes, and she was just too tall for him, so I couldn't get a full idea of her presentation with a partner who is the right size for her. I found her a little too unemotional as Kitri. No flair. But then, I only saw her dance the Grand Pas, and maybe she was feeling insecure with Gomes, as they were not used to performing together, although he did train at the Paris Opera Ballet School and knew her from then. She (Gillot) was awesome at the barre during warmup, though. I'll have to see her again, with her dancing something that's really suited to her. I've not seen Osta, much to my regret.
  11. And how about Faruk (Farouk, Faroukh) Ruzimatov (Rouzimatov)? I just thought I'd throw him into the mix, because, of course, the name is originally written in the Cyrillic alphabet, leaving it open to a number of legitimate spellings when rendered in the Roman alphabet. On that same note, there's also Altynai (Altinai) Asylmuratova (Assylmuratova), Alla Ossipenko (Osipenko), Rudolf (Rudolph) Nureyev (Nuriev) and many others from the Russian companies.....
  12. Marga

    Soubrettes

    Marnee Morris was tall? Just goes to show you what happens when old age begins to seep in. I remember her as being short! I saw her dance just about every Saturday afternoon for years. Some things I remember with such clarity, such as the alabaster skintone of Suzanne Farrell (I was convinced she was told by Balanchine to use white powder to make herself stand out, but I was wrong. She talks about her white, white skin on "Elusive Muse"). Thank you.....I will certainly take your word for it and adjust my mental images of Marnee Morris! (It may take some doing -- I can see her jumping and beating in front of my eyes right now....)
  13. To Pville who posted: It was, Pville, it was! Allegra Kent was my absolute favourite dancer before Suzanne Farrell. Whenever I saw her name on the program, I excitedly waited for the curtain to lift. Her "La Sonnambula" was the thing legends are made of, but everything she danced was truly wonderful..... "Bugaku", of course, and "Afternoon of a Faun", and even "Stars and Stripes".....and so on and so on..... She had the most beautiful face and countenance and body carriage! I love her spunk these days. She's usually the first dancer we see when we go to STEPS (my daughter takes class there when we're in town), as she stands at her usual place at the barre, right by the door. She's like the energizer bunny. More power to her!
  14. Marga

    Soubrettes

    I saw Violette Verdy dance many soubrette parts, now that you mention it! She had the best look on her face, too. All-knowing, triumphant, yet always couched in a twinkly smile. Marnee Morris, of the same NYCB era, the 60s, was a brilliant technician. Petit allegro was her forté and Balanchine always used her to stun the audience with her quicksilver batterie. By dint of her intriguing speed, I think she was a soubrette, too.
  15. Marga

    Soubrettes

    The gamine thread led me to think of another typecasting category in ballet: the soubrette. The ballerina who immediately comes to mind, and who always personified this type of dancer to me, is Suki Shorer. One requisite of being a soubrette, I think, is short stature. Same goes for gamines. Anyone disagree? Soubrettes are seldom, if ever, romantic leads. They are saucy and cute and never angstful. They know more than they show, however. You get a sense that they might even be the ones really in control of the ballet! ;)
  16. BW, I was afraid someone would assume from my post that a judge was judging his/her own students and I was right. But you are wrong! Of course my daughter's teacher did not judge her own students! She had no influence whatsoever in the judging of the dancers she coached and brought to the competition. While going directly to the finals may be unorthodox, in this case, I feel I must explain about this particular teacher. She is the artistic director of over 12 international ballet galas, and in her capacity as such, chooses the ballet stars of tomorrow, on occasion propelling them right out of the corps to stardom. She has been presenting ballerinas and danseurs from the top ballet companies in the world annually in Paris, New York (Lincoln Center), Toronto, and several other world-class cities since 1993. Certainly, she knows which students to send to a ballet competition as well. Since video auditions are allowed from those who can't travel to the semi-finals, then the judgement of an internationally known ballet master teacher should also count. I don't think that this was the only such 'breach' of the usual protocol, either. That said, even our school didn't participate this year. ;)
  17. Students from my children's ballet school competed the first 2 years of this event, going directly to the finals (although last year one of them chose to travel to a regional, also, winning 2nd place in the contemporary and tying for 1st in the classical in the grand prix category of the junior division). They were given the privilege of going straight to the finals because their teacher was a judge at the competition as well as the choreographer of the grand defilé (the young dancers ballet) and they trusted her judgement in choosing and coaching students for the event. The dancer seen all year in the ads in Dance Magazine, Pointe, and Dance Spirit is one of these students.
  18. Just to add to the Patty McBride 'defense': she was certainly not plump -- absolutely not! :eek: Maybe you're confusing her with someone else.... http://forums.delphiforums.com/plie' target='_blank'>
  19. Just to add to the Patty McBride 'defense': she was certainly not plump -- absolutely not! :eek: Maybe you're confusing her with someone else.... http://forums.delphiforums.com/plie' target='_blank'>
  20. Melissa Hayden in the mid-60s, when I saw her dance often, had an unballerina-like body, all boxy and square. She was very small and hadn't an ounce of fat on her, but still didn't looked thin, even though her costumes seemed to always sag and never fit her quite right. She danced alongside those Balanchine ballerinas with gorgeous bodies, like Patty McBride, Allegra Kent, Violette Verdy, and later, Suzanne Farrell, so the comparison was always there to be made. Didn't matter. I adored her and was often the first one to clap as I saw her come out on stage (this was made easy by my vantage point, seated in the center of the first row slightly to the right of Robert Irving or Hugo Fiorato!) What a dynamo she was!
  21. I am ashamed to say that I would have rather seen anyone else in a video (I never had the honour of seeing her dance in person) than Galina Mezentseva, Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the Kirov Ballet, St. Petersburg. It was something about her face, her skinny, skinny arms and upper legs, and, and......I don't know, but something! Now, I watch the same videos with respect that grows greater each time. She is, of course, absolutely worthy of her title, but it was my personal taste that made me take a long time to warm up to her. Now, Altynai! I could watch her dance forever! Too bad she packed it in so quietly.
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