Marga

Gala tickets are too pricey for me, so I wasn't there. Please, tell us everything!

Quite old (and devastating) news, I'm afraid, going back to the end of last year and January 2010, when it was all over the tabloids, online and print.

The Situation is pigeon-toed when he dances. I noticed this last night, the first time I saw him dance, and I think it was Len Goodman who mentioned it during the judges' comments section. Otherwise, he's better than I expected him to be. Being young helps.

I'll never forget the hookah. I would've mentioned it in my last post, but didn't want to veer too far off the subject of SPFs. Now that we have taken a bit of a branch-off, I feel free to say that the hookah fascinated me for years because I didn't know what it was, only that is was exotic. Mitchell would partake of it as he began his solo. I have a fuzzy memory of him being brought in, sitting in the middle of the carpet, by the children. Or did the children bring the carpet in and Mitchell entered and sat on it to smoke? I can't imagine how the kids/parrots could have carried or dragged him to center stage. Does anyone remember how this went?

I did see that cast but was too young and inexperienced to remember how Diana Adams danced Sugar Plum. Eddie Villella was the iconic Candy Cane, and I saw him dance it many times. Mitchell was so coffee that I was convinced no one else could dance it! That was pre-Govrin, of course, and then she became a sublime interpreter of the role. I saw Balanchine perform Drosselmeyer several times. For me (and many others), the ultimate Drosselmeyer was Shaun O'Brien! I've seen probably all of the early SPF's, from Maria Tallchief to Suzanne Farrell, with Patty McBride, Violette Verdy, Melissa Hayden, Allegra Kent, etc. in-between. Why then does my memory always take me back to Farrell first? I suppose because she was indelible to me in every role she danced.

This test was created by Evan McKie, a principal dancer with The Stuttgart Ballet. He trained at the National Ballet School in Toronto and the Kirov Academy in Washington, D.C. He has also written for The Winger and Dance Magazine and is a friend of mine from back when he was a highly dedicated, passionate 14 year old ballet student and studied a summer with Nadia Veselova, with whom my daughter studied. He continues to be highly dedicated and passionate, a consummate dancer. Here is the home page of his in-construction website: Evan McKie I think when I took this test right after he devised it last year, I was Tatiana!

I thought the film was just awful!

I'm interested to see if Jennifer Grey is at least as teachable as her character was in "Dirty Dancing". Her final performance in "DD" didn't blow me away - she was, at best, okay - but with so many years behind her, any facility she may have developed dancing with Patrick Swayze may be lost. Ever since she had her nosework, she is usually unrecognizable. I've seen her in one or two TV movies. Whom I'd really like to see from "DD" on "DWTS" is Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore on "Gilmore Girls"), who WAS a dancer.

Saw it tonight (or, rather, early morning - it aired after midnight) here in eastern Ontario, on Bravo. Cried when Lt. Cable died, just like always (having the movie freshest in my mind since I've seen it quite often). Loved John Kerr, but also liked this Lt. Cable. The ending brought more tears, happy ones. Kelli O'Hara has such a nice voice. I looked up the South Pacific website and saw that she is just one month older than my oldest daughter. Goodness, and she plays an older romantic lead. I remember, watching Mitzi Gaynor, thinking of her as quite the older woman compared to the child I was then! Along with other Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, South Pacific has been a lifelong favourite and represents to me the essence of what musical theatre is. I grew up in NY in the 50s and 60s and the musicals of that time helped developed my aesthetic consciousness. So happy to have seen it today!

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/dance/article2027206.ece Here is a quote from the above article (from 3 years ago):

Just to get technical (sadly, I've been very aware of dancers' heights ever since my short (5'2") daughter became a professionally-minded, then professional ballet dancer - I wish I could stop because I believe it matters little!): Gillian Murphy is 5'6" and Tiler Peck is 5'5". I wouldn't call either dancer "short". Alina Cojacaru is 5'2". Natalia Osipova is not so tiny in height, either. She is 5'5", too. Personally, I think of Aurora as a shorter dancer. I don't much like to see the role danced by Amazons. Same with Giselle - I agree with you, there! I also prefer a small to medium-sized Odette, although it's a role that works with any height. Some Latina Odettes are incredible and many of them are on the short side. I would rephrase your sentence "I think a short dancer can dance Odette/Odile or Aurora just as well as a tall dancer" by reversing your words "short" and "tall"! Chacun à son goût! Rereading this thread, I saw my earlier posts from 5 years ago. I'm still singing the same tune! Even reused the word "Amazons"!

This is the yearly Nutcracker of the Academy of Ballet and Jazz, the school run by Solomon and Nadia Tencer. Every year the 2 or 3 principal dancers are from big-name companies, usually the Kirov, Bolshoi and ABT. The roles danced by the stars are the older Masha, called "Princess" in the program (the equivalent of the Sugar Plum Fairy) and the "Prince". The third principal role(s) are the snowflake soloist and the waltz of the flowers soloist, which have sometimes been danced by luminaries such as Veronika Part. Marcelo Gomes danced the Prince when he was only 20. Maxim Beloserkovsky, Dmitri Gudanov, and Carlos Lopez are a few others who have danced it. Svetlana Lunkina, Irina Dvorovenko, and Alina Somova have, among others, danced the "Princess". This Nutcracker has been running for 15 years. The rest of the performers are chosen students of the Academy of Ballet and Jazz. The cast is quite large.

Thanks, Michael! Having read the book many, many years ago, I, too, was curious about your wife. It's nice to know where talented dancers' lives lead.

Oh my goodness. Neal was an actress who meant a lot to me. Her courageous climb back from her strokes, as told by her husband Roald Dahl, was the most remarkable thing I had heard in my young life. When my grandmother suffered the first of her strokes just months after Neal's, I used Neal's story to encourage her and myself. My mother introduced me to the work of the actress then, and now, whenever I see her in old movies on TV, I watch her. At the time, and told from his perspective, the rehabilitation sounded like a loving story despite the militaristic methods used, and Neal credited him for bringing her beyond what the doctors predicted would be her threshold of recovery. Having suffered the tragedies that befell two of her children, learning to talk and walk again was another testament to her inner strength. I admired her deeply.

Jackie Reyes has been one of my favorite dancers at ABT for the last few years. (I wouldn't call her short, btw. She's medium height.) She has a sparkle and really knows her stuff - a solid asset to the corps, technically and artistically. I loved when she got some demi-solo parts, few and far-between though they were. She has beautifully arched feet, long legs and sharp attack. I agree with you totally about her "lighting" up so many group scenes. I am sorry that she will not be dancing with ABT next time I see them. I always looked forward to watching her, knowing she would always be there! Anne Milewski is also a favorite corps member. Such a lovely, technically wonderful, dancer. I'll miss her, too. totally off-topic note to self: this turned out to be my 808th post on 808 - August 8th! (also my dear daughter's birthday)

There will be a Stars gala this year, in October, at the Sony Centre in Toronto. Stars of the 21st Century Ballet Gala 2010 in Toronto

No, the last clip is in the ABT studios and is an excerpt from Millepied's "Everything doesn't happen at once" with Marcelo Gomes and Isabella Boylston (ain't that a slap in the face?!)

Stanislav Belyaevsky PHOTOGRAPHY has posted the names of the finalists: Seniors: 58. Abdureheman Adilijiang (China) 68. Eldar Sarsembayev (Kazakhstan) 70. Sae Eun Park (Korea) 98. Brooklyn Mack (USA) 99. Siyuan Zhang (China) 105. Avetik Karapetyan (Armenia) 110. Xiaodong Ma (China) 113. Myunglyu Kim (Korea) Juniors: 6. Kimin Kim (Korea) 11. Hyunee Sim (Korea) 22. Sung Woo Han (Korea) 32. Ji Young Chae (Korea) 33. Yaoqian Shang (China) 45.Maria Elisa Baranova (Finland) 46. Chae Eun Yang (Korea) 47. Oleg Ivenko (Belarus)

Alexandra, I haven't seen a posted list of judges. If I do, I'll post it here.

Here is the list of semi-finalists (from Stanislav Belyaevsky) Seniors: 58. Abdureheman Adilijiang (China) 61. Alexandra Chulpan Mukhamedov (Netherlands) 65. Maxime Mathieu Quiroga (France) 68. Eldar Sarsembayev (Kazakhstan) 70. Sae Eun Park (Korea) 74. Diana Kosyreva (Russia) 88. Melissa Hamilton (United Kingdom) 98. Brooklyn Mack (USA) 99. Siyuan Zhang (China) 101. Krasina Strashimirova Pavlova (Bulgaria) 103. Philipp Stepin (Russia) 105. Avetik Karapetyan (Armenia) 107. Young Gyu Choi (Korea) 110. Xiaodong Ma (China) 113. Myunglyu Kim (Korea) 114. Leonore Emile Anna-Louise Baul (France) Juniors: 4. Alvin Tovstorgay (Ukraine) 6. Kimin Kim (Korea) 7. Constantine Nikolas Allen (USA) 11. Hyunee Sim (Korea) 13. Alys Walker Simpson Shee (Canada) 14. Gabriela Mesa Ochoa (Cuba) 16. Nataly Antonova Bratanova (Bulgaria) 19. Veronika Verterich (USA) 21. Venera Detelinova Hristova (Bulgaria) 22. Sung Woo Han (Korea) 32. Ji Young Chae (Korea) 33. Yaoqian Shang (China) 36. Francesco Gabriele Flora (Italy) 45.Maria Elisa Baranova (Finland) 46. Chae Eun Yang (Korea) 47. Oleg Ivenko (Belarus)

Here is some video footage of Alys Shee (Canada) and Aaron Smyth (Australia) competing in Varna a couple of days ago:

Here are some pics from Stanislav Belyaevsky (to which more will be added as he finds the time - he has taken about 1800 photos already): Varna 2010 photos

My PM box is accepting mail of all kinds, recipes included! (This turned out to be my momentous 800th post - a derailment!)

Forgive me, but this thread is making me hungry.

I found it! "Search" is still not responding, but scrolling through my own posts worked today, so I started at the beginning and perused page after page until I found: Benois de la Danse - explanation of how it works More explanation from the same thread