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Kate B

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Everything posted by Kate B

  1. I know, but knowing my luck (the last couple of times I have had tickets for performances she was supposed to be in she has been replaced at the last minute) I won't get a chance to!
  2. I hope the right place to post is here: "Darcey Bussell, one of Covent Garden's biggest crowd-pullers and the most popular British ballerina since Margot Fonteyn, announced her retirement as principal dancer with the Royal Ballet yesterday." from: The Daily Telegraph I have always known this would happen sooner or later. I just hope I get the chance to see her perform again before she goes. She is, in my opinion, one of the most wonderful dancers I have ever seen.
  3. I think he's great because he doesn't take it too seriously. There's a 'lightness of touch'.
  4. I would love to see Darcey Bussell dance Pavane again...
  5. I'd tip anyone interested in buying shares to look into Millepied.
  6. I'd be happy with watching a performance of 'Rebound in June'...
  7. I don't think that's totally fair (I had to Google to find out who Diane Feinstein was) - but I can see what you're getting at. Tkachenko is very attractive, in a wholesome kind of way.
  8. If Condoleeza Rice was a ballerina, who would she be?
  9. La Bayadere on Saturday - I took a friend who'd never seen it and she was amazed. This being my 4th Kirov Bayadere, I was rather blase but totally fell in love with Tatiana Tchakenko (I can never spell this right...) She was amazing, fantastic, technically perfect. I'd noticed her in the Forsythe last week and want to see more of her for sure. All the other things you'd expect from La Bayadere happened. Solor was a fantastic jumper. The Gold idol was unfortunately a bit puny. I prefer them big, beefy, with big jumps. My main disappointment was the missing 4th Act. I'd been telling my friend there were loads of treats in store, and she'd been suitably impressed with the entrance of the shades and the Gold idol and the fakirs and the incongruous red Indians and all those crazy kinds of things. I'd left my programme at home, thinking I knew what version was going to be performed. After Solor's dream I said to her, this isn't the end, but then the orchestra left and I realised that the Gods weren't going to get cross, and I felt it was a bit of an anticlimax. But also the story didn't make enough sense! It was a very good performance of La Bayadere though. I do love the Kirov.
  10. ...Maybe not classical mime, but I'm sure Forsythe could choreograph it.
  11. In marriage, always the wise course. And one not taught in any ballet I can think of. <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
  12. ...Which is exactly why I love dance! I don't go to the ballet to think about the state of the world or to see something topical in a new light. I read newspapers and books for that kind of thing. My husband doesn't like entertainment for entertainment's sake. I agree that this is a shame! All your responses have been very interesting. I promise not to use it as ammunition!
  13. I hope this isn't too controversial... My husband and I have an ongoing 'discussion' as to whether dance has any cultural or political significance to it. He claims it does not, saying that unlike art or literature, no ballet has contributed to a wider change in society or politics. He claims that choreographers are not philosophers, and that they are not saying anything more important than simply expressing the 'old cliches' such as love, hate, death, etc. He says that ballet is as significant as a TV mini series. He says that a ballet can mean less and change less than a pop song. He says it is the only 'closed' art - in that it only means anything within the dance world. Outside the dance world it is meaningless. He is an artist, and doesn't want to go to watch dance with me anymore because he says it doesn't do it for him. Now, you don't need to tell me that dance is fantastic and it can mean a whole lot of things, and you don't need to tell me to divorce him! ...but is he right that no dance performance has ever made a big difference in the way that a great book or even a pop song can? And how significant in the world do you think dance is? Don't worry, I am not looking for more material for the argument - I am genuinely interested in what true dance fans and experts think.
  14. I saw Romeo and Juliet on Saturday night, and the first Forsythe on Sunday. I'm going to La Bayadere on Saturday night. I loved R&J - I always do - and from what I could see (last minute ticket, row S of the amphitheatre ) - Evgenia Obratsova was a perfect Juliet. She was very light, very expressive, beautiful lines... Forsythe was great. I love Forsythe as a choreographer, and I thought it looked as though the Kirov were enjoying performing his work. It was very exuberant, and I particularly enjoyed Approximate Sonata. I thought that Tatiana Tcakencho (sp...?) should have got a bouquet - she really worked well in the show. I am so excited about La Bayadere. It will be my fourth Kirov Bayadere and in my opinion they are the absolute best at it because it is so fantastically over the top.
  15. Kate B

    Evgenia Obraztsova

    She could well be. She has very 'soft' lines.
  16. Kate B

    Evgenia Obraztsova

    I saw her Juliet on Saturday and her Forsythe yesterday. All I can say is that she is gorgeous, definitely one to watch in the years to come.
  17. Kate B

    Ulyana Lopatkina

    Actually, she's rather tall. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> She has a tiny build. I have seen her dance. I didn't think she seemed tall. She has a very expressive face, too.
  18. Kate B

    Ulyana Lopatkina

    She is very tiny, with beautiful arms and hands.
  19. At least it is not very expensive in the US! Here it costs about 9 pounds or even more to go and see a blockbuster. I have not been to the cinema for months and months... There seems to be a new fashion for talking all the way through the film!
  20. I'm now getting shivers down my spine just reading this thread. And how fantastic that I will see the Kirov's Bayadere on the 30th! (Sorry if this is showing off. )
  21. Bravo Herman - I meant to say something about the notion of PR being ancient but you have said it brilliantly.
  22. Is Tanztheater the future of dance?
  23. I do always feel sorry for the shades in front who have to do so many of those little arabesques...
  24. I don't know about this, but I don't think you can say his work is not original. Some of the other hyped up choreographers do really boring work (e.g. Michael Clark) but from what I can gather Forsythe is original. Almost certainly. His works simply don't stand up to repeated viewings and are unlikely to stand the test of time. With many of his works its a case of 'seen one, seen them all'. They won't stand the test of time because unlike Balanchine Forsythe isn't a true innovator, nor do his works possess the emotional content that draws in an audience. I can't comment on this, having only seen one piece done by one company. I will have to find out if this is the case when I see some more of his work. The concept of PR was unknown in Mozart's day. Mozart was a genius, not just a great artist, in fact it could be argued that Salieri was a great artist as his work is actually very good, but it pales into insignificance when compared to Mozart's. Last week I saw Mozart's Mitridate performed at Covent Garden: it was breathtaking and it was composed by a boy of thirteen. I think I was being a little tongue-in-cheek on this point, as I know Mozart was uniquely brilliant, but it's always the same when the whole 'what makes art great' debate rears its ugly head.
  25. Well, I know I'd never get a job as a critic for using the word 'weird' but that's what it was! Like I said, I only saw Kammer Kammer but it was one of the few dance performances I have been to where my mind did not wander once. I was totally absorbed. It was a really complicated piece of art, with a lot going on on stage, and around the theatre too. I could not have called it mechanistic because it dealt with so many human issues, like love and loss, all the old cliches. The dancing wasn't mechanistic at all. The dancers brought their own personalities into the performance, and they were fabulous. I am looking forward to seeing more Forsythe because I am interested in different forms of expression of 'the old cliches' and I think that he takes them in a different direction from a lot of other choreographers and artists. But then, I am not really very good at explaining what I like about dance performances. I have always been more of a doer than a thinker or a talker so perhaps what I like about Forsythe's work is that I would really like to be able to do the things he sets for his dancers. But I am not made of rubber so I never will.
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