Old Fashioned

In Meredith Daneman's new biography of Margot Fonteyn, she says that towards the end of her life Fonteyn was asked by Ninette de Valois who, of all her partners, had been the best.  She replied -- to de Valois's astonishment -- Robert Helpmann:  "None of the others were ever like him."  She said that while Nureyev brought her out, he wasn't so comfortable as a partner.  de Valois then posed the same question to Alicia Markova (whose own partnership with Anton Dolin was legendary), who also replied, "Helpmann."  So he was obviously a better partner than he's been given credit for.

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You beat me to it.

I agree with Carbo, and I would keep Farrell as most beautiful, too, although I didn't list her previously because I was sure others would. I remember reading on here someone saying whether or not he/she would find Farrell attractive if she were not a dancer- in my mind, she still would be. She isn't beautiful in a glamorous way, but rather has a natural prettiness, kind of Uma Thurman-esque. Anywho, there's the old cliche: beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I also enjoyed Winslet in Eternal Sunshine, but my pick is Annette Bening. I was secretly hoping Fanny Ardant would get a nom for her portrayal of Callas in Callas Forever, but the film received so little attention I'm not suprised (the movie itself wasn't so hot, but Ardant was wonderful).

I've already become a bit numbed by all the buzz that has surrounded Foxx, leaning slightly more in favor of Cheadle now (I've also always enjoyed Cheadle in whatever he did, thinking he's one of the most underrated actors today), even reading in the paper that Chris Rock said something about stealing an Oscar from someone else for Foxx if he doesn't win. This doesn't change my mind about him, I still love his tear-jerking performance in Ray- seeing those pictures of him sitting next to the Genius himself always brings a smile to my face- but I wish people would stop acting like the world is going to come to an end if he doesn't win and neither do I think being arrogant about it helps his image.

As for the other nominees in the category, I've never consider DiCaprio a competent actor, much less a great one (the Globe, IMO, should have gone to Cheadle). I love Depp, but I don't think this is his year. Haven't seen Million Dollar Baby, so no comment on Eastwood.

I'm disappointed that A Very Long Engagement didn't make it in the foreign film category. It was nominated for cinematography, but somehow I doubt it will win. I won't mind so much if the other films receive the award, so long as it doesn't go to Phantom.

This is a year when I wish they could give out two best actor awards. Undoubtably it will go to Jamie Foxx, but Don Cheadle's performance in Hotel Rwanda simply cannot be ignored.

An excerpt from Roger Ebert's review of Phantom of the Opera:

I recently attended a rehearsal of the Lyric Opera's new production of "A Wedding," and talked with its co-writer and director, Robert Altman. "I don't know $#!+ about the music," he told me. "I don't even know if they're singing on key. That's not my job. I focus on how it moves, how it looks, and how it plays." One wonders if Schumacher felt the same way -- not that it would be polite to ask him.

Heh. I guess that's what happened with The Company.

I hope they don't sell out before I can get to them.

I'm hoping I will be able to visit my relatives in D.C. in June so I can see the revival of Don Q. Does anyone know when tickets go on sale?

I'm looking forward to Maina Gielgud's production of Giselle.

I'm looking forward to seeing as many ballets as time will allow when I'm in college at NYU next fall! Lincoln Center, here I come!

Dominic Walsh left Houston Ballet after last season to become fully involved in his contemporary dance company Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre. They're doing a performance this weekend, a collaboration with Mercury Baroque Ensemble. A few of the HB dancers (including former dancers) have danced with DWDT.

Chan Han Goh is also very beautiful. She not only is principal dancer for the National Ballet of Canada, but has danced in Suzanne Farrell Ballet and has guest starred around the world.

This month she danced Sugar Plum Fairy with the California Riverside Ballet to Nikolaj Hübbe's Cavalier in Nutcracker.

Uh oh! I just saw that Chan was already on somebody's list. Sorry for the duplication!

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She's worth mentioning twice.

My list is short:

Barbara Bears as Terpsichore and Zdenek Konvalina in Apollo.

Konvalina in Bejart's Songs of a Wayfarer.

Kristina Harper as Snow Queen in the Nutcracker.

her choreography had entrechats-six from pointe to pointe, jetes on pointe, tour en l'air landing on pointe....

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I would give anything to see that.

Thank you. If you're in the area and you see their performances, we would like to hear your thoughts on the company, too!

I’ll take the risk of having stones thrown at me and confess that I’ve always thought “Funny Face” overrated.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s excellent in many respects, but I tend to dislike the anti-intellectual jokes – sure, it’s fine to make them, but I thought these were dumb and obvious.  I also tend to be bothered by the notion that the Hepburn character can’t really enjoy life until she forgets about reading all those philosophy books and focuses her life on makeup, clothes, and accessorizing.  As for Hepburn’s dancing – her solo is all right, but I’m afraid she is awkward in the big duet

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Sorry, Dirac, I didn't see you post this back in October, but I agree. I found the dancing neither significant nor the choreography any special. I don't remember every detail in the movie, but I was used to getting those fabulous Fred solos from his movies with Ginger and Rita (although I found Silk Stockings more enjoyable than FF)! I've never liked Hepburn's singing voice much, either.

I was looking through Bentley's website and came across this article she wrote for Allure magazine (I'm not sure if it's a separate article entirely, or an excerpt from the book): Paris Blue

It might answer some people's questions about why Balanchine would visit the Crazy Horse. Another person mentioned in the article who occasionally visits the place: Darci Kistler.

Choreographer George Balanchine was a longtime fan of the Crazy Horse. "It's wonderful the way in which they dress the body, in which they cover it with lights," he said. "I find that interesting." He advised his own stage managers to take a good long look at Bernardin's various stage effects -- especially the lighting -- and invited dancers from the Crazy Horse to watch his own company when it performed at the nearby Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.

The interest of a classical artist like Balanchine in the craft of Bernardin's strip goes to the heart of the anomaly of the Crazy Horse. Both Balanchine and Bernardin perfected, in their own way, an image of woman -- desirable but unobtainable, tantalizing yet unknowable, and almost ruthlessly independent. For both, what was finally important was what is not seen, but what is merely suggested.

The article also explains how at this strip club, any interaction between performers and audience members are strictly forbidden.

Perhaps the people who frequent the Crazy Horse see it more as a posh hangout (tickets are pricey) rather than a mere place where guys can get horny.

Ghislaine Thesmar. I've only seen her on a La Sylphide video, but she and Michael Denard were a dream.

Oh, and Marianna Tcherkassky!

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Aww, I meant to mention her. Thanks Carbro.

I second Lezhnina. Those dimples are just too cute.

Others:

Chan Hon Goh

Kyra Nichols

Helene Alexopoulos

Martine van Hamel

many others...

Mean muscles, indeed. The frame of her body is certainly different from the "typical" ballet dancer, yet you're actually the first person I've known to mention anything atypical about her. I always found that odd, since people are usually quick to point out dancers with different bodies, like Karen von Aroldingen, Lauren Anderson, Monique Meunier and Veronika Part.

Mrs. Glentzer's review: Jubilee

Since joining the company three years ago, Konvalina has starred most memorably in Manon and Apollo (if you don't count the horrific moment last year when he crawled off the stage, injured, in The Nutcracker). Songs, however — with a technically tough mix of gut-curling emotion and aerial lightness — is his best vehicle yet. A man with beautiful feet? Yes, and a lithe back, musicality, nobility and compelling intensity.

The world premiere of Welch's Bolero, set to Maurice Ravel's familiar orchestral work, was an ooh-la-la ending. It was a fun twist on a Paris Opéra Ballet défilé, a traditional annual onstage parade in which the legendary French company's dancers and academy students march from the rear wall downstage to greet their public. Thus, Bolero was more focused on space architecture than new steps. Welch wanted to create a piece that used all of his 54 dancers, and this was a good solution.

When the music finally climaxed, the whole company filled the stage with a magnificent geometry, dancing in alternating vertical, unisonal lines.

I agree on many points here. The patterns were definitely the most appealing thing in Bolero.

Sylve received training from Académie de Danse in Nice. She joined the Ballet Karlsruhe as first soloist at a young age. Nowhere is it mentioned, not on the dvd, the NYCB website, or her personal website, that she received any training outside of this, which I find pretty incredible.

I think she also danced the role for a student matinee last year, but she'll be able to do it for a public audience this time.

I attended the December 4th matinee performance of the Nutcracker. Since they decided to be lazy this time and not print full casting in the Playbill, the casting went as follows, if my eyes didn’t fail me (sometimes I just can’t differentiate one from the other, you know?):

The dolls where fine, but the only one I could make out was Bridgett Zehr, who danced the female Harlequin (the male is masked, and I couldn’t see below the brims’ of the hats of the Soldier and Soldier’s companion). Zehr also caught my eye as one of the corps girls in the Waltz of the Flowers. I don’t like how Clara (danced by Laura Richards, me thinks) prances around Snow while they’re performing. It disrupts the gorgeous patterns, and the corps looked very clean and together today. Kristina Harper stole the show as Snow Queen with her charming presence, her delicate phrasing and innate musicality which all added up to that something extra, what we like to call “ballerina polish” or “perfume.” Her technique may not be the strongest among the females in the company- I detected a fall off of pointe and a slight partnering flub- but it doesn’t matter. The ever giving partner, Konvalina, was the Prince. He later danced with Leticia Oliveira, the Sugar Plum Fairy. Oliveira with her solid technique held those balances with ease and pulled off a series of fouettes alternating between singles and doubles. She is as dazzling as ever. Sara Webb made a surprisingly sexy Arabian dancer; she’s one of those I’ve always considered to be pretty demure. Those death-defying backbends (done with her lifted into the air by her partner, feet touching head) drew oohs and aahs from the crowd. Lead of the Flowers, Lauren Anderson and Caleb Mitchell, was uninspiring, especially after watching the Dewdrop clips of Sof Sylve from the Peter Wright Sleeping Beauty dvd last night (I know, two very different pieces of choreography, but still). Anderson still draws some of the biggest cheers from the audience, though. Gopak was in fine form, but I didn’t know who the dancer was (I have my guesses but don’t feel like sharing). The Mirlitons pas de trois was wonderfully danced by Carl Coomer, Michelle Carpenter (?), and Lisa Kaczmarek, whom I thought especially good. I really enjoyed Kaczmarek in last season’s Ketubah, and I’m sure it will be a treat to see her as SPF, which she’s scheduled to dance on Dec 20th (I’m missing out on all this great casting!).

The gala opened with the first movement from Welch’s Divergence, the popular ballet from last season. Bridgett Zehr led the troop of dancers here. On a second viewing, you no longer sit on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next, which is what this piece relies on. It’s like watching the internal workings of a clock; interesting to look at, but after you’ve figured out the mechanics, there’s not much to it. All the movements were mechanical- the effect Welch was trying to create- and it really does become listless after awhile. The concept of this ballet was to diverge from classical ballet. Not exactly a new idea. Choreographers before him did it, and in some cases did it better. Up next was the Manon male solo and pdd from Act I danced by Zdenek Konvalina and Sara Webb. These two have great chemistry and even though Zdenek’s dancing was a bit unsteady in the solo, he still has the most gorgeous line out of all the men in the company and beautiful articulation of the feet. Leticia Oliveira phrasing had a light clarity in the Serenade Solo from Lifar’s Suite en Blanc. Timothy O’Keefe’s Fascinating Evening set to Gershwin’s music looked as if it had been created for an amateur competition, but it turned out to be a good star vehicle for Lauren Anderson. Phillip Broomhead was back on stage performing the clog dance from La Fille mal Gardée. The four girls seemed somewhat under-rehearsed, but it doesn’t matter much for this whimsical excerpt. Andrew Murphy’s Apollo was unimpressive, but Mimi Hassenboehler as Terpsichore saved the pdd. Her interpretation was very different from what I remember of Barbara Bears’ from this past spring (and very different from Farrell’s of what I’ve seen on tape). It didn’t feel quite right to see her have a static grin plastered on the entire time, though.

After the first intermission was the first prelude from Stevenson’s Three Preludes. Rachmaninov is considered bad ballet music, but what Stevenson does here is lovely and IMO, one of his more interesting works. Bears and Carl Coomer were featured in this piece. Bears dances with a subtlety that conveys more emotion breadth than someone who tries to do “more.” Coomer is one of the more interesting corps men to watch, and he partnered Bears attentively. Béjart’s Songs of a Wayfarer was a really beautiful piece choreographed for two men (originally, Nureyev and- I’m guessing- Paolo Bortoluzzi), and there isn’t enough I can say of Konvalina to describe him here (sorry! I know there are people reading this who don’t like him, but he’s still an incredible dancer, in my mind). On the other hand, it became quite clear whom viewers would prefer to keep their eyes on. There’s such an uncommon fluidity and, pardon me for saying this but, effeminacy in his dancing. No emotions ever seem to register across Murphy, neither in his face nor his body.

The evening closed with Welch’s enjoyable new piece, a showcase for the entire company, Bolero. I liked the jazziness of it, and I finally got to take a look at all the new faces of Houston Ballet. There was a corps girl who stood out; I think it was Nao Kusuzaki, but I’m not sure. Who says petite dancers can’t make a presence? I wish I could be in Houston over Xmas break to see her Snow Queen. It’s a shame Simon Ball is injured (he was out for most of the gala and for the entire Nutcracker run), but he did show up in this ballet.

My dvd came in today and I've only watched the prologue so far, but I agree that it's very well filmed. It also served as a reminder what a blessing it is for Houston Ballet to have Ermanno Florio.