Old Fashioned

The Stevenson production casts adults in the role of Fritz and Clara. Some dancers can be quite convincing as children; usually the shortest dancers are cast in the parts. Sometimes it's intended that Clara is portrayed on the verge of womanhood, as she is in the HB, Royal Ballet, and Baryshnikov Nutcrackers.

I do agree, though, that I prefer seeing actual children in those roles.

It would be great to see Marcelo and Sara together again. I do not think they have danced together in 10 years since their graduation from Harid in 1995! It should be a very special show!

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Hopefully if someone here sees that cast they'll report back to tell us how it went! I won't be able to catch them dance (I'll be out of town again), but I might get to see him with Mimi.

Quoted from Houston Chronicle:

"He's a generous partner, and I thought he and Mimi would make quite a power couple.  She's just returning from surgery, so it's nice to have him here to help give her a big 'arrival.'  He does his final set of shows with Sara, which will be fun for them because they've known each other a long time." [Welch]

HB Nutcracker Casting

A few corps girls will have the opportunity to dance leading roles. Lisa Kacsmarek will be the Sugar Plum Fairy for one matinee performance, and Bridgett Zehr, Jaquel Charlesworth, and newcomer Nao Kusuzaki, who I have yet to see, will be Snow Queens.

Marcello Gomez is guesting with Houston Ballet. He'll be dancing opposite Kelly Myernick (Snow Queen) and Mireille Hassenboehler and Sara Webb (Sugar Plum Fairies).

OF, I think you're filling the position of resident dance journalist admirably.

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Hehe, thank you, although I certainly don't write as well as I wish I could, neither is my knowledge of ballet as extensive as many of the balletomanes on the board, and I haven't been doing my duty by missing all Houston Ballet performances up until this point. Someone will have to fill in for me when I go off to college next year (crossing my fingers for NYC!). Pugbee? Marenetha?

Yes, I did go on both nights, and while I thought Julie Kent was lovely in Mozartiana, Veronika Part was more of the ballerina as the Chron reviewer put it, although in no way did it negatively effect the performance, as it was implied in the review. I found Part's dancing subtle and particularly nuanced, paying great attention to detail, lush, and absolutely divine, everything that I had hoped to expect after reading all the great things said about her on this board. Dale, I know what you mean about "secondary" dancers not being cast enough, so I was pleasantly suprised to find out Part would be dancing a lead role on the tour. The worst thing that could have happened is if they stuck a certain principal dancer in all the good parts for her star appeal, but she only showed up in Petite Mort (which I only saw the first night).

Has anyone read the Houston Chronicle review of ABT? Here's a direct link: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/ae/dance/2900694

On Friday, Julie Kent and Angel Corella made Mozartiana a dance of contrasts. The delicate Kent, whose liquid phrasing is sublime, was slowly won over by Corella's exuberance. The chemistry was not as good Saturday between Veronica Part and Maxim Beloserkovsky. She was flashier, more precise and perhaps a little too much ballerina for the princely Beloserkovsky, whose solos were full of gorgeous speed and spring.

Since when was being too much of a ballerina a bad thing, especially in a ballet like Mozartiana? Neither do I believe the man should overpower the woman in this ballet, which was one of my complaints about Corella's performance. I have to completely disagree about the chemistry...I saw it the other way around. I basically agreed with everything Glentzer had to say on Pillar of Fire, although I would not describe a dancer as "silky smooth."

No comment on the Kylian pieces, but for those of you who've seen them over and over again (I opted to skip Kylian the second night), is it possible to find those black dresses and crazy antics amusing each time?

Sigh. I know I complain about this a lot, but since many Ballet Alertniks are familiar with the subjects in this review, maybe now you can see why Houston is severely lacking in adequate dance journalism. Any Dance View Times writers want to move down south? The housing is cheap.

Houston Chronicle's classical music critic Charles Ward reviews the world premiere of Daniel Catán's Salsipuedes: Catán's 'Salsipuedes' sashays rather than struts

This may be of interest to Lauren Anderson fans: she made her Houston Grand Opera debut Friday night. There's a picture in the link. Whether she sings or not, I don't know, although I'll find out this Saturday when I'm volunteering at the gift shop. I recall reading somewhere that she sang at the gala performance for Stevenson a couple years ago. Anyone here attend that?

Character parts also sparkled: Houston Ballet principal Lauren Anderson as the entertainer in the Carnival scene during the ship's launch

Has anyone else seen the recently released biopic? There were quite a few outstanding performances by the actors and actresses in this film.

Two articles on the Cullen series in the Chronicle: The pointe is to be edgy and Houston Ballet pushes the envelope with Cullen Series

The New Zealand-born [Adrian] Burnett, a resident choreographer for the Australian Ballet who's also worked with New York City Ballet, says that just being here for the first time is edgy for him.

"It's completely unknown territory. You turn up, see (dancers) in class, watch a few performances, pick people and hope you click with them."

What bothers me about this is the short period of time the choreographers get to work with the dancers and familiarize themselves with the company, and the amount of time they're actually given to choreograph. It all sounds too much like the Diamond Project, perhaps even worse.

Then comes Glentzer's review.

Yes, it's the week of Halloween. But all those dark silhouettes in Houston Ballet's Cullen Series are not ghouls ... unless your idea of a ballet is limited to safe, classic fare like Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. Shadows figured prominently Thursday in three edgy premieres

Wow, she makes ballet sound all so boring.

Silhouettes aren't new -- George Balanchine utilized them about 60 years ago -- but the Cullen Series is a choreographer's playground, a venue where artists are encouraged to push the envelope.

The edgiest ballet today is European.  Mrozewski's spent time there, and The Great Attractor shows it...It's a neo-Balanchine leotard ballet with a fresh attitude.

Pointe shoes and leotards give way to street clothes and European dance socks for the Second Movement...

A woman in a white gown (Kim Wagman), trailing a long net train, runs frantically on and off in a huge circle, very Pina Bausch-like.

How is this "pushing the envelope" when the choregraphy can be so easily compared to those of others?

Wagman wears a more cumbersome dress in [Welch's] Blindness, an intriguing piece about relationships...The dance unfolds as an elegiac ritual for The Woman, who ends up without her dress, blindfolded. Her baroque costume and that of The Man who controls her in the end harken to the Johann Sebastian Bach music.

Just what the dance world needs, another masochistic ballet. Yawn. Been there, done that.

Thank you Glentzer, for before reading your overly glorifying review, I had actually considered going to see the Cullen Series this afternoon. I, the ever closed-minded and unsophisticated balletomane, sit impatiently and wait for the Nutcracker to roll around.

Haha, how cute. Thanks for sharing.

Well, they're still keeping the Stevenson ballets in rep (other than Nutcracker, they're doing R&J, and I am very much looking forward to Gielgud's production of Giselle), but I'm afraid they might be leaning more and more toward the "cutting-edge" ballet company model.

Natalia, the way you described Washington Ballet during the 70s and 80s, pre-Webre, gave me the feeling Houston Ballet is currently going through the same phase. Not only does the crop of ballets this season look like they were tailored specifically to set them apart from other American companies (programs like "Women@Art," "Cullen Series," and "Rock, Roll, and Tutus" come to mind :yawn:), I thought it was particularly ES of them to create new, European positions like demi-soloist and first soloist. When only one single dancer occupies each position, it seems just plain dumb. That's what I call EuroTrash.

Heh, now I have to point I sound like an esoteric snob.

Not that it'll probably show ever on the PBS here, as The Dream never did, I had to buy it.

Gah. They didn't show it in Houston, either. This time I'm calling in ahead of time and demanding they air it.

Haha, yes, although for now I'm ready to settle for anything that includes Balanchine or Tudor as the local dance scene in Houston ceases to interest me...

I e-mailed ABT and they sent me casting info. For any Houstonians who plan on attending:

Friday, November 12:

MOZARTIANA - Kent, Corella, H. Cornejo

PILLAR OF FIRE - Murphy, Hallberg, Gomes

PETITE MORT - Company

SECHS TANZE - Company

Saturday, November 13:

MOZARTIANA - Part, Beloserkovsky, Lopez

PILLAR OF FIRE - Wiles, Hallberg, Gomes

PETITE MORT - Company

SECHS TANZE - Company

I'm tempted to go both days. If I have to choose between the two, which day should I go? I'm kind of leaning towards the 13th, seeing how Part is dancing in Mozartiana...

Does anyone know if they announce casting ahead of time? ABT will be in Houston on Friday and Saturday, November 12-13. I want to know who will be dancing on each date before I purchase tickets. They'll be performing Mozartiana, Pillar of Fire, Petite Mort, and Sechs Tänze.

For years, the Houston Ballet specialty has been the Stevenson story ballet rep, particularly Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, and Cinderella (yeah, I know this version is dull, but the company makes the best of it), but that may change... People loved the "Nutty Nutcracker," although I was never a big fan of it. Some were disappointed Welch didn't continue it when he became AD.

Where do you get yours in Houston (or elsewhere), Old Fashioned?

I usually go to this place in Bellaire Chinatown (for those of you who aren't familiar with Houston, there's the old Chinatown downtown, and Bellaire is the later one) that my family has been a faithful patron of for years. The owners of this restaurant moved into a different building, and unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the new shop. Everytime one of us goes to visit my aunt in Vegas, we have to bring her the sandwiches. I think this is one of the most reliable Vietnamese sandwich shops in Houston, but there are a TON of others that people can choose from.

There was a small cafe called Republic Square (not in Chinatown) that served incredible Vietnamese po' boys (they differed slightly fom the traditional sandwiches- the bread being of a finer quality and they weren't served with the slice of jalapeno), but it turned into a Mediterranean food joint.

Just curious- how do prices compare across the country? Here, they're usually about 2-3 bucks.

Mmm...Vietnamese sandwiches. The bbq is good, but I like the Vietnamese ham the best. Be sure to try that kind.

small side note: Peyroux's sophomore album "Careless Love" is currently the #1 selling album on Amazon and BN.com

I guess her appearance on CNN really caught some people's attention!

Has anyone heard of her before? I stumbled upon this singer/musician while browsing through AOL music today. At first I was astonished at how much she sounded like Billie Holiday, but she's an incredible singer in her own right and doesn't try to imitate anyone. Her entire album can be heard here: http://music.channel.aol.com/musicstyles/jazz.adp

The website has also been updated with lovely new headshots of the dancers, including new members to the company and promotions.

I hope someone will keep an eye out for Barry Kerollis. It's a shame he didn't stay on longer with Houston Ballet; from what I could tell of him during the first half of the 03-04 season (he wasn't as blessed with prominent roles during the second half), he's a promising dancer and one whose career I will continue to follow.

I'm not too suprised about the number dancers going off to Texas Ballet Theatre. These kids have been steeped in the Stevenson tradition, and the current Houston Ballet repertoire probably doesn't do too much for those who have opted for TBT. It also seems that Welch wants a wider range of dancers and isn't hiring as strictly from the school as was done in the past with Stevenson. I don't really see the two companies as rivals, and the Academy gives TBT an easy source to draw from. It is, afterall, named after the former AD.

Marenetha, we're waiting for your report.

Ilya Kozadeyev and Leticia Oliveira.