Old Fashioned

Where is the composers quiz? I can't find it.

It's not really a website, only my online journal. For some reason I can't get the html for my quiz results to work. Hmmm... :shrug: I'll put up a link to the quiz, though.

Yea! I'm Petipa.

Awesome quiz, Hans! I'm definitely putting this on my website.

I picked all the choices that I thought would apply to Mr. B and ended up being him...

Now I'll go back to see who I'm really like.

I have a feeling Manhattnik was being sarcastic about the "it's only Saratoga" comment. He's like that sometimes...

In Asia, there is three-dimensional movement, and this is from the rice paddies.  Not only twisting the torso, but bending up and down, producing the most supple style of dancing.

Alexandra, is this video available commercially? It sounds facsinating.

I take Chinese folk dance, and what you described is very true, although I never thought my dancing could relate to rice paddies!

I've seen the movie and absolutely adored it, and it was the first time I fell in love with Astaire. When I found out there was a scene from it featured in a Robbins ballet, I was like, "Wow!" I haven't seen IOF yet but decided to use it as my name on here, anyway.

It was Underwood Theatre at Episcopal High. School auditoriums are icky.

I went to the American Festival for the Arts concert tonight, which featured works composed by students ranging from the ages of 16 to 19 and also 5 "collaboration" ballets with students from HBA (sorry, I refuse to call it Ben Stevenson Academy; it seems kind of silly to me...). You can read about it in Wednesday, July 16's links.

I was suprised by the amount of talent among these teenagers. I heard some very good pieces of music, particularly a trombone and piano duet by Meghan Handley and a piano suite by Felipe Ruiz.

After the intermission came the ballets. The first one called String Quintet in D Minor, composer Jordan Montgomery and choreographer Peter Zweifel (possibly related to HB corps dancer Ingrid Zweifel), was an impressive neoclassical piece. This one was my favorite out of all five and used the most ballet vocabulary, and I think Zweifel is a promising choreographer. It might have been a bit too "Balanchinian" at some parts, but overall, it had a nice effect. The ballet titled "Intimacy"-- the one with the students featured in the Chronicle-- was very, um, contemporary. Trying to keep myself from saying anything discouraging since these are amateur choreographers and composers. I enjoyed the music for the next ballet, "Aux Yeux de Désir," which was a lovely jazz composition. Choreography, on the other hand, didn't do it justice. The last ballet, Revision L: Dance!, was an actual collaboration, with real interaction between the choregrapher and composer, unlike the other ones when someone just composed a piece of music and handed it over. It pays off, IMO. Many of the dancers were wonderful to watch, although I wish this event could have been held in a better theater since there was way too much clunking of pointe shoes. Some of them looked very young, even though they all seemed to be on the same level of dancing.

This is such a terrific opportunity for inspiring choreographers, composers, musicians, and dancers, and they said the only other place this happens in the States is Julliard. Kudos to this organization!

I may be going to see my friend, a cellist with the orchestra, tonight at the high school that the performance is being given at. In the article it said the student choreographer modeled his work after Stevenson's neoclassical ballets. This should be interesting. :hyper:

Ah, and I just bought a Turandot highlights cd, featuring Montserrat Caballé as Liu. She is quite beautiful.

I stumbled across an album today in the opera section at Barnes & Noble. This Greek "tenor," Mario Frangoulis, is very good looking. He doesn't exactly count as an opera singer, I don't think; he's more along the lines of Russell Watson and Josh Groban. I listened to one of his songs featured on a free sample cd, and even though I generally don't like the "opera-pop fusion," his music isn't that bad. :rolleyes: Anyone else heard of him, have any thoughts?

Manhattnik's back! Lovely review-- you've transported me to that part of the country.

I will only list those that I have seen with the Houston Ballet since the majority of my ballet watching experience is with this company, and everyone else seems to have listed most of the legends...

Janie Parker

Barbara Bears

Lauren Anderson

Mireille Hassenboehler

Nina Ananiashvili

Originally posted by sneds

Whether or not it's justified, I tend to give a little more leeway to the NYCB orchestra, since their rep is so huge and varies so much day to day.

Could the same be said for the dancers?

Yes, please PM me, too, on that.

Originally posted by samsara

Why compare Jock Soto with Jose Manuel Carreno?  Again, they are both excellent in very different ways.

I was not comparing the two at all. I have never watched Jose dance live before but have watched Jock. He was not like any other male ballet dancer I've ever seen before; certainly quite different from what might be considered the "typical" danseur, there was something very grounded about his dancing. His dancing said to me he was a man, not a fairy tale prince. I felt a deep connection to his persona. That's all.

Thank you, Zerbinetta.

That's true FF, but I was actually merely choosing on looks. They are not all among my favorites. And oh my gosh! how could I have forgotten Tebaldi. She is actually one of my favorite sopranos, and yes, she is very beautiful. "Dimples of steel" is an insult?

Thanks for your response, Carbro; I'm sure Carreno is as wonderful as you say he is.;) Although I still like Jock Soto very much from the little that I've seen of him...

I had thought that repertory differences played a role in which the general audience prefers, although that still doesn't explain why no one has made mention of the City Ballet men on those two threads and there are so many reviews of them under the NYCB topic.

Reading and rereading through the threads titled "Has ABT replaced NYCB as America's top company?" and "What is America's top company," there is recurring appraisal for the men of ABT. Not that they do not deserve the recognition, but why is it that no one seems to have mentioned the men of NYCB? Are they somehow inferior in the likes of Angel, Malakhov, Jose, etc.? There are comparisons between the female dancers but not the men.

Don't get me wrong in thinking I'm trying to defend City Ballet in any way; I certainly have not seen enough of either company to make judgements about any of the dancers. However, I frequently read the reviews posted about NYCB on this website, and I get the impression that Peter Boal just might be one of the greatest-- if not the greatest-- male dancers in the world, Damian Woetzel has the jumps and the turns (something ABT virtuosos are usually praised for), Albert Evans is an amazing talent (even if he isn't used to their advantage), Jock Soto has some of the best partnering skills around (although I know not all people share the same view on him), Nikolaj Hubbe is the Bournonville import (sorry! Couldn't think of something specific), and Benjamin Millipied is coming into his own.

Now why has no one said anything about them? If they are not as great as the ABT guys, then why? Is this a mediocre group of people, because no one has mentioned whether they are good or bad? Some of you made it quite clear about the ballerina situation between the two companies. Anyone have an explanation about the danseur situation?

Yes, Mr. Mel is correct. Like Yo-Yo Ma; his name in Chinese is Ma Yo-Yo.

This idea sprung out of nowhere; I thought it might make an interesting topic. Who do you think are the most beautiful opera singers in the world, past or present?

My picks are Maria Callas, Angela Gheoghiu, Elizabeth Futral, Hei-Kyung Hong, and Renee Fleming. Kathleen Battle would be among them if that other part of her didn't overshadow everything else.

As for the men, I'm sorry to say I can only think of a couple. Juan Diego Florez and Placido Domingo (back in his heyday).

I agree with Ms. Leigh. The score sounded like it came out of a horror movie (I know Goldenthal composes movie scores, but I didn't know if this one actually came from one), and the choreography had that infusion of modern into it, which I simply don't like. There was hardly a connection between the music and the dancing. However, the dancers were impeccable and distracted me enough to watch the whole way through.

I've now finished Angels & Demons. Compared to TDVC, both have similar structures. I though A&D had a much more suprising and complex ending, but I liked the entire scheme of TDVC better.