Mazurka

I should add the Sarasota ballet dancers were excellent, and seemed to get better on second evening, and the Guest Conductor B. Wordworth of the Royal Ballet led the Sarasota Ballet in a memorable performance of Stravinsky and Messager. .

I saw the program on both evenings - the second time from a further vantage point which was better for the Scene de Ballet geometries. I thought the pairing of the abstract/intellectual Scenes de Ballet with the emotional and charming Two Pigeons was very satisfying. The Scenes de Ballet reminded me of Balanchine's Theme and Variations. I wish I knew more about ballet to understand the ballet's complexities, I would love to see it again. The Two Pigeons were delightful. Ashton has the lovable ability to treat our frailties and vulnerability with tenderness and gentleness. It has been said that this is a permutation of the Tale of Prodigal Son, it is a lovely fable about chasing mirages, bumbling around in the dangerous world, finding out what matters, contrition and forgiveness. We can all identify in one way or another. Marcello made what must be a very difficult role, look effortless, I could not resist seeing him twice in the role. The Sarasota Ballet has always the most beautiful scenery and costumes - very esthetic and refined.

Yes you are right - it was Coppelia...

Why assume that I would climb over anyone? At intermission it is very clear which seats are empty... I spend a couple of grand each year on the Opera and ABT - Just for the last ballet season I sat behind a cute little 4 year old, at an evening performance of Sleeping Beauty, who insisted this is a follow-the-leader game - she danced in her seat, arms waving above, each time she saw it on stage. I did not climb out over my neighbors to escape, though the performance was impossible to watch and I left at intermission. I firmly believe that my freedom ends where the other person's begins but also vice versa - the other person's freedom ends where my begins. At another performance I was next to a couple who sang along to their favorite tunes (Swan Lake). At another I had the extreme left second row seat on Gran Tier. When you seat down, the guard rail of the balcony is in the middle of your sightline - it is not sold as partial view by Met - it is a full price ticket. Since Met allows all of the above, I am not sure why I should not once in a blue moon take a seat that obviously no one is using. When I was in college the Met allowed taking empty seats. As a student I always went standing room - no jingle in my pocket then, (in those heady days there was only one standing room line very civilized - today there are 3 - try to see something from that last row). On rare occasions one would get a seat, although just the thought that it is possible had a certain appeal, and I ascribe the fact that I plonk down serious (for me) money for tickets today, to that period. If I was cordoned of like cattle, which is the current Met practice, perhaps I would not be in the audience today. No one can convince me that empty seats have to remain empty just because someone paid for it, and if people behave rudely than the management can make sure they do not - just like they do with cells. I actually prefer the audience on balcony and family circle, they are much more well behaved - cultured in effect and come out of sheer love. Unfortunately my eyes are no longer 20 years old!

Just an observer, I would have also loved to see Veronica Part not wiht Cory Sterns, although Cory has beautiful lines she need a partner that project more character

Ususaly the ballerina you do not want to see is paired with a a dancer you love example Gprak-Copeland (one is an epitome of elegance and grace and technique the other the anthithesis) Gomes- Seo apparently tickets for Cornejo - Kotchetkova also are not selling as well even if people love Cornejo. Not so simple....

Thank you choriamb. I noticed Nunez is also dancing July 2nd so I will go standing room and hopefully sneak a seat :-)

rkoretsky - please don't - I feel like that too, and often, but it is good to talk it always can bring us more towards a more balanced view

Aurora thank you for the report - glad Gorak is fulfilling what was a promising beginning. Disappointing that AAaron Scott did not shine.

this certainly is a spirited conversation!

You may be right - you can experience equal amount of disappointment in each case. However one may hold highbrow art to higher standards.

There is vast chasm between high brow and lowbrow and the expectation and experience it carries.

rkoretzky, I think a more apt analogy would be having tickets to a favorite concert pianist, whose interpretation is transfixing, and finding out you will be listening to a pianist whose interpretation does not move you.

The June 1 matinee is Abrera/Gorak, unfortunately. I think I will go for the local team on Saturday, it would also appear from lack Nunez videos and her website of this ballet that it is not her favorite or best. Thank you all for helping with the decision! Does anyone have a preference for seating for this particular ballet? I always end up upstairs and am beginning to think that I may be missing something - there are large corps formations is this ballet that would give advantage to being above? The balconies are rather far away at the Met...

Gorak was dancing last year with Yuriko Kajija - it was a lovely performance.

Thank you all - I was planning to see both, but now cannot have a friend last thru both on Saturday Matinees are trying on a normal day as there is candy unwrapped, accidental tourists, more noise etc - I am sure you have experienced it. I saw Gorak last year. It was also a 4th of July matinee and there were plenty of empty seats. I was surprised that so many seats were already sold for the 29th, but I ascribed it to Abrera's fans. It is so sad that Abrera and Gorak are given such secondary treatment by the AD. Thank you CTballeton for the warning - the magic would be gone - happened to me at last Nutckracker.

I am wondering if to see Abrera/Gorak or Nunez/Whiteside - and would appreciate any opinons. I will be taking an out of town friend to see it. Also I have only seen Cinderella from above - is it better to be orchestra or grand tier? What would be the cut off point for orchestra?

The fencing in act 2 the were enjoyable, so was Foster Salstein and Hoven, who really tried, and of course the ever valiant Marvello. The harlots were more witches than courtesans - courtesans in those days were somewhat elegant and I liked the more muted renditions I saw two years ago. I think they improved the lighting which was extremely dark. However the performance last night was like a huge heavy bird that keeps spreading its wings but is just not able to take off. There was no energy coming from the lead - obviously. If it was a matinee I would have closed my eyes and stayed to listen to the music - the orchestra was great. But given the long trek home - I can listen to a record...

I would have been happy with Gillian, Xiomara; Lane or any of the other ladies praised on this forum would have been interesting to see in a principal role. Subbing Seo to Vishneva's public is almost perverse because she is so totally opposite. Not that I like everything Vishneva does. I find her often exalted which leads her to cross the line into affectation. She does that in the nurse scene of RJ and third act in Manon - although McMillan helps :-). We all know how riveting it is to watch Gomes and her dance. Hee Seo lacks an emotional connection. Foundofouettes diagnosed this as being prim. Between the primness and the luxuriating in prettiness and lyricism - where is the room to connect with her partner? or anyone else? by the end of the balcony scene I caught myself drifting to mundane problems, not even Marcello nor Prokofiew could hold me captive to the ongoings on stage. So the problem is dancing with lack of passion - perhaps she should try skyjumping or some other technique to get back to tap that passion and bring back the joy of dancing that perhaps brought her to the ballet in the first palace. Perhaps she is under too much stress. On the other hand perhaps the proportion between hard work and talent is so skewed towards hard work that she will never show us more.

Left after the second act. McKenzie must be mad. 150 dollar tickets, the effort of coming to Manhattan to see Hee Seo display her bland Disney esthetic.

Oh Boy, I had a good laugh... Do protest Chinoisserie in front of Schermerhorn Hall at Columbia U. (That is where the Art History Dept is located), LOL Japonisme too why not, Orientalism? you could start at the Literature Department Dept, with a bondfire of Lord Byron books of poetry. Oh the insensitive brute... OMG, should I lough or cry? Prof. Said - the epitome of all knowledge... in Stalinist Russia people got sent to Siberia for naming their dog Samba (politicaly incorrect - no not racist, but pro western enough to be considered a spy. The madness continues...

Seattle-dancer, This is likely more than you want to know but here goes: Bakst's design for the mazurka is a hybrid of 18 century crinoline and Polish national costume of the 18 century, which consisted, for men, of high boots,albeit not laced, pants under a joupan - a long cassock , which became shorter and following Western fashion, flared at the waist in the 18th century. Braiding detail is typical. An overcoat contrasting in color, with long sleeves cut open, is worn over it - this has a Turkish origin - a result of several centuries of fighting invasion of the Ottoman Empire at the eastern frontiers. Of course the long mustache. The cask with plume and the lampart skin is part of militaria and is worn with armour, so Bakst's is a free adaptation. The military theme continues in the metal armour scales of the Mazurka ladies costume, the cape, cape braiding and hat relate to Poland. Mazurka as a ballroom dance was spread thru Europe by officers of the Polish Legions in the Napoleonic Army,(Poles hoped Napoleon will end the occupation of Poland by its neighbors). Thus it was danced in military uniformsand became a synonym for polish identity and fight for freedom. The military casks and silver/metallic colors remain in the current production and dont make much sense. I dont remember what the men's uniforms were like. You can see some elements that influenced Bakst in the youtube link below. The open sleeves of the overcoat are here pinned behind for dancing (they were thrown back for sword fights) and will look strange. This is a mazurka interlude from the opera Halka by S. Moniuszko. You will recognize the mazurka as that of Delibes Coppelia, however Moniuszko premiered Halka in 1848 when Delibes was 12 years old. I often wonder if at some point credit was given to Moniuszko, at most I have seen Delibes was "influenced" by Moniuszko but the music is quoted verbatim. The original character of the dance is maintained - it is a dance danced whilst running, fit only for the very young. The figures and configurations are called our - like a square dance. My mother still knew how to dance this , it is very difficult. What genius! Mazurka starts at 30 seconds

I too love the 17 and 18 century wigs and the production. one cold argue they were tame! The outlines of the costumes capture the period to perfection - it would be strange with wigs missing - yet the costume detail is modern - it makes it very interesting, Just the opposite of what was done in the historical films of the 30ies, 40ies and maybe even 50ies , when the silhouette betrayed when the production was made while detail was true to period. I don't know how the wedding attire for Desiree and Aurora could have been handled - going into more sumptuous would not work - as it is, they are almost virginal - or some such idea of purity - maybe not perfect but no complaints here, it needed a contrast. I suspect seeing this production twice will not be enough - such wealth of detail, so much delight, I know I missed a lot the first time around. Murphy and Gomes... I am addicted... (It would be nice if they pared down the garland dance - those garlands need space. I am not partial to children and grown up dancing, there is something in change of scale that bothers me, so the scenes with children did not work for me.

Birdsall,I would not dream of going to a Kabuki play without first educating myself. It is fine to see Swan lake or Giselle without knowledge of Romaticism though it makes for a cutesy reading of the story and no more. Petrushka demands more. Confusing reality with art, reading into an artistic endeavour current political, religious or personal preocupations is one of the definitions of a kitsch experience. A kitsch experience, as opposed to a genuine esthetic experience which requres distance, and knowledge. Everyone is entitled to their opinion if I understand you correctly. That would also include me. I will read the book on this ballet which I mentioned earlier. I too wonder if the use of the Moor, a self satisfied extroverted opposite to introverted Petrushka is more than a literary device, acceptable in a different time and place if not in ours. (I wonder if you position would hold, if you emigrated to China to find that your Japanese culture is constantly brought to the common denominator of atrocities the Japanese committed during WWII. Would you think this fair to your culture? "Thou has commited fornication, but it was long ago and in another place - to paraphraze Marlow. At to context that Drew refers to. Who today will see in the grotesque Moor, in an archaic costume a stereotype of present time Blacks Africans or American? Seriously? As for the rest: Self deprecation is part of many cultures, I think because America is an immigrant nation with striving at the center of its ethos, it cannot be self deprecating. That cultural self deprecation is always wink wink tongue in cheek, and/or holds a large component of coquetishness. I did not mean shedding of identity when speaking of color blindness as an ideal. Recently , I hard an NPR program where black participants complained of being treated (body language, fleeting glances ) as "the Other", so your view may not be shared by everyone else. On the other hand a friend who traveled to Finland was delighted in the attention she was getting as there were very few black people ever seen in the places she traveled to. Made friends , her skin color was obviously and object (forgive the word) of admiration. Thus as in the case of your family the distinguishing factor is that of intent. ) Looking forward to more beatiful, thought provoking Sarasota ballet performances.

It is sobering when a discussion of Petrushka becomes predominatly about race, it is undoubtedly a reflection of the obsession with race that is inherent in the American psyche and also of the fact that we primitively ascribe a late 20/21 century sensibility to other periods. Yes, notes would be very helpful given that it has become de rigeur among anyone who thinks himself or herself a decent person to display immediate opposition to anything that can be construed as racism. I too felt a momentary shock, influenced as I am by the media/political correctness complex, to paraphraze but I do not make the mistake of requiring other periods to live according to the current sensibilities and sensitivieties, esp. since I am not expert on the cultural/historical context. I would not think that Stravinky Benois and Fokine wanted to create a Blacck sterotype to promote racial stereotypes! The Moor does not represent all inhabitans of Africa, nor the black slaves of America. The Moor comes to the European experience via the Iberian Peninsula - and the very real threat of Moslem conquest stopped by Charlemagne. Moors were a mixture of black and Arab peoples. A threat was very real and alive in the European psyche until the end of the 17 century and the siege of Vienna. Perhaps a couple of centuries from now, the image of an Alkaida fighter will bear the same connotations, as the Moor's image in Petrushka would have for Europeans - a boogey man, a warrior, add luxuriance and sensuality/cruelty of the Orient too via Romantic period. The European experiance is not the same as the American one - the blood of those wars and battles did not sink into the American I think knowledge of geography was as ambiguous as it is among US high school students today and these motifs blend. If one looks at European painting from Middle ages on - the image of the black man, pretty equal during Medieval times (Thee Kings) and Rennaisance, including Bosch's Garden of earthly Delights, becomes subservient in late 17 and 18 centuries when black boys become a fashionable addition to the fashionable attire of a lady - carrying the extremely heavy parasols. One of such boy at the court of Peter the Great is the great grandfather of Pushkin - a fact of which Russian children are well aware, and of which Pushkin boasted, blaming his black roots, if you will, for his amorous nature and curly hair - in today's America he too could be blamed for being racist...one cannot demand that current sensibility and sensitivity apply to the past! Some years ago I saw an interview with a black Russian opera star. The interlocutor was American and the sacrosanct question eventually surfaced on how badly she must have been treated as a Black. The very cultivated and poised lady was visibly taken aback and a look of shock and incredulity crossed her face. It was apparent she was used to a life in a milieu which was color blind. Yet I think that this very color blindness was what Martin Luther King wanted. That constant and exclusive emphasis of racism at a time when, at least in NY you can see more reverse rasism and a culture which is no longer a meritocracy, will not lead us there. I fail to see how the image of the Moor in Petrushka will have a destructive effect given that the audience is not comprised of Archie Bunker types, - to the contrary, judging by the number of finger pointing to Petrushka being racist - it is stereotyping the European culture as always racist. Perhaps that culture, thanks to which we live v good lives with more freedoms than ever before, deserves a little more rational and balanced view. For contrast let us look at T. Williams's "A Streetcar Named Desire". The most despicable, crude lowlife character is a Pole, Stanley Kowalski. This play is played in Poland frequently, much more so than in the US, always to accolades of the great insights into the human psyche it provides. Obviously considered a masterpiece. If anything the character of Kowalski is even more repulsive to the native public. Never is there anything about T. Williams, the United States, even of the Us of the 1950'ies as being discriminatory or racist, not even under Communist rule when US was the whipping boy. Perhaps a more mature audience? Perhaps we should give this some though? I might add that there was a great deal of discrimination agaist the Poles in the 1960ies when I came here as a chid. Apartments were not rented to my v. beautiful, ladylike highly educated mother, work opportunities were denied etc. I ewould never equate that with high brow art. Polish jokes maybe :-).