carbro

Because the point can't be made too many times.

I just don't know how talent can be developed and nurtured unless people can be given lots, and lots of opportunities.

It would go a long way if they went back to having longer City Center seasons, imo. ABT has many, many shorter narrative works that make for good testing ground for future full-length tryouts. They just need to actually program decent work, rather than the weird rep they've put on for the last two years and their City Center seasons would be salvaged while giving the audiences a venue to "shop" new talent/partnerships.

I don't care what the venue is, but I really believe that the dancers need more mixed-rep programs, and as a ticket-buyer, so do I.

Among other things, I saw Bronwyn dance Giselle in her parents' staging, with her brother, Richard, as Hilarion . As dancers go, Bronwyn was short and compact (think Nichol Hlinka). She did a very commendable student Giselle, but Richard would have been better advised to stick to the verbal arts.

Around that same time, I encountered the whole Thomas family, plus Daniel Levins, on the #104 bus going down Broadway one night. The other passengers were whispering about "John Boy," but my interest focused in the dancing contingent.

Thank you for that memory, treschic53.

Welcome to BalletAlert! I'm sorry it was Ms. Lyon's death that brought you here, but I hope you'll join in some of our discussions.

Early on in his directorship here, Peter Boal mentioned a few times that he was programming things that he himself would have liked to dance. It's certainly an understandable point of view, but in the long run, I think probably not the best gauge to use.

Oh, I so agree! And if my memory's intact, I believe he used that criterion when, still at NYCB, he had his own mini-company at the Joyce. I know it's hard to read minds, but are you sensing that the "wanna dance" factor weighs less with time? It's hardly a way to build an identifiable company profile.

Mentioning Lopez and Calegari in the same [virtual] breath reminds me of one of my favorite Lourdes/Maria moments -- when both were still in the corps and dancing Raymonda Variations. In the finale, two corps women enter from the stage left wing, fly across the stage with a huge sissonne and embark on a brief fouette contest. Lourdes' coal-black hair against Maria's flaming red amplified the excitement of the moment. Hasn't been matched since and likely never will.

I loved the young Angel -- his effortless technique, his musicality, his raffish charm. But over the years, his performances became less satisfying. I often got the feeling that he wasn't fully present, just doing his schtick to get through the evening. The performances became mechanical. More recently, he's seemed to address my complaints. I'll miss him.

A flexible Studio Company could mix dancers from a number of different levels. It could be led -- on a project-by-project basis -- by some of the more experienced but often underutilized young Soloists or even Corps members, quite a few of whom have the skills and personalities to (a) carry a lead role beautifully and (b) serve as excellent models to the most promising student dancers working with them.

More complicated than first meets the eye. Are the dancers in the Studio Company students or quasi-professionals? This must be clear especially for foreign dancers, who will have a different visa, depending. Unions wouldn't consider them full-fledged professionals and would seek to protect those who are on payroll. You don't have enough on payroll to fill the roles? Hire more!

Indeed. What's silly is that this has basically been the case for several years and no one has come up with a real game plan aside from "let's hire random dancers for 5 performances here and there, that's a genius solution!" I just don't understand how management hasn't dealt with this better given the very large lead up time to all of these retirements/exits. It's not like suddenly we found out that Carreno turned 40, or Corella has his own company, or that Stiefel has had way too many injuries to continue, or the Beloserkovsky is almost unusable except to dance with his wife on a few occasions.

You can't manufacture talent; you can only discover it where it is. Nor can you compel a talented dancer to join your company if s/he feels her/his opportunities are better elsewhere. What you can do, and this is where ABT has fallen short, is nurture the talent you have so that as youngsters mature they fulfill their potential. For a company that depends on marquee names, the only option is borrowing dancers who became stars with the nurturing of other teachers and ballet masters.

Understandable concern. I don't know what year she joined the company, but she was 16 at the time, ...

She entered the company in '74 or '75, around the same time as Fugate, Calegari, Nichols, and she was an immediate standout. Was it her second year in the corps that Balanchine cast her in Kay Mazzo's role in Stravinsky Violin Concerto? I found Lourdes' attack a little too unrelenting, especially in more lyrical roles, but I saw that photo of her in Divertimento #15 and drew a sharp breath. It's been a long time since we've seen an arabesque pushing so aggressively into space at NYCB. Although I think NYCB dances very well these days, I do miss the quality of that energy. Miami has it, so it's a good bet it will continue.

New York City can probably fill seats on a Tuesday night.

Oh? Not to get too Clintonian on this, but what do you mean by "fill"? I frequently see many empty seats on weeknights and even weekends, especially at NYCB during those weeks when it is in direct competition with ABT across the plaza.

I congratulate Lourdes and wish her all the best. I am pleased that the position, if it had to go to someone, went to a person who for many years worked directly with Mr. B.

p.p.s. i've now pasted the problem post into the BAYADERE thread where it was meant to go.

Amen!

But I'll be away for next half hour or so.

You have to be sure that for every (quote) there is one and only one (/quote) -- with backslash. Except instead of parentheses, it's brackets. If you still get error msgs, send me what you

have, I'll see if I can help.

A bit :

I remember Yoko Ichino doing a Kitri with a different Basilio for each act. One was Bujones, I believe one was Peter Fonseca, and I can't remember the third. A friend phoned her florist between acts, because Yoko's aplomb deserved, at the very least, a nice presentation bouquet.

I didn't attend Ballet Theatre as often as you did, carbro. But I do recall some cancellations and at least one very weird Giselle, with poor Baryshnikov. I stayed for these performances, on the theory that there's always SOMETHING to watch in ballet. I admit that I am having a hard time recalling the names of her substitute(s), in the cases of cancellation. Susan Jaffee, of course, after Kirkland was fired. But does anyone remember others who subbed for Kirkland earlier on?

Rebecca Wright once danced Act II of Nutcracker when Gelsey withdrew after Act I. I guess she was already in the house ready to do one of the divertissements. The regular go-to backup was Marianna Tcherkassky, whose career trajectory was no doubt hastened by those unexpected opportunities.

Susan Jaffe was a first-year corps dancer when she was tapped for the Pas d'Esclave at the Kennedy Center after the Kirkland-Bissell firing. Besides that, I don't think she did much subbing for Kirkland who was, after all, away from ABT while Susan was shooting up through the ranks.

Gee. Ad hominem, much? Kirkland has been very honest about her personal problems (not all of which were in their most severe form when she left the company).

As one who was here in New York during that period and who spent more evenings than I can count standing outside the theater waving a ticket I no longer wanted for one of Kirkland's many last-minute cancellations, I disagree with you about just how honest she has been. Her book took the position that someone else was always responsible for getting her or keeping her on drugs; she was just an innocent victim. She never did address that habit of sticking her partner and audience with someone other than who they were counting on to dance.

If you accept her chronology, Kirkland was not yet drugging before she left NYCB -- except for that time in Russia when Mr. B slipped her a "vitamin." You can't blame her questionable judgment about Coppelia (and other ballets -- she singled out Concerto Barocco as one she particularly disliked ) on drugs. When I saw the term "ad hominem," my immediate association was, "if it was Balanchine's staging, Gelsey wasn't going to like it, no matter what."

Despite all that, when we discuss favorite ballerinas, I always name Gelsey without a moment's hesitation.

I happen to like Balanchine's staging, except for the War and Discord section in the last act. I like the Waltz with the children and I like the pas de deux.

It's not a variation but a duet -- the Puss 'n' Boots from Act III of Sleeping Beauty. Even when it's cast with a favorite dancer (or two!), I can't wait until it's over.

I think this is a great topic, Bart B., and I'm surprised no one's posed the question yet. I'm sure I'll enjoy reading some of the responses, and I'm equally sure I'll be confounded, even angered, by others.

From what I've read, Robbins insistently denied any resemblance, but yes, "The Cage" is often compared to Giselle.

I'm more disappointed by the short City Center season than the short Nutcracker run.

Their "ballerina" looks like she's had a few scoops too many!

I don't think "fun" is meant literally, but we all know from our own experience (and supported by research) that we learn better when lessons engage us. When teachers don't convey any enthusiasm for their subject, students aren't likely to develop any, and learning becomes a chore. Learning in life isn't like that. I wonder why people think school must be.

The yawner -- does anyone know how old she was? I think ejection from the class was harsh, but it also makes a difference whether she was eight years old or eighteen.

I heard the same report. This does not include external links, such as those found here or in friends' e-mails. Those are still unlimited. At least until further notice

I don't know how the new policy applies to links from search engines.

Yawning can also be a reaction to moderate fear. In this instance, it strikes me as completely appropriate. Of course, it could also mean that the youngster didn't get enough sleep the night before, a common effect of too much stress.

When English National Ballet (then known as London Festival Ballet) brought their Giselle to the Met in the 1980s, they included this. It sounds like an ill-fitting interpolation, doesn't it? Jarring. But as I recall, program notes called it authentic.

What a shame! So many people with big, expensive plans around an event that never took place. I hope that you at least had a nice visit to what I hear is a beautiful, romantic city.