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Hans

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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    Teacher, Former Dancer
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    Frederick
  • State (US only)**, Country (Outside US only)**
    MD

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  1. I saw both ballets. Don't have time to write about them now, but the short version of my opinion is this: 1. A Folk Tale didn't bother me too much, probably because I'd never seen it before, but I did have some serious problems with it. Liked some of the designs, especially Act 1. 2. Napoli Act 1 - interesting idea, works pretty well for the most part. Act 2 - utterly outrageous--trendy, trashy, and tasteless. I nearly walked out when I heard the cheesy movie soundtrack music, and when I saw the Martins-esque choreography, I wished I had. Act 3 - mostly very nice, but why not stick with the Fellini concept from Act 1? It goes from 1960's funeral (which the music doesn't support) to happy 1840's costumes/dancing in the space of two seconds, then we're in the 1840's through to the end until Gennaro and Teresina, still in breeches and tulle, show up on a motorcycle. Put the 3 acts together, and this must be one of the most bizarre, ill-conceived productions of any ballet, ever.
  2. Hans

    Moving!

    I've been told that people who are not BT members have difficulty viewing this blog, so I will now be writing about ballet on my personal blog: La Vie en Citron.
  3. Taking your argument to its logical conclusion, the answer is yes. While I would theoretically love to alter some of Balanchine's choreography that I find particularly grating, in reality I would not do so because it is not mine to alter. Same with Petipa, Bournonville, Tudor, Ashton, &c, regardless of how reliably it's recorded. For a dancer to change choreography without the blessing of its creator is nothing more than self-indulgence, and it is a sign of a dancer who has not bothered to educate him- or herself about the style of the ballet s/he is dancing. Many dancers today could learn from the example of Carla Fracci, who danced modern ballets the modern way, and older ballets in the appropriate style, rather than taking a mindless, one-size-fits-all approach and applying a single aesthetic to every ballet.
  4. So, Trust notwithstanding, it's ok to embellish Balanchine variations?
  5. When I first saw PNB would be performing Giselle, my first though was, "WHY?!" It seems totally wrong for the company, whose aesthetic doesn't appear to have anything to do with the Romantic era. However, as Fullington is involved, I think this is a production the ballet world needs very much.
  6. In this vein, it's been my experience that dancers who embellish variations typically pay less attention to how they do the steps, with the result that the variation loses its particular quality and is reduced to a competition piece. There are exceptions, of course, but it is the rare artist who is able to use his/her embroidery of the steps to enhance the poetry of the variation.
  7. Welcome to Ballet Talk, GNicholls! It is always wonderful to hear from someone wanting to learn more about ballet. If you are in a city that is home to a major ballet company, the best thing you can do is attend some performances. Youtube also has plenty of ballet, and DVD's of complete ballets are readily available. Our forum includes a section called Ballets in Detail, which you might find interesting. Please feel free to write about the performances you see and ask any questions you have.
  8. Do the blogs still exist? I can't seem to find mine.
  9. It sounds to me as if this dancer has been trained to look at ballet as a series of textbook pictures and not as movement. Dancers trained this way are typically robotic and boring in performance, and unfortunately I am seeing more and more people dance this way.
  10. Septime Webre writes in his blog: Full article here: http://washingtonballet.org/_blog/Septimes...amily,_Monique/
  11. A few quick impressions of the performance: Ballet Memphis: Good dancers. Appropriate music (Roy Orbison) with slick choreography, although at times overly literal. The choreography did not show off the dancers' ballet technique, but they did look strong and very well rehearsed. I'd like to see this company again in a better ballet. Ballet Arizona: Did not care for the choreography at all. Felt long, tedious, some sections appeared lifted from MacMillan and Balanchine. Ugly costumes for the women--feathered bustles. (What ballet dancer wants to have larger hips?) Choreography did not flatter the dancers, some of whom had trouble with footwork. Not always in sync. Pacific Northwest Ballet: Highlight of the evening. Excellent dancers with beautiful, clean, strong technique. Carla Korbes was particularly pure, radiant, otherworldly--would love to see her as Aurora, Terpsichore, Chaconne, &c. Would love to see more of the whole company in fact. The piece had a very polished, sophisticated look, both in terms of sets/costumes and choreography. Looked inspired by Balanchine's black & white ballets without being derivative. Not a masterpiece, but a pleasant enough end to the evening.
  12. As far as I know, the little coda at the end of Siegfried's Act III variation was not used by Petipa. Same with the end of the Act II pas d'action, I believe to provide a more poetic ending. The first male variation in the "Paysan" pas de deux from Giselle often has its coda omitted, and I cannot say I'm ever entirely sorry to see it go, as that pas de deux is quite exhausting to dance!
  13. If ABT were to perform Fille, I'd go to New York to see it as many times as I possibly could!
  14. This scene occurs in almost every production of Giselle that I've seen, although sometimes it is hard to tell exactly what game they are playing.
  15. That is interesting; my memories of Serrano as a teacher are quite different--she was warm and humorous, but very direct. Of course she had high standards, but she was the sort of teacher one wants to please because one enjoys her classes, not because one is afraid of her. It is not uncommon, though, for there to be a difference between a public persona vs. teaching persona. As I recall, my first live Giselle was Julie Kent, and while she was not an artist on the level of, say, Amanda McKerrow, she was a convincing actress and very beautiful technically. There are certain things she did in that performance that I have not seen anyone else do as well--especially in Act II she and Carreno worked together to achieve the most ethereal, subtle effects. For example, during a series of supported arabesques voyagés, Carreno simply carried her across the stage so that she appeared to magically float without ever coming down. And during her series of entrechat-quatre, relevé retiré, she substituted retiré sauté for the relevés, making the entire sequence airborne and using her épaulement to make it all look effortlessly angelic.
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