Hans

I just read in the latest Kennedy Center News that the Washington Ballet will be performing 'La Sylphide' February 11-15 along with 'Celts' by Lila York in a program called 'Highland Fling'. This ought to be interesting; I am looking forward to seeing it. We don't seem to get Bournonville often in DC. I do question the wisdom, though, of following 'La Sylphide' with 'Celts'.

Natalia, I'm glad you posted in time for me to get there! There is a review by Sarah Kaufman in today's Washington Post.

Well, I'm back, and I loved it. This was my first time seeing Graham live, and it is extremely powerful. I expected it to be so, but the energy of the dancers really does hit you like a wall, even when they are merely posing in the background for long periods of time. The only thing I disliked was the surtitles, which I found distracting and annoying. The choreography tells the story very clearly (though it is helpful to read the synopsis) and singers narrate portions of it. More of this at the Kennedy Center, please!

Hm...you're right, I might just barely be able to make it. I'll report back if I do! Edit: I got tickets. I'll be there.

I wish I had known about this! Oh well, maybe they'll be back.

Quite a loss.

Sounds as if my eyes will not be getting any rest in the near future! This is unfortunate, but it's lovely to read the main points of the article; thank you for putting them here, Natalia. I think I will buy the article.

Last I heard, ABT was (for some reason) still performing Kevin McKenzie's version. The nicest thing I can think of to say about the production is that the grand pas de deux was left intact.

Remember when we all thought Svetlana Zakharova was tacky? Now she seems almost tasteful.

I haven't noticed that, papeetepatrick. Perhaps it's specific to New York or the northeastern US?

On the 'Essential Ballet' video with Vaganova Academy students, the girls do not wear pointe shoes or character shoes but rather satin slippers (they do not appear to be ballet shoes). Do they normally wear pointe shoes?

I actually don't see any strain at all during the ballottés or the fouetté-cabrioles; she appears to jump quite easily to me. More so than a lot of dancers today who really never make it off the ground. Maybe there is something I'm not noticing because of the film quality, but even when I look only at her upper body through the entire dance, she appears quite serene to me.

Her port de bras looks very graceful to me throughout--the thing for me is that she is not posing as dancers generally do today. For example, we are used to seeing dancers go from one position of the arms to the next rather than actually moving. Price's arms are never still; they are always in motion, going through positions rather than to them. The lines are also more curved, for example, in the allongé positions, than we are used to seeing today.

I'm not sure anyone currently performing could dance the way Farrell did, but if one had to choose, it would have to be someone trained at SAB. There's just no other school that could get the style right.

I would say her technique is excellent! She is so light and delicate. :blush:

Having worked in retail, I must say that it is very annoying to perpetually have to thank the customer for allowing me to serve them. How absurd. While I would never be impolite, they're paying for a service, and I'm giving it to them, and that is that. When I go to a store, I don't feel the need to be thanked for buying a book or a shirt. It strikes me as some fantasy of the wealthy that it is somehow a pleasure to be subservient to them, and I think the French-speaking countries have the attitude about right--polite, but when you're finished, a civil and impersonal 'Merci, au revoir'--often run together as one word!

'Meh' is pronounced the way it's spelled--like the Italian 'e' or 'eh' sound with an M at the beginning. It's used to indicate apathy, as far as I can tell. 'Did you have fun at the party?' 'Meh, it was ok.' It's really more of a sound than a word.

I have a similar problem with 'nonplussed', which many people seem to think means 'unimpressed'. It means perplexed or bewildered.

Dear Mariinsky Ballet, Please bring Ayupova to the Kennedy Center before she retires for good! That is all, Hans P.S. Yes, I am aware of the futility of this request....

Ok, I can explain the Starbucks issue. The original sizes were Short (10 oz.), Tall (12 oz.), and Grande (16 oz.). Customers complained that the Grande was not large enough, so Starbucks added the Venti (20 oz.--'venti' means 'twenty' in Italian), and people eventually stopped ordering the Short size, so they removed it from the menu. Whether the fault lies with Starbucks for insisting on cutesy/pretentious names for its sizes or with American gluttony, I leave to you. I think it's somewhere in between. Oh, and some annoying grammar/spelling issues: alright and alot when it ought to be all right and a lot. Similarly, every day and everyday, although the difference there is that both are valid but have different meanings. If something occurs every day, it is an everyday occurrence.

According to Karsavina, if I recall correctly, during her time as a student at the Imperial school and with the Imperial Ballet, the difference between the Imperial Ballet and the Bolshoi was that the former, modeled on the French school, strove to be extremely refined and graceful, whereas the latter had a more showy style, not bothering to hide effort, less refined, &c. So it would seem that the Bolshoi's big, athletic style has been around for quite some time! Also, I feel it is important to note that one can be trained in the Vaganova method (or perhaps I had better say in something very similar to it) without acquiring the Mariinsky style. Others know more about this, and I would like to hear from them on the subject--I recall reading that in the Soviet era, all state ballet schools in the USSR used the Vaganova method of training, including the Bolshoi, Perm, and Kiev schools, yet all of their affiliated companies have different styles. I usually find it relatively easy to see the differences between the Mariinsky, Bolshoi, and Perm--I have less experience with Kiev graduates, although I do know one--maybe I can ask her about it. So while Vaganova developed her method primarily to allow her students to dance at the Mariinsky/Imperial Theater, and the Mariinsky ballet has certainly kept its principle of refinement (although, lately, not necessarily restraint) one can be trained in the Vaganova method yet dance in a company with a different style--certain styles, of course, will be easier for the Vaganova-trained student to acquire than others.

One I can't stand is 'on a regular basis'. Why not simply 'regularly'? There is also the matter of the over-use of 'currently'. 'We are currently in the process of...' Really? Right now? I thought you meant you would be in ten years.

Well, I'll explain as much as I can. Mel and Leonid are probably more knowledgeable than I regarding the Imperial Ballet, but I would venture to guess that as the Imperial dancers were trained, at least partly, by Christian Johansson, the Imperial-style port de bras would have softer lines than what is seen today. Vaganova method training and the Mariinsky style (two separate things, though one does spring from the other) emphasise port de bras and épaulement heavily, so I doubt that it is less detailed, but Johansson was a student of Bournonville. Now, how this may have changed once people like Legnani and Cecchetti came along and the Imperial dancers started emulating them I cannot say, but I do notice that dancers trained by Vaganova (student of Johansson and if I'm not mistaken Cecchetti, Gerdt, and Legat?) such as Kolpakova and Ulanova have a softer, more 'plush' look to their port de bras than the finely penciled, almost geometrically precise lines of the upper body that more recent Vaganova Academy graduates have.

I think a revival of Tudor is exactly what ballet needs. Without going on a long tirade about it, ballet has become a bloodless, technical art form, and ballets that force the dancers to act--not just act but really express emotion, energy, something onstage--might finally bring back some life into the sport we currently call ballet. Audiences relate to technical tricks, but they can see anything more impressive in the sports arena or at Cirque du Soleil than in the theaters. What people really relate to is that electricity that comes from a real passion for the art form.

I wonder what happened to the old sets and costumes...that's not something you just throw away, is it?