Hans

As far as I know, they've performed the Manu/Manou dance in Russia since before Lanchberry was around.

In Italian, a G preceding an N makes a "NY" sound. Thus, "Gnocchi" is pronounced something like "Nyokee" and "Pugni" is pronounced "Poon-yee," as we have all been saying. It is similar to the sound in Spanish made by an N with a tilde (~) over it. Anyone wishing to continue the pronunciation discussion, please start a new thread; this has wandered very far from La Fille du Pharaon.

Ha ha, I'd say it's mutual there carbro. I got to try to pronounce "Djouloukhadze" (well, technically that's Georgian) daily for a year, and was rewarded by being called "Khans."

It is (to Anglophones) CHE-sar-ay POOn-yee. Russians are not always reliable when it comes to Italian names.

Now now I never said all we ought to dance to is Minkus, Pugni, and Drigo. My point is that ideally, ballets ought to be choreographed to music written for ballet. Besides, Tchaikovsky wrote music specifically for ballet, too, and no one complains about hearing that.

Well...actually, all the pirouettes are to the right. But you're right, it is quite challenging. I like it when the dancer performs the entrechats six de volés.

Danse d'école: Dans day-KOHL Gail Grant says: "Dance of the school. The classical style. See Ballet d'école." The entry for Ballet d'école says: "Ballet of the school. The academic dance based on the turn-out and the five positions of the feet." In other words, it seems to pretty much mean "ballet," but more along the lines of what you'd see in a classroom rather than onstage. Pas d'action: Pah dack-syAWN (it looks so ungraceful when written phonetically!) Grand Ballabile: Grahn Bahl-LAH-bee-lay Gail Grant only lists "Ballabile": "(Italian). 'Danceable.' From the Italian ballare, to dance. A dance for a group or corps de ballet without solos."

Talk about a rude awakening!

As far as I know, it's from Coppélia...at least, when UBA did the pas de deux from Act III of Coppélia, that was the music they used for the male variation, although with different choreography.

I actually read (somewhere on BT a while ago) that in Swan Lake, Benno does the promenades and Siegfried does the lifts, so I suspect that Benno's involvement has more to do with choreographic structure than "helping out." As far as Le Corsaire goes, whenever the "Slave" pas de trois is performed as a pas de deux, I think it looks ridiculous. Poor Ali has to run back and forth across the stage to be on the correct side of Medora, who has to stand there (instead of walking across the stage to Conrad) as Ali buzzes around her. If it was originally a pas de deux, I imagine the structure must have been very different from what we see today, as it doesn't really work IMO without three people.

I was watching Romeo and Juliet today and thought about how the dancers might get dressed after the bedroom scene. Do we really want to watch Romeo "adjusting himself" as he puts his dancebelt back on, and are we prepared to sit through Juliet (once she has her tights on) fumbling with her various "ouch pouches," toe spacers, band-aids, tape, wadded-up paper towels, and ribbons as she prepares for an acrobatic pas de deux? And if they're going to put on their clothes, why not have them put their stage makeup back on as well? Don't want to get foundation on Juliet's bed linens, after all. What, the sight of Romeo and Juliet applying their eyeliner and lipstick together isn't appealing?

This won't be a popular opinion, but I don't like ballets choreographed to concert music. I think it's gilding the lily--concert music is meant to stand alone and doesn't need the embellishment of dancing. Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky both wrote "ballet music"--that is, music that was intended to be choreographed to. Both were great composers and their music is not only beautiful and interesting musically, but also eminently suitable for dancing. Minkus, Pugni, Drigo, &c understood what many today do not: that their music was never meant to stand alone, but was always intended as accompaniment for dancing. In fact, Tchaikovsky's music was criticized at the time as unsuitable for dancing because it was too symphonic (and when it comes to certain parts of Swan Lake, I think that's an accurate criticism). That's not to say that ballet music can't be great, or that one can't dance to great music, but music doesn't need to be great to be good ballet music, and in fact, some of the best ballet music is not great as concert music, and some of the greatest concert music in the world does not work well, in my opinion, as accompaniment to dance.

Michelangelo's "David" is eight feet tall. I don't see what's so modest about that.

I think the difference is that a marble sculpture isn't actually a person--it's just carved marble, and in sculpture, form is generally idealized.

Maybe I watch too many scary movies, but...Psycho? Graphic? Heavily-praised though it may have been, I couldn't stand Sideways. Pretentious, trite, heavy-handed, and dull, IMO--I was so bored I actually contemplated walking out (something I've never actually done).

I wonder what a young Miranda Weese would be like in "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

I actually rather dislike the New Meaner Leaner Contorting Bolshoi. Its performance of Don Quixote at Wolf Trap was good, but it's developed those scary contortionist bodies the Kirov has now, and it totally changes the line and the way the steps look.

I think the high point of AA's Le Corsaire is the Jardin Animé. She balances for days, does sixteen sharp, perfect ballonnés in her variation, and is generally extraordinarily radiant!

Asylmuratova in "Theme"...how lucky you are to have seen that atm! Did she ever do Diamonds?

You've seen Asylmuratova live, Cygnet? Details please!

Asulmuratova's eyes must be among the Seven Wonders of the Ballet World.

And just think about Aurora's entrance down all those stairs in the Royal Ballet's production of Sleeping Beauty while wearing a tutu. Not fun at all!

Solor, I feel much the same way--Asylmuratova is exquisite! Have you seen the tape of her in Les Sylphides? (And I also agree that the shades ought not to smile.)

Well, how difficult one finds a variation depends on one's strengths. I imagine Gillian Murphy and Michele Wiles pretty much breeze through that third variation, whereas they might have more trouble with the petit allegro of the first variation. Just so the second variation isn't neglected I love watching Ayupova perform it on the Kirov in London tape.

Yes, congratulations on your successful performance!