Hans

I can't believe I never posted on this thread before. :blush: I don't have much to say--just that I don't care how much of a genius someone is; if his/her behavior is outright rude or cruel or unreasonable (as opposed to minorly impolite) I wouldn't work with him/her. Anecdotally, many people don't consider Béjart to be a genius, but then, many others do, and he is one of the kindest people I have ever met. In terms of an artist who is difficult to work with, look no further can Kathleen Battle. Everyone agrees she's a great singer, but she's so horrible to work with that she's been banned from every major opera house in the US...and then contrast with Renée Fleming, who is an even greater singer than Battle and by all accounts extremely nice.

I'll have to watch that movie again. However, I was under the impression that it was someone around the time of Taglioni. (Elssler? I don't think it was Grisi.)

Both Wolf Trap's Filene Center in Virginia and the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, Colorado have roofs over the seats, but not over the lawns.

I didn't even know the Sergeyev version used the panorama. Natalia, since the machinery is so integral to the theater, do you know if it's from 1895? I do recall my first ballet teacher showing the class a video in which a panorama is used...is this perhaps the video with Kolpakova? I'd kill to see it again.

I think Forsythe is -45, but that's just my personal opinion!

Alexandra will probably give you a really great answer when she gets on tonight, but I can give a simple explanation for now. Ballet, of course, is dance, and I'm sure you know that not all dance is ballet. However, there's a tradition of calling theatrical dance compositions "ballets" even if they have nothing to do with ballet steps or technique. So if your choreography does consist mostly of ballet steps and technique, I think it would be fair to call them ballets, but if they don't, you may wish to call them dances or compositions in order to avoid confusion.

I agree, Natalia.

It sounds like ballet for accountants! :rolleyes:

bart, I think I feel a new thread coming on....

Spartacus is an original ballet though, not a re-staging of someone else's work. There are certain things I like about the Sergeyev staging of Sleeping Beauty, such as his choreography for Aurora's variation in Act II. If the production had mime, I'd be pretty happy with it. I do wish Vikharev would fix the problems with the Bluebird pdd in the reconstruction.

Bart, I think Giselle, with its long skirts and short running time, might be more the current administration's speed.

Mr. Vaziev, if you are reading this, please make the reconstructed Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadère available on DVD!!! (Or at least tour them to DC. )

The gender of a word or last name has nothing to do with the gender of a person. In terms of students criticizing company members, all I have to say is that Peter Martins promoted Fayette to principal, so he must have seen something he liked, and PM is the artistic director of the company in which SAB students generally aspire to dance. People have said this before, but there are NYCB dancers who read this board. I second pugbee's statement that:

Hm..."Freedom Jumps" anyone? :rolleyes: Carbro, all I can say is:

Both the Sergeyev version and the reconstruction exist simultaneously in the repertoire. I don't know why they might have chosen to bring one over the other although I imagine that the Sergeyev is easier to tour with.

The Sergeyev version is what the Kirov has been performing for years, so it would probably look more familiar to you than their reconstruction of the 1890's original. Videos of it include performances with Sizova, Lezhnina, and Asylmuratova as well as some others. Don't worry--it's a nice traditional version, you won't get any weird Freudian overtones. My only real complaint about it is the lack of mime.

Try checking the posts from September 3 and 8, 2003 in Links, although I don't know if any of them are still active. Some of the posts will at least have quotes.

This article, which dirac posted in Links, makes a reference to the sets being the same, or at least similar. I don't know about their decision to perform the 1940's version, though.

dirac, your post just made it necessary for me to pretend to have a coughing fit for several minutes--oh, cubicle culture. :rolleyes: koshka, I think my main problem would be keeping a straight face! It might be interesting to include some of WSB's little twelve-year-old students in the class, demonstrating correct posture and how to point one's foot.

dirac, I think the idea of leaving the audience with a sense of waste is a thoughtful conception, emphasizing the pointlessness of the feud between the two families. From what I read, Lynn Seymour stabbed herself in her womb instead of her heart, but I don't really know what she meant to convey with that. Mel's post reminds me of this scene from the movie "Dracula, Dead & Loving It": John (resisting seduction by vampiress Lucy): But Lucy...you're dead. Lucy: I'm not dead! I'm UUUUUNdead! John: Well, I'm not "unengaged." More on-topic, does anyone remember which ballerina it was who said, referring to her death scene in Giselle, "[La Sublimova] does not need a sword to die!"?

If only I were on the faculty there. But what fun that would be--I'm picturing John Ashcroft in tights!

Maybe WSB could offer a "Congress Card" for its adult classes.

Fracci as the sylph on the Bruhn/Nureyev Bell Telephone Hour DVD. It moves me to tears every time. Did anyone see Lynn Seymour do MacMillan's R&J?

What, you mean you don't want to hear the Bush/Cheney rendition of "O Mimi, tu piu non torni"?

That's certainly the opposite extreme from carbro's interpretation. At the Paris Opéra Ballet, Aurora has to find the spindle in the middle of a bouquet and hold onto it as she pulls it out of the flowers and throws them down...all in the middle of a double pirouette at the end of a manège. Really, it's enough to make one wonder why choreographers feel the need to make the role even more technically challenging than it already is. Alymer, how does the Milan production work musically? I take it that she must prick her finger rather soon after receiving the bouquet and then find the spindle on what is traditionally the ominous "prick" chord?