vila

I just remebered that Béjart is also at the Opéra Bastille this season (May & June) with L'Oiseau de feu (Firebird) Création mondiale (a new piece yet untitled) Webern, opus V Le Mandarin merveilleux (oh gees, how does this one that translate ? probably not "the marvellous man from China" ;) but we are really running off topic here I suppose...

Oh we are going to get out share of Béjart too, ;) here in Paris but only in April, at the Palais des Congrès. http://bejart.ch/fr/actu/home_tour.htm 2 ballets : Presbytère a.k.a. Ballet for Life (music by Queen and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart/costumes by Gianni Versace (my heart balances between :eek: & ) and The Enchanted flute (Mozart left on his own this time around)! When was the last time the company visited the States ? They don't seem to tour much out of Europe (even London seems a rarity), save Japan... or am I wrong ?

Yes Estelle, I spotted that poster this morning aswell, it is for l'Air de Paris (nothing to so with the Carné film with Gabin & Arletty which depicts the boxing scene). In this case it is a "poetic presentation of 40 of the most beautiful songs written about Paris such as "la java bleue, sous les ponts de Paris, Paris je t'aime", at least that is what the blurb says. Probably not much dancing... Bizarrely, I seem to recall that he had already put on this show some 2 years ago and that it was not very succesful, to put it mildly. Perhaps it is because that Paris is surfing on a revival of 1930's/40's songs at the moment he is giving it another try. http://www.theatreprive.com/francais/piece...php3?ID=7&IDS=0

ooh, that much a contreversial character ? Am definetly booking a ticket then, straight away ! I did catch a bit of the New Year's concert in Vienna on tv (all romantic capes and hair blowing in the wind) and I'm afraid there is a little part of me might revel in high melodrama... Will report and thank you very much for your warm welcome Alexandra.

is coming to Paris for a few days at the end of the month. I understand it is a ballet based on Olga Spessivtseva's life but I still do not know what to expect. I will probably go out of curiosity (and to be able to vote on the Forsythe/Eifman poll ). For those interested, it will be on at the Mogador which is a theatre near the Opéra, there are a couple of dates in Feb. aswell. Further details on : http://www.orchestredeparis.com/20022003/c...drier/index.htm

I managed to get a ticket (somewhere up in the amphithéâtre) for 73 euros. Quite extravagnt I must admit, but wouldn't have missed it for anything. Apparently this is a black tie event (is that what one calls it ? ) "robe du soir pour Madame, smoking (alias tuxedo) pour Monsieur". I am very much looking forward to the défilé. Tickets are indeed on sale at the box office this morning, teletickets are sold out. Will be happy to post aswell.

I can't see Hubbe anywhere either...

well, obvioiusly her own official site : http://www.darceybussell.com/ for a start, her autobio "life in dance" and why not try ballet.co postings section where she is often mentioned aswell as http://www.ballet.co.uk/links/dancers_rb_p...#darcey_bussell good luck

There's also the more controversial one by Mats Ek (there is a dvd version on sale in europe by the culberg ballet ) it was also danced with sylvie guillem at the royal opera in london last season you can read a rehearsal diary on http://www.royaloperahouse.org/ballet/inde...ighlight=carmen hope this helps.

the Isamu Noguchi - Sculptural Design exhibition is now on in Paris at the japanese maison de la culture "scenographed" by Bob Wilson the lyra for balanchine, the videos of the graham pieces are quite a treat aswell as the settings the "lamp section" though looks as if you suddenly stumbled into a habitat, or ikea shop...talk about influence ! http://www.mcjp.asso.fr/cadrgen.html[/url]

Much thanks to all, I will print all this out (and any further contributions) just before I leave.

Hello, I am going to be spending some time in Manhattan beginning December and was wondering if anybody could let be know about some good second hand bookshops with larger sections devoted to ballet in the area. Would love to browse through some out of print material or just buy some of the books not that easy to get hold of Europe (idem for video tapes etc). Thanks to anyone who can help.

http://www.sylvieguillem.com/ Sylvie Guillem finally has a website of her own, one that is attractively atypical as well. The homepage looks like a Rubik's cube and is linked to 22 other pages, each with a colour and topic of its own. A lovely promenade in her universe with music, video, delightful clins d'oeil and some truly fantastic pics. Enjoy.

there was in article in the french le Monde reviewing White Oak in festival Romaeuropa last week which would imply that it is due to injury and an operation not to be delayed "the étoile is giving up dance and putting a term to W.O, the company he created 10 yrs ago(...) " "Le soir de la première représentation, le Teatro Argentina est sur le qui-vive. L'étoile arrête la danse, et met fin à White Oak, la compagnie qu'il créait il y a dix ans, pour enfin interpréter du contemporain, tout son saoul. Après deux genoux, c'est son épaule droite qui part en capilotade et qu'il faut opérer. " As for future plans it only states rather mysteriously "Après, il verra".(..after that he shall see...) link to the article in french : http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,5987,3246-...295312-,00.html

link to this "conditioning testimonial" : http://www.pantene.com/en_US/testimonials/...julie_bio.jhtml

A little late to post in recent performances (forgive me, but I only got back from London today) and maybe not that worthwhile as well since I will only echo the things posted earlier, but enjoyed Dances Concertantes so much that it would seem a shame not to mention it. It was tremendously interesting to see these 10 City Ballet dancers since I had seen only a week before the Hubbe and friends (principals and soloists of the NYCB) in Copenhagen. The atmospheres were so different, Sadler’s Wells felt much more intimate and the acoustics/“live “ music were a nice treat. Curiously enough, though I did only attend the Saturday matinee, I was surprised how much fuller the theatre could have been (quite a few top seats were available in the stalls, half of the first circle was empty though the second was packed… says something about the prices I suppose.) The highlights of the representation for me were Yvonne Borrée (who had been a question mark for me in Denmark and who was absolutely delightful here, so delicate and moving… btw it was quite interesting to see the programme began with In the Night, a Robbins that had been chosen in Denmark too), Wendy Whelan’s incredible body and …the those things she does with it, Jock and Wendy in the penultimate movement of Polyphonia and Polyphonia all in all, really …the piece is splendid and those intricate movements between Wendy ad Jock are so still with me along with the beauty it conveyed. It makes me cast another light on Tryst as well and I wouldn’t mind seeing it again. Duo Concertant was…disconcerting for a brief while but once I entered the piece I was enchanted by Borrée and Boal and that communication/respect between music and dance. Couldn’t help noticing that both the artistic coordination and the programming of Dances Concertantes had been done by Benjamin Millepied (helped in the programming by Alexander Meinertz), so “chapeau!”, since he did not only did he present a lovely piece of choreography … Missed his dancing though, he was a delight at the Tivoli performances. All in all, feel extremely lucky to have been able to catch such different performances in Europe, especially that I won’t see these wonderful dancers before Nutcracker now.

Thanks for the anecdotes, Kay Denmark.

Just to fill in, Julian Thurber, a wonderful pianist played live for In the Night and was much appreciated by the public. Hubbe’s Apollo was an absolute revelation to me. He was divine. Both of the nights of the Hubbe and friends program were pure enchantment (yes and did not miss the articles in Alt, etc). He was absolutely right to bank on promotion/publicity, he did produce the show after all. On the first night I had a very lovely distinguished lady – a total stranger- sitting next to me who kept going on about how “gorgeous” he was …”and so very handsome too” , the man surely does have a following ! Yes indeed he is in top form, so much so that I would have loved to see him in everything ( he was in Mozartiana, Violin Concerto and Who cares ? in Prog 1 and “merely” in Apollo in Prog 2)!!! Was great to se him dance in Copenhagen, where to he is apparently returning in November to be in the Flindt’s Lesson, this time at the Royal Theatre (http://www.kgl-teater.dk/dkt2002/ballet/frame.htm) though. ( Seeing the performances at the Tivoli – a sort of attraction park, a world of its own with it’s concert hall, theatre, lake, ship, stalls ..; etc was by the way something of an experience, fireworks after the show, Kid Creole doing a concert on Saturday night… quite a change from the solemnity that accompanies a post ballet performance. ) Oh, and terribly sweet too, for both of the premières, 2 tiny sweet Tivoli guards (little boys dressed as the Queen guards in red coats and bearskin hats) came to present a huge “bucket” of red flowers –on the first night they couldn’t really get the thing to stand erect, it kept tipping over and it was rather endearing to see them do their best, battling with those imposing hats that kept getting in the way. Even Nikolaj was laughing , but who wouldn’t be, the final Who cares ? had brought the house down, and it was pure standing ovation. A mega triumph, totally deserved. Ringer and Lafayette were beautiful to watch as the third couple in In the Night, ( the backdrop of the constellated night and the wonderful piano playing added so much to it all) the passion was so there, though I suppose I could have done without Interplay, but at least it had the advantage of introducing us to a host of corps members full of vitality. On the fourth night, after Interplay, the dancers kept trying to coax Hubbe from backstage and when he finally did appear to make a timid entrance on the side & share the ovation, already dressed in jeans, black sweater and white trainers, he was looking very shy. Easier to accept the applause when still in character ? Yvonne Borrée remains a bit of a mystery to me, beautiful legs and all but there’s something about the shoulders or neck, can’t really make it out, but don’t know her really well (she was lovely in the Wivel film –by the way it is available on video in the central library and at the videothek of the Danish film institute if you happen to go to CPH, unfortunately it is not for sale / could not find it in the NY Library of Performing Arts though ) so do not want to be unjust. Can anyone tell me more about her ? Otherwise Somogyi and Millepied (okay his hair was a bit “princely” but couldn’t have minded less) were delightful, could not keep eyes off them. Harlequinade was all sweet kisses and glee. Whelan was no surprise, up to her usual high standards. I do agree having been slightly disappointed by the beautiful Korowski who had moved me to bits in the Midsummer Night’s dream in June, nonetheless amazing technique. KayDenmark, was there anything special on the last night ? I was already on my flight home by then … By the way, apparently Hubbe is doing a gala in Rome in Octoberhttp://www.tourome.com/costanzi.htm in on of the ballets on the programme : Schehérazade, Jeux, and Sacre du printemps – anybody knows which ?