its the mom

Just returned from Boston's All Kylian program, and I am happy to report that I don't think Kylian is going anywhere. It was a thought-provoking program, and outside of NDT and Norwegian National, I can't think of a company more capable of dancing his work. Interestingly, some may not prefer to watch Kylian, but the dancers adore dancing his pieces. In talking with many of them, the resounding theme was that dancing the All Kylian program was the most challenged and inspired they have ever been. Other than the upcoming performance of Symphony in C, Serenade and Chroma later in the spring, most can't wait to skip to La Bayadere next season. (They have to get through Sleeping Beauty and Balanchine's Coppelia first.)

Boston Ballet dancers address the negatives of a ballet career:

Most people bring their own costumes for galas.

Whiteside has danced the role at Boston, although Boston does the Nureyev version. Also missing from his bio is "Romeo" in Cranko's Romeo & Juliet. We will miss him in Boston.

Helene, it is my understanding that they are not related. Avetik is now a soloist with Boston Ballet.

Actually, the injury for Cirio was a strained posterior tibial tendon. She actually could have performed by the end of the week, but thought it best not to, as Boston's season starts tomorrow. She suggested Hannah Beach do the part, and helped to coach her in just a few days. Stark is a wonderful teacher and coach, and, in addition, has a very good staff to support him. His former students are very dedicated to him, and return whenever they can to work with him.

Actually, she danced last season in Boston (2010-2011), also.

Thanks so much. Yes, that's right. Both my dk's love Alla!

I agree, I felt the crypt scene was stronger the last time I saw it several years ago. I was wondering if the difference for much of it for me was that the last time I saw it, it was performed at the Wang, which is a much bigger stage. Some of the marketplace scenes seemed so crowded and it was hard to catch everything that was going on. Well, I'm a little biased about the three guys, as Cirio is my son and Akiba has been his friend growing up. I do know that many of the guys are exhausted as they are doing double duty - Cirio playing both Benvolio and Mercutio, and the other Mercutios and Benvolios required to be Montague men in alternating shows. With both rehearsals and shows, I calculated that some of them did over 150 tours in a few days.

While I enjoyed the performance of Boston's Romeo & Juliet, I felt there were some key issues lacking. One would assume that most people know the story of Romeo & Juliet, but dramatically speaking - 1) there was only one small reference to the Tybalt/Lady Capulet relationship in the ball scene, therefore when Tybalt is killed, one must wonder why Lady Capulet is so very, very distraught and is led out of the scene on top of him; 2) Mercutio's death is missing the curse upon both houses; 3) it is not clear that the potion given to Juliet is only intended to make her sleep and not die; 4) there is no reference to the letter which is supposed to get to Romeo (but never does) to let him know what is happening; 5) Romeo stabs himself rather than drinking poison; 6) Paris' death is somewhat altered. I realize that getting all of those details into the ballet could be quite cumbersome. As far as dancing, I found some of the choreography awkward (especially in the pas de deux work) and unnecessarily difficult. I felt sympathy for Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio - however impressive doing more than 20 double tours is, it has got to be difficult (especially to their bad side, as it was for Madrigal and Cirio). I thought Madrigal was at home in this role and his expertise in partnering was evident. I saw two shows, both with Madrigal and Kuranaga as the leads. Tybalt was played by Yanowsky in the first show I saw, and he was a real standout, and I much preferred him over Maksakov. (This could be because it was the first time seeing Maksakov on stage, or due to the fact that he was a bit nervous.) Maksakov dropped his sword at one point, and I was a bit worried he wouldn't recover. Interestingly, I was told afterward that Cirio (playing Mercutio) broke his sword, and while in the air and with his back to the audience, yelled, "sword," and Isaac Akiba, who played Benvolio, threw him another sword. I thought it was all part of the sword choreography. I do agree that the corps looks young and sometimes unnatural in their acting abilities. They are, indeed, a very young corps and there were even some trainees on stage. Interestingly, I spoke to a teacher from the Boston Ballet school who said the same thing as many have stated - that the Smuin version (which he danced) is actually a very good version. Boston used to do Goh's version, I believe. I have never seen that one either. So far, I still prefer MacMillan.

Opening night Lead Butterfly was danced by Dalay Parrondo and Friday night it was danced by Sylvia Deaton. Both were beautiful.

Boston also (in addition to PNB) opens their Midsummer this week. Casting is posted: http://www.bostonballet.org/tickets/casting.html

Christian, I am looking forward to seeing her back on stage. I think she has a few small things in the upcoming Elo program, but will perform Titania in Balanchine's Midsummer in April. I know she is also doing the principal role in Balanchine's Divertimento #15. Was sorry she wasn't back for La Bayadere.

We have stayed in the Beacon and the Belleclaire (both a little further up Broadway by Steps) and were satisfied with both. Have also stayed at Park Central and the Wellington in mid-town, which were both fine.

Thank you, cygneblanc. I was wondering how this was run. Boy, would I love to watch that!

Trinidad is there. A friend of mine is the head of the volunteers, and she told me she was.

Here's a list of the judges for 2010: 2010 International Jury Members Bruce Marks, Chairman – USA; Alexei Ratmansky – Russia; Denise Schultze – South Africa; John Meehan – Australia; Hae Shik Kim – South Korea; Lita Beiris – Latvia; Bruce Simpson – Great Britain; Xiao Susha – China; Thomas Lund – Denmark; Hideo Fukagawa – Japan; Samantha Dunster – Canada; Doris Laine – Finland; Trinidad Vives – Spain I would venture to say that some of them know a little about classical ballet. I think that Rasta has always had a close relationship with the IBC and the people of Jackson. He has become something akin to a "hometown hero," and returns for all of the reunion galas. So, it makes sense that his company danced in the opening night gala. The closing gala will be chock full of classical ballet, so perhaps that's why the organizers chose something like this for the opening.

Don't know if it's okay to post links. Renee Renouf is posting commentary on the competition over at ballet.co.uk. http://www.ballet.co.uk/dcforum/happening/7735.html

cubanmiamiboy - In answer to your question about Lorna, she is not taking part in the tour, as she is expecting a baby! She looks fabulous, I might add.

carbro - Erica is dancing the lead in Ballo along side Jaime Diaz. Misa Kuranaga does it the most - alternating with Jeffrey Cirio and James Whiteside. The Barcelona shows were a mix of the two shows they will be doing throughout the rest of Spain. In most cities, they will be performing one Ultimate Balanchine (Ballo, Four T's and Rubies) and one Made in Boston (Elo's Plan to B, Pickett's Tsukiyo, Plotnikov's Rhyme, Matthews' ein von viel, and Elo's Brake the Eyes). As for Erica, besides the lead in Ballo, she also dances in Rhyme and Sanguinic in Four T's.

4mrdncr: I think by Sunday you were seeing the effects of the company doing this program, together with an aggressive contemporary program and a Spain tour just a few days later. With several key principal dancers not dancing right now, there is a lot of pressure on just several soloist and principal dancers. T&V was definitely at its "most tired" during yesterday's performance, and the energy in Apollo seemed gone, too. Not sure what happened with Madrigal in T&V, but that tours/pirouette sequence was giving everyone trouble this weekend, with James Whiteside being the most successful. On another note, I didn't know there were no longer general rush seats available. That's disappointing.

Helene: I do appreciate all of dirac's work, but I thought I would start posting for Boston, since not too many people ever do post for them. I thought I might do the same for PA Ballet, since they are in my backyard. We hear so much about ABT and NYCB, that I thought it might be nice if someone would take it upon themselves to post for these smaller companies. I would also gladly review the program myself, but I feel it would be somewhat self-serving since two of my children dance there and I have some other pretty definitive favorites. I can say generally that I thought opening night was a good one. I did feel that Four T's was a bit shaky with the standout (for me) being Nelson Madrigal in Sanguinic. This is not usually "his thing" and I applaud him for taking this on so well. Apollo heated things up a bit, but I won't comment on it, as one of my dk's was in it. I do think this cast was beautiful together (Pavel Gurevich, Lia Cirio, Rie Ichikawa and Whitney Jensen). Theme and Variations - believe it or not, I have never seen this live. Whoa. What a spectacle of a ballet. When the curtain went up, the audience really reacted with an audible sigh. All the dancers did a wonderful job. Kudos to James Whiteside and Misa Kuranaga who were beautiful. I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the shows this weekend with the varying casts. What impresses me about Boston is their depth and their ability to do so many things so well, especially with the size of the company. After their Balanchine run, they enter into a two-week run of Kylian's Black and White, and then a five-week tour to Spain with two shows alternating - a Balanchine show (different from the one they are currently doing) and a contemporary program...

And this nice little blurb about James Whiteside: http://hubreview.blogspot.com/2010/05/its-...oven-wrong.html

From The Patriot Ledger: http://www.patriotledger.com/entertainment...alanchine-proud

From The Herald: http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/...p;position=also