eduardo

On 2/20/2022 at 11:43 AM, canbelto said:

Absolutely heartbroken after Tess's retirement. What a beautiful performance.

I took a video of the curtain calls:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CaL1IK1gxQV/

Did I miss the announcement of Tess Reichlen retirement? I do remember having read about Maria Kowroski, Gonzalo Garcia and Amar Ramasar, but I am surprised to learn that Ms. Reichlen has retired.

5 hours ago, BalanchineFan said:

I have had a bad experience in these seats, orchestra S, T, U and V. Maybe the people in front of me were tall, or had long torsos, but I could not see a thing, not even the floor of the stage. I agree that row R is fine if no one is sitting in front of you. Plenty of leg room, just watch out for people walking in the aisle. In STU and V I found the sight lines so bad that I ended up standing near the side doors in the orchestra. Wear flat shoes.

I love sitting in the first and second ring. There's more of a slope and no such problems.

Thank you, BalanchineFan. Most times I chose seats in the second ring (and occasionally the first) for the same reasons you mentioned: good slope, unobstructed view. This time I felt like trying something different, so I purchased a seat in row R. We'll see (either the dancers or someone's head).

Thank you nysusan! I'll take a look at those seats!

Great advice. Many thanks canbelto and cobweb!

At the present time I'm planning a trip to NYC for next January and I'm also thinking of attending a performance at David Koch Teater.

From what I can see at the NYCB website, the price for the last rows of Orchestra (R, S, T, U and V) is USD 110, which is what I intend to spend. Any opinions about those rows? Is there a good slope, so people sitted in the previous rows won't obstruct your view? Is that too far from the scenery? For that price would you rather choose a central seat in the second ring?

Thank you in advance for any replies.

Thank you so much, Helene. That's a lot of information!

Thank you sf_herminator. I think it's a beautiful way to recognize the departing dancers

This video brought back to my mind som questions I’ve often wondered. We all have read in this forums about that: dancers leaving a company for a lot of different reasons. In some cases (particularly with some principals in ABT) I remember having read about dancers that were “shown the exit” rather than having made the decission by themselves. What I wonder is how that works in less notorious cases, like corps members. Are they told in advance that they won’t get a new contract? Are they told that their dancing abilities are not anymore at the level the company requires? Do different companies have different policies about that?

I am not aware about other companies, but in the case of NYCB I think every year there are some new apprentices, and also every year some of them get contracts to join the company, right? Is there a similar number of corps de ballet members who leave the company every year? Do those dancers leave by their own will or in some cases the company just don’t renew their contracts and that’s it?

I do realize that this is off topic here, but I'm not sure where this questions should be posted, so I apologize in advance for that.

Although I didn't really like the excerpts shown, I was amazed by Taylor Stanley and Lauren Lovette. Sometimes I thought her dancing was bland, but not in this piece.

4 minutes ago, Helene said:

Besides the iconic pose, Diamonds when danced by Balanchine and Balanchine-influenced companies always reminds me more of Raymonda than Swan Lake.  I always think of Raymonda as a creature of the woods, and I think of the Diamonds woman more as a stag than a swan.

Agree with you, Helene. I always thought that the Diamonds ballerina features quite regal manners, which I relate to Raymonda.

Thank you pherank. I totally understand what you said and I remember having read about the idea of Balanchine about each chapter of Jewels. What I meant is that seeing Nuñez and Soares in this pdd reminded me of Swan Lake. That didn't happen when I saw the same pdd danced by the NYCBallet or the POB (the latter, in video).

6 hours ago, meunier fan said:

Was surprised to find this online - The Royal Ballet's 2017 Cinema Broadcast of Jewels ... (Leave it to the Russians) ... Lamb and McRae are fun in Rubies (great too to see Valentino Zucchetti beaming away in the background) ... and James Hay is oh, so elegant in the Emeralds trio.  Sadly Soares (now retired) was just not up to the Diamonds' challenges - which was especially frustrating as Muntagirov had been so spectacular in it and he and Nunez work so well together.  A definite missed opportunity ... 

 

Thank you for that! I loved the Rubies pas de deux!!!

Is it a misperception of mine or the Diamonds pas de deux danced by Nuñez and Soares looks quite SwanLakeish?

Thank you, maps. I stand corrected.

1 hour ago, nanushka said:

(Though I personally don't find Megan Fairchild at all a great fit in Ballo della Regina, I'm glad to see a complete recorded performance of it other than the Dance in America video.)

The Dance in America Ballo never engaged me. I found the ballet much more interesting in the actual stage version currently available at www.nycballet.com.

Opposite to what nanushka said, I really liked Megan Fairchild in this, and also Catazaro. Definitely, watching this helped me to see many of the things you pointed at when I asked about Balanchine style. One more time, thank you all for that!

I just read that Willy Burmann passed away in New York City. According to the news, he was 80 years old and Covid 19 was the cause of his death.

2 hours ago, jeff-sh said:

Dmitrii Vyskubenko played the main character in the Russian movie My Dad is Baryshnikov in 2010.

Thank you, Jeff-sh!

2 hours ago, Quiggin said:

Interesting version of Jewels which I'm used to seeing in the PBS version directed by Balanchine and under Helgi Tomasson's guardianship at San Francisco ballet. I also remember a very noble and effective Igor Zelensky in Diamonds at City Ballet. This broadcast of the Bavaraian State Ballet's Emeralds had lots of smiles, and knowing smiles, which for me go against its sombre and wistful mood. The effect was more of the character of a social Fragonard painting than an introspective one by Watteau. I thought that Alina Somova was fascinating in Diamonds. Her detailing was much finer than Suzanne Farrell's and the delicate sideways crisscrossing of her feet (don't know the ballet term) was a stroboscopic marvel. She seemed to want to dramatize the choreography based on what she heard in Tchaikovsky's music and gave the ballet lots of little stories ( in comparison Farrell and Martins were completely neutral, verging on poker-faced). At the end of the variable weathers there was a sudden smile, a bit startling, directed at her partner like a burst of sunlight through the clouds. 

 

You’re so right about the smiles in Emeralds! I really disliked them!

Loved especially the four corps gentlemen in Rubies and the gentleman in the Emeralds pas de trois.

2 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

I don't have it handy, and it would have to be updated, but several years ago I made a chart of international ballet companies, including troupes from eastern Europe, Russia and east Asia. In particular I was interested in company size and ADs. There were very few women among them. And it is striking that many companies founded by women, such as the Royal Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, ABT, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Australian Ballet, are now headed by men.

Thank you volcanohunter. What you say is what I was interested in, since I do think that the debate about rules and exceptions needs some data to support any conclusion.

Although I realize South America is very often below the radar, in this part of the world three out of four of the most prominent ballet companies feature female AD: Cecilia Kerche and Ana Botafogo in Theatro Municipal (Rio de Janeiro), Marcia Haydee in Teatro Municipal (Santiago de Chile) and Paloma Herrera in Buenos Aires (Teatro Colón). The fourth company I have in mind is Sodre Ballet in Uruguay, where after doing a great job rebuilding the company, Julio Bocca passed the baton to Igor Yebra.

8 hours ago, Helene said:

Who are exceptions that prove the rule.

Do we have any figures to support any of the points in this debate? I haven't got any, but IMHO it's not a minor detail that some of these women are AD of relevant ballet companies in the world, like Paris Opera Ballet, English National Ballet and NYCBallet (even though Wendy Whelan is Associate AD).

Copeland and Herman Cornejo were announced as guest dancers for Lacotte's La Sylphide last year. He arrived to Buenos Aires several days in advance in order to work with the repetiteurs. She arrived to Buenos Aires four days before opening night. After she worked with Cornejo and the repetiteurs for a couple of days, her manager Gilda Sqare stated Misty was injured and therefore wouldn't dance. On the other hand, there was an article in a major local newspaper suggesting she hadn't learnt the part. There's some more details in the Dancers section of the forums (Misty Copeland, part deux, pages 17 and 18).

1 hour ago, Leah said:

Am I imagining things or did Copeland say something recently about moving away from classical roles to contemporary rep? And for full lengths this spring she’s only scheduled to do Giselle and Swan Lake, right? I wouldn’t be surprised if she pulled out of both.

edit: forgot about R+J and Jane Eyre, although I don’t think either present the technical challenges that classical full lengths usually do.

Copeland and Cory Stearns have been announced as a guests for La fille mal gardée at Teatro Colón next July. I'm a bit surprised about that after the Sylphyde affair last season. Let's see what happens.

I guess most of us have watched the video of the ABT suite of Paquita staged by Makarova. As much as I enjoy the variations danced by Susan Jaffe and Cynthia Harvey, I dislike the variation for Paquita. I find it uninteresting. Perhaps I'm missing something?

On 3/27/2012 at 3:39 AM, Kerry1968 said:

The Princess Florine variation from The Sleeping Beauty. That music really gets on my nerves

I thought that variation was weak, in particular compared to the male variation, until I saw Ludmila Semenyaka dance it!

I particularly remember her in the first theme of The four temperaments.

Thank you Helene! I see what you mean, especially about Ashley (I never had the chance to see von Aroldingen).

Sometimes people enjoy that kind of challenges: try what doesn't seem obvious. Or even further: try what looks obviously a non fit for someone. I've seen that in a law firm (assigning cases to different people) with varying degrees of success. Any chances Mr. Balanchine might have seen it that way? In many different ways, I see him as a challenger.

11 hours ago, Helene said:

To repeat myself, Balanchine casting Ashley and von Aroldingen in Emeralds, which is on video in the Jewels excerpts first aired on PBS.  Also casting Heather Watts, who got some horrible things written about her, and Balanchine told her he didn't care what others thought: it was his opinion that mattered.  (She was a highlight, if not the highlight, of that Jewels performance in the pas de trois.)

I guess I have missed something, Helene. My apologies.

Would you please care to explain what you mean when you mention that casting for Emeralds by Balanchine?