liebs

I saw the same cast last night as Alexandra has commented on and agree with her analysis. I was very favorably impressed with Flavio Salazar as Bottom. His mime scene after he returns to human form was detailed and hence, touching. Symphony in C is played at a much slower tempo than NYCB uses and that is both good and bad. In the second movement with Kent and Gomes, the slower tempo robbed her of any chance to make the adagio one long skein of movement in the way Kistler and others do at NYCB. And since Kent, and mostly everyone else in the cast, are "very steppy" in the way they perform this work, the movement lacked magic. Stiefel danced brillantly but inappropriately in the third movement. He was determined to show off the height of his jumps and inserted double saute de basques, thereby overshadowing his partner Gillian Murphy. She danced well if somewhat icily - although it was hard to blame her for her lack of warmth under the circumstances. Wiles and Ricardo Torres led the fourth movement. Here the slower tempo was a boon, allowing Wiles to cleanly and joyously execute that difficult pirouette combination. I was most impressed with her and thought she had the best understanding of the dynamics of the piece. On a general note, both Dream and Bizet call for very strong pointe work and I frequently did not see fully stretched feet. In Bizet, some of the women have a much looser fifth position in releve than one sees at NYCB. Additionally, both in Onegin and last night, the women's pointe work is very noisy. Perhaps it is true that the design of the State Theatre muffles the foot falls but I generally sit much closer to the stage at the State Theater and rarely hear as much of a racket as the fairies made last night.

I'd like to see Meunier as Hagar in Pillar. Or maybe, Tatiana in Onegin.

Alexopoulos has never been a favorite of mine but I think she fills an interesting niche at NYCB. She's neither a spectacular technician such as Ashley or Bouder as she didn't in the years I saw her have much of a jump or allegro technique nor is she bursting with personality. I found many of her performances rather cold and withdrawn, which might be why it was so much fun to see her as ANita in West Side Story. What Alexopoulos is is "the glamour girl." And I think there is a tradition of that kind of dancer at NYCB. Lourdes Lopez filled the bill before Alexopoulos (dancing some of the same roles)as did Valentina Kolova and from what I read, in earlier times Mimi Paul and Jillian held a similar place. Some of the glamour girl roles for me are Merry Widow in Vienna Waltzes, the Firebird (although Bouder probably takes a different approach), the Coquette in Sonnambula, all the parts in Antique Epigraphs, and The Stripper in Slaughter among others. It is interesting to speculate who might be the next NYCB glamour queen.

Prisma, I think it is important to remember that this is a student performance and can not be judged by professional standards. Secondly, no judgement should be made from a rehearsal - that's not a performance. Lastly, it is perhaps a bit discourteous to refer to well known and well respected teachers by their first names.

Mel, I had no idea the Joffrey did Sunflowers. I saw it once at Syracuse Ballet Theatre. Anthony Salantino, the AD, was close to Tudor. I remember it being a lovely piece, not as dark in tone as some of Tudor's work. Given the kind of work ABT does now, maybe the dancers have lost the ability to tackle Tudor. Subtle emotion is not exactly a strong suit for many of them. But to be fair, the Lilac Garden two seasons ago had some nice performances.

I remember many of Feld's ballets from the 70s with great pleasure but haven't really cared for them since that time. For me, it is because Feld seems to be working out some sort of intellectual "problem" that interests him not responding to the music. And many of those "problems" just don't interest me.

Gaite Purrisienn. Or here's one that doesn't need a name change - Enigma Variations.

From my Balanchine addicted daughter, Catcerto Barocco.

Or Paws de Quatre?

Nichols will be back this season. Hallelujah! Ryan Kelly, Lauren Toole, Megan Pepin and Melissa Walter have left the company. Jerome Johnson has joined the corps. And, I saw Arch Higgins taking class so maybe he'll be back. Alex Ritter, a personal favorite, is one of the principals in Stephen Baynes ballet for the Diamond Project.

Both projects received funding from Irene Diamond among other donors. In the Institute, choreographers work without the pressure of a performance deadline. They have two weeks in the studio to explore whatever they like. There are also some symposia on the subject of choreography (recent subjects were Bournonville and Petipa). In the Diamond Project, choreographers are commissioned to create works for the season. Much more pressure than the Institute.

NYCB has announced her final performance for May 18, I believe. Alexopoulos will be performing in Prodigal and Vienna Waltzes. At least, she's going out wearing a great costume!

The exhibit is now on view at the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center and well worth seeing.

When I was in Amsterdam, I picked up a copy of the schedule for next season, which I thought might be of interest. There are a number of premieres by choreographers whose work I don't know - they include Ted Brandsen (Carmen), Krzysztof Pastor (short piece and an evening length work to the music of Kurt Weill) and David Dawson. Hans van Manen is represented by 5 Tangos. Other full length works include Rudi van Dantzig's Romeo and Juliet, and Nutcracker, which is choreographed by Wayne Eagling and Toer van Schayk. There is a program called "New York Masters", which includes Robbins's The Concert, Serenade and Martha Graham's Acts of Light. A very eclectic repertoire and one that, I think, would give the company a strong artistic profile. Although that profile would not be that of a "classical company."

I saw "The Idiot" and even Nurevey's performance couldn't save it. I think it was done by the Berlin Ballet and also had Eva Evdokimova as the heroine and a spectacular set featuring a train. I didn't understamd the plot then and don't remember it now, so some summer I'll have to read the book.

I notice that Kelly is no longer listed as a member of NYCB's corp. Anyone know what he is doing?

I've just seen Cranko's Eugene Onegin for the first time in years and it illuminated for me one of the problems of story ballets ie there are some things that neither dance nor mime can convey. In Onegin, the hero's motivation and behavior are very complex and are tied to certain specific cultural and historical trends that just cann't be conveyed in dance. For example, Onegin flirts with his best friend's fiancee, his friend challenges him to a duel and Onegin shoots him. Obivously, there are many complex emotions behind these actions but in the ballet one only sees the very simple actions. And one of the other BA members told me that there are alot complex rulings about duels that would have been known to Pushkin's audience. So we get the surface actions but not necessarily the depths and I don't think that more mime would have helped. The other problem in many story ballets for me is all the filler required to make three acts. Onegin has two long ballroom dances for the corp in Act Three that don't advance the plot in any way nor are they particularly interesting choreographically. And remember the whores in McMillian's Romeo, those dances go on forever. All that said, there are many story ballets I love - Giselle, Swan Lake, Beauty, Coppelia, Rodeo, Pillar of Fire, Ashton's Fille and Month in the Country. And I've always wanted to see Enigma Variations and Deux Pigeons. But try sitting through Spartacus or Manon some day - my idea of hell.

I was predisposed to love this ballet many years before I saw it as my grandmother, who I adored, used to tell me the story. I'm not sure if she ever saw a production and if she did I suppose it was by the Ballet Russe on tour. But her family came over from Russia at the turn of the last century and the story clearly meant something to her. I saw the Joffrey version with Chryst a number of times and he is my favorite Petrouchka. I found his performance more moving than Nureyev's which I also saw at least once live. The Joffrey did a great job with this ballet, the atmosphere and the detailed characterizations were wonderful. Now, this would be a revival I'd like to see.

I remember the ballet fondly as well. Especially in the performances by Daniel Levin as Billy, he really caught the pyschopathic quality of the character. I've always wondered whether ABT might have eventually decided that one Western ballet - Rodeo- was enough. The pieces aren't really similar but the backgrounds are. Could it be ripe for revival? Maybe for Stiefel, there's an edge to his personality that might make for interesting performances.

My husband suggests Romeo and Juliet II: Return from the Crypt

My husband suggests Romeo and Juliet II: Return from the Crypt

Ari, it does seem more international now. There are a good number of Dutch names but several Italian and some that seem French or British. I also noticed two Asian women in the corps. I didn't buy a full program but from what I could see by looking at it during intermission, there are also several Americans. Interestingly, there was a booth manned by the "friends of the ballet." In looking at the materials, the benefits to donors (from what I could tell from the Dutch) were similar to those American companies offer. Open reh, parties, lectures, etc.

I was in Amsterdam last week and had a chance to see a performance at the MuziekTheater. The company, now directed by former RB principal Wayne Eagling, premiered the work some two weeks ago. The production was staged by Reid Anderson and Jane Bourne. I know Anderson was a member of the Stuttgart Ballet under Cranko but don't know Bourne. The decor and costumes, which I liked very much, were by Elisabeth Dalton. I had only seen Onegin once in the middle or late 70's when the Stuttgart came to the Met and remember only Haydee in the sequence with the mirror when she dreams of Onegin and in the climactic third act ppd. I had always thought of this ballet as one of those that illustrated Balanchine's dictum, "there are no mother-in-laws in ballet." So, I was pleasantly surprised by how well and unpretensiously the ballet moves along. Only the third act ballroom sequences for the corp seem unnecessary. But I don't know the poem well enough to know how faithfull Cranko is to his source material. Don't know if Cranko was a great choreographer - one to rank with Ashton or Balanchine - but he was certainly a very good one. The characters are developed through dance and in the case of Tatiana and Lensky seem to have signature movements. In all of her variations and ppds, Cranko uses the coup de pied devant position for a variety of movements including supporting and unsupporting pirouettes. For Lensky, he uses a variety of turns and poses in fourth position. The National Ballet doesn't have any widely recognized dancers except Larissa Lezhina who did not dance at this performance. The company did quite well in this classical piece given how much contemporary work they perform (Forsyth, Van Danzig, Andriessen (sp?). The women's pointe work is nice and they generally seem to have good placement. The men could be a little more turned out, I think, but it is hard to judge from just one piece. The best performances of the evening came from Nathalie Caris (a principal) as Tatiana and Federico Bonelli as Lensky. I was less impressed by Altin Alexandros Kaftira as Onegin. Kaftira was trained in Albania and danced there and with the Greek National Ballet. He had a great deal of trouble with his first solo, couldn't phrase it properly so it appeared to be a series of unconnected steps. He partnered well but doesn't really seem to have found the key to Onegin's character. I didn't understand why Onegin decided to flirt with Olga or why he coldly kills his best friend. But maybe these are the kind of thing no one can convey through dancing - their isn't much mime in piece as I recall. Caris was excellent showing us Tatiana first as a young girl in love. In Act Two, her confusion as Onegin flirts with Olga is painfully real. During the second act ballroom scene solo, Caris both danced for Onegin hoping he would notice her and then became incresingly frantic as it was clear that he had no interest in her. Caris took what looked like a painful, face down splat during that solo but managed to incorporate that embrassment into her character. Impressive. In Act Three, Caris conveys a mature woman, at peace with her life and secure in her decision to reject Onegin despite her continuing love for him. This act must be an exhausting one for the ballerina with two contrasting ppds - both of considerable length. Caris is small and dark like Marcia Haydee with nice feet, which she uses well. As I was watching. I wondered what Monique Meunier would make of this part - all her passion and womanliness would certainly make for an interested third act. Bonelli, trained in Turin, was a terrific Lensky. He has good feet, a nice jump, excellent turns and a beautiful fourth position and he used all these assets to convey Lensky's character. He did particularly well in the second act, showing us Lensky's increasing anger as Onegin flirts with Olga and then boiling over so that the challenge to Onegin makes sense. In the next scene before the duek, his solo is one of despair - he seemed to know that this was futile and that there was no hope of a happy result. All in all, I'm glad I went. It was a pleasure to see a company who rarely makes it over here. And the generous Dutch subsidy for the arts meant that orchestra seats were only $30 as compared to $80+ for NYCB or ABT. Eagling has programmed an interest season next year with lots of works by Dutch choreographers who we never see in NYC but also Balanchine (Serenade), Robbins and The Nutcracker.

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to watch Martins and Von Arnoldigen teaching Violin Concerto to a Danish guest artist. Von Arnoldigen got so involved in her work that she began dancing full out and the years just fell away, it was a potent reminder of how wonderful she was in that role. A moment to cherish.

Yes, it does seem a shame that so many 20th century works are so rarely performed. I'd like to see not only more Tudor and Ashton but some other De Mille, some Massine and Fokine and works by people like Ruthanna Boris or Bill Christenson. How about some Tharp works that have been dropped by ABT or early Feld that Eliot doesn't want for his company. And I am sure that there are some European choreographers I haev left out. Leigh, I think the issue of pointe work is an interesting one. If you don't have pieces, which extend that technique you cann't do new pieces that rely on pointework. But then how does a company like Louisville get through the full length classics. It is also clear that dancers love to have works made on them. The enthusiasm Leigh described is echoed in most "choreographic workshops." Even if the piece isn't very good, I imagine the dancers are intrigued at being part of the process.