liebs

Morphoses performances follow the tour to Paris.

I liked the Aocella book but it is not really criticism, more essays on various artists that she wrote for the New Yorker.

I also saw the, dance with Boston and particularly remember Verdy's first act. Such a lovely young girl, her European charm made the character seem so real. They were also a very well matched couple.

I loved all the Trollope novels that make up the "Palliser" series but the best was "Can You Forgive Her?" Things haven't changed much for smart, single women. But I would recommend startng with the first book of the series - the name of which, of course, escapes me.

I'd go for the heroic ballerinas:

Bouder, Sylve, Maria Alexandrova and Zenaida Yanowsky (with Miranda Weese as the alternate)

And for the princesses:

Alexandra Ansanelli, Alina Cojocaru, Carla Korbes and Veronika Part

I know another young man, Douglas Home, from Studio Maestro who is also competing. I believe he is being coached by Johann Renvall.

It might be her final performance in the role of Giselle. Perhaps, she is giving up the part?

You might also want to look into renting an apartment, then you can eat in rather than out at every meal and I've always found that to be a big savings.

I agree that Ramasar is improving but still have my doubts about him in classical roles. He tends to hunch his shoulders and let his turn out go. But I did enjoy him in Dances at a Gathering and he does look good with almost any woman. Maybe he is more of a Robbins dancer than a Balanchine one.

I also saw the matinee and was very impressed by de Luz in Dances. Mearns, not so much, she really overplayed the flirtation waltz and that made her seem a little crazy. On the other hand, I think it is a good role for Mearns, who sometimes seems to heavy trouble with quick changes in direction. There is a lot of that in Dances and perhaps, it will improve that part of her dancing. Abi Stafford looked relaxed, happy and stylish. And the tosses in the big waltz were terrific - Rutherford, Stafford and Fairchild are all so light and Jared Angle is so strong that the girls went flying. Fairchild even seemed a little surprised by her flight. Angle is looking terrific and the duet with de Luz was one of the high points of the piece.

I didn't care for Kent or Garcia in Other Dances. She has a very low sight line and it just makes her look droopy. Everything was on one level in Kent's dancing, which made for a very unintersting performance. Garcia pushed too hard at some points and just looked sloppy at others. He is very heavily muscled now and dances heavily, I wonder if a few years with NYCB will remake his body as it did for de Luz.

Sterling Hyltin was much improved in The Concert. She now brings out the humor as well as the dance values. And I loved Rachel Piskin in the Mistake Waltz - her face and her body language make everything even funnier. Muller has been having a great season and her wife is priceless.

All in all, it was a great afternoon.

Also Susan Stroman presented Damian with a bouquet. Thanks for identifying Guerin. Ferri was also in the audience

There are certainly a number of dancers, and NYCB dancers, who have gone on to post-graduate education. Even some doctors and lawyers, so Damian is scarcely alone in his aducational achievements.

That said, I too look forward to seeing what he does next.

I am sympathetic to fans desires to see a particular performer but perhaps, not all dancers would be happy with the thought of their injuries and illness being described to the public. Is it really our business? I think companies generally try to give the audience the best cast they can muster under any given circumstances.

Ballets to baroque music - especially those with a step for every note.

Ballets to Vivaldi's Four Seasons - when I run the world they will be banned.

I think Holly Hynes does some lovely work. Particularly, some of the things she did for Farrell's Don Quixote.

I read most but not all of it. He lead a fascinating life but the book gets a little repetative. The great thing is that you can browse the index and just read about the people who are interesting to you. There is quite a lot on Callas, which is intriguing - also Dietrich.

Most of what I remember about Kirstein from the book has to do with his private life, his sister, etc.

The State Theater is very expensive and frequently Lincoln Center Festival uses it for non-dance events. The theatre is fully unionized and that adds to the cost. Also about two weeks every summer is spent cleaning and refurbishing the theatre as it gets very hard use during the year.

Over heard last night at the Kirov at City Center, "They are all Russian. They all have Russian names."

No question, it is cyclical and always has been at NYCB. If you read old reviews, there was a down period before Farrell returned in 1974 when people thought dancers like Mazzo and Leland among others were unsuitably cast. There was also a dry spell before Merrill Ashley, Calegari and Nichols came along.

I see some very promising dancers now, especially among the younger men. It is interesting though that Benjamin Millepied seems to be the only working principal man of his generation. Not many men came up with him and those who did (Liang and Marcovici) had truncated careers.

I think there were mitigating circumstances in the London casting. No one could predict that Ringer and Somoygi would be on maternity leave and that Korowski would be out with an injury. That left some roles underfilled. Without these dancers, I am not sure that London got a completely accurate picture of NYCB.

Leigh, you are always hungry.

Several people here and over at ballet.co.uk have commented unfavorably on the Symphony in C tutus. I always thought they were quite beautiful and am very fond of that softer Karinska style. But to each his or her own - I'll look again next time with a fresher eye.

Here in NYC, I have not been that impressed with Garcia. Usually he seems sloppy to me but it does take a few years to work into the NYCB style and schedule. So, let's give him time.

And some ballets just look wrong with smaller dancers in the cast. A Mozartiana at ABT with with Corella and Ricetto was one where I could not see the choreography, which was made for Farrell. It just looked wrong. We've seen that at NYCB too, as when Judith Fugate was allowed to dance Chaconne.

Yes, Feld as was soloist Robert Maiorano (sp?). Asanelli, Bar, Keenan were all pollies or candy canes.

How about Sono Osato's autobiography - is it called Distant Dances? Dance is a Contact Sport by Joseph Mazo on NYCB in the early 70's. There's also a great Tamara Geva autobiography, which talks about earlier days and Tallchief's autobiography is great on early NYCB as is one by Melissa Hayden (who wrote several books).