On 12/22/2021 at 3:53 PM, canbelto said:

I'm going to be a contrarian and say don't get FC tickets. I find theyre great for opera but awful for ballet, even if you bring opera glasses. I'd get balcony box if you want a cheaper alternative.

I agree wholeheartedly.  Yes, the acoustics in FC are great for opera.  But you can't see ballet well from the FC.  High quality binoculars are terrific for watching ballet.

1 hour ago, ABT Fan said:

I wouldn't be surprised if I end up renting it anyways, after I watch the free 2011 version per the links above!

I'm 3/4 of the way through Akram Khan's Giselle for ENB - I've wanted to see that for years, so getting the free trial is worth it just for that.

I've seen the free 2011 version on YouTube, and I have Khan's Giselle on the agenda too.  

ABT Fan said:  Thanks for this link! I just started a one week free trial with Marquee TV, but you have to pay extra ($20!) to rent NYCB’s Nut from 2 years ago. Which I didn’t realize before subscribing, which was the whole point! 😕

Ha ha, I had the same intention but I don't mind ending up paying for Nutcracker.  What I really liked on this site was the doc on Osipova "Force of Nature: Natalia"

2 hours ago, BalanchineFan said:

There's a picture of Melissa Hayden, Tanaquil LeClerq, Maria Tallchief, Diana Adams and Patricia Wilde dancing together in a ballet called Divertimento. They are all on pointe and lined up so that you can see their heights and proportions in relation to each other. Somehow I can't manage to link it here, but google it. You can make interesting comparisons (if you are so inclined). Diana Adams is clearly the tallest. Patricia Wilde the shortest. The differences in thigh length, torso length and overall proportions also fit well into this discussion. But really, imagine having a company where you could cast them all TOGETHER!

Found the photo on Twitter but it can't be inserted ... try this image instead.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.pt%2Fpin%2F498492252481817768%2F&psig=AOvVaw0mmTcnwEhdgxrTqDZC6WTd&ust=1638549485114000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCPCjz9bGxfQCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

47 minutes ago, cobweb said:

Wait, per that report Hyltin said the very first performance she had with NYCB was Nutcracker, "... and I danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy." The reporter must have gotten something confused. 

I won't get to see Nut this year for the first time in quite awhile, so please keep the reports coming! I really enjoy the two lead Flowers, so anyone who takes note of them, I'd love to hear. Also if anyone sees Chun Wai Chan's debut as Cavalier next week - please report!!! Glad to hear that Veyette looks so good!! 

I won't see it either so I'm hoping for many vivid reviews.

I think he's still alive.  There's a fair amount of info about him in Lobenthal's book on Osipenko, which is fascinating..  

1 hour ago, nanushka said:

Ohh thank you so much for sharing all those details, @California!

Yes, thanks, that was a great reprise of Dancers.  Despite the dipsoid plot, I've seen the film several times.  Baryshnikov is so stellar and I enjoyed Ferri' very much.

47 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

Thanks to everyone for their reports on last night. I wish I had been there. Wonderful to hear that Brandt’s debut was so extraordinary and very happy that Peterson did so well in her Myrta debut.

I second that thank you.  I really wanted to be there but could not.  All of your detailed knowledgeable reviews helped to create an imagery of that performance. .

8 hours ago, canbelto said:

David Hallberg used to do the brises very well too.

I saw a Giselle with Osipova & Hallberg in about 2013.  I think he did 24 entrechats.  I have to admit that after seeing a few, entrechats put me to sleep.  

10 hours ago, California said:

And in case anybody has forgotten, they start at 18:56 in this clip. Baryshnikov does five the first time, six on the second. I think Stearns did three? It must be difficult on dancers when they know we have all seen The Gold Standard! (I think that was filmed on the Met Opera stage, as I remember, so he had a bit more space.

Yes, this Giselle was filmed at the Met.

10 hours ago, fondoffouettes said:

Who has done them well in recent memory? The last dancer I can recall doing them with a real wow factor was Corella. I've seen Cornejo perform them adequately but they didn't make much of an impact. I feel like I've only ever seen them in their full glory from Baryshnikov (in the old video) and Corella. 

You're so right!  Baryshnikov's brises were  beautiful as well as dramatically potent.  I believe I saw Corella do them at his last Giselle with Vishneva.

34 minutes ago, canbelto said:

I saw Heather Watts with Damian in the lobby. She was there, as was Eddie Villela. Ashley Bouder wasn't there but she might be rather immobile from her injury. I also saw Gillian Murphy in the lobby.

I also saw Villella in the lobby.  I thought I saw Watts appear on stage.  Was Wheeldon there also?

49 minutes ago, JuliaJ said:

If Bouder is injured, Peck is probably subbing in for her Other Dances with Mejia on Thursday and Saturday

I hope to see Peck in OD!  Sorry if Bouder is injured.  I was so disappointed to see Bouder cast in OD this week.  I don't think she has the ethereal introspective quality that's under the surface in this ballet.

14 minutes ago, jerryb said:

Actually, IMHO Watermill IS a work of genius.  Particularly if one was luck enough to see Villella in it.  But a fantastic theater/dance pieces no matter who dances the lead.  It was booed at the premiere mostly because I think the NYCB audience was looking for another Dances at a Gathering.  If IIRC New York Magazines review had an illustration of an audience with pig heads sitting on their hands.

I agree, Watermill is very unusual.  I saw it with Villella back in the day.

sappho said:

I saw Dusty Button dance several times at BB and was impressed by her  in Balanchine and contemporary works.  Never understood why she left the company.   I was shocked by the  allegations against Button's husband  earlier this year and even more disgusted by the recent news of Button  also being named as defendant.  To say I feel sick to my stomach is an understatement.  I also am encouraged by Boston Ballet's support of the  company dancer who was abused by the Buttons.

VIPA said:

An interesting discussion. In recent years, a couple of things have come to my mind when seeing new works at NYCB. First - did the choreographer use the abilities of these particular dancers to the max? Second - Do I need to see NYCB do this work?  I don't want to see up and coming choreographers doing work on NYCB, that they'd do on any company. Works that look the same company to company. Personally, I don't want the further homogenization of ballet/dance companies so that where ever you go you see the same choreography done pretty much the same way. The last Pam Tanowitz ballet I saw at NYCB (pre-pandemic) would have looked the same on any company IMO - ballet or modern. Seeing that same work done by a little known company, at the Joyce Theater would have been fine. I relish seeing Balanchine and Robbins at NYCB because the company does those works like no other. I'm not a great Ratmansky fan, but when I watch the works he choreographed on NYCB I can see the company in those works. If I was hiring choreographers I'd definitely want to know - what about this company and these dancers makes you think different. 

45 minutes ago, Quiggin said:

 

Good discussion. I think Balanchine may have had trouble with Onegin based on the distortions to, and sentimentalization of, Pushkin's story. (And what Balanchine himself could have done with Tatiana's dream!). Also the British were a little cool on Balanchine in general in the 50s, complaining that his choreography of ballets like Symphony in C was cold and mathematical. 

I find Peck and Ratmansky works inventive and witty enough to fit into the City Ballet repertoire and hold up their end of the evening programs. Russian Seasons can be very affecting and Ratmansky's recent Bernstein Bubble for ABT was full of wonderful variations. What's nice about Pam Tanowitz's work is how it cleanses the palate of postmodernist empty gestured, live-fish-in-a-basket choreography such as Wayne McGregor's and treats the parts of dance as simple set of materials to be assembled and incrementally varied.

Well, Balanchine was a unique phenomenon and it's difficult to hold him a kind of norm. He brought the inheritance of the traditional Russian ballet, the radical Soviet avant garde of the early twenties (out of whose style book The Four Temperaments comes) and ideas he had worked on in Diaghilev's company. Only Ratmansky has some of that depth of experience, with the Bolshoi and via the Taganka Theater productions he watched closely. In the art world the parallels would be with the Black Mountain College where young artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly were exposed to the Bauhaus teachings of Kurt Schwitters and Josef Albers. Now it's Matisse who often seems to be a point of reference in the art world, not only with his color sense but with the way he pushes the dynamics of the painting right to the edges of the canvas. I wonder if there's a point of reference in the past that young choreographers could open and and have a dialogue with – Ballets suédois, Kurt Jooss – that would enrichen their work and help them use the space of the "canvas" in a different way. Some place outside the closed loop of the usual influences.

 

Great point made by Vipa about new works by choreographers that "fit"  the dancers of  NYCB.  I do agree with everything Quiggin says about Tanowitz and Ratmansky.  I  AM a great fan of Ratmansky yet the point about "seeing the company" in his works for City Ballet is very true.  About Balanchine's dislike of ballets on Onegin, somewhere there's a quote about the music; it may be that he complained that Cranko didn't use a note from the opera.

FPF said

Why would it be more distracting to see women with different hairstyles than men with different hairstyles?

Maybe it wouldn't be more distracting. I only say that because there seem to be more variations in hair for women than for men. Maybe in the corps de ballet women, 24 variations in hair would not look as lovely as 24 bunheads. Don't know.  But I'm open!  True about the short haired women you mention, and Makarova with Baryshnikov in Other Dances has short hair.

On 9/24/2021 at 3:52 PM, nanushka said:

Jeez, a guy doesn't have a full head of hair so we can't accept his dancing in a non-narrative neo-classical tutu ballet?

The dance world has (mostly) gotten used to other ways, equally irrelevant to actual dancing, in which dancers were previously thought to "not look the part" (e.g. skin tone). Maybe over time we'll all get a little more used to this too and find the lack of a full head of hair to be less distracting?

I certainly found Angle's former fake hair to be pretty distracting too.

I agree!   I find it puzzling that there's one camp of ballet lovers who find the bald head distracting, and another who find long hair distracting.  I didn't even know Angle was wearing a toupee, and  the shaved head won't bother me at all if i see hin in performances in October.  I know quite a lot has been written about hair since the topic appeared.  Someone posted links to great long haired dancers of the 70s & 80s; that was terrific and something I had thought about doing too.  I was remembering the wonderful film of Tschai PdD on YouTube with McBride & Baryshnikov, in which his hair is bountiful and flying.  Then there's the  question of why women are held to more rigid standards.  I don't know the answer.  I think it may well be distracting to see 24 women with 24 different hairstyles.   Surely there have been short haired ballerinas other than Bouder & Osipova? 

57 minutes ago, California said:

Agree on Gordon! I really noticed him a few years ago when he did Coppelia with Bouder (still as a soloist) and at Vail in 2019. Very glad I got to see him again.

Me too about Gordon.  I noticed him before the Coppelia with Bouder and then saw that in 2019.  He is spectacular!

6 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

I'm really surprised the company hasn't sent some sort of "know before you go" email to ticketholders about what to expect in terms of safety protocols for tomorrow night (and upcoming performances). I agree with others that no intermissions feels like "safety theater." I haven't heard of any other NYC theaters/performing arts orgs who are doing the same. 

Having bathroom breaks is important. Intermissions also provide relief for those with disabilities (often invisible) that make it difficult to sit for long periods of time. I wonder if they'll make the pauses longer than usual to accommodate people's needs. 

I received the email below yesterday, but my tickets aren't until Oct 16 & 17.

Below is the response I received on 08.16 to my question about no intermissions.  They neglected to answer how intermission-less performances make audiences safer ...

4 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

That too! Tossing a bouquet across the footlights to the other coast 💐

I second that!  83 copies blows my mind.  The Boston Public Library has 3 print copies and 3 eBooks.  .  I see now that are are more than 20 reserves for the book, but several weeks ago  I was #1 and the only one reserving  a print copy.

On 8/2/2021 at 2:27 PM, Terez said:

Great to read all these comments. I'm going back and forth about buying this one. I'm so enjoying Gavin Larsen's Being a Ballerina, I'm afraid Pazcoguin's book might be a rough jolt in terms of voice and presentation. Maybe I'll wait a few months between the two reads. 

I really enjoyed Pazcoguin's book and read it very quickly.  For all of you on the fence about buying it, you can get it at the library!  It's candid, passionate, sincere, has an authentic insider quality to it, and right from the beginning, you're convinced of GP's love of ballet.  I learned a lot.  Her description of dancing on Broadway was fascinating.  I do wish she had written more of the post Martins era.  Her descriptions of interactions with Martins were shocking!  I'm so glad he's gone. 

I had already read Being a Ballerina, and found it disappointing and often boring.  She never really talked about details, which ballets she loved/hated to dance, who her favorite choreographers were, did she have any dance idols.  She didn't even say much about her partners or other dancers. I didn't get a real sense of who she was. Readers who liked GL's book could easily dislike GP's.

GP's profanity didn't bother me as such, although given that English is such a rich language I sometimes wondered why she couldn't find substitute words for the Fs.

Nanushka said:

Again, I guess it's a matter of what one turns to particular books hoping to find. For me, the primary appeal of a dancer memoir is not in its prose style; if the prose gives pleasure, that's a bonus. I'm reading the book for the candid insights about a dancer's experience.

Agree that I'm looking for candid insights and a sense of who the author is, why they dance, what they love,.

5 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

I wonder if NYCB will decide to revise its policy in light of 1) rising Covid-19 case rates at both the local and national level; 2) revised CDC guidance re indoor masking; 3) more and more organizations in the for-profit, non-profit, health care, and government sectors requiring vaccinations of both employees and customers; and 4) the number of public figures now urging everyone to get vaccinated. 

Surely headlines like "All NYC Counties Fall Under CDC's New Recommendation For Universal Indoor Masking" has to prompt a NYC performing arts organization to re-think its re-opening policies. (Or this one, as Nutcracker season approaches: "Arkansas Children’s hospitals report record high number of children hospitalized with Covid-19"—it certainly got my attention.)

Frankly, it might be easier for a venue to require vaccines for admission than to try to enforce a masking requirement. You just know that there will be audience members who will kick up a prolonged and noisy ruckus when an usher politely requests that they put their masks back on. 

 

I wonder too if NYCB policy will change.   About a week ago, I emailed NYCB and asked how having no intermissions protected the audience.  Couldn't they close off the Promenade and only allow people on paths to the bathrooms?  Couldn't they require masks or proof of vaccination instead?  Yada yada yada.  I didn't receive an answer.