canbelto

Another ever-elusive Gelsey Kirkland Giselle clip has surfaced. Wow at that elevation and ballon.

Any idea what they'll be touring?

I was at the premiere last night. Protestors were not as large in number as expected, and the NYPD put them in safe spaces away from the attendees. There were vigorous bag checks and some mid-show disruptions but overall it was peaceful and at the end John Adams got a huge standing ovation. The cast is amazing and the production is well worth seeing. Shame it won't be preserved on HD. On my way in a woman tried to block me and said "I love Israel." I said "I love Israel too but you're in my way." That was that.

Here's a clip of the Ratmansky/Wheeldon joint ballet: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154739558545529&set=vb.112319735528&type=2&theater

I think the point of having the black swans dance with the white swans in the last act is because younger swans are black? I believe the original Ivanov actually used children as swans in the corps de ballet.

What a wonderful night. Full of NYCB alumni: Jacque d'Amboise (who gave Wendy a final waltz at the curtain calls), Damian Woetzel, Philip Neal, Jock Soto, Janie Taylor, Sebastian Marcovici. Saw ABT people there: David Hallberg, Stella Abrera, Gillian Murphy, Ethan Stiefel, Irina Dvorovenko. Wonderful farewell. Concerto DSCH was my favorite moment. During After the Rain the whole house was quite literally pindrop silent.

I'm really surprised Hallberg is getting such a heavy workload. He's been injury prone the last couple of years and I hope he can make it through this season's ABT. Excited for Stella getting Cinderella, Veronika Part once again getting evening performances, and Evgenia Obraztsova as a guest, as she doesn't tour much with her home company (Bolshoi).

It is great to see this clip, because he looks so happy and excited, and also a lot younger than the most commonly played clips of him in the late 1960's/70's. And about Mr. B speaking Russian I have never heard it but Suzanne Farrell said in her autobiography that one of the reasons she sometimes felt left out and thinking "this won't work" was his habit of taking her to his Russian group of friends and all of them sat around speaking Russian and she was just sort of there ...

It was Olga Smirnova, and yes, she danced a one-off Bayadere.

I have tickets to the Klinghoffer opening. Should be quite an, uh, event.

Tito Gobbi said in his autobiography that "health problems" led to her unusually short career. Whatever the reasons, once she decided to step away from opera, her decision was complete. I'm surprised that she never even tried to revive her career with the occasional concert. It's unusual for any singer to disappear so completely. I must admit that when I heard of her passing this week I was surprised she was still alive, as she was so reclusive. As for her voice I think it must have been very impressive in person but on records she didn't seem lvery refined or much of an interpreter.

Osipova has danced Ashton's R&J: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/8618941/Ivan-Vasiliev-and-Natalia-Osipova-Romeo-and-Juliet-for-real.html

Okay maybe I should reword it. I think she's an extreme example of a dancer where the fans feel comfortable being very aggressive online and leaking Mariinsky information and also disparaging other dancers in the company. Whether or not it comes from her, I don't really know. But some info comes from people who certainly THINK they know all about the daily ins and outs of Mariinsky company life. I mean, this isn't TMZ or perezhilton. These are her self-identified fans. I guess I have a hard time believing that the fans could be acting all on their own, especially when professional fandom is indeed a business in Russia.

Well, my point is that in Russia, it seems more normal to have "professional fans." There was a NYTimes article awhile back on paid claques: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/arts/dance/designated-cheering-spectators-thrive-at-the-bolshoi-theater.html?smid=pl-share With that knowledge in mind, I do think a Russian ballerina is going to get more scrutiny if a particularly rabid fanbase starts overtaking various social media forms. And to put this in perspective, I once said in a public forum (not here) that I had talked to a certain artist and that he was indeed very sick and had canceled due to genuine indisposition. The next day I got a polite but firm message on Facebook for me not to put any private convos out on public forums, no matter how innocuous it may seem. I heeded that advice and asked the moderator to delete my comment. My point is, artists are aware of social media and I'm sure they're aware of what's being put out there, and they're aware of the positive or negative effects it can have.

I think that in the age of social media platforms, a dancer has to be hyper vigilant that he or she is being represented well by her fanbase. Most performers IMO do a great job of this: I have seen inappropriately disparaging remarks about other dancers or singers quickly deleted on social media pages. I'm not saying Stepanova is responsible for the rabid behavior of her fans, maybe just that she sgould have been more vigilant and careful about how she was being represented.

I'm kind of surprised at how open Russian dancers are with their fans. It's as if they feel comfortable talking about all the company's internal politics with their fans, who then relay it on various social media forums. Stepanova is an extreme case of this. I would never think it's appropriate to share so much sensitive information with fans, but I guess cultures are different.

Well, per Yulia's instagram, she's suited up to dance in LHH today, so maybe she hasn't left the company yet and it's not a done deal.

Well I'm saddened about Xiomara Reyes. It's remarkable how she's kept her dancing at such a consistent level through the years, and she was still totally charming this past season in Cinderella.

There's not much video, but supposedly Balanchine was a great character dancer. There's only that Playhouse 90 video where we can see some of it.

Bought my tickets. Logged on at noon sharp, and only Row K fourth ring seats left. $94 per seat.

That's great to hear. I feel very sad for Melissa. One thing that struck me when watching the two of them on TV together was how much of a tiger mom Joan was. She was 81, but still very much The Mom in that relationship. It was sort of cute.

That I can actually believe. It seems as if the "prickly" comedians like Joan Rivers are less frozen than the "straight man" comedians. Maybe they just get out all their aggression through comedy or something. For instance I saw a documentary once with Conan O'Brien and he ... well, let's just say he didn't exactly act like the nice goofy guy he plays on TV. As for Johnny Carson, I agree dirac, reading about him makes me depressed because I do watch his old episodes on youtube and his jokes about alimony/divorce aren't so funny when you know about his real life. It's like he made it a goal to die alone, miserable, with wads and wads of money and he succeeded in that goal. Actually I have a hard time viewing both Ed Sullivan and Johnny Carson shows now that I know about their rather creepy off-TV lives. At least Johnny Carson was just mostly self-destructive, while Ed Sullivan ... knowing how much he pushed for HUAC testimony ... yuck.

I follow Farrell Ballet on twitter as well. I don't think Suzanne is the one involved in the twitter handle. It's weird to see the twitter pix of her and see her with short hair now.

I think the music is sort of bombastic but that's just me ...

I loved Joan Rivers. Of course I loved funny snarky fashion police Joan but I also loved when she was being more serious, as she was in this interview. I think she gave more insight into the dog-eat-dog world of show business than a million self-serving celebrity autobiographies in this brief snippet about Johnny Carson's ice cold reaction to her getting her own show: