canbelto

If the film of the POB were only half as good as his other films that I've seen ("Ballet" and "Domestic Violence") then we're in for a treat.

Well i watched it and thought it was lovely. Veronika looked gorgeous in her green "romantic tutu"-like dress. Although you could tell English was definitely her second language she had a good sense of timing, knowing when to giggle sweetly when she was to giggle sweetly, and knowing when to sound deadpan. I thought her tiny little dance with Letterman was cute. Good job Veronika!

... when you look at the bunions growing on your feet and think, "Well at least my feet look like a ballerina's." (Although I also like to think of it as looking at the bright side of things.)

I went to last night's opening performance, starring Diana Vishneva, Marcelo Gomes, Herman Cornejo, and, for some extra star value, Freddie Franklin as Friar Laurence and Veronika Part as Lady Capulet. (What is wrong with Stella Abrera???) This ballet can really have its longeurs, but with the right dancers it's also magical. With Diana and Marcelo (two amazing dancers in their own right), when they dance together, it's like 2+2 = 10. Both are intense, passionate dancers, and they tore up the stage as the young lovers. Both are at this point too mature to really seem like teenagers, but it didn't matter. Marcelo was handsome, passionate, and of course a wonderful partner. I loved his characterization of Romeo as a genuinely sweet young man whose dance with the harlots seemed to be part of his easygoing personality. With Diana, he was magical. The many tricky "moon" lifts in MacMillan's choreography looked absolutely effortless. Diana's Juliet was passionate, headstrong, and Diana being Diana at the end of the balcony pas de deux she tripped while running up the stairs. But she is the type of dancer who so obviously throws herself into roles that even this accident seemed in character. She ended the act slumped over the balcony, reaching for Marcelo's hands. Diana's Juliet was overtly rude to Paris -- she was NOT INTERESTED! She can seem absolutely boneless, and in the lifts she was like jelly in Marcelo's arms. Swoon. The tomb duet was a highlight of the night. Both of them received loud, long ovations. Herman Cornejo received huge ovations for his Mercutio. The man is simply a turning machine! Isaac Stapas also was a handsome, menacing Tybalt. I did the unusual and went to the stage door last night and it's amazing how quiet and even shy dancers are once offstage. And how tiny they are! Veronika Part mentioned that she had danced Giselle in Russia last summer. Does anyone know where she might have danced? (The title role that is.)

I saw the Sylvia matinee today. For a matinee performance it was packed. I thought that for her first time essaying the role, Diana Vishneva was excellent. She really seemed to be having fun, especially during the pizzacato polka, in which her smile just lit up the auditorium. She's more petite than Darcey Bussell and Gillian Murphy, the two Sylvias I have seen (one live, one on video), and also is less clearly the formidable huntress. But on the plus side, she is very seductive in Act 2, and brought a lovely classical purity to Act 3. It was good to see Ethan Stiefel dancing again, and I thought he and Diana partnered very well together. The backwards fish dives in the Act 3 pdd were beautiful. Stiefel I know has had a knee injury but he tore into the role with abandon, and didn't flinch from the big jumps that are a part of the role. I thought the corps, that looked so ragged last week in Swan Lake, somehow looked great today. And the music! What lovely music. Overall, I hope the ABT keeps this in their repertoire.

I also think of "good feet" as a ballerina whose footwork draws attention to the feet. For instance Merrill Ashley might not have had feet as pretty as, say, Lynn Seymour's, but every time I watch the Ballo della Regina video my eyes go to her feet and how impossibly fast and coordinated they are. Which goes back to the saying that very often, it's not what you have, but what you do with it, that counts. Among beautiful feet, I'm surprised I haven't seen Altynai Asylmuratova on the list.

I just returned from a Swan Lake tonight that was easily the most memorable Swan Lake I can remember. The performance was not perfect, but it was one of those performances that seemed to become greater as the night went on, so by the time there was the final curtain it was a screaming ovation. The leads were Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes. I'd never seen Vishneva's O/O, and even though I am a huge fan of this dancer, I was not sure if she is a natural O/O. Well, she isn't a "natural," but somehow she's carved out a portrayal that's as moving as any Swan Lake I've ever seen. She has a somewhat unusual physique -- extremely long arms and an uber-flexible back, alongside legs and feet that look merely serviceable. She uses her large expressive eyes to great effect. Her Odette is mournful, but slightly aloof. She has a way of holding Siegfried at bay with a quick flick of her fingers and an upwards glance. Yet it's not a cold Odette by any means -- during the famous pas de deux, Vishneva used her uber-flexible back and long, fluid arms to give the impression that at times she was literally melting into Marcelo's arms. By the end of the pas de deux, one sensed two people who had genuinely fallen in love onstage. If Vishneva had a shaky moment it was Odette's variation. She messed up on a pirouette, fell off pointe briefly, and never could gain the momentum to finish the difficult diagonal pirouette sequence with the proper flourish. But the great thing about this dancer is that she always takes risks, and gives it her all, and she finished act 2 with a great series of scissones. I thought Vishneva's Odile was more low-key than I expected, but it had the right touch of glamor, and her chemistry with Marcelo was by this time unmistakable, and they really sizzled in their black swan pas de deux. They were having fun, and it showed. Odile's variation was much smoother than Odette's -- no stumbles whatsoever. Vishneva's fouettes were sprinkled with some doubles, which kind of slowed down her momentum, but by now I've come to accept that the effort that she shows in her dancing is like part of her portrayal. She doesn't take the easy way out. At the end of the evening she got a huge, loving ovation and flowers thrown to the stage. Her Prince, Marcelo Gomes, was a prince in every sense of the word. He and Vishneva are inherently well-matched -- both dark-haired, intense performers. He's a beautiful partner, and I hope the partnership between these two great artists continues. I wonder how much better Vishneva's Giselle would have been with Gomes at her side. I otherwise don't have many nice things to say about the production. I thought the corps de ballet looked very ragged at times, especially in Act 1. In Act 2 memories of the Bolshoi in Corsaire made me all too aware of the differences in schooling and style between the various swans, which prevented them from really dancing as one. The harmony they had achieved in Giselle was gone. In Act 4, the choreography is so bad and distracting that it was only the spellbinding dancing between Vishneva and Gomes that kept me in my seat. But still, at the end of the evening one judges Swan Lake by its leads and tonight Vishneva and Gomes hit a grand slam.

I wanted to add that I liked how the Bolshoi corps managed to look elegant and lovely and capable of making beautiful tapered lines without being positively skeletal, unlike the Mariinsky corps (that I've seen recently). Having a bit of flesh especially in their arms and shoulders gave them a softer, more Romantic feel.

I was there on Sunday afternoon and thought that Shipulina was pretty but nothing special. She is what I gather would be the Bolshoi's version of Paloma Herrera -- pretty, professional, but not a real star. I thought Kaptsova was adorable as Gulnare, and stole the show whenever she was onstage. The corps de ballet and scenery were a size too big for the Kennedy Center stage, and I thought at times that the corps de ballet formations would have looked more beautiful on a bigger stage. Nevertheless I loved the reconstruction, from the costumes to the increased mime. I thought Ratmansky did a good job adding charm and flavor to the story, and the Jardin de Anime scene was among the most beautiful things I have ever seen at the ballet.

Although they are very different dancers Natalia's elevation and her ability to seem suspended in the air reminded me a lot of videos of Yuri Soloviev. I am bothered by the fact that the ABT uses such a small corps for their Wilis. Most major ballet companies I've seen use at least 24 Wilis, plus the intendants. The vast Met stage seemed slightly sparse with so few corps members in Act 2.

I just returned from an absolutely unforgettable night of dancing. Natalia Osipova was in short amazing, and although I've heard of her amazing jumps, her speed, her turns, to actually see them in person is another matter. I have never seen a ballerina with such natural elevation -- it seems as if she literally flies across the big Met stage. Even her hops on pointe in the Spessivtseva variation seemed to have this moment of suspension in the air. Her Giselle is a generous, happy girl in Act 1, less emotionally intense than Diana Vishneva (whom I saw on Tuesday). But you like this Giselle, so the inevitable betrayal stings. Osipova's Giselle doesn't seem to have a weak heart -- in the Mad Scene she has sudden cardiac arrest and goes limp more realistically than any other Giselle I've seen. What a difference a good Myrtha makes in a Giselle! Wiles on Tuesday was dull and her movements jerky, and her solos went for nothing. Veronika Part, on the other hand, has this natural buoyancy and fluidity of movement, as well as a commanding stage presence that gave the whole second act a wonderful energy. Even the Wili corps seemed energized by their wonderful leader. Osipova's second act wasn't lithograph pretty, but instead a frenzy of pure dance. Her initiation as a Wili was so quick and ferocious that she drew gasps across the audience. Osipova's Giselle wasn't the stern, implacable Wili of Diana Vishneva. Instead, she was simply a continuation of the exuberant, irrepressible girl in Act 1. Everything about her was feather light -- her entrechats have this wonderful openness to them, and her developpes were solid, if a bit quick. Her grande jetes resembled flying. The only negative to Osipova's Giselle was that I didn't sense any deep tragedy in the story. With Vishneva, her Giselle had such a strong character, such an implacable spirit, that the story became a battle of wills between Myrtha and Giselle. Osipova's Giselle doesn't have that emotional impact yet. But that's ok -- I'm sure that with time, the interpretation will deepen. In the meantime, I can just revel in her breathtaking dancing. David Hallberg was a wonderfully classic Albrecht. He naturally looks aristocratic, and he plays Albrecht as slightly aloof from the start. He did an amazing sequence of entrechats in the second act. Despite the fact that this is the first time they danced together, I thought Osipova and Hallberg partnered beautifully together. ABT is very lucky to have Natalia Osipova.

I went to the Tuesday performance and agree that it was exquisite. Time has made Vishneva less flexible, but she even used that to her advantage as she now has a softer, more romantic line. There are so many beautiful touches to her Giselle, like when she first runs into Albrecht, she startles and shivers for a bit, like someone truly in love for the first time. Her bowing her head in deference to Bathilde chillingly mirrors her deference to Myrtha. And in the Mad Scene she's now more subdued, but at the same time she's not "pretty Mad." At several points she collapses completely, as if her heart was steadily weakening. In the second act, I don't think I've ever seen anyone do the spins when she's initiated as a Wili more ferociously. Her stern demeanor again is a chilling reminder that after Albrecht is saved Giselle is doomed to remain a Wili. Time has also maybe lessened the power of Vishneva's jumps, but she can still grande jete so weightlessly across a stage. Her developpes were flawless. Vishneva's Giselle is not a gentle spirit, but a stern and formidable force of nature who saves Albrecht through sheer will. It's not a traditional interpretation but I wouldn't want to be without it. Angel Corella also danced better than I've seen him in recent years. His Albrecht is more sympathetic than most -- thoughtless rather than cruel. He avoided his two major pitfalls last night -- hamminess and sloppy partnering. Sometimes I wish his line could be a little cleaner, but what was important was that he created a character worthy of love and salvation. I loved the way Angel and Diana ended the ballet. Diana goes back to her grave rather quickly. At first Angel chased her, but her closed arms and downward gaze made it clear that she was beyond his reach. Instead of lying on her grave or kneeling, Corella simply stood as he watched her disappear. Michele Wiles is still stiff and rather bland as Myrtha. She simply doesn't project the authority required for the role, and her steps have a jerkiness about them that is bothersome. Daniel Simkin as others have noted brought down the house in the peasant pas de deux. Overall a great night of ballet.

Just wanted to say that I found this picture of Osipova where the arch enhancers are VERY visible: http://bolshoi.ru/common//img/uploaded/pla...a-jump-3-bg.jpg

There's a segment in Magic of the Dance where Margot Fonteyn traces the evolution of the pointe shoe from the time of Taglioni (when women were really dancing purely on their toes, literally) to the present day pointe shoe. She said that Anna Pavlova's pointe shoes were made by some shoemaster named Nicolini who had a magic potion of making the shoes extremely strong and supportive without being noisy. She said that when Nicolini died he took his secrets of how to make these strong, quiet shoes to the grave.

I was disheartened reading that article. I hope she finds something to do that will make her happier.

I think Veronika looks more youthful and happy in her new photo. The one with the cropped 'do I didn't like (I don't think she looks good with short hair). She's really smiling in this photo, and I think it's fitting because I imagine she must be happy that after a long and sometimes frustrating career she's finally been appointed to principal. It reminds me of her Bayadere last season with Marcelo. Afterwards she looked radiantly happy, as if she knew she had given a great performance, and the audience knew it. I had a feeling good things were going to happen afterward and I was right.

I went to the Coppelia today. I was dismayed to see the rows and rows of empty seats, especially in the fourth ring. Usually a matinee like this would be teeming with moms and kids, but not today. Too bad because it was overall a delightful afternoon of dancing, especially Tiler Peck's Swanilda. She looks a bit like Patty McBride. She started off a bit brittle but came into her own in the second act, when she became believable both as a lifeless doll and a mischievous girl. The instantaneous changes she would make from dancing to lifeless freezing were a delight to see. Andrew Veyette I thought was only okay as Franz. I remember Herman Cornejo and Marcelo Gomes making more of this role at the ABT. On the other hand I was happy to see how much mime Balanchine preserved -- I imagine he and Danilova learned it when they were at the Mariinsky. The NYCB production is candy box cute. This is a great intro to ballet for kids. Too bad the economy seems to be hitting the ballet companies.

All the recent Royal Ballet releases: Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Sylvia, and Fille mal Gardee.

It's alright Natalia, just something I'm sort of sensitive about. But anyway Somova as Juliet? Can't picture that. Also, I guess Daria Pavlenko is once again getting shafted? Surprising, considering she had quite a success in London guesting with the Royal Ballet, did she not?

Somova's actual hair color is brown, if you see in the movie "Ballerina." She looks much better with that original color. But maybe I'm a bit sensitive about this but "yellowed skin tone"? I am of Asian descent and was picked on as a kid for having "puke colored skin" so I don't think anyone's complexion disqualifies them from being attractive.

Congratulations Veronika! About time!

Among patriarchal soap villains, I also really like David Canary in the dual role of Adam/Stuart Chandler in All My Children, and Ben Masters as Julian Crane on "Passions."

She was "noted" and such but there's no saying that many other Mariinsky ballerinas could not have had success with Esmeralda had they not been given the opportunities. Also, the opinion that Kschessinskaya was technically brilliant but limited in her emotional palette was not limited to ballet critics, but also to the ballet master Marius Petipa himself, Serge Diaghilev, and critics abroad when she went on the Ballet Russes tours. So your conjecture that Osipova would not be a success in the role because traditionally the role had always been given to a "premier danseuse" is IMO a somewhat moot point as we have no idea if anyone at the Mariinsky could have had success with the role during her reign. After she left Olga Spessivtseva, a very different dancer, had the most success as Esmeralda.

"At least three dancers"? And at the Bolshoi, who might they be? A couple years ago I might have agreed but since then Osipova has expanded her repertoire and range. Also, historically, this role was hogged by Mathilde Kschessinskaya, who considered it hers and hers alone. It wasn't until she fled Russia that any other ballerina even had a shot at Esmeralda. Kschessinskaya, I might add, was criticized throughout her life for being rather limited in her emotional range, despite her technical brilliance. That being said, I think the Bolshoi is so loaded with talented ballerinas that many of them might succeed in the revival.

Guiding Light also had a great villainess in Alexandra Spaulding. I also enjoyed the blue-collar family the Coopers and their feud with the obnoxious Spauldings. Michael Zaslow unfortunately died of ALS and it was sad to see his slurred speech and restricted motor movements towards his last months on the show but he had great chemistry with Holly (Maureen Garrett). I always preferred the more down to earth style of Guiding Light to Young and the Restless and Bold and the Beautiful, for whom slow-moving storylines would be an understatement. For instance, I can turn on B&B right now and I bet the storyline would be the same: Brooke and Stephanie hate each other, and Brooke is torn between Ridge and someone else.