canbelto

First of all, I kind of doubt that any ONE person could be the fix-it for a company as large as the NYCB. Second of all, Suzanne's given no indication that she wants a job as large as AD. For one, she seems to enjoy focusing on smaller projects, and also free-lancing as a coach in Balanchine stagings in different companies around the world, as well as holding summer intensives. If she were to become an AD of the NYCB, the group of dancers who have been loyal to her -- what would happen to them? She seems to have moved on, and is very content in her current projects. Peter Martins' underutilization of many of Balanchine's senior dancers, from Arthur Mitchell to Allegra Kent to Gelsey Kirkland, as well as his preference for choreographing his own, usually rather poorly received works is another issue entirely.

Money's book is also a nice antidote to the books of Richard Buckle about Nijinsky, Diaghilev, and the Ballet Russes, which are not very kind to Pavlova, for whatever reason.

I hope it is NOT Lopatkina. She is known to be extremely conservative in her taste of ballets, and vehemently against any of the "new-old" reconstructions, thinking them to be a betrayal of her teacher (Dudinskaya).

Also included in the book are contemporary reviews, including one very diplomatic, knowledgeable review from Vienna in 1909 (reviewing Pavlova's Giselle), which shows us how different ballet sensibilities were back in the day: Reviewer also had choice words for the ballet itself:

She really was. And in her you can see a real link to ballerinas of the present, in a way that you can't with, say, Kschessinska or Legnani. Pavlova has the "Russian back" (considered a weakness in her time), the thin tapered legs with the delicate ankles, the highly arched instep, the wispy arms, that are all so prized today. Money got access to a lot of early photos that are "untouched" with regards to the famous pointe shoes. Pavlova would retouch her photos to hide the fact that she flattened the platform and strengthened the arch with a piece of leather. But Money has many untouched photos which show indeed the flat platform. But the heart of the book is the text, so carefully researched. And so lovingly presented. Pavlova seemed like a difficult, high-strung person, prone to tempers and strange moods, and Money acknowledges this, and he discreetly touches upon her 'protectors' at the Mariinsky, but it never seems like Dish or Gossip.

The best thing about the book is maybe the chronicle of Anna Pavlova's years at the Mariinsky, where she started out as a corphyee and shot to the top in no time. A few other noteworthy, hardly-ever-mentioned facts: Anna Pavlova was a big part of the infamous strike that ended with Sergei Legat slitting his throat. Her major supporter in the theater was none other than Marius Petipa, who was eventually barred from even entering the theater. She was a fan of Isadora Duncan. The politics of the theatre in that time are carefully chronicled by Money, from the change in management to the almost ridiculous overload of talent around the turn of the century at the MT. And then there's the stunning fact that Pavel Gerdt was still dancing Solor when he was 60.

I was prompted by an old thread to get a copy of Keith Money's biography of Anna Pavlova, and got MUCH more than I bargained for. I expected -- I don't know what I expected, but what I got was a monster-sized coffee-table book filled to the brim with rare and beautiful photographs, and a loving in-depth biography of this dancer's every move, from her first performance of Sleeping Beauty to her meteoric rise to the top at the Mariinsky to her tragic untimely death. Warning: the book is very heavy, very dense, but obviously a huge labor of love, and it's a shame that it's OOP. If you see a copy on Amazon or elsewhere, GET IT. By the way, Money's book uses contemporary reviews to dispel some common myths about Pavlova. For one, although she didn't have the flashy bravura of the Italian trained dancers or Mathilde Kschessinska, she was considered a strong technician, and (didn't know this) an excellent turner who interpolated pirouettes and fouettes into her performances. It's really a lovely book.

A good review indeed. For those who have read the book though, I'm curious about the theory that Bruhn was sexually abused by his mother. What evidence does Meinertz have? In all the writings I've read of Bruhn his tyrannical overbearing mother has been mentioned, but the sexual abuse allegation is new.

My favorite: My god she is full of herself.

My favorites: Tchaikovsky pdd Bayadere "Shades" pas de deux Giselle Act 2 pdd White Swan adagio Symphony in C second movement pdd (does this count?) Grand pas classique Manon 'swamp' pdd

Marcia Haydee and Richard Cragun were a couple in real life and from their few telecasts, it seems as if they were indeed something special. But then there were some long-time couples who never seemed to catch the public eye's as a real "partnership" (Diana Vishneva and Farukh Ruzimatov, or, nowadays, Gillian Murphy and Ethan Stiefel).

Agnes Letetsu and Jose Martinez are/were (???) a couple, and, from what I can see, they almost have anti-chemistry. Their Swan Lake was positively frigid. Their Paquita (also on dvd) was also pretty sterile.

That's a sad article. I hope things work out for Veronika.

Wow. I really wonder if someone as old and set in his ways as Grigorivich will be good for the Bolshoi.

I think it also depends on the size of the company. A very large company, like the Bolshoi, needs a very large corps de ballet for its big productions. In those companies, I think it's much easier to get overlooked and spend a good amount of time in the corps de ballet.

Alexandra Danilova, in "Reflections of a Dancer": "Once i wanted to get pedicure and Mr. Diaghilev said no, you can cut your toe. And of course I went, and I cut my toe. He said 'I told you that you'd cut your toe so you dance!' So i danced with an infected toe." Wow.

I have this wonderful film (broadcasted in Japan) of the Vaganova Academy class of 1995. I had no problem identifying one intense looking bunhead as Diana Vishneva but can anyone help me with some of the other graduates, particularly a handsome blond who partners Diana in "Diana and Acteon," as well as the teacher? I also spot some other students that I *know* look familiar. Thanks.

I think it was La Bayadere, with Alina Cojocaru and Angel Corella, that put me over the edge.

I don't know about the other artists, but all of Diana Vishneva's performances are confirmed on her website, which is extremely accurate.

I think the main way to know which ballet company you're getting is: if Irina Kolsenikova (or Mrs. Tatchkin) isn't splashed all over the posters and promotional material, it's not the Tatchkin troupe.

No, she simply said that she saw them do Giselle, but after she got into the NYCB she had little interest in the traditional ballet repertory, because she knew she was in the best company and thought Mr. B had more to offer (and he did, to her). I wouldn't take this as necessarily a knock on Giselle. But to me Giselle is perhaps the greatest of classical ballets, one that packs an incredible emotional punch through a simple story. It is also one of the most technically demanding of parts and in my opinion if you can't do justice to the choreography you shouldn't dance the part. To take the ballet away from Giselle, how would one feel if a dancer insists on Spectre a la Rose even when he can no longer jump, much less make a huge leap out a window, even if said dancer was Nijinsky himself? Or how about having a dancer who specializes in adagio dancing (like Uliana Lopatkina) take on something like, say, Ballo della Regina?

I don't mean it quite that harshly, that no one has a *right* to enjoy the performance. But coming from the perspective of a balletomane, I wouldn't recommend this performance even for fans of Mme. Alonso who want to see what she was all about. It's not a fair representative of who she was as a ballerina. I guess I come from a different perspective -- Giselle is my absolute favorite ballet of all. I can never tire of it, and even Giselle videos that I don't particularly care for I treasure simply because of my love for the ballet. I think the choreography is really sacred, and it upsets me to see it so distorted, simplified, and even in some parts flat out erased in this video. The video is, in my opinion, for the fanatics. It's NOT Giselle.

I have to disagree. I think part of being a great artist is knowing When to Stop. By that I don't mean to stop dancing altogether, but when to stop certain roles. Alonso by 1980 was simply unable to cope with a majority of Giselle's choreography, despite the artful cutaways, cheated steps, gauzy soft-focus photography, and adoring crowd. It's painful to see her barely able to get off the ground during those Act 2 entrechats that she did with such possessed speed in her 1964 film. It's painful to see a dancer once admired for her incredible attack having to be led around by the hand literally by other dancers. It's grotesque, and I wish I had never seen it. If Alonso had danced, say, The Dying Swan, or Spectre a la Rose, or something less demanding technically, I wouldn't have any complaints. There's for instance a film of Maya Plisetskaya dancing The Dying Swan in the 1990s, when she was around 70. Is she the same Plisetskaya who used to kick the back of her head as Kitri? No, but she wasn't dancing Kitri.

Bessmertnova was IMO best in the roles Gennady Smakov described as "weeping spirits." Giselle, Phrygia and Odette were maybe the best. As Juliet I thought she lacked a little of the playfulness required for the part. But still in a company known for fireworks she was a lovely lyrical dancer. And 66 is really so young May she rest in peace.

One thing about the Kavanagh biography that is definitely inferior to the Solway bio is coverage of the Kirov Ballet in the late 1950s. The Kavanagh book does a better job with Nureyev's personal life in his Russian years, but Diane Solway paints a better picture of the Kirov during that time, which was just exploding with talent. For instance people like Alla Sizova, Irina Kolpakova, and Yuri Soloviev plays a prominent role in Solway's book, but are barely mentioned in Kavanagh's book. Odd.