canbelto

Alison Weir's "Six Wives of Henry VIII." I've never read a book of hers that hasn't been fascinating.

cubanmiamiboy, while I agree that Balanchine's rearrangement of the Grand pas de deux music is one of the weaknesses of the ballet, one shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater, because Balanchine's Nutcracker has so many strengths as well. Year after year, it continues to enchant audiences with its humor and charm. The choreography is consistently strong, ESPECIALLY the grand pas de deux, with its tricky shoulder leap-to-lifts, and the final lunging fishdive. I've seen the allegro choreography of the Dewdrop trip up many a dancer. The mice scene is flat-out funny, with the mice lined up like cheerleaders on a bleacher. Most importantly, Balanchine preserves the idea that the Nutcracker is a child's fantasy, and it really has CHRISTMAS spirit -- it's giving, cheerful, family-friendly, maybe a little corny. But every time I've seen it I walk out of the theater happy. Now is it perfect? Far from it. I wish that Marie didn't lie so long on that damned bed. As you said, the musical rearrangement of the grand pas de deux is jarring for those of us who know the Nutcracker score. I don't really like the sliding thingie that the SPF has to ride either. But, having seen many many versions of the Nutcracker, I still think it's the best.

It also depends on the dancer. I know Sylvie Guillem only wears her own costumes.

In Gelsey Kirkland's autobiography there's a photo of her as one of the Nutcracker gliding angels.

Irina Kolesnikova's website indicates that a commercial performance of her Giselle has been released in the UK. Has anyone seen the performance? Thoughts? My only experience with Kolesnikova is a youtube video of her dancing the White Swan pdd where her hand touches the floor in the final penchee.

"Umbrellas of Cherbourg."

Sunday, December 2 at 5 PM. Wow wow wow is all I can say. Who would have thought that this would be probably the best performance I have ever seen from the NYCB? It was one of those performances where everything just came together, and I left feeling warm and exhilarated, even as I stepped carefully through puddles and into the cold, dreary evening. I've never seen the corps de ballet more together than in this performance. No dropped snowballs tonight. They really moved as one during the Snowflake and Waltz of the Flowers. Everything else was great too, although special mention must go to Faye Arthurs (never heard of her before), who was terrific as Coffee, and Kathryn Morgan in Marzipan. I didn't think Wendy Whelan was a natural Sugar Plum Fairy. She's a Serious dancer, with an austere classical line. But she's now blonde, and has put on some much needed weight, giving her a more youthful look. What she lacked in bubbliness she made up for in the technical whizbang department. The pas de deux with Philip Neal was breathtaking. I've never noticed how difficult the pas de deux is, but Wendy and Neal made it look so easy, from the Fairy's unsupported leaps onto the Cavalier's shoulder to the final fishdive, which was performed with so much snap that people started applauding before the music ended. The only disappointment was Teresa Reichlen's Dewdrop. She couldn't quite master the tricky allegro pointe work, and made some small but noticeable bobbles. But, quoting one of Balanchine's ballets, Who Cares, when the overall performance was so wonderful? The program has a stunning photograph of Tanny Le Clercq as the original Dewdrop.

I thought the review really hit the nail on the head about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the biography. And I happen to agree with her that I'd rather have cut out some detail about Nureyev;s sexual conquests and put in its place a talk about Nureyev's appearance on the Muppet Show, especially his duet with Miss Piggy. It's one of my favorite videos!

The New York Times has a very perceptive review of the book in the Sunday edition: Toni Bentley's review

I think of all of Nureyev's adaptations of the classics it's my least favorite. It's really creepy. There's no other word for it.

Yes but he changed his mind, which the Kavanagh book doesn't mention (but the Daneman bio of Fonteyn does).

How could I forget "Rules of the Game"? In general, if you see anything by the trilogy of Japanese director gods (Akira Kurosawa, Yashiro Ozu, and Kenzi Mizoguchi) you can't go wrong. "In the Mood for Love," "House of Flying Daggers," and "Raise the Red Lantern" are all beautiful films. I admit I'm not much of an Ingmar Bergman fan, so someone else do a list for him.

Also, there tends to be the feeling (I think) that someone capable of such greatness in one field should excel in the other aspects of life, when, often, I think the opposite is true. Maria Callas's and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's single-minded devotion to their art made them immortal opera singers, but offstage this translated to a ruthlessness that is hard to swallow. Leni Reifenstahl is another very obvious example of someone whose devotion to "art" made her blind to morality. I remember the first job out of college, I had a rather cruel boss who fired me after three weeks, but told me, "All successful people are alike. They are all very tough, they are all very demanding, and they are all awful people. You will never be tough enough to be successful." There is a dose of truth to that statement. Not everyone is a Tamara Karsavina or Renata Tebaldi, great artists but also good people who lived quiet unassuming lives offstage.

I also love Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Other favorites: Jeux Interdits, 400 Blows, Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Ikiri, Ugetsu, Floating Weeds, Sansho the Bailiff, Pan's Labyrinth

I found this sentence to be even more of a doozy: "A few videotapes"? Nureyev's dancing, for better or for worse, was well-documented throughout his career. It's all there for us to see, and critique. They're studied by students and enjoyed by balletomanes.

No Sylve? Does she even dance with the NYCB anymore?

Woohoo! I just pre-ordered. As a bonus I hope they keep Ninette di Valois's intermission rehearsal. Madam talks about the finer differences between "production" and "choreography," the shady area of notations (particularly the Sergeyev notations), the resurgence of full-length ballets, emploi (she thinks certain variations and roles, like Raymonda, are best left to smaller ballerinas), and singles out Irina Kolpakova's arms. All this within about 15 minutes!

Portrait of Giselle has some great quotes. I also love when Dolin asks Spessivtseva about Lifar. "Oh, he was not too bad," she says, carefully. "But not too good either, right?" They both chuckle. Then there's Tamara Karsavina reminiscing about her wardrobe malfunction way back when, and how Pavlova had run up to her screaming. "Naturally, I cried." For some reason I always love that quote.

Here are some more gems from Jacob's "review." I must say she's doing her idol no favors. People who read her reviews are bound to be disappointed by Part. After all, Part is human.

I'm getting a bit tired of Jacobs' increasingly elaborate "reviews" about Part. She acts like Part is the only ballerina worth watching, and "If you can't see what makes her great you're not really fit to judge her" sounds like a real catch-22 doesn't it?

I know! In my best Dianglish: "To meeting excited in January. Welcome to performances La Bayadere."

I'm reading "Dark Victory," the new bio of Bette Davis, concurrent with "Young Stalin."

I think Misha is somehow too classical to be good in this part. The part requires a bit of perfume, a androgynous, feline quality. Misha simply doesn't have them. He looks too boyish.

I agree with the praise for Manuel Legris' Spectre, as well as Malakhov's. The absolute worst is Farukh Ruzimatov. It looks like somewhere along the line he simply forgot the steps and just started improvising and posing to get through the piece. Not one of his finer moments.

I think there has to be a strong distinction made between Zakharova, a dancer I'm not too fond of, and Somova. Zakharova is not to my tastes because I find her rather cold. But she's a real dancer, and, in the right roles, can be very impressive, even if she'll never be a favorite. The Somova I've seen from YouTube makes me think she shouldn't even be in the corps de ballet. The way her legs flop wildly, without any muscular control, her absolute lack of any elevation, and, most of all, her totally charmless stage persona, make her Rose Adagio just an absolute nightmare. Then there's the smaller details, like how she can never seem to figure out whether to keep her legs bent or straight, the frantic way she grabs onto the princes' hands, her port-te-bras (or lack thereof), are just yuck yuck yuck. Her hands always seem like they are reaching for her feet.