canbelto

Maybe I'm weird but one of the first things I look for in Giselle is what kind of dress Giselle is wearing. In the old footage of Olga Spessivtseva I was surprised to see her wearing an extremely short dress in the first act. Probably to show off her legs, but still, a surprise. But what do you think Giselle's dress should look like? I notice that the Royal Ballet has Giselle dressed in a somewhat plain dumpy brown dress. But elsewhere Russian Giselle dresses tend to be prettier, usually a shade of baby blue with some nice blue trimmings. The Bolshoi Giselle is dressed in a shock of yellow and maroon -- I think it looks too glamorous personally. So do you think Giselle's dress should be peasant-like with earth tones, or should the prettiest girl in the village also be somewhat dolled up?

Let's not forget the Ferri/Murru Giselle. Too bad it's OOP but can be found on berkshirerecordoutlet or used. Ferri is lovely, lyrical, and the production is very pretty.

I always enjoy watching Herman Cornejo and Xiomara Reyes. They are physically well-matched, and Cornejo is a technical wunderkind while Reyes projects a youthful, lyrical sweetness. I saw them in Coppelia and they just looked so cute.

On another note, I want to grab all the English teachers in the world and tell them that Hamlet is not a good intro to the Bard. Yes it's a masterpiece, but it's a difficult, disturbing, at times confusing masterpiece, and it's also very loooooooong. I think they do this with the idea that Hamlet is young, sensitive, moody, and has an identity crisis, just like many ... teens. But I still remember the blank stares of my English class and we were "honors" students, so it wasn't as if we were unmotivated. Just out of our depth. And after all these years, I admit that I still. Don't. Really. Get. Hamlet. Best intros to Shakespeare are, in my opinion, Midsummer's Night Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and, for tragedies, Macbeth.

Also, by the end of the novel, I think you kind of start to realize that the Don's dreamy, idealistic nature is at times laughable, but overall it's a balm and respite from the cynicism and ugliness of the "real world." That's an idea that still resonates today, as does the idea that everyone can learn from each other. The Dons of the world can learn from the Sanchos, and vice versa. The plea for people not to be judgmental of each other is also a very modern idea.

I can't believe no one has mentioned Gus van Sant's remake of "Psycho." I think musicals might lend themselves better to remakes because many of the Broadway adaptations were made in a time when dubbed voices and drastically censored musical numbers were the norm. See: Carousel.

Many female ballerinas have beautiful bodies, but a few that really stand out: Anna Pavlova (maybe the start of the modern ballerina), Irina Kolpakova, Margot Fonteyn, Alessandra Ferri, Tanny LeClercq, Altynai Asylmuratova, Sylvie Guillem. I think I can stare at Sylvie Guillem's legs and feet for hours.

I personally loved the documentary. I especially loved Ninel Kurgapkina, so elegant and eloquent, plus all the early footage. Technical weaknesses be damned, every time I watch him on tape I fall in love again.

Marcelo Gomes!

I'm working my way through a mountainous coffee table/historical book about ancient Egypt, but at the same time I'm also reading "Beloved." And I'm going to say something unpopular, but I find Toni Morrison's style of writing to be somewhat irritating at times.

All of these are great, but I'd like to add: Giselle Act 2 pdd (both of them) - in fact, the moment when Giselle touches Albrecht for the first time may be my favorite moment in the entire ballet. But the grand pas de deux when done well is always breathtaking. And this isn't really a pas de deux, but when dawn comes, the Wilis depart, and Giselle lifts the near-dead Albrecht up and then tells him that she must leave him forever never fails to get me. La Bayadere - Shades pas de deux between Solor and Nikya Symphony in C - movement 2 Bottom/Titania pas de deux

Ugh, reading that Segal review made me sick, as it seems to twist every action into proof that Nureyev was a "sociopath." I can't wait to read the actual Kavanaugh biography, although I thought the Solway biography was very well-researched and was satisfied with it.

To get a little more historical, in 1958, four dancers were bumped from Vaganova graduates to principal: Rudolf Nureyev, Yuri Soloviev, Alla Sizova, and Natalia Makarova. (In Makarova's case I believe she was technically in the corps de ballet but started dancing solo roles immediately.) In fact there's a Czar's Box documentary about Soloviev that showed a brochure of the Kirov that year, and the soloists pictured were Irina Kolpakova, Natalia Makarova, Rudolf Nureyev, and Yuri Soloviev. What a fabulous year that must have been for Mariinsky audiences! Vaslav Nijinsky of course also never spent time in the corps de ballet, and neither did Anna Pavlova. In other companies: Margot Fonteyn was dancing Giselle in her teens. The NYCB has a huge history of teen wonders: Allegra Kent, Gelsey Kirkland, Suzanne Farrell, Tanny LeClercq. So ... I think there is a historical trend to bump tremendously talented individuals to principal very quickly if not immediately. The thing is though, as Natalia said, in order for this to work, the dancer has to be very very talented. I noticed this in the Bolshoi season in London. I read the reviews and reports religiously and the huge headline grabbers were Osipova and Vasiliev, all the time. Even Zakharova took second seat to the two youngsters, as well as the lovely company regulars like Alexandrova, Filin, and Lunkina.

I think the source of "Austenmania" can be kind of linked to the modern view of romance, especially for women. Back in the day, I think people were of the opinion that you met someone nice in high school (or Mom's best friend's son) and boom, you have the house, the kids, the pool. Nowadays, younger people struggle a lot longer before they are truly "settled." The fact that most of Jane's heroines are middle class without much family money makes them more identifiable to today's young professional woman. Plus, in all Austen novels, the romances take WORK, and are usually based on intellect AS WELL as wealth. Although it's assumed that the Austen heroines aren't "plain Janes" they are rarely stunning beauties either. Elizabeth is pretty but not as pretty as her sister Jane. So it's the ultimate romantic fantasy for young women of today -- if you're smart, sensible, charming, you can find your dream man who is smart, sensible, charming, and rich.

Except for Rudolf Nureyev and Alla Sizova, who jumped from graduating from the Vaganova to principal immediately. At the Bolshoi, Maya Plisetskaya did the same. As for Somova I've never actually seen her dance.

He graduated from the Vaganova in 1981, so I assume he was born around 1963.

I think the most eye-opening were the Little House on the Prairie books. I loved them when I was a kid but now the isolationist, anti-Native American tone bothers me. I still appreciate the books as a nice window into frontier life, but I'm more disturbed by the other aspects of the book, and I find Ma Ingalls narrow-minded. The Jane Austen books remain as fresh, witty, and lovable as I remember them, but now I appreciate the humor and humanity even more. Ditto Great Expectations. I'm not nearly as hard on Pip as I was when I was a teenager. As for Jane Eyre, I loved it as a kid, because I thought it was so romantic, but now I find the book tedious. A very very long romance novel, with a large dose of self-righteous religious fervor.

Actually in "Dancer's Dream," it says that Nureyev considered reconstructing the last act, but ultimately chose the "gentler" ending of having Solor and Nikya reunited in the dream. In this sense Nureyev's version is almost identical to the Kirov version (except in the Scarf duet, Solor pirouettes along with Nikya. But really, that's it.) So it seems as if ending the ballet after the Shades act was an artistic choice. And hasn't the Kirov dropped the "new-old" Bayadere? The "new-old" Sleeping Beauty has remained in the repertoire but I haven't heard reports of the "new-old" Bayadere being staged in years.

I think that if you're going to start with Bayadere's, start with either the POB or Kirov videos. I'm of the very strong opinion that starting with Makarova's version of La Bayadere gives one a false impression of the ballet. I admire her for trying to reconstruct the "lost act" but in the process she sheds so much of the ballet that it practically becomes the Cliff Notes version of La Bayadere. I started with the Makarova version (at the ABT, then on video) and so I was shocked to see the POB video. Wow, this is Grand Ballet, I thought. At first I was impatient at the spectacle, but eventually I came to appreciate Petipa's design of pairing the pageantry of the Betrothal Scene with Nikya's personal tragedy, and then with the austere beauty of the Shades act. And I've never appreciated 8 dancers more than in La Bayadere. Makarova uses 24 Shades. The POB, Kirov and Bolshoi use 32. 24 Shades - beautiful. 32 Shades (especially when danced with a corps as well-trained as the Kirov or POB) - breathtaking.

Is no longer listed on the Kirov roster. Has he finally retired?

Marie Agnes Gillot is one of the most articulate dancers on the documentary Etoiles. In particular, she speaks about her years at the POB Academy, and how the "physical pain" was nothing compared to the "mental pain" she endured of always being told she wasn't good enough. She seemed to be a very intelligent and articulate person in general.

I just thought of another change I like: the penchee ending to the white Swan pdd. I think it started at the Kirov somewhere in the late 1960s, but I always like that final penchee (done well of course). At its best it suggests a peace and tranquility in Odette.

Tamara Karsavina and Ninette di Valois. From what I've seen in documentaries, Elisabeth Platel.

If I'm not mistaken AA made her debut in Swan Lake while still a corphyee, while on tour in Paris. She was such a success she got promoted to Principal. (I *think* that's what happened). But the MT is currently kind of odd, in that it has principals who rarely if ever dance (Nioradze, Ayupova, Makhalina) but haven't retired yet. Of the women principals, only Lopatkina, Vishneva, and Pavlenko dance regularly. So many of the leads are danced by the first and second soloists (Tereshkina, Novikova, Obraztsova, Osmolkina, Somova).

[snip!] Oh another change I like is that the bad old days of severely shortening ballet films because the audience "couldn't take the whole thing" are over. Nowadays ballet releases are usually the complete ballet, which is a nice change from, say, the Ulanova Giselle in which many of the most crucial dancing of Giselle were cut. I still would like more ballet performances released but it's good that what we're getting is the complete ballet, and not just half the ballet.