canbelto

I have to disagree. I think a dancers' past should be mentioned when reviewing a performance, the same way an actor's past work is mentioned in a current review. For instance, "Tom Cruise showed a breath and depth in his portrayal that he hasn't in the past." Reviewers routinely mention a dancers' past performance -- for instance, "Gillian Murphy now moves with more softness and grace." Which is what bugs me a little bit about Veronika Part. It seems to me that some reviewers (Laura Jacobs, for one) tend to forgive her technical deficiencies no matter what. It's like there's a double standard. It's great that she's overcome her nerves, it seems, and has given a great performance as Aurora, but still, Aurora presents a great number of technical challenges and, IMO, if a dancer can't conquer those challenges, she shouldn't dance the part.

I just recently got into "Lost" and am watching Season 1 and isn't Rudolf Nureyev a spitting image of Boone (Ian Somerhaulder)? Don't believe me? Take a look.

I think Diana Vishneva is: dee-AH-na vish-NOY-va

The dvd has footage of extra dancing, but unfortunately, much of that is poorly synchronized with the music too. A passage of Giselle clearly from the second act is synchronized with music from the first act. I agree about the weaknesses of the film -- at times it seemed to be a film entirely about the intrigues of various impresarios. But at the same time some of the footage is priceless. For instance the tale of the "joys" of working with Mikhail Fokine ...

Although I've seen this ballet plenty of times, and performed very well, in my mind, I'd like to imagine Nijinsky and Karsavina in Spectre a la Rose and that mental picture is better for me than any modern performance I've seen. I imagine Nijinsky's legendary elevation and his huge leap out of the window, and his partnership with impossibly beautiful Karsavina.

Alessandra Ferri?

A Folk Tale?

As has been noted on Johan's message board, I believe Alina Cojocaru is out for the rest of the season with a neck injury.

Funny Lanchberry also did the musical arrangements for the POB production but they sound beautiful and lovely. What happened?

I just think Makarova reduces the spectacle and grandeur of La Bayadere a lot. She streamlines the Betrothal Scene to shreds, and reducing the number of Shades also lessens the impact of the Shades scene. Plus, as I said, I hate her musical arrangements.

Where do all Russians get it? Is it in their blood? Their training? Look at Anna Pavlova.

It seems as if Natalia Makarova's version of La Bayadere has become ubiquitous. The ABT, Royal Ballet, now the La Scala Ballet and the Dutch National Ballet all perform Makarova's version of La Bayadere. Personally I dislike the Makarova version -- I think it streamlines the Grand Betrothal act unforgivably, reducing the Shades from 32 to 24 annoys me, and the "choreography" for the lost act is uninspired. I also hate the souped up musical rearrangements she made. But competing with Makarova's version is the POB Bayadere (produced by Nureyev), which choreographically is nearly a carbon copy of the Kirov's Bayadere. The Bolshoi Bayadere (available on VHS) is a weird mish-mash, where Gamzatti dances on pointe the entire ballet, and with a one-minute destruction of the temple after the Shades scene. But anyway, do you think Makarova's Bayadere will "win" ultimately? It's certainly easier to produce, especially for smaller stages and companies. And it has a beginning, a middle, and an end, which to Western audiences might be easier to digest. 20 or 30 years from now, do you think the ballet world's idea of Bayadere will be Makarova's version?

When I saw Two Pigeons during the 2004 Ashton celebration I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.

I loved Weir's Eleanor of Aquitaine. In general I think Weir tends to be more matter of fact about her subjects, whereas Fraser identifies so strongly with them that it can come across as hagiography. I found this to be a problem in her biographies of Mary, Queen of Scots and Marie Antoinette. These women were no doubt unfairly maligned during their lifetime, but they weren't saints and Frasier does almost canonize them. What I'm reading? The biography of Mathilde Kschessinska at the moment. Fascinating stuff. What a resilient, amazing woman!

First of all, none of us know the amount of coaching Veronika/benefactors receives. Since she has an opening night and is being given several roles by the ABT, I assume she is getting a lot of attention. Her partner is usually Marcelo Gomes, one of the most excellent danseurs with a reputation as a great partner. And secondly, this will sound heartless, but ultimately, it doesn't matter. Veronika is a professional who has been on the stages for over 10 years now, I assume. She had the best training in St. Petersburg, with a revered teacher (Inna Zubkovskaya). At this point, it's time for her to prove to us, the audience, that she has what it takes to become a prima ballerina and to give consistent performances. Ballet is a punishing job, I think everyone acknowledges that, and dancers endure injury, pain, inadequate rehearsal, hostile management all the time. The best way to sidestep all of that is to blow the audience away onstage.

I read this in the Playbill magazine and don't like it one bit: Why does McKenzie always feel the need to streamline everything?

Is there any way to 'treat' bunions without outright surgery? Alina Cojocaru really is one of my favorites, and I'd hate to imagine that her dancing might leave her feet completely deformed and unable to walk when she gets older!

Yikes! I've seen some pictures where the bone is literally protruding from her pointe shoe, as if there werent shoes wide enough for her feet. I've got a question though -- what would she wear offstage for feet with such bad bunions? And will her feet be completely deformed to the point where she wouldn't be able to walk if she doesn't treat them?

Well ... not that I'm a dancer, but if she has bunions that large here is a picture of how large and wide her feet have become, shouldn't she have surgery before her feet become completely deformed? Sorry for dragging this into off-topic ...

I've also noticed that Cojocaru's shoes are EXTREMELY wide, and in some of them you can practically see a bone protruding. I wonder if she has very bad bunions.

I'd have no problem with Martins plucking some talented young dancers from the corps de ballet many of whom are in their teens. The fact that he deliberately bypassed all those dancers and instead went for the students is an odd decision.

I think this picture might be what you're looking for, bart. I haven't seen the production, but I did read of Sylvie Guillem's production of Giselle, where her Giselle leaves with the Wilis at the end of the ballet. Which I think destroys Giselle's main message of redemption, forgiveness, and salvation.

Because Giselle has saved Albrecht, she has shown she is still capable of love, compassion, and forgiveness, so she descends to her grave, at peace with herself. Many productions have Giselle actually being lowered down into her grave at the end of the ballet. But the point of the ballet remains the same -- Giselle has done what the other Wilis weren't capable of doing -- forgiving the men who did them wrong.

Yes, and it was very poignant, as all of them looked so beautiful in the pictures. But yeah, must have been a peak, if ever there was one, at the Mariinsky. Other peak eras: NYCB - 1960s? Mr. B was still creating great ballets, and the roster is legendary. The company without stars had so many stars dancing night after night. Bolshoi - 1950s-early 60s? Maya Plisetskaya, Galina Ulanova, Vladimir Vasilev, Ekaterina Maximova? And also, since Ratmansky took over? Seems to be another peak. ETA: also forgot Natalia Bessmertnova, Raisa Strukchova, Nicolai Fadecheyev, the slightly dimmer stars, if you will, in that era. POB - 1980s/early 1990s? Nureyev's children at their finest, even when he passed away in 1993. Royal Ballet - late 1940s to mid 1960s? ABT - now? Maybe the best collection of male dancers in the world. I'm not going to go into the valleys but feel free to chime in ...

The thing is, Paul, I've watched the video again and again (it's one of my favorites -- the Sylphides is beautiful) and I can never put my finger on what exactly is wrong with Fonteyn's Aurora. But I just know that she seems very OFF. Her smile is tighter than tight, and she just doesn't radiate joy. But Sibley is just absolutely wonderful here, and she totally steals the show. Another recent example is the POB Jewels dvd. By far the most memorable performance, IMO, came from Clairemarie Osta in the second Emeralds solo.