canbelto

Yes it is definitely her. She looks older than 10-11; I'd say she's about 13 in the shot.

None of them. The Gottlie mini-bio is ok, and Taper's book is longer but also very incomplete. As others have said, it was based on a series of New Yorker profiles on Balanchine, and really lacks a lot of objectivity. If Mr. B didn't want to talk about it, mostly it didn't get in the book. And there were lots of things Mr. B didn't like talking about

I used to not like Act 2 of Balanchine's Midsummer's Night Dream. It was because I adored Act 1 so -- the fairies! The fights! Puck! Bottom! It was all so magical. The formalism of Act 2 by comparison seemed so -- well, it seemed so Petipa. I wanted the magic to continue. It wasn't till I saw the ballet several times that I started to appreciate Act 2 not just as a beautiful abstract dance, but as a continuation of Act 1. The pas de deux in Act 2 I see now as Balanchine's comment on marriage -- between two mature, loving people. Act 1 reflects the craziness of falling in love. Act 2 represents the stability and maturity two people need for a marriage to last. At least that's how I see it. When I first started going to ballets, I didn't like the classical tutu at all. I liked the romantic tutu or longer dresses -- I just loved the billowing skirts. For me, *that* was ballet. The classical tutu seemed so stiff and remote by comparison. Took me a long time to appreciate how a classical tutu flattered a ballerina's line. I still think that the classical tutu is not for every ballerina, but I can appreciate how it flatters ballerinas in general now

Here's a good picture of a dancer going either tightless or with nude tights (I think she's tightless), and there's been some attempt to wear nude skin-color shoes and ribbons. But I don't understand why Chloe would go tight-less. She's not "exotic" at all. ETA: wow, shoes have certainly gotten boxier over the years.

In Yulia Bolshakova's interview (wonderful!) she talks quite a bit about Tatiana Terekhova's influence on her career, and it seems as if Terekhova has quite a bit of pull within the MT. What is her role exactly? Is she Ballet Mistress? Or does she teach at the Vaganova Institute?

In Nureyev's biography by Diane Solway, I remember reading that he tried to get Kenneth Greve to dance frequently at the POB, much to the etoiles' chagrin. Elisabeth Platel flat-out refused to dance with Greve, and this enraged Nureyev. Solway says Platel was so upset with the blow-up that she "cried her way through a Swan Lake." I certainly sensed that back then any "foreigners" were not welcome at the POB. Today guest artists are much more common in every ballet company, so it's hard to imagine the hostility Greve might have created.

Yeah, four years of constant practice for four minutes requires a level of discipline and determination that I can only dream of having. And to think? For some sports, it's even shorter. The 100M dash for instance. Four years of nonstop training for 10 seconds. While I think this Olympics has been marred by the totally immature antics of both Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick, I admire all Olympians for their drive and discipline. It truly is inhuman. p.s. I loved how supportive John Nicks was to Sasha after the FS. I don't think anyone will ever help her overcome her nerves, but Nicks and Cohen seem to have a very caring relationship. She never should have left him.

Yeah I thought Shizuka was a little bit like, uh, Joan Sutherland. Beautiful but boring. I'm happy for Sasha, but she had that deer-in-headlights look and I knew something was wrong. The poor girl is just a bundle of nerves. I agree with you dirac that for every Torvill/Dean "across the board 6's" we have a 2006 Men's Competition. The Olympics are just like any other sporting event -- there's the great, the really bad (Shani, Chad, and Lindsay Cobabellis), and the meh. For instance, I don't think anyone will ever forget the 2004 ALCS games between the Yanks and the Sox, but the Sox sweep of the Cardinals was very boring too.

I for one am really glad they gave silver to Cohen instead of Slutskaya. I felt that Slutskaya's LP was a by-the-numbers CoP program: jump, arm waves, Bielmann, wash, rinse, repeat cycle. Sasha's programs actually have choroegraphy, and her general skating skills and artistry are much superior to Slutskaya's. Sorry Sasha fell, but the girl has always been a bundle of nerves. Happy for Shizuka.

Yes, like the movie "Almost Famous." Penny Lane and her entourage (The Band Aids) are groupies, although they object to that term for reasons that can't be discussed on this forum Now it's common for athletes (who also travel around a lot) to have groupies. I don't think the word for a particularly vocal enthusiast of a ballet dancer can be called a "groupie." Unless, of course, they travel with, say, ABT when it tours. I think the word is "fanatic." There's a fine line between "fan" and "fanatic" which I cant really describe except to quote the famous line about pornography: "I can't describe it, but I know it when I see it." By as other people may have said, the term could have been used jocularly. It kind of also depends on how familiar you are with that person. If you guys are friends, I wouldn't think a thing about it -- friends tend to be more loose-lipped with each other. If you don't know this person from Adam and he calls you a "groupie" maybe you could take offense, but honestly, you don't know the person anyway, so why care what he says? I guess what I'm saying is that there's no reason to be offended, either way.

GREAT interview! Thanks for posting that. She is a beauty.

Still confused about the Danish nose thing ... Would Richard Nixon have been a demicharacter?

The bronze medal winning pair in ice dance (Grushina and Gonckarov) had the most outrageous costumes. This picture shows Grushina's breast tassle costume in all its glory, along with the more conservatve (but very beautiful and sexy) costumes of the gold and silver medal winners. If anyone needs another view, here it is. Still think the Fusar-Poli/Margaglio minute-long staredown was hilarious. Some pictures of that: Babs isn't happy. He might be begging for his life. As for the ladies, I think if Cohen and Slutskaya both skate clean, Cohen will win. She's the better all-around skater. Better spirals, better spins, more elegant style.

Do you have, uh, any pictures as examples? I'd count Manuel Legris and Jonathan Cope as danseur nobles.

I think it's because as Darci Kistler and Kyra Nichols are in the twilight of their careers, the NYCB needs a sort of prima ballerina assoluta of sorts.

The OD last night was truly shocking ... never seen so many falls in an ice dancing competition. Dubreil/Lauzon couldn't even skate the free dance today. And the ugliest fall had to be Fusar-Poli and Margaglio's. The expressions on their faces after the fall was painful to watch. I think Belbin/Agosto are talented and fun to watch, but Tanith needs to learn how to point her toes. She naturally has large feet, and without pointing her toes her skates stick out like a sore thumb. I'm sure with time and experience her overall line and posture will improve. They are very young. ETA: NBC's coverage of Fusar-Poli and Margaglio's "soap opera" is so funny. Seriously though her deathglare last night was frightening. I've never seen one skater look so angry at a partner.

One question: in old old footage of ballet (like the Ulanova/Plisetskaya era) the tights always look completely translucent, with only a hint of pale pink. But basically you can see the skin tone very clearly. When did it become fashionable for the tights to be more opaque?

Yeah, I'm talking about the Swan Lake/Bayadere tights. You know, very pale, look almost white, match with the pale pink shoes ... It's hard to differentiate between pink and white because of the lighting ... ETA: does anyone know what kind of shoes Margot Fonteyn wore? Because they look different from most ballet shoes. For one the box of her shoes seem tiny, much shorter than most boxes. It seems like she had really tiny, thin feet.

It's a good documentary, albeit a bit dry, as it touches mostly on the details of the reconstruction. There are extensive interviews with Guerin, Platel, and Hilaire, the original etoiles of La Bayadere. Lots of rehearsal footage. IMO, a better "Dancer's Dream" documentary is "Raymonda" because there you have LOTS of etoiles and some of them are very colorful. Also you get to see rare footage of etoiles that unfortunately weren't often filmed, like Platel. If there's a Dancer's Dream doc to get, I'd pick Raymonda as the "must have" and "Bayadere" as the one for "die-hards."

Whee! Dick Button is definitely a balletomane. On Olympic Ice he mentioned: Plisetskaya, Ulanova, Baronova, Toumanova, the "baby ballerinas" ... He actually said "baby ballerinas of the 1930s". This is not a Nutcracker balletgoer. He's the real thing

Well I'm not a "sensitive type." But I must respectfully disagree here. "Every other soprano" on a good night sings horribly? Well I have gone to the opera quite a bit and have heard sopranos on great nights. I think it's good that you are such a huge fan of Millo, but I don't think you need to disparage "every other soprano on a good night." And I also think that Millo is far from the "only soprano" that understands Italian opera.

evacado1, plenty of people dislike Millo (me included) and it's not just her pretentious persona and her drama-queen antics. It's the state of her voice. She consistently sings under the pitch, her voice is unsteady, and she thinks screaming is emoting. I've heard tapes from her performances for several years and have come away with the same opinion. And the infuriating thing they call her "the only real Italian soprano since Tebaldi." Tebaldi was the real thing. Millo is a cheap imitation.

Yoshida is done no favors in that video, for two reasons: 1. it was originally supposed to be Darcey Bussell, but she cancelled, leaving the tiny Yoshida to dance with Jonathon Cope. You can see how awkward their partnering is. 2. The heavy wig she wears does no favors to her figure, which is considerably more compact than most ballerinas today. and 3. Sorry to say, but she's just not having a good night. She has a smile plastered on her face the whole time but I sense very little magic from her. For me, a Sugar Plum Fairy should sort of be like exactly that: a Fairy. Slightly otherworldly, waving her wand and making magical things happen.

I admit from the audience, it's hard to tell the difference between pink tights and white tights. I've picked up some NYCB shoes, and they are usually soft pink. But so many dancers (especially at the ABT) wear soft pink shoes with white tights. It gets so confusing. Another thing about tights -- I am glad that most of the tights today don't have seams. I always thought the seamed tights ruined the pure straight line of a ballerina's best assets -- her legs.

Funny you can get to it if you do this: http://xoomer.virgilio.it/lillial2004/etoilesfoto.htm Now can you see Guillem? Actually there are several photos of her on this site that show her perfectly erect back. And then you can see all sorts of photos. The homepage has links to even more photos. It's a treasure trove: http://xoomer.virgilio.it/lillial2004/Sognodiballerina.htm