canbelto

It looks like there is already some backlash towards "Brokeback Mountain" -- some critics calling it 'soft' and 'sentimental' and such. I strongly disagree. I think there's nothing wrong with a movie that grabs so many people by the heart. I don't think BM is a cheap weepie, the way "Terms of Endearment" or even "Million Dollar Baby" were (just to talk about past Oscar winners).

Anthony, I agree with you about Lureen. I also felt that on second viewing, Lureen becomes more sympathetic while Alma becomes less sympathetic. Alma is still sympathetic, but there's something about her simpering martyr-syndrome that rubbed me the wrong way on second viewing. And when she spits "Jack Twist? Jack Nasty" I felt she was being unnecessarily spiteful. Lureen, OTOH, was in many ways completely snowed by her husband, but she didn't seem spiteful or judgemental.

Thanks Marga for the pictures! I'm not able to find the picture online, but in Natalia Makarova's autobiography (which is really just a coffee table book with lots of beautiful pictures interspersed with Makarova's commentary) there's a picture of her at 13 or 14 in an arabesque, and already you can see the curvature of her spine. Makarova was admitted to the Vaganova school later than most (she was about 12) and they accepted her on an "experimental" program, so she couldn;t have been at the Academy for more than a year when they took the picture. So obviously it is a sharp difference in training.

But can anyone tell me ... when did this "trend" start? Maya Plisetskaya was the first ballerina where I could really notice it, but it must have started earlier.

Funny, I think the NYCB nowadays is even more extreme in being a "leg company." I often find the port-te-bras of the NYCB painful too watch.

I think here's a better picture to compare with Olesia Novikova:

Olesia Novikova

Gelsey Kirkland

Ok I've watched the 5 hour BBC miniseries with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. I enjoyed both P&P's for different reasons. I enjoyed the BBC miniseries for its faithfulness to the novel, as well as its faithfulness to the period. The hairstyles are consistent, as well as the costumes and the intricate social etiquette. I felt that the new P&P film 'modernized' Regency etiquette too much. All the formalities may be a bit dull to watch, but I admired BBC for its attention to detail. The supporting characters are well-cast in both films.

However, I actually found Firth somewhat annoying, I must admit. Firth's love for Lizzie to me never seems real or palpable -- in that respect, I think Matthew McFayden does much better. I think Firth kind of coasts on his good looks. And Knightley I found to be a more believable 19-year old girl. Knightley's Lizzie I think is also more endearing, Ehle more mature. It's a tossup which Lizzie I prefer. But Knightley and MacFayden have more chemistry than Ehle and Firth, IMO.

So basically, I am glad that I watched both versions

There's now a DVD called "Picasso and Dance" and it's the POB dancing Le Train Bleu and Le Tricorne. Anyone see it? Thoughts?

With Whelan's photo, you can see that she has bent backwards at a rather sharp angle, but that her actual spine is straight.

Contrast this with Irina Dvorovenko, whose also bent backwards at an extremely sharp angle. But her entire spine is curved. This is what I'm talking about -- most ballerinas have a supple back, but the Russian-trained ballerinas have that curved spine that, as I said, resembles a crescent moon.

More comparisons of the same position:

Darcey Bussell

with

Sylvie Guillem

with

Olesia Novikova

All similar positions, but you can see how Bussell and Guillem essentially keep their spines straight, while Novikova's has a strong arch.

And carbro, my dog certainly adopts that posture, along with huge sad eyes, that scream, "I love you, I adore you, and I'd love you that much more if you gave me a bite of that steak."

Don't believe me. Look here.

Here's why I generally adore the back: I think ballet tends to produce a body shape that is rather pole-like. There are of course exceptions (Veronika Part). But the arched back IMO makes the entire body look more curvaceous and feminine.

More examples of an erect back arabesque:

Fonteyn

However, Fonteyn's back was also extremely pliant, as the first post demonstrates.

Personally, I love the crescent moon back. In fact, I think in some roles (Nikya, Odette) I strongly favor such a back. However, I do think that the back would look odd in some roles where the choreography emphasizes angular positions. Agon, for example.

Speaking of which:

Here is a picture of Wendy Whelan which I think is a good contrast to the Russian backs. Wendy is extremely flexible also, but notice how her back doesn't have that crescent moon curve.

Wendy Whelan

There should be more examples of the non-russian back for contrast.  I think curving the back is like high extension.  Impressive, until it crosses a theshold and then becomes disturbing.

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Ok I found some French-trained etoiles, and I think the difference is fascinating, because I think it highlights differences in training:

Loudieres

Note her perfectly erect back.

For a more striking contrast, here's a picture of Ms. Hyperflexibility, Sylvie Guillem. Guillem's legs might be very flexible, but her back is rather erect and 'classical':

Sylvie Guillem

Aurelia Dupont

Isabel Guerin

Elisabeth Platel

And here's another comparison. Somewhat same positions, but look at the back:

Alina Cojocaru

Monica Mason

I've found some more good examples:

Nina Aniashvilli

Altynai Asylmuratova

Irina Dvorovenko

More Zakharova

And to compare perhaps *the* iconic image of ballet of Odette, here's a contrast of the "Russian" posture:

Cynthia Gregory

with

Asylmuratova again

Maya Plisetskaya might have been the first, but now it's almost like an imprint. If you are Russian-trained, you have a super-flexible, strongly curved back that almost looks like a perfect crescent moon. What do y'all think? Do you like it? Or do you think it looks somewhat grotesque?

Some pictures of what I'm talking about:

Diana Vishneva

Maya Plisetskaya

Svetlana Zakharova

Alina Cojocaru

And not Russian trained, but a super-flexible back nonetheless:

Margot Fonteyn

I didn't mean to compare the two photos in the sense of saying, "See, the exact same position, except one leg is higher." What I meant was to show the differences in proportion and physique, and how I think it's easier for more compact dancers to keep their leg in a perfect 90 degree arabesque. Now I COULD be totally wrong, but it just makes sense to me, as a pure matter of physics.

When you teach ballet, you learn very quickly that actual angles have very little to do with anything--often, what looks right on a particular person differs according to his or her proportions and natural flexibility.  So I would say that the attitude derrière that is most appropriate for any Aurora is that which suits her body the best.

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ITA with this. I think the dancers with very long limbs in proportion to their torsos naturally have a harder time keeping their arabesques at a 90 degree angle. I think a good analogy would be this: it's very easy to point your index finger straight ahead of you in a straight line. However, it's much harder to point your entire arm out in a straight line. It can be done, of course, but after awhile the arm will either go up or down. In ballet (at least nowadays) it's unacceptable to just let your leg drop down, so as a result the longer-limbed, shorter-torsoed dancers simply have to let their legs go up. This is perfectly natural.

Add to this mix the fact that dancers are naturally rather flexible, and so I think to insist that an Aurora ALWAYS has to keep her legs at a 90 degree angle is unrealistic. More naturally proportioned dancers (like, say, Michele Wiles or Gillian Murphy) can do it, but the ballerinas with long legs and short torsoes have a much harder time with it, I bet. And more to the point, it doesn't look natural.

I think a good example of what I'm talking about is a comparison of two pictures:

Altynai Asylmuratova's arabesque

Alla Sizova's arabesque

Asylmuratova has much longer legs and a shorter torso than Alla Sizova, so you can see clearly that Asylmuratova's legs will be placed at a higher angle than Sizova's.

I'm not saying that Zakharova or Guillem's 180 degree extensions necessarily look good or are "natural." But I do think that as the aesthetic standards of ballerinas change towards longer limbs and shorter torsos, insisting on the classical perfect 90 degree arabesque of say Margot Fonteyn is pretty unrealistic.

Veronika Ivanova is still on the roster as a soloist, and she even has an updated picture. But I just havent heard of any performances where she's actually danced ...

In fairness to the "favored" ballerinas though, Vishneva is probably among the top 5 ballerinas in the world today (at least IMO) and deserves all the performances she gets. But I just find it strange that among the principals, only three (Pavlenko, Lopatkina, and Vishneva) actually seem to get any performances.

This afternoon it was clear that no one in the EPA was working, so I went to see Brokeback Mountain again at the movie theater just down the road. I saw it with my boss, who's a middle aged straight guy. (And yes I realize this sounds weird, but trust me, it's cool.) Anyway even though my boss is an NPR-listening liberal, I was curious to see how he'd react. Well he was a puddle of tears by the end of the movie

too, and he turned to me and said, "Ivy that was the most beautiful love story I've seen in years. Thanks for taking me."

And I noticed so many things that I didn't notice the first time I saw

the movie.

One of them was how Alma Jr. seemed to tacitly understand her father's sexuality. When she said she wanted to live with Ennis, I got the feeling that she found the conservative values of her mother and her stepfather overwhelming. But the conversation with the waitress sealed it for me -- Alma Jr. had that knowing look on her face. (By the way, I think it was amazing how Ang Lee cast an actress who resembled Heath Ledger so much.)

The other was my reevaluation of Lureen. The first time I watched the movie I thought that her conversation with Ennis was ice-cold -- I just noticed the blond wig and the lipstick and the calm voice. But the second time I watched it I saw how she was fighting back tears the entire time, as it finally dawned on her that all along, she had simply been a beard.

I also understood the conflict between Jack and his father-in-law more clearly. I think his FIL sensed Jack's homosexuality, and that was what the Thanksgiving dinner blowout was really about. The first time I just thought the FIL was being an ass.

BUT THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT NEW REVELATION:

When Jack and Ennis are having their big argument about November vs. August, Ennis says something like he absolutely has to keep this current job, unlike the previous jobs, which he's just *quit* in order to go to Brokeback. I didn't catch this the first time, and it made Ennis's sacrifice seem that much more heartbreaking. I also noticed the strong class differences between Jack and Ennis that develop over

the years.

Got from Dana Sanderson's site this wonderful news:

In April, Euroarts is releasing:

* MAYA PLISETSKAYA - DIVA OF DANCE Famous performances from 4 decades, including Bolero from the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels, 1977. Includes extensive 2004 interview with Plisetskaya, in which she discusses her life, career, and repertoire.

Now THIS I gotta see! If only to see whether Maya's arms still flap supernaturally

I thought Stacy had the best dance of the night. Very sexy.

Worst had to be Master P.

I think Tatum dances well but I don't like her personality -- she seems very full of herself, and has this sour expression on her face.

My sentimental favorite though was Jerry. His quickstep wasn't very quick, but there's something so endearing about him.

So my votes went to Stacy and Jerry.

A good exercise would be to make a cd of Frida Leider and Birgit Nilsson singing the same arias. Because they are the polar opposites, although both were dramatic sopranos.

Leider had an extremely prominent, fast vibrato, a rather round, warm timbre, and a decidedly old-fashioned (meaning liberal) use of portamenti. Leider also had an excellent trill. Her Ho jo to ho strongly resembles a coloratura aria, with the trills and the portamento capped off with a high C. Leider was at home in the Italian rep (in a way Nilsson was too) because of the accuracy of her scale, her easy trill, and the almost Italianate warmth of her voice. At the same time even contemporary reviews remarked that her voice was not that large, and that her top was shaky.

Nilsson's voice was like the Star Wars beam -- it was razor sharp and completely straight (with little to no vibrato, as dirac pointed out). She used little to no portamento, which made her singing seem even more knife-like. Her timbre had an almost star-like brightness, she of course had no problems with high C's, and anyone who ever heard her commented on how large and penetrating her voice was. Nilsson could sing roles Leider never could have attempted, like Elektra, Turandot, or Salome.

I'm browsing the Mariinsky website, and I see these beautiful looking dancers, who joined the Mariinsky in the Vinogradov era, and I was wondering do they ever dance anymore?

- Yulia Makhalina

- Zhanna Ayupova

- Tatiana Amosova (actually, I saw her as the Lilac Fairy on the Detroit tour, but have heard that she rarely dances)

- Irina Zhelonkina (what a beauty!)

- Veronika Ivanova (who I've had a soft spot for ever since I saw her get terrorized by Natalia Dudinskaya in Backstage at the Kirov)

It seems as if nowadays the Mariinsky's main dancers are Vishneva, Lopatkina, and rising starts like Obratsova, Bolshakova, Tereshkina, Somova, Novikova ...

So do these 'older' dancers ever dance anymore?

I would imagine she's coaching the angels on their portamenti.

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Maybe on their high C's, but not on their portamenti, as Nilsson as a rule didn't sing them. What separates her "Ho jo to ho" from past Wagnerian singers like Frida Leider or Lillian Nordica or Helen Traubel or Kirsten Flagstad was her refusal to sing "Ho jo to ho-oh" with the huge swooping portamento at the end.

But anyway, RIP to a great singer and a smart, funny woman.

I saw Bolshakova in Detroit as Florine, and the first thing I thought was, STAR. She was a little rough around the edges, but overall her dancing had this energy and charisma that the Aurora of that afternoon, Ekaterina Osmolkina, did not have. From my seat she seemed like an extremely beautiful lady too.

Wow, beautiful pictures.

Loved the picture of Diana.

Is Obratsova as enchanting when she's moving as she is in pictures? She looks positively ethereal in every picture I've ever seen of her.

And I love the shot of Novikova in Forsythe. It looks like she has a beautiful grande jete.

dirac, I agree that "Crash" was not that subtle, but for me it was strangely more compelling than Million Dollar Baby, because I thought the performances of Million Dollar Baby were pretty lifeless. I know Eastwood wanted to create a dull, gloomy, subdued world but I never got invested in the movie because of all the "subtlety." Crash, OTOH, had some really compelling performances, from actors/actresses that I thought had never done such great work. Matt Dillon, Thandie Newton, Ryan Phillipe, and Sandra Bullock were never even on my radar screen even though I've seen their movies. But all of them gave IMO very compelling performances. Matt Dillon will probably get an Oscar nod, but Ryan Phillipe was just as good.

I wonder if they'll use Wagner's music.

About Syriana, ultimately I think it's a lesser film than Traffic, although I liked both movies. I think that's because the moral centers of Syriana (the emir's son, George Clooney's character) are less compelling than the moral center of Traffic, which was Benicio del Toro's character, as well as Michael Douglas's character. del Toro's character developed from a somewhat corrupt, jaded cop, to a mini-hero, and it was without a trace of sentimentality.

I also rented the BBC version of P&P, and I'll compare it to the P&P in theaters.