canbelto

A nasty virus that has left me housebound for the holidays has also made me write a point by point comparison about the Balanchine vs. Peter Wright Nutcrackers, and how both have changed over the years: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2018/12/comparing-nutcrackers-across-pond.html

Sono Asato was also the original Miss Ivy Smith in On the Town. RIP.

No, Balanchine's grand pas takes bits and pieces of the Ivanov. I think the company that does the most ur-text Ivanov is the Royal Ballet. A comparison: Balanchine's SPF variation vs. Ivanov:

A comparison:

Leslie Caron must hold a record for starring in musicals that have an ick factor today. Gigi is another one that has an ick factor, and while An American in Paris doesn't have an ick factor per se it hasn't aged well either and Caron's character is a complete cipher.

I know. I love her on livestream. The Bayreuth Lohengrin which she sang this year was wonderful. I also enjoyed the Otello livestream from Munich.

Harteros never sings in the U.S. I heard her years ago as Countess Almaviva. She was glorious. I last heard Mattila as Kostelnicka in Jenufa. Unforgettable.

I am so jealous of anyone who gets to see Mattila sing anything, anywhere.

Sir Peter Wright in his FIRST iteration of the ballet for the Royal Ballet (he's now made so many changes that it might as well be a different ballet) kept this effect:

The other night I watched Meet Me in St. Louis and must admit that outside of the incredible talent of Judy Garland and the amusing antics of Margaret O'Brien as Tootie the movie hasn't aged well. It's a typical MGM Americana drama but I have to giggle that moving to NYC is considered akin to moving to Sodom and Gomorrah. The movie was lovingly directed by Vincente Minnelli as a love letter to Judy but without her I don't think the movie would work.

Yeah I've never seen the SPF do a penchee before the final balance after the promenade.

Speaking of Balanchine Nutcrackers PA Ballet's Mayara Piniero posted this on her instagram. This is definitely a major change in the final promenade/balance:

By the way the new Met Traviata is definitely worth seeing: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2018/12/met-traviata-something-old-something.html It was already on HD but I believe there's still an encore performance?

I checked my blog, and I don't remmeber that much about the performance but it does say Lane and Gorak struggled with the torch lift during the last run in BAM in 2014: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-last-look-at-ratmanskys-nutcracker.html

I preferred the sound of Jonas Kaufmann's voice as Parsifal. But Klaus Florian Vogt's odd, disembodied sound was very unique and worked well for the character. Vogt is anither artist I first got to know through livestreams as his career is heavily based in Europe. This year was my first time hearing him live.

Per Wendy Whelan's Instagram ballerina Raven Wilkinson has passed away ...

Since everyone's making these lists: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-best-and-worst-of-2018-with-video.html

Here's another example of musicality. Same choreography, different dancers. I find Asylmuratova extremely musical at 1:00 because of the way she lets her back and arms do a dead drop in promenade at precisely the moment the music takes a "downturn." It's indicating Esmeralda's despair after her attempt to seem cheerful with the tambourine a second earlier. Her upper body is deliberately ugly, almost careless, like she can't put up a front anymore. She's responding to the mood of the music. When you watch her at that moment you can feel her heart letting out a great sigh. Here is Uliana Lopatkina dancing the same pas de six. Uliana does the same move, the dead drop backbend at the same time, but her slightly stiffer, more aristocratic epaulement actually work against the music here. Her body language just doesn't look as crestfallen. It's gorgeously danced, but that split second timing and slight difference in body language make Uliana's Esmeralda make a difference.

Lauren Lovette had I believe two ankle surgeries and at this point might feel that she doesn't have the stamina to maintain NYCB's extremely demanding punishing schedule for principals. If she has a talent for choreography (and I think she does) why not?

The fact is though Clifford will be inheriting a company that dances many ballets that were created after he left the company in 1973, and with ballets that have changes Balanchine instituted himself after he left the company. Also there are Robbins ballets, there are the contemporary works, there are the new works. Clifford seems to want to return NYCB to a time capsule of 1972-ish and it just isn't going to happen. I would also add that Clifford's views on sexual propriety and his attitude that it's on the onus of a young SAB student not to "succumb" to advances is very 1972-ish. It's 2018.

Marina Harss has a review of Unity Phelan/Joseph Gordon/Claire Kretzschmar: http://dancetabs.com/2018/12/new-york-city-ballet-the-nucracker-new-york/

I like the Balanchine Nutcracker as my favorite "classical" Nutcracker. My favorite alternative Nutcracker is Austin McCormick's Nutcracker Rouge:

Did anyone see Maria Kowroski as SPF? I'm curious as to how she did.

I attended last night's Nutcracker. The good: Athan Sporek's Nutcracker Prince continues to delight. Devin Alberda's Soldier remains a very strong interpretation. Georgina Pazcoguin brought the sex and sultry back to Coffee! She also brought back the bent leg pirouettes in the finale. Anthony Huxley's Candy Cane. Sara Adam's Marzipan was well danced and she actually did have the gargouillades. The two principal women Tess Reichlen as SPF and Sterling Hyltin as Dewdrop were both wonderful although one could argue that neither was a "natural" in the role. Reichlen had gorgeous extension and a magisterial presence as the SPF, Hyltin's jumps as Dewdrop really flew and hung in the air. Although normally I would have loved to see Hyltin as SPF and Tess as Dewdrop I'm glad I saw these two interpretations last night. The bad: Ask La Cour at this time is not dancing an acceptable Cavalier. His partnering was awkward -- there were many moments when things should have looked more seamless. The shoulder jumps are one such moment. His solo was quite frankly awful -- he tried to do the cabrioles and that didn't work, then he tried the menage and gave up maybe halfway through, then in the pirouettes a la seconde he also tried and ended up stumbling out of them.

He followed up with this. Besides the ick factor that he doesn't seem to think is a problem at all (Nureyev being "all over" a teen SAB student), would Victor Barbee appreciate having his personal business spread over social media in this way?