canbelto

Oh dear ... I want to see this but I don't want to see it. I have such fond memories of seeing Ferri dance this with Bocca (and Corella) and she was so perfect ... but that was almost 10 years ago. I almost don't want to have that memory of perfection ruined in any way.

Not trying to argue, but why is it an "utterly unfair" comparison? I think it's a fair comparison to see the very best (or close to the very best) as a benchmark of what CAN be done with a role. Also, Bouder and Peck are dancing NOW, and audiences can walk across the plaza to see them. So I don't think it's unfair to say that if you can see the very best just by walking across the plaza, that ABT ballerinas must measure up to those standards that are being set by their contemporaries.

Her name is Misty Copeland.

Herrera's words might have more weight if she wasn't such a dull, predictable performer. I stopped buying tickets to see her because every Paloma performance was exactly like every other Paloma performance: technically assured, generic, absolutely no interpretation besides stock gestures. The stiffness of her back and arms became a real detriment. So she could do 32 fouettes. Whoop dee doo.

Here's my thing. If you are talking to the media, IMO, you are promoting yourself. Otherwise, why are you talking to the media? Who wakes up and says, "Hmm, I want to talk to a reporter" unless there was an element of self-promotion? Herrera's objecting to one form of promotion, which is actually older than social media. In the old days dancers and singers used to give favorite fans backstage passes and tours of rehearsal space and what not. Actually companies still do this. It's a classic tactic of companies to make fans feel special, that they're getting this access to what goes on behind the curtains. Dancers have just figured out that nowadays you can do the same thing by snapping a few pictures of a rehearsal with your iphone. Gives fans the same feeling of intimacy. A number of dancers used to and still did documentaries which showed them sweating, injured, upset, and whatever. There's a nice film of Edward Villela from the 1960's that shows him in spasms of pain during Tarantella. This Dancers Work Really Really Hard and It Hurts stuff is not a new form of promotion. Herrera's interview reads as "I'm so great, I'm so wonderful, and oh by the way, I'm also starting a clothing line." She's entitled to that form of self promotion as well. But Type A promotion doesn't tarnish the mystique or brand more than Type B promotion. Especially when she's also throwing shade on her former colleagues.

Well I just think it's hypocritical for her to criticize her colleagues for having Facebook and Instagram and then promote her own clothing line. She's not endorsing a brand of pointe shoes or dance wear. She's actually starting her own fashion brand, and using her celebrity status in Argentina for people to buy these clothes. What is that if not promoting herself (and looking to make a profit from such promotion)? I just don't see how, say, one dancer posting pics of their dogs at rehearsal is somehow "tarnishing" their talent and fame, but her asking people to buy her clothing line because it has a Paloma Herrera nametag is A-OK.

Sorry but Paloma Herrera sounds like a bit of a pill. She doesn't use social media, or like to socialize with the "new generation" of dancers, but she sounds very judgmental and even angry. It's odd that she talks about how she had to get away from Olga Ferri because the intensity and overbearing relationship was too much, but she doesn't seem self-aware enough to realize her own rigid mindset and why she didn't get along so much with the newer colleagues at ABT. I also find it hypocritical that she talks about promoting yourself on social media and then ends the interview with a plug about her own clothing line, and congratulates herself by calling it "classic. A bit like me." Snob.

I actually saw this the most in her T&V. I compared her to Ashley Bouder and Tiler Peck in the NYCB. Peck and Bouder are trained to be extremely with the music, to never stretch out phrases for simple self-indulgence. That is like Balanchine 101. But both of them actually found ways to expand their phrasing more than Lane. That long sequence where the female lead dances while holding the hands of the corps -- when Lane does it it's very leg up, leg down, sort of like a classroom exercise. Watch how much a very tiny dancer can captivate by the slow, elegant movement of limbs here at 9:27: Now maybe this isn't a fair comparison. Gelsey Kirkland is an extremely unique dancer. But she was also roughly the same size as Lane, and able to dance huge.

I'm not saying Kotchetovs is great. I'm saying I've seen Lane in a variety of roles and she hasn't impressed me. And by the way I don't object to her "great technique" bc I don't even think she has great technique. She is very good at petit allegro. But in adagio dancing she's limited and in things like Nutcracker she completely lacked any ability to fill out the music. Small dancers have to dance big, and she just doesn't. Small steps, small extension, small jumps, small expression.

I don't see Sarah Lane as a ballerina in the same caliber as Stella Abrera. Sarah Lane's dancing is so basic and white-bread. Stella could always turn even small variations into real master classes of grace and charm. Lane's dancing is rather small and brittle. It doesn't breathe. It has a tight, contained quality which I hate. When I watched her dance Sleeping Beauty with Herman Cornejo this year it really struck me how Cornejo had a tiny role (by comparison) but made every moment count. Sarah danced the tricky petit allegro steps of Aurora perfectly but it went by without a single impression other than "she knows the steps."

Svetlana Zakharova was only at the Vaganova for one year -- she received most of her training in Kiev. Viktoria Tereshkina was also a transplant -- she went to the Vaganova at age 16. she received most of her training in Siberia. But this isn't so unusual with many prestigious ballet academies -- students are often expected to be finished products well before graduation and they need a bit of resume polishing or connections. The thing about David Hallberg and POB is that he's said many times that he found the training overly harsh and unhelpful. That seems to have been a common complaint about Claude Bessy's reign.

Well here's some video of Osipova/Polunin Giselle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lLWy0r851M

There's two recent interviews, one with Sergei: http://www.balletinsider.com/en/archive/solo/1835 And one with Natalia: http://www.balletinsider.com/en/archive/solo/1827 They sort of confirm they are a couple and plan to dance together a lot more in the future. Sergei has a "Natasha" tattoo on his left hand in Cyrillic. Yikes.

He's actually not very present in the book except for penultimate chapter. It's a very short book. Most of the book consists of Jean Louise and her love interest Henry.

The issue is that in Watchman Atticus is such a poorly drawn character that one can't really say he's bigoted, not bigoted, whatever. He seems to be a plot mechanism in what reads like a young adult novel where the young adult protagonist is disillusioned about childhood heroes and love interests. I feel like the racial issues in Watchman are so shallowly addressed that it almost felt like a hook to get the novel published because of the timeliness of Brown vs. Board of Education in 1957.

Anyone read it? I did, and all I can say is I can see why this was never published, and IMO it shouldn't have been. Full thoughts here: http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2015/07/go-set-watchman-spoilers-ahead.html

Garbo was always a rarefied taste even in her prime. She was aloof and rarely seen in public. Audrey Hepburn also was not publicity seeking in a crass way but she was much more public in her support for certain designers (Givenchy), causes (UNICEF), and was never a recluse. But I think what makes Audrey a style icon so many years later is that her look isn't impossible to replicate. Of course you don't look like Audrey Hepburn but many women can throw on a little black dress, shades, and kitten heels and go out in NYC.

Not exactly the same but Jacque d'Amboise did Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

I saw this show twice and once Megan Fairchild was out and Tony Yazbeck had a dance double do his ballet sequence. I then saw this show during Tony season and all the cast was there and Tony did his own dancing. But Robert Fairchild now takes Wed evenings off from American in Paris. Very often Broadway dancers take breaks once Tony season is over. ETA: I think Hamilton (set to open) also has "alternate cast days" too.

If anyone has been following Broadway grosses, OTT is doing very poorly. http://www.broadwayworld.com/grosses.cfm#.VZrjMRNViko The fact that Misty is only scheduled for a partial schedule before Labor Day tells me that the producers are contemplating whether to keep the show open or not and if there's an uptick in interest because of Copeland. If not the show will likely close after Labor Day.

Company B has been in the repertoire for a number of years so unless they invite the stager back to coach (like they do with Makarova and Bayadere) I think the dancers are following the instructions of the internal ABT coaches. But ABT often misses the accents of many works, stager or no stager. For instance Symphony in C was staged by Merrill Ashley but the end product was horrifying.

The ballet was Black Tuesday, and yes, ABT missed the dark accents of PT's choreography. In fact I'd say a big problem with ABT when they perform PT is that they tend to take the Twyla Tharp approach to everything -- very athletic, "all-American," big smiles on the girls and swagger on the guys. Paul Taylor's dances are not just a testament to all-American swagger and athleticism. PTDC has a three week stay in NY at the Koch with very deflated prices (I've never paid more than $20 for a PTDC ticket). I really recommend watching PT dancers do PT.

ABT misses the dark undertones of Company B. When you see the PTDC do it you get how this is not just a perky dance with jukebox melodies. Not so much with ABT. I'd recommend seeing the PTDC do this.

During the summers matinees are often the biggest draws bc of tourists and kids being out of school.

For a glimpse into the Joan/Olivia rivalry, I found this. Interesting interview, especially the observation by Joan that no one in their family was a "warm and cuddly" type, herself included. Also this gives a slightly different take on what happened re: Mama DeHavilland's death. Joan would later say that Olivia didn't inform her of the death. But this interview it seems as if Olivia did inform her, but didn't bother making sure the telegram got sent to the proper place. If they had been out of touch for so long I could see how that could happen, where Olivia wouldn't really know Joan's whereabouts. I also like Joan's very grand-dame, mid-Atlantic accent.