Syzygy

Agree to disagree. We don't know each other, but I can tell you I'm a woman with breasts who enjoys being topless. But I'm very, very aware that it's a choice to show any part of your own body (or not). Either way, as Villette points out:

I mostly agree. And I like to believe that if Finlay had not tried to disappear while Ramasar continued to star in Broadway shows we'd be as critical of the former-- although who are we kidding? I see what you're saying. There's a huge difference between an artist consenting to a topless performance and a man trying to impress his bros by sharing sexually explicit photos of a woman who trusts him.

After a week of protests outside of West Side Story in response to the casting of Amar Ramasar, Alexa Maxwell released a statement. According to the New York Times, she acknowledges that he did indeed share her private photos, but that, “she considered Mr. Ramasar’s decision to share her photos a “misstep in judgment,” and that “she had forgiven him.” This all reads like a bad Reddit post. A twenty-five-year-old woman defends her thirty-eight-year-old boyfriend for sharing my intimate photos amongst mutual (and higher ranking) colleagues? Come on. If we really needed another reason to consider him disgusting or a master manipulator--we got it.

My thoughts exactly. Never surprising, always disappointing.

That's too bad! I can see from he other posts how excited she was for Diamonds...

Ah! Love de Sola (of course) but was looking forward to seeing Mukhamedov in Diamonds! Hope it's not an injury? There's no social media explanation -- yet, at least.

It's possible she was an understudy and this is all very last minute? The casting for Dec.15 has Bianca Bulle as Dew Drop at 1pm and Ashley Knox at 6:30. Although I don't know if that would change the friction points that @Balletwannabe and I were thinking about...

I can see both sides of this. On one hand, company members getting passed over for a student can't be great for company morale. Putting on a happy, supportive face in the back of the rehearsal wouldn't be fun. Also, I wonder if Taylor Naturkas is getting paid? Way back in my day (at a different but similar company/school) students would get pulled for snow or flowers or whatever, and they were paid in experience. Eye roll! Hopefully that's not the case here, because that would beg the question: If she's ready for this part why not hire and pay her for her work? On the other hand, in the -- admittedly very short -- clips she looks great, and I am certainly the type of audience member who would be thrilled to watch a young, unknown in a wild debut.

Miami City Ballet just posted an Instagram story about a debut: "Miami City Ballet pre-professional year dancer @taylornaturkas making her debut this Sunday as Dew Drop." She looks great from the clip, and a student in that role is pretty exciting. Is anyone going who can report back?

I've always wished the best for Joy despite her antics, but after watching an Instagram story of hers the other day where she was filming a stranger at the gym (an elderly man who perhaps wasn't using the equipment properly, but who was clearly aware and uncomfortable with her filming) while mocking him — no thank you. I'm done with any vlogging/Instagramming/podcasting from this particular personality. There are too many jerks in the world that I'm required to deal with, I don't need it in my ballet consumption.

Thanks for the report! I'm only just now getting into Paul Taylor (I don't know how, but I somehow usually miss his pieces when they're presented) but will have to put Mercuric Tidings on my "to-seek-out" list. I'm curious to hear what you thought of Morgan in Slaughter. Also, what did you find dated about the piece? Just the subject matter? Or was the the choreography, costumes, etc...?

Thank you all for the wonderful recommendations!

There’s a wonderful clip of Violette Verdy coaching Pacific Northwest Ballet in Emeralds in which she emphasizes that, in the “bracelet” variation, “you don’t do it to your arms, your arms do it to you.” In an otherwise very pretty rendition of Emeralds by the Mariinsky yesterday, Yana Seline (corps, filling in for Daria Ionova) moved her arms, they didn’t move her. The only other “offensive” bit* might have been that Xenia Fateeva fell off pointe in the bourrees twice during her solos (the second time there was an audible “ugh” by the man to my left), but to me, she was the highlight. All grace and “perfume.” For the record, I love when dancers fall. I’d rather see someone really go for it than play it safe. Speaking of falling: Rubies. Renata Shakirova and Kimin Kim were about ten seconds into their entrance when Shakirova wiped out in the most dramatic splits that got an audible gasp! from the entire audience. Jazzy splits! It was amazing, and if Mr. B. were around I’m sure he would include it in the choreography. She wasn’t hurt, and got right back up, high-fived Kimin (that was part of the choreography), and finished the ballet excellently. Each battement was to her head, she was fun without cheesing to make up for the fall, and most importantly she wasn’t sulking after an inevitable mistake like *cough cough* certain American ballerinas that are very popular on this board. Ekaterina Chebykina also fell in the last five counts as the tall girl during the finale. How exciting! Both were wonderful, both were good sports. Diamonds. I’ve been looking forward to seeing Maria Khoreva in person, and she did not disappoint. She was absolutely beautiful in every way. For those of you wondering about tempo, while the adagio wasn’t the slowest I’ve seen (Het National made Mariinsky’s Adiagio tempo look downright American) it certainly could have been altered for the finale. Maria Khoreva was almost perfection, but the only time she showed her age was in the VERY SLOW coda, when she did a tight, cautions in the ménage. I'm sure she and her coaches have the ability to correct it. Otherwise, I only have positive things to say about her and her partner, Timur Askerov. The corps in every movement: Clean and in-line. No NYCB in terms of movement quality, but neater. *Actually the most offensive part of the performance was the audience. I’m still new-ish to L.A. — can someone tell me how it works here? At the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion you’re allowed to bring drinks and snacks into the theater. That’s fine, I enjoy sparkling wine at 2pm as much as the next person. But they also sell bags of potato chips that the audience will open and consume during the show. In Emeralds, I could hardly hear the music over a woman clad in a set of many small, noisy bangles opening a bags of chips, then: CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP. This is the second ballet at Dorothy Chandler I’ve gone to where this has happened. Last year at Miami City Ballet’s Nutcracker, after intermission the family directly behind me came back from intermission with bags of potato chips and spent the first half of the second act squeeeeeaking the bags open before CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP. I asked them to stop and my partner (someone who did not grow up going to the theater) snapped at me for telling the mother that her kids shouldn’t rustle plastic during a show. Am I crazy?

Thank you! I had forgotten about this one!

I'm seeing the Mariinsky in Jewels this weekend, and I *love* to brush up on my history before seeing a show. It makes it all last longer. I already have chapters of Apollo's Angel's and Holding on the Air bookmarked — along with plans to re-listen to a PNB/Doug Fullington podcast. But does anyone have any other recommendations? I wish a there was a proper Balanchine biography already...

I don't disagree with this thought. But if influence and press brings in revenue, it'd make much more sense coming from someone else. Hamrick gets a lot of press for her personal life and additional gigs in comparison to many of her colleagues.

I've been curious too. The only "review" I could find didn't cover her show. Did anyone here attend? cubanmiamiboy?

Just bought tickets to see Mariinsky in Jewels. The cast I’ll be seeing is: Emeralds: Daria Ionova, Maxim Zyuzin Rubies: Renata Shakirova, Kimin Kim, Ekaterina Chebykina Diamonds: Maria Khoreva, Timur Askerova I’m especially excited to see Maria Khoreva in person (I never have, but know she’s been extremely hyped up by the Mariinsky staff -- if not by everyone on this forum.)

I thought we'd see this soon. If anyone sees Giselle next year please report back! I wonder if this opens up a principal spot for a woman? As others on the form have mentioned, this would leave six female principals and three regular men. Hmmm... (Off topic, but I'm still so surprised that Brooklyn Mack doesn't have a contract.)

Interesting. Basilio is a lot of acting. Sounds like that's not his strength. How is he in pieces that aren't so focused on plot?

Thanks for such a thoughtful report! I was sorry to miss this one as I've always liked the look of ABT's sets and costumes. I didn't do my research; were they doing 1983 Baryshnikov version that I've come to associate those costumes with? (Or I guess now we're saying "staged by Kevin McKenzie.") Either way, CO Ballet does a pretty decent job with their social media, but it's especially nice to hear your honest thoughts. I've seen Morgan Buchanan in person maybe once. From a distance it was hard to see why she was cast over Tracy Jones, but it sounds like you're much more familiar with her dancing and enjoy it —which is great to hear. I was surprised to see Chandra Kuykendall cast as Queen of the Dryads. What was the pique arabesque thing? Like a diagonal? I have mixed feeling about changing choreography based on physical limitations. That said, I suppose modifying these Italian fouettes wouldn't irk me as much as subbing out the hops in Giselle... ouf. For the record I like her dancing just fine, I like that she's from the academy, cool that she's a mom etc., but I'll be curious to hear how the rest of the season goes for her. Asuka Saski and Francisco Estevez: Awesome. I saw the one-armed lift + arabesque online and it was fantastic — I can only imagine how fun it would have been to be in the audience. Fouettes: Yes. 32 clean singles would be a dream. Sigh.

California, how was Don Q?

For those on Instagram: Morgan has a few great clips on her story of a Slaughter On Tenth Avenue rehearsal. It could be the role, it could be that she’s getting more and more comfortable, but she looks great. Even better than the Dewdrop clip — to my eyes anyway.

Sure? I understand who is she, how corps works, how much the audience sees, etc. Still, like everyone else, I've always had corps favorites. Powell wasn't one of mine, sounds like she one of yours.

As part of their ongoing "Best of Culture Series," The Guardian published "The best dance of the 21st century" yesterday. It's a round-up of 20 pieces that have been reviewed by the outlet, ranked. I tend to roll my eyes at pieces like this because, you know, art is subjective. But there were a few pieces I had forgotten about or missed — so in that respect it was interesting to scroll through. The "Number 1" piece is by Crystal Pite. I'll post the blurb on that below. And here's the entire piece, if you care to take a look. "Betroffenheit (2015) One of the most thrilling dance stories of the new century has been the rise and rise of Crystal Pite. With a steadfast belief in her own choreographic principles, Pite has created true and startling works for both classical and contemporary companies. Her language has taken flight in epic compositions of abstract dance but, as in her harrowing masterpiece Betroffenheit, it has also plumbed depths of human experience. Created in collaboration with actor and writer Jonathon Young, this 2015 work explores the hellhole of grief into which Young was plunged by the accidental deaths of his daughter, nephew and niece. The pain, humiliation and sheer ugliness of that experience is given searing physical embodiment in Pite’s choreography but so too is the slow process of recovery and redemption. As raw and unflinching as Betroffenheit is, however, you come away from it with a wild feeling of exhilaration – uplifted by its courage, its coruscating beauty and by the faith it affirms in the power of art to address emotions that lie beyond reason or words."