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cygneblanc

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Posts posted by cygneblanc

    Manuel Legris leaving as Onegin!

    in Dancers

    Posted

    Tickets' sales began this morning at 9 AM for Manuel Legris' farewell's performance on may 15, 2009. Almost everything was sold at 9. 05 am. There are still some not so good tickets at 20 euros. I was lucky enough to get a ticket, but not for the good seat I wanted.

    Ballet de Toulouse, 2008-2009 season

    in Other European Companies

    Posted

    It's one of the best ballet compagnies in the country. I would rank them just behind POB and at the same rank as Bordeaux.

    The influence of the current AD, who's american, has been very positive, and probably explains the fact they have Balanchine in their repertory. They have been featured in an american made TV documentary on Balanchine which in France was broadcasted on ARTE.

    The dancer's names are here

    http://www.theatre-du-capitole.org/sommair...rganigramme.htm

    If you can see them, go. Of course, they aren't as good as POB but they have their own identity and I guess you could have a very pleasant surprise.

    Oh, they don't have a school of their own.

    A question about Demonstrations de l'Ecole

    in Paris Opera Ballet

    Posted

    The demonstrations are shortenest classes done on stage. Here's the usual pattern:

    Morning:

    Ballet: boys and girls, 6th-4th (9-14 years old)

    Mime: 5th division, boys and girls (11-13 years old)

    Folk : 6th division, boys and girls (9-12 years old)

    character: 4th division, boys and girls (12-14 years old)

    Comtemporary: 2ond division, boys and girls (14 to 17 years old)

    Choir: 6th division and 5th division

    Afternoon:

    Ballet: boys and girls, 3rd to 1st divisions, boys and girls (13 to 18 years old)

    Adagio: 1st divisions(15-18 years old)

    Character : 3rd division, boys and girls

    special class: 2ond division, boys and girls

    The graduating class is dancing only in the afternoon performance, but don't miss the youngest ones, the work done with them in less than a year in amazing.

    But I guess you'll have a very hard time while trying to get tickets because these performances are always sold-out.

    NYCB in Paris, September 2008

    in New York City Ballet

    Posted

    Well, I haven't seen it, but I think this two weeks engagement was really a great thing.

    As it is said in the article, the tour is a great success, with very appreciative audiences, and sold-out performances. From that point of view, it is worth $2.3. Tickets were already expensive for the french audiences, they couldn't have been sold at a higher price as they were in London. So it was needed to find money elsewhere. Patrons' system is good. From what I understood, NYCB's tour in London wasn't a great success. I can guarantee you this one is, at least for POB.

    We got to see very different ballets which are rarely or never seen in Europe. It showed french audiences it's possible to have creations from our time making use of ballet technics including pointes shoes. I wish POB's AD invite Peter Martins to create a new work for POB in a very near future.

    I hope NYCB's dancers and AD feel good after this tour. They did very well and I expect them to have feedbacks of how positive their coming in Paris was.

    As for a general view of the two weeks, I can tell the following things:

    The energy and commitment of all dancers were great. You can tell they love what they're doing. It was very refreshing. I'm sometimes under the impression that POB's dancers are as happy when they dance than I when I go to work on the morning!

    The musicality of the dancers and the way music make their bodies working was unusual for the french audience, but it was interesting to see that. NYCB's dance is maybe less aristocratic than POB's but it's at least as nice to watch.

    Although NYCB as a whole is much more heterogeneous than POB, particularly in the dancer's bodies type, this heterogeneity isn't a problem at all since it's compensated for by musicality.

    The overall level of each dancer is excellent. That may be paradoxical, but the level of the soloists is quite homogeneous. That being said and as far I'm concerned, there is Ashley Bouder and the others. All the dancers are very deserving, but she's a real star. Wendy Wheelan distinguished herself during that tour, too.

    The choices of pieces brought were excellent. There was a nice balance between choregraphers. I liked Peter Martins' works very much but I need to see more of Christopher Weeldon to be convinced of his genius.

    Finally, I would say this tour in front of an audience known as one of the hardest in the world can give a lot of confidence to Peter Martins and NYCB. For POB's directors, it must be a key in their politics of ordering new works. NYCB showed you could be very modern and still dancing ballet with pointes shoes.

    NYCB in Paris, September 2008

    in New York City Ballet

    Posted

    Balanchine’s triple bill, september 11, 2008

    Divertimento n°15 is a jewel, but if a diamond is missing, everything fails ! The jewel wasn’t broken on september 11. Divertimento was so well danced. I was particularly impressed by the women soloists (Ana Sophia Scheller, Erica Pereira, Kathryn Morgan, Tyler Peck and Megan Fairchild) who were all impeccable. The men weren’t bad but I’m under the impression this work was designed for women. Consequently, they weren’t able to impress me much.

    I was a bit afraid of Episodes, and I was right. All the dancers were excellent, the choreo translates the music, the full thing is very reflective, but I got it really only during the Fugue. No doubt, it was just too cold for me! That being said, this was well received by the audience while Divertimento’s reception was a bit cold

    Tschaikovsky’s suite n°3

    There is Themes and Variations, and the others parts. Ashley Bouder was really the STAR of the night, she was shining. Some people were standing for her at the end, which is very rare in Paris. Her partner, Gonzalo Garcia, didn’t equal her, but was good! The corps de ballet was really a jewel-case for Miss Bouder.

    As for the others parts, the elegy was nice and very lyrical, while both the walz and the scherzo would gain to be shorter!

    NYCB in Paris, September 2008

    in New York City Ballet

    Posted

    September 16, 2008

    Duo Concernant

    A very nice Pas de deux danced by Yvonne Boree and Robert Fairchild. It allows dancers to show some versatility. Both dancers showed a great technics. It’s a very intimate work. One may think dancers could look lost on the very big stage but I was under the impression I was alone with them.

    Hallelujah junction

    From what I’ve seen form NYCB until now, it’s definitiveny my favorite work. It’s just brilliant. The choreo is amazing. It allows NYCB dancers to show us their vitality, their joy, and their excellent skills. You want to go on stage and dance with them!

    After the rain

    I need more than this pas de deux to be convinced by Christopher Wheeldon’s works. Of course, things could have been worse, but they could have been better, too. That being said, Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall were so beautiful and brougt us in their world.

    Dances at a Gathering

    I can see now where french choregrapher Jean-Guillaume Barre took his inspiration for Péchés de jeunesse. It’s a very subtil work, very light, with pastel toned costumes.

    We were for one hour in another world, in the country with a blue sky. All the dancers were excellent, and although there is no story behind this work, everyone played his part very well. This work gives you a canvas so that you can build your own story. I liked that very much.

    Overall, my favorite night until now. Everything was extremely well received by the audience and the theater was full!

    NYCB in Paris, September 2008

    in New York City Ballet

    Posted

    Overall, I can say it is a revelation for the french public, who is used to see Balanchine danced by POB, to see the NYCB. The musicality of all the dancers is amazing, as well the fluidity of their dance. While POB dancers have clearly the two parts of the body separated when they dance, NYCB’s dancers’ body is only one piece. The result is maybe less aristocratic, but it is more musical and much more dynamic in the ensembles.

    Serenade

    A very nice beginning. Women skirts would gain to be a bit shorter. I’m afraid the not so good critics I read about Darci Kistler were true. If she demonstrated a real stage presence, she was very clearly eclipsed by a brilliant Ashley Bouder.

    Symphony in three movements

    A very plesant surprise.

    I’ve seen the Niels Christe’s rendition of this Stravinski work danced by POB’s school. It was a very strong, serious, and dark work. I wouldn’t have imagined something lighter could have been done with this music. Well, Mister B. did it, and how well !

    The piece is light and humoristic but yet is very musical. All the soloists, and especially Albert Evans and Wendy Whelan, displayed a great musicality. The dancers’spirit were excellent. They were dynamic and precise.

    My favorite work of the night. It reminded me Rubies. This work was extremely well received by the audience

    Brahms/Haendel

    A light disapointment, the costumes are beautiful but besides that, it was a bit boring. The dancers were all excellent but the music wasn’t very inspiring and the choregraphy is quite conventional…

    To be continuated tomorrow with the Balanchine’s triple bill

    Serge Lifar's Ballets

    in Ballets and Choreographers

    Posted

    Well, I'm afraid that the reasons related to the lack of programming in Paris will always be dark, but it has definitively something to do with POB's current AD tastes and with the "politicaly correct" ideology, too.

    What's curious is a that lot of variations extracted of Lifar's works are performed during the annual competition.

    As for the performing of Lifar's works by american compagnies, I can only agree with Estelle on the aesthetical point.

    I think there would be definitively some problems with the copyrights issues. If I remember well, there is only one claimant, not that young, living in Switzerland. I don't know what's her mind on the subject.

    Summer Olympics 2008 (SPOILERS)

    in Other Performing & Fine Arts: Performances, Exhibits, Films, and Events

    Posted

    I felt so bad fot the little chinese gymnasts who won the gold medal in gymnastics.

    They came on the podium while holding their hands. It was a very moving gesture, but I wonder if it's better of not knowing what there is behind it. And I have found the picture where the chinese coaches are posing with the girls medals quite shocking. I hope they won't keep these medals for themself.

    That being said, I was a bit disturbed by Marta Karoly's comments. Even if some chinese girls are really younger than 16, they should be made proud of their accomplishments. These girls are far too young to pay for adults' faults.

    Classics you haven't read...

    in General Reading and Literature

    Posted

    One book I couln't finish during my first year in high school was Balzac's Le Pere Goriot. It was so boring and we were at the same time reading George Orwell's 1984 in our English class.

    I, like a lot of my fellows, choose what's considered as an heresy by litterature teachers :) : I read instead a short book on le Pere Goriot which contain a very shortened version of the text with an analysis.

    I also have some very bad memories of Tacitus' Annals I had to read (in latin!) for a latin course.

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