Jump to content
This Site Uses Cookies. If You Want to Disable Cookies, Please See Your Browser Documentation. ×

Cliff

Senior Member
  • Posts

    161
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Cliff

  1. My ballet DVD collection is growing at an alarming rate. My favorites acquired this year in no particular order are:

    1. Swan Lake with Zakharova. She is great. Although the editing of the corp is distracting.

    2. Le Corsaire with Asylmuratova and the Kirov. I enjoyed this video so much that I also acquired the ABT version, and was disapointed.

    3. Don Quixote with Dupont and the POB.

    4. An Evening with the Royal Ballet. Fonteyn and Nureyev. Orignally released well before 2005 but still excellent.

  2. Zhakarova is light on her feet and has wonderfully graceful arm movements! I enjoyed her dancing and would like to see more.

    The production has the Burmeister choreography. Notable is the presence of a jester who overshadows prince Siegfried. The jester doesn't do any humorous mime or slapstick comedy, so it is unclear why the dancer was costumed as a jester. There is also expended choreography for a princess who is a fine dancer.

    The video is well lit. Not dark or washed out. The editing is good except for too many cuts when the corps is dancing. Distant view, closeup, sideways, view for orchestra, then balcony....

  3. If NYCB were to do domestic tours, what cities could support a week-long stay? Places like Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, etc have resident ballet companies. Would NYCB coming to town detract from the local company's efforts? How big an audience is there these days for classical ballet in general?

    In Chicago, both ABT and the Bolshoi played to full houses without apparently hurting the Joffrey. NYCB would probably also be popular. I'd buy tickets.

  4. Some dancers are described as classical and some as romantic. Is this primarily in reference to the ballet, such as as Sleeping Beauty or Giselle? Or is there something else that classifies a dancer. What are the telling signs that indicate a classical dancer instead of a romantic dancer?

  5. There are various styles of training, such as Balanchine and Vaganova. Why are there different styles and what are there aesthetic consequences?

    For example, consider the Rose Adagio from Sleeping Beauty being performed in different styles. I'd assume that an experienced eye would perceive the different styles but what about the unexperienced eye. A novice would recognize a yellow vs a pink tutu. Would there be anything at an artistic level that would identify a Cecchetti style?

  6. Quite a few books are available from libraries free of charge. Inter-library loan programs exist. I borrowed the Ashley bio from a public library, but not my particular home library. I've also checked out dozens of ballet tapes. DVDs are usually restricted to the local residents.

  7. I'd take those speculations with a boulder of salt. They assume that the next 50 years will see the same increase in computer power as the last 50 years. Which is doubtful; silicon chips are approaching physical limits and assorted alternatives remain unproven. Its misleading to show a graph of computer power without also providing a graph of Intel's expenditures on chip fabrication lines.

  8. I would allocate funds for outreach, such as performing short works in high schools. I remember a modern dance group that performed at my high school when I was a freshmen. Next year they cut the arts budget.

    The problem with the question of "why support the arts" is that art is inherently worthy of support. Yet, this argument has failed to arrest the last two decades of declining arts funding. So I think its time for a new approach:

    Art helps win the war on terrorism!

  9. For every woman who became a professional dancer, a hundred missed the cut and thousands never mastered the pointe. There must be a million girls who took classes and then as adults never attended performances. While these numbers are just estimates, it does suggest a comment and a question.

    Regular classes should include seeing professional companies perform in order to seed the next generation of balletgoers. And why don't more women attend ballet performances?

  10. Perhaps the 5 false positions are the five basic positions with feet turned in. Reversed turnout may have a comedic effect.

    As a system of movement, compare first position (heels touching and toes 180 degrees apart) with feet in parallel. Its easy to move forward or backwards when feet are parallel. First postition would seem to facilitate movement sideways, which is probably better on a stage. I guessing here because I have a 90 degree turnout and no instructions.

    Do choreographers experiment with other positions?

×
×
  • Create New...