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Sonora

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Everything posted by Sonora

  1. Sono Osato's autobiography, Distant Dances (Knopf 1980) should be added to the list. I've seen one or two copies floating around on the Internet.
  2. What I found most interesting about the article was the fact that it appeared in the New Yorker at all. How long has it been since the magazine carried regular dance reviews? This article seemed more suited to a venue such as Dancemagazine or Pointe, both with a considerably larger proportion of their readers in the "teenage female" category. While the comments by Merrill Ashley, Suki Schorer, and Melissa Hayden were amusing in a gossipy sort of way, I think I'd prefer the that the dance reviews be reinstated!
  3. No doubt the acoustics of the theatre have a good deal to do with the pointe shoe noise level. But the dancers didn't seem to articulate or come down through their toes much. They had beautiful feet, however.
  4. During a recent performance of Bayadere by the Bolshoi a frequent audience comment was that the dancers' pointe shoes were inordinately noisy. I heard the same comment at a Bolshoi performance of Swan Lake in San Francisco. I'm curious to know more about the Bolshoi's pointe shoes. I assume they are manufactured 'in-house', but wonder if they are notably harder than what we are used to in the West, or if the noise could be more appropriately attributed to pointe technique and training.
  5. The Bolshoi danced La Bayadere this past weekend on the campus of Arizona State University - the first stop on their US tour. This production seemed oddly truncated - it ended with Act III, the Kingdom of the Shades, even though the program notes discussed a fourth and final act. Not being a Bayadere fan, I would have preferred to see them in Swan Lake - however it was wonderful to see them at all.
  6. I agree with you; Hubbe looked so good during the recent NY season. He is a wonderful dancer who seems to be sometimes underrated and underused (or misused) at NYCB.
  7. A number of ex-NYCB dancers are presently choreographing for other companies. What about inviting one or two to create something for the Company?
  8. I also thought Ferri and Bocca's Giselle Wednesday night was memorable. It's nothing new to say that Ferri and Bocca are wonderful together. I thought their individual interpretations of Giselle and Albrecht were well-realized and thoughtful, warm, and Romantic with a capitol 'R' - particularly Ferri who in the best sense seems to have alighted from that Era directly onto the Met stage. As a couple, they bring out the best in one another, both physically and emotionally. I'm sure some of that is due to the fact that they've danced together a long time and know each other well, but part of it seems to result from a shared sensibility, maybe toward the ballet Giselle or toward dance in general. They create an effortless and highly appealing charisma that draws one into their world. The curving lines of Ferri's body - feet, legs, arms, hands, torso - echo each other so harmoniously. I thought her Act I solo was a perfect expression of Giselle's open and tender heart. It struck me that in the second act she perfectly characterized the transition between the 'real' and supernatural worlds. I felt I could count the hours between her death, her simple and perhaps hasty burial, and her reappearance as a Wili. Her spirit was still vital enough to penetrate the barrier between the two worlds - she hadn't completely relinquished one for the other. Bocca was a sensitive Albrecht, heedlessly in love and later truly remorseful; I happen to prefer that sort of sympathetic interpretation of the role, and it seems to perfectly suit him. His characterization was subtle and believable. In general I thought the production was fine, but there could always be more attention to detail in terms of the characterizations of the individual (corps) dancers (1st Act).
  9. I strongly agree. It seems to me to be extremely inappropriate to make perjorative remarks about individual dancers' performances, body types, etc. Not only is that something that would certainly unnerve a dancer, along with reading reports of what took place in class or rehearsal, but I think that sort of commentary is disturbing to non-dancing contributors as well and to nonmembers who might be just starting to follow the discussions. I don't think anyone in the insular world of ballet deserves to be described online (and anonymously) as a 'cheerleader'.
  10. I guess I'm depending on people for reviews of recent NYCB performances - it seemed as if reviews were being posted almost daily for a while! Maybe I have missed them somehow, but I was interested in hearing what people thought about Firebird, Agon, Circle of Fifths - etc.
  11. This will be the first chance I have had to see Balanchine's Dream. I am not sure when casting will go up, but I imagine someone already has a pretty good idea who will dance Oberon/Titania opening night? I am hoping I'll be lucky enough to see Peter Boal!
  12. This will be the first chance I have had to see Balanchine's Dream. I am not sure when casting will go up, but I imagine someone already has a pretty good idea who will dance Oberon/Titania opening night? I am hoping I'll be lucky enough to see Peter Boal!
  13. That sounds splendid, but unfortunately I will be able to see only the last week-and-a-half of the season (during which there seems to be scheduled so little Balanchine, with the exception of the final spate of Dreams).
  14. Thanks. I appreciate your reviews, and others'. I regret not yet having seen Meunier at NYCB. Perhaps she will dance more than once before the end of the season.
  15. (I would like to jump a bit backwards and ask Manhattnik what he meant by the 'idiosyncratic' casting of ABT's Symphony in C...)
  16. "An idea for another poll would be which single historic performance would you attend if you were handed the keys to a time machine but only allowed one trip. (I have a hunch which performance would win; in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if half the audience at the premiere of "Le Sacre du Printemps" *were* time travelers.)" I also chose Paris and the Ballets Russes. I"m still thinking about which single historic performance I would attend. To see that fateful opening night of "Sacre", or for that matter, of "Faune"! It would be fascinating to be able to experience the impact of ballets such as these within the climate of their own time. I think they must have been so startling, so evocative, tumultuous in a way that is difficult for us to imagine nearly 100 years later. I guess I should stop, as someone may want to turn this suggestion into a thread.
  17. "An idea for another poll would be which single historic performance would you attend if you were handed the keys to a time machine but only allowed one trip. (I have a hunch which performance would win; in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if half the audience at the premiere of "Le Sacre du Printemps" *were* time travelers.)" I also chose Paris and the Ballets Russes. I"m still thinking about which single historic performance I would attend. To see that fateful opening night of "Sacre", or for that matter, of "Faune"! It would be fascinating to be able to experience the impact of ballets such as these within the climate of their own time. I think they must have been so startling, so evocative, tumultuous in a way that is difficult for us to imagine nearly 100 years later. I guess I should stop, as someone may want to turn this suggestion into a thread.
  18. Darn. I'm disappointed! Thank you both for the info.
  19. I wish my grandfather had rescued "Days with Ulanova"! It's a beautiful book, written rather reverently as I recall, with wonderful photos that imprinted themselves on my memory when I was very little, particularly the class and rehearsal photos.
  20. This might be the wrong place for a post like this, and if so, I apologize! Can anyone with a better knowledge of the D.C. area than I let me know what is happening dance-wise during late July? I find myself able to spend several days, and would like to see as much as possible! Thanks
  21. Would this explain why the Company is scheduled to perform Prodigal only once this season? I'm curious about the rationale behind this ballet's scheduling. Perhaps someone with more City Ballet experience can answer.
  22. Is it possible to find those films anywhere? Particularly those from the 50s - 60s...? [ March 07, 2002, 09:16 PM: Message edited by: Sonora ]
  23. Thank you very much. I will be sure to describe the other programs. I know that the company is about to present a full-length Swan Lake (at the end of the month), and that Nickolaj Hubbe will be here to perform the role of Siegfried. This is tremendously exciting of course, and much anticipated.
  24. Thank you; I'll be more inclined to write reviews from now on. This ballet of Ib Andersen's is beautiful and deserves to be enjoyed by a broader audience, I think. I imagine many people would like to know of strong and interesting work being done in less familiar places. Especially when it seems that alot of newer ballets, even those by popular choreographers, are so forgettable.
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