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pj

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Everything posted by pj

  1. What I want to know is "Who will replace Filin at Stanislavski?"
  2. I think that it is very important here to mention that on each side of this issue there is a "right" group and and "wrong" group. It just depends upon your own personal point of view. So, please be careful in demonizing any particular group of donors. Arts organizations accept donations from all sides, I believe.
  3. I found this article fascinating -- thanks for posting it!
  4. I don't know if they will be in Swan Lake, but it is sure worth finding out. My dd has been there in the studios for nearly two weeks, and was looking for Mr. L. Carreno because she had heard what a great teacher he is, so when he showed up on Tuesday of this week, she was very happy. She says that Yoel and Yolanda are very good dancers, and she is hoping to see them dance on stage before the summer program is over, but doesn't know what the plan is. Swan Lake is Sept. 5-12, and the summer program is completed on August 29, so if they are getting ready for that, she will be disappointed for herself, but happy that they are there dancing. If she finds out any more info, I will post. She was out sick today, but hopes to be back in the studio on Friday, so she will keep her ears and eyes open!
  5. My daughter is currently attending the Corella Summer Program and reports that she has taken class with Lazaro Carreno and has seen Yoel Carreno and Yolanda Correa in the studios TODAY. She watched the company perform this evening, but I will not hear her report about how things went until a few days from now. She also watched last week's performance in Madrid and said she particularly liked "Fancy Free," but mostly enjoyed just having a chance to see the company perform, as she had not seen them before now.
  6. I saw the show Thursday night as well. I totally, 100% agree about Anna Leonova!!! She had a very arresting stage presence. (and for the record, it WAS her; I was sitting near her dad in the audience and met her after the performance) I really liked Lobukhin's expressiveness and energy, but did not care for the chemistry between him (mostly non-existent, IMO) and Ryzkhina. She was her best in her wedding variation, but for the most part, she didn't do it for me as Kitri. Ksenia Kern was a very light and airy cupid and I really liked the queen of the dryads in the dream scene, better than Kitri. The queen of the dryads had especially expressive arms, The character dancing was simply amazing throughout -- the Bolshoi is so good at this.
  7. fyi, there is no longer the choice to expedite any kind of visa to Russia, even the easiest to obtain (tourist). It is a minimum of 6 days to process once the Russian Embassy receives your passport and your visa application. But if you have the time to complete that process, the hotel that you plan to stay at can issue the essential "invitation" and do the registration of your passport/visa for you once you arrive.
  8. I can't wait to read this! She told me in May that she was writing a book and for some reason, I thought it had more of a medical theme, as that is the part of the book she was telling me about, rather than a personal memoire. This is going to be a really good book to read. And, I agree, it's a great title!
  9. Veronika was absolutely gorgeous and charming and sweet, and it was so nice to see ballet promoted on late night TV. I even enjoyed Daniel Radcliff, and thought he was very charming. I REALLY loved the way Veronika was dressed, and she did a wonderful job portraying the class and style of what I think of when I think, "ballerina." That said, everyone else must have watched DL before, because you all gave him more credit for his behavior toward his guests than I can. I think he was boring and NOT funny and it seems to me he showed up for work and was just putting in his time. My observation was that he couldn't have cared less about his guests. I much prefer Leno, who actually engages with his guests and helps draw them out, and does actually manage to be funny some of the time. OK, OK, I know that no one else agrees with me -- but that's ok, I'm not trying to convince anyone I am right -- we all have our own opinion, and it was my first time seeing this tv show -- ever! So no shooting, please
  10. I went to the performance last night and I have my program in front of me, so here goes: Who's Who - This was a very nice piece for the dancers and had a lighter and more fun feeling than much of Eifman's choreography -- I liked it a lot and Maria Alexandrova and Alexei Turko were very good in it. Grand Pas Classique - EXCELLENT!!! I love to watch the Matvienko's dance and they did this pas de deux with much energy and wonderful classical technique. We always hear so much about Denis and less about his wife. I think she is an excellent dancer and looks so happy while dancing. Maybe we underestimate her... Giselle - Osipova's port de bras was beautiful and it was especially what I noticed (as well as her very light and high little jumps). I've never had the opportunity until last night to see her in person, and this was my favorite of her dances last night. She is an amazingly artistic and technical dancer. I did not care for Vasiliev in this piece so much; his forte came later in the evening. La Belle - a little strange. It was mildly interesting for a contemporary piece, and the woman's costume was actually quite interesting, although I heard a number of audience members that did not like it one little bit. The dancers appeared to enjoy themselves, so that is always a plus. Swan Lake pas de deux (Bourmeister version) - This had to be my least favorite of the classical pieces presented, just because I felt the dancers were not emotionally invested in the piece. There also were glaring technique problems that made this uncomfortable to watch. Again, these dancers were much better in pieces later on in the evening. Kazimir's Colours -- I love Diana Vishneva and have had the opportunity to see her many times and in many classical roles. This is the first time I have seen her in person in a contemporary piece and with Malakhov, who I had never seen in person before. He is an excellent partner, and this was a good piece for the two of them together. Fallen Angel -- This was a world premier of this piece and it was very typical of Eifman in the theatrical sense. I very much appreciated the use of lighting, staging and for lack of a better word, "props," which was in this case, a long piece of black fabric that came into play near the conclusion of the piece. The choregraphy itself was a little dull and "angsty" for my taste, but I liked the overall impression of the piece. Don Quixote pas de deux -- Osipova was as good as I expected her to be, but Sarafanov was above and beyond expectations. I always love to see him dance, and this was a very nice treat. He enjoyed himself immensely while dancing this and I believe the audience really did as well. After the intermission, I had to change seats to a part of the theatre that had a less than full view of the stage, so from here on out, my review may miss some of those things I couldn't see. For 4 -- My view of this was very impeded, which was unfortunate. The parts that I did see were VERY nice for these guys, and I feel they were each seen to their own advantage. After seeing Cote in Swan Lake, I was very pleasantly surprised by his performance level in this dance -- all of the dancers were superb and I wish I would have been able to see the stage better, especially for this piece. Russian Hamlet -- Maria Alexandrova was her best in this piece, and I find Eifman's group choreography so innovative and interesting. Lament -- Desmond Richardson is such an audience favorite and he did not disappoint in this piece. The choregraphy was ok, but a bit long -- the performer -- WOW! Radio and Juliet -- I have seen this couple in this piece before and I enjoyed it every bit as much. Although Denis needs a bit of a hair-cut, I think Le Parc -- I could not figure out the point of this. What a waste of dancers. I wish that we could have seen the originally scheduled solo piece for Malakhov rather than this. The Flames of Paris Pas de deux -- Ivan Vasiliev was GREAT and EXCITING to watch in this piece, and he had so much fun with it. Osipova seemed a bit tired by the end of the show, but she still did very well, of course. I did not like her costume -- I prefer to see this dance in a tutu, instead. She added a jump to a few of her fouettes to make them more interesting, but a bit scarey (I would hate for dancers to injure themselves with something like this). Overall, a very nice evening and I'm so glad I didn't miss out.
  11. We saw this company do Nutcracker a couple of years ago and were very pleasantly surprised at the production. It was very nice, and the company is certainly made up of well-trained dancers. I think you might have made a good investment!
  12. You may have checked the wrong website; according to the website dasballett.at, he is still listed as a member of the company.
  13. DD saw the show last night and reports that she's seen Serenade almost too much and didn't see anything unusually exciting last night. But she does love the music. She wishes that she had visited the gift shop (too young for the bar) during "Moves," and says she doesn't really like dancing with no music (inside joke -- anyone that knows her will understand this). She also enjoyed Symphony in C, as she has not seen it for a few years, and felt it was definitely worth seeing.
  14. Well, if you are at all interested in more "pop" culture of the more current Hollywood variety, I saw Jennifer Garner and not-yet-hubby Ben Afleck in the audience at L.A. Music Center when NYCB was there a couple of years ago. That was actually about a week before their first "official" siting at a Baseball game on the opposite coast. They either left or changed seats at intermission because there were a lot of fans that noticed them and were beginning to be a little bothersome, at least from where I was sitting.
  15. pj

    Gelsey Kirkland

    But Ms. Kirkland is in DC (well, at least she was yesterday), watching classes at the Kirov Academy.
  16. It IS too bad that they were not able to come up with girls for the Manu "little girls." My dd, who is currently studying at the Kirov Academy in DC was one of the "little girls" when the company did this production in Los Angeles a few years ago. I'm certain she would have been very pleased to watch some of her younger classmates at Kirov rehearse this and then perform it. She will greatly miss seeing that portion of the production when she attends on Friday evening. And I can think of several girls at KAB who would have been able to do this part quite nicely, too!
  17. I would have to say that I do like some modern dance. But, VERY little of it. Most of the reasons I don't like most of it are the same reasons that I don't like most of what I see in modern art and most of what I hear in modern music composition. The music, dance and art that I do like in the "modern" genre usually are clearly defined in technique, structure, and meaning. Just because a dance or a piece of music or a piece of art has meaning for the artist, it only has meaning and quality for me if the elements of technique and structure are there and the meaning is obvious to me. If the meaning isn't obvious, this may show that the artist's ability to get meaning across is not fully developed, and in my eyes, then, the art is of a lesser quality than an artistic piece that I can get meaning out of.
  18. I once viewed a performance from the second row of a theatre (and I think that this row was actually where the orchestra was supposed to be, if there had been one), and saw many dancers dripping and "flinging" sweat all over the place. I actually was afraid I was going to get sprayed when one of the guys started turning! At that point, I decided I would never let anyone else buy my tickets again. But more importantly, I decided to become a disciple of the idea of dance being an illusion. That being so, I buy my tickets so I can't see the "glow" so up close and personal. It's just too gross.
  19. pj

    Nureyev

    My dd has danced in a few professional productions and she says that there is definitely a great deal of chatter going on amongst the professional dancers while the company is on stage. And while some of it is not very nice, some of it is hysterically funny; she says sometimes it is a true test of self-control to keep from bursting out laughing.
  20. I personally thought it was a bathrobe, loosely tied. And while this was playing, my dd was laughing hysterically and giggling, "that's Aurora, but the wrong music!"
  21. I saw the Kirov perform La Bayadere in L.A. in 2003, which was a particular reconstruction (someone help me out here; I'm not very good with which version is which) and if the children's dance was eliminated entirely, or even if the costumes were changed, wouldn't that change the entire concept of a reconstruction of an historic ballet version? In this particular version, not only would the make-up have to change, but also the costumes, as the children wore dark brown long-sleeved shirts and dark brown opaque tights underneath the little dresses. And there was at least one African American child who had to do the costume and the make-up just like everyone else; I don't think she or her family found it offensive to do so. If people found those costumes and make-up offensive, I would think it would not be difficult to change, and I personally would not mind to see the make-up and costumes be changed to be less offensive to this day and age, but maybe the ballet historians would find that it would negate the historical value of a reconstruction.
  22. It's the Bronze Idol variation from La Bayadere.
  23. Ahoy Matey! or just Ahoy!!!! Don't sailors say that?
  24. Hey, what about all those "Dying Swans?"
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