pj

Mr. Johnson, Great story about the flamingo! Thanks so much. Now I can put this exquisite peachy-pink feather boa to use on the costume. What fun! muchas gracias

Mr. Johnson, you have missed your calling in life! I believe the world could use a great ballet libreto-ist (whatever the word may be, I'm sure you get what I mean, even though I have butchered it terribly). I'm looking for a story on a pink flamingo....any ideas?

When I first read about this I mentally put it in the category of "if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is..." This is very interesting information and I have to agree with socalgal; I am totally blown away! Wow! My other initial reaction is "Who is bankrolling this adventure?" (I'm soooo skeptical; I'm sorry). I didn't know there was money for the real fine arts in Southern California. It would sure be a lucky break for those of us who live in the area, if it works out.

When I was in college, I spent one semester close enough to NYC to go in several times a week for academic classes and then on weekends, for shows, music, and ballet. I saved my programs for many years. Then, I got married and decided to toss out the old life! Boy, was I stupid! Now, my daughter does ballet (little did I know at the time I was in NYC that I would have a daughter, let alone one who danced). And, now I want to know who I saw when I saw the ballets. I remember the ballets, just not the dancers. Now, when we go to ballets, I save at least one copy of the program, the tickets, and whatever else I might pick up. One summer, my daughter and I went to SPAC four or so times a week, and I saved all those programs (with lots of autographs collected by my child). I have vowed to never throw away another ballet program again! (I'll let my daughter do that for me when she goes through my life's collections, after I'm gone). Every Christmas I ask for a 4-drawer file cabinet; maybe I'll get one this year.

For me, it's hands down the Kirov's Sheharazade Costume/Set combination, inspired by the designs by Baskt. (I hope I spelled all that correctly -- anyway, most people will understand what I mean even if I spelled it all badly). No pun intended, but when I first saw the sets, I was spellbound.

I agree with adagio1. My daughter had Mr. Soto for only one class this summer and found him to be a particularly encouraging kind of instructor. She really enjoyed his class and would have liked to have him for more classes. We saw him perform this last weekend in L.A. and he certainly seems to have retained that all-important joy for dancing. It would be wonderful if he could pass that quality on to another generation of students.

We really enjoyed seeing NYCB last night in L.A.. Our family really liked Carnival, and after hearing Chris Wheeldon speak about his "vision" for the ballet during the pre-performance lecture, we felt that he had accomplished his goal with the piece. It had to be a really fun for the dancers, because it is so different from what they're used to. I really enjoyed Christine Redpath's "Swan." We all thought that John Lithgow's participation really made it special. He is one of the "good guys" for the classical arts that is in our area, and we appreciate all he does for the arts in L.A. I liked Serenade and felt that Bouder had the finest performance, and we all, unfortunately, agree with art076 about Kistler's performance. In Violin Concerto, the younger men were very good as an ensemble, and the more mature men looked as though they were having the time of their lives -- which is a good thing to see in any performance. My daughter, the classics purist, really liked Violin Concerto the best (as long as someone other than mom calls it "ballet," she will like it (even if most people agree that it is rather contemporary in nature). She generally turns her nose up at anything she considers too contemporary. Go figure! We did get a bit of a treat -- Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck (I don't know if I spelled that correctly) were in the audience, not far from where we were sitting. I noticed that they didn't come back after the second intermission, but I suspect they may have gotten out of the theatre when they saw a large group of young girls waiting to ask them for autographs. It's too bad that some people just can't leave a celebrity alone to enjoy a night out and be a normal person.

What I was wondering when I started reading about this "sponsorship" thing, was how much "say" the sponsor has about the individual dancers. In other words, can a sponsor pay more for a dancer, thereby assuring the dancer's roles, or could withdrawl of a sponsorship lead to the dancer getting a pink slip?? Yikes! All of the possibilities in this day and age of corporate improprieties (and for that matter, lack of personal ethics) are simply mind boggling!!! On the other hand, can a person with a large donation convince a company to hire their own dancing child? I think I will have nightmares tonight.

I read it and I have to say that I was pretty disapointed. I'm not keen on "cheating" stories, so this is just a personal preference. I'm sure part of my disapointment is due to the fact that a friend (who reads a LOT) had read rave reviews of it (before distribution) and she was so excited about it coming out, that I asked my husband to buy it for me for my birthday, so I could read it and then share it with her (as she is so generous with sharing her books). We were both left feeling the book was a bit shallow, although we did appreciate the little bits and pieces of real ballet that were in the book.

The Westpark Hotel is on 58th (I think) near Columbus Circle. Down the street (again 58th, I think) from it is the Hudson Hotel. I have not stayed at the Hudson but hear it is nicer than the Westpark. I found the Westpark to be just fine (although when I was there in April they were undergoing some renovation, which is probably still underway). It was close enough to Lincoln Center to walk in 10-15 minutes.

I agree with Michael totally. The opening night performance of Sonatine by Legris and Dupont was outstanding. Although I can't begin to have any of the technical knowledge and understanding of the performance that Michael exhibits, I know that I LOVED what I saw. It was such clean and lovely dancing. And it was the best piece of the evening.

Our family attended the closing night performance of R&J here in L.A. on Saturday Apr. 10. We really loved it. The pre-performance talk was quite good, but unfortunately, I didn't get the name of the woman who gave it, as we were a bit late (we were actually early, but we didn't realize there was a pre-performance talk). She gave lots of details on the dancers and some of their history which was very very informative and quite interesting for our daughter (who is completely enamored of ABT). Alessandra Ferri was incredible (I could hardly believe that she isn't just 20 years old). Even in person without her makeup she didn't look even close to her age. I couldn't take my eyes off her feet. My daughter, the "technician" even remarked that her favorite part of the ballet was when Juliet was laying on her bed in her room, just thinking!! (So the artistic side of my technical daughter is starting to emerge!!). Angel Corella was a fantastic Romeo. The pas de deux at the end looked so incredibly difficult, but they did it so well. Herman Cornejo was fantastic in his part -- a real technician (of course, my daughter loved that part of it). And I have to say that we all loved Mr. Franklin as the Friar (he is quite the actor). All of the "golden oldies" were absolutely outstanding in their parts. Of course, it was fun to see some of our favorites doing special parts. Gennadi Savaliev was a great fencer (and had to do a lot of it) and gave such a convincing performance as Tybalt. The Harlot girls were very good actresses (what a fun part) and they were also terrific dancers. We can't wait to see ABT the next time they return to L.A. with Giselle.

I thought that she did the best performance that I have ever seen as Nikyia. She was wonderful.

I just returned from seeing the movie -- I preferred the book

I have only seen her dance once -- two years ago at SPAC. She was the Siren in Prodigal Son, and partnered by Damien W. She was incredible technically, and her acting ability on stage was very good. She was a very evil, scary Siren. I cried when I heard people around me laughing at the ballet (they didn't understand it). It very clearly dipicted the biblical story in such a powerful way. Her characterization helped make a lasting impression on me.

One of the teachers at one of our ballet studios did see Veronika Part/Marcello Gomes as Sugar Plum/Cavalier. She reported that they had trouble with a couple of lifts and she was rather disappointed with the performance in general (and ABT is one of her favorite companies--she and her parents go to see them every time they come to OC). From her description, she may have seen Renata Pavam as Arabian (but she wasn't sure and she didn't have the program with her when we discussed her experience at the ballet.) My daughter and I saw Renata Pavam as the Ballerina Doll on opening night and we thought she did very well. Two years ago we saw Anne Milewski as Clara and she was great!

Herrera/Correno -- Not a doubt in my mind. I wish all decisions were this easy!

My daughter and I went to the opening night of ABT's Nutcracker in Orange County, CA and we had the privilege to see Paloma Herrera dance as the Sugar Plum Fairy, along with Marcello Gomes. They looked wonderful. Paloma looked relaxed and happy and performed better than we've ever seen (and she is one of our favorites). She was very dramatic and her technique was beyond perfect (if that's possible). My daughter, who is a "turner" counted 11 and then 10 supported pirouettes (and I proceeded to point out to her that Paloma's center is absolutely "steel" and that was the reason she could do so many turns, and everything else that she does). Stella Abrerra was the Snow Queen and she did fine, although the "snow" must have been a bit slippery, as she slipped a couple of times during her variation. She definitely has the regal aire that is required for that part. Of course, she was beyond words in the Arabian (as always). Radetsky was her partner and he looked scared-to-death, but he performed well (I hear that they had a bit of trouble during the dress rehearsal and had to do it over, so I'm sure that this part of the performance will improve with time). Xiomara Reyes was very good as Clara and quite believable as a "child." Cornejo looked quite tentative in his role as the Nutcracker Prince, but we later heard that he is perhaps injured, so that would explain why I got the impression that Clara was "dragging" him through the performance rather than the Nutcracker Prince sweeping Clara off her feet (as we have seen Corella do so nicely before). Monique Meunier and Veronika Part were the Spanish Ladies, and I'm sorry, but after seeing them both in this production and in the Don Q. and George Harrison tribute this summer, I just can't quite see what others see in them. The waltz of the flowers was not quite as polished as we've seen before (I got the impression that some of the boys were having jumping competitions on stage -- it just looked a little bit "student-ish" to me -- just my opinion). I liked Victor as Drosselmeyer; he always does well. Also, the Fritz and Peter Bully in the party scene were very good; Fritz looked as though he can really dance well, and Peter Bully was a very good actor. Ethan Brown was very good as Clara's Father (he's another of our favorites). Bo Busby did the part of the tallest Russian and we liked him, too.

I would like to put my vote in for Carmen Corella. I know she's tall, but look at the Kirov dancers (their entire corps is about the same size as Carmen). She has wonderful stage presence and polished technique. Every time I see her dance, even in not such a large role, she IS the QUEEN of the stage; an essential part of a ballerina's presence. :yes:

Thanks for the info carbro. We too were a bit surprised; maybe she had to save her strength for the fouettes.

I have just enough information to probably get myself into trouble. A friend saw this ballet performance last night (Sat) and said that even though she wasn't sure she had the stamina to watch yet another Don Q. this year, she wanted to be loyal to Cuba (where she has family roots). I don't know the name of the Cuban "Kitri," but apparantly she was able to hold several of her balances for as long as 10 seconds!!! And the crowd responded to those balances and her incredible fouettes with lots of applause (etc). The Cerritos center was packed (this is a good thing), and my friend and her family (including her dd, a friend of my dd) had a wonderful time. One interesting note that she had regarding the choreography in the dream scene, she said that "Amour" did the variation that normally is danced by Kitri in the other versions that we've seen. In this version, Amour did very widely spaced and slow toe hops, that showed amazing control. My daughter is working on this same variation, and wondered which variation Kitri did during that scene. :shrug:

This was posted quite a lot earlier in this thread, but I agree with Watermill about Kirov being the best corps around. Another one of my favorite corps is the Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet's. It has to be the training! Dancers in the US don't have the consistency that the Russians have.

We saw Ponomarev in La Bayadere in Hollywood and in Scherazade in OC. The Kirov would not be the same without him. He totally WAS the High Brahmin and I can't even imagine anyone else doing it so well. His hands are amazing to watch, but I was equally intrigued by the anguish he expressed in his body language and on his face when Nikiya rejected him.

This year, we will see our daughter dance in her school's Nutcracker, which is a quite nice holiday tradition. We are fortunate enough to have a live orchestra and a very nice venue. I will probably see all of the dress rehearsals and the 5 performances (although many will be from backstage). We also are receiving two free tickets to ABT's Nutcracker at Orange County, (my checkbook can relax!) so my daughter and I will attend that one as well. And, we will also attend another school's performance in OC (a good friend and her daughter just moved there recently, and we want to see her in her "new" Nutcracker, as she has always been in ours, up until this year). I still never get tired of the music; I get goosebumps of excitement when I hear the first notes from the orchestra pit!

We try to plan, but we plan very short term, as in, "honey, why don't we get tickets for Kirov tonight (or maybe two days from now) before they leave town?" The one time we really planned, was last spring when Stuttgart was touring in NY the same time we planned to be in town. Well, look how that turned out -- they cancelled. And we had missed them when they were here in California! So we try to fit ballet performances into our daughter's ballet training schedule when she doesn't have other pressing things to do, and when the checkbook isn't having panic attacks over the purchase of just one more leotard, 5 more pairs of pointe shoes that will go dead in as many days, or just one more private lesson from that special teacher.