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I agree with all the previous posts, but I as most surprised at the bobbles between Kondaurova and Askerov. Nerves? Not sure what happened there. I much more enjoyed her as Odile. She was wonderful there.

I was not impressed with the hostess/narrator. Blech. I also found it VERY long. I understand that this is a 'live' performance, but when it is taped live, cut out the intermissions. We just stood around the movie theater (which was sadly almost empty) waiting, and then waited longer through the 'interviews'.

This is the second ballet movie I have taken my students to and I find the intermissions too long for them. They would do better with the 'electricity' of a full audience during the intermissions, but this was ploddingly long.

I wonder if part of it has to do with the acoustics of the Kennedy Center opera house. Whenever I sit in the second tier, the shoes always sound loud, but the times I've been in the orchestra they've seemed quieter. I've seen both the Mariinsky and ABT in both locations, and the effect has been the same.

Very interesting. Hmmm.....

Russian pointe shoes (Grishko, Russian Pointes) are constructed differently from Western ones. They "ring like a bell" when struck. Western shoes make more of a muffled thump. Grishkos in particular are, generally speaking, harder and longer-lasting than a lot of other brands. There really isn't anything you can do to make them more quiet that won't affect the integrity of the shoe. (If you're curious, there are lots of threads on Ballet Talk for Dancers about this.)

Most of the Mariinsky/Bolshoi dancers wear Grishko, although a large minority now wear Gaynor Minden, which is a "high tech" shoe and relatively quiet. Kondaurova and Obratzsova wear Gaynors.

Yes, Kondaurova was the least noisy and it was lovely. While I am well versed in pointe shoes (and on how to make them quieter), I was still very distracted by how loud they were at such an elite level. And, yes, I think a noisy shoe is a sin

I forgot to add something. Did anyone else notice, or was it just me, that their shoes were incredibly loud? I was in the 2nd tier and both my colleague and myself thought the shoes (for ALL female dancers, including Tereshkina) were incredibly loud. And, it looked like everyone had new shoes. Was anyone else distracted by this or was it just us?

I, too just returned DC. It really was a wonderful performance. There is nothing like seeing The Kirov live.

I was absolutely unimpressed by Carabosse Anton Pimonov. Is this a regular role for him? He was too...swishy. He seemed very little and did not play a large enough character for me.

Florina was Oksana Skoryk partnered by Andrey Solvyov. While he was very good, he really did not excite me. Someone had mentioned *phoning in* his performance, and that is exactly what I felt. Though, honestly, he was very good. Just somewhat un exciting. Oksana Skoryk was lovely, though her music seemed excruitiatingly slow (can't remember if it was her variation or during the coda/and or apothiosis). Wasn't quite sure why they even bothered to put Little Red Riding Hood in the cast change. She barely did anything, and I would have preferred to have seen the variation. Never saw Cindrella. Sadly, I was completely unimpressed by Maya Dumchenko (who I have followed since she was a student). Diamond was Tatyana Tkachenko and she was outstanding. Sharp, exact, executing the variation nicely. White Cat Yana Selina was truly a character. Viktoria Tereshkina was lovely. There was the one bobble on the fish dive pose at the end of the grand pas that was nicely saved, but a bobble nonetheless. Ekaterina Kondaurova was regal, elegant and I really enjoyed her (almost better than Tereshkina, though they are not similar in my estimation). I wish I could have seen more than one performance. It was the trip of a lifetime for me. Truly, truly priceless.

No review?

Soooo excited!! I am going to DC with another ballet teacher to see the Kirov on Sat night!! I don't care *who* we see, I know it will be good. I kind of wish it was a split bill because I would like to see the Sat matinee as well as the evening, but I would like to see 2 different pieces. Ahh, a field trip out of the studio and to see an elite level performance!

Airfare for plane ride....$300

Tix for performance....$100

Hotel, taxis, meals......$300

Value of seeing Kirov....truly priceless!

but Boston claims him as one of its own.

Indeed we do!

Damian was my Fritz a llloooonnnngg time ago during the E. Virginia Williams days of Boston Ballet. A little mischevious one he was! A great fun to have in a cast and in a class.

Just saw Giselle at The Ohio Theater tonight. I thought it was very nice. The corps was very clean. Carrie West as Giselle was lovely, quite ethereal.

I took an 11 year old student of mine. First time at a ballet performance. I loved in the second act when they took off Giselle's scarf and I heard an audible gasp from her during the arabesque hop turns. It was great. And, then to hear her gasp again and say..."oh, how cool!" during the entrechat quatres series. It gave me goosebumps to be passing on the love of a good, classic ballet.

I believe in our 'libretto', we used the term 'enchanted bouquet' or magical bouquet. Carabosse puts some sort of enchantement on the bouquet that enticed Aurora to take the bouquet.

Oy, vagansmom! We must have similar tastes! I am plodding through the first book today. I started this morning, and I have found many things to do *while* I am reading the book. Like clean my house, read a page or two, make breakfast for b2, take a shower, read a page, make lunch, play on the computer, read a page. I really don't want to dislike yet another book I have *just* purchased!

These books are expensive!!

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I also read it just recently (it was given to me by one of my passengers on a flight). It took two one hour and thirty minute flights to finish. It did drag in the middle, but I felt tied to the book, in a way, and wanted to finish the story.

When I first read the back of it, I thought, oh, I don't want to read anything about Afghanistan anymore (just reading news accounts). But, I found it intruiging. The book was an emotional heavy for me, but a good read.

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vagansmom,

I felt like it was just one big rant/vent regarding poor punctuation usage. She would give examples of bad grammar and punctuation, and then never give the proper usage. I agree with her that the influence of the internet has produced some horrible writing. So many kids today really don't know proper punctuation. I was struggling because as I wrote the title in my post, I couldn't figure out how to underline it! I guess you can't do that with the modern computer (or can you?).

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"Eats, Shoots and Leaves", by Lynne Truss. It's a small book, but after a while each chapter is the same. Trying to get through it.

Also just bought the first Harry Potter book "The Socerer's Stone". My 4(almost 5) y.o. and I are going to read it together. Should be interesting

The new Better Homes and Gardens magazine just came so I have to escape to my dream home and garden for a while before hitting the Harry Potter book tomorrow (thinking it is not best to be read before bed, lol)

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Does Ballet Met regularly dance to live music? I am interested in attending Giselle with my husband but his requirement to accompany me to a ballet is that it has to have live music.

Also, how is Ballet Met's Giselle. I have never see this particular ballet. Would you recommend this company's version or should I see my first Giselle elsewhere?

Thanks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

BalletMet usually does the classics to live music. It was only recently due to tight budgets within the arts that taped music was used last year. I would be very surprised if they did not use live music for this opening season classic piece.

I saw BalletMet do Giselle in 2002 (I believe). It was very nice. I enjoyed this version. I am/was a big fan of the ballerina who was retiring at the time, and it was a lovely 'last dance' if you will However, time and company roster has changed and I am not sure who is performing it this time around.

As mentioned, call to find out before you purchase your tickets.

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There is a woman who developed a notation of the older 'original' Petipa choreography that was getting lost over the years. (this was started many years ago). According to her notation of Lilac Fairy, there are changes in the RB version. Here is a website link

http://www.dancewriting.org/acrobat/ballet...Lilac_Fairy.pdf

Great site for finding some of the classic choreography. My problem is I wanted to show my students the actual performance of it as well.

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Will this Sleeping Beauty version be available stateside in DVD format? I need a different version than I have now. Right now I have the Royal Ballet with Durante which is beautiful, but I am looking for more of the old Petipa choreography (for the fairy variations etc.)

Thanks for any info.

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A dear friend of the early days of Boston Ballet has passed on. She was a champion for Arts and the Arts Lottery on MA. I worked for Jackie at The Arts Lottery council. I dance at Boston Ballet during the years she was on the board. As she said in an interview in 1981 "The Boston Ballet was fun, like a family". It was true. She was like part of my family and she will be missed.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/obituarie..._fund_the_arts/

Jacqueline (Desprez) O'Reilly was a self-described stage mother at the Boston Ballet who championed public funding for the arts.

''She was extremely dedicated to the cause," Walter ''Sandy" Fraze Jr., a board member of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, said yesterday of Mrs. O'Reilly, who died of cancer Sunday in Epoch Senior Health Care in Norton. ''She showed us what one committed citizen could accomplish."

Mrs. O'Reilly, 79, choreographed the creation of the former Massachusetts Arts Lottery as a way to channel money to arts organizations in the state.

''She almost single-handedly convinced the Legislature to approve one of the great populist ideas of all times, a lottery to fund the arts," Fraze said. . . .

One of the original trustees of the Boston Ballet, Mrs. O'Reilly first thought of the lottery in the summer of 1971, while she was enrolled at an arts administration course at Harvard taught by James Hagler. Hagler had discussed the success of the arts lottery in Australia that financed the Sydney Opera House.

The following year, Mrs. O'Reilly prevailed upon state Representative Michael Paul Feeney a Hyde Park Democrat, to file a bill to explore ways to finance art organizations. As the commission's unsalaried chairwoman, Mrs. O'Reilly began lobbying other legislators and attended fund-raisers for countless politicians.

In 1979, when legislation passed creating the arts lottery, Mrs. O'Reilly was named chairwoman of the Massachusetts Arts Lottery Council by Governor Edward King. In the post, she oversaw the disbursement of funds to about 300 local arts councils throughout the state.

(I was not sure if the link woul work. Please delete article if inappropriately posted.)

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[b1, I have edited your post to reduce the amount of the article that is quoted. We are prohibited by copyright laws from repoducing article in their entirety. There's enough above to give readers a taste of what the article says, and the link enables them to read the whole article. Ari]

I grew up a mere 12 miles from the city of Boston, but in a small seaside suburb. The wonderful thing about the arts within the city of Boston is that the major theaters are in pretty much the same area...the theater district. I like being able to see what is on the marquee of another theater as I am at my theater, and perhaps even walk across to that box office and buy a ticket for a future performance. I remember when it was so closely bordered by the 'combat zone' (one street over). It was scary. I don't think nearly as many people attended the arts way back then as they do today. The area has cleaned up (though I will say it has been almost 5 years since I have been in to the city, though my parents last saw The Producers there and were again amazed at the theater district). I performed at The Wang Center when it was still The Music Hall. We were NEVER allowed to be outside the theater unless we were well chaperoned, and even then it was sketchy.

Now, access to the arts area is fairly easy, upscale, yet still with affordable eating areas. It is easier for students in the area to attend arts performances with student 'rush' tickets than it is for them to attend big name sports events. The other nice thing is that there are many colleges and universities in the area that have good dance, music and art departments that encourage attendance to an arts performance.

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Daryl is doing Diamonds. He has such great legs!

I know who you mean! Derek is very good. I believe he came from Ballet Austin. His girlfriend is a lovely dancer. I enjoy watching her in class because she works so hard in class (and this was during the Don Q run, on the last day of performances, when the rest of the company looked drained, she continued working, pushing for more.)

I hope you enjoy your visit with them! Just be sure to send them back!!

I am not sure if I am posting in the right spot. In response to Grace...

Daryl is indeed here in Columbus. I find his dancing simply fabulous. He was Basilio in Stanton Welch's Don Q, and I just loved him. I recently went to a wedding of 2 company members and Daryl was there as well. I can tell you that he knows how to dance, even when it is not ballet.

I am sorry you miss him, I am glad that he is here, though!

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[edited by LAW to move to its own thread]

What about BalletMet Columbus, in Columbus Ohio?

I think there are a few of us in the area on this site.

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