koshka

The following casting information has appeared at the Kennedy Center website:

Jan. 16, 7:30 pm - Juliet: Evgenya Obraztsova Romeo: Andrian Fadayev

Jan. 17, 7:30 pm - Juliet: Olesya Novikova Romeo: Igor Kolb

Jan. 18, 7:30 pm - Juliet: Irina Golub Romeo: Anton Korsakov

Jan. 19, 7:30 pm - Juliet: Maya Dumchenko Romeo: Mikhail Lobukhin

Jan. 20, 1:30 pm - Juliet: Olesya Novikova Romeo: Vladimir Shklyarov

Jan. 20, 7:30 pm - Juliet: Evgenya Obraztsova Romeo: Andrian Fadayev

Jan. 21, 1:30 pm - Juliet: Irina Golub Romeo: Anton Korsakov

Do any of these casts stand out particularly to anyone?

I don't see any mention of any Performance Plus events--does anyone know if there are any?

I'm not sure if my camera has the pure BGLOD problem, but it seems to suffer from the same syndrome.

Here are a few of my photos of gymnastics (yes, they are mine, even though the copyright is for the gym--they are supposed to be correcting that...)

With 180/2.8 and tv lighting:

http://www.will-moor.com/web/flash%20slide...mps06/index.htm

With 85/1.8 and hideous lighting:

http://www.will-moor.com/web/flash%20slide...20eve/index.htm

BTW I think the 50 and 85 together cost rather less than the 105 (if you're looking for a justification to get both). Also, I'd think about what focal length you tend to end up using indoors with people, rather than outdoors/landscape, where there tends to be more distance.

I'd be inclined to start with the 50 just because it's such a basic lens and so inexpensive. It is really perfect for indoor people shots (w/o flash)--it's my default for pictures of friends and family. Then I might think hard about whether you want to go for the 85 or the 105 (though I'm very pleased with my existing combination of 85/1.8 and 180/2.8--I find that they actually cover the range of indoor settings pretty well assuming at least a little latitude in your position.)

As far as I know, very few of my dance photos are online--I haven't bothered to put them up. The gymnastics photos were put up by the gym after I sent them a cd (I am not very possessive...).

I'd start with the 50 lens--it's a great all-around indoor lens--small, decent focal length, and dirt cheap.

You'll get a lot of use out of it in other settings as well.

The 85 is also very nice, but a bit more expensive, bigger, heavier, etc. Seriously, I'd try to get both, but if you really, really had to have just one right now, the 50 is probably a bit more versatile.

My camera just started flashing "Err" (not fEE, but Err) and the shutter would not release. I've had it 20 months (don't even know how many clicks). I thought the warranty was only a year, but I've also heard that this problem seems to be a manufacturing defect and Nikon is doing the repair for free. We'll see...

BTW I see from the site that at least one of the studios has huge windows, so there just might be enough light (during the day!) for the kit lens. In the theater it will (likely) be impossible, though.

I got a D70 last year (sadly, it is in the shop right now) and it totally changed my ability to do in-studio photos.

Obviously you won't be using flash (riiiiiight???).

Couple of things:

1. Use the custom white balance.

2. Will you be working with available light, or will you have additional light? And are we talking about stage photos or studio photos?

Studio photos with no extra light are the hardest. The more natural light you have, the better off you'll be--nothing beats natural light in both quality and quantity. Again, set the custom white balance.

Lenses: use the fastest (largest aperture/smallest f-stop) you can. I generally use a 50/1.7, and even that can be a bit close. But it's a lens that works well and is inexpensive (~ $100) if you don't already have one.

If you are used to doing indoor wedding shots without flash, you'll know how it all works. If not, just be aware that indoor action shots with available light tend to be...challenging.

Stage photos are a bit easier becauser there is (usually) more light. For stage / backstage photos my preferred lens is an 85/1.8, which is a bit pricier (~$300, I think), but a very good length. I also sometimes use a 70-200/2.8, but that lens is quite heavy, not quite as quick to focus, and produces images that are not as sharp.

The zoom lens often supplied with the D70, the 18-55, is a good range in terms of focal length but the apertures are no good unless you have an enormous amount of light.

Speed: 250 is good, though it does not usually totally freeze action.

Shots/composition: this is really trial and error. Timing is critical. Digital is nice this way, though: the learning curve is much faster. You'll learn soon enough about timing and composition (For example, with all but a very few dancers, I find it impossible to get an attractive photo of a pirouette.) Also, if you have the opportunity to show the pics to the dancers and/or AD, they can give you some feedback too.

Enjoy!

There will be some performances at next Saturdsay's (Sept 16) KC open house.

Also there will be 2 Performance Plus events, for which tickets are now for sale--an open rehearsal and another class for adult "nondancers".

Tickets for the KC open house events are free, first-come, first-served, available 30 min before each of the 2 performances.

The long-standing theater protocol for physicians is that they leave their pagers with the house staff,

So true.

Of course, that protocol developed when only a few people carried beepers and the like, and there was a time when these gadgets didn't have a vibrate function. (My father is a doctor, and I saw the whole evolution...)

Honestly, if one really needs to be reached, the vibrate function _can_ be used discreetly. One student in one of my ballet classes wears a pager, and it's barely noticeable.

Of course, all of the above presumes that one only has the devices on because one truly, truly need to be reachable. Very few people fall into that category. Texting, etc. are no less rude than bouncing a pen light or playing a video game. Harrumph--it's a waste of a perfectly nice seat.

Bad news, folks! I just looked up the Aarhus web site and read the following: Ticket sale started on April 1 and despite pouring rain all tickets were sold out in half an hour.

Sorry to hear that. :-(

I'll be in Arhus Oct 13-22 or so--as before, any recommendations? Have you been to Arhus?

Any information on what day(s) they'll be in Aarhus? Or, for that matter, if there is anything dance related to do or see in Aarhus in the middle and end of October? (Classes to take, shops to visit, shows to see?)

Two tidbits:

In Sylvie Guillem's book "Invitation," there is a rather hilarious juxtaposition of a two-page spread of Sylvie stretching followed by a two-page spread of a cat lazing.

...and how can a thread like this be without a mention of

Dancing With Cats?

I preordered from amazon. It is scheduled for release on Sep 12.

I had a crazy dream last night -- that the Kirov-Mariinsky Ballet would find its 'temporary-permanent home' in DC during the long closure of the Mariinsky Theater. That they would become the 'resident

I'll have some of whatever you're having.

Wouldn't that be great?

...and so Alertniks will want to know, if there are to be exchanges of students, will there be any performances, open master classes, etc. etc.

I remember that SAB and Vaganova did a joint demostration at Brooklyn Academy of Music several (as many as 10, maybe) years ago--it was fantastic.

p.s. I should have mentioned the 'fishdives' in the Act III Grand pdd. It was notable that the only couple to receive the instant-applause upon performing the fishdives -- indeed, after each and every dive on Thursday -- was the Cojo/Kobo pair. That's because they alone could 'snap' into the dive position in a split second & not waver.

I agree completely--the dives were showstoppers seen only from this pair.

Once more on sets: It wasn't just that the sets were underlit--there were some times when I thought the _dancers_ were under-lit.

Good heavens, no!

I don't think bare legs necessarily fit most ballets, as the look can be quite different, but for the more athletic/bravura pieces, I like the look--the muscle structure is much more visible.

A couple of notes from Sunday afternoon.

I still love the pastel costumes, but I think the backdrops could be lighter or at the very least better-lit. Many scenes were simply too dark to my eye. I also wonder how much of the perceived drabness of the sets would be improved by more/better light--with the pastel costumes, after all, excessively bold sets might not work very well.

Alina Cojocaru (Sun afternoon) was a delightful Aurora, and super-strong technically in general, but Act I had (to my eye) a few over-acted moments and a series of hopped triple pirouettes where solid doubles would've been much preferred. Her balance at many moments was unbelievable. The only other Aurora I saw was Sarah Lamb, and I agree with Natalia here--she does not really project enough for the role and is better suited to the waif/ghostly roles.

I actually liked Sunday's Lilac (Cuthbertson, I think) better than Ansanelli on Saturday--Cuthbertson seemed more technically secure. Both had beautiful mime. In fact, I liked the mime in this production very much overall.

Once again I thought the Carabosse role was delicious--probably my favorite of all Carabosses. Carabosse's mice and chariot are also fantastic.

I don't know if this was noticeable further back, but there was a 3-year-old girl seated just behind the conductor on Sunday afternoon. He caught sight of her (and looked a bit surprised) when acknowledging the audience before the prologue, and gaver her her own little nod both before the prologue and before Acts I & II. The little girl was enchanted for the whole show.

Notes on today's matinee.

...I always worry when my judgement agrees with Sarah Kaufman's too, so I just didn't read the review this morning.

Dancing first: the principals were wonderful--Ansanelli as Lilac, Sarah Lamb as Aurora. The remainder of the soloists did a lovely job, though I thought the Fairy of the Songbird was rather frenetic in her movements. I know the variation has a lot of movement, but there was something excessive about it.

Also, at some points Lamb seemed to move through the poses when it seemed like a hold or at least a pause would have fit better.

The corps was raggedy--at one point, the first dancer in the line was good half-beat ahead of the rest on an opening jump (in the 2nd act, I think--where they do the little cabrioles). When they danced linked at the arms, nobody thought to arrange them by height, and it was distracting. Bah.

I like the way Carabosse is done in this production very much--she is very feminine, yet quite evil and catty.

On costumes, I must disagree with Natalia (this must be where the tabula rasa of my nonexistent visual memory helps!)--I loooooove the pastels and thought they made for a beautiful, shimmering production. The only costume I missed a bit was the Kirov's cat-accented cape for Carabosse, but I thought Carabosse's costume in this production fit the character magnificently.

My costuming gripe for the afternoon (you know there always is one with me!): one of Ansanelli's pointe shoes had very deep rose (or very grimy pink!) ribbons, which was out of sync with her tights, the other shoe, and everything else, AND the ends came untucked at one point.

All in all, though, it was a delight and I am looking forward to tomorrow.

All of these reviews plus comments from friends at ballet class are adding to my anticipation of this weekend's performances.

As for driving to the KCen: as above, it really is dreadful to drive around there. I personally never park in the garage, but if people want directions for future reference, let me know which direction you're coming from & I'll give it a shot.

Ceeszi--

I agree--DC is horrifically signed, esp. compared with New York.

And I know exactly how you got your seat, because it is my subscription seat. On Tuesday at lunchtime, I exchanged my Thursday seat (G108 or G109, right?) for a Sat. matinee seat as I also have a Sunday subscription and I wanted to see different casts. I did the exchange around 12 or 12:30.

I am so glad that you kept "my" seat warm for me. Oddly enough, "my" seat's neighbor to the left was not occupied by a subscriber this season, though I'm trying to get it for myself (in addition to "my" seat) for next season...

I find it rather intriguing that they provided the casting information with the inserts.

In any case, I will be going to the Sat and Sun matinees and am looking forward to both.

Of course, if anyone else can add to the casting information, that would be great.

Just a bump to get this discussion up for air.

Alertnik meeting point for SB this weekend is Kennedy bust--1st intermission???

Anybody up for an Alertnik gathering at either of the matinees this weekend?

I will be at both Sat and Sun..

I was also there last night (Thursday). There were many empty seats, and more as the night went on, even though (IMO) the program improved with each piece. If my second ticket were to the same show (rather than Giselle), I'd likely go to see a different cast.

Now for a bit of "name that dancer": in the second-to-last piece (green leotards, black tights), there was a blond dancer who, relative to the others, was downright zaftig (meaning, of course, that she is likely a size 2 rather than a size 0) with fantastic presence. Who was she?

For that matter, who was the tall redhead?

And finally, why oh why are minimalist leotard costumes for women designed with absolutely no support in the front (a problem with Balanchine ballet costumes too)? And why, in this event, could the Kirov costume shop not come up with a set of appropriately cut or sewn-in liner leotards for the dancers who wanted or needed them? In the green leotard piece, a couple of dancers had bra straps that did not even approximate the lines of the leotards. That's bad enough at a school performance, but for the Kirov??? Come on.

Of course, I look forward to any news about the SUnday cast for Giselle....

Isn't it a bit unusual to have two companies back to back like this?

Maybe at other venues, but the Kennedy Center ballet season is very "clumpy"--this year the performances were concentrated in (I think) Feb-March and the schedule was similar last year. I don't know why this is--maybe the Opera House has to be reconfigured somehow for ballet and it makes more sense to have the ballet companies in one right after the other.

I am waaaaaaay behind the curve--just saw the commercial last night.

So, if I wear Hanes, will I look like that and be able to dance like that?

Let me throw a question out for the sake of comparison and discussion.

How does the situation with opera in Washington compare to that of ballet? Is it in a similar situation, with world-class companies passing through performing (mostly) old standbys and a local company that is good but not at the international big-league level, or is the situation different?

I raise this question because opera is even more expensive and (it seems to me) rarefied than ballet.

And to throw in another comment: one young lady in my office who is interested in (but not quite mad about ;-) ) ballet asked me recently about the upcoming Kirov run and stated specifically that she wanted to see "the other program", meaning not Giselle.