Alexandra

Yes -- the days that I diidn't see -- but I still believe in them. I think undercasting is one of the main reasons why some of the grand old ballets don't look very grand. If you saw a line up like that -- think of it; that prologue segment is long! -- you'd see the ballet's power. There were people who went to see every single performance of Diaghilev's Beauty -- not because there were 12 casts, but because the casts they saw were satisfying.

My guess is that the reviewer thought the role wasn't big enough for her -- wanted to see her doing more. Other interpretations welcome!

Marc, what I meant by the "Swan Lake" comment (sorry, I wasn't clear) was that if a company dances a lot of non-classical choreography, sometimes this shows when they dance classical choreography.

See, with two clicks of a mouse, your thread is an International Center! Viviane, I'm impressed that your company can do a good shades scene, considering that Swan Lake! (no, didn't see it, just read Marc's review and saw the photos) We actually have five other people who've registered here listing Belgium as their location. If you're out there, please tell us what you thought of Bayadere!!

Good point -- exactly why Beauty was the hallmark of a "great" company. If you could do Beauty, you had arrived. That was before mini-beauties sprouted up all over the place. (I don't mean to say that NYCB has one of these, just speaking generally.) Now it's become what I call a water cooler ballet. Artistic Director ABC saunters up and says, casually, "We'll be doing Beauty next year" -- never mind that his company can barely get thorugh "Serenade" -- and Artistic Directors DEF through XYZ go "wow" and scuttle off to stage one of their own. (I don't mean this is the motivation for every smaller company that stages Beauty, but I think it's the motivation for some of them.) Paris Opera Ballet can cast a beauty with etoiles in the star parts and premier danseurs/ses in the fairy and dvert parts, so can the Kirov. I've always thought that's one of the reasons the Maryinsky wanted the ballet in the first place -- it was their "Ballet Comique de la Reine Louise." Match this, if you can.

Herman, I mean no disrespect to DNB -- I know there are some fine dancers there, and there were in the 1970s (I remember Han Ebelaar and Alexandra Radius, and Clint Farha, especially), and they brought the Van Manen pieces you mentioned. They had a strong profile then -- new rep by "the 3 Vans" and a solid base repertory of the 19th century classics and, I believe, the largest Balanchine repertory in Europe. It's just that one shouldn't overstate -- I'm a decent writer, but I ain't Shakespeare! :-) I think today, though, companies (like everyone else, from muffins to football teams) have to overstate their charms. THE biggest, THE best, THE most daring, etc. Because simply saying, "This is our company and this is what we do; hope you like it" doesn't sell tickets. I'd like to see more Van Manen; I wish more of his ballets had entered American repertories. Many are small-cast, so they'd be ideal for small or mid-sized companies. With apologies to Begium for hijacking your thread to talk about international issues!!!

Simon forgot to say he's being funny.

I think the wording has been changed, Herman, if that's what it's saying now. There's a new director in place since I last checked the site, but it once said "is one of the great?/major? companies in the world, along with," and then listed ABT, NYCB, Royal, Kirov, Bolshoi and Paris. I thought that was a bit of a stretch. The current listing, what you cite above, is more accurate. [editing to add: I just checked the site -- it is different; there's been a redesign of at least some pages since I was last there] What about a company like Vienna, that has an old and honorable tradition, and some very fine dancers, but never travels? I admire it from afar, never having seen it live, but it seems to know and reflect the taste of its city. I think Herman's point that it's not only important that the company travels, but that people travel to see it, is a good one. Unfortunately, in today's marketing climate, this too can be manipulated. Since every company has to have a "calling card" -- preferably a heritage repertory, but if not, a hot new ballet or (the trend of the past 20 years) a big revival, or festival. Sometimes people may come for curiosity rather than, as 40 or 50 years ago, because you can't visit Paris without dropping in at the Louvre. I also agree that live music is important -- it used to be "a first-class orchestra goes without saying" but this, too, is endangered. A first-class conductor, a music director too. About dancers and guest stars -- often, perhaps, still, mostly, this happens because a dancer really is a star and gets on "the circuit" and can go from company to company on his/her reputation. Or a dancer has an interest in a particular repertory, or in working with a choreographer or this company. But you're also beginning to see "swapping" -- I'll invite your dancer, so you can say you have an international star on the roster, and you invite my dancer, or take one of my ballets. When I win the lottery, Herman, I'll be glad to drop in on the Dutch National Ballet and many other companies!

Oberon, I think most companies today cast the fairies with corps dancers. As recently as the early 1980s, the Royal Ballet used principals or at least senior soloists. The last time the Kirov was in D.C. they also used principals or senior soloists. The Lilac Fairy is often seen as a soloist's role as well. Same thing with the Princes in the Rose Adagio. Is there anywhere else in the world today, save the Kirov, that uses principal men for these roles?

Thanks for the reports, dirac. Since I don't get HBO, I wouldn't know what had happened otherwise. I gather Baryshnikov is unlikely to get a spin off series of his own from this venture?

Well, you could also make the case that Balanchine cut the birth scene because he had a dancer (Peter Martins) who wasn't a convincing baby. (And the ballet predates Graham. Balanchine's influences at that time were German modern dance, German expressionism.) I like the peacock, though. I'd like to see both versions in repertory. Among current NYCB dancers, Hubbe would be wonderful in the complete Apollo.

I'd vote for trying out the girls in something below fairy level, too! Those are ballerina parts, roles for polished dancers, not people in the try-out stage.

NO ONE saw this? Not one single solitary person?

The whole notion of what makes a company "international" is intriguing. There are mid-sized American companies whose publicity says they're "an international level company" because they have been "invited" (ie, the director has connectoins, in most cases) to this or that city or festival. The Dutch National Ballet web site, the last time I checked, said that the company was on the same level as companies such as the Bolshoi, Paris Opera, New York City Ballet, etc. Does being "international" mean that a company regularly tours to....New York? London? Paris? Paris Opera Ballet seldom tours to the U.S. and, thus, is often left off the "Big Six" (Five, Seven) list. There are French, and even Russian, dancers that we in America are nearly ignorant of because they don't dance here. (One of the reasons I've been so happy with Marc Haegeman's series of Paris interviews for DanceView is that I was determined that ONE generation of French dancers, at least, would leave an English language footprint.) When I was working on my book of Kronstam, I was surprised, at first, that dancers of his generation consistently referred to him as one of the great dancers of the age -- he's not even mentioned in three of the books devoted to "great male dancers of the day" published in the last 20 years, or, if mentioned, is in a sentence along with a string of other Danes. "He didn't dance in New York enough," one dancer finally explained to me. Oh. Back to the topic it sounds as though you have a very international Bayadere!

Good points, Herman -- another side to your last comment is the complaint from classicists that "you can't tell whether they can really dance". As often is the case, it depends on how you look at it! I think your point about having to have something to take on tour -- the "calling card" -- is very apt, and perhaps why mid-tier companies try to find something very original. The Dutch National Ballet toured New York in the '70s and '80s, but with Nureyev as the draw. The programs were all home-grown, all works by 'the Vans." I was glad to have had the opportunity to see them.

Isn't Kowroski more a Lilac (or Carabosse) than an Aurora? Not just because of height, but by line and temperament and weight? (not poundage, the other kind of weight)

I can't answer, but wanted to say -- good question. Also interesting is the point about Balanchine's being angered by the fast tempi. That doesn't square with the current version of the Myth.

It's in a Danish book by Viggo Cavillig called Balletens Bogen (The ballet book) He's in costume, but with no showercap. the rose was Ulla Poulsen. the shot is just from the waist up. I've heard there's the same, or a similar, one as part of one of the NY Balanchine exhibits -- perhaps the one at the library? (It's interesting that he danced this, I think, because one always reads he "wasnt' much of a dancer." Well.)

agree agree agree

Both Lynn Seymour and Monica Mason were wonderful as Carabosse as well.

The comments on the athleticism of the choreography were made about the original; sorry, I didn't make that clear. Fokine staged some of his works for the RDB in the late 1920s and they stayed in repertory. There's a photo of Balanchine as the Rose! (from his brief visit with the company in the early '30s). I think Sandi has raised an interesting question -- are there ballets -- great ballets -- that you wish the choreographer had just done one little thing differently?

Reviewed by Tim Page in Andante: Small, surprising gems from the neoclassical works of the 1940s

Bruce Marriott reviews this in ballet.co's magazine (check this one -- nice photos!) Mikhail Baryshnikov - ‘Solos With Piano or Not’

Simon, the policy may have changed, but at one time the way the companies' responsibilities were set up, the Covent Garden company was not to tour large productions. There was a touring company, and a smaller lecture demonstration group ("Ballet for Fall") each with prescribed territories. Perhaps someone who has been following this more closely than I could tell us what the present policy is, but it's quite possible that, so that the other state-supported companies could develop, and so that English National Ballet would have a defined mission, a similar policy is still in place. But this is hardly an "elitist urban legend."

Anna, please check your email