Alexandra

From Friday's NYTimes (also posted on Links) The National Ballet of Cuba opened at the City Center on Wednesday night with Don Quixote. Anna Kisselgoff reviews in the Times. There's a new review on DanceView Times -- just posted, an Extra -- by Eric Taub: Breathtaking Virtuosity, Unabashedly Itself Has anyone gone yet? What did you think?

Thank you for this, Paquita. We have several people who travel to Toronto (as well as several Toronto Lurkers) and I'm sure this will be useful. I hope you'll give us a report on Hubbe's Onegin!

Calling Giannina, Steve, Next??? There are a few reviews on today's Links thread.

It is a different aesthetic, isn't it? atm, you were an Alonso fan, if I remember it -- and you certainly saw her dance. Many people say that the Cuban company is made exactly in her image. Would you agree with that? As for your question -- is anything an overkill in Don Q? I think I'd go with a "if you've got it, flaunt it" approach for that one, especially this production (they did the same thing here, too. I took it as part of their "ballet for the People" approach.)

I would bet all the money I don't have that this is NOT the version they're bringing to Washington

I've split off the questions about ABT acquiring Napoli and Sylvia and move them to the ABT forum.

I actually agree with you all on Farrell in Flower Festival, but one Danish Bournonville expert I talked to singled her out as the only American dancer in the 1976 divertissements that was interesting because "you have to admit she gave a PERFORMANCE in that role." The Danes can forgive many sins, not giving a performance isn't one of them.

I'd certainly look forward to an Ashton "Sylvia" -- what a wonderful way to celebrate THAT birthday! Tim Rushton was a member of the RDB for awhile (and quite good in small Bournonville mime roles, as I remember from the 1992 festival). He now has his own dance company and is more modern dance than ballet these days, I'm told. He completely redid "Napoli" last spring, with his own company. As I posted with the initial press release, this isn't in place of the Bournonville version, but an addition. I would doubt if that's the production ABT is considering. The current production of "Napoli" (which I saw in 2000 and reviewed for Dance Magazine then) is not the production from 1992. It will be shown in Washington in January.

You might want to save the applause until you see the production.

Khan is in New York NOW! I'm posting this to bump up the thread; if anyone goes, please report. He sounds interesting. Here's a review that Paul Parish did for the DanceView West edition of DanceView Times a few weeks ago, when the company was in San Francisco. Eve of Destruction

Second thoughts -- ABT is about to open a three-week season at City Center. They have weekend matinees, too, and though they're not doing any full-length classics this season, their triple bills will give you a taste of a lot of different styles of ballet, so you might want to check them as well. The season's schedule is posted over on our ABT forum. I hope you'll be seeing Pennsylvania Ballet performances, too, and if you are, please post about them!

Welcome, Lara. What good questions you have! There are a lot of people who post here who are enthusiastic members of the Fourth Ring Society, so please listen to them and not me, who is afraid of heights and would be miserable up there. You are far from the stage, but if you bring opera glasses, you should be able to see the dancers. I don't know about student rush -- I'm sure someone else does. "Swan Lake" is a problem. One could argue (and many have!) that there isn't a solid production of the ballet anywhere today. I think the objections raised here are from those who feel that Balanchine and Kirstein founded a company that specialized in dong innovative, one-act works and not the classics. Others, who are fans of the 19th century classics, think that NYCB's style and approach isn't what's called for in those ballets. American Ballet Theatre is more associated with the 19th century ballets -- although their production of "Swan Lake" has its detractors as well. We did a poll here, I think, asking people which they liked least. Most of the responses have been along the lines of, "Well, ours isn't as bad as theirs." All of this is very cynical to a newcomber to ballet, I know, and please don't let us scare you off. What will matter most is the DANCERS and you're bound to find some that you like. Once you get hooked, then you can start comparing performances, and buying videos, and reading background material, and nit pick with the best of them But it's absolutely great that you're going to see ballet -- we'll all applaud that, and encourage it. And adventurous of you, too! New York is a terrific city (I can say that because I don't live there) and there's lots to do and see.

Anna Kisselgoff in the NY Times: Barefoot Dancers and Toe Shoes as Instruments

This from the RDB press office. I'm sure this is NOT in place of the Bournonville version, but in addition to it: Napoli - the New City Tim Rushtons new interpretation of Bournonvilles Napoli is performed at the festival in 2005 Expect the unexpected when Tim Rushton takes a brave leap by renewing a 160-year-old national legacy. Napoli - the New City is set in an urban discotheque environment complete with trendy young people and pulsing colourful lights. Having stripped away several of the characters from the 160 year old, world renowned August Bournonville-ballet Napoli, Rushton is down to essentials of passion, temptations and conquering love when he tells the story of the young couple Teresina and Gennaro. True to the original narrative line, Teresina is captured by seaspirit Golfo, who emprisons her in a mysterious underworld of luscious female creatures. In the end, however, she breaks the spell of temptation and returns to Gennaro where the traditional 3rd. act is turned into a complete party zone anno 2003. Napoli - the New City has all the passions and broad appeal of the original Napoli, but employs a lively contemporary movement and visual vocabulary, including close-up videofilms by filmmaker Ulrik Wivel. Napoli - the New City had it's world premiere at the Royal Danish Theatre in the summer 2003 - guest performed by the New Danish Dance Theatre. NDDT also performs the revival on June 5th 2005 at the 3rd Bournonville Festival. Sincerely, The Royal Danish Ballet

Thank you for that, Leigh. I'm not a fan of tall third movements, but I'll take your word on it! I'm curious how the evening went over? (Leigh, or anyone) And if there was any comment about the Symphony in C switch?

Sarah Kaufman has a review in today's Post of the Merce Cunningham opener. Merce Cunningham's Choice Chances

Thank you for that, nicolai. I'd agree with your comment "My personal view is that storyballets main purpose is to explain and show the story... " And I'm very grateful for the explanation of the pajama gods!

I think it's because dancers aren't trained to be directors and choreographers. I was actually thinking of the generation or two after the ones you mentioned -- any male who is a principal dancer in a company of any size will turn up, sooner or later, as an artistic director, promising faithfully to turn ballet upside down, etc. etc. Often they can't go beyond their own experiences as dancers -- "I wanted a lot of roles I didn't get, so I'll give my dancers the roles they want." Not to mention questionable taste in choreographers -- "He's a great guy and I loved that ballet he did for me." But I sincerely meant that there are some dancers, who, when I read that they are determined to give back to the art form -- and I'm sure they mean it in utter sincereity -- I shudder, because it means yet another generation of jesters-turned-Princes, or dancer with arms frozen in second, or whatever particular idiosyncracy the "donor" had. Back to Park and Meunier, though, I don't know what's behind the lack of casting, but I think it's safe to say that a company doesn't acquire two dancers for the fun of not using them. There could be injury or illness involved, or other factors that we don't know about, and that it could well be harmful to speculate on.

Unfortunately, in many instances, the AD is the dancer to whom you want to say: "Stop! No, no. Don't pass it on. Some secrets need to be taken to the grave "

Oh, yes, there is a Minister of Culture -- good to know he was at the theater. It's just that the people who have been appointed to this position since Mathiasen have different backgrounds and different priorities! I don't think anyone would doubt the current artistic director's marketing skills, so you're probably all right there On the programming, I'd vote for mixed repertory -- having two weeks of one program is a relatively recent idea and I think it's a horrible one. Too bad about the technicians. They used to be able to handle three or four ballets a night with complicated sets and a different rep program the next night. In the '50s and '60s there were many more ballets in a season than now, fewer casts (2) and a mixed repertory. Part of the glory of repertory theater is seeing how ballets appear different when on the bill with other ballets -- shuffling the ballets, as it were. All of this is a matter of choices, and standing up to a theater administration. The ballet and the opera have always fought for space, and the ballet usually loses. But one can say, "If I don't have four weeks of rehearsal, the ballet does not go on," for example. And one doesn't need to have five casts. (I don't mean to suggest that any of these are specifically RDB problems; it's happening all over.)

Thank you for that!!! I think you should get some sort of award for sorting it all out and writing so clearly, aspirant. I'm curious how the audience reaction has been. Is this popular? Are people spending intermissions reading the program notes? btw, I think Neumeier's "different diet" comment is apt. There were quite a few ballets that I thought were good until I'd seen a lot of Balanchine and Ashton -- when your eye is used to seeing a certain level of choreography it's hard to ignore that as an issue in judging a ballet. But if you've "grown up" on a different diet, that wouldn't be a concern. Thank you again for taking the time to write this, and I look forward to -- GENTLE NUDGE!!! {we need a new emoticon; little smiley face pushing other smiley face off cliff.....) -- your commentary.

No, Ballet Imperial was done for a pre-NYCB Kirstein/Balanchine company and was later reworked as Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2. Theme was made on ABT. Later, for NYCB, Balanchine choreographed the other three movements of Tchaikovsky's Suite No. 3, and Theme became the final movement of a ballet of that name.

One of my all-time favorite Danish stories is when I asked a friend how the new cast of Apollo went, and his enthusiastic reply, in its entirety was: "It was fantastic! Mette Bodtcher did Leto!!!"

I'll go out on a limb on this one. In my absolutely unhumble opinion, I think the current Theater Chief is at the root of many of the problems, and this goes beyond his 0 for 4-and-a-half record of appointing ballet masters. He came from the Ministry of Defense with no experience in managing a theater. Whether the persistent rumors that he had never set foot in the theater nor seen a ballet are true, I don't know. He was brought in, it was said at the time, to unknot the really awful union contracts, which he did in short order, and very well (whether the unions would agree with that, I don't know). But there's so much more to the job than that. It should be said in the interests of fairness that, according to my sources, the opera and drama departments are doing very well. I think this is because of the different nature of the art forms. For both opera and drama, the chief (artistic director) sets the repertory and brings in directors to direct the plays and conductors and opera producers to stage productions. It is perfectly understandable that someone who is not trained in theater management would ask, "why the hell doesn't this work in ballet?" But it doesn't. Add to that, that I think there are many who have power over the ballet world who think that ballets are plays with steps in them -- that it's the story that matters, and anyone can come in and stage a ballet and have a ballet master, considered by some to be a failed artist too unimaginative to be a choreographer, "just do the dancing parts" as one critic put it to me. Would it help if he were removed? I wonder if there is a realistic hope that anyone selected to succeed him would be any better. The root of this goes beyond the Theater Chief (and his staff, each hand picked to fulfill the Theater Chief's mission) though, to the Minister of Culture. When I was researching my book, I was told consistently that everything began to go seriously wrong with the death of Niels Matthiasen, the last Minister of Culture who was, well, cultured. He loved ballet, and was very involved in nurturing it. In a postiive way, that is Fertilizer, weed killer.....what's the difference? They both have a picture of a flower on them.

I've never heard of her -- perhaps Effy has? (There are several accomplished Danish dancers who grew up outside of the Royal Theatre -- or 'beyond the walls" as they say.)