Alexandra

Did anyone go? Well? Well? We've got a LOT of Washingtonians (and Marylanders and Northern Virginians) here -- speak up! I did go, but I'm writing a review (DanceViewTimes will have two on Monday -- I'll post a link) and so don't want to comment. What did you all think?

Thanks for those comments -- I also wanted to say I think I should bow out of this discussion, since I'm not seeing any of these performances and I don't want to get in the way of the conversation. Back to all of you

Probably because the company is currently performing in New York, and will be on a farewell tour all this year, so in that sense, it's timely. It is difficult to keep up with everything! (Read Links every day, and that helps a bit )

I've always thought of Kobborg as demicaractere -- that's how he was regarded as a student, at any rate, and I think that's why there's a line problem (although I think he's worked very hard to overcome it). I also think he's excellent in demicaractere roles -- I may have written this before, but I thought he was incredible in the part of Jason in "Far From Denmark" -- the kind of role that should be impossible for a teenager, which he was at the 1992 festival -- and Colas in "La Fille Mal Gardee" (with the Royal). I was one who was disappointed in his James and Gennaro in Copenhagen in 2000, but have read the consistent glowing reviews from London and would be curious to see him in those roles. Effy, I'd probably have much the same feeling that you did after seeing a disappointing program in Arhus, but I think it's what happens with "summer gigs" (even though it's October) that are put together to give dancers work in their off-season. Maybe the SA dancers wanted to try Napoli (?) Not the best reason to make the audience watch it, but often experiments happen outside of major cities to give the dancers a chance without being as harshly scrutinized. (I would echo Leigh's comments above. People's taste in dancers is very personal, and we want people to be comfortable saying either "I love X" and "I thought she was awful!". It's probably best, when writing, to remember that no matter how awful the dancer was, his or her mother is probably reading the board. Not that anything on THIS thread crossed that line, but just as a general reminder.)

That was announced more than a year ago. The city of Frankfurt was unable to continue funding. (That's the short version.) There was discussion of it here when it happened and links to newspaper articles, but they may no longer be on line. The last thing I read was that Forsythe was relocating to New York and would be concentrating on film and dance. He's doing a new work for ABT this year. (Anyone who can add to that, please do. I write from memory, so if it's dance and video rather than film and dance, please make the correction.)

Susan, I don't think you can count on any cast for a particular night -- even if they have it. Things get switched around for so many different reasons. I'll never forget my first season of ballet, when I bought 6 out of 14 tickets for ABT, including Saturday night, thinking of course I'd get Baryshnikov. I missed all 6 of his performances. Against insurmountable odds, I had guessed completely wrong!

It is a shame -- and interesting to me. Down here, George Mason University has a big theater, built for ballet, surprisingly enough. (There was interest in ballet in the university's administration about ten years ago; Miami City Ballet had a residency.) It's far from the city, out in Fairfax County, beyond the reach of the subway, although you can connect by bus. They do at least one ballet a year, often a minor Russian touring company, taped music, etc -- and it's always sold out. Family audience. They don't seem to be particularly ballet fans, more people taking their kids to the theater. Mark Morris sold out -- different crowd, more students and local modern dancers and dance fans. (I make these comments by eyeballing the audience during intermission and looking around during performances; it's not a scientific survey!) I would think there'd be hundreds of ballet fans in New Jersey -- I'm surprised.

Thank you, Reinhard. Yes, Tetley and Cranko are very different, and I think that an audience used to one would be slow to accept the other -- either way. Thanks for the story about Tetley. I interviewed him about "Pierrot Lunaire" for my book on Kronstam because it was done in Denmark (and Kronstam was Brighella) -- and he had some fascinating stories about it. He read a lot about the commedia (by coincidence, he'd first become interested in it by seeing the pantomime theater in Copenhagen's Tivoli and remembered it) and told me things I did not know -- that Pierrot was white because he was a baker's assistance; it's not clown's paint, but flour, and that Brighella was black because he lived on a rock outside the city and was baked by the sun. I hadn't enjoyed WATCHING "Pierrot" very much (I'd seen it when I was very new to ballet) but I certainly enjoyed hearing about it and I'd like ot see it again. (He was a fascinating person to interview, very intelligent -- and very kind.) I saw that the company was doing the Lulu ballet -- I just did the season's preview issue for the print version of Ballet Alert! -- and was interested in it. I hope you'll write about it when it premieres.

Loud Tables, but Not a Restaurant There's a line in Anna Kisselgoff's review of Frankfurt Ballett this morning that struck me as worthy of discusison. I don't mean this to criticise the piece at all, just to say that there will be two views on this sentence -- what's yours? When a choreographer's intention is to be theoretical, should one ignore these theories? One often reads that there's a divide between European and American audiences, and I think this thought is at the crux of it.

I agree, but sometimes those things happen -- a dancer works with a company, likes the dancers -- as dancers and/or as people -- and so invites them to tour. Or likes the piece (whether we do or not!) and thinks it's a good idea to include it. Sometimes, too, it's not obvious how out of step a piece like that will be until it's taken out of the context in which it was originally seen (in this case, SA) and put down next to something else. Remember how many critics (in London as well as Copenhagen) loved Schaufuss's La Sylphide when they saw it with English National Ballet -- partly because foreigners were doing it as well as you could imagine foreigners doing it -- and it suddenly looked quite different on the stage at the Royal Theatre. I don't mean to defend the group, just saying what sometimes happens. The Suzanne Farrell Ballet did a modern dance piece last year, made by a choreographer Farrell had worked with in Florida. It may have been fine there, and an interesting process for the dancers, etc, etc., but it did not fit on a program with Divertimento No. 15 -- there was a distinct quality gap! All that said, if the piece isn't up to standard, I hope people said so. Then maybe you won't have to endure it again.

Great question! I don't mean to spoil the fun - and I hope all of the people who are from these countries will say "Canada here!" or whatever, but I just checked our stats for September, and here's who was here. The order is the number of "pages served." Canada United Kingdom Finland Australia Japan France Uruguay Singapore Netherlands Belgium Germany Denmark US Military Russian Federation Sweden New Zealand (Aotearoa) South Africa Austria Italy Brazil Greece Israel Cyprus I haven't checked the stats in about six months -- this is just for the message board, not the main site, but we had 18,000"unique visitors" last month. That's not one person sitting here clicking 18,000 times; that's 18,000 PEOPLE. Gosh. Probably half were checking up on Volochkova, but hey. Not bad. So who here is from Austria, Germany, Brazil, Israel, France, Russia, etc?

Thanks Aspirant -- that's what I'd heard as well, although I didn't hear anything about it. Did you see it, or read any reviews or reports?

One of the great lost opportunities in American dance was that a strike prevented Balanchine from reviving "Seven Deadly Sins" for her.

There's a Danish-South African connection these days. I believe Thomas Lund has staged some Bournonville for a company there (I'm forgetting which one) and Greve was to choreograph a ballet this year. Thank you for the report -- glad it was worth the trip. Mostly (I love your opening lines -- very Dickensian!)

CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR FIRST TWO WEEKS OF AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE’S 2003 FALL SEASON AT CITY CENTER Performances to Include the Debuts of Gillian Murphy as Hagar in Pillar of Fire and David Hallberg in Theme and Variations Casting for the first two weeks of American Ballet Theatre’s 2003 season at City Center, October 22 through November 9, was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. American Ballet Theatre’s Fall 2003 season will kick off with an opening night gala performance highlighted by the Revival Premieres of Agnes de Mille’s Three Virgins and a Devil and Sir Frederick Ashton’s Symphonic Variations. The program will also include the Company Premiere of Le Grand Pas de Deux performed by Xiomara Reyes and Vladimir Malakhov. The first week of the Fall season will feature the Revival Premiere of Antony Tudor’s Pillar of Fire on Thursday, October 23 danced by Gillian Murphy as Hagar, Carlos Molina as The Friend and Marcelo Gomes as The Man from the House Opposite, plus a preview of a new staging of Raymonda (Grand Pas Classique), danced by Paloma Herrera and Jose Manuel Carreño. Michele Wiles and Carlos Acosta will dance the roles at the Sunday evening, October 26 performance. The first week will also include the Company Premiere of William Forsythe’s workwithinwork on Friday, October 24. Highlighting the season’s second week will be the World Premiere of Robert Hill’s Dorian danced by David Hallberg, Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes, and the Company Premieres of Jiri Kylian’s Petite Mort and Sechs Tänze on Thursday, October 30. Other debuts for the week include David Hallberg in Theme and Variations at the matinee on Saturday, November 1 and Herman Cornejo in Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux at the matinee on Sunday, November 2. American Ballet Theatre’s Fall season at City Center continues through November 9. The season is sponsored by Movado Watch Company, a leading benefactor. ABT’s 2003 City Center season is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency. Tickets priced from $30 to $80 can be purchased by calling CityTix at 212-581-1212 or at the City Center box office. City Center is located on West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in New York City. For more information, please visit ABT’s website at www.abt.org. Complete casting follows: FIRST WEEK Wed. Eve., Oct. 22, 7 P.M. GALA THREE VIRGINS AND A DEVIL (REVIVAL PREMIERE) – Waddell*, Schulte*, Fischbach*, Molina*, Bragado-Young* SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS (REVIVAL PREMIERE) – Butler*, Tuttle*, Riccetto*, Salstein*, Belotserkovsky*, Lopez* DIANA AND ACTEON Pas de Deux and Coda only – Murphy, Carreño TCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX Pas de Deux and Coda only – Dvorovenko, Corella LE GRAND PAS DE DEUX (COMPANY PREMIERE) – Reyes, Malakhov+ THEME AND VARIATIONS – Herrera, Gomes Thurs. Eve., Oct. 23, 8 P.M. MASTER WORKS DIVERSION OF ANGELS – Abrera, TBA, S.Brown, Malakhov, E. Cornejo, H. Cornejo SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS – Butler, Tuttle, Riccetto, Salstein, Belotserkovsky, Lopez PILLAR OF FIRE (REVIVAL PREMIERE) – Murphy*, Molina*, Gomes* RAYMONDA (Grand Pas Classique) (PREVIEW NEW STAGING) - Herrera, Carreño Fri. Eve., Oct. 24, 8 P.M. INNOVATIVE WORKS WITHOUT WORDS - S. Brown, Saveliev*, Herrera, Corella, Murphy, Molina*, Kent, Malakhov workwithinwork (COMPANY PREMIERE) – Company WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU: A TRIBUTE TO GEORGE HARRISON – Company Sat. Mat., Oct. 25, 2 P.M. FAMILY FRIENDLY THEME AND VARIATIONS – Herrera, Gomes LE GRAND PAS DE DEUX – Reyes, Malakhov THREE VIRGINS AND A DEVIL – Waddell, Schulte, Fischbach, Molina, Bragado-Young TCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX – Dvorovenko, Corella FANCY FREE – H. Cornejo, Radetsky, Carreño, Abrera, Murphy, Snow Sat. Eve., Oct. 25, 8 P.M. INNOVATIVE WORKS WITHOUT WORDS – Abrera, Torres*, Tuttle, Tidwell*, Milewski, Stappas*, Dvorovenko*, Belotserkovsky* workwithinwork – Company WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU: A TRIBUTE TO GEORGE HARRISON – Company Sun. Mat., Oct. 26, 2 P.M. FAMILY FRIENDLY THEME AND VARIATIONS – Tuttle, Corella LE GRAND PAS DE DEUX – Dvorovenko*, Belotserkovsky* THREE VIRGINS AND A DEVIL – Waddell, Schulte, Fischbach, Molina, Bragado-Young TCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX – Herrera, Acosta+ FANCY FREE – H. Cornejo, Radetsky, Carreño, Abrera, Murphy, Snow Sun. Eve., Oct. 26, 7:30 P.M. MASTER WORKS DIVERSION OF ANGELS – Abrera, TBA, S. Brown, Malakhov, E. Cornejo, H. Cornejo SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS – Butler, Tuttle, Riccetto, Salstein, Belotserkovsky, Lopez PILLAR OF FIRE – Kent*, Hallberg*, Corella* RAYMONDA (Grand Pas Classique) (PREVIEW NEW STAGING) – Wiles*, Acosta+ SECOND WEEK Tue., Oct. 28, 7:30 P.M. MASTER WORKS DIVERSION OF ANGELS – Abrera, TBA, S. Brown, Stappas, E. Cornejo, H. Cornejo SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS – Butler, Tuttle, Riccetto, Salstein, Belotserkovsky, Lopez PILLAR OF FIRE – Murphy, Molina, Gomes RAYMONDA (Grand Pas Classique) – Herrera, Carreño Wed., Oct. 29, 7:30 P.M. INNOVATIVE WORKS WITHOUT WORDS – Abrera, Torres, Tuttle, Tidwell, Milewski, Stappas, Kent, Stiefel workwithinwork – Company WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU: A TRIBUTE TO GEORGE HARRISON – Company Thurs., Oct. 30, 8 P.M. CONTEMPORARY PETITE MORT (COMPANY PREMIERE) – Company SECHS TÄNZE (COMPANY PREMIERE) – Company DORIAN (WORLD PREMIERE) – Hallberg, Kent, Gomes Fri., Oct. 31, 8 P.M. CONTEMPORARY WORKS PETITE MORT – Company SECHS TÄNZE – Company DORIAN – Hallberg, Kent, Gomes Sat., Nov. 1, 11:30 A.M. ABTKIDS SECHS TÄNZE – TBA THEME AND VARIATIONS – TBA THREE VIRGINS AND A DEVIL – TBA PAS DE DEUX (To be announced) - TBA Sat. Mat., Nov. 1, 2 P.M. FAMILY FRIENDLY THEME AND VARIATIONS – Murphy, Hallberg* LE GRAND PAS DE DEUX – Reyes, H. Cornejo* THREE VIRGINS AND A DEVIL – Butler*, Riccetto*, Dmochowski*, Salstein*, Lopez* TCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX – Herrera, Acosta FANCY FREE – Corella, Stiefel, Carreño, S. Brown, Kent, Thomas** Sat. Eve., Nov. 1, 8 P.M. MASTER WORKS DIVERSION OF ANGELS – Abrera, TBA, S. Brown, Stappas, E. Cornejo, H. Cornejo SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS – Butler, Tuttle, Riccetto, Salstein, Belotserkovsky, Lopez PILLAR OF FIRE – Kent, Hallberg, Corella RAYMONDA (Grand Pas Classique) – Wiles, Acosta Sun. Mat., Nov. 2, 2 P.M. FAMILY FRIENDLY THEME AND VARIATIONS – Herrera, Gomes LE GRAND PAS DE DEUX – Dvorovenko, Belotserkovsky THREE VIRGINS AND A DEVIL – Butler, Riccetto, Dmochowski, Salstein, Lopez TCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX – Tuttle, H. Cornejo* FANCY FREE – Corella, Stiefel, Carreño, S. Brown, Kent, Thomas Sun. Eve., Nov. 2, 7:30 P.M. CONTEMPORARY WORKS PETITE MORT – Company SECHS TÄNZE – Company DORIAN – Belotserkovsky*, Dvorovenko*, Saveliev* *Editors please note: first time in a role: Wed. Eve., Oct. 22 – Waddell, Schulte, Fischbach, Molina, Bragado-Young in Three Virgins and a Devil; Butler, Tuttle, Riccetto, Salstein, Belotserkovsky, Lopez in Symphonic Variations Thurs. Eve., Oct. 23 – Murphy, Molina (The Friend), Gomes (Young Man From the House Opposite) Fri. Eve., Oct. 24 – Saveliev, Molina in Without Words Sat. Eve., Oct. 25 – Torres, Tidwell, Stappas, Dvorovenko, Belotserkovsky in Without Words Sun. Mat., Oct. 26 – Dvorovenko, Belotserkovsky in Le Grand Pas de Deux Sun. Eve., Oct. 26 – Kent, Hallberg (The Friend), Corella (Young Man From the House Opposite) in Pillar of Fire; Wiles in Raymonda (Grand Pas Classique) Sat. Mat., Nov. 1 – Hallberg in Theme and Variations; H. Cornejo in Le Grand Pas de Deux; Butler, Riccetto, Dmochowski, Salstein, Lopez in Three Virgins and a Devil Sun. Mat., Nov. 2 – H. Cornejo in Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux Sun. Eve., Nov. 2 – Belotserkovsky, Dvorovenko, Saveliev in Dorian **Editors please note: first time in a role in New York: Sat. Mat., Nov. 1 – Thomas in Fancy Free +Editors please note: first time in a role with ABT: Wed. Eve., Oct. 22 – Malakhov in Le Grand Pas de Deux Sun. Mat., Oct. 26 – Acosta in Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux Sun. Eve., Oct. 26 – Acosta in Raymonda (Grand Pas Classiqae)

Hi, Swan Queen. It's our policy not to give out homework advice here -- it's too easy to get bad information. I'd give the same advice for an internet search -- you might find a lot of articles and info, but you have no way of telling what's accurate and what's not. Your best bet is to go to your school librarian, or the reference librarian at a public library -- he or she will be glad to help you. There are several good books on Pavlova: a biography (called "Pavlova") by Keith Money is one of my favorites, but again, trust your librarian I'm going to close the thread in keeping with our policy. Good luck (great topic!)

There is indeed Breaking News! Act II: Labor Ministry says Bolshoi must reinstate dismissed dancer I'd missed the "not even bears could hold her." Why stop at suing the theater?

There's a preview in the Washington Times today (by Jean Battey Lewis). The program is Forsythe's "In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated;" Robert Weiss's "The Firebird"; a new solo by Jason Hartley, a new pas de deux by Septime Webre; and (the only repertory work) Choo-San Goh's Momentum. New works, demands for ballet In Lewis's preview piece, there's a quote from the Frankfurt Ballett's balletmaster that's a good description of Forsythe -- or at least of this piece, which was made for the Paris Opera Ballet and is one of his more classical works: There's a preview tonight, and the show runs through the weekend.

Thanks, Dale I'd love to hear other comments, too. It sounded like an interesting evening -- and I'm always eager to read/learn about Tudor (I'd like to SEE some of him, too...)

Ah, I thought there was a NEW rumor.

I haven't heard anything -- I'm sure Marc will check this for us. Thanks for the alert! (and for giving us a model of how to post a rumor!!)

Thanks, BW -- I was intrigued by the description of Kaye. Victoria, did you see her? I know atm did. One reads that Tudor is all "gesture" but this really gives you an idea of what that piece can be like. To everyone who's responded thus far or who will -- what are your favorite ballets, choreogaphers, why? We've had some answers, but more would be nice Diane and Reinhard are seeing things that Americans seldom get a chance to see, so specifics will be nice!

Victoria mentioned Tudor -- our own "lost" story ballet maker -- and I wanted to post a link here to this week's Letter from New York in the DanceViewTimes by Mindy Aloff. She went to a "Works in Process" evening devoted to Tudor: Mindy Aloff's Letter from New York is about Antony Tudor. Here's the ending of the piece:

Like Diane, I prefer story ballets that make sense on the stage and not in the program. Like Reinhard, I like comparing dancers in roles and watching them grow -- that was one of the great revelations when I started watching the Royal Danish Ballet regularly, and it's what I remember of the Royal Ballet as well. And like Giannina, I don't like bad acting, and I see that all too often -- for the reason Giannina mentioned, that today's dancers aren't trained to act (in America, at least) and have lost the acting tradition, and now they're asked to do it. Often it's mugging, or very superficial. I'll add Bournonville to the list of great storytellers -- his "La Syphide" and "The Kings Volunteers on Amager," particularly, are wonderful examples of taut storytelling where the story is told through the dancing.

Oh, babble more, please I remember from some of the turn of the last century children's books I read that tableaux were popular entertainment far from New York -- and I guess they're descended from Renaissance tableaux (the Rose Bowl parade is, too, and halftime shows, and the Olympic opening ceremonies). But in the 1890s, small theaters would have "tableaux" -- the prettiest girls, the sweetest children, everything was roses and butterflies and was "pretty" when the word had a positive connotation. The "Black Crook" type of spectacle lasted until the Depression -- "The Black Crook" itself went across country -- to places like Denver, which back then, was not easy to get to -- and was in theaters in one form or another for 70 years. And today, not a step remains. Not a step. Maria Bonfanti was its ballerina -- she did the Demon Dance (it was a plug in your favorite variation type of show) -- and she taught in New York through the 20s. Some of Balanchine's first dancers were her pupils.