Alexandra

Hi, Ann! No, there are differences -- see comments above

And so is Jose Manuel Carreno. This story was in yesterday's Boston Herald: I doubt that the ballets will have been rechoreographed for a male soloist, but I have no information about the gentlemen's partners.

Ethan Stiefel will be appearing as a guest artist with the Boston Ballet in October. He will be dancing performances of Mozartiana and Stars & Stripes as follows: Mozartiana - October 23, 24, 25E Stars & Stripes - October 25M, 26E

Now, now, LMCTech, be fair. You're not ALL "high-strung anorexic obsessive compulsives with no foothold in reality." The media went to great pains to point out that some were, instead, hysterical, self-promoting, bulemic prima donnas who would stop at nothing to further their careers.

I would love to see Gad in "Manon" -- I would expect her to be very good in that, because she could get at the greed as well as the goodness (and I find her dancing very musical). I do hope you'll tell us about all of these. Gad and Schandorff, and Greve, too, aren't well known enough here. Had the gods been kinder (meaning had all the political turmoil not happened), Gad and Schandorff would have been counted among the great European ballerinas. Whatever did happen to Michelle Larsen?

Thank you for that! I will say I'd heard from friends that it would be impossible to tell what this production was like from reading the press there, because no matter what it was, it would get raves. :rolleyes: [hastening to add, not to imply that it doesn't deserve them.....] I think the Sylph should be naive. Or at least can be. But I think Bournonville's Sylph WAS. (She doesn't understand the human world. She thinks James can follow her up the fireplace and doesn't understand when he does not; a wonderful metaphor, I've always thought.) I think there's was a 20th century trend to make ballet heroes and heroines darker -- that matched the taste of our times. (Though, paradoxically, some villains have become more sympathetic (Hilarion, Gurn). ] I will say that one sylph I interviewed for my book talked about how Kronstam would encourage them to age their characters as they aged (which had been his approach) rather than trying to keep the character looking perennially young, and both Ryom and Jeppesen used the example of his saying, "perhaps you should change it a bit, you're not so young and innocent any more". Not to say that others won't have a different view or interpretation, but just to offer an idea about how the roles have been viewed.

But you'd also get Schandorff and Gad (she adds, helpfully). I do know how you feel. I once drove to a city only 2 and a half hours away (but we did have to start at 7:00 in the morning) to see a dance that Ruth Andrien (one of Paul Taylor's finest dancers, IMO) had choreographed for students. It was six minutes long. If anyone does go (to Arhus, of course) I hope you'll report.

It's not the same thing as saying "the lighting was wonderful/ghastly" but in that, and all future reviews, the production credits (names of musicians, dancers, lighting, designer, etc.) are at the bottom of the review. Editing to add: I'd echo Jeff's comment about bringing the discussion back to the CONCERT -- were others there? What did you think?

There's an article in the Moscow Times today that gives the Bolshoi's side of this, as well as comments from Ivanchenko. Ari posted them on today's Links, with substantial quotes, and here's the direct link. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2003.../09/25/015.html A side note, in checking our stats this week (of how many people viewed the site) there were nearly 2,000 people who found this site because they put the name "Volochkova" into a search engine. That is by far the highest "hit rate" this site has ever had on a particular person.

It hit me last night that there are several writers known to readers of Ballet Alert! who also contributed to the book -- I didn't mean to overlook them (and none of them contacted me about it!) I'd really meant what I wrote above as a disclaimer. BUT Paul Parish, Mary Cargill, Leigh Witchel, Martha Ullman West also contributed. I know George Jackson and Clive Barnes wrote something, and I'm assuming Nancy Reynolds did as well (she and Costas collaborate the NYCB calendar every year). If I've forgotten anyone, apologies, and please email me. Of more interest to readers, I'm sure, are the dancers. Costas tried to get as many dancers as possible, so this is a very partial list (from the catalogue and a few from my own knowledge): Peter Martins, Suzanne Farrell, Edward Villella, Ib Andersen, Sean Lavery, Karin von Aroldingen, Patricia McBride, Maria Tallchief. I'm sure there are many more. And, as several people who have seen the catalogue wrote me, what really matters is the photos!

Leigh, thank you for that comment -- it's very beautifully put and (from a critic's point of view) right on. I'm interested to read all comments, pro and con -- thanks to everyone who has contributed to the discussion. People read reviews differently and want different things from them -- just as we all see what's on stage differently. Some people want a review to be reportage -- no theory, nothing except what's on the stage. I think there's a place for those kinds of reviews -- that's what newspapers generally do. Some writers want to write about themselves -- "I had a nervous breakdown this morning, my car had a flat on the way to the concert, my spouse left me and I'm just getting over a bout of food poisoning. But none of that prepared me for....." or "Leigh's concert reminded me of the lovely month I spent in the Hampshires" or something of that kind. That kind, I don't print What I look for in a writer is someone who cares as much about choreography as about dancers, someone who can see a company for what it is -- not constantly compare it, in his/her mind's eye, to a favorite or home company and dismiss anything that's different as "bad" -- and someone with a broad world view who can put what they're watching in context and a strong background in dance and cultural history. In addition to being a good writer, of course. So if that's not the kind of review that interests you, you will not want to read any of the DanceViews -- the online or the print version. I know that contextual reviews drive some people crazy -- they find them pretentious, or irrelevant, or not useful, or lots of other things, and I have no problem with that. It's a perfectly valid point of view. That's why it's important to have as many voices as possible, to give readers as many choices as possible. (And to provide more coverage for artists. The more reviews there are, the better, simply because the odds are that there will be a range of views.)

The press people sent us this photo: (Corella, working with Parsons on "Caught")

This just in: Because of an injury sustained during rehearsal this past weekend, necessitating an emergency knee operation on Friday, September 26, Mikhail Baryshnikov regretfully is forced to postpone his entire International Fall 2003 Tour. The tour was to have begun in Burlington, Vermont on September 29 and to conclude on November 3 in Madrid, Spain. The postponement includes rescheduling his appearance in Holyoke, Massachusetts as part of MIFA/the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts. Mr. Baryshnikov and his management have guaranteed to appear in Holyoke on a date between January 21 and March 21, 2004. The exact date will be known within the next week. Mr. Baryshnikov said, " I feel devastated to have to withdraw from the tour on such short notice. I would convey to all the presenters and members of my audience my personal promise to fulfill my obligations to each and every one of them and to come back as strong as ever." At this writing, the Holyoke performance was nearly sold-out. MIFA asks that ticket holders await the new date, at which time tickets will be honored for the performance, or refunded at holder's request. MIFA asks ticket holders to retain their tickets as a show of support for Mr. Baryshnikov, MIFA, and his efforts for Holyoke. Ticket holders opting to retain their tickets to the Baryshnikov January 21-March 21 appearance will be given the same number of complimentary tickets to another MIFA FALL FESTIVAL '03 event. Please call 800.224.MIFA. Mr. Sanders, MIFA's executive artistic director said, "I am, of course, devastated by this accident, but we have to support Mr. Baryshnikov, and I am asking the public to support MIFA in this, too." Kathy Anderson, aide to Holyoke Mayor Michael J. Sullivan, said, "Of course we're disappointed, but we have chosen a couple of dates and we're waiting to receive confirmation from the Baryshnikov people. We wish him a speedy recovery and we're just as excited to have him visit in the winter. We support Don Sanders and MIFA's resolute efforts to make this happen in Holyoke.

I wanted to comment further on the comments above -- and I honestly do not mean this to be condescending, but I don't know how that review could be read as NOT being humorous and I would genuinely like to know how people read it (apologies to Leigh for diverting the thread; others who saw the concert, PLEASE comment). Re the review: it's not a negative review, although Aloff does give suggestions at the end of the piece, but phrased in a way that reviewers use when they're trying to make helpful, constructive suggestions as opposed to throwing darts. The beginning is glowing praise -- by saying Witchel is NOT doing what, by her hyperbole, she regards as, well, crap. (i.e., not DanceAsEver, but other ballets being programmed elsewhere.) She's saying, this is a good choreographer whose work does not get the attention it deserves because he respects classical ballet and is creating ballets, not the pop stuff that is being programmed more and more these days. I suppose I'm the more surprised because this is an issue that is discussed so often on these threads. I really would like to know -- because there's no point in using humor to make a point if that causes readers to miss the point. Here's a quote from the lead To me, the tone is obviously satiric, although that's obviously not how others have read it: Did others read this as being nasty, a serious review in that way? For those who did, what line(s) gave this impression? Thanks!

Yes, Aloff was being humorous at the beginning of the piece. "satire" more than "humor," and aimed not at Dance As Ever, but at the dance establishment. There are now photos up (we changed the format of the site; the review is the same http://www.danceview.org/danceviewtimes/index.html

Mel, exactly. That's what I've found with Bjorn's stagings, and Andersen's direction. Some of the dancers I've intereviewed call it "Bournonville in a box" (a pun, because it refers not only to the small scale of the dancing, but that it's a "canned" style, taken out of a box rather than organic). And one of the phrases dancers who'd worked witih Brenaa and Kronstam on Bournonville said repeatedly was that they'd been told "use all the space available to you" -- which is why the dancing would look so explosive, rather than dutiful. In the Bournonville Week of 2000, of the young dancers, only Tina Hojlund had that use of space, and that daring.

There are also little things that you wouldn't notice unless you'd seen the ballet a lot, I think -- there are some differences among American productions of "Symphony in C" -- some gestures and small steps have disappeared over time. But there's a move to making all productions the same now. I checked this and have been assured it's factually correct: Balanchine did will the ballet to Betty Cage, but she gave the rights to John Taras. He is the usual stager.

Grace had posted a thread on Benesh notation -- I thought more than one, but could only find this one in a quick search. http://balletalert.ipbhost.com/index.php?s...showtopic=10827 That might be of interest, although it's more about learning notation. There are several notators here, and I'm sure someone will be able to answer your questions.

I also have some questions on the dancing -- how did the style look, if it's possible to remember Bournonville style after the past decade of changes

I put up a squib on this in the Books forum -- http://balletalert.ipbhost.com/index.php?a...ST&f=25&t=13590 There should be a lot of books coming out about Balanchine in the next year. We should keep track of them. If anyone knows of one, or sees one, or reads one, please post about it! Thank you.

Disclaimer: I'm one of the contributors to this book, but I'd put a link up to it if I weren't! This should be out in November, I think. I just got the catalogue for it today. Published by Tide-mark: "Balanchine, Celebrating a Life in Dance" Photographs by Costas Hardcover. 10 X 12 inches, 248 pages, 250+ color and black and white photos. 1-55949-545-5, $45.00" It's organized by ballet, I think, and each ballet is illustrated with photos (the catalogue shows Apollo, with 12 photos, including rehearsal shots) and each ballet has commentary by a dancer who either created a leading role or was closely associated with leading roles -- the catalogue includes Farrell, Martins, Mazzo, Tallchief, Tomasson, Villella, and von Aroldingen; I know there are more -- or a critic writing about a particular ballet. Obviously intended as a Balanchine Centennial book. I haven't seen it yet. If anyone does, please comment. (I have a very minor part in this, and please don't let that stymie discussion.)

I just saw the new Dance Mag -- haven't read it yet, but the cover photo is by Marc Haegeman (with several more inside). Congratulations, Marc! I keep looking at it, and looking at it, and it really does say it's of Nioradze (not usually my candidate for Gorgeous Dancer or Most Interesting Artist of the Season) but she looks absolutely fascinating in your photo (in Scheherezade).

Once upon a time, when DanceView was Washington DanceView, I got the following offer-you-can't-refuse from one of our local dance companies: "Hi! We'd like to purchase a cover, and we think it would go nicely with a preview of X's new piece." That's when I stopped accepting advertising. (No, we didn't sell covers, but the guy -- who was genuinely innocent -- thought that a full-page ad could be, well, anywhere. And it would be ever so nice if it didn't LOOK like it was a full-page ad.)

Not saying that Melbye isn't respected or qualified, not at all, only that he also did the designs for Andersen's production for the Royal Swedish Ballet in 1999. I've emailed you

Well, James can be pretty fire-y! And Effy is calm and cool, like water. I don't know where that leaves Gurn and Mum.....