Alexandra

I've copied this over from Links for discussion: Robert Gottlieb on ABT's Spring Season in The Observer: Big Traffic Jam at A.B.T.: Not Enough Roles to Go Around

A few stars don't make a style; I think that's a different issue. There was a lot of comment in the early '70s that Balanchine turned to Europe for his dancers -- Bonnefoux (then Bonnefous), Martins, Tomasson, etc. And ABT's great dancers were Bruhn, Nagy, Baryshnikov -- before the current Spanish and Latin American wave of dancers. Before this turns into a "how dare they not mention American dancers" thread, that's not the point of the article. It's not saying there are or are not great male dancers coming from a particular country, but rather discusses what the author considers the major styles in male classical dancing.

Ari noted that, too, in her Links posting. Perhaps it's because the majority of our most famous male dancers have not been American trained but imported? And that while there's an American PRESENTATIONAL style, is there a distinct DANCING style for men? I'm editing to add that there's no mention of a German, Canadian, Australian, Swedish, etc. style -- and probably for the same reasons.

Ari posted this on Links and I'm moving it here for discussion: a very interesting piece -- imagine a newspaper running this in 2003!!!!!! -- in the Daily Telegraph "a global guide to male ballet styles."

I do hope someone goes and reports. Ekaterina Kondaurova is the young debutante I saw here in Washington do "Shades" and I thought her very promising. (And, while Pavlenko isn't one of the "big stars" I'd rather see her than some of her more prominent sisters )

Thanks for this information, Francis -- it's much appreciated. And now that we know that at least two, if not three, people will be seeing this, I second Leigh's plea -- PLEASE LET US KNOW WHAT YOU SAW AND WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT IT Thanks!

Thank you for finding this for us, Mark. It's a different look at the ABT/NYCB question and I think it is worth discussing. My favorite part was the description of "Hereafter." It could serve as a description of many ballets, alas.

Editorial comment: Looks like a good season to me -- a balance of new and old, some interesting revivals (they did a wonderful job with "Three Virgins and a Devil" the first season McKenzie took over the company).

This just in from the company. AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE ANNOUNCES 2003 FALL SEASON AT CITY CENTER, OCTOBER 22-NOVEMBER 9 COMPANY PREMIERE OF WILLIAM FORSYTHE’S workwithinwork AND WORLD PREMIERE BY ROBERT HILL TO HIGHLIGHT SEASON Preview From Full-Length Raymonda and Revival of Pillar of Fire Also Planned American Ballet Theatre’s 2003 Fall Season at New York's City Center was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. The 2003 season will expand to three weeks, October 22-November 9, for the first time since ABT began its regular fall engagement at City Center in 1997. Highlighting the City Center engagement will be the Company Premiere of William Forsythe’s workwithinwork and the World Premiere of Robert Hill’s Dorian, based on the novel by Oscar Wilde. The season will also feature a preview of Raymonda (Grand Pas Classique) from its new full-length ballet with choreography by Anna-Marie Holmes after Marius Petipa. Revivals scheduled for the season include Antony Tudor’s Pillar of Fire, Agnes de Mille’s Three Virgins and a Devil and Sir Frederick Ashton’s Symphonic Variations. American Ballet Theatre’s City Center season will begin with an Opening Night Gala on Wednesday evening, October 22 at 7:00 p.m. featuring all of ABT’s Principal Dancers performing selections of the season’s works. American Ballet Theatre’s City Center season is sponsored by UBS, ABT’s National Presenting Sponsor, and 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. Company Premieres The Company Premiere of workwithinwork on Friday evening, October 24 will be ABT’s first-ever presentation of the work of William Forsythe, renownedchoreographer and Artistic Director of the Frankfurt Ballet. workwithinwork is set to the music of Luciano Berio and Thom Willems with costumes by Stephen Galloway and lighting by William Forsythe. The ballet received its World Premiere by the Frankfurt Ballet in October, 1998. The Company Premieres of Jiri Kylian’s Petite Mort and Sechs Tänze are scheduled for Thursday evening, October 30. Set to the music of Wolfgang Mozart, Petite Mort features costumes by Joke Visser and Sechs Tänze features costumes and scenery by Jiri Kylian. Petite Mort was given its World Premiere by Netherlands Dans Theatre I in August, 1991, and Sechs Tänze received its World Premiere by NDT I in October, 1986. ABT has previously performed Kylian’s Sinfonietta and Stepping Stones. Christian Spuck’s Le Grand Pas de Deux will be given its Company Premiere at the Saturday, October 25 matinee. Set to Gioachino Rossini’s overture from The Thieving Magpie, Le Grand Pas de Deux features costumes by Nicole Siggelkow. The ballet was first performed by the Stuttgart Ballet in 1999. World Premiere and a Preview The World Premiere of Dorian by Robert Hill is scheduled for Thursday evening, October 30. Based on the Oscar Wilde novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian is set to the music of Ernest Chausson, orchestrated by Jon Magnussen and features sets and costumes by Zack Brown. Dorian will be Mr. Hill’s fourth work for the Company including Baroque Game (1999), Marimba (2001) and Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra (2002). On Thursday, October 23, ABT will preview an excerpt from the full-length Raymonda, choreographed by Anna-Marie Holmes after Marius Petipa. Raymonda, a ballet in two acts is a co-production with the Finnish National Ballet and will be given its ABT premiere during the Company’s 2004 Metropolitan Opera House season. This new production, which received its World Premiere by the Finnish National Ballet in May of this year, was conceived and directed by Anna-Marie Holmes and Kevin McKenzie and generously underwritten by Patricia Hagan. Set to the music of Alexander Glazounov, Raymonda was first performed at the Maryinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in January, 1898. For its City Center season, ABT will preview the Grand Pas Classique from Raymonda for six performances. Revivals Antony Tudor’s Pillar of Fire, created for American Ballet Theatre in 1942, will receive its Revival Premiere on Thursday, October 23. Set to the music of Arnold Schoenberg, ABT’s new production of Pillar of Fire will feature scenery and costumes by Robert Perdziola. ABT last presented the ballet in 1990 for the Company's 50th Anniversary season. Pillar of Fire’s revival will be staged by Donald Mahler. Agnes de Mille’s Three Virgins and a Devil, will be given its Revival Premiere at the Saturday, October 25 matinee. Last presented by ABT in 1993, Three Virgins and a Devil is set the music of Ottorino Respighi with a scenario written by Ramon Reed. Scenery and costumes by Motley are supervised by John Jensen. ABT’s revival of de Mille’s Three Virgins and a Devil will be staged by Dennis Nahat. Symphonic Variations, created by Sir Frederick Ashton in 1946, was first performed by ABT in 1992. Set to the music of Cesar Franck with scenery and costumes by Sophie Fedorovitch, Symphonic Variations will have its Revival Premiere on Thursday, October 23. Wendy Somes will stage the ballet for ABT. American Ballet Theatre’s 2003 City Center season will be presented in three separate programs and will also feature Family Friendly Matinees on Saturday and Sunday afternoon performances. Additional repertory scheduled for the season includes George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free, Martha Graham’s Diversion of Angels, Nacho Duato’s Without Words, classical pas de deux and Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison. ABTKids ABTKids, a special performance for families, is scheduled for Saturday, November 1 at 11:30 a.m. This one-hour presentation is narrated by members of ABT and features a full orchestra. All tickets for ABTKids are priced at $15. Reckson Associates is the official corporate sponsor of ABTKids. ABTTalks ABTTalks, pre-curtain discussions held one hour prior to performances, are free to ABT ticket holders at City Center. A detailed schedule will be announced at a later date. Tickets for American Ballet Theatre’s 2003 City Center season are priced from $30 to $80. Discounts for packages of two and three performances are available beginning July 1 by calling CityTix at 212-581-1212. The box office will open on September 2. City Center is located at West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in New York City.

May I suggest that although the point that it's not necessary to compare is well-taken, some people LIKE to compare, and I don't see the harm in that. It's fine to debate a topic, but perhaps it would be better to do it on another thread, so as not to divert attention away from Old Fashioned's question.

LOL How sweet, Basilo -- thank you. (I'd love to do streaming video -- wouldn't that be cool? Finally, a place where young choreographers could experiment and show their work. Alas, THAT technology is beyond us, I'm afraid.)

For those in the Washington DC viewing area, WETA (Channel 26) is showing Born to be Wild tonight at 9:00: Dance in America: Born to Be Wild: The Leading Men of American Ballet Theatre", Episode #2806. A performance documentary spotlights Kevin McKenzie's international cadre of male dancers and choreographers of American Ballet Theatre: Jose Manuel Carre¤o, Angel Corella, Vladimir Malakov, Ethan Stiefel.

"Ox-like power" is not a term I'd associate with Fonteyn, Sibley, Dowell (the latter two complete products of the Old Royal) or Bruhn, Kronstam, Anna Laerkesen, Ib Andersen, Arne Villumsen, though. I see much more brute force -- WORK IT! WORK IT! SEE ME SWEAT! now than the past aesthetic of, as Bournonville put it (but it's certainly not his alone; Blasis shared this view, as did many of their 20th century disciples) "all effort must be concealed under cover of harmonious calm."

I agree. grace. It starts off SLAM BANG and then criticizes things that could be merely the fault of a touring production, and then starts ripping it apart. Yet the opening liked it to the Swan Lake -- it was both productions that made the audience want to see more. I think it's typical of this writer, though. (Who's usually VERY VERY POSITIVE and seems to write to be blurbed in ads. He used to write in Washington, so I'm familiar wth his work. He's a very nice man.) If you'd like to while away the time someday, try to find a review of his that doesn't mention Alonso. I'd like "Giselle" scholars' comments on the "I sew" mime he mentions.

I'd missed citibob's post -- I think that's a good point. In the early 1980s, the same was said about modern dance. The most interesting stuff was going on in colleges because no one could afford to live/work in New York. I think while this dilutes New York, it doesn't mean that Somewhere Else is the capital, because there has to be a lot of first-rate art -- all kinds of it, at the museum level and at the working level, and lots and lots of arts consumers to make a capital. And that's why New York and London and Paris are capitals. Otherwise, you have artist's colonies, or something piquantly unique -- a city with three fine theaters.

On prices and time, I've been rereading Barbara Barker's book about ballet in New York in the late 19th century, and in 1866, corps dancers were paid $5 to $10 a week, and could get a room (which they shared, probably) for $5 a week as well. Ticket prices were 50 cents to $2.50. That's not very far off from what it was in the 1940s. I'd love to know if there were price spikes in betwen there, or if New York was really flatlined until the huge price jumps in the 1970s.

This just in from a colleague: Oleg Tupine, former Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo principal, ballet Master at the National Ballet and most recently, director of Virginia BBallet passed away this Sunday at his home in Falls Church, VA.

I passed these comments along to George Jackson and got this response:

Yes, "Intuition Blast," "Deja Vu" and "Passomezzo" were also unfamiliar to me.

Ari posted this on Links and I'm copying it here for discussion. Elizabeth Harpel Kehler, the executive director of American Ballet Theater, has quit, the company announced yesterday.

Hi! I wondered what happened to you -- don't work to hard: Thank you for this -- and thank you for taking the time to make it so long, Jasper. We count on you to let us know what's going on in a company and place most of us don't have the chance to see. Don't be a stranger!

FOUR PROMOTIONS ANNOUNCED AT AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE HERMAN CORNEJO PROMOTED TO PRINCIPAL DANCER Carmen Corella, Carlos Lopez and Sascha Radetsky To Become Soloists Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie has announced the promotions of Herman Cornejo to Principal Dancer and Carmen Corella, Carlos Lopez and Sascha Radetsky to Soloist. All promotions become effective August 1 for the 2003-2004 season. Herman Cornejo was born in San Luis, Argentina and began his ballet studies at the Superior Institute of Art at the Colon Theatre. After studying at the School of American Ballet in New York as a scholarship student, he then joined Ballet Argentino as a Soloist. In 1997, at the age of 16, Cornejo became the youngest Gold Medal winner at the International Dance Competition in Moscow. He was then promoted to Principal Dancer with Ballet Argentino, alternating with Julio Bocca in all the principal roles in the repertoire during the company's tours. Cornejo joined ABT's Studio Company in 1998 and became a member of ABT's corps de ballet later that year. He was promoted to Soloist in August, 2000. His roles with the Company include the Bronze Idol in La Bayadère, Birbanto in Le Corsaire, Puck in The Dream, Alain in La Fille mal gardée, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and Benno in Swan Lake. He created leading roles in Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison and Twyla Tharp's The Brahms-Haydn Variations. Cornejo is the brother of ABT Soloist Erica Cornejo. Born in Madrid, Spain, Carmen Corella received her dance training at the Victor Ullate School of Dance from 1986 to 1990 and later joined the company, where she danced until 1995. Corella danced with Pennsylvania Ballet prior to joining ABT as a member of the corps de ballet in 1998. Her roles with the Company include Mercedes in Don Quixote, the Stepmother in Fall River Legend and the Lady in Red and Lead Can-Can dancer in Gaîté Parisienne. Corella is the sister of ABT Principal Dancer Angel Corella. Carlos Lopez was born in Madrid and began his ballet training with Victor Ullate. His teachers also included Karemia Moreno, Atilio Labis and Zoltan Nagy. In 1991, Lopez joined the Victor Ullate Ballet Company and captured the Silver Medal at the Seventh International Dance Competition in Paris in 1996. He joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in September 2001. His repertoire with the Company includes Puck in The Dream, Alain in La Fille mal gardée, the Nutcracker Prince in The Nutcracker, the Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, and roles in Amazed in Burning Dreams, Gong and Symphony in C. Born in Santa Cruz, California, Sascha Radetsky began his ballet studies in the San Francisco Bay Area with Damara Bennett and Ayako Takahashi. At the age of 15, he was invited to study in Moscow at the Bolshoi Academy under Pytor Pestov. After a year in Moscow, he studied on scholarship at the Kirov Academy in Washington, D. C. and at the summer programs of the School of American Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre School of Classical Ballet and San Francisco Ballet School. Prior to joining ABT as a member of the corps de ballet in 1996, Radetsky toured with the Kirov Ballet throughout the United States and internationally. His roles with ABT include the Nutcracker Prince in The Nutcracker, Espada in Don Quixote, Birbanto in Le Corsaire and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet. In 2000, Radetsky starred in the Columbia Pictures feature film Center Stage.

Could we broaden it to "lifestyles of artists especially dancers in New York in the age of the dinosaurs"? Otherwise, it will turn into "what I do with rice and mayonnaise Those interested in the "good old days" -- where everyone was dirt poor, but New York was cheap -- should also check the Nora Kaye thread over on Dancers. (Just around the corner, a few cupboards away.)

The interesting thing about the two old companies with traditions that abandoned their schooling -- the Royal [british] and the Royal Danes -- is that the dancers coming from the school trained New Style aren't as strong as their predecessors trained by that old-fashioned system. (I'll bet that much of the difference is teachers.) I can speak more about this in Copenhagen than London, but there, we've had four directors in a row talk about how they're going to revolutionize the school, raise it to international standard, put the emphasis on technique where it belonged, etc etc etc -- and that's not what you see on stage. I think Ari got to the heart of the matter and an aspect of ballet that's not often discussed. We talk about changing repertory as though it's changing hairstyle and clothes. But it's changing how you walk, stand, and breathe, and that's a different thing. That HAS been a difficulty. There's a famous quote in Copenhagen that I can only paraphrase (by Edvard Brandes, the late 19th century intellectual who wrote a lot about theater) that Bournonville is like a big, magnificent statue that's now smack in the middle of what is the city's biggest road. It's in the way. It's dirty from all the traffic. It doesn't fit with its new surroundings. But you can't move it because it's so darned good. I liked the way GWTW phrased it, and Mme. Hermine's approach, too. As a viewer, one likes both (or at least many of us do). The most dangerous times for a traditional repertory have been during periods of exuberant creation -- when everything new is first-rate, and wonderful, and exciting, then the old stuff looks like old stuff (even the good old stuff) unless it's polished like expensive fruit and displayed with care -- something that both Royals have done very well in the past. What's interesting about today is that there are constant cries for the new at the expense of the old, but the new isn't the new of the high Romantic era, the Diaghlev era, or the high water marks of the Royal and NYCB.

Thank you, atm. This is heaven!