Alexandra

Sigh. By "top corps" I mean the top level of the corps. While Peters, or anyone, might have been in the corps for three generations (? a dancer generation is usually 10 years. I don't think she was in the corps for 30 years, but I haven't looked it up) they're not at the top level -- top on the pay scale, or the group of dancers in the mid and late 1970s that Balanchine used as demisoloists or corpyhees.

I'm another Delia Peters fan. I remember her as having a droll wit, which she used only when appropriate, and then sparingly, but the implication, the possibliity of it, was in everything she danced. The "top corps" of that generation, of which Peters was a part, was full of individuals -- not characters, but dancers whom, one could imagine, led interesting lives.

Those (much shorter) 19th century dancers must have been strong! Dancing in corsets AND heavy tutus. Not to mention their jewels...... (and in the Renaissance, where ballet steps began, the clothes could weigh as much as 50 pounds). What I love about the Paris Opera Bayadere tutus is the way they flop and bounce as the dancers dance.

AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE’S 2003 SPRING SEASON AT THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE. MAY 5-JUNE 28, 2003 WORLD PREMIERE OF HEREAFTER BY NATALIE WEIR AND STANTON WELCH ACCOMPANIED BY 120-VOICE NEW YORK CHORAL SOCIETY, PLUS WORLD PREMIERE OF ARTEMIS BY LAR LUBOVITCH TO HIGHLIGHT EIGHT-WEEK SEASON Alina Cojocaru and Diana Vishneva to Appear as Guest Artists American Ballet Theatre’s Spring 2003 Metropolitan Opera House season opens Monday evening, May 5 and runs through Saturday evening, June 28. The eight-week season features six full-length ballets including the World Premiere of HereAfter, choreographed by Stanton Welch and Natalie Weir, accompanied by the 120-member New York Choral Society. The season will also include a special opening night Spring Gala performance and All Around Is Light, a one-time-only evening in honor of the Cultural Olympiad featuring the World Premiere of Artemis by Lar Lubovitch. Last season’s Company Premieres of Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée and The Dream will return to ABT’s repertory, as well as Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison and Antony Tudor’s Offenbach in the Underworld. Principal Dancers for the engagement will include Nina Ananiashvili, Maxim Belotserkovsky, Julio Bocca, Jose Manuel Carreño, Angel Corella, Irina Dvorovenko, Alessandra Ferri, Marcelo Gomes, Guillaume Graffin, Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent, Vladimir Malakhov, Amanda McKerrow, Gillian Murphy, Ethan Stiefel and Ashley Tuttle. American Ballet Theatre’s 2003 Metropolitan Opera House season is sponsored by UBS, ABT’s National Presenting Sponsor, and Movado Watch Company, a leading benefactor. ABT’s Spring season is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Opening Night Gala American Ballet Theatre will open its season on Monday, May 5 with a Spring Gala. The evening will begin at 6:30 P.M. at the Metropolitan Opera House with a performance featuring all of ABT’s Principal Dancers in a program of classical highlights from the upcoming spring season and the Metropolitan Opera House premiere of Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison. A black-tie gala dinner will take place in the Tent at Lincoln Center immediately following the performance. ABT’s 2003 Spring Gala will mark Kevin McKenzie's 10th anniversary as Artistic Director of the Company. Co-Chairmen for the Spring Gala are Caroline Kennedy and Blaine Trump. Corporate Co-Chairmen include Steven T. Florio and Gedalio Grinberg. Condé Nast Publications is the Principal Corporate Sponsor of the Spring Gala; generous underwriting is also provided by the Movado Watch Company. Friends Co-Chairmen include Sloan Lindemann Barnett, Tory Burch, Susan Fales-Hill and Emilia Fanjul Pfleifer. For more information about the Opening Night Gala, please call the Special Events Office at 212-477-3030, ext. 3239 World Premieres The World Premiere of HereAfter, a unique choral evening, will combine the choreography of Natalie Weir and Stanton Welch, accompanied by over 120 members of the New York Choral Society. Scheduled for its World Premiere on Friday, May 16, HereAfter depicts the spiritual journey of one man’s life in two separate acts. Ms. Weir will choreograph the first act to John Adams’ Harmonium, while Mr. Welch’s choreography for the second act will be set to Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. HereAfter features costumes and scenery by Santo Loquasto and lighting by Brian MacDevitt. The Cultural Olympiad will be celebrated by American Ballet Theatre on Tuesday, May 20 with a special salute to the culture of Greece titled All Around Is Light. Internationally acclaimed film director Costa-Gavras will direct the evening, which will feature filmed projections and readings by Greek and American personalities. This special program will include performances by two renowned Greek artists, opera singer Agnes Baltsa and popular singer George Dalaras. American Ballet Theatre’s orchestra, conducted by Lucas Karytinos, will accompany the artists. The evening will also feature the World Premiere of Lar Lubovitch’s Artemis, inspired by the Greek myth of Artemis (the goddess of the hunt) and Aktaion. Artemis is set to a commissioned score composed by Chris Theofanidis and features scenery by John Arnone, costumes by Ann Hould-Ward and lighting by Brian MacDevitt. Artemis is Mr. Lubovitch’s sixth work to receive its World Premiere by ABT. Guest Artists Alina Cojocaru, a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet in London, will make her debut with American Ballet Theatre appearing as a guest artist for two performances as Nikiya opposite Angel Corella as Solor in La Bayadère on Saturday evening, May 10 and Monday evening, May 12. Born in Bucharest, Romania, Cojocaru trained in Kiev and at The Royal Ballet School. She danced with the Kiev Ballet and joined The Royal Ballet in 1999. She was promoted to first soloist in 2000 and to principal dancer the following year. As part of an exchange program with Kirov Ballet, Diana Vishneva will debut with ABT as a guest artist performing the role of Juliet opposite Vladimir Malakhov in Romeo and Juliet on Wednesday evening, June 11. Ms. Vishneva was born in St. Petersburg, Russia and trained at the Vaganova Ballet Academy. She joined the Mariinsky Theatre (Kirov) Ballet in 1995 and was promoted to principal dancer the following year. Repertory Work The first of two repertory programs on ABT’s Spring schedule will be presented May 6 through 8 and will include Antony Tudor’s Offenbach in the Underworld, Clear by Stanton Welch, Grand Pas Classique or Esmeralda Pas de Deux and Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison choreographed by David Parsons, Ann Reinking, Natalie Weir and Stanton Welch. Within You Without You, set to songs by the late George Harrison, features costumes by Catherine Zuber and lighting by Brad Fields. The second repertory program, scheduled for June 23 through June 25, will feature Lar Lubovitch’s Artemis, classical pas de deux and last season’s Company Premiere of Frederick Ashton’s The Dream. Alessandra Ferri and Ethan Stiefel will dance the leading roles of Titania and Oberon at the season’s first performance of the ballet on Monday evening, June 23. Staged by Anthony Dowell with Christopher Carr, The Dream is set to music by Felix Mendelssohn, with sets and costumes by David Walker and lighting by John B. Read. The Dream is presented in memory of Clarence Y. Palitz, Jr. by his family. Full-length ballets Full-length ballets scheduled for ABT’s Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House include La Bayadère, which will have eight performances, beginning May 9 with Julie Kent, Ethan Stiefel and Irina Dvorovenko in the leading roles. Choreographed by Natalia Makarova after Marius Petipa, La Bayadère features scenery by PierLuigi Samaritani, costumes by Theoni V. Aldredge and lighting by Toshiro Ogawa. The full-length production of La Bayadère received its World Premiere by ABT in May, 1980 at the Metropolitan Opera House. Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée is scheduled for seven performances beginning Friday evening, May 23 with Xiomara Reyes and Angel Corella in the leading roles of Lise and Colas. This production of La Fille mal gardée with choreography by Frederick Ashton and staging by Alexander Grant, Grant Coyle and Christopher Carr, received its ABT Premiere on May 31, 2002. The ballet features music by Ferdinand Hérold, freely adapted and arranged by John Lanchbery, scenery by Osbert Lancaster and lighting by Brad Fields. ABT gratefully acknowledges Julia and David H. Koch for their generous underwriting of this production. Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet returns to ABT’s repertoire on Thursday, May 29 with Alessandra Ferri and Julio Bocca performing the title roles. Choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan, Romeo and Juliet features scenery and costumes by Nicholas Georgiadis and lighting by Thomas Skelton. The ballet, which will have eleven performances, May 29 through 31 and June 6 through 11, received is ABT premiere in January, 1985. Don Quixote, staged by Kevin McKenzie and Susan Jones, after the choreography of Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky, will be given 10 performances, June 2 through June 5 and June 12 through 16. Paloma Herrera and Jose Manuel Carreño will dance the leading roles in the ballet’s first performance of the season. Set to music by Ludwig Minkus and arranged by Jack Everly, Don Quixote has scenery and costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by Natasha Katz. Mr. McKenzie’s and Ms. Jones’ staging of the current production was first performed by ABT in June, 1995. Closing the season will be Kevin McKenzie’s production of the Tchaikovsky classic, Swan Lake, generously underwritten by the Rosh Foundation. Swan Lake will have its first performance of the season on Tuesday, June 17 with Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Belotserkovsky in the leading roles. The ballet will be given an additional 10 performances June 18 through 21 and June 26 through 28. Swan Lake, staged by Kevin McKenzie with scenery and costumes by Zack Brown and lighting by Duane Schuler, was given its World Premiere in March, 2000 at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. ABTKids and Family Programs ABTKids, a special one-hour performance for children and their families, is scheduled for Saturday, May 17 at 11:30 A.M. Narrated by a member of ABT’s artistic staff, ABTKids presents age-appropriate excerpts from the season’s repertory. All tickets for ABTKids are priced at $15. An ABTKids pre-performance workshop is available on Friday, May 16 at 4:00 P.M. to families who purchase tickets to ABTKids. Tickets to the workshop are $20 per person. Reckson Associates is the Principal Corporate Sponsor of ABTKids. Additional support is provided by the MetLife Foundation. American Ballet Theatre’s annual Family Day Benefit and Luncheon will coincide with ABTKids on May 17 at 11:30 A.M. followed by a luncheon in the Tent at Lincoln Center. For information on Family Day, please call ABT’s Special Events office at 212-477-3030, ext. 3239. For the matinees on Saturday, May 24, (La Fille m al gardée), May 31 (Romeo & Juliet) and June 14 (Don Quixote), tickets for children ages 4-14 are available at 50% off regular price with the purchase of one adult-priced ticket. Pre-performance workshops are also available for the above matinees. Designed for children ages 4-12, the workshops offer children the opportunity to experience the movement they will see in each performance, including the clog dance from La Fille mal gardée, the basics of stage dueling from Romeo & Juliet, and the fan dance from Don Quixote. All workshop tickets are $20 per person and can be purchased by calling ABT's Education Department at 212-419-4321. The Starr Foundation is the Official Sponsor of American Ballet Theatre’s Family Programs. ABTalks ABTalks, 30-minute pre-curtain discussions, are held in List Hall one hour prior to performances and are free to ABT ticket holders. Please see schedule attached for dates. American Ballet Theatre’s productions of HereAfter, The Dream and La Fille mal gardée have been made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding for these productions has been provided by Philip Morris Companies Inc. Clear was generously funded by The Carl and Marsha Hewitt Foundation. Tickets for American Ballet Theatre’s 2003 Metropolitan Opera House season are on sale now by mail only. Beginning March 30, tickets can be purchased by phone by calling 212-362-6000 or at the Metropolitan Opera House box office. For more information, visit ABT’s website at www.abt.org.

Grace, he's at the Fort Worth-Dallas Ballet as artistic advisor. The only news so far is that they will be performing some of his ballets, and he's brought at least one dancer with ties to him and Houston Ballet (Acosta) in as a guest.

New Tomasson ballet, Possukhov's The Damned, and Wheeldon's Polyphonia, right? Now that you've all been coaxed out of your various hidey-holes, I hope we'll be reading about this program too. (Greedy, greedy....)

Thanks very much for posting that, Samba. I couldn't get there -- four blocks of unshovelled sidewalks lie between me and Metro, and while I woldn't mind dying for ballet in principle.... I'll echo your hope for things to calm down later in the run. There may well have been rehearsal problems caused by the weather delays.

Thanks Rachel and LMCTech -- I hope that one of your New Years Resolutions (both of you!) was posting on performances. I wasn't there for these performances, but I did see "Dances at a Gathering" here and had liked Maffre as the woman in Green. (The other was Feijoo, who I thought a bit too desperate, the kind of woman who babbles helplessly at a cocktail party, and while the men have to be polite in her presence, they can't wait to run away.) I thought Maffre was subtle, and self-confident enough (her character's self-confidence) that she thought it odd to lose two men in one evening, but nothing to get upset about. I'm surprised that "Elite Syncopations" went over -- but then, I never liked it, even in its first cast with the Royal, so the fact that I thought it would appear dated can be totally dismissed

Thanks for this, Katharine. She also taught a "Rhythm" class in the school, when I was watching classes there in the early '90s. And she write, edited and published a magazine for the school children for many years.

Just a quick thanks to both of you. People had been very shy about Pennsylvania Ballet -- another important company that we'd like to read more about. So I was very happy to read such a nice l-o-n-g review.

Johnson has been writing for a variety of publications for years. He was once a news editor at Dance Magazine.

Sounds like it's going to be a trendy thing to put on the kiddies' resumes so they can get into even better nursery schools. I agree, Hans -- on your comments on the article, on the pretentiousness, etc.

I think we did differentiate between the dancers and the schooling/training, Hans.

What a kind little girl!

Interesting question -- I hope Juliet sees this, as she makes tutus and has sewn many dancers into them! I think most people would say that costumes today should be lighter, and older designs adapted to allow as much flexibility as possible. But then we get into the "how high should they be allowed to kick?" discussions, too. Some ellements of technique were tied to costuming.

Greetings to you, Mikhail, and welcome! More novels, please ;) Seriously, I read your comments with interest, and I'm sure others will as well. It's so frustrating to see a dancer who interests you when a company is on tour, and then have them disappear back home, and you don't know what they're dancing, or how they're viewed in their own country. So it's been very interesting to read how Alexandrova dances in a wide variety of roles. I hope you'll post often about what you're seeing at the Bolshoi, and please feel free to join in our general discussions as well. We also have a Recent Performances forum, if you see a visiting company, or another ballet company that isn't the Bolshoi.

Gia Kourlas profiles Valda Setterfield (one of my favorite dancers!) in the NYTimes today: Her Curves and Angles Can Mesh in Elegance

There's an interesting piece about the Graham company in today's NYTimes, and it touches on several issues that we often discuss here, including what makes a work dated and the effect of modern dance and ballet on each other. Given the Right Cast, She Still Has a Kick I don't want to pull out quotes, because then people only read the quotes and not the whole article Comments anyone?

I can't comment on the why certain dancers are still dancing, Lillian -- maybe some who see them regularly will try (nicely, nicely!) But I wanted to join Leigh's welcome to ballerina1023 and thank her for her review. I hope we'll hear more from you! I wish I could remember more of "Antiques Epigraphs." I saw it several times, but only in one season, and quite some time ago (the last time NYCB was in DC, and that was when Kistler was young!) I was genuinely curious whether people simply disliked the work, or whether those who'd seen it over time thought it had deteriorated. There are severall ballets from the '70s ands '80s -- "Tombeau du Couperin" is another one -- that seem less than they did in their original cast. I couldn't analyze the work from this distance; I just have a fond memory. I think Drew's Vogue models comment is apt. I didn't think of it in relationship to Balanchine's view of women -- although I find that comment interesting as well -- but in relationship to the other freize-like ballets/dances that were being done at the time -- the Nijinsky revivals, Paul Taylor's "Profiles" are others. And rather than thinking it TOO pretty, I was grateful for it after "Calciium Liight Night"! and thought it more coherent than "The Dreamer." I'd never try to make the case for it as a major ballet. Drew, your experience venturing an opinion in the wrong company will ring true to many of us, I'm sure. It's what I'd hoped to get at on the taste thread (on Discovering Ballet). If you and I went to a restaurant, and you ordered a blue cheese and cherry tomato salad and raved about it, and offered me some, and I said, "I'm so sorry, but I don't like blue cheese or tomatoes, but it does look lovely if one does," I doubt you'd be hurt or angry (well, YOU wouldn't be hurt or angry if I said I didn't like a ballet that you'd just said was your favorite either, unless I said it rudely, I'm sure, but you'll take my point). Back to the programs generally, this week sounds like a particularly interesting one -- I wish THIS had been the week I had to visit New York instead of mid-Week 8.

Michael, I don't think any of the responses were intended to provoke anyone's ire. People are merely expressing opinions.

I'm of the smile and leave 'em alone school, personally. But I have a story that relates to Farrell Fan's. I had a friend in college who looked (by dint of hair and moustache) like Elliott Gould. He never claimed to be Elliott Gould. In fact, he'd deny it. He got wonderful treatment on airplanes, always upgraded to first class (he thinks Gould's reputation for modesty is his doing). Once, I went out to dinner with him and several others in a small town -- Fredericksburg, Virginia. I was in a film class and, by coincidence, we were making a movie, and Michael was in the movie (he was a lawyer; this was just for fun). The waitress, who must have overheard our conversation about "botched takes," kept eyeing us and by the end of the evening, all four waitresses were staring and giggling, asking for his autograph. "You are Elliott Gould. I know you are. I just loved you in Mash!" one said. Michael smiled, modestly, thanked them, said he wasn't Elliott Gould, and declined to give the autograph. We went outside and on this tiny street in a tiny town was one car. An enormous, white, stretch limousine. YOU ARE TOO ELLIOTT GOULD! We heard the waitresses screaming after us.

Thanks for that, Michael. I'd be interested to hear from those who'd seen "Antiques Epigraphs" with its original cast -- has it deteriorated? It may be, of course, that Michael would have found it negligible then, too, but I remember it fondly and it's one of the pieces I've missed. It was of its time, with a renewed interest in Nijinsky and neo-neogrecian material, and I think also related to the minimalism that was the hallmark of postmodern dance then. It was made on a group of extraordinarily beautiful women -- as in the first movement of "Suite No. 3," I think a celebration of women with long, beautiful hair was one of its subtexts" -- and they were women who could make languid movement beautiful. Has it not survived that cast? Or just looks dull out of context? I'd (silently) nodded in assent to Farrell Fan's post yesterday, applauding the decoupling of "Epigraphs" from "Faun" -- they were never meant to be married.

I think that in terms of what one LIKES there is no right or wrong. It's so deeply personal. If someone doesn't like people with red hair and blue eyes, or large heads, or short legs, they're not going to like them. I think judging is different from watching/liking. I don't see anything wrong with watching a performance critically -- meaning judging it, not just responding to it with an "I like" or "I don't like". For me, appreciating art is the exercise of aesthetic judgment. Line is a part of classical ballet. A dancer without line in a classical role looks as wrong to me as a wrong note in a concerto would sound. And I usually intensely dislike seeing a demicaractere dancer in a classique or danseur/se noble role, or vice versa. I view modern dance very differently. There, I think a variety of body types is one of the glories of the art form. I WANT the texture that different bodies provide. I'm bored by modern dance where the dancers look like they were just hired from a chorus line. (But I still would understand if someone says, "Oh, gawd, I cannot look at that man, with that tiny head and barrel chest and bow legs." He might be someone else's hero, of course.) This might turn into a discussion -- if so, I'll split the thread off into one of its own. Balletmama, why do you think it's wrong to judge dancers by body type of physical characteristics?

I draw a distinction between people who dislike a certain physical characteristic, or body type, or look, or whatever -- which they're perfectly entitled to do, or not do -- and employ, which we've discussed a lot here: classique, demicaractere, caracterer, etc. Every dancer has a range, and some have a wider range than others, and some classique dancers can do demicaractere roles, and vice versa, but one's basic type doesn't change. (And, for those reading this who may be new to the employi discussion, "demicaractere" doesn't mean "bad," but a specific type of dancer more suited to quick movements and light roles, and less suited to roles that require beautiful lines, which are more exposed in slow movements, and an affinity for tragedy.)

I saw her do Bizet once at the Kennedy Center, and I didn't see her attempt anything she couldn't finish. She certainly didn't embellish steps (unlike some dancers in other casts).