Alexandra

I don't have a cell phone! I love it that there are times when no one can get in touch with me. I think if anyone near me began talking on a cell phone during a performance I would not wait for either the ushers or the police.

Thanks -- I knew there had been stories before, but thought it odd that CNN would pick up something on February 3rd, and wondered whether something ellse had happened. It's good to have these links here, so thank you for posting them.

I'm curious to know how Bolshoi followers view Maria Alexandrova. She's very popular in America, and one of the most frequently asked questions about the current company is "why is Alexandrova not a principal?" I think we like her straightforward style and her technical power. I'm quite a fan of hers. I've seen both a Gamzatti and a Kitri that I liked very much -- beautiful turns, but more than that, she can build a role and change its dynamics. Her coldness worked very well as Gamzatti. I'm curious to know how this dancer is regarded in Russia? And for personal opinions, too, of course.

Rockville cited enforcement problems, too. They have not met Susan Lively, once the leading Enforcer at the Kennedy Center. She was an usher there. Young woman, a good six foot three. She could sense a flash bulb going off 40 rows away and pinpoint the villain. She would then rush down the aisle, stand near the culprit and beam a flashlight on them. The Kennedy Center Opera House quickly became a flashphoto free zone.

Who says California is always the Trendsetter!!! Rockville, Maryland is proposing a ban on cell phones at performances. (A shock -- he's not talking about a cell phone innocently going off during the White Swan pas de deux, but making talking on cell phones during a performance illegal. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor.../126/3745p.html What do you think?

Thanks to Manhattnik for this link: http://www.intix.org/article_detail.cfm?ID=7913

Here's the link to the company's web site: http://www.paballet.org/

Has anyone seen this program? Comments would be welcome There was an interesting review in the Seattle press -- Ari posted it on Links yesterday -- that seeing Paquita and Theme and Variations together on the same program made one aware of the differences between them. I would agree with that -- while at first glance, one might think "Oh, a night of all THAT kind of ballet!" often when you place things that seem similar right next to each other, the differences leap out at you. Anyone care to comment?

Yesterday afternoon, on CNN's ticker tape that runs across the bottom of the screen, there was this item: "Boston Ballet latest arts organization to cut staff." There's nothing on the CNN web site about this and I was unable to find anything new (yesterday or today, that is) in the Boston press. Has there been any coverage of this in Boston? Or is this old news, referring to the two-week lay-off?

Welcome, Inga, and thank you very much for posting this! I hope we'll be hearing from you often. There are quite a few people on this site eager for news about performances at the Bolshoi. I was especially interested to read about Lunkina, a ballerina whom I've not yet seen. She hasn't been on the company's last three visits to Washington and we are very curious about her. I loved your description of her white swan (and I have to say I like it that you didn't care that her technique was shaky!)

Samba, to be honest, about interviews, often people will say what they think you want to say, or feel they have to say. In the same way politicians are. So often it's more interesting to talk to people who have more freedom, or are less protective.

Thanks very much for checking, Dale. I'm glad you asked about Millepied and Neal, as well -- now we won't have to worry about them.

Hi, Prima Ballerina13. The story for that Cinderella ballets I've seen is pretty much the same as the fairytale. There isn't one standard version, so it's hard to tell which role would be the hardest or the most interesting. I'd recommend the Ashton video, too! (And I think the fairy variations are very hard!) Sometimes the Stepsisters are dancing roles, danced by young women. And sometimes, in the Ashton, they're what are called "travesty roles," danced by men. I'd bet in your school show those parts will be danced by girls, and they might be fun to do, because you get to be bad on stage Most choreographers use the Prokofiev score, and there are roles for 4 fairies (one for each season). And then it will depend on what version you'll be doing.

Hello Cliff! We haven't seen you in a long time -- I love your answer, too Welcome back, and please post about what you're seeing!

There's an online review of this (by the German critic Horst Koegler) at the Dance Magazine site. http://www.dancemagazine.com/index1.html I do hope that anyone who reads these pages and sees this piece will post about it.

On that latter point, I definitely agree. Gratuitous insults NEVER help one's cause.

Here's a photo Estelle took of the curtain call of Paquita -- Estelle, please edit and add details Edited by Estelle: from right to left: Muriel Hallé as Dona Serafina (I'm not sure), Guillaume Charlot as an officier, Stéphane Phavorin as the Evil Inigo, Laetitia Pujol as Paquita, Manuel Legris as Lucien d'Hervilly, Nicolas Paul as another officer, Béatrice Martel as the Countess (Lucien's mother) and Jean-Marie Didière as the evil Don Lopez de Mendoza. Missing is Cyril Fleury, as the Count of Hervilly, at the left of the picture. Of course the guy in black is the orchestra conductor, David Coleman. I think Miteki Kudo is the dancer with a blue tutu behind Manuel Legris, but am not sure (the dancers with the blue tutus are those of the grand pas).

Thank you so much for taking the time to post this, Viviane. We love long, detailed reviews. We're jealous, but we still love to read them

Kevin Spacey to run the Old Vic

Interesting points -- and I think the distinction you make, grace, between "globalis/zation" and "Americanis/zation" is a good one. I think if we look at history there has always been a fluidity, and a dominant influence that filters down throughout the dance world, from the spectacles of the de Medicis, through the great Italian turners, and down to today's high kickers. I think there are other aspects of American ballet -- managerial ones, fundraising ones -- that will begin to filter round the globe, too, as ballet becomes more and more expensive and governments become less and less interested in funding it. I've already said so much on this thread that I don't want to say more -- others, please

An interesting post, as always, mbjerk, and I'm very grateful for the dancer/director perspective on this. I think there have been times when there are brakes on the dancers' push for quantity, though, and at least four of the great choreographers -- Bournonville, Ashton, Tudor and Balanchine -- harnessed technique in the service of artistry, using bravura rarely and never for its own sake. That's what I mean about the quantity/quality debate. (Bournonville would make the women sew a thread between their legs to their skirts to prevent the leg from going too high; that's one way to do it.) I take your point that there can be quality with the quantity, but even ten perfectly done pirouettes can do harm in the wrong ballet, I think. I was struck by that in McKenzie's "Swan Lake." Siegfried never stays still for a minute -- he's a little gnat, bouncing and bounding about. He could have Attention Deficit Disorder, a disease for which ballet's princes are not known. So when poor Odette comes on to do her 19th century steps with their 19th century purity, the balance of the ballet is upset. She cannot be the ballerina. I also think that directors can be quite different than they were as dancers; I don't think dancer behavior is always predictive of how one will be as a director, although it can be.

Reading the reviews on the Graham thread made me want to see a mammoth Graham Festival. What are your nominations? What are your favorite Graham works? I think my very favorite is "Primitive Mysteries" which I saw in the revival, which everyone older said was half of what it once had been, because the dancers were more balletic, slighter in every way than the original dancers, but which I absolutely adored. Nancy Goldner wrote a review of it in The Nation back in 1978, I think, which is one of the finest reviews I've ever read. Her writing captured the rhythm on the dance. Reading her piece out loud was like talking "Primitive Mysteries." I think "Night Journey" is a perfect work -- I fiirst watched it on video when I was also watching a video of Ashton's "The Dream" and the pas de deux are very similar, not in form, but in feeling; they're both power struggle duets, and they're both conversations, and it's fascinating to see two masters deal so differently with similar material. I'd also be very happy if someone discovered the Secret Films of a Graham Fan, of someone who had taken a camera to every one of those early nights at the Y when she would unveil an entire evening of new work. Welcome back, Martha.

This was Leigh's contribution, I believe, to the Hit List of phrases one never wishes to hear again. One reads it, usually in preview pieces of crossover works. A made up example: "John Q. Maestro is perhaps the most exciting choreographer of our time. His works push the boundaries, he lives on the edge. Yet his new "Let's Bop the Night Away," a high energy work for eight men and two terriers that fuses '50s popular music with fresh, contemporary street savvy moves is thoroughly grounded in classical technique." I thought I'd raise this question since the PBS show on ABT's men, intended to showcase men in BALLET, used a work by Mark Morris. (Note bene: I'm not questioning the level of Morris's choreography at all, just what to call it. I'd second Ari's superb analysis of him on the thread discussing this show in the ABT forum.) One critic (I believe it was Marcia Siegel, but I couldn't find the quote and am not positive of this) wrote of this a few days ago that it was "rigorously classical." Anna Kisselgoff wrote yesterday: Yes, Morris studied ballet (along with every other type of dance imaginable). Yes, unlike some other modern dance choreographers, he understands the difference between what a ballet dancer can do/does and what one of his own dancers can do/does. But I'm with Kisselgoff. He's a modern dance choreographer who is making a lot of works for ballet companies. I'm at a loss to understand why those who champion crossover dance are at such pains to convince us that it's really classical. I do think that some confuse "classicism" and "formalism" and use the term "classical" to mean something that has a sound structure, good form. But to me, Kisselgoff gets at the truth of it -- it's a language. And it's either your native language, or a foreign one. I'm curious what "thoroughly grounded in classical technique" means to you?

I'd agree with Kaufman on that one. I think there's been a marked emphasis on HOWMANYTURNSCANYOUDOHUHHUHHUH??? in the past ten years, and I don't want to eat desert for breakfast

Oh, no apology necessary -- I was just trying to be welcoming to other points of view Often when a thread starts out tilted in one direction, those who disagree stay away. And it is really a matter of "what is it" rather than "how good is it?" I agree. I wonder what those who think of "Romeo" and "Manon" when they think of MacMillan would react to the shorter works? ABT used to do quite a lot of them -- "Danses Concertante," "The House of Bernardo Alba," "Concerto."