Alexandra

Thank you for posting that, Andrei! (And I loved the headline ) This rumor surfaced a few months ago in New York and we had a thread on it. Manhattnik has already written the libretto: http://www.balletalert.com/forum/showthrea...+AND+Balanchine

Thank you for posting that, Andrei! (And I loved the headline ) This rumor surfaced a few months ago in New York and we had a thread on it. Manhattnik has already written the libretto: http://www.balletalert.com/forum/showthrea...+AND+Balanchine

Hindberg was their "Russian" dancer. She and Villumsen danced Don Q at the Bolshoi. She was promoted by Flindt at a very young age after a "Swan Lake." She also was noted for performances in the modern works in the repertory. She was just a bit too modern for Bournonville -- to linear, too stretched, I think. It's been a long time since I've seen the video, and I've seen a lot of Napolis since then, so this is my best memory. I think the women were: yellow, Mette-Ida Kirk (in the solo and in the tarantella); pink, Heidi Ryom; purple, Lis Jeppesen (the blowing kisses solo); pale blue, Beneditke Paaske (the one without a solo). Of the men, the first solo was Alexander Kolpin (18), the second is Bjarne Hecht, and the third is Villumsen. The man in the blue sash who doesn't have a solo is Arne Bech, the company's textbook Bournonville technician (though never a star).

Thank you for that, Sylvia. It's good to know that the first-time balletgoers enjoyed the performance and will be back for more. Bad music at the ballet seems to be an international problem at the moment!

This is posted on Links, but I thought it should be here too. The Dancer and the Dance I loved the comment about television and gravity -- I'd never thought of that before, but I think Paul Parish is right.

Leigh's example would seem to be one of personality overriding a strong technique.

Leigh's example would seem to be one of personality overriding a strong technique.

Hi, Bobbi, welcome to Ballet Alert! I like your wish list The current direction of the Royal doesn't seem all that interested in Ashton at the moment. It also may be that "Monotones" is so hard to dance and hard to cast (?). And it may just be that, alas for those who love Ashton, he seems to be raidly falling out of fashion.

Something bhough said above rang a bell with me: A teacher at a comparatively small company without a large talent pool on which to draw told me once: "We take people and make them dancers. Other companies take dancers and try to make them people." -------------- I can't believe I've gone along these many years without ever hearing about Emily Litella!

Something bhough said above rang a bell with me: A teacher at a comparatively small company without a large talent pool on which to draw told me once: "We take people and make them dancers. Other companies take dancers and try to make them people." -------------- I can't believe I've gone along these many years without ever hearing about Emily Litella!

I wonder if anyone has any candidates for a "superb" or at least "very good" directors working today? I'm not for judging people on a season by season basis, but there are directors working who've been at it for more than a season or two. Anyone you'd consider a very good, or model artistic director?

A review by John Percival in The Independent: http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre...sp?story=279318

Thanks, Jaana -- of course you're right about the gondola and gondolier -- I couldn't think this morning. I also put in "amulet" when it's really a medallion, and made both changes. The Danes still dance it, although the last time I saw it (January 2000) it wasn't in very good shape, and I've heard nothing good since from Danish friends! So you might want to try and find that video!

Manhattnik, maybe it's time. I do hope Leigh will choreograph a ballet for the Fairy of Distraction one day. I think there are lots of possibilities there. I am beginning to think that I was too 19th century in my suggestions. Perhaps it is time for Aurora to be brought into the real world, or she might grow up thinking she's a fairytale princess. How about: The Fairy of Dread and Doom The Fairy of Nuclear Waste The Fairy of Global Warming The Fairy of Market Upheaval The Fairy of Population Explosion (with her attendants) All presided over by: the PR Faiiry I'll let you all choreograph the variations

Manhattnik, there are times when you terrifiy me

Manhattnik, there are times when you terrifiy me

Unfortunately, I haven't seen him often enough to judge. Only Romeo (MacMillan's, with ABT, which I much admired) and a few videos. I think he's a very different type of dancer than Nureyev, but I think he was a very fine one and someone I wish I could see more often. He has danced with so many companies, and so many different roles (but only a few times each role) that I don't really have an idea of what kind of dancer he is. Thank you for the question. I hope others who've seen Malakhov dance more often will be able to give a better picture.

Thank you for that, Kathleen. That is gorgeous! It might even be stagable -- just the thing for new board members! It makes the 4ts sound, well, so yesterday.

Thank you for that, Kathleen. That is gorgeous! It might even be stagable -- just the thing for new board members! It makes the 4ts sound, well, so yesterday.

I think your point is well taken, FF. If I'm remembering correctly there was a lot of talk when Carnegie Hall opened that it was too far away from the center of town and no one would go. People found it. There really is something to, "Build it and they will come." Or, in this case, "Make it exciting and they will come."

Ari posted this on Links, but I thought it should live here, too. Ismene Brown has some harsh words on the new season: The Telegraph has an article about the Royal Ballet's 2002-03 season:

What would you like to see in the ABT rep? Which new choreographers? Which revivals -- of old ABT works, or those from other companies? Any ballets not done by the company that seem "perfect" for this or that dancer? Which classics/full-lengths, and in which versions? What, if anything, would you toss out?

What you especially looking forward to seeing this spring at NYCB? Which ballets, which dancers?

That's a good way to put it, Calliope. I think he had an enormous appetite -- which is a very good thing. A stingy person couldn't be a good director, much less a great one. I think, too, what Victoria said about it being hard to know without having worked with the director is important. (And I know she means much more than "is he a nice guy?") The inside/outside view is hard. There are directors with (often carefully cultivated) good public reputations, though if you talk to dancers or others connected with the company they'll give a very different story. Sometimes it's just, "No, he's lousy, because I should be dancing Albrecht!" but sometimes it's much more considered than that. In the best of all possible worlds, all views would at least be recorded -- dancers, choreographers, musicians, critics, viewers -- and then, one hopes, a historian could put that all together. But that's a very biased view on its own, of course

Joffrey had the reputation for being a superb director, certainly, though there were often caveats. Part of his repertory (the revivals, the experimental ballets) was praised; the house works wereoften not. To me, Joffrey was not an institutional director, but a different kind. More in the Diaghilev tradition, creating a company, and changing the personality of that company rather frequently. My view of Joffrey is shaped because I was one of the readers for Sasha Anawalt's biography, and so had many conversations with her about her discoveries. He seemed, to me to not quite know what kind of a company he wanted -- an American dilemma, we can have anything and so we want it all. He wanted to be a great classical company, he wanted to be a Diaghilev company, he wanted to be City Ballet, he wanted to be Roland Petit (in the sense of having a small, intense, dramatic company). I think (and this is very personal and not at all the general take) that he was coming to find the kind of company he really wanted to be when he died. I think if he had lived then all that he had done would be seen as very fruitful experimentation. He''s not on my personal list (much of the rep was too pop for me), but he'd certainly be on that of many others, I'm sure.