Alexandra

Seeing four performances of "La Fille mal gardee" left me with a very different impression of the company than I had from watching the opening night triple bill. I'm saddened by the internationalization, because to me, watching the sameness creeping through the ballet world is like watching the destruction of the rain forest. HOWEVER, I thought the presentation of "Fille" showed that there are still people at the Royal who coach with care. I thought this was a very well-tended production; it was done with love. Having seen all four of them, if I had to choose a cast to recommend to someone who's never seen the ballet and is interested in the ballet, I'd go with Belinda Hatley and Stuart Cassidy. I didn't think Hatley's dancing was the strongest, but the two at least matched. Some things about the ballet that they made me see: 1. That the cat's cradle was a game they'd played frequently. A metaphor for love, but something they really enjoyed doing. They did it slowly and lovingly, not hastily, worried that they'd do something wrong and it wouldn't work. Many of the movements, without the ribbons, reappear in the adagio of the first act pas de deux, and I noticed that for the first time, in dozens of times viewing the ballet. 2. Mime things. I don't know how often Cassidy has done Colas, but I had the sense that he'd grown up watching the ballet. Why does this matter? Simply because he knows it from watching it. If you learn to carve a goose from watching your father do it, you'll have all kinds of little touches someone who learns this from a book or video will never match. For example: when Widow Simone throws things out the window at Colas, the other Colas's ducked at eveything. Cassidy made the scene funnier by really reacting. The first four (cabbages?) weren't lethal, just messy. He ducked, but didn't scramble. Everyone else ducked with equal vigor when she threw the nightcap, but Cassidy saw it coming and stood there, with his hands on his hips, as if to say, "Oh, please." Then when she picked up the flower pot, he knew that could hurt, and he got out of the way. For those bored by mime and who put up with it to get to the dancing bits, this is an irrelevant detail, but for those who see mime as part of the fabric of the ballet, it's crucial. It's the 56 moments like this that make up the ballet; if they're gone, it looks thin. (This, to me, is the one great difference now between ABT and the Royal. ABT tosses out the little touches -- or puts in unicorns ) Also, the way he acted in the picnic scene, really listening to the bells, counting them, then announcing, "It's quitting time," made me think of him as not just another farmer, but the foreman -- Kobborg did this too, but not as clearly. On other casts, I thought Kobborg's dancing was the best stylistically. He's got the Ashton epaulement down, as well as the kneeling backbends (which also came up in his roles in Rendezvous and Symphonic). He also made distinctions among the different kinds of pirouettes that the others couldn't, or didn't do -- they smoothed them out. There's a series of pirouettes in the first act where the working foot (the foot that's not on the ground) hits the leg at different places: knee, calf, ankle. Very hard, especially hard to do cleanly. Persson just smudged them so they looked messy (but everything he did, to me, looked messy. The flapping foot and drooping leg in his grands pirouettes a la seconde...) Stiefel did a lot of pirouettes -- brilliant, but not Ashton. Galeazzi was not my ideal Lise -- she's a beanpole and her dancing was all over the place. The wildness in the jumps was appealing, but I want more polish in the arms and upper body. HOWEVER I thought her acting was extraordinary. To me, she had the best comic timing. She uses her eyes -- you can actually see them -- and knows how to hold back, just for a second, to have a gesture register. Her relationship with the mother (Luke Heydon) was especially detailed. This Lise was a pistol, as we'd say, and that mother had been running after her, two steps behind, if not five, since she could crawl. The whole ballet turned into a chess game between them with first one, then the other, having the upper hand, and it was grand fun. Although Kobborg and Galeazzi were a bad physical and stylistic match, I thought the fact that they were total opposites in character worked. Kobborg made a distinction between public and private (I think this is the Danishness). His tenderness was saved for the second act, when the two are alone. I had a different take on the "Three children?" mime. I thought he did it so sweetly that it was to be reassuring. "So it's *three* children we will have?", almost a proposal. And I saw a great tenderness in the arm kissing scene. Of the Lises, I'd go for Wildor, and she'd be my nominee for the ballerina on whom Ashton would be most likely to choreograph, were he still around. One of the things that explains how so many different people, sitting side by side, can have different opinions of the same performance is that we all value different things, and I value musicality above almost anything. (I can't think of a musical dancer who has a sin that overrides the musicality, for me.) I also thought Wildor was the only one of these four who "built" the dancing. One of the old tests for ballerinadom was that the ballerina revealed more of herself as the ballet progressed, and I thought Wildor did that beautifully. At the end, her dancing said "they will live happily ever after," because it would be impossible for someone who was as radiant, as confident, and as transcendentally beautiful to ever dance, or live, any other way. I'll write on the Alains, Widows and Roosters later.

Unfortunately, you can only get the Wall Street Journal online if you subscribe, but Robert Greskovic reviewed ABT's "The Pied Piper" (among other things). Here's the first paragraph, from their extract: PITY THE POOR, innocent child walking out of American Ballet Theatre's new production called "The Pied Piper." Besides being left wondering what "pied" really means, given the barely pied quality of Ann Hould-Ward's bizarre and faded-looking costume for the central figure, the youngster might also ache to understand what on earth went on during the 55-minute display of confused and confusing activity, which I hesitate to call dancing. Ostensibly put together for audiences of all ages, but with a special focus on boys and girls perhaps new to the experience of ballet theater, the one-act work, which had its premiere during the first half of ABT's annual spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House, turned out to be a total turkey. As a theatrical production it wastes the dancer talent entangled in its stage business and proves yet again that David Parsons, the former modern-dancer-turned-choreographer chosen for the supposedly forward-looking project, is one of the most overrated and least adept dancemakers around today. -------------------------- So, did you like it, Robert????

I'm glad you did. Jane was looking and I hope she'll post her findings tomorrow.

I'd rather keep it here, please. We don't allow cross-posting for space reasons. (And people tend to reply to different threads, 2 on #1, 3 on #2, etc.) I hope people are using the View Active Topics list, so it will pop up wherever you put it. Thanks for asking!

The cynic in me agrees with dirac, the hostess in me says, please remember that there are probably Bush fans who read this board I posted this (really truly) not to support or oppose Bush, but because I think it's important to keep track of what politicians, especially presidents, say about the arts. If this goes uncontradicted, we can hold him to it. If he makes a speech somewhere next Thursday and says, "Hell, I'm not going to support the arts. What do they think we are, Europe?" [not trying to imply that he'd do that, this is just a forinstance] then we can clog their email machine

Thanks, Veronika. I'd consider this almost a public service announcement, quite different from someone coming on and hawking videos he's made, for example. Also, I can't change the title of the forum right now, but why not use this for DVDs and CDs? Books or souvenir programs, even. I have no objection to us using the web to network and exchange stuff. If you've ever followed a newsgroup, you'll know that people come in who aren't part of the community and never participate, but just want to put up "Come to my web site and buy my photographs," and while that's great for a newsgroup, I didn't want that here. Hope that makes sense Thanks for the info.

Your pals are right. The pony wasn't there Sunday. I don't know why. I'm going to imagine that he doesn't work on Sundays.

Snow Flake, Karen Kain just retired a few years ago, and was the principal (and much loved) ballerina of the National Ballet of Canada for many years. I'm sure our Canadian posters can tell you more. She was a favorite of Nureyev's, even though she was quite tall, and she joined him on several of his "Nureyev and Friends" tours. She was a classical ballerina (the company favorite in "Sleeping Beauty" and "Swan Lake") but did dramatic roles as well.

4Ts, I graciously allow people to agree with me on even-numbered days, so you're safe ;) Seriously, thanks for taking the time to write this. I'm under a self-imposed gag order until my review of the Saturday and Sunday performances runs (Tuesday, I hope), but I'm very happy to read others. Was anyone else there this weekend? Bard's Ballerina, you've been quiet Juliet? Many thanks to Jeannie, Terry, Ginny (hello again!), Samba and Victoria for writing, and for our English friends for adding helpful commentary and answering questions. The Royal is headed for Boston, I believe. I hope many of the people who checked the board regularly during the recent Boston Ballet/Gielgud matter will post and tell us how things are going up there. p.s. For trivia fans, they certainly sang Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

Luka, Sheezno Fonteyn came up in a post several months ago by someone who said when he was a kid, he heard his parents -- or, anyway, some adults with whom he attended ballet -- making comments about Sheezno Fonteyn (i.e., She's No Fonteyn!) that he thought that was a real person. p.s. I know 53 sounds very old from your end of the life cycle, but I have many friends in that age bracket who make it through the day without napping

Since this article is short enough to be within the fair use guidelines, I'm posting it here in its entirety (courtesy AP). Sunday June 10 10:15 PM ET Bush Affirms Support for the Arts WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush affirmed his support for public funding of the arts Sunday night as he headlined an annual gala held to benefit a historic theater. The president, first lady Laura Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney sat front and center through a two-hour show featuring a ventriloquist, a comedian, a tap dancer and music from country, hip-hop and opera performers. The gala benefited Ford's Theatre, which is a few blocks from the White House. It is a venue where President Lincoln attended performances during the Civil War, and where he was assassinated. The flag-draped box where Lincoln was shot sat empty Sunday night, as it always does. Bush noted that corporate sponsors helped pay for the event, and that the building is now maintained by the Interior Department. ``This theater also reminds us that history lives on to be enjoyed by the people of each generation,'' he said. ``When audiences come to Ford's Theatre, they experience America's history and culture. And it is right for our government to support such causes.'' Spending on the National Endowment for the Arts in Bush's proposed budget was at the same level at this year. Bush quoted Lincoln, who observed of his visits to the theater: ``A hearty laugh relieves me, and I seem better able after it to bear my cross.'' ``I think the elected officials in this audience would agree with me that we all need hearty laughs in Washington, D.C.,'' Bush said, as incoming Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a Democrat, and just-deposed Senate leader Trent Lott, a Republican, looked on.

Absolutely, Manhattnik. Margot's little sister Sheezno is the Eternal Ballerina. Rather like Biblical manna, she takes whatever form the user wishes

Reading mbjerk's comments made me ask, How has the use of unitards influenced classical/neoclassical ballet choreography? If we're moving away from unitards and into something else, how will that change the ballets we see? (I'm not sure what the Something Else is. I don't see a "uniform" in the sense of a tutu, or unitard, or even pajama, during modern dance's minimalist phase.)

A very wonderful review. Thank you, Drew. If it's any consolation to you, I've been watching Ashton all week and, reading your review, wished I could have been in two places at once! From what I've seen, I also think Murphy is a real ballerina. She's not there yet, but she will be I think this was a debut, but am not positive. [ 06-10-2001: Message edited by: alexandra ]

Someone wrote that "Unitards" were a pet peeve on the pet peeves thread. I thought this might make a good discussion topic. Do you like unitard ballets? Do you like unitards? How do you think the unitard trend has affected dancers? Has affected choreography? In short, are unitards a good thing or a bad one?

Kchessinska (the real prima ballerina assoluta in late Czarist Russia) wrote in her memoires that every summer, after the long holiday -- during which she had partied relentlessly -- she began taking class again and would call in friends and FORCE them to give her their honest opinion (and when La Kchessinska said "force," she may well have meant at bayonet point). Her father had danced until he was in his 80s and was only stopped when he fell through a trap door (perhaps left open deliberately). Now, La K could be persuaded to perform her Russian Dance until she was well past civil servant retirement age, but.... Fonteyn was giving good performances well into her 50s. I saw her at 57 and thought she was 35, but it was at the beginning of my balletgoing days and I may well have been taken in by the aura. She stopped around 60 and, in her last years, said "I don't dance, my dear. I appear." Erik Bruhn stopped at 44 for reasons of health, and returned for awhile but insisted on appearing in roles he had not done before -- character and mime parts. Henning Kronstam retired his roles when he thought he wasn't dancing them at top form -- as early as 35 for James (which many people said he could have danced for another decade) and as late as 42 for the Poet in Sonnambula. Like most things, it depends on the individual -- the body, the number of injuries, the training, the role. If you love a dancer, you'll put up with them longer than if you don't

I can't remember when I've been in an audience that was as "into" a ballet as tonight. They were happy from the first peck of the rooster, and there was even applause when the marriage contract was ripped up (Lise, the badly guarded daughter, is about to be married off to the Local Rich Boy, who is seriously maladjusted, instead of her True Love. But, surprise, everything works out). I think "Fille" is one of the few perfect ballets in existence. I never quite remember that until I'm watching it, but it's so wonderfully constructed -- the balance of comedy and romance, the beautiful classical dancing and then the music hall dancing. It may end up being Ashton's most durable ballet. I have to say that tonight, I was underwhelmed by the dancing -- too many ghosts -- but it still worked. Yoshida was especially good in the second act, I thought. For me, she's not strong enough for the first act "Elssler pas de deux," and I don't think she's a great comic. But the second act mime scene was charming, and her dancing in the scene where she's trying to dupe her mother was lovely, with lacy footwork. Her partner was Johan Persson and I did not think he danced well. I'll leave it at that. The great performance tonight, for me, was Jonathan Howells as Alain. I only saw Alexander Grant (who created the role) at the end of his career, and although the characterization was marvelous, of course, the dancing was understandably muted. Howells is funny -- I think he could become a great clown -- and a very good dancer. Too often Alain is danced like the village idiot -- sometimes to the point it's cruel and uncomfortable to watch -- but Howells was the spoiled son of a rich farmer who'd been so sheltered he had no social graces and thought he was irresistible. He made Alain clever -- the moment he connects rain (which it seems he's never felt) with his umbrella, formerly only a hobby horse for him, was magic. One complaint for me was Ashley Page's Widow Simone. He made her coarse and mean. As for the company, they did something unforgivable -- they didn't sing at the end! When did that get cut????? Three more Filles with different casts (about which I can't write here, as I'm reviewing them) but I hope there will be lots of others there who will report. Tonight seemed very close to sold out.

I think Sonora's point, which Drew amplified, is a good one, and it's related to Jeannie's comments about how many audience members may confuse ballet with sports in which scores are given -- AND there are constant instant replays of "mistakes." Personally, I like the Balanchine attitude, too. Go for it. Don't take unnecessary risks, of course, but a dancer's reach must exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for? A lighter side of falls, from Ivor Guest (from memory, so I hope I'm not combining two different dancers into one story), there was a young coryphee who fell during a solo and did not get up. Her fellow dancers were terrified and thought she had suffered an injury bad enough to render her unconscious. They "formed a pretty little grouping" and carried her off. Offstage, she revived instantly, dusted herself off and thanked them. They expressed their displeasure, but she replied that her lover was in the audience and she had no intention of making a fool of herself in front of him. I believe this is the same girl -- but it may have been a different one -- whom the ladies of the Opera in the 1850s dubbed "La Niagra" (because of her falls).

Beautifully put, dirac.

Okay! It's much better than Kool Aid. The point that I think Drew, Doug and I have been trying to make isn't about whether something is enjoyable or not. I think that often happens when dance reconstruction topics come up. They were trying to get at what is actually being constructed, or reconstructed, or made up out of whole cloth and passed off as something it's not.

Okay! It's much better than Kool Aid. The point that I think Drew, Doug and I have been trying to make isn't about whether something is enjoyable or not. I think that often happens when dance reconstruction topics come up. They were trying to get at what is actually being constructed, or reconstructed, or made up out of whole cloth and passed off as something it's not.

Just a gentle word to say that anyone who is moved to say, "Hell, I didn't pay 70 bucks to see people take pratfalls" should not be discouraged from posting

I think Ed's question to dancers is a good one. When I trip in my living room -- a not unusual occurrence -- it takes at least a minute to stop feeling shaky, even if there's no break or sprain. Now, I realize that dancers are not mere mortals, but still... Kirkland always fell. You wanted her to do it and get it over with. But I heard a story once that makes me feel many people do think of a fall as a "mistake" -- as Jeannie pointed out, losing two-tenths of a point. Kirkland was going to appear as a guest with one of our best regional ballet companies. The board, or at least some board members, wanted a Big Name guest star (this is one of the things that makes a company "regional" ) She came, she fell. The company's ballerina, dancing the same role the next night, never slipped once. This, I was told, "proved" to the board that the company had outgrown the need for guest artists, because they were better.

I think that's a good point. I thought that's what most of us were doing, but I'll try harder I thought I'd give the comparisons issue one more whack. I think probably most people when they're watching a ballet focus primarily on the dancers. And there will almost invariably be someone who appeals to you and someone who doesn't. Anyone who's seen a ballet has an opinion, and anyone who's seen two ballets has a comparative opinion: I liked her, I didn't like her. This is usually express as "She was great, she was terrible." And so when you read in the newspaper the next day that "Ms. Great" didn't match BallerinaX, who was, of course, definitive in the role, it's like a dash of cold water (or, if you're sensible, you just ignore it ) I agree with Samba that that's to be avoided -- except remember in writing for a newspaper where words are at such a premium, critics develop shorthand phrases, such as "definitive in a role" to get across several sentences they don't have room for. For me, the point of comparing in this fasion isn't to trash dancers, but to try to see the ballet more clearly. If the point of a ballet was for the dancers to be subtle and smooth, danced with a creamy legato and a musicality that listens the melody of the music and it's danced jerkily square on the beat, if a solo is done on a very tall person and it's danced by someone six inches shorter so the geometry is off, then if one has seen the original intent, or the dancer(s) who made the ballet look like itself, I think that's when a comparison is proper -- in criticism. Of course, here any comparison is "proper" Most of what I learned about watching ballet was from listening to people say, "Yes, but you didn't see Verdy in that role," and trying to figure out what they meant

Thanks, Jeannie. I'm sorry if I implied that Lacotte was revising without the proper notation in the program. I didn't mean to. I think we've all acknowledged that the productions are popular, but I do think the point that Doug raised, that it's a question of marketing, is a good one. To coarsen his point a bit (sorry, Doug) we know that champagne sells, but we're not allowed to market ginger ale as champagne. In ballet, that rule doesn't apply. I do think there is an element of trying to piggyback off Petipa's name. If I, a bad painter (and I am a very bad painter, or at least was the last time I tried it, in third grade) can't sell my portraits either because portraits are out of fashion or they're no good, but can wiggle into a niche because, say, everything Leonardo did burned and now exists only in descriptions by writers, I might not have a market for my own "Girl with a Smile," but would get a lot of attention for: "Revived! Years of painstaking historical research and mixing original Renaissance paints: Leonardo's Mona Smiles Again." Except it wouldn't look like the "Mona Lisa" -- and wouldn't even if I could actually paint. I don't have any problem with people liking the revivals. (And I don't think anyone was trying to say that.) If I'm given Kool-Aid and I've only had water, I'll love it. If somebody says, "Psst. Have you tried champagne?" I might like it better. I won't know about the champagne if I'm only given the Kool-Aid. Of course, I may well prefer the Kool-Aid, but at least I'll know. [ 06-08-2001: Message edited by: alexandra ]