Alexandra

Thanks for that, Tigerlily -- and welcome! Many posters here may not be familiar with Eks' "Romeo and Juliet" (including me!) Could you tell us a little bit about it? What's different about it, what makes it so fantastic?

Janneke, while the forum was founded to provide a place for discussion of classical ballet, we also have many posters interested in other forms of dance. We don't have many posts from Europe about new works, and we would welcome them, so please feel free to post about what you're watching, what's new there. Welcome!

Lovely! Thank you.

She's another dancer on my long list of performances to catch in Heaven.

Thanks for that, Sandi. i think of Tudor, and also of Massine, who certainly wanted to expand ballet. Ashton did that, too, in a different way, but there was more to his ballets than just the steps. (NOT saying that Balanchine is "just the steps," of course, just saying that the dramatic wing of ballet has been pretty quiet for awhile, and it's good to have it reborn.)

My post above wasn't intended to shut down discussion. Please keep at it!

Canbelto, I've thought of drambalet too, when watching Ratmansky. Maybe he's the first neodrambalet choreographer!

Regarding dramatic content, my sense is that he's not trying to tell a story, but dance the music. That may be why there aren't program notes or named characters -- that would make it more specific than he wants to be. He's said in several interviews that he's interested in making ballets that are both dramatic and pure dance (my words, and probably a bad paraphrase.) In a NY Times interview a few weeks ago with Briain Seibert Ratmansky talked about Shostakovich (about whom he obviously knows a great deal), his struggles and his personality. I've only seen the 9th Symphony, and liked it very much, but I could see, or sense, much of what he mentioned.

I'm also very happy to have ballets with intellectual content, that are more than the faceless, bland works that use the dancers' technique, but little else, that we've endured for the past too many years And Jayne, at least we're talking about the ballet

Thanks for everyone who wrote about this. I couldn't get up to New York to see it, and I'd hoped to read more!! The photos I've seen are absolutely stunning. More, please!

As a graduate instructor of undergraduates, sometimes in advanced composition courses, I can confirm (over my five years of teaching) that the inability to write clearly, manifest from the brainstorming stage all the way to proofreading stage combined with a lack of awareness that their inability to do so presents an obstacle to their success at university (and beyond), is becoming ever more widespread.

Or, to simplify the beast created by my monstrous subclauses: yes, you see a lot more bad writing/copy editing online, but I would argue that the fundamental skills are not taught effectively at a basic level.

I think that is true. I have an odd window on education because, unlike most schools where a 10th grade teacher, say, would have a class that's mostly composed of children who have studied at that school since 7th grade, at least (so you can finger the inept teacher ) we have homeschooled children, children from public schools, private schools, and from Canada and England as well as about 15 different states and the errors are completely consistent.

As for copy editors, my absolute favorite copy editor story is of the one who helpfully added to a colleagule's mention of "Dying Swan": "a solo from 'Swan Lake'".

Sandi, I learned the same thing -- and its companion "A principle is a rule."

California, thanks for raising the topic. We see that confusion often here.

One thing that I've noticed with my students, who come from all over the place (California, Texas, Maine, the Midwest, New York, New Jersey, etc.), is that the possessive and the plural have been switched: "The boys book's were taken." Or, to be more balletic: "Ashtons step's are very fast!"

Eva Kistrup wrote a review for her blog:

http://danceviewtimes.typepad.com/eva_kistrup/2013/05/handling-heritage.html#more

Anne, Jane, anyone else, did you go?

Lucky Nijinsky!

I just heard about the book today, fadedhour. Thank you for posting about it. I look forward to reading the reviews. (And perhaps the book!)

Education might help

Thanks for all the responses about the production. Did anyone see it! No one went this afternoon?? (or any day) I hope there will be some reports. We don't want the Kennedy Center to think no one went

Thanks!

Anyone see Le Corsaire? It's a new production, and I'm curious about what are the differences from the last one. (I won't be able to go.)

I've just posted a review of the opening program on danceviewtimes. The link is on today's Links thread. There will be a review of "Le Corsaire" on dvt by George Jackson, probably Sunday or Monday.

It is sad news indeed. And important news, though it' wasnot even mentioned on national news tonight (CBS, PBS). A very great ballerina. An American Indian ballerina. They could give her 30 seconds.

I never saw her dance. I've seen the clips posted here, and thank you all very much for posting them. We now have a lovely Tallchief archive.

RIP, Ms. Tallchief.

Thanks for your post, Daniel -- and for reviving this thread. I liked "Echoing of Trumpets" very much, though I can't remember which company I saw dance it.

Yes, a truly unique and sophisticated artist.

I'm sorry, puppytreats. I missed your post. My memory is that everyone leaves, and the male soloist spins alone.

And p.s. I would not be the first to say that Shostakovich is one of the major 20th century composers and that this is a beautiful score

YouOverThere -- The Shostakovich is happy and sad, I think, which is one of the things that made the ballet so interesting, for me.

vipa, I liked Sarah Lane very much in "Symphony in C" and thought her dancing quite strong. I thought she made it as important a movement as any of the others, which one doesn't often see.

i'm glad so many people went to the mixed bill! I'm looking forward to reading you all on "Le Corsaire" as well. (And more on the mixed bill too, of course!)

Alexandra, thank you for the interview. I think the problem may just be that I have been watching too much Evgenia Obraztsova on youtube.

(A very good way to spend one's time IMHO.)

It's not the real Pavlova, of course, and the clip in the preview doesn't look much like Pavlova (who could do Pavlova today?) BUT this Sunday, the new PBS series "Mr. Selfridge" will be about Anna Pavlova.

There's some basis in fact for a connection between Pavlova and Selfridge (founder of the famous department store). So if you're interested, here's a link that tells a bit more.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/programs/series/mr-selfridge/

I'm interested in seeing how she will be portrayed.

Well, there are pirouettes But she has such a soul that it doesn't matter. I thought she started a bit quietly, and ended strongly, but two friends who were there that I spoke to were very moved by her performance. Unexpectedly, I thought she was quite strong (and oh, so beautiful) in the finale.

Meow, I was there this evening too, and didn't think it quite as strong as last night, in some ways. It still looks to me as though they're cleaning "Symphony in C". Tonight there were more Balanchinean touches. (I actually liked last night's absolutely un-Balanchinean joy.) Re "Symphony # 9," you might be interested in this interview with Ratmansky in the New York Times by Brian Eibert called "For the Love of Shostakovich, the Destroyer." It addresses the musical issues you raise and gives a lot of interesting background on the music and the ballet. Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.c...ch-project.html

My take on Ratmansky is that he's genuinely doing something new, and often I "get it" (or at least think I do ) on subsequent viewings. Opening night, I saw the historical references; tonight it seemed more of a dance piece. It's both, and probably more. He DOES do a lot of things at once. There's one section where the small groups of dancers are all doing something a bit different, and with different musicality, at top speed, I knew there was a reason for it, but it certainly shook my eyes. But it all comes together, and probably if I see the piece 2 or 3 more times, I'll be able to read it as a whole and it will make perfect sense right off the bat.

One humorous note. There's a section in the ballet when the lighting (by Jennifer Tipton) takes center stage for just a second and changes the piece. Stops the flow cold, changes the mood, makes one aware that something earth shaking is about to happen. It's so stark and arresting that the woman sitting in front of me -- who seemed to have been texting, head bowed, all evening -- suddenly sat bolt upright and didn't take her eyes off the stage for the rest of the piece.

. Julie Kent looked lovely but didn't have much to do.

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I think that was part of the reason they revivied it - Give Kent something to do that's not very difficult. That's her only assignment for the KC Tour, since she does not do Le Corsaire anymore. I suspect the reason they are doing Month in The Country at the Met is to give Kent a relatively easy role to do.

Isn't that strange? I haven't seen Julie Kent dance in years but do have a ticket to see her in Month in The Country at the Met (she's not the reason I bought the ticket). Why do they keep her on if she is so limited that they have to find things for her to do?

There are a lot of different types of ballets, and they need different types of dancers. Some emphasize technique, dramatic ballets need people who can bring a character and different situations to life, and often older dancers have the maturity to do that better than the technicians. I think we need all of them (I don't think Natalia Petrovna is so easy a role, either. It doesn't have fouettes in it, but the pas de deux are not simple.)