perky

Travel Channel series:

A Month In The Country

Vienna Waltzes

The Daughter Of The Pharaoh

Slaves series:

Spartacus

Le Corsair

The Fountains of Bakhchisarary

All Girls, All The Time series:

Scherzo Ala Russe

The Dying Swan

Pas de Quatre

And finally in this election year:

A Political Bipartisan (sort of) casting of Sleeping Beauty

Aurora- Chelsea Clinton

King- Henry Kissinger

Queen- Madeline Allbright

Prince- Ron Reagan Jr.

Peanut (Lilac) Fairy- Jimmy Carter

Carabosse- Dick Cheney

Bob Dole- Viagra Fairy

John Kerry- Fairy of Thick Hair

George Bush Sr.- WASP Fairy

Lou Dobbs- Anti-outsourcing Fairy

Tucker Carlson- Bowtie Fairy

Michael Moore/Laura Bush- Big Bad Wolf, Little Red Riding Hood

Calabutte- Larry King

Jester- Jon Stewart, I know there is no jester in Sleeping Beauty, but it would be fun

James Carville/Mary Matlin- Puss in Boot, White Cat

Seeing as you live in England you might have already read these but for reading while commuting I recommend any of the books written by James Herriot, starting with All Creatures Great and Small.

These stories are about Herriot's life as a vet in the Yorkshire Dales of England on the eve of World War 2. He writes with great warmth, humor (Hope you don't mind laughing out loud while commuting), and skill about the animals he treats, his boss and co-workers, his bumbling attempts to court his future wife Helen, and the unforgiving but wild beauty of the Yorkshire countryside.

The books are an easy read and they will put you in a good frame of mind to face your workday.

They certainly have mastered the dropped crotch grand jetes very well.

I must have a hidden bizarro streak in me because all week I've been finding the rhythmetic gymnastics and synchronized swimming events compulsively watchable.

Giannina I don't know what those stick things are called either, but they look like bowling pins :shrug:

Bravo is also showing synchronized swimming, where feet pointing is also a must and lot's of weird angular posing before they jump in to start the routine.

We were watching it yesterday with our little daughter who asked how the girls could stay under the water for so long, after explaining it to her she replied, "Mommy those girls have BIG lungs!"

Actually Leigh I didn't forget him, I just wasn't sure where he fit into the equation. I'm not sure if he would want to wait that long to helm a company. But you're right, it is a choreographer driven company.

Reading the posts on the PNB AD positions got me wondering, How many think Peter Martins will still be running NYCB in 5 or 10 years? And if not, who do you think will replace him? Who do you think SHOULD replace him in the future?

I think he'll be there at least 10 more years. If he is still there at that time Sean Lavery seems to be his most likely successor. As to who should be in charge, Suzanne Farrell's name comes up alot, but I think she would be more effective as Ballet Mistress in charge of the Balanchine rep. Balanchine's ballets need someone there fulltime to keep them alive for the next generation. Keep Sally Leland in charge of the Robbins rep. Make Sean Lavery or Peter Boal as overall Artistic Director. I almost think it's to much to expect just one person to fill all the roles that Balanchine did so wonderfully.

I wonder what the marketing guru's will think up next? Can't afford to sponsor a whole dancer? Then you can buy a body part!

I'll take Miranda Weese's big right toe, and Albert Evans left buttock! :rolleyes:

Bouder and Severini are pictured on the cover of the Fall 2004 Discount Dance Supply catalog (they look adorable), as well as being featured inside modeling some dancewear.

Oh Dear...........Farrell Fan and Carbro, your posts brought me to bittersweet tears. Thank you

Very recently my mother passed away after a difficult illness. During those long nights when grief threatens to overwhelm me (Funny how grief seems to lie in wait for the night when your defenses are completely down and your mind seeks solace in the numbing effects of sleep), it is ballet that soothes my soul and allows my wondering mind to find peace.

If I close my eyes I start to see two Balanchine ballets, Serenade and Robert Schumann's Davidsbundlertanze. Serenade, with it's classical purity and the ending with it's dancer borne aloft toward heaven, and Davidsbundlertanze, with it's sensitive and moving depiction of love and loss. And oddly enough :shrug: , the Don Quixote grand pas de deux. In particular the Nina Ananiashvili Don Q on Essential Ballet. Thank you Nina A.

These three ballet never fail to comfort and relax me enough to eventually fall to sleep. Am I the only one this has ever happened to? Has ballet helped any of you to get through a difficult time in your life?

Two books I love are Ten Dancers and Dancer's Shoes. Not exactly bio's but they include lot's of information and pictures. Ten Dancer's in particular has wonderful photos and both career and personal information. Dancer's profiled include, Peter Martins, Patricia McBride, and a very young Patrick Dupond

This is completely irrelevant, but Janie Taylor has the most beautiful hair in ballet. In that Afternoon of a Faun picture in the brochure, Tewsley touching Janie's hair looks as if he is parting a billowing, raw silk curtain to peer at the mysteries beyond. Stunning picture!

The only problem I had with the narrative was that I couldn't quite figure out who Cinderella's father was. I kept thinking he was just some servant that was overly friendly with her. :rolleyes:

I agree with Giannina. Also, for all thier silliness, Ashton and Helpmann give the stepsisters a humanity, that would be so easy to miss by performers today who might just try to go for the easy laughs. Yes, the stepsisters's are funny, but Ashton and Helpmann also make us feel sorry for them in a way.

Cinderella's choreography features an abundance of pointe work. Hops on pointe, lot's of presenting of the foot. Appropriate in a character who has her true identity revealed by means of a glass slipper. Sibley does a wonderful job of showing Cinderella's misfortune without decending into melodrama. Pathos with dignity I suppose. I also liked her showing us Cinderella's playfullness in her dance with the broom.

The Stepsister's as portrayed by Ashton and Helpmann are real characters, not one note comic relief. Ashton's silly, fluttery, almost insipid sister and Helpmann's bitchy, imperious one, amuse with their delusions of grandeur, and it is because of that, even though they are mean to Cinderella, that we forgive them in the end.

Anthony Dowell's Prince is both regal and kind. And he'd better be. After all HE has to be good enough to deserve Cinderella, not the other way around. But really , I think Dowell could look regal even if he came out wearing an "I'm with stupid" t-shirt and pair of flip flops. He looks aristocratic no matter what he's doing, but in this role that princely demeanor is also paired with an awe that he found such a wonderful gal!

The jester is very funny but also has an air of sadness about him. And such an incredible jumper!

Of the season fairies, the ones that made the most impression on me were Summer with her lanquidness, and Winter with her cold precision.

I'd like to see the Joffrey Ballet add A Month in the Country to their Ashton repertory.

Thanks for the report rkoretzky. Perhaps Sylve was having a off night. I hope she get's another shot at it.

Ari I missed the review. I think you were posting the same time I was. Sorry to hear Slyve didn't dance Emeralds. I think it's a perfect fit for her.

Did anyone in Saratoga see it? Report please!

That list seems very..............ENGLISH. Is that where the author hails from? What I would like to see some day is a book on the order of Gennady Smakov's The Great Russian Dancers. Maybe it could be called The Great Western Dancers. A book that includes British, American and European dancers.

I was rereading a piece Gia Kourlas wrote in the Autumn 2003 DanceView where she mentions that Peter Martins ballet Thou Swell is one of her greatest guilty pleasures. So what's your's? It could be a ballet that's cheesy, over the top or just plain dumb. A ballet or dancer your friends think is silly or useless but that you secretly like or even love, even though you're embarressed to admit it.

My quilty pleasure is an old Soviet era pas de deux called Spring Waters. It's really more acrobatics than ballet. The ballerina runs and launches herself headfirst into her partner's arms. There's lots of "ta-da" posing. Lots of very fast partnered spins better suited to an ice rink. And it has those lifts where the man holds the woman over his head with one arm. I call them five finger crotch grab lifts.

So why do I love it? Mostly because of the performers. I've seen the Boshoi do it. Because they dance it with such speed, energy and great flair, and they seem to be having the time of thier lives doing it, I can't help but start to smile and respond to it with enthusiam.

So what's your ballet quilty pleasure?

Check your local library too. That's how I first saw Ashton's Cinderella.

To anyone who would like to see just how invaluable and precious a tool it is to have a ballet coached and taught to them by a former Balanchine dancer , see Leigh Witchel excellent serious of articles in previous DanceView issues intitled: The George Balanchine Foundation: Interpreters Archive and Works and Process. I believe all of the articles are online. Unfortunately I can't do a link to save my life. Perhaps someone could put a link up?

These people were there when Balanchine made these ballets. They are a direct link. Many of them have made coaching sessions for the Balanchine Archive and I'm sure many would be happy to help coach at NYCB.......if they were asked.

Melissa Hayden

Hugo Fiorato

Mr. Balanchine would most definately have known how to develope and showcase Carla Korbes, and not only would Wendy Whelan have inspired him artistically, I think he would have loved her personality and her commitment to his choreography.