perky

After reading the review I would say he's referring to the way the San Francisco dancers present themselves. A sort of mature, sophisticated elegance. A grown-up perfume if you will.

I'm interested to hear what BTalker's who see the company on a regular basis have to say about it. Paul chime in!

I think of The Siren as coldhearted but warm blooded. She should be both emotionally remote and physically accessable. It seems like it would be a very challenging role to dance just right.

I never saw either, but I would have loved to have seen Martine VanHamel's Siren at ABT and Diana Adams interpretation at NYCB. Arlene Croce, in a review described the section where The Siren wraps the long red cape though her legs and tosses the end over her outstretched arm and comments that Martine did this bit looking like a bored, haughty Chanel model.

Wow Helene, what an awesome list!

I did have a chuckle when I saw Melissa Hayden listed as a Taurus. It fits so well with what we know of her personality.

Allegra Kent is a Leo and so am I.

This is quite good for my ego!

Where is Scotty when you need him to beam you around the galaxy to see stuff?

He's at the ballet.

I loved Lucinda! A real villainous matriarch in the tradition of Alexandra Spaulding on Guiding Light or Stephanie Forrester on Bold and the Beautiful. What I always liked about As the World Turns was that it seemed to cast normal-looking people and really focus on "normal" storylines.

For the most part you are right about the normal storylines, however I do remember a howler of a freaky storyline right around the time I stopped watching on a regular basis. This was the kidnap/rapid aging storyline involving Carly and some others that had them at some fiendish spa getting experimented on. It was absurd and not in a good way.

I see Eileen Fulton (Lisa Hughes) is, acc. to IMDb still in the show--since 1960. I always thought she was beautiful and easily the best of all the soap actresses. Anybody seen her in the last 20 years? because I haven't watched soaps for maybe 40. Did the once-wicked Lisa turn into this nice, sweet grandma? I used to like 'Ellen' too, but don't remember who played her. Also Nancy Hughes, the matriarch, was perfect casting.

The last time I really watched the show on a regular basis was in 2000, by that time Lisa had become more of a busybody old lady than the mean vindictive Lisa she used to be.

Nancy Hughes was at that time only used sporadically. Brought out for holidays or when a matriarch needed to sprout some wisdom. It's a shame because the actress who played her (her name escapes me at the moment) had a warm, lovely manner.

Someone at New York Magazine must have a serious thing for NYCB. In addition to three 2009 hits on The Approval Matrix (links below) it’s garnered a slot in this week’s “A Million Little Pieces: a Smattering of the Moments that Changed the Way we Entertain Ourselves”

The entry? “February 22 [2006]: Peter Martins youth-enizes New York City Ballet, casting spunky Tiler Peck, 17, in his virtuosic Friandises; later, stages age-appropriate Romeo and Juliet.”

I dunno – If I were choosing an 00’s ballet moment to feature on the same page as CBGBs reincarnation as a John Varvatos storefront or SNL’s “Dick in a Box” guys, I might have gone with Swamp Thing or David Hallberg’s Citizen bustier. I’m sure both have their NYCB equivalents, but I’ve undoubtedly repressed them, although my subconscious keeps flashing "Balanchine Centennial," "Boris Eifman" and "newly-commissioned ballet" at me for some reason.

)

I vote for the NYCB Eifman ballet as well.

The use of "youth-enizes" seriously makes me nauseous.

If ATWT gets picked up by another network I sincerely hope you are right Dirac. I just don't see what another network or even time slot could do to revive the viewership for this great show.

Just a thought, does anyone think soaps expanding from the 1/2 hour format to the hour format was too much? I realize the expansion happened in the late seventies I believe. Should the networks go back to the 1/2 hour? Would that help?

As The World Turns is the other soap opera I grew up with. My memories of watching it are entwined with memories of my mother.

We loved to hate John Dixon. What an awesome shades of gray bad guy. How could a man who loved his wife (Dee) so desperately hurt her so despicably? His selfishness and desire to wreck havoc on the poor citizens of Oakdale made for wonderful viewing for many years.

And I loved Lucinda Walsh from the moment she made her first entrance. She was like a big black crow screeching at all the brown drab little birds to get off her tree! I adored it when she and a young nasty Craig were getting in on. So much fun.

The cancellation is not a surprising announcement, but it still stings. I would rather the show die a dignified death now than move to another network though.

I watched last night. I would have preferred a pas de deux. You don't realize how short those variations are until you see it out of context. I wanted more.

I've actually never seen Herrera's dancing that much. She has a lovely, soft, warm, womanly glow about her dancing. Is that how she comes across all the time or is that just the way she dances Kitri?

I would like to read a book on the Soviet era dance world.

Now that it's over and some of the key players are dead perhaps we could get a true and intimate accounting?

We know of some artists who suffered under that regime, how many more suffered that we don't know about? Who cooperated and advanced in their career? It sounds like a complicated byzantine web and I think it would be fascinating to read about.

So, all ballerina's are mentally unstable, back stabbing shrews who go both ways?

I knew it!!!!

I'm almost ashamed to admit it because it sounds facetious, but I read this book in the bathtub. It takes me to my happy place and relaxes me.

I read Nancy Goldner's piece on The Bolshoi from The Nation (1975) the other night and laughed out loud at her description of Grigorovich's pas de deux in Ivan The Terrible;

"Then, for the grand finale, he boosts her straight up into the air, as if she were the prize trophy of a turkey shoot."

I just love visually descriptive criticism like that!

Dale, this is indeed cause to celebrate. But public access to a great many of these tapes is sometimes iffy. In theory they're supposed to be available through research libraries, but in practice -- at least in my case -- it seemed not so easy to arrange.

It can be difficult indeed Quiggin. Through interlibrary loans I've been able to see about a fourth of the available Archive tapes. The ones I have seen I've been absolutely mesmerized by and I'm so happy they are continuing to do more of them. It seemed like there was a lull there for awhile with no new tapings but things seem to be cooking again.

Just cool in the way it doesn't sound like a stage name for a ballerina. It doesn't sound pretty or ethereal or too frou frou. It just sounds cool and it's fun to type.

The budding critic is 9 years old and in her first year of ballet at Fort Wayne Ballet Academy.

And now, after that frustrated outburst, thanks to kfw for the AnnArbor.com link. I think the video there is a little old (in spite of the future date in the accompanying documentation!) because, even though it's not razor sharp, I think I can make out Runqiao Du upstage center, and he's now retired, as far as I know. (Maybe chiapuris and perky can fill us in on casting, if it's not too much to ask that from those who have given us a lot already. Thank you very much, both of you!)

Pas d'Action from Divertimento No. 15

Theme Momcil Mladenov

Ian Grosh

First Variation Kendra Mitchell

Second Variation Lauren Stewart

Third Variation Sara Ivan

Fourth Variation Natalia Magnicaballi

Fifth Variation Michael Cook

Sixth Variation Violeta Angelova

"Contrapuntal Blues pas de deux" from Clarinade

Elisabeth Holowchuk

Ted Seymour

"Scene d'amour" from Romeo and Juliet

Sara Ivan

Momchil Mladenov

Agon

Natalia Magnicaballi

Violetta Angelova

Momcil Mladenov

Michael Cook

and

Elisabeth Holowchuk

Amy Brandt

Ian Grosh

Andrew Shore Kaminski

Kenna Draxton

Jessica Lawrence

Lauren Stewart

Nicole Stout

The Balanchine Couple:

Pas de Deux from Apollo

Natalia Magnicaballi--- Family Performance Dancers-Sara Ivan

Michael Cook---- Michael Cook

Pas de Deux from La Sonnambula

Kendra Mitchell

Ian Grosh

"The Unanswered Question" from Ivesiana

Elisabeth Holowchuk

Andrew Shore Kamiski

Thomas Bettin

Jonathan Paul

Danny Scott

Ted Seymour

Pas de Deux from La Valse

Sara Ivan

Ted Seymour

Pas de Deux from Agon

Kenna Draxton

Momchil Mladenov

Meditation

Natalia Magnicaballi

Michael Cook

"Pas de Deux Mauresque" from Balanchine's Don Quixote

Elisabeth Holowchuk (you know, that's a cool last name for a ballerina)

Andrew Shore Kaminski

Pas de Deux from Chaconne

Kendra Mitchell

Ian Grosh

Pas de Deux from Stars and Stripes

Violeta Angelova

Momchil Mladenov

I forgot to mention how wonderful Elisabeth Holowchuk's performance in "The Unanswered Question" was. She was like a cool, contained freaky new species of life. Wonderful stuff.

Speaking of "The Unanswered Question" I asked my daughter which performance was her favorite, she responded without hesitation "Oh!!! that scary one! ". That's my girl!

Suzanne Farrell Ballet Performance Oct. 10

The Balanchine Couple

The program was as follows:

Pas de Deux from Apollo

Pas de Deux from La Sonnambula

"The Unanswered Question" from Ivesiana

INTERMISSION

Pas de Deux from La Valse

Pas de Deux from Agon

Meditation

INTERMISSION

"Pas de Deux Mauresque" from

Don Quixote

Pas de Deux from Chaconne

Pas de Deux from Stars and Stripes

We were treated to the site of Ms Farrell herself, looking decades younger and very elegant in a two piece peach colored suit and those glorious legs showcased in high heeled brick red pumps striding confidently center stage to host and quide us through the afternoons ballets.

She started with the Apollo pas de deux and mentioned how Balanchine was only 24 when he choreographed it. She also noted that it was the only Balanchine ballet she knew of that used two steps that have never been incorporated into any other Balanchine ballet, the "swimming move" with Terpsichore plying the waves on Apollo's back and the "kneeling moves", refering to the moment Apollo kneels and places his head in Terpsichore's hands.

The pas de deux was danced by Sara Ivan and Michael Cook. She impressed with the calm, happy serenity with which she danced the role.

The pas de deux from La Sonnambula was next and was danced by a lovely blond Kendra Mitchell as The Sleepwalker and Ian Grosh as The Poet.

Next up was one of several ballets that I've read much about but never seen, "The Unanswered Question" from Ivesiana. I have seen small little snippets of it on video, but never the whole piece. On the video, the four men who carry the girl are lit and visable. In the performance today the men were all in black and seemed to blend into the dark background making the lit figure of the woman more mysterious and haunting. Is that the way it's always done? The girl was like some beautiful yet deadly insect that facinates and yet repulses you at the same time. Andrew Shore Kaminski made me feel both empathy and pity for the boy who yearns for something he can never have.

Next up was the pas de deux between the young girl and her admirer in La Valse. It was done well but I felt it just didn't work danced out of context.

Ms. Farrell in her notes on the pas in Agon mentioned that it was Balanchine at his most "reduced", distilling the pas de deux down to the very essence if you will. I thought this was one of the best danced Agon pas de deux's I've ever seen. The dancers maintained a thrillling tension mixed with a marvelous control thoughout. It was like a violin string being stretched just to the snapping point. Bravo dancing from Kenna Draxton and Momchil Mladenov. He by the way has a lovely fluid and powerful port de bra.

And then came Meditation. I've read so much about this ballet over the years that it had reached the point of an almost impossible cosmic event that reality could never top. I was actually a little apprehensive about finally seeing it. What if it didn't measure up to that mythical event I had built up in my mind? I shouldn't have been so worried. We are dealing with Balanchine and Farrell here. I was in safe hands. I should have known it the minute Ms. Farrell came out to introduce it. She took off her reading glasses and shut the folder of notes she had been reading from previously. She started talking about Meditation, how it came about and what it meant to her. She mentioned how young she was when Balanchine made it on her. I think she said she was only nineteen. She had trouble with some of the steps that were overtly romantic and dramatic. She mentioned to Balanchine that the steps felt awkward. Maybe he should change them? He said to her, "No dear, the steps are fine. Sometimes life is awkward so sometimes the ballet is awkward." She said that she went on to perform the steps perfectly and that afterward she missed the awkwardness. It was a touching, bittersweet moment and a perfect introduction to this most intimate and emotional Balanchine pas de deux. It moved me deeply, so much so that I had trouble forming a coherant sentence after it was over. I let my husband and daughter go the snack bar while I sat in the afterglow wrangling my emotions. Thank you very much to the performers, Natallia Magnicballi and Michael Cook.

Something that was very cool to me about finally viewing Meditation was seeing the genesis of so many of Suzanne Farrell's qualities being born in this ballet. Her lush, big movement. The off balance/on balance fun. The fearlessness of her dancing. It was all right there in the first ballet Balanchine made on Farrell.

The "Pas De Deux Mauresque" from Don Quixote was next. Another much read about, never seen dance for me. It had a lot of really funky, unusual steps that I never would have connected with Balanchine. I think it's a piece I need to see over again to get a real feel for.

The pas de deux from Chaconne was "The Dance Of The Blessed Spirits". I actually was hoping it was the second pas de deux for the principals as I have a soft spot for that one. I love it's wit and sophistication.

And finally the Grand Pas De Deux from Stars And Stripes. Momchil Mladenov was a cheeky, charming, heroic El Capitan. Very much my new favorite dancer.

The company as a whole dance with heart, talent and conviction. The little insights profided by Ms. Farrell were the icing on the cake.

Perhaps surprising at this stage of his administration, but a welcome and pleasant surprise nonetheless. First sitting US President to be awarded the Peace Prize since Theodore Roosevelt.

I have a soft spot for Teddy Roosevelt so President Obama is in good company indeed!

Oh dear, I might have to join Bart in exile, but I never was that enthused by Merrill Ashley.

Her technical prowess was never in doubt, but her presentation just seemed too straight forward for me. I never got that ballerina mystique from her. Her "perfume" was All-American, sporty and unpretentious. I know those can be considered attributes, but not in my ballerinas.

I want evocative mystery and perhaps a bit of otherworldliness here and there, and she just didn't have it for me. Sorry!

I do appreciate her hardworking, thoughtful attitude toward her art though.

Some more:

Martina Hingis- A player who used finesse and intellect to win. (Wendy Whelan)

Bjorn Borg-A cool, understated playing machine who looked like a God. (Peter Martins)

Ivan Lindl- The often overlooked champion, more of a players player. (Bart Cook)

Chris Evert- America's sweetheart, a lady and a champion. (Patty McBride)

Martina Navratilova- The survivor, always there year after year playing with her heart laid out on the court. (Kyra Nichols)

Jimmy Connors- Charming All-American boy/rebel. Played equally with emotion and skill. (Eddie Villela)

I can't think of anybody for McEnroe.

I FINALLY get to see Meditation in Ann Arbor this fall!

Yeah for me!!

This is very good news. It seemed like the Interpreter Archives tapings had stopped for awhile. Does anyone know if Patricia McBride or Eddie Villella have taped any of these?

I just finished Pride And Prejudice And Zombies. Funny but trippy. At times you could swear you were reading the beloved Austin novel until you read the next sentence where Elizabeth swings her sword and goes on to decapitate several brain eating zombies.

I did love the satire of some of the characters though. Lady Catherine becomes a feared and deadly zombie killer with a legion of Ninjas at her command while still retaining her snobby, proud and spiteful personality. Mr. Collins is still so self important, idiotic and ingratiating as to be completely oblivious to his new wife's Charlotte's transformation into a Zombie.

A heads up if anyone is in the area and hasn't bought their tickets yet, I just bought our tickets for the Ann Arbor date and learned that all the tickets are discounted. We got an orchestra seat for $20 instead of the posted price of $48. Looks like it's for the matinee performance only.

Very irritating: Tom Delay (I don't enjoy seeing him talk, walk, existing, etc., why would I enjoy watching him dance? And please DO NOT let him get Latin Goddess Karina as a partner!!!!)

Mildly irritating: Donny Osmond, Macy Gray (lovely songwriter, unique voice but sadly she's a bit on the spacey side mentally), Ashley Hamilton.

Don't really care either way: Aaron Carter, Michael Irvin.

People I've never heard of: Natalie Coughlin, Joanna Krupa, Chuck Liddell, Louis Vito.

People I'm invested in watching: Melissa Joan Hart, Kathy Ireland, Mya, Mark Decasos, Debi Mazar, Kelly Osbourne.

I do think having this many contestants for the first time is a mistake. The ones most of us have never heard of get lost in the shuffle, and it almost makes for too much dancing in the first shows. Dance fatigue quickly sets in for the viewer and many of the routines start to blend into one another.