drb
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ABT's site* now lists many new dancers for its Studio Company:
Kaia Annika: 2007, Illinois. San Francisco Ballet School.
Isaac Hernandez: 2007, Mexico. 2006 USA IBC Gold, 2005 Moscow Bronz.
Isadora Loyola: 2007, Brazil. ABT Summer Intensive.
Sae Une Park: 2007, South Korea. First Prize, 2007 Prix de Lausanne.
Mara Thompson: 2007 (almost new, signed in March), Mexico. Incredible lists of Golds and other awards.
Brian Waldrup: 2007, North Carolina. ABT Summer Intensive.
Katherine Williams: 2007, Hawaii. JKO ABT School.
A wonderful variety of paths to the Studio Company!
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A partial casting change was reported in today's Toronto Sun* for the first three NYC performances of the Wheeldon Company:
NBOC's principal Nehemiah Kish will partner NBOC's second soloist Tina Pereira in Prokofiev PdD on October 17, and he will also partner Alina Cojocaru in that work October 18 and 19, replacing Johan Kobborg.
* http://torontosun.com/Entertainment/Theatr...572796-sun.html
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Sadly, that Vishneva set seems no longer available on Mr. Schiavone's site. However, there is a "New ABT" set
http://www.geneschiavone.com/gallery/album08
that includes seven photos of last season's Manon, partnered by Marcelo Gomes. This was an incredibly real Manon, her death in the swamp almost too close for comfort (this performance marked her return to the stage from illness). Two other photos are also labelled Manon, but are of her Bayadere with Ethan Stiefel. There are a number of other new photos of her Bayadere as well. At the moment Mr. Schiavone leads off the new photo set with her Odette, again partnered by Gomes, and easily her greatest Swan Lake success in New York.
Although OT, this set now includes my favorite photo of last season, the close-up of Part-Gomes in Bayadere, hardly visible from the audience without good binocs plus the right timing, yet capturing extremely well the full dramatic power of these extraordinarily subtle dancers. Bravo, Mr. Schiavone!
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Friday, October 12, 2007
As part of its multi-week Tschaikovsky Festival, tonight Lorin Maazel conducted the NY Philharmonic in Tschaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, which culminates with the Adagio Lamentoso. Mr. B's 1981 ballet, that closed NYCB's Tschaikovsky Festival, was part of the multi-media presentation given as the first half of the program.
The presentation began with the catastrophic wedding night scene from Ken Russell's 1970 biopic, The Music Lovers, the composer totally clothed, she totally not. The soundtrack was replaced by the live Phil, conducted by Ludovic Morlot. Joseph Horowitz, assisted by actor Tom Hewitt, guided us through the life of the composer, and an analysis of the symphony. From some notes inserted in the program, it seems the theory that Tschaikovsky committed suicide a few days after the symphony's debut is now quite suspect, based on previously suppressed records from Tsarist and Soviet times, citing scholars Alexander Poznansky (who specifically attacks the notion that the composer was being blackmailed) and David Brown. Back to the presentation, Mr. B. was quoted as saying that the work was "like" a suicide note. He also found that the scampering opening notes of the third movement were mice. While there is a film of NYCB's performance of the final movement, NYP's site tells us that it is of too poor quality to be shown. So the presentation closed with the final portion of that movement, as photographs of Balanchine's Adagio Lamentoso by Paul Kolnik and Martha Swope were projected. I'd remembered that the wings were large, but they were even larger than memory, no wonder the women did not dance! They were made by Kemit Love, of Muppets fame. To carry through the boy-with-burning-candle motiv, a vid of a burning candle was projected, at first layered over the last few photos, then by itself, extinguishing as the music did...
The performance. It was fitting that Maestro Maazel conducted, as he has conducted everything else in this festival. But even moreso, in that the conductor shares with Mr. Balanchine a deep love for Tschaikovsky (you can see his moving discussion of the composer on the Phil's site). His early teacher was Russian, and Tschaikovsky's was the first music he heard. As a fledging violinist, he played the Violin Concerto. Mr. Maazel views Tschaikovsky as a classical composer, and plays his works accordingly. Two nights earlier I heard his performance of the Fifth. The soon-to-retire (as music director) conductor, who has at times earlier in the run looked physically tired, seemed to find the fountain of youth, conducting with extreme physical vigor, clearly seeing the final movement as triumphant (or as much as could be so for the self-doubting composer in fear of his spiritual fate), rooting for Mr. T. Arms raised in a V of exultation for the final notes, then leaping up and off the podium into the orchestra after the last note. Fortunately he conducts sans score! The audience as a mass leapt up as well. Sometimes standing ovations simply just happen from literal physical possession. Throughout the bows he looked stunned by his daring leap, yet so enervated that he virtually skipped back onstage for one bow, and ran back onstage for another. He faced the audience and shrugged.
But the Sixth is another matter. In the third movement there were Balanchine's mice, and the exciting march music, but as NYC apartment dwellers know, mice aren't nice. And Mr. Maazel mimed a very angry Tschaikovsky as he conducted. Still, after all the melancholy of the first two movements, one could not blame the audience for applauding after the third. Seeming to withdraw deeply within himself, eventually he began the Adagio Lamentoso. At the end the audience was silent, as it was at the end of Mr. B's ballet so many years ago. After a collective breath was taken, we enthusiastically thanked Mr. Maazel for making us feel miserable.
In the presentation much was made of the connection between Gustav Mahler and Tschaikovsky, this Sixth in particular. In the couple of years that Mahler conducted the Philharmonic he gave 16 Tschaikovsky programs, including five of this symphony. It is said that Tschaikovsky's use of an adagio finale had a profound effect on Mahler (and other composers). A few days ago I heard the Boulez/Lucerne Mahler Third, ending with an adagio (one often associated, along with the finale of his Ninth, with Tschaikovsky's finale). But there was a profound difference: when Mahler (or Bruckner) dies, he goes joyously off to Heaven, and invites his listeners to go along with him. Just before Tschaikovsky's dying moments in his adagio, sounds intrude as if from that other place; his must have been a fearful death. In retrospect, how kind of Balanchine to place a blessing upon the composer with his Adagio Lamentoso.
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With performances set for this weekend, I hope some BT'ers will report on the show, especially in light of the (incomplete) casting information given by Appolinaire Scherr, reported in the October 5 Links.
Kaitlyn Gilliland and Ask la Cour will perform the Pretzel Dance from Agon, for which they've been understudies since last fall. Ms. Gilliland, seen by some fans as a future carrier of the Farrell Torch at NYCB, is quoted as saying, with Suzanne-like modesty, "It is not as hot [for the dancers] as it is for the audience."
Sara A. Mearns and Amar Ramasar will dance the Odile/Siegfried Black Swan PdD, with Scherr quoting Ms. Mearns as saying "I love dancing with him onstage. It's easier because I'm with him all the time. I've never felt more comfortable."
Darci Kistler, the troupe's leader, will dance two PdD's with Jared Angle, to music of Ray Charles and Samuel Barber. Other program details were not given by Scherr, but the pairings mentioned should be of great interest to many who read this board.
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What great news, Farrell Fan! Just stumbled upon this thread even though it had already been hidden by another topic.
How I miss being able to just click on the NYCB thread to find information like this; there is so much more to NYCB than just performance reviews... I wonder what else I have missed about my favorite company, just because I didn't happen upon the Forums page at the right moment, before the news had been covered up by another topic.
Such things as the chance to see Mr. B's ballet to music from Tschaikovsky's 6th Symphony would have been so much easier to know about under the old system. I refer to "a look at George Balanchine's famous Adagio Lamentoso on Friday, October 12 at 8 pm" at the Philharmonic's performance of the Pathétique, as mentioned on NYCB's site and in an e from the Phil (happens to be on my subscription). The Phil is even offering 20% off to ballet fans! I have no idea whether this has been posted on BT....
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From a review of Armitage Gone! in today's Links, yet another rave for the glorious Frances Chiaverini, who caught my heart in Veggetti's Four/Voice:
... Long-legged Frances Chiaverini is a cross between "Swan Lake's" Odette and the Bionic Woman.I know it's hard to admit that one went to that otherwise rather unsuccessful program at Columbia, but is there anyone else out there who was moved by this dancer?
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If you check her website, you'll find that he designed it.
Has anyone seen the film "Part Time" that he made (is making) about her?
http://web.mac.com/tressorgroup/iWeb/Tress...p/Projects.html
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... engaged to Alex Tressor.
Whoda thunk?Yes, Leningrad and Moscow!!!
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The photographer Gene Schiavone has just posted a new gallery called "other Vishneva" (there already is a 16 photo set of Diana on his site). In the added set there are six photos of Ms. Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes in Act 4 of Swan Lake, from last summer at the Met. In addition there are 18 photos from the ABT production of Manon, but not from last summer, as her partner here is Volodya Malakhov. The bad guys are Saveliev and Barbee. Can anyone identify the woman who is shown coaching Diana in the final, swamp, scene?
http://www.geneschiavone.com/gallery/album28
Good news from Ms.Vishneva's site. In response to a query regarding Don Q, Diana says she will dance Kitri with ABT in May-June, 2008. In another response, she says she will dance with ABT from May-July in New York and Tokyo.
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My tickets for the November 20, 2007 Kirstein Centennial Finale Gala arrived today, with the following programming information:
Excerpts from The Sleeping Beauty
Sneak preview from the film adapation (created by Ellen Bar and Sean Suozzi) of Jerome Robbins NY Export: Opus Jazz
Liturgy (Wheeldon)
Excerpts from Western Symphony (THE ONLY BALANCHINE)
A WORLD PREMIERE BALLET BY PETER MARTINS
The season's only performance of A Life for the Tsar (the 150-performer ballet created by Chief Martins in 1993 to honor Mr. Kirstein)
And so a year that honored Mr. Kirstein with a bountiful gift of Balanchine, concludes with a bountiful display of works by Mr. B's successor.
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We went to the final, Sunday afternoon, performance and there was something wonderful: Frances Chiaverini.
A couple of years ago Dance Magazine (Sep, 2005) had an article on careers dancers find after they've stopped dancing. Ms. Chiaverini was one of those. 24, she'd recently quit dance after a couple of years with Nederlands Dans Theater II had "worn her out." No need to go into what careers had replaced dance, for she's been with Armitage Gone! for about a year and her work there earned these comments last February:
Gia Kourlas: "...with her long legs and arms, possesses an entrancing, gangly allure..."
Tobi Tobias: "...whose blend of power and fluidity evokes memories of Mark Morris's Tina Fehland and Balanchine's Suzanne Farrell."
As one scans the various press and DVT reviews of the Columbia University program, she's got another armload of raves to add to those above. She, together with NYCB's Rachel Piskin, Robert Fairchild, and Daniel Ulbricht, danced Four/Voice by choreographer Luca Veggetti. Tom Phillips, in DVT, found quite an elaborate narrative, involving a time in the future forseen by Leonardo da Vinci in which animals had attained the capacity to speak with humans.
It seems to me that Ms. Chiaverini was embodying one of the Big Cats; but craving communication rather than dinner. Unable to shed the stalking, pouncing movement style of the Creature, yet wishing not to scare Mr. Fairchild away, her movement was in virtural slow-motion. Her control was extraordinary: long limbs, all in power and fluidity indeed. Dark and mysteriously fearsome, yet entrancing with her allure... The stage goes dark, and when the lights go up Mr. Fairchild is on his back, legs straight skyward, with Ms. Chiaverini perched atop his feet, so still, the both of them. It was a majestic image, one could imagine she'd jumped up there, and Mr. Fairchild's strength and focus were a testimony to the merit of his recent promotion.
If only this work had been the lone one on the program, so we could have seen it three times. While so captivated by Frances Chiaverini, I could just see enough of the NYCB trio to wish a second viewing, so I could focus on them, and also see the ballet itself more fully. I think I liked it. Then, in the third performance, just watch that sublime Cat prowl once more for...
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Isn't this the presumed function of NYCB's Fourth Ring Society? Get them coming somewhat regularly at low cost and then reel (at least some of) them in as Ring or Orchestra level subscribers. I wonder if the marketing gang has tracked the subscriber roster to see if former (or even present?) 4RS-ers are among them. I'd be interested to know how many were relatively new to ballet before becoming 4RS-ers and have since upgraded.
The fact that City Center distributed a well-designed questionnaire (that cleverly found a way to do some direct follow-up--good old email offers) is a good sign. I hope they will also do something of the kind when companies that performed in FFD have their own City Center seasons. As you point out, research is crucial. If these sorts of promotions can be shown to work, that in itself could inspire further outside support for building audiences in this way.
Did NYCB survey people sitting in the Fourth Ring last season? Would anyone know whether NYCB did any follow-up research on the effect of last season's "Kirstein-bargain" on this season's resubscriptions? It would have been relatively easy, what with everything being in the computer... But this is not a computer-savvy company (as seen in their continued inability to sell seat-specific tickets on their website). My impression is that many of the low-priced subscriptions came via the company's telephone solicitations, so perhaps may have found some people who had not been aware of the Fourth Ring Society. But nothing beats knowing: I hope NYCB asks its computer the right questions.
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While checking ABT's site this evening to look for more casting info (none found), I discovered that the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs is subsidizing $11 tickets for families attending ABT City Center performances:
http://www.abt.org/performances/family_tickets.asp
This is just one of a number of recent very positive moves to help build audiences for ballet in NYC. Last Spring NYCB offered bargain-priced subscriptions in honor of Lincoln Kirstein; too bad that could not be continued (I wonder if some might be offered in future to first-time only subscribers?). Moreover, it is obvious that City Center's annual $10 Fall for Dance is also exposing many newbies to the art. This week audience members got to fill out a demographic survey (and I felt guilty for giving all the answers that they don't want, yet happy that so many around me could give the right ones). I gather that Fall for Dance is expanding to at least one other city.
Are audience-building efforts going on around the country? These three all involved ticket pricing; are there other kinds of efforts as well (that really seem to be working)? Sunday's Times mentions that Mr. Wheeldon is trying to reach the MySpace and YouTube generation (yet when I checked him out on MySpace, there were few hits, a minimal vid and even less content, generating only one response--a good idea, perhaps, but I'm sure he's too busy to do this all by himself). Have other companies tried ways to interest those individuals?
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... There seems to be lots of discrepancies around online on this type of information. I believed that Van Hamel's gold medal had been in 1965, as the "Ballerina Gallery" website states...
The gallery gives her birth year as 1945 (November), as does virtually every other reference I could find on the web, which would mean she was 20 when she won the 1966 award. But the book says she was born in 1949! So one can't say the book is 100% reliable. However, in 1975 Ms. van Hamel hosted a film on the 1966 competition:
http://www.catarchive.com/detailPages/750126.html
...In 1966 the Bulgarian spa of Varna, the “Miami Beach of the Black Sea” held the “Third International Ballet Competition”, at which extraordinary talent both known and new competed before an audience of tourists and critics.... All eyes were on the gold medal for best young male soloist, which was won by the teenaged Mikhail Baryshnikov. In this film, hosted by Martine Van Hamel, principle dancer of the American Ballet Theater, we see excerpts from his winning performance, and also from the following:Martine Van Hamel in “Solitaire” (choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan); Marin Stefanescu in “Le Corsair”; Marta Dropnerova & Geromir Petric in “Legend of Love” (choreographed by Yuri Grigorovitch, director of the Bolshoi Ballet); Aurora Bosch of Alicia Alonzo’s Ballet Nacional de Cuba dances from “Coppelia”; Gariella Komleva in the “scarf dance” from “La Bayadere”; Baryshnikov and Olga Vtorushina in a duet from “Le Corsair”; and Nina Sorokina & Yuri Vladimiroff from the Bolshoi dancing the “blue bird pas de deux” from “Sleeping Beauty.” 1975.
Does anyone know whether this film has made its way onto DVD?
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Thursday, September 27, 2007
Tonight was a reprise of yesterday's Opening Night program. This was not a typical NYC dance crowd. As the lights went down and the (recorded) Boyce music began playing for Paul Taylor's Arden Court the roar of conversations did not abate, and many people were also struggling to find their seats. But when the curtain opened, an instant silence. The virtuosity of Richard Chen See, Michael Trusnovec, Orion Duckstein, James Samson, Sean Mahoney and Francisco Graciano captured their attention. Later, the men were joined, one at a time, by Amy Young, Annmaria Mazzini and Paris Khobdeh. One could tell by the audience reactions, both to the energy of the dancers and to some of Mr. Taylor's humor, that this was a new work to them. And I realized that my initial displeasure at having to sit so far up, due to site-lock, was very misplaced. The right people had got in.
A pause, then the duet from Alexei Ratmansky's Middle Duet. The dancers were last year's Benois de la Danse laureate Ekaterina Kondaurova, partnered by Islom Baimuradov, both from the Mariinsky. This looked quite different from the performances at NYCB by Maria Kowroski and Albert Evans. In a way, there was more facial expression in the acting, while the American couple was more physical, even erotic (even in the duet excerpt at last November's Gala). City Center's website tells us to see this as a ballerina taking class, with the male dancer as the barre. Perhap in this performance he was also sometimes a choreographer or ballet master. I did miss the full production's two angels and the next victim/couple. But these were beautiful dancers, and they built a momentum that made their sudden fall (death) all the more powerful.
The second half began with four South Indian musicians and a solo dancer, Shantala Shivalingappa. A stunning woman, but the dance seemed over long. Of course I know nothing of this form of dance, and therefore could not make the needed connections. I did notice some poses that reminded of La Bayadere, as when the bayaderes mime carrying the water vessels. There was a point where she came forward and stood on a brass serving platter; then, without removing her feet from it, made it "carry" her about the stage. She had exceptional balance and control, but I wish I could have known the "code" of her various hand and finger positions. The audience gave her an exceptionally long ovation, crossing up whomever was the curtain lowerer, who did so much too soon.
Then the high point for me, Tharp's Deuce Coupe, danced by Juilliard Dance. This was the joy of dance, that is, dancers dancing for joy. City Center's site has an extensive vid-interview with some of them. Mary Ellen Beaudreau was the ballerina (en pointe), and had a real stage-filling presence, visually a sort of young Susan Jaffe. Male virtuosity was very strong, and the young women seemed to be having the time of their lives. There was one young woman, the one with the bangs and headband, who had a special charisma. I wish I knew her name, so I could google it in future to find which company she had joined. A career to really follow, I suspect. The dancers were Jaclyn Brewer, Aaron Carr, Brandon Cournay, Denys Drozdyuk, Erica Furst, Sarah Goldstone, Nathan Madden, Troy Ogilvie, Brett Perry, Rachelle Rafailedes, Kyle Robinson, Allison Ulrich, Christopher Vo, Arika Yamada. Thanks to all.
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... There is no list of prizewinners on the site, but there is apparently a book about Varna by John Gregory. Does anyone have the book with the explanation? Otherwise, I find myself wondering if ballerinas have remembered their careers correctly.
I dug out the book from deep down in a pile, and thank you for reminding me of it. Extraordinary photos!
1964: Galina Ulanova chaired the Jury and there were 46 competitors. Vasiliev was judged to be clearly above all others, hence the Grand Prix.
Gold Medals: Sizova, Maximova, Kirova were the women; Vikulov and Dolgushin the men.
Siver Medals: Koldamova, Bogoeva, Popa, Sabirova, Drotnerova, Pla; Burkhanov, Wiselowski, Forgacz, Stefansky.
Bronz Medals: Trayanova, Kerkesi, Mendez; Lazarov, Damyanov, Rodriquez, Gessler.
1965:
Gold Medals: Makarova, Bessmertnova, Araujo; Lavrosky, Tikhonov.
Silver Medals: Bosch, Mendez; Assaulyak.
Bronz Medals: Shliamova, Ilieva, Kaszasi; Bundavary, Nagy.
Junior Awards were not given until the third Varna, in 1966. In that year Martine van Hamel received a Junior First Class Distinction, what would now be Junior Gold. Others were Baryshnikov, Vtorushina and Stefanescu.
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Miller Theatre at Columbia University kicks off its 07-08 season with
"NEW BALLET"
Is anyone going?
Yes, but not till the last performance. I hope those going to earlier ones will give some advance word in Recent Performances, especially since everything is new, so may be hard to take in with one viewing.
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Amazing how retiring goes with ballet dancers. Here is an AP photo of Julio Bocca and Alina Cojocaru dancing Swan Lake today, in Argentina!
http://www.apexchange.com/pages/oneup_rss....CookieSupport=1
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Rest in peace, sweet Bip--how I loved seeing him perform.
So long a Star, already the Old Master back in the 70's. Look up tonight, there is a new star, leaning on a secret wall in heaven.
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As reported in a New York Times article written by Erika Kinetz, November 6, 2004, it seems Mme. Alonso's Company was authorized by Jerome Robbins to perform In the Night:
...The embargo has also made it difficult to maintain ballets by American choreographers, and some say that the quality of even those ballets that were obtained legally has decayed over time. In 1978 Jerome Robbins's production of "In the Night" was licensed for two years to the Ballet Nacional. In 1998 Ms. Lopez went to Havana to dance in the International Festival of Ballet and saw the piece performed. "The ballet was unrecognizable," she said. "It had disintegrated. The choreography had been changed. Hard steps were taken out. I know this ballet well. I had danced it. The music was slow. It was not the same ballet."Ms. Araújo said the dance had been pulled from the company's repertory. "Alicia thinks it is not done the right way," she said. "It was something given to her by Jerome Robbins, and she takes good care of it."...
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... Now, what i know for fact is that she did actually staged a Robins ballet in oct. 28 .1978, with designs by Oscar de la Renta, and it was "In the Night", with music from Chopin. As a curiousity ,this entry is listed as a "world premiere".
The Oxford University Press Dictionary of Dance does confirm the Cuban performance of the Robbins ballet In the Night in 1978. Wasn't this ballet a sort of year-later addendum to Dances at a Gathering?
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The School of American Ballet, i.e., New York City Ballet's SAB, has finally updated its website, after having fallen one to five years out of date in various sections. While not all of the features appear to be functioning yet, it is worth a visit, especially to News and Events.
One may look forward to seeing students dance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Lincoln Kirstein Program on October 23, 2007 (classroom demonstrations); SAB Workshop performances on May 31 and June 2, 2008; and at the Kennedy Center June 6-8, 2008. On other dates there will also be opportunities to see student choreography.
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Darci Kistler is AD for a group of City Ballet dancers, including Ms. Kistler, Jared Angle, Joaquin De Luz, Ask La Cour, Amar Ramasar, Ashley Bouder, Sara A. Mearns, and Kaitlyn Gilliland, that will give three performances in Queens in October.
Whoda thunk?
New Dancers: ABT Studio Company
in Ballet News & Issues
Posted
Ms. Hamilton is now an artist at the Royal Ballet. It is an obvious choice over the Studio Company, as the latter, after a year or two might lead to an offer to apprentice for a year at ABT, which might lead to an eventual corps position. So, if for no other reason, and of course the Royal Ballet in itself is another reason, she quickened her career by about two or three years. Don't know to whom else you refer.