drb

If you are interested in other compositions by Prokofiev that have been made into ballets, there have been a number (in addition to Balanchine's famous Prodigal Son) at New York City Ballet. Still in the rep cycle are Robbins: Opus 11, The Dreamer (Piano Concerto # 1) Lavery: Romeo & Juliet Balcony Scene Martins: Zakouski (it includes the fourth of Cinq Melodies) There have been about a half dozen others in rep at one time or another. You may find detailed descriptions, including photos, by clicking on search and typing in Prokofiev at NYCB's educational resources site: http://www.nycballet.com/programs/education.html By the way, the dvd of Prodigal Son, above, is quite wonderful, especially for the Farrell/Martins performance of Balanchine's Chaconne. In fact, the dvd is far more generous as it also includes Merrill Ashley in Ballo della Regina, McBride/Baryshnikov in both Steadfast Tin Soldier and Balanchine's Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, and von Aroldingen/Lavery in Elegie.

I don't think any Wall Street firm will underwrite your production. Maybe if you changed your ending to one that rises like the end of McKensie's Swan Lake? Of course the guy hadn't taken his broker's advice to "hold" her. A stock tout, Rothbart, had mislead him to sell too soon. But stocks always go up.

NYCB's Front Row Center has four new Swans up now: http://www.nycballet.com/programs/frc.html They are Weese (2 Odettes), Ringer (O & O), Bouder I (O & O), Mearns I (O & O). Farrell Fan, would greatly appreciate more about the performances you saw. Which ballerinas saved the performance for you, and how did they do it? Do you assess their performance as if it were in the context of one of those great versions of Swan Lake that nearly all the traditional companies have thrown away? Or do you find that it helps to de-context their dancing and try to see it outside the frame of Swan Lake?

Well, Michael has generously told it all! What about Sara Mearns leads to all this praise, even adoration? Of course there is the youth, two days short of 20. You love to root for the new kid on the block. Sveta Zakharova was a similarly young swan, but at that time management was exploiting her then (NOT NOW!) horribly awkward hyper-extension. Yet what the two do share is great facial beauty. And Sara's face is already a superbly subtle instrument for expressing emotion, not for her to "write the emotion on it," it comes real--a gift or intelligence, who knows. There are the arms, which seem to ripple softly like swan wings of old, and fingers Balanchine would have loved. She has the knack of making her arms longer, by making her shoulders part of them. She also has a quality of filling space and stage. We would, like we did with Nureyev, happily watch her sit. I'm not sure she is that close to 5' 10". She does it with mirrors, or magic. We know of her early interest in Swan Lake. I'd not be surprised to learn she's seen a lot of it. Surely she has thought a lot about it. There must be quite a lot of intelligence involved, the interpretation has a honed simplicity so full of right choices and deep understanding of the story and the steps: neither ever contradicting the other. For bean counters like myself, the Odile answer is a dozen. For Act 4 fans like myself, Bouder's protecting her love with Giselle's sign of the cross, here becomes a last embrace by arms still in control of already palpable wings. Like Bouder, Mearns also had a new conductor for her second performance, Quinn replaced by Karoui. The orchestra seems unusually intent on playing well this season. Nilas Martins was again a very caring, tender partner. This time Albert Evans was her daddy. Such a tender, caring monster, that for once there wasn't a boo in earshot for the villain!

Just received notice from the Met regarding the Ring Cycle. It may cost less to go to Russia. A subs to all four performances: Location (Contribution) Total Price Prime Orchestra ($450.00) $1,250 Balance Orchestra ($250.00) $950 Rear Orchestra ($100.00) $700 Side Parterre ($250.00) $950 SOLD OUT Front Grand Tier ($450.00) $1,250 Rear Grand Tier ($250.00) $950 Dress Circle ($200.00) $600 Balcony ($150.00) $450 Family Circle ($100.00) $260

There were probably a number of factors that worked to Sara Mearns' advantage. First, the fact that she was cast for a second performance well before going on stage for her first. This surely took some of the pressure off. Combined with the choreographer's relative indifference to the "32", it probably made it easier to go full-out with Odette: she had license to run out of gas on Odile's fouettes. From the perspective of stamina, it is apparently safe to be exhausted after them, quoting Playbill: "After the fouettes comes Act 4, which all the ballerinas love. Ms. Kowroski says, 'The technical demands are over and I'm completely exhausted, so I just let myself wind down with the beautiful music and focus on the emotions of the character.'" Further, Ms. Weese (please, someone, report on her O/O!) says, "You can really use the emotional and physical exhaustion from Act 3 to ease back into Odette's character." Finally, that second casting was surely a sign of confidence in her. Being trusted by Mr. Martins would have given her own confidence a boost as well. So perhaps there were at least two people who guessed how well she would fare! See you all tonight! And another happy "merde!" to Sara.

Sticking with Swan Lake arms, Michael's remark that the ballerinas have "uniformly overdone the flapping and twitching arms thing for Odette" is surely on the mark, for that is the way they were taught. Quoting Maria Kowroski from the Nutcracker Playbill, speaking of her Swan Lake experience at the Mariinsky, "I was trained to do arms a certain way---small flutters. They would say, 'No, no, long arms, long arms, you are not a duck, you are a swan.'" Had she been ready, I'm sure we would have seen something quite different. And she surely has the arms to 'do it Russian.' If you've got a copy of that Playbill, enjoy the two photos of her Odette! From remarks by other O/O's in that article, Mr. Martins allows them significant freedom in their interpretations. Surely the case in Ms. Bouder's Odette, where her performance I flaps turned into performance II drama. The transfomed flutters became icons of imprisonment, used to great dramatic effect in Act 4 to signify her ultimately lost fight for freedom, as so powerfully described by NYSusan in the Swan Lake thread. So there is hope.

This summer ABT will spread clear across Bart's Bruhn/Martins-Villella/Nureyev spectrum. In alphabetical order: Acosta, Beloserkovsky, Carreno, Hallberg, Stiefel. One could speculate how they'd place in the spectrum, with Acosta Nureyev-like, and Hallberg Bruhn-like. But I suspect there'll be some surprises. But noone has mentioned Terpsichore, where Farrell made Martins my Apollo of choice.

The Times comment was, perhaps, in the context of a flurry of Swans. Maybe the legs situation has to do with the temporary absence of Legs Kowroski? Or, perhaps, the sense of arms taking over could relate to the professed influence of Makarova on many of the dancers' interpretations. One saw, perhaps an intent toward arms as Ashley Bouder went from Friday to Sunday. Once her legs had established dominion over the dancing, she was free to find expression: the greatest changes being in the arms and face. Meanwhile, Legs/Russian Back Reichlen, is growing HER wings. Sometimes completeness can be read as lack of that which previously dominated. There is so much completeness already in the PDQ trio (Fairchild, Scheller, Peck)! Whatever it may be called, I like the LOOK of many of NYCB's new stars. How would one place Wendy Whelan in this legs vs arms context? I missed her O/O this year, so didn't see her changes; whatever, Mr. Wheeldon makes it work in a major way.

I tend to agree with all three perspectives in the above post! One could argue that the ballerina star power this time is not more than could have been seen Sunday afternoon at NYCB. Bouder of course, more in the range of Vishneva and Cojocaru, plus Vishneva-like Reichlen, and the lightening-striking trio of Fairchild, Scheller and Peck. All this with a real orchestra, not recordings (can't forget the catastrophic "music" that was played for Vishneva's Rubies). And for half the price. Still, it costs a lot of money to bring in such a varied array of dancers. Lacarra is a lock, and Lunkina deserves to be seen with her Bolshoi partner. But, I'm hoping along with NYSusan...

And when the other path is chosen, and twenty years later, family and college major-based career in hand, she tells you "I made the wrong choice."....

I saw Bouder II this afternoon. A number of repeat successes from the Bouder I cast. It was pleasing to see a significant increment of technical improvement since Friday in Ben Millepied, as he returns from injury. Soon, it would seem, NYCB's resident prince may well be a full out danseur noble. The already glorified PDQ team of Megan Fairchild, Ana Sophia Kitri Scheller, Tiler Peck, and (this time) Joaquin De Luz outdid themselves: today's conductor was Andrea Quinn and she set them a real speed test. As she and they finished right on the music, one could see her eyes rivited on them, grinning ecstatically and raising her left fist in triumphant joy! Music and dance as One. Adam Hendrickson triumphed again as Jester, delivering both character complexity and a high level of virtuosity--not just jesterly tricks, but a promising amplitude of danseur noble. Oh, yes. There was an O/O. A real, complete one. Odette this time around had a back seemingly less tense, more "Russian" (as is currently under discussion in another Ballet Talk thread). Ashley Bouder also inhabited Odette-the-Swan, as could be seen from the way she transformed the choreographed hand flutters into an icon of imprisonment. A moving swan-woman, tenderly partnered by Ben, and her variations were perfection. But then, you'd expect this to happen with La Bouder, just as she'd done in her second Sleeping Beauty. Odile was of course dazzling again. This time a more wicked, less innocent one. And perhaps trickier to dance, with the change from Friday's Kaplow to Quinn as conductor. In Act 4, the lake farewell, she managed to top her triumph of Friday. This scene is, compared to what else is on offer in certain other companies, a true triumph for Peter Martins. The audience is respected, a fully un-Stalin, sad ending. Bouder the actress reaches a profound level in this setting. A moving moment as she protects Siegfried with the form of the cross as in Giselle. The Heart, the Soul, are touched, and as she fades through her flock, quietly and forever away from her redeemed love, I swear I saw the face of Ulanova.

And Natalia Makarova! Here as Odette: http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/dan/dance/dance2_07.gif Here in Robbins "Other Dances": http://www.masters-of-photography.com/W/wa...other_full.html (A vote "FOR")

Today Diana Vishneva's site has restated her May-July dates with ABT. They are now in agreement with ABT's site. See today's post on the ABT Spring Season thread, or check her site at: http://www.vishneva.ru/eng/perform.php

Diana Vishneva's site has just changed its listing of ABT performance dates. They now appear consistent with ABT's website. (Whew!) As listed on her site today: Jul 10 2006 New York: Metropolitan, ABT Romeo & Juliet (with Corella) Jun 28 2006 New York: Metropolitan, ABT Swan Lake (with Carreco) Jun 23 2006 New York: Metropolitan, ABT Manon (with Carreco) Jun 21 2006 New York: Metropoliten, ABT Manon (with Corella) Jun 17 2006 New York: Metropolitan, ABT Giselle (with Corella) Jun 14 2006 New York: Metropolitan, ABT Giselle (with Malakhov) May 29 2006 New York: Metropolitan, ABT Apollo (with Stiefel)

Today's Times has another appreciation, this a particularly fine one by Anthony Tommasini, who discusses her qualities when heard live, as opposed to on recordings. A quote from Ms. Nilsson: "Actually, when I sing a performance, my voice gets higher and higher," she said. "When I finish Isolde, I could sing the Queen of the Night." http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/14/arts/music/14nils.html

Thanks, Alexandra, this has something for everyone! I especially enjoyed the chapter on the Fred Step, having just seen him dance it on the Fonteyn special (as well as live, so many years ago). http://www.ballet.co.uk/followingsirfred/a...e_fred_step.htm The version of it appearing in "Illuminations" is especially interesting, as it is presented as a phrase of seven. I hope Paul Parish will comment on it!

A debut of Odile, can Odette be far behind? Naturally Ashley Bouder gave much to admire, and much to treasure, in her first performance in the Peter Martins Swan Lake. Odette was of course the greater challenge. While not everything was perfectly smooth this first time around, there were already "Bouder moments." Seconds before the music perks up at the end of the adagio we saw her find her human self inside the swan: it began with a movement on the right hand, no longer the feathery extremity of a wing, that rippled through the right arm, across the shoulders, through the left arm, to the hand. And, a longer moment, all of the last variation. She already has Odile nailed. She made it look so easy. And yes, the anticipated multiples, so the 32 included a total of 39 rotations. She exuded the childlike glee of a pure innocent in celebrating her destruction of poor Siegfried. Not what you'd want your daughter to be, but probably made daddy Rotbart and whom/whatever he'd married very proud parents. But, the burdens off her back, we saw hints of Odettes to come in Act 4. A magnificent, complete Odette, moving, and so beautifully danced. This great artist will begin to find the amplitude that was perhaps not fully there in Act 2, and given her track record, this will likely commence not many hours from now. To speak of a "natural" Odette, Tess Reichlen danced the Russian--perhaps training to ready her Odile!

According to ashtonarchive.com, she at least danced Aurora in part of Ashton's Sleeping Beauty: "Act II The Awakening Scene D Aurora: Violette Verdy; Florimund: David Blair FP Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House, London, 29 February 1964"

Mehopes she justs survives it, happily. So we can see what new story she'll tell on Sunday. Does anyone else grow a role as rapidly as Ashley Bouder?

Perhaps Odile will show you tonight.

The Times has added a slide show and some musical excerpts: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/12/arts/music/12nilsson.html

The NPR (National Public Radio) tribute is online at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5149754 Click "listen" near the top of the article. Discover which gemstone she shattered with a high note. Below the photo you may select some of her performances to hear.

Courtesy of the Met, here is a review of her debut as Isolde, 1959. At the end of the review is a clickable photo. The lengthy review, from the Times, begins: "Birgit Nilsson filled the Metropolitan Opera House last night with the glory of the finest Isolde since the unforgettable days of Kirsten Flagstad two decades ago. In her New York debut the Swedish soprano assumed one of the most demanding roles in the repertory and charged it with power and exaltation. With a voice of extraordinary size, suppleness and brilliance, she dominated the stage and the performance. Isolde's fury and Isolde's passion were as consuming as cataclysms of nature. Before the first act was over a knowing audience at the Met's new production of "Tristan und Isolde" was aware that a great star was flashing in the operatic heavens. At the end of the act the crowd remained in their seats, waiting for Miss Nilsson to take a solo bow. And when she came out alone, they roared like the Stadium fans when Conerly throws a winning touchdown pass." The reference is to Chuckin' Chuck Conerly, the New York Football Giants QB in the '50's. One must go to keyword search, enter Nilsson, and scrole down to 1959. http://66.187.153.86/archives/frame.htm

Whoever heard of Nellie toast or peaches?