cargill

What a great idea. And one of the little socks could be green on one side and purple on the other. And they could smack the poor little duck sock around.

I know we pretty well raked the new ABT Swan Lake over last season, but some things are worth repeating! The problem I have with the whole idea of the prologue is that it just sneaks the ballerina in and destroys the wonderful musical and dramatic buildup in Act 2, which is one of the most amazing entrances written. If we have already seen Odette in the dark behind a scrim running around before the ballet even starts, much of the thrill of Act 2 is gone. And if Odette is going to do the mime (and she definitely should), the story she tells should be the same one we saw at the beginning. ABT's beginning looks like some Macmillan rape scene, but Odette tells Siegfried about her mother. Though I don't know if I would like a mime scene that had to refer to a big green man and a little stuffed duckling. [ 06-19-2001: Message edited by: cargill ]

The Birmingham Royal Ballet does it too, they did in on their New York tour, with new designs. Though I am not wild about NYCB's designs, I liked the new ones even less. They looked hard and sharp and Cabaretish, black and white and silver.

Melissa, I didn't want to go on an on, so I didn't mention Dvorovenko and Herrera. Both of those (Nutcracker and Rose Adagio) were out of context, which I think is especially hard, but I liked them both. I also like the Nutcracker version they danced, and Dvorovenko's costume was a lovely cream and pale pink. To me she was a bit studied, but she danced beautifully. The Rose Adagio is especially hard out of context, but I liked Herrera's performance. She was especially good about including the Prince's, at one time gesturing to them all one after another, before starting some killer choreography. I had never seen that moment so clearly before, and it was lovely. Her arms still aren't her strong point, but her feet are so stunning. The balances were very very good--she just brought her hand up and down for each prince at the same tempo, not grabbing a balance and holding on for dear life. And I forgot to mention that Ashley Tuttle was Florine, with Cornejo, so all in all it was a wonderful evening--though artistically the program was not balanced.

I saw the same program last night with a slightly different cast. As people commented in Washington, it is not a perfectly designed evening, since basically it starts with an exploration of the Sleeping Beauty, excertps from Sleeping Beauty, and then the last act of Sleeping Beauty. At the end of Theme and Variations, I thought how wonderful to see it again, and then, of course I did. There are worse fates. I saw Murphy and Gomes substituting for Belerotsekovsky, and I thought they were stunning. Gomes was so elegant and gracious--I think the tempo was a bit slower than at NYCB and he seemed to have time to use his arms as if he were so happy to be showing us what Murphy could do. Like many others, I have found her a bit cold, but she came across as a bit reserved but enraptured with the role, the dancing, and with Gomes. There were lots of little glances between them--not coy or calculated, but just like they were the only two people on the stage and they wanted to just look at each other. She had a lovely lyrical quality and seemed to pause at the top of a phrase and just extend it. Of course her turns were brilliant, but it was much much more than that. McKerrow and Stiefel were the the Tschaikovsky Pas de deux. I like McKerrow a lot, and though I have seen her stronger, she was lovely, I thought. Stiefel seems to be pushing things a bit too much, like his sideways jumps when he jerked his leg at high as he could and lost the flow. He is not basically a flashy dancer, I think, more of a lyrical one, and it would be a shame if he just started doing tricks. Jaffe and Carreno did the third act of Sleeping Beauty, which is why I went that night. They didn't really pull out all the bells and whistles. She rose up from the floor on a flat foot, not point, and he didn't land his air turns in an arabseque, and their backward chugs in the coda were a bit off, but I think it was just a beautiful performance. Jaffe is so clear and her arms are so lovely, and she really seems to understand who Aurora is in the third act. And he is such a wonderful partner for her.

I would say a big NO to second guessing the audience--either the choreographer/designer/director believes in what he is doing or he doesn't, and if he doesn't redesigning/rechoreographing/choosing a repertoire for "today's audience" will seem shallow.

Like most people, I am very grateful to have seen some dancers who were well past their prime, but who could bring some extra understanding and nuances to a role. I suspect that it is the technicians who age the fastest.

I saw the Saturday night performance, and really enjoyed it. I agree that Divertimento wasn't as distinctive as it could have been. It was very, very fast, and the soloists had trouble getting through the steps, much less making something individual out of them. I thought the Napoli was very good, too, considering they were dancing in a totally foreign language. They didn't overextend or hold things too long, and I thought they by and large looked relaxed and happy. And the blowing kisses solo didn't look coy or mannered. And of course just listening to that music was such a treat--though the male dancers should have been wearing hats to throw! I too was impressed by the new ballet, not that it broke new ground, but it seemed so accomplished. She really knew how to move a corps, and the solos for the two girls made them look so good. I was most impressed too that it seemed designed for their age as well as ability--no romantic pas de deux which emotionally might be hard for teenagers to put over, no flashy lifts or soulful glances, just interesting steps.

I agree with Drew, basically. Onegin can be extraordinarily powerful with great dancing--I can never forget Makarova in the final scene. But when I saw it recently, after a period of about 20 years, it did seem a bit classic comic booky, like one of those overpadded, very long, beautifully decorated ballets (the sets are stupendous and very effective)which have an even longer opera struggling to get out. The whole idea of the isolated, drab country versus the sophisticated city just didn't come through. Onegin was just strutting around in black--an early Goth, it looked like. And the choreography, as choreogrpahy wasn't all that interesting, just tossing and spinning. I think it was a shame it couldn't have concentrated on the final scene, which is very moving.

Doug, I certainly agree with you about the dangers of imposing grand philosophical schemes on 19th century entertainment, but do you think I am out of line in feeling that the Kirov's new old Sleeping Beauty was making a comment on the importance of mercy versus justice? I thought the extended King's mime scene made his decision to spare the knitting ladies so much more key to the ballet. Carabosse, after all, was only asking for justice, since she was insulted, but the King, who was within his rights to have the knitting ladies hanged, was able to rise above justice to forgive them. And inviting Carabosse to the wedding seemed to reinforce that idea, unlike the more apocoliptic good vs. evil versions based on the Royal Ballet's version. I hadn't realized that the Maryinsky version was redesigned. I seem to remember some of the original reviews (read in translation only!) were somewhat critical of the costumes. Was it redone when Vzevolovsky left? And about differences of style within Petipa ballets which have been lost, I think it is too bad that ABT dropped Medora's character solo on the boat. It was done in the Boston production and was just charming, and was a refreching break from all the classical pointwork.

Doug, I certainly agree with you about the dangers of imposing grand philosophical schemes on 19th century entertainment, but do you think I am out of line in feeling that the Kirov's new old Sleeping Beauty was making a comment on the importance of mercy versus justice? I thought the extended King's mime scene made his decision to spare the knitting ladies so much more key to the ballet. Carabosse, after all, was only asking for justice, since she was insulted, but the King, who was within his rights to have the knitting ladies hanged, was able to rise above justice to forgive them. And inviting Carabosse to the wedding seemed to reinforce that idea, unlike the more apocoliptic good vs. evil versions based on the Royal Ballet's version. I hadn't realized that the Maryinsky version was redesigned. I seem to remember some of the original reviews (read in translation only!) were somewhat critical of the costumes. Was it redone when Vzevolovsky left? And about differences of style within Petipa ballets which have been lost, I think it is too bad that ABT dropped Medora's character solo on the boat. It was done in the Boston production and was just charming, and was a refreching break from all the classical pointwork.

I would also love to see Thomas Lund of the Royal Danish Ballet dance Alain in Ashton's Fille. He has such an expressive face, and wouldn't just turn him into a caricature. [edited to correct a typo] [ 06-01-2001: Message edited by: alexandra ]

I certainly agree that Bouder was stupendous in La Source, but that doesn't mean that it is a good idea to push a talent by throwing her on stage in a leading role. I didn't see her Firebird, but have heard that it was very good--but it is still not an ideal or even a halfway decent way to groom a potential ballerina.

If we are limiting this discussion to reasonable possibilities, I would love to see Peter Boal in Mozartiana and Scotch Symphony, and Emeralds, for a start! I would also love to see Rachel Rutherford in Sleeping Beauty--she seems to have such a natural and sunny elegance. And I would love to see Corella in La Fille. And I would love to see ANYBODY in Symphonic Variations!

Yes, It was Carmena's debut in Dances at a Gathering. The partnering slip came with Jenifer Ringer in the giggle dance--with Korowski he just had to walk. It was too bad about the fumble--in one of the overhead lifts, he couldn't lift her up and partially dropped her, because other than that he danced wonderfully. People even started to applaud in the middle of his little jumping solo, it was so electric. But generally, I thought it was a beautiful performance of Dances, the dancers seemed so engaged and interested in each other.

I have read that the Boston Ballet's Sleeping Beauty used the 1977 Royal Ballet production, which was a very good one, as I recall. Lots of space for dancing and an airy feel. I think some people felt it was a bit bland, but it certainly put the dancing and the choreogrpahy front and center. I remember seeing Karla Kovatch a couple of years ago in Boston's Le Corsaire (she had a brief solo as the Pasha's favorite), and liked her very much in that snaky elegant bit. I was so glad to read that she got to dance the Lilac Fairy.

Drew, No I wasn't implying that it was a conscious imitation, I hadn't thought about that! It was more that was a similarity in both ballets, in that there are superstitions about the power of nature to tell the future. That scene seems to help locate the ballet in a specific time and group of people, and make Coppelia seem a little more solid--not that comedies have to have sociological content!

I think all dance is to some extent abstract, since no one ever in real life moved like a dancer. But I think Robbins was most successful when he was working with some sort of a story, like Fancy Free. The abstract Balanchine ballets depend so much on the shape and movement and formal architecture of the corps and I don't really think that Robbins was as successful in that area. I saw Four Seasons recently, for example, and Robbins snow scene relies on very obvious jokey shivering and rather 4 square formations to make the point, while Balanchine's Nutcracker has such beautiful, elegant patterns in an idealized snowstorm. If Robbins really was consciously trying to do abstract work when he was more comfortable doing narrative ones, then I think that is very sad. Sort of like trying to make a left handed person use their right hand. Was the review in the New Yorker?

In the little bit I have been reading about Coppelia, I remember people writing that this was the first ballet which used the czardas, and that Delibes used folk motifs in the music. This doesn't answer Doug's question, of course, but it would seem that right from the start, there was an attempt to get an authentic folk flavor.

I think Balanchine's pas des deux in the last act is wonderful, but the rest often seems like so much filler. (I did see Somogyi make something wonderful of Dawn though.) All the pink tutued little girls just go on and on, especially since little girls with knobby knees don't look their best in tutus. I do like the idea of a third act to bring everything together and to end on a note of celebration. It would be nice if somehow the idea of celebrating the bell (which was the reason for the grants to the wedding couples, as I recall) could be mentioned in the first act, so it didn't come out of nowhere.

When Nijinska revived Les Noces for the Royal Ballet in the 1960's I have read that she told the dancers that she had never thought she would see it danced so well, that they were better than the original cast--I am paraphrasing, of course!

Martyk, I love your description of Morgan. Unfortunately, some of the most beautiful and profound songs of Strauss were also going down the drain. They were clearly intended for background music--no one even thought to include the words. Ives Songs, which are sung in English, for heavens sake, had a handout with the words.

Marc, I am so glad to hear that Goriacheva has made such an impression in London. She was a last minute substitute for Lunkina in the first movement in Symphony in C in New York last year, and I thought she was a lovely dancer, so fresh and joyful. Her smile during the curtain calls would have melted a stone.

Alexandra, Sorry, I misunderstood. I see what you mean. I agree Corella is just charming as Frantz. But still he is do dumb he is smitten with a doll!

Alexandra, Off topic, but Franz wasn't really ballets first transexual--early on men danced women's parts exclusively. And I thought when Coppelia was done, it was pretty much the custom to have women dance heros. Anyway, I haven't seen a Franz done any way other than a dumb cluck. It is hard to imagine how it could be done differently.