cargill
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Posts posted by cargill
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29 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:
I would have had to be there to judge the arabesques, but I think the aesthetic of Giselle may call for arabesques with a slightly lower leg (I'm thinking of the ones she does when she's exiting the stage). And while she definitely strikes those iconic arabesque poses, there is a certain fleeting quality to them that befits the Romantic style and her sylph-like character.
Was the fall during the pirouette a full-on "dancer down" situation -- a face plant or fall on the butt? I've seen so many mistakes in turns over the year, but have never seen one precipitate a fall. Most falls I've seen have come at seemingly random moments when the dancer isn't doing something particularly challenging, but simply loses his/her footing.
Sorry if I wasn't clear--I didn't see the performance and wasn't talking about it specifically. I just meant that I thought the word stingy to descripe a less than perfect arabesque was a wonderful description. Mary
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42 minutes ago, nanushka said:
That's exactly the right word, and I've never heard it used to describe an arabesque, but I love it. Thanks for your review, eduardo.
I agree. Stingy is a perfect word and I wish I had thought of it! Mary
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17 hours ago, NinaFan said:
Yes, I believe that's the one! I just found a review of The Unanswered Question, and it refers to Maria slithering down a trap door after partnering Damian Woetzel. Now that I think about it, she did slither in both directions, plus Woetzel was her partner at the performance. So that has to be the ballet. How many ballets could have a ballerina slithering in and out of a hole, but then again as Canbelto points out, Musagete had something similar.....
I actually really enjoyed The Unanswered Question. Loved the music, and the odd sets and costumes (I remember an old fashioned bicycle) seemed to fit the quirkiness. It was done orignally for the American Music Festival with some dancers from Feld's company (Buffy Miller rode the bicycle) and as I remember, it was one of Damian Woetzel's first major roles. It did come back a few years later and I saw it as often as I could, but I was certainly in the minority!
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Mashinka, I was at the Collier and Eagling R&J too. It was just stunning. I remember a picture of a curtain call in Dancing Times, and they were both had tears in their eyes.
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It's from Peter Martins' "Barber Violin Concerto"--Mearns was part of the classical duo and Jared Angle was the modern male dancer.
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For New Yorkers, the Film Forum is showing the Anna Pavlova film Dumb Girl of Portici on September 16th.
http://filmforum.org/film/the-dumb-girl-of-portico-lois-weber-film
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The blog is called Prospero "An enchanting mix of literary insight and cultural commentary, in the spirit of the hero of “The Tempest”, which seems just a bit of a stretch!
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I can't remember all the details, but there was a story of a mistress talking to an older man about a younger mistress, saying I am better looking, etc., etc., than she was, yet you can't forget her. What did she have that I don't? And he said "She had my youth". That's what I feel when I think of the dancers I saw in my 20's (Sibley, Dowell, Beriosova, etc.)
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I didn't see the Pacific Northwest Ballet version that tried to go back to the original French sources, unfortunately, but Doug Fullington has said that the original first act Giselle was quite spunky, not the one-foot-in-the-grave Gorey cartoon we sometimes see. (My words, not his!)
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When Robbins revived it in 1998 they used a recording, so maybe they will go back to that--not that I think they should, but it would be cheaper. Mary
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10 hours ago, vipa said:
I've been so interested in all these comments. Thank you everyone.
Personally, I've never been taken with Ashton's version. I view Balanchine's first act as perfect story telling in that I've taken 10 year olds to see it who delight in the story, know what is going in and never get bored. Maybe that's different than wanting a purer Shakespeare narrative.
In terms of the second act, I believe that pas is the portrayal of pure love. IMO it is one of the most amazing works of choreography ever, but I can see the objection to leaving the linear narrative for a more emotive realm. In a way it has a connection to Liebeslieder Waltzer in which one act represent the people and the other their souls.
An earlier quote from a review stating that Balanchine didn't have the narrative gene is something I strongly disagree with. Prodigal Son, La Sonambula, Nutcracker, Coppelia represent fine story telling. Balanchine's Broadway works that remain such Slaughter on Tenth Avenue - are other examples. Personally my favorites are narratives (if you choose to call them that) that entice the imagination. The last movement of Vienna Waltzes is one example.
I agree that Prodigal Son, Sonambula, etc. are good stories, but Balanchine didn't come up with them--he was given the libretti, and for Prodigal Son and Sonambula, also given the designs. I think he was much better at suggesting stories (or emotions), like the Rosenkavalier section or Liebeslieder than an actual story. Scotch Symphony, lovely though it is, really only makes poetic sense--who is the Scotch girl and why does she disappear, why do the male corps separate the sylph and the man who isn't called James at one moment and dance around with them another?
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For me there are wonderful things in Balanchine's Midsummer, but as a cohesive work of art, I think Ashton's is better. It is certainly tighter, with the drama seamlessly taking place in one location, as the characters come and go. (For me, Balanchine's story can be summarized as "meanwhile, in another part of the forest, Oberon too was dancing.") There are so many little things that frustrate me about Balanchine's telling the story--for a start, why does Oberon have to mime the same words twice, with no variation? Who is the male dancer Titania does that wonderful dance with, and why is he there? Balanchine has Oberon dance a phenomenal scherzo, but it really has no relation to the plot, while Ashton's scherzo for Oberon is propels the story. Ashton's Bottom is so much richer than Balanchine's comic one, with that amazing scene when he remembers what happened--Grant used to make me cry. I think Ashton's dance for Bottom and Titania is more magical too. Balanchine goes for the comedy, with Titania and Bottom staring deadpan at the audience, very funny, yes, but Ashton has us see Bottom through Titania's eyes, and it's such a rueful, bittersweet moment--as I wrote about it once, who of us hasn't looked at a donkey and seen a prince. And wonderful though Balanchine's second act is, it really has no relation with the first one. It could be danced on its own and would make perfect sense. And I am probably a party of one, but I find that the little bugs rapidly exceed my cute quota.
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Sarasota Ballet just sent out a press release saying that Gomes will be dancing the young man in Ashton's "Two Pigeons" Friday March 10 and Saturday night, March 11.
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I remember a friend, a real Balanchine uber alles type, being very upset when NYCB first did Sleeping Beauty, since she loathed story ballets. I wasn't that excited either, since I didn't think they would be able to dance it. We went to the first night, and loved every minute of it, especially the three Aurora solos, which looked very similar to the Royal Ballet ones I remembered. My friend was amazed--"They look just like Balanchine" she kept saying.
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I saw it back in the day, too, and the only dancer I remember was Mukmedhov and the Bolshoi male corps, who were spectacular. I am so glad I got to see the Bolshoi when men were men, and I never forgot the male corps dancing with brooms, using them like acrobats. I do have this vision of all the corps swinging on their brooms, legs extended, but my memory may have embellished that over the years! Mukmedhov was not elegant (very stiff upper body) but my gosh did he throw himself into the role, with such a pure heart. It's hard to imaging anyone else making what is really a cartoon so heroic. Mary
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It tuns out that Symphony Space won't be showing the Royal Opera House broadcasts next season, so I don't think they will be available anywhere in New York.
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SHurale and Bayadere are my favourite ballets. I was so lucky to see several performances of Shurale and it is a lovely ballet. THe music is beautiful and poignant and the final pas de deux for Syuimbike and Ali-Batyr so lyrical and moving. I think act 2 in particular is one of those acts in ballet where you feel that everything is right with the world. It is an act of great joy, has wonderful crowd scenes, Vaganova children dancing, very poignant moment where Ali-Batyr catches sight of Syuimbike, who has been "hidden" by the villagers. There is also a very beautiful scene for Syuimbike and her friends earlier on in the ballet, which expresses their mutual love, and is just SO moving. I think I cry every time I see this! There is some lovely choreograph for the female corps members, notably where they first swoop onto the stage in a sequence of grand jetes and then turn into their human form. I love Shurale and yes, I WISH Mariinsky would tour with it so that more people could see it but I do think it is one of those ballets that is so entrenched in Russian tradition and folklore, that it would not be the same danced by a non-Russian company. I cannot imagine any non Russian children dancing in it, for example, and they play a big part in act 2. I think it is truly a folk ballet. And Obraztsova and Smekalov were wonderful in this and my favourites, although I also loved Shirinkina, Evseeva and Martynyuk. Incidentally, speaking of ballets that are never toured, The Fountain at Bakhchisarai is another wonderful ballet, rarely (never?) seen out of Russia. Great, great shame...
The Maryinsky (I think it was still the Kirov then) did bring Fountain to New York a number of years ago. I saw Zakarova and Part as the heroine (forget her name) and Lopatkina and Assylmerotova as the heavy, and just loved it. It is one ballet I can't see anyone but Russians doing, though.
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I think the Balanchine Trust is so leary of youtube videos because they don't want anyone or any compmay to copy the choreography and perform it without permission (or coaching from someone in the Trust). Since youtube is international, it wouldn't be at all easy to monitor every little company all over the world, so though I regret not being able to see things, I think they are right.
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I first noticed Aaron Sanz and the goofy suitor (I've forgotten his name) in Harlequinade. He was a characature but had an odd sort of elegance and delicacy. I was so impressed that a young dancer make a silly role like that interesting and touching, and have been watching him ever since.
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I remember reading that Balanchine had wanted Paul Taylor do dance Apollo, so the idea isn't farfetched at all!. I think Trusnovec could dance anything and make it look profound, but talk about being born to live in Parnassus!
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Jane, thanks for the link to the pictures. I am so glad the black swans are back in the final scene. I just love the contrast. And I must say the Prince looks wonderful! Mary
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Gorgeous. But I do like it when the claps are audible, it gives a more distinctive feeling for me. I remember an interview with Freddie Franklin saying that Danilova (who would have remembered the old Mariinsky version) said they should be real claps, and the Balanchine version uses them too. The Nureyev 1-act version that he set for the Royal Ballet had loud claps, so presumably the more stylized ones are comparatively recent. Mary
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People in New York might be interested in this program at Barnard. It's free.
http://barnard.edu/events/arthur-mitchell-and-friends-0
Mary
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I remember from Homans' book that she basically loathed Italy and Italian dancing (not of course that she could ever have seen any) and is convinced that the only style worth watching is the French court dancing, so that I suspect is why she ignores the Italian origins of ballet in her comments. I wonder what those little ballet girls and the men in the Foyer of the Paris Opera Ballet would think of her insistence that ballet is all about uplifting morals and pure living. And oh my gosh that twaddle about Romantic point work, as if all those folk dances never existed. And that idea that ABT was the only company bringing ballet to the hinterlands. What a disappointment this whole thing was. Mary
ABT 2018 Firebird / AFTERITE
in American Ballet Theatre
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For me, the issue isn't the topic so much, it is the way it was treated. Ballets like Echoing of Trumpets and Les Noces (Nijinska's version, please!) are certainly bleak and uncompromising, but the subjects weren't used gratuitously, and the choreography used form and shapes expressively. AfterRite and certainly some of MacMillan use violence as a decoration, and seem to revel in it.