cargill

Though I could watch a different Balanchine ballet every night of the year and be very happy, I tend to agree with Sarah Kaufmann, in that making mediocre Balanchine ballets is easier than making mediocre Ashton or Tudor short story ballets, because stringing together an unrelated series of steps is easier than putting together a coherent story, so probably it would be better training if young choreographers tried to tell a story--though I would never ever want to sit through that San Francisco Ibsen ballet again! Though she didn't say so, I think economics is another big reason for so many bad baby Balanchines (I tend to put Forsythe and the egregious Elo in that camp since Forsythe says he learned from Balanchine), because story ballets tend to needs sets and costumes which are expensive, and abstract ballets just need leotards and lighting, which are cheaper.

Marga, at the risk of being a dittohead, I just want to add my appreciation of your brilliant round tables! I have seen all those dancers, and you captured their special qualities so wonderfully. So when do we get the Swan Lake round table? Mary

I must say, I didn't feel that Salstein was out of character--I am sure she was talking about his performance as Oh Johnny. He was exhuberant and very funny, but the piece was a comedy and comedy works with some contact with the audience, as long as it isn't mugging. In my experience Salstein can be both broad and nuanced, and is just one of those dancers who seems to love being on stage, without hogging it. I did a brief interview with him, and talked about his Gamache (which I really loved), and I asked how he reacted to the audience laughing and he said

Could you hear the audience laughing when you did Gamache?

No, you can’t pay attention to the reaction, or you start trying to please the audience and overplaying, and that’s not good. Comedy is work, it’s a technique, a learned art form. Acting is learned. For some people it’s natural to feel comfortable on stage, but you have to work on the technique. You can’t just wake up one day and do 100 pirouettes, you have to build and build and build. And you can’t wake up and be funny, you have to work on that too.

This is not what a flirt would say.

I must say Acocella can be selective, since she loved Ansanelli, who looked like she was giving herself whiplash turning her head to make contact with the audience.

About smiling, I think I remember reading that Ashton told a dancer to "smile with your eyes", which is a wonderful description. Dancers have different personalities and what works for one wouldn't work for another--I was thinking of McBride, too, who just beamed, but it was genuine and involved more than just her teeth. Then there are other dancers who look like toothpaste adds, but that is because it isn't natural.

I agree about Scher. I saw a few years ago a piece he did for the ABT Studio Company, which I enjoyed very much. It was musical, classical, had real structure. I have been hoping to see more from him.

I just got a press release from ABT saying that Osipova would be guesting for the Spring Season, which is great news in my book!

This is getting a bit off topic, but I do think that Carreno had a lot to do with Jaffe's career as well. He brought out so much in her. She did develop into a wonderful performer--I thought her Fall River Legend was amazing, she really did change from old to young before your eyes. I think it is one of ballets losses that she never got to do Pillar of Fire (that I saw, anyway.) But back to her Giselle, her final ones were certainly professional and interesting, but I think she was much better in classical than romantic parts.

I thought this sentence from the NY Times review of Bayadere was a bit over the top, and pounding 21st century political ideas into a really wonderfully constructed 19th century melodama.

"Orientalism is alive and well in this silly, exoticized vision of earthly intrigues and eternal love."

But then I expect to this reviewer, Swan Lake is an example of avianism.

Like the earlier poster, I was sorry that Dvorovenko didn't do Gamzatti. I think there has been a recent tendency to soften her a bit, and make the little solo she does with the marriage veil too plaintive. It works best I think, if she puts on the crown like she wants to be queen, not like she is afraid of losing her one true love, since after all, she isn't a very nice person. Dvorovenko (and the wonderful Cynthia Gregory) always danced her like she was Odile of the Punjab.

I noticed the demi-point bit too, but when the Kirov came with their new/old production (of glorious memory!) a lot of their Bluebird was done on demi-point, which I found charming. I thought maybe it was meant that way--I do hope she isn't injured, since she is supposed to do Gamzatti.

Regarding Kajiya, I had the feeling that she may have a foot problem. She did not do the hops on pointe as she brought her front leg to retire, but hopped on the other foot as she extended to arabesque. There were a couple of other moments usually done on pointe which she executed on demi-pointe or flat foot. A neighbor remarked on tense hands, which are uncharacteristic of Kajiya but no surprise if a dancer is in pain. I wouldn't judge her based on this performance. It wasn't bad, but it should have been better.

I enjoyed this bit from Ismene Brown's article in the Telegraph, since I am the ignorant American nethead, I guess! Though not so ignorant as to call someone whose background I knew nothing about (1) American (I actually grew up outside of the US, and spent some time in London, where I saw a lot of the Royal Ballet long before she started writing0 and (2) ignorant, since a complete ignorameous would neither know nor care about Lady MacMillan.

"that she's "a piece of work", as some American nethead described her to the world from a position of complete ignorance. "

But we should be very pleased and flattered that writing on Ballet Alert is the equivalent of broadcasting to the entire world!

How interesting--Lady Macmillan does seem like a piece of work though! The idea of restaging Macmillan's Sleeping Beauty is appalling--it was truly one of the worst disasters I have ever seen, at least up to that time. It opened to a gala audience, who simply refused to applaud. I have seen worse since, I'm afraid.

I so agree, she was stunning, all I could think of is "Why isn't she doing a Lilac Fairy?"

At yesterdays performance of ABT's Don Quixote (Reyes/Cornejo/Boone/Radetsky) it was a Corps dancer Melissa Thomas who opened my eyes wide with her dancing of the Queen of the Dryads in the 2nd Act. The beauty of her line and the crystal quality of her technique notwithstanding, it was her expressiveness that raised her performance to such an enjoyable height. She easily managed to steal the scene from the Ballerina; I went to the performance to see Cornejo but came away with a new discovery.

For me, one of the very highest points was Sara Mearns in anything. She was so good in both Emeralds and Diamonds, and made me cry in her Davidsbundlertanze debut. She didn't seem to copy anyone in that, which is amazing, since it has been so closely identified with Kyra Nichols in recent years, and presumably that is the only one she saw. She was much younger, and seemed more rebellious, thought that isn't the word I mean--more determined not to accept the inevitable, so that when he did go off, the final grief-stricken pose was so powerful. She is one lovely dancer.

Low points, well, the ABT Sleeping Beauty has to be one of the low points of my entire ballet going life. What an inexcusable and unnecessary mess. All anyone has to do is to follow the Petipa outline, and keep to the time periods, and you will have a decent production.

I just got this announcement from Columbia, and thought people who have seen her dance would be pleased.

Alicia Graf, an Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater company member, will give the commencement address at Columbia University School of General Studies graduation on May 19 at 5 p.m. At Columbia University’s main commencement ceremony, on May 21 at 5 p.m., Graf, Columbia University ’03, will receive the University Medal for Excellence, given annually to one alumnus or alumna from any division of the University under 45-years-old whose record in scholarship, public service, and/or professional life is outstanding.

Graf was recently named by Smithsonian magazine one of 37 young American innovators of the arts and sciences. The New York Times recently named her one of ten most influential dancers of the year.

I wasn't able to order it via the Amazon link, so I went directly to Dance Books. The cheapest way was surface, estimated 6 weeks, which, since I wasn't in a hurry, I used. It came in 3 days! I don't get mail from across the street that quickly. It is a wonderful collection, so thanks so much for alerting me. Mary

Leigh, I agree with you about Prottas, it didn't look Danish to me, in that it looked difficult. The beats were terrific, but the jumps were too strained, and I thought his upper and lower body looked like they were moving in different planes, which made him look a little uneasy. I didn't get the pure, unaffected, effortless joy that I have seen in others. But Morgan, that was a different story! She was simply lovely, I thought. Mary

Kathleen, maybe your slip fell out, because I got one, along with the slip about the Ballet Boys film. And yes, Hyltin was lovely. Mary

I attended the 10/21/07 performance of Program Two – for those of you who may be keeping track, Sterling Hyltin replaced Ashley Bouder in the program opener, Morphoses. No white slip in the program, and no announcement before the curtain either. I found this odd, since Wheeldon came out and spoke briefly before the program began and presumably could have mentioned the casting change then. In any event, Hyltin was a more than able substitute and a lovely, lively presence -- I for one was pleased to get a chance to see her in this role.

I just loved Jane Eyre when I was younger. I first read it at about 10, and about once a year after that for years. Then I reread it many years later, and don't think it holds up too well, as a grown up book. I didn't mind the comment about the French (!), but the self pity got to me. I think it is the ultimate teen-age book, right up there with Catcher in the Rye. Wuthering Heights on the other hand is just staggering.

I certainly agree about Penny. I can never quite get her out of my mind when I see the first fairy in Sleeping Beauty or the shade that she danced. No one I have seen ever matched her boneless quality that was so matched to the music.

For a long time, I thought Emeralds was unbelievably tedious, but I have seen the light. I read somewhere that even Balanchine said that Diamonds, except for the pas de deux, was a big bore, which I agreed with, until I saw the Kirov corps dance it. There was one moment, when they raised their legs in unison, that I actually felt chills run down my spine, it was just so indescribeably magnificent. But it back to being the real bore now, without the Kirov. As for the most boring thing I have ever seen, I think it would have to be the short-lived ABT full-length, The Snow Maiden, by Stevenson. It had beatiful designs and very good dancing (Ananiashvilli and Corella), and I thought I would die. It was a three-act poisonous pancake.

Count me in as one who enjoys the bed. It just seems so magical. I did an interview with Peter Boal, who was a bed boy when he was too big for the Prince, and he said he really enjoyed it, and besides it paid more.

Ray, except that if ballet kept its 20th century tradition, there would be lots of female directors, following in the footsteps of de Valois, Franca, van Praagh, Lucia Chase, Rambert, etc. I think such facile statistical charts, like the NY Times ran, ignore the basic question, which is quality. It is easy to count, but obviously blaming the culture is a-historical, since the mid-20th century, when there were a number of female directors, was much a much more male-dominated culture. Mary

I hope he is still choreographing! I saw something he did for the ABT Studio Company several years ago, and was so impressed.

they are currently doing letters to the culture editor at the times, and some one wrote in on Macaulay:

The arts editor certainly avoided answering the question about covering debuts!

I would like to second Leigh's comments, especially as one of those who had some fairly unflattering things to say about the Sleeping Beauty. I have seen many performances, not least the monumental Kirov reconstruction, and especially in a ballet as important as this one (I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that without the Sleeping Beauty, there would be no 20th century ballet--just think, no Diaghilev, no Balanchine, no Pavlova, no Roya1 Ballet, no ABT, etc. etc.)--any new production will be judged by quite high standards, especially since the original choreography is not hard to reconstruct. I didin't see anything personal directed against Kirkland as a performer, just the results of her work. I tought the Fairy variations, especially, were disappointing. The first had none of the magnificently flowing phrasing that the Royal Ballet gives it, and some of the dancers actually clomped their feet. The second was the best, by far. The third, thought the flickering hands were lovely, didn't have the arabesques that seem to echo the undertones of the music, just some assorted hops. The Songbird fairy was far too prominent and played for easy laughs. Yan Chen, in the old ABT production, phrased it so much more elegantly. The fifth was too harsh. The Kirov version had the dancer curl her fingers, which was much lovlier. Petipa was inspired by a demonstration of electricity after all, not pile driving. And the geometry was all wrong, with musical highlights completely glossed over. You may disagree, but I don't think anyone I read was ignorant of the history of Sleeping Beauty.

I can think of several that did two out of three, but don't know if that counts! Miranda Weese did both Emeralds and Rubies, and in a better world, would have done Diamonds. Nichols has done Emeralds and Diamonds--I don't know if earlier in her career she ever did Rubies. Whelan has done Diamonds, and I remember reading reviews of her in Rubies.