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chauffeur

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Everything posted by chauffeur

  1. I think part of the fun with watching the Trocks is that their humor yields great rewards, the more you know about ballet. On the surface, it's going to be funny, but the more you know about what they're parodying (sp?), the funnier it gets. It's the same way with PDQ Bach (Peter Schiekele) who parodies classical music. The a-ha! moment of getting a PDQ or Trock joke simply because you understand the history or serious theory underlying it is wonderful. But again, it is all a matter of personal taste.
  2. You either love the Trocks or you hate 'em. and I love, love, love them!
  3. We saw L'allegro et al a few years ago during the Mostly Mozart, and I remember enjoying it very much. We've seen the Morris company perform a few times, and it's odd. I find I can rarely remember exactly what choreography I saw that I enjoy in a Morris program (although the dancer portraying a dog "lifting its leg" remains a vivid exception). But I often come away feeling happy. I guess I would say there's something about what he puts out there on stage that feels very rooted in reality, warts and all. And his choreography melds beautifully to the music chosen. His respect for and understanding of classical music is impressive. Beyond that, I have to admire his chutzpah in marketing his work. I've met more than just a few struggling modern choreographers who sneer at Morris, but the fact is he knows how to get people to buy what he's selling. There aren't too many "creatives" who can do that successfully.
  4. Great topic, dirac! anything to get my mind off the 21st century is greatly appreciated!
  5. (can't find the smilie with the snooty-looking, still-living-in-the-19th-century expression, so just mentally insert one here) Many contemporaries' descriptions of Austen regarded her as compellingly attractive, though, yes, she embraced the old maid wardrobe at a young age, and most literary historians feel she had at least one, if not two, marriage proposals which she is believed to have turned down because of her commitment to her writing. She knew that in that day and age, she would have never been able to run a family and household AND remain a writer.
  6. Fred's a distant Ashton relative. I would hope something of him still courses through our veins!
  7. I'm quite thin and 5'8". Prior to becoming part of the ballet world, courtesy of my daughter, I found that people usually thought I was shorter than I am. Something about being slightly built made me shorter, too. In the ballet world, though, I am often "told" by people there that I'm a good 2 inches taller than I am. Go figure.
  8. The hep and happening score du jour is Kelly Clarkson's "Break Away." It actually makes me miss "Wind Beneath My Wings."
  9. Haven't read it yet, but I just have to share this bit of "spoiler" humor. Our neighbor got the book first and said he'd lend it to us to read next. He appeared at the door yesterday morning with it. After handing it over, he turned to leave and said, "Who knew Harry was a robot?" (I love snarky humor like that)
  10. "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer -- I'm about two-thirds of the way through and have been since early spring. Usually I'm very good with non-fiction, but this one is heavy emotional lifting, maybe that's why I've stalled out. "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd. I'm looking at it on my bookshelf right now. I know I should read it. But there's also a People magazine on the couch calling out to me. Aw, nertz, it's summer -- my IQ's allowed to slip a few notches! :huepfen024:
  11. I don't know if I would consider personnel changes and physical space changes comparably "drastic changes." I just dropped my daughter off for the summer session at NBS and the impression I got from one and all is that the anticipated move to new quarters is very much looked forward to. Doubtless, the old Studio A/B is an historic facility, but have you seen the floors in there?
  12. I have to disagree with your assessment, MinkusPugni. My family and I were fortunate to be living in Australia last year when we got to see the AB/Murphy "Swan Lake." I found it very thought-provoking and well done. I posted a review of this in the AB section: if I could find the instructions for creating a link to it, I would, but I can't. The date I posted my review was May 3, 2004. We saw the Eastoe/Heathcote/Dunn cast. Eastoe alone would, IMO, make it worth the money to see. I found her acting and technical skills quite inspiring. We weren't there long enough to see the debut of "Shades of Gray," but even there I would have to say I was intrigued by the descriptions of its intent. It was meant to explore the impact of AIDS on the performing arts world. I'm not sure you could sanitize such a theme without offending a few people. I personally applaud and try to support choreographers who attempt to use dance to say something about the world as we know it today.
  13. I'm becoming a fan of mime -- done well, of course. One of my daughter's ballet teachers is a real Bournonville expert and he choreographed an extended mime piece for her class's spring recital. A small, mostly comic story of young love. It honestly was the one piece in the show that made the audience sigh when it was done. I felt it just went to show that, taught correctly and used in an emotionally genuine way, mime can be done well by dancers of just about any age.
  14. What kind of repertoire do people feel that Kain is mostly likely to put in place? More classical than contemporary? More or less story ballets? No real change in anything?
  15. As Odette, Murphy did at times look as if she was trying to pass a kidney stone, which is part of why I preferred her Odile.
  16. Are you maybe confusing von Rothbart at the lake (Isaac Stappas dressed somewhat as a swamp creature with bulging thighs) with von Rothbart at the ball? I think Marcelo looked gorgeous in his costume! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> No confusion, Marga. I merely thought that Gomes' costume at the ball emphasized how long his torso is.
  17. I enjoyed the performance very much (Act I lederhosen shorts notwithstanding: bad Village People flashbacks). I thought Murphy was a much more effective Odile than Odette, though the much vaunted fouettes lost a little oomph there at the end. Corella grew on me: I found myself wondering how much better he probably came across to a live audience than a TV audience: he's a very broad performer with a very broad face. Loved Mr. Cornejo: what a spark of something special there. Loved Gomes, though the costume seemed to emphasize rather than hide some of the more ungainly aspects of his build. But he just oozed evil sexiness! And I liked the pacing of the edited version. Kept it moving for me.
  18. OK, my daughter insists I have to list Guillaume Cote from NBoC for her. And I"m going to list Mads Blangstrup from the Royal Danish for myself. Mads Blangstrup in Anna Karenina And in the newcomer category, everyone should bookmark Cory Stearns, ABT apprentice: Cory Stearns - ABT
  19. I like the "backbone" that Vaganova training gives a young dancer, so I've no quibble with the technique itself. What I do mind, though, is the very aggressive way in which many (though certainly not all) Vaganova teachers market themselves, particularly within the US. But I've often wondered if this isn't simply a matter of economic survival. It behooves these teachers and studio owners, many of whom are emigrees from former Eastern Bloc or Communist countries to promote themselves as the gold standard. Many of these emigrees are also involved with the new ballet competitions which seem to be springing up yearly here. They are shrewdly appealing to many American parents' weakness for seeking out "the best" -- though usually without having to do too much research. Do we fault them for learning the rules of commercialism so quickly?
  20. Oh geez, I saw the subject heading and thought: "There's somewhere they're saying it 'bal-LET'?" Pour another cup of coffee. But this discussion explains why when we spent time in Australia last year we found we were pronouncing most place names wrong. Our instincts, as Americans, were to put the accent on any syllable except the first one, and the Aussies almost always put it on the first. Case in point: a local river was called "Ginnenderra." We gussied it up by saying "gi-NIN-der-rah" and the locals soon set us straight: it was the much more straightforward, less fancy sounding "GIN-en-der-rah."
  21. Joining this one late, but I only just got done reading the new Fonteyn biography and then finding a mid-career video to watch (can't remember the year but it was Fonteyn doing a Swan Lake excerpt, Firebird and Ondine). I may be one of the few "youngsters" who has watched one of these videos and seen what it is that mesmerized those who saw Fonteyn perform live. It was the rock-solid steadiness that blew me away, as well as the way she became a character in every inch of her body. No wasted movement. Completely relaxed control. Yet at the same time, I discerned any number of times where she saved herself, and where a lesser dancer would have wobbled or stumbled. Forgive me, I don't know ballet terms well, but there were several times when, in a supported series of pirouettes, on the last one you'd see her shift off balance by just a smidge but mask it with a vigorous lunge into a then stock-still arabesque. She had a fascinating and very unique control of her physiology.
  22. Thanks for the responses: These are already very useful ideas! I hope people won't mind if I occasionally pop up with queries as we refine our plans. And I hope others don't hesitate to post any helpful hints -- about both the ballet and the travel - as they discover this thread!
  23. One of my daughter's teachers recently planted the seed of a very dangerous thought in our heads: to spend a month or two zipping around Europe (we're US-based), partaking of all the culture to be had and structuring the trip around seeing various ballet companies perform. And we're just crazy enough to take the bait. So, realistically, I don't see this happening until the school year of 2006-07. That gives us enough time to save up the cash, and both kids would be old enough to participate in it all. And it gives me enough time to research the living daylights out of this. So I'd like to toss this idea to the masses here, and see if people can provide any useful insights. I suspect that this trip would have to occur during the school year since most companies would not be performing in the summers. Are there certain months that are more packed than others with a variety of performances (meaning we are not interested in doing a December Nutcracker tour!) Also, I'm thinking of aiming for 5 big companies -- Royal Ballet, POB, Royal Danish, Stuttgart and Het Nationale -- and tacking on others if they fit the schedule. Are these 5 worth structuring such a tour around? Or are there better candidates nowadays? thanks for any and all thoughts!
  24. The Wexner stage must be smaller than City Center's because as soon as the curtain went up on T&V, I knew there was no way we'd be seeing a trumpet fanfare for Sinfonietta. And we didn't! Such a loss because the orchestra pit there didn't yield the best acoustics. An all-around bust of a venue. Re: T&V, I can easily see, canbro, where a newcomer to the piece in 2005 is going to have a different reaction than in 1947. I'm sure there's a doctoral dissertation out there somewhere in how enough time has passed to change audience's first time reactions to Balanchine! Where a "storyless" story ballet may have seemed radical in 1947, it strikes me as coolly ironic now. I'm just thrilled I got to see it live. There's so much more to scoop up from it live than on a tape.
  25. The ABT show at the Wexner Center was interesting, though not transcendent. Now granted, if you don't visit a town for 37 years, expectations can get a little out-of-hand, but I think BalletIsLife hit upon a big reason why ABT's appearance in Columbus was problematic. That stage at the Wexner is just too small, arguably even for the more intimate pieces presented. And I got the impression the company did not get to do much rehearsing on the stage, because there was a definite under-rehearsed feel to any piece where large numbers of dancers were on stage at once. The Ohio Theatre would have been a much better choice. That said, here are my thoughts on what I saw: "Theme and Variations" is, for me, almost a comedic number because it feels like Balanchine is saying to his audience, "A plot? You don't need a plot. You want a princess? Here's a princess. Want a prince? Here, take him. Feel like you need a chorus of sycophants? Here you go, live it up. You want a plot? You make one up." So the structure of the piece is amusing, though in a vaguely hostile way. As for the dancing, there were very few parts where the dancers seemed to find the soul of the matter (such as it is). I think it was only when Gillian Murphy got to her solo in the middle of it, that I found myself relaxing and thinking, "Ah, yes, now there's a soul to go with the steps." Angel Corella never really got to that level for me, and I think he and Murphy are not a great physical pairing because his arms proved too short a couple times to support her as he would walk around her as she stood in arabesque en pointe. The hurried way he let go, then grabbed her hand again at the far end of each walkaround felt like he wasn't intending to let go, and that was distracting. Forsythe's "workwithinwork" was the highlight of this program for me. I fear I may be turning into a contemporary ballet enthusiast! The thoughts I gleaned from people here on the board beforehand were very helpful in preparing for this one, but this piece honestly grabbed me from the start and didn't let go. And I had a very odd, interpretive experience a few minutes into this one. I realized that as I was blinking my eyes, I would see the negative image of the dancers against the black backdrop. And it seemed to fill in the blanks created onstage. The polarity was there, for me at least, throughout the whole number, and it added something unexpected to my experience of the dancing. I felt like the whole thing was about negative image and energy, especially because so much of the movement was backward and/or deconstructed movement. The only times the dancers moved forward in a natural manner was when they literally walked out of a patch of formally choreographed movement. Yet after the emotional distance I felt from T&V, it was strangely rewarding to find so much emotional depth in this very abstract piece. There was one pas de deux -- and forgive me, I have no idea who the two dancers were -- but it was heart wrenching. It felt like a Harold Pinter play, watching a relationship evolve from end to beginning. Loved it, loved it, loved it. For me, Misty Copeland was the star of the piece. She does have a very unusual body, but I can't tell you the number of audience members I heard exclaiming how great it was to see a body like hers in a setting like that. Maybe some people find her body type distracting (the hyperextension did make me wince a few times), but she's a very powerful and dramatic performer who transcends the confines of strict classical dancing, and I salute that. Paloma Herrara never really seemed to catch fire, but I felt like Marcelo Gomes did. He had a very real emotional rawness to his dancing. Last piece: Sinfonietta. Yup, it was eye and ear candy, though candy of a better sort. Sort of like the difference between scarfing down Ghiardelli and Hershey chocolate bars. The standout dancer for me was (I believe) Stella Abrera. Her fluidity and elegance really stood out in the movements in which she appeared. Final thought: Stillness. Because the types of companies we get to see, living where we do and traveling where we do, vary so widely in quality, I've come to realize that if I had to pick one aspect of the dancing which consistently demarcates companies, it's the dancers' abilities to be still. With the best ones we've seen live, like Australian Ballet and ABT, stillness is just as important as precision, speed, fitness and all the other kinetic or observable elements of the dance. With the lesser companies, stillness seems to be merely the absence of movement and a real road bump in the performance. Whatever flaws there may have been in ABT's Columbus performance, their stillness was exquisite.
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