Helene

With the latest issues of The New Yorker is a supplement, called "Movies Rock." The last article in it is "Fever Pitch: How Travolta and the Bee Gees Shook the Night" about the making of "Saturday Night Fever." According to Sam Kashner's article, Later, John Badham replaced Avildsen. According to McCormick,

That Wili must have been Swedish, where one gold band meant engagement, and a second, marriage. (I remember being very confused watching the Bergmann film about his grandparents' unhappy marriage, because she was wearing a single gold band, and yet they were talking about being engaged.)

From The world of Dame Beryl Grey, ballerina, published today in the Telegraph.

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Maksim. As fare as the companies who tour and have resources for opulent sets and costumes, they are the Kirov and Bolshoi. I haven't seen any news of a Bolshoi tour of the US. They were in London again this past summer and will be in Paris this winter. The Kirov is coming to New York next April 1-20, and will perform for three weeks at City Center. There's a long thread in our Heads Up! forum, found at this link. Tickets went on sale last Spring. We do expect the announced casting to change as the performances get closer. The Company will also perform La Bayadere at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC from January 22-27, 2008. http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/ind...amp;event=BIBSD Many of the smaller companies that tour the US for months and from city to city are limited to having sets and costumes that fit into a cost-effective number of trucks and the sets must be able to be hung, assembled, and lit in a variety of venues, some of which have sub-optimal and relatively primitive loading areas and lighting systems. The State Ballet of Georgia is coming to Berkeley in February, and Nina Ananiashvili is scheduled to dance in the triple bill on Thursday and the Giselle on Saturday night. http://www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents/...7/dance/gsb.php According to this article, the winter 2008 US tour schedule is: February 14-17 - Berkeley, CA - Cal Performances February 19 - Santa Barbara, CA - UC Santa Barbara February 21-24 - Los Angeles, CA - UCLA February 27-March 2 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Academy of Music March 5-9 - Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre March 11 - Iowa City, IA - University of Iowa March 14-15 - Minneapolis, MN - University of Minnesota

I'm afraid Leon Fleisher gets the token nod to classical arts this year. With all due respect to Kent Stowell, I think that Francia Russell would deserves the award had she not co-directed PNB: although her performing career was short, she is a key stager of the Balanchine repertoire around the world, and she was responsible for the PNB School, whose Professional Division is developing an amazing crop of dancers. Of course, many in the audience would just say, "Who?" (On the other hand, many in the audience would say the same about Fleisher.) If they can give the award to Joan Sutherland, surely they can give it to Frederic Franklin.

The photos in the Le Monde articles are both very fine portraits of the older Bejart. In the first, you can see his twinkling eyes. In the second, he is the most vivid presence. I agree, papeetepatrick, that the section of Elusive Muse with Bejart and Farrell is the sweetest part of the documentary, I also found his comments about her the most moving and reflective.

I don't think it's a matter of a need for suffering, but more a restriction to fight against or a rule to bend or break, or, in the case of what Balanchine described as his epiphany in creating Apollo, where he made his own limits through self-editing. I think Homans question is a reasonable one. I don't think for a moment that Maya Plisetskaya, for example, would have exhibited self-destructive behavior if she had defected to the West in her prime, and she was someone who had ample opportunity to do so, and even addresses this in her book.

Congratulations to Ms. Gilbert

I recently saw Scott/Powell's modern dance work, "Geography," at On The Boards, and immediately afterwards felt a familiar reaction -- great music, great lighting, great costumes (these by Mark Zappone, just gorgeous), some wonderful dancing, and the choreography, just okay -- but since then, the image of one of the dances, a section in which the tapestry dress was a second character, like a pas de deux for Mary Queen of Scots and her demons, keeps coming back, making me re-evaluate. I can't say that a week after seeing the final performance of "Contemporary Classics," I feel a change of heart. So here goes: In "Director's Notebook" in the "Contemporary Classics" program notes, Peter Boal wrote, "A first time viewer might guess that "Agon" was the most contemporary, edgiest, and most recently choreographed work on the program." It is almost shocking to think that it was 50 years ago that Balanchine and Stravinsky reached into the past de- and re-constructed music and dance forms in what was, by all accounts, a fulfilling collaboration, and, in the process, drew the line in the sand: where does classical ballet go from here? Balanchine continued along his creative path for another 25 years, choreographing neoclassical masterworks in many musical styles and influences, and pretty much left that question for others to ponder. In constructing a program with "Agon," where does an Artistic Director go? "Apollo" is a programming favorite partner, often on an "All Balanchine" program; last year Paris Opera Ballet may have tried to answer the question by programming William Forsythe's "The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude" with the two Balanchine works, along with a Trisha Brown piece. It's a tricky thing to choose current ballets to stand side-by-side with one of the great 20th century masterworks of any genre. Boal chose another route and coupled "Agon" with three modern dance works that were remarkable for their smoothness -- even were they were lines, like in the Tharp, there were no edges. What is curious is that none of them is among best work of each choreographer, or at least in the case of Marshall, her best dance work. ("Kiss" in my view, is another genre.) Once I realized this, I was still left to compare the others to the masterpiece's virtues, and the one in which neither a great work nor great music is absolutely necessary is the marriage of music and movement that exemplified the great Balanchine/Stravinsky collaboration, and as we've seen from the best companies, the level of dancing and the dancers' commitment can well exceed the quality of the work. In the last performance of the program, a mostly young cast triumphed in "Agon." In the first Pas de Trois, Lucien Postlewaite shaped the Sarabande in one logical piece, contrasting fluidity and precision in his response to the music. If I had one qualm about the casting, it was in pairing Maria Chapman and Sarah Orza in the Galliard. Chapman is a very balanced dancer, and when she moves, however softly or forcefully, it is of one piece. Orza is a very athletic dancer, very powerful in her legs and torso, but her arms seem like an afterthought: it's as if her feet need to take her there --now!-- but her arms need to catch up. While hers was a compelling performance on its own, I prefer the pairs in the pas de trois to be complementary, contest or no contest. In the Bransle Simple, Kiyon Gaines and Jordan Pacitti were just that. Both have plush plies, are around the same height, and are muscular, and their energy and style was magnified by their similarities. Miranda Weese was lush and luscious in the Bransle Gay, teasing the rhythm out of every phrase. Lesley Rausch and Karel Cruz danced the Pas de Deux. Rausch has many gifts, but what sets her apart from the other women in the company is the way she uses her upper body; her epaulment is shaded, proportionate, and open, and it is employed as often as her pointe shoes. Here was no exception: in one of the iconic roles of the Balanchine repertory, she used her upper body to give the role a whole-bodied fullness I had never seen before. An example of this is during the supported splits, where her torso was lifted from the waist, and spiraled up and around through her shoulders and neck. Cruz had an unfortunate stumble during these, from which he recovered quickly. Rausch and Cruz were well-suited in these roles, with long straight legs creating the clean and precise extensions and angular shapes for which the choreography calls. Ironically, Agon, the only ballet on the program, is relatively grounded, with a few strategic lifts and a handful of high jumps, addressing gravity in ballet terms. The two middle works, Susan' Marshall's "Kiss" and David Parson's "Caught" used simple technology to defy gravity, to very different effect. "Kiss," is an aerial work, with the two dancers, in this performance Mara Vinson and James Moore, attached to ropes by harnesses at their legs and pelvis. One might guess that the airborne parts would be joyful and fulfilling, but to Arvo Part's extended, mournful phrases -- the score is "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten" -- speed and flight were ambivalent and fleeting at best, and destructive at worst, as the two alternately reached for the other in vain or pushed each other away. James Moore swung suspended and broken from the waist, his feet skimming the floor, unable either to be grounded or reach Vinson. Only when the two were relatively still and earthbound, sometimes because their ropes were intertwined, were they rooted and connected. Both the long arc of the swinging ropes and the ways in which they twisted and unfurled was a perfect visualization of Part's writing. I can think of no other physical response that has both the contrast of high and low within long, sustained brushes, in which a mere touch in passing can be a highlight. Even pairs figure skating, which has the continuous flow, is limited by gravity in the arc and timing of the highs. I suspect that because of its erotic, although not explicit, aspects that the piece either resonates and moves, or leaves the viewer cold. I'm firmly in the former camp, and Vinson and Moore were even more deeply intense than they were when they debuted this work a year and a half ago. In "Caught" which followed, being airborne was to be free. The work opened with a bit of generic under-the-influence-of-Paul-Taylor movement under a shifting white spot. To me, it was neither recognizable as the same movement repeated in the second half, nor a compelling contrast to what followed. While the frozen images of a dancer in flight, aided by the hand-held strobe control that demanded split-second timing to be effective, were pulse-quickening, the piece was a one-trick pony, and it could have been performed to any number of pieces or silence; the music by Robert Fripp wasn't integral. Nonetheless, it was fun and expertly performed by Casey Herd. The reaction of the woman next to me the second the lights went up was a delighted, "Yummy candy!" The program closed with Twyla Tharp's "In the Upper Room," with its striking decor: a curtain of upstage fog from which the dancers emerged and into which they faded, lit with a wedge of light cutting through the fog (original lighting design was by Jennifer Tipton), and costumes by Norma Kamali, whose white-with-black-striped jumpsuits for the sneaker-clad "Stompers", highlighted with red socks, in what looked like designer prison garb. Set to a nine-movement score by Philip Glass, the Stompers, in row of twos and threes took the stage and performed attractive but relatively static movement phrases, occasionally punctuated, mostly by the fuschia-toe-shoe clad Kaori Nakamura, the lead "Boomer," who was superb in the role. The "Boomers" mostly followed suit; the patterns were so straight that a diagonal line was a feature and a simple circle with three dancers was a highlight. For movement after movement of medium-slow, medium-fast, medium-medium music, I waited and waited for some booming and maybe a little stomping, but from where I was sitting -- the back of Gallery Upper -- it was to no avail. The dancers kept swapping out pieces of clothing, wearing more and more red, but changing clothes did not change the character of the steps and phrases, which remained intricate and steady, and like many Glass scores, the development taking place in tiny increments. According to Peter Boal, the commissioned score was not completed in time, and Tharp choreographed the work to music by Mahalia Jackson, which gave the work its name. That is odd, because the choreography fit the Glass perfectly, and is nothing like what I would expect to Jackson, and this was its weakness: watching Tharp's response to the score it was a bit like watching knitting from a long distance. What Tharp did not do, to her credit, was to set the modern people against the ballet people. The dancers embraced the work and were superb, and they looked like they enjoyed performing it. Jodie Thomas has a great affinity for Tharp's work and came alive as a "Boomer." It's an embarassment of riches to look on stage and see the young trio of Lucien Postlewaite, Benjamin Griffiths, and James Moore as "Boomers." Any opportunity to see what Carrie Imler will do with a role is one I'll take. When we're lucky, we see a dancer who so absorbs the style that he or she dances like a native speaker; in this work, it was Chalnessa Eames. If the past is any indication, the dancers will transform what they've done with this piece, particularly the loose upper body work, into the neo-classical works throughout the upcoming season. It's a great time to be a ballet lover living out West.

This isn't directly on topic, but I think it's pertinent. In the December 2007 issue of Opera News, Brian Kellow interviewed mezzo-soprano Alice Coote, who had this to say: If opera, with its scores and nearly a century of recordings is in danger, on how delicate a thread does ballet exist? That danger is all the more reason to breathe life and preserve its masterworks.

Sadly, some of these performances have already taken place this season. Dutch National Ballet produced a Hans van Manen Festival to celebrate the choreographer's 75th birthday: Program 1: Metaforen (1965); Simple Things* (2001); Trois Gnossiennes** (1982}; Sarcasmen (; Two Pieces for Dutch National Ballet (1997); Grosse Fuge*** (1971), performed by Netherlands Dance Theatre II*, Kirov Ballet**, San Francisco Ballet***, and Dutch National Ballet. (September 11-12) Program 2: Adagio Hammerklavier (1973); The Old Man and Me* (1996); Solo (1997); Twilight (1972); 5 Tango's (1977), performed by Bayerisches Staatsballett* and Dutch National Ballet. (September 15-16) Program 3: Visions Fugitives* (1990); Unisono** (1978); Dreaming about you (2006); Frank Bridge Variations (2005), performed by Introdans*, Nationale Balletacademie**, and Dutch National Ballet (September 18, 22) Program 4: Fantasia* (1993); Sarcasmen (); Source of Inspiration** (); Corps (1985)***, performed by BalletMainz*, NDT I**, Stuttgart Ballet***, and Dutch National Ballet (September 24, 26) Program 5: Symfonieën der Nederlanden (1987); Video special (Henk van Dijk); Black Cake (1989); Live (1979), performed by Dutch National Ballet. (September 27-30) VanManenMix: Polish Pieces (1995); Sticky Piece (2003); Bits and Pieces (1984); Squares (1969) or Ajakaboembie (1971), performed by Introdans Youth Ensemble. Arnhelm (September 22-23), Amsterdam (September 25), Den Haag (September 29), zwolle (September 30). Tour Program: Adagio Hammerklavier, Black Cake, Dreaming about you; Metaforen, performed by Dutch National Ballet. Rotterdam (November 5), Gouda (November 6), Den Bosch (November 8), Utrecht (November 9), Den Haag (November 11), Eindhoven (November 13), Arnhem (November 14), Groningen (November 15), Leeuwarden (November 16), Breda (November 17). Holland Festival Program: In Space: Collaboration between Dutch National Ballet Resident Choreographers Hans van Manen, Ted Brandsen, and Krzysztof Pastor. (June 14-5, 17-18, 20, 2008) Grosse Fuge: Sarasota Ballet: (March 21-2, 2008) The Stuttgarter Ballett is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the birth of John Cranko, and many of the performances are still upcoming: Cranko Moves 1: Brouillards (1970); Presence (1968); Jeu de Cartes (1965). (October 28, 31, November 23, December 2, 2007; January 12, 18, 2008) Cranko Moves 2: Initialen R.B.M.E (1972); Carmen (1971) (December 6, 8, 12-14, 26; January 13, 19, 21, 26-27, 2008) John Cranko -- Ballet Gala: Excerpts from : L'Estro Amonico (1963); The Lady and the Fool ** (1954); Holbergs Zeit; Romeo und Julia+++ (1962); Der Widerspentigen Zaehmung*** (1969); Swan Lake+ (1963); Pas de deux; Onegin++ (1965); plus Legende (1976) and Hommage a Bolschoi (1965?), performed by dancers from *John Cranko School, **Birmingham Royal Ballet, ***Bayerisches Staatsballet/Stuttgarter Ballet/National Ballet of Canada, +Ballet de Santiago de Chile, ++American Ballet Theatre/Royal Danish Ballet/Stuttgarter Ballet/Royal Ballet London, +++The Australian Ballet/Chinese National Ballet (January 12, 2008) Onegin: Staatsoper Berlin (October 29, November 1, 6, 9, 12, 18) ------------------------------ Lew Christensen Filling Station: San Francisco Ballet (January 29-30, February 1, 2, 7, 9, 2008) Agnes deMille Fall River Legend: American Ballet Theatre: (November 1-4) Rodeo: Ballet British Columbia: Whitehorse (September 28, 30), Trail (October 2), Nelson (October 4), Banff (october 6), Sherwood Park (October 9), Grand Prairie (October 11), Prince George (October 13), Kamloops (October 15, 18) Festival Ballet Providence: (February 8-10, 2008) A Rose for Miss Emily: Richmond Ballet Studio 2: (November 6-11) William Dollar Le Combat New York Theatre Ballet, Florence Gould Hall (April 11-12) Flemming Flindt Caroline Mathilde: Royal Ballet of Denmark (September 22-3, 26, 29, October 1, 5, 9, 12-3) The Lesson: Bolshoi Ballet (October 27-31, December 13-4, March 25-26) Mikhail Fokine Chopiniana: Dresden SemperOper (October 4, 6, 8, 10, 12-13) Petrushka: Dresden SemperOper (October 4, 6, 8, 10, 12-13) The Firebird Dresden SemperOper (October 4, 6, 8, 10, 12-13) Robert Joffrey Pas des Deeses: Joffrey Ballet: Berkeley Tour (October 4-6) Staatsoper Berlin (January 27, 30-31, February 1, 4, 2008) Harold Lander Etudes: Dutch National Ballet (March 18, 20-23, 26-27, 29-30 and April 5-6, 2008) Serge Lifar Suite en blanc Paris Opera Ballet-Creteil ((February 14-16, 2008) Leonide Massine Les Presages: Australian Ballet (November 7-12, 14-17, 19-24, 26, 2008) Bolshoi Ballet (March 8-9, 2008) Asaf Messerer Class Concert: Bolshoi Ballet (November 24-5) Roland Petit Pique Dame: Bolshoi Ballet-Paris (January 11-13, 2008); Moscow (November 24-5) Les Forains: School of the Paris Opera Ballet: (April 12-4, 19, 2008) Andre Prokovsky Vespri: Sarasota Ballet: (March 21-2, 2008) Leo Staats Soir de fête: School of the Paris Opera Ballet: (April 12-14, 19, 2008)

For me it always shows in the larger form, where I would need to scroll right to get the right-hand side, and then automatically resolves in the smaller form, where it fits on the screen. Are there any techies out there who could explain why the photo would suddently stop "reducing" to a single page?

I'm glad it worked! I'm going to move the posts about the photo issues to "About This Site" in a few hours. That way, if anyone else has issues at any time, we can address them.

This is why I gave up quickly on the pair I was sent for renewing my subscription to Opera News.

That is definitely a system message -- thank you for noting this, aurora. Would you please try again? I did some tweaking in the configuration.

I'm using Internet Explorer 7, and I didn't have a problem opening this wonderful photograph. I also tried with Firefox (for Windows) 2.0.0.4, and it also worked. What browser are you using?

We'd love it if you would post photos. I'll send you the steps.

Lambarena sucks. I find that it's a work in which many of the dancers discover a more pen and fluid way of using their upper bodies, which at least at PNB, pays dividends in classical and neo-classical works. The dresses are really something, too. I get caught up in their sway. I like Caniparoli's The Bridge much, much more. A jewel left the crown when she moved East. I saw her dance the Jilliana role in Liebeslieder Walzer with SFB almost ten years ago, and she was ravishing.

This is not quite as spectacular, but in one performance in a tutu ballet, Merrill Ashley was supposed to finish on one knee. It looked like she came down hard on her knee, couldn't retain her balance or break momentum, swung around and ended on her other knee, the mirror image of her intended landing.

Many thanks for the links, volcanohunter! I just pre-ordered them off of amazon.com, and I'll just be in denial about my credit card bill until they ship at the end of January

Thank you, Natalia! I just pre-ordered from amazone.com, but when I searched for "Rayomonda" it was not on the first page of results. To go directly to the recording, copy and paste the following code (ASIN) into the search box: B000YRY7WQ

Tharp collaborated with Jerome Robbins on Brahms/Handel; the big guessing game when it premiered was What Was Robbins's and What Was Tharp's? (It had a great cast: If I remember correctly, Calegari and Cook were the greens, and Ashley and Andersen were the blues.) Besides Push Comes to Shove, and the Sinatras for Baryshnikov, she made at least one other work for ABT, For some reason I'm also remembering a major role for Martine van Hamel, maybe to some tough Bach (for solo cello or violin)? PCTS did not die out immediately when Baryshnikov stopped dancing it; I do remember excellent performances by Danilo Radojevic, but not much else besides the Sinatra works.

There's a similar pattern in the Robbins rep: Fancy Free and In the Night being the standard "intro" works for various companies. Where there's control over the rep, and I can't imagine Tharp being loose with her rep, the companies generally need to prove they can do justice to the work. Peter Boal has mentioned in several Q&As that stagers have influence on the casting, and he's also said, as late as this past Sunday, that he's been told by stagers in the modern/contemporary rep that they don't expect everyone who's been chosen initially to perform. In the case of "Caught," he happily told us that all five casts cleared the bar and performed.