Helene

Elyse Borne staged Jewels for PNB. Apart from a hour or so of coaching Patricia Barker and Stanko Milov received from Suzanne Farrell when she was in town last summer, and what anyone in the company remembered of Rubies from ten+ years ago or had learned from other productions, she taught every role, and "un"-taught alternate versions.

Yes, I did mean the small girl. I wasn't able to think and type at the same time.

Many thanks, Dale! von Aroldingen as a stager may explain why Osta was effective in the part KvA danced in Emeralds, since most people here who know the POB dancers expected Osta to be cast as the tall girl in Rubies.

I'm very excited about this one and pre-ordered from amazon.com yesterday. I've heard great things about Semionova, and I've never seen her live or on tape.

The second pas de deux in Emeralds is also a lot of walking, as is the first pas de deux in Chaconne, both of which I think are sublime. Do you feel the same way about those, or is just Diamonds that you find blah. Sadly, I can't find this either in the credits or in the booklet that comes with the DVD. In the documentary, Pujol expresses regret that she was not coached by Verdy personally. Gillot speaks of Patricia Neary having coached her. It will be interesting to compare the corps in both DVD's.

Thanks, carbro! I just remembered the silver flask from which Lady Costermonger takes a swig in Union Jack. I can't remember if the Watts/Martins and Leland/Andersen couples click imaginary glasses when they meet in Davidsbundlertanze.

I forgot to mention that the email said that stock was limited. It's listed under their "New" page, so I suspect they came onto a stash unexpectedly (or found one hidden in their warehouse). Shipping is 4 GBP to the US (via air mail).

Maybe so. However are you really sure the dancers who have wrked on this piece haven't given all these matters any thought? Right now you make it sound like what they're doing is not the result of artistic consultation and decision-making, but just plain inadequacy. I'd be tempted to give them more credit. On the contrary: in the case of Letestu, I would say she has given it too much thought in the wrong direction and that she has made the wrong artistic decisions. I think it was a very deliberate performance. This was not necessarily Balanchine's intention. Farrell recounts how she just made a gesture towards the back of her head, and Mr B said "let's keep that.' Should you feel that this is really a case of Raymonda intertextuality, then I'd say you'd have a Big Time Character / Story in Diamonds. The idea that Balanchine ballets are abstract by definition has, fortunately, been put to rest some time during the nineties. I expressed this badly. I don't think that the Raymonda gesture in Diamonds turns the lead in Diamonds into Raymonda any more than the Plisetskaya jump Ashley chose for Ballo della Regina turns Ballo into Don Q. My point, not expressed very clearly, was that Letestu took a very classic gesture -- one she was quite familiar with -- and morphed it into the style of a classical character Odette. It was an odd haircut, so unlike the other men's.

In Ib Andersen's version of Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio's favorite harlot has obviously gone on a bender between the end of Act II and the beginning of Act III. In Swan Lake, the tutor is usually taunted and/or plied with wine, and there is usually a toast to the Prince. In Balanchine's Nutcracker, there are goblets for the guests. Who knows what's in them. Balanchine's original version of the Arabian in Nutcracker featured Francisco Moncion smoking from a hookah, surrounded by four boys. (Who may have been played by girls.) I've been told that this was the version that was in the TV broadcast, but that is hard to imagine in the early 50's. In MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet (and Andersen's), during the Dance of the Capulets, the women have a port de bras that always makes me think they are chugging beer.

That is a wonderful idea.

There is an article in today's Links about former NYCB-dancer Wilhemina Frankfurt, who will be honored in Woodstock this weekend: http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pb.../LIFE/607200301 She was a long-time corps member, and one of my favorites. She was often paired with Renee Estopinal, another tall dancer, like in the first Agon past de trois, in which their performance was broadcast.

For me, dance intelligence is a fundamental understanding of the impetus for movement, phrasing, musical response and appropriate style of whatever work is being performed. In a piece by Robbins, it is thinking and making decisions and having a reason and for every gesture onstage, because that is what he demanded of the dancers he worked with, at least according to their words, and to be stylistically appropriate to the work in both dance and gesture. For Balanchine, again from dancer's testimony, it was more on the "don't think, just do" side of the spectrum. There is no "character" in Diamonds. There is a dance relationship between that man and that woman, not between a fairy tale character and her swain. To quote Balanchine, "So how much story you want?" The woman in Diamonds does not peer back over her shoulder to see whether her detachment has the desired affect on the man. If she is detatched, it is because that is who she is. I saw an Odile in Letestu, because that is what I think she imposed on the role. The blatant reference is to Raymonda, and there were a couple of times during the pas de deux that she turned that very specific gesture into a different, Swan Lake-like gesture.After watching the pas de deux several times, and coming to the same conclusion, I now hit the "skip" button for the movement. I'd rather watch the corps and the quartet. I much preferred Dupont in Rubies to Letestu's Diamonds, at least intellectually, even if I think she was wrong it. Her approach might have missed, but it was pure. She did not tart up the role. I am, too.

I just received an email that a collection of Richard Bonynge recordings of rare ballet music is on sale for 27.99 GBP from Dance Books in the UK: http://www.dancebooks.co.uk/titles/1718.asp The description from the website: "A wonderful collection of rare ballet music. It includes extended excerpts from La Peri, Paquita, and Marco Spada, complete performances of La Flute Magique, Les Sylphides, Les Rendez-Vous, Le Beau Danube, Les Patineurs, The Pas de Quatre, Soirees Musicales, Matinees Musicales, Ballet Egyptien, Mam'zelle Angot, and a host of shorter pieces taken from Bonynge's recordings such as Homage to Pavlova and Pas de Deux. Playing time over 13 hours."

There is Lar Lubovitch's Othello with Yuan Yuan Tan, which is relatively recent. I wish that her dance intelligence had matched her verbal intelligence in her Diamonds role. That would have been something.

I wish that her dance intelligence had matched her verbal intelligence in her Diamonds role. That would have been something.

Kent Stowell's version for PNB is, indeed, called The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, and it is a wonderful ballet. Music Director Stewart Kershaw created the score from many Tchaikovsky scores, most of which are little known. Not a note of Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" was used. One of the highlights of the ballet is the last scene of the first act, the wedding scene. It is entirely in mime and set to the "Pregheria" from Tchaikovsky's Suite No. 4, which Balanchine used for Mozartiana (both versions). Flemming Halby performed the role of Friar Lawrence for years, and now that he's retired, he'll be greatly missed.

Underneath the post box, there's a little checkbox and the phrase "Enable emoticons?" If that box is checked, you should see a box to the left of the post box entitled Clickable Smilies, with all of the symbols displayed. (If it's too narrow to display all of them, there's a little left/right blue scroll bar that will allow you to see the rest.) If you click on one, the "code" for the smilie will appear in the post wherever your cursor last was, and when you preview or post, the code will convert to the smilie.

I'll have to watch it again to look for the tempos -- I was so distracted by the costumes and set, which I think were gorgeous, and I didn't want it to end. Natalia reported on the progress of the Mariinsky version, which was filmed in early April and is expected for release (timeframe unknown) on DVD, on this thread. ( :))Miami City Ballet -- not unless a miracle happens

That's why Gottlieb makes another living as an editor