Helene

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This is a great question, and I've opened a new thread for it here: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=20512

In the Cynthia Gregory thread, drb wrote: This is a wonderful question, and it warrants its own thread. Thank you, drb!

L'Allegro is one of my favorite pieces of any kind. There are several things I love about this piece which are characteristic of Morris' choreography, in addition to his fidelity to the spirit of the score, but the most important is his ability to convey what I can only describe as a life force: in his darker pieces, resilience and a will to rebuild with what is left, and in his lighter ones, energy and joy of movement, without a hint of naivite or coyness. When given a chance and a budget, he also uses costumes and sets as an integral part of the dance. Like the theatrical conceit that Robbins uses so effectively in the Theme Couple in Goldberg Variations -- the dancers in stark practice clothes walking through the lines of dancers in stylized period costumes to join at center stage as the body of dancers retreats into the wings -- he uses costumes, in this case color, to lift the Novembery spirit of the first part into the spring of the second. Despite the autumnal colors though, the costumes in the first half are the same, flowing design, and even if Persephone is in the underworld for six months, the picture is not entirely bleak. There are three dances in particular to which I look forward in each performance. "The Stupid Men's Dance" has to be one of the goofiest portrayals of young men feeling their oats after a long winter of captivity. "Basilica," is a piece in which the dancers walk onto the stage and examine the back wall made of large, column-like panels, and they are seeing a huge, holy, unknown place for the first time. The last is "The Walking Duet," a double line dance in which the simplicity of individual movement is used to create patterns of such great invention, that it was in the first 10 seconds of this dance that, having loved Morris' work for years, I fell in love with his work. If he had choreographed nothing else, it would have been enough.

New York City Opera did in a production of La Traviata, where Violetta dies of AIDS, and Act III, where the dancing occurs, took place in a leather bar.

We just received confirmation from ABT that the next set of casting is expected to be published on 16 October.

In the little piece they did on Sylve in the Sleeping Beauty DVD extras, she said that Amsterdam felt like home. It's great thing for audiences in Amsterdam that she feels that way!

Taranda was splendid in both Bolshoi Raymonda DVD's. I wrote up my opinions of both DVD's in this thread: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...ndpost&p=162457 and won't repeat the detail. But to summarize, while I agree that Bessmertnova was stiff in her upper body, her feet and leg work were superb, as were her technical facility and pacing. I also really like Vasyuchenko. And many of the demi-soloists in the Bessmertnova version were very, very good.

Ansanelli's comments haven't made it into print, and, so far, we don't know of any Ballet Talk members who attended the session and could report.

The site itself is in Russian, but there are some great photos on the linked page, especially down towards the bottom. If you click the photo at the top center (woman in red costume in a split jump), there are more photos. (My transliteration skills are weak, but I believe that it is Natalia Osipova.) (There's also a short note in Russian and English about Nina Alovert's new book on Malakov at the very bottom.) Many thanks for the notice and the link, Leonid, and welcome to Ballet Talk.

I just received a copy of the most recent press release from OBT -- it will be posted to the site soon. Here's the section about the roster: This year, the OBT company will grow to 24 dancers from 21. There are eight new dancers, four from outside OBT (*) as well as four apprentices who have been promoted (**) into the company. In addition, there are 11 apprentices, four of whom were trained in the School (‡). The 2005-06 dancers: Candace Bouchard Brennan Boyer* Kester Cotton Ansa Deguchi Daniela (Martin) DeLoe Paul De Strooper Damian Drake Jon Drake* Cameron Giese* Steven Houser** Yuka Iino Gavin Larsen Mia Leimkuhler Valerie Limbrunner Kathi Martuza Anne Mueller Alison Roper Brian Simcoe** Rachel Simons** Artur Sultanov Emily Tedesco** Scott Trumbo Ronnie Underwood* Holly Zimmerman Apprentices: Christopher Coffee Carlos Cruz James Fuller Thomas Hirschy Olga Krochik Deirdre Lyons-Keefe‡ Shannon Maynor Nancy Richer Sam Rogers‡ Amanda Simnitt‡ Natalie Wilson‡ ------------------------------- Here are the bios of the new dancers: BRENNAN BOYER, from Allentown, Pennsylvania, began dancing at the age of five. He received full scholarships to The Rock School, San Francisco Ballet School and the Pacific Northwest Ballet School. Upon completing his training, Brennan was invited to become an apprentice at PNB where he danced in many different ballets under the direction of Kent Stowell and Francia Russell. His favorite works include Stowell's Carmina Burana and Glen Tetley's Rite of Spring. This is his first season with OBT. JON DRAKE began his training at the École de Danse in Hattiesburg, Missouri, and studied further at American Ballet Theatre, the Vienna State Opera Ballet School and the John Cranko School in Stuttgart, Germany. Prior to joining OBT this season, he performed as a principal dancer with Eugene Ballet/Ballet Idaho, dancing leading roles in Toni Pimble’s Peter Pan, Nutcracker and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Previously, Jon performed with Ballet Oklahoma, Atlantic Southeast Ballet and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf. Born in Texas, CAMERON GIESE began her ballet training at the age of eleven in Boise, Idaho, with Lisa Moon and Jeff and Cathy Giese. She studied for a year in Switzerland as an apprentice with Ballet Basel and attended summer programs at the National Ballet School of Canada and Houston Ballet Academy. This is her first year with OBT Originally from California, RONNIE UNDERWOOD received his training from Tulsa School of Ballet, Ballet Hispanico in New York City and American Ballet Theatre. He danced as an apprentice with Tulsa Ballet Theatre and, at 19, joined Fort Worth/Dallas Ballet (now Texas Ballet Theater). Ronnie has danced principal roles in Giselle, Coppelia, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Cleopatra and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as leading roles in Le Corsaire, Swan Lake, Four Last Songs, Dracula, Moonbeams, Who Cares?, Serenade and Rubies. He also performed, courtesy of the United States Embassy, as a guest artist on tour with the critically acclaimed South African Ballet Theatre, dancing the role of the Prince in The Sleeping Beauty. This is his first season with OBT.

Cygnet, Many thanks for spending the time to search for the article!

In the news release on the 2005-6 season, in the context of discussing Swan Lake, there was mention that the Company "will indeed add dancers to its roster," but no names, at least yet. http://www.obt.org/docs/OBT_0506_Season_Release.pdf

I want the DVD now!

It sounds like Ms. Kent and Mr. Greskovic disagree. There's very little in ballet or art of any kind where there is complete unanimity of analysis and opinion. If there were, we wouldn't have much to discuss .

At the Seattle International Film Festival, one of the programmers or house staff does a short introduction to each film, and there has to be a short reminder at the beginning of each film for non-passholders/regulars that talking is not acceptable during the movie. (Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.) People still manage to laugh, react, and have a good time. I remember the Film Forum in NYC, where the collective theater would glare if you scratched your arm quickly; if you sneezed, you skulked out in shame; and if you had the sniffles, you were barred from entering. I have to disagree that this is purely a generational thing. In the 80's, my friends and I used to work extra time so we could play hooky on Tuesday afternoons, when admission to the art house theatre in Scarsdale cost $2.50. The house was packed with senior citizens -- people who were children during the depression and listened quietly to the radio during FDR's speeches -- and the conversations usually went like this: The Scene: Any Subtitled Movie: Husband: Whaaaat??? What did he say???????? Wife: He wants her to go to Paris with him. Husband: Isn't he married to the other one???? Wife Yes, dear, but she died at the beginning of the movie. Husband: But wasn't she just at the picnic with him???? Wife: That was a flashback. etc. I was shocked when I went into my new neighborhood library the other day, and there was a separate "Quiet Room." I thought the library was supposed to be a quiet room, but my friends have told me that I must have been under a rock when libraries evolved.

I'm not sure about these ballets, but she was lauded in the role of Hagar in Pillar of Fire, and her performance in it was televised.

I just sent email to the production company to ask. I'll post back when I receive a response.

I think it's a great idea to start a new topic on presentation of the classics, and if and how they should change. The topic is posted here.

On the RDB gala thread, coda asked: Should the presentation of the classics change? every 20 years? or every decade? Should it be modernized? If so, then HOW? This is a great topic!

Did the ways in which they were "good and strong" seem to conflict with the style? There are several dancers I've seen over the years who seem to be "beyond" a role in technique and almost bridle at the technical limitations of the part or seem bored with it, and they end up looking out of place in the ballet. Other times, it's as if they are dancing outside a style with a more direct, athletic approach, and then "remember" the stylistic context and switch. (The happens all of the time in film.)

No, lthomass, that was my misreading. Your original post was clear.

Wow, lthomass -- that was a great post covering a number of issues. I agree with you on the stadium issue, but it's hard in Seattle to be too bitter, because at in the same period where a baseball stadium (where the vote against was overridden by the county*) and a football stadium (to subsidize the team of multi-billionnaire Paul Allen, who did threaten to move the Seahawks back to California*), we've also seen a new Symphony Hall, a renovated opera house, and are in the process of building a new extension to the Seattle Art Museum. *Bitter, but not too bitter. You mentioned that the symphony, opera, and theatre in your area have outreach programs, but dance doesn't. In general, outside of major dance regions, dance companies tend to have less money than symphony and opera companies. Outreach programs tend to be run by the more established companies or through smaller groups organized by members of major companies in their "spare" time. Although there are some companies that have or had made a "niche" in outreach: Balletfore, the predecessor of New York Theatre Ballet, performed a lot in schools and for senior citizens, in addition to touring and an annual performance in NYC. When I was growing up, and I suspect this may still be true, there was an assumption that "boys don't like ballet." Because of this thinking, I missed Baryshnikov's debut with ABT in Giselle: the directors of the summer program I was attending decided, after much soul-searching (because they really wanted to go to the ballet), that boys in the program would prefer the Mostly Mozart Festival concert and would hate the ballet. (Hearing the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 has since been a bittersweet experience.) About ticketing services, it's another issue for smaller companies: they can't afford online computer systems of their own or full box office staffs to process phone orders. (The ones that do often charge around $4 per order for processing.) Just yesterday, I responded to a "15% off " presale for the Moscow Ballet performance of Swan Lake in Portland this Fall. The Ticketmonster "convenience charge" per ticket for the $63 seats was over $9. (I didn't get far enough to find out what the per order additional charge was. And, they want you to pay $2.50 to print them out on your computer.) The charge per ticket for the $36 tickets was either $5+ or $6+. Add parking, and a ballet outing for a family of four in the "cheap seats" costs about $180. If I were young and hadn't already fallen in love with ballet and opera, and had a small budget for entertainment, I'd probably see four movies instead of a ballet.