Helene

silvermash, did you mean "difference"?

Live: 63, counting each of Emeralds/Diamonds/Rubies, Le Palais de Cristal/Symphony in C, Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3/Theme and Variations, and Ballet Imperial/Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 as "1".

Discussing politics is against Ballet Talk policy unless politics affects what is onstage. So the answer is "somewhere else" -- blog, other discussion board, IM, Facebook -- where there is a different (or no policy).

I'll repeat a story that my little class of potential arts administrators were told at a half-week seminar at Jacob's Pillow in about 1986 by Sam Miller, then the administrative director of Pilobilous and about to be named successor to Liz Thompson: If you have a problem taking money from oil companies, cigarette companies, and other companies and individuals that seek to enhance their reputations by donating to arts institutions, sponsoring "Masterpiece Theater", etc., don't go into arts management. Unless Mr. Koch's political leanings, which were discussed when he was announced as the renovation sponsor of the New York State Theater, affect what is onstage, this is not an appropriate topic for Ballet Talk.

Many thanks, solino and kojiattwood for the music details

Wow, those are our options? It's a wonder the human race survived the 19th century.

Wouldn't Fonteyn have learned au couronne from Volkova, though?

When the Bolshoi brought "La Bayadere" to Berkeley a year or two ago, I saw two Nikiyas, Alexandrova and Zakharova. Having read so much about Zakhavora here and seen YouTube videos, I was prepared for a more dramatically sophisticated -- perhaps over-the-top -- Somova. I saw something quite different. While she insisted on the >180 degree splits in her jetes with a bent back leg, and had a few distorting extensions, for the most part, she was beautiful, particularly in her upper body, and mostly disciplined with non-jump extensions. Not at all what I had expected.

Many thanks for the news Jane! Most browsers will allow you to save the image. I clicked on the Google site, and through Firefox, right-clicked on the image and then "Saved Image As".

Many thanks for sharing your impressions, YouOverThere! It's great to hear about early season performances from the West. Very odd about no news about administrative changes, though.

From Links, The New York Times begs to differ: Reviewer Mike Hale also takes on the dance aspects, which I found interesting, particularly in light of what many ballet companies seem to feel is critical to woo new audiences: http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/movies/20mao.html

Mounsey's arms are lovely!

Wow. A take-off on the famous Villella photo in "Life"?

Rest in peace, Dr. Woo.

I'm not surprised about the traditional age discrepancy. In many of the comedies, a young girl is about to be matched up by her parent(s) to a wealthy older man who gets his. (I just watched "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg for the first time last night, where the ancient story is played out, although Marc Michel is in his 30's and is easy on the eyes.) In every production I've seen, even where Hilarion is young, he's clearly lobbying Giselle's mother, to show that he's steady, respectful to the adults, and can provide a good living, whereas, Albrecht, who knows who his people are and where his pocket change comes from?

Just speculating, and it could be a scheduling decision, but if I were worried about safety, I'd start the sword-fighting lessons when the dancers were fresh and focused and when the schedule was a bit clearer, not later when dancers have a bunch of different things in their heads, including last minute rehearsals to cover injured colleagues.

"Mao's Last Dancer" has been opening in the US recently, and dirac has been posting reviews to Links. One I found interesting was Rex Reed's; Reed called the movie a "masterpiece". http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/mao%E2%80%99s-last-dancer-masterpiece I think he is right when he writes, and I suppose compared to many movies made today, this movie seems like a masterpiece. I think Mr. Reed sets his bar far too low.

Watching Fonteyn's performance reminded me of one thing missing from Valdes': I didn't for a second feel that she was dependent on what the prince did in promenade, and thus I wasn't anxious for a second that she might have trouble with the balances. As soon as the big music came on for the final prominades in the Fonteyn clip, my focus went straight to the wrestling with the princes' supporting hands, and that plus the music had the standard effect on me: a gripping anxiety and wish to close my eyes. Fonteyn's balances were beautiful, but the I found the whole process distracting.