charlieloki

You got that right!!!!! HOW DARE YOU, I mean HOW DARE YOU!!!! You - you mere moral! Like the rest of us, you have no right to criticize a heavenly goddess like Saint Kyra! She's a creature of the Divine. And when the Divine allow one of it's angels to descend upon Earth to dance for the pleasure of us mere morals, it is not for us to judge, but to relish the luminous beauty they give us! Their presence elevate and ennoble us, in away that we will never have on this planet Earth. HERETIC!!!!! This kind of speaking could cause others to think they have the right to speak negatively of these divinities of dance! LOOK AT THE REMARKS MADE BY LAMPWICH! We will forgive Lampwich, they was lead down a path they was fully aware of. But it would be to dangerous for it to continue!! I know I'm not the only one on this sacred message board who feels AmandaNYC have created blasphemy with her evil comments and that she must be barred henceforth to never be allowed to participate ever again!!!!! I look to you, our righteous moderators, to rectify this insult to our sweet and glorious angel Saint Krya and remove this evil from our board!!!! My God what a marvelous founder Alexandra must think!!! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * DON'T YOU JUST LOVE IT WHEN I'M BEING SARCASTIC!!!!!! I <{POST_SNAPBACK}> if you want to see all the steps in a piece, beautifully executed, see kyra if not, go see almost anyone else kyra is a dancer's dancer, cuts no corners, and you'd better see her whenever you can -- unfortunately, she will not last forever

imho orpheus is a masterly collaboration of dance, music and art (noguchi's costumes and settings). unfortunately, for the past umpteen years, the part of orpheus has been danced by martins the younger. the addition of his mother-in-law didn't help much. with a proper orpheus, the piece would make much more sense, and the full effect of the tragedy would be felt. if you are not happy with stravinsky, you are missing a lot of balanchine's best efforts. balanchine had a way of letting you "see" the music, and opened up new musical worlds to some of us. thank you, mr b

charlieloki begs to differ i've been watching this ballet since its premiere and have never had a "white knuckle experience" during this part of it, although i have seen it done better than in yesterday's performance, which was quite "snappy" and nicely danced

yes, a simplification, i agree thanks, richard, your comments are quite concise and do help to clarify the situation when an audience perceives, knowingly or not, differences between the dancers and the pace of the music, an odd kind of unsettled feeling ensues sometimes, the dancers are fine, the choreography is fine and the orchestra is fine -- but the pace of the conducting is not, a sad thing to happen a cohesive whole can be so exhilarating i'm not much of an abt fan, but i believe the music and conducting at their performances is generally better than good and very sensitive to the choreography and the dancers

does anyone recall ms quinn's speedway 500 conducting of symphony in c, early on? the dancers looked like frantic ants. i spoke with one of the orchestra's violinists on the 11 bus home a while back, and this person said the orchestra really liked her. however, the dancers are the game, and the orchestra is there to serve them.

truly bizarre that peter boal is not going out in the last piece on the program -- which should be apollo (that is the last image i want to have of him) i never stay for west side story -- and will be very happy to leave early on this occasion, no matter who is dancing as for jock soto why is the barber not the last piece - it is a showcase for him union jack -- really! both of these suberb artists are being disrespected, in my opinion was peter martins last performance in nutcracker? does anyone remember the time magazine cover with him in the nutcracker cavalier costume, with the subtitle on the cover reading "prince of the city"? mr boal and mr soto deserve at least similar treatment

thank you so much -- your name should be permanently displayed somewhere on the site this is such a wonderful forum only a ballet "nut" can appreciate another "ballet nut" - whether they agree on issues or not this site has been a well-managed and easily used display of viewpoints and a source of so much dance information for all of us most appreciatively charlieloki

to those folks wanting to see ballo in its true balanchine-directed form, it is available on one of the city ballet balanchine tapes (not sure about dvd's) and is dated 1979 -- it's from the dance in america series, which was on pbs merrill ashley's partner is robert weiss i remember being at one of the very early performances of this piece, and being totally dazzled

To set the record straight: was it not Merrill Ashley whose superb dancing was the inspiration for Ballo? Ashley Bouder did a fine job, but Merrill Ashley's performance in this piece can never be equaled. She was so fast, that you had to blink and wonder if you really had seen what you had seen - also, she was beyond perfect. It's good that we have someone in the company who will approach perfection in the part, and who has the courage to attempt it. Brava to both the "Ashley's". I sat through musagete again, only because i was with a friend who had not seen it and I wanted to be there in case she fainted, or something. (She didn't faint, but did feel a little sick, and I did also.) The depiction of Tanaquil's paralysis is revolting. It should be noted that she died not too long ago. Would Eifmann have had the nerve to put this tragedy on the stage in such a fashion had she still been alive? The music in the production is not representative of NYCB music. Whatever happened to Stravinsky? The collaboration between the geniuses - Balanchine and Stravinsky - is surely one of the wonders of the dance world. I could go on and on about this, but I'd just get more upset. What curious programming: two Balanchine masterpieces - Ballo and Four T's followed by a real, very expensive, over-produced putdown of Balancine's life and work.

for some strange reason, my edition of jan 5's nytimes has the review of last night's nycb performance in the metro section, not the arts section -- i almost missed it hanna and ansanelli make a very interesting combination: a photo of them in four temperaments is included -- it is very unflattering to ansanelli -- i had to look twice to make sure it was her that's a shame, she's unusually photogenic i was at the performance and thought that the only real highlight was sofiane sylve in raymonda: what would mr. b have thought! she is the genuine article: a real ballerina: intelligence, wonderful technique, personal beauty, musicality, a comic and a dramatic sense, an ability to make meaningful and gracious eye contact with her partner, and a steely nerve the audience seemed to agree: there were some real fanatics in the 4th ring ms. sylve seems to have quite a large fan club (including me)

ms borree is not at all a bravura dancer, and square dance is simply beyond her even from the fourth ring, the stress, strain and lack of real energy is quite apparent in a company of this caliber, this masterpiece of choreography is sorely diminished by her presence. i have seen her perform it so many times -- it's almost as if her casting is a punishment-- for her and for the audience. is this a harsh assessment? yes -- but after decades of attendance at nycb, some of us develop an almost proprietary interest in certain pieces, and suffer when they are done badly.

EXACTLY! The kinescope of her in Square Dance is breathtaking. Robustness, precision, joy, and overwhelming virtuosity at once.... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> i saw that film last year on a fairly large screen at the museum of television and radio's weeks-long salute to balanchine it is the original version of the piece, with the caller on stage and the scenery, etc. ms. wilde's performance is beyond belief it can probably be seen on a video monitor at the museum, which is on east 52nd street in manhattan sheri leblanc (who is now with san francisco), in an sab workshop perfomance, was absolutely stupendous -- but she never performed square dance as a company member when the music ended, she looked as if she could do it all over again, and then some what she could have done with ms. wilde's coaching --

only if farrell was cast (and p. martins, too) -- i'd go they'll probably need one of new york's finest to direct traffic and how will they handle all the necessary costuming maybe i'll go anyway - could be fun

standing room at nutcracker used to be $5 and i would attend frequently -- the second act only -- to see interesting casting the current price is $15 and i will attend only if sylve or farrell is dancing

i believe that what we call "soul" is inborn: that it cannot be acquired by purchase or by theft or by personal effort --

i will also leave after seeing sylve

i am personally very sad to hear the news mr boal is the only "complete" dancer in the company at this time: he has it all i guess i won't be attending as much as i used to - he really was the only one i was mad to see: the bouders of the world are technical wonders, but lack soul on second thought - maybe i'll focus on ms sylve, if she is still there good luck to mr boal

eek!!!! no matter what it's next to or surrounded by, it's awful don't hack it: take a time-out and go across the street for coffee that's what i generally do when confronted with a balletic disaster at lincoln center

is this an early indication that the younger martins is heading for company direction/management in the future? just wanted to start a discussion - could not resist

it looks like there's trouble on the horizon for nycb whenever mr. boal leaves, the company will have lost its artistic center he is in a class of his own -- without him in pieces such as opus 19 and apollo, there really will be a dulling down of the choreography technique is not the total name of the game well-done steps by other dancers will go just so far without real artistic involvement oh, well -- we all knew this was coming, and now it's here marcovici -- problem with line, but much improved millepied -- problem with proportions fayette -- problem with artistic quality martins -- problems neal -- so very good generally hanna -- a definite maybe j. stafford -- very interesting a very bright current light -- sofiane sylve over the many decades i have been attending performances at nycb, i have come to the position where i now usually focus very intensely on the balanchine choreography and the music he uses -- this can be very rewarding -- and i find that i have missed a lot by focusing mainly, in the past, on the dancers it is always amazing to see something in the choreography that you did not see in many past performances of a piece -- stravinsky violin concerto has been a particular revelation sorry to ramble so, but i am somewhat distraught at the prospect of losing mr. boal to another company when nycb needs him so -- no one can replace stanley williams, but i'll bet mr. boal as a teacher would be close

the vienna photograph is very nice but i prefer that dancers as models/subjects be readily identifiable they have worked very hard to achieve their identities - don't remove identity in the name of art and/or commerce

"discount dance"? is this a plug for a dancewear company, including a link? i find this offensive

for a change, how about some much-needed glamour and sophistication a la violette verdy: the really stunning miranda weese - with the elegant philip neal?

ballet "lite"?

suggest that you consider this -- sometimes, people are simply in the right place at the right time for the better or the worse for the rest of us at a sypmposium at lincoln center recently, martins made some negative remarks about mr b's treatment of the men in his company class and also about casting -- to the point where i was quite uncomfortable -- after all, were we not there to honor the man? cold, distant and ungenerous where would martins and clan be today had mr b not been with us? perhaps i am too sensitive