nysusan

Re: Evenfall - I also think Wheldon very deliberately used the shape of the tutu as an element in the choreography and as almost an extension of the ballerinas’ bodies (in the parts for the corps). He combined the circular shape of the tutu with the dancer’s bodies to create new geometric shapes & lines. Definitely a new definition of a tutu ballet, when the tutu becomes part of the choreography. Also the representation of separation and loss without relying on sentimentality or melodrama was refreshing. I’m not sure if I absolutely loved it or just really liked it, so I must see it again. Unfortunately that will probably mean seeing the Red Violin again, too. I know exactly how I feel about that one. Martin’s ballets always strike me as way too long. Last season I recall thinking that Tala Gaisma would have been a pretty interesting piece if it were half its actual length. I think I feel the same way about Red Violin. It starts out ok, but then just goes on and on. Other people have mentioned that he doesn’t develop an idea, and that makes sense to me. Unlike everyone else I didn’t really like In Vento, it just seemed really dark and angst ridden to me. But at least it was interesting, even engrossing. Despite wonderful dancing the new Martins put me to sleep. I also saw Mearns in Midsummer & agree with Dale – she seemed a bit tentative at first but was really lovely in the Lullaby & Bottom scenes. All she needs is a stronger sense of grandeur to be a great Titania

Is there an actual film out there of her in the full length Giselle?

Leonid, thank you so much for sharing your memories of Fonteyn’s Giselle. I saw her & Nureyev in it once, in the sixties, but it was so long ago and I was so young I really don’t remember many details - just how poignant and heartbreaking she was and how passionate he was. I recall that when we went to see F&N in Romeo & Juliet my grandmother explained that despite Juliet’s youth an older actress was often able to portray her better than a young one. I think this is also true of Fonteyn’s Giselle. Your description of her playing every moment truthfully jogged some fragment of my memory, she really did seem to live the role onstage in her complete melding of dancing and acting. It sounds so simple and obvious, but it’s a very rare quality. And I also loved Nagy in Giselle, and in everything else he danced

I'm soooo jealous of you, getting to see Hallberg's debut as Apollo. I've been waiting for this since they first announced the revival for last year's City Center season! I can barely wait for their NY season to start so, please report. You are right about Sylvia fitting Murphy like a glove, she's wonderful in it. Enjoy! Susan

nysusan, Do you mean last Fall's MT Sleeping Beauty tour in La, Bay Area, and Detroit? Even though they announced Vishneva for Detroit, she said repeatedly on her web site that she would do the 2 California locations, but not Detroit; she had another committment. So for particular dancers (especially ones without web sites), you have to watch very closely. I was toying with going to Detroit, really for Vishneva, when it was clear that she wasn't going I gave up the idea. Richard Yes Richard, that's the tour I was talking about and of course you're right about Vishneva. I went to the LA performances and I'd forgotten that they'd advertised her as appearing in all 3 cities even though she kept saying that she wasn't going to dance in Detroit. Well, I'll still keep my fingers crossed & hope to catch Lopatkina on a Sunday matinee. It's just too inconvenient (and too costly) to travel for a mid week opening night this time. Actually what I may do is head out to Chicago to see them over the weekend with my nephews and just pick up a last minute ticket for Boston if Lopatkina winds up only dancing the opening nights. That's if she makes the trip at all! Susan

I'm hoping for Lopatkina and also hoping that they'll repeat the leading cast twice. They have done that recently with Pavlenko scheduled twice in Giselle at the Ken Center and the Vishneva/Lopatkina cast of Sleeping Beauty performed twice at every venue on that tour. I have 2 nephews in the Chicago area who've never been to the ballet so I may make a weekend trip, but there's no way I can go from Wed - Sunday. I have so overspent my budget this year that I might wind up just taking the bus to Boston for a Sunday matinee & coming right back home Sunday night. We'll see...

I just read a review of the gala by Claudia La Rocco and it hits the nail on the head with my complaints: "The setup served to give a historical context for Graham's accomplishments, but also gave the impression that the company, under the new artistic direction of former principal Graham dancer Janet Eilber, did not trust the works to speak for themselves..." Having seen many of Graham's works previously I was glad to learn the historical context but the structure of the program gave the impression that her work needed to be "explained". Minor works may need to be put into context but Graham's great works need no preface or explanation. Heretic is one of the few works performed at the Gala that I had never seen before and I was struck by it's power and piercing depiction of isolation and censure. One's reaction was vicseral. To think the audiance needed to have this explained to them is insulting to the audiance and to the work. What we needed was to see the whole piece, not just an excerpt! http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A.../604220354/1031

Miliosar, the house was about 90% full - but it’s a small theater. It’s about the same size as the Joyce which holds about 900 people. It’s really a very beautiful theater with a steeply raked orchestra and great sightlines from all seats. The mood was pretty upbeat - there were a lot of ex Graham dancers in the audiance! If the company is doing a repertory program I wouldn’t hesitate to go see them. I saw several programs at their City Center season last year. They may have lost money but I thought the company was in pretty good shape, and I remember some great Graham dancers from the 70s like Yuriko Kimura and Takako Asakawa as well as Janet Eilber. Today’s company has several dancers who really do the work justice, especially Fang-Yi Sheu who is a brilliant dancer and worth seeing in her own right. And those wonderful minimalist Noguchi sets are worth the price of admission. I wouldn’t be quite so keen on a program of excerpts. On one hand I did really enjoy a few from the gala, but they’re just not as strong as when they’re presented in full with costumes & scenery.

I agree with them about Move - his act might be hilarious in a different setting but it bordered on caricature and I found it pretty innappropriate for this type of occasion. It was very strange to come to a theater to celebrate Graham’s accomplishments and watch someone up on stage impersonating her. As a gala and a commemoration of the anniversary of her company’s first performance I was ok with the chronological presentation of excerpts and the narration. Move probably would have been ok too if he had been limited to one segment but I think he went on for the whole 2nd half of the evening. He provided running commentary “in her voice” and introduced a number of pieces - it was weird. But more than the camp question, the biggest problem with Move was that he danced in Part Real -Part Dream with Desmond Richardson and it became painfully clear that he is not a dancer. I don’t think Martha would have appreciated that, and I fear for the company’s future if this is a sample of what Janet Eilber has in store for us. The evening began with excerpts from a couple of Denishawn pieces, which I found interesting for the perspective they gave on Graham’s early influences (which I guess was the point of including them). On their own they were no more than historical curiosities. The evening ended with Maple Leaf Rag which is always panned by critics but which I’ve always enjoyed. I find such a sweet simplicity and gentle humor in it. It always makes me smile to think that as she aged she may have been freed somewhat from her demons and could look back on her life with a little wry amusement, but maybe that’s just me! My favorite moments were the excerpts from Heretic, Steps in the Street, Dark Meadow and Clytemnestra. They made Graham’s genius perfectly clear, especially when interpreted by dancers like Fang-Yi Sheu and Elizabeth Auclair.

The waiting is over - the Kennedy Center has posted casting for the entire engagement. We all know how drastically the Kirov's casting can chnage, but here it is: WILLIAM FORSYTHE MASTERWORKS June 13 at 7:30 p.m. Steptext: Daria Pavlenko, Igor Kolb, Andrey Merkuriev, Maxim Khrebtov Approximate Sonata: Elena Sheshina, Andrey Ivanov, Elena Vostrotina, Maxim Tchaschegorov, Ekaterina Petina, Anton Pimonov, Viktoria Tereshkina, Maxim Zyuzin Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude: Tatyana Tkachenko, Olesya Novikova, Ekaterina Osmolkina, Leonid Sarafanov, Andrian Fadeyev In the middle, somewhat elevated: Irina Golub, Ekaterina Kondaurova, Sofya Gumerova, Ekaterina Petina, Yana Selina, Ksenia Dubrovina, Andrey Merkuriev, Alexander Sergeev, Mikhail Lobukhin June 14 at 7:30 p.m. Steptext: Irina Golub, Igor Kolb, Andrey Merkuriev, Maxim Khrebtov Approximate Sonata: Evgenya Obraztsova, Alexander Sergeev, Elena Vostrotina, Maxim Tchaschegorov, Ekaterina Petina, Anton Pimonov, Viktoria Tereshkina, Maxim Zyuzin Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude: Nadejda Gonchar, Olesya Novikova, Ekaterina Osmolkina, Leonid Sarafanov, Andrian Fadeyev In the middle, somewhat elevated: Irina Golub, Ekaterina Kondaurova, Sofya Gumerova, Yana Serebryakova, Evgenya Obraztsova, Ksenia Dubrovina, Andrey Merkuriev, Anton Pimonov, Mikhail Lobukhin June 15 at 7:30 p.m. Steptext: Nadejda Gonchar, Anton Pimonov, Mikhail Lobukhin, Maxim Khrebtov Approximate Sonata: Elena Sheshina, Andrey Ivanov, Yana Serebryakova, Dmitry Pykhachev, Yana Selina, Anton Pimonov, Ksenia Dubrovina, Alexey Timofeev Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude: Irina Golub, Evgenya Obraztsova, Ekaterina Osmolkina, Leonid Sarafanov, Vladimir Shklyarov In the middle, somewhat elevated: Daria Pavlenko, Ekaterina Kondaurova, Sofya Gumerova, Elena Sheshina, Yana Selina, Ketevan Papava, Andrey Merkuriev, Alexander Sergeev GISELLE June 16 at 7:30 p.m. Giselle: Daria Pavlenko - Count Albrecht: Igor Kolb - Berthe: Natalya Sveshnikova - Bathilde: Elena Bazhenova - Hans: Dmitry Pykhachev - Armor Bearer: Maxim Khrebtov - Duke: Vladimir Ponomarev - Myrtha: Viktoria Tereshkina - Two Girls: Nadejda Gonchar, Tatyana Tkachenko - Pas de deux: Ekaterina Osmolkina, Vladimir Shklyarov June 17 at 1:30 p.m. Giselle: Irina Golub - Count Albrecht: Andrian Fadeyev - Berthe: Natalya Sveshnikova - Bathilde: Elena Bazhenova - Hans: Dmitry Pykhachev - Armor Bearer: Maxim Khrebtov - Duke: Vladimir Ponomarev - Myrtha: Alina Somova - Two Girls: Nadejda Gonchar, Tatyana Tkachenko - Pas de deux: Ekaterina Osmolkina, Vladimir Shklyarov June 17 at 7:30 p.m. Giselle: Olesya Novikova - Count Albrecht: Leonid Sarafanov - Berthe: Natalya Sveshnikova - Bathilde: Elena Bazhenova - Hans: Dmitry Pykhachev - Armor Bearer: Maxim Khrebtov - Duke: Vladimir Ponomarev - Myrtha: Viktoria Tereshkina - Two Girls: Nadejda Gonchar, Tatyana Tkachenko - Pas de deux: Ekaterina Osmolkina, Vladimir Shklyarov June 18 at 1:30 p.m. Giselle: Daria Pavlenko - Count Albrecht: Igor Kolb - Berthe: Natalya Sveshnikova - Bathilde: Elena Bazhenova - Hans: Dmitry Pykhachev - Armor Bearer: Maxim Khrebtov - Duke: Vladimir Ponomarev - Myrtha: Alina Somova - Two Girls: Nadejda Gonchar, Tatyana Tkachenko - Pas de deux: Ekaterina Osmolkina, Vladimir Shklyarov Here's the link: http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/ind...ent&event=BGBSC It was fun fantasizing about Ayupova & Lopatkina, but I'm pretty happy to see Pavlenko & Golub. It will be great to see Obraztsova in the Forsythe program but it's too bad she isn't cast in Giselle at all. Perhaps that will change!

Just noticed a post on ballet.co (Kirov dancers appearing elsewhere) that says Ayupova & Kolb are guesting in Spain on 4/22 in Giselle. I'd bet that Ayupova doesn't do Forsythe, but still...they better announce the Kirov & Royal Ballet Kennedy Center casting soon - the suspence is killing me

I've been keeping an eye on Kobborg's website, and he's finally listed some info on his USA performances in June. The website says that he & Cojocaru will dance Manon (in Boston) on the 16th, which agrees with the press release from the Wang. It also says that they will dance in Sleeping Beauty at KenCen on 6/22. http://www.kobborg.co.uk/diary/cal.html I expected them to dance the first performance of Sleeping Beauty, but it's nice to have confirmation. Now if only the RB & KenCen would get together and give us casting for the other major roles (Lilac Fairy, Bluebird, Princess Florine, etc) and the rest of the engagement. Come on, Kennedy Center!!!!

There's been some discussion of this in response to the Greskovic artcle, but since it's coming up so soon I thought I'd start a topic to remnd people. It's this Tuesday at the Skirball Center in the village. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased at their box office at 566 Laguardia Place, by phone at 212-992-8484 or through their website ($3.50 service charge): http://www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu/flash.html Susan

That would make me so happy, Pavlenko really impressed me with her Swan lake a few years ago, and I've never seen Kuznetsov,I'd love to see them in Giselle. Of course, Pavlenko and Loptkina Giselles in DC would be too much to hope for, but wouldn't that be wonderful? Has Obratsova danced Giselle? It's amazing to think about how many wonderful casts the Mariinsky can field even withut Vishneva!

Leigh, maybe we should start another thread for travel discussion. I don't know about any special events in DC this June, but I decided to go for the Kirov & Royal months ago and have been following the hotel costs closely. They are horrendous & have only been going up. I booked the cheapest room I could find in a decent neighborhood (walking distance from KC) back in December. It was $169/night then and has since gone up to $262/night. I found a cheaper hotel a couple of weeks ago and changed my reservation, but that one is no longer available to people who are trying to book now. Since there seem to be several Ballet Talkers who are planning trips to DC to see these 2 companies perhaps a separate thread is warranted - especially if you have any advise!

With the exception of Red Angels I’ve seen everything on all 3 of the programs & they all sound great to me. Especially the Balanchine Portrait program – what I would give to be able to see all those pieces together on one program in NY! To start with Serenade & end with Bizet and have Concerto Barocco & Duo Concertant in the middle – it’s the stuff dreams are made of! They are all masterpieces. So are 4Ts and Div 15. The Robbins is also very, very good. It is annoying that they didn’t program any Balanchine for the gala, but his works do account for the overwhelming majority of the engagement. I’ll bet they are looking at the Gala as a showcase of post Balanchine choreography. The Martins work is one of his best, and After the Rain is my undisputed favorite work since the Balanchine/Ashton /McMillan era. I’d consider it a must see despite the lack of Balanchine on the program that evening. Also note that the gala is the last night of the engagement, perhaps they are hoping that people will come to one of the first bills for Balanchine and then add on a ticket for the Gala to see where his legacy has led the company...

Chauffer, you shouldn't have a problem getting tickets for those nights, at least not yet! The Kennedy Center’s online system lets you chose the section you want to sit in and then tells you exactly which seat it is offering you. The only problem with using the system is if you’re picky about exactly where you want to sit (like me). I like to be in the first row of the balcony, even if it’s on the side. But the online system assigns center seats first, so it may show me D103 when I’d rather have A15. In that case, it’s better to call the box office where you can specify what you want and be told about everything that’s available. The box office opens at 10 AM. If you are willing to make a $60 donation to the Kennedy Center you can buy your tickets NOW because Kennedy Center members get a 10 day window before single seats go on sale to the public. That’s what I did, I ordered my tickets on 3/31, and got great seats. Good luck!

That was my immediate reaction, too! There are many, many ballets that I love but Serenade is the only one where the opening tableaux is so ravishing that it takes your breath away every time, no matter how many times you've seen it

I think it's great that NYCB is touring more lately, they really should be seen by as wide an audience as possible. Looks like there may be a mini ballet boom in Chicago this winter. Ardani Artists plans to present the Kirov at the Aud in early November, something like the 1st - 5th. Will too many choices complicate matters, or do you think it's a good thing for the Chicago dance scene?

It could just be that his breakthrough performances were too late in the season to make the promotions list. Very nicely matched "small" trio of Apollo Muses, NYSusan. But do you think the Terpsichore of this trio might be Sterling Hyltin? Perhaps I'm being overly influenced by her lyrical performance in Divertimento 15, and that arabesque: http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/arts/...-arts-headlines drb I agree that Hyltin is a very lyrical dancer and would make a lovely Terpischore but Scheller has such a gorgeous quality to her dancing, and such beautiful phrasing that I decided it's her Terpischore I'd like to see. With Peck as Polyhymnia and Hyltin as Calliope. Scheller is another case where I don't understand why she wasn't among th new soloists...

Each would look good with Hall, but I think there's too much height discrepancy between Reichlen on the one hand and Hyltin and Scheller on the other to make a good trio of muses. Agreed. Reichlin, Bar, Krohn with Hall and Scheller, Hyltin, Peck with Tyler Angle?

Me too. Hall is #1 on my wishlist as far as NYCB Apollos go. He'll be ready soon provided he gets a few more meaty roles in the next couple of seasons. I think an Ask LaCour Apollo is inevitable at some point, and I think he'll do very well. As for dancers who are ready now - I hadn't thought about Neal in the role, but why not? He's the most classical of NYCB's current male principals. I'll be rooting for Evans & Woetzel though. I know they're not likely to be cast, but I'd love to see it I haven't seen Orpheus or Prodigal Son enough to have strong feelings about casting. I've only see Orpheus once recently, and I agree it looked very dated. Almost Grahamesque (don't get me wrong, I love Graham but not when channeled through Balachine). Not sure what it would take to reinvigorate it.

I never saw Taranda live but he sure is amazing on those Raymonda tapes. I think the Russian companies have an edge here, because they do seem to still have separate niches for character dancers. Best I've ever seen live was the Bolshoi's Yulianna Malkhasiants as the gypsy in Don Quixote. She took the audience along on a totally over the top emotional roller coaster of a solo and made it believable and compelling throughout.

I went to the box office yesterday to buy tickets for the 5/5 performance and there were only a handful of tickets left. Just a heads up for anyone who's thinking about going... Susan

All may not be lost if you don't mind taking a chance. I showed up at the theatre last night at 6:30 expecting to just buy a ticket for a 7 pm show. They were completely sold out with the exception of 2 obstructed view seats. However they suggested that I put my name on the waiting list for cancellations, which I did. It's kind of a pain because they don't release the seats until ten minutes before show time, but there was only 1 person on the list ahead of me and I got a great orchestra seat (they must hold some house seats till right before the curtain). Good luck!