samba38

And who names these people? Her back-up wilis have names as well, right (Myrta and the Enforcers -- a girl group gone bad)

Giselle knew she had a weak heart and that dancing endangered her health. Hence, since she danced herself to death, she counts in the suicide category. It's a borderline call in today's society -- kind of like consigning a drunk driver who hits a tree to hell as a suicide. But I suspect in prior centuries they didn't look kindly on people whose character flaws or mental illnesses led to their own deaths. I always thought the rest of the Wili corps were in a kind of purgatory -- they died abruptly, hence unconfessed, but still they were virtuous gals for the most part.

We were among the fortunate to catch the Friday night show as well. Agree with all praise to Kent and Carreno but I back out on any kudos to Murphy and on the peasent pas. Murphy was lifeless when I saw her Wednesday in the rep program and Friday at Myrthe, when lifeless IS part of the point, she couldn't bring the commanding presence required. I'm sorry I won't see Wiles in this role-- she could order stones to dance and they would hop to it. But Murphy? My husband thought the corps could have ignored her like a union shop taking a long coffee break.I'm mystified by xiomara reyes sp?' wobbly peasent pas (her slip and fall seemed inevitable, not a surprise). Plus, she and Joauquin deLuz have been coached to present this endless pas to the audience (jump/smile/jump/smile...) like a vaudeville act, instead of making any pretense to be dancing for the visiting royalty. And still, the evening was wonderful for Kent's exquisite lightness and the beauty of Carreno's own performance and partnering. They made the whole into a bouyant evening andthe best ABT evening I've seen in many years. [ 04-15-2001: Message edited by: samba38 ] [ 04-15-2001: Message edited by: samba38 ]

Patrick Corbin is a great case in point for talking about cross-over talent. A good modern dancer needs great ballet training -- training he certainly got at Washington School of Ballet. But, unfortunately, too few ballet schools take their modern training seriously so they are launching young dancers who not only don't have the skills, they don't have the awareness that the skills are different and, worse, some don't have respect for modern as an expression essential for every working dancer in a classical company today.Oddly enough, it was Joaquine DeLuz, who had to go ask someone what "Black Tuesday' meant, who looked far better, even in a snippet of the final solo shown at the Performance plus talk, who "got" the urgency and depth of that solo better than Stiefel.Likewise Ericka Cornejo was surprior to Murphy in the Blvd. of Broken dreams. All the dancers say they called on their character dance training for this piece. (Alas, my kiddo studies where there is no character training.) Taylor's works don't necessarily require age, although age often gives a dancer the life-knowledge to use in a role. Consider Elizabeth Gaither, a young corps girl, dancing one of the streetwalkers, who clearly "got" the technique. Speaking of Murphy, I'm having trouble with her clean but dull performance. I've seen her coached for Swan Lake, which she will perform with Gomes, and she's not hold up her half of the chemistry at all. But she's young and perhaps will grow into it. I regret my Giselle tix will not show Wiles as Myrta. I'd go back for that Sunday if I could but gotta work on Easter. [ 04-13-2001: Message edited by: samba38 ]

Wednesday evenings performance had my little family tussling all the way home over ideas/performances and choreography. Consensus: Wiles is one to watch -- clean dynamic with too much presence for a corps role. Your eyes lock on her and you don't miss the rest of them. Hence we were happiest with her diamond role. The men... the poor men. They were so sluggish I was tearing my hair. At the Tuesday rehearsal Maxim and the orchestra were clearly not in synce and the situation didn't improve Wednesday night. Only Joaquin de la Cruz had the fire. What did imporve -- and vastly -- was Black Tuesday. After two viewings on Tuesday in rehearsal and a performance plus demonstration, I was about to write it off as a too-pretty, too-plucky rehash, a not-company-b piece. But Wednesday night's performance had more power than earlier glimpses. That said, sorry but the talented Ethan is out of place as a begger. He can't look anything less than a well-nourished lucky boy, any more than most of this company can't help but look like vibrant beautiful young classical dancers miscast in the american 30s. I will withhold my final judgement on this piece until I see it danced by the people it was made on -- Taylor's company, according to Susan Jones. Brother can you spare a time has Patrick Corbin written all over it so you can't help but watch wishing for what's not there. And surely Blvd. of Broken Dreams is a Lisa Viola solo awaiting its Lisa. Susan Jones talked about modern as "feelings made visible" and I think this is still too novel a concept, no matter how many Taylors and Tharps they've danced, for most ABT dancers still in the "music made visible" mode.

A dance critic who interviewed Gelsey's partners says they hated to lift her because, even at her sickly thinnest she was from the dead-weight school of partnering. While I agree with those who say ballet is making art with one's body and creating a line is critical, it's DANCING, not posing. What matters is the beauty created by a body in motion and many a flaw, be it square shoulders or thick hips or less than perfecto tootsies, has been overpowered by artistry. How else to explain Fonteyn's last decade? For a more contemporary example: Look at Paloma and Angel's photos in the Romeo and Juliet photo storybook done two years ago. They look liked dancers done in by a taxidermist. Her famous feet look deformed in a still photo. None of the magic of his ethereal jumps conveys. These are poses, not dance photos -- and they look it.

Hmmm, I hope that I didn't imply, by the emphasis on American speed, that American dancers can't/don't also show care. Often we tend to argue by extremes on such issues: slurping steps for the sake of speed (I love that slurping image, Alexandra) vs excruciatingly slow correctness. Neither does justice to American dancers or any other nationality. Many teachers say they prefer to school a kiddo in exquisite accuracy -- then rev them up to Balanchine speed if needed or wanted. The arguement being that it is easier to change one's speed than to improve the quality of movement. That brings us to the old dogs/new tricks question...

I like this question of whether there is an American style... some unifying characteristic of the American dancer, whether from New York, Houston, Boston, Miami, or Chicago. I'm hampered in this speculation because I've only seen the scantest handful of international companies, only Russian ones at that, no European. Big holes in my education! But, that said, I've never let ignorance stop me from having an opinion... So I'd venture that overall its speed. My sense is that an American dancer is less static. While not all go at the burn-the-barn-speed of some Balanchine, there is far less of the pose/prepare/step/pose/prepare/jump stuff that makes me schizo with awe and impatience simultaneosly when I watch Russian companies. Some US companies are more elegant, some more bold, but in general they do seem to wind their watches to a faster time.

ooh, Katysha and Yum-Yum Barbies!

Pookey, Of course the family -- the Fosters and her ballet family -- were entitled to a time to mourn before dealing with strangers. But the thread was posted days after the Salt Lake City Tribune obituary with her photo so it seems unfair to let the discussion here drift toward those whose career ended in illness or in tragically self-destructive choices is if there were some connection between Laurel and these equally sad but different tales. I can't imagine how it would comfort Amy or the Foster parents to read about the Gunther or Bissell deaths on a thread about their daughter. (Actually, there is no adequate comfort so that's really a pretty silly statement by me.) Lastly, as a member of that supposedly ghoulish media, I have found survivors are often very glad and much comforted by an opportunity to give their vision of a beloved who is gone, to make them special and particular, not just a name on a body. Not all media are thoughtless jerks shoving microphones at weeping mothers. There are ways to ask someone, "tell me about your special person and why the world is lesser for their loss" that lead often to stories that enrich us all, a final gift unique as a fingerprint.

I'm sorry to disagree Mel, but to leave out the publicly printed circumstances of Laurel's accidental death -- in a plane crash at New Year's according to the Salt Lake City Tribune -- leaves her vulnerable to the implication in later discussion on this board that maybe it was a Heidi-Gunther-ED-related mystery. Unfair and inappropriate. The news saddened all of us who saw Laurel during her Miami City Ballet years, a young talent with much to offer. On Heidi -- while people tend to remember anorexia, her symptoms and the chemical imbalance that leads to sudden heart problems are more in line with bulimia and more in keeping with her behavior and the laxatives found in her purse. Bulimia is a more hidden killer because people's weight doesnt' shift very radically, they appear to eat, even eat a lot, around people and yet they are playing chemical havoc internally. [This message has been edited by samba38 (edited January 09, 2001).]

Was I in the same theater? First, a digression. I think there were empty seats after Sym.C., because there's a segment of audience that thinks it's "above" seeing Pennsylvania B, and that others have seen about as much of Prodigal Son as they think they need. I can always entertain myself with a ballet I've seen before by looking at how it's danced, by getting to know new performers or enjoying favorites I've seen before such as Lucia and Muriel. Now, I was disappointed in Maffre's siren because I've seen her bring more personal power to work and because she seemed very uncomfortable with her scarf. Kiddo was not knocked out by the program either but it was most instructive for analyzing. Of course, if we want to see precision corps, we can buy tix to the Rockettes. Winding up the Balanchine feast with Western Sym. was a bit like concluding a gourmet meal with cupcakes but, heck, a few cupcakes -- with toped with colored sprinkles like these saloon gals -- never killed anyone in this sorbet world.

Allegra Kent fascinates me. I would love to know where she's coaching, what she's doing now. Several more expert people than I noted Tuesday that Yuan Yuan Tan's exquisite performance was a triumph both for her and for Kent. Does anyone know what she's up to? Has she wrangled a professorship for herself a la Farrell in Fla and Verdy in Indiana?Will anyone give her the kind of support Kennedy Center has given Farrell?

In your notes on the various first program, Alexandra, i think you said the real star is Balanchine. you are still right. The 3rd program didn't have the snap/crackle/pop of the first week, yet there was much to relish in looking at structure, costume and, with the dancing, at nuances his work allows/encourages. I've never seen such exquisite hands as Yuan Yuan Tan's

My apologies! By no means did I intend my flippant dig at my own bias for MCB to be mistaken as name calling, Jeannie. I had intended to poke fun at my own enthusiasm but it was clearly a poor choice to attempt humor by teasing about how we all have our favorites among companies. That's the fun of this board -- to share what we love and learn from each other. So, once more, I apologize and will message you personally, Jeannie, if the wise moderator slips me your email address which, for reasons unknown, I seem to no longer have. [This message has been edited by samba38 (edited September 18, 2000).]

The adjectives that come to mind for me for the Friday night program: crystaline clarity; maturity; serenity; intelligence. Program #1 had more bounce to the ounce with three in four ballets all sensual and flashy. But #2 offered the lasting pleasure of choreography that intrigues the mind as well as entertaining the eye. I could see the brilliant architectural choreography in Agon and, my absolute favorite ballet, 4Ts, and finally I could see why Divert. has it's fans for all the fluff. Layer on that I'm almost as big a fan of MCB as Jeannie-Gimme-Russians is of her Kirov, and that Farrell sees the glory in Veronica Lynn that somehow escaped its due at ABT, and you have a satisfied viewer here.

Last month I went to a joyful birthday party for one of my dearest friends who happens to be the Miami dance critic who introduced me and my entire family to Ballet. Edward Villella -- who was once so peeved at this gal he refused to speak to her for two years -- made a wonderful toast at the party. He reminded us all that there would never have been a Miami City Ballet if this critic had not sternly, lovingly, comprehensively covered dance in Miami. "I'm too arogant to try to start a company in a place where there was no one intelligent to notice," he said. (And no one argued with him on that!) A great critic is essential to building great audiences. She/he teaches readers how to recognize the good, the bad and the ugly and -- best of all -- how to form their own opinion so they could freely disagree. And yes, I sat in many free seats beside this critic. Integrity can be compromised by palsy-walsy relationships but if that critic had no integrity, the employer and the readers would soon learn that anyway.