bart

I am still conflicted about this, although I understand all the positions including those famous last words: "It's better than nothing."

Where is the achievement if PBS merely "plays" a POB video -- or even guarantees a financial contribution to the POB video production?

If there is indeed a deal with French television, it would seem to be similar to all the so-called "co-productions" with BBC, (Mystery, etc.) where the other side creates and produces the work, and we (PBS) give a little money, send over a few people we call producers to observe and interfere, film an introduction with a US cultural celebrity, plaster our name all over it, and brag to our contributors how supportive of the arts we are.

These activities, though better than nothing, seem rather a rather pedestrian and somehow demeaning way for PBS to pursue cultural prestige, compared to its genuinely creative involvement in the arts years ago.

But -- of course -- it IS better than nothing. And there is one big advantage over having to buy the CD individually: we'll all get to watch it on the same evening, participating in the virtual reality of a shared cultural "event."

Barbara Horgan of the Balanchine Trust spoke of trying to get either POB or the Kirov to film their new productions of Jewels at a seminar last year.  I guess she got POB.

Question: given that this is American public tv and there seems to be a One-Ballet-a-Year quota, why not NYCB -- or a smaller company with a good Jewels in rep, like Miami (a la the Seattle Midsummer Night's Dream)?

Thank you, vrsfanatic, for your explanation. As an old ballet-lover and quite new dance student, I find that experiencing the mechanics of ballet movement (however humble the results) has completely altered what I see from the audience. I notice so much more. And my sense of awe at what ballet dancers can do has increased.

Wow indeed.

For those who want to prepare, there's a 2003 Ballet Talk thread dealing with the POB Jewels. It's fascinating.

Paris Opera Ballet, Jewels, 2003

I was browsing in Gretchen Ward Warren's "The Art of Teaching Ballet," and came upon these comments by Gabriela Taub-Darvash, who studied at the Vaganova School in the 1950s:

""When I went to Moscow in 1952, I could count on one hand the number of dancers who could do 32 fouettes. When, later, I arrived at the Kirov school, I found that very few could turn there either. The minute I started doing what they said -- forcing my turn-out to an extreme I didn't have, holding my chest open in the wrong way -- I, too, was unable to turn, even though I had always had a natural facility for pirouettes. They taught preparations with the weight on both legs in demi-plie, and there were various other instructions given, such as 'hold your back,' 'hold your arms,' and 'don't tilt your head.' But they didn't teach students HOW to turn. Either you knew naturally or you didn't turn." (p.83)

She adds: "I noticed that the ones who turned well did not take momentum from a demi-plie with weight on both legs. They kept their weight on the leg they were going to releve on. The other leg helped them to push up."

Perhaps weak isnt the right word. I just find that Russian turns tend to be slower, more "set up", with less abandon.

It seems to me that all of the dancers you're referring to are the long-legged, flexible, "adagio" type dancers who are so popular these days, so that may be one reason they don't do very spontaneous-seeming pirouettes--they really have to concentrate on them.  Unfortunately, Russian ballet schools just aren't "breeding" (for lack of a better term) the more compact, strongly-built body type (Chenchikova, Sizova) that turns easily anymore

My experience with Russian dancing is limited and tends to be more with the older generation. It leads me on the whole to agree with the above.

Olga Chenchikova, for instance, had incredible mass and density on the stage as well as on video. When performing fouettes or supported turns with an often-smaller man behind her, her torso seemed to cut through the air like someone from another planet: one with much heavier gravity than ours. Conversely, her jumps were rather earth-bound.

Question: is there a negative correlation between strong turners and strong jumpers?

Lady of the Camelias was created for one of our local companies, Ballet Florida, and for Ballet West. The libretto and score arrangement were by Norbert Vesak and Robert de la Rose, who did the work originally for Ballet Florida. After Vesak's premature death, the commision, along with libretto and score, was passed on to Caniparoli.

The music is early Chopin, rather awkwardly pieced together. A quick Google yielded a statement from the music director of Boston Ballet, that the score includes "nearly everything he [Chopin] ever wrote for piano." An article in the Portland (Me.) Phoenix, dealing with the Boston Ballet production, contains more deatailed information about which Chopin pieces were used.

Link to Boston Phoenix Article

The correct spelling is "bal a Chine." This refers to a dance hall somewhere in China, where Balanchine performances may still be found.

For those of us who are lucky to have seen a lot of live ballet over decades, some of it can get woefully close to the Trocks, but without the satire or self-awareness.

That said, I only like the Trocks in small doses.

Maybe that's why the tour all the time. They appear in my city once every two years, which is fine by me. When I lived in New York, PDQ Bach was also an every-other-year event. With Anna Russell and Gran Scena, however, I seemed to require an annual fix.

You can see lots of those embarrassing cross-overs in the videos released from Voice of Firestone.

Something the Gran Scena and the Trocks share: they're very, very good at what they do. And they understand the arts they parody.

The performances of both companies are grounded in strong technique as well as a sophisticated, even scholarly appreciation of their respective arts. The satire comes from a wicked awareness of the varieties of affectation, exaggeration, pomposity, foolishness and wild wrong-headedness that even the best artists can develop along the way. If you can follow them to that point, they are enormously funny.

Ira Siff, aka Gran Scena's gran diva Madame Vera Galupe-Borszkh, writes for Opera News, most recently an article on Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge in the October 2005 issue. His bio there describes him as a "New York-based voice and interpretation teacher and stage director." I remember him as a demented reincarnation of Maria Callas and others.

Thanks, drb, for those links to npr and beyond. I have not read Kent's autobiography and really did not know much about her story.

It's astounding how much of her personal story is in her dance -- and that she was able to achieve this without distorting to the slightest degree either the music or the choreography. How many artists have been able to do that, I wonder?

P.S. Maybe we need a new (Allegra Kent appreciation) thread?

Was Rent ever intended as a gateway to opera?  I’m inclined not to think so.

Intended? Probably not. But a number of reviewers and commentators speculated on the possibility-- or expressed the hope -- that it would have that effect.

Thanks, drb, for the photos. In each of them I notice something very typical of Kent -- the eyes. They are alive, alert, acute, expressive. She is looking at something.

Not many ballerinas -- who often seem to affect blank stares as somehow necessary for true classical style -- have/had this mesmerising quality. What a great, unforgettable dancer she was.

And her partnership with Villella, an on and off thing as I recall, crackled with a genuine inner energy in a way not even Fonteyn-Nureyev achieved. IMO.

I forgot to mention one of the best things in this issue: a 2-page spread of Jennifer Kronenberg's thoughts on being coached by Kent. Everyone who loves this ballet should read this, especiallly if you consider Kent to have been the most beautiful, the edgiest, the most mysterious, and most other-worldly of Sleepwalkers.

There's a full-page photo showing Kronenberg holding her candle in front of her, with Kent seated against the wall to the right, stretching her arm towards Kronenberg and raising her rather majestic chin, while Edward Villella sits next to her, hands on thighs, and watches quietly.

What an icon of one generation passing its artistry on to the next.

I've been thinking of Renee Fleming, whom I like very much, but whose jazz singing, on brief hearing, struck me as stiff and mannered.

I wonder how many audience members at the Met or the State Theater came to opera through "Rent."

I confess to feeling the same about Fleming, who's captured my heart in the regular repertoire. I read a very positive review recently of a Deborah Voight cross-over disc which said that Voight had a real gift for it, contrasting her with Fleming and others. Despite that, I do know people who have bought opera tickets because they became first heard a big-name opera singer doing his or her own strange version of pop.

On the other hand, although I know a number of admirers of Rent, which toured down here two years ago, not one of them was interested in spending time or money on a top-flight performance of La Boheme the following season.

Two DANCE MAGAZINE articles (October 2005) discuss dancers from Miami City Ballet.

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"The Delgado Sisters," by Joseph Carman and Guillermo Perez, profiles Jeanette and Patricia Delgado, two young and relatively new members of the company. QUOTE: "In Spanish, 'delgado' can mean either slim or smart. Both connotations fit the Delgado sisters, Jeannette and Patricia, who dance with the Miami City Ballet. Trained in the MCB School, they represent a new breed of home-grown talent, able to move from classical to neoclassical to contemporary roles."

Jeannette's roles have ranged from Dewdrop to principal roles in Divertimento No. 15 and Paul Taylor's Piazzola Caldera. Patricia (of the BIG, infectious smile) has always struck me as a can-do soloist. Last season she impressed in Fancy Free, Coppelia (Dawn) and as the lead dancer of several ensembles.

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Allegra Kent has an article describing the experience of coaching Sonnambula to three MCB ballerinas and their partners for the 2004-05 season: Jennifer Kronenberg-Carlos Guerra, Deanna Seay-Mikhail Nikitine, and Haiyan Wu-Luis Serrano.

QUOTE: "Today, because of time and money pressures, ballets are taught as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Leisure to explore a role is a luxury. Yet stories and insights from interpreters of the past are valuable. Coaching is the transmission of ideas that bring ballet to loife, particularly when the choreographer is no longer available. Studying videotapes can help, but ideas and subtle details will be lost if bideo is the only source."

Kent had three days in Miami, working with each pair of principals. All the others dancers were permitted to attend the rehearsals as sschedules allowed.

I love the New York City aspect of the last paragraph: "Information and ideas can come from unexpected places. By chance, 45 years ago, I ran into Mme. Danilova at a bus stop where she demonstraed a movement from La Sonnambula for me. All at once, I understood the value of looking backward, forward, sideways, or in any direction for inspiration."

The idea of a preview performance sounds great. I'd like to pass it on to the local company here, which certainly needs help in drumming up consistent interest among its subscriber base. But I could not find information on the Washington Ballet website.

Koshka, do you have a link to information on this event that I could pass on?

I hope you'll review/describe how it goes and how the audience responded.

Thanks, bee2. Your lovely and interesting account (a) made me jealous for not being there and (b) made me feel as though, somehow, I actually WAS.

Yes, thank you Herman. It's wonderful to watch the Balanchine repertoire moving so successfully to so many parts of the dance world. Based on video viewing and recent reading, the Dutch ballet is something I'd go out of my way to see if I were in your corner of Europe.

P.S. I especially appreciated your point about low jumps -- something I've noticed often, but not really articulated for myself.

Ygnace has a rather low center of gravity and an uniquely fluid way of moving. Suddenly you realize a low jump, if well executed, can be more beautiful than straining for a high one  -  making you marvel, how can he jetée so close to the ground ?

On a related topic, I found this UPI article on the andante.com site:

Sony BMG to 'Manufacture' a 'Classical Crossover Band'

and the target age for the band members is 10-14.

Anyone have statistics or other info as to whether this sort of approach -- quite common in Europe -- actually carries over to increased audiences for conventional opera, concert music, etc.?

Thanks for the reviews. Some of my best experiences with Giselle have been with deeply committed smaller companies, and I'm glad BalletMet is in that category.

Here's a Link to the BalletMet website for those who might want to find out more.

BalletMet website

I've often thought that what makes American ballet unique in today's world is not the existence of a few great companies -- other countries have those -- but the creativity, passion and atistry of our many, many smaller regional and local companies, as well as the fine dancers and production people who work in them.

I guess dramatic dancers have world-wide opportunities today, not unlike Broadway in the 30s and 40s. And it isn't all "Movin' Out".

Google reveals something from last April about a new non-verbal dance version of Casablanca being prepared in Beijing with these dancers in the Elsa and Rick roles:

Casablanca in Beijing

You may rememaber the musical chairs (companies?) in Miami.

THE PLOT SO FAR: Former MCB choreographer Jimmy Gamonet de los Heroes becomes a partner in the contemporary Maximum Dance, headed by two retired MCB dancers, David Palmer and Yanis Pikieris. The Gamonet name is added to the company masthead. Palmer and Pikieris feel that they are being forced out by Gamonet and their own Board. They quit and move back to MCB to head a new contemporary project. Shortly thereafter, ballet mistress and former MCB prima ballerina Ileana Lopez jumps ship for Gamonet, as does principal dancer Isanusi Garcia-Rodriguez.

Whew!

Now MCB announces its first program of contemporary dance, directed by Palmer and Pikieris. A really positive move for MCB and its dancers, and one that can only enhance their already impressive reputation in the Balanchine rep. They appear to be starting slowly, with 2 performances at the company's Miami Beach studios, January 27 and 28.

That program consists of: Chiaroscuro (Lynn Taylor-Corbett), Caught (David Parsons), Silhouettes (Mark Morris) and Reassuring Effects of Form and Poetry (Trey McIntyre).

Edward Villella will be introducing Palmer and Pikieris to Palm Beach County supporters on November 8 according to a mailing from the MCB Guild.

Here's the Link ....

Miami City Ballet CONTEMPORARY PROGRAM

I couldn't resist adding this piece of information about the production.

Cincinnati Ballet's Midsummer Night's Dream Uses Extras From Local Correctional Facility

Helen Magers, program director at River City Correctional Center, where the volunteer performers come from, said, “These volunteers are men that will soon rejoin society, and they have been choisen because of their positive behavior and the fact that none of them have ever committed a serious crime.”

Those of us who believe that the arts have the power to redeem have reeason to hope.