dazedandconfused

I saw the Sunday matinee performance with Mimi Hassenboehler and Nick Leschke in the lead roles. They were both amazing, I thought. Sharon Teague and Ian Cassidy were Valencienne and her lover. I had never seen Sharon dance a lead role before and her pas in the 2nd act was well performed and well received by the audience. I found the costuming and the staging to be quite beautiful -- especially the act in the ballroom. Very turn-of-the-century Paris. I had never seen a ballet performed in only long gowns before. Found it to be a bit distracting, honestly. I kept wanting to see the legs more and not just the dresses, although the hundreds of yards of glittery, swirling fabric was pretty mesmerizing. Also found myself wondering how hard that must've been on the dancers' lower backs. There was a bit of prop dropping going on (mostly the papers in the first act, first scene). I found myself bracing that no one would slip and fall on a stray one. But the drops were handled well enough. Wish I could've seen the performance where Connor Walsh was promoted to principal, but alas.

All in all, a good performance. I think Houstonians really enjoyed this one. I certainly did -- 200-mile drive to get there notwithstanding!

Thank you for that information! Definitely worth the trip!

I want to add my thanks to EvilNinjaX. I am no ballet critic, so I hesitated to post my thoughts and gush, as I no doubt would have. I also saw the Thursday performance and loved every moment.

Much to my shame and humiliation, I admit that this event passed largely unnoticed in the local media. I couldn't even find a review to attach without embarrassment.

Wow! I remember Kevin Gael Thomas and Antoine from Houston last summer. Both very fine French dancers!

EvilNinja, PM me and I'll "recommend" until the world looks level.

Here's a link for the Sleeping Beauty performance in Mexico City, Memo. Ticketmaster. This is in Spanish, though.

http://www.ticketmaster.com.mx/event/14003...p;minorcatid=12

Here's the link to the San Antonio Convention and Visitor's Bureau, for those interested in making the trip. Our gorgeous Riverwalk hotels are within walking distance of the theater. http://www.sanantoniocvb.com/

Please mention this forum when you buy tickets.

The press I've read says they're stopping in only 2 places in the U. S. -- Philadelphia and San Antonio. I believe the tour is mostly focusing on Mexico. They're performing in 3 cities there -- Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Puebla. Wonder why not Monterrey?

Thank God above that San Antonio was selected for this gracious gift from Heaven. Forgive my gushing but I'm trying not to hyperventilate at such a wonderful opportunity for our city.

Here's the link to get advance tickets and avoid the ticket "monster".

http://www.artssanantonio.org/performances...event.asp#13695

Ask for Laurie. You may call (210) 226-2891 or email Laurie personally at laurie@artssanantonio.org

Thank you for that translation bart! My Spanish is not even marginal. I got the gist, but certainly not the specifics. Muchas gracias.

bart -- I'm posting a link to a Monterrey newspaper. It was the most current I could find.

http://www.elporvenir.com.mx/notas.asp?nota_id=122933

Hope your Spanish is passable.

bart -- I don't have any official news but this is surprising. I saw BdeM at their performance for Monterrey week in Washington DC and did not sense any changes of this sort from where I sat. Quite surprising indeed. Luis and Katia guest for our local company often.

Armando was last-minute guest artist for Ballet San Antonio during Nutcracker season and we thoroughly enjoyed having him! He is quite a talented/energetic artist. I wish him well as he soldiers on. Very sad that ANB closed. Our ballet company took in its lowest amount ever this year. Very sad after such hard work and sacrifice by so many people.

Sadly, nor do I. Hopefully those that really want to can listen to WOR or the other classical station in Dallas.

Lucky, lucky you, Golden Gate! I considered keeping my daughter out of school for 4 days so we could see this in Denver. School had a hissy, so :yawn: , here we are back in south Texas where these kinds of avant garde productions NEVER come. Am anxious to hear your review.

Beautiful Barbara Bears is one of mothers at Houston Ballet who is still dancing.

I'd like to thank you, too, vagansmom! Things loom a bit large sometimes for those of us who don't have a lot of experience to put things in perspective, (which would be me).

I'll start off by excusing my lack of artistic knowledge of ballet. My knowledge is limited but growing, thanks primarily to this site. I live in South Texas. We drive to Houston often because we have next to no funding for the arts here. It's bitterly sad. We're getting a golf resort and Toyota, but nobody wants to give a plug nickel (or so it seems) to the arts, ballet in particular. Or such is my experience, anyway. I worry that this short-sighted attitude might also be prevalent in Houston, i.e., will Stanton Welch's wonderful contemporary ballets be the big draw that Stevenson's classics were? I wish I felt optimistic but I don't. Every time I visit New York or San Francisco or any other major city that does support the arts, I ask myself why it can't be more like this in Texas? Houston probably leads, although Austin might run a close second as far as people willing to support the arts. But I fear that Welch will struggle as he tries to bring Houston along in its view of how art is evolving. Anything that jeopardizes that huge flow of financial and community support for the arts in Texas makes me very nervous. Hopefully I am wrong. Will be interesting to see what happens in the next few years.

Well, now I'm wondering if she was shooting straight with me at all?! I do tend to give one the benefit of the doubt unless I have good reason not to, but I'm relieved to hear many others heard the opinion and were of the same mind I was. Not funny, AND not knowledgeable about ballet (I had actually forgotten that connection). If NPR pulled it out of the archives to fill air space, that only sinks them further in my mind for trying to appeal to the skater dudes out there by taking a swipe at ballet.

Don't know if this will interest anyone or not, but on one of the day's links over the holidays (I know, I should tell which, but I'm in too much of a hurry just now ), the same reporter who did the Nut-trash opinion on NPR did another story on a dancer in her area -- one who practices the martial arts. It was a very well-written story, IMHO. A story that revealed a bit more respect for the demands of ballet, I thought. I saw her link at the bottom and I emailed her that I enjoyed her story about this dancer much more than her NPR opinion and I was surprised to find out that she used to be a dancer (she said) and that the piece was meant to be funny. I expressed my opinion that I found it condescending rather than funny and she said she was very glad to receive the feedback. We mutually agreed that what is humorous to one can be, at the very least, NOT humorous to another and left it at that. I did mention to her that it was a topic of discussion on this forum and again, she appreciated my passing this information on to her.

I was quite honestly stunned that this opinion piece came from a former dancer. Anyone else have an opinion?

I guess the impression I'm getting these days (I listen to only NPR basically) is that the current political administration is pushing for NPR to correct its "liberal bias" which irks me to no end. I don't want to get political but this is exactly the sentiment I felt that came across with this opinion piece. They selected this piece to cater to those in the NPR listening audience that feel like a little less of an "artsy-sounding" piece might make them more appealing to those who see NPR's basically neutral stance as being "liberal." I fear for the future of NPR, frankly. I think they are being unduly influenced by the might dollar and the current political climate. This opinion piece really got to me. I appreciate those with more knowledge posting a better link to the site.

Granted, ithe editorial was only one person's opinion, but it got to me. I wrote to the NPR Ombudsman and told this person that I didn't know which was harder, seeing the look on my daughter's face as she listened to this sad commentary or seeing the pain in her face as she soaked her blistered feet after 4 hours of nightly Nutcracker rehearsal.

Sorry to get on such a soapbox, but I'm so disappointed. We here in San Antonio try and try and TRY to get more publicity for the arts (basically, our symphony is the only arts entity in town or so it would seem), and then these kinds of opinions are broadcast over the airwaves. We opened a vein for this community during our 5 performances (one of which was basically a freebie to the local school community) and if our ballet company cleared $5000, it will be a blessing.

Sorry for the rant, but after our dancers pulled off such spectacular performances, to consider that we basically "met expenses" saddens me to the point of despair.

carbro -- I'm having trouble with using multiple systems and registration. Apologise for the post. Just trying to figure this out.

  I am not sure about the policy of posting emails.  Therefore I am not doing so.

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Members below age 18 may not post their e-mails, but anyone else may -- at their own risk. Remember, our readership is not confined to our membership.

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Amitava -- I was just reading your posts about wanting to see a production of Nutcracker where you aren't behind the camera. Since I see you're in Austin, you might be willing to consider popping down to San Antonio to catch Ballet San Antonio's Nut this weekend (Dec 15 - 18). We're always looking for good action photographers. This year is spoken for, but if you'll PM me I'll tell you how to find me at the performances and leave me one of your cards. My DD's fellow dancers at Ballet San Antonio love coming up to Ballet Austin and taking the open class when they're not rehearsing.

Wish I knew how to post a link. Apologies, but felt this was important since I haven't seen a link to any NPR commentaries under the "Links" section. Yesterday, December 9, NPR ran a radio commentary by a reporter named Tonya Barrientos at The Philadelphia Enquirer titled "I Hate the Nutcracker" that I felt should be listened to and commented on by Ballet Alert members. Usually I have a lot of respect for NPR opinions aired, but this one was unbelievably bad. It's on the NPR.org site for today, December 9. Please consider putting it in the Links forum. Thank you.