miliosr

Miliosr Report - Week One I won't be writing as much this season due to time pressures and a general feeling of burn-out after four seasons of recaps and analyses. However, I still plan to weigh in with my thoughts on what catches my interest each week. The Women After the slaughterfest that was Season Four (Paulina, Shandi and Leeza out first), I was pleased to see female amateurs who look like they have some staying power. Since Kelly Monaco made it to the Final Two in Season One (and won the coveted glittery disco ball trophy), we have yet to see another female celebrity make it to the Final Two. Hopefully, we will see at least one of the women make it to the finals this season. As for the dancing this week (the female celebrities competed with their partners on Monday night), I liked Jane the most. I guess you never do lose that ballet training no matter how many years it has been. The big test for Jane, however, will be the Latin dances: ballet training + natural English reserve + 56 years on this planet = excellence in the Latin dances? I'm not so sure. As sidwich has noted, Jane has another problem and that is her pro partner Tony. He had a jewel with Stacey in Season Two and he blundered as a teacher and a choreographer with her. Jane should be safe for a while on the strength of her fan base but Tony is going to have to step it up this season if he wants to make it to the finals. Sabrina and Mark are strong out of the gate but she is irritating me already. Clearly, she's already developing a case of "front runner-itis". Just remember dear -- John O'Hurley, Stacey Keebler, Mario Lopez and Joey Fatone all thought the same thing and look where they ended up. Josie and Alec were the worst of the female am/male pro pairs. The Men I loved Helio and Julianne together. He has a sunny personality that lit up the ballroom and he was pretty darn good in their dance. And he hasn't even done a Latin dance yet which, theoretically at least, he should triumph in. Albert and Anna were my second place finishers. I actually think Albert and Anna employed a clever strategy this week. They knew no one has a clue who he is so they made the perfectly reasonable decision to exploit his good looks and muscled body to the hilt in the hope that he would gain some traction and not wind up in the Bottom Two due to a nonexistent fan base. The strategy appears to have worked -- they avoided the Bottom Two (for now, anyway.) I guess it just goes to show you that a pretty face and a killer bod never cost anyone any votes on this show. The rest of the men trailed behind. I probably disliked Wayne and Cheryl the most -- his face scares me and she needs to lay off the spray tan. The Bottom Two At the end of the day, Josie/Alec and Mark/Kym were in the Bottom Two with Josie and Alec going. Their ouster came as no surprise (even they seemed to expect it) as she gave a lackluster performance and has no fan base to speak of to see her through a bad week. Unlike Albert, who came out on fire precisely to build some no fan base-related traction, Josie did nothing to help herself and so found herself the first casualty of the season. I feel sorry for Alec, however -- this is the second season in a row where he has been stuck with a partner with no fan base and has exited first. Going Forward Mark and Kym were on the chopping block this week and they may be on the chopping block next week. With the exception of George Steinbrenner, he is probably the most disliked owner of a professional sports team in America. So, no matter how well they dance, the long knives may already be out for them.

A little Ted Kivitt history: 1961-1978 (ABT) 1978-1980 (Pennsylvania Ballet) 1980-1986 (Milwaukee Ballet - artistic director) It's a pity that Kivitt and the Milwaukee Ballet board had a falling out because I think he was really on to something with the Milwaukee Ballet and it could have become a strong regional presence in the Milwaukee-Chicago-Madison triangle. As it is, the Milwaukee Ballet has been in the artistic wilderness ever since. I agree with Drew that I would like to see more big strapping guys on stage. I saw the Cornejo cast in Romeo and Juliet this spring and I was amazed at how slim and slight most of the males were. I found my eye drifting to Craig Salstein precisely because he was more "mesomorphy" than so many of the others. I wonder if a male dancer with a Ted Kivitt-type body would incline more toward modern dance these days given the general drift in ballet to slim. Just asking . . .

I doubt any cut footage from the Fracci/Bruhn Giselle still exists but, if it were to turn up someday, it would be interesting to see a recut version of the film with any cuts to the dancing restored and some of the more bizarre non-dancing inclusions (cutaways to people eating fruit/cheese, extended close-ups of Terry Orr in the crowd) excised. (The peasant pas in general and Ted Kivitt's solos in particular would really benefit from this.)

She'll always be Angela Channing to me!

Does anyone know if there is an online LP discography for the Ballet Theatre Orchestra (conducted by Joseph Levine)?

I was reading the Dance - Fall Preview in The New York Times and I came across something interesting. The New York Theater Ballet will be performing a mixed bill of Tudor and Jose Limon classics at Florence Gould Hall in February -- just the kind of mixed bill that, arguably, a lot of ABT fans would like to see.

This discussion tracks somewhat with the 'What Do ABT Fans Wants To See' discussion over at the ABT thread so I thought I would add my two cents. From the discussion, it would appear that the ABT artistic staff faces three problems/criticisms when they program the Met seasons: 1) The programming is too conservative -- too many warhorses from yesteryear (the Macaulay charge) 2) The current productions of the great classics are substandard by international standards (raised on this board and an opinion probably shared by Macaulay) 3) The Met is too big for most ballets other than the classics (raised by Alexandra and others) So, what is the way out of the impasse? In regard to # 1, Macaulay praised ABT in his spring wrap-up for programming Symphonie Concertante and The Dream together. But he himself admitted in the article that this foray out-of-the-norm sold poorly. So, what potential mixed bills exist out there that would (a) draw an audience, and (b) hold their own in that cavernous space? Fixing # 2 doesn't necessarily make # 1 any less true if you believe programming the classics all-the-time is too conservative. # 3 seems to work against the very ballets -- the Lilac Gardens -- that people associate most strongly with ABT. So, you're right back to the problem of conservative programming again. The fourth thing that occurs to me is the nature of the ABT audience itself. Is it crying out for less conservative programming at the Met? You could argue that that is precisely what an artistic director should do -- audience preferences be damned. But I have to ask the list members (since I wasn't there) -- what was the reaction to all the changes the Baryshnikov regime made in the 1980s? Not just, as Alexandra has pointed out, downplaying core ballets of the past but also bringing in so many "moderns" -- Cunningham, Taylor, Tharp, Morris, etc. -- to freshen the repertory. What was the reaction from the "average viewer"? OK, this is starting to ramble so over and out for now!

In the horror genre, it seems like there are so few new ideas at the moment. Either studios are remaking classic horror movies from the 1970s -- Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes -- or they are remaking horror films from Asia. Nicole Kidman appears to be the current queen of Pointless Remakes of Classic Films, what with her appearance in the Stepford Wives remake and the current Invasion Of the Body Snatchers remake.

papeetepatrick: I had several problems with Rob Zombie's take on Halloween. The violence, nudity and foul language are just about beyond belief. I'm a horror movie fan but even I found the combination of the three to be unpleasant in the extreme. The structure of the movie is also very problematic. The first hour of the movie deals exclusively with the Michael Myers character as a young boy/man -- his murder of his sister Judith, his commital to a mental institution where his mother and the Dr. Loomis character (Donald Pleasance in the original; Malcolm McDowell here) try -- ineffectually -- to reach this monstrous creature. This part of the movie is actually somewhat tolerable as his mother and Dr. Loomis eventually both reach the conclusion that their efforts won't make any difference. The problem that results, however, from devoting the first hour or so to Michael Myers in a movie that is only 1 hour 45 minutes in length is that most of the events from the 1978 Carpenter version get compressed into about 45 minutes of screentime in the 2007 Zombie version. Character development flies out the window at this point as there isn't any time to include all the set piece murders and develop the characters in any meaningful way. The three female leads really suffer as a result of this. One of the glories of the original Carpenter film is that he took a lot of time to develop the characters of Laurie, Annie and Lynda and make them likeable. In the 2007 version, you hardly get to know Laurie, Annie and Lynda before the mayhem starts (and what you do get to know isn't all that likeable.) Horror films like this just don't work when the leads (especially the lead heroine) are a mystery to the audience. (And it doesn't help that the three female leads in the 2007 version don't come close to the three female leads in the 1978 version in terms of acting ability.) The third problem I had with the remake is that the special atmosphere of the original is all but absent here. Even though John Carpenter filmed the original in California, he really made you believe that the events of the film were occurring in a small town in Illinois. Likewise, he really captured the special atmosphere peculiar to Halloween night. The remake doesn't have any particular flavor in terms of its locale and the Halloween atmosphere is all but missing. Honestly, it could have been happening on the 4th of July for all the difference it makes in this film. The movie does have some good things in it. The young actor who plays Michael Myers age 10 is very good and Tyler Mane, who plays the adult Michael Myers, is very frightening. He is very tall, very physically commanding and he moves very fluidly. (Did he have dance training at some point?) The music is excellent -- the film uses the classic theme and other music cues and songs from the original and its sequels. Still, I would have to qualify this remake as a creative failure overall.

I saw Rob Zombie's remake of John Carpenter's 1978 horror masterpiece Halloween this weekend. Apart from being one of the most unpleasant hour-and-forty-five-minutes I have ever spent in a movie theater, watching this creatively pointless (if not commercially pointless) remake of a superior film made me wonder what other classic films have been remade in artistically inferior/worthless versions. Suggestions? (I'll be happy to give my thoughts about this remake of Halloween if anyone is interested.)

I did some Jane Seymour research: The friendsofjane.com site states that Jane Seymour trained as a ballet dancer, made her debut with the London Festival Ballet in her teens and appeared with the Kirov Ballet (!) at the age of 17. She sustained a career-ending injury at that age so she turned to acting . . .

ABC has announced the new cast for Season 5: Melanie Brown a.k.a. Mel B. a.k.a. Scary Spice (singer - The Spice Girls) Sabrina Bryan (singer - The Cheetah Girls) Helio Castroneves (pro race car driver) Mark Cuban (owner - Dallas Mavericks/loudmouth) Jennie Garth (actress - Beverly Hills 90210) Josie Maran (model) Cameron Mathison (actor - All My Children) Floyd "Pretty Boy" Mayweather (pro boxer) Wayne Newton (If you have to ask, you'll never know . . . ) Marie Osmond (See Wayne Newton) Albert Reed (model) Jane Seymour (actress) Initial thoughts: Josie and Albert are in trouble already -- no fan bases. Cameron should go far based on his rabid soap fan base. Didn't Jane Seymour start out as a ballet dancer?

Michelle Pfeiffer also did her own singing in Grease 2. She gives a good performance in an otherwise silly movie.

Brooke Astor's death, coming hard on the heels of the deaths of Nan Kempner and Pat Buckley, really brings a certain era to a close. The New York social/charity scene will go on, of course, but I doubt we will see again the kind of grand personalities who so dominated post-World War II/pre-millenium New York.

I'll play . . . Television Show: Charlie's Angels - Seasons Two and Three w/ Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd. (Sorry Farrah fans but I never got her appeal.) For me, Version 2.0 of the Townsend Detective Agency was the best version of the team. Although I do have a weakness for the Season 4 adventure set on The Love Boat! Movie Valley Of the Dolls w/ Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Sharon Tate and Susan Hayward. Sooooo many memorable lines ("They drummed you right out of Hollywood. So you come crawling back to Broadway. Well, Broadway doesn't go for booze and dope!!!") and situations (pretty much any scene with Patty Duke in it). Everyone says this movie is ridiculous and over-the-top but open up any current issue of US Weekly and Star and then tell me that Valley Of the Dolls didn't predict the four horsewomen -- Paris, Lindsay, Nicole and Britney -- of the show biz apocalypse by four decades . . .

FYI -- The June 2007 issue of Dance Europe has a multi-page review of the company's 30th anniversary gala.

Thanks to those who replied. I'm curious as to whether or not the all Balanchine evening referenced drew primarily from ABT's core audience or from City Ballet's core audience. (In other words, is there a lot of crossover between the two companies in certain instances? Just wondering . . . )

For calendar year 2008 (centenaries for Antony Tudor and Jose Limon): Tudor's Romeo and Juliet (Too costly to revive? Is it even revivable -- three decades and counting -- at this point?? Too much of a "legend in abstentia"???) Limon's The Moor's Pavane (Repertory staple during the 70s but worth reviving when the company already has its big-budget version of Othello?) Limon's solo Chaconne for Herman Cornejo at City Center (Everyone's always complaining that he doesn't have enough repertory . . . ) I would also like to see the Limon Company revive its production of Dark Elegies for the Tudor centenary . . . give me a second to put on my flame retardant suit before all the posts start rolling in about what a bad idea that is!

Greetings from the spa! Week Ten/Finale Ratings: Performances - 4th (20.2 million viewers) Results -- 3rd (23.0 million viewers) Interestingly, the finale did not pull in nearly as many viewers as the finales for Season 2 (27.2 million) or Season 3 (27.5 million) did. I suspect that either the show is starting to cool a little or the absence of a household name sports star like Emmitt Smith or Jerry Rice hurt the ratings (or possibly both.) Off to a little luxury by the spa pool!

Miliosr Report - Week Ten General Thoughts The finale was two hours long but felt like twenty. Still, it was nice to see so many members of the DwtS "family" again, especially Kelly, Drew and Emmitt. I haven't mentioned him much this season but I want to make a special shout-out to host Tom Bergeron. He really is a wonderful host who keeps the show moving and keeps the mood light with his many jokes and quips. Grade for Tom: A+ Scored from the Judges The judges awarded 259 points. 01 Apolo/Julianne 88pts 34.0% 34.0 02 Joey/Kym 86pts 33.2% 33.2 03 Laila/Maks 85pts 32.8% 32.8 Miliosr's Thoughts Round One - Judges Choice My favorite was Laila and Maks' paso doble which was suitably dramatic. Apolo and Julianne's rhumba was sexy but I thought there was too much posing at times. Joey and Kym's cha cha cha did nothing for me -- it looked too much like an n' Sync number insted of a cha cha cha. Round One to Laila and Maks. Round Two - Freestyle As she herself admitted, Laila was at a disadvantage in this round since her size precluded the kind of lifts that Apolo/Julianne and Joey/Kym used to maximum possible advantage. As a result, Laila and Maks' Michael Jackson-inspired freestyle looked dull and static compared to what the other two teams had to offer. Joey and Kym's freestyle to Donna Summer's "Last Dance" was my favorite. They had great moves at every turn and the lifts at the end were insane. Apolo and Julianne's freestyle was also quite good and Apolo proved himself to be a more than adequate breakdancer. Round Two to Joey and Kym. Round Three - Performers Choice This was tough to rate as I thought both Apolo and Julianne's paso doble and Laila and Maks' mambo were superb. I didn't love Joey and Kym's reprise of their Star Wars-themed tango any better the second time around. I'm sorry but the music just killed it stone dead! Round Three to Apolo/Julianne and Laila/Maks The Winners As I predicted, Apolo and Julianne stormed to victory on the night. At the end of the day, they were the perfect pair for this show -- high-spirited and exuberant -- but without the baggage that Joey (too "clownish") and Laila (too "cold") had. Second-place finisher Joey confirms what I have said all along -- it doesn't pay to be the frontrunner on this show. John O'Hurley, Stacy Keebler, Mario Lopez and now Joey Fatone have all discovered that the audience likes an underdog and this year that underdog was Apolo. While I was hoping Laila would finish in second place, I'm comfortable with her finishing in third. She was my favorite of the season and, while she didn't win, I'm happy that she managed to crossover to an audience outside of the boxing world. I am concerned, however, that no female celebrity has finished higher than third place since Kelly Monaco won the coveted disco ball trophy in Season One. Has it gotten to the point where a female celebrity cannot win the competition? Let's hope not. Final Thoughts All in all, I thought this season was a nice rebound from Season Three. I still say Season Two is the gold standard for this show, though. Having spent the better part of the spring tracking this show (and watching The Amazing Race, American Idol, The Bachelor: Officer and a Gentleman and Shear Genius) I'm taking myself off to the spa to work off those extra calories I've put on recently: Too much reality TV + too many bon bons + too much chilled blush wine = spare tire Season Five in the fall!

The New York Times printed a short piece about Dance/NYC's 2006 census of NY dance makers (449 respondents) so I went to their site to take a look at the report. The findings are very interesting but there was one piece of information that really caught my eye: Only 15 respondents/companies (3.3% of total respondents) have budgets of $1 million or more but these 15 companies account for 83.7% of total dance expenses in NYC. Holy imbalance Batman!!!

Robert Gottleib has an interesting discussion of critical reactions (Macaulay's pan and Tobi Tobias' rave) to Doug Varone's Dense Terrain in his latest New York Observer column. Basically, he says it all comes down to a matter of taste!

Week Nine Ratings Performances -- 6th (19.6 million viewers) Results -- 8th (18.4 million viewers)

YouOverThere -- Alastair Macaulay shares your opinion of Doug Varone. He gave Varone's latest -- Dense Terrain -- a killing review in Friday's Times.

Thanks for the kind words mom2 . . . Miliosr Report - Week Nine General Thoughts I thought it was a nice change of pace to have Joaquin Cortes as the guest performer this week. He was a welcome break from some of the pop culture retreads who have "graced" the studio this season. Scores from the Judges The judges awarded 237pts (and too many perfect scores) this week. 01 Apolo/Julianne 60pts 25.3% 25.3 01 Laila/Maks 60pts 25.3% 25.3 02 Joey/Kym 59pts 24.9% 24.9 03 Ian/Cheryl 58pts 24.5% 24.5 Miliosr's Thoughts Ballroom Round I would have given this round to Apolo/Julianne's quickstep. This dance showed them at their best -- attractive, vivacious, having the time of their lives. I wasn't wild about Joey and Kym's foxtrot. I guess it was decent but, frankly, I was falling asleep during it. And Maks looked great in his Nehru jacket -- that's a tough look to pull off! Latin Round My preference was for Laila/Maks' cha cha cha but I have to say that Joey/Kym did what they had to in terms of galvanizing their audience with their jive. I agreed with Len that Apolo/Julianne's cha cha cha crossed that fine line between sexy and vulgar. Ian/Cheryl's jive/tribute to Elvis Presley was my least favorite dance of the round. Anyone who reads these reports on a regular basis knows I don't like gimmicky dances and this was very gimmicky. (The judges gave it a perfect score, though, so I suppose the limitation is mine and not theirs.) Farewell Steve Sanders Having escaped the Bottom Two last week, Ian and Cheryl met their fate this week. I have to say that their exit was a bittersweet one as Ian proved himself to be a dogged competitor and a decent dancer. Still, someone had to go this week and Ian and Cheryl were clearly the weakest remaining team (especially when it came to team chemistry.) Cheryl Burke didn't manage to three-peat this season but she did manage to elude the red light of doom once again -- the show didn't use the red light this week. Predictions We are down to the Final Three and my guess is that the competition is Apolo's to lose. Barring a complete collapse next week, I'm betting on a finishing order of Apolo-Joey-Laila (although my preference would be for Apolo or Laila finishing first with Joey finishing third behind both of them.) See you next week for the finale!