richard53dog

Hi Volkmar, Hilaire makes many comments on Bayadere and how he approached it on the "companion piece" to the POB Bayadere DVD, the one called "Dancer's Dream - Bayadere". I've seen two of these POB production documentaries, this one and the one for Raymonda. I've found them fascinating explanations of the details that went into putting the productions together. I haven't seen the Sleeping Beauty one yet, but I'm looking forward to that one Richard

Cojocaru as Giselle in NYC? Richard

Diana and Acteon Reyes and Cornejo L'Alesienne Abbagnoto and Carbone Giselle Cojocaru and Koggorg Rubies Vishneva and Fadeev Corsair Ansanelli and Corella Carmen Lacarra and Pierre Steps in the Street Modern Dance ensemble La Sylphide Lunkina and Cote (subbing for Gudanov) Romeo and Juliet Vishneva and Fadeev Kazimir's Colours Abbagnoto and Carbone La Prisonierre Lacarra and Pierre Don Q Cojocaru and Kobborg Defile All (ballet) dancers Paganini was also listed in the program with Lukina and Gudanov but was not performed

One more thought on the gala, not so positive. I think Alexandra Ansanelli could use some coaching in "Imperial" style Petipa. While she's SO strong technically, she could have had more expressive arms and more lightness and buoyancy. In the silly Diana thing(at least she didn't go prancing around with a bow), Reyes, not a great favorite of mine normally, gave an example of this kind of lightness and delicacy.

Sigh.I would have thought the same, I shuddered when I looked at the program and saw THREE. And I thought I was going to expire during L'Arlesienne. I hate the Carmen but last night it worked for me. Also La Prisonniere, although pretty derivative, also worked for me. No doubt I really responded to Lacarra and Pierre. On Herman. He did some spectacular feats, but I missed real momentum in Diana and Acteon. But Zerbinetta, I thought I was going to stop breathing during the barrel turns. Amaaaazing!!! On Alina. Zerbinetta, you work out a scheme and I'll help you execute it. We can do it as a tag team. What a sweetheart she is, I hope to see her in the full Giselle sometime soon. Another biggie for me was Vishneva and Fadeev. I liked them as much as McBride and Villella, and that's saying a lot. Even more than before, I'm looking forward to seeing Vishneva a few months from now with ABT at the Met. Richard

corrival, I saw him a couple of times last Fall in City Center and agree he looked great. It sounds a bit shallow but I think a lot of it was because his head wasn't over encumbered by some kind of cap covered with fake flowers . I'm old enough that I remember that ladies at the beach used to wear rubber swimming caps, covered in rubber flowers and a lot of Spectres look to me like they are wearing the same kind of thing. Richard

Well this looks like a pretty old thread but it seems to have been revived, so here goes. To be honest I don't remember what the first ballet I saw was. Back in 1968, while I was in high school, I inherited a 4 performance subscription to NYCB. I went and enjoyed it, but didn't have too much of an idea what I was seeing. With the four performances though I saw a good cross section of the lead dancers at that time in NYCB. I remember seeing Eddie Villella, that was the one name I recognized. Probably that was those were the times that I saw him that he was least affected by injuries. Ok, that's pretty lame, so let me give my first performance that was important to me. Again, I was still in high school but had a teacher that was a big ballet fan. So she gathered up a group of us and got us to buy a whole batch of tickets for the 1969 Spring season of the Royal Ballet tour (in NY) So my first real performance (that I remember) was Romeo and Juliet with Fonteyn and Nureyev. Later we saw Fonteyn and Nureyev in Giselle, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty. I also cut school and went in to get standing room for a big gala that night where F&N danced Le Corsair pdd and Pelleas and Melisande . It sure launched my days as a ballet fan! Richard

Gillian Murphy and Sofiane Sylve

How about Ivan Nagy?

Well, this is going back a long time to my college days. Me and my-later-and-now ex-wife, plus another friend were a trio of horrible backstage groupies. I think back now and shudder a bit. This was the Summer of 1971, Makarova was doing her first NYC ABT Swan Lakes. My ex gave her a white porcelain swan after one performance. At the next, she gave Makarova a black porcelain swan. Subtle, huh? Makarova always seemed very pleased to see us. Maybe she was just very diplomatic or maybe it did mean something to her, since she had so recently defected, that she was getting a whole new set of fans. To answer the third question, Makarova gave my ex a bottle of very expensive perfume from Paris for her birthday. I think it was a kind not available here. Also, later she gave me a slipper and my ex a pair of slippers. I have long ago retired my autograph hound mode. Richard

Ha, ha. How true! But yes to Balanchine's T&V (but not the rest of Suite #3) and yes to Concerto Barocco Also for Balanchine ( to go up to the 5 limit) Nutcracker, Symphony in C Swan Lake

Exactly, that's why this DVD is so disappointing. The casts make nothing new of the roles. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> But Marc, this is really two different issues. I agree that any performance is a disappointment if the performer(s) don't put a personal stamp on it. But this can occur with casting by type as well as casting against type. I would rather see a "miscast" dancer take a role and make it their own rather than one cast according to specs that adds nothing personal or new. richard

Jane, This sounds like a hoot. I have a lot of old opera programs and magazines. There are many different ones that feature prominent opera singers stating that they find smoking Chesterfields, or Lucky Strikes , etc. so "soothing" to their voices. It was a different era! At least in the US, today smokers need to hide their shame lest they be considered outcasts and menaces to society. A former tobacco head, Richard

Well. I have seen many , many performances of different genres of performing arts. I will admit that I haven't seen that much of the Kirov. But I find in general that casting according to "spec" is often very limiting, narrowing down options. There as been much of what has been called "miscasting" in opera, ballet, and theater that has surprisingly "worked". Of course, it can also fail miserably. If you don't take risks, you limit your horizons. Would Gelsey Kirkland have been thought a natural for Balanchine's Firebird? I don't think so, but eventually, after struggling with it for a while, I thought she evolved it into an amazing performance. Now Balanchine's version was certainly different from Fokine's. Stravinsky was said to like Balanchine's version more. But there was much synergy between the two men. I think part of this whole discussion is is that people tend (myself included!) to have very strong opinions about their preferences in casting, this is a mix of subjective and objective components . Richard

BalletNut, I hope you enjoy this. I did. I think part of the comments are connected to what you relate to. If you are looking for a version of these four pieces as you would see them in the theater, then you may be disappointed, a lot of the camera work is close up or at medium distance. There is some, enough for me, long shots to see the piece as a whole. Also if you are a purist, you may have a problem. I'm pretty philosophical in this regard, personally I think it's hard to really be convinced that the choreography of pieces even as recent as the Fokine ones are truly exact images of the original. Overall my favorite was the Firebird, I really enjoyed the dancing, the set, costumes, and yes the camera work also. I loved Vishneva in this; I'm hoping she's still in the Stars of the 21st Century gala in NYC next Monday There is also another fairly recent release on DVD, the Return of the Firebird. This is much more an Andris Liepa thing (he's credited on the Kirov/Nijinsky thing, but he's much more a part of this) But this is even further from a documentation of a stage performance. It is extremely opened up for filming, and is almost overwhelmed by the camera work and the overpowering feeling of decadence and perfume, particularly Sheherazade. This is almost like a crossover version. The program here is different in that it's Petroushka, Firebird and Sheherazade. And some people I know that are not particularly interested in ballet found this fascinating. But it's not for ballet purists, I think you also have to be a film fan for this. But I like a lot of the classic silent films (think Douglas Fairbanks in the silent Thief of Bagdad) and so I enjoyed this also. Richard

Oberon, that's an interesting thought. Like Sylve, Hayden had a very sharp , powerful attack. Also like Sylve ( a new favorite of mine) Melissa was a dancer you simply could not NOT notice, if that makes sense. Hayden could be an almost fierce presence on stage. but she could also appear very witty.

No, no, no. I really knew it was just in jest. The Passaic River really used to be horrible. I've lived in this area my whole life. I grew up in a small town on the east side of the river and as a kid would go to the river bank, you could see huge pipes coming out of the factories dumping this horrible looking fluid into the river. This was the 60s, a whole different era. Honestly, no I wouldn't go into the river even today. But it is largely cleaned up. There are fish in it and fishermen actually fish off the piers. It's been many years since the last three headed fish was spotted (joke). Again there are still bad sites along the river, the worst ones are in Belleville, but like Elizabeth, no one would recognize that. As an alternative to the Pine Barrens, we could keep Hillarion in NJ, and have Myrtha have her minions push him into a cranberry bog

I think I already posted a name or two but I'd like to add another one. Someone may have already mentioned her, but based on her POB Sleeping Beauty, I would add Aurelie Dupont to the list. She fit the title perfectly! Richard

..... Newark, New Jersey, on the banks of the lower Passaic River, which everyone knows is contaminated with hazardous substances including dioxin, PCBs, DDT, heavy metals and polyaromatic hydrocarbons, which render a heavy, ominous haze to the atmosphere. Mercifully for Hilarion, he dies the instant he hits the water (making the cement shoes totally unnecessary). <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Gee, I better move quick! Living in horrible Newark, NJ, I may start to glow in the dark. Folks, my neighborhood, in Newark, has been granted Historical Landmark status for it's beautifully perserved early 20th Century houses. And it is backed by Branchbrook Park, designed by the the guy who designed Central Park in NYC. It's a much smaller prototype. The park also sort of competes with DC on the Spring Japanese cherry blossom displays. While it doesn't approach DC in the number of trees, it does have more varieties, so the display lasts longer than in DC. So we are even sort of famous here. If Hillarion gets tossed into Forest Hill, he might even want to stay. It';s not exactly a fate worse than death. Look, I know the whole scenario is just a whimsical thing and isn't serious (I hope) but getting where I live picked on all the time gets old. Richard

Oh yes, I saw Serrano in a number of things. She was a very strong technician, not only the jumps but her turns and balances. This was the last couple of seasons before she retired, but she still was very impressive. She was in the only dual cast Swan Lake I ever saw. Someone ( maybe Toni Lander?) cancelled a matinee. Eleanor d'Antuono and Serrano each had a performance that weekend so they each took on one of the roles. Bruce Marks had quite a time trying to partner them, with what must have been very little rehearsal. Richard

Well, I haven't actually received it yet, but I bought a copy of the POB Sleeping Beauty, the ballet itself, not the Dancer's Dream on Ebay last week. The dealer was in Canada and the listing states NTSC-Region all, so that should work in the US. I think I have seen it on some of the online DVD comparson shopper sites (www.dvdpricesearch.com, www.bizrate.com, and www.shopzilla.com) I forget who had it listed, but the price I got the thing for on Ebay was less.

Yeah, I find this something neat too. Also it seems so amazing that you can get stations all over the globe, no limitation on how far radio broadcast signals reach.

She did one really impressive balance in Apollo and then another in Agon. I was thinking that these were nothing like the rocking horse ones she did in the Rose Adagio in Sleeping Beauty DVD , but honestly, she does better balances later on in that performance too. I think she is much better in the NYCB rep than in more classical stuff. Here her athletic body and what appears to be almost superhuman strength and accuracy seem to a great fit richard

In a PBS program on American Ballet Theatre several years ago, Susan Jaffe praises her longtime partner Jose Carreno for his confidence and says that it helps her dance better. I can't remember her exact words, but she says something to the effect of "it makes a tremendous difference to me to have a partner who lacks nerves." <{POST_SNAPBACK}> On the same program, which has been released on DVD as ABT Variety and Virtuosity, Ferri says of Bocca, I need a partner that can look me straight in the eye. She says with Bocca, "we hardly have to talk, we hardly even have to rehearse..it's like when you find the love of your life" Bocca agrees and says "it's hard to explain"

Yikes, I've been having trouble keeping track of what day and week I'm on lately. I hope I'm in the right week here. Jan 27. Apollo, Orpheus, Agon. Although I had a few nitpicking things, I enjoyed this tremendously last night. I've never seen Orpheus, except for some documentary footage. I found this piece tremendously moving. Some of the dancing wasn't exactly ideal but it wasn't enough to take away from my overall very positive impression. Although I liked them, I didn't think that Hubbe and Sylve completely "owned" their roles. I loved Whelan though. and it was wonderful for me to see Apollo after a gap of a long time. Agon looked good to me, almost all the dancers did a great job. I have a bone to pick with Kowroski. As good as she was, particularly in all the intricate parnering moves, I dislike a performer that looks annoyed that someone is watching them. Now Agon is not a "cutsie" piece and a perky look wouldn't be appropriate but an elegant coolness would be. Kowroski seemed just sulky to me. Overall though I was happy to see three such towering works Richard