OKOK

Thank you. This was really wonderful to see.

I just watched the PDD with Dowell and while there were some beautiful moments, on the whole I did not find it as appealing as others I have seen. I strongly preferred Dowell's performance to Kirkland's. Her's seemed a combination of spastic and affected. I did not think of a young and naive girl making a leap of faith. Rather, I just saw a very affected ballerina.

In the Osipova-Vasiliev performance, I also recall that he had two blips, one a hand down, but nothing looked like it would have caused an injury although you never can tell. I do not recall any actual misses by Osipova, although I did wonder what was happening with the garden scene. I was hoping to be wowed by the Odalisques but was not. They were good but had some problems with spacing between them and the unison was not as spot on as I was expecting it to be. It is interesting that others report the two leads were having an off night. Maybe that is why I left feeling like the ballet and the two leads, while certainly impressive, were not at that stratispheric level that I was hoping to see and that I semi-expected from the videos I have seen of Osipova, especially in Don Q, though I understand videos and live performances are quite different animals. I have only been learning about and attending the ballet for the past few years, so there is a lot I do not know and have yet to put in context. In the first half hour of the ballet, during a sequence of three lifts, Medora splits her legs and then makes a diamond shape (toes pointing towards each other) before Conrad places her down. When I saw it, I thought WHY? Despite the elegance of Osipova, it looked vulgar. I am wondering if anyone knows if this is part of the original choreography. After the ballet, I was speaking to someone -- also not a longtime ballet-goer -- who brought up the same thing and said that it was noted in the Washington Post review. Also, how much latitude would a ballerina have to change a portion of the choreography if she felt uncomfortable with it?

I went to this afternoon's performance. It was is my first time seeing Le Corsaire and altogether I enjoyed it although I did not leave saying WOW as I have with other ballets. A few thoughts: Natalia Osipova was 90% as good as I had hoped she would be from reviews I have read and videos I've seen. She is a very effective actress and able to convey humor without approaching a slapstick feeling. Vasiliev did swaggering very well. It had the right blend of elegance and machismo. I have mixed feelings about corps scenes in most ballets. The visuals are so impressive, and then so often the shoes are *so* noisy! The garden scene was beautiful but very noisy. It was noticable even when only one or two were dancing and made a startling contrast with Osipova whose shoes I could hear on only two or three occasions.

He also participated in the Russian skating show Ice Age, where celebrities are paired with champion skaters and they create new routines approximately each week. His partner was Olympic silver and bronze medalist and world champion Irina Slutskaya. You can watch the programs online here http://www.1tv.ru/ice2/prv=27&pg=1&pro=1#pr_27 though you have to do a bit of searching for them.

I too cast my vote for Irina in the pure glam category. I recall reading an interview where Maxim said something to the effect that it was important for a ballerina to have grace ingrained in her every movement, even if it just picking up a glass. I don't know what Irina is like off stage, but I do agree that neither elegance nor glamour (which are different) are qualities which can be put on at will.

...or Saturday's evening performance with Ananiashvili? Did all of us BalletTalkers "call it quits" after Friday's sublime experience with Veronika Part? Were there curtain calls of any type at either Saturday performance? I went to the Saturday evening performance with Ananiashvili. I do not know much about ballet so cannot give detailed technical comments, but my overthoughts were: 1. Simkin is amazing. I look forward to seeing much more of him. 2. Nina is so amazingly fluid with her arms. The fouettes seemed solid with only a slight bit of traveling towards the end. 3. The first few minutes of Jared Matthews's Act Three von Rothbart were delightfully wicked, but then he seemed to taper off and not give it the zest I thought the role could support without being over the top. 4. My favorite part: I have to say, with all the remarkable dancing, was Prince Siegfried going to the woods, telling Benno he wanted to be left alone. All the elements came together and this part was so haunting for me. They received a standing ovation at the end.

No Dvorovenko and Beloserkovsky? That is dissappointing and hopefully will soon be changed.

I am going to see Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky in The Merry Widow on July 5. It will be my first time at the ballet in New York, and I am very much looking forward to it. Does anyone have suggestions of things in particular I should watch for or take note of, especially with these dancers? Thanks in advance.

Thank you for all the helpful comments and suggestions. I not only want to see more ballet but to continue learning more about it as well, and I have taken your opinions and suggestions to heart for future (as well as current!) reference. Natalie

Thank you for the comments, and I too had reservations about "judging" from rehersals. I realize that dancers mark, just as skaters run through programs without jumps or perhaps even compete, fall on jumps, but still make you think that the falls don't matter -- the choreography and musicality was otherwise first rate. I know there is a difference between skating and ballet. But you can see the foundation on which the finished performance will rest. I did not see any of that.

I am new to ballet performances and the Washington area (my real love is figure skating, and the skaters I admire most are the more musical, "balletic" ones), and after having read Farrell's autobio, I was excited to have tickets to the rehersal on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. My mom and I went together, and we shared the same opinion of what we saw. From reading the reviews above, I have to ask myself what I am missing, and I hope that some of you can offer suggestiong that may help me figure it out. I was completely underwhemed by the rehersal. The dancers -- without exception -- seemed unmusical, stiff, and, in the limited amount of other ballet I have seen, I have never heard such loud shoes. I saw nothing beautiful, genuinely expressive, or even impressive. I actually only saw La Source and part of Clarinade, and I was so sorely underwhelmed by that point that I left. I have had experienses in the past where I really have to give things a chance and let them grow on me, and I was/am hoping this will happen. I am hoping that some of you can offer some suggestions for how to let this happen. The performance I saw last month of the Washington Ballet in Serenade, Carmen, and Nine Sinatra songs was wonderful, and I was looking forward to seeing more of Balanchine, because I have read a good deal about him and his ballerinas. I thought La Source seemed like a parody and Clarinade was just sleazy, but not sleazy in a fun, fanciful, or suave way, but just ugly and the kind of thing you think you should look away from. I guess my bottom line is -- I saw absolutely nothing beautiful but many things to offend the senses, from the stiffness of the choreography to the lack of grace of the dancers to the costumes. In writing this, the word I have been trying to avoid because I think it sounds so cruel is "cheap," but I finally think I should just use the word because it sums up my overall impression of the ballets, the choreography, and the costumes. The thing is -- these dancers have to be quite talented to dance for Suzanne Farrell. I just don't understand what I am not seeing, given that so many are impressed and I am so unimpressed!