EvilNinjaX

There was a video about Sylvie Guillem  back in the 80's I believe. I have some clips from it, but would like to know it's name and also if it's still available! Thank you!

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Hi, I think there may be 2 documentaries (at least that i know of) of Sylvie Guillem. The versions that i have seen that are available have both been from Japan (one of which i have, the other i do not).

SYLVIE GUILLEM http://www.fairynet.co.jp/www/on-shop/html/av/PL-130555.html

i have this one. it is very good, but has non-removable japanese subtitles, though spoken language is englihs. has white swan, black swan, don Q variations as well as bits of modern pieces and interview with her, british ballet authorities/writers.

GUILLEM http://www.fairynet.co.jp/www/on-shop/html/av/TD-220265.html

this one i don't have and apparently it is out of print (unverified)

There are also

MARGUERITE ET ARMAND and EVIDENTIA available on dvd.

-goro-

Too bad about your sister, Goro, but please tell us how you liked the performance.

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It was Jose Carreno and Julie Kent; Alessandra Ferri was scheduled and was the reason I bought the tickets in the first place, but apparently she danced 4 Giselles in 4 days and injured herself. They were simply magnificent. From what i've seen of Kent in the past, i'd always found her sort of cold, but she radiated sweetness and then her descent into Ophelia-dom was shuddering. Carreno was just amazing. His variation in the 2nd act was so beautiful but so moving at the end (as he finished his 7-8 pirouetes, he started to sway for the last 2 and then his arms splayed out and he hung for just a moment on demi-pointe and then collapsed.... wow).

Herman Cornejo and Xiomara Reyes (how do you pronounce that name, is it "Shaomara" or "Zhaomara" or ..? ) were Peasnt PDD and they were splendid. Cornejo of course just blew everyone away when he came in with his ginormous front-double-cabrioles (Kumakawa is the only person i've ever seen to have bigger cabrioles than Cornejo).

Corps was incredible. I'm just not used to seeing a corps dance like that. Each dancer was dancing with such presence and (at times) with the energy of a principal. They received a well-deserved ovation. They really elevated this from a great ballet to a transcendent experience.

I've only ever seen GISELLE on video and seeing it live with ABT mesmerized me and entranced me, sent shivers up and down my spine, elevated my spirit and then dashed my heart. I loved every minute of it.

When it was over, i was emotionally spent.

I've enjoyed ballets before and "LOVED" them before, but GISELLE just took a hold of me in a completely different way; it wasn't just the dancing; it was the acting.

-goro-

I went to LA to visit my sister and to go see ABT's Tchaikovsky mixed program and Giselle. I took my sister to Giselle and we had great seat at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (Founder Club Circle, Row G, center). It was incredible... unfortunately, my sister fell asleep before the Peasant Pas de Deux... *sigh*

I feel bad mostly, b/c the cancellation line was so long, that there were obviously many people that would have appreciated it. i'd rather have given one of THEM the ticket.

-goro-

ABT's Swan Lake (retstaged by Kevin McKenzie) starring Gillian Murphy and Angel Corella is going to be broadcast on PBS in June (i heard June 20th, but i'm not sure).

The PBS.org website

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/swanlake/

says they will launch the web companion on 6/1.

here's the text:

"Swan Lake" is the most popular of all classical ballets. From its first incarnation in 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow to the many productions mounted around the globe today, this timeless story of a young man's love and eventual betrayal of a swan queen, set to one of Tchaikovsky's most enduring scores, continues to engage audiences and inspire new generations of dancers. Recorded in high-definition television at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, this special captures all the grandeur of ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie's visually stunning new production, which was hailed by THE WALL STREET JOURNAL as "giving the 123-year-old ballet fresh splendor, depth and momentum." The elegant production stars ABT's newest sensation, Gillian Murphy, as the Swan Queen, and the great Angel Corella as her suitor, Prince Siegfried.

Watch for the launch of the Web companion on June 1, 2005.

Hey EvilNingaX!

That would be great. I will certainly pay for all shipping costs. I can email or PM you my mailing address, you can let me know how much it cost to mail and I will get a check back to you immediately.

Does this sound ok???

-Joseph

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yah. sure. i'll just send it 1st class so shipping is just like $1 or somehting... cool. i was wondering what i was going to do with the disc (i didn't really feel like tossing it).

email me you addy (evilninjax@gmail.com) and i'll get it out by the weekend.

-goro-

Does anyone know where I can get a copy of the Giselle DVD with Alessandra Ferri from La Scala? If it is not available anymore, does anyone have it???

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i have the disc. if you want it I'll give it to you. it's an ex-rental from netflix that i had lost during a move and by the time i'd found it, i'd already notified them it was lost.

I've since bought the disc so i donut need it. It's the disc and a sleeve, no amaray or art.

lmk

-goro-

Thanks, EvilNinjaX, for bringing these to our attention.  They look interesting, but probably won't get much of a marketing push in the US.

The Japanese Shall We Dance -- is that the Astaire-Rogers?

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SHALL WE DANCE? is not the astaire-rogers; in fact, not a musical, but a drama about ballroom dancing and how it gave meaning to a japanese salaryman's life.

here's the amazon link to it :

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...&s=dvd&n=507846

again, this is the miramax'd edit of it, which is painful to watch when you've seen the original.

and here are a couple of links for the other movies:

Hana and Alice:

http://www.dvddebate.com/modules.php?name=...rticle&sid=5010

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews8/hana-and-alice.htm

Flying Boys:

http://www.dvddebate.com/modules.php?name=...rticle&sid=5144

-goro-

I'm not sure if this is quite the right place for this, but...

i've recently watched 2 very nice movies that have ballet as a major story element.

1. HANA AND ALICE (japanese) - coming of age story of 2 high school aged girls (14ish) and the trials and tribulations they face. They are fast friends and both take ballet at the same studio, but as the year progresses, they find themselves on different paths.

2. FLYING BOYS (korean) - high school graduate boy has to take the exam to get into college (in Korea and Japan, the method of getting into college is much more difficult than here). He, and some of his friends, ends up in a ballet class and struggles with the embarassment of that. By the end, of course, he's grown to enjoy it. Along the way, there's this girl....

and then There's the Japanese DVD of SHALL WE DANCE? (the one that the JLo and Gere version is a remake of), which is released on 4/8. There is a US dvd released by Miramax, but true to Miramax form, it is edited down by nearly 20mins. The Japanese DVD is the full version and is absolutely wonderful.

-goro-

The romantic ballet "La Sylphide" (Pierre Lacotte version) will be released on dvd in may in Europe and during spring/summer 2005 in the U.S. and Canada according to the website http://www.tdk-music.com/. It was filmed last year at the Paris Opera and it is interpretated by Aurélie Dupont as the Sylphide and Mathieu Ganio as James. It is different from Bournonville version (music: Lovensjkold) as Pierre Lacotte's choreography is based on Philippe Taglioni's work and Schneitzhoeffer's music. Mime is also less important than in Bournonville's ballet. I really love that ballet and this romantic repertoire. Pierre Lacotte is a kind of archeologist who tries to bring a new life to the ballets of the romantic period. Unfortunately, I don't know Bournonville ballet which in never dance in France. Could someone talk about it more precisely?

[snip-edited by admin].

Sorry, I posted twice, but I was wrong the first time.

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hi. i have the POB Dvd and it's wonderful. i watch bits of it often, have clips on my iPaq so i can watch it on the run, and have ripped the audio to listen to on my iPod.

[links to film clips deleted 27 Apr 05 by hockeyfan228 per Explanation of Video Policy]

-goro-

Goro, this is a question to pose on our sister site, Ballet Talk for Dancers.  You'll have to register there, too, as the boards are now separate.  This board is for discussion of ballet from the point of view of the audience.

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ok-thanks.

-goro-

I'm going out to visit some friends in Cincinnati for a week. I've got a couple of adult open classes at Cincy Ballet that looks promising. Anyone else know of good places to recommend to take an adult open class?

My friends live in Westchester, OH and so are also near Kentucky (i guess).

any help appreciated.

btw, we miss CB's performance of PETER PAN by a couple of weeks

-goro-

This is a very interesting thread. We have a million different explanations of why men don't attend the ballet, yet for women, including myself, it seems like there are two simple (intertwined) reasons - money and motherhood!!

However, I'm sure things are more complex than that. I think that many of the girls who danced with me throughout my childhood and adolescence do not attend ballet performances today because they aren't interested. I honestly don't recall that we were particularly encouraged or educated to be members of the audience - in my case, that came from home.  I also know that much of my knowledge (such as it is) of ballet history is self taught.

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interesting.

at a dance studio i was at for a while, the young dancers had no sense of who professional ballet dancers were. A few didn't know who Baryshnikov was! or Sylvie Guillem or Paloma Herrera or Jose Manuel Carreno etc...

-goro-

Not the Kremlin dvd, but the Tokyo Ballet dvd w/Malakhov and Vishneva. i've seen the dvd listed and wondered if anyone had seen it and could tell me if it's worth the effort to get.

Also if anyone has seen TOujours Jorge Donn or TokyoBallet Don Q, i'd be interested in any info you could pass along.

thx

-goro-

I just wanted to mention that www.dvdpacific.com is generally quite a bit cheaper than amazon for ballet dvds. They charge for shipping, but if you buy afew at a time, the shipping charge is fairly minimal and you still end up saving money.

btw, i have no financial connection with dvdpacific; i just have used them and found them to be quite reliable (their customer service is quite good, giving an email response within 24 hrs generally!) and inexpensive.

-goro-

I've been at many performances (but fewer in more recent years) where the audience has gone wild over the athletic feats -- even an arabesque penchee.  But if that kind of excitement lures them back, sooner or later they'll discover there's more to it than that.  I hope. 

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This reminds me of a NY Times review, perhaps 5 years back, of a set by tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman at the Village Vanguard, where the audience was said to cheer as if at an NBA game. With its history of “cutting contests,” there is more of a precedent for this is jazz than in ballet (to my knowledge), but it still strikes me as a sadly diminished reaction. I got a thrill from Michael Jordan’s ability to hang in the air like Barishnikov and make spontaneous choices like Suzanne Farrell. But neither moved me like Veronika Part in arabesque. But that’s me. Does the athletic touch the same place in the sports fan as the artistic does for us, or does it touch the same place 32 fouettes do? The latter, I suppose. To my mind, if beautiful women -- the one thing even a neophyte can appreciate -- don't open a heterosexual man's heart to the sublime, male athletic feats aren't likely to do it.

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i think it was in the BORN TO BE WILD : MEN OF ABT video where they showed a clip of Jose Manuel Carreno and his cousin(?) doing a pas de deux in Cuba. As they were performing, the crowd was going insane, whooping it up as if at a soccer (football!) game. it was the coolest thing. but then, you know about those fiery Cubans!

-goro-

As an aside to this topic:

During his Sunday Miami City Ballet pre-curtain talk, Edward Villella responded to a question about how to expand male interest in ballet:    "It's an effort to get men to think of us as terrifically refined athletes.  Perhaps it would help if we had scores."

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i find this statement very interesting. I think when you see a men's variation, you are profoundly aware that they are incredible athletes. But that's for about 1min and then maybe another 1min in the coda. ANd how many men's variations in a 2hr ballet? even with (say) 10, you get 10min out of 120. So then the rest of the ballet is pretty much girls dancing or "pretty" dancing (or whatever, just not "athletic" dancing). I think it's a bit of tough sell (these days) to get men to watch women in activities. Heck, i think the number of men at ballets prolly outnumbers the number of men at a WNBA game over the course of a year.

ANd yet, there woudl be a danger to "selling" ballet as athletic, b/c then you create an audience who is more interested in the athleticism than the artistry.

i'm just making this as an observation and offering no solution

-goro-

Diana Vishneva

Paloma Herrera

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these two just make me *swoooooN*

-goro-

I do agree with you that tall dancers (of both sexes) tend to be technically a bit less dazzling than their shorter colleagues.

i think the one exception that really sticks out in my mind is Nicholas Le Riche. He seems quite tall (and big all the way around) and leaps like a tiddlywink! And how tall is Desmond Richardson? he also seems of above-average height.

-goro-

Hi!

Well, I just wanted to start this topic about male dancers. (Just the same as the other topic about ballerinas).

Which do you prefer? Tall, huge dancers like Roberto Bolle and Igor Zelensky or smaller ones like Mikhail Baryshnikov and Manuel Legris?

Personally I think taller dancers have less difficulties finding a right partner while they sometimes lack of technique. Being a short dancers myself I love watching small dancers doing tricks the tall dancers can not do 

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or even shorter, like Tetsuya Kumakawa and Vadim Pisarev? i tend to like the shorter ones b/c i just love seeing that explosive virtuoso dancing (although some would say perhaps too pyrotechnical). I do think that a taller, more statuesque dancer fits roles of Prince (generally) better.

-goro-

I read your question in the Videos section and would have posted a followup, except i donut have permissions to post there. But still, i thot this would be of interest .

Note: EvilNinjaX doesn't yet have permission to post in this forum, but hockeyfan228 has merged this post into the thread with mohnurka's original question (30 Mar 05).

here are the VAI links to the videos/dvds that you were interestd in. It lists the excerpts and some of the dancers.

http://www.vaimusic.com/VIDEO/DVD_4241_Ananiashvili1-2.shtml

http://www.vaimusic.com/VIDEO/DVD_4242_Ananiashvili3-4.shtml

DVD Info: (vol 1-2)

1. Le Spectre de la Rose - Nina Ananiashvili, Farukh Ruzimatov

2. Swan Lake Act II Grand adage - Irma Nioradze, Yury Posokhov

3. Le Corsaire Pas d'esclave - Inna Dorofeeva, Vadim Pisarev

4. The Flower Festival at Genzano Pas de deux - Rose gad, Alexander Kolpin

5. The Sleeping Beauty Act II \I Grand pas de deux - Nina Anaiashvili, Aleksei Fadeechev

6. The Dying Swan - Nina Aniashvili

7. The Nutcracker Act II Grand pas de deux - Inna Dorofeeva, Vadim Pisarev

8. La Bayadere Variation - Tatyana Terekhova

9. La Sylphide Pas de deux - Rose Gad, Alexander Kolpin

10. Swan Lake Acgt III Grand pas de deux - Tatyana Terekhova, Yury Posokhov

11. Moods - Nina Ananiashvili, Aleksei Fadeechev

12. Gopak - Vadim Pisarev

13. Giselle Act II Pas de deux - Irma Nioradze, Yury Posokhov

14. Don Quixote Grand pas - Nina Ananiashvili, Farukh Ruzimatov, Irma Nioradze, Rose Gad

141 min. Japan, 1991.

DVD Info (vol 3-4)

1. Pas de Quatre - Nina Ananiashvili, Darci Kistler, Rose Gad, Tatyana Terekhova

2. Satanella Pas de deux - Inna Dorofeeva, Vadim Pisarev

3. Sunny - Andris Liepa

4. Grand pas Classique - Elisabeth Platel, Nicolas Le Riche

5. Raymonda Act I Pas de deux - Nina Ananiashvili, Aleksei Fadeechev

6. Bayaderka Pas de deux - Zhanna Ayupova, Igor Zelensky

7. The Talisman Pas de deux - Tatyana Terekhova, Yury Posokhov

8. Giselle Act II Pas de deux - Rose Gad, Alexander Kolpin

9. Don Quixote Grand pas - Nina Ananiashvili, Aleksei Fadeechev, ensemble

124 min. Japan, 1993.

the video and sound quality are so-so. the dvd is particularly disappointing b/c it is apparently jsut a vhs-dump and so looks and sounds rather poor. (on theplus side, it's not even css'd).

[removed link re: video policy]

-goro-

My father, an alumnus of an Ivy League university, class of 1938, used to interview applicants to his alma mater.  A liberal arts student (during the Depression, you'll note), he was always saddened when a student expecting to go into pre-med spoke of getting the Liberal Arts requirements "out of the way" as soon as possible.  (These were kids graduating high school in the 1970's and 1980's.)  I shared his reaction that I wanted be treated by doctor who was a well-rounded human being, rather than one who took the extra course in chemistry.

I think these days, the pressures to get into graduate school encourage early specialization. 

However, the research scientist spending 18 hrs a day trying to find a cure for Cancer; maybe you'd rather that he have been extremely focused even at an earlier time? My father is like this. He has been so absolutely narrow-focused his entire life and as a result has some amazing field-level achievements (including having the Nobel Prize winner in Medicine ask for some assistance in particular areas of research!).

I hesitate to fall too much on either side, b/c i've experience so much on either side. Personally, i enjoy being more eclectic, but i've found that my achievements HAVE been leser as a result. And i've had the good fortune of being around many interesting people with many intrests. I've also known some that are very very focused. They are quite interesting to be aroudn, as well. There are MANY dancers that fall into this category, as well...

But getting back to the so-called real world, if guys are (and this may be too strong a term) put off by dance, literature, opera, and the visual arts, why does this not hold (as) true for music, film or theater?

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I think many men (and women) do not like classical music, theatre, or "art films". Many friends see my dvd collection and have never even heard of most of them. One good friend of mine did not know what Cirque du Soleil was. And music is more popular than ever, but really is Britney "music"?!?!?

This may be a broader question dealing more about what is happening to Culture in the United States and why (maybe) it is being "paradigm shifted" away.

I read this amazing statistic in 1990-something: The illiteracy rate was at an all-time high (for the modern period, i assume), yet booksales were also at an all-time high! the natural conclusion is that the people that were reading were reading more but that fewer people wer reding. Cultural divide and all...

There's also been a huge change in affluence. There's all this "new money" and all the mindset changes that might invoke.

-goro-

Thanks for these responses!

Goro, why "Of course, things that we read were not Bronte sisters, Plath, or Rand" ?  When I was in high school and college both males and females read the Brontes and Austen (Rand was political, Platt was new then, so not on the required reading lists. I read her for pleasure, as I read many male novelists). Austen was read and studied for her use of the language and insights into character, not because she wrote about domestic matters.  Several boys in my high school class majored in English at college with the hopes of becoming writers or journalists.

That's part of the change. The men I know who are scientists also read poetry (and msytery stories) for fun, but they're older -- some in their 60s and 70s.  Most of the men I know who aren't directly involved in the art form who go to the ballet with pleasure are also in that age group. 

Is this just television?  Or has there been such a split between the genders that one doesn't read/partake in "the other's" interests?  And that, coupled with the push to the MBA and computers, making colleges more trade and technical schools now, with the liberal arts having only a vestigial presence?  (I noted, the last time I visited Georgetown, one of my alma maters, that the theology department now shares quarters with the business department and the latter has four times the faculty and the space as the former.)

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In College, I spent the majority of my time with the graduate math students (ironically, i wasn't dancing then and i was attending a Univestiy that was reknowned for its strong dance dept) and all of them had extremely varied tastes that extended well beyond teh math/sciences. None of them were the stereotypical math nerd (although almost all of them...er, i mean, "us"... were quite odd to some degree). THere were so many that were extremely well read; in fact some of my math grad friends were more well-read than my Lit grad friends! Hard science guys (and math and ocmputer sceinece guys in particular) are really a quite eclectic bunch! and these were grad student guys in mid 20s.

and alot of my buddies love "comic books" or rather graphic novels. stuff like SIN CITY or ASTRO CITY or SANDMAN.

as to the whys of it all... hard to say, maybe you should ask the Harvard President! lol..

I'm not sure it's television; i'm not sure how that has anything to do with it as it's sort of a universal dummification device.

i do know that the engineers and mathematicians i knew didn't have much time to take extra courses as their load was quite full and so didn't have the opportunity to take additional classes.

i also think that a man (perhaps moreso than a woman) will direct himself to a more profitable course of study and sacrifice the liberal arts. I know from when i ws in high school, that a focus on me and my future was "how will I earn enough money to be able to provide for a family." and as such there's a responsiblity there that requires some sacrifice. i think more women feel similarly nowadays also.

Men will also gravitate towards sports rather than the Arts (not that they are diametrically opposed or antyhign). Instead of watching a ballet, rather go to a football game. Instead of taking ballet class, go to the gym and play a pickup game of basketball.

They may also be ascaird of being labelled the infamous "metrosexual" if they partake and enjoy the arts too much.

It may be all about money in the end. People want to earn money and it's generally NOT going to be thru the liberal arts. Universities want to earn money and that's generally not going to be thru the liberal arts. Although, interestingly, there' snot much money to be made thru Hard Science research either (unless it's a very specific, targetted research topic, particular engineering or medical related).

it's hard to say, exactly, but hasn't it ALWAYS been that the ballet or a museum has been sort of intimidating to young males?

-goro-

This is an excellent dvd. The camera work is very good throughout. At times, it zooms in for reaction shots, but genereally when there is dancing, you have a good-to-excellent view of what you want to see. There wer only some times that i'd rather wish they'd have pulled back a bit more, but nothing terrible. It's the price to pay for watching on video instead of live, i suppose.

The video quality and sound are just great as well. The dvd is a bit pricey at 4800Y (abotu $50US), but worht it, imo.

-goro-

(Note: I'm on spring break this week, which is why I've been more loquacious than usual )

Okay, this is the question.  It's about men and the arts, including the liberal arts.

I was talking to two friends this week, teachers in different fields, at different universities, one (a man) in English and the other (a woman) in art history.  Both of then taught classes that were overwhelmingly female.  Not just a plurality, but a landslide -- only one, two, three men in classes of 20 and 30.

They did not think this was odd. 

When did this happen?  Just about all the men I know are involved in the arts in some way, and so all read fiction, go to art museums, and do not squirm when the word "opera" enters the conversation. 

I know that the audience for ballet has become predominantly female (and I don't thnk this is a good thing) but I didn't know that reading, writing, painting and music were equally on the It's Not a Guy Thing list.

Thoughts?  To the men on this board, can you talk about ballet with friends?  To the parents of sons, do your children read? Or is a teenage Guy embarrassed to be caught with a book?  Do they read "Jane Eyre," "Wuthering Heights," "Madame Bovary," "Anna Karenina?"  Or are these Chick Lit?  (women with opinions may also respond, of course!)

Not looking for scientific studies, just anecdotes and opinions.  I mean this for all the arts, but put it here in the hopes of drawing a bigger crowd

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i am not surprised either.

i was a Math major and American Lit minor in College and went to a fairly prestigious Engineering school in PA, which was also a prestigious drama and dance school.

Discarding 100-level classes, my math and engineering classes were painfully devoid of female students and my lit classes were fairly devoid of male students. My art history classes were split, but favoring females. My business classes were split, but favored the males.

As a computer game programmer in Boston, we had 1 female in the Development dept; we also had an art dept, whcih also had only 1 female. I was also a high school math teacher for a short time and the majority of the math teachers were female. WHen i was in medical research, there were some , but not many female researchers and techs. In my culinary classes, it was just about split.

i've always read alot and written alot as well as done programming and math and sports. Most of my [guy] friends were similar. Of course, things that we read were not Bronte sisters, Plath, or Rand; rather, i'd prefer HP Lovecraft, Poe, Hemingway, Hawthorne, Twain, Heinlein, Asimov, ...

-goro-

at Cirque du SOleil's KA, they had a nice innovative way of handling it. In all (most?) cirque acts, there are audience plants. They had someone sitting in the audience and had them come up to the front (it all looked like the show was about to start), and then the guy's cellphone went off. The cirque guy grabbed teh cellphone and tossed it into the big pit! alot of people cheered!

btw, KA was amazing!

-goro-