EvilNinjaX

One other thing: The next POB stream is apparently going to be Children of Paradise, choreography by Jose Martinez, in July 2011. Does anyone know anything about this?

-goro-

Thank you for your review, goro. Unfortunately, the ballet isn't being shown in my neck of the woods. I'm sorry that I won't have the opportunity to compare Bart's version, however peculiar it may be, with the Bolshoi's staging when it comes to the screen in a couple months' time.

Was the aspect ratio correct? I hope the dancers weren't distorted on screen.

The a/r was pretty good, i think, better than with Bolshoi's Don Q.

There's apparently going to be an encore screening, but i can't find any other reference to it.

Unfortunately, i won't be able to see the Bolshoi's version as I will be watching Royal Danish Ballet's new Napoli (live) that day.

-goro-

Did anyone else go to see this?

I've never seen Patrice Bart's version and didn't really know anything about it going in except that it goes back to source materials more. I'm not sure exactly what that meant and was hoping it wouldn't be too weird. Someone posted the video clip link for a rehearsal vid which had the Scottish dance in it, which I thought was absolutely wonderful, so I was looking forward to it.

I did like (for the most part) the new (or 'old') storyline made sense and was interesting if lacking in the cute/fun aspect of the original. The background of Dr Coppelius' long-lost love as well as the flirtatious Swanhilda gives a strong narrative spine to the proceedings and i did like the dynamic of Franz-Swanhilda-Coppelius in this. Having Jose Martinez as Dr Coppelius does give a sense of why a girl liek Swanhilda might swoon over him, also; he looks amazing (how old is he now?)! And splitting the traditional Coppelius into Coppelius and

The dancing was wonderful although I will say that it seemed that Act 1 sometimes seemed a bit frantic and frenzied and maybe there was a bit TOO MUCH (gasp) dancing. Ditto with Swanhilda. She was featured in just about everything and it might have been nicer if there were more segments that didn't have her in it. There was lots of male dancing and it was quite impressive.

The leads were great and this was the first I've seen Dorothee Gilbert dance and she was fantastic. Jose Martinez really commanded the stage even when not doing any dance. Mathias Heymann was splendid in almost a thankless role. As a side note: Swanhilda's friend with the rose-color was the girl who played Swanhilda in the Paris Opera Ballet School's DVD of Coppelia.

The ending was bizarre, though, and I really did miss having the grand finale to complete the ballet and when the curtain ended I just felt something lacking. I really think the ending segment while it makes sense in the narrative, really undermines the total effect of the ballet.

The streaming was nice with only 2 noticeable interruptions and a little artifacting. The camerawork was a bit painful, cutting away from dancing for expressions, often over-zooming to frame a person from knees to top of head; this is made much worse b/c at times, there is the PERFECT fixed camera shot given to us (slightly elevated, dead center, perfectly framing the stage) that gives you a fantastic view of everything. Alas, it's only sparingly used.

Overall, it was a pleasant morning spent. Given my druthers, I'd rather see the original as I think the playful element works together better for the music and my familiarity with it, but I am glad to have seen this and think it was interesting and enjoyable.

-goro-

For anyone who wants a taste of the ballet before the HD broadcast, here's a clip of Gilbert, Heymann and Yann Saiz being coached by Bart. Gilbert does the Scottish variation starting at 5:28.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P52QJJKqAQ

Laura Cappelle does not seem very happy with Mr. Bart's version:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/abcbc00e-54a6-11e0-b1ed-00144feab49a.html#axzz1Hbg8prat

"Everyone else [other than Coppelius] on stage seems in doubt about their dramatic purpose amid the frantic blur of steps"

-goro-

I don't know whether this problem was present elsewhere, but I'm pretty sure that the aspect ratio was off at my venue, making the dancers appear more squat than they actually are.

...

The ballet played at two venues in my city. Where I attended there were about 25-30 viewers and perhaps only 2 or 3 younger than 18. What a missed opportunity for young ballet students. The people who did come out seemed to be thoroughly enchanted. [/size]

The aspect ratio was an item that i forgot to mention. Yes, at our location, it was also off and it did make them look a bit strange. ALso, the projection at our venue was slightly off so that part of the image was on the curtain.

There were < 20 people at mine (probably closer to 10-15) and one high school aged person.

-goro-

Here is a link to an interview w. Natalia Osipova. She and Ivan Vasiliev will be in a movie broadcast on Sun. Mar. 6 of Don Q live from the Bolshoi.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/a-real-ballerina-hits-the-big-screen-a-conversation-with-natalia-osipova/?ref=arts

I went to the movie theatre this morning to watch the performance and it was an interesting experience.

Just a few things:

* There was a fixed camera set up filming the stage behind the closed curtain. Before the performance, they were streaming that video, so while you were sitting in the movie theatre, you didn't have to watch those awful Movie theatre ads and nonsense. Instead, you saw Osipova stretching or vasiliev goofing with Don Q, etc. etc. That was very cool.

* During the intermissions, the hostess interviewed a person regarding aspects of the ballet. The first intermission was with a former danseur (Genndy something?) regarding the origins of Don Q, and the versions that were created after the initial one. The second intermission was with a former character danseuse regarding the spanish flavor to the gypsy dance etc. The interviews took place on stage behind the curtain, so again, you saw the preparation going on backstage as well as the scenery change effort.

* There were a few connectivity and bandwidth/buffering issues. I recall 3 distinct times when audio dropped out entirely. About 5 other times with slight breakups. Picture was pretty solid, though there was some digital smearing on some fast motion (noticeable on arm "sweeps"); at times, there was very noticeable artifacting. Overall, the image quality was very good.

* Audio sync seemed to be off at times. Sometimes it was just hard to tell, others, it seemed fine, but there were some moments when it was clearly 200ms or so off. For instance, Don Q pounds his spear butt on the ground and you hear the *thud* a slight moment later.

* Camera work was pretty standard and also a bit disappointing. THere were some times when they made, what i would consider, EGREGIOUS camera mistakes (or at least poor judgements). That is, they would fixate on a person on the side and EXCLUDE actual dancing. THe other camera work that was dissapointing to me was the somewhat too-close closeup. No, not to the point to cutting off feet or hands, but in framing the dancer and following him/her, you lose so much of the effect of how high they jump and how quickly they move and what a big space they are in. It's not terrible, but the times when they pull back and show more of the stage and the dancers dancing across it are far more engaging and beautiful. I presume this stream is going to be edited and then authored into a Bluray and DVD. That's a vertical integration and cost optimization, but really, a 30' movie theatre screen with HD (4k?) projection allows you to compose the ballet differently than a 720x480 standard DVD to be viewed on a 30" TV, which is also different from a 1920x1080 Bluray to be viewed on a 46-80" TV. I would LOVE if they would have composed this particularly for the THeatre screen/Bluray and then had a separate set of cameras for the DVD. Of course they can't really do this, but still, if I had one wish... ;)

* Music/audio was excellent. The theatre filled with sound and the Bolshoi orchestras sounded fantastic.

* The experience was surprisingly good. I have a 73" tv at home with Bluray and a $15k audio system. It is good, but it still doesn't compare to this experience. Going in, I debated just waiting it out and getting the Bluray when it releases ("If they're just going to show the same thing, how different can it be?"). And yeah, while it's not as good seeing it live, it was a great show and I had to restrain myself from clapping at times!

This is my 3rd time seeing Osipova/Vasiliev do Don Q. The first time, I saw them a couple of years ago in the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow when i visited Russia. It was amazing. The second time was last year in Orange County. That was disappointing, mostly b/c the stage was far too small for them and many dancers seemed uncomfortable and unnaturally restrained. In some ways, This was better than the OC live performance b/c the performances were excellent. Osipova and Vasiliev were just awesome. I was glad to see some of the crazy tricks that they did before. Notably, the one-armed lift, balance, releveee, then arabesque all while balanching Osipova with the one arm. Vasiliev also did those crazy cabriole derrieres to 180degrees, the entre chat six while doing double tour (or at least that's what it seemed like to me), etc.et c.

Yeah, it was worth the time and effort and $15. I will go back on May 29th for Coppelia.

-goro-

Here is a link to an interview w. Natalia Osipova. She and Ivan Vasiliev will be in a movie broadcast on Sun. Mar. 6 of Don Q live from the Bolshoi.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/a-real-ballerina-hits-the-big-screen-a-conversation-with-natalia-osipova/?ref=arts

It appears that the only theater in Manhattan showing this will be Big Cinemas Mahhattan, with a showing on Mar. 6 at 11 AM. However, the Big Cinemas website refers to a showing of Don Q. on Mar. 6 at 11 AM starring Vladimir Ponomarev, Anton Lukovkin, Igor Petrov, Olesia Novikova. Is this a mistake?

Any info is appreciated.

Here in Chandler, AZ, it's listed as Kirov Don Q w/Terekhova at 9am (Mountain Time).

My guess is that their website backend uses a movie database and they had to picked from items that were available from there. So that's why we get a previously released Don Q. Since there's no entry (presumably) of the current Osipova one, they just picked one that is "close."

I am still planning on going w/the assumption that this is the correct one.

-goro-

I see what you mean re the editing and reaction shots to...what?! But when I viewed it, the music was also about 1 full minute (that's a lot in video terms) ahead of the picture. Not sure why, since not sure how it was uploaded. But that also made it more difficult to watch. The one thing I did wonder, was if they were forced to shoot thru the stage scrim for that act (and Act2) as I was, because CBCL didn't understand how visible that is in HD, and how it affects the clarity of the picture. But so far, I think my footage at least shows who is reacting to whom in Act3. Thanks for the video link "goro"; informative as always.

Yeah, i just realized. My encoder got confuzzled going from avc to mpeg; i expected better from Adobe.

It's also bothersome to me to have these torso to head super closeups and even (really) at times to have those shots that frame just the dancer and little else, even when it's just a solo. It's cool because you can see detail, but yet you lose the feeling of movement thru space. Now if some were like that and there was this feeling of space and staging, it works. in this, not so much. It reminds me (somewhat) of the action staging of a Michael Bay movie. It's not as rapid cutting, but it has that same sense of Where are these things in relation to each other?

just a few thoughts.

and i look forward to seeing your efforts sometime. It sounds wonderful and I'm definitely an Angel Corella fan! In fact, the more i watch this Bayadere, the more disappointed I am in Carlos Acosta. Good, yes. But not great.

-goro-

So when are you going to post YOUR vids?

btw, This might be why Tamara Rojo is so strong and stable on pointe:

btw, your name is it short for "Former Dancer" or "For Mister Dancer" ?

-goro-

FYI: I haven't posted my "La Bayadere" footage because the it is still "raw". I still need to raise lots of $ so I can do a rough-cut and continue editing the doc. Case in point: It cost me almost $8K to edit just the 4-min. trailer. (That is ONLY editing, not travel time, not equipment rental, not rights to music/choreography/dancers etc.etc.etc.)

Wow! That video of Tamara Rojo on the slantboard and rockerboard was VERY inspiring. When I was trying to strengthen my ankles, I tried similar stuff on a Bosu Ball on the floor(both right-side-up, and upside down) and thought I was doing good, but it was NOTHING like that! I wonder if it also helps dancers practice for perfs on a raked stage?

To me, 4mrdncr means "Former Dancer" since that's what I am. But I guess it could mean other things too. I also hoped it didnt' mean anything bad in a foreign language.

Thanks again for posting the videos

Here's a clip for you, 4rmr. It's an example of how to badly edit a ballet sequence. This really bothered me so much. Often close up of a person standing there and ignoring all the dancing going on every on the stage. And the strange editing that gives no indication of relationships of objects/people on stage so that it's not clear what s/he is looking at/reacting to. ugh. So frustrating!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPAEYmWhMbI

-goro-

Sorry, didn't have much time to view all the clips, so only watched the pdd for two obvious reasons...I wanted to compare camera/directing technique, and the Acosta/Rojo pairing to my own footage of Corella Ballet (specifically Angel & Paloma (guest artist) in performance, and Angel and Kazuko Omori in rehearsal.) I must say IMHO, that mine compares favorably (dare I say better?) in many respects, but what astounded me in the Acosta/Rojo clip was that develope promenade turn...In every version I've ever seen, the ballerina rests her elbow on the danseur so that he can turn her, but in this clip there was complete separation between Rojo and Acosta--so how did he turn her? Simply by her overhead hand (had to be stronger than a "finger turn"). That got me to pay attention. I've seen Acosta and Nunez live, but never Rojo. Her balances were also stunning, and escpecially the fondue into develope arabesque--beautiful control. But otherwise, I much prefer AC in this, both for technique and emotive ability.

Also thanks to Evilninja and Mme. Hermine for posting the other YT links so that we can see the progression from earlier times until now. VERY VERY informative.

PS. the trailer to my film has excerpted clips of AC, PH, HC, and Kazuko Omori in the "La Bayadere" pdd in it.

So when are you going to post YOUR vids?

btw, your name is it short for "Former Dancer" or "For Mister Dancer" ?

-goro-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqSx6ZEPS9c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UORP01vTW8

I didn't see this mentioned here. It released fairly recently and i just received the bluray. As with all the Opus Arte Blus, it's a 1080i disc which is disappointing but it does have DTS-HD which is nice. Picture and sound are very good. I've not really watched all of it yet, though i have scanned thru parts and checked out the extras. Has an interview with Tamara Rojo, a voice recording of Makarova explaining her choreographical intent, an interview with 2 corps members discussing the Shades Act, a rehearsal vid of Acosta + Rojo.

I used to think Rojo was a bit boring to watch on screen; she seemed more intent on being so technically perfect and so rock solid on her balances that her expressiveness was a bit flat. I've seen her live once performing Aurora (a few years back) and i thought she was a bit more accessible there. In this, however, i really did enjoy her emotiveness and the interplay w/Nunez is really good. I love how mean Nunez can appear (as also in Giselle).

Is Acosta getting a bit long in the tooth? He's still amazing, no question, but just not quite the same explosiveness, it seems. That's of little concern as it's still fun to watch him dance.

I always look for Yuhui Choe b/c i just find her so wonderful to watch and just so charming. a question for those who know Bayadere: In that first Shade variation, she does that section of piques arabesque to the bent leg and then straightens the leg; is that traditionally the way it is choreographed? It just struck me as a bit odd. Also, it seems she's smiling in that variation. Is that right? I would have thought a non-expressive face.

The entrance and beginning of the Shades Act was pretty beautiful. Stunning even. But later in parts, the corps looks a bit ragged, sometimes painfully so, made worse when you see the moments when they are really beautiful. I kinda hate to say that b/c the extras segment with the interview with the corps dancers really reinforces that these dancers work hard and love it and are passionate about it. I was really touched watching that segment.

-goro-

I did enjoy, goro, even though it's only the climactic second pas de deux, but I enjoyed it not least because the picture quality is so much better than the YT version. Thank you!

Is the full version available? I could only find the Julie Kent exotic pdd on youtube; i presumed that it would have been Balanchine-Trusted out of existence!

-goro-

I post on a topic in another forum, but also thought this would be appropriate place to put this. I found a La Sonnambula video with Baryshnikov and Ferri.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XOTg0OTgwMTI=.html

enjoy

-goro-

Mary J, there was a televised La Sonnambula (ABT, with Ferri and Baryshnikov). That's the only video I know about -- and, IMO, it's not ideal. (Baryshnikov was one of those who "thought it was like play.") It's not commercially available, as far as I know, but it might be available through your local public television station or library.

I came across the vid today and watching it, I really really enjoyed it. I haven't managed to see any of the others mentioned in this thread, though.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XOTg0OTgwMTI=.html

thx

-goro-

Black Swan Goes Retail.

I was a ballet dancer in a major American ballet company. Now, years later, I am a sales clerk at perhaps the “most major” designer clothing store in the Western world. Why not make a movie about us? “The Sales Associates.” We too have anorexia, violent love affairs, sexual dysfunction, and really bad mothers. There are grave battles among us for the prize of Saudi princesses and Russian oligarchs. A wretched young man in designer shoes swallowed a boot—and an aging prima sales associate poured perfume down her rival’s ear—where did she get that idea! Now that I’m no longer a dancer I finally have drama, drama, drama every day! My ballet life was boring: we practiced—we sewed our shoes, we washed our tights, performed, had love affairs –listened to music --made lifelong friends—slept badly—slept well…oh well….

Isn't that THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA?

-goro-

I think expectations are key in this movie and that first and foremost (as has been mentioned upstream), it's not a "ballet movie", it's a psychological, erotic thriller that takes place with a ballet backdrop a la Benjamin Button (for instance). Being mad at Aranofsky for not being more true to ballet is like being angry at Ghostbusters for not being insightful or correct about paranormal activities. The story and the "thriller" aspect is the key and the ballet-ness will be leveraged and manipulated in service to that.

I have no stake in the ballet world and only became interested in watching and learning about ballet during the past year. I agree with many excellent points made by EvilNinjaX but I think that ballet in Black Swan is more than a backdrop. And here's the problem. It distresses me that the assembled references in Black Swan are so tilted to the negative -- anorexia, abusive choreographer, obsessive behaviour, injured feet, cutthroat competition, smoking ballerinas, frustrated/controlling mother. I think the film kind of buries ballet -- it's like ballet is so over.

I get what you're saying, but i think Aranofsky NEEDED those qualities in Nina so that the overarching psychosis makes sense. She's a particular type of psychotic person that happens to be a ballerina. Were this to have been in the realm of stage plays instead of ballet and the role to have been sometihng like Lady Macbeth or something, i think she would have been equally nonsensically bizarre. I think it's convenient that there are these shortcut stereotypes that Aranofsky could leverage to construct the framework of the Nina character.

But i do think you do hit on one thing that's quite notable. This movie gives the "normal" audience no real sense of WHY people love ballet. WHY audiences love it or WHY the dancers would want to do it. There's a noticeable lack of joy in this movie, except for perhaps 2 points: (1) when Nina is cast and (2) When she completes the performance.

-goro-

Well, I had to scroll to the very bottom of the page, but there I found "The Nutcracker in 3D." I confess that I have been a bit out of touch for a couple of decades, so I am not familiar with this. (Did Macaulay include it during his cross-country tour of 30+ something Nutcrackers?)

Elucidate, evilninjax, please. What is this movie? Why does it deserve the raspberry?

Signed: An old guy whom you've managed to make feel a lot older.

It's this movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud2t2k7dZqU

thx

-goro-

That's great, right?

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/04/burlesque-in-the-lead-for-upcoming-razzie-noms/

-goro-

I finally saw BLACK SWAN even though I've been less and less interested in it the more i've heard of it. I think expectations are key in this movie and that first and foremost (as has been mentioned upstream), it's not a "ballet movie", it's a psychological, erotic thriller that takes place with a ballet backdrop a la Benjamin Button (for instance). Being mad at Aranofsky for not being more true to ballet is like being angry at Ghostbusters for not being insightful or correct about paranormal activities. The story and the "thriller" aspect is the key and the ballet-ness will be leveraged and manipulated in service to that.

Now having said that, I think the thriller stuff misses the mark on a number of fronts, most notably in what was mentioned previously: the character of Nina is (a) unlikeable and non-sympathetic, (b) lacking depth, © not particularly interesting, and (d) has no growth. These are all related and comes from the aforementioned focus on the Thriller nature. The single most important aspect of the movie is creating an eerie atmosphere and manipulating reality. Nina's character suffers for this. The reality is established in as much of a cinematic shorthand as possible so that it can play upon the implicit expectations the viewer has to trick you and cause uncertainty. This is fine and well, but what it means is that there's little meaningful exploration of Nina's character. The story does sort of try to give us an idea that she grows and gives us a painfully obvious symbol (Nina dumping her childhood stuffed animals into the trash), but what WAS that growth/change? In the end, she's EXACTLY the same as before except that she gave a good performance.

That Portman is mostly given histrionics to work with doesn't help and she veers from scenery chewing ambulations of one sort or another here and there that are so wildly expressed that it feels nearly caricaturish. She's a immature child so utterly dependant upon her mother, she's virgin with no understanding of human relations, she's a rebellious "teen"-ish, she's an OCD perfectionist, etc. etc. It is to Portman's credit that these wild performances are watchable and in fact, it has such energy to it that it has a certain appeal especially in the atmospheric context that Aranofsky gives us.

But it's a lot of pizzazz and no heart; there's nothing REAL to hold onto and so instead of being invested in this character and really caring about the reality she's in and the future that she heading towards, we are left with observing this interesting little puzzle-story and trying to piece things together. Was the mother real? Which of the interactions with Lily are real? Which of her visions does she really see? Was she really drugged? Does she really make love to those guys? What does she actually do with that knife? Which of the interactions with Vincent Cassell are real? etc. etc. But the additional problem here is that there is no clear answer and while you could speculate and invent a story to validate it, in the end, it just doesn't matter and so the movie itself falls short because of it.

In many ways, it reminds me of INCEPTION. Inception is a well-crafted, beautiful film but it never engaged me and i felt on the outside all the time and the film seems just like an interesting little puzzle that, in the end, doesn't really mean anything at all.

While Aranofsky claimed his initial inspiration for the film was to make a live-action Swan Lake, it really doesn't seem that way. Yes, Vincent Cassell plays the Von Rothbart in that he is creating Odile out of Odette, but that's all that really matches. We're only TOLD that Nina is a "perfect Odette" but we never get the idea that she is. And it also seems like the film misses a fantastic opportunity to investigate something not explicit in the Swan Lake story (afaik), the origin of Odile. What exactly is Odile and where does she come from? What is her motivation? Was she also once a princess? Etc. etc.

It's also important to realize that this is a genre film and that there are conventions and things that are acceptable--even desirable--for a genre film. Personally, I am sick to death of the doppelganger in the mirror horror movie trope and if i never see it again, i won't mind. But it's not out of place here. The sudden lights out bit is certainly acceptable. And really, for what it is, it does a good job. In fact, huge kudos to Aranofsky and Portman and veyr notably Cassell for making this movie so vibrant, electric, and crackling on the screen. While i was aware of problmatic elements, the movie kept my focus and held me to the screen and there's a sequence that literally sent a chill down my back and gave me goosebumps (the one with the pictures on the walls animating). It's paced very well. Acting is very good, with some excellent performances; i would say Portman's acting, while a bit obvious, is perfect for this context and Cassell is magnificent. Mila Kunis was fine and could have been replaced by just about anyone, i think; ditto Winona Ryder. While it was perhaps a bit silly to have EVERY piece of music be Swan Lake from the musical scores to the performance music (natch) to a music box to her ringtone, it works. And it is amazing how powerful Tchaikovsky's music is in setting mood in this film. So dramatic.

So what's my conclusion? I think it's a fine genre film. It has a flawed story with some ridiculous plot elements, flat characters, but as it unfolds, it is interesting and held my attention. If you replaced Portman with Megan Fox and Aranofsky with the director of LAW ABIDING CITIZEN, then you'd probably have some marginally watchable Direct to DVD movie.

And even as I write this, the film has been garnering all sorts of accolades and may be in the running for Best Picture. But the movie has no real substance and is all flash and style meant to mesmerize and seduce you. Sounds familiar? Apparently, Aranofsky is the real Von Rothbart and the movie BLACK SWAN is the black swan and meanwhile we, the audience, are Siegfried.

-goro-

Has anyone else watched this Japanese movie called DANCE SUBARU! ?

It's a ballet movie that plays to the dance movie formula and uses quite a few of the common tropes, has a somewhat wooden lead, source material from a comic book (manga), and some fairly ludicrous plot points and yet somehow it manages to be a pretty enjoyable little time-waster.

Miyamoto Subaru is an aspiring ballerina, but she's got some hard times. Her mother died of a brain tumor, as did her twin brother. Her father is somewhat unsupportive. She befriends a cabaret owner, meets some of the outlandish Trocadero-ish dancers there, and eventually starts dancing there to pay for her ballet classes. Along the way, she meets "the boy", wanders among various dance communities, befriends a famous ballerina taking time off from ABT, has a coming-of-age while dancing in the corps for Swan Lake.

She finally decides to enter the IBC in Shanghai but faces a surprise when the contestants are revealed.

By far the most compelling and emotionally touching scenes are from the flashbacks of when she was young. The young Subaru lights up the screen with both her smile and tears. The moments of where she and her brother Kazuma are peeking in on a Swan Lake rehearsal, faces pressed against the glass of a window, are so genuine you can't resist. As is a cute moment where they hold hands and do the cygnet's bit down the street in that pretend-way that 6year old do.

One scene that bears mentioning is when Kazuma is ill and garnering all the attention, Subaru bursts out "I wish he would just vanish!" Later, a friend is telling her about Giselle. "I can show you Albrehct's dance." "It's a dance of apology? Then I have to learn it!" And then we see a bit where she dances a form of Albrecht's variation. It's very moving.

No, it's not great and much of the dancing is not great, but there's a good spirit in the movie and it works pretty well, especially if you like these sort of Karate Kid teenage-underdog movies. I rate it more enjoyable than Center Stage, FWIW.

thx

-goro-

I've been reading a few online discussions regarding BLACK SWAN and found a few people to start discussing the ballet itself slightly beyond just the mere context of the movie. It's led me to wonder if the film might help attendance to the ballet in general and Swan Lake in particular. Perhaps one of the daunting elements of ballet to the general public is that it seems so insular and difficult to understand. Could the film be a primer into the story of Swan Lake, explaining the nuances couched into a thriller's tale that might lead people to actively think about the wonderful story in Swan Lake.

And have any ballet companies scheduled Swan Lake in early 2011 to take advantage of this?

I'm curious and i'm hopeful (and trying to do my part in encouraging and educating people to seek out the "real thing")

thx

-goro-

(Is this the correct forum for this or should it be moved elsewhere?)

Released today a short "dance" clip

-goro-

Here's a brief clip of the documentary. Well worth watching. A man really isn't supposed to be able to dance like this after <1 year of training...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUcyw7yk9oA

enjoy it while it lasts.

-goro-