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EvilNinjaX

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Posts posted by EvilNinjaX

    Adult Ballet short documentary

    in Ballet Videos, Films, Broadcast Performances, Photos, and Interviews

    Posted

    I just saw this documentary about an Adult Ballet Program in San Francisco. It's quite nice to see ballet thru those who take class for the love of it. And interesting that some of those adult students are able to perform. That's very cool. I found the bit about the guy who wanted to do pointe work a bit strange, though.

    It's touch and moreso at the end. It reminds that ballet really is for everyone.

    http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/trulyca/shorts/episode.jsp?essid=29515

    -goro-

    Macmillan Triple Bill

    in Ballet Videos, Films, Broadcast Performances, Photos, and Interviews

    Posted

    I didn't see a discussion on this. Has anyone else gotten this dvd or bluray?

    I'm really quite enjoying it. Having the full Elite Syncopations is quite nice. Judas Tree is a bit surprising and a bit unsettling and Concerto is very beautiful espeically with dancers like McRae, Choe, and Nunez dancing it.

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

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfT_VYUrL-I

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieH45VPCyxM

    -goro-

    The Secret Lives of Dancers

    in Ballet Videos, Films, Broadcast Performances, Photos, and Interviews

    Posted

    Has anyone been watching this?

    http://www.nzballet.org.nz/secretlives

    It just finished and i've caught a few eps. It was ok, nice at times, "stagey" at others. It's more a backstage, behind-the-scenes show than what we call a "reality" show here, although there is the (contrived) tension of if the new hires will have their contracts extended. It seems geared at the teenaged girl demographic and didn't show enough of the real dancing/training for my tastes, but it was nice to see a major ballet company highlighted like this. Hopefully the show's ratings were good enough to warrant attention. After all, since US TV rips off other countries' all the time, maybe they could do a show like this for NYCB or ABT?

    -goro-

    Copyright protection

    in Ballet Videos, Films, Broadcast Performances, Photos, and Interviews

    Posted

    Man, ROH is WAY behind the times! It's been nearly a DECADE since Warner Brothers pioneered the "attack your fans" mindset when they called for shutting down ALL Fan websites of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to the chagrin of many people, including Buffy CREATOR Joss Whedon himself. Tonya Harding took it a step further when she SUED her own fan club and put it out of business.

    The world has moved on and (other than the RIAA and MPAA), most realize that there's a HUGE intrinsic, incalculable value to the buzz generated by fans.

    -goro-

    Mao's Last Dancer

    in Ballet Videos, Films, Broadcast Performances, Photos, and Interviews

    Posted

    I think it may have been Ben Stevenson's Three Preludes but I'm not 100% certain as choreography for the film is attributed to Graeme Murphy.

    I would be surprised if the dance scenes were CGI (apart from using computers to slomo the action) - Chi really is that spectacular!

    Chi's legs in the Don Q solos were slightly unnatural, too choppy. The costume he wore was a giveaway, the white neckline makes it easy to play with the head and neck. When the DVD comes out, you will be able to tell.

    I think all the dancing was Chi's but they may have cuts bits and pieces from different individual performances. Movie editors do that.

    I liked seeing a ballet movie about Heterosexual men, it's about time!

    For frame of reference,

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsj2d8KF99A

    -goro-

    "Black Swan"

    in Ballet Videos, Films, Broadcast Performances, Photos, and Interviews

    Posted

    I didn't see this mentioned here yet, but apparently Aranofsky started off conceiving of THE WRESTLER and BLACK SWAN as a single movie.

    http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/08/31/darren-aronofskys-black-swan-and-the-wrestler-started-as-one-movie/

    "At one point, way before I made ‘The Wrestler,’ I was actually developing a project that was about a love affair between a ballet dancer and a wrestler, and then it kind of split off into two movies. I realized pretty quickly that taking two worlds like wrestling and ballet was much too much for one movie. So I guess my dream is that some art theater will play the films as a double feature some day."

    -goro-

    mydiorella's YouTube channel

    in Ballet Videos, Films, Broadcast Performances, Photos, and Interviews

    Posted

    Thank you, for that LINK to Apollinaiare Scherr's "Foot in Mouth" blog. It's good to see this story being taken up by more and more members of the community of ballet lovers.

    Perhaps the discussion will make some ballet organizations rethink their position on the question of intellectual rights versus the benefits of being seen by a larger audience.

    It was also nice to find our own member and frequent poster Paul Parrish quoted -- as well as a link to Ballet Talk.

    This reminds me of a strange situation that occured about 10years ago. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a very populate tv series and had quite the rabid following. At the time, there were numerous fan web pages all over the internet. Warner Bros decided to shut down all of these websites for copyright infringement b/c they were using images from the show.

    The fansites that were basically advertising the show and engaging and exciting the fans were all shut down leaving just the single (pretty bare bones) official site.

    It was just a bizarre occurrence that WB certainly was within their right to do, but ended up alienating quite a few fans. Even Joss Whedon (IIRC) was supporting these fan pages. But it was a case of some studio head or corporate lawyer who is multiple levels removed from the actual fanbase making a legal decision that in the long run, does not help them at all.

    In the case of youtube, the Companies should be ENCOURAGING the videos. And in some cases, they should be monitoring what kind of viewing numbers they get. It would help give some indication as to what the public is interested in.

    JMTC

    -goro-

    Why Can't Ballet Companies capitalize on the Dance craze ?

    in Ballet Videos, Films, Broadcast Performances, Photos, and Interviews

    Posted

    Hey Goro :wink:

    The second it becomes a competition, the second it loses itself as an art. Do you think that the average Fox or MTV viewer could sit through La Sylphide or White Swan pas de deux? I highly doubt it. These shows do well for the drama of the "real life" people and the tricks and turns they do and then having these judges that are masters in their own right come on and scream at the top of their lungs to ride some hot sauce train? On these shows, I think I have only seen one moment where art prevailed and those two dancers did not even win the competition because they were looking for America's favorite dancer not America's best dancer.

    What will throwing art at them in a competition do? Possibly more stereotypes that we do not need and will have to debunk for the next ten or so years. When you look even at the IBC competitions, how much of it is really art? Other than maybe the Prix de Lausanne, all of them are circuses. Put a competition dancer into a full length ballet and survive the 2.5 plus hour show and succeed and then maybe we can talk.

    How about that?

    Yo Stinger,

    I get your response. I understand about the purity and artistry and the desire to keep it and not to dilute it.

    And yes, i think if you throw something too "artsy" at the general public, they would likely immediately tune out. But, i can't help but feel that dance is FOR the masses, that Ballet is also for the masses. The excitement that these tv shows generate indicate that the masses WILL pay attention and watch dance and they will/do enjoy dance. And so why can't ballet touch these people and begin the indoctrination process? Probably one of the difficult stereotypes of ballet for the public is that it's serious, somber, dusty, stodgy, unexciting stuff. I think there's also a perception that it's all the same, also, rows of skinny girls moving slowly on stage doing things that you don't really understand.

    But ballet has so much excitement to it also, so much emotion, all kinds of emotions, which is probably what separates it from other dance styles. And the dancers are so versatile these days. How would some of the audience react to seeing excerpts of Sinatra Suite or Western Symphony or Stars and Stripes? Would some of these couch potato guys perk up if seeing the Men's Don Q variation?

    Obviously, i'm not talking of using TV to put the ART form on display, but I think that we're seeing that vanish as PBS (and any other arts channels) are broadcasting less and less (none?) ballet.

    I think mainstream public is probably ready to be exposed to ballet. I think that there's a way to show and slowly educate them and bring ballet into public consciousness a bit. What So You Think You Can Dance has done is it has taken a ballet soloist and made him a household name and face; in fact, people talk of Alex Wong as "Alex" with some level of familiarity. The next time he dances with a company, there will probably a Front Page spread rather than a little bit in the Arts & Entertainment section. And maybe a few people are going to be interested in seeing him in a ballet setting. That's a major win. If a ballet company could work on this type of marketing, it could be to great effect.

    I know it's really kind of playing with the Devil, b/c these shows are almost antithetical to the fundamental ways of ballet. But i don't think it need be the direction a company takes itself, but an avenue of reaching out to the public to bring them TO the ballet.

    I just can't help but feel that there is a HUGE public out there that is at the point of being receptive to ballet and that ballet has to find a way to go reach them.

    -goro-

    Why Can't Ballet Companies capitalize on the Dance craze ?

    in Ballet Videos, Films, Broadcast Performances, Photos, and Interviews

    Posted

    I don't watch the tv dance shows, but I'm aware of them and almost everywhere I go when I talk to people and say that I dance, they always say, "Well, we always watch {Some dance program} on tv." And it's striking that the general tv populance LOVES dancing. And recently someone told me that Alex Wong didn't renew his contract at MCB so he could be on So You Think You Can Dance, which may end up being an extremely shrewd career move. And before him, Danny Tidwell made himself a household name on one of these shows.

    And I'm thinking that there is quite a bit to be learned here and it seems like there's some huge opportunity for ballet companies to get more out in front with the city's populance and to get more of their dancers' names and faces into households. All these companies have so many fantastic dancers and many of them have eclectic dancing backgrounds and talents that could easily be showcased in such a way, many are absolutely beautiful dancing-wise, physically, and (particularly important for tv/marketing purposes) facially (how many young dancer girls do i know that *swoon* at the mention of Sasha Radetsky et al....).

    I think we've also seen that while (maybe) the tv watchers might not be interested in watching full length ballet, they will watch short variations and enjoy them. And in general, i think people have a large respect for ballet but as it seems somewhat esoteric, have a bit of a fear of it. And it's in this tv setting that it can be much more enjoyable and less intimidating.

    I think if i were in charge of NYCB, ABT, MCB, Joffrey, Washington Ballet, SFB, Alvin Ailey, Alonzo King Lines, etc. etc. I would be trying to get with one of the tv producers (liek Mark Burnett) and try to hash out some kind of Showcase/Contest program. Something that has variety of dancing that pulls from the professional dancing ranks and that has some competition to it, something that has the tv-entertainment value but that can make a Ballet star into a TV Star, something to really say, "Ballet might not be what you think it is; you might like it.."

    Or something like that. I'm not exactly sure, natch, but it seems like with so much interest in dance right now, that it's a shame if the companies that depend on dancing can't capitalize significantly on it.

    thx

    -goro-

    Fred Wiseman's New Documentary of The Paris Opera Ballet

    in Ballet Videos, Films, Broadcast Performances, Photos, and Interviews

    Posted

    Saw this for the first time on PBS. Disappointing. The Wiseman gimmick of providing no context and no identification of what and who we're watching makes for intermittently tedious viewing in this instance, particularly over the three hour stretch. At least a half hour could have been cut with no loss. I probably could have survived watching it in a theater but I'm now not unhappy that I waited. Must see viewing for any ballet fan for the reasons already presented by many of the posters in this long thread, but it could have been better. I fear I nodded off over the last hour and will have to try to catch that on DVD or a repeat. It's very nice that the film has been as widely distributed and favorably reviewed as it has been, Wiseman certainly deserves it at this point in his career.
    Mother also commented 'your film will work better because it has a story'--ie. story arc. But of course she is biased, and doesn't know that that is not usually the point of a Wiseman film.)

    I think your mother is a good critic. Wiseman's movies didn't always go on for hours and his approach doesn't always work. The rehearsal sequences would have gained in effect if we knew a little backstory - is this X's first time in the role? Is Z a last minute replacement? What exactly did Lacotte mean when he mentioned Suzanne Farrell's flaws? We can hazard a guess, but with no follow up it's just a passing remark.

    A lot of the dance excerpts didn't do much to compensate, especially the Buckets O' Blood Medea.

    We probably won't get it, but it would be exceptional if Wiseman (or someone connected) would do a secondary audio track for the disc release...

    btw, the only case where I've seen a secondary audio track with running commentary has been John Neumeier's ILLUSIONS OF SWAN LAKE. Are there any others?

    -goro-

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