Amy Reusch

Ilya, the squeaky soles on the floor was only in the opening scenes, was it not? I wonder if they changed something mid performance

If you go, be fairly warned, the second intermission is very long while they change the floor. I was on the Balcony and I'm with Ray and Abatt on this one. Hallberg had fun with hs character, and there some good moments, but not enough to fill more time than a commercial for this ballet. Choreography looked less musical than I think of Ratmansky as being, and generally spread a little thin. "Misty Copeland" is written all over the firebird part. Why were there so many firebirds? It almost felt like Ratmansky didn't have Osipova around during the making of the ballet and decided to give everyone in the corps who wanted it a chance at being firebird as well, and ended up singling out Misty because she was the best at it and building the piece off rehearsal time with her. I always hope for an opulent Firebird production, like a Faberge egg, or one evocative of those laquered boxes. This was like Tim Burton does Marvel Comics. It is hard to see faces from up in the nosebleeds, who was the lovely soloist in 13 Diversions with the silent pointe shoes? It was interesting what worked in Hallberg's Apollo. I don't think I've ever seen an Apollo with such beautiful line, but I wondered what Balanchine might have adjusted for him. Jacques d'Amboise has said it's hard for him to go see many ballets today because he sees the ghosts of other dancers in the movement. It is very easy to see d'Amboise and Martins in Apollo. (I wonder what parts Lifar left his mark in?). Hallberg's leg line was beautiful, silken, sublime. There some places where Apollo stands with his front foot in a half forced arch, and it looked kind of strange on Hallberg. I expect he will make a third iconic interpretation of this role, that all future dancers will then have to contend with, there were many strong points, but I found myself missing an expressiveness in the upper body, across the back and out into the arms in certain moments. I agree with the above posts about the musicality. There were times where I thought, "wait? That doesn't happen with the music?" Glad to hear it wasn't my imagination.

Loved the early pirouette with petit battement...

Sklute is repeating a cliche.

And here,,, with Grover!

Thanks Bart! It now sounds so much more promising!

Fille Mal Gardee was mostly very well produced video-wise and very well worth the ticket... but the Giselle last summer with Osipova and Sarafanov had terrible framing choices... I wonder if there are different directors used for different cities and how we can find out who will be responsible. Grigorovich's Raymonda is over 3 hours? That's really long. I have my doubts that all 3 hours are worth the viewing and suspect that what is good in it will be lost in the drudgery of what is not. How do people here feel about his Raymonda? Is it too long to encourage non balletomane friends to come to?

I'd like to see Villella's "Tarantella" performance from Dance In America (I think)... and how about that "Midsummer Nights Dream" with Farrell as Titania? Also, d'Amboise in "Stars & Stripes" for the 1964 Lincoln Center opening performance... was shown at Wall-to-wall Balanchine festival, I believe... (Not sure if they are in the NYPL catalogue but worth checking for...)

I know... now we need a transcript! (if one ever exists, I hope a link goes up here)

I wish Capezio would revive this practice!

No Concerto Barocco? No Four Temperaments? No Square Dance?

On the other hand, sometimes the archival waiver limits what can be done. I don't know if it's still true, but for a while there they weren't allowed to have anyone aiming the camera during the performance.

Don't worry Batsuchen, presumably they used a more sophisticated sound recording method then merely the mic mounted on the camera... Though they might wisely have mixed your contributions in! ;^D

Thank you so much for persevering!! I love seeing the counterpoint between danseur and ballerina in the original... If the danseur variation was typically petit allegro instead of grand allegro, where did Petipa use grand allegro? I'm so used to seeing it in the danseur variation I can hardly imagine it elsewhere... or was it saved for the coda?

And one last thing... i could have sworn in the Paris Opera Ballet version, Alain's father gets together with the Widow Simone at the end of the ballet... Are there multiple Ashton versions?

Would enjoy seeing Ludovic as Colas and MacRae as Alaine. At times the female corps seemed strangely tall.

Damn... Just lost my post... Will try to summarize: "Fille" finally played locally... So very glad this was better shot than the Osipova/Sarafanov "Giselle". It's safe now to invite friends back to the movie theater... Some of the close-ups overstated the theatrical focus, making it less efective, but for a live production the framing choice flaws wete precious few. I would like to see this side by side with the Acosta/Nuñez "Fille" to compare directors' choices. I was surprised there weren't shots of the large group dances from what I think of as the Royal box (I have never been in the ROH but assume there must be a royal box?)...it seems some of the patterns would have been pleasant to see from that angle. I wish directors would understand that when a dancer "looks" at something rather than at the audience, the audience should be shown what the dancer is "seeing"... That "looking" is to direct our focus at something after all... It's not by chance. If the dancer is focusing on a prop, the framing should compose with that prop directing the composition... Watch that ribbon as much as the dancer, please... My favorite true audience moment was when the teenager next to me (daughter's friend) was so startled by Colas' sudden appearence in the third act that she let out a small scream! The intermission clips were wonderful too. And I hope that woman in the balcony shot putting on her coat and getting ready to leave early was suitably mortified by her fifteen seconds of [in]fame[y] not to repeat the rudeness. The live tweets supered on the screen experiment seemed like it should not be repeated. Glad it was only during the bows. Missed the chicken's bow... Very worth the ticket price!

Thanks for the clarification, Natalia... I was thinking of the company's performances in NYC and couldn't figure out what you meant... I get it now. If Kickstart were international, there might be backers enough from outside Spain. I have no experience of it except that small dance company projects from it sometimes get sent my way. Ballet Next is the most recent to come past, with a modest goal... They've raised some but not as much as one would like... Maybe there is someone waiting until the last minute to swoop in with the balance. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1229228855/sponsor-new-choreography-from-leading-dance-artist. But Corella's company has a much high profile wih more at stake?... Maybe they would do much better? I've misnamed it... It's apparently called "kickstarter.com" and has raused millions for some lucky projects. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickstarter

Is there anything 'disgruntled' about the company currently? Doesn't seem anywhere within Corella's personality... Why do you say that?

Could something like Kickstart help or is that only for small ventures?

This is what waivers were invented for.... I hope one was signed and filed....

Gosh, those sleeves don't look very "peasant girl"...

Ha! I bet you're right.

I love them in Diamonds... Russians to Russians!

These are wonderful clips from the Royal Ballet!! Steven McRae and Roberta Marquez & Ludovic Ondiviela: