Amy Reusch

When one goes to see a small company pull off a big ballet, one is never really sure what one is in for. Sometimes, with luck, the ballerina is enough to make the ticket worth while, while one is forgiving of the sets, costumes, ensemble dancing and incidental choreography. It’s a pleasant surprise at Connecticut Ballet’s current Coppelia production. The sets and costumes are charming, in fact, the 2nd Act toy shop set is quite inspired!. The ensemble dancing, particularly from the men, is better than one would have seen in a company this size 20 years ago, the dancer playing Franz had some stunning bravura technique and the dancer playing Swanhilda has some beautiful extensions. The character dancing, at least the first piece, was very easy on the eyes (I’m terrible at telling a Czardas from a Mazurka… and I thought they were doing czardas steps first but I see in the score it’s the other way around). The Palace is an excellent house to see ballet in, a charming survivor from the jewel-box age of cinema theaters. Where the production is lacking is not in the technical level of the dancing and not in the choreography, (which in some places had better group choreography than other Coppelia productions I’ve seen…) but in an area I think might be found reflected in other companies in this new century. It’s been a long time since the domination of the story ballet. Dancers have so much better technique than they did decades ago… it’s really quite impressive… but what’s been lost, perhaps, along the way, are the acting skills. Because Coppelia is a comedy and the story is told through mime doesn’t mean therefore that Swanhilda must clownishly relate the drama. Timing is everything with comedy (and acting). Making gesture large enough to read in the theater isn’t the same thing as overacting. Where dancers need coaching now is not so much for their technique and movement dynamics as for their acting…. As the Ballets Russes generation leaves us, will acting through dance become a lost art? Swanhilda was danced by Therese Miyoshi Wendler, Franz was danced by Mikhail Ilyin Dr. Coppelius was played by Brett Raphael Staging/Choreography by Artistic Director Brett Raphael Special Unexpected Treat of the evening: Dawn soloist, Jiyoung Park, whose lovely physical expression of the steps was just dreamy…. I could have watched her for far longer. The production runs for one more matinee in Stamford on Sunday and then an evening & matinee next weekend in Hartford at the Bushnell. Wonderful to see what can be accomplished, even on a shoestring. Would that lighting designer Bradley King had seen fit to indicate that Coppelia was involved in the plot with a ray or two of light, and that whomever took on the props responsibility had figured out the butterfly & wheat a little more convincingly...

It's wonderful to watch Allegra Kent's hands echoing gestures in that interview... they have a life of their own, like butterflies hunting after the muse's scent ... I used to think she was totally flighty from seeing her on film, but in her writing she is so articulate. One wishes to hear what was cut out immediately before the "But... it was a masterpiece!",

A friend should let her website designer know to fix that "shedule" typo... it's a cute idea... some little strange things in the execution, but still, the idea was cute.

What a wonderful idea to use it as a defile!

Thank you so much, that's very helpful!

My daughter & some of her friends are dancing in the Waltz of the Hours, and are wondering what that might mean... and I'm trying to remember why there is a Waltz of the Hours... I seem to remember hearing of some Renaissance fascination with the Hours, and music specific for certain times of days, prayers like ragas... but it's an illusion rather than an allusion because my memory just isn't forthcoming... seems to me there was something about different music for different hours... or The Horae... but what? why? And then again there is that mechanical automaton theme at play here and those village clocks with the figures marching around... Australian Ballet's version seems to have the dancers emerge from a door (can't tell from the youtube video what door, whether it's a clock or a workshop).. Much poking about on Google reveals no answers for me... no memory cues.. so... Why is there a Waltz of the Hours in Coppelia?

Interesting that Trepak is attributed to Ivanov... I thought there was some evidence that it was done by Shiraeff (sp?) because the dance was so similar to his animation and because he was known for choreographing many of the character dances in Petipa ballets... I'm not turning anything up on Google so I must surely be misspelling the name...

Thank you. But still... not so many major companies, no? Nothing turns up if I search "Recent Performances"... If I look under Ballets, it doesn't have it's own forum (not so big a deal) but the last time it was mentioned seems to be 2009 except in the list of how many Balanchine ballets one has seen... Doesn't it seem under-represented? It's as if the music world is giving it more attention than the ballet world...

I do not understand. Here it is 2010, we have a ballerina with a more extravagant leap than any in previous history, a ballet with hauntingly beautiful music introducing one of the world's most celebrated 20th century composers... a ballet that took Paris by storm on it's premiere... (what is more representative of Ballets Russes' splashdown in Paris than "The Firebird"?)... And yet we are hearing very little about it. I do not understand. I realize that NYCB had it on the program in January, the Australian Ballet did it in 2009, but it seems very underplayed for a ballet of its fame in its centennial year. Are there issues with Fokine's estate? Are others' versions of it unpopular? Is it because it's not long enough on its own to fill a bill? Is it because many did it in 2009? What gives?

Frankly, I suspect keeping ABT running might well add a few years to one's age....

Considering the quality of the clips from last season that they posted on YouTube, I couldn't be more pleased! The Giselle clips were so sensitively and beautifully framed, I hope it's the same people working on this...

Just Lovely! Very nice work!

Meant to post immediately after performance, but couldn’t get to it… Connecticut Ballet presented 4 premieres at Riverfront Recapture in Hartford, an open air theater on the banks of the Connecticut River. It is wonderful to have a free performance, but this venue has very steep seating for the audience, with reserved seating of folding beach chairs for donors, which were graciously opened up to us hoi palloi when the donors didn’t fill them… however several of us had trouble with them sliding down the hill at inopportune moments. Didn’t know what to expect and had invited several dance students with their parents to attend. I had been to the showing at the Connecticut Science Museum earlier, which had previewed a little of the evening’s work… but having seen that, hadn’t been expecting the date night fare that was offered… It was good, and very appropriate for the crowd at Riverfront, but less so for the kids I brought with. Live & learn. Let’s see what I can recall without aid of a program: 1st Premiere by Mitzi Adams (title?)… charming vaguely Fosse-esque/musical theater through modern dancer’s lens brio trio… danced in heels & hats, two girls & a man… and ensuing triangle… “girls in their summer dresses”… nice to open with after the free ballroom lesson. I’m not doing it justice, but it was interrupted about a third of a way into it by very striking natural lighting effects… and we all rushed under the canopy to admire the rainbow. My students: “I didn’t know ballet could be done in heels!?”, so I told them ballet started in heels and it was perhaps a hundred years before they tried dancing ballet without heels. (yes, I needed a history book handy just then, but no luck). It was well danced. Music was 1930s? One girl's eyes widened as she recognized Betty Boop's theme, but now I can’t remember… was it Gershwin, was it Ragtime? Lost to me now. Next was the only piece in pointe shoes…. called something like “Old Fashioned Ballet”… by former Armitage & Lines dancer Brian Carey Chung… which showed Armitage & Alonso King’s influence (off-center-ish stuff & some nice lines, respectively)… costumed in modified baroque, reminded me of a youtube video I can’t seem to call up of modern-cross-over baroque dance.. … with the side padded overskirts for the girls but no underskirt so completely exposed legs… it was a little risqué for some of the more hyper-sensitive tweens but not explicit… There was a motif of a couple lowering to one knee while holding their jointly clasped hands outstretched in front of them that was rather nice, but mostly it wasn’t balletic nor baroque in aesthetic even though it was on pointe… lots of high extensions suddenly clutched for striking images. Nice for widening the young ones' concept of what ballet might be, as they’d mostly only seen Nutcracker & other 19th century ballets… but don’t think it slayed anyone. The third piece was very well crafted, and well danced, a love triangle with speaking dancers… I liked it, but not for the under 18s… who didn’t “get” it but pronounced it “inappropriate”. I made no attempt to explain. It was right for the rest of the audience present. Lucklily the kids & parents all stayed, for the evening concluded with a jewel… I believe it was made by Ted Thomas, but without a program am not sure…. gorgeous costuming, beautiful music, thoroughly enjoyable balletic aesthetic apparently about the joy of dancing to that music… seemed to me like Limon’s “Choreo” re-imagined for a ballet company… This was the piece preview sampled at the Science Center, and it pleased everyone… many spontaneous bravos from what had up to now been a relatively reserved audience… The Tweens danced all the way from the causeway to the parking lot… (my favorite audience “badge of approval”) Meanwhile, looking forward to the presentation of Coppelia in this Fall at the Bushnell…. Certainly a more family friendly program (wish I had thought this out before: premieres generally are contemporary ballet, and contemporary ballet generally isn’t aimed at kids… and the Riverfront Recapture looks like it’s targeting young professionals more than families…) If anyone reading this has the details of the titles, choreographers and dancers, please add! Again, my apologies for not posting when the performance was fresher in my memory.

With an earlier PA Ballet generation, I was surprised by Tamara Hadley in it... she was so vibrantly in control of the space that everything seemed larger than it could really be... quite beyond her underlings and victim... sounds like overacting, but it was more "dangerous" than "oversold". Other's in that run may have been more seductive, but none had the fatale down so well...

Such worrying news... I so hope the surgery is successful and we & Mr. Wong can enjoy his airborne excursions again!

I wish someone would ask Jacques d'Amboise about this... my memory is lousy, but I thought I remembered his son Christopher saying it had been made for Jacques, but he didn't premiere it... would it have been Adams & d'Amboise and when Verdy was switched in they also switched in Ludlow? If I remember the story right (it was a pre-performance speech, so I wasn't the only one to hear it...), Balanchine offered the rights to d'Amboise and he bashfully didn't accept them... ...but confirmation would really help here.

Olga Preobajenska is very private... Some of these pages you can peruse and decide if you would like to friend, but Olga allows no previews! :^)

Osipova in Firebird

I'm betting it was Cecchetti too... ballet master for the Ballets Russes... would make one consider the technique "Russian".

Thank you!

More power to them... I think it's great that they're all lending their celebrity to bring attention to the Ellington school, a very worthy school. It's not a threat to the Kirov Academy, apples & oranges, and I agree that it's an odd complaint.

Thanks for bumping this up... had forgotten and there are some nice clips.

I'm interested in your analysis... did this seem shot to encourage the moment to be uncomfortable?

Well... there does exist this video of Cojocaru balancing just fine on her own:

The slide show is enlightening regarding the costume design for those of us who haven't seen this production. I do wish they had done something a little different on the Bluebird.