Amy Reusch

Leonid, this is wonderful! One can almost see it and hear it in the music, it explains why the variation starts off so cloyingly sweet... as if she's describing being a tiny princess... and finishes brilliantly as the now fully grown princess. ...Cute to ravishing... Makes me wonder if once upon a time the steps & port de bras started lower and grew larger as they repeated...

I find the whole thing rather hard to swallow... first that she was walking alone... she's a mega-star after all and this is NY... no one around Lincoln Center recognized her? With all the cameras everywhere, seems like there'd be a shot of it. Someone punch a girl in the face and no one around her object? Must have been awfully fast. I'm suspicious. But I hope she is okay!!

I was very sorry to see this today in the news Links: http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/2010060...g+to+Morristown .. I hope NJ Ballet doesn't fall victim to the same troubles other companies have suffered... they've done their Nutcracker at the Papermill since the beginning... I pray their story will read like Boston Ballet's rather than like Hartford Ballet's. Is it so necessary to bring in a Broadway road show at the expense of the local company?

Well, I did go... to the afternoon event... taking my daughter and at the last minute a friend of hers as well... The dance was free w/ admission, but museum admission & parking add up. Originally I was interested because I heard Hartford's best dance physical therapist was going to speak... but there were no sports medicine or science professionals (what is a science professional?) present... Apparently that was only for the Evening by invitation event. The treat was that the dancers were very good, particularly considering the small size of the troupe and it's funding... They brought 3 men & 3 women. It seemed as if director Brett Raphael took his elementary school lec-demo material and transposed it to the science center (except that I saw one of their school lecture demos a few years back and the dancers were not so prime as these ... either the company is growing in health or they stepped it up for a more prestigious audience coming that evening, or both... They basically led whomever was watching in an exploration of flexibility & strength and talked slightly about what muscles were responsible (but in a child-audience-friendly way, rather than an anatomy-student-target-audience way)... they did do a nice demonstration of lifts... the bearded dancer who pressed the girl in arabesque did a beautiful job of lifting her high above our heads, walking around with her and then setting her down oh so gently... to my relief, no on in the audience accepted the director's invitation to give it a try... and then he had the dancers recite facts about nutrition & obesity... unfortunately the exhibit hall was so full of noisy recorded voice exhibits that it was impossible to hear much of what they said, even though I think I was all of 12 feet away. Not many people were there (no surprise considering the minimal publicity)... but it really made me think about Mystic Seaport and how they do their "Educators Day" where it's free admission for school teachers (the idea being that the teachers explore for free and then are inspired to return the next year with their students on a field trip. I was wishing some educators were witnessing the nice lec-dem and would think to bring the ballet to their school. 2nd half took place in another quieter room and was called something like "How dances are made". This was nicer because we could see the dancers dancing and interact with them. Unfortunately, in the middle of it my cell phone rang off with emergency child re-arrangements for my guest. Had to deal with it via texting, but it was unfortunate to have to do in front of the dancers. My apologies to them if any are reading this. As usual, no one was asking questions... so I did. Too many, once again... I'm afraid... taking over the room too much. When no one asks questions, I figure it's good to ask one or two, to prime the well so to speak, to get the others started.. but then no one else volunteered a question... and i became too interested in the answers and asked more. Hard to bite the tongue in a silent room. The dancers demonstrated a choreographic phrase in a circle and Mr. Raphael asked what could be done to make it more interesting... dead silence, so I couldn't resist suggesting "have the dancers almost collide" just before my phone exerted it's rudeness... the dancers didn't look pleased (and I regretted my suggestion), but it needed some tension somewhere... Wish instead I had suggested a canon of the phrase, would have been nice to see those cabrioles echoing around the circle. They demonstrated some choreography by Brian Carey Chung (I think I have that right...), talking about how they arrived at the steps using improvisation compared to how one would be taught a Petipa ballet. There were some nice phrases. I could watch that bearded dancer improvise for quite a while longer than most dancers... so eloquent. The others were nice as well, but less physically expressive, more exploring their dancer physical posing possibilities. They talked a little about memory, and how dancers have to remember a great many steps... but didn't get too deep into it... would love to hear a scientist co-present with them on THAT! They also did some nice interweaving, getting the entire room to hold hands and wind around each other... I think Mr. Raphael should come up with a Double-Helix DNA demonstration dance for the school kids... could even talk about weak & strong chromosomes, considering the twisted positions some of the non-dancers got themselves entwined into... It's so interesting to me how ballet dance training vs. modern dance training doesn't seem to exist anymore... they all seem to have extensive training in both, and many go to college. That used to be such a rare thing, and there was such a wall to get over when borders crossed. Now the wall is transparent. These dancers looked equally at home in traditional and contemporary choreography. I would like to hear from someone who went to the evening presentation... I suspect it was more like what I what was hoping to see. Best news was that the company is returning mid July to perform free-to-the-public in the performance space on the river. Sometime near 7/15, but not sure when... seems it was a Saturday.

CT Ballet Hartford Office had the answer... Dancers will be there doing workshops in the afternoon, but the performance isn't until the evening and is for donors.

Too bad this wasn't more clearly organized (by the museum?)... No one mans the phone on Saturdays at the museum. It's expensive, 40 miles away, and we've been there in the past year more than once, so I'm not inclined to go if the program isn't happening. I'm going to see if I can reach anyone at Connecticut Ballet. Seems they would know.

I don't understand... the CT Science Center has this: But you seem to have it down as 6:00-8:00pm When is it? Would like to come.

Funny you should mention this just now... I've been considering the beautiful Igone de Jongh's portrayal of Myrtha as seen on the Dutch National Ballet's promotional clips on youtube.... a Myrtha who didn't take to being victimized lightly... so much more interesting! &

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! (I'm laughing because the "after" pictures are exactly the type of calves I thought perhaps men would want to improve on because of the ugly shape... I'm totally baffled as to why anyone would not prefer the "before" photos!)

I'm wondering how professional these ballet dancers wanting calf implants are... Doesn't proper training do enough to shape the leg? At least to the point where no one would want to add anything on? Insteps maybe, but calves? And who are these ballet dancers taking 6 weeks off? Could it be male dancers? I can't remember a professlonal female ballet dancer whose calves needed anything added on...pointe work does a lot for that... but perhaps male technique wouldn't shape the leg quite the same way?

It drew my attention to the Princess de Polignac... quite the patroness!! I'm very impressed with the Singer family... between sponsoring Isadora Duncan & Serge Diaghilev... the dance world is considerably in their debt...

DanceLoverUK has put up some excerpts from Ross MacGibbon's BBC Documentary on the Ballets Russes "For Arts Sake: The Story of the Ballets Russes"... some marvelous stuff in it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUt4Q1vFEIo

every tripod should be equipped with a slingshot.

Are all the Tweets really being archived by the Library of Congress? I couldn't really have heard that this morning... must have been sleeping.

I found this very curious too. I find it slightly disturbing, but can't say why... I'm in favor of both organizations... I think perhaps it's just because it seem suddenly that there's a favorite company after all these years...

I think it's evil that they put them both on the same day!!

Yes, they both danced in the London Sadlers Wells production of Coppelia in 1949 and I am not certain that they danced this ballet before that date but someone will certainly post the date of their first performance together. They both famously did independent stagings of Coppelia, but I've never heard these compared in light of their having danced the lead roles opposite each other... Can't imagine this hasn't been done... hmmm... what search words to use... Thank you Leonid! Well... I'm not finding much, though after reading a few excerpts on Google books I really want to get the Franklin biography... wish it were selling for about $10 less... seems a lot for a paperback, but I'm sure it's going cheap considering what's between the pages. One quote in the NY Times on the occasion of his ABT Coppelia staging

Perhaps this should be a different thread, but while we're thinking of Danilova & Franklin's partnership... did they do Coppelia together?

Two other footnotes: I enjoyed seeing all the shining eyes of the youngsters in the lobby after the performance... always delights me when the audience is reached! It seems they didn't do the character dance in the publicity shot, nor did anything wearing similar costumes... Presenting the two Act IIs back to back (actually Act III, the Wedding, no?)... seems so very odd a programing choice... How on earth did that come about? One other thought... during the pas de deux, Swanhilda kneels, almost Aurora like, before Fritz, who then draws her up to her feet... I don't remember this in other Coppelias...

I was surprised not to find a thread on this company's production of Coppelia... Alas, because I was teaching, I only caught the last 10 minutes in their performance tonight at UConn's Jorgensen Auditorium. The dancing was excellent, so much better than this small town could reasonably expect... particularly for a company of dancers on a series of one night stands... but from what I saw, the women were much finer than fill the corps of most of our regional ballet companies here in the US. The men were a nice eyeful, with good line, but there seemed something off about the Franz... he had nice line, easy extension, but it was as if he pulled to far back into hyperextension and it made his movement soft rather than buoyant.. as if he were sinking in the floor in some odd way... but then again, this is an awful stage he was performing on, and he may have been favoring an injury... no limping or anything like that, nothing technically wrong with the barrel turns, etc.... just his weight pulled too far back into his knees and something off in the ballon as a result. But, again, he was a far finer dancer than reason would have performing here in the hinterland. My 11-year-old did see the entire production, and was surprised when Dr. Coppelius instructed Swanhilda to go hide behind Coppelia. I suspect that the usual difficulties with University of Connecticut's premiere theater: no fly space means sets couldn't be utilized. I think perhaps they were improvising on the fly... I would very much like to know if anyone else had this strange alteration of the story line, or whether indeed it was unique to our fine theater with the miserable sight lines where anyone not on risers sees nothing of the dancers below mid-shins... I picked up a program but it has multiple casting. There was a tall blonde girl in with the corps for the Hours, with a a startling good arabesque. One of those things that is hard to say in a flash what was different between hers and the others, except that when you saw it before you, your eyes widened... I asked my daughter if the audience laughed during the first and second Acts, and she said almost not at all... so I gather it wasn't much like Frederic Franklin's... but still enjoyed the excellent dancing from all I heard in the lobby. They looked extremely well rehearsed... Third Act spacing was perfect... impressive considering it was a one night stand...

I thought they were doing his Nutcracker...

Nureyev is sort of the elephant in the room no one talks about, if I remember... even as they dance his choreography... (and my memory isn't reliable, so please correct...)

... though it is surprising that Swan Lake didn't make the top 15 before Nureyev... ....could it be she meant not "classical" but "romantic"?

Roland Petit's Carmen!!!!!

and when you think about how many unpaid hours of labor went into these people becoming musicians in the first place... to end up with this horrible treatment. I went to their recent performance a few weeks ago in Storrs at University of Connecticut... and looked at them looking out at the sparse audience... without knowing for sure, I imagined that, like the ballet companies that come through, they had been on a run of one night stands and had to pull it together this foggy rainy wintry mid-week evening.... some of them were wonderful and some them could have played better... and I forgave them any foible, just happy to have a live orchestra playing... I was less forgiving of Rimsky-Korsakov... the Scheherezade seemed to go on forever... and thought audiences must have had more patience in the 19th century.