Amy Reusch

ummm.... from somewhere I had the idea that Albrecht was safe as long as he remained next to Giselle's cross... (from where? from where?)... but that he was lured off of it...

Born near the ancient shores of New Jersey's Great Swamp, I just may be the Jersey swamp devil... come to think of it, I think my high school's teams were named it... But I'm sitting here trying to picture what the traditional ballet pantomime for "May the fishes eat your eyes" would look like.... Personally, I'd like to consign "I did it My Waaaaaayyyyyy" to someplace the egrets can't peck at.

But back to old Hilarion... I was searching for info on different productions versions of that diagonal line... having recently been quite taken with St Petersbufg Academic Ballet (oh.. drat... I just give up on the company name thing...) Petukov's St. Petersburg company.... version of it... so dreamlike, slow-motion, special-effect-ish, dizzy distortion aura for Hilarion... Where is this from? Rehearsal coaches were listed in the program: E. Sherstneva, I. Kirsanova, D. Vovk, V. Sergeeva, P. Stalinskiy, L. Leontyeva. Do those names ring a bell for anyone? Is it quite common to do it this way?

I'm a little surprised at Jennifer Dunning:

The evening opened with a fascinating account of “Appalachian Spring,” Graham’s 1944 evocation of awakening spring in frontier America and the pioneers who experience it.

I too hear spring awakening, but understood the reference was actually to water bubbling up, not a season... or did Graham stretch the metaphor around to cover all interpretations?

I don't know how I failed to mention the moment that floored me...

It's that diagonal line of the willis sending off Hilarion... it's always a striking moment, but, I seem to remember it having a different style... I don't really want to say with the precision of the Rockettes, but I can't think of something closer... a sort of inexhorable command down the line for Hilarion to die...

but here, it was different... the line change direction 3 or more in succession at a time in a slower softer canon immediately behind Hilarion... it was like a ripple... I'm reminded of how waves of heat rising make a sort of lens in the air... a slight distortion of light around whatever it is one is looking at ... this was like a distortion of delirium around Hilarion as he moved down the line... very much more like a supernatural special effect than I remember it being in other productions...

I ran into another dancer tonight who saw the show (and the last 3 years of ballet presentations at the Jorgensen) who thought the second act excellent too... and the comment was "finally, we get someone good!"

I saw the same performance as Vagansmom (but I composed the comments below before seeing her review).

Cast: (What I was able to determine… the announcement was made as the lights were going down and my mind stuck on "Hans will be played by" and couldn't get a pen out in time. At intermission I asked a few others if they had heard who the Giselle and Albrecht were, but no one could say; so I used my usual trick of waiting patiently at the audio console in the back of the orchestra and with sign language asking the engineer to circle the performers. He got as far underlining who played the Duke and the "Henchman" before losing interest; so I didn't get the casting for the Peasant Pas de Deux or Myrtha.

Here's what I did get: Giselle - A. Borodulina; Albert - Y. Mirov; Gans[sic] - E. Ivanov; Batilda - A. Sveshnikova; Duke - A. Petrov; Henchman - M. Anisimov

Now who is to blame for the sloppy program credits and synopsis, I wish I knew the story. I don't blame the venue... I'm pretty sure they just drop in what is sent to them; but CAMI & the company should be ashamed... Is it a problem with CAMI? Is there poor communication with the ballet company? "Willises"? "They leave their graves and incite a great cemetery dance of death". A native English speaking friend should help them out a bit. But some of this goes beyond translation flaws: Libretto by T. Gaulthier; Choreography by J. Perro? The company credit finishes with "he repertoire of the company consists of both classical and modern ballet performances - more than 60 dance items and 20 one-act ballets". Curious term... I wonder if Giselle is a "dance item" or do they mean the choreographic miniatures?

Assorted notes on the performance (and as a native English speaker, I have no excuse)…

Before I get into the picayune... Borodulina was just beautiful, and the corps was so perfect with soft pointework, perfect line, perfect spacing... They were wonderful to see and so much better than I've seen play this venue before.

Alas, the group tickets our director got for us were at the very back of the balcony... about the worst seats in the house except those with obstructed sightlines. This is perhaps because there were children involved? I don't know. I was rather annoyed with the box office. Here we help drum up an audience and are rewarded with terrible seats. It would be okay if it were the best they could do to keep us together but there were several unsold rows of seats in front of us. The house was pretty full but there were still plenty of empty seats in the back (in front of us). It was like having to watch the ballet through a window from a building across the street. I arrived just before curtain and prevailed on some of our group to move further down, but we were still too far away to really see the acting and the light didn’t make it’s way back that far. The children thought they had a fine view, but when I asked them about the daisy at intermission, they said "what daisy"? Particularly in the first act, I think a lot was lost. I can't give a review of the mad scene... I couldn't make out Giselle's face... I tried with the binoculars I brought but at that magnification they were so shakey it wasn't worth the effort. After the intermission I dragged several people down with me to the better empty seats at the back of the orchestra. In ACT II it was easier to see the dancing, and they looked so much more enchanting at that proximity, but of course, that's the act that could have stood the balcony.

Peasant costumes... these must be doubling as as ballroom costumes in some other ballet... they were the most elegant peasant costumes I've ever seen. The Willis looked beautiful too, but here the tulle was appropriate.

Mirov's entrance as Albrecht was not much... perhaps it was the measly cape... I think they ought to splurge and get him a more impressive cape, since it does play a part later in the plot. There's that business of running in a circle that occurs in various parts of the stage... some danseurs can make you sense the space they are orienting themselves in during this sequence, while others just make you sense that they're running around in a circle with their arm outstretched for some reason and feeling a little silly about it.

Beautiful softness to the ballon... again and again I marveled at the lovely softness to the women's jumps in the ballet.. and such nice soft landings at the end... I almost never heard a footfall.

Spacing -- my handwriting not legible -- maybe said it looked like they were feeling a little cramped for space but they beautifully maintained their spacing, regardless.

Mirov a little clunky for someone so slender... arms not enough.... I kept feeling his arms didn't extend from his back enough... he was elegant enough but there was no breadth to his gestures. Perhaps this is true to the soviet idea that as a nobleman messing with the peasants, Albrecht was not one to inspire admiration?

Borodulina's pointe work was beautiful. Occasionally I did wish a little more detail attention in Giselle’s entrechat trios… the feet tended not to point enough as the step finished, and she had beautiful feet... I don't get the sense jumping is her best feature... all the same, she had a beautiful softness to her jumps, both in the air and in the landing.

Again and again, the mime didn't really read from the balcony. I could make the big gestures, but I doubt my students could see the acting enough to know what they meant (I didn’t have a chance to teach them about the pantomime language, we have so little time in class as it is and many of the kids’ normal bedtime was at curtain).

As Hilarion, excuse me, "Gans", Ivanov was often very good, but sometimes his timing was off just enough to throw it off "natural". His gestures were big enough to read well from the balcony (I would have like to have seen his Albrecht), but his timing was a little weird, off a beat or some such thing... perhaps he was doing exactly by notes in the music as opposed to the movement of the dancers before him? Don't know what was up. Most likely it’s a casualty of one-night stands in different venues. I notice he's the only option in the cast for his part. I wonder if casting such a strong dancer as Hilarion and a weaker one as Albrecht is part of the old Soviet PR machine casting?

I know it's not possible on this sort of a tour, but I do miss the hunting dogs... rigor mortis seemed to have really set in on the hunt's catch... perhaps it was a leftover from last week's hunt? (I'm being mean here... the company did a wonderful job... it's just that it seemed funny to me the way the beat looked)

Bathilde doesn't walk like a noble woman… I didn't feel Bathilde made convincing nobility... she didn't have it in her bearing. A cigarette girl, but not a Duke's daughter. Perhaps again this is part of the old soviet interpretation?

I couldn't follow the Duke's instructions.... There was a long bit of pantomime that didn't come across as anything to the balcony. And then they just disappeared into the hut (I'm beginning to understand the director's motivation for that crazy scene in the Bruhn/Fracci Giselle film)

There was a peasant dance I didn't remember from Ivan Nagy' staging...but maybe my memory wasn't performing. I shot Nagy's Giselle a few times in Chicago years and years ago for Ballet Theatre of Chicago (a short lived troup headed by moonlighting Joffrey dancers), but I don't know if the choreography here was different or it just didn't read the same.

Can't read my notes... but it looked like the ballerina in the Peasant pas de deux (or was it Giselle?) didn't look entirely happy with her solo.... I wish they had played up to the balcony a little more... dancers don't seem trained to project up anymore... but so much of what she did was very beautiful and I'm glad my students got to see dancing of that quality.

I was surprised to see her arms a little abandoned in the piques, flying out haphazardly (Giselle or pdd?)... Seems to be before peasant pdd??

The peasant Pas de Deux wasn't done for the entertainment of the hunting party. Is this normal? It doesn't seem to be what I remember, but the memory isn't vibrant. I wished Peasant pas de deux would let the lovely lines register a moment longer... linger a moment... they were very beautiful but it was like when a novice musician doesn't hold the long notes long enough... that old stage consciousness error of thinking the moment has lasted longer than it has.

And then some jerk took a flash photo during the Peasant pas! How I wish ushers were equipped with poison blowdarts! (Still it was better than another jerk - or maybe the same jerk in a different location - took a flash during Hilarion's scene) My notes say the Peasant Pas de Deux adagio was just beautiful. This company's dancers have such beautiful phrasing (even if they might linger a little longer in the held spots).

The Men's landings looked like the floor was really hard.... Strange landings... something was strange... they looked as if landing hurt their feet.. I don't know what was up... the weather kept threatening to rain, could they have had tendonitis acting up?

Giselle (Ppdd?) jetes... she had trouble with her back in the jumps... as if she jumped in two pieces.. didn't jump from the small of hte back so it seemed to have adjust... but her turns were very beautiful... they had a cleaness and a timing that was just perfect (perhaps I've been teaching too much lately?)

The guys' legs go too high... sometimes for Giselle too.. in the first act, it just doesn't suit her costume or the choreography... just because they can go up doesn't mean they should... it looks incongruous... On the guys, it looks awful... I don't need to see the leg flop up into that birdlike arabesque... it disconnects the back from the leg, breaks the line of the jump... it would be nice if it went "out" lengthening the control on the landing, but not up against the back... it looks weak. In the jumps, when the leg goes up so high at the end it just breaks the line of the leap, so that jump looks like less than it is... I don't understand why this has become the style... why does it seem better to them? Because it is "more"? It makes the larger image of the jump look like "less" to me.

Over and over again, I felt the turns were beautiful....

Arms often seemed not neurologically connected from the fingertips to the spine, but there was beautiful soft phrasing dynamics with the arms... these dancers had a kind of musical sensitivity in their arms that we don’t regularly see in our American companies... I hate that dead fish look to the hands when it seems a ballet shaped prosthesis has been attached at the wrist instead of sensitive fingertips... it's such a fine line between lifelessness and beauty... some of them got it, others didn't... I don't feel there's enough consciousness of back-through-arm-to-fingertips line in ballet today... more beautiful spine-through-leg-to-toes line than ever, but something short circuits in the arms.

I missed Albrecht's moment of reaching for his missing sword hilt when Hilarion angers him... did I try to dig up binoculars? I don't think so... Anyone else see this in this production?

Opening of the second act... Smoke a little high...the air seemed clear for a foot above the stage... l could see their feet but above that was obscured... made 2nd act opening very effective... (thank god I didn't have to shoot it, would have driven me mad trying to focus on an image in the dark and smoke)... He really seemed lost in the mist.

Myrtha's entrance bourées were beautifully performed... such nice pointe work throughout this ballet. I felt she was being a little careful with the penches... not that they weren't extended enough, more it was a phrasing situation, as if she were a little worried of losing her balance rather than transcending .

The whole point of technique is to transcend it? Want that quote from Joffrey's new AD... Borodulina's balance was just like that... invisible technique... balancing and drifting off it as natural as breathing in the music's phrasing.

2nd Act I was able to assess the lighting a bit better... lovely... given that they couldn't have competent soft focused followspots for a one-night-stand like this, there were still some spots that they had managed to place to hit certain spots in the ballet to highlight Giselle very effectively.

Over & over again... beautiful arm use, lovely soft beats. Better than Boston Ballet was in La Sylphide last fall. The pointe work was perfect for the era of Giselle... so soft and supple without that soupy sinking into the soft shoes as if one's feet had never developped the strength for this kind of work...

Beautiful arms out of the blonde wili soloist, wish I had her name... these were correctly connected to the spine without too much tension/feeling... no dead fish here

Traveling arabesque section so beautifully done that the audience burst into applause.. The arabesque lines were perfect, spacing perfect... perhaps I'm picking too much, but I prefer to see this sort of voyagé to skim along the floor rather than hop... their jumps were a little too vertical instead of horizontal... it disrupts the ghostly floating effect..but impeccably performed.

Myrtha had a beautiful back. Still sent chills down my spine when they make ... hmm... didn't finish sentence... think it was making someone dance... Hilarion?

Corps was perfect. Perhaps I should put that in bold & caps.

Albrecht didn't make a lot of sense... but his first approach to Giselle's grave was very nice.. quiet, reserved, elegant line. His servant's acting, pleading a little too frenzied... too fast to read quite properly on the stage. ("bigger stronger", "make more of it" doesn't necessarily mean "faster")

Albrecht's second walk to the grave was too "correct". Men's walks.... (how many danseurs can walk well?) ... might have been more appropriate for Don Q (or Carmen?)... too correct has a sharpness... not exactly a strut, but not appropriate for a grieving prince approaching Giselle's grave in the fog of the forest.

Mirov performed some beautiful grand jetes with lots of loft rather than those slashing split grand jetes so often seen now… is there a name for these two different style jetes? Beautiful cabrioles at the end... followed by a fall that cried out for him to studing Limon technique so he could learn how to fall... but maybe it was that wierd landing thing now affecting the falls... I wonder what's up there now for flooring... (or was it some other stage they danced on this tour that has them all skittish now)

Recording didn't bother me (I've heard some truly terrible recordings and this didn't seem so bad... or perhaps it seemed better from the orchestra in the 2nd act after I had already adjusted). Some of the parents said they'd like to have seen it with a live orchestra. I'm with them... but of course, that would have involved a lot more money. I did find the harp a bit bizarre in the 2nd act... I wondered if they had felt it wasn't audible enough and had digitally adjusted it's volume... it was almost as if they used an electric harp (?) for the recording... a little out of balance.

Main reaction from the 9 year olds? "Giselle was so pretty!"

(Copied from another thread)

NYTB has also added Tudor’s bedroom pas de deux from Romeo & Juliet, staged by Airi Hynninen, to the [April 4] program.

Poor Robert Johnson... he missed Giselle.

"Treat Yourself" would be my comment. Some of the dancing in this production was absolutely impeccable.

So nice to see the ballet done with the proper pointe technique. The Giselle's ability to linger in and then float out of her balances was sublime.

I'm a bit fried. Will post more details after I've deciphered my blindly scrawled notes tomorrow. Okay, there were some slight flaws, but the strengths made you readily forgive them.

This was so much better than I was expecting. I'd rate them way above the Boston Ballet cast I saw do a Sylphide matinee last fall... I haven't seen San Francisco Ballet live lately, and I don't know how they are at Giselle, but I'd venture that the women in this production from the ballerina down to the corps would be dangerous competition.

(and I remember not recommending this company's Romeo & Juliet).

[Edited to add... I have posted my review on the thread with the other reviews: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...c=26808&hl= ]

I was afraid someone was going to say "in the film!"

One wonders where the outtakes are stored....

Review by Robert Johnson in the NJ Starledger didn't much care for the company's "Carmen"

Spare yourself.

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/ledger/ind....xml&coll=1

Oh well. Maybe he would have liked the Giselle better. I now have tickets & will post a review.

And who are the principals that aren't returning next year?

There's a review in the Washington Post about the company's performance of Giselle at Montgomery College:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...8031403866.html

Credit for heightening the emotional register (and for transcending the tinny-sounding music) goes largely to Anna Borodulina, who danced the title role. In Act 1, Borodulina's Giselle was such a girlish, impulsive, bashful little thing, you'd have sworn she'd just returned from the orthodontist's office.

3/13/2008 - The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School will showcase the talents of its students in their year-end performance on Saturday, March 22, 2008 at 4:00 P.M and 7:00 P.M at The Ailey Citigroup Theater. The program will include Antony Tudor’s Little Improvisations, staged by Amanda McKerrow, and excerpts from Coppélia, Swan Lake and Flower Festival in Genzano, as well as new choreography from Raymond Lukens, Kirk Peterson and Jessica Lang. Completing the program will be Tudor’s Continuo, staged by Donald Mahler and performed by members of ABT II, including five former JKO School students.

(putting the text in bold was my doing, not ABT's)

http://www.abt.org/insideabt/news_display.asp?News_ID=217

And I'm wondering... how does March 22 come to be "year-end"? It seems so early.

I haven't seen this video in a while... but I remember being struck by how... when the director wasn't absurdly over-doing special effects.... when the director wasn't trying too hard... how good the camera work and editing actually was... The bad is so bad you can't miss it, but the good is so good that you only notice how vibrant the dancing is. When it's bad, it's not bad in the standard "were they blind?" way... it's bad with truly innovative levels of mistake The peasant pas de deux is one of those jaw dropping moments! (come on, there must have been a story behind that decision!!) But honestly, where it's not bad, it's much much better than most dance videos.

Giordano brought a lot of talented dancers into the Chicago area, many of whom stayed on and worked in other companies... the Chicagoland dance world owes him much gratitude. RIP.

OK. I am now TOTALLY CONFUSED!!!!

Always a tough town for dance... and just as things were starting to look up with Thordal Christensen & Colleen Neary's company getting going. (fingers crossed against a trend... let's hope NY Times is setting the new trend and LA is just lagging on an old one)

I wonder if this thread has started in another forum... (do we really not have a thread yet on the Tudor Centennial?)

Listening to Chicago Public Television's interviewer refer to "Anthony Tudor", I wondered if she realized the choreographer's prominence. It seems to me that there are many companies honoring Antony Tudor's centennial this year, but I couldn't list them off hand. Could we make a list here? (I'm a little shocked that ABT doesn't seem to be doing anything, although their site shows a picture of The Leaves are Fading on their blank fall repertory page.. perhaps they're planning something then?) The Antony Tudor Trust page only mentions the Julliard event, and doesn't even mention Joffrey's production.

I guess his work has dropped from popularity, but for earlier generations of dancers Tudor was Balanchine's opposite and rival just as ABT and NYCB were. How does this happen? Is it because Tudor was so not a classicist? Have his works become like melodramas of black & white cinema, not easily accessible to today's audiences? Have they become stiff blurred versions of what they once were? Do today's dancers lack the acting skills to bring them to life? We seem to be bankrolling revivals of Sylvia and The Pharoah's daughter instead. (I love Ashton and Petipa too, but I'm not convinced the story line flows well in either of those two works) I'm not a huge Tudor repertory fan, it's a bit more charged than I'm usually ready to extend myself toward, (I'm not big on Fall River Legend either), but I'd love to see his Romeo & Juliet staged before it's completely out of reach... so many people I respect have admired it. I do remember The Leaves are Fading as being quite beautiful.

New York Theater Ballet

- Little Improvisations

- Judgement of Paris

- Jardin aux Lilas or Lilac Garden

Joffrey Ballet

- Lilac Garden

- Dark Elegies

- Offenbach in the Underworld

Festival Ballet Providence

- The Leaves are Fading

Julliard

- hosting symposium ( http://www.nytb.org/TheAntonyTudorCentennial-NYC2008.htm )

- Dark Elegies

Muhlenberg College

- Continuo

ABT lists the following works in their repertory, but doesn't mention if they are performing any this year:

http://www.abt.org/education/archive/chore...rs/tudor_a.html

-Dark Elegies

-Dim Lustre

-Echoing of Trumpets

-Fandango

-Gala Performance

-Goya Pastoral

-Jardin Aux Lilas

-Judgment of Paris

-The Leaves Are Fading

-Little Improvisations

-Nimbus

-Offenbach in the Underworld

-Pillar of Fire

-Romeo and Juliet

-Shadow of the Wind

-Shadowplay

-The Tiller in the Fields

-Undertow

[Edited 3/31 to add:]

Judgement of Paris revival will be premiered at ABT's opening night gala on 5/19 at the Met...including ABT alumni: The season’s only performance of the ballet will feature ABT alumni Kathleen Moore as Juno, Martine van Hamel as Venus and Bonnie Mathis as Minerva, as well as Kevin McKenzie as The Client and Victor Barbee as The Waiter.

[Edited 4/7 to add:]

ABT has announced their Tudor Centennial Tribute for this Fall City Center season

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...mp;#entry224681

American Ballet Theatre's Tudor Centennial Tribute, including special guest appearances and film excerpts depicting Tudor at work, will complement performances of several of the choreographer's greatest works, many originally created for ABT. The evening will begin with a performance of Continuo (1971) and will be highlighted by Jardin aux Lilas (1936) and pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet (1943) and The Leaves Are Fading (1975). Performances of Judgment of Paris (1938) and Pillar of Fire (1942) will complete the tribute evening. ABT's Tudor Centennial Tribute is made possible by a generous grant from The Howard Gilman Foundation and Gilman Paper Company.

ABTII @ Joyce Theater, NYC, 5/1, 5/9-11

-Continuo

Joffrey Ballet's blog has some photos (page down): http://jpointe.blogspot.com/

NY Times article on Joffrey's Tudor presentation: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/arts/dance/22joff.html

Julliard Tudor Centennial comments/remembrances form: http://www.juilliard.edu/pdf/Remembrance-Form.pdf

Sarasota Ballet will present Lilac Garden in celebration of the centennial, in April 2009

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080.../804200378/1661 (mentioned at bottom of article)

Hartford, CT - 5/10/08: Ted Hersey Dance Marathon 10th Anniversary concert will present among other things, Julliard students performing excerpts from Dark Elegies'

http://www.tedhershey.com/program/

Boston Ballet - 5/15-18/08

- Dark Elegies

He has his own website... perhaps there is news there? http://www.daniilsimkin.com

There's a rather remarkable looking Snow White being presented by the Estonian Ballet if the clips on the unmentionable video website provide enough of a view to judge... choreographed by Gyula Harangozó.

I don't know how well the choreography would stand up without the fabulous set and staging, but it certainly looks like it would hold itself well for a "family ballet" evening.

Has anyone on this forum seen it live? Does the company tour much? There don't seem to be any photos of the work yet on the company's website: http://www.estballet.com but in the video it looks to have high production values. I am surprised not to have heard much of the production. Is this because of geographic isolation, is Estonia cultivating a secret treasure?

Ooops... I went back to check the video out again and see it's of the Hungarian National Ballet... apparently Estonia is also presenting it.

And I'm not saying it's transcendent choreography, but it looks pretty good for fitting the "family" bill... what else is usually on that menu? Cinderella, Nutcracker, Coppelia, La Fille Mal Gardee, Sleeping Beauty and what else?

I'm in favor of marking transitions with ceremony... births, weddings, deaths.... A principal dancer retiring is a pretty big transition... as an audience, I think we need it... I hope it helps them as well, but I'd love to hear whether it's as well received at their end as it is meant from by the audience. I think it must or Peter Martins wouldn't have been so proactive in staging them. I guess in the old days there was such a thing as a "benefit performance" at retirment where the box office went to the retiring artist? (I know there were other benefit performances, I think Beethoven had one once at a time when he certainly wasn't retiring). The positive press must help them a little in their next step...

Is there a tradition for debuts?

Capezio's flagship store at 1650 Broadway(at 51st St.) 2nd Floor has an interesting collection of dance shoes on exhibit... (I think it's a permanent exhibit, NYers here on the board could perhaps confirm...) I can't remember now who they have slippers from... but if you're in the Times Square area it's worth a visit.

I have been given to understand the expression (and consequences of)"faux pas" started to have significance in Louis XIV's court

I fell in love with ballet at age 3.5 watching the men in Princeton Ballet's first Nutcracker, particularly in the Russian dance.... It was decades before I had much use for the ballerinas in the pink tutus...

... so young...