Giselle05

Does anyone know what happened in Milan (La Scala) with the strikes? Did the dancers end up performing or did the strike (because of dressing rooms?!) indeed go on? I know Sylvie Guillem and Alessandra Ferri were supposed to be performing in Manon...

I loved Allash as well. Was it just me or were there clips of Nina A. with Filin during the intermission, along with clips of Zakharova?

I would agree with Prodigal Son...and would add Carmen, especially as danced by Ferri and Bocca at the ABT Opening Night Gala. As a matter of fact, anything danced by them. But that was particularly... heated.

Suki's birth name was indeed Suzanne, she changed it upon coming to NYCB because of the presence of two other Suzanne/Susan (Farrell and Pilarre) :-)

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She must have been prescient, because she joined NYCB in 1959, the year Diana Adams tapped Suzanne Farrell for SAB, and Susan Pilarre was still performing children's roles in The Nutcracker through the early 60's.

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Ahh :rolleyes: ...Just making sure you were paying attention!

Suki's birth name was indeed Suzanne, she changed it upon coming to NYCB because of the presence of two other Suzanne/Susan (Farrell and Pilarre) :-)

In Gene Schiavone Gallery, there are pictures of ABT dancers rehearsing Apollo

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What is the Gene Schiavone Gallery?

I have a performance of Ananiashvili in "Fille du Pharaon" its the premiere (@ the Bolshoi via Lacotte).

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I was wondering where you found this tape; I'd love to see it!

I, too, saw it at the Opening Night City Center Gala with Ferri and Corella. I don't remember the performance too well. However, subsequently I paid a visit the NYPL and found a recent ABT tape of Other Dances (ca. 2000) with Ferri and Bocca, which took my breath away. I thought it was simply perfection. They performed it with so much abandon. When they walk on stage together holding hands in complete silence looking at eachother...well, that'd be worth the price of the whole ticket for me :-). From what I understand they've danced this piece together since 1990, and it really shows. Both are extremely musical, and their movements are so liquidy. Bocca's first solo is extremely funny, the second beautiful, as if he was painting a memory. Ferri is best in the second, slower solo. Both get the folkloric-esque part of it so well, and their rapport is just so affecting. Ferri is very feminine and Bocca very affectionate.

Permission is required to view this, but it is very easy to acquire; ask the Librarian for more information.

I will be back at the library soon to watch Makarova and Baryshnikov since it was created on them. :-)

I wonder if NYCB would consider it for their repertoire any time soon...does anyone know when the last time they danced it was?

Anyway, I'd love to hear about more recollections of this ballet. Has anyone seen Makarova and Baryshnikov live? Or anyone else :-)

What do you think of this ballet? Who have you seen dance it? I have just become familiar with it and I think it is so beautiful- I'd love to hear about performances you've seen.

Inspired by BalletNut's thread and not to distract from it (keep posting there, too!).

Which dancers would you choose to play the roles in your favorite movies? Or simply roles you think they'd be great in, or that you'd just love to see.

I'll have to add on to my list with:

Before Sunset

Amelie (thanks Paquita for reminding me about two of my favorite movies!)

Something's Gotta Give

Dirty Dancing

Notting Hill

Isabella Rossellini/Audrey Hepburn: Juliet

Sarah Jessica Parker: Swanhilda in Coppelia

Charlize Theron: Theme and Variations (I always see a gorgeous tall woman in this)

Angelina Jolie: Odile, with Oliver Martinez as Von Rothbart

Jennifer Connelly: any of Four Temperaments (I have no idea why, I can just see it)

Penelope Cruz: Roland Petit's Carmen

Nicole Kidman: the Siren in Prodigal Son

Scarlett Johanssen: The Sleeping Beauty

Gwyneth Paltrow as Odette, with Jude Law as Prince Siegfried

Natalie Portman as Giselle with Mark Ruffalo as Albrecht

I agree, Alessandra Ferri, hands down, is absolutely the most gorgeous woman...<especially when she was younger, she looked like a glamorous old hollywood star>...and dancer.

Julie Kent is extremely beautiful as well, I remember reading somewhere a reference to her "Boticellian-like beauty"..

Of NYCB, Darci Kistler.

I was browsing through the NYPL's Dance Collection Catalog and came upon the recently added ABT Fokine Celebration (June 20, 2005)- it is the only tape from ABT from this year, and in the "Notes", it says:

"Recording made possible by the cooperation of American Ballet Theatre, the Metropolitan Opera House, and the Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image, Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Videotaped in performance at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, N.Y., on June 20, 2005; video documentation, Harmill Communications; director/camera, Jay Millard.

This recording is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.

Recorded with the assistance of New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts."

Meaning...ABT does not have the funds to tape every performance, like PNB and NYCB? I never imagined it required so many expenses...it's just a house camera! :-(

Editing to add: Ditto for the NYCB tapes..(made possible by cooperation, funding, etc.)...However, for the PNB tapes, it just says filmed in the Seattle Opera House on this and this day, gift of the Pacific Northwest Ballet..

Breakfast at Tiffany's (gold standard)

Titanic

Romeo and Juliet (Franco Zefirelli 1964 version, with Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting)

Two Weeks Notice (I know this isn't a big hit, but theres something about Bullock and Grant that I just love)

Love Actually (such a sweet christmas-time movie- plus EIGHT different romances!)

Pretty Woman

The two central pas de deuxs from Swan Lake (black and white)- everything about them. Kitri's entrance in Don Quixote and the Grand Pas de Deux of the Third Act.

First place: Ananiashvilli

Next, I'd say Kent- she was absolutely wonderous. But for me no one matches Ananiashvilli.

I wonder if ABT tapes every single performances... what I'd do to have access to the rooms where the tapes are kept!

Thanks for all your responses. I actually frequent the NYPL for Perf. Arts very often but didn't know of those ABT recordings.

I wonder if perhaps a dancer could answer, more along the lines of, do you often have someone record performances for your own sake, do you have permission, etc. Meaning, take a principal dancer with ABT- surely they'd be curious to know how they appear from the stage and would love to watch the performance from the audience's perspective! I just want reassuring that more performances are indeed being taped, its the paranoia in me. :-/ Maybe someday, somewhere, they'll be available for viewing...

bart, that's a good thought- I know the San Francisco Library has a great collection as well. At the NYPL, you see the librarian, who goes over your "order", files it in the computer, and assigns you a station. There are rows of booths with TVs and headphones, and the librarian plays it at your assigned station. Multiple videos can be "ordered" at a time and you can switch back and forth.

That's so interesting, thanks. I wish ABT would do that- at least with benchmarks, like anniversaries, farewells, last performances, etc. Gosh, I'm so desperate that I'd write to request a tape!

Where do the cameramen sit? Silly question, but I'm really curious, I never see them. :-)

Okay, I have always wondered about this, and I hope someone will have some insight into this.

I often sit in the theatre during the performance and think to myself, God, why on earth isn't this being recorded?!?! I'm a big ABT-goer, and over the years I've seen more than many performances that I'd give anything to watch over and over again on tape. Then I started thinking, I'm sure it is being recorded. If I was a dancer, I'd get someone to tape at least some of my performances. Are live performances often video-taped, though we don't know it, for archival purposes, or for the dancers? I'm sure it can't be that all ABT has on tape from recent years is Le Corsaire, Swan Lake, and the ABT Now tape.

My second question is, if in fact performances are recorded, what would stop them from being released to the public, commercially, or at least to be viewed in the library?

Women:

1. Turning girl in Who Cares? ("My One and Only")

2. Black Swan variation

3. Apollo- Terpischore

4. "finger" fairy variation from Sleeping Beauty (eek! anyone know what I'm referring to?)

5. Variation from Don Quixote, Grand Pas de Deux

6. A few from Raymonda, don't know how to describe

7. Mercedes' variation from Act One, Don Quixote

Men:

1. Variation from Don Quixote, Grand Pas de Deux

2. Slave from Act Two, Le Corsaire

3. Male variation from Theme and Variations

I did a little googling and found the following observation of Wendy Whelan's height. Julio Bocca is short, but not so short that, were Whelan 5'4", she would stand, on flat, a "good half-head" taller than him.

I never once imagined that I'd see Bocca and Whelan dancing together. He's not a City Ballet type; she's not ABT material, even as a guest artist. She's too tall; he's too short. On flat feet, Whelan looms a good half-head taller than Bocca.

Eric Taub review

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I've seen them standing together in class, and you're right, she isn't a "good half-head" taller than him. At most, she's only about an inch taller..in fact while they're dancing they almost look the same height..it's all in the presentation!

1. Balcony Scene from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet

2. Entire Black Swan PDD and entire White Swan PDD from Swan Lake

3. Theme and Variations- the theme

4. Don Quixote- Grand PDD

5. Russian Dance from The Nutcracker

6. Intermezzo (PDD) from Bizet's Carmen

7. Many bits of Giselle

Ahh...I have the Ballet Book It was released just recently, no two covers, sorry for the confusion. I was referring to a souvenir book also released by Nancy Ellison in 1995 with Ferri and Graffin on the cover, but called "American Ballet Theatre Portraits". I'm wondering if the book I described in my original post was thesame as this souvenir book. It seems a bit pricey for a souvenir book, though, which led me to wonder if perhaps there was a book book.

I know for sure (and some other posters have said as well) that the next edition was released in 1998, with Susan Jaffe and Jose Manuel Carreno on the cover.