vrsfanatic

This is indeed sad new. I know she did struggle for years. May she find peace.

I was unaware of the death of Peter Degnan. The links segment of Sept 13 states that Peter passed away tragically. Does anyone know when and how Peter passed away? Thank you . My condolences to his wife and family.

I am heartbroken! What a disaster. Yes, in deed the dancers need larger dressing room space, larger studios and more up to date backstage area, but that can be accomplished without loosing the charm of the city with a contemporary design. How in heaven's name will they keep all of that clean? St. Petersburg is not exactly the cleanest city in the middle of winter. I wonder if the architect has visited in the middle of February! It looks like he is expecting the California sunshine instead of the darkness that befalls this beautiful city nine months a year.

Also one may audition if the Joffrey is performing in your city. I know many dancers who have received company contracts as well as apprenticeships this way. Others have flown to Chicago to take company class. As for what schools...I am sure there are dancers from various professional schools in the US and abroad.

"-so many people were so determined there should be British ballet they danced for nothing. " This seems to be deeply inbedded in the history of the development of ballet. There are still, today, many people so interested in "dancing" they are doing it for free. We have come a long way in many aspects, but this situation does still exist in the US, perhaps elsewhere too!

I am not sure of her title, but I think she is now an "executive director" type of Boston Ballet School! I think she completed her bachelors degree in arts administration at Fordham. There was and article on the links sometime in the winter.

Thank you very much for your clarification of both Dietmar and Gregor Seyferrt. Being a non-German speaking person, at the time I met them, neither spoke English so their backgrounds were not very clear to me. It was however obvious that they were highly professional people. If I may also add that Gregor Seyferrt also studied at ABT with the late Jurgen Schneider, ballet master and Company teacher for 18 years. It is interesting to hear of his studies with Mr. Baryshnikov. I did have the pleasure of seeing Gregor study at ABT with Mr.Schneider some time between 1989 and 1991, I believe, as well as see a compiled video of his performances. He truly is an artist of merit. His father, Dietmar, is also quite an interesting choreographer. Again, thank you for the information.

Did Dietmar Seyferrt study at GITIS back in the 1960's? Is his son Greggor Seyferrt who has just mentioned on this website as the new director of, if I am not mistaken, the ballet school in Berlin? I do not recall it's name.

Although I am not in NYC to see the Kirov (unfortunately), I do find the article quite interesting. I suppose I am a Russian lurker of some sort, so I will give it a try. I comment as an American teacher of a high level background in American Schooling as I experienced it, but I cannot comment for American Schooling in general for this is a vast subject. There are many differences in Russian training from American training as I know it. Ms. Acocella seems to be either very observant or else has knowledge of Russian pedagogy and experience with various American schools of thought. She has hit on very key issues which do make the difference in the dancer's approach to movement. The training of the back, port de bras and poses are a very large part of the difference in the overall movement quality of the dancers. To be a little more specific I would also like to add the focus. Where they look, how they look, when they look and why they look is clearly defined and studied as a child. These are things that I know were not trained in me as a young student. It all was wanted from the dancer by the teachers and various directors, but it was never thoroughly trained as a student thus making artistic expession more of a challenge than it needed to be. Russian dancers are trained from the beginning about focus and it continues to develop as the years of study increase. As for the discussion of Balanchine and his effect upon our training and standards, I think there was an attempt at some point to discuss this issue on this site. Ms. Acocella's has made some very interesting observations. I do not agree with her statement regarding musicality. Am I to assume that her feeling is that the Russian "deliberateness" of movement takes away from the musicality of the movements and that it is only the acting/dramatic ability of the schooling that encourages musicality? I can discuss Russian musicality vs the musicality I was trained with as an American student/professional and indeed it is very different. The basic difference, without going into too much technical mumbo jumbo is the movement being defined, whether it is on the upbeat or the downbeat, it is defined. Whether it is in the depth of the demi-plie or the height of the jump, it is hanging/floating using the full musical value of the note. Speed, the Russians have incredible speed, Balanchine did not invent this. He devised his way of moving quickly which is just different from the Russian way. To watch the examination class of the graduating class, 8th year, is to see lightening fast jetes, ronde jambes par terre and en lair, petit battements, petit allegro and pointe work. I have never seen non-Russian trained students work this quickly, in this way. It is different, but it is something that is trained extremely slowly, methodically and relentlessly. They do have more time with their students and it does make a difference. Maybe if we teachers in the US had the time too we could develop some of this type of musicality as well, if that is what is required. I do not have an answer. I do not know if it was in this article or E. Kendall's excellent article, but one of them made the observation that the Students of the Russian Academies study with two or three ballet teachers over the course of their studies. This is true, and in my opinion makes a huge difference in the product but they also work with 2 different historic dance teachers, 1 character teacher, 1 acting teacher, 1 duet (pas de deux) teacher as well as a rehearsal mistress/master for the rehearsals for school productions and company children's roles, bring the total number of teachers to 8-10 over the course of study. These teachers are important to the students developement for various reasons. Of course the subject matter is important but also they are exposed to other ideas and different ways of working. No, I do not mean in methodology, but definely in personality types and emphasis of importance. In America, we tend to approach this issue of exposure to various teachers/ways of doing things through changing ballet teachers quite often, perhaps in the case of some SI offering more than 1 technique class a day, even 2 teachers in a day. Generally it is divided between 2-3 teachers a week. This has its good points but also gives less consistency in training. We have discussed this in the Teacher's Forum I believe, and have come to a general consensus that at a certain level students must have more than one teacher, but I am never quite convinced that there is the consistency in training because teachers generally do not discuss what, when, how and why they are doing something so that there is a coordination, so as not to contradict ideas. I think to a certain extent I know more of how Ms. Leigh and Mr. Johnson approach their work and I have never met either one of them. We do have an open dialogue regarding the hows, whens wheres and whys here, but I do not find this amongst my collegues in general. I do not mean in my job in particular, just that it is difficult to find teachers who are willing to sit down to openly and honestly discuss how they do something, when and why! Some people/schools just are not as open to discussing these issues as BA. In the pedagogy program in St. Petersburg, at least for a foreigner, that was the point/purpose to the course. I know that my Russian friends doing the course at the same time also had these discussions. It is not a bad thing to contradict ideas, there just should be a way to prepare the students for the various ways of doing things. I am drifting, I know, so I will stop here. I gave it a shot and hopefully it is understood that I am not making a stab at non-Russian training vs Russian training because I truly do believe the bottomline is good teachers/teaching vs bad. There are good and bad no matter what method or school of thought, but is a fact that various schools do produce various looks!

Perhaps I should have been less dramatic and stated that generally the Kirov soloists are also chosen for their beauty. There are indeed exceptions! There are discussions often in the school amongst the teachers and the Direction of the school about a particular students facial appearance as well as their physical appearance.

Yes, indeed the soloists of the Kirov are also chosen because of their beauty. They must be able to dance very well of course, but they must also have that extra special "look". This is a prerequisite for the ladies as well as the men. While I was in St. Petersburg studying, the stars of today were already being groomed as the soloists of tomorrow. The "kids" seemed to know their destiny. They all are where they said they would be when I met them in their 6th year of study. They were already dancing Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and Bayadere as soloists in the school performances in Mariinsky and in the small theatre in Vaganova Academy. They are very carefully prepared to take on their future roles.

Jeannie, I can not thank you enough for the wonderfully vivid reviews of the White Nights Festival. It truly is an experience that is hard to match for a balletomane! It is fantastic to hear how everyone is doing. I look forward to more in the future. Thank you again.

You may look at the Mariinsky website for information on the Kirov Ballet and Opera. The Festival begins May 31 and ends June 30, I believe. www.Mariinsky.ru is the web address Enjoy!

I am deeply saddened to hear the news of the passing of Ben. He encouraged me to study teaching as a profession, something up until that point in my life I just thought one did through osmosis. He was a wonderful man and teacher as well as a great lover of ballet. May he rest in peace!

Yes, perhaps turmoil is too strong of a word to describe the changes made in faculty, direction and the state of the school. The issue of the Direction of the School having changed more than twice in the passed 5 years can have perhaps created the perception of instability to an outsider looking in! As stated before, I have not "seen" personally what is going on in SF. I only am passing on perhaps some of the perceived issues with the School. As always, that does not make these perceptions necessarily agreeable.

I am an East Coaster, therefore I really do not have a West Coast perspective on what is happening in SF with the school, but I do know it has changed dramatically over the past 10 years with Direction as well as Faculty. I recognize the efforts of School administrations to sell the complete package of a School, the program as a whole instead of Faculty. I cannot say I agree with that entirely however. I basically pass judgement upon a school in terms of its' stability based upon dramatic changes of Direction and changes in faculty. The school today is a very different school than it was 10 years ago. Maybe it needs more publicity so it is better understood on the East Coast what is happening. I do not live in a metropolitan area connected to a company school, but we do produce dancers who are getting very good jobs. Whereas 10 years ago SF was top of the list with our students, very few now even inquire as to what is going on in SF! The Company is still held in high regard as an artistic and stable organization, but the school does not hold the same drawing card as it did, say even 4 years ago! IMO!

I have not seen SFB since the Smuin days so you know that was a long time ago, but the fact that the Company was re-juvenated and has remained on top says a lot. Yes, Mr. Tomasson has longevity, financial security, what seem to be from, a distance the ability to keep "people together" (at least I mean dancers and staff are not running away). The School is going through turmoil at the present time, but... When I think like that, what about Francia Russell and Kent Stowell, they certainly have done very fine work in Seattle! From basically nothing to a very reputable School and Company although I must say again I have never been there. Must we always refer to Artistic policy as our criteria? I do not know the answer. I must think on that one! I can say that certainly the development of a School, with very high professional standards, should be included in the assessment.

I will try to open a can of worms perhaps no one is brave enough to open or else maybe I am wrong! Perhaps Martin Fredmann of Colorado Ballet. I worked with him back in the mid 1980's and believe me what he has accomplished in Denver since 1988 is remarkable with the Academy and the Company. Currently, what directors are there out who have survived for more than a 10 year period and continue to raise the quality of the Company and School. I know they are in Colorado so not very many have the opportunity to see them, but he has taken a Company in shambles, quite Civic actually and raised the level of the Company and School to much higher standards. What about Bruce Marks and what he did with Boston Ballet and School! This was remarkable!

Indeed, interesting results in this poll. For me, one must have technique even to be able to watch the personality. I have seen too many bad dancers with no technique and only personality. Yes, of course, also lots of technique and no personality also is a bore, but at least I can go off into a world of being mystified by the work ethic! There can always be hope with someone who has technique, but without that ...oh my goodness ballet is another thing!:rolleyes:

Indeed, interesting results in this poll. For me, one must have technique even to be able to watch the personality. I have seen too many bad dancers with no technique and only personality. Yes, of course, also lots of technique and no personality also is a bore, but at least I can go off into a world of being mystified by the work ethic! There can always be hope with someone who has technique, but without that ...oh my goodness ballet is another thing!:rolleyes:

Interesting questions BW. These questions are appropriate for most competitions, not just YAGP. I am not really able to answer the questions as they apply this year since I have not judged YAGP since the first year 2000, I think it was. Maybe things have changed and I only did the regional level. My students were not involved, nor did any of the judges have students competing. Yes, I was paid to teach Master classes and judge for the scholarship money available. I did not judge for the prizes since I did have students competing! This took my time and a lot of work believe me. It is not all fun and games. Judges do not always agree and there is a lot of work to be done. It may look like we are having fun, but that probably is because we love what we do, but do not let that fool you. It is hard work. We are professionals and must get paid for our work. I am a dancer from the 1960's and 1970's when we were just expected to dance because we loved it. It was supposed to be okay to suffer and not make a decent living wage for 12 hours of very difficult, stressful and demanding work. I could never ask anyone to do that nor will I ever allow myself to do it again. It is also a lousy example to set for one's students. It is an unfortunate part of any business, the financial realities, but believe me people who demand to be paid for what they do, get a lot more respect from all including the business world, who in the end, really have a big impact on the not-for-profits such as ballet. YAGP is a not-for-profit organization. No one is making money believe me. The expenses in running a competition are very big. Who knows maybe there is someone on line who knows something about that!

I must agree with you Victoria, it can be rather frightening to see 11 and 12 year olds on pointe doing adult variations. But then again, sometimes quite interesting, as was the case about 12 years ago when Vanessa Zahorian, SFB soloist I believe, was a 9 year olds doing triple pirouettes on pointe in a variation she had prepared at CPYB for a performance at a summer program in Michigan. She was amazing. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes. Was she artistically mature, of course not, but she was a knockout technically. I have never seen this technical level from a 9 year old again. Believe me, we all sat there in amazement. I have sat through the regionals of YAGP. What a long day it can be! Sometimes such horrors, but then again sometimes some delight. As we have discussed privately, I have never been to the finals, had to stay home and teach, but I have heard from others the finals can also not be of the highest level, if one had to discuss the entire program. I hear from good sources though that those students from Washington are very good!

I do not know the youngest age for competitors. Maybe 12. I know in the regionals there are a lot of really little ones running around, but they do not all compete. Yet again another way to make money. Let the little ones "get experience" I think is the idea. Since we do not even have juniors I cannot even comment on the little ones from first hand experience. This one is for BW: Yes, I am fortunate enough to be teaching in a professional program. If you do not mind may I please suggest that you note, I said professional program. We are all professional teachers/former professional dancers working in a professional school. There is nothing pre-professional about what we do. I hope I may speak also for all of the other professional schools that are out there. Just because a school trains minors, it should not be called pre-professional. We all work our hardest and with our hearts, very professionally. We come from professional backgrounds and get professional results! A school that trains students on track for a profession career should be considered a Professional School! We certainly expect professional standards from our students.

Has anyone seen the Cecchetti video put out by Wayne State University a few years ago with dancers from Royal Danish Ballet and Cleveland ballet? I do have a few questions that perhaps a Cecchetti teacher or historian may be able to answer! Thank you for your time.

Victoria, I agree completely with your post. I sit back and watch quietly. We do not cancel regularly scheduled classes however to rehearse the variations thank goodness, but I know we are very lucky to have the availablity of the students much more than the schools that work only "after school hours". I wish you and your school all the best in your efforts this year. I know you and your school were quite successful last year. Merde!