stinger784

BTW Helene, Paola Hartley danced opposite Roman in Apollo. You must have been mesmerized by Roman as the young god.

Krystin, the two dancers you speak of were the Wozniak brothers, Slawomir and Michal, in the waltz in Act I.

Helene, Wilcox is not overly tall. She is one of those dancers where her height can go either way as needed.

Hi Bart,

No we will not be touring. This is actually one more performance than usual for us so we are very happy to get the extra show.

I like the video -- it makes me think they're taking it seriously, in the right way. I like the fact that Andersen has designed the show as well as directed it -- he doesn't go fpr magniloquence, as a speaker, but I think he is deep as well as sincere and believe this may well be a more serious, more coherent Swan Lake than ABT's or NYCB's or....

Obviously it won't be as opulent as some -- but I sure wish I could see it.

Paul you hit the nail on the head with Ib. You were able to read him very well in his answers.

AZ Native, did you watch the video in High Quality (HQ) on YouTube? I rewatched it just now to see if I could see what you were talking about and it's crystal clear over here on my screen.

I think you're crabby too

Helene that is Ginger Smith speaking at 1:17.

AZ Native would you care to expand on your thoughts? I see you were upset with the video but I am not sure why....?

Twyla Tharp! Now let me clarify. Her time in the 70s-80s fine. Today, outdated! But for some reason the audience eats up the boxing, martial arts and senseless running around of the choreography. Now when it comes to her Sinatra Suite I love it.

I also was never a fan of Ethan Stefiel. Something about the way he walked around the stage just always annoyed me. I don't think the movie Center Stage did any favors for him either in my book.

Daniel Baudendistel (ABT, Joffrey)

There has always been something about Julie Kent for me. The twinkle in her eye. The fact she is an artist and not a trickster in this day and age says a lot.

I don't know... I just had trouble figuring out what she was writing about. Called me old fashioned, but I just could not find intent. I figured coming from the New Yorker there would be some sort of opinion or conclusion. It was just a very strange article.

As a dancer, I have always been a fan of his dancing. I think it is unfair to say his repertoire of moves is small when he has had no formal training, yet in all his music videos he is able to learn the choreography needed and do it better than any of the "real" dancers. To compare his stage performance of Billy Jean to a choreographed music video are two very different things. When he performed on stage, everything was just what his body was telling him to do and the steps may have been redundant, but it was all natural and no one has yet to move as naturally as he can while singing and dancing at the same time. When it comes to choreographed steps he could still do it with his own flair. I think he could have made it as a dancer and have his own voice as he already had. If he put as much drive into his dancing as he did his music and singing, imagaine what he would have been like as a dancer.

So Joan's essay or whatever you would like to call it has no intention. I can not draw any conclusion from what she wrote other than ramblings and no tie together. What was the point of her writing it at all? Was it something the editor put on her desk and was forced to write and she only put half interest into it or what? I just don't know.

I've read this article and left it quite confused. What was her intention in this article? I can not tell if it is just random observations or mindless babbling. She can not seem to make up her mind whether she liked his dancing or not. This article reminds me of bumbling commentary by a novice.

I attended the Seo-Stearns cast with much anticipation since I had grown up with Cory on Long Island at Seiskaya Ballet and attended the Kirov in DC with Hee Seo. Much to my delight though, Freddy Franklin appeared on stage as the Friar to thunderous applause which prompted the show to be held as he walked forward to accept the ovation with much grace. At 95 years old, Freddy is alive and well and moving to that of a young dancer in their prime. He brought tears to my eyes as he stepped through the curtain of the chapel. It was one of those occurences where you honestly do not have the words to describe what you had just seen. I was so happy for my peers to appear on stage with him so young in their careers. Now on to the rest of the show...

The corps was extremely well put together on Thursday night. The ballroom scene opened with the men walking forward and the women posed exceptionally well each at the precise angle that was intended. Sitting up in the family circle and being able to see the detail in each women from that far away proved that ABT is still the premiere story ballet company in the United States. The fight scenes were exciting and no one missed a beat.

Daniil Simkin played Benvolio young and vibrant. However, Craig Salstein's Mercurtio stole the show with each step he took whether it was his death scene or the mandolin dance with 5 men in toe. Gennadi Savaliev's Tybalt was dead on. His extra weight, experience, picked up where the younger cast may have been a bit to light. In a cast with no principal dancers, it was nice to see a little bit of age on stage to hold things together just in case something went wrong, which nothing did on this night.

Now for Cory and Hee, I am so proud of them. Cory has matured into a true male dancer. His portrayal of Romeo was raw, young and real. Not for one moment did I feel like I was watching an older dancer pretending to be a young boy in love for the first time. He was awkward at times and rightfully so. He truly was Romeo and was truly in love for the first time. The few moments he had for comic shticks were well timed and he got his points across very well. His strength as a partner was magnificent. He was able to put Hee wherever she needed to be at any given time and Hee did not need to worry at all whether or not he was going to be there to catch her. Hee was Juliet. Her por de bras has been unmatched to anything I have seen in a long time on the professional stage. (Why isn't she a soloist yet?) Her expressions were right in everything she did. Her timing as a comedienne with the Nurse was great. Her pain when her Romeo died sent chills through my body. Kevin McKenzie was right to make such a young cast that worked so well together.

The orchestra played well also. The conductor kept everything in time with what was happening on stage. Bravo to the conductor and orchestra. The percussion and horns is what holds this score together and I do hope they enjoyed playing it because they played it well.

You may say I am biased in my review, but this was the first performance in a long time where I did not get bored once. Each scene moved at a comfortable pace and I eagerly anticipated the next scene.

Thank you ABT for this rare performance!

I performed the full grand pas de deux during my final year at KAB. Vladimir Djouloukhadze was my teacher who was Chaboukiani's student. So it was pretty cool being only one generation away from the source.

I have a "bootleg" one would say, of Zaklinsky performing the grand pas, but as far as a full version, I have yet to find one.

Maybe I should have said "wavier" -- your hair doesn't look straight to me when you're onstage.

Does Bandera have curly hair?

Humberto does have curly hair but it shorter than Ross and I. When my hair is longer however, it is wavy, like I had it for Don Q.

Thank you so much for your review, Krystin!

Roman Zavarov is about the same height as Joseph Cavanaugh, give or take a few inches, but has never struck me as being noticeably tall. According to the cast list on the website, the tall-tall men in this ballet were Ross Clarke and Ian Poulis (matinee, which you saw).

Clarke is also listed for "Polyphonia"; he and Zavarov both have straight dark hair. Poulis is more slender than Clarke, and his hair looks lighter and curlier.

Thanks for the info, Helene. I'm going to have to guess that the dancer I liked was Ian Poulis, because he had curly hair (I didn't put it together because the program showed Ian with short, straight hair).

Hmmm I don't have curly hair but I am tall and slender. If you tell me which part, I would be able to tell you who it was.

For the record, Zavarov's presence and height you speak of is how he holds himself on stage. He is only about 5'8".

He is currently here in AZ setting Wheeldon's Polyphonia for Ballet Arizona. He may have left on Friday.

I am surprised nobody has dared to mention the Barbie catastrophes.

Denial.

I regard those as representative of ballet as the Barbie doll is of an actual woman.

Yes I have heard this too, but the animator did not pay attention to detail at all of her pointe or turnout or hands.

Hi Helene!

I am surprised nobody has dared to mention the Barbie catastrophes.

What always gets me about those movies or just ballet in general in cartoons is the lack of properly using turnout and pointing of the feet. These are things a dancer pays attention to whereas a "normal" person may tend to brush over. Hands as well and the por de bras I feel is also often overlooked. When there is no shape even to the finger tips it bothers me dearly!

I hope when you make your animation, you can pay attention to the details of the hands and feet and actually having the ballerina using her pointe shoe box correctly. And yes, make the guy actually lift the girl with some strength.

I'm sorry. I couldn't help from laughing out loud to your answer Mel!

Thank you AZ Native.

I always look forward to reading your reviews. Just for future reference, it's Poulis. ;)

I am still trying to figure out who you are. At one point I thought I did, but then alas you are not. Oh well, the mystery continues!

~Ian~

I was under the impression Clara/Marie had died and gone to heaven.

Yeah I don't get it either. In some version there are bats as well.

Not a dumb question at all, but when you go into the european market, those companies are government subsidies. Here in the US, ballet companies are lucky to get an endowment through private parties.

I would have to say that it really comes down to money.

When you think about it, you have to pay the crew, dancers and orchestra all those residual checks and whatnot because of the union agreements, as well as production companies, finding a distributor and so on and so on and so on.

But I do agree with you with dancers like Marcelo Gomes wandering around, it is a bit upsetting. Also, look at PBS, we are lucky if we get one or two programs a year that are new or even related to dance. The audience for dance is growing, I believe, but not at the rate to spend 10s of thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars to put on DVD.

It stinks, but money is money.