FauxPas

Three of the five River Variations are reconstructed by Doug Fullington from the Sergeyev collection at the Harvard Theatre Archive. Ramseya's toe-tapping solo in the second act was taught to Lacotte by Lubov Egorova in the 1950's. That's it for authentic Petipa.

I think that the only people who will be complaining will be those who expected it to be something that it never was and never will be. There isn't the choreographic equivalent of a "Kingdom of the Shades" or "Swan Lake Act II" in this work and at the time that it was made and for the audience it was entertaining, no such thing was expected or desired. The piece is purely an exotic entertainment to give sensual pleasure. No profundity is really discernable in the story line or in Pugni's very danceable but routine music. Pugni's score doesn't really use any faux-Egyptian motif's unlike Verdi's "Aida" (some of the sets of which were recycled in the original production). Lacotte has a profound and fluent command of 19th century classical style. The stage patterns and combinations were very convincingly 19th century. Of course it was uneven in style as it probably was by the end of the 19th century when dozens of ballerinas of different techniques and types had done Aspicia and had Petipa refashion the choreography for them. The proponderence of petit batterie and smaller taqueté steps with the ballerina and her partner performing the same steps side by side reminded me of Bournonville (who influence was early Romantic French style). This was then juxtaposed with fouettés, multiple pirouettes and jetés reflecting the virtuosity imported by the italian ballerinas in their blocked shoes after 1868 or so. If there was a stylistic patchwork going on here it probably mirrors what Petipa's choreography looked like by the time Kschessinskaya was dancing Aspicia in the 1890's and early 1900's. I noticed that the real Petipa (Ramseya's solo and the river variations) fit very well with Lacotte's ersatz material. Of course Nikolai Tsiskaridze danced a lot more and with a higher level of technique than what Marius Petipa was capable of when he created Ta-Hor/Wilson. Given that a lot of Petipa has come down to us in revised, updated and diluted form, this evocation looked more consistently authentic than some recensions of "Sleeping Beauty" "La Bayadere" and "Swan Lake". Lacotte has cut a lot of mime scenes and processions and rid the stage of some of the bric-a-brac and clutter that you see in those St. Petersburg postcards of the ballet Robert Greskovic has shared with us so generously. The show moves well and the sets are drops and scrims that are colorful but don't encroach on the dancer's space. The lion was distinctly immobile and ineffective and the monkey was dispatched before Aspicia could waken and shoot at him with her arrow but the giant cobra in the urn has a stellar future with the Bolshoi. He (or she?) showed distinct charisma and dramatic flair. The politically incorrect portrayal of blackface savage "nubians" was another authentic touch. However the King of the Nubians looked more arabic than african. The dancing was wonderful throughout despite some congestion in the corps (due to lack of experience on the Met stage). Natalia Osipova danced the first variation in the Pas D'Action in the second act. This is a very fun show and a must-see. I loved an old-fashioned overstuffed "La Bayadere" dead parrots on a stick and all. So naturally I was in hog heaven for the entire evening. The only sad feeling I had was that if this project had been done 30 or 40 years ago many dancers who danced the original Petipa choreography could have reconstructed it authentically. Karsavina, Preobrazhenskaya, Egorova and Kschessinskaya all lived well into their 80's and 90's and were alive and active into the 1960's. They certainly could have given us back Petipa's breakthrough early masterwork. John Rockwell in the NY Times (who I read after I wrote this) is pretty much on the same page with me (for whatever that is worth - Anna Kisselgoff was there last night too by report - I wonder what she thought).

I checked my online resources and discovered that the Bolshoi did tour to NYC (part of a nine week four city tour) in 1987 with a "Giselle", "Raymonda" a Mixed Bill and "The Golden Age". On the mixed bill which included many Bolshoi chestnuts like "Don Q Grand Pas", "Spring Waters" "Le Corsaire" "Legend of Love" and the first act of Grigorovich's "Romeo and Juliet" also included one act (second?) of "Spartacus" with Irek Mukhamedov as Sparty and Bessmertnova as Phrygia. Mukhamedov didn't start dancing Spartacus in 1988 - he danced it within a year of joining the Bolshoi c. 1981. The Grigorovich Romeo and Juliet also was excerpted in the Mixed Bill that year and was seen complete in July 1990 at the Met. So the complete "Spartacus" wasn't seen since the 1970's. The 1987 tour included besides Mukhamedov such dancers as Nina Ananiashvili, Maria Bylova, Lyudmila Semenyaka, Natalia Bessmertnova, Alexei Fadeyechev, Andris Liepa and Alla Mikhalchencko and Nina Semizorova. Not a shabby lineup. I don't know if "Giselle" and "Raymonda" were done in NYC. The Mixed Bill and "Golden Age" definitely were.

I seem to remember that the Bolshoi Opera and Ballet had a summer residency at Lincoln Center in the summer of 1990 or 1991. I was too poor to go but the opera company did Mlada (with Nina Ananiashvili as the Ghost of Mlada), Eugene Onegin and Maid of Orleans. The Bolshoi Ballet did Ivan the Terrible, Swan Lake and one other ballet - maybe a mixed bill. Nina A. and Lyudmila Semenyaka were the ballerinas. However, Irek Mukhamedhov already had left the Bolshoi to join the Royal Ballet to the immense shock of Grigorovich. Maybe Spartacus was performed on that tour, but it wouldn't have been with Irek since he had already left the company.

I happen to love those old Soviet thrill-machines "Spring Waters" and "Walpurgisnacht Ballet". Would Gsovsky's "Grand Pas Classique" fit into this category? I would give anything to have seen Cynthia Gregory dance it with a cigarette dangling from her lips... If you want to see lots of bad choreography, check out some of the Paris Opera Ballet videos of contemporary works. There is one "Paris Opera Ballet: Seven Ballets" that has execrable choreography by the appropriately named Norbert Schmucki. These include ghastly clichés that you remember from high school dance recitals like a ballerina emerging from a paper chrysalis with tulle wings as a butterfly being born. There is another where two dancers are done up as Mickey and Minnie Mouse and mince around. Truly vile. That is not on my list of bad ballets I love...

I saw "Spartacus" on Friday night and enjoyed the production. I had only seen the film with Vasiliev and that is cut by a third or more. The length of the production surprised me. I am not sure whether this is a 20th century masterpiece or not. It held up a hell of a lot better than I thought it might. I find the choreography somewhat repetitive - Spartacus does a lot of jetés to express his quest for freedom and Crassus does a lot of spinning jumps to express his twisted need for power. Phrygia is a total weeping willow draped submissively over her man and Aegina is doing tortured high kicks and splits like the greedy bad-girl she is (and we love her for it!). The women have an ugly habit of grabbing the upraised leg or foot while turning in arabesque that is odd - almost like something from a Forsythe ballet. Phrygia has that trick of grabbing her toes and hanging off of Sparty like a Christmas ornament on a tree. Grigorivich also uses tableau quite effectively - the last image of Spartacus and Phrygia lifted up, etc. Other contemporary choreographers don't use this device older than ballet itself and it works so brilliantly in story ballets. Funny thing is that it works - maybe just for one viewing - but there isn't a lot of grey in these characters - it is all black and white. Do other productions like the Australian Ballet version explore these characters more in the round? I liked the very Russian fatalism of Klevtsov as Spartacus - of course in the 1960's the revolutionary had to be positive and upright even in defeat. The past three decades have seen the death of Communism and new (and old) problems take its place in Russia, so a sadder but wiser Spartacus seems appropriate given the historical perspective. He makes his statement to the world though it will bring his death - at least his death will make people believe in what he died for - or remember what dying for an ideal was supposed to be about. Plus I found Klevtsov quite hunky - beautiful tapering waist and V-shaped torso and long legs (lovely pecs and glutes as well). Volchkov had quite a bit of dance power as Crassus but no one projects sneering arrogance like Maris Liepa. He didn't quite have that level of projection or personality. The women I found more complete and powerful in their assumptions of their parts. Antonicheva has a gorgeous supple line and was moving in her internalized despair in the final scene. I think Aegina has the more interesting choreography and has more variety as a character, so Maria Allash made a stronger impression as a whole. The company as a whole still has a deep investment in this work and a sense of how to make it work as an ensemble. The men and women have a kind of commitment and attack that gave a lot of pleasure. ABT despite its powerhouse male virtuosos couldn't put the piece over with that kind of homogenous style and authority.

Another thing: the Museum of Television and Radio in NYC has a bunch of Bell Telephone Hour and other programs where the New York City Ballet did guest spots in the 1950's and 1960's. Patricia McBride, Jacques D'Amboise and Edward Villella were on a slew of them. There is a complete "Nutcracker" from Playhouse 90 from 1958 with Diana Adams as the Sugarplum and Allegra Kent as the Dewdrop. I also remember watching a "Square Dance" with a very young Farrell and I think Patricia Wilde at the MTR. The ballets aren't complete but it would be nice to see them strung together in a compilation as they did for the opera singers on the Bell Telephone Hour. There also seems to exist a 6 minute clip of Tanaquil LeClerc dancing "La Valse" in 1951 with Nicholas Magallanes directed by one Carol Lynn. That would be nice to see complete in a compilation. There is also Balanchine excerpts from Canadian TV from which only the Maria Tallchief material has been released. http://mtr.inet7.com/PressRoom/pressRelease/11182003.htm Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev danced the Black Swan PDD in the original Petipa choreography and music (with 32 fouettes from Dame Margot) on an episode of the TV program "The Hollywood Palace" hosted by Fred Astaire. There also seems to be a complete "Nutcracker" from a 1958 TV telecast with Fonteyn and Michael Somes that might originate from the BBC. As far back as 1937 Margot Fonteyn did a "Swan Lake" telecast that was 40 minutes long (Second Act complete?) with Robert Helpmann as Siegfried. That would be fascinating to see. I remember watching a video of the Copenhagen Ballet doing "Napoli" on Homevision VHS released in 1986 with Linda Hidberg and Arne Villumsen - that would be nice to have on DVD.

There was a famous solo for Medora where she wore a sailor suit and danced a jig on the pirate ship I think - I would guess this was a character dance and not on pointe. It may have originally been created by Petipa for his first wife Marie Petipa. Does the choreography still exist in some form? (Sergeyev collection?). It has never been used in any production I have seen. Does the Maly production use it? I think it was danced by Olga Preobrazhenskaya and she would have remembered the choreography.

Kultur Video has a bunch of "Glory of the Bolshoi" and "Magic of the Bolshoi" tapes that seem to have snippets of Vasiliev and Maximova in complete performances of "Sleeping Beauty" and "Don Quixote" and I think "Giselle" that were shown on Soviet TV in the late 1970's. It would be fascinating to see the complete tapes of these Bolshoi telecasts. The picture quality seems only fair though but if the orginal master could be found and a digital transfer made to DVD, then the quality could be greatly improved. I believe Gostelradio is the source of this material. The only generally available video of Maximova and Vasiliev is of course "The Nutcracker" in the Grigorovich production. Also I have seen snippets of what seems to be a complete Kirov "Sleeping Beauty" with Irina Kolpakova and Yuri Soloviev from 1975 or 1976. Soloviev is looking rather thickened in the snippet I saw from Aurora's second act vision scene. It would be nice to have a memento of Kolpakova's Aurora that is closer to her prime than the 1983 performance with Berezhnoi as her Prince.

That film "ABT: a close-up in time" is available on VHS at the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Here is the info from the NYPL online card catalog: American Ballet Theatre a close-up in time / New York, N.Y. : Arthur Cantor Films, 1973. Call #: VC 793.3 A Subjects American Ballet Theatre -- Video recordings. Ballet companies -- United States -- Video recordings. Ballet -- Video recordings. Ballets -- Excerpts -- Video recordings Format: [videorecording] : Responsibility: produced by Jac Venza ; produced in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the British Broadcasting Corporation ; directed by Jerome Schnur. Language: English Description: 1 videocassette (90 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in. Other Title: Close-up in time Notes: VHS. Summary: A documentary on the American Ballet Theatre, including excerpts of performances from the company's repertoire. Performers: American Ballet Theatre ; Akira Endo, conductor ; unidentified narrator. Additional Authors: Schnur, Jerome. Endo, Akira. American Ballet Theatre. Dynix #: 1697602 Holdings: Reservable Copies: 3 Number of Holds: 0 There were three copies but two seem to be lost... Didn't ABT broadcast a "Sleeping Beauty" with Cynthia Gregory circa 1979 on PBS?

The casting for tonight (Wednesday 7/20) is now Ekaterina Shiupulina as Kitri and Andrei Uvarov dancing Basil (he is going on tomorrow too). No Galina Stepanenko and Klevtsov as originally announced.

Here is the latest update on the "Spartacus" casting: Friday, July 22, 2005 8:00 pm Klevtsov, Antonicheva, Volchkov, Allash Saturday, July 23, 2005 2:00 pm Vorobiev, Kaptsova, Neporozhny, Shipulina Saturday, July 23, 2005 8:00 pm Klevtsov, Lunkina, Volchkov, Allash Now I know about Lunkina and saw Antonicheva. What about these men? Any comments on these boys?

This is what the NY Times thought: John Rockwell's review First of all, this staging has a lot more verve and dramatic flair than the Kirov's. The Kirov has better soloists and corps but their staging was wan and anemic. This wasn't as clean and classical but had a bit more pizzazz and fun. The Bolshoi has a team of crackerjack character mimes and the Don Quixote and Sancho were the best I have ever seen. Also all of the flat-shoed character dances were stunningly performed (Anna Antropova's Gypsy solo was a tour de force). However, it made it a longer evening than ABT's version and some of it felt like padding. The audience wasn't exactly demonstrative except for the dazzling Osipova who just floated through the air. More please and soon! A few of Zakharova's virtuoso gambits got the crowd going and they loved Antropova's Gypsy dance. Otherwise, fairly ho-hum. The men were okay, Uvarov more than okay in the wedding PDD. I was bothered by the fact that Kitri wore red on her wedding day (reminder of Bette Davis in "Jezebel"). I also missed Basil using his razor to commit "suicide" in the inn scene. Timofey Lavrenyuk looked good in tight white satin pants and knew how to work that toreador's cape. He is no match dancewise for Marcelo Gomes of ABT as Espada though. He also seemed to be replaced in the final act (did he get gored by a bull in between acts?). Anna Antonicheva had lovely form and placement as the Dryad Queen but she seemed to be dancing a different solo (was the music moved to one of the Flower Girls in the last act?) that didn't have Italian fouettes. I like the standard solo better (as performed by Veronika Part with ABT). Zakharova will always bother the purists but this role (with this less classical company) seems to suit her more extreme tendencies. Her 6 o'clock ecartés look fine on a Spanish spitfire hoyden if out of place on Princess Aurora. I found her a touch brittle in places with her thin legs and way of pushing steps at the viewer but her acting has improved (as Vishneva's has) outside the Kirov. I preferred Vishneva's Kitri with ABT in May (a big improvement over Vishneva's Kirov tour Kitri two or three years ago) and ABT's men are the best in the world right now. However, Zakharova was distinctly a star presence and in control of the show. Uvarov seemed mainly a good partner and okay dancer until the final act where he showed typical Bolshoi dynamism with a bit more elegance than we have gotten recently. I did enjoy the evening. BTW: by 5 or 6 p.m. the few remaining orchestra and family circle seats had sold out (I saw some partial view rear box seats empty) and standing room was sold sometime later in the afternoon. However, it was a mad scene in the box office lobby around 7:30 p.m. with a ticket line that snaked around four times to the escalator. People were pushing into the line from the entrance and the Met security staff was useless. When we complained that no one was pointing out the end of the line and protecting us from people cutting the line we were told that we would all get our seats, see the show and forget about it. These guards are paid to look after these situations and take care of Met patrons. Really an offensive attitude. I managed to get a Dress Circle standing place all the way to the side. There must have been many standing room places sold before 7:30 p.m. I have been told that all the "Spartacus" and "La Fille du Pharaon" performances are now sold-out. That leaves "Bright Stream" a question mark for standing room availability as well as tonight's "Don Quixote" with Alexandrova.

Word up for those who were looking to save money and see more performances by buying standing room tickets. Standing room had been announced as being $20.00 for all sections. A little bird called me this morning and said that about 50 people showed up at the box office this morning to get standing room tickets. They were informed out of the blue that standing room will only be sold if the house is sold out. The Metropolitan Opera has over 4,000 seats and never sells out for ballet, particularly late in the summer and at inflated prices higher than the regular opera season. This was not announced beforehand and seems to be a last minute gambit to force people to buy overpriced regular tickets. This means that I won't be bothering to see two casts in most of the ballets and will skip several performances. This is extremely vexing and the way it was handled is deeply offensive. A lot of people were planning to do this beforehand and would have been able to get better seats had they known that no standing room will be sold unless the house is sold out. Meanwhile there are lots of tickets for everything except for "Pharoah's Daughter" which is selling out in the best sections...

Kultur has this R&J (or another with Bessmertnova/Lavrovsky) on DVD in a triple DVD set called "Trilogy of Ballet - a Bolshoi Collection" with a Bessmertnova "Giselle" and Maximova/Pavlova "Nutcracker". The oddity is that the scene where Juliet teases her Nurse with a pillow (or is a ball or doll in Lavrovsky's choreography?) and runs about until Lady Capulet tells her she must get married is cut. Juliet makes her first appearance very grown-up and ladylike at the Capulet's ball. Did Bessmertnova cut this scene always? I have seen video of Maximova doing it and of course Ulanova performed it even in late middle age.

Actually Gillian Murphy presented Amanda with a bouquet and they kissed very emotionally. They may have known each other from early on in Washington where Gillian trained and Amanda now teaches and coaches. I spotted Paloma Herrera and Irina Dvorovenko (looking good) onstage applauding her with the rest of the soloists and corps along with Kolpakova. I was told that management supplied the audience with dozens of flowers to toss and the stage and orchestra pit at the end looked like an explosion in a florist's shop! Every bit as emotional and touching as Susan Jaffe's very similar "Giselle" send-off. Amanda was weeping at the beginning but perked up at the end and was proud and touched at the extent of the reception and presentations.

Amanda's first act was lovely. Amanda seemed very young and unaffectedly innocent and her acting was very transparent and detailed. Her mad scene had lovely touches - like a chill invading her arms which shivered like she was already becoming a Wili before our very eyes. I was told that her foot was bleeding in the first act - the toe shoe was full of blood and staining her stockings though I didn't see anything wrong from the Balcony. The only change in the choreography was that she did some lovely promenades at intervals between the hops on pointe (she did quite a few hops but broke them up) in the solo after she is crowned Queen of the Vinyard. It was a nice variation and very musical. However, the intermission was very long and I was afraid that Amanda might not be able to make it to the end of the evening. Amanda's second act was lovely but carefully danced with a lack of abandon. Ethan gave a sensationally danced second act - his brisées were as good as Angel's on Tuesday. He was very emotionally giving (even melodramatic at the end of Act I). He also was mean to poor Wilfred who means well (as does that victim of fate and class warfare Hilarion). I felt that Karin Ellis-Wentz was the best acted Berthe of the run - firm and warily protective. Xiomara and Herman repeated the Peasant PDD - not as well as on Monday but still an audience pleaser. Carmen Corella and Michele Wiles were Moyna and Zulma. Radetsky again danced an excellent Hilarion but Gennadi acted it better on Monday. Gillian was better last night than she was on Monday. Smoother line and clearer transitions. No one has arms like Veronika Part but Gillian has a way of bourreeing backwards that is supernatural. BTW: I recognized Kevin, John Gardner, Angel, Maxim B., Jose Manuel Carreno, Marcelo, Graffin, Bocca and a few others presenting their floral offerings at the final curtain. There was one man with dyed blond hair and another shortish man with glasses who came out after him who got on his knees before Amanda. Who were they? I thought they might be Robert La Fosse and Wes Chapman but I don't what they look like now. Anyone able to identify who some of the other men were? Also it is a shame that Vladimir was unable to attend and present his bouquet.

The neglect of Bystrova has been particularly painful this year because there have been a lot of injuries in the soloist and corps ranks this season. Erica Cornejo has been out injured all season and I saw Misty Copeland limp offstage during a Saturday matinee "Sylvia" the first week of June. Misty was back onstage in the Wili corps last night, so she is getting back there. They inexplicably ditched the exquisite Ekaterina Shelkanova some seasons ago who covered a lot of classical soloist roles beautifully. Monique Meunier is still a questionable presence on the roster - couldn't they have put her on as Myrtha or in "Les Sylphides" and "Polovstian Dances"? Meunier dances a Shades solo in "La Bayadere" successfully last season - why not more? The failure to try out Bystrova and Meunier in more things when there are gaps in the female roster is worrying. Zhong Jing Fang was well received in the little bit she was given but except for the prelude in "Les Sylphides" that wasn't a lot. Interesting that the "Les Sylphides" lead casting ended up being mainly soloist and corps girls except for G. Murphy on opening night. This was precipitated by the withdrawal of Kent and Ferri of course. (I noticed that the Kirov used soloists in "Chopiniana" when they toured their Fokine Bill but the Bolshoi seems to use principals in their version.). So suddenly we see a lot more of Maria Riccetto and corps girls like Kristi Boone, Karin Ellis-Wentz (and not in mime roles), Melanie Hamrick, Melissa Thomas, Yuriko Kakija, Marian Butler and Sarah Lane (a real comer). Misty Copeland has been given a lot of soloist roles and should she stay uninjured and continue to grow, I suspect that she and Danny Tidwell will be made soloists eventually. I should also mention Vitaly Krauschenka who impressed me with his long line and elegance leading the Spanish dances in "Raymonda" and "Swan Lake." Michele Wiles is now moving into mostly lead roles as a principal after years of brightening anything she touched no matter how small. Anna Liceica is a very strong, lovely soloist who has plateaued and should be groomed for principal roles. Veronika Part seems to be all over the place this season filling in for the absences of Dvorovenko and Ananiashvili and dancing many soloist roles when not doing leads - a breakout season for her. So this has been a good season for Part, Boone, Hamrick, Lane, Tidwell, Abrera (at the start), Michele Wiles and Kakija but a disappointing one for Fang, Meunier, Bystrova (who did get the Odalisque but should have done more) and Liceica. Over the last decade of his directorship, Kevin McKenzie has a better track record of developing and discovering male superstar principals but few ballerinas have emerged. He either inherited most of his ballerinas from earlier administrations or cherry picked them from other companies. Gillian Murphy and now Michele Wiles are really the only two principals who came up through the ranks during his watch. Herrera was already in the ascendant under Jane Herrmann's regime, ditto Julie Kent. Ashley Tuttle is a Kevin success or a Kevin failure depending on the attitudes of those you talk to. Irina Dvorovenko probably was fully trained and developed at Kiev when she came to ABT with her husband but she is a Kevin success story. What role Irina Kolpakova has in developing young ballerinas and their casting, I don't know.

At the time "Giselle" premiered in 1840 a lot of ballet scores were patchworks and pastiches. I think Adam's work was considered revolutionary because it was dramatically attuned to the mise-en-scene - almost like a through-composed opera rather than one with recitatives and arias like what Verdi and Wagner achieved later in the century. The bits of the score that sound like additions to me are all in the first act. One is the little solo that Albrecht has in the first dance with Giselle and the village maidens. The other is Giselle's variation after she has been crowned Queen of the Vineyard or whatever. The one with the hops on pointe. The music is scored differently and the choreography isn't Romantic - it is classical and rather in the style of Petipa. Marius Petipa's fingerprints are all over the Peasant PDD (which also may have some Minkus in it) and a lot of the Wili stuff in the second act. The second act always sounds musically of one piece to me.

I saw Vishneva do "Giselle" with Andrian Fadeev and the Kirov during their tour circa 1999 - she was so much better last night. (She also was much more lively and comic as Kitri with ABT - is it maturing artistry or good dramatic coaching here or both?) About 5 or 6 years ago with the Kirov, Diana danced well but was just a generic ingenue with no specific take on the part. She hadn't found those little touches that make Giselle a specific person in a very special ballet. Last night she was exciting. She had a combination of virginal shyness and coltish wildness that I liked a lot and she was surprising in her attack in places - did things you didn't expect. Sudden unexpected drops or wild dashes away from Albrecht - she was much more reckless and abandoned than Kent on Monday. I was also thrilled that she paired up very well with Angel - he needs a strong female partner on his level who is also a good physical match. Vishneva matches up better with him physically than Gillian Murphy or Paloma Herrera and she is a stronger star performer than Xiomara Reyes (who I like a lot in the right roles). Angel was wonderful and is such a giving artist. This is maybe his best "grown-up" role. He had interesting touches of spoiled hauteur and arrogance in his first entrance and was heartbreakingly desolate at the end, walking to the footlights searching the "heavens' for his lost happiness. Veronika Part had more soft line and Romantic style as Myrtha than Murphy did on Monday. She also had an impressive jeté - very high and soaring. Neither dancer was particularly formidable or scary Myrtha, but whatever. Actually, Irina Dvorovenko was a fine Myrtha some years ago - icy cold, you could feel her turning the air around her to ice. I also enjoyed Gennadi Saveliev (a good versatile company man) and Anna Liceica (who should get a crack at "Giselle" herself) in the Peasant PDD. Melissa Thomas and Carmen Corella were also fine as Moyna and Zulma. As lovely and satisfying as Monday night was, Tuesday had the exciting spark of two young superstars taking risks and finding inspiration in each other.

In the 1958 Paul Czinner film of Act II of "Swan Lake" with Margot Fonteyn (who also does Firebird and Ondine in the other two segments) and I think Michael Somes, there is a Benno and he assists in the PDD.

Amanda grew on me as a dancer. I always wondered what it might have been like if Amanda joined NYCB. She and Darci have some physical similarities (Amanda had a stronger technique and less injuries) so they might have been too alike. I always wondered what if Kyra Nichols and Amanda swapped companies. In the beginning of my ABT viewing in college in the late 1980's I saw Amanda for the first time with Wes Chapman in Mikhail Baryshnikov's unsuccessful new production of "Swan Lake" on tour in Chicago. Amanda danced well but projected nothing character-wise. Odile danced in white in that production and I just felt that Odette strayed into Act III's ballroom. I didn't like the production and I wasn't moved by the leads. In the early 1990's I moved to NYC and saw more of Amanda and I still wasn't impressed. She was just correct but bland - a NY Times critic called her Juliet a "lyrical blur" and that summed up my reaction to her. Tobi Tobias in New York magazine around 1993 wrote an article about Amanda that said basically she was a technique in search of an artistic sensibility and that all the coaching she got from Fonteyn et al. didn't do anything for her interpretive ability. Tobias then felt she was an empty shell in the big classical roles. I started to avoid her, concentrating on Ferri, Jaffe, Cynthia Gregory's last seasons and the emerging Julie Kent and Paloma. Nina A. I never missed but Amanda got the pass. Then in one season I saw Amanda in Balanchine's "Theme and Variations" (later also in "Symphonie Concertante") and felt she was well suited to Balanchine - she didn't have to act and all her good qualities were fully utilized and Balanchine took care of the interpretation for her. She just had to dance and dance well, which she did. I then started to think she should be at NYCB. Then one night I went to a mixed bill program to see other people and saw "Etudes" for the first time. Amanda danced the ballerina role. She ran the gamut from lyrical romanticism to classical bravura and nailed each section until she dazzled in the dance-off finale. Amanda was like the spirit of dance in that performance and I really did an 180 degree turn in my estimation of her. I then started to check her out in major roles. Her collaboration with Vladimir Malakhov drew me to see her in "Giselle" and they were fascinating together. Malakhov played Albrecht as a sensitive philosophic type who impersonated a peasant so that he could bond with Giselle as an equal. He was fascinated by her sensitivity and an otherworldly fragility that mirrored something in himself. Amanda was a delicate soul who seemed unassuming but had a rich inner life. Only someone like this Albrecht could see her special qualities. He had to know her, be with her and be part of her life. So he lied. And got caught and betrayed her. The second act was a true meeting of souls - from either side of the afterlife. Vladimir seemed as otherworldly as Amanda and her technique and lightness were exquisite. Her acting was indeed very restrained and internal but it was there in many subtle details. Every season brought a threat that "this would be Amanda's last" so I went to see her in Ben Stevenson's "Cinderella" with Ethan as her Prince Charming. Amanda had a desperate vulnerability that made you fear for her Cinderella in Act I. When she was threatened with harm you feared for her. You saw how miserable and alone she was which made her transformation and entrance into the ball a great triumph for her which the viewer shared. No other ballerina at ABT brought out this quality of misery to joy. Amanda's Aurora in "Sleeping Beauty" with Malakhov was also superbly danced and very satisfying. Her Nikiya in "Bayadere" with Julio Bocca also had much of the same nuance and fragility as the above mentioned roles. Finally I made full circle with Amanda in a "Swan Lake" about 2 or 3 seasons ago with Ethan Stiefel as Siegfried. Her Odette had a combination of deep vulnerability and a quiet strength defying persecution. Her Odile was subtle - the lyrical lines of her Odette has a slight but dexterous angularity as Odile. Her interpretation had a cool calculation mixed with elan that really worked and wasn't vampy, campy or unsubtle. And her fouettes and solos were perfect but not flashy. There was a definite difference now between her Odette and her Odile and it was really a refined finished interpretation. I waited backstage and told her of how much I felt she had grown as an artist from when I first saw her and she told me that that comes with time and experience. I am looking forward to her final "Giselle" and grateful for other roles I have enjoyed her in like the Girl in Antony Tudor's "Undertow" and Hagar in "Pillar of Fire" and the Pas de Deux in "Leaves are Fading". I also enjoyed her in Ashton's "Symphonic Variations" where her cool understatement so suited the British style of dancing. Lots of nice memories but it all started with that "Etudes" for me.

First, Michele Wiles has been doing Odette/Odile for over a year - usually partnered by David Hallberg. She may have had an off night on Wednesday (I wasn't there) but I saw her do a spectacular Black Swan PDD in the "Tchaikovsky Spectacular" early in the season with an equally astounding Carlos Acosta. She danced up to his level. It is nice to hear that Julie Kent is finding her way back to top technical form - she was shaky throughout the "Sylvia" I saw her do in June. I look forward to Julie's Giselle on Monday with Julio. I saw Veronika and Marcelo in "Swan Lake" last night and felt the evening as a whole was a greater emotional experience than Tuesday night with Vishneva/Saveliev. A lot of that had to do with not only the individual talents of Part and Marcelo Gomes but how they worked off of each other to create something more than their sum of their dancing parts. The fourth act which fizzled on Tuesday was a very emotional and satisfying climax last night - and the two leads had much to do with that. (They have the advantage of great familiarity with the production and each other over Saveliev and Vishneva). Vishneva is a better allegro technician than Part and she is more in the "willowy Makarova" mold than the regal Part. To my observation, there are two schools of Odettes - the weeping willow fragile sort and the grand, regally sorrowful queenly swans. Part seems to me to be of the second queenly school. Her tall and lush physique determines this to a point but her temperment has lots of vulnerability in it. I loved her Odile as well - also regal and imposing - definitely not just a scheming minx. Her fouettes in the coda of the Black Swan PDD were to the knee and traveled a bit but she sustained them very well. She also had a few minor slips (not in crucial places and not marring the lovely whole) in Odile's PDD and solo. Usually just some loss of balance coming out of turns and missing a few transitional steps that come too quickly for her reflexes. Of course the tempos for both her White and Black Swan pas de deux were much slower than Vishneva's, but Part can really fill out that extra space and time with beautiful creamy phrasing and emotional expression. (I think it must be harder in some ways to dance slower than fast in a classical role - it requires greater stamina and control and leaves you more exposed. Of course faster movements require great control as well because you can land on your derriere in a moment with no time for a save!) One of the many reasons why I think balletomanes are nuts over Part is that she is so strong in old-fashioned, outmoded ballerina qualities that have been trained out of modern ballerinas: Old-fashioned glamour, a love of slow tempos and filled out movements, a lusher more womanly body, upper body port de bras emphasized over footwork and also incredible musicality. She never seems like the girl next door - she has a regal quality but also a langourous dreaminess. Marcelo Gomes is my hero - he just comes through for me every time and he is so versatile. He impresses often in two roles in the same ballet ("Raymonda" "Here/After" "Swan Lake" "Le Corsaire") and always has something very much of his own to offer. He is very giving onstage and his swan dive into the lake at the end of Act IV (and the way he beat his fists on the palace door at the end of Act III) definitely made him a memorable prince. His mime is very clear - the wonder as he waits for Odette to enter in Act II - you see how he witnesses the offstage transformation of a swan into a princess. Also, Part is not easy to partner and requires a lot of attention and care - Marcelo is very solicitious of her and seems thrilled to be working with her. Also, the audience was very enthusiastic last night with long ovations at the end. I also felt that it was very well sold - the orchestra and upper levels (except for the Family Circle as usual) looked pretty full. Faux Pas

One camp classic with a few ballet sequences is "Salome, Where She Danced" with Yvonne De Carlo and David Bruce from 1945. IMDB entry for Salome, Where she Danced There is an "under the sea" nymph ballet with Yvonne de Carlo dancing on pointe. Quite a sight! Faux Pas

And I thought this was all about me! When I was in college I had a creepy roommate (one of four or five) who always rented porn and watched it with his girlfriend on the one TV in the common living room. One he rented was about a ballet company and starred porn veteran Paul Thomas. A google search showed that the title of the movie was "Let's get Physical" from way back in 1984 with Hypatia Lee as the head of a ballet company and Paul Thomas was her bitter husband, an injured danseur noble who ruined his legs in a car crash after she caught him in flagrante with another woman (and we get to see how in flagrante that was). All I remember was Paul Thomas in a horrible homemade flouncy collar and tights pretending to be the Prince in "Swan Lake" in a flashback. I also remember a ballerina doing it in a tutu and nothing else! Is that too much of a faux pas for this site! Faux Pas