PetipaFan

The Pennsylvania Ballet has a nice website with clips showing the major dance steps. My favorite is the Bourrée and of course the Grand Jeté!

http://www.paballet.org/outreach/steps.aspx

This reminds me of a sign I saw the other day, "NO Parking, Witches Only, others will be toad."

I was delighted to read Majinksy's message about Fayette! Nobody is closer to the truth than a SAB student! Therefore I wrote privately to ask his opinion of who are the best and worst dancers at NYCB today...I think his 'worst' list is the same as everyone's but his best list had a couple of surprises!

With all due respect to Mr Fayette, I always smile a little when I see names ending with "ette" words ending in "ette" are always feminine in French.

From the NEA website I found a list of appropriations here is the past 5 years:

2000***

$ 97,627,600

2001****

$104,769,000

2002

$115,220,000

2003*****

$115,731,000

2004******

$120,971,000

2005*******

$121,263,000

We probably are spending more for the Arts in Iraq.

Where is Seattle?

"I also would not be surprised if after a few years she returned to NYCB. I seem to remember something from some biography or other that claimed that if one left NYCB, one wasn't welcome back (although Farrell did)... but surely that culture has passed?" - Amy Reusch

Have you imagined the sort of meeting that took place between Ansanelli and NYCB management? Did she give ultimatums? Did they make offers? Were there tears on both sides?

I doubt she's ever going back to NYCB, 'you can't go home again.' The sort of artistic growth she's seeking will take her beyond NYCB.

How could there be only 1 vote for Nut? It's full of the most glorious melodies in the history of Western Music and is by far the most popular ballet.

I could not have imagined that NYCB couldn't offer enough to a dancer to make their time there artistically satisfying!

Does the departure of Ansanelli say something about the state of things at NYCB? Surely it does.

It seems that we Ballet Talkers are the last people to know anything.

As Juliet said everyone at Spac knew Ansanelli was leaving...and they know why too, at least the company members anyway...

" am rarely speechless, PetipaFan, but you have silenced me! Ah well, disparity in taste is what makes us interesting, I suppose....." - Juliet

Where art thou Juliet?

I just reviewed the music of Sleeping Beauty my goodness there isn't ANYTHING that stands out in the whole work! There's not one great melody, not one movement in the whole thing of any interest to me. I find this work completely uninspired.

But Swan Lake...the pathos, the tragedy, the enormity of the emotion in the opening movement! Then the 3rd movement valse, there's that magnificent unforgettable melody, da-di-daaa-dat, you know the one and then it resolves into the MOST ENORMOUS CLIMAX in 3! I remember almost having a stroke looking at the sheet music the first time!

There are several other magnificent movements in Swan, there is nothing at all like this in Sleeping Beauty...

I think Sleeping Beauty pales in comparison musically to Swan Lake and the Nutcracker I don't want to see it anywhere.

We've lost a Principal, who can replace her?

From her bio on the NYCB website which is no longer there:

"Alexandra Ansanelli was born in Laurel Hollow, New York. At the age of 10 she began her ballet training with Danny Holstein in Roslyn, New York. In the fall of 1991, after joining the School of American Ballet at the age of 11, Ms. Ansanelli danced various children's roles with New York City Ballet. Ms. Ansanelli also received scholarships to study with Chautauqua School of Dance, Houston Ballet Academy, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, The Rock School of Pennsylvania Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet School. While attending SAB, she danced the role of one of the children in the film version of GEORGE BALANCHINE'S THE NUTCRACKER™, which was released in the fall of 1993. Ms. Ansanelli was invited to become an apprentice with New York City Ballet in the fall of 1996, and one month later was made a member of the corps de ballet after dancing the role of Dewdrop in GEORGE BALANCHINE'S THE NUTCRACKER™. In November 1998, Ms. Ansanelli was promoted to the rank of Soloist, and in 2003, she was promoted to Principal Dancer."

(I wanted to quote from the BIO here to preserve it because once it disappears from the Google cache it's gone forever...)

There was a touching story in the NY Times about Alexandra Ansanelli on 14 March 2004 which I remembered so I went to look it up:

"Ms. Ansanelli has struck a human-interest chord with the public because of the daunting obstacles she has faced. There is her scoliosis, which she hid from her fellow dancers during her final growing years and which even now makes her height vary as much as an inch from day to day (she stands 5-feet-5 1/2 at her tallest). And then there was the nearly career-wrecking foot injury that sidelined her for two years, in 1999 and 2000 (she had to stay off her feet for a solid year). ''When you experience pain at that level, I don't think it's helpful,'' she said. ''It's not a growing experience.''"

New story in the Times Today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/26/arts/mus...?pagewanted=all

" "But a member wins tenure by having it all, by being the ultimate professional and the consummate colleague," Mr. Latzky said. Declining to elaborate, he said of Mr. Polezhayev, "He had been warned and spoken to, I believe, on several occasions about his behavior." "

The picture is getting more clear! It's about 'his behavior.'

I'm trying to figure this out it seems like Anton Polezhayev is maybe just a jerk? It's not about his playing as much as people don't like him and so he is 'bad for the orchestra.'

There are players that can have a positive affect on the others, causing them all to perform better just by their presence. Karajan had a chap like this in the Berlin Philharmonic once, in the winds I think he was. K always looked for the fellow...

I have no tone at all. Can we not take notice of the race of a person or group of persons?

Why are there not 9 African American female violinists at the NY Philharmonic? or Poles or Russians or whatever. Apparently Asian families are encouraging their children to study classical music?

I suspect that when someone leaves and we don't know why, then it's not a happy thing.

What I remember about Scotty was that he had the most wonderful smile...he seemed to have the greatest affection for Captain Kirk! I never watched the new series the old one was great though...

Here's another story on the AP with some more information:

http://1010wins.com/topstories/local_story_203143819.html

"During his Philharmonic probationary period, Polezhayev was supposed to have 13 meetings with orchestra leaders so they could give him feedback and progress reports, court papers say. The papers say no such meetings were held with him.

After Polezhayev complained to Schiebler and Dicterow about what he considered gender discrimination, they brought his complaints to Maazel's attention.

Maazel told Polezhayev in a meeting that he was being fired for ``unprofessional behavior'' and because he ``was not good for the orchestra,'' despite being a good violinist, court papers say..."

Let him have his day in court.

How did Anton Polezhayev fail? Did he fail miserably and repeatedly? It will be an fascinating case to watch.

There was a certain conductor at the Metropolitan Opera once in the 50's who sued after being fired because he was not up to the job. The Opera won in court. Had he not sued no one would ever have known he was let go because of incompetence going to court did nothing to help his career.

If it is that the NY Philharmonic seeks the best players, and the best are women, and typically Asian, then it says something about the state of things.

Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times, 22 July 2005:

"For Anton Polezhayev, a promising violinist with a few midlevel competition victories under his belt, winning a coveted seat at the New York Philharmonic at the tender age of 26 was deeply fulfilling.

Anton Polezhayev accuses the New York Philharmonic of giving preference to women. But, he says, as the months of his probationary period went on, he watched a parade of seven violinists win permanent jobs or march past him in the section. They all had one thing in common: they were women.

And one day, orchestra officials abruptly told Mr. Polezhayev to pack up his violin and leave after the 2003-4 season. He had failed his probation despite, he says, strong reviews of his playing..."

I wonder if there is any truth to Mr Polezhayev's argument that the orchestra is favoring the selection of women?

Whether or not it's true, 20 of 33 violinists at the NY Philharmonic are women and several of them are Asian Jiulliard graduates.

The even had an intimate pre-performance talk by Wendy Whelan that we went to.  She was very articulate, gracious, charming, and told stories about the ballet we were about to see her in (Agon) as well her reaction to Jock Soto's retirement.  She was thrilled for him.  A bit of other news - she is getting married shortly, Jock is the caterer. (this is not gossip - came straight from Wendy).

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Jock is the caterer and who is the groom? David Michalek?

I love the name Wendy Whelan...Wendy Michalek isn't as musical but I hope they go well together!

Why did NYCB begin going to Saratoga 40 years ago? Is that reason still valid today?

I am Petipa!

"I wonder what the story behind this ballet is: I'm a cowboy in a German fetish film? Maybe not. Maybe I should read the program... LIKE THE GUY ACROSS THE AISLE! Hey, the girl dancers all just clapped in unison. This is like bizzaro Riverdance."

I don't think Michael Korb 'gets' Agon.

Marika Anderson...

"In November 2004 she became an apprentice with NYCB, and in June 2005 she joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet."

Rachel Piskin also.