julip

i have to say gone with the wind...oh wait, there are plans for that.

i have to vouch for the peanut butter cure. i used to have such a problem with hiccups (resulting from being nervous) that i would keep jar in my dance bag (low-fat of course)

i would enjoy more bios/autobios about the unknown dancers. 'the unmaking of a dancer' is one of my favorite books that i have read. it's refreshing to hear the voice of a more common dancer.

liebling--yes indeed there is. it is quite common for research buildings to be built as 'quiet buildings'. no signals go in, no signals go out. perhaps if just the interior theatre had this feature then we would all be safe from the cell phones and beepers.

i'll always remember stephanie dabney and her wonderful firebird. simply wonderful. there are two wonderful up and coming dancers that i have seen recently. one is eric underwood who is in the corps of pacific northwest ballet (he shined recently in a new kevin o'day piece). he was memorable because he seemed to have so much more depth and interest on stage than any other male corps memeber. the other one is toni doctor who dances with atlanta ballet. she has an amazing combination of grace and glamour. you are almost reminded of a 1940's movie star when you watch her.

goose bump experience number one: the atlanta ballet's production of 'serenade' in which julianne spratlin performed the waltz girl. it was the first (and only time thus far) that i cried while watching a ballet. goose bump experience number two: pacific northwest ballet's production of 'in the middle...somewhat elevated'. it was the only time that i've ever felt like turning cartwheels after a performance.

while i am in general on the same page as this as alexandra, i do have to admit that i would give anything in the world to be able to dance in paul taylor's 'esplanade'.

my biggest pet peeve would be weak arms, particulary during turns. if i'm seeing a company of a national or international caliber i at least expect to see strong arms.

do you have to be invited to be a choreographer at the craft of chor. confrence? can anyone do it? if so...how? thanks in advance.

i've never actually gone home half way through a program, but on one occassion at a pacific northwest rep. program i opted to stay in the lobby talking to a friend than watch another kent stowell piece.

hair down. it adds to the terror.

thank you all for sharing your feelings on this work...i think i just need to see it again by a different cast. also, doug...since you actually saw this program could you share your thoughts on the kent stowell piece? especially the choice of putting a work with walkovers in the same program as violin concerto. also, the night that you saw it did the female dancer appear to collapse during the walkover? i wasn't sure if that was choreographed or not.

while watching this work i was thinking that the emotions that i was watching that were 'coming out of nowhere' were because of the casting. the martins/mazzo duet was very emotional in this performance at the very end. but not at all during the rest of the duet. it seemed to be really interesting and innovative choreography without emotion until the very end. suddenly it was just there without any leadin. for the humor again it was probably because of the choices of facial expresions that dancers tended to make at key times (during the backbends in a circle, while slapping hands, during the walkovers). if done with different expressions i might have had a different reaction. but, again, the dancers weren't able to make a conncection emotionaly from movement to movement. because i have never seen this work performed before i don't know if that is a choreographic choice or dancer's interpretation. i am hoping that it is dancer's interpretation because otherwise i cannot see violin concerto as a masterpiece.

i just got back in from seeing pacific northwest ballet's spring repretory program. one of the pieces that was performed was stravinsky violin concerto. it was my first experience with the piece and i was curious what others thought about it. while i loved the exploration of movement i thought that the emotions and humor that were used came out of nowhere. i found it hard to appreciate the work because of this. what do other people feel about this work?

i'm so glad that you just posted this question. i was coming to the computer to ask if anyone knew the meanings of the lilies. i used to know, but i cannot remember now. i'm in the process of explaining giselle to my husband and he just can't get by the flowers.

pretentious works. well, being an arts school alumni i know all about pretentious works. day in, day out. that's all you ever see. everyone's trying to do something they aren't, create works that they don't even get. if you have to speak for 5 min on a three min class room work, then it's too prententious. get back down to earth.

as a choreographer i am always at a loss when someone asks me what my work is about. i don't work with stories, or themes...i work with movement and music. alot of times there seems to be vague characters that devellop, but those come from the dancers interacting, not my choreography. if the work were to be danced by other people totally different characters may come across. i am also annoyed when people start trying to read alot into my work. it seems that they are trying to hard, trying to be what they think art fans should be, but i wish that they could just enjoy what is going on on the stage instead of being mental about it. when i see a ballet with a plot i do want a synopsis. if it a ballet that has been done before i do enjoy reading the history. but i don't understand why everything has to have a deep meaning. just enjoy what you are seeing.

this is a late response to this topic, but i have only recently joined this site. i believe i must be the only one who saw lisa apple as aurora and was disipointed. while she was very pretty and had alot of energy, i just did not find her strong enough for the part. i imagine her as a wonderful lilac fairy, but i don't feel she i quite ready for aurora. the whole time i was distracted by her weak arms any time she would turn. the rest of the performance was wonderful (although the gentleman doing bluebird that night had difficulty pointing his feet and holding his turnout). all of the dancers were exciting and exact. the costumes and scenery to die for.

disclaimer--i'm a struggling choreographer so yes, this is a bit of a vent...but there's truth in every vent *note, this is refering to ballet in the U.S only* it's true, there have not been many interesting choreographers working in the ballet vocabulary to emerge in the past few years. the people who tend to get alot of time with the spin doctors (wheeldon, stroman) i don't find to be interesting at all. neither one seems to be doing anything new. they seem to rely on old tricks. there are some great ballet pieces coming out--but they seem to be from european choreographers, or at least americans who have gone to europe in order to get their work seen. a big problem to me is that the larger companies are not imaginative enough in where they find the new talent. it seems to be that you have an up and coming, or close to retiring male dancer--you give him a chance to choreograph, the rest is history. you end up with crap choreography and no new intersting works. there's alot of great choreographers out there, unfortunatly they don't get their work shown by larger companies because they are working in the regional ballet circuit with dancers who, while still developing and dedicated to their work, can't fully realize the dreams of these choreographers.