sparklesocks

Sounds wonderful - I wasn't able to go as I would have been one of those in the audience coughing my fool head off.

anyone go to the show yet? got a program and can tell us who is dancing tonight and tomorrow?

All in all, I would probably have been happier to see them in a traditional Swan Lake, although (plot aside) I loved the extended male corps work in the first act, probably because it's so very rare to see so much good dancing by a male corps.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here here!

Hmm. Shows you how little attention I've paid to things over the years. I only go to see the dancers that I truly love in the lead roles. I don't spend any time at all "analyzing" - I just go to enjoy dance. And I guess it is for that reason that I hadn't realized the bad taste that Kudelka's work seems to leave in many mouths. What's funny, is that I often find myself thinking, "so what" to many of the things that reviewers point out as being weaknesses in his productions. Interesting.

I too would like to go and see this...but I wish I could know casting ahead of time.

Etudes would be great to have on DVD....

In the documentary about the first Jackson competition, Jacques d'Amboise interviewed the then 13-year old Katherine Healy, who had been given a special waiver to compete in the senior division (where she won a gold medal). He asked her about the spill she took during the final round Don Q pdd (during the fouettes, if I remember correctly). After a momentary puzzled expression crossed her baby face, she replied, "Oh, that! I just slipped." What poise!

Nice! Totally off topic, but how old is Healy now? A few years ago I read a bit about her skating on line, had some pics of a lovely "spiral" (penche)...maybe I should do a search in here on her name...

In the coverage of the Robert Altman film, The Company, it was reported that

Neve Campbell had ballet training before becoming an actress.

She was also on a TV show called something like Catwalk - she danced in a few episodes of that. She trained at Canada's NBS between the ages of 9 and 14 I think. She was in the Ballet chorus of Phantom in Toronto and understudied one of the semi-lead roles (I forget which one.)

The Company was a terrible movie - Blue Snake was only cutting edge in the 80s when it was first choreographed. That's just my humble opinion though...

Oh. And of course there are the "almost" dancers on soaps, such as Victoria Rowell on The Young and the Restless. I believe she trained at ABT. When she first arrived on Y&R, she danced quite often.

Victor Barbee was also in a Murder She Wrote. He was a defecting Russian; that's all I can remember.

I can't even remember the name of the show, but the master from "The Karate Kid" had a TV series for a short while, and there was a dancer who, doing her barre in the park (where else?) saw a murder. They knew they'd been spotted and pursued her. But never fear. She felled them with one hell of a grand battement.

And there was an escaping ballerina episode on Starsky and Hutch. She fell in love with one of them -- I'd never seen the show before this, so I never knew which one.

And there's the famous Gelsey Kirkland on L.A. Law episode

"one hell of a grand battement." Hee hee!

If the Gelsey Kirkland episode is the one I'm thinking of, then I remember seeing it and feeling that it was great to see her dance, while painful to see how "botoxy" she looked.

And an honorary mention for great video editing/tv-direction: The Merry Widow with the Australian Ballet.

The first viewing of a ballet dvd is usually a traumatic experience; you never know what annoying ways the video-director will devise to create interest in something that already is interesting. Their ingenuity in thus ruinning perfectly fine performances is bountless. But, 10 minutes into this dvd I realised I'm at the hands of an intelligent person and I relaxed. This is SO rare these days: unobtrusive, respectful and very close to watching the actual performance - only from the best possible angle for each scene. A very pleasant surprise.

You make this one sound really good. I rarely see dance on DVD/VHS because I find them so expensive to buy, and often more seems to be available in PAL (which is not my format,) though I could be imagining that. Anyway, I go to live performances as often as possible. I'll definately look for the Merry Widow though...

Mmm. A fun topic to read - though I haven't had the pleasure of seeing many of those mentioned live.

Thanks. Over the holidays I will begin my search.

anyone?

anyone want to give me a run-down of the versions of this ballet available on DVD or VHS. I have been struggling to find a Bournonville recording. I have the POB DVD, which was expensive by the way, and though I like it, I'm a bit more partial to the Bournonville version. I vagely remember seeing clips of the National Ballet of Canada with Nureyev as James. Is that all that available, or is there a full version of that on an old VHS somewhere? I have done some light internet research to no avail, and have checked out my pathetic local library (which doesn't have much in the way of ballet on film unfortunately.) Thanks!

An old thread I know, but why not....

I definately enjoy both the Classical and the Romantic - more contemporary works in the vein of "comforts of solitude" make me impatient. I guess I need my fix of "classical technique" when I go to the Ballet.

Any plans to see Nutcracker by NB (or anyone else for that matter?) What do you think of Kudelka's production?

Nutcrackers in general aren't my fav as even the best versions feel a bit emotionally hollow to me. But heck, when there are dancers performing it that I admire, I go and see it anyway!

I know this is an old thread, but wanted to mention who I have seen at Hummingbird: Kirov, Hungarian National Ballet, Alvin Ailey, La La La Human Steps, and of course RWB. Mind you, with the exception of RWB, all others were in the 80s and early 90s. Guess touring is just too darn expensive these days.

I wonder if dancers find performances such as this frustrating. Imagine putting on the brakes to avoid a violinist!

I was recently in Toronto and was casually looking at houses for sale. One house had a real estate sign out front and the agent's name was Geon Van Der Wyst. There can't be more that one guy in TO with that name, can there? Could this be his new career? Best of luck to him if it is.

Interesting. I'll have to search the net for progress reports.

I am so jealous. The Ailey company hasn't been in Toronto in years. I last say them about 10 years ago - and yes, Revelations had an "encore." It might have even been two...it was so long ago, I barely remember. Every once in a while I check to see if they are performing in a nearby state, but it has never worked out that I am able to travel at the right times. You are all very lucky!

I enjoyed La Sylphide more than I expected to to be honest. Of course with my bias toward Cote, I enjoyed the Sun performance (which I was relieved to be able to attend) more than the Thurs evening. Would have liked to have seen Rodriguez too but I guess you can't have it all. Gotta love all those crazy beats for James....

Hmm. Interesting. Even though I was up close, I didn't feel any vibe from Ogden's "subtleties" (how do you spell that anyway?) I was impressed by her technical abilities - those doubles on the fouettes were exciting, but I saw the performance 3 times (with other casts too) and discovered that all the females tossed in several doubles. Must be nice!

Has anyone seen this in TO? GRETA HODGKINSON and ALEKSANDAR ANTONIJEVIC are really a fantastic match. Together they create an energy that really got me absorbed in the performance. I didn't feel as much connection between OGDEN and COTE, even though many people seem to think they have real chemistry...strange. I actually felt more drawn in by OGDEN with KISH in this afternoon's performance as compared to when she danced with COTE on Thurs evening.