vagansmom

I was struck by Luciano Perrotto (they misspelled the final vowel of his last name) as well. What technique and charisma! Although he grew up in Argentina, I know he spent at least one summer and a full year toward the end of his training (age 17-ish) at the Rock School in PA.

I don't know either, and I thought her classical performance was the weakest I've seen from her. Haven't yet viewed the modern. I also found the white ribbons highly distracting. When she first came out, I thought they were feathers and couldn't figure out how that went with her costume! Either that was a last minute fix for something that went wrong (am trying to figure out what that could be) or could it be she forgot to pancake them? I've never seen white ribbons sewn on the outside in addition to pink ribbons. Even if they were pink, they still gave an impression of being raggedy. Is there something I'm missing? Is that a thing?

If I went to a ballet with loud music as described, I would end up in the doctor's office the next day because the noise would still be reverberating in one of my ears. And I'm not that old! So I'm glad to know about this ballet; I can avoid it in the future. Like many others my age (early 60's) who went to lots of rock concerts while young, my hearing is impaired. I don't expect to have to deal with that level of sound at the ballet. If that's where we're heading, I and lots of other older people will end up staying home. I don't find that earplugs work well enough. Have to protect what's left.

She is a prima ballerina at ABT. As such, I think it would be degrading to not treat her as we do others, on the merits of her dancing. Why should she be treated any differently?

I think I love this program most for the beautiful music it's brought back into my life. As I've gotten older, I've craved silence more than music, but this series reawakened my classical music senses. I found myself returning to Brahms and Mozart. Younger fans of the series say that it's introduced them for the first time to the beauty of classical music. The episode filmed at the prison brought me to tears.

Wow, pherank, we are currently on a similar wave length! I've just finished rereading both Hiroshima and PT-109. Some of my high school students are currently studying the political 1940's, so I reread both of those books to refresh my memory. I agree that Hiroshima should be a mandatory read for mature students studying that period of history. Which book was about the Red Scare in Hollywood? A relative of mine was a victim of McArthy-ism, not in the entertainment field, but as a high-ranking Army personnel officer. He died of a heart attack during his trial, but it was fairly certain by nearly everybody that he would be acquitted. Richard Nixon was the leader of the attack against him. Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. spoke in my uncle's defense. Coincidentally, I was visiting my aunt for a week when Nixon resigned: what emotions for her! Chills up and down my spine. Needless to say, I have a visceral connection to anything about that awful period in our nation's history. Let's not get into my strong feelings about the current political world.

HI abatt, I think we are more in agreement than not. Like you, I wanted Finlay to dance in a more Broadway style because I felt that the classical style didn't suit the music. What I was excited about, however, was imagining him in other roles as this is the first time I've seen him dance and I can imagine him in more classical roles. I mentioned further down that I thought Ramasar was the only male dancer who suited the musical style. Sorry for not being clear enough.

I attended the Rodgers: Broadway to Ballet performance last night. Recently, I have really felt the need for a light evening of entertainment and this did not disappoint. I was also psyched because my favorite female dancers were featured. We sat in the third ring and from my perspective, the house looked pretty full considering it was a Wednesday night. I couldn’t see directly below me, though, so I don’t know if the orchestra was full. Carousel: Tiler Peck and Zachary Catazaro started off the evening in Carousel. To me, a non-ballet dancer, Peck was perfection. This choreography moved briskly and Peck loves that kind of a challenge, so what a match! Her combination of musicality, fluidity, technique and ability to embrace the audience delighted me immeasurably. I am so thrilled that I’ve been able to make it into NYC lately to see her in multiple roles. I’m afraid I can’t speak to Catazaro’s performance because I couldn’t take my eyes off Peck. Thou Swell: Sterling Hyltin is, far and away, my favorite current dancer at any ballet company (well, I haven’t seen Alina Cojocaru lately). She embodies everything I look for in a dancer and I’m fairly certain she’s discovered the secret to anti-gravity. I know some people love tall female dancers, and while I am often brought to tears at their exquisitely beautiful adagio in story ballets like Swan Lake, I think that a shorter ballet dancer can be a more complete dancer. I swear every hair on Hyltin’s body is beautifully expressive and she’s the most musical and artistic of dancers (as a musician, that’s critical to me). She often reminds me of Gelsey Kirkland. My companion, who’d never seen Peck dance and was thrilled by her performance, said, after the evening was over, that Hyltin was also the highlight of the night for her. I was wowed by Chase Finlay despite wishing he were a little less classical in that particular role because I felt the music dictated otherwise. However, I was very excited to see him dance in person and thought he and Hyltin were mostly well-matched. I'm looking forward to seeing him in other roles. My happiest surprise was Rebecca Krohn. I’ve never seen her in a lead role. Her performance has made me determined to seek out tickets for ballets where she is featured. Krohn, a tall dancer, flowed with elegance and grace, with every inch of her body fully extended. She was striking in fuschia. What beautiful arms and legs! I found her mesmerizing and I am so delighted to have discovered the talent in her that so many other BAers have described. Her partner, Amar Ramasar, was the standout male dancer here, although that’s arguable since he didn’t get much solo time. But I thought he was the only male whose body expressed the music. I felt that the other men were perhaps a little stiffer, although I’m not sure that’s the word I should be using, (maybe I should say they were more classical). While they were excellent, especially Chase Finlay, I thought that the music called for Ramasar’s ease. How I wish he had a bigger role! Sara Mearns, as usual, was elegance personified. She delivered a very grounded, mature performance. Unfortunately, I don’t remember much about la Cour, but again, that’s because I love Mearns so much that my focus was all on her. The maids: Oh my gosh, who was the pert blonde dancer on the audience’s far left? She looked like she was having the time of her life. Sassy, cute with spot-on gestures. I want to see more of her: what a flair for comedy! And all lightness and sprightliness! Slaughter on 10th. Avenue: So much fun from start to finish! Kowroski and Angle were a delight. Big props to the policemen’s pratfalls. Altogether, a very happy night at the ballet.

Oh my goodness, you are right! All I remember is feeling just awful about him a few years ago. I just checked: it was when he had sadly lost his wife to cancer; I found it so heartbreaking. So many actors passed away in recent years I mixed it up: a sign of my aging. I can't keep up with how many actors I've loved that have lost their lives in recent years. Heavy losses in both public and private life: the reality of being a senior citizen. I am very thankful that Tucci is thriving.

I will watch it simply to see Stanley Tucci on the screen again. I adored everything about his acting. Such a great loss to the community and we viewers.

kfw

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Wow! Looking forward to this one!

I wanted desperately to like this movie and had been really looking forward to seeing it, but was bored by the tepid plot and choreography. I love both Gosling and Stone and felt they truly did their best given the material they had to work with. Both seem to have had a little bit of dance training (Gosling more than Stone) and their voices were pleasant enough for non-singers. I liked that about them and was really rooting for them. I had hoped the movie would be cute and refreshing, but both the choreography and plot were so boring that I actually fell asleep (!) - in the middle of it. First time this has ever happened to me in any kind of performance venue. I can usually find a way to remain engaged, but I found it too tedious. I saw the movie with my daughter, a former professional dancer, and her husband, a complete non-dancer. Both are very generous movie-viewers and rarely find something they don't like. This movie fell into that category for them though. They too thought the plot was dull and the choreography ho-hum.

Taking on a devil's advocate role here: I read the link above and I also read another newspaper article quoting the dancer, but is there anything from the company or Corella himself that states her height is the reason why? David Gray's statement on behalf of the company does not specifically mention height, but I can't tell if the paper truncated his statement or if that was it in its entirety. Before I form an opinion, I want to be certain that both sides to this story agree on the reason for her being asked to leave. It does seem particularly malicious to inform her right before her solo. It makes me feel there's an untold history there that goes beyond a height issue.

Is Berlin State Ballet the same as Staatsballett-Berlin?

Great response, sandik.

I would love to see her work with an acting coach to learn how to loosen up her head and face. I think that her Swan Lake variation would have been much different had she opened up her face. Certain dancers, like Sarah Mearns over at NYCB, can get away with not expressing much emotion and it makes them appear reflective and soulful, but others can't. Hamrick falls into that latter category, I think, with a strongish looking face and jaw (from the audience's perspective, I mean). Learning how to work her head and neck, through an acting coach rather than ballet coach, might make enough of a difference.

Love that Calero will be teaching character dance!

Thank you so much. That was lovely!

Such liquid arms!

I wonder if the date is mislabeled. I have Fonteyn's autobiography sitting in front of me and one photo of her, labeled Shanghai 1933, looks a bit like the one on sale.

My personal opinion is that an ABT principal dancer absolutely must have not only "lovely line and deportment" but also be oozing with musicality, epaulement and expressiveness. A male principal dancer should also be an excellent partner. Cirio has all these qualities. Gorak still doesn't. I hope he is able to learn them, but artistry is often an elusive quality for highly technical dancers. This is why I prefer most of ABT's other principal ballerinas to Murphy. Someone here on BA (I wish I could remember whom) used the word "athletic" in referring to her upper body. My vision of a true ballerina always includes natural epaulement: In a word, Abrera.

I saw this show about 6 weeks ago after having not seen it in a number of years. There is just as much dancing as before and it is FAR better than it was back then except for the Moiseyev dancers who did much simpler - and slower - versions of the original dances. However, I believe they're on the end run of this tour, so they may be tired and nursing injuries. Or maybe they're trying to prevent injuries. I always wondered, way back when, how those dancers could come out with those deep bends and jumps over and over again day after day without suffering career-ending injuries. However, I thought the Irish dancers, both in technique and in energy, were far better than ever. Hehe, and come to think of it, they are jumping around an awful lot themselves. There is just as much dancing as before. Frankly, I've always hated the singing: I find the ballads quite boring. Irish music is SO rich with beautiful plaintive ballads - the emotion they're striving to create in this show - that I've always wondered why they didn't just use the traditional songs. The female soloist was gorgeous and, in addition, had beautiful arms, something I wish I'd see more in many professional ballet dancers. Overall, her steps were far harder than the original steps choreographed by Jean Butler, but then so was the caliber of all the dances. Today, the caliber of Irish competitive dance is extremely high, as evidenced by the major competitions throughout the world. The Irish dancers in this show are usually all just off the competitive circuit. I hate the pre-taped sounds for the Flatley role. It really is unnecessary for these dancers. It's great to have the feet miked, but really, really stupid, I think, to pre-tape their sounds. I wonder if that's something the show is stuck with, as ordained by Flatley who choreographed his own solos and still has some financial interest in the show. It appears that the male lead is required to do those steps. The tap versus Irish section was my favorite when I first saw the show in NYC on its original tour, and I like it even more this time around. It's longer, and far better, than the earlier version. Again, everyone is dancing at a much higher caliber. Overall, I found this program to be the best it's ever been. It's been around so long and has gone through some tired stages, but it sure didn't look at all tired 6 weeks ago.

IMO, you're being polite. I saw, and adored, many performances of Kent in her younger years, but I could say, quite conservatively, that Kent (and Herrera) stayed at least 5 or 6 years too long. And that's conservative. Meanwhile, beautiful dancers with great potential languished without the coaching that comes with those principal roles.