mom2

Daughter enjoyed the gala very much, and for a change I think was glad that she did something I suggested!! She enjoyed it all, but seemed particularly taken by the dancers from the Kirov. She thought perhaps the piece performed by Desmond Richardson wasn't the best choice for him? It would be nice to read the impressions of others who attended............. m2

My daughter attends university in Montreal, and luckily was able to get a ticket for tonight's event. We live quite a distance, so I will have to live vicariously through her reports. Is anyone from this Board planning to attend? Would love to hear your impressions! mom2

Just wondering why a candidate would choose an extra year in the school over a year's contract in the company? Would it never be possible to have the contract renewed after that year? m2

Mouse, if you ever need a new career, I think that writing is most clearly an area of talent! Thank you for such wonderful posts - I can almost imagine the dancing (and your mom's nerves)!! I'm sorry that you aren't able to stay in Jackson for the entire competition, but I"m so very glad that you were able to attend the other day. All the best to you, your dancer, and all the other dancers and parents at Jackson! m2

Kain was obviously emotional at the end of her speech. Quite out of character for her! As for the review in the Star...my younger daughter described the piece as "The Balcony Scene in underwear"............

My daughters and I were at Nathan Phillips Square watching the telecast. It was a great event and wonderful opportunity, to be sure. FREE!! In Toronto, who imagined? I have to say however that someone forgot to inform the cameraperson about the finer details of ballet videography. I cannot begin to tell you how frustrating it was to watch the DQ pdd with closeups of faces, not feet!! Nice faces of course, but what are they thinking? The dancers generally did a great job - a one or two not so stellar, but lots of pressure I'm sure for the big night. m2

Just chiming in about Mr. Prottas...the name sounded familiar to me, so I did some hunting. He did in fact graduate from the National Ballet School in Toronto in 2005, so perhaps his training was somewhat different from those who came up through the ranks at SAB?? I live near Toronto so have a much better sense of the NBS dancers, have never been to an SAB performance or observed a class so I'm just honestly wondering. Someone had commented on his plies/sof landings and I wonder outloud if it's a matter of training at NBS? Then again perhaps it's just his natural ability? m2

have just returned from the international showcase. NBS opened with the second act, La Sylphide. The lead couple was just wonderful. The couple from the Royal Ballet School was, in a word, amazing. Watching the duet it was hard to keep in mind that these two are students! I also enjoyed the "doll" dance presented by the John Cranko School. The dancers were incredibly strong, and made what I imagine must be a very difficult piece look like a piece of cake. They truly seemed to enjoy the performance. Other pieces were good too, and I have to say that the NBS men really shone in Ephebos. I'll let other posters add to this, I could go on but in short: good show!!!!

I was at the final performance today; did anyone else attend Jewels? Rubies was a treat, and I enjoyed Diamonds a bit more than I had expected to...that said, some of my favourites weren't seen in today's casting. Emeralds is not my favourite, and today Fournier had an unfortunate and distracting mishap with her pointe shoe ribbons...or maybe next year I should just get seats further back? There were some very nice performance today from younger corps members, always nice to see! m2

hmm...very good points, Noreen!!

Somehow I think this conversation has been had before...am I just imagining? Will have to check old threads. I also have to admit that other posters here are much more articulate than I in describing how or why things work, but I'll give it a try.... Firebird is more of the eye-candy kind of a piece. Stunning costumes, and Firebird can be an amazing role (who is cast)? That said, it's never been one of my favourites and it's not one that I return to see "just because." I would and have gone back to see Four Seasons and Cinderalla (mentioning the latter because of another thread here). Four Seasons is one of my favourite Kudelka ballets. Of course it helps that I know and love the music so well, but I have always enjoyed it. The cast will have evolved significantly since the last time I saw it, as some of the original key players are no longer with the company. It was set, I believe, on Rex Harrington, who suit it perfectly. Johann Persson was also one of my favourites (he went on to the Royal, is now retired); but I"m sure that the current company members are up to the challenge. If you're looking for something with a classical sort of variation, this won't fit the bill but there are some amazing lifts. Enjoy! I'll look forward to your reviews! m2

I couldn't get the link either, so I googled Bocca. His website is pretty "busy" and I probably missed a few things...(I went to the spanish version, just to see if I could find a reference to the discussion on this thread). What I did see was that he intends to retire in Dec. 2007, in 716 days to be exact. Will they count this down day by day, I wonder? here is the link I found: http://www.juliobocca.com/2005/home.htm m2

Any reports on the performance? I saw Cote/Fournier yesterday; a very nice show! Intermezzo was nice as well. The little girl in La Slyphide was amazing! Too bad her name wasn't in the program, I"m sure we'll see more of her in years to come! I also thoroughly enjoyed the Ballet talk with the Danish fellow (who's name escapes me at the moment). I would say that I didn't know Danes had such a great sense of humour, but then there WAS Victor Borge. So far I must say that I'm quite impressed with the company's offerings this season. Did anyone get to see Hubbe? Please, do tell! m2

I saw Cote and Ogden. Enjoyed the performance very much! I did not find Ogden cool and detached...until the curtain call! I loved the distinction between Odette and Odile - I don't know that I've ever seen this done quite so well. I suppose it helps that I'm quite close to the front and therefore able to see nuances a bit better than many others in the theatre....... Technically, both were spot on and with Cote and some others I think NBS finally has some men who can step up to the plate. I did enjoy some of the recently retired men, don't get me wrong, but Cote was such a delight to watch! I'm looking forward to next week!

Finally some good news! I had hoped that I'd see him in Movin' Out this year (saw it on tour, and daughter saw in in NYC) - no such luck. Hopefully I'll get to see him now, closer to home!! :blush:

My guess, for the first little while at least, is that the emphasis will be on increasing the audience AND donors as the company moves into the new venue.

There was an article on the front page of this morning's Toronto Globe and Mail, stating that Karen Kain would be the new AD for NBOC. It is to be announced formally today at a press conference. m2

Thank you so much for your review, Paquita. I waited too long to order tickets this year and missed out on seeing a young dancer I know in two of the pieces.

I was checking on the NBOC website last night, and it would appear there are a number of new corps members as well....quite a few of this year's apprentices are now listed as corps. We're particularly proud of one dancer from our town!

I attended Sunday 1 pm. I enjoy this ballet a great deal - it is so much FUN to watch!! That said, I hadn't realized beforehand that my tickets would be on the FIRST ROW.... sounds good, but not really. I had to strain to see the entire foot of the dancer, and quite a few people seemed to think that it was ok to literally step on my toes to look into the orchestra pit!! My daughter and I enjoyed Greta's performance very much (although daughter says she is too skinny). A couple of her old friends from dance school are now in the company, and they performed yesterday (one was a dress maker - had great fun, or so it seemed)...that is always nice to see!! We were not overly impressed with the fellow from Boston. He seemed to have trouble with the lifts - is that because he and Greta haven't partnered enough together? There was at least one lift that didn't look like it had gone right........Did anyone else see this? And a troubling site....a very young girl (about 5 or so) happily cavorting about the Hummingbird Centre in.........pointe shoes! Not just any pointe shoes, but ones for a much larger person. And yes, this little girl WAS doing rises on pointe. I didn't know which way to look. She was very happy of course, but .....

I've been watching on tv this week as well - here in Canada we get fairly decent coverage I think. I was surprised to hear our commentators say that the new scoring system was affecting Kwan - wouldn't you think that her coaches, etc. would be making SURE that everything was in tip top shape, for a skater of her calibre? I'm not a skater, so I'm sure I'm missing something there....... I LOVED Lambiel, but was also proud of the Canadian J. Buttle. I keep hoping for greater things from Sandhu, but oh well. He is so incredibly talented it's a shame he can't seem to do two consistently strong programs at the same competition. As for the ice dancing, I'm off shortly to watch the finals, for some reason CBC decided that we didn't need to see ALL the final couples last night....GRR. Can someone tell me how those infamous twizzles are scored? I can see that unison is important, but what about the actual positioning of the "working" leg (i.e. the one that is bent)? Some skaters seem to only raise the leg a little - others raise it a lot...is there one way that is preferable? I know what I think looks better, but this isn't entirely consistent with the judges marking apparently.......... The top two couples looked lovely, and I'm so happy for Wing and Lowe (Canada, 10th place). Tenth was their goal, and they achieved it!

I had similar thoughts when I read the article, glad to know I'm not the only one! From what I've read, Rex Harrington had similar feelings of ambivalence in his last season, and left the company entirely when he learned he wasn't to be dancing at ALL (I don't think this is what he wanted!). Recently he performed with a new group call Pro Arte Danza - I didn't make the performance :angry: and never found a print review, so I don't know more... Back to Ms. Lamy, the Globe article does seem to give a good picture of the artist as a person with those interviewed describing both her positive AND not so great qualities. Ms. Lamy herself was pretty daring with what she said, although she made it very clear that she respects the decisions of the Artistic Director. The principal character artists, or whatever their title is now, have been in the company for a very long time indeed so it's curious to me that there' such a rush to show the 40 year olds the door.......perhaps in the end it does all boil down to a paycheque as Ms Lamy suggests; if memory serves the NBOC principals are pretty well paid.

Paquita, I was there yesterday afternoon as well, sitting with another balletmom friend! We should have had a bit of bubbly together! I agree completely with your review, and must commend you on a fine piece of writing! I have to say I love Giselle very much and wasn't sure about pairing it with the Balanchine on the program, but the contrast was nice and it certainly made one think! My seats are VERY close to the stage this year, so I could quite easily see the facial expressions of those in the lead. I concur with all you've noted. The last time I remember seeing Giselle Johann Persson played Albrecht (how I loved watching him dance) - but I feel I finally have seen Antonijevic in a role that you would think was made for him. Greta Hodgkinson's Giselle was also one of the better I've seen - in fact, I don't remember who the Giselle was last time I saw it! Bravo to all!

Just a note of thanks for you Paquita.....I was in the city myself yesterday and went to the store. Not a lot left, but I picked up an old video of Bujones and some footage of the Royal Ballet. The Bujones one is ok, a bit dated though. For the price, not bad at all. I haven't seen the other one yet. Thanks so much for the tip! m2

Thanks paquita! I'll send her shopping!! m2