Manhattnik

I remember reading a review of a Swan Lake where, in the first act, I think, viewers were regaled with the sight of swans that had been shot by the hunters and skewered on spits. Then the reviewer continued (and I paraphrase), "Would that it had been the Jester on a spit instead." (Or maybe they were just stretched out on poles. I can't remember exactly.) I think as the Jester can, in theory, be useful for making clear Siegfried's situation and dilemma, but there's also Benno for that, isn't there? In any case, there's a differene between theory and practice, and I've never seen a Jester I didn't want to squish with a flyswatter. All that flash and commotion and for what? To show there's a short guy in the company who can jump and turn? One day someone will make a production where the Black Swan becomes a pas de quatre for Odile, Siegfried, Von R and the Jester, and I'll just have to go someplace quiet and slit my wrists. (Imagine the Jester doing the 32 fouettes....) [ 07-01-2001: Message edited by: Manhattnik ]

If light can be both wave and particle, why can't these gals be both women and swans? I always imagine them being in a magically indeterminate state. I mean, why would shooting them be even a hypothetical consideration if they're clearly women? And if they're clearly swans, why not shoot them?

No one touches Martine van Hamel in my memory. Makarova, of course, was great. Ananiashvili, Dvorovenko, Kent. Across the way, Wendy Whelan, and, years ago, Melissa Hayden.

As we sat down for the Tuesday night performance, I saw that Andrea Quinn was conducting, and I said to my friend, "Oh good! We'll be out of here by ten." Once again, Quinn contributed to my musical education. A year ago, I learned from her that much of the score of Swan Lake was, in fact, written by John Philip Sousa. Now I know that the ever-versatile Sousa also composed incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream. The mind boggles at the thought of Quinn conducting Stars and Stripes. I have this nightmare vision of the men in Rifle Regiment scattering around the stage like bowling pins while attempting those mulitiple double-tours. When the curtain came down (despite the spritely pace, it was a heavenly performance), I turned to my friend and said, "OK, what time is it?" "9:59."

I remember when the Royal came here in the late seventies seeing Park, Nureyev and Sleep in The Dream. What a shame I can't remember much more about it.... My most memorable Fille was seeing Peter Schaufuss dance Colas one night and Alain the next with the National Ballet of Canada... Actually, that's the second most memorable. Most memorble was when NBoC danced it at the Met in 1977 (with Bujones as a guest, I think). The houselights went down and down for the start of the second act -- and then we sat there in pitch blackness until the ushers could get the emergency lights working. Of course, when we emerged from the Met we realized there weren't any lights on in the entire city. Ah, those were the days.... As I'm still basking in the glow of an utterly perfect performance of that "other" Dream, it's hard for me to concentrate on what ABT's Dream might look like.

DVD is superior to videocassette technology for many reasons. I'll save the whole "analog vs. digital" thing for another time. I think the best thing about DVDs is that they don't degrade over time. The more you watch a videocassette, the worse it gets. And copies of copies of copies are just horrendously bad. There is no technical reason why a copy of a copy of a copy of a DVD shouldn't be just as crisp and clear as the original (barring technical roadblocks doubtless to be inserted over copyright concerns). I'll muddy the waters a bit by adding that just as there are now digital camcorders, there are also digital videocassette decks which may combine the advantages of both media (but boy are they expensive!).

Stan, Corella does the hops during the turns a la seconde for the same reason that Woetzel does them -- because Baryshnikov used to do them in those ballets. We first saw Baryshnikov do those hops in The Four Seasons, where he originated the lead in Fall with Patricia McBride. He then did them in Tchai Pas, at least in the Dance in America video you can run out and purchase. Corella must've seen that video sometime on Saturday, because when he dance Tchai Pas Friday night with Herrera, he didn't do the hops. And, Dale, I'm not sure what you meant by Corella adding extra leaps at the very end of the coda. I watched for this, and all he did was what the guy's supposed to do -- a really big assemble in which he doesn't seem to land until after the ballerina's launched herself into her headfirst dive into the fish position. It's supposed to look very melodramatic, like she's throwing herself off a cliff, almost, and then her partner is there to catch her at the last possible second. I remember Martins always left out the assemble and just sort of sauntered along behind Farrell, which always killed the ending of the ballet for me. I must add that Friday night's "Spectacular" was a very, very satisfying night at the ballet. I'll write in more detail soon, but I must admire the depth of a company that can field so many brilliant dancers and perform so many ballets so magnificently. Kent and Malakhov in Sleeping Beauty were to die for, and Cornejo's Bluebird reminded me of Soloviev!

The problem with putting Suite No. 3 in the Masterpieces drawer is that it can serve as a model and a standard. As I remember it, Croce wrote that Balanchine was putting steps to music and calling it a ballet -- something that could be said of much "son of Balanchine" ballet today. I'm not sure what Croce's point was -- I'd consider most ballets to have "steps to music." Some just have better steps and music than others. I certainly don't think of Suite No. 3 as a "steps-to-music" ballet. There's so much loose, free-form, running-and-emoting, especially in the Elegie, which I've come to think of as a little masterpiece (even though critics thought of it as over-the-top kitsch when it was premiered). Anyway, I'm digressing. I'd really love to see The Figure in the Carpet.

I almost forgot the moment in the Rosenkavalier section of Vienna Waltzes when the lights come on and the entire company spins onto the stage in those gorgeous tuxes and those white Karinska dresses. Gets me all verklempt every time.

I think the problem with the Don Q was that the music was just plain dull. It kind of killed the ballet dead before it even had a chance to get off the ground. And speaking of which, I have vague memories of PAMTTGG, which is probably better forgotten. There are a few Balanchine ballets like that -- I don't think I'd rush to see a revival of Gaspard de la Nuit, either. But I don't think those are the ballets we're talking about when we bemoan "lost" Balanchine. His ratio of hits to misses was very, very high. It's also interesting how posterity has been much kinder to many of his ballets than critics were at the time. Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3, for instance, while much-loved today, was roundly panned by critics at its premiere. Speaking of PAMTGG, I suspect Balanchine didn't particularly care if it ever saw the light of day again. I recall a dancer who was once in the cast saying that, for its final performance, Balanchine told the dancers to wear whatever costume they liked and just have fun with it.

Serenade, especially when all the other girls turn and leave the Waltz Girl while her first partner strides slowly towards her. Gelsey Kirkland flying across the front of the Met during the reel in La Sylphide. The first time I saw Baryshnikov do those brises in Act II of Giselle. Kyra Nichols or Suzanne Farrell in the Preghiera section of Mozartiana.

Though I don't know if I would like a mime scene that had to refer to a big green man and a little stuffed duckling. I have this awful mental image of Odette slipping on some colored sock puppets....

I hear they're hiring in Boston....

Colleen, I missed Tuttle's Swan Lake, but I wouldn't have missed Dvorovenko and Belotserkovsky for the world. I'd expected these two to be great in Swan Lake, and I wasn't disappointed. I've been struck this season with Beloterskovsky's poise and confidence. It wasn't long ago he'd be pushing, pushing, pushing to make every leap, step, turn as big, clean and perfect as possible. Now he just dances, and I love his elegant style -- he's a perfect Prince. He really made some sense of those endless "yearning-in-arabesque" solos for Siegfried. Funny how a promotion to principal dancer can work wonders for one's confidence. As for Dvorovenko, she's much better suited for Odette than Giselle. She dances grandly. Everything's writ large -- she knows she's got magnificent long limbs and extension, and she's not afraid to use them to the hilt for both technical and dramatic bravura. I've always found Dvorovenko's acting to be adequate, but her emoting to be first-rate, and she's at her best when she can give free rein to her instinct for the dramatic, if not melodramatic. Her Odette doesn't simply suffer and love, she Suffers and Loves, and if Dvorovenko paints with a broad brush indeed, her strokes were nonetheless telling, and never more than in her dancing: dramatic plunges into penchees, heart-wrenching poses in those beautiful and tortured upward-swept attitudes, and always the sweep of her magnificently flexible back. I was enthralled with the sheer grandeur and amplitude of her dancing, but also noted that she stopped just short of the sort of grotesquely overdone "calves-to-the-ears" extensions that we see too much of these days. Dvorovenko is not incapable of subtlety -- she's just very judicious in its use. (These qualities made her Tatiana in Onegin quite wonderful and over-the-top, and her Kitri is almost too much fun for words.) Her Odile is similarly over-the-top. She just drips with power, hunger and pure sexual aggression. She was the Bad Girl our mothers all warned us about (or should've), and she loved every second of it. I'll never forget how she swept into the throne room on Malakhov's arm and as he promenaded her past Belotserkovsky, shot him a quick, assessive glance like a cat sizing up a platter of fresh tuna. This Siegfried was doomed from the instant this Odile set foot onstage, and, it seemed, everyone in the audience knew it. I don't think I've ever before heard chuckling from the audience at the plight of hapless Siegfried, yet in this context it seemed perfectly appropriate. To mix metaphors and venues, Dvorovenko's a slugger. She swings for the cheap seats, and usually connects. My only disappointments with her Odile were that she didn't hold that balance in arabesque near the end of the adagio for more than a split second (I felt her similarly shaky balances in the Don Q pas de deux were also a bit of a letdown), and she didn't embellish her fouettes -- No doubles or triples or tricks, but they were fast, dead on the music and she barely drifted at all. As for the rest, well, this is a Swan Lake that makes me yearn for a Jester. How I wish they'd go back to the David Blair, but that's not to be..... Anyway, in the pas de trois, Cornejo was again wonderful, although his landing from his double tours weren't as clean as is his wont. Anne Milewski was a game substitute for Stella Abrera (I think), but she flagged a bit in her solo and coda. I haven't said much about Michele Wiles' dancing this season, but she seems much more relaxed and happy, and more connected to what's going on around her. Throughout her solo she made it clear she was dancing for Siefried, to try to lighten him up a bit, not just to have fun with Benno. As always, Ekatrina Shelkanova was a delight in the Czardas.

This topic surfaces from time to time, and I'll answer it as I always do: the drummer boy in Graduation Ball.

I'm sorry I missed it, too, as my kids and I had a date with Angelina Jolie. If there's one NYCB dancer who can consistly astonish me, it's Whelan. I've learned never to underestimate her, or sell her short. I remember when I first started watching her, she was so unusual and unlike any other dancer I'd ever seen, it took me awhile to get a handle on what she is all about. Obviously leotard ballets. And while she's good in allegro parts, she's not the killer allegro dancer one might think she'd be given her amazing musculature. It was when I saw her dance Spring in The Four Seasons, a role of hers I hadn't been looking forward to with much eagerness, that I realized she's a great lyrical adagio dancer -- one of the greatest I've seen. It's worth a trip to Midsummer Night's Dream just to see her dance the Divertimento in the second act. And as far as I'm concerned she owns Dewdrop, but that's a tutu of a different color... Having said all this, I've always had a bit of a problem with Whelan in Farrell's roles, and that goes back to Whelan's amazing physique, which is about as different from Farrell's as one can imagine. Farrell's lushness came, in a sense, from her center, the softness and strength of her hips and thighs. Whelan's lushness is in her extremeties -- the sweep of her magnificently long arms and legs. I think this is one reason her dancing in Chaconne, 2nd movement of Symphony in C or Diamonds never really clicked for me the way it did in so many other roles. However, I have infinite faith in Whelan's abilities, and I'm not at all surprised to read that she appears to have taken her Chaconne to a new level. I'm only sorry I missed it.

Forgive me for intruding my geekiness here, but you can record your own DVDs now, although it's a bit pricey. Apple Computer's top-of-the-line G4 mintower comes with a Panasonic DVD-R drive -- that is one that can burn DVDs that you can play in your own (or most) DVD player. Get yourself an analog-to-digital converter, plug in your VCR, stock up on your favorite video cassettes, and have fun. There are, however, many limitations to Apple's current video-burning software. Unless you buy the very expensive FInal Cut Pro package, you're limited to putting only an hour's worth of video on a disk. Doubtless this will change soon. I personally would just love to put together some of my favorite bits on a disk to play back on my laptop during those long train rides....

I thought Kent was quite wonderful in the white acts, and a bit less so in the Black Swan. I'll agree her fouettes looked a bit determined, but she did crank 'em out. I really did love the way she reached down and lovingly caressed Corella's cheek just before flinging herself into that triumphant backbend at the pas de deux's climax. Very telling and very effective gesture. There's so much of this production I cannot bear, from Swamp-Thing Von R waving around that toy swan that looks like a stuffed goose, to Swamp-Thing's endless, endless death throes. (Does he run up the cliff to peer down and see if Siefried and Odette have hit the water yet?) The fourth act verges on criminal. And, am I going nuts or does he use the Russian Dance music twice? Once for the Benno's girlfriend in Act I and then again for Purple-Boots Von R's "steal-the-princesses" dance in Act III? And why can't Odile exit with Purple-Boots behind the flash powder? Why does she have to run off into some obscure corner of the castle? I can't believe that the extra ten seconds needed for her to exit properly would make or break her Act IV costume change! I'll second all the comments about the Cornejos, and Reyes. I'd tried to give her the benefit of the doubt and try to believe that some of her overdone cuteness had to do with the roles I'd seen her in. Olga in Onegin isn't exactly the sharpest pencil in the box, and Amor in Don Q bleeds cuteness. Having said that, I still found myself reaching for a flyswatter when watching her Amor coyly wag her finger at Don Q, who was probably wishing he'd remembered to include his lance in his dream. (Anne Milewski's Amor managed to be sweet but not saccharine, which was a nice change for this role.)

Just think, if MacMillan had choreographed R&J for two Romeos (and why not? Oscar Araiz's had three Juliets for some reason), maybe the one without the sweatpants would've stepped out for the third act...

Bobsey, study hard, apply yourself, and you too can end up hating everything as much as the most seasoned BA poster. Seriously, the important thing is that you enjoy what you see. All of the dancers at ABT (well, most of them) perform at a very high level, and I think when posters here complain about something or other, they're talking about very, very fine points of style, technique or interpretation. I do remember it was quite a shock, and an education for me, back in the mid-seventies, after seeing a performance which I thought was wonderful (Kirkland in something or other, I think), to her the standing-room line cronies (this was back when you HAD to get in line early for the ballet) at the Met go on and on about how awful it was -- she was weak, she was off the music, she was a crazy drug addict (oops, we didn't know that at the time!).... Anyway, the experience did teach me to look at performances a bit more critically, and to think about whether, and to what degree, I should really buy what a dancer or choreographer is selling, and to what degree. It's certainly not the only way to look at a performance, and sometimes I wish I could go back to the times when it was all wonderful and new and just washed right over me. Leigh, I see your point about carrying momentum in double pirouettes, but I think the key word in what you said is "for him." If it really were easier for your average Joe Principal Dancer to do that combination, don't you think they'd all do it? Malakhov was indeed wonderful as the purple-boots Von Rothbart last night in Swan Lake. I don't understand why he's dancing so seldom, and then only in secondary roles. True, ABT has many fine men, but Malakhov is one of the very finest.

Michael, I also think elements of ABT's Theme make City Ballet's look that much more impressive. Today, Weese is incomparable in the role, and as much as I admired Gomes' performance (he really did have the right idea in his first big solo, to keep those endless pirouettes moving, no matter what), it also made me appreciate that we in the NYCB audience tend to get as blase about Damian Woetzel's tours de force as he often appears to be himself. I have to think that interlacing those double tours in the second solo with double pirouettes, as Woetzel did, must be about ten times as hard as the "standard" double tour/single pirouette combo. [ 06-15-2001: Message edited by: Manhattnik ]

Just to finish up about Wednesday night.... I thought Dvorovenko and Piccone quite spectacular in the Nutcracker pas. I liked the way she made use of her killer extensions without, quite, going too far over the top, particularly the times she faced Piccone, swung her leg up into a high, high, high extension a la seconde, then in an effortless-seeming fouette twisted her upper body towards her standing leg so she was now smiling at the audience in a beautiful not-quite-six-o'clock penchee, during the course of which her upraised leg shifted not a millimeter. I'm sorry I probably make it sound like a trick -- it was a breathaking display of technique, control and bravura. Which, for me, is what Dvorovenko is usually all about. I can only second what's already been said about Herrera. She was lovely in the Rose Adagio (what's with the one poor prince who forgot his hat, anyway?), strong, sweet and delightfully unaffected. It was nice to watch her and actually enjoy the performance without thinking "what's missing here?" I'm not sure I'd rush to see her dance Theme or Swan Lake just yet, but I would see her tackle Aurora. In Aurora's Wedding, oops, SB Act III, this was my first look at the partnership of Carreno and Jaffe, and darn it if all the folks who've said they're a great partnership aren't right. I've never seen Jaffe so radiant and glowing as she was with Carreno, although he himself was having a bit of an off night. Cornejo's Bluebird was the surprise delight of the evening. I loved the hovering ballon of his big assembles, the speed and clarity of his brises in the coda where he seemd to skim and hover over the stage, and the fact that he managed to appear birdlike, rather than a nice jumper covered with too many blue feathers and blue eyeshadow.

Speaking of Baiser and Swan Lake, it was interesting to see that in both ballets Balanchine uses the device most familiar in Scotch Symphony, where the ballerina bourrees towards the wings, leading her partner who holds her hand that's trailing behind. She then twists back, towards him and into his outstretched arm while she bourrees, until she's spun completely around, and wrapped his arm around her. Then, somewhat entangled, she reaches towards the wings, as if to say "let's go, already, you big lug." Odette, the Fairy, the Scots Girl/Sylph -- all are women who aren't quite human, and with designs (evil or not) on their partners. Coincidence? I think not....

While one can certainly consider City Ballet's corps a "training ground," I've always thought that, on the whole, it must be a very rewarding place indeed for those dancers who don't make it out of the corps. City Ballet has had a long tradition of corps dancers building up their own repertory of soloist and even principal roles, and finding their own particular niches. Dancers like Delia Peters, Wilhelmina Frankfurt, Rene Estopinal or Deanna McBrearty come to mind. Or even Rachel Rutherford, who (while she should by rights be a soloist now) certainly hasn't had a scarcity of big roles thoughout her career. And, just as I think it would blind one to much of the beauty of the Kirov, Bolshoi or Royal corps to judge them against City Ballet's standard of energy, it's also self-limiting to look at City Ballet's corps with the same eye for precision and alignment that one might bring to a performance of one of those other corps. When I watch the City Ballet corps, it's the quality of the movement that always strikes me the most -- the dancers' alacrity and musicality, their unadorned, athletic grace and tremendous power and freedom -- rather than the more readily quantifiable qualities of whether their lines are nicely squared or legs are lifted to the same angle. When I go to City Ballet I leave my micrometer at home. I'm much less interested in the uniformity and simultanaety of the corps's movement, but the beauty of those movements -- less interested in whether they're all kicking at the same time to the same height (for that I can see the Rockettes), but in how freely and individually each dancer moves. I have no doubt there are many ballets for which City Ballet's dancers aren't suited. The same can be said of the dancers of any company, trained in any style. What of it? I think it's a lot more interesting and rewarding to look at the qualities that make a given company or style beautiful in its own particular way, rather than to bemoan what a company, dancer or style isn't (OK, I do slip up from time to time, but I'm only human). Getting back to the City Ballet corps for a second, I believe Balanchine considered himself, among other things, an entertainer, mixing together elements of a night at the ballet like a chef preparing an evening's meal. His philosophy was to provide something for everybody, and doubtless he knew that there would be those in the audience (some of them even Russians and Parisians) who actually enjoy noting when a corps isn't "together." [ 06-14-2001: Message edited by: Manhattnik ]

It's hard for me to add much to what everyone's already contributed, but I'll try anyway... I think Melissa really hit the nail on the head regarding Theme. I thought Gomes was wonderful, in his relaxed and happy presence, his easy, graceful and light dancing, and his gallant and proud presentation of his ballerina. While Murphy's technique made short work of her killer variations, but I found myself thinking she was using her stabbing and flashing feet much as a geometry teacher might use a protractor to demonstrate a geometrical proof. In other words, I found her dancing, not so much cold, but dry and expository, although technically beyond reproach. McKerrow was lovely, if a bit low-key in Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, but I wish she'd stop flashing the audience with that cutesy smile during the backwards hopping arabesques in the coda. Steifel got some cheers from his "Center Stage" fans, it seemed, the instant he came onstage. He punched up his solos a bit more than I appreciated -- I mean, those big sissonnes to the side shouldn't be applause-getters, even if one can jump really high and almost kick one's ear while doing them. And he took liberties with Balanchine's choreography, as Corella reportedly did, too. Boo, hiss. One doesn't do that to Mr. B. More later....