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Patricia

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Everything posted by Patricia

  1. According to Antonia Fraser in her entertaining THE WIVES OF HENRY VIII, Henry didn't become a slobbo until after his marriage to Anne Bolyen. Portraits of Henry as a young prince and king indicate he was a handsome fellow. He was full porker-size by the time he got to wife #5, Katherine Howard. How this works as a ballet will be interesting. Now let's be fair: if NYCB has Barbie, ABT should have Angelina Ballerina, right ?
  2. Disgusting. One would expect better from "professionals."
  3. Mafouz's CAIRO TRILOGY. A beautifully-written family saga with universal themes. That's a loaded sentence but a true one. I've never been to Cairo, but after reading the Trilogy, plus other things by Mafouz, I can see and taste it. Don't read on an empty stomach!
  4. It wasn't sold out last night. You should be fine. Have a good time !
  5. Courtesy of ARTSJOURNAL.com, I read Robert Gottleib's Eifman review. He was so angry and offended. He's been going to NYCB since forever, is well-informed about the main characters (on and off-stage), and took this ballet as an ego-tripping insult. I didn't see the ballet but I gather from what I've read on the message boards that others felt the same way - sans having their own weekly dance columns. As for the cell-phone "insult": The only time (once was enough) I saw Eifman's company, you bet there were cellphone converasations going on in Russian. When I was a NY Philharmonic subscriber, there were JUST AS MANY cellphone conversations going on in English. Phones went off when I saw JUMPERS over Memorial Day Weekend...isn't Tom Stoppard hard enough ? Even worse than trying to enjoy a performance is at the end of the workday is when people carry on cellphone conversations about topics you wouldn't discuss w/your analyist or mother. The issue of "what" the Eifman crowd is has less to do w/cellphones - that's a problem all by itself - and more to do w/programming catering to that audience. Only this time instead of lousy ticket sales for last summer's Mariinsky Opera performances at the Met, the NYCB has a major critical disaster on its hands. Sometimes demographics aren't everything. Many thanks to Alexandra for linking the background article on Robert Gottlieb. Editing Robert Caro's towering Johnson biographpy and Katherine Graham's candid, inspirational autobiography are impressive enough. And now he's got a million+ seller w/Bubba's lifestory That he loves dance and writes about it with passion and conviction is enough for me. It's better than reading Anna Kisselgoff mixing metaphors about Peter Martins as a dancer and choreographer. Maybe he wanted the same thing we all wanted from the Centennial Celebration - seeing the ballets we love danced with love. Some nights we got just that, and apparently at this Eifman thing, we didn't.
  6. Sofiane Sylve. He'd be delierious. Jennifer Ringer too!
  7. I agree with the list, but would elminate LIEBESLIEDER und :grinning: DAVIDSBUNDLER for EPISODES (including the penultimate solo that ties the whole thing together!!!) and SYMPHONY IN 3 MOVEMENTS. I'm not including my personal favorite: ORPHEUS. I love it because I love Ovid, Balanchine, Stravinsky, and Noguchi. All of them together is overwhelming. I loved Peter Martins in the title role and now there's Ask (does he count as an extended family member?) as the Dark Angel. This ballet depends so much on casting and rehearsal time. It looked beautiful last Thursday night - but, as always, the audience was indifferent to it.
  8. I saw SHAMBARDS Saturday night. I admit being biased ahread of time because I like both Wheeldon's choreography and MacMillan's music. Never mind Boris Eifman: James MacMillan is the big coup for a festive season. Would it be reading too much into things by suggesting that SHAMBARDS is a radical deconstruction of the nicities of both classical ballet and traditional Scottish tunes? Was this ballet a ritual ending with a sacrafice? The lighting, choreography, music, and forest backdrop suggested so. SHAMBARDS reminded me of the disturbing world depicted in "new" Scottish literature and film (i.e., TRAINSPOTTING, NEW ADAM, HOW LATE IT WAS...HOW LATE, Michel Faber's UNDER THE SKIN). Were Wheeldon and MacMillan adding to the trend, or taking a sideswipe at BRAVEHEART? It would be interested to know if the music or the ballet came first, or if SHAMBARDS was created in tandem. I don't like violence in ballet either. If my "theory" isn't correct about SHAMBARDS being a highland rite, then I don't see the need for seeing another ballerina (particularly Miranda Weese) victimized on-stage. Ms. Kisselgoff was outraged (I'm paraphrasing her words) by it in SHAMBARDS but said NOTHING when Darci Kistler was raped on-stage for no reason in HARMONIELEHRE (an orchestral masterpiece that deserves better than the pseudo-Massine/William Blake garbage "ballet" it got). Another time there was applause instead of silence was at a Diamond Project gala when the "smart" set thought Prajolac's (I know...spelling) ballet ending w/Emily Coates smashed to pieces was brilliant. SHAMBARDS has plenty of inspired moments. Wheeldon's corps choreography, particularly for the men, keeps getting more exciting. His "dances in a circle" are the best. The "End's" dual pairings of Ulbricht/De Luz and Boulder/Fairchild were outstanding. How I wish I could attempt to dance like those 2 women. :rolleyes: Had it not been for the "tacked-on" (?) ending, this section could stand alone from the rest of the ballet.
  9. I'd go just about anywhere that was dancing the Ashton ROMEO & JULIET. I'd also see a Tudor bill of ECHOING OF TRUMPETS, CONTINUO, DARK ELEGIES, and LEAVES ARE FADING. Looking ahead, in about a year's time I'll hope having a ticket & getting ready to see the Balanchine DON QUIXOTE @ the Kennedy Center. :rolleyes: Lately, the world's been coming to me with the upcoming Ashton celebration @ the Met and Tom Stoppard's JUMPERS transferring from the West End to Broadway.
  10. Carlo Merlo, Lauren Hauser, Emily Coates, Jeffrey Edwards, Riolama Lorenzo, and that Ethan guy grinning: My first Sugarplum fairy was Murial Aasen. I remember her being featured in PEOPLE (yes, the magazine once covered culture) but she vanished not long after the Ravel festival. Does anyone know if she danced elsewhere?
  11. I was disappointed with last night's premiere - not particuarly funny or cute...and he is! :yes: The only thing captured to perfection is Alex/Misha's Russian "insiders only" retinue. The truth is that I've never been a fan of the show. For the most part, the ladies look cheap (Why is Cynthia Nixon never styled when she's so pretty? Why is Sarah-Jessica dressed like a rag doll?) and act vapid when they're supposed to be "smart" and "sophisiticated." I'm at a loss to understand the fascination with those ugly, overpriced, turnout-destroying shoes. I know it's just a television show but it turns out a bleak message.
  12. The best part in the balle :grinning: t
  13. The dancing highlight 2003 was the Martha Graham Dance Company at the Joyce Theatre. I had my first look at STEPS IN THE STREET, which was incredible...so different from her "Greek" dance-dramas. Very exciting stuff. I hope the whole piece can be revived instead of the tantalizing fragment that left the audience cheering for more. Two dancers, one familiar and one new, gave memorable performances. Megan Fairchild gracefully glided her way through TARANTELLA and PIANO PIECES. Amanda McKerrow gave what - I think - was the performance of her career as Hagar. She was "something." I'd like to see her in the Stravinsky Triple Bill at the Met later this winter. Another "discovery" was the Performing Arts Library branch of the NY Public Library. I used the invaluable resources of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division for 2 of my NYU papers. The staff, which is at a bare minimum because of budget cuts, was incredibly kind and helpful. The non-dancing "best" was the Berlin Philharmonic with Sir Simon Rattle. They gave a solid, wildly exciting performance of Bartok's MUSIC FOR PERCUSSION, STRINGS, AND CELESTIA. Berlin is a young orchestra (average age=30) and they sound enthralled with their new music director - the coolest guy in classical music! :cool2: I wish a healthy, happy New Year for all.
  14. I never warmed up to DIVERTIMENTO #15...until I saw Suzanne Farrell's company dance it at the Kennedy Center. Even with Merrill Ashley frequently cast, DIVERTIMENTO always looked sloppy @ NYCB; the arms in the finale looked like the hula. Besides, the costumes are about the ugliest Karinska ever made. Perhaps because Suzanne's company was better rehearsed - or for the reason she staged it :rolleyes: - the ballet had coherence. I could also appreciate how fiendishly difficult it is. Another one I didn't like was LA VALSE. I know we're supposed to be polite, etc., but this had EVERYTHING to do with the NYCB company pet (circa 1980's-mid 1990's) who always danced the doomed heroine when I was there! After seeing it with more appropriate ballerinas, it's now one of my favorites. In reference to the gala thread: did Helene A. ever dance BUGAKU?
  15. On Friday I saw Amanda McKerrow's Hagar and she was brilliant. She's always been at her best in the Tudor repertory and never better than in PILLAR. She conveyed character by simply walking across the stage, lost in her unhappiness as the other couples danced around her. It was a complete characterization. The last time I saw PILLAR was w/Sallie Wilson. Honestly, back then I had NO idea what this ballet was about. I do remember Ms. Wilson and fellow Teaneck, NJ native Ruth Mayer as her gorgeous Older Sister. I don't think anyone has mentioned that Monique Menieur danced the Older Sister in the current revival. She, too, is too gorgeous. It was good seeing her dance again!
  16. Last night, at about 9:45 pm, I caught the last 15 minutes of a what (I think) was a complete film version of GAITE PARISIANNE. The only dancer I recognized was Massine, who was the Peruvian. The credits must have been in front of whatever this was, and TCM's host didn't come on afterwards to say more. Did anyone else see it or know anything else about it? Thanks
  17. OOOOOOOOOOOOH! What a photo Thanks for putting it in! CAUGHT is a perfect solo for any of the ABT men, or the dynamic ladies like Tuttle, Brown, or Wiles. Do you think it might make its way into ABT's repertory?
  18. My favorite part of PARADE is the horse, who has the silliest Picasso grin on his (?) face. It looks like he's laughing at the audience. Satie's score is important, etc., but music would have ruined the moment. According to the Gold-Fitzdale biography of Misia Sert, Cocteau and Satie intended PARADE as a side-swipe Ballets Russe hangers-on, whom they despised. That may be true, but Massine gave it something more than subtext. PARADE is quirky, but great, in its own unique way.
  19. She was pretty unforgettable in VIENNA WALTZES'S TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS, STRAVINSKY VIOLIN CONCERTO, Eurydice in ORPHEUS, and, most of all, as leader of the MacDonalds in the "drumming" section of UNION JACK (I remember orchestra members lining up along the pit to watch her do this in '76). Ms. Von Aroldingen was fearless.
  20. That German program, shown on public television in 1973 ( ), was my introduction to the NYCB!
  21. I saw WINTEREISSE twice: first in December 2002 as part of Lincoln Center's Great Performances, and last month at Mostly Mozart. Both performances were at the John Jay College concert hall, which is down the street from Lincoln Center. I don't think there are many opera singers who'd be up to singing full voice and performing "choeorgraphic movement" at the same time. I've gushed in a previous "opera" thread that Mr. Keenlyside looks like a movie star, but, no exaggeration, he moves like a trained dancer. At a post-performance audience discussion with Ms. Brown following the July performance, he claims to have had no previous dance training until he first worked with Ms. Brown in the late 1990's. Those of us who have been taking classes far longer should be move so naturally.:yes: His voice is a high lyric baritone, which can be heard to full advantage on the DG Theielemann/Deutsche Oper Berlin recording of CARMINA BURANA. The GUARDIAN article on wrong on one point...he hasn't sung at the Met in several seasons. He's an acclalimed Giovanni and Prince Andrei, but the powers-that-be couldn't care less. Ms. Brown dosen't deviate from the WINTEREISSE song cylcle. The protagonist painfully spirals from rejection, to depression, suicide, and beyond the grave. Three dancers partner Mr. Keenlyside, and he does the same in turn. WINTEREISSE's basic structure remained the same at both viewings, but some moments were improvised or spontaneous. British posters should give WINTEREISSE a chance. It's far from your average dance or liederabend performance.
  22. On Saturday night I went to the company's final performance at the Joyce Theatre. They were a replacement for Ballet Tech, who usually close the Joyce summer season. (Perhaps they will again in the future...) This was also cheaper than seeing MOVIN' OUT. The program was of 3 newer pieces - the duet from KNOWN BY HEART, WESTERLY ROUND, and SURFER AT THE RIVER STYX. Also danced was the 1970 FUGUE, which I saw XX years ago ! THE FUGUE is textbook Tharp; her repetitive, inverted style is all there. The KNOWN BY HEART duet opened the program. I never saw it before. It probably would looked forced with dancers uncomfortable with the kidding around...or each other. Matthew Dibble and Lynda Sing were neither. She literally danced him off the stage. I know he was with the Royal Ballet, but I had never seen her before. She's lovely. My favorite was WESTERLY ROUND. Three guys and a girl high step their way through Mark O' Connor's CALL OF THE MOCKINGBIRD. It's an exhilierating, happy piece that matched the fiddler's joyful music. Emily Coates, who I liked w/NYCB & White Oak, was adorable. There's nothing she can't do and do well. I read in TIME OUT/NY that she's going to Yale. Brava Emily! SURFER was a complete contrast and an ambitious, major work. The dancers were costumed for a day at the beach - where things went far worse than experiencing our recent east coast stormy weather. 2 soloists (Stuart Capps and Charlie Nesyba-Hodges) were pulled & dragged into the malestrom of 2 men and 2 women. Donald Knaack's electronic score was both very loud and effective. Tharp's choreography was fast and furious. After about 20 minutes of chaos, the dancers changed from black to white beachwear and were much nicer to each other. David Kahne's softer music ended the ballet. Twyla's an original, but the finale featured a homage to Balanchine's UNANSWERED QUESTION that worked fine. Charlie Nesyba-Hodges deserves special mention for an unending series of turns and just plain incredible dancing. With MOVIN' OUT about to tour and a book in the Fall, I hope Ms. Tharp keeps this likable company together.
  23. This is from the Kennedy Center newsletter: http://www.kennedy-center.org/education/fa...rrell/home.html
  24. Re: Nijinsky's choreography: I know Joffrey/Chicago reconstructed JEUX, but does anyone know what happened to plans to piece back together TIL EULENSPIEGEL? Was it lack of funding, material, or interest? Just like he did with LES NOCES (which I like as much as the original), Jerome Robbins also did a TIL ballet. I think this one is lost forever. The production photo hanging in the NYS Theatre lobby makes me wish magic could bring it back
  25. I agree with Alexandra that Nijinska was the more talented choreographer. NOCES is brilliant! Ms. Brown & the Kirov are a bit out of step. The SACRE reconstruction was first done with the Joffrey when it was still Joffrey NY/LA. Robert Joffrey died shortly before the NY season when it was first presented, which made it very poignant. Is it because the Kirov performs the reconstruction over a decade later that this is finally taking worth notice of? Talk about "celebrity ambulance chasing!" Even if SACRE isn't an exact replica, I valued the opportunity of having at least an idea of what took place during that 1913 premiere night. Is it the first "modern" ballet? Possibly. More telling in the De Meyer photographs are the charatcters' twisted arms & fingers, pretty strong indications that Nijinsky was already schiziophrenic.
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