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Patricia

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Everything posted by Patricia

  1. Here is the link to the ROH's press release: http://www.royalopera.org/AbouttheHouse/In...?ccs=312&cs=692
  2. This question has been brought up on this board (and off it) before. There are a myriad of ways to answer it. I'll do my best: As with any art, everyone has favorite companies, choreographers, dancers. The Mariinsky has a mystique that survived revolution, World War II, the Soviet regieme, post-Communist Russia and - I hope - their current administration. You bet I'm glad Lincoln Kirstein brought Balanchine to America and that I've enjoyed Baryshnikov's evolution into a modern dancer. From what I've read and seen, the only established policy that's set in motion at the Mariinsky is 'do it and do it NOW but let's keep things as they are.' The result is chaos. This is what sets Gergiev and Vaziev apart from their predecessors. They've been lucky to 'have it all' thanks to generous patrons, but, ultimately, for what? Performers who sound and look tired? That's how it was at the May ROH 'gala' performances. The new theater proposal is a perfect example of a rush job. This past decade of circling the globe has made the theatre visible and accessible to a larger audience but not much thought has gone into creating a foundation for the present...or future. There is the habit of performing the same piece in two productions (i.e., NUTCRACKER, BORIS) for expensive comparison purposes. Can you imagine the Met or ABT doing that? And yet, familiar repertory to either the Mariinsky's ballet or opera audiences is what continues to be paraded out on tour. It's hard describing this duel nature because it doesn't make sense. This particular article takes advantage of how many feel about the current status of NYCB. The Peter Martins era is two decades too long. Two well-loved ballerinas retired. Their best male and female dancer are with ABT. The Diamond Project created negative publicity. There is a question of whether or not Christopher Wheeldon will stay or freelance. JEWELS is not performed as frequently at NYCB as, say, VIENNA WALTZES or EPISODES. I know NYCB could come up with 5-10 ballerinas for JEWELS but it would mean casting decisions outside the principal ranks. The comparison I would most like to see is to see how Miami City Ballet and the Mariinsky approach this beautiful ballet. Personally, I think the 'House of Balanchine' title bestowed on the Mariinsky is premature until they attempt the leotard ballets or one of those 'killer ballets' like FAIRY'S KISS. Both companies are at unknown crossroads. Let's hope for the best.
  3. I'm glad the Mariinsky put their PRINCE IGOR set to use... Seriously, I don't know if the Russian government or Mariinsky supporters have the resources that are going to be needed for 'this' particular structure. It's not so much that it's 'modern,' it's simply 'bad.' Gergiev has been so placated by his staff and followers into believing that whatever he does is right; that kind of power-trip doesn't last forever in a theatrical - or real - world. Pushkin and Russian history should tell him that. It's ruining his career (even if the answer is 'no,' he should be considered for the Concertegbow but isn't)...and now 'his' theatre might suffer as well along with the rest of us who care about its past, present, and future. The Mariinsky deserves something more than an ugly empty shell. I'm nervous that if the new theatre is built in this form there will be nothing left over to perform. The physical and emotional cost might prove too high. I haven't been to St. Petersburg in a few years but there STILL must be buildings already standing that can be rennovated into a new theatre that won't destroy the city's uniquely beautiful environs. Perhaps individually nothing can be done; maybe the World Monument Fund (www.wmf.org) can. Caring about the Mariinsky is difficult when they live on reputation and play dangerous games of 'catch up' with the rest of the world.
  4. Has anyone heard or seen casting notices for the October season? Thank you:)
  5. The Mariinsky Trust published the preliminary schedule for the Winter 2003 Festival: Friday, February 21 UNDINA (première) Lacotte/Puni Saturday, February 22 CINDERELLA Ratmansky/Prokofiev Sunday, February 23 LA BAYADÈRE (new production) Petipa/Minkus Monday, February 24 Guest performance by the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE Ashton/Harold Tuesday, February 25 AN EVENING OF GEORGE BALANCHINE BALLETS including: Prodigal Son, Apollo Wednesday, February 26 AN EVENING OF HISTORICAL BALLETS Thursday, February 27 PRINCESSA PIRLIPAT (world première) Simonov/Slonimsky Libretto and Design by Mikhail Chemiakin SOUNDS OF EMPTY PAGES Neumeier/Schnittke LE JEUNNE HOMME ET LA MORT Petit/Bach Scenario by Jean Cocteau Friday, February 28 MANON MacMillan/Massenet Saturday, March 1 SWAN LAKE Petipa/Tchaikovsky Sunday, March 2 INTERNATIONAL STARS GALA
  6. Just so we know what we're up against...the latest issue has a gossipy feature on Heather Mills, the new Mrs. Paul McCartney. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.
  7. Just so we know what we're up against...the latest issue has a gossipy feature on Heather Mills, the new Mrs. Paul McCartney. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.
  8. I received an 'answer' to my e-mailed letter: Thanks for your letter. It's true that we are discontinuing Tobi's reviews, but it isn't the case that we're abandoning dance, or our commitment to serious culture in New York. In these difficult times, every publication in America has had to make painful choices, focusing limited resources on work that best serves its readers. While we have valued Tobi's contribution to the magazine, we believe that, for the time being, the best way to provide ongoing coverage of dance is in other parts of the magazine. We will continue to cover dance in previews, listings and features, including the kinds of stories you mention. In fact we have a feature on Mark Morris coming up later in the fall. We'll do our best to keep readers informed of what's going on in dance, and give the dance community the attention it deserves.
  9. I received an 'answer' to my e-mailed letter: Thanks for your letter. It's true that we are discontinuing Tobi's reviews, but it isn't the case that we're abandoning dance, or our commitment to serious culture in New York. In these difficult times, every publication in America has had to make painful choices, focusing limited resources on work that best serves its readers. While we have valued Tobi's contribution to the magazine, we believe that, for the time being, the best way to provide ongoing coverage of dance is in other parts of the magazine. We will continue to cover dance in previews, listings and features, including the kinds of stories you mention. In fact we have a feature on Mark Morris coming up later in the fall. We'll do our best to keep readers informed of what's going on in dance, and give the dance community the attention it deserves.
  10. I e-mailed my letter to NEW YORK. I won't reprint it, but I questioned the validity of such a decision, being that NYC is a major center for ALL kinds of dance. Could it be the decision to cut the column was possibly due to pressure from NYCB? Martins remains popular with his monied, powerful patrons. TIME OUT NEW YORK reviews everything from restaurants to television...but not dance.
  11. I e-mailed my letter to NEW YORK. I won't reprint it, but I questioned the validity of such a decision, being that NYC is a major center for ALL kinds of dance. Could it be the decision to cut the column was possibly due to pressure from NYCB? Martins remains popular with his monied, powerful patrons. TIME OUT NEW YORK reviews everything from restaurants to television...but not dance.
  12. Thank you Alexandra! Very pretty pictures!
  13. Good for her! Great for us! She and Monique will make seeing ABT more exciting than it already is. Best wishes for the weekend from a balmy NYC.
  14. THE WALTZ PROJECT is the only one I like. Too bad the Warhol projections were dropped after the premiere. The 'sneaker' and Philip Glass waltzes, along with John Cage finale, were the best/original things Martins ever choreographed. Too bad it's not presented more often. Subsequent casts of BARBER VIOLIN CONCERTO never captured the pairing of Merrill Ashley and David Parsons. Not to take anything away from Ms. Ashley, who was the best, but David Parsons on-stage was plenty to get excited about! ;) It was a remarkable encounter. Whatever faults (and there are a few) he has as a choreographer and administrator, Martins has great taste in music.
  15. Yesterday afternoon's SWAN was just about perfect. It was a very hot afternoon but a great day off from work! The company keeps getting better. My problem with this production is some of the added choreography: I miss Act 1's traditional peasant and court dances; they looked thrown together. There's no kovorod in Act 4 and it looked like all the swans were dead at the end. However, I really liked van Rothbart's dance of seduction over the Queen Mother, court and princesses. If there are two swans, why can't there be two sides of the sorcerer as well? This worked in the Prologue too. It worked even better because Riccardo Torres looks like a handsome opera bass (they are always devils, etc.). Julie Kent was a lovely Odette. Her prettiness matches her solid technique (I counted 34). Every step is executed cleanly and completely. She enjoyed being the 'bad girl' in Act 3, parodying the innocence of Act 2. I lose my objectivitiy with Angel Corella. He's gone from being a trickster into a compelling dancer and partner. Odette and Siefried's first encounter was sensuous. The Act 2 pas de deux...beautiful. Adding to the excitement was the appearance of Frederic Franklin as Siegfried's Tutor. Wow. Best wishes for the holiday!
  16. It should stay - but it's time to invite Mark Morris NOT BORIS EIFMAN!!!
  17. For as many favorites that I have in the NYBC repertory, I still like taking a chance with the Diamond Project. Other companies that have "ballet festivals" wouldn't be brave enough to program something or someone compeltely untried. Not every ballet that premiered at the Stravinsky, Ravel, Tchaikovsky festivals were masterpieces - some were classics in how not to choreograph a ballet! For every tarnished Diamond there's a PRISM, ANCIENT AIRS AND DANCES, RED ANGELS, MERCURICAL MANUEVERS, and MORPHOSES. There was one ballet I really liked by the choreographer of REUNIONS set to classical Swedish music, but it lasted only a season.
  18. Roma, If you think the Mariinsky treats their audience badly, you should see how they treat donors. Arrogant is too kind a descriptive word. This has no place on a discussion board, but I could write volumes.
  19. I saw MORPHOSES last night and came away impressed. It was a lot of choreography for four dancers, who were undaunted, polished and brilliant. Christopher Wheeldon brings out the very best in Alexandra Ansanelli, who is pretty wonderful to start with. Hard to believe it was only the 3rd performance. I hope it's scheduled again for a future season. It's not an 'easy' or 'pretty' piece but I was excited by it. Like Wheeldon's other ballets this one looked different than previous ones, including POLYPHONIA. Maybe I'm in the minority, but whatever he does is definitely worth watching. He uses neo-classical titles, ballet positioning, even costumes, but, after all, it is City Ballet. The 'spider' movement was there, but not as frequent as reviewers led me to believe. I wonder if anything's been changed? No matter, this was appropriate to the Ligeti score, as was when the ladies were held in 'iron cross' positions and tiled side to side. The repetition 'morphed' the two couples, who were emotional opposites. Wheeldon is becoming more musically astute with each piece. Even silent sections work. During the piece several audience members sitting in my row complained LOUDLY about the music - have NYCB audiences changed so much? 'New' music is a company tradition.
  20. After seeing DIM LUSTRE in October with Ethan, I would love to see what he would do as UNDERTOW's murderer and PILLAR OF FIRE's seducer. He has a dark side worth developing. Also, I have never seen Tudor's ROMEO AND JULIET. For years there has been talk about a revival. It would be tragic if it ended up as another 'lost ballet.' The rest of my wish list includes AT MIDNIGHT (which BalletTech is reviving this season), HARBINGER, DRINK TO ME WITH ONLY THINE EYES, SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS, THE MOOR'S PAVANE, and the Robbins LES NOCES.
  21. PARADE premiered at the Metropolitan Opera during the 1981-82 season. It is considered landmark staging in the company's history because few 20th century operas had been performed at the 'new' Met and it had been a long time since a visual artist with a reputation like David Hockney's was invited to work there. Manuel Rosenthal, who worked directly with Satie, Poulenc, and Ravel, made his Met debut. Gary Chryst was the original Harlequin. At that time PARADE was an automatic sell-out. Now, I guess, since none of the 3 tenors sing it and Zefarelli didn't design it, there is far less interest. Gray Veredon choreographed the PARADE ballet and incidental dances in the two operas. The Met has a full-time corps and no affliliation with ABT. (The opera season ends of May 11th). The Harlequin character is the lead fiqure in the ballet and he opens and closes the other two operas. This PARADE has commedia characters encountering elegant Parisians, jugglers and chorus girls. At one point most of the cast turns into an advancing army wearing World War I gasmasks. Damian did a lot of partnering, mock stage-fighting, and jumping. The dancing consistedof waltzing, high stepping, marching and acrobatic ballet 'tricks.' The 'theme' seems to be that life and survive destruction - a concept which works better than the choreography. . I don't know if the Met was unable to obtain rights to Massine's choreography or Picasso's set design. Perhaps they wanted to create something new. Maybe they wanted to give their dancers something more to do than usual. David Hockney certainly pays homage to the ballet's creators: one PARADE character is a Conjurer (wearing a replica of the famous costume) and there is a two-person horse (their duet is not danced in silence).
  22. On Friday night I saw the revival of the Met's PARADE Satie-Poulenc-Ravel triple bill with sets and costumes by David Hockney. Dreadful house choreography is used in place of Massine's original for PARADE, not that it was ever used in the first place. Perhaps I shouldn't be so unkind: this interpretation is supposed to evoke the aftermath World War I and does. The staging of Ravel's SPELLBOUND CHILD works well - and is also most moving - with the dancers interpreting the fantastic creatures/objects while the singers sat around the edge of the stage (where no one fell in!). Damien Woezel danced the role of Harlequin, who is the unifying factor of the three pieces, meaning he got to take a final bow at the evening's end! He more than made the most of the matierial and danced brilliantly. What stage presence.
  23. I spent a few days in Boston to see both the Boston Ballet and Mark Morris Dance Group. Boston Ballet's March 14th performance wasn't sold out... shocking. This ballet company is wonderful! The three works on the TRILOGY program complimented each other. I was very happy to see SLAUGHTER and RODEO danced again and performed so vibrantly; all the dancers had a good time. However my main reason for going was CORYBANTIC ECSTASIES. Christopher Wheeldon certainly belonged on this program. His career as a dance-maker is anchored in America, particularly in Boston and NYC. I was not disappointed. Each ballet of his that I've seen are certainly neoclassical - but all look different. He is certainly not afraid to try out new ideas. The choice of Bernstein's SERENADE for CORYBANTIC's score complimented the ballet to perfection. Its best moments were Eros (Paul Thrussell) pulling the male corps dancers into a whirling circle, his sensuous duet with Psyche (the stunningly lyrical Larissa Ponomarkeno), and the Dinoysia finale (led by Adriana Suarez and Yury Yanowsky, whose masks only made the dancing more thrilling). Perhaps when Maestro Levine officially takes over the BSO I'll have another opportunity to see Boston Ballet again...unless they visit NYC first.
  24. Several years ago the theatre reverted back to its original name - "Mariinsky." "Kirov" is used exclusively for touring and marketing purposes. At the earliest, I probably won't see the company dance until late May. The current discussions of the company are enthusiastic and loving, but remain rather one-sided. No one has ever discussed the praciticality of having Maestro Gergiev placed in charge of the ballet. Having a non-professional as artistic director tore up the Graham company. Even having a former star pose as 'ballet master' is no guarantee of a creative, productive future. Excessive touring has started to take its creative toll on the Mariinsky's opera company, orchestra, and artistic director (Gergiev's recent Met DON CARLOS was less than stellar). The funding is starting to fall in place for great things...but will it be better? More of the same? Something new and exciting? The best theatrical traditions/training preserved?
  25. FOSSE was even more disappointing on television than on stage. It confirmed my suspicions that Fosse's choreography was cleaned up for a kiddie-friendly Broadway audience and, ultimately, a television one. Kind of like the 'new' Times Square as opposed to the one Fosse worked in. The hard-edge and sleeze factor are gone, which is what his style was all about. Watching his dances in the original CHICAGO, DANCIN', and all his incluside film work always left me uncomfortable, which is why I always had a hard time 'copying' it in dance class.
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