aurora
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Posts posted by aurora
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The only leading role I have seen Dmitrichenko dance is Spartacus, although he is cast in the heroic roles, he might make an outstanding danseur noble given the opportunity, he has particularly good feet.
I don't think he will be given the opportunity now. Arranging a brutal attack on your AD doesn't usually get a person promoted.
If it does, well then. Things are even more messed up at the Bolshoi than I thought.
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It is reported that the Russian police have detained a suspect in the attack:
http://www.nytimes.c...cid-attack.html
Russia’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that it was proceeding with “a series of urgent investigative actions,” including questioning the suspect, who was detained in the Moscow suburb of Stupino, and searching his apartment.A law enforcement official told Russian television that the man is suspected of carrying out the acid attack on a contract basis and not associated with the Bolshoi Theater. The official said investigators have not identified the person who ordered the attack.
The story has been updated since this morning...same link as above. Pavel Dmitrichenko, a dancer with the company, has been detained.
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Farrell and Martins
in Chaconne:
(part 1)
(part 2)
In an excerpt from Apollo:
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is this the book you're asking about?
the cover foto in my memory, which Amazon confirms, shows McBride in a jump from one of her solo forrays in DONIZETTI VARIATIONS, as follows:
The ballerina : famous dancers and rising stars of our time / Sarah Montague.
Imprint : New York : Universe Books, 1980.
Amazon has a number of used and i think even new(ish) copies.
I was about to post the same. Here is a link to amazon if that helps (with picture):
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It looks like we've got more than two categories here, really. Companies that are led by choreographers who have established that part of their career as a separate part of their lives (Balanchine/Robbins at NYCB, Stevenson at Houston B and Texas Theater B, Webre at Washington B..) Companies that are led by directors who can make dances for the ensemble, but whose careers are not primarily about their choreography (Whitener at Kansas City B, Tomasson at San Francisco B, Joffrey at Joffrey B.) And then companies that are led by directors who do not make dancers for the ensemble (or do it very rarely) (Boal at Pacific Northwest B, Lopez at Miami City B, Ashley Wheater at Joffrey B)
People sometimes slide around on this (while he was AD at Oregon Ballet Theater, Christopher Stowell's job was as much about finding other people's choreography for the ensemble as it was about making work himself, but now that he's left the organization, he'll likely be choreographing more frequently) but I do think there's a difference between someone who can make decent dances when the need arises, and someone who identifies themselves primarily as a choreographer.
I haven't had any caffeine yet, but in your transition to a 3 category system here you place Joffrey in the second, which you then seem to associate with "someone who can make decent dances when the need arises," rather than "someone who identifies themselves primarily as a choreographer."
In some ways I agree with the distinction between these categories, and certainly Joffrey's career was about much more than choreography.
But I think you've given him rather a rough assessment here. He wasn't someone who just "can make dances for the ensemble."
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In related news, from facebook:
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$40 or so in ny
We have an excellent subway system (and buses for that matter). As well as taxis.
who drives in nyc?
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thanks for the follow-up photo.
hard to say with Odile's headdress mostly hiding the ballerina's natural hair and given the intervening 16 years if the '42 dancer is the same as that in '58.
I found a photo of her from '50 (supposedly, this is the internet after all) where her hair is clearly dark.
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I think the change in mood is realistic too. Solor and Nikya's relationship has always been clandestine, so it makes sense that she'd think the basket was his way of signaling that even though he was engaged to Gamzatti, his heart was still with her (Nikya). What I DON'T think is realistic is Minkus's melody for the "happy" dance. The unsubtle loud melody with the thump thump rhythm doesn't really fit the mood. I'm thinking a composer like Delibes of Tchaikovsky could have done more with making the transition more subtle.
100% agreed here. In fact I think the music is a major part of why I find this variation "manic."
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I thing the change of mood is very realistic: when people are the most despairing, they cling to any sign that gives them hope, and that hope gives a shot of mood-changing adrenaline. To Nikiya, the basket is a tangible sign that she should hope.
It rarely works for me (the basket dance). I agree with what you say above on principle, but both the music and choreography of the basket dance are so manic that the change from the melancholy preceding it is almost always jarring.
In my opinion you still have the change of mood in the Makarova version. She is happy when she receives the basket. It does give her hope. Its just more subtle.
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ETA always throws me as I immediately think 'Estimated Time of Arrival'.
I remember when I had to ask what OP standed for...
Does anyone remember the meaning of OT?
;)
Maybe this scintillating subject deserves its own topic thread
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An obituary for the father of Haitian professional dance, dead at 94 in Manhattan
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An update in the times, saying Filin will be able to work again:
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/01/24/arts/24reuters-russia-bolshoi-attack.html?hp
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Keenan Kampa's DQ is The worst Kitri ever, and such a disgrace and mistreatment of Mariinsky's stage and legacy. I've see all possible clips of her DQ and a DQ of Novikova (just days before) - the (nightmarish) night and bright day. She's not ready (and who knows if ever would be) for Mariinsky's stage. The good news is that Svetlana Ivanova is given a chance as Gizelle soon.
Remember, Somova has done this role quite a bit. Personally I'd rather watch Keenan Kampa. At least her fouttees didn't look like a fish flopping around on dry land gasping for breath, her feet point, she has turn out, her rib cage isn't out of alignment, etc etc.
I'm not saying I thought it was a brilliant attempt, or even a particularly good one. But it was her first, and to my eyes hardly the atrocity it is being made out to be. Certainly other people have polluted the shades of the Mariinsky long before her (to steal from P&P).
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Hi, not sure if this is the place for it but Dvorovenko is retiring.
Her May 18th Tatiana is her final performance with the company.
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New today, to serve the story, or the truth?
From The Telegraph:
"But there were departures among traditionalists as well: shortly afterwards, Ivan Vasiliev, the ballet's star principal dancer and Natalia Osipova, another young talent, resigned in protest at the Bolshoi's more progressive artistic programme, defecting to the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St Petersburg."
Does leaving the Bolshoi to stop dancing Petipa, Grigovich, etc. to dance Nacho Duato qualify?
Or is this another uninformed reporter? Or the truth coming out?
I believe your point about Nacho Duato, combined with multiple interviews in which they discuss their desire to dance modern, as well as classical ballet, and have access to classical roles that are not necessarily part of their emploi as *traditionally* seen at the Bolshoi, in addition to their both working frequently with Ratmansky in their other positions (as principal dancers with ABT), makes it clear that it was an uninformed, or at least, a mistaken reporter.
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She apparently had a Fulbright to work on the project:
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Aurora, many of us old-timers have been calling ABT 'Ardani Ballet Theatre' for a while. Just a fact - not something from a blog.
I'm guessing that while I'm younger than you, I've been seeing ABT about as long as you have if not longer. I'm no johnny come lately.
As for my blog mention, it was in reference to your own words where you said:
"The Kevin MacKenzie connection: I am going by what has been written in Haglund and other blogs...BUT we do know that many (if not all) of ABT's 'guest principals' happen to be represented by ARDANI."
Haglund hardly comes across as an unbiased source.
And lastly, while it may be a fact that you and your cohort call ABT "Ardani Ballet Theater," that does not make it a fact that it is such a thing. I could call my cat a dog, it is still a cat.
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I thought other blog's speculation was not allowed here.
Ardani represents a lot of dancers from many different companies all over the world. This hardly seems a vast conspiracy theory at ABT. What of the new dancer swap program they have instituted? Is this an Ardani plot too?
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I'm sorry, but I'm a bit confused. In the official poll they seem to be asking for dancers CURRENTLY dancing. Should this be part of the directions?
To stay on topic:
Veronika Part
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Worst dressed...
Totally agree about #s 1 and 3. I mean really, you'd think anyone married to the unutterably gorgeous Daniel Craig would not want to look like she is wearing bathroom curtains from the Hammer House of Horror! And Chaistain looks like she kept the sheet on when she got out of bed. Both are truly awful.
As to HBC, I absolutely love her off beat sense of style, even when I hate what she's wearing. She plays by nobody's rules but her own, and I bow down before her magnificent weirdness. Btw, did you see the outfit she wore a few weeks ago to meet the queen? Somebody described it as punk Victorian hooker.
I'm again in agreement (mostly) with Peggy
I'd only say that while Jessica Chastain's dress was definitely bad, it looked nowhere near as bad in the views at the show as in this red carpet shot.I'll say I loved Julianne Moore's dress, Naomi watts and (yes a lot of people hated it) Lucy Liu's
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I'd be interested in hearing comments on the show and the awards from anyone who did watch "the thing," not that I take the Golden Globes with undue seriousness.
Watch Jodie Foster online--Her speech defies comments. Well, doesn't defy them but they are very divided. It was something else, that is for sure.
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Didn't watch the thing, but browsing online I came out with my three "Best Dressed" picks...
#3: I think blondes have to be careful about wearing black. A strapless black dress, or an LBD is usually OK, but something this covered up makes her head look like a giant light bulb. That gold trim looks kind of cheesy, and I am royally tired of having this particular uninteresting portion of the female anatomy put on display at every opportunity (see #2, above).
I agree in theory about the cleavage, but it doesn't bother me here mainly because she's slender and not busty so it isn't all hanging out, thus the cut becomes more of an interesting (or not!) design element than "LOOK AT MY BOOBS!!!"
The last is not one of my favorites of the night at all, but not one of my worsts either. I don't love the gold. It is a bit 80s dynasty for me. On the other hand it has a Bernini quality to it that I do like, though in the backdrop to the Ecstasy of St. Teresa or the Cathedra Petri, not a dress ;)
I'd only say that while Jessica Chastain's dress was definitely bad, it looked nowhere near as bad in the views at the show as in this red carpet shot.
Sergei Filin Attacked
in Ballet News & Issues
Posted
Can we not wildly speculate that he looks beaten? He doesn't look happy, but I don't think people usually do when they have been arrested, charged with a serious crime and spent many hours being interrogated. In our system or any other criminal system. I don't think it is what you would call a pleasant experience. [nb: Cygnet, I realize you just posted the image with no weighted commentary]