aurora

I am still waiting to speak with my 87 year old mother on LI. She has been without power and telephone since Monday. At least she has hot water and gas, but with no heat the coming weekend rainstorm, winds and subsequent drop in temperature has me worried even more for her comfort. My brother's basement on LI was flooded with one and a half feet of water. His family is also without power, I have cousins in New Jersey and Staten Island in affected areas and have no idea how they have fared. I know my mom and brother's family are safe - we got a call from my sister-in-law's mother who has power on LI - but my stomach will continue to be in knots until I speak with my mother personally.

I hope you get to soon! They are getting power up on LI (no sure thing with LIPA). My sister in law got hers back this afternoon. Best of luck!!

I'm waiting to hear if my mom got power back today. I think she missed the zone by a block She has no heat...

Thanks all for your good wishes. I transplanted myself from NY to DC for college and never went back. My father is on Long Island has been without power since Monday. There is one town between his community and the beach. Many of the cars in his condo complex, including his, were flooded and ruined. The winds brought salt water from the ocean along with the rain. When some people tried to start their cars, the cars started to smoke. Anyway, dad is sheltering with my brother who lives further inland and was not affected by anything. I was supposed to go home this weekend for an engagement party at the bride's parent's home on the north shore of Long Island, but the party had to be postponed due to damage to the property. The New Jersey relatives are not close to the shoreline and there have been no bad reports from that sector.

I was told to stay away until thing straighten themselves out a little.

Glad your dad had somewhere safe to go! Something like 90% of LI was (is?) without power. LIPA is not known for its quick restoration of electric and obviously the magnitude of this was off the scale.

Much of NJ, even off the coast, was also without power although that is slowly being restored. The NJTransit rail line is completely dead at the moment.

Most of lower Manhattan is still without power and without phones as well. I can't reach my family anymore. Their landline has gone out as well (it was functioning earlier as it doesn't require electricity).

Transportation is creaking to life, but it is still incredibly difficult to get anywhere if you are in Brooklyn unless you walk into the city. The lines for the buses that are meant to replace the subways were beyond belief.

Thanks for the concern everyone!

I find myself wishing that he would take a lesson from Nancy Walton (Walmart) Laurie and her relationship to Cedar Lake Ballet. It's a matter of philanthropic style, not politics. There's no need for him to stick his name all over everything.

But if he didn't stick his name on it, what would be the point??

Well clearly he is not succeeding in this endeavor---at least not on this board, where he is treated quite brutally. I find it quite astonishing, given his long history of support of great ballet companies and wonderful productions (e.g., Ratmansky's recent 9th Symphony) that most of us are so enthusiastic about.

If he really only wanted to buy "respectability" with this crowd, he would have noticed a long time ago that it's not working and he would have stopped. It's quite clear that his contributions to the arts and healthcare do not have the power to soften the hearts of those who are intolerant of his political views.

Well, they are also tax writeoffs, I assume. I wouldn't know. I'm broke.

He's problematic to talk about as politics are not acceptable for discussion on here. Understandable, but difficult in this case.

Quite frankly disagreeing with what the Koch brothers stand for is not what I would call being "intolerant" of his political views.

Intolerant is a loaded word, and I think incredibly poorly applied in this case. I'd love to say more but I don't want to cross the line.

Here's the official release:

...SNIP....

“American Ballet Theatre is a performing arts company that I have supported for

nearly 30 years as a member of its Board of Governing Trustees,” said David H.

Koch. “To have a ballet company that I love, perform in the David H. Koch Theater –

which bears my name – that I am proud of, is a dream come true.”

Given that there is already a world-renowned company in residence there, did anyone else find this statement a bit surprising?

It could just be that it is out of context, and of course it does reflect his long relationship with ABT. But not, perhaps, a terribly politic statement?

Can't we let go of this, Ms. PhD in the Humanities? I THOUGHT I was apologizing. Helene, if this exchange strikes you as uncivil, accept my apology too, and please feel free to delete any or all of it.

Shoot! I think the whole thing should be deleted. I was just trying to say, as Helene was saying she now understood a grammatical point, based on our quibble, that it wasn't so cut and dry.

But i got caught up in proving the point. I wasn't trying to extend the argument. Trees...forest....bah

I am sorry about the stupid Phd comment too (You may have noticed, *I* deleted that one)

??

If it's fall, I never know what people mean by "last summer," and I usually wuss out and say "summer X" or avoid it altogether, but this clarifies usage.

Actually it doesn't. I was being sarcastic in my previous post. I don't think specifying the year is wussing out, it is being clear, which is a good thing.

As it isn't a single word "last summer" is hard to look it up, but for example allwords.com (which I would hardly call definitive) states:

1. In the summer before the current or upcoming one.
   

Which would therefore be 2012.

I think the phrase is intrinsically unclear and could reasonably be taken either way. I just resented the implication my lack of comprehension as to what year was meant was due to some deficiency on my part, when in fact the phrase is unclear.

Aurora: 2011. That was last summer. If I meant 2012 I would have written "this past summer."

Thank you for teaching me the proper uses of these terms. I could have easily called the summer season 2012 either last summer or "this past summer" as either would have seemed equally appropriate to me. Now I know better.

Department of Slips and Falls: Add Craig in Rodeo on Thursday night. He also lost his orange bandanna, which had to be kicked offstage by two other dancers. I'm dismayed to read of the others that occurred on Friday and Saturday (I did not attend these performances, alas), especially Cornejo's . Recall that he was out of commission all last summer with an injury. So who is to blame for preparing a slippery stage floor at City Center?

Well Cornejo had no visible slip nor fall. We have no idea what happened so perhaps we should not (yet) assign blame for his injury at least to a slippery floor.

For what it is worth, the only issues I saw in 2 performances were a few minor partnering flubs, which did not seem slippery floor related.

Also what summer are you thinking of? Cornejo certainly danced last summer.

I agree with what you say. It has some nice moments, but some purposely "ugly" moments that are interesting the first time but get old real fast. I am thinking of the step sisters and step mother. Yes, it is funny and sort of fun. It is interesting to have actual ugly dancing moments to underscore how mean they are, but it is only interesting for a few seconds. Then, you are looking for more. Caricatures are not deep. Funny, but not deep or thrilling. After that it starts to be annoying.

What Cinderella has a Stepmother and stepsisters that are not caricatures?

Are those characters meant to be deep or thrilling? Are they deep characters as written? Or are they, in fact, quite explicitly the opposite?

The Mariinsky 'acting director' was probably just being dismissive -- and being highly protective of his own recent casting choices for Odette-Odile -- when he told someone that the curent Mariinsky ballerinas cannot perform the double-frappe/fondu 'grace note move' in the Odile variation. Such Petipa-choreographed 'grace notes' are important reminders of the elegant Imperial-Era qualities in ballet. Then again, would you expect a desire for 19th-C aesthetics from someone who has banished the Vikharev reconstructions from the stage of the Mariinsky?

Just look at the video-clip of Marienella Nunez of the RB, above, to see the overall languid grace and demeanor of a ballerina who is 'doing it right.' This Odile is relaxing and floating in her moves...she has all the time in the world...not rushing for her cellphone or trying to catch a subway. [it also helps that said RB production is notable for being staged in the mid-1980s using the N. Sergeev/'Harvard' notes. If you want to come closest to seeing what Petersburg audiences saw in 1895, see the RB's treasure of a production.]

That element is not from the Sergeev notes, or Petipa-choreographed, although it may perhaps be arguably closer to the original choreography than the other version typically done today.

The petipa version seems to be a ronde-de-jambe a la second.

You can see this in the wonderful PNB After Petipa demonstration at the Guggenheim available in full on youtube.

This variation is at around the 50 minute mark

I believe Ksk04 is correct that Mariinsky ballerinas choose not to do the step but I think it is false that they cannot do it. Maybe Paul was given given false information? Every Vaganova graduate can do that step, so every Mariinsky 1st soloist or principal can do it easily, since it is an easy step.

I have seen Tereshkina dance Odile often in the past 4 years and she never does it, so I think maybe management deceived Paul? Paul is used to seeing Royal Ballet and Paris Opera ballerinas do that step, but Mariinsky ballerinas do not do it. Mezentseva, Tereshkina, Kunakova and Asylmuratova did not do it. Only Lopatkina seems to do steps that other Mariinsky ballerinas do not use. She has done that step and she enters as Odette with a glissade, but every other Mariinsky ballerina does not enter with glissade and it is not because every other Mariinsky ballerina cannot do a glisaade. It is because they choose not to do it, just like they choose not to do that petit battement step.

I just checked and Gillian Murphy doesn't do it in the ABT video either. I really never thought about this step so much and can't remember whether this is the norm or not at ABT but I would assume so. Whatever you think of her as a dancer, her technical proficiency is never at issue. She certainly *could* do the step.

... the rate film footage ...

What does that phrase mean, please?

rare, with typo (I assume!)

It looks pretty, but she has none of the frenzied energy interpsersed with moments of stillness that characterize Rodriguez in this role. The sense of terror is never palpable. they are just steps.

I know that some folks are a little taken aback by Macaulay's remembrances but, in fact, what he describes as the audiences' reactions in Paris 1990 is precisely what I've seen at the Mariinsky - most people are 'd*** bored' by this ballet. The staging looks gorgeous -- no expense was spared -- but there is almost no dancing and mainly a lot of posing, little walks and other casual movements. One woman shuffles in a circle with other women, eventually falls to the center of the circle, jumps wildly, shakes and falls. Whoever portrays this Sacrificial Maiden is unrecognizable through her clown-faced make-up so anybody on earth could be dancing...Iosifidi or Makhalina? Does it matter? It could be Millicent Hodson behind all the pancake, for all we know; just say that Makhalina is 'dancing' and sell tickets!

Stravinsky's score is a masterpiece for musicologists...but for Joe & Jane Public? Pass the No-Doze, please!

The Hodson-after-Nijinsky Sacre is the sort of ballet that most people digest maybe once, just as they digest their castor oil. Because it is good for you so just shut-up and swallow! It was shown on PBS in the Joffrey version ca 1989; we are grateful, we have seen it. Enough!

I saw it many times in the early 90s when the Joffrey was performing it in NY with the incomperable Beatriz Rodriguez in the part.

She was not interchageable with anyone and I don't remember feeling anyone seemed bored. I know I certainly wasn't. I went night after night.

It loses a great deal on video. This is the case with most live stage performance, but is especially true of this piece, which not only depicts a ritual, but with the right dancer, takes on much of the power and aura of one.

I also take issue that because one can't see the dancer's face behind the makeup, the dancer becomes indistinguishable from any other. I can tell dancers apart whether I can see their facial features or not. Movement quality does tell. I'm sure one will argue that this piece does not give the dancer enough to do technically for individualization, but in fact there is a great deal of character that MUST be related through the movements of the chosen one in order for the piece to work. A dancer who is successful in the role must find a way to do that. It is not an easy role to pull off.

Though I've never seen Marcel Gomes in person, he looks as though he's a great partner. But should a gay male have to turn off his personal sexuality when he's on stage? Doesn't dancing comes out of one's love of life with one's whole self, and isn't dancing supposed to be about truth not self-censorship. Sorry for being sensitive about this, but the drift of this thread seems to be about giving MG an honorary "straight male" membership.

In partnering--male/female--acting often is required.

That is true whether the dancers are gay or straight. It isn't like most of the people dancing together are necessarily attracted to each other.

If a gay male dancer is in Bayadere, Giselle, Romeo & Juliet...he really should seem like he is in love with his leading lady. As should a straight dancer. And many don't. No matter what their orientation.

I don't think its a matter of Marcelo denying himself or turning off his personal sexuality. I think he draws upon it to create a successful portrait of a person in love. I also think he really honestly cares about his female partners and about presenting them in the best light, which, for example, Polunin (a straight male dancer), clearly does not.

Regardless of personal opinion on Vasiliev's talents, I think abatt brings up the most important point: his height. Kevin already under utilizes Herman because of how he views his height and the ballerinas available to partner him; I would expect that Vasiliev won't have the same issues from management though....what a shock.

Part of that is (as implied) politics I'd imagine. The other is that, although he has improved, Herman has historically been, and to some extent remains, a weak partner.

He can now decently partner the short, smaller women, but a woman taller than him (and many men have partnered taller women, cynthia gregory had partnerships with men who were less than the ideal height for her) is not possible.

Given the ease with which Vasiliev lifted Veronika Part, I think a wider range of partners will be available to him (based on physical ability).

Is that last picture/film supposed to be the cave? Not very realistic or rich. These are the recession corsaires, it seems.

It looks like a cave to me. A realistic and quite dramatic one at that.

But alas, you are right, not very rich. Poor corsaires indeed. They need to work on that. I mean we know how rich Conrad was! After all, he had lots of money to buy Medora in the opening of the ballet. Oh wait. No, no, he didn't....

And they wonder why ABT doesn't have money to pay for substantial realistic sets & costumes, instead settling for 'lego sets' and one-dimensional cardboard cut-outs for a Nutcracker?

I've only heard that question raised one place actually.

I like the nutcracker sets. I don't think they look cheap in the slightest.

About stillness, I've never seen "Watermill," but for me, the queen of stillness and attention was Beatriz Rodriguez's The Chosen One in the Hodson/Archer reconstruction for the Joffrey Ballet:

She doesn't move from 8'44" of this video until 4'25" in part 3.

Good one! I love this so much. I wish I could see them do this again, it was so wonderful live. I got to see it a lot as this was brought into the rep (I think) around the time I was an advanced student at the Joffrey, and if City Center wasn't sold out we could ask Mrs D'Addario (sp) for the extra tickets. I saw it a lot. Beatriz Rodriguez was amazing.

Those ugly industrial smokestacks reminded me of Ratmansky's Firebird.

Basically a grim, gloomy rather 'untidy' opening cerem. So this is what $40mill buys? (That said, I loved Mr. Bean's bit with the 'Chariots of Fire' and the Queen with James Bond. That's it.)

Great Britain is a LOT more beautiful than than. They deserved a display of beauty, brightness and dignity...and professional movements from professional dancers. Where on earth was The Royal Ballet in this? Does Danny Boyle only like punk-street dancing? At least he cannot mess-up the beautiful vistas in and around London, such as the gorgeous Sussex countryside I'm now seeing in the bicycle road racing.

Well the industrial revolution was really incredibly beautiful, with gleaming smokestacks covered in glittering gold. Happy workers dancing in the streets for joy at their marvelous working conditions and sunshine, rainbows and lollipops everywhere!

It encouraged great progress but also a lot of human misery. The UK was instrumental in the Industrial revolution and as it was critical to the modern world as we know it I can see why it featured so prominently in the opening. I'm rather glad it wasn't whitewashed over though.

And the first section, with a verdant england focusing on Glastonbury Tor was quite beautiful.

Honestly from what I read I thought it was going to be a bit "weirder" than it was.

It depends on where and how complex the break is. The foot has a bazillion bones.

Hopefully, he'll post to his "Like" (fan) page on Facebook, if only to announce in what performances he'll be back.

https://www.facebook...176619735729003

He's gone very silent on twitter.

Of course, all the stars who have committed to Barcelona do guarantee big ticket sales.

I daresay you answered your own question.

I know we love to be cynical here, but I hardly think that Boylston, Kajiya or Simkin (Youtube channel notwithstanding), count among the luminaries of the ballet world, booked to guarantee massive bank.

Not to knock them, but lets be realistic. I'm starting to feel like everything is a giant conspiracy theory....

I am also puzzled by the optimism about the sales figures. So they took in more than last year, but what were their expenses? How much did they lose on very poorly attended The Bright Stream and Firebird? How much did they pay Osipova, Vasiliev, Vishneva, Semionova, Cojocaru, et al.? To decide if it was worth it we need to have the whole picture, not just the gross receipts.

As my accountant used to say about a client of his, He lost money on every item but he made it up on the volume

Could be the same story with ABT. Hope not.

I would also like to reiterate the plea for any info on casting, as I have never in my life bought a ballet ticket without knowing who will (supposedly) be dancing the parts that were important to me, and I am not going to start now - I'm just too old for that

Thanks in advance everybody and best regards from the unbearably hot and humid New York. I wish it were October already

I don't know where you get that firebird was poorly attended. True the first performance I saw was the opening night, but it was not poorly attended. I also saw it once during the second run and it was a close to sold out house.

.....Semionova and Gomes in the Ratmansky premiere (in plain black unitards) (two photos)....

I see that ABT is planning to 'break the bank' with luxurious costumes! woo-hoo....

Yep. Like Balanchine and all those worthless leotard ballets... ;)