aurora

But I think most dancers would argue that having a very strong desire to persevere, in the face of what are, for most, insurmountable challenges, is part of what makes a successful dancer. So many kids take ballet (esp. girls, which i'll get back to in a second) and very few are able to make a career of it. Natural aptitude and talent is part of who makes it of course, but so is determination. No different from their female counterparts, are they? But what percentage of them actually have the opportunity to claim center stage and do their grands pirouettes or soar through a variation? Tiny, tiny. Most find themselves in the relative anonymity of corps roles more often than not. They are quite different from their female counterparts--not in the accolades they receive, but in the *relative* ease with which they find places in competitive schools and companies. I dont know the figures for this, but there are a LOT more girls who take ballet than boys. A boy has a much better chance of getting into a company in the first place, therefore the percentage of boys who dance who make it to the top of their profession (becoming soloists or principals) is MUCH higher than it is for girls. I'm not arguing some ridiculous sexism argument here--just pointing out that while, yes it sucks that boys get deterred by criticisms and prejudices against dance, if they pursue it, they are in a much better position than the equivalent female dance student.

lucia Lacarra and cyril pierre are a couple and I was very favorably impressed by their connection when I saw them in NYC at the stars of the 21st century gala. of course one of the most passionate couples I've seen is Ferri and Bocca and while they clearly had a very deep connection they were never romantically involved.

someone asked earlier whether any are dancerproof. I don't think they are--my enjoyment is always dependent on who dances. So...a few from me: Balcony pdd from Macmillan's R&J--especially with ferri and bocca white swan pdd when danced by Part and Gomes--I like this one normally, but I've never been brought to tears except by them Corsaire--it is trite perhaps, but it really is a fabulous one--any bravura dancers will do. I don't have specific dancers for this one. black swan pdd--because how can I not include it. It is a show stopper and rightly so.

I agree completely. I think perhaps she did not look up to her old level (her fouettes were good--they used to be breathtakingly speedy and precise--they weren't that anymore but they were still as good as most!) but she definitely did not look over the hill. I felt less impressed about her bayadere, which really did not seem to be her best.

According to the playbill (or BAMbill) she's 23-4 (born in 1984). I would like to see her in more. her feet were gorgeous and I was very pleased with her extensions--high but not distorted.

I'd love to hear more about WHY wheater has made this decision. It seems very peculiar. Have there been any further news articles on it? It is also interesting that he excised both husband and wife--if he'd just gotten rid of one, the other might have left--but clearly he was determined to have them both go... How old are they? Are they likely to look for another home? Or retire?

Seconded! She was clearly the highlight of the evening (besides Nina herself). Chaconne was pretty disasterous I thought. Nina was lovely, but the rest...oof. It was the level of a student performance. the girl in green (tsisia Cholokashvili) kept falling out of all her pirouettes, though at least she carried herself like a professional dancer (and was much better in Sagalobeli) I was very ambivalent going forward, but I found the rest of the show very enjoyable--surprisingly so after Chaconne (so probably a good one for them to schedule first). I am interested in hearing what people think of "Dreams of Japan" which will replace it for the final 2 performances of the run. Duo Concertant--with Lasha Khozashvili and Nino Gogua--was lovely. I am not very knowledgeable about Balanchine so perhaps Balanchine experts would have various issues with style, but I thought Nino was beautiful. Really the only dancer besides Nina that you could imagine in a top notch company---Gorgeous feet, lovely extensions and a great sense of movement and rhythm. I loved the piece and the dancing. Bizet Variations was enjoyable but not a knockout. I don't actually have much to say about it. Sagalobeli was my favorite after Duo Concertant--Again Nino G was great, and the other two leads--Tsisia and Anna Muradeli were also very good in this. The choreography was innovative and clever, and worked very well with the music (which I loved, though not nearly as much as the Georgians in the audience,who were ecstatic--the woman behind me was singing along in places). It was clearly "ballet," but also involved innovative movements based on the rhythms of the music and its folk nature. I know it has gotten sort of mixed reviews but I thought it was pretty wonderful, and a great closing piece, though I do wish Nina had come out at the end. Can't wait to hear other opinions

My favorite gown was actually on Helen Mirren. Beautiful and flattering! she is one classy lady.

there are also other places to check out taking classes. Peridance--though my favorite teacher there, Giada Ferrone, doesn't seem to be teaching much atm, there are a lot of good teachers there, and often interesting week long workshops. I also like the 10am morning class at mark morris--company members often mix with the rest of us in a 2 hr (!) class.

I don't remember really a moment when I fell in love with ballet--I started pre-ballet class at 3 and adored it. I do remember looking forward to the first(?) showing on tv of the nutcracker with gelsey and misha--and getting sick and sleeping through it and being heartbroken. I don't remember this myself but my parents went to see the baryshnikov/harvey don q which was shown on great performances. When they came home near midnight I was sitting by the door GLOWERING and demanded to know WHY HADN'T THEY TAKEN ME!!!??? I was 8. I've watched it many times to make up for that.

I haven't seen the entire thing, but I have to agree based on the clips I've seen on youtube. It is sort of disturbing in many ways, to see someone who looks as old as she does, playing the young lover, in addition to the technical issues. On youtube there is an interesting piece with Alonso discussing her feelings on Giselle and then showing clips of the act II pdd from performances beginning in 63 and ending in (gulp) 93.

Yes! You simply can't miss them and you even made me look up to find out exactly what they mean, to be sure I had appreciated the right thing without knowing for sure what it was; they were really delightful. I'm gradually getting hold of all the terms again (I once knew them.) Thank you. I loved Mirta Pla though, too. And didn't mind the bad picture quality due to liking some of these old antique films, has some of same problems of graininess as in Kirov 'Sleeping Beauty' movie. She did remind me somehow of Fracci here, although I haven't seen Fracci's 'Giselle'. OT but if you haven't, you should watch Fracci's Giselle which is available in entirety on youtube. Its marvelous.

What a fun night! I had never been to the Stars of the 21st Century, or any such sort of gala event previously. And it really outdid my expectations. It seems a lot of these types of things are all flash, and I appreciated that they didn't go that route, although the flash was fantastic! I agree with most of what Ceeszi said above... with some minor caveats. definitely, though Denis matvienko's turns in the finale gave Daniil's virtuosity some run for its money in my view. Daniil is a somewhat odd looking person--very small, and fey, or childlike (i don't mean fey in a gay sort of way, but more that he seems a sort of fairy sprite on stage). The solos he did, neither of which I was particularly anticipating, were fabulous, especially the chicken one! and really showed off his versatility. I have to say that I found them more satisfying than the Don Q with him and Roberta Marquez who is equally diminutive. Don't get me wrong, he was excellent in it, but he didn't convince me as the character--he did all the right things, but his persona (for lack of a better word) doesn't seem suited (yet?) to the big bravura roles, although his technique certainly is! He is VERY young though! As for the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux with Maria Kowroski and David Hallberg: very enjoyable, and they looked very well together although at the end when they do 2 passages with fish dives, I believe Maria didn't move as far as David expected because he had to dart backwards to catch her just in the nick of time (or at least that is how I saw it). She also was very feeble in the fouettes. I enjoyed Lunkina in all three dances, though perhaps best in La Sylphide, where she created a wonderfully playful character and was truly ethereal. I have to disagree with Ceeszi on Tsikaridze, however, of whom i am not a fan, especially in the Giselle PDD--he was lumbering and loud, which given the sound in state theater, is some feat. I enjoyed both works danced by Shoko Nakamura and Ronald Savkovic (who also did the choreography) of the Berlin State Opera Ballet though I wish they had done one "classic" work to show greater versatility, as did the other couples. The "Le Corsaire" Pas de Deux with Anastasia and Denis Mativienko of the Mikhailovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre was excellent. Though to me there was a major drawback here--the sound. It was SO QUIET. This should be a real rousing number and up in the front of the 4th ring, I had to strain to hear the music. They were a lot of fun though, and his turns are thrilling. For me the real highlight of the evening was "Thais" with Lucia Lacarra and Cyril Pierre from the Munich Ballet. Though I loved them in act II as well. I had never seen her before and am really glad I had this opportunity. They were just so incredibly beautiful together, it was a thrilling piece. Ok, I've run out of steam All in all a VERY enjoyable night!

anyone else going to this tonight? I'm really looking forward to it!

Just a note that there are some special Farrell performances up on youtube right now. I'll not mention what they are here, because I don't exactly want to see them taken down: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1RFr80FLXI is the one I was most interested in, but a search for her last name and "ballet" brings up a decent number of others as well.

as far as I know, links to youtube aren't allowed, but, for those interested, there is a clip from an italian news broadcast showing bits of the performance up on youtube now. Its titled Romeo e Giulietta alla Scala--so I'd imagine searching those terms would bring it up....

Oof! now *that* is a real groaner!!! ha ha ha!

That is hillarious. I'd love to get the backstage view sometime! Does your source say who tends to get the highest ratings? inquiring minds want to know!!

After watching the very impressive Steven McRae Mandolin dance on youtube, I was confused. At ABT (basically the same production) the Mandolin dance is a tour de force for Mercutio. But the Royal version--well he was dressed like the rest of the Mandolin players and certainly didn't appear to be Mercutio. After watching the Fonteyn and Nureyev version (all of which is on youtube), this was confirmed (as was someone's comment in an earlier thread that the leapfrogs were a later addition) Any ideas why there is this difference between the productions?

Well since they will only be doing short works in NYC I predict he will like the NYC (on the whole) more than he did Bayadere I assume placing bets on such a thing would be against board rules (j/k) All kidding aside, I found the information on the history of the Bayadere productions and the information on the changing style of the corps dancers really interesting, but once again wished that he could almost have written an article about the ballet as a separate entity from the review. Not that this kind of information doesn't enrich reviews, it does. But when you have 3-4 casts to review and a very limited amount of space to do so in, I'd rather read more indepth discussion of the various dancers and *this* specific production. Comparing it to the previous Kirov Bayadere is all very well, but (I assume because of the limited space) I felt that if you hadn't seen the prior one, you wouldn't really understand the difference, and, that being the case, why bother to mention it at all.

maybe its not active at the moment? A work can be theoretically in rep but not in active rep. Anyone know when last the Bolshoi performed it?

I know--sorry if it made it sound like you were saying otherwise. I just hear that said alot (how masculine she is) and wanted to respond to that.

I've only watched her on video (so I'm very envious of you!), but just wanted to say thats a comment (usually phrased as a criticism, though you aren't really doing so) that I see repeated about her often, but don't actually see. Yes she jumps higher than just about any woman, so perhaps thats "masculine", but otherwise I don't see much at all "masculine" about her style. The same is not true about Alexandrova who does strike me as such, though I'm not particularly sure why. I know you were comparing her to Guillem as to her solidity (a comparison that hadn't really occurred to me, but I can see where you are coming from), but i see Osipova as possessing much more joy in her movement than Guillem seemed to express (I have seen her live, but only rarely).

She's one of the ones I was thinking of when thinking of faces that come alive when painted. I never wanted to admit this, because she's one of my favourite of all performers, but I think it's like that. Not needing the makeup is mostly the province of women with very big, dramatic features, a dramatic look, whatever the profession--like Ingrid Bergman, Vanessa Redgrave, Kiri TeKanawa, or Sophia Loren. Come to think of it, there are plenty of men who could use some make-up offstage as well as on, and some of them do wear it, as we know. how often have you actually seen sophia loren with no makeup? Most people benefit from at least a little help, and even most "makeup-free looks" rely on basics like foundation, a touch of blush, and at least a bit of lipcolor. Personally, I'm someone with big dramatic features and a dramatic look. And I still think I look better with makeup (and what could be more dramatic than big lips painted red?) That said I'm probably more conventionally pretty with "normal makeup" vs stage makeup which my husband finds rather grotesque up close ;) All that said, I'm not claiming I'm beautiful! I just like makeup alot.

veronika part. Whether or not you like her dancing (yeah yeah, I do), she's incredibly striking.