jps

Bart, I think you're going to like Joseph Philips, a gifted SFB corps de ballet member, who won Gold Medals at the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi (2002), the First Prague International Ballet Competition (2002), the Youth America Grand Prix, NY, (2002) and the Jury Prize at the International Ballet Competition in Helsinki, Finland (2001). This Spring, as you pointed out earlier, he and Ashley Bouder danced together at the Youth America Grand Prix 2007 Gala at City Center; he's partnered her before. His departure is a big loss for SFB, but he will have opportunities with MCB he didn't have in San Francisco. Congratulations to MCB and to Joseph Philips! (I chatted with him briefly before he left for Miami and told him I was looking forwrd to seeing him and the Miami City Ballet sooner than I would have seen him if he reamained at SFB. MCB is coming to Berkeley this October! I'm looking forward to seeing this company of which I have heard so much.

Last Friday, at a round table discussion by University of California, Berkeley, scholars on the treatment of King Arthur in legend and in music (held in conjunction with the American premier of Mark Morris's production of Purcell's "King Arthur" on the UC campus), Professor Davitt Moroney, an English musicologist and authority on Purcell, and the University Organist, said that as a scholar and performer of music, he listens to music in a very particular way; and when he saw how Mark Morris choreographed Purcell he was struck by the fact that Morris listens to music like a professional musician: his choreography makes "close listening" visible.

This is a great idea--just what I've been looking for to build a ballet DVD/book collection. I wonder if we could have our own Netflix store as well for recommended DVD rentals! (I'm enjoying a Netflix copy of "Napoli" at the moment.) Thank you, Helene.

A San Francisco footnote: "Melissa Hayden and Jacques d'Amboise were the opening night guest artists (Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier) for Lew Christensen's 1967 premiere of his new "Nutcracker" with sets and costumes by Robert O'Hearn. I was a 16-year-old advanced Ford Foundation Scholarship student with San Francisco Ballet at the time and danced in the premiere as a "big" Snowflake and "Salmon" colored flower. These roles were a bit more coveted as there was more advanced work and more time on stage! It was an exciting time to be around Lew and SFB. It was a big deal that Ms. Hayden and Mr. d'Amboise were the guest artists. I remember her dancing as very strong and very bright... like a polished, faceted diamond. It's the only time I ever saw her dance in person." --Gina Ness, former SFB Principal Dancer. (Gina posted this on another board and gave me permission to post it here. Thank you, Gina!)

I'm sure this information is not news to regulars here, but for the record: DanceViewTimes has published six diverse and well-written (as usual) reviews of SFB at Lincoln Center; the first five, by Susan Reiter, Leigh Witchel, Mary Cargill, and Lisa Rinehart are here: http://www.danceviewtimes.com/backissues/2...uly/073106.html The latest is Nancy Dalva's "Letter from New York." It's a thoughtful, funny love letter to a dance company: http://www.danceviewtimes.com/index.html Robert Greskovic's appreciative review of Mark Morris's Sylvia appeared in the Wall Street Journal on August 10. The full review is only available to subscribers to the Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/public/us. Nonsubscribers can download it for $4.95 after 8/18, possibly via this link: http://online.wsj.com/public/search/page/3...allet&x=10&y=10 PS: SFB is back in San Francisco and looked good yesterday during its free summer outdoor performance at Stern Grove. The impression I get is that the New York trip made them more determined than ever to be themselves. The home-town crowd gave them a very warm welcome.

I've been very moved by these tributes to Melissa Hayden (and the wonderful photographs--thank you rg), even though I never saw her dance. My parents first met her in 1945, when she was a member of the corps at ABT, and remained friends with her for many years. I was too young to remember "Millie's" visits to our home, but my mother (who is now 95, living in Florida, and a fan of MCB) still remembers Melissa Hayden's wonderful energy, sense of fun, and total dedication to her dancing. When I mentioned to my mother that some of her students said she was tough on them, she said "she was tough on herself! You just knew from the very beginning she was going to be a star, she was so dedicated to her art." My mother still talks about Melissa's performance in Jerry Robbins "Interplay" (there is a wonderful description of this "frisky" ballet in Deborah Jowitt's life of Robbins). After performances, my parents often took Melissa and other members of the corps out to dinner (usually to the Russian Tea Room) followed sometimes by an evening of dancing. My father especially enjoyed dancing with Melissa at the Roosevelt Roof! She was a bright light in the life of my parents. Thank you, Millie.

Thanks for your comments, Globetrotter. What I appreciated about Gottlieb's comment is that it is not only a criticism of SFB but an appreciation, and a suggestion for future development. I don't think there is any question that SFB has benefited from Helgi's particular gifts, and has needed precisely those gifts. Your story about Mr B's comment reminded me that the talk around here (San Francisco) is that Yuri Possokhov would make a great associate artistic director for SFB. Then we would have Helgi's elegance combined with full-hearted Russian expressiveness. Meantime, I continue to think of SFB the way I think about a favorite gifted young dancer: full of promise, a pleasure to watch, and nowhere near her full potential. That's the spirit in which I took Gottlieb's comment.

Of all the reviews I've read of SFB, this comment by Robert Gottlieb struck me as particularly astute: "San Francisco Ballet strikes me as deeply virtuous, and I can’t wait to see it again. Even so, it lacks, for me, a crucial element of great dancing: large-scale personal expressivity. Like most companies, it reflects the characteristics of its leader. Tomasson was an immaculate classicist—elegant, tasteful, contained, never vulgar, always correct and frequently charming; that’s what his company is like, too (several of the men actually look like him). But he never fully absorbed Balanchine’s insistence on dancing full-out: His movement was always measured, his presence small-scale. Peter Martins was a cool, smooth dancer, Edward Villella was explosive and full of feeling, and their companies reflect their qualities. How could it be otherwise? Splendid as Tomasson’s San Francisco is, I can’t help wanting more—dancers not only superbly trained, hard-working and personable, but dancers who thrill." http://www.observer.com/20060807/20060807_...ttliebdance.asp PS: Thanks, Kathleen, for the real difference between SFB & NYCB ballerinas :blush:

When I saw NYCB this Spring after a break of five years, I thought, "no one does Balanchine like this company. They are absolutiely Numero Uno in this department--a national treasure if we ever had one." I think SFB has a different, complementary set of skills and values, and Leigh's comment helped me to see it more clearly. But SFB is still very much in the process of defining itself artistically. It may be America's oldest professional ballet company, but it has only recently moved from regional to international ranking, and it is still developing its core idenity. It's a very young company in spite of its long history. I really appreciated the critical eye so many of you lavished on SFB this week in New York on this board. Thank you!

I think this is absolutely correct, but I haven't seen it stated so clearly. I think many SFB dancers want it and are in a postion to carry it out, and many of us in the audience would support it. SFB will never be the Kirov or NYCB, but it could be a great contemporary/post-modern ballet company. The economics work against it (a mixture of classical full-lengths and contemporary ballets is what Helgi has opted for, and that has kept the company in the black). But SFB's real strength is actually in the contemporary/post-modern idiom, even if it hasn't explicitly said so. Thanks for pointing out something crucial about the company's real strength (even if it is not everyone's idea of what makes for a great ballet company; it does explain why Mark Morris woud see SFB as the "best" ballet company--the one most open to and able to carry out his own post-modern visions. We could do a lot worse).

I'm enjoying your posts tikititatata, and am largely in agreement with you. Actually Paul Taylor brought Springs Rounds to San Francisco this spring and it looked great--on his company. I'm glad people are taking SFB at its word that it is a major league player, and is holding it to major league standards. (Im still crazy about it and its dancers, though). I hope Mark Morris will continue to make dances for SFB AND continue to bring his own company to Berkeley every year for a West Coast season. The net result has been incredibly positive for us in the Bay Area.

What does CPYB stand for and who are some of its alums? Were Tina LeBlanc, Kristin Long and Brooke (Taylor) Moore CPYB dancers? What is it about Pennsylvania that produces such great dancers? (sorry, slightly off-topic)

Yes. Seven performances in six days (Tuesday-Sunday, two performances on Saturday) is standard for SFB during their regular season. The Lincoln Center schedule is the kind of performance schedule they are used to. Yes, that is the basic SFB style. Front of the curtain calls happen, but they aren't routine. Maybe they'll bring them back from NY. Thanks for your very insightful review of Vanessa Zahorian and Guennadi Nedviquine--in fact for all three of your Sylvia reviews. You saw qualities in these dancers I didn't fully appreciate until you pointed them out.

The San Francisco Ballet website is now providing links to daily reviews of its Lincoln Center performances at: http://www.sfballet.org/about/touring/index.aspx I must admit, however, as a regular at the San Francisco Ballet, that I'm finding the responses here more interesting. drb captures my experience of SFB dancers best. Too bad SFB isn't experiencing a regular NYCB audience. Curtain calls are an exception at SFB. I liked the responsiveness of NYCB audiences when I was in town in June, and thought it would be great for SFB dancers to experience it too. There are a number of people in San Francisco who feel as Michael does about Mark Morris's choreography. I've found, however, that seeing ABT's Sylvia in LA this Spring made me appreciate Morris for the ways he is not Ashton, even though I prefer Ashton's Sylvia overall (Paloma, by the way, was a wonderful Sylvia in California). Artifact Suite captures a very characteristic SFB energy, daring and grace; it will be interesting to see how it plays in New York this weekend.

Did anyone see Company C Contemporary Ballet, Charles Anderson's lively little troupe from San Francisco at Joyce SoHo (155 Mercer St)? They are in town this weekend, and Jennifer Dunning gave them an appreciative review in today's Times. I am very fond of this small regional ballet company from the San Francisco Bay Area, and the work that Charles Anderson, a former NYCB dancer, is doing for our local dance community. He founded the new Oakland Dance Fesitval for small local companies, and he has been able to offer his dancers in Company C nine-month contracts, a real achievement these days. Every year, San Francisco Ballet offers Company C the use of one of its beautiful studios to put on a free public rehearsal during National Dance Week, and I always see members of SFB and its teaching staff in attendance. I don't know of any other local company that gets to use SFB studios for public presentations (Charlie Anderson's father was a dancer for SFB, so it must be a family thing). If you're in town and free, consider attending one of their performances tonight or Sunday.

Thank you, Dale. This really hit the mark for me.

Buddy, I enjoy your enthusiasm, and it's clearly not blind. But where do you get your DVD's, especially Diana's? Bart's question is making me look at ballet as the relatively small cultural phenomenon that it is, where few of its great artists capture the public imagination (Margot Fonteyn appearing on the cover of Time magazine, for example). I'm not even sure I would want that for an artist I admire. But I believe Diana Vishneva has the gifts for that kind of breakthrough. How is she seen in Russia, where ballet does capture the popular imagination in a way that is rare here?

It's a generous full-page (7" x 11") reproduction in a small, modestly-priced ($12.95) catalogue. Worth having!

For those who can get to the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco before September 3, I highly recommend the current (small) exhibit called "A Curious Affair: The Fascination Between East & West" for a wonderful contemporary (circa 1910) painting of Nijinsky by Jacques-Emile Blanche, in brilliant costume for the "danse Siamoise" in the ballet Les Orientales. The painting is on loan from Ann and Gordon Getty. According to Forrest McGill's catalogue note , "Paris felt more frissons of exoticism and Orientalism in 1909, when Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes began performing. Russians were a little exotic already, and the allure of Leon Bakst's costumes, Michel Fokine's choreography, and above all the mesmerizing and outlandish dancing (and persona) of Vaslav Nijinsky fed the appetite for the beautiful and bizarre. Les Orientales, one of the early Ballets Russes productions, featured Nijinsky in a Chinese dance, a Siamese dance, and so on. Both Bakst and Fokine had attended performances by a visiting troupe of Siamese dancers in St Petersburg in 1900, and would have had memories of authentic movements and costumes. Certainly some details of Nijinsky's Siamese costume and gestures shown here are not entirely invented. The pantaloon-like lower garment and its heavy decorative apron have distinct analogies in real Siamese theatrical costumes, and the pose of Nijinsky's left hand comes directly from the gesture vocabulary of Siamese dance." There is a small reproduction of the painting here: http://www.asianart.org/curious.htm Worth a detour.

Thanks, Helene & carbro. I appreciate the way you take care of new arrivals (I'm practicing quote format; I think I've got it).

Thanks, drb, for this (to me) incredibly revealing quote. These are the words not only of a reader of poetry but of a poet. "Every step is a word": her dancing is poetry, and she works with movement the way poets work with words. "Every step is a word" also reminds me of another phrase Joan Acocella used to describe Diana's dancing (it's the one phrase from her essay I won't forget): "the soul as body." This is such a great thread! (thanks too to Paul and Buddy and nysusan for your earlier comments---sorry I've been so late in responding. Isn't there some way to be notified of replies?).

Thanks for these very helpful comments. I saw Diana Vishneva for the first time last Fall when the Kirov brought Sleeping Beauty to Berkeley. I saw two performances of the Kirov's Sleeping Beauty; Diana was in the second performance only. The first night's performance, without her, was a night of small pleasures: the company as a whole was not particularly inspiring. But on the second night, when Diana appeared, it's as if an electrical current went through the house. The entire company's dancing became more elegant, stronger, more beautiful, as if to reflect hers. She is not a self-absorbed performer: she has a way of making almost everyone feel more alive (including the audience, which that night in Berkeley was rapturous; the previous night it was simply warmly appreciative). For a long time I had been feeling that I had come to ballet too late—too late to see Gelsey Kirkland, Suzanne Farrell, Margot Fonteyn, Anna Pavlova. But that night in Berkeley I felt I had finally seen one of those once-in-a-generation dancers.

Thanks, bart. I appreciate your welcome and the great topcis you introduce (like the current one on the relative value of technique). This board is like an advanced seminar in dance theory, history and practice. I've learned an amazing amount since I began reading it a few months ago--and it's such a painless way to learn. But I'm still slightly intimidated. Thanks for saying hello.

Thanks for your welcome, Carbro. I've especially appreciated your past comments on Gelsey Kirkland and Diana Vishneva. By the way, in my experience Diana gives all she has even in the provinces (like Berkeley); she doesn't save herself for the glorious venues (like the Metropolitan).

I've been enjoying this board for the past few months. The amount of casual erudition, warmth and good humor displayed here is amazing. I'm a San Francisco psychologist and teacher of psychology with a strong interest in the arts and spirituality. I feel very fortunate to have San Francisco Ballet as my local "big" company, along with our smaller regional companies (I'm still mourning the loss of Oakland Ballet, but I highly recommend "Company C Contemporary Ballet," directed by a former NYCB dancer, Charles Anderson, which will be at the Joyce SoHo Theater in New York July 20-23, followed, of course, by SFB at Lincoln Center, July 25-30. Don't miss "Artifact Suite"! SFB totally turned on). I found this site through a search for writings by Paul Parish, the most insightful critic of San Francisco Ballet I've ever read (a frequent poster here—always interesting). I recently returned from a week of ballet in New York City. I had seen Diana Vishneva dance Aurora with the Kirov in Berkeley last Fall; it was one of those unforgettable performances that impelled me to return to NY to see her dance Giselle with Angel Corella last month. Their Giselle was one of the most lyrical and fullest expressions of Giselle I've ever seen. I also got a chance to see two NYCB Balanchine programs. I feel I really "get" Balanchine in a very special way when I watch NYCB. I enjoyed seeing a new generation of fine NYCB dancers (like Ana Sophia Scheller, Sterling Hyltin, and Teresa Reichlen). But it was a last-minute, unplanned performance that turned out to be the one I will never forget: Julio Bocca and Alessandra Ferri dancing Manon, in their next-to-last performance after decades of partnering each other. For me this was one of those places where dancing becomes inexpressibly beautiful, heartbreaking and joyous. It's nice to be able to say things like this to people who know what I'm talking about. Thank you for being here.