volcanohunter
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Posts posted by volcanohunter
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I'm almost certain this is available in Canada only--though I'd love to be proven wrong. Here's a link to Graeme Murphy's Romeo and Juliet performed by the Australian Ballet.
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What's not so nice are statements like this one from press secretary Katerina Novikova:
"In the context of our 237-year history, in two years' time, the acid attack will be a footnote in history but it's still very raw now."
How reassuring it must be to know that your theater regards your plight as a future footnote. What does that make Ms. Novikova?
"Unfortunately, it was a big blow, to the theatre and the country, since the theatre is Russia's calling card to the world. We still can't explain it and we don't know how it will end but the show must go on."
A big blow because it damaged the country's reputation? What about the lives and careers hanging in the balance?
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Oxford does list pled as the North American or Scottish variant, though Merriam-Webster also gives pleaded as its first choice. "Begged and pleaded" does make more sense than "begged and pled," at least from a euphonic standpoint.
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Yes, the streams are always available afterward for varying lengths of time, though some replays are geo-blocked. For example, I can't watch this: http://liveweb.arte....Giuseppe_Verdi/
Fortunately, I don't recall any of the Mariinsky's performances being geo-blocked.
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Arte Liveweb will broadcast a performance of the Mariinsky Ballet dancing the Hodson reconstruction of Nijinsky's Rite of Spring, as well as Sasha Waltz's new version, from the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on Wednesay, May 29, starting at 2:50 p.m. ET.
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Norman Morrice was director of the Royal Ballet from 1977 to 1986. It was during his tenure that the company started hiring non-Commonwealth dancers, beginning with Alessandra Ferri in 1980. Far from being the architect of a "UK-only" policy, he in fact helped dismantle it. If the standards of the Royal Ballet declined in the 1980s--and most people will agree that they did--it can't be blamed on a Commonwealth-only hiring policy that no longer existed. If anything, you could actually infer that the decline was precipitated by its abandonment.
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I would choose the Royal Ballet of the 1970s over the Royal Ballet of today in a heartbeat: Lesley Collier, Vergie Derman, Anthony Dowell, Wayne Eagling, Graham Fletcher, Stephen Jeffries, Monica Mason, Merle Park, Jennifer Penney, Marguerite Porter, Lynn Seymour, Antoinette Sibley, David Wall. This is even a debate?
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In a report about the Benois gala the other night, Tatyana Kuznetsova related that when accepting his award for lifetime achievement, Pierre Lacotte paid tribute to Filin, but this was apparently greeted with fairly scant applause. I don't know who was in the audience that night; presumably not Bolshoi dancers, who would have been happy to have a night off between runs of Flames of Paris and Swan Lake. I also don't know how any language barriers were overcome. Kuznetsova related the contents of his speech, so either she understood the original, or some sort of translation was provided.
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I share your frustration. I've seen the reverse problem as well, with people writing about "standing on principal," and so forth. Sadly, English has a homonym problem.
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If you missed it at the multiplex, this performance will be available for the next three months on Medici.tv.
http://www.medici.tv...h-marius-petipa
The site requires signing in to watch programs, but registration is free of charge.
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Apparently, it's the members of the jury who do the nominating, which often explains a lot. This was among the faults cited in a very critical piece by Tatyana Kuznetsova in today's Kommersant.
http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2193999
This year's jury includes Yuri Grigorovich, Ted Brandsen, David Dawson, Marina Kondratieva, Ivan Liška, Tamara Rojo, Helgi Tomasson and Nikolaj Hübbe. So the "math" isn't very difficult: Brandsen and Tomasson co-commissioned Wheeldon's Cinderella, Brandsen's company is the primary purveyor of van Manen's work, Kondratieva is Smirnova's coach, Rojo is Muntagirov's boss, and Hübbe is Lendorf's boss.
In Kuznetsova's view, only Hans van Manen deserved his prize. Smirnova was not there to collect hers since she was in Tokyo performing in Vladimir Malakhov's farewell tour.
http://www.nbs.or.jp...malakhov-final/
Even by the murky standards of the Benois, this had to be one of the least transparent editions on record. Five ADs and one former AD each nominated a pair of dancers from their own companies. The only "outsider" nominees were Justin Peck and Edward Watson. The only "independent" juror was Donald Dawson.
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A performance of Le Corsaire from the Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse is available on demand for the next six months or so. Kader Belardi's production is almost entirely rechoreograped, but classical in nature.
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The detail I can't ever seem to forget (and which I think changes things a lot) is that Zarutsky was jailed for beating someone so badly they later died.
Then the question has to be whether Dmitrichenko knew this. Would an ex-con necessarily reveal the details of his convictions?
Filin's father-in-law has reacted angrily to the television program that aired last Saturday. In particular, he denies that he supplies anything to the Ministry of Internal Affairs--having been in the energy business--and by extension the inference that he would be in a position to influence the investigation. He is also upset that Saturday's show used footage from an earlier program in which the Filin-Prorvich family had agreed to participate. He states that the family had only agreed to the first program on the understanding that they would have complete editorial control, which was not ultimately given to them, and that they disapproved of its footage being recycled in a program that he claims was ordered by the people behind the attack on Filin in the first place, with the aim of influencing the investigation. He does not provide proof or name names.
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On Saturday a Russian channel aired a soapy interview with Anzhelina Vorontsova. It was filmed in Kazan, where she made her debut as Giselle with Tsiskaridze this past week. There was little new in it, but there were a few ostensibly "picante" moments.
Vorontsova's teacher from Voronezh, Tatyana Frolova, reveals that her former pupil does not keep in touch even though it was Frolova who facilitated Vorontsova's fateful trip to a competition in Perm, paying for transportation herself and giving Vorontsova with her own tutus and tiaras.
There is footage of all three of Filin's wives speaking well of him. Mind you, Galina Stepanenko did not sit down for an interview, and given her current post I don't blame her, so the program used existing news footage of warm words between herself and Filin's mother.
Filin's father-in-law is a businessman who supplies the Ministry of Internal Affairs with footwear, though I won't speculate whether providing shoes for Russian policemen rises to the level of a conflict of interest.
Vorontsova claims that despite Filin's investment in her, there were "reasons" why she could not join the Stanislavsky Theater after she finished ballet school, but does not specify what they were. She is also evasive in answering questions about her relationship with Filin, though she states that Dmitrichenko is her first boyfriend, which perhaps undercuts insinuations about Vorontsova being one of Filin's conquests.
Olga Smirnova wades into the matter by criticizing Vorontsova's ambition. This is unfortunate. Smirnova's coach Marina Kondratieva was doing an effective job of pooh-poohing Vorontsova all by herself.
Tsiskaridze's other pupil Denis Rodkin reiterates the narrative that although Dmitrichenko is the kind of person who could sock someone in the face if he were sufficiently angry, he is not the sort to plot behind anyone's back.
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We have more casting:
Kondaurova as Odette-Odile, Timur Askerov (rather than the trailer's Ivanchenko) as Prince Siegfried, Andrei Yermakov as Rothbart, Maria Shirinkina, Nadezhda Batoeva and Xander Parish in the pas de trois and Vasily Tkachenko as the Jester. The same cast will also be performing the afternoon before, and presumably this performance will also be filmed as a backup.
http://www.mariinsky...013/6/6/1_2130/
9:30 is a late start time for a show that runs 3 hours, but that's what you get when you're aiming primarily for audiences in Central European Summer Time on a weeknight.
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Maria Alexandrova seems fairly excited about the prospect of visiting Australia.
My guess is that Merkuriev would have preferred to go to Australia also, and given that he dances both male leads in The Bright Stream, he would have been a good candidate. But on this tour the premium appears to be on Conrads. The biggest change to the basic casting outline that was announced back in February is that Vitaly Biktimirov will not be dancing Pyotr after all, which I think would have been a debut for him. Instead he will be doing most of the Birbantos. Given that Denis Savin already dances Pyotr, it seems entirely sensible to cast him. Savin, though, must make an awfully sweet-tempered Birbanto.
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The performer's union is working on a new collective bargaining agreement. Svetlana Lunkina is involved from afar. Ruslan Pronin may remain at the Bolshoi as the full-time union head, if elected to the post.
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So what IS the Ashtonian-Royal Ballet style? Let me play devil's advocate here. I have had the chance to watch Act I from the 1978 television performance of Sleeping Beauty, which you have kindly linked. I can see a certain subtlety in the use of hands -- an evident concern for proper head positioning and movement -- and a general delicacy of style among the women. At its best, this is elegant and lovely. But I can also see how, without energy and concentration, it might appear "lackluster" and possibly even affected.
Perhaps Clement Crisp's description of the Royal Ballet style would be helpful. It comes from the souvenir program for the company's U.S. tour in 1981, marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Vic-Wells Ballet.
For generations of dancers the image Ashton made of them is the truest, most flattering. The identity of the dancing British--lyrical, neatly musical, well-mannered and sweetly placed, with a seeming mildness to their classicism which disguises for some viewers an essential strength and a deep-running passion--is a catalogue of Ashtonian virtues...In MacMillan's ballets we see how the academic manner which he accepted from both Ashton and Petipa, has found fresh force and impetus, and how the English style has learned to cope with some of the central problems which concern the theatre of our time: matters of identity, of psychic and emotional isolation...His achievement has been to take the ballet on journeys of psychological and technical exploration which yet retain essential links with the classic nature of the company.Part of that nature lies in the excellence of ensemble performance. To those visitors who ask: "What should I see to get the real favour of The Royal Ballet?" I always reply: "Watch the corps de ballet".Further, he explains that the corps' excellence was to be found in its "coherent style and sensitivity," and also notes that the "distinction of British theatrical acting needs no rehearsing here. In this fiftieth year of The Royal Ballet, though, it is worth noting that the company has accepted those standards as its own."
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Brind herself was performing during the 80s, at a time when foreign artists were in a minority in the Royal: yet while she and her fellow principal Fiona Chadwick were rightly hailed as examples of new British talent, I remember the overall standard of dancing as relatively lacklustre.
This is a non-issue. The Paris Opera Ballet and the Bolshoi also went through "lacklustre" periods that had nothing to do with their French-ness or Russian-ness. Mackrell implies that the Royal Ballet pushed through this phase by importing talent, but the POB and Bolshoi managed it without internationalizing. It had more to do with company leadership and promoting young talent.
But strictly speaking she's probably correct that there isn't anything inherently "national" about a ballet style, The "Danish" style was formed by the son of a French immigrant, the "Russian" style was formed by a Frenchman, the "American" or perhaps "New York" style was formed by a Russian immigrant, and the "English" style was formed by an Englishman born in Ecuador and raised in Peru. But that doesn't mean that these styles don't exist. If it makes Mackrell happy, we can all refer to the "Royal Ballet" or "Ashton" style instead, and we'll still be left with the problem of its conspicuous deterioration.
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This telecast of The Sleeping Beauty from 1978 features a number of the Royal's outstanding ballerinas. I think it's entirely relevant to the discussion. I'm only sorry the video quality isn't better.
I believe this is the cast sheet for the performance.
http://www.rohcollec...rformance=25286
P.S. Sarah Lamb is American with Russian-school training.
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yes, I agree with trieste, but I am looking forward to R&J and La Sylphide (as long as casting holds true)
Since both the performances have already taken place, you can rest assured on that score. Just remember that the Romeo is Grigorovich's version, which, to my mind, is one of the worst out there.
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I agree with Mashinka. A number of years ago I remember Lis Jeppesen saying almost exactly the same thing about the state of the Bournonville style now that so many dancers of Royal Danish Ballet were outsiders who'd never trained at its school. I don't think either was saying that foreigners were inherently incapable of dancing Bournonville or Ashton properly, but how could they be expected to if they haven't been thoroughly trained to do it?
Another level of Brind's point is not that different from recent discussions about ABT and its failure to develop the talent within its own ranks. It's not only that most of the Royal Ballet's principals are not British; most spent little or no time at the Royal Ballet School, and many were hired directly to principal rank, having acquired their not only their training but also their performing experience elsewhere. The Royal Ballet continues to hire RBS graduates for its corps de ballet, but do they have any chance for advancement when management continues to hire glamorous, fully developed free agents to dance lead roles?
And I don't think it's unheard of to discuss the "national" qualities of classical musicians. Whenever you read praise about a particular performance being "idiomatic" it suggests that this quality is not encountered all that frequently. Some of the best operatic performances I've heard have featured all-French, all-Russian or all-Italian casts in their "native" repertoire. They're exceedingly common in North America, but multinational casts of singers are usually too eclectic to achieve the same electrifying results.
I, too, mourn for the loss of the English style. It has really struck me that in the brouhaha surrounding the Royal Ballet's hiring of Natalia Osipova, discussion about whether she would fit in stylistically hardly seems to have come up at all. It implies that the Royal Ballet no longer has a distinct style, and that's a crying shame.
Le Corsaire, Romeo and Juliet or Sleeping Beauty
in American Ballet Theatre
Posted
Me too.