volcanohunter

A DVD and Blu-Ray will be relased on Opus Arte in the new year. http://www.opusarte.com/en/pre-orders/la-bayadere.html http://www.opusarte.com/en/pre-orders/la-bayadere-blu-ray.html

Perhaps Arthaus Musik, It bought out TDK, which used to release quite a few POB videos. Alternately, it could be Bel Air Classiques, which has also released POB stuff, in which case the DVD would cost a small fortune.

I'm partial to the Australian Ballet's Coppelia. The Kultur transfer isn't ideal; the Faveo edition sold in Europe and Asia is far superior. But the production is lovely, and the dancing is very fine. I don't especially like the Royal Ballet version, in large part because the dancing of the corps is ragged. I also like the Terekhova Don Quixote, but she doesn't perform the usual variation in Act III, if that matters to you. Both Raymondas are beautiful, but I'm always floored by Semenyaka's performance.

Melissa Hayden was one of the most illustrious exports. I can give you my opinion as an American living in Canada. I thought Karen Kain was vastly overrated: rigid and uninteresting, except in the works of Glen Tetley. I thought Frank Augustyn was the more talented of the pair, but his dancing went south quickly once he entered his thirties, and I often had the impression that he was phoning in his performances in the latter stages of his career. I adored Veronica Tennant as a dramatic dancer, and she retired at the peak of her powers. She had two other English-born, Canadian-raised colleagues at the National Ballet: Nadia Potts and Vanessa Harwood, and I was especially fond of Potts' lyricism. Evelyn Hart in her prime was sublime, unearthly and intense at the some time, though later on I think she was trapped in some of her own mannerisms. Rex Harrington I never liked at all. I don't know whether he was actually hopelessly vain, but he sure came across that way. I found many of his male colleagues much more interesting, such as Raymond Smith (born in Scotland), Jeremy Ransom and the devastatingly handsome Peter Ottmann, who never rose to principal rank. I admired Gizella Witkowsky's bold physicality and obvious intelligence, and I was mightily sorry to lose (Swiss-born) Sabina Allemann to San Francisco. Among Hart's colleagues, I derived great satisfaction from the forceful dancing of Albertan John Kaminski, who still works for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet as a stage hand.

The answer I really want to give is, nothing should to be changed because any change is a violation. Perhaps this is a particularly sore spot of mine. For me the great tragedy of dance is the apparent impossibility of preserving its choreography faithfully, if at all, so different from the musical examples papeetepatrick listed. This ties in to another current discussion on the board about the preservation of new ballets. Obviously, notating movement--any sort of movement, even recording what a kid does when he climbs a chain-link fence--is exceedingly difficult, so I'm not at all surprised that notation literacy is so low among dancers. But on the other hand, this situation is madness. All classical instrumentalists are required to read music and be well-versed in theory. (Composers still more so.) Presumably all actors can read the texts they perform. But dancers are forced to rely on a variant of "oral tradition," terminological shorthand, and imperfect, idiosyncratic performances preserved on grainy videotape. The consequence is that 99% of ballets created have been lost. I wouldn't mind Odile substituting other steps for the fouettés if I were confident that a standard "text" were preserved somewhere and could be retrieved easily at any time. I don't particularly mind vast sections of Shakespeare being jettisoned in live performance because I know that the actual text is safely preserved and that anything cut can be reinserted without difficulty. But, as you say, lots of changes have crept into Giselle over time to the point of it being practically impossible to know what the original choreography really looked like. The other thing I think that the loss of most of ballet's choreographic history has done is to have stunted the acceptance of dance as a serious art form. I don't know about anyone else, but when I went to university and had to deal with the Library of Congress classification system on a daily basis, it used to drive me bananas that music was assigned its own letter (M), as were the fine arts (N), and that drama was treated as a subdivision of literature (PN)--all serious, respectable disciplines--but that dance was lumped under GV: sports, recreation and leisure.

The choreography in Barocco doesn't much resemble the steps I learned in my Baroque dance classes, so I don't see why its costuming would have to reflect the period. Theme and Variations is different. It is an evocation of Petipa, so using classical tutus is entirely logical.

Do you really think that modern productions are better motivated dramatically? I recently watched two videos of Don Carlo with the same Filippo in both cases: the Visconti/Renshaw production from the Royal Opera House, filmed in 1985, and Willy Decker's newer production from Amsterdam, filmed in 2004. I can tell you that Robert Lloyd's performance was much more detailed, complex and differentiated in Visconti's hyper-naturalistic production than it was in Decker's stylized Twitch and Lurch staging, which, frankly, didn't seem to have much in the way of dramatic logic. But I know that SanderO was asking about ballet, and here I'm in complete agreement with Mel Johnson. In drama or opera the staging can change in any number of ways without altering the basic "text," but in ballet, the staging, meaning the choreography, is the text, and once you've altered it, it's not really Giselle or Swan Lake or Apollo any more. So, yes, Odile must do the fouettés.

I have to disagree with you there. Baryshnikov and Balanchine were naturalized American citizens whose careers were firmly rooted in the U.S. But if you're going to give the prize to Luciano Pavarotti, there's no reason to exclude Nureyev.

As I recall, she is a decent guitarist, which makes her at least as qualified as Oprah Winfrey. No argument there.

My thoughts exactly.

I believe that GNicholls is a Torontonian and as such is undoubtedly familiar with Opera Atelier. They're not strict traditionalists, but they are very much committed to presenting opera-ballets as a cohesive theatrical experience. In recent years France's Le Poème Harmonique has attempted to present baroque works as traditionally as possible, right down to using candles instead of electrical lighting.

I also agree. Generally, when I tell friends how much it costs to see the ballet, opera or symphony, they're astonished at how little the cheap seats cost. These people often make less than average, but are nevertheless willing to pay through the nose to get great seats to rock concerts because they love the bands, simple as that. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to let people know that tickets to the ballet can be bought cheap, but I'm afraid that the bigger obstacle would be persuading those same people that it's worth going to see in the first place. (I once nearly persuaded a friend to come to the ballet with me, except that she'd already spent a small fortune to go see Leonard Cohen that night.)

It just goes to show you that the pickings on Canadian television are very slim.

I haven't seen the film, but I suspect that Fracci is on to something. I was struck by this sentence from the Variety review: "Brief glimpses of Beth on her way out remind how quickly young replacements are cast aside in the cruel world of ballet..." That's rich, coming from Hollywood, where the shelf life of many "It Girls" seems to be a year, perhaps two. What exactly leads the reviewer and, presumably, the screenwriter to think that the ballet world, particularly its New York incarnation, regards dancers as disposable? The careers of Irina Dvorovenko (professional dancer for 20 years), Paloma Herrera (19 years), Julie Kent (25 years), Diana Vishneva (15 years), Maria Kowroski (16 years), Jennie Somogyi (17 years), Wendy Whelan (26 years), perhaps Darci Kistler, who just retired after 30 years with NYCB?

According to Ukrainian newspapers, Putrov will be dancing at the opera house is Kiev on September 7 in Vakhtang Vronsky's The Forest Song. In an interview, Putrov states that it has been his dream to dance the lead in the ballet, in part because he made his stage debut in the work 20 years ago.

On Sunday, September 12, at 7:00 p.m. ET, Artv will air a documentary titled Un été de danse. Weber Biron's film tracks Les Grands Ballets Canadiens backstage and in performance at the 2008 Festival Les Étés de la danse de Paris. http://artv.ca/emiss.../portraits.html

Could those familiar with it tell me more about this TV special, which is available on Amazon? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0221445/

The American release date is September 28, and Amazon is taking pre-orders. http://www.arthaus-musik.com/templates/tyCatalogueDetail.php?id=787&topic=catalogue_Ballet

This is wonderful news! It's about time.

The big companies also have choreologists on staff who notate choreography as it's created, usually in Benesh notation. It's not limited to ballet companies either. Large opera companies also have choreologists to record and recreate stagings. The Metropolitan Opera once had a web feature on its choreologist, but unfortunately, I can't find it. I remember seeing a couple of documentaries in which it's clear how important a choreologist can be. In one episode of Peter Schaufuss' Dancer series, there's footage of him working on the creation of Kenneth MacMillan's Orpheus with Jennifer Penney. The dancers are trying to negotiate MacMillan's very tricky lifts and having a great deal of difficulty in the process. MacMillan mutters something along the lines of, "I can see this is going to take hours," after which the camera switches to the choreologist sitting next to him, rubbing out all the unsuccessful lifts from her score with a very large eraser. The documentary about the creation of Robert Desrosiers' Blue Snake for the National Ballet of Canada captures an injury to one of the soloists during the dress rehearsal (a moment alluded to in Robert Altman's The Company). What follows is a last-minute rehearsal in which Desrosiers teaches the relevant solo to another dancer, with a lot of help from the choreologist. Unfortunately, fluency in Benesh notation is very limited. Any orchestral player can read a score, but there are few dancers who can read Benesh notation with the same competence.

This is extremely naive. Over the past few weeks on this site there have been several news stories linked about the perilous state of dance in the United States. Dance companies are barely hanging on. Now is hardly the time to force these organizations to become picky about where their money comes from. You're free to try to convince them to alter their funding model, but I fear there will be no ballet companies left by the time you succeed. http://www.observer....is-modern-dance http://www.firstthin...0/07/last-rites Ballet needs all the friends it can get, and that includes friends of all political stripes. Administrations change frequently in Washington. You need your defenders in every camp. Besides how exactly is Koch's personal politics going to affect City Ballet's repertoire of plotless works? He's on ABT's Board of Trustees. Did he use his clout to veto the recent Alicia Alonso gala becase he objects to her politics? Evidently not. Did he stop ABT from bringing The Bright Stream to the Kennedy Center? No. Personally, I don't see too many reasons to be worried that these companies are about to be turned into propaganda machines for his or anyone else's agenda.

Sorry, I got sidtracked by my little rant there. Apropos sandik's question, the Goh and Alberta Ballet Nutcrackers have co-existed in Vancouver in the past. For many years Nissinen's Nutcracker was presented as a "joint production" of Alberta Ballet and Ballet BC, though usually Ballet BC's participation was limited to 4-5 dancers, never in the leading roles, as I recall.

Off topic, I know, but I hate Alberta Ballet's new Nutcracker. As soon as I saw it I wanted Mikko Nissinen's creaky old production back. I was expecting a lot since I'd always enjoyed Edmund Stripe's choreography, and he produced a charming Alice in Wonderland for the company, but his transposition to Imperial Russia doesn't work. He gets too many details about how the Orthodox celebrate Christmas all wrong (unless we're to understand that it's a German family living in St. Petersburg, in which case there's no point to changing the location), the story of how the nephew was turned into a nutcracker is told three times in pantomime, and killing the Rat King does not transform the Nutcracker back to his natural self, which sort of makes the battle anti-climactic in retrospect. [The transformation is the Snow Queen's job. Nothing to do with the Nutcracker's heroism or Klara's affection.] Zack Brown's set is mostly, well, brown in the first act and surprisingly spare in the second. [On second thought, it's more like Barbie Garden.] I never thought I'd see the day, but this production has actually cured me of my annual Nutcracker habit.

For those without Sirius subscriptions, these are the operas the Met will stream free of charge on its web site via Real Player. The operas begin at 8:00 p.m. ET, unless noted otherwise, and casting is subject to lots of changes, of course. Monday, September 27, 6:45 p.m. Das Rheingold Levine; Harmer, Blythe, Bardon, R. Croft, Siegel, Terfel, Owens, Selig, König Tuesday, October 5 Rigoletto Arrivabeni; Gagnidze, Schäfer, Meli, Silvestrelli, Surguladze Monday, October 11, 7:00 p.m. Boris Godunov Gergiev; Pape, Semenchuk, Antonenko, Balashov, Nikitin, Petrenko, Ognovenko Wednesday, October 20 La Bohème Rizzi Brignoli; Kovalevska, Grigolo, Opolais, Capitanucci, Shenyang, Parks Friday, October 29 Don Pasquale Levine; Del Carlo, Netrebko, Polenzani, Kwiecień Thursday, November 4 Carmen Gardner; Garanča, Cabell, Jovanovich, J. Relyea Tuesday, November 9 Così fan tutte Christie; Persson, Leonard, de Niese, Breslik, Gunn, Holzmair Friday, November 19 Il trovatore M. Armiliato; M. Álvarez, Racette, Cornetti, Lučić, Tsymbalyuk Monday, November 22, 7:00 p.m. Don Carlo Nézet-Séguin; Alagna, Poplavskaya, Smirnova, Keenlyside, F. Furlanetto, Halfvarson Tuesday, November 30 Carmen Gardner; Garanča, Cabell, Jovanovich, J. Relyea Monday, December 6 La fanciulla del West Luisotti; Voigt, Giordano, Gallo Friday, December 17 Pelléas et Mélisande Rattle; Kožená, Degout, Finley, W. White, Palmer Tuesday, December 21, 11:00 a.m. The Magic Flute E. Nielsen; Phillips, Miklósa, Thomas, Gunn, Robinson Friday, December 31, 7:00 p.m. La traviata Noseda; Poplavskaya, Polenzani, Dobber Monday, January 3 La fanciulla del West Luisotti; Voigt, Giordani, Gallo Monday, January 10 Tosca M. Armiliato; Radvanovsky, M. Álvarez, Struckmann Thursday, January 20 Simon Boccanegra Levine; Hvorostovsky, Frittoli, Vargas, F. Furlanetto Wednesday, January 26 La traviata Noseda; Poplavskaya, Meli, Dobber Wednesday, February 2 Nixon in China Adams; Maddalena, Kim, Kelly, Brubaker, R. Braun, R.P. Fink Monday, February 7 La Bohème Rizzi Brignoli, Kovalevska, Beczała, Phillips, Mattei, Shenyang, Scheunemann Wednesday, February 16 Iphigénie en Tauride Summers; Graham, Domingo, Groves, Hawkins Thursday, February 24 Lucia di Lammermoor Summers; Dessay, Calleja, Tézier, Youn Tuesday, March 1 Armida Frizza; Fleming, Brownlee, Osborn, Siragusa, Banks, van Rensburg Friday, March 11 Pique Dame Nelsons; Mattila, Zajick, Mumford, Galouzine, Markov, Mattei Wednesday, March 16 Lucia di Lammermoor Summers; Dessay, Calleja, Tézier, Youn Thursday, March 24 Le Comte Ory Benini; Florez, Damrau, DiDonato, Resmark, Degout, Pertusi Monday, March 28 Capriccio Davis; Fleming, Connolly, Kaiser, R. Braun, Larsen, P. Rose Wednesday, April 6 Wozzeck Levine; Goerne, Meier, Skelton, Siegel, W. Fink Thursday, April 14, 8:30 p.m. Le Comte Ory Benini; Florez, Damrau, DiDonato, Resmark, Degout, Pertusi Friday, April 22, 6:30 p.m. Die Walküre Levine; Voigt, Westbroek, Blythe, Kaufmann, Terfel, König Wednesday, April 27 Il trovatore Levine; M. Álvarez, Radvanovsky, Zajick, Hvorostovsky, Kocán Wednesday, May 4 Orfeo ed Euridice Walker; Royal, Daniels, Oropesa Tuesday, May 10 Ariadne auf Naxos Luisi; Urmana, Kim, DiDonato, R.D. Smith, Allen

Avery Fisher Hall was renamed after Fisher donated 10.5 million to the New York Philharmonic in 1973. According to the Deparment of Labor inflation calculator, that would be worth 51.56 million today. Going by that standard, renaming the Koch Theater for a 100 million donation does not seem unreasonable.