SanderO

Waelsung

Do you mind elaborating on your take on Kent's performance. How was she falling apart?

MakarovaFan

How do YOU judge good or bad acting? In a story like Mannon, much of the "acting" would be found in facial expressions as well as "gesture" which I would assume are part of the choreography and would not vary significantly from one lead to another in the same production. Again, can you provide something more tangible as to what constitutes poor acting... or good acting for that matter? Referring to a performance from 15 years ago is of no help in my understanding what I saw last night.

I suspect that many view each performance through some sort of filter. The dancers they like appear to act well and the ones they don't fall short. We try to force the dancer into our own sterotype or prejudice. Shame that is.

I thought Kent's acting was fine. How believable do you expect these role portrayals to be? I am continually struck by people projecting so much onto story and romantic ballet. All ballet is fantasy. It doesn't fool me. But I can still enjoy it! People do not live their lives moving as do dancers in a stroy ballet. People don't move in choreographed symmetry or dress in "silly costumes"... lunge through the air and get lifted up by a lover... or tumble to the floor. Come on... acting?

If one has not read the notes and is familair with the libretto, most of these "stories" look like "cartoons" to the non cognoscenti. How can you take them seriously and make comments like so and so was not acting well or falling apart? If you are referring to technical flaws that is another story. Julie Kent seemed to perform a technically competant at the very least. or perhaps I missed something?

I asked the people at the ABT what was the reason for Diana bailing out on the Mannon. Her answer was: a cold.

I saild... "a cold... is that enough to hold a performer back?" I would have thought dancers were pretty tough.

No reply.

There have been many substitutions this season at ABT... something must be being passed around. I'm with Klavier... it's odd.

Julie does (did) a marvelous performance in the role last year. I think it will well be worth seeing. I am dismayed that Diana is not performing tomorrow. I just hope she is OK and this doesn't portend her departure from the ABT.

Seems like a lot of pinch hitters in the ABT line up this season.

This makes sense as Diana did not participate in the dress rehearsal this afternoon. Julie did the whole rehearsal performance. What happened to Diana?

Ms Slayde,

I think people who leave after a performance almost always applaud and simply don't scoot out. We have not always stayed for curtain calls... at least extended ones, but always show our appreciation by applause.

Curtain calls are not part of the performance we come to see... and the occassional times people want to leave without staying for them is not a big deal.

And of course if you are not pleased with the performance why should you even applaud? Applause is optional as well. Isn't it?

I have no guilt and I like to see live performances. Curtain calls are not dancing is it?

To allow someone to pass in front of you during a curtain call might take 2 seconds. Why make a big deal about it. The curtain calls are fun to watch for some of us at times and at other times ... who cares... we have more pressing things to do. I've encountered people who were pissed because we wanted to skip the curtain calls... but usually most people gracefully let you pass... and you should always be polite and utter... excuse me please.

Some people may even have an emergency mid performance... you can't force them to sit there and "suffer". Let's get real people. If you don't want anyone in front of you sit in a box like a snob.

Last night was the first time I saw a Sleeping Beauty and so I have no "historical" reference. I can only compare it to my rather limited experiences at the ABT and NYCB.

I also refer to MetOpera productions when I try to frame my comments on a performance with respect to the sets, costumes and music of a production. And finally to my own subjective sensibility about what a ballet experience should be. This makes my reviews for others rather useless.

SB was a enjoyable experience and had some very strong dancing. I virtually never fall for the plots in Opera or Ballet... to me they are so contrived, cartoonlike and loaded with stereotypes. ballet verite anyone? You really have to suspend all belief to read these people as real characters. Have you ever seen a Prince and one who does leaps and spins? ALL Ballet is MAKE BELIEVE.

Some of these ADs take the approach that they can create their own make believe and pass it off as classical or romantic or whatever type of ballet it is billed as. And they can.. and their vision is perfectly OK... but it might not and usually does not align with everyone's expectations.

I love to see ballet, to see these talented geniuses of motion and of the human form work together. It's hard for me to not like these performances. But some of them are exceptional and all aspects of the production reinforce the experiece.. the costumes, lighting, sets, acting, storyline, music whatever. Some elements don't make it for me.. some less so.

SB is a fairy tale... what the hell is a fairy tale? It looked like a fairy tale to me... and the sets and the costumes were fine. Perhaps they could have been better... they certainly could have been worse. I don't want ballet to look like a disney production when it is a fairy tale. I don't want Romeo and Juliet sets to look like the Flintstones either.

My own gold standard for production creativity for a classic work is the MetOpera Zauberflote. This is a completely new vision and I am sure Wolfie would love it could be come and see it. It is a fantasy... a kind of fairy tale... but it does not look silly or cartoonlike or from the flintstones or from set design 101. It is world class and that is what we expect on the NY State Theater and MetOpera stages... world class productions. God knows they have the talent to draw from... if they want it. It's not the dancers or the performers... it's the ADs, designers, who make or break it as world class and not just another "new production"

Sleeping Beauty is no Zauberflot... not even close.

The choreography was certainly competant and even exciting at times... but some performers are better actors and seem to be the part they play and others seem to be TRYING to be the part they are playing.

I thought Sarah Lane was great, but some who saw her do other performances said she was off last night. Perhaps.

If ballet is a living art form.. then we shouldn't be expecting 21st century Petipa production looking exactly like Petipa production of 100 years ago... that is unless they tell us it is to be thus. But most ADs want to add their own touch... don't they? And some of their visions are frankly awful... some passable but sadly few seem to find lasting greatness.

ABT's SB was fine but certainly could be improved. But isn't that true of most things these days?

Gilian was solid, but she wears an odd expression on her face at times.. it's neither a smile or a showing of calm. It almost looks as she is exasperated or something a lot of the time... like the expression English nobility pastes on their face.

Which brings me to expressions of dancers. They need to stop over doing their facial expressions. It starts looking cartoonlike a silly. Nobody in life holds a smile for minutes on end. Their expressions need to change and not stick on as long as they do and not be so damn exaggerated. Perhaps they look as they do because I see them with binocs and without them the expressions might not be as odd. It may be OK to hold and freeze a position as the corps has to do... but can't they do something with their expressions.... all of them (with the exception of Ethan). I loved Kristi Boone as the cat and her face was very good as well.

Yea the sets were too disneylike. Their designer needs to study the MetOpera sets when they remake a classic like the Barber of Seville which was on PBS this past week or two... they use classical elements with minimal sets to great effect without making a mockery of a classic.

The actual perspectives of the sets were completely off an looked amateurish approaching the NYCBs Romeo and Juliet for poor sets. Why so many set changes? WOW a huge shower curtain... who came up with that one? Or was it the famous $6,000 Tyco Denis Koslowski one put to use. You can see why he did time for buying that one. Hahaha. The costumes ranged from interesting to awful, but were very colorful... Loved the tutus.

Ethan Stiefal is wonderful and was very comfortable in the role. Sarah Lane was exceptional as Florine.

It's worth seeing but I would rather see Diana Vishneva as Aurora.

Audience note:

Some idiot's cell phone went off (grand tier) and started repeating a long message before the jerk turned it off. Amazing how inconsiderate people are and addicted to the cell phones. When I go to the Met I don't even take it. Remember when you used a pay phone if you had to make a call outside? And lots of cell phone picture taking too. I curse the day they invented those things.

I have two dress circle seats to give to someone who wants them free... for the ABT Mannon dress rehearsal at the MetOpera on June 11 at 2pm. I don't know the cast for the rehearsal. PM me and we can make arrangements to get them to you at the theatre. I will be sitting with a friend in another section.

What is interesting about performing a classic is that without remaking aspects of the work, the "artistic director" is doing very little artistry. So it appears that the more egotistical will approach a classic and attempt to "revitalize" it as if it has gone limp and is of interest no longer. It's almost as if a museum director has taken to dressing up sculptures with dramatic or colored lights or even clothing on nudes! No one would stand for this!

Last Fall I was in Firenze and walking my sister's dog along the Arno and I saw the beloved Ponte Vecchio was part of a daily continuing light show! Someone had decieded to bath it in a rotating selection of colored light... a la Disney or Times Square. How dreadful! From the next bridge one could (in the past) look at the old bridge and see it as a work of architecture that had survived almost unchanged since before the time of the Medici. Yet someone decided to "revitalize it and give it more color and "energy". This apparently what plagues many ADs in ballet when they approach a classic. It's seems to be just too "demeaning" to them to reprise a perfect rendition of a classic without leaving their mark on it.

Classical music requires that the conductor rather faithfully follow the score, although I suppose they can add more instrumentalists or use fewer when they are not available. They can play with the tempi and the dymanics to some extent but not the way the ADs at ballet are doing. Look at the disaster of Romeo and Juliet at the NYCB. Rather than respect the classic... the ADs use it as a skeleton to build their own vision.

This is, of course, fine and dandy, but perhaps we should no longer be expecting fidelity to classics in ballet. There seems to be some underlying pressure to make ballet "modern" or something new and worth seeing. But this ignores the fact that we love to go see our favorite paintings again and again and expect them to be exactly as they were when we last saw them. Repeated viewings allows us to see more and more nuance... and this is what the ADs are missing when the disregard classically faithful productions... that the audience will see something new each time they see something old.

If no one preserves the classics... ballet will become a shadow of what it was... and it will become some sort of modern dance with classical steps en pointe. Can't we have a mix? Some perfectly preserved ballets and some new ones... even in the same company?

We saw the Tuesday performance and I have been too busy to comment, but this morning I read Gia Kourlas' review in the New York Times and it pretty much aligns with my feelings about the ballet.

Forget Lar Lubovich's choreography.. what a bore! With such talent in the ABT... and a brilliant Shakespeare tragedy to build a ballet on this production was boring. The high points were Stella Abrerra, Marcelo Gomes and of course Julie Kent. But it was real hard to show their brilliance as dancers with the weak choreography. The corp was excellent as usual as seen in the tarantella. But Sasha was horribly miscast as Iago and looked like a mischievous little boy next to the towering godlike Marcello. How silly they looked when they danced together. Adrienne Schulte gave a very energetic performance as Bianca, but she could smile a bit less. Sometime these plastered smiles on the faces of dancers look so insincere. The ABT stick to top choreographers and more type casting in story ballet roles. I never cared for rolling around the floor as "dance".

The sets and lighting were interesting... that is the projections on the read scrim... at times, but the plexi "furniture" and mirrors didn't make it. The MetOpera pulled off a brilliant contemporary aesthetic with Zauberflot... but this set is no Zauberflot.

I don't see this "ballet" as coming around again for ABT and after Bayadere this was a huge let down. I reminded me of the weakness of the NYCB's Romeo & Juliet after all the hype... disorganized and not balletic is there is such a word. What are these people thinking about when they come up with these sets? That stuff would be laughed out of a design jury presentation at any college design studio.

The performance was not especially well attended and the audience reaction was quite luke warm I thought. Oh well.

Not every city could support one, but I love the idea of a ballet opera cafe which was full of memorabilia / photos etc of ballet and opera and was the actual hang out for balletomanes, opera buffs students, corps and stars.. a kind of mix it up place were people expect to intereact with fellow arts lovers over cafe and croissant... and it was filled with lovely music.

When I think of the community of ballet and opera... as a opposed to some other "genres" like tennis or films... it seems that ballet and opera fans are very attached to their artists and for whatever reason... yet there remains a barrier between the audiences and the performers and even each other. My impression of most Met Opera and ABT (not NYCB) audiences is that only few in the audience are passionate lovers of what they are seeing... this is especially true for the la di dahs down in the orchestra seats... who seem to attend because... well... it is the thing to do and say at the board meeting or the country club the nect day.

My most interesting experience with audiences were at publicity events (not galas... been there done that and won't again)... an Anna Netrbeko one and the NYCB R+J free ticket give away... where, standing in line I met two wonderful, intelligent and knowledgable lovers of ballet and opera... both of whom are friends now... And the reason these interactions took place was that we were able to as we were not focusing on taking in a performance... so the idea of a mixing place for audiences... an informal one... as in a cafe... seems like an interesting idea.

When we visted Lucca some years ago, we took a coffee at Pucini's bar... that is, the one he frequented when he was alive and living in Lucca. Imagine how cool it would be were there a cafe where you might encounter BT people, dancers, ADs, oprea, singers and so on... and maybe strike up aconversation... that might go on for hours. How cool would that be!

Grocery shopping? No that is the furthest thing from my mind after something like ballet or opera.

We drive down from southern Westchester and have to work in the AM.... so we use the drive to drift back down to the mundane from the sublime... usually listening to some opera along the way.

Our fav stop for a snack on the way home is Gray's Papaya on 72nd. Yes...It would be interesting to meet some of the brilliant BT posters up close... If someone organizes an apres ballet cafe.. do post it... We'll be there!

Question about interpretation of roles.

Reading the reviews of the various casts of Bayadere, it is obvious that the different principal dancers present their own unique "reading" of their character... this aside from the actual technical dancing. What part does the AD (or others) play in creating these various nuances and interpretation of the characters? Is this perhaps something that the principals work out amongst themselves?

Clearly the roles are not empty vessels that each dancers fills, looking identical except for their individual body type and technical skill... each one seems to have created an independent and identifiable character. Can others shed light on this? Is this a good quality... to create a slighly different character in the role?

Moderator's note: I made this a new thread, since it deserves answers from several points of view, not necessarily related to the original thread which is dedicated to ABT's current run of LaBayadere.

It was a beautiful production (almost sold out I think)... in marked contrast to the Romeo and Juliet cartoon production of recent the NYCB. All the principals were excellent.. especially Herman Cornejo as the Bronze Idol. There was very good chemistry between Paloma and Angel... and Gillian Mutphy was regal as Gamzatti. She was very regal in an Irish looking way which was the only thing that detracted from her performance, but obviously not much she could do about that without some extreme make up. Gillian is beautiful on stage. Paloma was darker and more sultry and one could see why Solor had fallen so deeply for her.

Both Herrera and Murphy seemed to be on their game last night and well very well received by the audience. Both were excellent as actors although I thought Paloma had more range in her facial expressions than Ms. Murphy. Corella as Solor was superb and partnered both Paloma and Gillian beautifully. I like his work.

The sets, lighting, costumes, choreography and music all worked well together.. one can see why this classic production is so well received by audiences and has such staying power. Thank you Marius Petipa and Natalia Makarova... What an enjoyable evening you and the ABT provided.

The corps was excellent althughI thought they were a bit out of sync in the first act for a moment or two, but the balance of the performance the corp was stunning, working with the precision of a swiss watch and they got better and better as the night went on.

The Bronze Idol danced by Cornejo was dazzling... he looked like a shining golden spinning Hindu god... very tight and in control.

The Papita/Makorova choreography, the sets and the orchestra and music all made this an perfect experience to begin the ABT season. Let's see what they do next!

(I met some BT readers but not posters at one of the tables selling ABT memorabilia.. and that was a hoot!)

The pointes are not the same price... as I recall... and some are hard to come by... If I recall correctly ABT only sold principal pointes... but my memory is rather slack on this. I remember asking for a Vishneva or something and was told they were hard to get... hahaha. What would be cool if the pointes also had the performance(s) they were worn for noted on them... Whatever...

I believe the ABT sells signed pointes at all their MetOpera performances to raise money for a benefit program for students.

Owning a pair which helps out new dancers and is an hommage to a favorite ballerina is a neat thing. We have a pair of Julie Kent's in our own hommage to ballet.. Memorabilia is for memories...

I just received a notice from ABT:

ABT is having a "special feature of the Shakespeare Festival" for subscribers to attend a talk about Romeo and Juliet at:

6:30 pm on Tuesday, 19 June at List Hall, Met Opera House

Admission $20

fearturing:

Alessandra Ferri

Moderator: Wendy Perron

If you stick around the MetOpera, the ABT is performing R&J that evening with Herrera and Gomez.

Do you recall the colors used in the Dick Tracey film of a few years ago... Kirkeby's use of color recalls this effort. Of course Dick Tracy was also a comic book interpreted in film... and the strong hues recalled the pages of the comics. I think this staging has that comic book look. What say you?

Alister Macauley has interesting review in Today's New York Times Arts section. He focuses completely on the dancing, choreography and compares three casts and was silent on the sets and costuming. The DanceView reviews were by three different reviewers of 3 casts, this is one reviewer seeing three consecutive performance of different casts.

Seeing three or 4 casts perform in short order surely would be illuminating ... but it's a job and someone has to do it. Aside from revealing the differences the casts bring to the performances... there are the similarities.. that is what I would assume to be the choreographer/ballet master's main intentions about the roles would emerge... sort of the basic essentials of the parts.

This Spring we intend to see two ABT Manons in the same week... different casts.. and this will be a first for me. Do many BT members attend multiple performances of the same work in short order? It's a luxury, but something which I think worthwhile in seeing more about a ballet. What say you?

Reading this thread got me thinking about "group think"... of audiences. It seems that when you attend a performance there is a consensus in the audience and so after some wonderful moment the audience will show their appreciation and applaud or shout out some "bravos" or "bravas"... I've not heard any other words... why is that? I think I shouted out

YES at the opera once...

But after reading reviews it is more than obvious that not everyone responds the same way to the same performance. I don't recall ever hearing a very few enthusiastic audience members clapping and shouting their bravos and the rest of those attending remaining quiet. Why not?

Do you think the audience reaction is a bit "infectious" as opposed to spontaneous? Clearly when virtuosity is displayed almost all the audience is enthused and reacts spontaneously.

So who are the reactive audience members? I wonder if the real cognoscenti are less demonstrative and the audience outbursts are mostly from the enthusiastic relative newbies. So who do you think are the shouters? And the booers... (I've not seen that... but I heard that Roberto Alagna was booed off the stage in La Scala this past Fall. Are some audiences more sedate and better behaved?

I would think that the performers like the spontaneous feedback... no?

I am by no means a balletomane and have only been attending regular for 4 or 5 seasons... My presence on BT is to be able to learn more about what I am seeing and what I find so often stunningly beautiful. I was very excited about this production, but was disappointed even with little to compare to except my recollection of the ABT production with Herrera and Hallberg. One doesn't have to be a balletomane to respond to the sets, costumes and how the ballet follows Shakespeare... or how effectively his central themes are presented.

The fight scenes were impressive but not ballet... so in the end there was precious little ballet and lots of other distractions. I don't see this production as a success. It wasn't a disaster... but it was a let down. I liked reading the 3 reviews in DanceView... which in total seem to capture the experience we had. It should be interesting to see the ABT's version in a few weeks again.

I was away all day and this discussion is very interesting.

Bart:

I read the article about the NYC Opera in the arts section on Monday, 7 May. I suppose the arts section is available online and someone might know how to find the link. I need to run out... but didn't want to think I ignored you.

I just read an article in the NY Times about the new NY Opera director Gerard Motier who is seeking specifically to reach out to the African American community as part of his mandate and vision.

Interesting in light of this discussion about race, class and inclusion.

I suppose he did... or might have... he lived in a capitalist society no?