Arizona Native

That is such a great idea! It is great that you include the pics, as well. The kiddos have to carry so much for school -- too much -- and they enjoy using the iTouch, too. They'll be more likely to actually use this.

Today I just happened to look at the roster and saw what you all have already learned -- that Kendra Mitchell and Kenna Draxton have joined the company. How wonderful! These are such deserving dancers. Ballet Arizona's performance opportunities are unfortunately limited ... it is great to see the dancers having additional opportunities. Congradulations, ladies ... and have fun!

Another note about this weekend's performance -- they are adding a piece by Robert Dekkers, and have announced that Giselle Doepker, now a student at Columbia University, will be performing in Dawson's "Reverance." Ms. Doepker danced a number of years in Ballet Arizona, then a year or so at Dresden SemperOper Ballet, where Mr. Dawson is the resident choreographer. For anyone interested, Novaballet has a Facebook page, in addition to their website.

Very excited about getting to see Novaballet for the first time, this weekend. Choreography includes an excerpt from David Dawson's "Reverance." Michael Cook, previously of Ballet Arizona and now of Suzanne Farrell Ballet has created a piece, and there is a new work by Emory LeCrone, a standout in last year's National Choreography Initiative. The remaining piece is chreographed by David Palmer and Yanis Pikieris. The performance is at the nearly-new Tempe Center for the Arts and tickets are $20-69.

I just wanted to share my excitement over this new company in Phoenix -- Novaballet. They had two performances last summer, and will have two more plus host Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, this year. Choreographers include Emery LeCrone, Robert Dekkers, and Adam Hougland. While the dancers are not separately listed, looking at the photos, they appear to be primarily current and former dancers from Ballet Arizona and at least a couple from Nevada Ballet Theatre. Here's the link to their website: http://www.novaballet.com/index.html.

Yes, Sandik, seeing Natalia Magnicaballi last week week in Balanchine's "Violin Concerto," I thought -- "Martha Graham should see this!" Ms. Magnicaballi's contractions were worthy of Graham Company dancers. Ballet dancers are certainly no longer "complete" without significant modern study -- but *whose* modern? Recently, when my own children had a modern class added to their cirriculum, it was interesting that the studio attached no named method to it, which I thought rather odd. While there has been cross pollination, surely significant differences still exist. Or, perhaps it is like much ballet instruction, with the "American" style being a matter of combining aspects of different methodologies and stylistic elements, with a particular studio leaning towards one named style than another?

Among other things, in seeing this discussion, I've come to the conclusion that anybody who actually cares what a "balletomane" is, is likely to be one.

Papeetepatrick and Nanarina -- yes, chasing people, creepy (sometimes sexual) fixation is something else again. It is an unfortunate hazard for anyone in the public eye. The stalkers may or may not know the first thing about ballet -- stalker status should definately disqualify anyone from being considered a "balletomane."

SandyMcKean -- my thoughts, exactly! On those occasions when I am able to see only one show, there's no question that it is a much more limited experience.

Well, I wouldn't say I'd like to have any significant interaction with any of them, but I would say I often find dancers' stories "interesting" ... for instance, Natalia Magnicaballi, of Suzanne Farrell Ballet and Ballet Arizona, supported her entire family as a dancer while still a child. Humberto Banderas, also of Ballet Arizona, escaped Cuba in a wooden fishing boat, was threatened by smugglers with being thrown overboard, had to swim to shore, and got his job basically as a walk-on. Russell Clarke, of Ballet Az, has been the subject of a BBC special about 4 dancing brothers from a tiny Scottish mining town. The journalist in me thinks that the people are usually interesting, as well as the dance. I don't want any sort of personal interaction with any of them, but I *would* like to interview a lot of them! On the other hand, I have skipped all of the various opportunities (fund-raisers) to talk to or dance with dancers -- I'd rather just send a check, when I can. What I don't mind doing is telling them a performance was wonderful or inspiring, assuming it was, or otherwise providing an ego-boost.

Quiggin, Carbro -- not being in a walkable metro area, I hadn't thought of those implications. How entertaining! I have noticed, however, that I judge audience enthusiasm somewhat by how long into the intermission people are still talking about the dance.

How 'bout either a) You have purposely gone to another city to see "your" company perform, or b) You have planned your vacation around seeing a ballet. Farrell Fan -- How *do* you pronounce PAMTGG? "Pamteg"? "Pamtug"?

Isn't the Balanchine Ballet a bit of a straw man for Kaufman? Dancers' limited acting skills may be, for instance, more closely related to specialization as ballet, like all arts and all sports, has become more demanding in pure physicality. One can imagine a number of other contributing societal causes, some relating to performers, some to audiences, others to the funding (which is mentioned). In other words, accepting the legitimacy of her concerns, wouldn't it be the case that the causes have societal roots ... rather than a causal connection to performing or preferring Balanchine works. Interesting to contemplate Dirac's comment -- is urbanization itself a cause, as lack of colorful "characters" recede and the relative anonimity of the city takes over ....

Seconding the post by Helene, above, and having seen those particular examples at Ballet Arizona -- if it is all that abstract, why do people cry? Oh yes, they do. Men, too. They laugh, they cry, they sigh, and all the rest. Recorded music and all, well-performed Balanchine allows dancers, in all their humanity and individuality, to both stimulate the intellect and resonate with the soul, plot or no plot. In fact, when dancers are emotionally guarded in Balanchine pieces, it is noticiable and unsatisfying. For instance, also at Ballet Arizona, Chelsea Wilcox, while fully physically capable, is not yet up to the level of other company principals, specifically because of this. Roman Zavarov, as Apollo, for all his physical beauty, would be little without the range of expression he provided. I'll buy some of it, including the relationship to artists working contemporaneously -- but not the blanket condemnation.

Well, Madame Helene, shall we see a review from you, shortly?

Oh, those were just examples of my own mania-demonstrating behavior. Feel free to add your own!

Yes, Helene -- it's true. Karen Wojtowicz and Ross Clarke will both be starting as full-time students at ASU. The woman who handed the bouquet to Mr. Clarke is his wife, Liz, who left the company last year and started school herself. It was wonderful to see his surprise and then watch him throw his arms around her as she presented the bouquet. His smile lit up the house! When I heard he was leaving, I thought "WHAT!!!!!! But, you can't!!!! You're just getting started!" (Okay, I admit I also had more inchoate thoughts along the lines of "Waaaaaaaaa!") After his final bow, however, Mr. Ross could not wipe the smile from his face, declaring himself "stoked" to be starting school. This did make me feel better, though I have been *so* looking forward to seeing him continue to grow. Well, he'll continue to grow, but we just won't get to know about it. Seeing him so happy made me happy for him. Try as I might, I *cannot* feel the same the same about Karen Wojtowicz and Nathan VanderStoep. I wanted to yell "NOOOOoooooooo! You can't leave us!!" Each of these highly-accomplished dancers certainly could perform principal roles *today.* I am so sad about them leaving. Maybe we should add to the balletomane thread, "You know you're a balletomane when you take the departure of the dancers personally." In any event, each of them has given audiences great pleasure. Let's hope they, too, have been rewarded and wish them continued success and joy as their lives change.

We could have a little more fun with this. How 'bout a few rounds of "You know you're a balletomane IF"? I'll start. You know you're a balletomane if: 1) Despite the horrid mug-shots in the program, you can instantly identify > 75% of your "home" company members; 2) You have to restrain yourself from giggling, pointing, and bouncing in your seat, because you've just spotted one of your favorite dancers in a restaurant; 3) The box office employees recognize you as the season-ticket holder who always comes back for cheap-seat opportunities for alternate cast performances; 4) You remain genuinely puzzled regarding the relative social acclaim for sports figures.

Just a note to say that it was announced at last night's performance that Ballet Arizona will be performing next summer at Kennedy Center in Ballet Across America.

Bart Cook and Maria Calegari were here for an extended time, staging. The Balanchine pieces were originally scheduled for June, you'll remember, so that the dancers have had very little time for the pieces to settle in. The Arizona Republic had a nice Balanchine bio primer, but missed the opportunity to report on the repetiteurs. The reporter, Richard Nilson, is reasonably supportive, but -- referring now to another Ballet Talk thread -- he's no balletomane.

When reading about ballet history -- enthralled -- I thought "balletomane" a great compliment, and something wonderful to aspire to. I think the same, today!

Yes, the “Les Sylphides” put me in mind of Bournonville, as well – particularly the adagio solo sections: the 120 degree en pointe arabesque with the slo-o-ow roll through to plie, the lovely line with raised leg suspended belying the tensile strength of unified muscle, ligament, tendon, and intention; the harmonic unity, the flattering and even ladylike white costumes similarly evocative. Lovely as it was, I can’t help but think this work is a bit of a waste for a company such as this, with so many accomplished women mostly relegated to providing lovely poses. And, what’s the use of having so very many strong male dancers, if they’re not put to use? Speaking of strong men, sitting next to the pianist for “Polyphonia” was company dancer Nathan Vander Stoep, looking handsome in a tux, assisting Mr. Grant at the piano. Mr. Vander Stoep is himself a musician, playing locally in “Bones Southwest,” a trombone ensemble: http://bonessouthwest.org/player-bios.htm. Mr. Vander Stoep will not be returning to Ballet Arizona next year, unfortunately. His classical line, expansive jumps, strong and considerate partnering and all-around-nice-guy persona will be missed. The many fans of the vibrant Karen Wojtowicz, too, will be disappointed to learn that she is leaving the Company. Ms. Wojtowicz will become a full-time university student. I cannot help but feel that her true potential as a dancer has not been fully realized, even as I recognize that financial considerations have never allowed the number of performances that would be necessary to cast Ms. Wojtowicz (and others whose performances suggest they are fully capable of greater artistic opportunities) and also provide recognized principals with appropriate and deserved roles. While Ms. Kaplan expressed surprise at seeing Ilir Shtylla bougie to David Byrne, I was amazed by Ginger Smith, who, heretofore, has so ably portrayed the ingénue. Gone was the romance of Giselle and Juliet: Ms. Smith was movin’, groovin’, and just plain sexy. As Roman Zavarov danced into her orbit, then, briefly, with her, they produced a magnetic moment, creating a force field suggesting great potential. Though this is not a pair I would have ever thought of, they looked uncommonly good once seen together, sharing intelligence, musicality, intensity, a feline beauty, surprising proportionality, and emotional depth. Ballet Arizona has yet to produce a pairing of great chemistry along the lines of the other larger, nationally-recognized companies. Perhaps this will be the pair. See you this weekend at the Mother’s Day Weekend performances!

Bart, the latest performances are generally that week after Christmas, while the kiddos are still on school break. Indider and I may have given the wrong impression, by posting so late. As for those post-Christmas performances -- my guess, from looking around the theater during that time, is that there is still enough attendance to make them worthwhile (particularly without the expense of the orchestra). This is what is generally done here and has come to be what our audience expects. There are other "winter" tradition events that similarly run a bit later than Christmas -- Phoenix Zoo's "Zoolights" comes to mind. While this is a tourism area, out-of-towners come to play golf, rather than attend the ballet. The audience is quite local, for the most part -- very different from New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and others. I note that a local studio (run by Polish dancers Slowomir and Irena Wozniak, parents of AZ Ballet dancer Slowomir Wozniak) held their performances at the Spanish Baroque Revival venue, the Phoenix Orpheum, in early January. Another student company, Ballet Etudes, holds theirs closer to Thanksgiving in the east valley. I'm just musing here, having no information from Ballet Arizona on this strategy.

Sorry, Stinger! And, some mysteries just aren't meant to be solved.

Here's another -- tardy -- Trapped in a hotel room by a weather-related flight delay, I recently turned on the television to find a bio of a renowned basketball coach. One person after another remarked on his energy, including his own high-school coach who said that, as a player, he “had legs,” by which was meant that the more he played, the more he ran, the more energy he seemed to have. In the final evening of a 3-week “Nutcracker” run, Paola Hartley showed she has legs. In the final performance, she danced both Snow Queen and Chinese Tea as though it were the beginning of the run, rather than the end -- this, after she had danced Sugar Plum at the matinee the same day. Ms. Hartley, who always knows how to bring it, never missed a chance to connect the choreography with the music and to use her face, especially her big, dark eyes, to compliment emotion and line. Chinese Tea is lots of fun, though it includes discomfiting stereotype poses. The best of it, however, has nothing to do with chopstick fingers, but with humor and companionability. Tossed high in the air, by partner Daniel Marshalsay, legs parallel, bent knees toward her chest, then caught just in time to be pushed up from behind into pas de couru, feet out in front of her, arms waving, the audience “ooooh”ed as we, too, caught that roller-coaster feeling. Swung like a bell, side-to-side from under the armpits, alternating legs winging out and up (a more extreme version of the movement done ad nauseum in Balanchine’s “Clairinade”), Ms. Harley was the daredevil on the playground, urging “higher, faster, more!” In fact, there were a number of daredevil moments in this run. Ross Clarke and Kenna Draxton, as Snow King and Queen, made me understand, for the first time (despite having previously noticed the clouds projected on the stage floor) that these rulers of winter are flying -- dancing on the air among the clouds. They are a handsome pair, both with long legs and nicely-arched feet, developing a nice go-for-it chemistry. She is a blonde-haired and pale Glamazon, while he is dark-haired, but similarly tall. Mr. Clarke also did me the favor of clarifying the logic of the choreography in Arabian. As is commonly done, Arabian in this production is a seductive pas de deux. One of the man’s solo portions has always seemed a bit awkward and out-of-place in what is otherwise a languid, mesmerizing piece. This portion consists of a stylized walk, in parallel passé with plie, arms bent like a football goal, hands flipped open. Mr. Clarke changed the stress of the movement, emphasizing the “down” of the plie, adding a hesitation between them to delineate individual steps. Others have done it smoothly, but Mr. Clarke’s choice elucidated the music and made more visual sense. Ross Clarke was wonderful, too, as “Russian,” with Ian Poulos, who is also about 6 feet tall. While I expected the smaller Daniel Marshalsay and Roman Zavarov to show us those wonderful split jumps (and they did; Mr. Zavarov also did the Russian folk dance knee-walking), I was particularly impressed by Mr. Clarke and Mr. Paulos. There is something special and surprising in seeing men this big taking on the super-athletic, competitive jumps this part requires. Mr. Clarke (I think; a couple times I lost track of the back-and-forth) also threw in a series of near-aerial dive cartwheels – nifty tricks perfectly in keeping with the bravura competitive role. The audience loved them. The audience also appreciated Ian Poulos as Drosselmeyer. With strong stage presence, Mr. Poulos was mysterious and remote, in contrast to the more avuncular Sergei Perkovskii and Ilyar Shtyla. Poulos’ Drosselmeyer works nicely with the ambiguity suggested generally by Anderson’s production. Drosselmeyer appears in the drawing room amidst a cloud of smoke; however, his entrance occurs near the fireplace. Was it magic, or just a bit of tree sap? The smoke re-appears in Clara’s dreams – wisps of cloud for the Snow King and Queen, then, for the angels arrayed in floor-length gold gowns, as billowing fluff and rolling fog. Several people in the audience said “Snow” is their favorite among the second-act dances. The women’s flying grandes jetes are reason enough. Killian Stephens begins as a single snowflake, running on to pose center stage releve sous-sous, arms vee’d overhead. She was rock-solid, every time I saw her, both in the establishing move also in the perfectly-timed, beautifully-placed arabesque balance created next. Among the Snow dancers, she continually connected her eye to her hand, extending her line. She has a beautiful smile to enhance an engaging and growing stage presence. I look forward to seeing more of her in the future. On a bit of the sad side – Robert Dekkers is very much missed! While others do a nice job as Harlequin, none have quite achieved his sense of the comedic timing with Columbine, which brought a laugh every time as he kissed the air, just after she pulled her hand away. He and long-time company member Kendra Mitchell were particularly in sync in this duet, getting it just right, both there and in the bit of peek-a-boo that follow. According to its website, he is now dancing with ODC Dance in the San Francisco area. On the other hand, it was wonderful seeing Kendra Mitchell back onstage, returning after breaking an elbow as the result of a fall during last year’s Nut. She was a radiant Dewdrop – a lovely role to allow this small dancer to display her secure classical technique among larger flowers. There was just too much that was good in this production to mention. “Bravo” to all the dancers, who maintained their technique and character (and their sanity, I hope) throughout what must be a brutal run. Dancers performed multiple roles in compressed time periods, and several of the women danced demanding soloist/principal roles and performed in the corps (sometimes Snowflakes *and* Flowers) during a single performance. They then put up with the recorded music at the end of the run -- a recording that was greatly different in emphasis and tempi from the live versions. Increasingly, this is a company in which dancers immerse themselves in even the simplest of characters, providing rich detail. They will soon have ample opportunity to show us how far they have come, performing Romeo and Juliet over Valentine’s/Presidents’ Day Weekend. Hope to see you there!