pleiades

Yet another vote for Elusive Muse and the NYCB Nutcracker. They're both on DVD. Another favorite DVD is ABT at the Met It's a mixed program which includes the version of Les Sylphides that Greskovic discusses in his book. It also includes performances from a number of terrific dancers.

djb, that's exactly what bothered me about the choreography -- you put it far more articulately than me!

Last night I watched a Kirov compilation which included a ballet choreographed to Barber's Adagio for Strings. I love the music and hadn't known of any ballet set to it (probably my ignorance more than anything else!).. Are there others or is the Kirov the only one?

Is the Kirov version performed anymore? (I have to confess I didn't love the choreography which to my feeble mind seemed too stilted for the music)

The movie had a brief theatrical run. I saw it, sucker for ballet that I am. It basically follows several dancers and I seem to recall that the dance sequences were not hugely satisfying. I don't remember alot of specifics other than the fact that I walked out of the theater not particularly thrilled.

Note also that it's subtitled in English

Actually I think it's The Royal Multi-National Heck Ballet. Of course don't forget their student company: The Pennyroyal National Heck Ballet.

I'm in agreement with the notion that one of their flagship productions is the aforementioned excerpt from Center Stage. (Did enjoy the movie though)

The only argument I would make is a sociological one -- I can't imagine that status conscious LA would accept an artistic director who came from, horrors, Oregon, whereas William Forsythe would have the edgy stature that LA craves as well as the artistic chops/creds to reassure the old guard.

I think that LA is heading towards a place where it could support and nourish the right kind of company, especially with the additional slots open at the Music Center. The fact that they've been able to put together an extremely ambitious first season of visiting companies is something that simply wouldn't have happened even five years ago.

Let's see. . . Los Angeles needs a company. . . William Forsythe needs a home. I'm totally uneducated and inexperienced when it comes to the world of professional ballet, so maybe it's an extremely stupid idea. . .

I'm pretty sure I'm NTSC only -- didn't realize that standard applied to DVDs as well as video. And yes, you got my question absolutely correctly.

I have the opposite of the usual situation -- I have a DVD player but not a decent VHS one. While you're individually making your DVD transfers, is anyone doing it in an institutional way? I've found some stuff, but no Balanchine other than the Nutcracker through the 'usual sources.'

Sylphide, I'm with you -- as I went frame by frame it jumped out at me (no pun intended)

re: the pirouette in sur le cou de pied -- encountered this step in a drop in class while out of town. To say it was hard would be, for me, an understatement. I couldn't even do one, and my foot was nowhere near where it was supposed to be.

A second for the NYCB Nutcracker -- I prefer it to the Royal Ballet. Note that if you get on DVD and have a laptop which plays same, you can have 'all Nutcracker, all the time.'

A corps de ballet is just that.  Soloists are soloists and principles are principles. 

Actually, aren't they "principals?" Although I would agree that NYCB also has strong principles!

I have, within the past few months, seen a copy or two on the shelves at my local Borders. For face value. For what it's worth, you might want to check in with your local chains and independents just in case.

I vote for Les Patineurs.

One of my teachers was a protege of Celli's, who incidentally is quoted in the Joffrey's program notes for L'air D'Espirit about his experience partnering Spessivtzeva.

There is a picture of Celli in the studio, and it is, I must confess, pretty spine tingling to think that the lineage goes all the way back to Legat and Cechetti.

Actually, I did mean "numbnut" which is an expression I picked up somewhere at some point and have absolutely no clue how to spell.

Major Mel, thank you so much for your confirmation -- it gives me some confidence that I'm not altogether insane. I didn't notice the battements at the time, but as I put the evening back together in my memory I realize how many of them there were!

It was an interesting evening for me -- the person I was with thoroughly enjoyed the evening, while as I said to a friend: "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." I now look at ballet totally differently, some of it for the better, yet some of it makes me perhaps too critical. I enjoyed the evening, but found myself looking at the performance altogether differently than I ever have before.

The last time I saw the Joffrey was more years ago than I'll admit, and well before I started taking ballet. I had seen Gerald Arpino's choreography then, but don't remember it all that well. I was struck by three, well I might call them 'choreographic signatures' last evening, and wondered if my perception was accurate. It seemed to me that Arpino constantly used long, extended arms with the hands up, palms facing outward. Is this something he does alot? Had the same question about the 'quivering extremities' -- mostly hands -- which seemed to show up in everything and which open Light Rain . And finally, he seems to almost constantly shape his patterns on the floor by having his dancers run in, out and around. Again, is this pervasive?

I realize I'm probably the lone numb nut who chose the Arpino program over the Diaghilev, but I had seen Light Rain years ago, remembered loving it and wanted to see it again. I was glad to know my memory did not deceive me, I still enjoyed it very much.

Just a note to anyone 'telling stories' who thinks they might be too long - - no way! I'm truly loving this thread: to quote a previous poster: "Go long!"

Apologies in advance for the non-sequiteur. but Leonard Pinth-Garnell cannot yet get private messages. I've recently taught my son a bunch of the old SNL catch phrases and among them was the L P-G "Bad Theatre" etc. What a great surprise it was to see someone else remembers!

I have read The Devil Wears Prada and found it beachable, but not much else.

A plug for Meg Wolitzer's new book: Wife -- nicely written and thoughtful. Not quite mindless enough for the beach, but nowhere near as initimidating as the 'serious literature' referenced in previous posts.

I'm currently alternating between the biography of the Mitford sisters and The Russian Debutante's Handbook which I like very much.

You're right, she is well on in years, and while still vibrant, I'm sure that her perspectives reflect those of a different time.

May I respond from another perspective, I hope it's appropriate? One of my teachers is a former senior ballet mistress at the Royal Ballet, and I see very, very clearly the differences between her 'style' and my other teachers.

1. The arms in arabesque are qualitatively 'wispier'/more ethereal than any others I've seen -- I realize that's not very clear, but it's the only way I know to describe it -- and there are never any right angles.

2. Re: penchee -- we are constantly told that the true arabesque, or for that matter, any developpe, goes no higher than 90degrees, anything else is a modern aberration. As a corollry, the upper body moves very conservatively -- there are no extreme angles or arches.

3. The impression I get from my teacher is that individual style is less important than the ability to move cohesively as part of a uniform whole -- the emphasis is on being able to function exquisitely as a member of a corps rather than as a soloist.

4. Frappes are taught with a flexed ankle and pointed foot at the point of extension (at least by this teacher now) and rises to pointe are sprung, not rolled.

May I speak as one of the children who was taken as well as a parent now who takes her nine year old son, when appropriate, to live performances of all kinds.

I was lucky, I was taught by my parents not only how to behave in general, but even when (and when not) to applaud at the ballet, the opera, the symphony, etc. I began with matinees -- followed by a special dinner at General Lee's chinese restaurant with my parents. These experiences in large measure, formed my love for the arts of all kinds, and gave me the grounding to become an avid ballet student in my forties.

In contrast, my brother did not have these experiences. IN fact I remember on a couple of vacations a babysitter showing up so that my parents and I could go to the ballet. And even today, he could care less.

That's why I take my son. Why I insist that he learn how to behave appropriately. And why sometimes, he turns to me and says, in his understated way when he doesn't want to admit that I was right, "it was alright."

I liked the program in general -- at least the dance footage -- and the Morris piece in particular for a reason that's important to me as an adult ballet student: I got to see how all four dancers, each with their own style, made the same steps their own. Malakhov's petit allegro was very different from Carreno's, from Stiefels, etc. The ability to see four spectacularly gifted dancers doing the same steps at the same time (instead of one night after the other) was really wonderful.