printscess

Ha, ha, my parents had no choice in the matter. We were at my parents friend's house who were also very left of center. There were more kids than parents and we won. Doing the right thing, a vote was taken. How democratic!!! They had to live by that vote. Otherwise what kind of message would they have sent us?

I absolutely enjoyed the program. I Tivo-ed to add to my PBS collection on dance (Jock Soto). As always, my heart stopped when the music to West Side Story started. For me that was the evening's highlight. I thought, where do you go from that masterpiece? What is after that? Apparently quite a lot. I thought it was remarkable that at the end of both of their lives, Robbins and Bernstein became intensely interested, obsessed with their Jewishness and their fathers and tried to work out their complicated feelings about these two subjects through their art and were not very successful. I think he was cowardly to name names and as such a huge talent that he was, would his career had died if he had refused? Of course not. I think even in the 40's and 50's, no one in the theater or ballet cared if you were gay. Of course that is 2nd guessing at this point but he did ruin some lives by naming names, as others had done. (I remember my parents not allowing me to watch The Ed Sullivan Show because of his political views, although they relented when The Beatles appeared). Dances at a Gathering was a special highlight for me as was Fancy Free. I will never be able to see Fancy Free again in the same light, now that I know the basis for the 3 sailors, which is a nice thing. Basically, the casting has not change. I would have like to have seen more of Edward Villela.

Thanks Bart for the heads up. I will be Tivo-ing it to keep in my archives.

Kent still travels to various companies staging his original ballets and Francia stages a lot of Balanchine

Oops, you've got part of that wrong: Christopher Stowell is the Artistic Dir. of Oregon Ballet Theatre. His brother is a chef and owner of several restaurants in Seattle.

Finally some good news: OBT received a $300,000.00 grant and donations in December equaled 30% of all donations since July. I don't know what that means in terms of total dollars, but when things are looking bleak, that seems like good news.

He will be hugely successful as a photographer. He has an amazingly unique eye and is a true artist.

For the month of Feb: every Monday morning @ 10AM, the box office will be selling orch seats for the rest of that week for $25.00 (for specific seats). At least this is what a friend of my told me and she got the tickets. If you like more tutu traditional ballets, then the Sat. evening is for you. If you like more typical Balanchine than Friday is for you. For me West Side Story seals the deal. I hope this helps.

Whenever I read about another company canceling part or all of a season, I get a knot in my stomach. Is there any good news about any company? Any uplifting news about large, small, regional?

Why should this even be a topic of conversation?

And they are together this weekend in Grand Rapids, MI doing a performance in a very small version of the Nut. I hope it goes well or went well.

A few days ago, I got an email regarding NYCB's offer for twofers for remaining performances of the Nutcracker. I said to myself that if the vernerable NYCB is selling twofers and ABT is doing an online auction to raise money with prizes such as taking a company class or dinner with Julie Kent, what is going to be the fate of smaller companies? Almost daily on this there are articles posted regarding smaller companies in trouble because of lack of ticket sales to the Nutcracker which is a make or break time for most companies. I for one worry about the closing of the smaller companies around the country. Where will the dancers go? After all the years of training and sacrifice, then what? Last year, when Florida Ballet was going through its troubles, I didn't see it as a harbinger of things to come. But I am afraid it was.

I just came back from Portland and seeing OBT's Swan Lake. (the 3 day trips to the west coast are a killer, but that is another story) I was at the Sat. matinee. Yuka Iino was magnificent as Odette/ Odile. The costumes and scenery took my breath away. The waltzes in Act 1 were wonderful and the divertissements were particularly well done in Act 3. I truly enjoyed the Czadas, the Spanish and the Neopolitan dances.

The pas was an excerpt from the entire ballet that OBT performed in June at the Kennedy Center. I hope having this debut at City Center means that in the near future OBT will perform somewhere in NYC.

I agree with you Leigh. I found myself enjoying the ethnic dancing quite a lot and agree with you on the comments regarding Hofesh Schecter's work. Oy, the music was so loud, although there parts of the choreography that I did enjoy. I went last night to see The Gentlemen of Hälau Nä Kamalei, who I saw on Dance in America (PBS). The only disappointing part was that they were not on stage longer. They were fascinating on PBS and I loved the back story. I was willing to fly to Hawaii to see them, but was happy that they flew my way. Their short time on stage did not give on the true sense of their amazing talent. The Bakery was a pleasant surprise. Lots of balletic jazz. I would have perferred the 2 men to be either bare-footed or in jazz shoes. Dancing in socks seemed sloppy. On another note, I thought that Mr. Connor from Houston Ballet, in Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de deux was not very inspiring, especially during his variation. His partner, Sara Webb seem to be having the time of her life.

I am planning on seeing Oregon Ballet Theatre in October perform Swan Lake with 3 casts. I hope to report on that.

Van Hamel-(McKenzie's)- in character shoes Because I think Carabosse should be in character shoes Jewels - NYCB or MCB

ABT has been known to demote in the past. I am not going to name names because those dancers have gone on to be successful in other companies.

Bart, leave it to you to do the research. The photos are magnificent. Thanks so much for finding them and sharing them.

I am happy for Ezra Hurwitz and Michael Breeden. I remember them from their super yearly years when they were SAB students. I always liked them.

Most students who make it from the beginning levels of SAB to the advanced are not asked to be in NYCB. The majority of the NYCB dancers came in as intermediate- advanced students and are "Balanchinized" for a few years. They arrive at the school at 15 or 16 yrs old and by 18 they are in the company.

JKO has only been in existence for a few years.

One huge difference between ABT and NYCB is that Balanchine said to Kirstein "but first a school". Therein lies a crucital difference in the 2 companies. NYCB builds from within, ABT does not.

I saw Gentlemen of Hälau Nä Kamalei on a PBS special. They were magnificent. Not your typical hula dancers. They are worth seeing.

OBT principals Alison Roper and Artur Sultanov will be @ City Center performing During "Fall for Dance" series. http://www.obt.org/news_fall-for-dance08.html