cubanmiamiboy

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Yes, yes, yes. Their performance was the most exciting to me. And about Reichlen, she is definitely on the cold side. Her love duet was very technical, but quite emotionless. Her limbs are gorgeous though.... Fouettenometer alert! She did 30 turns. Two fouettes to one double pirouette, and after a while reverted to singles. Maybe the clean 32 singles TO THE BEAT OF MUSIC are gone for good....?

More musical cuts I see in this production. Whole bars during the entrance of the hunters at the lakeside. The end of the Mazurka at the ballroom. An addition I could go without...? The deleted-by-Petipa Love duet coda. I know Balanchine re inserted it-(I've seen it in Miami)- for his white act, but I feel Petipa was really clear about preserving the stillness of the pas, which never fails to touch audiences... particularly during the last slow pizzicattos. The 77 coda totally breaks the magic of the duet.

He's proficient, but quite uninspiring. Fouettenometer alert! Mearns did 27 singles and triple pirouettes at the end. Very important to note. As the score is played in this version at faster speed than other companies-( which I love, and it's probably closer to what Tchaikovsky had in mind)- fouettes can be problematic to count and/or maintain on beat. Case scenario today. Mearns' singles were done slower than the music, hence why she was done with her 27th by the time the music was over. Her triple pirouettes at the end didn't take music time at all.

My mom is currently watching this, as I'm in NYC. She says "Rodeo" bored her...🤔 Let's see what she thinks of this Miamian production of "Firebird".

Sara is KILLING IT today!! Loving her so far!!♥️♥️♥️

And why..oh why..did Martins went away with the Two Big Swans dance, giving its valse-( and tweaking it)- to a most generic variation for Siegfried ..?!?! I can't get over all the insanity with this production, and excuse me all those who love but I'll keep ranting.

The best way to compare is by playing the Charles Dutoit 77 version, with the original ballroom pas, the pas de six for Siegfried and the princesses. The so called "Tchai pas" is also included in the Dutoit, but we must remember it was added after the premiere on request of the ballerina Shobeshanskaya with Petipa supplying the choreography. Then you can listen to the Fedotov, which includes all the cuts, additions and tweaking Petipa and Drigo did in 95. I happened to like better the 77 score, particularly for act IV, sans the Valse Bluette or Un poco di Chopin and the great "stormy music" for act IV that is usually present in all versions now, but also deleted by Petipa for the 95 premiere.

The fouettenometer report: Bouder was brilliantly doing the fouettes, with great speed and intertwining double pirouettes with her arms up, but...she stopped short of some 28/29. Unlike Mearns, she did not fill up the rest of the music...she just stood and Furlan started his pirouettes right away. In this production, as there is no stopping to applaud the fouettes, the miss is not as obvious as other companies where ballerinas have to bravely bow even if said section was a disaster. I loved Bouder nonetheless.

I do remember well the late Mel Johnson commenting that this finale was done for Ana Pavlova's debut in the role. Or maybe it wasn't a debut, but certainly she was there.

Ashley and Jovani are ON 🔥 tonight!!! Her Odette was a dream come true.

Hear, hear!! Very ready to see my favorite City Ballet ballerina, Miss Ashley Bouder!! And who's her Siegfried..? Our very own Jovani Furlan from MCB!! ♥️♥️♥️ Let the music begin!!

Of course I'm going. She is my favorite City Ballet ballerina!🥰

Reichlen was cautious. There was not a lot of drama in her Odette, nor seductive power in her Odile. It was obvious she was carefully going through the choreography, but there was no nervousness either. She chose single fouettes intertwined with double pirouettes two to one. They were not fast but she did complete the whole of the music, which seems to be a task nowadays .

Not only in the lakeside scenes, but overall everywhere. For example...right after the Black Swan pdd, what follows on the 95 score-( which is tweaked from the 77)- is an incidental music passage to clarinet, in which Von Rothbart engages Siegfried in a mime to make him swear eternal love to Odile. When he does that, the music then falls into a variant of the ballet leit motif in a fast, sinister form with brass instruments while the charade unveils. Here that whole passage before the brass is eliminated, and for some reason that's beyond me, Martins chooses to play...THE WHOLE MAZURKA IN ITS PLACE..!! So then you see Rothbart and Odile on one side and the Queen and Siegfried on the other trying their best to stretch a dialogue that is supposed to be quite shorter. The endless mazurka plays while the only thing happening is Rothbart telling Odile "We fooled him" on one side and Siegfried telling his mom "I will marry her" on the other. And it takes forever....

I'm watching Reichlen now. Intermezzo from Act 1. I sat on the first balcony right purposely to see her face in the love duet. She obviously wanted "anguish" to be her pointer. They're really tweaking with the score. Many da capos are eliminated, and whole bars of music are gone.

I was quite shocked to the whole lackluster of the production in act I scene I to really appreciate the dancing to its fullest. But I noticed something. What is being told as "speed" sometimes translates better in this production as "rushed"...what is meant to be "streamlined" looks in fact naked and pointless. I'm talking about the garden scene particularly. The pas de trois was there...but it was as if it wasn't. The costumes didn't give an idea of who they are and why are they there. In some productions they are three villagers, in some others is Benno with two courtesans. Here it was just three dancers trying to dance and jump as fast and high as they could. The whole feeling of the dancing comes out pretty much as what we see in Nureyev or Grigorovitch choreos...fill, fill, fill with steps every bar of music as much as you possibly can. We had Mearns last night. The whole of her performance was of an overall coldness. I didn't notice any rapport at all with her Siegfried, Gillaume Cote. The Love Duet was anything but lovable. Very technical and all, bit there was no love there. Her Odile was also cold. I don't think I saw her smile at all during the whole ballet. She did single fouettes and after the 26th she started traveling and losing control and she stopped at 28, finishing the rest of the music with chainee turns.

https://images.app.goo.gl/f8KxTKGq4aoZeTyJ7

Oh...and those doors in the drawing room act !-( because I saw no ballroom). Is that how guests get into a place when the court is there....by pushing and slamming wide open the doors ...? I felt sorry for the two footmen that are placed on the wall right where the external doors on each side end up after being pushed several times. They have to wait for the damn doors to hit their face before diligently close them while the dancing is going on. And why was the queen seated in a 1980 tv/entertainment/bookshelf module...?

Here we go again. Butterfly doesn't have more kids with Pinkerton..! Aurora doesn't die..! Odette and Siegfried DO NOT SURVIVE THE BALLET...!!! 😠😠😠😠

Intermezzo. Act I scene I ought to be the ugliest thing I have ever witnessed, Swan Lake wise. What on earth was PM thinking..?!? This is almost an insult to the Imperial past of this work, and I can't imagine anybody, including Balanchine himself, who would had approved of such monstrosity of a production. Choreography wise is just another try out at a Balanchinesque act, which is very similar to what one can see in John Clifford's choreos for his defunct L.A ballet. They definitely try and try, but the result is just that...a pseudo Balanchine try out. To me the whole "garden" scene could had been done sans corps, as a mere group of abstract variations, because that's what it basically looked like. And I thought the Soviet jesters were annoying!! This hyperactive guy in that horrendous costume and bathing cap was just the tip of the iceberg. And the nerve to sort of simulate the second male variation from T&V..!!😠 More thoughts to come ...I need to recover.

I have treated patients post op after those surgeries. They're grueling...and the recovery part is just long and hard. Many people are able to live many years avoiding the surgery, but there's a point in which is either surgery or days without not even able to get out of bed. Her experience addd to the list of those dancers who have dealt with horrible injuries, and still had kept fighting with all their means to keep doing what they love the most. From the top of my head I remembered the biographies of Villella and his knees, Farrell and her hip and Alonso with her detached retina and blindness. They all were so resilient....

Just as with "Slaughter..". Heels shoes, and two of them long gowns. 🤔

No, she did not. Next program is Balanchine's Firebird, but I doubt she will be cast in that either.