cubanmiamiboy

Doug Fullington....where are you when we need you....?☝️

I don't know how long before I re visit ABT's Swan Lake. The current array of female Principals don't attract me enough to jump on a plane as I have been doing for many years now. But there's NYCB, a company I see here and there. Last time I traveled to see them was for their Coppelia, and was very pleased. So I have decided to try their SL, and see the great City ballerinas on it. I have tickets for all performances from 02/14 to 02/20, including the weekend double take. I want to see my favorite NYCB ballerina, Ashley Bouder's Odile!♥️ What am I to expect, production wise....?

Let's agree to disagree here. Bugaku without costumes would be even more senseless than Balanchine's experiment with Sylphides. Bugaku, from the source it took inspiration, to its name, to the geisha-like way the females walk, to the samurai-way way the males stance and march around, to its grand stance on hair, makeup and costume design is the grandest Orientalist balletic fantasy/ode to Orientalism I have ever seen. You take that from the ballet, you erase it. I don't think Balanchine would be satisfied to see his piece morphed into a rehearsal-like situation. Again....I can see perfectly this piece being performed by an all-Asian company, preferentially a Japanese one. Their heritage, their inner right.

Stripping the ballet off the wigs and kimonos would be equal to erase it. I really don't think anyone who loves it would settle for such. And of course, the Trust would never agree to it. I might be in the minority here, but I see it as one of the most beautiful, stylized, non traditional Balanchine ballets. I really hope it survives in non American revivals. Actually I REALLY would hope it could find a caring nest in an Asian company.

I have experienced the same issue with probably all Asian troupes I've ever seen-( as well as with most individual performers). This might be a possibility... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/families/article/2155172/how-chinese-couples-find-it-hard-show-their-emotions-and-why

I started the thread because, interestingly, it was one of the first Balanchine ballets I ever saw, and it struck me for its high plasticity and misterious allure. Sadly, I very much would say it is probably dropped by now from NYCB and even down here.

From the Copeland thread, the issue of Yellow face has risen here and there. Orientalism is being tackled right now as we know-( Balanchine's Tea). Gone are the wigs for the girls, the mustache for the boy and the yellow face makeup. But... what's gonna happen to Bugaku..? The whole thing is like THE ode to Orientalism. Do you think there will be a long, long time before we see it again at NYCB..? In MCB it was done for the last time quite a few years ago...

It has occurred to me more than one time that Ratmansky has taken a lot of inspiration from the post Diaghilev Ballet Russes era style when creating many of his pieces. For instance, this clip from Massine's "Les Presages" seems to be a cut out of Alexei's "Symphonic Dances".

I was ruminating yesterday while browsing through old pages of BalletTalk. It has been 14 years since I joined, and what a great source of information has it been! Needless to say, there have been countless of posters who have contributed immensely to the bulk of this site with their viewing experience and knowledge. Some of them are gone to the heavens now...some others just stopped writing, but I certainly remember them all very well. So my big appreciation to some of the names I can think of from the top of my head. Mel Johnson-(RIP), PopularLibrary-(RIP), Carbro-(RIP), Estelle, Solor, PapeetePatrick, bart, Hans, Leigh Witchell, Leonid-(oh...how do I miss his posts!), Doug Fullington, atm711 and many others. From the bottom of my heart, thanks to all!

I went to today's matinee of this program. It opened on Friday, but I had to work both Friday and Saturday nigh shifts, so today when I came back from work in the morning I stayed awake to go see this. I'm Old Fashioned. Robbins. Never seen it before. A balletic tribute to a Fred Astaire's ballroom-style number with Rita Hayworth that is played in a huge screen onstage before the dancers take center. I found it cute, although somehow repetitive at some point, very much in the way of "Dances at a Gathering", with combinations and more combinations of dancers doing similar stuff onstage. A couple of male variations looked like cut outs from West Side Story. My mom loved it, as anything Americana, telling me that it reminded her of the films she used to watch as a kid. As the 90% of the theater population today sort of fell under that age range and older, I guess people felt quite identified with the soul of this piece. At the end the whole ensemble takes the stage all dressed as Fred and Rita while the clip plays again on the screen and the dancers double up doing the same choreo until the end, when they turn around to wave good bye to the marching off onscreen couple, The Bitter Earth. Wheeldon I have seen a few pieces by Wheeldon and nothing I can remember has been particularly interesting. I thought this would be the case too, as it is usually with me and anything too contemporary-(there was a quote by the late Mel Johnson that would describe my distaste, but it would be too politically incorrect 😉 ). Anyhow...this was not the scenario this time. The piece is a short pdd, and it had its big share of gymnastics, but still managed to look smooth and soothing, with the big help of Dinah Washington's soulful 1960's voice. Quite romantic and even somber and sad at times, it was danced by Ashley Knox and Carlos Quenedit-(ex Cuban National Ballet dancer). Tschaikovsky PDD. Balanchine Always a winner. always a show stopper. Doesn't it pick your curiosity on how the original choreo within Swan Lake might had looked like,...? Anyhow, the fish dives were daring-(real throwing, body extended with legs together, face almost touching the floor)- the and the tempo was fast. The dancers, Jennifer Lauren and my favorite Kleber Rebello did a beautiful job. Bravi. Symphonic Dances. Ratmansky. Only the middle section with the tuxedo like costumes for the men and the bright colored tunics for the women actually does something for me. The rest quite bores me, so I usually close my eyes and listen to the Rachmaninoff score.

Nothing else has been said about it...

OMG...! I remember that was basically the reaction of some of us when the company did their farewell tour! I saw it here in Miami, and after being aggravated and having fought with an usher for a chair for my mom-( the thing was presented with the audience "encouraged" to seat on the stage floor around the dancers)- I couldn't decide if I had to laugh or to cry at the choreo. I didn't have any previous reference whatsoever of the man and his work, and was expecting something along Taylor or Ailey lines. Needless to say, we left early. But this comical approach seems to be the best incarnation of the work.😁

MCB needs a complete SL-( they do Balanchine's). And SB. And Bayadere. And Raymonda. Never gonna happen, but since this is a wishes thread.... ABT needs a proper Raymonda. Also, they need to claim their Tudor repertoire back and make a strong repository of it. There are people still alive who can be called. Hurry up before they die. Mariinsky needs to claim their imperial heritage back and get over with Vainonen, K Sergueev and Ponomarev. Everybody and their momma is doing Petipa, and Mother Russia looks from the distance. Not fair.

Could Alvin Ailey be a proper repository...? They have a very well established, loyal following.

I really can't see his works staged "regularly", and even less "for decades and decades", I'm afraid. His style is one that might not attract the big bucks for a ballet company, nor the proper amount of ballet lovers enough to make it a staple for a company. Graham struggles to survive, so does Tudor and even Ashton modern pieces. I can see Cunningham following. XXI Century seems to keep digging more and more into Petipa, as its timeless core seems to have no end. Maybe that's the key word here. "Timeless" Sleeping Beauty vs "timed" Beach birds....?

Today's the day I got my toys as a kid. Despite having been banned by the communist regime, my family celebrated it privately. The Three Kings would come last night in their camels to give me the presents I had asked for in my letter. And today was the last day of our Christmas tree, put up in the back of the house. Strangely, the Castro government had set up a national raffle done in households precincts for the kids to get rationed toys coming from USSR or GDR, but any reference to the religious celebration was forbidden. Still, within my family it was still "Magi Kings Day". My mom used to go to the countryside and exchange her clothes with raffle winning tickets for me to have a proper Kings Day. I never knew until years later, as a teen. I hope the Three Wise Men/Magi/Kings bring you everything you ask for on this new year. On top of everything, health. Health for you and your loved ones! Me as a kid in Cuba in a closed doors church celebration of Epiphany. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10154486918974191&id=647664190 And here's a celebration of Epiphany by baroque Cuban composer Esteban Salas.

I have the feeling Cunningham knew his work would work for a specific audience/fashion within a specific time frame, and that after that it would be seen as a vintage rarity. Hence his desire for a troupe dissolution at a specific time. I can appreciate his work as I appreciate Duchamp's "Fountain". As a curious memento from the art form. But nothing beyond that....and in small dosages, IMHO.

As we know, Staatsoper has a Nutcracker that uses the Imperial era sets and costumes original designs. Choreo wise, this is not, technically, a reconstruction, but there comes a question about it. On this snippets, one can see choreo for both the Fee Dragee/Prince Coqueluche pdd and Candy Cane dances have a direct link to Petipa/Ivanov. The Fee Dragee pdd has survived quite intact via Sergueev/Markova in Europe and Fedorova in America. Candy Cane is more problematic though. We know Balanchine knew and staged its choreo by heart, knowing it first hand. But...is this choreo now Balanchine trademarked ...? Can it be used outside the Trust scope as another Imperial surviving piece...? Can it be used in Berlin without licensing or Balanchine's name...? Can the Trust limit its staging even if he didn't create it originally...?

That sounds like a good plan to go see this. Yes. It has the length of a theater play, and the whole thing sounds like a big recitative set to music. Can't stand all that screaming, through....😆

I know! Everything has an audience, for sure. And I accept it is my limitation in finding beauty in Rubens, but not in Duchamp, in Puccini but not in Reimann or in Petipa but not in Cunningham.

...very tied with Lear! 😂 At least way shorter than Reimann's, but tricky, because in Lear one can elope right after a shorter act I than the longer one act's Wozzeck! I would had eloped early on Wozzeck, but I was seated in the middle of a row, and would had hated to wake up the three men an a woman I counted were dozing off/sleeping in between me and freedom.

🥰

Best: Ratmansky's Bayadere, Berlin Staatsoper. His last act Grand Pas and temple destruction is ballet history being brought back. Seeing Yolanda Correa as Gamzatti and Alejandro Virelles as Solor, two fellow countrymen as role originators was a moment of pride. Mariinsky's "Paquita" in DC. Again...an ode to a Petipa's last act, in this case one being preserved from Imperial times. Even if this production doesn't follow the original libretto, knowing that the Grand Pas is there and intact for future references is memorable. Tereshkina, of course, as the current Petersburg diva, and she excelled in it. NYCB' Nutcracker. You never go wrong with Mr B's Nut. It is a perfect happy place, and the best way to finish one's year. Manhattan's diva Tiler Peck on it was its crown jewel. Kleber Rebello as Candy Cane, MCB. For years I have considered him the best on this role. If the Trust will film it, they should get him, and he learned the role from Villella himself. He's superb, and I have seen countless NY'rs on it. Lauren Fadeley in Green, Dances at a Gathering, MCB. Never cared for this ballet, which usually bores me to tears. But she did something with this role that will always stay in my mind. She created a "story within the story" that truly captured my interest and made me go through this, to me, dull piece. Worst. There was really nothing I truly hated in ballet in 2019. I just stopped going to programs I knew I would hate, including those Lang's pieces at ABT. So my two picks for the worst of 2019 will be opera. 1- Aribert Reimann's "Lear" at the Garnier, Paris . 2- Albany Berg's "Wozzeck" at the MET I wanted to scream during both performances.

Just turned three. The only thing she cared for was the mice. 😝

I went to the premiere out of pure curiosity. Very few times have I walked out of a performance in my entire life. This was the case. I excruciatingly endured 1:25 minutes out of the 1:30 it lasts. My previous walk out was at Reimann's "Lear", this November at the Garnier in Paris.