cubanmiamiboy

57 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

There were a few posts re whether or not NYCB should revive Bugaku in the NYCB Fall 2019 thread.

I was then and still am in the "nah, we don't need to revive this one" camp. 

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.

12 hours ago, FPF said:

I thought MCB was supposed to be acquiring the Ratmansky SL reconstruction.

Nothing else has been said about it...

10 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

We all know it's not really great if The Trocks haven't blessed it with a send-up, and Cage/Cunningham is no exception. Patterns in Space is a hoot, although the on stage musicians never fail to steal the show. (Choreography after Merce Cunningham / live music after John Cage per the credits.)

 

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. 

10 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

I wouldn't expect Cunningham to be a ballet company staple. But ballet companies aren't the only dance companies out there, nor is the audience for dance limited to those who only like ballet.  

There are Cunningham works that a ballet company might tackle with some reasonable expectation of success, e.g. Duets, Summerspace, Septet, maybe Antic Meet. But frankly, I think his work would be better served by companies and organizations that make their home in other dance forms. 

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.

On 10/3/2019 at 11:27 PM, YouOverThere said:

The Kennedy Center belatedly celebrated the 100th anniversary of Merce Cunningham's birth by presenting a completely forgettable performance of 2 of Cunningham's works. The dancing, such as it was, was performed by a company called Compagnie Centre National de Danse Contemporaine - Angers, whose AD, Robert Swinston, re-created the dances.

The first work was titled Beach Birds. The object here apparently was mimic birds on a sandy beach. So the piece mainly consisted of dancers standing with the arms extended and occasionally hopping around. It might look cute to see birds hopping around, but having people do it just looked silly. The piece was set to "music" that was "composed" by John Cage. The "music" was only slightly more interesting than Cage's 4 Minutes, 33 Seconds, since the pianist actually did occasionally play a note (perhaps a couple of hundred notes over the course of 25 minutes).

The second piece was titled BIPED. This one actually featured dancing and was accompanied by actual music, albeit droning ambient music. The creativity in this piece was limited to the staging, since it including a scrim in front on which light patterns and computer graphics were displayed. Unfortunately, the graphics didn't obscure the fact that the choreography was pretty basic and that there didn't seem to be a point to any of it other than to fill up time, and time it did fill up - dragging on and on for about 55 minutes.

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...?

On 1/1/2020 at 8:09 PM, canbelto said:

I think Wozzeck is more easily enjoyed if you think of it as a play with musical accompaniment. 

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....😆

44 minutes ago, canbelto said:

Well not everything can be Puccini ...

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.

6 hours ago, canbelto said:

The opera is definitely a bit "difficult" but it's one of the greatest operas in the canon, IMO. Absolutely devastating emotional impact and the music maybe the most famous representation of German Expressionism.

...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.

7 hours ago, abatt said:

She's a sweetie.  Very cute.

🥰

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.

On 12/24/2019 at 8:24 AM, Barbara said:

So big! And adorable! 

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.

🥰

https://www.facebook.com/100007047452281/posts/2631970156850347/?substory_index=48

On 12/13/2019 at 6:13 PM, abatt said:

Looking at the casting for the entire run, I did not see Kathryn Morgan listed at all.  That's worrisome.

For what I saw in "Slaughter", she's not there yet for tutu roles.

On 12/13/2019 at 1:43 PM, Syzygy said:

Miami City Ballet just posted an Instagram story about a debut: "Miami City Ballet pre-professional year dancer @taylornaturkas making her debut this Sunday as Dew Drop." She looks great from the clip, and a student in that role is pretty exciting. Is anyone going who can report back? 

I saw her last night. Didn't even know she was not a company member. Quite strong and secure.

None of the Russians for sure. Both Vainonen's pseudo Rose Adagio and Grigorovitch bizarre candelabra/praying stuff made me cringe.

Balanchine's for its adherence to the original libretto, speed, witty choreo, for the kids, best tree transformation and of course...snow and flowers.

Sir Peter Wright's for its preserved Grand Pas, best costumes and scenery.

Alicia Alonso after Alexandra Fedorova. Because it is the one I grew up with and the linkage it contains to old school ballet-( ca. Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo/Ballet Theater 1940's)

On 8/26/2010 at 8:07 PM, cubanmiamiboy said:

Oh, so then the last name changes from Hoffmann to Dumas, and the first name from Dumas to Vsevolozhsky...?

Hoffmann= Marie Stahlbaum

Dumas= Marie Silberhaus

Vsevolozhsky= Clara Silberhaus

..am I right now..?

Balanchine 1954- Marie Stahlbaum

Balanchine 1958 TV telecast- Clara Silberhaus.

On 3/27/2012 at 8:55 AM, Birdsall said:

Coffee does seem to go on and on forever.

I might have an exception with Balanchine's, as his tempo is quite faster than the current norm-(usually dreadfully soporific), and his choreo is witty and doesn't involve contorsions.

On 3/27/2012 at 8:55 AM, Birdsall said:

Coffee does seem to go on and on forever.

I might have an exception with Balanchine's, as his tempo is quite faster than the current norm-(usually dreadfully soporific), and his choreo is witty and doesn't involve contorsions.