cubanmiamiboy

I just found this little piece of history and thought nice to share it... http://www.balanchine.org/balanchine/display_result.jsp?id=303&sid=&searchMethod=&current=&stagings=&refs=1&tvs=#refs

dirac...TRUST ME and go see it...!

The other day I was listening to the moaning of a friend related to the defections issue and to "what a shame was it that the Cuban Ballet can't present themselves with a proper troupe", given the high volume of defections. I reposted that, on the contrary, never was the Cuban Ballet more well known internationally as when our dancers started leading major troupes around the world. Hence the final situation is a winning one...CNB is everywhere, and its style and schooling is widely seen, recognized and respected via the body of those dancers now showing their art in major companies worldwide. Can we ask for more..?

Ah..she has one of those "childish" voices...!

Mr. Martinez, born in Havana, studied with Alonso during the very first years of Ballet Nacional de Cuba, and danced on and off with both the Cuban company and BT. He became a principal in Cuba in 1960, just when the Cuban Coppelia was just three years old, and staged this version-(uncredited)- for BT in 1968, 11 years after Alonso's and 6 before Balanchine and Danilova's for City Ballet. Kirkland was one of his Swanildas. Martinez died in 1998.

So revert to Enrique Martinez' version...! (hint-hint). Edited to add...not version, but staging... BTW...Does anybody know why it got dropped...?

Please, don't kill me for this observation, but...could it be that there's still a drop of the "glamour" or "sophistication" element in the fact of lighting a cigarette in public, probably more accentuated if you are a beautiful actress or ballerina...? I mean, cigarettes and ballet are both items that seem to belong to another era, very alien for many nowadays. In those old films of Dietrich-(like "Shanghai Express")-there's so much smoke all along that it sort of becomes another character. Would the two elements together-(ballet+smoking while interviewed)- be sort of a statement of "Don't mind me...I'm different from the majority of you mortals"...? Plus...there's the undeniable fact that this is a European dancer. We all know that Europeans are not as crazy as Americans about the whole war against smoking. There are barely any public spots here in US where smoking is allowed, contrary to Europe, where one can see people smoking almost everywhere without being too much of a big deal so I don't think she thought too much about it during the interview. Just a thought... http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/smoking.jpg http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01435/smoke_1435740c.jpg http://www.hpvf.com/catalog/2b_1_b_2971_1.JPG http://news.injuryboard.com/uploadedImages/InjuryBoardcom_Content/Blogs/News_Blog/News/Ava_Gardner_Snows500.jpg http://legs.free.fr/Images/Gallery/broadway05.jpg

I'm speaking only for myself here, but opinions about dancers are posted on Ballet Alert all the time. Tone, of course, has a great deal to do with what makes a good post for this particular Board. As ballet critics have known for generations, there are ways to express lack of preference for certain dancers without demeaning them or their fans. One of the things I like about Ballet Alert is the general agreement that LIGHT (in the sense of enlightening others) is generally more useful than HEAT when it comes to expressing our opinions. Ah bart, but a little drama here and there to spice things up a bit is always a nice touch, isn't it...?

But keeping a piece in constant rep can make it fade too... Giving it a break and then reviving it isn't so terrible an idea... The issue is perhaps in how long the break is and who is responsible for the revival... Like Esmeralda or The little Humpbacked Horse...? Lavishes productions that end up being presented a couple of times to then fall back again into their dormant state, or even worse..into oblivion...? Dancers that can't really believe in its story because they don't nothing about it, because they haven't seen it being performed EVER, because they don't know what to do with it or how to GET IT in their bones...? Audiences that see it as a foreign-(if beautiful)-object from another era and time-(name it, vintage BRdMC, vintage BT, vintage City Ballet, etc)...? Absence of a solid historic performance background due to lack of knowledgeable coaches familiar with the roles...? This is what this is all about...

...and so here we have the tragic common place of the companies that allow huge gaps of time in between showings of certain ballets, resulting in both dancers AND audience growing unfamiliar with it. Then, suddenly, the ballet succeeds in starting to become a curiosity...a museum piece. How long before the same story occurs in ABT with Chopiniana...? or Fille...? I'm really really hoping for this tale not to be repeated with the upcoming showing of Giselle in Villella's company. If it does, that would be a tragedy.

Thanks for the suggestion, Colleen. It is interesting that you compare the two versions and place City Ballet's over Franklin's. I remember when I read Kirkland's book that she had some harsh words for Balanchine's staging-(VERY harsh words indeed,even deciding not to dance in it). On the other side she said to have enjoyed dancing ABT's version-(which was, back then, Enrique Martinez' staging, which he did, without crediting the source, after Alonso's 50's one, in which he danced)

Who do you like the most...? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VnNz7A2xNQ&NR=1 I'm all for Misha...and then Sarabita.

Are you serious...? Do you want Miss V. going around the world fresh as a lettuce just showing off for the Rose Adagio balances...? She could be at risk to be arrested after the performance via telephone call from some Petipa hardcore fans...! (Seriously...she could be tempted to try not to hold one single hand during those balances...! ) On a serious note...yes...the RA would be a great addition...along with an excerpt from "Fille" and the Shades Entrance and Veil Pas de Deux of "Bayadere"... Glad you enjoyed the performance, KsK04...very happy indeed.

Oh yeeees, we were taught-(at least back in the days...don't know now)- "La Marsellesa" in our Musical Education class-(elementary school)...

My pleasure, Ksk04. I'm trying to make up for their little exposure to the conosseurs out there..(even if way more than past decades Cuban dancers...) Miss Morejon as Clara Silberhaus Mr. Gounod with Miss BArbara Garcia in the SL Spanish Dance Miss Morejon as Dulcinea Mr. Gounod as the Bluebird http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlaCn-0al7c

For me they are more than interesting opening a fascinating window into the life and work of an extraordinary man. I met Ram Gopal on a number of occasions in London and if a little over the top, he was always deeply interesting and sincere when talking about dance and dancers and we had a shared interest in the life and work of Anna Pavlova. Hearing him talk about Dame Alicia Markova brought also brought back a lot of memories having worked with her on projects at Ivy House and also having recorded a BBC radio programme with her in Pavlova's former home almost thirty years ago where I staged a "Pavlova Festival." Thank you Christian for posting these films. I was deeply touched to see them again. Obit: http://www.guardian....bituaries.india Obit: http://www.independe...ova-674993.html Once again, thanks Leonid for your wonderful recollecitons. At some point I would love to hear more of your stories from your works in the Ivy House.

But let's "balleticize" this thread a bit...! King Florestan XXIV and daughter Aurora. Von Rothbart and daughter Odile Lord Capulet and daughter Juliet

To all the fathers of this board-(and especially those "ballet dads" I'm sure we have too... )-I wish A very, VERY Happy Dad's Day...!! FELICIDADES!!!!!

As some have noted already...let's watch this two... Miss Morejon in the first variation of the Swan Lake PDT Mr. Gounod as Solor Miss Morejon in the Swan Lake Tarantella Mr. Gounod as Basilio

I would love to see Franklin's Coppelia. I absolutely ADORE this ballet, especially for the doll parts. The wedding PDD is one of the most glorious of the classic repertoire, and the mazurka contains one of those tunes that can get into your head forever without taking off... I wish the Cuban ballet would tour with the crowd pleaser 1957 version it still maintains...it is really beautiful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHKurDx_yQg&feature=related

I hope you'll enjoy this clips as much as ai did...!

In my beach bag pack..."Pravda" by Edward Docx, a compulsevsively readable novel on the subject of loss and loyalty that takes place in the complicated, multilayered society of today's Russia... At home, my battered down Turgueniev "Sketches of a hunter's album"...which I'm revisiting for the zillion time..!

I loved Brody as Dali...but not too much Bates as Stern...

...has anybody seen it...? I did tonight...and I liked it..! (I think the last "Woody" I saw was that one in Barcelona with Scarlett Johanson, which I didn't like at all...). Now I want to go to Paris!! (Never been there...). Anyway...here's the trailer...