cubanmiamiboy

One of the things Scholl mentions is the fact that there seems to be a consensus on ignoring the photo of Marie wearing her Prologue tutu and pointe shoes-(even is it is a studio photo...not a performance one). Then, after reading the various explanations, one get the generalized idea that there was indeed a classical variation created by Petipa for her daughter, which was very simple, which didn't survive too long due to the ballerina's diminished capabilities as a classical dancer, to be replaced for the one danced by Egorova in 1914 and allegedly created by Lopukhov-(which I assume made her way to K. Sergueev staging). Then, at some point in between the two, Pavlova and karsavina danced a different one in their 1907 debuts, of unknown authorship. I personally like the plasticity of character Lilac, and I don't think the ballet looses too much by returning the fairy's original design.

This is a short but interesting account on the controversial 1999 Vikharev reconstruction. I read in in one long day at the beach, and here are some of its most interesting facts regarding the controversy surrounding Lilac's original role/variation. Character vs. classical dancing. -Fyodor Lopukhov on dancing Marie. He declares that he was selected as a young corps to support Marie Petipa during the Prologue. There is also a pic of Marie in a tutu next to her attendant and wearing pointe shoes. -Elizaveta Gerdt in non-dancing Marie. Pavel's daughter, who danced as a child in the original production where Marie Petipa was Lilac, declares that Marius daughter never danced on pointe during the first run of the ballet up until retirement in 1907. -Peterburskaya Gazeta. This newspaper reviews a performance of Anna Pavlova's debut as Lilac in 1908. Vera Krasovskaya suggests that Petipa arranged a new variation-(not danced by Marie before)- for Pavlova and Karsavina who also debuted in the role the same year. Pirouettes and entrechats are mentioned in this review. -Fyodor Lopukhov on non-dancing Marie. Lubov Egorova was the first ballerina to have danced the classical Prologue variation as we know it today-(hence contradicting his first statement about suppporting the tutu-pointe attired Marie in the Prologue)-, which he created for a performance at Krasnoe Selo in 1914. Later on Pavel Gerdt requests for Egorova to pass the variation to her daughter Elizaveta, and the directorate of the Mariinsky theater was explained that this was an original Petipa variation which had been cut off by Petipa himself during the ballet early days do to Marie's inability to dance it. -Stepanov notations. The notations mention two variations. One with Marie's name on it and the other one sans name. So I hope that Doug is reading this so I can clarify the simple question of: Which variation was used for the 1999 reconstruction?

I've been tempted to pay a visit to the MET after reading this... 4/28/2011 - Casting for the first two weeks of American Ballet Theatre’s 2011 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. The season will begin on Monday, May 16 at 6:30 P.M. with the Company’s Opening Night Gala. The evening will be highlighted by a tribute to Jose Manuel Carreño, in honor of his farewell season with the Company. Carreño will be joined onstage by ABT Principal Dancers Paloma Herrera and Xiomara Reyes, San Francisco Ballet’s Lorena Feijoo, Joan Boada and Taras Domitro and Boston Ballet’s Lorna Feijoo and Nelson Madrigal in the ABT Premiere of Jorge Garcia’s Majisimo. I have very nice memories of Majisimo in CUba when it used to be done by our charming old timers... Here's a glimpse.

Wu's departure was somehow expected. I don't recall her in any major role ever, except for Bugaku-(didn't see her in Sonnambula)-so I suspected that she was being somewhat relegated-(just as Garcia-Rodriguez). Alas with Zou. I will certainly miss Spielberger-(I loved his character portrays)-and certainly Braden, who was always a happy, honest force onstage-(I really got to love Valse Fantaisie-1953 after I saw him on it). Oh well, Jeanette and Patty are still there, and so is Manning and the Esty Sisters, Zien and Rebello. We can still go ahead with Giselle.

I knew I was on the right track about the Kirkland's similarities...!

What a shame. And a little , I WISH she would made her annual trip down here to do La Fille Mal Gardee with the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami. THAT would be a challenge for her, I think, for wwhich I can tell that the Lissette of Nijinska's version-(Alonso's/CCBM's)-seems to be more child like and mannered than that of Ashton's.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4151/5055036204_a0e4679f09.jpg

Wonderful! That's how a serious staging should always be...with the right approach to the music.

Thanks for telling us about it, Richka. Could you tell us more about Mir. Zoritch...? He belongs to that particular group of dancers from BRdMC that didn't seem to have tried to get into BT or NYCB when those companies were born, and so it is kind of hard to track his career from the currently existing autobiographies of other dancers. I've been tempted several times to buy his book, but I think the only time I saw it on Ebay-(or Amazon?)-it was too expensive, so I'm waiting for the chance to come up. Meanwhile, tell us about him, Richka! If anything, he's placed within my top three picks of the most beautiful male dancers list.

Sometimes I tend to make the terms "style" and "school" interchangeable, as when trying to "get" the common places in stage projection of dancers coming from a specific, common class syllabus-(basically Danish-Bournonville and Russian-Vaganova). Of course, here anybody could argue that it is not style, but technique what really distinguishes the two mentioned examples, but at the end...isn't a pirouette just a pirouette...?-(although the step also varies on which position to start it from, again, depending of the school from where it was taught...!)

The choreography and staging of Odile and Siegfried variations is getting more and more liberal every time...

Alonso always talks of Dolin with such reverence, and considers him her main source of her learning of the romantic style, alone with her other idol Markova. Agree with Leonid about remarking of his efforts leading to Miss Spessiztseva's placement in the Tolstoy's state to end her life in a dignified way. A lovely action.

What a lovely pic rg...! A good reminder of the upcoming presentation of this version/staging by the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami. Will be there to report...

http://www.thai-blogs.com/media/dance_03.jpg

For me technique is the barre and the center-(basically the class)-, whereas style is soul inflicted.

I guess that by the time Dolin did this the notations were not that available or known. I wondered why he didn't clarify this question with Karsavina. I assume that she had danced Giselle in Russia before the 1911 Diaghilev production-(which she did along with Pavlova)-, or at least would remember details of how was it danced at the Mariinsky during the turn of the century. I also suppose that Markova would have some clues about it, having danced the ballet and rehearsed it with Sergueyev and his notations as back as 1934 at the Savoy.

There were able to do a little stuff. Toto showed some pirouettes a la second and Lorena a series of piques-(which were cut off right away for the camera to focus in something else... ). Lorna was basically relegated to being dramatic while lifted and carried away...

Odile died...! ... (Why did they costumed Carreno with that thing...? Anyway...bravo for my three cubanitos..! (and great to see my beloved Lorna dancing again... ) Edited to add: Something just ocurred to me. Could Carreno's strange costume had something to do with TV tight censorship...?

How strange. I'm reading right now the article "Cuban Panache Comes to DC" in Pointe magazine about the upcoming visit of the Cuban troupe and they list Yolanda and Yoel as part of the entourage. However, they've never been back in the Cuban roster... I wonder if they worked some kind of deal with Alonso and are willing to represent their home company due to the most recent wave of defections...

Ah...Toumanova's hands reminds me of something. When I was a kid I remember other kids that were able to project those ondulations from their wrists to the fingertips. I was never able to...my fingers were-(are)-always very straight...I wonder if that ability also comes from port de bras ballet training...

A must see...!

I got it...Thanks, rg ! (Mr. rg is becoming like my personal adviser/shopper... )

Oh...this is confusing...!

Thanks, bart for the glimpse. For what I always heard in her interviews, it looks as if she venerates Markova's Giselle, the proof of it being that she never dared to change many accents in her portray and in general in the Cuban production that are considered to be Markova's. She also called Dolin to coach her in the role to reinforce the Markova/Dolin allure when she danced it with Vasiliev in 1980. Alonso, Dolin and Kaye in Giselle. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/50388805.jpg%3Fv%3D1%26c%3DIWSAsset%26k%3D2%26d%3DE41C9FE5C4AA0A140FF88D406DE73261A7A5992D7AC34FDF5C8FCD990FCD5637B01E70F2B3269972&imgrefurl=http://www.life.com/image/50388805&usg=__k6ziYwgF6r-vmCS2e25KRMcg0qQ=&h=420&w=594&sz=38&hl=en&start=2&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=H0dfHMJ4haIGgM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dalonso%2Bdolin%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GWYE_en%26tbm%3Disch&ei=6jGjTYGKMZS5tgfX6oWcAw