cubanmiamiboy

Well said.

Pavlova looks here as if she was just filmed...timeless. There's such a modern allure in her dancing..!! Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrA26Jvy4V8&feature=sub

Interesting what King says about counting the music. With regular tempi this could work-(where did I read that Sppessitzeva wasn't musical at all and always had to have someone placed in the wings to shout out loud the counts for her...?)-but arrythmical pieces like Bugaku present a challenge. bart. I'll see you there. Diabolic I-95 can't hurt me that much if I just try and catch T&V at the end of the night. On Sunday, I'll review the whole program...perhaps...well, maybe minus Fanfare...

Glad you liked it, Patrick! And also glad to read the names of some of the artists who worked the tune. As I said earlier, there used to be an old LP back home with the song, which I listened a lot as a kid. I can't really remember who sang it-(it was a version with lyrics)-but it could have been very well Nat King Cole, whom my mom still adores as her all-time favorite singer. She used to sing the song a lot along with the record, so here it is...the King's rendition, dedicated to my mom. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yMOgXGywY8

Oh, I refused to see the film once I found out that Lindsay Lohan would have a part on it...

Tierney never did really project much of anything that I could see. Lovely, an agreeable presence, but not capable of much beyond that, even in more hotblooded pieces like Leave Her to Heaven and The Shanghai Gesture. I always liked her for her refusal to fix her overbite despite studio entreaties. She developed a nice line in Mona Lisa smiles. dirac, I agree that Tierney wouldn't be well suited for the more vulgar, steamy vamps like some of her contemporaries-(I always play to place certain actresses in totally opposite roles and genres to see how do they do in my mind, and so far very few I think could make the final cut...the "Streep" cut... ). Still, I feel that Laura's leading character makes Tierney's distant, somehow aloof projection-(probably due to her real turbulent,suffering personality)-a perfect match. And as I said earlier, there's definitely a mysterious, dreamy quality on the film that I believe is the perfect frame for Tierney's natural demeanor. On the other hand, I don't think Hollywood has had many female faces who can match Tierney's natural, perfect beauty. Maybe Liz Taylor.

What I find interesting about Hayworth-(at least in this film)-is some sort of fresh, spontaneous approach that I don't see in other actresses of the era. From the way she moves, dances or even how she wears her hair-(loose, without the stiff, permed/hair sprayed usual do's of her contemporaries)-there's something very interesting in her projection. I'm also attracted to her deep voice, which I think gives her a distinctive allure. Still...I'm always in owe of the over-done, impeccable beauties, a la Tierney or Turner.

Portia Siegelbaum reports for CBS News from Havana. And from TeleSur...

...no need for an extensive review here, so let's just remember this... -"Gilda...are you decent...?" -Me...? Sure...I'm decent..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVI0A4DTVgg

Ah...here we go again with the ever present old Nutcracker issue... I wonder if ABT will end up with just another incarnation of the Pseudo-Freudian-Kirkland/Misha production... (yawn)

So yesterday I went with my friend to a mini-concert night-(three 45 minutes short compositions at three consecutive hours; 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30 PM, in which the concert hall clears off every time...each of them at the great price of $2.50 a pice... , another of Michael Tilson's great marketing ideas). We chose 8:30 and 9:30. Now, the first one was Haydn and the second one...Stravinsky. I was a little apprehensive, for which Stravinsky has always been somehow stranger to my harmonic-sounds driven ears. My friend, on the other side, is a neophyte who has told me several times that he's loving Stravinsky more and more. (He went with me to Petroushka and loved the score...ditto with the "Le Sacre..." fragments from the Chanel and Mao's films and the Ananiashvilli's Firebird DVD we saw together). So when Haydn starts-(his Symphony No. 96 in D major..."The Miracle" )- I'm in heaven...all perfectly placed, well-balanced, a beautifully, formally concentrated rendition of the sonata form in simple musical motifs to a happy-(and in the past well fed )- audience, with the occasional use of a minor key here and there. You know...the works. And then Stravinsky comes along...with his Suites No. 1 and 2 for Small Orchestra, and now I'm in trouble. At some point during the number two, with its mini-movements-(March, Waltz, Polka and Gallop)-I swear that I was in the circus! I didn't know how to place it. The Suite No. 1 takes the first four movements of the Five Easy Pieces of 1916/1917 and turns them into the four movements of the Suite. He simply changed the order to Andante, Napolitana, Española, and Balalaika. He used two flutes, one oboe, two clarinets, two bassoons, one horn, one trumpet, one trombone, and one tuba with percussion and strings. The whole thing was very short and when it was done, I saw my friend clapping enthusiastically. I didn't get the piece, I'm sorry to say. The dissonant sounds are totally out of my scope. When we were getting out, he said to me..."I loved it!"... Oh well...I guess Mr. Stravinsky is certainly not for everyone. Now I think my friend would had loved B's "Symphony in three movements". I'm tempted to do an anonymous survey here at some point about the likeness of this composer. I'm very curious.

"If you fall off the stage, legs extended, b..."

To be fair, our very first movie night, before I started posting the picks, started with this film, which I had seen as a kid and never revisited until now. I should add that I remember an old LP back home that contained its famous tune. Furthermore, my interest was also about wanting to "discover" the enigmatic/astonishing Gene Tierney as I remember her name very well for being the poster child of the beginning of the ECT treatments, as I was explained back when I was doing my psych rotations. I found this film to have an interesting twist. There is, of course, a murder, but here the real centerpiece of the trama has to do more with the victim instead of the murder. Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) is investigating the murder of Laura Hunt, (the absolutely DROP DEAD GOOOOOOORGEOUS Tierney), a young advertising executive. It takes McPherson approximately one day to realize that Laura is the exact opposite of "just another dame"-(it took me a while to understand the "dame" thing...blame it to language barriers). Andrews' job is still to catch the murderer, but the investigation gives McPherson (and the viewer) a haunting image of Laura, via the famous oil painting, which captures his personal feelings. This image of Laura is very important because it is all what McPherson and the viewer have during the first half of the film. So what happens is that this dreamy image starts capturing McPherson's heart. Instead of falling in love with the real Laura, McPherson falls in love with a narrative portrait of her, "painted" by Lydecker-(Clifton Webb). Lovely stuff. Now, as the film progressed, I started to catch some weird elements, which I'd like to share to see if this is just my head or someone else who remembers it also thought about. Although the journalist in the movie seems to be in love with Laura, Lydecker's interest actually seems to be more about the handsome McPherson!. I mean, when they first meet he gives him much more attention than he ever does to Laura. I even though that this was some sort of gay character that could be using Tierney to his own interests, very much a la "Suddenly Last Summer"... About Tierney's character, I think hers is an interesting one, weak in some ways and powerful in others. The thing is that for all her sexy beauty, Laura-(or Tierney..?)- does not project very much heat, so I don't think she's a traditional femme fatale. She's clearly powerful enough to seduce all this men, and she certainly uses that powers at some point, but she's also a little bit mysterious, elusive, somewhat aloof...and her behavior is suspicious from time to time. Still, at the end, she looked to me as just a girl with low self-esteem who allows herself to be manipulated by the more powerful Lydecker. Even at some points being a little confusing, I loved the film, particularly because of its dream-like feeling . This was mostly due to the camera work and the beautiful black/white treatment. Ah...lots of smoking too, of course...the ever omnipresent cigarrete...!! "Everybody's talking about Laura. Who is Laura...? What is Laura...? The strangest, most dangerous experience in love and murder"

Some pics of the performances. http://www.renomassola.blogspot.com/

Hayna. http://www.albertaballet.com/page/hayna-gutierrez/1000552 Migue http://www.joffrey.com/people/miguel-angel-blanco Taritas http://www.sfballet.org/about/company/dancers/view.asp?id=12340158 I'm happy to see them all finally placed in such nice homes...

Perhaps I find somehow difficult to adjust to the idea of the kid being given such liberties...considered an "individual entity" and all that stuff. An old saying of the Spanish culture that made it to the new continent was "Children speak when chicken urinates"-(sorry for the rawness of it, but that's the way it is). Of course, chicken don't produce urine by itself so do the math...

Ah...how REGAL she looks...!!

More often than not we're very afraid of the obviousness and bulk of the "big elephants of the rooms", and so we try our way around... David and Goliath is certainly a beautiful story, but in reality... BUT...(to try keeping this within the ballet/dance scoop)...at the very end of the story, parents or a next of kin are 110% liable for whatever the kids end up doing in such early age. -"Let me see that choreography" -(Kid does the moves) -"Hum...Now tomorrow you're telling your teacher that your parents disapprove and don't allow you to dance on the show, and ...THIS IS FINAL" -Kid cries. The End.

And my mom had a Chrysler 1956 with the push buttons too...! That car was in full function just until she left Cuba in 1998. She sold it just before leaving, and for what I've heard, it is still up and running in my hometown...

I always wonder how Part/Bolle look together onstage. I mean...they both look like runaway models, for God's sake...! I completely believe in the visual part of ballet's enjoyment. Both Part and Bolle have never been praised for the strongest technique, but I doubt there's a couple out there that can give you such a feast for the eyes... http://oi31.tinypic.com/29vcxhf.jpg http://photos.revolution-press.com/jaw/sf/zytlothe/bolle.jpg

I'd say no, that's being obsessive--they can just as easily be on the carpet on the floor. Cconcentrate on hotel rooms, them forget about it. I'm sure Koch and Met Theaters are going to ensure that everything is 100% cleared there, and I even doubt that there's much serious infestation in movie theaters. Patrick...I see that you've become quite an expert on the bedbug matters...!

Let me go further by saying that if the intention is to target a non-connoisseur potential audience, then I have my reservation about the success of it. I mean...even those who have never been in one ballet performance know by intuition that , roughly, ballet=dancing and hence this is much as "who's dancing" as the "who's singing" to whatever singing act, pop or operatic. Same with theater plays or films...(I would try and see ANYTHING by Meryl Streep even not knowing what's the film about. Would I say the same about Lindsay Lohan, even if Ingmar Bergman comes from the dead to direct her in another version of "Wild Strawberries" ?...I don't think so. I know I'm being extreme, but that's just the way I am.) Basically...have you ever tried to drag a neophyte co-worker or friend to a ballet performance and had the question "who's dancing..." asked...? I had, and I must had looked like an idiot with my mouth open not being able to answer to such ELEMENTAL request.