cubanmiamiboy

Oh, Patrick...glad you reminded me of B's ballets!. (How did I skip him...?) Glinka's "Valse Fantaisie" is also right there all the way on top! (been playing it lately a lot while driving.. )

Being a huge fan of waltzes has made me love certain sections of given ballet scores. Tchaikovsky's "Big Three" all have beautiful ones...(my # 1 favorite being the # 2 number in Act I of the '77 Swan Lake score: "Waltz: Tempo di Valse" ). Minkus also seems to had been a fan-("Bayadere","DQ") . Are you also fond of them? What's your favorite "ballet waltz"...?

YES! ...and... YES! ...AND MY SINCERE APOLOGIES FOR THE MISTAKES...yes, it was the noise plus my premature Alzheimer. :blush: And nice to meet all of you guys!

Thanks for that link, Cygnet. I found this particular paragraph very interesting... "Marina Semyonova went down in history as the “savior” of ballet art. When in 1918 the Bolsheviks were about to ban ballet as a “bourgeois art”, Education Minister Anatoly Lunacharsky brought all members of the Soviet of People’s Commissars to a ballet with the participation of Semyonova. The Bolshevik commissars were so impressed that they resolved to give ballet their support".

Mme. Semyonova was guest with the Paris Opéra Ballet in 1935 where she danced Giselle with Serge Lifar. About this particular... "Her foreign tour was opposed vehemently by Klim Voroshilov who wrote to Stalin: 'It is quite conceivable that Semyonova will not return". To this Lazar Kaganovich responded: "I think she will not escape. She is a very proper person and it makes little sense for her to escape. She is not tempted by money, the high life, etc". Miklos Kun- "Stalin: An Unknown Portrait". Central European University Press, 2003.

God certainly blessed her with a long, productive life. RIP Mme. Semyonova. Marina Semyonova 100 years celebration documentary. Marina Semyonova (Odette) & Yuri Kondratov (Siegfried) in Swan Lake's Love Duet. Natalia Bessmertnova being coached by Marina Semyonova in "The Dying Swan".

Some clips... In "La Peri" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-CfLWbVnNU...&playnext=1 In Serge Lifar's "L'Ecuyère" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEmlY0F8-dI...&playnext=3 In "The Dying Swan" In "Giselle" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQFujJbuppY...feature=related

Well, sandik...when my mother had me she was written down on her medical records as a "primi-gesta añosa"-("elderly primigravida")-which did upset her quite a bit. She was 27 years old!

Meanwhile...I thought that some of you would like this charming clip of Mme. in "Coppelia". Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l373LT2yZow...feature=related

I'm so happy you could make it up to Lincoln Center for your beloved Mme. Alonso, cubanmiamiboy. It sounds like a very memorable night. To the best of my own memory, however . . . I wasn't there! OMG, OMG...! I truly apologize for my mistake :blush: :blush: -(well...I'm famous for my sense of disorientation). So NYSusan, or Carbro...help me out here...who was the poster-(a guy)- that came with Susan and introduced himself then, right when I was chatting with carbro...? (I would have SWORN that that's the screen name I heard...but then I lost him and didn't see him afterward). Then I wonder if I also got Abby's name wrong too... :blush:

...and let's not forget the women. With Seay's retirement and Wu's endless performing absence, we are also left with fewer ballerinas than other seasons. Oh, well...

Aha...! Last night me and my peer Natalia went to see if we could greet Mme. Alonso at her box, which never happened, for she was locked up inside. Instead we got a glimpse of the great Mr. Franklin right in front of the box door!...and so we decided to approach and say hi. I mean...the guy was standing there...chatting with some people and sipping champagne! -(good for you Freddie!). We then got a hold of him and exchanged some words. The guy, almost 96, was more alert than myself, for God's sake! Lovely, lovely person. I reminded him of the first time I met him when he came to Miami to get a Life for Dancing Achievement Prize a while ago. I also told him that that same afternoon, during my long hours watching Alonso's videos from her Ballet Theatre period and Ballet Russes guest appearances-(what a great service at the NYPL!)-I even had seen a Don Quixote Pas de Deux clip of him dancing with her -(from a VHS called "Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo: 1953-1955"). http://catalog.nypl.org/iii/encore/record/...amp;suite=pearl When I said so he looked amazed that such records were still around, and asked me where had I seen it. We then thanked him from all his dancing and left. What a charming man!

Back in fantasy land! Well, my friends...what could I add to all your great reviews of this MAGICAL night... I just want to say out loud that I truly felt like I was back in Havana. I mean...the packed house...the many young members of the audience, the screaming, the AMAZING company with those AMAZING dancers...the beautiful orchestra...the daring choreography...wow...you new yorkers are really lucky to have the REAL stuff. It was great to see many of you guys again at the theatre...!-(Natalia, Jack, Susan)-...and also to get to meet some others-(carbro, abby-(JUST EDITED THIS, DUE TO MY LACK OF ACCURACY ABOUT SOME POSTERS' NAMES...I MEAN ...KFW JUST POSTED THAT HE WAS NEVER THERE! ) ...AND also those whom I missed in the middle of the whole confusion-(bingham and vrsfanatic). I also ran into some Cuban friends from Miami, who also decided to make the trip to pay their respect to our dancing diva. Special thanks to Patrick for the lovely picnic at Central Park, where we did some little gossiping, drank some wine and ate some great cuban sandwiches-(those were great, Patrick...and the other half was my dinner that same night...! ) And yes...Mme. coming onstage post performance...right when I had lost all my hopes that that would ever happen and was already starting to walk out. I must confess I got emotional when I saw her. Well...I lost my voice from all the bravos I sent from all the way up where I was. A little story. Next to me there was a Cuban lady-(I would say in her late 60's)- also screaming and cheering. When I looked at her, me all emotional, I noticed she was weeping. And then we had a little dialogue. -"I never thought I was going to see her ever again. Last time I saw her dancing she was still doing some excerpts from "Giselle". -When was that?, she asked me. -In 1991, I responded. -Well...I also saw her dancing the last time in Havana...and also thought that I would never see her again either. -when did that happened...?, I then asked her. -In 1961." ...so then we went back to the Bravos. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MME..!!!

Not interested in watching this out of control fantasy this time. And I was a huge fan of the series.

I have just few minutes left in my hotel internet, so my review will be VERY straight forward. Monumentum Pro Gesualdo. Movements for Piano and Orchestra. Mozartiana. Thou Swell. I can't really tell what happened, but it's been just a couple of hours post performance and I don't have too many memories left. Highlight: I saw Darci Kistler dancing in Thou Swell...and she looked tired. Also, to be honest...I fall asleep during this last ballet.

Looking forward to be there tomorrow night...! I'm flying in a few hours. Alicia Alonso, Marjorie Tallchief, Barbara Fallis and Andre Eglevski in "Apollo". http://www.danzaballet.com/UserFiles/Image...00Scan10001.jpg

...and continuing with romantic recreations... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm1Frz5jlFs

Oh, yes..indeed. http://www.life.com/image/2633239/in-galle...ry-as-celebrity http://www.life.com/image/2967697/in-galle...ry-as-celebrity http://www.life.com/image/52703483/in-gall...ry-as-celebrity

re: Romeo/Mercutio... I just bumped into this thread...wow, bart...

A beautiful rendition of a Pas de Deux from M. Taglioni/Offenbach's "Le Papilllon" Irina Kolpakova as Farfalla and Sergei Berezhnoi as Prince Djalma Enjoy! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Papillon_(ballet)

Hi everyone! In a few days I will be traveling to NYC to go to Alonso's 90th Birthday Gala at the MET-(Thursday June 3). On a second thought, I would also like to attend City Ballet's performance the night before-(Wednesday June 2nd)-to watch a program made of four ballets that I've never seen-(Monumentum pro Gesualdo, Movements for Piano and Orchestra, Mozartiana and Thou Swell). So, I was thinking that it would be great if I could finally put some faces on familiar screen names of this board. I would love to get to meet some BT members. If anyone will be attending any of this two nights and wants to meet, please let me know via e-mail. LOOKING FORWARD TO MEET YOU GUYS!! My e-mail address: christianrey1978@gmail.com

Oh...yes, indeed. http://www.life.com/image/50574692/in-gallery/22999

Don Quixote.(II) On the first performance we had Rolando Sarabia as Basilio, and I'm happy to report that we could get glimpses of his own old self...the pirouettes wizard, the dancer who certainly enjoys to be a star and is not shy at all about stealing a show, something in which he was certainly limited while in Villella's company. Still, there were some problems on his tryouts of the Bolshoi-style one hand overhead lifts, but then the same happened with Vitor Luiz next day. If anything, Sarabita's dancing at this point of his career definitely looks as if it needs a permanent home. Luiz' dancing difered somehow from Sarabita...his interpretation was more calculated, carefully designed, his movements more structured and meassured. Whereas Sarabita's performance was more about his solos, Luiz did a better job on showing and lifting Feijoo, and I was under the impression-(could be wrong)-that she felt more confortable dancing with Luiz. Prove of this, on the second performance, as I commented in another thread, Luiz did the daring throwing of Feijoo to the air at the end of the Adagio, which Sarabita didn't. Whereas Sarabita showed us the best turner, Luiz was THE jumper. Both Basilios were a real pleasure to watch, and danced up to my expectations. Now..what a mess the Dream Scene was...! Usually all this visions, dreams, or whatever oniric sequences are quite complicated for the non trained eye, and if not carefully done they can be quite confusing, which is what happened here. My previous experience with Alonso's production talks about the Don falling unconscious and dreaming with his beloved Dulcinea who takes the form of Kitri, with guest appearances by the dryads, their queen and Amor. Good. The Don's dream nemesis is usually seen in his dream just as he is whan he falls unconscious, in full armor suit regalia so we know that this is himself in his own dream. Well, in this production we had a young dancer doing the part, wearing a complete different costume. Then he's supposed to dance with his Dulcinea, diguised as Kitri in his confused head, so the role should be danced by the same ballerina doing Quiteria. That was here problem # 2. They introduced another ballerina who danced with the Don, whom I guess was playing Dulcinea-(I say I guess because she wasn't even listed in the program's sequence section). The thing got even more weird when afterward Feijoo showed up to dance her Dulcinea solo...in a totally different costume than that of the other Dulcinea!-(a weird black tutu). At the end, I guess many people were left wondering who this dancing couple in the beggining of the scene was...very confusing indeed. Dulcinea was a forgettable Lara Lioi. Amor was cute...danced by Melissa Oliveira. The Dryad Queen-(who was just in for her well executed variation with some very nice italian fouettes)-was Luiza Bertho. She never showed up before or after her variation...also kind of confusing to realize who her character was, as her costume was just the same as the rest of the dryads...only a tiny tiara would differentiate her from her court. (to be continued...)

After a lot of inspired writing and just before posting my LOOOOOOOOOOONG review on this performances...I clicked the back arrow by mistake. I'm sure that this has happened to some of you at some point, so you'll understand my frustration. So after almost giving up here it goes again. I just finished some of it, and will post the rest later. CCBM: Don Quixote. After all the turmoil that has been going on at the CCBM due to former AD/founder Miss Magaly Suarez' departure, it is sort of a miracle that this much wounded company has survived and been able to go on with this two performances of Don Quixote. The damage was even bigger in the sense that along with Suarez, all her school students and former dancers are also gone from the roster-(just as it has been noted by a poster in another thread). Thing is, Suarez students made the bulk of the Corps, and it is a real pity that we are now deprived of this great person who was a pillar and major force in the development , career continuity and showcase of many Cuban exile dancers. So I want to make public the feeling of many of us who are very grateful for all her hard work in the past, and who also hope for her and her school to come back again as part of the CCBM project. We truly miss you Mamicha! Now, about the performances. Current AD Pedro Pablo Pena came out with a smart idea to make up for budget and dancers shortage. For this season he has joined forces with Cia. Brasileira de ballet-(Brasil)-which supplied everything needed, from props and costumes to Corps dancers, being the result quite satisfactory. The production was beautiful. The sets and costumes were very colorful, even if they were more like a "Spanish fantasy/fiesta" in the eyes of a XIX Century designer rather than a too serious rendition of the real thing. I liked it...even more than that of Villella's. Lorena Feijoo danced Quiteria the two days. Miss Feijoo is a very strong ballerina, who has had a long, productive career and who doesn't show any sign of tiredness. Her entrance was super stormy and festive, her feet showing steel pointes, her multiple pirouettes completely centered and in total control and her sissonnes/cambres jumps just amazing. Miss Feijoo is much more an earthy ballerina, no so much the ethereal type like her sister Lorna. Her body is compact and muscular, and she has a special gift for dramatic roles. Her mime sequences were very well done, and where the comical accent was needed, she supplied it effortless. During the wedding PDD coda, she did her beautiful fouettes with little travel, putting on some doubles in between and finishing on pointe-(just as it is usually done in Cuba)-instead of in 4th position, like we get to see many times nowadays. For her final Act I's diagonal with the toreadores she chose a very fast tempo-(kind of like the Bolshoi style). ...to be continued.

This thread has been inactive for a while, but I thought about reviving it when I took this picture of my Tschen-Fu apparently very interested in Darcey Bussell's dancing... . "Sylvia" was playing in my DVD player. http://www.flickr.com/photos/26624336@N06/...157624024576535