cubanmiamiboy
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Posts posted by cubanmiamiboy
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On 8/15/2019 at 10:33 PM, Lena C. said:
Oh wow. That's too bad. When I saw Lendorf at a performance this past spring season, he had said he was working to come back asap. At least some more homegrown dancers will get more opportunities.
Oh Lord...ABT is getting thinner and thinner...😒
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4 hours ago, canbelto said:
If someone has power to fire you and ruin your career, "consent" becomes moot. There's too much power over one person.
Ok...so it then becomes a matter of "Do I sleep with him and get the job or not ..?"
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10 hours ago, Birdsall said:
And if they tell even their close friends they will say, "You wanted it!" like my two friends did.
I always have a problem with the consensual part of all this affairs of sexual harassment. There's always the option to say "No" to an attempt at someone trying to jump on one's bed. And many times the attempts are consensually reciprocated and later on called harassment. I find that very wrong .
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On 8/14/2019 at 7:18 AM, Mashinka said:
Were he still alive, Rudolf Nureyev would have answered that question.
Alicia Alonso certainly can....
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From the best real source. Mme Markova.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=546493822457746&id=283641878320565
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Revisiting. As always...an anguished scream that keeps lacerating one's soul, and even more now ..when antisemitism rises its poisonous head once again.
"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long
night seven times sealed.
Never shall I forget that smoke.
Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw
transformed into smoke under a silent sky.
Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith for ever.
Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the
desire to live.
Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and
turned my dreams to ashes.
Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live
as long as God Himself.
Never.
From "Night" by Elie Wiesel.#NeverAgain ✡️
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We had her "Calamity Jane" record at home when I was a kid, and my mom loved her films. Another icon from a long gone era has been lost.
RIP Doris Day.
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She gave many of us so much joy and uniqueness. Once in a while one sees that precious gem of a woman who steps out of the mere academical concept of "dancer" to be a full fledged "ballerina". And Jeanette Delgado IS a wonderful ballerina.
We'll miss that million dollar smile too.
MERDE IN YOUR FUTURE ENDEAVORS, MRS DELGADO!
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Ok people. I'll be reporting. We all know she will be under a microscope. If anything, I believe she'll benefit from the general atmosphere of MCB, where mutual help, camaraderie and lack of drama has been the norm for years.
MERDE to you, Kathryn!
Edited to add: MCB has never been a "stick thin" ballerinas company, nor tall ones. She will fit right in, aesthetically speaking.
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On 4/16/2019 at 7:05 PM, sandik said:
In a way, I think that Balanchine was making a little bow to Petipa's structural development of the 3 (4) act ballet, where the story is all tied up in a bow before the final "happy ending" act.
That might be the case, and I'd curious to see how the Imperial production of the ballet looked like. But the disconnection between the two acts is too visible, unlike every other Petipa ballet where the main couple always dances the grand pas. Hyppolyta and Theseus make a very brief showing in act I...not enough to fully connect it to act II. And then they don't even have a pas of their own! And the unnamed couple which takes over the meatiest dancing part of the act..too strange.
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Actually...for a while now, and after seeing countless stagings, I now look at Gamzatti and Solor when Nikiya dies, and same with Giselle...I try to look into other characters around, like Hilarion. The fact that some of these trouble makers are portrayed quite different from dancer to dancer makes such climaxed moments like those very interesting to watch...
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Very interesting article. Misty Copeland, again, is brought into it from her famous position....
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This is the second time for this "re imagined" production. Much of what I wrote on the premiere of the work stays the same. It is a very high tech production, which as we know, takes places underwater here. Lots of fantastic computerized projections and moving backdrops. And I still have a problem with that. This ballet is basically about the interaction of TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS...one real and one that is not. If someone has no previous knowledge of the libretto-(or of Shakespeare's work)-, then the general feeling is that every character onstage is fantastic, because they quarrel and fight and make up under the ocean. So all the innuendo of why the humans are not capable to see their surrounding fairies is completely lost in translation. Yes, I know that many ballets of the XIX Century had real characters going under the water-(The Pearl, for instance)- but this is not just another fantastic tale...this is a very particular text that calls for a very specific differentiation in between the two sets of characters. The two human couples entering a realm that has been completely taken over by fairies. And how do you explain the why are this two couples under the sea...? Again...this ballet is just not another Petipaesque work with great classical variations to catchy musique dansante tunes as the center of attention. Mood and story are key elements. And that has not being achieved here.
Jordan Elizabeth Long and Renan Cerdeiro were Titania/Oberon. Katia Carranza an Renato Panteado-(very classic MCB)- were the divertissement couple in Act II.
And that silly screen in between dancers and audience was annoying. I saw it only one time, because I really never warmed to the whole thing. But in all fairness...I have never quite "got" the whole Balanchine production. I think Act Ii is a bit awkward and out of context, and sort of erases the main Titania/Oberon/Puck/Lovers story. Which is why I much prefer Ashton's "The Dream", with its more dancing-oriented approach and focusing.
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He is tall and handsome. I loved him in the very short time he was down here. Damn...our loss, your gain...😟
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19 hours ago, dirac said:
As I recall Homans was pretty definite and pretty broad, although she expressed a hope that she might be wrong. The odd thing, of course, was that she wrote that at a time when several promising choreographers were reviving the scene, so her commentary already seemed out of date.
I remembered it like that too. It was a straight up bummer. Not that anybody needs to believe ANY of what this sacrosanct newspaper employees have to say, but still. I remember not caring to much for that, given that it is now when Giselle is being danced non stopped in the five continents, and not 50 years ago. And Asia is quite a booming producing factory of highly technical dancers, and again....that wasn't the case 50 years ago.
Nah....Homans is not the shrine of balletic ultimate world predictions. She writes very good-(I REALLY enjoyed Apollo's angels)- but that's it.
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Didn't Homans basically declared that ballet is dying...in that infamous epilogue...?
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Piñeiro is someone who should be interesting to see in the role. She's a Cuban ballerina, and as such I'm sure she too grew within her schooling revering the role and watching videos of the fantastic generation of Cuban ballerinas who excelled on it, including of course Alonso.
Perhaps this is a debut for her here, and I don't think she danced the role back in Cuba, so I'm sure she will give her best .
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1 hour ago, theo said:
Cubanmiamiboy,
I was sitting in the third row so I could really see the expressions on Rolando's face. To me it was clear that he felt like he was somehow back to where he knew he was supposed to be; dancing a beautiful production in front of a full house who really appreciates his artistry, and cheers him on as he blows their minds.
I think he, along with others on the stage, had a wave of emotion when they saw how heart felt the standing ovation was.
Ojh...he LOVES the cheering and whistling! And he LOVES his bravura roles. He didn't have neither one here with MCB. If he's near retirement, having such success in such lavish production of the quintessential Petipa is certainly a triumph.
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Sarabita's-(Rolando Sarabia)- career has been quite a rollercoaster. I saw his amazing beginning as a very young Principal in Havana-(I believe he wasn't even 20 when he was promoted). Then I saw his lukewarm passing through the Balanchine repertoire here in Miami. He wasn't really made for leotard or abstract ballets. And he gained weight here. And then his ocassional dancing with the now defunct Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami, in which he sparkled-(Don Q, Giselle, La Fille Mal Gardee, Swan Lake). And then his period as a freelance, which I thought were his last days as a dancer-(no company and approaching 40). This "come back" stage is truly a wonderful thing. I think he should forever be grateful to Julie Kent for having believed in his inner great artistry.
I'm very happy he's back dancing his beloved Petipa repertoire.
MERDE on his future endeavors!
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9 hours ago, miliosr said:
In any event, I like the fact that you have to go to an Ailey company performance to see Revelations. In this era of repertory homogenization amongst dance companies, Revelations existing in a state of "isolated splendor" is a good thing.
Agreed.
Although I am willing to be that a classical company who doesn't has to fight the racial issue for this ballet-(like Ballet Theater of Harlem)- wouldn't struggle on this piece, if correctly coached. Or at least not to the struggling point of ABT's "In the Upper Room"...I bet...😶
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5 hours ago, Drew said:
Well, I didn't write the post you are responding to, but I would say, yes, I have no interest in seeing NYCB dance Revelations because of their lack of technical capabilities--to be precise lack of technical abilities for Ailey's choreography; some might prefer to say lack of stylistic capabilities but in this case style and technique are not so easily separable. Revelations is based in a different way of moving than any works in NYCB's repertory including those that stretch ballet's norms. Ballet dancers can't just waltz (or pirouette) their way into it.
And still Tharp's works are widely staged by ballet companies. Is "In the Upper Room" completely faithful in style and technique in such stagings to what Tharp originally conceived...? Who knows...maybe, maybe not. But neither is Giselle, or Sleeping Beauty. And if Tharp wouldn't had been staged by MCB, I would had probably never seen it. So the ballet company at least has the merit of making it accessible to audiences. And I agree with you in something at least. And here is the big bomb:
I wouldn't like to see NYCB doing "Revelations" either because this is a work too deeply intertwined with black-America...its stories, sufferings and traditions. A company of white dancers doing it would be a travesty. And I am willing to bet this was the same rationale Arthur Mitchell had in mind when he decided to make his all black dancers Giselle historically credible by setting it in this particular community of free blacks who themselves owned slaves-(Louisiana).
Perhaps no one would nowadays do what he did with his Giselle. Maybe it could be considered offensive or politically incorrect now, but I honor his thought process about not wanting to impose a Polish -( Silesia)- community of characters on his black dancers. The same can probably be told about "Revelations". I don't think anybody would dare to present a whole company of white dancers to embody the social struggles of black America.
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2 hours ago, Helene said:
NYCB -- that would make my eyeballs bleed.
Exactly. And I assume not because of lack of technical capabilities.
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55 minutes ago, Helene said:
Perhaps there's no shock value by another company performing Revelations.
Perhaps. Or not. I guess we'll never know until we see it up there. I say NYCB because it is this company most of the people of this board are familiar with and might "picture" doing it
Tutu shape questions.
in Aesthetic Issues
Posted
I'm no dancer, but I believe the answer to your question is the tutu's age and shape. The "pancake" tutu's front tends to droop after years of usage, particularly if they are big, low waisted and bouncy. Those other types made of crispy layers of tulle, up high in the ballerina's torso, and so favored by the Soviets back in the days are a totally different story, as well as the bell shaped "new-old" ones we see in the recent reconstructions.