cubanmiamiboy

Happy New year, BT'rs! May God provides a bountiful year for you and your loved ones, with plenty of health and good fortune.

I side with much of what Clifford says about staging, particularly about tempi, costumes and lighting. He mentions crashing with Zakharova and Lopatkina when staging Jewels, and I can see why. Some of the Russian tempi are dreadfully slow....almost soporific. And according to the videos, it looks like he was one of those "sharpies" of ballet. His quickness was evident. He keeps mentioning Kent and Farrell as best choices of AD. I think it would do good to try to get as much of their input before they're gone.

Harlequinade is much of a soubrette-driven ballet, deprived of the technical fireworks that people usually look forward to. I found it charming, but I wouldn't necessarily travel again to see it. And then....it has been only some months since they put it, so ...

Best. Ratmansky's recon of Harlequinade. It is good to be reminded of how Imperial productions used to look like. Ashley Bouder/Joseph Gordon in Coppelia. She's definitely my type of dancer. Legs and ankles of steel. Osipova's Giselle and Bolle's Albrecht. They are real artists. I didn't care for their partners. MCB's Nathalia Arja as Dewdrop, Jennifer Lauren as Sugarplum and Kleber Rebello as cavalier. Spectacular. MCB' s Ballet Imperial. They know how to dance this. Herman Cornejo in "In the Upper Room" Alvin Ailey's amazing end of season program, with the ever revered "Revelations" MCB production of "The Cage". Fascinating piece! Worst. Megan LeCrone/Andrew Veyette in Nutcracker. Just painful to watch, as I said earlier. Jessica Lang's Garden Blue for ABT. Horrid. NYCB firing of Finlay, Ramasar and Catazaro. Just very sad and unfortunate. McGregor's "Afterite" featuring "Misty the photographer"...😂😂😂

Carlos Acosta refused to wear it.

Well ..I really didn't have that many options, as my week had been basically packed. I HAD to put Damrau's Violetta, Netrebko/Beczala/Rachelishvili's A.L, The Rockettes and Ailey's finale at City Center before the Nuts...so I was left only with the matinee. 😪

I went to a very unfortunate Sunday 29 matinee. Leads were LeCrone and Veyette, who looked SO uncomfortable during their pas de deux that it was almost painful to watch. LeCrone's facial expressions was very harsh, which her extreme makeup didn't really help, and the very few times she attempted a smile it came out more like a facial angst. Veyette looked heavy. I was just praying that the over the shoulder lifts would get done. They did with no accident, and when the Adagio was finally over one could tell they we're IMMENSELY relieved. Too much tension, shaking hands...nervous partnering etc etc. The Candy Cane lead missed on one of the hoop turns, the Marzipan lead lost her balance during the soutes on pointe, and the Spanish dance male lead-(a black guy)- totally lost track of the tempo during his final turn, and landed with no music altogether. The one highlight of the show was the girl who danced Dewdrop. If I can find my playbill I'll mention her name. Her and the adorable kids who played Fritz and the Prince were the warm touches to an otherwise insipid performance.

Because it was done without any device. It was just Collier keeping her balance as humanly possible while being dragged by the scarf. I wonder if the Imperial production used a device a la Balanchine or if they did it a la Wright.

One less pioneer... RIP Miss Osato.

And Bejart.

No...it is not. I was referencing to Sir Peter Wright's or Alonso's . They both come from direct links to the Imperial Ballet-( Sir Peter Wright's via N. Sergueev/Markova and Alonso having learned it herself from A. Fedorova, an Imperial era dancer). Both are pretty much preserved and well passed into the XXI Century.

I have always loved that section in the Collier/Dowell video, and think it a shame they've decided to excise it. Balanchine probably remembered it and recreated it with much success, I'd say. When it happens, no matter what, there are always audience members who gasp in awe. I believe many of then don't really realize about the sliding device. So...I really hope that it never becomes "politically incorrect"🤔

Thanks for the support 😉. Anyhow...keeping my ruminations on these 5 Nuts, I almost forgot to mention my EXTREME disappointment at the absence of the children's chorus during the Snow Scene. They follow the notes, but with instruments instead. Totally underwhelming.

Probably. So three good chunks of the original are preserved in pristine condition: grand pas, candy cane and prince mime. Quite good, I'd say

Deleted: I was pointing at the same issue as Canbelto.🙂

Divine Soloviev! The best entrechats in the history of ballet. Merry Christmas, everyone!!!🎄🎅⛄😍

But this is The Nutcracker...not Agon, Helene! Some of this divertissements are massively weighted on their visuals. The dancing part of the Chinese dolls is almost non existent. Their charm lays, realistically, on the very items they are being deprived off, namely costumes, wigs, mannerisms and charm. If they next get rid of the guy's hat and/or braid for the same reasons, then....well, we can still watch him do the echapes. But still....🤔

I see the theater is one of those surviving "atmospheric theaters", so popular during the late 20's. We have one down here...complete with a taxidermied peacock and all !🤗

Helene... let's then ban "I love Lucy". Desi's Cuban epitomizes the word "stereotype". Reality: It is a comedy show...I don't identify...it is harmless...etc etc. Tea without the "geisha" wigs and pointy eyebrows was charmless.

Jesus ..my ballet traveling incentives keep shrinking, ABT wise. .😶

One of the things that troubles me the most in relationship with music-ballet steps is how often dancers seem to luxuriate in some sort of syncopation, meaning that they deliberately make the steps in the weak part of the musical accent...usually behind. The effect is risky, because if the dancer has a wonderful musical training, then he/she is able to catch up just in time for important, pivotal rythmic moments of the choreography. Two of the best examples of this are, for me, the Willis advancing sautes in arabesque and the initial section of Theme and Variations, during the initial tendus of both dancers. In both scenarios I usually note the placement of the foot in the weak part of the note-(or syncopation)- hence looking a bit odd on my eyes. I think there is a part in the Valse Fantaisie Clifford/Paul coaching video where he mentions something on the subject.

😉

I think you meant Sleeping Beauty..😉

My fourth Nutcracker had Lauren Fadeley and Jovani Furlan. He has been a savior for the company's taller ballerinas-(like Fadeley herself or Jordan Long). Lauren Fadeley is NOT a lightweight ballerina. She's tall and plump...in a way one doesn't really see that much nowadays-(think of a young Anastasia Volochkova). Furlan was amazing at partnering her. Those over the shoulder jumps were done spotless. I was really impressed.. Balanchine's Act I always mesmerizes me, as it constitutes a textbook on social etiquette and learning process for the youth. This kids are basically mirroring, since their very first encounters, what the adults do. They do grave salutations...they bow...the boys act with chivalry with the girls...the girls learn how to properly dance with the male adults. And they get to learn from such early age. They interact along the adults during the party, not being merely relegated to the side. I bet Balanchine's childhood memories comprised some of what we see in his party scene. I find it very charming, and I really plan to follow some of this when mi daughter grows up a little more. I'm a sucker for social etiquette. 😉 Let's jump to act II...to the divertissements...specifically to "Tea". Do I notice that in ALL the performances the two porcelain dolls were performed by Asian dancers...? Do I see something strange in their costume...? As if unfinished...? I guessed right, as a dancer later on confirmed. "Tea" has gone politically correct down here also. The untidy feeling on the dolls mean they don't wear wigs anymore and there's no makeup either. And their roles have gone to real Asian dancers out of a rejection of cultural appropriation. No more pointing fingers either. Verbatim. To be continued.

I asked on Youtube his opinion on Villella' 1952 staging for MCB and he didn't answer me. I asked him a similar question on his take on the validity of Le Palais de Cristal for POB and he sort of brushed me off with something like "that's an entirely different ballet than Symphony in C" and a few words on performance rights, but not really addressing the issue of choreography, as I wanted. It felt as if he didn't give validity to anything that was out of his personal experience/scope.