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cubanmiamiboy

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Posts posted by cubanmiamiboy

  1. 21 hours ago, Dale said:

    As long as-(....)-they're-(...)- neat...

    That's probably it. Perhaps I see not the baldness itself, but the lack of effort to conceal it, as an indifference about not being neat.

  2. Chan's Apollo was a success. Honest....engaged...elegant.  

    Two thumbs up!! 👍👍

    And Tiler...well, what can I say about Tiler. She's Queen Tiler for sure. But....does that always work...? Not sure. She's so secure about her power that she allows herself to quite forget all about it around her, as I noticed today. Whereas Mearns was totally engaged and pleasantly relaxed while dancing for Angle, Peck was in a physical high engaging her dancing not with ber partner, but with the audience. If yesterday I quite "saw" a love story between Sara and Tyler, today Peck was having a blast at the party with her anonymous cavalier. Joseph Gordon danced beautifully, but he was not Peck's lover. Her lover was us...the audience. And so she did all her usual little mouth/eyes tricks. Very cute for sure, and all based in a formidable technique, buy I still pick Sara.

  3. There was something Kent said when coaching Phelan that struck me. She said that in her entrance there's a sense of anxiety, of search. "She's searching for something...perhaps a child". There's something unique and tragic in mothers faces when they start frantically searching for a missing child. A mix of terror with some self retrain as if not wanting to lose all logic and reason while searching. And they certainly cover entire spaces in a matter of seconds. And the quick sharp turns...it is all there in Sonmambula.

  4. 11 hours ago, Dale said:

    From the NYT article: The heroine may be walking in her sleep, but “she’s not expressionless,” Kent said. “You can’t come in like a zombie.” ... “You are sleepwalking, but you’re aware,” Kent said. 

    Very much like the Young Girl in Spectre. She's sensing the rose's presence in her sleepwalking.

  5. Tonight Ballet Imperial was absolutely EVERYTHING you could ask for...and then some more. Sara, Tyler and Emily were absolutely breathtaking. Because this is basically a partnering-focused rather than a bravura piece for the danseur, and Angle is an excellent one, he and Sara just sparkled. See...I have always imagined a little story with this ballet...a small story of the last Imperial Family. The main couple , of course , is Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna. The soloist is the oldest daughter, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, just coming of age surrounded by suitors...and the smaller two other soloists, dancing at one point with the Tsar, are the Tsar's two sisters....Grand Duchesses Olga Alexandrovna and Ksenia Alexandrovna. And boy...was the Imperial couple regal! I imagine the careless times of this family surrounded by care free courtiers, with a deeper moment to emphasize the solid, splendid love the Emperor and Empress had for each other...at one point even showing a lost Emperor asking for his wife on each side of the stage to the female courtiers when she suddenly goes out of sight, to then return triumphantly with her in his shoulder after finding her. Again....they were all magnificent. Kikta was radiant, and Mearns owned the stage without having to look for audience validation.

    The second pas de deux was like walking on clouds. So beautifully done...!!

    Bravi tutti!!!!👏👏👏👏👏

  6. I'm in orchestra right third row, and have been able to study this Sonmambula up close. I know I will get grilled by saying this, but Taylor Stanley was absolutely misscasted as The Poet. Here's the thing...what does The Poet has to do but looking dashing and prance around like a matinee idol...? Right. Absolutely NOTHING.  Stanley might be a great dancer, but dancing he's not doing here....and I'm sorry,  but pretty...pretty he's not.  I have seen pictures of Franklin on this, and there's definitely a Rudolph Valentino aesthetics going on, which Stanley didn't convey AT ALL.

    Why then....????

  7. 5 hours ago, matilda said:

    I try to be openminded about baldness because there's not much a man can do about it and it shouldn't necessarily ruin his performing career. If a male dancer is bald but still dancing spectacularly and is in amazing shape, it's less of a problem even in prince roles. Having light skin unfortunately makes the issue more glaring IMO. 

    Not only that...but he's obviously heavier, and probably towards the end of his career. A spectacular one for sure-( as a partner even more). But wigs and head pieces have been a recurrent complement of the art form. Not that much nowadays, but still something that should be still retained when in need. Perhaps it is that this is the very first time in all my years as a balletomanne that I see a classical piece -( and one SO important like Ballet Imperial)- danced by a bald danseur.

    But perhaps others are more used to it than me. Maybe it has happened more than what I think....?

    6 hours ago, abatt said:

    Could not agree MORE cubanmiamiboy.  The baldness is a complete distraction in classical roles.  It didn't bother me in modern roles.    The baldness destroys the illusion of chivalrous noble danseur in these tutu ballet.   He looks like one of the goon squad from Prodigal Son accidentally dropped into a tutu ballet for a visit. 

    You're going to hell for this. 😂

    See you there.😎

  8. I hadn't seen Tyler Angle in a while....and I see he's bald now. Have to say, his baldness, onstage was distracting to me. The only bald dancer I had ever seen was Renato Planteado at MCB, but he would wear a neat hairpiece for his classical roles, and sporadically would go natural for his contemporary ones.

    Are you used to bald danseurs...?

    Gotta say it was not s good look for Angle.

    Thoughts...?

  9. 1 hour ago, cobweb said:

    No reports on the gala and dancing?

    Yes. SJP opened the night, wearing Carolina Herrera. Lots of fuss for the new "Who Cares..?" costumes, also by CH. I personally disliked them, as they look rather cocktail hour than ballet costume. The ballet is looking less and less ingenue and more and more ballroom. Now it only needs the heeled shoes for the women. Peck was wonderful in her first solo, and Bouder looked heavy. Among the onstage singers there was Vanessa Williams.

    Glass Pieces is out of my liking frame whatsoever, so I can't really comment on it.

    There was also a short documentary on the 75th anniversary that I felt was more aimed at PC than to bringing to the screen the email group of surviving members of Balanchine's era.

    Food was overrated.😎

     

  10. I was also yesterday at the performance, and again tonight at the gala.

    Danchig-Waring was beautiful in Apollo. I have a complex relationship with the ballet. Long story short, I got to see a "new" Apollo at NYCB when I first saw it 22 years ago in US, which was before I saw Villella's staging. The Apollo I saw in Cuba-( unauthorized by the Trust)- was the 1940's version Balanchine staged for Eglevsky and Alonso. Full sets, golden sandals, wig for Apollo, chariot in Olympus, birth scene...the whole nine yards. The ballet was further supervised by Lifar-( close friend of Alonso)- in the 1960's. So this Apollo at NYCB is a total different animal. Enjoyable for sure, but it always leaves me as if they're playing excerpts in practice clothes. Still, as I said....D-W was all one can ask for in the role.

    La Sonmambula has never been a favorite of mine. Perhaps Kent was able to revive the role to grand levels, but to me it seems that , aside from the sleepwalking scenes, including the finale, the rest hasn't really survived well the test of times. I have seen pictures of the original scheme, and just like Freddie Franklin said, the loss of the fantastic headpieces and the tux pants for the men quite diminishes the glamour that the party scene allegedly had in its origin. Phelan was ok in the role, but definitely not what I have read both Danilova and Kent did with it. His male counterpart I had never seen...but he didn't look, aesthetically, up to what the role was said to convey, again.... according to Franklin.

    Ballet Imperial ....you can never go wrong with it... particularly for its exquisite score. Mearns was beautiful on it. Thank God she's one of the very few ballerinas I have seen that doesn't feel the need to show a frozen smile in everything. She was perfection. Kikta....not that much. She looked -( to me)- tense .

  11. On 7/7/2023 at 10:23 AM, abatt said:

    The most disturbing thing in this article was that he decided to throw Calvin under the bus to suggest that he was promoted due to his skin color. 

    I sort of like the idea that he's using a word many can't seem to accept as a reality: QUOTA.

    If you're a minority in today's America, you SHOULD ask yourself if you're being part of a quota at your job place without being told you are.

     

  12. So what's up with Martins' little abdication ceremony at the end of his version...? I'm not sure I like it. And if King Florestan is abdicating, it would be in favor of his daughter and not his son in law! Prince Desiree would be a Prince Consort. If anything, it should had been King Florestan going to Princess Aurora and placing his crown on her, while Prince Desiree could be just be happy to be the consort. Both of them could had then walk up to the throne seats in their new ropes and posed as planned. 😉

    Yes....?

    I was looking into both Perrault and the Grimm brothers' tales, and none of them mentions the passing of the crown. Neither Vsevolozhsky's libretto.

    But if Princess Aurora becomes Queen Aurora at the end, it should had been in the right way, I think....😎

  13. 10 hours ago, canbelto said:

    The Florine was Sara Adams, another diminutive brunette soloist who resembles Pereira a lot in looks.

    Ahhh....thanks! I didn't have my program, and not being too close and with my poor vision I thought she was Pereira....being so tiny.😉

  14. It was an exciting performance today. LaFreniere was much better than the first time I saw her. The second run of balances with promenades still better than the first ones. The fish dives without major problems, but still too carefully executed...too slow.

    Mejia was great as Bluebird, as well as Pereira's Princess Florine. I thought she would get a shot at Aurora. In fact the cast that I would had loved to see over everybody never happened. That of Bouder/Furlan, for major medical/familial reasons. Another Aurora I'like to see is Pereira. Another Prince Desiree, Ulbricht.   Pereira  was a wonderful Swannilda, if memory serves. But back to today...Mejia's Bluebird landings were plush and silent, and he showed excellent ballon.

    The Diamond variation is very strange. It looks totally out of place with the rest of the choreography of the other two female dancers, which somehow follow pretty much the Russian/Soviet scheme. Where does that music comes from? I suppose from the many cuts of Marchionesses, Baronesses and other noble women dances from the forest scene..? In any case....Martins went to modern with it. Too much of a contrast with the other fairies.

    The cats were superb. 

  15. 2 hours ago, abatt said:

    I also noticed that in the final sequence of her variation in the Wedding section, our Lilac fairy Gerrity omitted the final step where she has to spin and go down to one knee.  That particular step has been a problem for a lot of the Lilacs, but she performed it well during her debut last week. Since the motif of the Lilac and the fairies going down to one knee is a motif in the ballet's choreography, I found that change a bit disappointing,   I don't know if it was planned or it was a performance error. 

     

    You are right. A very tricky step that everyone seems having problems with. It is a super fast turn and down, so quite hard to keep balance. I notice some of the best ending variations are those in which Martins keeps the final beat for a certain arm movement instead of a final turn to pose or jump to pose. Keeping the last bar as an extra for arms gives the performers time to safely place themselves and then a dramatic "ta da!" with arms. Best examples...Prince Desiree's sólo after the vision fairies leave the stage. Rapid chainee turns to pose on knee AND then final bar with arms crossed on chest. Or Bluebird, with sequence of Entrechat sixes to knee TO THEN a final flip of his wings. Poor Lilac has to turn, go down on knee and pose in ONE movement.

  16. 40 minutes ago, MarzipanShepherdess said:

    She also performed the Queen earlier in the run in the cast I saw. It struck me that I’d never seen someone do that role so emotively and maternally! She really brought what is often a pretty wooden promenading role some life and color. Brava Marika!

    Her Queen mom was completely different than anyone else. Full of warm and totally devoided of the much favored aloofness and plasticity. Even with funny accents here and there. When she fell asleep she didn't go all elongated and stretchy. She just collapsed as if she was drunk. I loved it.🤣

  17. Phelan was very sweet. She's a beautiful woman, and  certainly looks radiant onstage. Now ..on "Adagiometer" matters, gotta say her balances were secure with no wobbly  ankles, but still not on the technical level of Fairchild or the dramatic accentuation of Peck.

    Same with the fish dives at the Grand Pas. Knees and hands were much more better placed than Woodward's at the matinee, and I could tell much of it has to do with her strong partnering. Still....the three of them were done veeeery carefully.... without fireworks. One thing I have noticed in all ballerinas BUT Fairchild at the dives is that they secure their placement carefully on the one arm lower lift with one bent leg AND THEN , after being positioned, they drag and bend the other leg. Sort of dividing a moment that should be done in a blink of an eye. A moment that should be a flash sweep of arms and legs becoming two. I have also seen this during the fish dives of TchaiPas, where more and more partners secure their ballerinas after the jump in a not too low position and so she , after feeling secure, gives him a silent "ok" to be lowered more, at many times bending her torso-( which one can see it's not the case with the daring Villella/McBride jump/straight body with face almost touching the floor.

    Anyhow....I enjoyed the night. The cats and Red Riding Hood divertissements are priceless. A very smart move from Martins, I must say.

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