cubanmiamiboy

That beautiful footage of Slavenska from the Ballet Russes movie dancing the end of the variation-(which by doing those backward sautees on pointe shows a totally different choreography from whatever Gorsky/Petipa is and has been generally used as the "standard")-finishes with her THROWING THE FAN ON THE FLOOR !

Planning to indulge myself a little tonight after work... XII Miami International Piano Festival "Established in 1998, the Miami International Piano Festival has achieved international recognition with participants and journalists from all over the world coming to the Lincoln Theater in Miami Beach...( ). Set in beautiful, tropical, and multi-cultural South Florida, the Miami International Piano Festival draws on musicians from England, Poland, Italy, Yugoslavia, Russia, Argentina, Israel, the USA and more". http://www.miamipianofest.com/index3.html

Amen.

...but why the concept of the never ending comparisson? Who was "the One" and "the Next" in between Corally, Bournonville, Saint-leon, Taglioni, Perrot, Petipa or Cechetti...? I get kind of lost when thinking about it, so I can't really vote...

BINGO, richard53dog! The scary thing...she is at the front of the rehearsals for the premiere. Maybe Kurgapkina's Soul may intervene?

When I was a teen and started to go to the ballet, I remember my older balletomane friends, who would always go to the stage door to greet their favorite stars. I never went backstage, due to some shyness, and the fact that I don't really like to bother them. But in Cuba, the stage door was THE place. I remember observing my friends going toward the bailarinas, taking pictures with them and chatting...sometimes even going with them to eat after the performance. That really has never interested me, and the only occasion that I truly interacted with anyone was when I went to do my practical exam to get my driver license in Havana. Suddenly I saw this familiar face coming toward the parking lot where the test would take place, and then, I realized that Lorna Feijoo had made her driving test appointment right after mine, with the same instructor. I approached her and while waiting for the professor we started chatting. I tried not to overwhelmed her with praising or to look intrusive, and she was very down to earth and cute. Here in Miami I've met this other type who really seem to be fixated with the dancers more than with ballet itself. Conversations revolve non stopping around the dancer/person/persona, and sometimes there's even little interest in ballet history, music, literature and the like. For me, I don't even like to see them out of character. At the end, is the character what really interests me, not the real person behind the tutu.

Definitely his "Law of Desire" (1987), for which Mr. almodovar said: " It's the key film in my life and career. It deals with my vision of desire, something that's both very hard and very human. By this I mean the absolute necessity of being desired and the fact that in the interplay of desires it's rare that two desires meet and correspond" and of course, "High Heels" (1991), an interpretative tour de force for two essential actresses of the "Almodovarian universe": Marisa Paredes and Victoria Abril.

Patrick...this is so interesting. Wuthering Heights was THE book that marked the beggining of my adult readings, back when I was 12 or 13. It hunted me for years, and I often went back to re-read some of my favorite parts. I have never seen any WH movie, and the other day I was digging a bit the net searching for one. Is the one you're refering to here the only one...?

...your computer screen-saver is a ballet-related image. Guilty as charged here. Mme. Alonso in Balanchine's "Waltz Academy"

That was physical harrasement. Sue the woman...

The same exact situation happened to me this past Saturday when I went to the Opera-(Butterfly), but with a little variance...the woman had gotten on my nerves earlier while at the suicidal scene, playing with her candy wrap, for which I turned and VIOLENTLY shooshed her...(others had done it previously in a more polite way, with no success). So when she tapped my shoulder to make me sit, I turned and asked her, sarcastically... "Oh, you, really...with the candy wrap...?! Go and tell the usher to make me sit!! and then turned again and kept applauding... End of the story.

HAPPY MOM'S DAY TO ALL WOMEN!!!

The one and only Somova. (just joking. Yes. She seems to be omnipresent)

RIP Mme. Kurgapkina. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKpM2jPCUmE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxUC2aYV960...feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx8hEfIDx1s...feature=related

Ballet scholars vs. Balletomanes maybe...?

Wow...I didn't know that.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f229/LAM...ania/AURORA.jpg http://www.mariinsky.ru/lib/ballet/truppa/somova.gif

Mm, interesting results so far...the "Yes, but..." surpasses the plain "No", but still the majority has answered "Yes"... Keep 'em coming, people!!

Thanks for breaking the ice, Patrick!! I think the poll is a good idea...You know, a simple "Yes" or "No" one...so anonymity can be preserved...just in case the "yes" answer doesn't come out that easy...

Poll posted, so not much to add to it... (just curious to see if I get some responses... )

This is from the perspective of someone who has never been in a ballet class. When I first started watching ballet, I remember my friends, who had a higher knowledge of the art, talking about and comparing dancers' empeines-(the Spanish word to denominate the arch/curve of the foot). I quite couldn't never understand this obsession and praising of those dancers-(females AND MALES)-who seemed to be boneless on their feet...At the end I noticed that it didn't really made certain steps more beautiful, easier or more secure to perform-(like those sautees on pointe from the Dulcinea/Kitri variation, or Giselle's solo, or the Cuban Black Swan coda). Hence, certain dancers with close to distortion arched feet were as good or bad as those with a regular arch.

So then I'm assuming that it can be pronounced both ways. I would just say the word as it is usually pronounced in English out of the choreographic work context. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/serenade Then, in a couple of occasions I have mentioned the ballet's title with a little variation, as we use the word in Spanish/Italian: Serenata, just as I usually exchange La Bayadere for La Bayadera, in its Spanish form.(Same with bailarina instead of ballerina, etc...) http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=s...ata&db=luna