cubanmiamiboy

Yes...the tutu she wore-(something sort of like those worn by the swans in SL)-revealed her well toned legs. Her suporting leg always weemed to be nailed in a perfect vertical line, every muscle showing off... Yes,yes! (Let's not forget that around the time of Nightspot he was suffering from an injury, which he had surgery for). He looks way stronger now. bart, the boy likes to show off...that one can tell right away, but for some reason, it looks cute on him. Maybe because of his childish appearance, which makes him look rather like a mischievous child... Which,BTW, was EXCELLENT as Dosselmayer. He is SO charismatic... I'm sorry, but at first glance i had to think carefully about this. My mind still goes by Spanish Dance, Arabian Dance, Chinese Dance and Trepak. The Odalisque was Jeannette Delgado. This is one of the dances that i really don't care too much about, but she did the job the way it was supposed to. (Can't praise her more, which is a shame, due to the limitations of the choreography). The Chinese Dance-(tea?) was Wong, which i mentioned already-(can't remember the two girls, and ditto with the Spanish Dance leading couple, which didn't do that much for me either. I'm doing this by memory, cause i lost the program, as usual) . The Marzipan Mirlitons were lead by Tricia Albertson, which is looking too cold lately

(BTW, i was wondering if anybody has seen them in Balanchine's production. I find very interesting the fact that they're dancing two different choreographies during the same season)

As per courtesy of Karen Couty and Ana Margarita from http://www.cubanclassicalballet.org/ -( ) here is the casting for Sunday Performances. 2 p.m. performance: Sugar Plum Fairy & Cavalier Kate Kadow & Miguel Angel Blanco 6 p.m. performance: Sugar Plum & Cavalier Jordan Elizabeth Long & Miguel Angel Blanco Both Performances: Snow Queen & King Grace Ann Powers & Ignacio Rivera

I just came back from the MCB's Nutcracker performance, which i went to see despite my disliking of this choreography. Even if my mind hasn't changed about it, nice surprises were waiting for me tonight: 1-On top of all-(and this is straight directed to Jack Reed)-a marvelous Mary Carmen Catoya's Dewdrop. Jack, you would have been so proud of her...She showed such command of technique that she just totally got me. Her legs were like steel, her pirouettes, perfect, her epaulement beautiful, her balances to die for..her face, RADIANT. She was ABSOLUTELY ASTONISHING. 2-Jennifer Kronemberg and Carlos Guerra as SPF/Cavalier. This was a big display of sweetness and joy. Their adagio had the quality of showing a real empathy, in which they were not only dancing for the audience, but more than that, for each other. Jennifer's beauty took over, and Guerra's partnering was as detailed as we could ask for. Guerra's pirouettes a la second at the Coda were impressive, as well as his shoulder lifts with one hand. 3-Daniel Baker's Candy Cane. This athletic guy is so darn good at all kinds of jumps and tricks...AND HE KNOWS IT! His multiple jumps thru the hoop were out this world. Bravo, Baker! 4-Alex Wong's Chinese dancer. Wow, if there's somebody who knows how to do a grand écart, this is Wong. He brought the house down. 5-The Waltz of the Flowers. So beautiful, so sincronized...(and with Catoya around even better) Tomorrow I'll go see the Cubans at CCBM. This will be my 3 th production this season.

. Just like Swan Lake. Eternal love, suicide, death of the sourcerer... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0enY91P4Bbs&NR=1

This is another soviet old clip from a very simple but captivating, colored-in line drawing cartoon by Lev Atamanov about the impact a ballerina has on the crew of a passenger ship during a voyage. I digged a little and found that the director referenced to the art of the French impressionist Raoul Dufy paired with the score written by Alfred Schnittke-(which I think is beautiful). More digging got me to find that the film was choreographed by two dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet-(couldn't get their names... ). This film is 17 min. long and can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as i did...

Dagmar and Hayna because I was a witness of their careers since they were out of the ballet school in Cuba, and i can assure you that both are amazing dancers. Dagmar was sort of like a prodigy girl in the early 90's, and rose thru the ranks right away all the way up, even dancing along with the older venerable members-(there's a Pas de Quatre on Youtube in which she can be seen on the late 80's along with some of these members). Gutierrez because she's just one of the strongest technicians i've ever seen, and NEEDS to be placed right away. Lopez because I could tell by her Carmen that she's Principal material-(she has the Diva thing)-and didn't fail before my hyper critical eye.

Hayna Gutierrez, currently dancing with struggling CCBM Iliana Lopez, from Ballet Gamonet Dagmar Moradillos, dancing with Ballet Etudes of Hialeah

I must confess it: one of my favorite things to search at in Youtube is old soviet cartoons that used to be played in Cuba during all my childhood. They were from the 50's, usually very poetic, romantic, dramatic, and they used a lot of symphonic music, the most of the times. The majority of them were very sad. Anyway, I just came across this one that I had already forgotten-(I was very, very little)-which tells the story of the Steadfast Tin Soldier. There is the moment where his loved ballerina/doll makes her Grand entrance...dancing a ballet variation! Maybe this is a silly question-(maybe not)-but i would like to know if anybody can recognize this variation, if it even exists, or if anybody is familiar with this old soviet cartoons. Thank you in advance! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JUW21gevPQ

Miss Laura Alonso Today Laura Alonso is widely recognized for two main reasons: one, for being a Maitre and Teacher Extraordinaire and traveling around the world teaching and staging the classics for professional and pre professional companies alike, and two for the simple reason of being the once Principal Ballerina daughter of Alicia and Fernando Alonso . Along with her expertise in working with professionals and aspiring professionals, Ms. Alonso is extremely gifted at working with young dancers of all ages and experiences. Students love her and outdo themselves to fulfill her expectations. A very positive teacher, Alonso has transformed students in just a few classes. She is an particularly inspiration to male students. Alonso's mission is to bring the highest quality dance to students everywhere, willing to instruct anyone who wants to learn. During the 1990 Jackson International Ballet Competition, Laura Alonso was honored with an award as the best coach at the competition. Her student, Jose Manual Carreno, won the Grand Prix de Ville, the highest award of the competition. She also has served as a coach, jury member and teacher at the Jackson International Ballet Competition and as a jury member of the Concours International de Dance de Paris, France 1998, the Alicia Alonso International Ballet Competition, and other competitions around the world. Although born in the United States, Alonso is a resident of Havana where she has an international dance school, Centro Pro Danza, which welcomes 1 500 students, and a professional performing company, The Classical Ballet of Havana. A teacher of world-class experience, Ms. Alonso has taught for the Cuban National Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Australian Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, the Cleveland and San Jose Ballet, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Tokyo Ballet, the Toronto Ballet, the Alberta Ballet and others. She was a member of the faculty at the Regional Dance America's National Festival in 1997 as well as at the RDA/NE Festival 1998 and the RDA/SE 1999. For seven years, she served as the personal coach for her own mother Alicia Alonso. Aside from that, my main purpose here is also to recognize Ms. Alonso's successful twenty-five year performing career at BNC that included soloist work in all of the traditional classics. This is what one of the witnesses of her art had to say about her: “The Spanish Dance of the third act of Swan Lake danced by Laura Alonso and Jesus Sanfiel still remains in my mind like the most beautiful one I have ever seen in my life, What a bravura, what a garbo, not other dancers has ever got closer to them. My deepest respect for her work as a dancer and as a teacher.” Here is Miss Alonso as Mme. Cerrito in Grand Pas de Quatre, in the late 50’s. Miss Alonso staging "Les Sylphides" Miss Alonso giving a male class

I'm happy to hear more advocates of this way of thinking. Tiffany, i'm with you 100 %. GIVE IT UP FOR THE SMALL COMPANIES!!

It goes according to the title of the thread...and frankly, it's comical. ( Oh, and BTW Who's dancing The Snow Queen, Pegasus...? )

Miss Aurora Bosh. Varna Silver Medal 1965, Varna Gold Medal 1966 It was 1956 in Havana, and a tall and long legged girl makes her professional ballet debut- (replacing an injured dancer)- in “Les Shylphides”. The dancer’s name is Aurora Bosh, recently graduated from the Alicia Alonso Ballet School and who later on would become one of the 4 “Jewels of Cuban Ballet” according to H.Haskell. From then on, her story of success and achievements would start with high speed. It is by this time that Miss Bosh decides to fly to US under a contract provided by means of Mme.Alonso, who had been contracted herself to dance “Coppelia” for one season for the Greek Theater of Los Angeles. Alicia asked the man in charge of the project if some Cuban Ballerinas could try and audition for the Company. The man accepted, but their tickets had to be self –provided, which proved a burden on Bosh family, given its low income. Alicia came out with the idea to try to sell an oil self portrait painted by herself and provided each girl with one pair of pointe shoes , which they had to colored gold by themselves . Then they managed to print tickets to some of the Alonso Company performances and tried to sell them around so they could save the more money for the trip. Aurora almost stayed, because her family couldn't help her with all the expenses. Then it was decided that the money was going to be used just for Bosh plane ticket, while the rest of the girls could pay it little by little. At the same time there was the Ballet Celeste from San Francisco, which give the 6 girls the opportunity to dance in some of their performances and get paid for it while they were waiting until Coppelia could be presented at the Greek Theater . That proved a challenge to young Aurora, who got to dance in many different places, included some US Military Bases. She and the rest of the girls even came out with a peculiar song about "6 crazy cubanitas that would not be forgotten in LA !" This was the start of Miss Aurora Bosh amazing career. She is a ballerina who danced with an extreme audacity, which along a sharp technique and stage majestic command made of herself a virtuosa among her generation peers. She owned the biggest jumps, the perfect extensions and the precise turns, which added to her mastering of role characterization for the pleasure of her devote audience. Watching her dancing in full command of technique and style, abandon and flair was one of the greatest pleasures I’ve ever had . I saw La Bosch dancing Myrtha to Alicia's Multiple GISELLE in 1991. She drew gasps from the audience from the moment she came out and received a standing ovation at the end of her last variation and final coda with the electrifying Fae entrechat six. I have NEVER seen a Myrtha that equals hers. Not many clips are available. If I find some others, I will post them later on. We love you, Queen of Willis. Aurora Bosh as Odile, Act III SL. Dancing Myrtha's entrance in Giselle Act II, 1991

I wonder if she did Taglioni.

As I said earlier, it is MY pleasure to do this. Not a lot of info is available on this dancers, so their art has survived basically in the memories of those who had the chance to see them. As soon as I had a little time, i'll write on others. From the top of my mind the list wil go as follows: Aurora Bosh Laura Alonso Ramona de Saa Martha Garcia Maria Elena Llorente Rosario Suarez Ofelia Gonzalez Amparo Brito and others...

I always thought that Lopukhov had just merely restaged the existing Ivanov choreography. So excuse my ignorance, but if this is not the case, and his Nutcracker was rather a different choreography from the Sergueiev notated one, ...what then is being referred to as "the version that Markova danced"...? Are we talking about two different versions: Ivanov/Sergueiev/Fedorova/Markova vs. Lopukhov/Schollar/Markova...?

Thanks for the info, Mel!

So which Company's production was that which some Danilova's pics in the SQ costume come from...? BR, Denham...?

Probably...althought she was pretty relegated to the shadows due to her non political affiliation. Many old pictures of Castro with those Cuban ballet founders can be seen around, but is noticeable that Pla was always absent from them...(BTW...i have a very interesting one from 1961 showing a ballet recruiting process in the country side in which Alonso can be seen seating along with Danilova, Youskevitch...AND CASTRO! ) Well, that may explain why she did not take part in the 1978 tour of the USA and Puerto Rico, when practically all principals came. Only Pla and Bosch were missing. I had assumed that they had both retired from performing but apparently not (as we saw Bosch as Myrta in the 1980 film of Giselle and YouTube shows a great clip of Pla in Tarde en la Siesta ca 1983). It DOES have to with that, Natalia. Pla was always very loved and popular within the Cuban audience. People just loved her doll like beauty and the fact that she was always very apolitical. She was catholic too, and people knew, and that was something like an issue during those extremist first years of the Revolution. She was the oldest of them all, and the only one i didn't have the chance to see in Swan Lake or Giselle. The other three i did, and Loipa and Aurora-(who was also "different" and was being carefully watched too by the official government)-were still very active way well into the early 90's. It was a blast to hear the public roar when they would show up onstage, specially Pla.

Probably...althought she was pretty relegated to the shadows due to her non political affiliation. Many old pictures of Castro with those Cuban ballet founders can be seen around, but is noticeable that Pla was always absent from them...(BTW...i have a very interesting one from 1961 showing a ballet recruiting process in the country side in which Alonso can be seen seating along with Danilova, Youskevitch...AND CASTRO! )

...which Markova danced and tought it to Alonso...

I was very surprised with this small Company's production. Beautiful sets, designs, clear comprehension/respect of the traditional choreography and a lovely Act II PDD danced by eye popping Maria Kowrosky and her very supportive Cavalier, Charles Askegard. I'm very happy with what i saw, which surpassed my expectations. CONGRATS, BALLET ETUDES!

Neither one was my point of reference while growing up. I think it's pretty fare to add "Fedorova after Ivanov" to the list, considering the millions of Cubans who, like me, are totally strangers to any other version, and for which the ballet is as very well known and much loved and for which depriving the PDD of its variations and/or coda seems something unthinkable-(links regarding a similar choreographic "diversity" phenomena in other ballets are many). Said that, i will also want to clarify that this is just ANOTHER opinion, (and also humble, if i may...)