cubanmiamiboy

21 hours ago, Drew said:

I don't need works of art to mirror back to me exactly my own belief systems. (I would guess most of us don't..)

Some of us might not NEED it, but it is definitely quite enjoyable when it happens-(particularly with religion). Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic dogmas are quite friendly with each other. 😍

4 hours ago, Laurent said:

I am, moreover, sceptical about the relevance for a modern, thoroughly progressive member of western society, of such terms as 'Redemption' and 'Beyond'.

Even if It comes from a strict Catholic...? 😉

4 hours ago, Ashton Fan said:

 By the way both Zurich and La Scala have the Ratmansky reconstruction of Swan Lake in their repertory so ABT is not the only company to have a production using the original ending.

I know, and you are right. But those productions are fairly new. For decades generations of ballet goers-(mainly in Russia)- have grown up looking at a happy Odete being changed into human form for the Soviet finale. We're talking about elderly, who have never been able to watch the much thoughtful and spiritual original ending. On the contrary, NY'rs have been able to permeate themselves with the idea of  redemption in the beyond, which like Giselle and Bayadere, carries quite a much substantial and beautiful message than the Soviet insults. I hope that more and more productions of SL and who knows...even maybe Bayadere can rescue back their beautiful endings.

On 6/13/2018 at 5:19 AM, Drew said:

 I think it's a very awkward moment for Siegfried to disappear into darkness. When he returns carrying Odette, her corpse is in the dress she was wearing in the prologue. At the very end, Odette's spirit appears atop the cliff--in her swan queen tutu--surveying the scene.

I found this all hard to follow...

I know what you mean. After countless ridiculous, senseless SL endings I have seen-(including the Bolshoi/Grigorovich and the Mariinsky/Sergueev Soviet insults)-I am afraid ABT currently holds the last faithful vestige to the original libretto finale. And I REALLY hope they hold it as a treasure.

It would had been quite interesting if the Cuban company had brought their after-Nijinska version of La Fille mal Gardee" to their recent visit to US. This version has been active and untouched in Alonso's company since 1948. I saw it many times, and it is quite delightful. In many occasions I heard interviews with Alicia in which she said she had decided to leave the ballet exactly as she had danced it during her 20 years tenure with Ballet Theatre. Considering that Nijinska staged it after what she remembered from her days is Petersburg, I think this is quite a valuable link with Petipa. I had never seen any other version of the ballet up until I came to US and, to my surprise, saw the entirely different Ashton's with a different score. I had assumed that this ballet was in its Hertel version all around the world, and it looks like it is the total opposite case. 

Here's a very young Rolando Sarabia as Colin and Anissa Curbelo as Lisette. Enjoy!

I am currently in Vienna, a city I adore. Tonight I had the opportunity to attend a memorable performance of one of my ever favorite operas... Mozart's Die Zauberflote.  The place, Schönbrunn. Music by the Failoni Orchestra, Budapest. The company....., The Marionettentheater Schloss Schönbrunn. This is a traditional and wonderful curated marionette company that has revived to great success the art of the puppeteer. If you ever come to this city and the place, please don't miss the opportunity to attend one of their performances. It was really enchanting.

On 6/17/2018 at 3:40 PM, sandik said:

Gender dysphoria does indeed present itself in multiple ways, and the people who grapple with it have used many different tools, both in the past and currently.  One of them is gender affirmation surgery, and thank you for working with that cohort.  But as you know, not all trans people choose that pathway. 

As someone who's watched the Trocks for many years, it's been fascinating to see the company evolve from a group where the cross dressing was the main point of the humor to something much more complex.  Part of me wishes that Johnsey hadn't needed to leave the group -- his highly refined sense of classical style was a real asset in the more subtle aspects of their repertory.  But as we're constantly reminded, a dancer's performing life is short, and they need to follow their opportunities.  I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next for him, and also for the Trocks.

Amen to that. And thanks for the sensitive response. Much appreciated this days...🤗

3 hours ago, canbelto said:

So IMO these concerns are baseless. 

They can't certainly be proven, I give you that. I just hope the world could really "see" and act sometimes beyond the evidence-based criteria so necessary help-(many times not asked for)- could be offered. But you are totally right. There is not proof whatsoever that Johnsey has any conflict, as the legal terminology goes, "beyond reasonable doubt".

On 6/15/2018 at 8:09 AM, canbelto said:

Well if you don't know what his real story is why are you jumping to such negative assumptions and assume he has a "gender identity" crisis?

My subjective perception of Johnsey comes from my experience working in a sex reassignment surgery floor-(one of the very few in this country)- for four years.  Gender dysphoria is quite a 7 heads monster that definitely stays out of public vision. 

On 6/13/2018 at 5:20 PM, nanushka said:

When guesses run contrary to readily available information, when they are based on a misapplication (or overly narrow application) of terminology, and when they involve pathologizing others, I personally think they are best avoided.

Let's agree to disagree then on how "ok" and "healthy" this whole affair is. I happen to usually try to dig into the "hear no evil, see no evil" aspect of things, and experience has told me that things is are not just fine in sensitive issues in which people generally don't want to look beyond the happy surface-( and even more if it involves political correctness).  If you think, or assume that Johnsey has no identity crisis , or his 20 pounds weight loss in order to fit a ballet female corps while being structurally different as a male is very healthy, well....that's your assumption-(agreeing upon not knowing what his real story is). Mine, on the other side, is just the opposite 

Ok....so I voiced an unfathomable wrong guess, completely unlikely to even be slightly considered a probable fact. Got it.🤗

Early into the topic I read that he was told by the Trocks that if he transitioned he would no longer be able to dance with them. That's why I assumed he was talking about surgery. But of course...I could be wrong.  And I could also be wrong at pointing at the probable negative impact severe weight loss as a means to fit into the mold required by the ENB corps could potentially carry. 

Every might be just fine, and I hope it is.

1 hour ago, nanushka said:

Actually, I saw just one other comment about the weight loss here before yours, and it was another expression of concern. I didn't see anyone applauding the weight loss.

Personally, I don't feel the need to either frown or applaud, as I don't know Johnsey's body, his nutritional needs, his methods for achieving weight loss, etc. I do know that weight loss can be achieved in a healthy manner or in an unhealthy manner, and that weight loss and bulimia/anorexia are not the same things.

I also don't think it's the case that someone who is gender fluid is necessarily experiencing any sort of "crisis." The main crisis Johnsey seems to have experienced in recent times was that brought on by the treatment of his former employer. Not knowing him, I would not personally presume to label any of his other experiences in that way.

Jhonsey speaks at some point about transitioning. As we don't know to which extent this goes, I will be liberal and guess that he was talking about having surgery . For a man to have a cost covered elective castration and penectomy, he must bring a diagnosis of "gender dysphoria" given by two different psychiatrists to the surgeon. And gender dysphoria certainly involves identity crisis. 

As per dangerous self inflicted weight loss in order to blend into the rigid ballet physical standards, well... that's more than well documented out there.

On 6/8/2018 at 1:35 PM, Jayne said:

I honestly hope the weight loss does not damage his metabolism. 

I find really interesting that, in the era of bulimia/anorexia exposure , nobody seems to frown upon the drastic weight loss statement. 20 pounds drop for such a small male frame seems a bit extreme to me. But I guess we ought to be applauding instead. Oh well...to each its own I guess.

Ballet....extreme goals....extreme weight loss....identity crisis....plastic surgery.  Hey Gelsey..  

Did anybody found a bit stressful how the little harlequins have to quickly gather all the money from the floor into the rug to clear the stage for the dancing to come...?

Did anybody found a bit stressful how the little harlequins have to quickly gather all the money from the floor into the rug to clear the stage for the dancing to come...?

9 hours ago, doug said:

 

As for the Lilac Fairy variation, two notated versions are preserved in the Sergeev Collection. One is marked M. Petipa and the other (more difficult technically) is without a dancer name. I have not worked on the second of the two variations.

If anyone has citations to confirm the history and chronology of the Lilac variation (when it was or wasn't danced and which version/variation), I am interested.

Doug..you are THE ultimate source when discussions about notations and variations are in place.🤗. But I would assume that the main sources for the accountability of M. Petipa's extent of her dancing the Lilac prologue variation are those of E.Gerdt and Mme. Egorova's accounts. My wild guess is that she stopped performing it at some point and that it resurfaced when Egorova danced the role. About Lopukhov being its author that is quite a mistery. Maybe that is the second variation you talk about exist in the collection. 

All in all, I strongly believe this is a ballet that won't have a strong impact for generations to come, both for audiences and for dancers. Reconstruction of the Imperial Petipa legacy is the "it" thing right now, and I agree it is a wonderful thing. We're getting to know full scores...opulent costume designs that had all but disappeared after the Soviets...and even better, combinations of steps and whole dancing pas and sequences that have been carefully re crafted to give us a wider idea of the work of the French master. But...I also believe modern audiences response to the surviving pre-reconstructions classics has much to do with the dramatic weight that they all somehow carry. Many moons later we still debate over characterizations of Giselle, Odette, Raymonda and Swannilda-(even being Coppelia a light ballet). Even the most dramatically weakest of them all-(Raymonda and Corsaire)- have quite a bit or story for us to ruminate and discuss. There's really nothing in Harlequinade. Only some combinations of allegro steps-(wonderful ones)- opulent costumes and a bubbly score, which can never be seated next to Tchaikovsky, Delibes or even Glazunov. I am happy I made it for this premiere, but I wouldn't arrange to travel in the future to see a whole run of it again.

Pierrette should loan her second act dress to Aurora for her wedding...😎

34 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

I can't help but wonder if the resources for this production could have been better used for replacing some of ABT's more musty warhorses with newer productions. 

Raymonda

3 minutes ago, BrazilianBAllet said:

 

They also share a great deal of full head of hair!

I think the ballet success at the time is intertwined with how its very first consumers-(the Imperial family)- amused themselves in such sort of things like masquerades, balls and the like. This ballet feels very "aristocratic"-(something we won't ever come close to feel identified with)-and probably very comical in a turn of the century way. Our modern comedy today is much darker and elaborated. When all this elements of identification are no more, what we are left with is a curiosity, which might contain nice dancing sections. But not much else. 

2 minutes ago, Inge said:

Balanchine's Coppélia children's corps is wonderful. Harlequinade's excessive use of children is a little tiresome whether it's Balanchine or Ratmansky. 

And to be honest, even as adorable as the Waltz of the Hours is with those girls in pink, I much prefer to see it in a more elaborated, for-adults choreography-(as with the Bolshoi recon)

Oh...and on another matters, I get into the orchestra section very early, and right then and there are Villella and his wife seated quietly. So I pulled up a beautiful pic of him as Harlequin with McBride, and when passing by I put it right next to him and call his attention. I go.."here, Eddie...this is THE REAL DEAL!" He started laughing and Linda grabbed my phone and goes.."awwww" looking at the pic. I took the moment to thank him for having left such a great and strong ballet legacy in Miami-(he seemed moved by this). He did shake my hand and muttered a very honest "thank you". 

Then I left. By then people were literally jumping on him already-(and on Baryshnikov, who happened to be seated right at the other side of Villella).

So this is the deal. Harlequinade is yet another attempt at reclaiming a ballet world many of us thought to be lost. Much back and forth has been said about the pros and cons of said reconstructions or recreations...the sense or not at attempting them, or the success or lack of it of the end result. Harlequinade belongs in a more difficult cluster for Imperial productions to be revived, and it is the simple fact of being a very light comedy. Cutting it short...the libretto is probably the weakest of all Petipa ballets that are currently on repertoire. Even the most criticized ones on this board, Raymonda and Corsaire, look way meatier than Harlequinade. And comedies...? Well, we have La Fille Mal Gardee-(which had its triumphant return to the mid twenty century thanks to the beautiful Ashton choreography)- and then Coppelia, which is a whole different animal due to its memorable music...and then probably Balanchine.

Yes...the production is sumptuous....the costumes to die for, and most of all we see lots of allegro footwork and combinations that are not usually the bread and butter of the Soviet treatment of the warhorses at the turn of the century. 

Among the dances, the ones that I remember the most are of course the second act pdd with those sautees on pointe for Columbine's variation and the batteries for Harlequin. The waltz number for the Larks was also very pretty. The kids section I am a bit partial. I found it too long.

Last night's cast was stronger than tonight's. Boylston nailed the choreography and steps way more secure than Lane who, tragically, took a nasty fall onstage, which was somewhat concealed for it happened right behind an umbrella that a kid holds open center stage. Hers wasn't the only fall. A girl in black also fell forward during a group routine, and then when trying to get up she was dragged, I believed as a part of the choreography, by her partner holding to her skirt, to which she fell once again. It was quite messy. Cirio's lifts looked really labored and stressful.

Generally speaking, performance tonight was underwhelming compared to last night's. Lane/Cirio-Abrera/Hallberg weren't really a match for Boylston/Whiteside-Murphy. 

Oh...and Murphy was WONDERFUL last night. She really lighten the role.

Ana Kisselgoff was seated next to me and she looked bored. 

2 minutes ago, BrazilianBAllet said:

Question: I watched it tonigh -  you were there last night as well: did one of the kids fall (dressed in black second act) and was dragged by the partner on purpose or this just happened tonight? I could not tell if it was on purposed since the boy dragged her! Also, I was so disappointed with how empty the house was. Barman told me on 36% of sold 

Well....the choreo calls for the boys to drag the girls by their dress while both are running backwards. The boy apparently was trying to follow somehow on the steps even though the girl was still on the floor, so she couldn't keep her balance-(due to the dragging)- when trying to get up and then fell back for the second time.