cubanmiamiboy

Izzy Petipa sez: "Try rehearsing it stoned. If Twyla becomes more accessible when you're drunk, think what pot could do for Fokine! (That is, if you don't start giggling.)"

This is a rather dismal Wikipedia entry. Someone looking up MCB for real information would find very little.

I don't really know that much about Wikipedia and its sources, but i've noticed mistakes and incorrect information in many of its entries...

i have no hard facts but a russian emigre friend (originally from moscow) notes that IGOR MOISEEV has died.

i believe he was over a hundred.

no doubt obituary tributes will flood in.

I saw his company in Havana when i was a kid, and i perfectly remember how much did i loved them...

RIP, Mr. Moiseyev

could, but won't!

please!

There are Draculas performed everywhere, as carbro notes. The only one I have seen, and it was on film, was Mark Godden's version for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, which was made into a movie called Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary, directed by Guy Maddin. It looked pretty good, actually, at least what can be seen of it via Maddin's highly idiosyncratic methods. (I liked the film, I should note.)

Can't think of any others offhand. In modern dance, there's Morris' vampire piece, One Charming Night.

Some years ago i saw a "Dracula" ballet. It was staged by Laura Alonso, (Mme. Alicia Alonso's rebel daughter, who has her own classical ballet company in Havana, in open opossition to her mother's). It was a very "sui generis" performance, with lots of special effects, including our annoying old friend the smoking machine...

Thank you for that report, Cristian. It really helped me understand more about the group - good job.

Good job indeed, Cristian! and I hadn't seen it when you wrote it 3 months ago, so thanks to dirac for putting up a new article which I haven't had time to read yet. This is quite fascinating, and I had no idea anything like this existed--one of the few examples of something that is both 'inspiring' and 'inspirational', which is not so frequent an occurrence.

My pleasure. I'm happy to spread the word on the works of this wonderful company. As i said earlier, these dancers are truly professionals, and i wish them the best . Good luck! thank you, dirc, for the link..

Then, there have been the unintended horrors.

Carbro, i know you are refering to horror-themed ballets, but i'll quote you to refer to unintended horrific movies. eg,.Jenniffer Lopez's "Gigli" (wasn't that horrific...? )Boo!

.The one I am taking inspiration from is Malakhov's.The worst I've seen is Baryshnikov's..

HI, dancerboy...i really wish you the best luck. This is one my favorite ballet pieces, (Fokine is my idol), and i hope you can capture the esence of the romantic feeling that lies deep inside this short but lovely story...

He,He...BTW, seems that we always have opposite views about certain topics. I can't contain myself to declare that my role model for this part is Misha,(i find his mannerisms on this piece fascinating, (giving the obvious masculinity that usually caracterize his dancing), and the last one on my list would be your first one, Malakhov ...Talk about personal taste..! Still, i sincerelly hope you the best...Keep us informed and again, good luck!!

From Macaulay's 7/15/07 Times article on ABT and the Black Swan coda :

"What's both bizarre and fascinating is that the music's rhythmic emphasis changes entirely after her first 16 turns. Yet despite the suddenly jarring disparity between what we see and hear, she just goes on turning."

He's right - the music does change, yet the dancer keeps doing the same thing with the same rhythm. Audiences may or may not find this bothersome, but there is a definite and unmusical disparity.

Actually, the dancer's rhythm should change along with the music.

And often does. After count 16, most Odiles who do multis (single-single-double, etc.) revert to straight singles.

Give me an old fashioned ballerina that can deliver good 32 singles with a perfect 90 degrees a la second, and i'll be happy. If well done, they go perfectly with the 4/4 tempo

Did anyone get a chance to attend this program?

I went to the theatre...the day after the performance!!.. so there i was standing by myself wondering why was the place closed and empty, 'till i double checked the ticket's date . This is embarassing...

I have read the NY Times and the Chronicle Review. Both indicate that "Miami City Ballet might not be quite a world-class company." My question for this group is, what does it take to become a world class ballet company?

If it takes an international tour, then so be it. Edward take your fabulous company to Europe!

I'm convinced that Miami has an stigma...it will take a lot of time and effort to change the minds of those who can't admit that MCB is a cultural force strongly sustained by Eddie and his wonderful troupe...

[i've seen clips of Fonteyn and Nureyev doing the BSPP using the Adagio from the original music (TPDD) and the Coda from the "Pas de Six", and she does 27 fouettes followed Nureyev doing pirouettes a la second.

Good God! Talk about torturing a score! They might as well have stuck to the original substitution. (And if I remember the Kavanagh's Nureyev bio correctly - I'm too lazy to go check - Margot was not at all happy about it.)

Yep...the Adagio was from the "Tchaikowsky Pas de Deux", Sigfried's variation from the "Pas de Deux for two Merry Makers",Odile's solo is one of the variations from the "Pas de Six", and the Coda from the "Pas de Six" too...so yes, talk about torturing a score...!

Since Halloween is only three days away, I thought I would start a new topic -- what are your favorite horror films?

That's an easy pick for me... Polanski's trilogy: Repulsion (1965)-(I'm a big fan of Deneuve )-, Rosemary's Baby (1968), and The Tenant (1976). Talk about the horrors of apartment-dwelling ! Boo!!

Wait...! What about Michael Crichton's 1978 "Coma" ? Does it applies as a horror movie...? I remember that when i first saw it as a kid, it scared the hell out of me...The intense paranoia that pervades the film is similar to that of Rosemary's Baby. Never suspected that yars later i would end up in the field...

Since the infamous 32 were not choreographed by Petipa, but added to suit the virtuosity (and maybe the dramatic ideas) of a particular ballerina, we are not dealing with something written in stone.

Now that we're back to the SL mood, ( ) and the 32 fouettes, i hope to find out how it is possible that the first time that the steps were done in this ballet was by Legnani in the february 1894 Ivanov staging ...of the likeside act!!

Then, of course, there's the question of the music now used itself, which wasn't intended for the Odile/Siegfried pas de deux. For one thing, as Alastair Macaulay has pointed out, the music isn't especially suited to the 32 whirls. So - do we ask for the music Tchaikovsky actually wrote to be restored (isn't it the music now used for Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux?), which would more or less put an end to 32 anything, or accept that with all the various substitutions in score and choreography, the rather unmusical fouettes can give way to other possibilities?

I've seen clips of Fonteyn and Nureyev doing the BSPP using the Adagio from the original music (TPDD) and the Coda from the "Pas de Six", and she does 27 fouettes followed Nureyev doing pirouettes a la second.

Thank you for your impressions, cahill! Don't even begin to worry about the technical; we appreciate your observations.

Words taken out of my mouth! Although there are a lot of very skilled and accomplished ballet writers on Ballet Talk, many of us are just enthusiastic amateurs. Writing down what we've seen actually improves the eye for future performances. And it helps others, too.

I know bart...i have somebody who's dying to join BT, but she finds the technical writing too intimidating...i'll try harder to convince her to step in...

The link to Howard's review will appear in today's links, but just as impressive is Howard's refutation of the standard MCB story, and her conclusion:

Tharp's relentless invention is thrill enough, but the real spectacle was the Miami City Ballet's nonstop energy and unfailing clarity. If this isn't world-class dancing, I don't know what is.

Well said!..Go MCB!!!

I was recently watching a video of Lorna Feijoo dancing "Ballo de la Regina" -(in an unlicensed production in Havana)- back when she was still a principal with BNC. This is an interesting video, because as it was filmed by a friend with a hidden camera right at the performance, shows in detail the moment when Feijoo , in a middle of a simple bourees sequence, took a clatter nasty fall. She seemed dazed for a fraction of a second, but made a fast recovery in the middle of the audience's massive applause, and finished her sequence more brilliant than ever. This performance, in its official version, had this part cut off and edited, so those who weren't there will never know that it happened.

I'm sure the experienced BT's have witnessed similar situations with well know dancers. I'm curious to know about it: who was involved ?, during which ballet ?, what was the the ballerina/dancer/ audience's reaction ?...

Please, some stories!

he's gymmed himself into looking like a porn star.

Wow...

There are worse images I could think of

WOW!!

Thanks, ggobob! I'm glad they did well and that you enjoyed the performances. Some thoughts:

the smoke effects got somewhat out of hand at one of the performances and some in the audience got going right out of the hall.

This has happened before, and once the stage was so obscured it was hard to see some of the dancing. Are smoke effects that difficult to get right? (Maybe we need a thread about smoke-effect disasters and similar disasters we have seen.)

bart, that would be a great idea to start a thread on this subject !. I personally hate the smoking machines..

he's gymmed himself into looking like a porn star.

Wow...

"The Courtier and the Heretic" by Matthew Stewart.

A great read about, as the book's subtitle has it,: 'Leibniz, Spinoza and the fate of God in the modern world'.

Wow...i'll never forget Leibniz Monad's theory as long as i live. It gave me a great deal of a hard time on a Philosophy final

Since Halloween is only three days away, I thought I would start a new topic -- what are your favorite horror films?

That's an easy pick for me... Polanski's trilogy: Repulsion (1965)-(I'm a big fan of Deneuve )-, Rosemary's Baby (1968), and The Tenant (1976). Talk about the horrors of apartment-dwelling ! Boo!!

And besides, the brutal cuts and reshufflings are par for the course in much more traditional stagings of the classics, as for example, Petipa's reformulation of the "Black Swan" pas de deux, (...) And what one allows to Petipa, one must allow to Murphy, a choreographer, in my opinion, of entirely comparable genius.

Graeme Murphy's Nutcracker by Rodney Stenning Edgecombe. Brolga. December 2002. Pages 23-32.[/indent]

Thank you.

The only sad part would be if this were the ONLY Nutcracker available to an audience. And if, as happens with local productions here in the US, audiences were obliged to see it year ... after year ... after year ... without ever knowing the real thing.

Good point, bart. But well, being the case that "The story of Clara" was the only Nutcracker reference that certain local audience could have access to, i guess we would be talking about the only town in America where there's not at least a little school performance of the "real thing", (and that would be another controversial topic, of how "real" some "classical" Nutcrackers are out there...). In that case, if NOTHING is offered, isn't it better to have the chance to see SOMETHING, even if it doesn't apply for "The Real Thing" title...?

Odette with chest hair is okay if it's the Trocks.

Cristian, I'm glad you like my post -- it was so long I was afraid people would get indigestion from it. But I'm not a south Floridian -- I'm a south Chicagoan! Anyway, now I'm encouraged to say what I think about the music (briefly, excellent, much better than the POB DVD, which I like less the more I play it) and the backdrop (briefly, it starts fine but gets to be overdone by the end, IMO) and summarize some of Villella's pre-performance remarks. He's always interesting, and usually gives insight into appreciating the program.

So Chicago, ah?. I've been wanting to go there forever...Anyways, that was a labor of love you did with your excelent detailed review. As i was reading it, i was having flashes of my own performance experience, and it's very interesting, as you noted, to se reflected in somebody elses's writing your own feelings on a particular aspect or detail of the work, even small ones that one might think would pass unnoticed...I really look forward to see your posts in the future!.

What about Daniel Sarabia,

bart, i spotted Daniel Sarabia in the Corps. I can't wait to see him doing something more substantial soon. I saw him at the launching of the Classical Cuban Ballet of Miami Gala more than a year ago doing Don Quijote PDD, and he was great...