cubanmiamiboy

I don't want to cause any trouble, but a Trocks take-off on Bourne's take-off on Swan Lake, with the male dancers playing women playing male dancers playing swans, and with completely new lyrics by Bjork, who would sing them wearing that swan dress she wore to 2001 Oscars -- why not? It could be the Dansical to End All Dansicals.

It could be the end of my faith in sanity, bart...OMG, i remember Bjork wearing that...thing...

National Ballet of Canada Principal Dancer Sonia Rodriguez gave birth to her second son, Dillon, on 14 August.

Congratulations, Sonia!!!

Mel, you make a valid point about some of Nureyev's partnering. I gather he could be very impatient with and dismissive of women whom he felt made him look bad on stage,

Interesting. I never saw him dancing live, but in every single video that i've seen of him i have the feeling that he wants to make sure to let people know that he is the star. I see this even in his dancing with Mme. Fonteyn , in a more subtle way due, i guess, to the genuine and profound respect and love that Nureyev felt for his friend and mentor.

(As we speak, some enterprising soul is probably planning "Swan Lake for Nondancers!")

OMG, noooooo!!...don't give those "enterprising souls" any ideas, Alexandra..! I have enough with Mathew Bourne and The Trocks already!

"it begins on Friday, Oct. 12th, at 5 (or thereabouts) and will go the entire following day from 9-6. As noted, the full schedule and list of participants will be known in a few weeks, at which time i'll post them here.

What a wonderful opportunity!..I wish that we could have more of those type of events down here in Miami... It's sad of how behind this city gets in relation with cultural environment development, which we really, desperate need .

The Telegraph

Swan Lake performed by amateurs would be more fun than this.

Why the take on lovely "Swan Lake"?...Leave it alone!..(I'm very protective on my favorite ballet.. )

When I see Julie Kent I often think that she is thin... but not too thin.

Mmm...can we get risky digging into weight issues here related to "beautiful proportion"?.

Until we find out, i'll vote for Lorena Feijoo and Nina Ananiashvili

As far as Balanchine and Kirkland's divergent approaches toward interpretation, I think that it depends on what type of ballet one is performing. A plotless ballet, or one with just the suggestion of a plot, seems to call for a less analytical approach on the part of the dancer, whereas with a specific plot one can go into much more detail.

Interesting. This is what Mr. Frederic Franklin has to say about acting, expression and M. Balanchine:

"Later in his career Mr. 'B' would say, "Don't bother about the acting. Just listen to the music and dance." All his steps came out of him through the music. The music was terribly important to him. He didn't want any expression. The dancing was enough. That was Balanchine."

Mr. Frederic Franklin

This impossibly fast chaines are something that non-ballet-oriented people often mention about the earlier videos.

Aren't they just amazing...? I find this super speeding force , either on the chainees or the pique turns on these old soviet videos, something like hypnotic. ( like Dudinskaya's on her 1957 Black Swan ). By the way, Nureyev's whole Corsaire PDD is in the DVD "The Glory of Kirov".

Mother should have told them, that you were being named for Fletcher Christian, who led The Revolution aboard HMS Bounty!

Ooh..poor mother was just scared that i wouldn't be able to keep my name

What a great idea! Or, reversing it (with one variation) might have worked. Naitsirch sounds positively Soviet.

God, thank God that didn't happen, because you know what?...That kind of thing was a popular practice back then. I had a friend, a girl, ( ) whose name, Ernesallen, was the mix of Ernesto Guevara and Salvador Allende, two popular communist heroes in the cuban political iconography.

some may have wished to avoid traditional (that is, Christian) first names, as one sees today in Castro's Cuba.

You're absolutely right, bart. When i was going to be registered, my original name was supposed to be Christian, but the authorities didn't allowed my mother to do so,because of the religious connotations of this name in its english translation so the only way to kept it was by eliminating the H, and becoming Cristian, wich in that form was no more the english translation of a Christ follower, (big trouble back then and there, by the way...

Maybe we should have an alternative topic: have there been dancers who combine the qualitis of hyper-awareness and great expressivity in their dancing, but who seem to have little left over -- as the Wharton character, Darrow, would have it -- for verbal communication in "life"?

that would be an excelent idea, bart!!... Please, do so.

It's good to know that -- based on the examples given on this thread -- that some performing artists do have some surplus left over for verbal communication about their art.

Interesting point, bart. A while ago i was reading a review on Gelsey Kirkland's "Dancing on my Grave". The controversial point made with the words "Don't think, dance" has a lot to do with this subject. Here it goes:

"Through the 1970s and early 1980s, Kirkland nearly paid with her life for "the passivity and guilt instilled by the Balanchine system"a dance theater that valued speed and form over dramatic content. "Don't think, dance," Kirkland was told. The ballerina's disaffection with that dictum is at the heart of this book: "To speak through the dance, to articulate something beyond the steps, was the precise art for which I struggled." Kirkland spares neither the reader nor herself in this memoir full of poetic insights into art and life, and we must be grateful that the dancer, always "seen but not heard," has at last given her inner soul voice in this magnificent autobiography."

It was beautiful to watch the woman who was one of his earliest friends in Leningrad, whose academic career was ruined after the defection, as she described her memories. And the same holds for the Romanian roomate at the ballet academy. It says something very important about Nureyev that he was able to attract and hold friends like these.

I specially loved Nureyev's Romanian roommate stories. Somwhere , and refering to Rudy's body, he said something like "People like a good body physique, and if this body is dancing, then is a masterpiece". I think it was a beautiful idea.

A couple of things I didn't like:

The discussion of his relationship with Menia Martinez is illustrated with Lucette Aldous, from a much later performance of Don Quijote (the Australian Balle video?) that could only confuse people who don't know the story well.

I totally agree. That was annoying...

It's it amazing how an artist can become a political tool

It's beyond amazing...is sad, and hard to digest, but it still hapens...I can imagine how frightened Nureyev must have lived during and after his defection...

what doses dance have to do with communism or capitalism?

Dancers in a communism society are not meant to be individual stars, but part of a whole that goes beyond the ballet itself. They represent the governmental self proclaimed superior cultural force based on a still sustained theory of a socialist masses movement success vs. individuality capitalist egocentrism and star system. Go figure...

I also wanted to add that i never realized so much before how good looking he was...Those close-ups at the beggining of the documentary were excelent.

Great Performances actually has a dancing offering this summer: Nureyev: The Russian Years to air on

August 29, 2007 at 9 pm.

I just finished watching it...i really can't express some of the emotions that it brought to me. I understood every word regarding Nureyev's fear. I grew up surrounded by it too,and it's just unexplainable sometimes to the western culture. The dancing footage was beautiful. I especially loved the "Laurencia" clips. The sequences of his pirouettes and chainees were out of this world...it was unbelievable.Rudolph Nureyev, RIP, and for your artistry and courage!!!! Bravooooooooooo!!!!!!

I've always been frustrated about the DVD situation related with ballet, specially with my idol Mme. Alonso . From her super extended career, there's only an awfully recorded 1965 "Giselle", and some excerpts in "Prima Ballerina Assoluta"...I usually wonder if ballet companies make sure that the original TV recordings are kept safe for possible future DVD releases.

if the children's dance was eliminated entirely, or even if the costumes were changed, wouldn't that change the entire concept of a reconstruction of an historic ballet version?

It would be choreographically altered for sure. Can't choreographers just keep african slaves as so and just work in a more sophisticated make up method, eliminating as much as possible any grotesque signal?...I'm sure something more subtle can be done without going to the extreme of eliminating the whole "Pas". If we start erasing all the african slaves/black faced characters from all the operas and ballets (even being "minor","non important", "boring" or children roles) for that reason, then i don't really know what's gonna happen. And then, boring, non important and children dances are everywhere in every ballet, and not always by black faced characters, by the way. Should we just start eliminating those too...?

Hello, it's nice to be here! May 1st was my 10 year wedding anniversary and my wonderful husband took me to NYC to celebrate. The night was magical.

Hi, Tifma, and welcome!. I hope you enjoy the site and its wonderful people as much as i do...

Also, congratulations for you and your husband on your anniversary

But it refers to a tradition, thankfully discarded, but part of theatrical heritage nonetheless. I would hate to see it lost, and perhaps one day society will be enlightened enough to take these things in their historical contexts.What would Petrouchka be if the third puppet were blanded down? Would this character be as effective as a counterpoint to Petrouchka if he were of European stock?I'm for keeping these "racist" references and keeping them in perspective as historical artifacts

The world should just stop viciously digging in and arguing on this subject, and just try to enjoy performances more often. I personally agree with Lewis Segal statement as that ballet form is racially stereotyped by nature. Let's not forget that the most of today's well known choreographies were created in the XIX Century, and princesses, kings, queens and african slavery were still current at the time. Let's also not forget that Russia was still living in a pre-capitalist stage, and from there they abruptely jumped into communism, without having the time to develop a strong middle class. Hence, the characters on this stories talk about all of these extreme social differences. We shouldn't change anything, and just try to understand a little more the stories and the times when they were created. If Abderrakhan or Othello require a specific dark makeup because it's intrinsec to the role, let's work on it. If the Willis require some lightening makeup because it's intrinsec to their nature, let's give it to them too. Overall, let's respect tradition, history and accuracy, and soften up a little the subject of race in ballet. On top of everything, i would hate to see choreographies getting lost, mixed up, cofusing or forgotten becaused of lack of comprehensive knowledge and common sense. At the end, i can't forget the fact that i never had the opportunity to watch Raymonda back in Cuba. It's considered racist and offensive, and has never been staged. Do we want that?

I divide my vote between Nikolai Tsiskaridze and Carlos Acosta.

I don't think Chopiniana is kitschy--it's very beautiful.

Thanks, Hans...

For classical grand pas de deux, it would have to be the tandem combination of White Swan/ Black Swan.

Oh well, bart, so i guess you're the only backing me up on the swan issue!. My all time favorite PDD , he,he.. the old "Black Swan PDD,(Mme.Alonso after Gorsky) for its choreography and plotline. Next, (and i think i will be the first to mention it, right?) the "Sugar Plum Fairy" (the Fokine/Mme.Fedorova version, specially when the Cavalier rocks the arched Sugar Plum Fairy like a pendulum, the back of her head almost sweeping the floor.) I just love it for sentimental reasons and beautiful music and choreography, and then, as we're expanding the concept a little bit, the "Waltz in C minor" from Chopiniana (Alonso after Fokine) just because i have to watch it at least once a week. I know, i know...i have a kitsh taste, some say...

Note: It's worthy to mention that my top three favorites are based totally in the choreographic fact. In other words, my choices would be different if these PDD are staged by different choreographers.

Reading was very encouraged back when i was in school. Then, when i got to seven grade, things started gettting..mm, different. We had classes such as "Political knowledge Fundamentals", and "Marxism-Leninism:Theory", all the way from there to college. By the time i was 12, we were forced to read Karl Marx "Capital" and "The Communist Manifesto" and Engel's "Anti-Duhring" and "Ludwing Feuerbach and the end of german classical filosophy"among other books of the like. People were really reading-discouraged, IMO...

This just occurred to me regarding e-books. I think it very likely that a computer, a sort of iBook, in the shape of a book, but that will get rid of all the harshness to the eyes, will be developed, and hundreds of thousands of downloadable books will be on it. It will be a luxury item for awhile, but it could easily even be made to have the tactile sensation of a book. I wouldn't be surprised to see it come out within the next 2 or 3 years, considering that it sounds relatively simple.

It's true that high tech is a non stoppable force, but still i would be concerned about:

-Affordability- This things are really expensive,(at least for me). Iphones and the like are, and will be for a while

-Durability-They are very sensitive and easy to break. I see people loosing tons of information constantly because their phone dropped in the water, (talk about mother nature force vs. high tech force) or their laptops got a virus. Water is an issue where a regular book wins over its electric competitor.

-Human understanding on the high tech matters. For some, (me included), the less complicated an item gets, the better, and in that field, regular books can't get less complicated to manipulate and understand its use than, say, e-books...