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cubanmiamiboy

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Posts posted by cubanmiamiboy

  1. the loose-hair look pertained in 1895 for the swan maiden ensemble as well as for ivanov's snowflakes in '92.

    the 'bun head' is a later, rote, detail.

    and the costumes are lovely too!! :) ...for what i can see they were also simple, soft and loose, so no stiff tutus ah?...(kind of TPDD alike)

    Thank you so much Mr. R.G for this valuable information!

  2. Some companies still keep a character named Benno, but have him dance in the pas de trois. (WRONG. Benno is a seconde danseur noble and does not dance. The male role in the pas de trois is classique.)Who is Benno? Why was he there? Is there any way for him to be brought into the 21st century, or will he fade off into the mists?

    I'm not used to a second "danseur noble" on the "Love Duet" PDD.(In fact, i've never seen any live performance with a "PDD a trois"). But i think that I wouldn' mind to see a production that uses this concept. I would find it exotic...different, AS LONG AS HE DOESN'T BECOME TOO DISTRACTING FOR THE LOVE STORY , but i guess his insertion can be too confusing to be worth it. As for the character itself, i don't really care too much about it...

  3. i would also add that i don't mind changes on specific steps, including 32 fouetees, for the reason of being technically difficult DUE TO THE ADVANCED AGE OF A SUPER BALLERINA that still can give us a 5 stars performance...In THAT case, i would be pleased just to have the opportunity to see the PERFORMER herself, (specially if she's a ballet icon) , rather than the step...Oh, that would also appliy to a male dancer, BTW...

    :)

  4. the attached steel(?) engraving from THE ILLUSTRATED SPORTING AND DRAMATIC NEWS - November 17, 1877, p. 216 isn't especially unfamiliar - it's reproduced in most books on SWAN LAKE - but i'm able to scan it here b/c i recently acquired a copy of an actual ILLUSTRATED page.

    I LOVE the "girls" museline-like costumes and loose hair... :)

  5. Perhaps something akin to the idea of "physical possession" is what is happening. They are women but have been possesssed by the spirit (anima?) of swans -- in which the literalness of "Is she a woman? Is she a swan?" is somehow irrelevant.

    What's your take on the Rothbart and the (are they or aren't they) swans?

    Hi, bart, and :thanks: for your definition, which i think is the best one i've heard in a very long time. This has always been kind of a tricky question, specially if i'm taking somebody to see a "Swan Lake" for the first time, and this person can't make that much of an abstraction of the 'logic" of the story and concentrate on , lets say, choreography. And it doesn't only happens to the corps. I've had the same question formulated related to Odette, as soon as she pops in, regarding her bird-like mannerisms,("Is she a woman or a swan?") and also about Von Rothbart, specially if sometimes he really never gets to look either as a human evil Count or an owl, but rather a sci-fi-inspired-amphibious-look-alike. And then, the III Act, where people always listen to the "Black Swan" story...and again the question...("Is she a black swan?"), with my common answer being: "No, she's a woman dressed in black who has been enchanted by her father Von Rothbart to look like the other woman in white.Is the same ballerina". And then..."But why the Black Swan...?" and so on...Personally, i try to focus on the choreography and don't care too much about the accuracy on the design of the characters, knowing the real story, but it can be counfusing for the non expert public.

    :)

  6. IS AN OWL!!...SO WHY DO THEY MAKE HIM LOOK MORE LIKE AN AMPHIBIOUS..?!?!..Oh, well. He's just our old Von Rothbart, which in some of his encarnations seems to be part of the cast for "Alien IV" to play the intergalactic monster ready to fight against Sigourney Weaver rather than the feathery creature of "Swan Lake" . As years pass by the character seems to be always "reinventing" himself. I've seen him with and without wings, with an all face covering mask , often protrayed in a futuristic form, in some cases wearing heavy gothic costume and makeup , and sometimes even with horns :) . So, can somebody shred some light about this character nature, history and costume accuracy...?...Maybe there's an old pic or sketch somewhere despicting the way it used to be portrayed back on the imperial days...?...Mr. R.G, Mr.Mel J., Mr. Doug. F. please...? :helpsmilie:

    Also:

    any thoughts on specially good or bad portrays of Von Rothbarts from specific companies...?

  7. the attached steel(?) engraving from THE ILLUSTRATED SPORTING AND DRAMATIC NEWS - November 17, 1877, p. 216 isn't especially unfamiliar - it's reproduced in most books on SWAN LAKE - but i'm able to scan it here b/c i recently acquired a copy of an actual ILLUSTRATED page.

    i've always liked it, for all its poetic license, b/c it clearly shows the ballet's intention to indicate that as the swan maidens enter the moonlit clearing through the ruined castle they are clearly shown to be maidens and not swans - every current staging that goes out of its way to have the female corps de ballet variously peck away and frantically imitate birds should be reminded to study this image - it's one thing if these productions care to re-visit the libretto and pull away from the original scenario - the way matthew bourne has done - but it's something else to claim to be 'after' moscow/st.petersburg 19th c. traditions and insist on treating the female corps de ballet as a bunch of birds.

    wiley makes quite clear that the illustrations we have from '77 production can't be taken as direct views of what the stage and its choreographic action looked like, but they do give a sense of things as they looked to '77 audiences.

    is the last dancer coming out of the castle, on the door, wearing wings...?

  8. Advancing age and decrepitude caused me ..

    :thumbsup:

    Just wait until you get older . . . . :)

    Oh,,,i just found funny to discover that i'm not by myself on that boat named "Decrepitude", (even being young)..!! so, i guess that i can say, "a la Corsaire" :A BOARD !!! :helpsmilie:

  9. I started attending Miami in 2002 and did see that Giselle, but I blush to say that I have no special impression of their dancing. I know that many Miami fans have warm and deep memories of the partnership.

    I remember when MCB did Giselle...I just had came from Cuba, and didn't get to see it...Aside from the fact that back then i didn't even have money to take a bus- (so talk about attending a ballet performance)- i was still hesitating (even kind of in denial,i must say) on the very real fact that THAT OTHER GISELLE that had made me cry so many times was already , and was going to remain ,FOREVER in the past ...

  10. I always get very emotional at the end of Giselle Act I. This love/deception/madness formula simply gets me very deep.

    I am definitely with you there. I have cried onstage at the end of act one as a peasant after watching Franklin Gamero and Iliana Lopez in Giselle. Have you ever seen them?

    No, i haven't... :) , but i saw many "Giselles" by Mme. Alicia Alonso :helpsmilie: and she just had the exact formula of how to tear my heart apart EVERY SINGLE TIME...

  11. Here is, a little delayed i know, the Ballet Nacional de Cuba 2007 performances and tour dates. But is still current for some countries and performances dates.

    Americas.

    Dates ,City ,Country and Ballets being performed.

    January 6 - January 7, 2007 Havana .Cuba Les Sylphides, Sinfonía Para Nueve Hombres, The Magic Flute

    February 8 - February 9, 2007 Antigua Guatemala Guatemala Giselle

    February 15, February 16, February 17 & February 18, 2007 Havana Cuba Coppélia

    February 20 - March 18, 2007 Mexico Tour: Mexico City, San Luis Potosí, Monterrey,

    Chihuahua, Saltillo, Torreón, Ciudad Juárez, Villahermosa Mexico La Magia de la Danza, Coppélia

    March 7 - March 25, 2007 Ecuador Tour (various cities) Ecuador Swan Lake, Alfonsina, Coppélia, Tablada, Flames of Paris,

    Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Diana y Acteon, Danzas de Mozart, Le Corsaire,

    March 30 - April 1, 2007 Havana Cuba Prólogo Para Una Tragedia, Pas de Deux Mozart Divertimento

    April 5 - April 8, 2007 Havana Cuba La Magia de la Danza,

    April 9 - April 15, 2007 San José Costa Rica Tiempo de Danzón, Le Corsaire, Después del Diluvio, Coppélia, El Chueco

    April 13 - April 14, 2007 Matanzas Cuba Varied program

    April 22 - April 29, 2007 Havana Cuba XIX Festival La Huella de España, Majisimo

    April 26 - 29, 2007 São Paulo Brazil La Magia de la Danza

    May 1, 2007 Maceió Brazil Giselle

    May 5 - May 6, 2007 Havana Cuba Varied program

    May 6 - May 7, 2007 Recife Brazil Le Corsaire

    May 9, 2007 Aracaju Brazil Coppélia,

    May 11 - May 13, 2007 Brasilia Brazil Tiempo de Danzón, Le Corsaire, Después del Diluvio, Coppélia, El Chueco

    May 16 - May 17, 2007 Florianópolis Brazil Giselle

    June 4 - June 10, 2007 Havana Cuba Función de clausura del curso académico 2006-2007 del

    Taller vocacional de la Cátedra de Danza del Ballet Nacional de Cuba

    June 16 - June 17, 2007 Cárdenas Cuba Varied program

    June 22 - June 24, 2007 Havana Cuba Giselle

    June 28 - July 1, 2007 Havana Cuba Giselle

    July 6 - July 7, 2007 Cárdenas Cuba Varied program

    July 14 - July 15, 2007 Havana Cuba Tiempo Fuera de la Memoria

    August 3 - August 5, 2007 Cienfuegos Cuba Tiempo Fuera de la Memoria

    October 5 - 7 2007 Havana Cuba 50th Ann. of Theme and Variations.

    October 12 - October 14, 2007 Havana Cuba Pas de Quatre, Napoli

    November 24 - November 25, 2007 Cárdenas Cuba Varied program

    December 9 - December 17, 2007 Ontario Canada TBA

    December 24, 2007 / January 1, 2008 Havana Cuba TBA

    Europe

    Dates, City ,Country and Ballets being performed.

    May 1 - 20, 2007 Spain Tour: Palma de Mallorca and Valencia Spain Cinderella

    July 6 - August 5, 2007 Paris France Don Quixote, Giselle

    August 20 - September 23, 2007 Europe Tour 3: Copenhagen, Madrid Denmark, Spain Cinderella, Swan Lake,

    La Magia de la Danza

    November 1 - December 10, 2007 Europe Tour 4: Belgium, Hungary, Italy Don Quixote, Giselle

    December 14 - 31, 2007 Europe Tour 5: Athens Greece Don Quixote, Giselle

    :tiphat:

  12. Do you like to see different casts perform the same ballet in one week... or save your attendance for your favorite ballets and dancers?

    Back in Havana, where i could see ballet all year around (it's not "seasonal" over there), it was fashionable not to attend the performances of those ballerinas who were known for being "bad"...(and believe me, it would be surprising to see how many dancers are catalogued as "bad" by the super critic cuban balletomanes). So, yes, as i was getting into the scene, i would just attend to the "stars" performances...Now, here in Miami, i would go to all of them...and i'm lucky if i can make a decent number out of ballet performances, good or bad, no matter what will they dance or who will dance...I just want to see as much as they can offer...so the standards have changed... :tiphat:

  13. As one of those "youngsters" that does know who Nijinsky is, and actually knew the answers to/about most of those examples listed above, I'd like to just say that there are those of us who crave knowledge and culture and staying connected to everything! Don't lose hope, please!

    :tiphat:

    Lovely!!...yes, there's still hope on earth...

    :tomato:

  14. Well, now that we're on the subject, i've found that quite a few of these "college educated" people don't even know who was the first man to orbit the earth, (to go to the outer space). For some reason A LOT of them keep mentioning Armstrong, instead of the soviet Yury Gagarin (1961).Go figure... :tiphat:

  15. Oh, well...what about the fact that i sometimes have to explain to some of my clients that Cuba, where i am from, IS NOT A COUNTRY SITUATED ANYWHERE WITHIN THE CONTINENTAL SOUTH AMERICA, AS SOME SEEMS TO STRONGLY BELIEVE, BUT RATHER AN ISLAND JUST A FEW MILES AWAYS SOUTH OF SOUTH FLORIDA?!?!?! Talk about fifth grade geography. :tiphat::tomato::dry:

  16. wiley has little to say about the PAS DE SIX.

    his translation of the poster for the first production in 1877 lists "In the third act:"

    number 13 [as in the 13th number in the whole ballet up to this point, according the moscow poster] "Mlle Karpakova I, students Savitskaya, Mikhailova, Dmitrieva, Vinogradova, and Mr. Gillert II - PAS DE SIX." TCHAIKOVSKY BALLETS, p. 343

    part of the confusion over the history of the ballet comes, i suspect, from the fact that no. 17 in the 1877 score, originally named "Scene - arrival of guests and waltz" was renamed in 1895 to become "Waltz of the prospective brides" thus making for much confusion when considering the '77 score and it's no. 19 - i.e. the PAS DE SIX in question here - which is variously described in the notes to 20th recordings as "variations for the visiting Princesses"

    i've heard a number of people familiar with burmeister's 1953 staging of SWAN LAKE [see below] often refer to his use of the PAS DE SIX music the 'pas des financees' even tho' petipa, after cutting this Pas altogether called the earlier number, the 'scene' (no. 17), his 'waltz of the perspective brides'

    as the '77 poster notes that both karpakova I (probably as odile?) and gillert II (as siegfried) were intended to take part in this pas/6, along w/ four student dancers. just what all this was meant to indicate of the plot, and what characters these students were meant to represent, is unknown so far as current SWAN LAKE scholarship has it.

    Swan lake Original title: Lebedinoe ozero. Chor: Vladimir Burmeister (Acts I, III, IV) and Petr Gusev (Act II) after Ivanov and Petipa; mus: Petr Chaikovskii; lib: Vladimir Begichev and Vasilii Gel'tzer; scen: A. Lushin; cos: E. Arkhangel'skaia. First perf: Moscow, Stanislavskii and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater, Apr 25, 1953, Stanislavskii and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater Ballet.//First perf by Paris Opera Ballet: Opéra, Dec 21, 1960. Scen & cos: Dimitri Bouchène.

    Thank you, Mr. R.G for your always wonderful explanations.

    :tiphat:

  17. Not to be contrary, but may I ask how you know? Is it notated?

    Oh, sorry for not being very clear...this IV Act only exists in my mind... :tomato:

    also, is just that i'm not particulary fond of the "Vals bluette"... :dry: , and i have a tendency to see choreography (IN SWAN LAKE'S IV ACT), second to music...

    :tiphat:

  18. I am a needlework artist in upstate New York, so I get to make a lot of trims for ballet costumes and the occasional costume piece.

    Niamh S.

    Welcome Niamh!..That's interesting what you do. You could perhaps bring up some subjects for topics on ballet costumes. I think it would be interesting...

    :angel_not:

  19. Here is a great article giving some interesting insight to the MCb collaboration with Elvis Costello and Twyla Tharp....

    http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content...ee_no_2_co.html

    I’m a little disappointed that a rock band will be on stage for the dance along with an orchestra, but perhaps the scenario for the ballet requires it. I would have hoped that were Costello to make another attempt at a ballet that he would try to just use the orchestra, as he had done with Il Sogno.

    Putting a band up there sounds crutchy, and I imagine its appearance will have to be integrated with the action or it’s just going to be a distraction. It also seems to say: This is a piece of celebrity performance art, and therefore you’ll excuse us if it’s less than Stravinsky.

    This sounds really interesting and innovative.... I have to wonder how the dancing is going to be incorporated around such a thing. Hmm...

    Hmmm... :angel_not:

  20. Hi carbro:

    Does it adds...?...Well...the fiancees contest WAS PART OF THE STORY SINCE IT WAS FIRST CONCEIVED ...Giselle wasn't interested in Hilarion neither, and he's still there, so is Abderrakhan in "Raymonda", and so on...Besides, isn't the ballroom scene a party FOR S. TO PICK A WIFE AMONG...EEHH...SOME PROSPECTIVES ...?...Only one candidate, (the lady in black), doesn't sound right to me, and leaves S. with very few choices...(forgive me, again, Petipa :rofl: ). I just don't like the fact that the storyline was somehow altered for the 1895 revival, and the whole concept changed from "picking a wife in the ballroom a la Cinderella" to "here comes Odile, which S. is gonna choose right away no matter what"...It looks forced to me. This is all even without getting into the subject of omission of some beautiful music, "Andante con molto" included.

    :angel_not:

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