cubanmiamiboy

Hey Mariano...you just took me back in time...i was one of the lucky people that was at the Lorca the day of that all-stars cast "Giselle" (MEMORABLE!! ), and i even remember me and my friend Bismart ( ) breaking the doors of the San Rafael entrance along with that human mass wanting to watch the performance...Anyways, back on topic, those are great news about the Vasiliev/Alonso production going on DVD . It was a brilliant duo , and it sure deserves to go public... If you get any news about it, please, let us know.

I've asked myself the same question sometimes. Maybe that's what Drigo thought too when substituing the female variation "Tempo di Valse" for T.'s "L'Espiegele" for the new S.L Act III PDD . Its ending is sooo abruptely truncated-sound-like!

Oh, wow...Now I'm curious about Shannon too...

No...just look at Petroff pic... http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an12114788

yeeeeeeeeeeeeees...YES...

The angels entrance on the Nutcracker II Act ...God, it just gets on my nerves...

Definitely not...Here is a pic of Jasinsky in the role... http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3412985

Hi, Mariano! I'm so glad to have a cuban partner in crime around here . I think we have a lot of common things to talk about when Mme Alonso or the Ballet Nacional de Cuba is the subject. I also grew up en el Lorca ,watching Mme. Alonso, Yoyi, Aurora, Mirtica, Loipa and everybody else. .(you know what i'm talking about), so please, give me a hand on this matters. Don't hesitate to contact me. . Dig in the threads...Here and there you'll find some references, some of them really interesting. The people here is WONDERFUL, EXTREMELY RESPECTFUL , AND THE EXPERTISSE LEVEL IS AMAZING. I hope that you feel as welcomed as i do... Cuidate papo.. Cristian

Wow, rg...what a pity! ...i suddenly got temporary tired of my mp3's, and i'm getting into the "vintage" trend. I just got me a beautiful portable turntable from the 60's in a thrift store that works just fine ($30) and a black 40's era dial up black telephone...(Oh, i love the ringing!) (I know , i am ) ..so back to the subject, now i'm trying to get a hold on old ballet LP's. My friends think that i'm crazy...ha,ha So, any suggestions to future purchases...? (I'm sure you remember some memorable records).

Oh,God, this is a really old thread, but i just can't contain myself to respond... No, bart, is not gone...IS VERY ALIVE IN HAVANA, and very shocking/pleasant to many people. Yes, bart ,i do. One of the last 2 surviving "jewels", (as 4 prominent cuban ballerinas from the 60's were known) of the BNC, Mme.Araujo and Mme. Bosch, are likely to assume the tradition after Mme. Alonso and they are fully trained to do so, so the "tilt" will be secured in Cuba for the years to come. And i do too, but you know what?...i've even read, in another thread about this particular matters, that this sort of 40's romanticized cuban style, ("tilt", makeup and hair style included), has been said to be"shocking", "exagerated", "old fashioned", "passe", "hilarious", "ridiculous" and has even been compared with a caricature...EVEN with the "Trocks" themselves...isn't that ...just...?..well, well, no words...really. Oh, Artist...you're just REPEATING ALMOST TEXTUALLY the Mme. Alonso's mantra..Only if more people would just try to be more receptive and open to the challenge, without the fear of being pointed at and compared, while in display of this old fashioned style, with the Trocks. They just need to study, to dig into history, to get the esence of the periods, to become a little more receptive to the old sources and to LISTEN TO THE MASTERS , REVERENCE THEIR WISDOM , BE HUMBLE AND KNEEL IN THE PRESENCE OF GREATNESS. Is that too much to ask...?

THIS IS ANTON DOLIN. JUST NOW I'M POSITIVE...!

And let's not forget too that aside from all of the above and the fact that the 1876 original Merante's choreography is lost, any factual/helpful reference to the 1901 Ivanov/Gerd/ restaging of the ballet in S. Petersbourg with Mme. Preobrejanskaya in the title role is also non existent... Am i right bart, Mel, rg...?

"This new form of dialogue that is bringing us to the art to which I have dedicated my life, is rooted in the deepest and most beautiful part of being human". Mme. Alicia Alonso

at the Lorca, right? Oh, Mariano, THOSE were the times...!

Welcome home Elizaveta!

Regarding the "Sylvia" matters, i've always thought that the main reason for why this ballet has been so unlucky is because Petipa never got a hold on it . Still, ''Sylvia'' is regarded as a milestone of 19th century ballet BUT RATHER FOR ITS SCORE . It is not from the same source that provides most of the late 19th-century classics seen today ( the tradition of Russian classical ballet as epitomized by the Petipa/Ivanov duo). ''Sylvia'' comes straight down from the French line, about which American ballet has done little to inform itself, so i would say that another cause of "Sylvia's unlucky life has to do with the current inability to locate the ballet's true style, (Merante's 1876 original choreography is lost ), and then to take an accurate attitude towards it.

This is a very interesting thread, and sometimes i've wondered also about the origins and details of the Ashton's version. After i read your post, i did some online research and found this interesting review of the Royal Ballet production. http://www.onlinereviewlondon.com/reviews/Sylvia.html

I just came from the movie theatre...and to tell the truth, i'm not realy impressed . Yes, the movie keeps a nice , light and easy to digest atmosphere. Anne Hathaway plays the most of the time a very young Jane Austen still living with her parents , being the object of desire of 2 prospective husbands and having a truncated love affair with a charming young man . But still, the thing is that i remember when studying Jane Austen in college our professor would always enphazise on the deep pshychological connotations of her writings, making her appear to our eyes as an extremely sophisticated and larger than life persona , way beyond society's norms and standards . I, personally, didn't get that feeling from Ms. Hathaway's characterization. On the other hand, locations are beautiful, costumes are lovely and british accent is accomplished. The best of the movie ?, with no doubt a little role played by Dame Maggie Smith an always delightful actress who completely steals the show during her brief appearences...

Well, bart, i guess this is a tricky question, ( ), but i remember reading an opinion about it in another thread in which somebody stated that everytime the Odile's variation comes, he kept thinking :"but i just saw this in the II Act", as an analogy with Odette's previous act mannerisms. In that case, i guess the idea is just that one, to create an effectively familiar feeling to make Siegfried think ( and maybe even the inexperienced public?) that she is the woman that he met at the lakeside. As Mme. Alonso states, the ideal ballerina for this role is the one that wants not to portray Odile as a vulgar caricature of a "femme fatale" in a case of identity theft, ,but otherwise a more sleek character whose ultimate purpose is TO SEDUCTIVELY LOOK AND ACT LIKE ODETTE...

Thanks, Rg. Yes, i was refering to the marketing date, which is 1991, but i knew that this was an older work from the 70's, which actually, it would be very exciting to look at, giving the fact that back then there was not a strong emphasis on production lavishness at the Kirov, (which is closer to my own experiences on what i was used to consume in Cuba), so the choreography is way more exposed..

According to my Dutoit's Symphonique de Montreal CD with the original 1877 recording, what we know now as the the Siegfried variation, (which was originally intended for this character ,"merry maker" in Act I), WAS THERE SINCE THE REISINGER TIMES, IN A FASTER TEMPO, WITH A DIFFERENT CADENZA , ALMOST TOTALLY PLAYED BY A VIOLIN, AND WITH A SUPER FAST CODA THAT WAS DELETED FOR 1895. Odile's variation for 1895 is Drigo's arrangment of Tchaikovsky's piano piece "L'Espiegele", ("The mischievous child"), as obviously he didn't like the "tempo di valse" that precided the coda for the new Odile's variation, and which i always assumed that, for being after the first variation, (a male "merry maker"?) was danced originally by a supposed "female merry maker"... , and which i think is the music that bart was refering to in the beggining of this thread...

HI rg! Well, i was just refering to the music from the Reisinger/Tchaikovsky's ORIGINAL PRODUCTION . I haven't seen the Nureyev's staging that bart refers to, but i was pointing at the 1877 I Act PDD that would substitute the original III Act PDD, (now TPDD) in 1895 . Isn't it known as the "PDD for two Merry Makers"? Acording to my recording of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal by Charles Dutoit this is the order: No. 5- Pas de Deux I-Tempo di valse ma non troppo vivo, quasi moderato. (kept as the Entrada in 1895) II-Andante (kept as the Adagio in 1895)-Allegro (male merry maker (?) variation arranged and shortened for Siegfried's variation in 1895)-Molto piu mosso (variation's coda, deleted in 1895) III-TEMPO DI VALSE, (WHICH I ASUME IS THE FEMALE VARIATION OF WHATEVER CHARACTER THIS MERRY MAKER WAS ,DELETED IN 1895 AND SUBSTITUED FOR TCHAIKOVSKY 'S "L'ESPIEGELE" BY DRIGO AS THE NEW "ODILE'S VARIATION") IV-Coda (Allegro molto vivace). shortened, but kept in 1895 I can be wrong, but so far i thought that this was the way that the changes took place. I apologize if i made a mistake.

I always found extremely shocking the very political oriented ending of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba production after the soviets. They wanted to preserve everything from the original, including the final "reunited" pose of the couple, but the idea of an "after life" was a no-no, (it would go against the official atheist anti religious commands), so they came out with the idea of the reunited couple ON EARTH, AS A RESULT OF THE BROKEN SPELL because of Von Rothbart's death. It always looked forced to me...

Isn't this "Tempo di Valse" the original female "merry maker" variation...? It just didn't make the Petipa/Drigo 1895 cut when they substitued the original Odile/Siegfried PDD, (Tchaikovsky PDD)

They are indeed impressive.