cubanmiamiboy

Along with the now known clips of Burlaka's/Medvedev recreation of The Nutcracker for the Staatsballet Berlin-(Snow and Flowers)- here are some other small clips of the production, which can be truly admired for its use of the original Imperial era sets and costume designs . Enjoy! The Dolls scene: Act I. The Chinese Dance: Act II Adding the Snow Scene, which has been posted before on BT. Waltz of the Flowers, also previously posted here. Act II.

Oh I know...and BELIEVE me...I did struggle with Act I when I first started watching it here in Miami, after years of watching the all adults after-Fedorova staging of Alonso's. By now I definitely LOVE it. Balanchine places such a HIGH sense of choreographic language all over the production that really needs to be discovered little by little. Even after 15 years of watching, I still discover "hidden" choreographic clues here and there...even during both the party and the battle scenes.

Wow...I see Feijoo is still dancing. I am 43, and she is older than me. She OUGHT to be 44 or 45 by now. Good for her though!

C'mon...we are in the season!! The NYCB Nutcracker!!!❤❤❤

I just finished watching the SF version-(I got a smart TV as a Christmas gift and I am LOVING it...so much to see on Youtube!!). No...there's no way to top Balanchine's Snow Scene. No SF..no Vainonen...no Grigorovich...NOT EVEN Sir Peter Wright's. Snow and Flowers ARE BALANCHINE, IN CAPITALS AND 100%. I swear one of this days I'm going to merge both B's and Wright's into one editing to interpolate Petipa's/Ivanov Grand Pas de deux-(which NO ONE has been able to top...not even Mr. B)-into one video.

I saw performances of Swan Lake at the three SP theaters...Mariinsky...Mikhailovsky and Alexandrinsky, plus the Bolshoi in Moscow.. Mariinsky has the KS midcentury version...and the Mikhailovsky does the older Messerer one. They all have a charm of its own, although you might be aware of my dislike for the Soviet versions. Still...going to all this magnificent theaters is a unique experience, as other have noted. They are all wonderful buildings.

You've got an EXCELLENT Cuban ballerina there...Miss Hayna Gutierrez,a wonderful.Giselle for the times. I hope you can see her in the role at some point.

I second that. I have always felt that the thing that stands out the most in both Petipa's and Balanchine's choreography is their very smart use of dancing vs non dancing segments. I think it is brilliant that one can find entire passages of music in both choreographers works with either minimal to no dancing whatsoever, whereas the same segments are over cramped with endless steps by others-(usually Vainonen, Grigorovich or Nureyev). Classical example..Petipa's-(Ivanov??)-mime scene during Odette/Siegfried first encounter, so wonderfully recreated by ABT and so overly choreographed by the Soviets...or said moody B's "Transformation Scene" in the Nutcracker, with the traveling bed...or even the tiny segment on B's Marzipan dance where the key suddenly goes to minor and the soloist just stays in the center gesturing her hands up and down with her hands holding the musical instrument and minimal poses changes...simple but nonetheless very musical vs, let's say, the same segment in Vainonen's children "Rococo Pas de Trois" where he uses the same music to display an endless amount of entrechats for the little kid. And let's not even go to Nureyev...who can be OVERWHELMING in his over use of steps all the time in every single bar of music.

Oh yes...I love Nativity sets. Back in the 70's and 80's while growing up in Cuba they were quasi forbidden, right at the time when Christmas was banned from public celebration. Sets stopped being sold and many people locked theirs in hidden boxes so as not to get themselves into trouble. I was lucky to grow up having the familial green light to display ours at home, which was a beautiful one from the late 40's, hand painted porcelain from Italy. This little introduction is just to give an idea of how much do I enjoy taking my current set year after year and puting it up. Well...my Nativitiy scene is very peculiar. Each side of the little house is flanked....not by angels, but by the Mouse king on one side and the Nutcracker Prince on the other. On top of the whole thing, instead of another angel...there is Kitry..in a bright red tutu!! ;-) These are ornaments I have bought at the MET store, and I really treasure them. I don't think baby Jesus would mind! ;-) MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Oh...definitely Calle 8 it was!! I was indeed feeling as if I was Aurora waking from a long dream-(more of a nightmare, to be exact)...quite as long as her's!!-(some 40 plus years less)-and sans the Prince..?

Just because I NEED a celebration TODAY...so let me get us one big Waltz of the Flowers in the grand style!!!! IT IS A WONDERDUL DAY!!!

I believe what you saw was probably the only "reconstruction"-(or perhaps "recreation"..?)-that has ever been done of this ballet. I perceive there is a sense of distrust shared by both AD's and Balanchine's connosseurs as to the validity of anything recrafted that has had such a performance gap. Long story short...I think there is not too much interest around as to stage something that could be NOT what Mr. B's created. I think that, being that there is not a person alive who danced in the original production and could stage it, this ballet is pretty much a "lost" one. And then...there is The Powers That Be-(aka The Trust)-which I guess have the last word.

Thanks Diane!! The moment was truly magic. She was asleep...everything very quiet...her mom also asleep and I had her next to me. I really didn't have to think twice before picking "Serenade". It just felt as a natural sound for welcoming Lizzy. When the first accords of thr strings sounded...everything looked perfect.

Yes indeed. I also loved him in the peasant pdd. So much potential here. He would be a natural Bluebird. BTW...I REALLY miss Roy's and Jack's posts. The MCB forum is very thin now. Jack sort of gave up after Catoya's departure. ?

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Thank you ALL for your overwhelming responses, which I will print and save in a scrapbook I am making for baby Elizabeth. One thing I would like to share is that in her very first night and back into our room at the hospital, I put my cell phone next to her to play her very first music into this world. It was Mr. T's "Serenade". ??????

Actually...while I really choose the Albertson/Cerdeiro as the couple that REALLY moved me this season...I must say that Rebello/Lauren was the most technically proficient. They looked LOVELY together...and Rebello finally can be paired with someone else other than Arja-(due to being VERY short). I am thinking...maybe the asterisks were referring to their debuts this ENTIRE season...? I didn't attend any other performance in Broward other than Albertson/Cerdeiro-(I really wanted to repeat), so I am not sure if they even danced there. Rebello also did the 32 entrechat sixes here. His big thing seems to be his petite allegro footwork. He would be a WONDERFUL James i bet.

I think they just had the same booklets from West Palm that they had here...no new prints...so the info that you saw was originally intended for the Arsht.

https://goo.gl/images/zxv7ZU

Lauren and Rebello also danced the second night in Miami. I really loved their pairing, particularly due to the fact that after the departure of Catoya it has been very hard to find a super short ballerina for him-(Rebello is a GREAT but VERY short dancer). I have enjoyed his dancing since his early beginnings with the company, and his usual partner is Arja, with whom I would had loved to see him with in this ballet. Rebello, by now, is with no doubt one of the most technically proficient dancers I have seen ANYWHERE in the world.

Thank you Buddy. That's quite a compliment!!??

Thank you dear Dale!!??

Aaaww..thank you dear Mashinka!! I DEDINITELY plan many European traveling for baby Elizabeth, and London...welll...it is deeply engraved in my heart. We will be there!!???

Thank you Kaysta!!???

I REALLY enjoy this pas...and I TRULY miss the Cuban version...(with its double series of double pirouettes on one leg and the final diagonal of pirouettes/chaine turns). I was lucky to had seen the four ballerinas onstage back in Havana. I hope you'll enjoy them too. Rosario Suarez Marta Garcia-(who also delivered the BEST Mad Scene of the Cuban company) Barbara Garcia Hayna Gutierrez.