cubanmiamiboy

Seeing the recon at La Scala, it's easy to see why it is almost impossible to take the religious aspect off the ballet. The whole thing has a heavy emphasis on the crusades, with De Brienne kneeling before Raymonda, the spear and everything. Oh, and those big crosses on the knights. I think the Holmes production looked a bit silly after trying to convert the libretto into a quest for love between two knights. I don't think it worked.

What's with the fate of ABT's Raymonda...? Is it too risky to revive the tale of the winning situation between a Christian Hungarian princess and her crusader fiancée against the Muslim bad guy...?

Is this ballet defunct for good from the company due to lack of political correctness..?

ABT's. It is the best rendition of the double suicide original version.

Let's not forget what made us clap with excitement or yawn with boredom!

Best: Ratmansky's "Sleeping Beauty"

Worst: MCB's "Carmen"

Your picks..?

Just read it. Very interesting indeed. Thanks!

Cubanmiamiboy's list.

Best dressed:

Julianne Moore in Tom Ford.

Lady Gaga in Atelier Versace

Jane Wu in Theia

Cubanmiamiboy's list.

Worst Dressed.

kate Hudson in Michael Kors.

Gina Rodriguez in Zac Posen

Melissa McCarthy in....something.

Edited: Double post

Edited: Double post.

Hi Jack. I think you meant to write "La Source" instead of "La Valse". That said, Lourdes Lopez went onstage and gave a little pre performance talk, in which she stated that Merryl Ashley had come to stage it, along with Nilas Martins to stage his father's piece. Tricia Albertson and a lovely Renato Panteado were the leads, with Zoe Zien as the soloist girl. I liked the piece, although I don't see it being a favorite of mine a la T&V, Symphony in C or Diamonds. It has an elegant allure though.

Then came the Martins thing. It had something to do with two couples onstage, one representing classical ballet, the other modern dance. Boring stuff...completely forgettable.

And then.."In the Upper Room", which by now it seems to be the presentation card of MCB. It looks as it is danced every other season. Can we have a break from it..? Of course, the audience was whistling and cheering by the end. Miami LOVES this type of stuff, as much as they adore Cirque de Soleil. Oh well. By the way...I also remember fondly Mary Carmen in the segment you mention. She was wonderful. I really miss her dancing a lot.

I was sitting in a box, and my neighboring box was full of MCB dancers who were very enthusiastic by the end of the Tharp piece, screaming and encouraging their peers. ;-)

Now...let's go back to the Raymonda conversation....

This is opening tonight. I might just leave after "La Source" (which I've never seen...). I very much dislike In the Upper Room, and I'm not familiar with Martins' piece. Any background...?

Forgettable, tiresome choreo...aggh.

As I represent multiple cultures, religions, nationalities, and foibles...I go instantly from Three Kings Day (Jan 6) to Orthodox Christmas (Jan 7, today). My husband just called from a minus-8*F Russia to wish me & YOU:

S' Rozhdestvom Xristovym !

Merry Christmas for you and Vadim, dear Natasha!!

So it is today that we Cuban open our presents. It is the Three Kings day, and so toys are being handed by parents in the morning.after the kings stopped by in their camels during the night, and the Christmas tree is ready to be taken down tomorrow. During my childhood days, and from 1959 up until present day, this celebration was forbidden and suppressed in a public way, although it continued to be celebrated privately and within the catholic church micro communities.

So, FELIZ DIA DE REYES!!!

Huum...all that dragging across the floor...

The post was an easy one to understand, so I don't see how it gets confusing. The poster implied that the players were playing inadequately soft, soft as ballerinas in tutus usually LOOK LIKE onstage, instead of roughed up strong players.

If you want to consider the entire time the SPF and the Cavalier are onstage (after both of their solos) the SPF does a series of very quick chainees turns towards stage right and has to land in the arms of her Cavaler with her hands over her head in a kind of fifth position. The first time I saw Tiler/Gonzalo perform that this season they screwed it up. She landed face down because he didn't catch her quickly enough. But he adjusted to correct position almost immediately.

Well actually I found an old video with Diana Adams and Magallanes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnPPQEuM-mA

The choreography has changed slightly but if I'm going to GUESS PM's 13 hazard points I'd say:

1. At 0:30 the supported pirouette in developpe a la seconde. I did see a ballerina fall off pointe at that moment, it requires a lot of strength.

2. The tricky arm changes at 0:58

3. The pique turn into penchee lunge sequence at 1:17. Adams handles it okay, although she doesn't lunge as quickly as some SPF's would do today and she makes a weird bobble at 1:26 in the second of those pique turns.

4. The pirouettes at 1:50. They have to be done with no preparation, with the last one at 2:03 being rather tricky (and probably the fifth hazard point).

5. The aforementioned pirouette at 2:03.

6 & 7. The two shoulder jumps at 2:35. If done perfectly we shouldn't see the Cavalier pushing the SPF onto the shoulder at all -- it should just look like she jumped right into a sit position on his shoulders. Also he has to turn her to the audience at that moment.

8. That floating lift at 3:27. If done well the SPF should look like she's riding the wave of the music upwards. Adams' timing is a bit off -- she comes down when the music is still going up.

9. The backwards lunge that follows that lift at 3:30.

10. (Not choreographed in this video). At 3:58 nowadays the SPF is put into that little pulley and slides forward in arabesque.

11. The tricky hand changing positions in 4:19 while doing a promenade.

12. The sustained balance that has to be held at 4:35 (Adams doesn't hold the balance for that long.)

13. The fishdive at 4:47.

That was fun! Anyone else want to make guesses as to the 13 dangerous moments PM is talking about?

I wish Balanchine would had left the whole pas as it is right there, with both variations in between adagio and coda. Usually-(at least here in Miami)- by the time Sugarplum is already into her variation, the screaming parents are still cheering their little angels, so the variation looses its momentum. Also, by having kept the whole thing, there would had been an extra opportunity to show the bailarin, who really has a couple of moments on stage to shine during the coda-(the sequence of pirouettes a la seconde and the sequence of jete menages). I really can't understand why he decided to shorten up one of the very few grand moments of this ballet.

January first is sort of a sad date for the Cuban community-(57th anniversary of the abandonment of government by General Batista and subsequent taken of power by the newly Castro dictatorship). Still, we all always hope for each year to be the last one. With that and all other types of hopes, I wish this wonderful balletomanne community all the prosperity and great wishes for the new year. May all your dreams come true!!.

HAPPY 2016!!!!

Knox was Dewdrop with Messmer as Sugarplum, and they looked pretty equal.

Indeed Merry Christmas, dear Helene. I was on duty both on Nochebuena-(the traditional Cuban Christmas' eve celebration)-and last night too. Still, we had roasted pork in the unit, as in mandates the Cuban tradition. ;-)

I attended a couple of performances of the Nutcraker down here-(Balanchine) right after seeing a couple from City Ballet. In the second one I got Messmer as Sugarplum, and she danced it beautifully.

I went to last night's performance-(yes, I'm in the city for a few days...wanted to catch the City Ballet's Nut and perhaps "An American in Paris"). Mearns was Sugarplum and Peck danced Dewdrop. Miss Peck was wonderful. She really nailed all the technical tricks, and something I noticed..she seems to like to luxuriate in her balances, but in a way that the subsequent steps don't suffer. They are there, perhaps in a tiny faster approach so they are always on spot-(unlike other ballerinas, like Viengsay Valdes, who ends up suppressing whole segments). I really liked her dancing, at least in this role. Very energetic and fast...just as I love my ballerinas. The Sugarplum adagio later on with Mearns and Tyler Angle didn't look to me as polished, I particularly didn't "get" Angle. He lacked elevation in his sequence of jete menages.

By the way...what's up with the "transformation scene"..? During the traveling bed segment, MCB usually has a flowing backdrop that covers the scenery changes, which dramatically opens up with the big accord to reveal the snowy forest. Last night all the changes happened in full view...the Christmas three being pulled up and the side props of the forest lowered down. It really diminished the transformation effect.

I will try to catch another performance, so let's see.

Cheers and Happy Holidays everyone!!

Barring unexpected disasters, I will be there for 3-4 performances...

Great! I will be there from the 24th to the 29th. Anybody else going..? PM for cell phone.

Ok. I'm already scheduling my days off work for Raymonda. Who else is going..? I would love to meet..!!! :flowers:

The men's costumes in the Flower Waltz are hilarious.

Vsevolozhsky's 1892 original designs.

I find the tempi dragging as well, particularly during the snow scene. (BTW...I don't think I've ever seen so man pas de chats thrown into a segment!).