cubanmiamiboy

It's all good and all, but I insist there should be a little of explaining as to what is going on onstage and why is that we are not seeing, for instance, Odile. I have a friend, a former ballerina of CNB, and last night she texted me saying that she was going to the matinee today, and that she hoped "for a decent O/O" (quoting her). I wasn't about to explain her all the Balanchine story (to which we don't know too much for real), so I simply texted her back.."It is just Act II AND finale". AND...there is more Ivanov feeling here than original Balanchine choreo (I's Love duet/pas de quatre/Odette variation vs. B's Pas de Neuf/Valse Bluette). If anything, there is the curiosity of B's insertion of the '77 coda for the Love Duet, which I don't think was a good idea, given that it breaks the atmospheric slow tempo of the whole pas, (oh, and it also erases Odette's iconic batteries on coup de pied).

I just came from one of the most watery ballet nights I remember in all of my balletomanne years. The Program opened with Balanchine's Swan Lake, and I'm sorry to report that such concept, which might worked in 1951 when New Yorkers weren't familiar with the four act warhorse, doesn't work now. This staging is nothing about a "distillation" or a "conceptual analysis", or a "philosophical rumination" -(I'm using terms I've read about B's production)- of the whole thing. Balanchine simply staged act II and added the finale. Period. The program stated that he "stripped the mime to show the inner feeling...blah,blah,blah.." No. The mime IS there. The hunters are there. Sigfried mimed to them..Sigfried and Odette mimed to each other. Von Rothbart is there in full exposure of feathers. The lake, the trees, and even the mechanical swans...all talk about a full rendition of Act II of Swan Lake. "Raymonda Variations", "Pas de dix" and "Cortege Hongrois" ARE distillations. Balanchine's Act II of Swan Lake is just that...Act II of Swan Lake, plus the grand finale. And then..for a neophyte, there's NOTHING in the program notes that explains where does the whole thing comes from. There's no reference to the entire work. I mean...I knew...my mother knew, but...should we assume that EVERYONE knows that there's more to it..? I still think there should had been a couple of notes explaining what happens before and after the white acts. There was none. At the end...we don't know if Balanchine didn't stage the whole thing out of financial issues, which could had been the case. It could be me, I know...being used to endless renditions of the full work, some more successful that others. But this concept, as I said before, wouldn't work in NYC now, I'm totally sure. Simone Messmer was Odette. She didn't impress me at all, but then...she just danced the encounter, the adagio and her variation. I'm sure she could delivers an Odette/Odile, would she be given the opportunity, but...the thing was just too short. She was in, and she was out. End of the story.

The third piece was "Fancy Free". It looked outdated and cliché. The sailors got some gigglings from the audience, but not too much else. My mother said it reminded her of the musical films of her childhood-(she's 70 and was more exposed to the whole Americana thing back in the 50's). It really didn't touched me for sure.

In the middle of the two there was some bore called "Viscera". I don't remember it, but my mother does. Apparently we saw it together before, but I have no recollections whatsoever from it. All those endless lifts are very boring to me. Choreographer was Liam Scarlett.

I'm definitely looking to NYC's Mariinsky's Raymonda.

The original Adam score for Act 2 ends with No 13 "Lever du soleil et arrivée de la cour", which was intended as an extended mime farewell scene among Albrecht, Bathilde, Giselle, and Wilfrid, and also includes the fast coda that you refer to. The slow music I think is an interpolation from the 1903 Pavlova debut in the role. When I saw Giselle for the first time out of Cuba I had the same feeling, but in reverse. I was like ..."What happened to the fast ending?!" I think this ending is almost extinct by now. Glad to know is being revived.

Tell us more about the choreo. If this is a 100% Alonso's derived,you probably noticed some differences in the music. The Cuban version is a hybrid between Mary Skeaping staging from the 50's (the company retained for a while the now long lost "Fugue of the Willis" recreation by the scholar) and Dolin's own around the same years. I even remember a mimed segment, now defunct in current productions, between Giselle and Albrecht at the grave site during the final scene, in which she tells him she should go back to the grave. How was Carreno's Hilarion..?

Oh, that was a wonderful clip of Reyes/Cornejo, although I see little choreographic differences with that of Legris. I also want to add that, being the hopeless romantic that I am, this little tableaux never fails to touch me deeply, for which it embodies the tale of the ever present chase for an elusive dream of happiness,to which sometimes we hold on for a wonderful period of time before it slips away in a grand jete. Cornejo jumps wonderfully, but Legris IS a rose. Who would I want to see in the roles, ideally...? Gomes/Vishneva for sure.

More often than not ballet dancers included in a late night show equals some sort of mockery.

There are only a couple of posts regarding ABT's upcoming revival of this little jewel of a miniature ballet. I realize I'm probably among the minority here about welcoming with open arms this overdue revival. In fact I'm jumping in a plane again just to see as many performances I can of it. I find "Spectre.." wonderfully crafted, and I blame the little ability of current male dancers to capture the essence of the character...at many times just an elusive perfume that the Girl feels around the stage. I have seen many performances of the ballet, mainly in Cuba, from the most acrobatic inflicted ones to the overly mannered ones, Russian style. I know that the Rose character is hard to get, both from the dancer and from the audience perspective. The bailarin needs to be able to be masculine enough not to be too overly mannered, and somehow androgynous enough to really capture the character, aside from being a great jumper and turner. I don't know nothing about all this Monotones that are to be presented-(and I suspect I don't really will care enough for them)-, but Spectre I do, and I can't wait to watch it again.

Every time I want to watch the ballet, I usually skip Nureyev and Misha to get into the clip of the wonderful Legris and de Vulpian. They are just PERFECT in the roles.

WELCOME BACK "SPECTRE DE LA ROSE"!!!!

I suspect that what we all want to see is a well cured hybrid of original libretto (restoration of deleted or changed original story plots ) plus up to date choreography with as much as what can be kept from memory (B's Nutcracker ) or notations (R'SB).

They can't reconstruct the 1877 Swan Lake because Reisinger's choreography is lost; when the choreography for a ballet is lost, then a reconstruction is impossible. The only thing anyone could do if they wanted would be to recreate the 1877 production by retaining the original scenery and costume designs, the libretto and the original music score. But the choreography would have to be completely new and made from scratch.

But yeah, like you Natalia, I don't really want to see a recreation of the 1877 Swan Lake and I am really looking forward to Ratmansky's upcoming reconstruction of the 1895 Swan Lake; that's a reconstruction I've wanted to see for years!

I feel a sense of pride from the Bolshoi about this discovery, as if they have now a completely different animal that REALLY belongs to them vs. the Mariinsky history, Petipa and everyone else. I could be a minority here, but I would certainly applaud the idea of the Bolshoi retaining a "recreation" of the 77 version using the WHOLE of the music plus scenery and costumes. As I have said before, it is the Dutoit and his rendition of the original score the one that I identify Tchaikovsky's music with, and when I hear the Drigo version it looks definitely minor on my ears. The biggest thing if such recreaton was to be done would be to have the fourth act as it was originally intended, musically speaking. Drigo's arrangements and additions here really made for an over done and sometimes boring act..(all that Valse Bluette and the like), vs. the streamlined original, which makes for a quicker ending. That being said, it is a fact that Girgorovitch production is awful, but sadly..I don't think the Bolshoi is ready yet to put it away.

Regarding Ratmansky's reconstruction. YES. The ballet word really needs to see the real bones of this warhorse. There are whole generations who have been exposed to all sorts of choreographic malignancies and the most ridiculous endings, being the original, double suicide one almost extinct from current productions, included in Mother Russia.

I wonder if this score differs somehow from the recording of Dutoit, which I believe contains what is so far known as the 77 original music.

But then is Theme & Variations really Balanchine's - or the Cuban Ballet's - anymore? So many different accents have crept in as it has been handed on from company to company.

Interesting observation. From what I remember of the ballet as i saw it in Havana to what I saw here at first, there are two different animals. I saw a very young Rosario Suarez on it-(many years ago)-and what I remember was a SPITFIRE of dancing...AND FAST AS HELL. If anything, I know the pacing I have seen recently is definitely slower and more mannered.

Oooooh..Thanks, Natasha...I NEED to get me this..!

Not "Prima" material at all, on my eyes.

Ok...so let's say you didn't know all those works mentioned above. Let's say you have seen lots of ballets. Let's say you see them for the first time, without the word "ballet" being mentioned in the programme. Would you had said afterworks you went and saw this or that "ballet"...? Would you-(and no one else)-had catalogued them as ballets...?

There are probably some other examples just like the one just mentioned, but I don't think it is something people will digest very well-(at least I would not..). They are probably exceptions to the general rule.

As the world goes on, things are more cataloged, differentiated, defined and re defined with more and more subdivisions and specifications. After milestone choreographers ended up shaping the current face of modern dance at the turn of the XX century, ballet has earned the pointe work reference/distinction with much proper justice. When Fokine did Sheherezade, there was not Martha Graham or Taylor or Cunningham with their very distinctive "no pointe" red flag. Now the reference is huge and the differences impossible to ignore. I don't think I've ever seen a recently made no pointe/barefoot/slipper work being called "ballet" by its choreographer.

Company B is not a ballet. No pointe work.

Amen to that. A while ago MCB had a program that included the piece, along with some Tharp and something else...can't remember what. The night didn't feel AT ALL like a "night at the ballet"...(which is lately the common case with this company, BTW...)

One of my best friends was a promising member of the corps de ballet in Cuba, and right when she was starting she sustained an injury. Such injury was not properly treated, and she didn't progress much after that. She ended up giving up the world of ballet and now is a real estate agent here.

Such a WONDERFUL ballet. And yes...the diagonal right before the polonaise is indeed beautiful...

Let's note that there's no O/O formula in Miami. This is the version with the condensed white acts by Balanchine.

Les Syilphides is a ballet that I treasure in my mind (and I'm sure as the bulk of the Cuban balletomanes)-backed by wonderful memories of great performances from the golden era of the company. It was always a huge audience favorite, and it was scheduled in seasons as much as Giselle, as well as equally loved. When I saw the ballet again in NYC, I saw a totally different animal. The pacing was different...the orchestration was different, the costumes...even some sequences and poses were different. Fokine continued revisiting the choreo constantly, and this is a late rendering, cherished with much care by Alonso, who danced to said latest revisions. Up until now she has been firm in her notion that the version presented here is the one that the Cuban company will always have, and that not changes will ever take place. Here is a video of a performance from the 80's. I hope you will enjoy it.

I saw Ferri dancing in Cuba during the 90's. There was always buzz about her, of course, but for some reason when I remember her, she doesn't come as someone who really awed me a lot. She was a better actress than a huge technician, and on that matters there were always lots of home grown talent back then that surpassed her easily. I still enjoyed her performances, of course, particularly her dramatic Giselle. R&J is not my favorite ballet, but I will be there too. It will be, as many have said already, an event based on nostalgia.

It's brilliantly put and identifies almost everything I dislike about the Mariinsky today. I realize that's a heretical view--and I'm certainly not suggesting that Ratmansky shares it--but if ever anyone were wondering how a ballet lover could dislike the Vaganova style, I'd point to the things Ratmansky enumerated right here.

I second that thought...

Mashinka, I did not have time to get down to Granada, due to a busy schedule, but I went to the lovely ancient city of Toledo, which seems to be frozen in the middle ages. It is a little jewel of a place. While in Barcelona I paid a couple of visits to the beach, mainly at La Barceloneta, which was very crowded. The food was INCREDIBLE. All that olive oil dripping from every chorizo and paella...just the way I like it!! ;-)

Hello everyone!! Back in hot Miami. Well, well...what a GORGEOUS country Spain is. On a curious note, I became a member of the national library of Madrid, and while paying a visit to its grand building, I searched thru its XIX century newspapers with the "Petipa" keyword. Surprise! A few results came on, one of them announcing the ballet Giselle, in which Petipa was to do his debut in the city, substituting a native dancer who apparently owned the role. The ballet was renamed "Gisela". I find very strange that such a big, beautiful, cultured European capital, who housed Petipa before St. Petersburg, doesn't has a main ballet company.