cubanmiamiboy

Her Madgesty... @ 2:30, EPIC crotch grab in the history of pop music/videos... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsVcUzP_O_8 Cyrus performance was just a disgrace...I think even worse than that of Spears a while ago at the same event...

Wow...what a saga... While watching the troupe in London, I couldn't help but to keep linking the sickness of all this with the moving bodies onstage...

But it is Pontois' Raymonda who "does it" for me in this variation... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aljJci5BlQQ/

I LOVE those ultra high tutus!

Back to back, and all at the same time I read "A woman in Berlin"-(Martha Hillers)- "Those who save us"-(Jenna Blum)-and "Shopie's Choice"-(William Styron). "Those who save us" has an amazing resemblance in its story of survival with "A woman in Berlin", the male "protective" figure switching from a Nazi officer in the former during the war vs. a Russian officer during the aftermath in the latter. "Sophie's choice" is more interesting than its filmed nemesis.

Raymonda is a great ballet, which makes me wonder why ABT has not revived it for more than 10 years. I'm guessing that the politically incorrect aspects of the plot may be a factor in ABT's decision. That's so interesting to hear...for which that was the same reason given to me by an insider of Alonso's company as why this ballet has never been staged in Cuba.

bart...has Ballo been filmed already with Ashley for the Interpreters Archive collection...? I would say this could be the time to do so, still with the role originator young, able to demonstrate, and the memories of the role still fresh. Delaying too much reconstructions and re stagings has proven sometimes too bad. Dancers forget.

BTW...here's a pic of the school. All those panels on the sidewalk left are the studios windows. This is mainly a residential area, and the open ocean/beach is just two blocks away, walking toward the picture's camera.

bart...besides Ashley, there was another lady in the studio, sitting on the wall watching the whole rehearsal. Every time Ashley stood up to demonstrate, she looked as if she was first doing it first to this lady and then to the other dancers, and I also noticed the woman speaking at times. The lady was younger than Ashley and older than the three dancers on the floor. I wonder if she is another ex dancer from City Ballet whom might have danced the role too and was helping the rehearsal process. Next to me, in a corner inside, there was a camera man with a huge equipment. He was filming the entire thing.

jack...22nd. St. is a little more reclusive, for which it is off Collins Ave. You might never guess the ballet school is right there. Very few people walk by. I was on my way to the local library branch and decided to check if there was some activity inside. As soon as I propped myself on top of my bike on the window, I saw Ashley center studio walking through a step combination. Behind her there were Albertson, one of the Esty sisters-(can never tell who's who...)-and Nathalia Arja. To be honest, it was Arja, obviously the youngest, less experienced dancer of the trio, the one that was approaching the role with more brio. I must say I have VERY fond memories of "Ballo..", for which it was probably the very last role I saw Lorna Feijoo dance in Cuba, and I think it will be a tough contender to beat. She was MAGNIFICENT, as this is a ballet all about speedy accents, qualities that Feijoo mastered to perfection under Mrs. Ashley guidance.

Watching Mrs Ashley right now rehearsing Albertson in Ballo from the studio windows in my bike...!

My mom did actually see "Vicky,Cristina Barcelona", as she's telling me now, but she also says that she doesn't think she has missed too much. The last film she saw of him before that was The Purple Rose of Cairo...

As a side note, I asked my mother if she wanted to go see it, and she told me she ceased to like Allen after the Previn affair...never watched any other film of him.

I would not call it a masterpiece, but then, considering all I've seen being rewarded by the Academy for a while...

Blanchet does indeed looks mannered here, but then, I remember some women of her character's breed when I was working in a hairdressing salon in Key Biscayne, and well...I swear many of them talked and act just like Jasmine. At times, with their behaviors, there was not difference in between reality and the comedic impersonations of these women one can see from SNL. They were all VERY mannered.

Have you seen it...? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWLtj4LY5CA

If the tradition of placing only one ballerina to dance both O/O roles came after a while, I suppose I can take a wild guess at thinking that maybe the ballerina assigned to the role of Odile was seeing just as a brief appearance...one short technically demanding PDD probably given to a gifted dancer that otherwise was not well suited dramatically for grander roles-(Vaganova-type perhaps?). Considering that she just danced a few minutes in a very long ballet with countless stage appearances for the "Queen of the Swans", it couldn't pose no danger for the stardom of the main ballerina. Also, no too many pictures are also of dancers who were given different soloist parts in the XIX century productions.

Yes, I found also some other poses taken from the same Bluebird Doubrovska's shot. (I wonder if she ever danced the whole SL ballet...) Back to the pre-black costume for Odile...I wonder why is it so hard to find old pics of ballerinas costumed with the ballroom attire...either Imperial or Diaghilev era.

It is very interesting how there are almost no photos of any Imperial or Diaguilev era dancer as Odile-(or pre1940's). Apparently, when N. Sergueev staged the ballet for Markova during the 1930's at the Vic-Wells, she wore a non black costume also, but there's no way to find a photo of it anywhere. All the photos of Swan Lake from those days are usually with the white attire. Apparently by the time the PDD was being danced in the early days of the BRdMC, the costume had turned into black already... Mia Slavenska... http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/LIB-MUS010/id/92/rec/16 I wonder what could be the role in this Doubrovska pic...

So lovely. Fadeyechev lifts her as if she was a feather. He barely dances...always keeping a gallant eye on her at all times. This type of danseurs are almost extinct nowadays... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s5fi6YtMDM

From Novosti i birzhevaya gazeta (6 Apr. 1901), p. 3. via Wiley, Roland John, The Life and Ballets of Lev Ivanov, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1997, page 179 "In a review of Kshesinskaya in Swan Lake in 1901, it states: "The ballerina was very effective in the second act, in her elegant black dress, which went so well on her, and danced the famous pas d’action with aplomb and great artistic finish.” And here is Karsavina as Odile and Vladimirov as Siegfried, 1913 I also wonder which could be the role of La Legnani in this photo...?

I wish there would be a video of any staging of the Fugue.

Why do we have the tradition of applauding Odette's entrance in Act II? Because she is entering as Odette The Swan Queen -- a character we haven't met before, who dominates the rest of the ballet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Lake_(1895)#Drigo.27s_edition_of_Tchaikovsky.27s_score So then who's the woman running onstage during the overture,,,? Isn't that Odette too...? Of course we applaud Odette's entrance in Act II. That's how things should be. That is her entrance, and not during an invented segment composed not to be danced. Tchaikovsky was dead by the time all the changes for the '95 version took place. Apparently brother Modesto gave the green light to the Petipa/Drigo project. Still, when one listens to the '77 recording-(there's a wonderful rendition by Dutoit, which is my ultimate idea of the score)- it is then when you realize that the changes, cuts and substitutions were not always the best idea. In any case, no choreography was ever devised that I know off, either by Reisinger or by Petipa for the overture. But maybe Kevin knows better...

Speaking seems to had been the main source of this reconstructions.