cubanmiamiboy

I'm glad you enjoyed the clip, diane. Mr Guerra is currently the AD of the argentinean company "Ballet del Mercosur", and was dancing as far as 2012. I had the pleasure of seeing a lot of his dancing, as well as his peer Julio Bocca back in the 90's. They were both magnificent.

A wonderful Diane&Acteon PDD I had the pleasure to watch in the Havana Ballet Festival, ca. 1998. It was the closing number of a very long night,and the DD took place around midnight. Maximiliano Guerra partenred Feijoo. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyqqJaZOQlo

I suspect that if all comes down to just wishing a dancer to "make it to end" then we have a problem.

Buddy, I can relate to the fact of shielding a favorite ballerina from the generilized harshness-(I've been doing it for years with Alonso, which is even more complex given her egocentric personality and controversial political persona). One time I even received a PM from a poster asking me if we were related.. So I can understand someone thinking of you being Fateyev. As for myself, at one point I wonder if you were Skorik herself!

Same here, BB. Wonderful news...more money for ballet performances...!

Oh, I've realized that, Buddy. Just as I'm drown by the strong, "a terre", womanly ballerina.

Tsikaridze should come a dance a bit in America. I WOULD go see him..! ;-)

Poor Vaganova. She kept hearing that over and over...

That was coming. Not surprised.

And here's the choreographer... ...and La Zorina with Modoc

bart...Rebello is crtainly qualified to be a Principal, technically wise. Now, it is a fact that he is a VERY short dancer-(I would say even shorter than Simkin, although not that baby faced...). MCB is a company of short dancers...Trividic was always noticeable taller than everybody else when onstage, so I think Kleber won't have problems partnering ballerinas. Catoya, Arja and Delgado are some of those I have seen him dancing with, and he looks fine. In another matters, I always picture Principal dancers as a whole package that should be able to go around the world and dance with any given company with a variety of styles and body types. Here' where Rebello fails. I don't picture him dancing with a number of current Principal ballerinas from certain important companies. (Now, he dancing a DQ with Valdes, THAT would be a thrill! ). Another issue I would like to point at is that Rebello hasn't really shown his skills in the great Romantic-Classical repertoire,and in my book that's a requirement. Not until I see an Albrecht-(Cerdeiro was able to dance the role)- AND Siegfried, AND Franz-(Rebello did dance it)-I can make a definite assessment regarding Principal status. For me, a Danseur should be able to, let's say, go and travel to Russia and pull out a good performance of Giselle with, let's say, Zakharova. A difficult ballet, a difficult style, a difficult ballerina to partner...the whole package is certainly a challenge. Hallberg, Acosta, Bolle and Gomes and some of those whom I can think have what it takes to really be called a Principal. Cerdeiro is not ready for the title, IMHO.

Uuh, I just LOVED that... Anyway...back to D&C...

I've always been curious about changes being done by Fokine in Les Sylphides and how it came to be danced in Cuba. The version that Alonso still has in repertoire-(which is engraved in my memory)- is the one she imported from BT during the late 40’s-(it was staged in Havana in 1948 to be precise)-, but the one danced by the Ballet de Camaguey-(staged by Fernando Alonso)- had a rather different lineage, that of the one his brother Alberto Alonso carbon copied from his years at the BRdMC-(earlier than the one Alicia learned). That version is also still danced by Fernando’s company. Now, knowing that the ballet sort of morphed a bit thru the years…is there a possibility that any substantial changes happened in between the two versions…? Did Fokine changed anything toward the very last stagings of the ballet…?

Thanks a lot rg for those scans! I suspect that the role of the Don has been considerably diminished in modern era ballet compared to the original libretto.

The CCBM gala couldn't be held in a more innapropriate date. Saturday was the biggest day within the week long extravaganza called Urban Beach Week, the largest Urban/Hip Hop event in the world, a festivity that is increasingly being tarnished by gun violence. Residents usually don't get out of their houses out of fear, and very few from outside Miami Beach attempt to get into the hours long nightmare of traffic. So right there and then, the Cubans danced, and danced BEAUTIFULLY. The program was ambitious, as I said before, thankfully going for what their alma mater is known for: the XIX century repertoire, and I was very happy to revisit choreos that otherwise would be unknown to the Miamian audience. The night started with a comprised suite from the betrothal scene from Bayadere, performed by Arianne Martin and Edward Gonzalez Morgado, followed by the PDD from "Les Millions d'Arlequin" as staged by Alonso, "Le Spectre de la Rose", performed by Analay Saiz and Randy Crespo and ending with Bournonville's "Flower Festival in Genzano" PDD. I loved the way they designed this first part, so the differences in style could be appreciated. Being so fresh out of Alonso's company, it was amazing to see-(particularly in the women)- the ever present old fashion style that obviously mimicks the Assoluta's own...(the long balances...low arabesques and developpes, the slightly forward torso and head tilt and particularly interesting, the ultra high passes during pirouettes and the slower pace of their fouettes along with a 90 degrees placement of the working leg, something so largely neglected nowadays in favor of speed. They were all lovely to watch, but...Josue Justis Brito-(Harlequinade)- takes here the big prize with his lovely, candid rendering of Harlequin. Actually he reminded me a lot of MCB Principal Rebello, due to his short high and beautifully done pirouettes, along with a great sense of relaxation and correctness. People cheered him a lot,,,actually both of them, for which his partner here, Annie Ruiz, was also wonderful. "Spectre..." is such a tricky ballet. It is easy to see how many dancers don't "get" the art nuveau perfume in it, and usually strip it down to the mere exhibition of jetes and pirouettes-(for the males). Analay Saiz and Randy Crespo danced it, and even if there's always something I feel is missing in modern interpretations of the work, including this one, I'm also always grateful that it is still being performed. Crespo's costume sort of followed the original design, as well as the female's with its cute little white bonette. No, I was definitely not watching Misha on it-(although I confess I always compare every try I see with the Russian...oh, almighty Youtube!)- but nevertheless it was at the end Fokine being tried once more as to not to get into oblivion, so thank you Analay and Randy for that. More to come...

Easy to picture, since everythig from Monet's Olympia to Goya's Maja Desnuda to MIchelangelo's David are forbidden to show in art class in the public educational system, so...again...

Helene, I really appreciate your always polite intervention here. I, being the one who brought up the Skorik video, somehow feel at fault now for sounding too hard on the woman. I remember the times when the Youtube videos were not allowed on this site, and believe me, I feel grateful we can use the fixture to sustain certain point or to share a lovely performance. Then, if the clip in question is felt to be borderline with the non acceptable-(or plainly non acceptable)-, I won't question the assessment and will take it out. Now, having been myself clear enough at several times on what I perceive on the dancer, I'm oficially done assessing her. Edited: Will be back here and there to spice things up within the respectful trend...

Definitely. He was a wonderful partenaire for Miss Valdes, and they created one of the best DQ ever filmed. Yes, he should go to England...

I'm feeling less and less interested in visiting the company after all this reports...

Romel Frometa, Cincinnati Ballet, ex Principal Ballet Nacional de Cuba-(how come he's in the corps at CB...? ) Roberto Bolle Marcelo Gomes

One positive thing about having such a technical failure up front and center is that the real ballerinas' strengths shine even more. I usually show her up and coming videos to my French friend to teach him how to easily detect horrendous technique even as a neophyte. Now, the issue would get very dangerous when buying tickets if given a short period of time to be able to visit the company... Fateev laughing...? Probably, but I can't imagine being in the skin of Skorik herself. I doubt that she herself thinks that, even if placed, she honestly deserves the position. There are many years ahead, I suspect, of countless videos and public bashing of the woman.

Which is exactly what's happening here...a substantial number of viewers who are not buying such inadequate product.

The interesting thing is that I don't remember such situation having happened at the Mariinsky before...-(before Somova, I mean...)

I understand all of the above, and my ultimate criticism goes beyond Skorik-(or Somova or Kampa)- to whoever the powers-that-be are at this moment at the Mariinsky that has decided to corrupt the golden legacy of this venerable institution to throw to the knowledgeable ballet audience of the world-(who's definitely getting sharper and sharper due to comparison via videos)-such inadequacies. I'm not afraid to predict that this women will never be ballerinas. They will certainly be given more and more roles, and so more and more videos and mistakes will keep popping up online for the world to see. A female dancer ascends and eventually becomes a ballerina when she's noticed due to her qualities among her lower rank peers and is pulled out to be given a petter place to shine center stage. It is wrong to place a random mediocre dancer up front and tell the audience to swallow all her mistakes and wait for an improvement.