cubanmiamiboy

I will make sure I take your advice in my next programmed vacation to the land of the Tsars, BB! BTW, I love your FB pics...keep posting them!

From left to right, four of the seven dancers. Ariadnni Martín-(20), Randy Crespo-(22),, Annie Ruiz Díaz-(24)- and Luis Víctor Santana-(23).. The other two are Edward González-(23)- and José Justiz-(20). Dancer # 7, Alejandro Méndez, 20, is still in Mexico. Ruiz declaration stating "we were determined to find a better artistic life and economic wellness for our families" has stirred a great deal of controversy among the old exiled community, for which they are staying as political refugees, something the older community don't see as a fact among the young wave of Cuban immigrants. In any case, bienvenidos a Miami! -(Pedro Pablo..how about a welcome gala with some nice glimpses of Black Swan or Corsaire? )

I saw an interview with three on them on a Miamian TV station. Very young dancers they are. I hope they make it to MCB. Meanwhile, maybe they could infuse some new life in the dormant CCBM...?

I'm glad you had a good time in Russia, and that you managed to see SB and Raymonda ! Send me a PM with details on the club scene...

# 9 all the way!!

I still believe the artist has also a share on this type of situation. Ballet is permeated with stories of dancers declining high ranking positions in order to learn more or to be fair to themselves and to the audiences. The clip I just recently posted on Alonso's story shows a similar situation when Massine offered the young ballerina a Principal position with the BRMC which she declined in favor of staying back in the ranks at BT, which she eventually escalated. This is one story I remember from the top of my head, but I'm sure there are many others out there, so yes...she should had declined and wait, instead of choosing being hunted for life as the dancer who was infamously being wrongly promoted ahead of time.

...and kampa too. Why insisting so much when one is obviously unprepared...? Why agreeing to be the poster child for the deterioration of such a venerable institution...? Why keep rubbing in people's faces the obvious, unfair reality...?

Kampa's fall does has particular feeling. It doesn't look like a regular fall where suddenly the ballerina is on the floor while running or either loosing a silly balance in a slow sequence. This is a fall during fouettes-(something I personally have NEVER seen), and one can tell that her face ever since starting the sequence is just permeated with terror. It would had been a miracle that she didn't fall. I don't think she is prepared for the speed and complexity of the sequence. Falling was a natural thing right there. Kenen is simply in the wrong place at the wrong time right now.

I'm inclined to believe Volochkova's words about the current environment of the Bolshoi, and I really can't see a way back tot he previous times. What's going on right now there is just the natural result of the transition process in the country. Things got out of hands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw3Jy__oRgY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIDbMBif7pghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ewXIpS5h84http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIDbMBif7pg

Wow...this is getting more and more bizarre each time. So Dmitrichenko is indeed popular among ballet dancers, even after his arrest...?

I need to remember this...

Onyx walls and Swarovski's chandeliers...wow, I'm truly impressed. I wish the new theater great years of grand productions. Good for them!

I work in a bariatric unit-(gastric bypass patients). There's a before and an after procedure for every single body system in relationship with the aftermath. There's a lot of gain, but substantial losses too, particularly to the gastrointestinal system. There is basically a complete makeover to the abdominal walls, being the most common danger what we call "dumping syndrome".

At the MET transmission in 80 degrees Miami. Anybody connected "live" now...? ;-)

One interesting detail I saw from this program was that the company finally has adopted the much more needed old tradition of opening the curtains partially for the leading dancers to take solo bows. Miami needs this. There such an awful tradition of full stampedes of patrons running to the parking lots to beat traffic right after the last note of the orchestra that it feels embarrassing at moments. During La Valse curtain calls the applause had completely stopped and people were running as usual when suddenly the spot light illuminated the curtain to signal the showing of Albertson, Guerra and Reyes. Some people turned around and looked in surprise. Some stopped mid way to applaud, and some others stayed in their seats until the couple of bows were given. I had never seen this here. Before, during Villella's tenure, all the curtain calls were given for the whole company, and a solo recognition was never produced. If this was Lopez' idea, kuddos to her! . Are we becoming international...?

Oh God...what a joke. I really hope he never reaches Miami, although I think I heard or read his name and that of MCB linked somewhere.

Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux was the big winner of the night. Cast couldn't have been better, Jeanette Delgado and Kleber Rebello. The two were beautiful, and their chemistry onstage was almost tangible. Again, being so close to the stage, I could really appreciate every single glance, smile, every hand taken and everything was PERFECT. No bubbling, no shaken ankles, no nothing. Jeanette is such a confident dancer, and something really nice I notice...she's growing into putting a high sense of effort into the ACCENTS. Yes...this is a quality I so miss in many dancers and that I always praise in the memories I have of Lorna Feijoo. Well, Jeanette is taken care of it, and very beautifully. Every single step has a defined pathos that is being reinforced with a precise accent from her eyes, neck and arms. Everything is fluid but mathematically precise at the same time. There is a moment in her variation where the ballerina throws three grand battements on pointe consecutively before engaging in a single gargouillade followed by a series of passes. Delgado paid a particular attention to the very last battement, placing her eyes on her pointe as it starts going down with a slow, sensual motion, before jumping and speeding into the next series of steps-(gargouillade/passes). That's how Feijoo used to dance it, and Delgado did it too. Wonderful. Rebello was just as great. His dancing has become so crystal clear..very feline, soft, with high emphasis in legato and ballon. His landings are completely noiseless, and there's no strain at all during turns. Actually he always seems to pay special attention to his audience. He keeps going back to glance after a given series of steps, but in no way he tries to milk applauses. He just like to flirt with us, and it looks just right, for which his deliverance is a highly polished product. To define his dancing, I would say his movements remind me of those of a cat. The only little detail I would had love to be different happened during the coda's iconic two fish dives. I always expect the sort of jumps where the dancer really places himself away from the ballerina so she can run across the stage and jump in his arms, face almost touching the floor-(the now defunct video of Corella and Reyes was the perfect example). Here Rebello and Delgado took a more careful approach. The fish dives occurred, but the lowering was just not deep enough(but again...the same situation happens many times during that fish dive sequence in the DQ adagio, where some dancers really lower the ballerina who does that sweeping movement with her arms almost on the floor while others just take her midway with lots of space down below). Anyway...it was a wonderful display. I was very happy at having watched this, and the audience cheered them loudly. Up next...the rest of the program. The Steadfast Tin Soldier was not a good choice here. It's just too weightless, and does not really add to the night. Mary Carmen Catoya and Renato Panteado danced on it, but really...there's not too much of a dancing going on. To me it looks as a piece for a ballet school, not for the big house. It was obviously placed as a filler, and a super filler it was. For Ratmansy's "Symphonic Dances", I will just say that one of my companions fall asleep. Boring to death in all its running, running and more running. I predict this was the swan song of this ballet. I will use a quote of Alexandra Danilova, with the liberty of omiting the work and choreographer she was assessing, that always come to my mind when watching this type of stuff... "(.....), for instance-people tell me how inventive (...) is, but i don't see it. What did (...) invent?... to me it is chaos. There is no design. One person does one thing, another person does another, a third person does a third...Apparently, there are people who find all this activity going on at once exhilarating, but i am not excited by it. It makes me mad. I watch it and think to myself. Is it worth to do battements tendus and perspire every day in order to be able to do this? "

Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux was the big winner of the night. Cast couldn't have been better, Jeanette Delgado and Kleber Rebello. The two were beautiful, and their chemistry onstage was almost tangible. Again, being so close to the stage, I could really appreciate every single glance, smile, every hand taken and everything was PERFECT. No bubbling, no shaken ankles, no nothing. Jeanette is such a confident dancer, and something really nice I notice...she's growing into putting a high sense of effort into the ACCENTS. Yes...this is a quality I so miss in many dancers and that I always praise in the memories I have of Lorna Feijoo. Well, Jeanette is taken care of it, and very beautifully. Every single step has a defined pathos that is being reinforced with a precise accent from her eyes, neck and arms. Everything is fluid but mathematically precise at the same time. There is a moment in her variation where the ballerina throws three grand battements on pointe consecutively before engaging in a single gargouillade followed by a series of passes. Delgado paid a particular attention to the very last battement, placing her eyes on her pointe as it starts going down with a slow, sensual motion, before jumping and speeding into the next series of steps-(gargouillade/passes). That's how Feijoo used to dance it, and Delgado did it too. Wonderful. Rebello was just as great. His dancing has become so crystal clear..very feline, soft, with high emphasis in legato and ballon. His landings are completely noiseless, and there's no strain at all during turns. Actually he always seems to pay special attention to his audience. He keeps going back to glance after a given series of steps, but in no way he tries to milk applauses. He just like to flirt with us, and it looks just right, for which his deliverance is a highly polished product. To define his dancing, I would say his movements remind me of those of a cat. The only little detail I would had love to be different happened during the coda's iconic two fish dives. I always expect the sort of jumps where the dancer really places himself away from the ballerina so she can run across the stage and jump in his arms, face almost touching the floor-(the now defunct video of Corella and Reyes was the perfect example). Here Rebello and Delgado took a more careful approach. The fish dives occurred, but the lowering was just not deep enough(but again...the same situation happens many times during that fish dive sequence in the DQ adagio, where some dancers really lower the ballerina who does that sweeping movement with her arms almost on the floor while others just take her midway with lots of space down below). Anyway...it was a wonderful display. I was very happy at having watched this, and the audience cheered them loudly. Up next...the rest of the program.

Third place with 40 votes!

Glad you liked Caballero, Helene! We certainly missed her this season over here. Our Boheme was a lukewarm one, and our Magic Flute a major disaster. I could not even make it for a review.

I went to see this last night. Mixed feelings about the whole program. La Valse Having seen La Valse from third raw orchestra center was a good choice. There's a lot to see in the dancers faces while dancing this ballet. It really tells you much more about that sort of "impeding doom" that floats around the stage all along. When the couples dance, they are not sad, nor happy, but apprehensive. It looks as if these elegant party couples know what's about to happen-(maybe it has happened before..? Well, of course it has happened before, as the ballet has been around for quite a while!). This is not a merry ballroom, and the members are certainly "initiated". There have been other "chosen" ones before, and the Angel of Death has visited them many times. Tricia Albertson was terrific as the girl in white, and the fact that she looks fairy older than the rest of the company creates an interesting picture. This woman has been around, she has more experience...she has probably been a waltzing witness to other girls in white at different times, and now is her moment. And I think she knows it since the very moment she joins the ballroom. I felt as if the only one who's really innocent of all this is his partner, Carlos Miguel Guerra, who unknowingly tries to purse a woman who will never be his. When the Angel of Death shows up the routine starts...once more he goes after his prey, and little by little starts investing her with all his deadly regalia...the black stones choker, the black gloves that fits her perfectly, for which they were made specifically for her, as well as the black tulle cape. From that moment on, the girl in white is already "on the other side". Now she is the "girl in black". Still after wearing the choker-(which interestingly she wraps herself around her neck, for which this ought to be a willing process)-she still refuses to fully acknowledge what's happening to her 100 %. She doesn not want to see herself in the mirror at first, only to do so after the pressure of the Angel of Death-("Here...look at yourself...you're mine now!).There is a brief moment of probably sudden rebellion in the girl, which happens when she's given the last deadly accesory...the black flowers bouquet. Suddenly she snaps out of it...she refuses to let go...she tries to fight once more against it and trows it out of the stage with anger and force...away from her life. But it's too late...the Angel of Death has full powers now, and that's when they engage in a violent dance. Reyneris Reyes was WONDERFUL in this character. It is also a plus that he looks older here, and his angular face and black full hair made for a sleek, even scary portray. He did not proceeded blandly with this suddenly rebellious prey. He applies force on her, he makes her and everyone around-(and probably future girls in white)- know that he's in control and will always be. Reyes threw Albertson all around with no mercy...he shows the world that he's the master and there's no purpose in an kind of fighting. After he's done with it, he flies away. A very interesting moment during the final sequence happens when the couples make a circle around the lifeless body of the girl as she is being help up. They dance with their torsos, necks and heads bended to the side and taken by their hands, mimicking the exact same sequence of the Willis in Giselle with Hilarion-(an homage to another fatal dancing moment around a human being being caught in deadly circumstances...?). I really enjoyed La Valse last night. The other plus on watching it up close is how one can really appreciate the beautiful costumes. This is a full blown Christian Dior "New Look" post war collection tribute. The three women that open the ballet actually look like models from a mid century fashion magazine. I thought..."Grace Kelly...Rear window..!" Coming up next...TPDD.

Ditto about Voigt. She is a great interviewer. Fleming was good too.