cubanmiamiboy

Priceless..! I know you will enjoy this as much as I did. Flash, flash! Mme gives suggestions for an ideal casting of Sylphides at the time this was filmed...@ 4:45. ("So and so...of course!" ) Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONwOVXyAnEc

Madonna infamously wrote two, so...

I feel the same way, Cristian. Obraztsova is a lovely dancer, but Miss Gabriella is the gold standard Nikiya. Definitely, but...going back to Obraztsova, this veil sequence requires a strong, centered, a terre ballerina. I don'tknow, but I noticed a good deal of insecurity and shaky moments here...

It is bad to have great performances engraved in your mind. Everytime I see a Nikiya I can't help but putting the ballerina side by side with the great Komleva in the role. Of course, Miss Gabriella always takes the prize...

Just my never ending point.

One little nice accent. Delgado-(whom was the only one i saw in the DQPDD)-didn't used the Russian version of the variation with the gaziillion passes, neither the sequence-(which I believed was used by all the dancers during the full lenght production)-of pirouettes during the final diagonal, but instead danced the whole variation as it's staged by Alonso in Cuba, which she also imported from her NY days, with the jetes at first and the final diagonal of little pas de cheval while fanning herself.

My pleasure, Pamela. Fracci would had been DEFINITELY a favorite of mine would I had had the chance to be around her time. She does have this strong ankle/feet/knee quality I'm obsessed with in ballerinas, which gives them such great center and an unmistakable "a terre" work signature. No fussy, twiggy arms here...no silly Vogue-like posing but instead a facto real Prima who really knows how to nail her pointes. (Those sautes on pointe were TO DIE FOR...if the YT poster is right, and she was 51 at this time, then I can't imagine what the young starlets of today who can't make it thru the similar sequence in Giselle would say about it...) I always think Mme. K. was one of that kind too...don't you think...?

Some early incarnations of the Firebird costume... Karsavina Karsavina Pavlova-(whom I believe never got to dance the role..) Lopokhova Lophokova and Lifar

Thank you for your detailed report, bart. I knew this program was going to be better reviewed by either you and/or BB, and you just proved it. As I said...audience seemed to truly enjoyed it, and that's what this is all about. I wish the troupe and its AD the best of seasons.

So Balanchine went reverse with his Firebird about his usual simplifying pattern of costume design...?

So extremely happy to see Lorena again!! I'll never forget the year I went to the gala and she danced the Giselle PDD. When it was over the woman sitting next to me leaned over and whispered 'That's my daughter.' - What can I say...I will never forget her as a very primising young starlet back in the early 90's -(91 to be precise). Too bad she was never permitted to dance the big roles in her homeland... I guess she should be around Kent's age...?

Poor Kirkland LOATHED that costume...! (as per her memoirs...) Lovely pic of Prima Gelsey...

Oh yes...I remember that "Hammock-lady" moment...

Does she still dance...?

My pleasure, rg. Right now I'm in the process of trying to get me a recording that uses all of the surviving pieces from Undina, so I'll try to see if I can come across a translation. BTW...this fragment-(the duet)- may had been included in a gala offered at Carnegie Hall in 2008 by The Tchaikovsky Opera and the Ballet Theatre of Perm. http://www.goldstar.com/events/new-york-ny/tchaikovsky-gala

Glad you enjoyed it, Joseph. I had read about it, but never really ocurred to me to look for it. Isn't it beautiful...?

A mere 46 years old, Fonteyn was dancing Bayadere at that age why shouldn't Stepanenko? In my book the older the ballerina the better. Ditto

I love this duet...

Nothing has been said about possible skin grafts, which can be a good sign if not needed...

You think so? Without further comment: http://www.pointemag...-2012/soul-star "Maybe Somova is that rarity in the ballet world: A well-adjusted, happy young woman who happens to have gorgeous technique..." Really...? Anyway.....back to B and Ivanova....

From the Youtube uploader... "ESMERALDA, with Carla Fracci as Matilde Kschessinska and Stephen Jeffries as Nicolas Legat. In 1987 a two-part television programme called The Ballerinas featured Carla Fracci with some of the top male dancers of the period in a series of reconstructions, putting various ballets and their interpretors in an historical context. Fracci was an amazingly youthful 51 when she danced these extracts." Enjoy!

How interesting the detail of Russell having staged a previous, little different version of the ballet. I wonder what the differences are...

This incident is truly way beyond anything I've heard before. Is so sad-(and scary)-that from now on we have to start thinking of such venerable, loved institution as the Bolshoi of Ulanova, Bessmertnova and Maximova now linked to such level of criminality and craziness.... If this is ever demonstrated to be as a professional turmoil, then something has been broken forever....

In a live performance... O/O: Lorna Feijoo, Hayna Gutierrez, Adiarys Almeida Prince Siegfried: Rolando Sarabia, Osmay Molina, Taras Domitro