cubanmiamiboy

Thank you Helene. The Terry is indeed a little jewel box, all ornate with golds and plush red velvet. Almost every city of Cuba has its own XIX century theater. The "Caridad" theater-(honoring the title of the catholic patron saint of Cuba, Our Virgin of Charity), and the "Sauto", are two other theaters I went in many occasions, being the towns in which they are, Santa Clara and Matanzas, nearby my hometown. La Caridad Theater Sauto Theater

Yes Natasha. From the very defile Mme.tells her audience that this is her own territory with a well established ubber-hierarchic, non democratic pyramidal solid structure...(too rigid perhaps...?...maybe). No corps dancing principal roles here,oh no...

Yes, Natasha...you're right. Many of the lovliest XIX century latin american theaters are spread around little towns,and many are in great conditions. Pavlolva danced indeed at the Terry, Caruso sang and Sarah Bernard acted there also... Here's the Tapia...it is indeed a beautiful theater..!

Now that I'm finally in a full blown nostalgic state after having seen the Havana festival 2008 defile, I willgo back in time to share the place where I sold my soul forever to ballet at a very young age, the work being of course Giselle. This is the 1889 Terry theater in my hometown Cienfuegos. Isn't it cute...? (I even performed there in a school show as a kid.. ;-)

The other two theaters involved in the Festival are The National, for the full lenght presentations, and the Mella for the contemporary works. And here's the defile of 2008. Not a fancy one, but I still get emotional when I see it. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever see another festival in my homeland... Grand entrance @ 4:31 on part II.

Thank you thank you Natasha/BB. Definitely the ice of the cake will be there,"sans" a VERY important piece...ME! (Oh, how would I love to go and make some serious noise and whistling! ) Anyway... The Youskevitch gala looks great!..."Spectre..", "Apre Midi.." "BS PDD", "DQ PDD"-(with an interesting mention of Anatole Obukhov version), "SB PDD", "Nut PDD" and if all that wasn't enough..."T&V"..! Wow...that's going to be quite a night...(They are all roles in which Youskevitch probably shone...) I also noticed the American dancers appearing in "Apollo", question being...will they dance Alonso's old version or will they challenge the Cuban audience with what they know from ABT...? That could prove very interesting...

When do we start the trip planning...? Here's the Great Theater where the Defile will take place...

I almost watched the link, all excited by the title, but then read the posts in advance, and glad I did it. I'll live the beautiful Sylph where it has been so far, so thank you but no thank you.

Youskevitch lives..! I'm thinking and thinking...let's see.... I never saw "In the Night" in Cuba...(or at east I don't remember it). It would be interesting for me to compare it now that I'm quite familiar with the work. Thanks for the links, Natasha!

bart, Lopez is the female lead in the Spanish Dance from the Culkin's Nutcracker.

I've been noticing-(and reporting)-for a while an ongoing grow of ballerinas for which the posing, flexibility and lyricism in movements is more visible and obviously important than their actual dancing abilities. I'm definitely also under the impression that the ultra-thin and flexibility trend is taking its toll in their muscle strenght and ability to keep beautiful airy, controlled jumps-(a la Vasiliev)-or their "a terre" ones in turns and pointe work which require a maximum of strength in their ankles-(a la Valdes).

The infamous "She did, she did not" Marie..? Beautiful pic, rg!

That is correct, Natasha. I got mixed up with Lavrovsky's Giselle, but it was Sakharov' the version I was thinking of-(which I sometimes see in the recording with the great Strutchkova). Sergeev' version I don't know, but in any case I don't understand why Russian ballet is willing so often to let go previous beautiful productions-(as with the Imperial Little Humpbacked Horse, which I'm sure could have been resurrected)-to favor all this new stuff... At least Zakharov version is still active at the Bolshoi, I believe...

A little OT, and my apologies if this has been addressed anywhere else, but because I hadn't followed this topic, silly me I was thinking the Cinderella being referred to was Lavrovsky's. Question being...did the Mariinsky got rid of Lavrovsky's Cinderella for good to give way to Ratmansky's...?

It is amazing that I got to be horrified by a certain Russian ballerina's Black Swan as I have never ever been before-(closing my eyes and lowering my head in disbelief)-way before knowing that she was the much talked about Skorik. There's definitely something wrong here.

I enjoyed it a lot, dirac! Bing's stories are written in a very straightforward, seemingly honest account. One senses that he was particularly inclined toward certain singers-(Milanov,Nilsson, Tebaldi),and others for which he wasn't -(most infamously, Sills). Still, at many times during the lecture one bumps into his thoughts at recognizing mistakes made and poor choices. One substantial part is dedicated to a very meticulous narration of the financial status of the MET during his tenure. It looks to me as if he was repeatedly attacked on this matters and wanted to clarify the issue at once. His chapter dedicated to Callas was interesting..no vitriol whatsoever...just a plain description of the issues he faced with the diva and the reasons behind her departure. He was particularly biased toward artists-(singers and conductors)-whose names had been somehow involved with the Nazis. At one point, in the beginning of his tenure, he even refused to invite Von Karajan to work.

Just finished: Richard Wright's "Black Boy-(American hunger)" Rudolph Bing's "5000 nights at the Opera". Just started: Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"

She does indeed. She is a beautiful woman.

At the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, Spring 2012.

It is Big Red who does it best for me here...

Things like this are food to my soul. I'm never in awe enough for such grandeur of the human being. My profound respects to PNB. .

Textbook perfection @ 0:25. The one and only Mr. Soloviev.

Perhaps that's why Petrushka is falling into oblivion...a shame, if it is.

I'm not convinced of the blue face solution for the Moor in Petrushka. They can darken his skin to a certain degree so the result is not that much of a parody, but then..isn't the WHOLE thing about the Moor's solo choreo while alone in his room a parody...? If you were to try to change the whole thing, you might as well better forget about the entire ballet, because the Moor's story is all about the western caricaturized perception of his ethnic/social group.