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Adam

Inactive Member
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Everything posted by Adam

  1. Helene, that's why I don't post. Since the categories overlap, you can always find an arbitrary reason why someone has posted something in the "wrong" place. That's why I let you sit there and say "MY sandbox. MINE!"
  2. Perhaps you should just, um, quarantine Macaulay in his own area heh, heh. While you can't have people posting things that are wildly off-topic, the problem is, if you post, "Cojocaru and Kobborg did a lovely 'Sleeping Beauty'. They did a "Sleeping Beauty" at the Royal last year, but it was better at the Met. I think they're a lovely couple", somebody's going to say - "A gentle reminder. The first part of sentence 2, but not the seven words after the comma, belongs in "European Ballet Companies" under "Royal Ballet". Sentence 3 belongs in "Dancers".
  3. Isabella Boylston was an apprentice at the same time as Nicole Graniero. And Katie Williams is ABT all the way - Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, Studio Company and apprentice (for about 6 months).
  4. I also was there on Friday (Reyes) and Saturday matinee (Cojocaru) and evening (Osipova). I agree that Xiomara was the best all-around. I note with some amusement that Macaulay is correct about Cojocaru's acting - he just doesn't realize what he's said! He speaks of her acting being remarkable - displaying wonder, etc. - during Act One. But he agrees that it wasn't appropriate to Acts Two and Three. Exactly. She doesn't have range. She has the ability to do one thing. When it fits, as in Act One, it has the desired effect. When it doesn't, she doesn't have any other expression to use. To borrow from the Monty Python sketch where they're interviewing a famous actor "the most difficult is being in love--you know, that openmouthed, vacant look that Vanessa Redgrave's got off to a tee".
  5. I felt that her balances were very brief in the Rose Adagio, and she came down off the last one almost immediately. It may be that she's still recovering, but I'm commenting on what I saw, not saying that there's no reason for it. (If one does that, where does one stop? "It's her first time in the role"? "He's getting old"?) That being said, I did wonder if it was the partnering, because she seemed steadier doing unsupported balances - almost as if it was, "Look, just let me do this by myself. Don't help!"
  6. I have to agree with them. She looked like she was wearing clown shoes, and she still couldn't stay up.
  7. Bravo, Goldfish. Funny, you don't hear opera fans objecting to someone singing better than the others!
  8. I think it's pretty clear what people want. Less Wilis, and more borzois.
  9. When I was at Lar Lubovitch, a woman asked the usher if she could go in and out during the performance, as she needed to call her friend to make arrangements for them to meet up. At last - a considerate one? Guess again. The usher said that she couldn't do that; she would have to wait until the pause to return. So the woman sat there making repeated calls to her friend during the performance. "I ask if I can come back. She says 'no'. What you want from me? It is usher you have problem with."
  10. Yes, I noticed Katherine Willliams, too. I hadn't really taken notice of her before, but I was amazed at how consistent she was.
  11. I'm thinking of the line near the end of "Witness for the Prosecution" where Charles Laughton says to Marlene Dietrich "You testified [on behalf of Tyrone Power] because you knew he was innocent". And I won't go any further here, in case some of you haven't seen the film.
  12. First, welcome to griffie and mimsyb. While we're mentioning people we've never noticed before (or never particularly appreciated), I have to say that Simone really got to me with the "There Will Never Be Another You" part of "Company B". For all the heavy-handed artsy antiwar stuff, like "The Green Table", nothing got to me the way she did. And I can tell you several people around me let out with "ooohhhhhs" when they realized what was happening. I also want to mention Nicola Curry, who I really enjoyed in both "Company B" and "Bakers Dozen".
  13. I could hear it, and I was in the orchestra. There's one woman who comes almost every night, and she's always packing and unpacking these plastic bags she brings with her, almost like an OCD. I wonder if it it's the same woman. On opening night, I was surrounded by misbehaving people, and, as you know, the ushers stay outside - almost as though Andrey or Carol doesn't want them to get involved. It was so extreme that it would have been comic. On my left was a guy who spent the whole evening playing with his extremely brightly lit iPhone. On my right was a couple who talked through the entire evening - except when the husband was singing. Not even singing along - he had his own songs that he "bum-bum-bummed" to amuse himself. The were two people getting phone calls (one of whom didn't turn the ringer off after the first call, because he/she got another one later on). There was the guy in the side mezzanine who complained loudly about the size of the head of the man in front of him, and then stomped around looking for another seat. And the two rows of Ukrainian women who didn't know each other before they arrived, but got to know each other very well, in spite of all those people on stage who kept trying to dance in the middle of all their talking.
  14. I liked Sarah a lot when she was in the corps, but what worked for her as a corps dancer has completely turned me off to her as a soloist - her absolute refusal to acknowledge her partner in any way whatsoever. She didn't look at Herman once, and kept that fixed look on her face. I know her fans describe that look as "beatific" or "regal", but to me, as a former supporter of hers, it just looks like she's just thinking about how good she is, and why doesn't this man get off her stage? I don't remember who Roman was partnering, but it was probably Anne Milewski or Sarah Smith.
  15. I'd also like to mention Arron Scott, who is going to give Craig Salstein a run for his money in the funny department, as well as turning into a really good dancer. His "Tico-Tico" in "Company B" was superior to Craig's "Oh, Johnny".
  16. Actually, none of this surprises me (or, I take it, cubanmiamiboy), because I've liked Xiomara since the first time I went to a ballet. Actually, it wasn't that long ago. 2005. It was Bocca's last Don Q, and Xiomara was Kitri. That was what brought me to the ballet. I stopped reading Gottlieb, because he never passed up an opportunity to take a cheap shot at her (and any other women who aren't Vishneva, for that matter).
  17. "No Way Home" by Carlos Acosta. Nice little book. Has anybody read "In Balanchine's Company" by Barbara Fisher?
  18. I can't agree with the knocks on Xiomara, or unfortunately, with the praise for Sarah. She was one of my favorites as a corps dancer, but not as a soloist. She's like a robot. The expression on her face never changes, and she's always looking up - I guess she's reading the sign in her head that says "SARAH LANE - PRINCIPAL DANCER . . . and some other people from the ABT . . . ". She certainly never bothers to connect with her partner. In fact, it's creepy, because her eyes don't move in her head - she turns her entire head to look around, like a doll with fixed eyes.
  19. I thought it was an oustanding performance all around, and it was touching that Xiomara gave Herman the entire bouquet, instead of just the pull rose. And where can I get one of those cool breakaway swords? (For those of you who weren't there, when Albrecht threw his sword down at the end of Act I, the pommel unscrewed and the sword fell apart into its four pieces - a pommel, a guard, a handle and just a blade lying flat on the stage - which Xiomara, of course, is going to have to scoop up. As the principals moved left, they switched in a another sword, with a huge guard, just in time for Xiomara to pick it up.)
  20. Since I got to see him working with Paloma and Marcelo at 890, I'd say that's a reasonable assumption. They were working on the flashback sequence, and he told Paloma, "Remember, now, he's a prince and you're trash!"
  21. Maybe it was the same guy who walked across the stage near the end of Act One on Wednesday night. See my post at http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...rt=#entry228851
  22. I went last night (Wednesday). Xiomara and Jose Manuel, with Michelle as the Lilac Fairy. I like Xiomara, so I'm sure I thought she was better than most people here did. The only thing "off" that I noticed was that she was a little tentative in the Rose Adagion with her first balances; she got stronger as it went on. Jose Manuel was solid, but I didn't see any fire. He didn't do anything wrong, but he didn't do anything amazing, either. I've never cared for Michelle; I always considered her ungraceful. She seemed less clunky than I've found her in the past, but she has picked up a hitch in her jumps, where her head jerks forward like one of those little toy bobbing birds that drink out of glass of water. It looks like she trying to extend the distance on the jump by jerking her head. The comedy high point was the stagehand walking out on stage during the performance. Apparently, something caught fire after Carabosse made her exit, but this guy didn't even make an attempt to be unobtrusive.
  23. I understand that that's the reason. What I was pointing out is that they decided to have a page of headshots, and included her. Nine of the ten dancers are Principals. When was the last time that was done? I've never seen any Soloist get a headshot included on a page that contains nothing but headshots of Principals, even when the Soloist is dancing a leading role. In the past, it didn't matter if a Soloist was dancing a leading role; the Soloist still didn't get included in a page of Principals. In fact, it wouldn't have surprised me if the "types" of publicity were something in the Principals' contracts. Some Principals might have a problem with including a Soloist. I keep having to qualify this, but I'll say it anyway: yes, Soloists dance lead roles. Yes, some Soloists may be "better" than some Principals. But the fact is that they're not Principals. For example, they don't get their name in the top paragraph of dancers when the Company's members are listed. "Should be", "could be", merit notwithstanding, a Soloist isn't a Principal. That's why I am amazed that the New York Post has, on two different occasions that I have seen, referred to Dvorovenko as "THE principal dancer of the ABT". Plainly, the items were plants from a publicist. If I were an ABT Principal, I wouldn't be happy to see another Principal referred to as THE principal dancer. Another reason why I know that it's not a misstatement by the Post is that Max and Irina's personal website says that they are "The Principal Dancers in American Ballet Theater". And, no, I'm not buying that they don't know the difference between "THE" and "A" because there are no articles in the Russian language.
  24. I don't see any other comments on this, although I'm sure many of you have seen this. Perhaps nobody looks at the mailings, because we've long since known about the performance schedule. ABT just sent out a special mailing for La Bayadere. Just the one ballet, but it's a 6-page full-color flyer like the season brochures. On the page that normally says, "Principal Dancers" featuring color headshots, there are portraits of 10 dancers. Nine Principals, and, yes, a "new" Principal-ish color portrait of Veronika. Of course, she's generally in one or two of the performance photos in these brochures, but I've never seen one with a "Principal" Dancers page (although not labeled as such) that had a headshot of her on it.
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