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CeC

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About CeC

  • Birthday 01/01/1908

Registration Profile Information

  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    old dancer, fan
  • City**
    vancouver
  • State (US only)**, Country (Outside US only)**
    canada
  1. This is a company that has looked very interesting to me for a while. I first heard of them when they hired one (two?) men from BC that were trained in a vaganova style - apparently there is only one Canadian left (from Quebec). From what I can make out on their site they look very good, and they have been touring the maritimes (last fall), Belgium and France (in the new year), the maritimes again, Quebec and Saskatchewan in March and will be in Alberta on the 4th and 5th. Then they have 8 performances in BC and I will find one of them and finally see them. But I was wondering if anyone has seen them already on this tour or in previous years? It is always more interesting to watch a company you've heard about ... http://www.atlanticballet.ca/en/
  2. Speaking of stereotypes - I don't know what to say about this article ... it's the NY Times, so mainstream? http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/sports/o...amp;oref=slogin
  3. So much has been discussed on this thread that has occupied my mind often, and I love the different perspectives. When I was growing up, we really thought in terms of four sexes, not two, teen years were very interesting sorting all that out, and as Ray so very rightly points out, it doesn't always get fully sorted then. I have to say when I read this article I did not at all think of it as an article about men in ballet, I saw it as an article about straight men in ballet. I figured that was why he was bothering telling us he was. I could have been wrong. I have always felt that ballet was an incredibly tough profession and each sex had their own issues to deal with. For instance: Gay girls: ok, where I live this is the absolute worst. Shunned by the ballet world and "the community" which in my area is a very closed set of people with a very militant core who do everything short of write a handbook on what gay women must and must not do. Gay women must dance modern. Possibly street dance, maybe jazz, NEVER classical ballet. Straight girls: very competitive, can be very degrading and humiliating, forced to suck up to men of both orientations, putting (usually straight it seems) men in a position of ultimate power over your entire life including what / whether you eat, full license to criticize your body, your mind, your soul, ... aaaaghhh! Gay boys: can have an awful lot of the same issues as the girls, the glass ceiling mentioned here that I've wondered about as well, dealing with possible effeminacy in their dancing and criticism for it (something perceived straight dancers are not nearly as often criticized for ... and as pointed out, it can be there in both cases). (Hans, I was very shocked to hear of criticism of ballet from the male gay community in DC - I think here a lot of the gay male dancers prefer jazz, at least when they are younger, but the male gay community is very supportive of ballet. It's the women that trash it constantly.) Straight boys: it can sometimes be a little hard to feel sorry for the straight boys, but they obviously do have their issues (which get more air time than anyone else's) and I think confusion may be a major one. And maybe the assumption that they are gay when they haven't figured it out yet gets very annoying and may lead to things like Ethan Steifel saying he "likes to dance balls out" and the constant talk of how he would have destroyed the house if his parents hadn't put him in dance. Here's an article where Rex Harrington says “My mother enrolled me in the National Ballet School because she knew before I did that I was a little bit tipped.” http://archives.xtra.ca/Story.aspx?s=1444957. I can't count how many times I have heard variations on that from boys in jazz or ballet. I think it might be ok sometimes, but most of the time people like to figure things out for themselves and announce it themselves without the adults taking that over ... yeeesh. Anyway, the reason I am writing this is not because I expect anyone to agree with my perceptions or think that they are in any way complete, but because I would love to hear more discussion on gender politics in ballet, I think there is an enormous amount to be sorted out and I don't think it's an old story at all. Barely scratched in fact.
  4. Naomikage, Tetsuya Kumakawa and Miyako Yoshida are very big celebrities outside Japan as well! I think he is easily the most talked about dancer among people I know. I don't want to take this thread off topic, but I would really like to know a bit more about the training in Japan. I know there are Japanese students at every ballet school I can think of, frequently as young as 11 years old. But they often seem very well trained when they arrive and they also often seem to have good schools to go back to. Many times I think they have better training at home than they are getting in the schools abroad. When I said I had not heard good things about K-Ballet School, I meant I had heard that there were other schools in Tokyo that were better. Is this not the case? Does Tokyo Ballet not have a very good school associated with it? I am sorry, I do not know the names of the schools I mean, but I thought there were a great many, some not so good, but some very good. The people who go to competitions and student shows in Japan say the standards are extremely high - where are they getting this training? Is the K-Ballet School to be set up on more of a European model? Thank you for all of the information!
  5. Yes, Natalia, they are! I would love to hear more about all of the Japanese companies, and not just in Tokyo. I have been looking for any reviews since I found Ballet Talk, and haven't found much. But I too, really enjoyed your recent review of NNT Ballet. From an interview with Tetsuya Kumakawa after his injury: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/12/03/Kumakawa.qanda/index.html http://edition.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/revealed/kumakawa/ CNN: Are audiences missing you? Kumakawa: They are. I'm not just saying that because I see the number of tickets sales every week. This week only a couple of hundred tickets have sold. We have to sell 20 thousand, so it is a big difference. But this time is my real turning point, and sooner or later it would have happened because in the future I would have given up you know, I would be stepping out of the main role or becoming the director not the dancer anymore -- in 10 yrs time, 20 yrs time I don't know. But sooner or later it would have happened so I think it's good that it happened just now, this time. This is my practice for my retirement. Naomikage, K-Ballet certainly looks like it has a great deal of talent besides Tetsuya. Do you think he has used his recovery time to try to promote some of his other dancers, or is he trying to fill seats with guest artists? Have the ticket sales improved since this interview and are any other dancers getting recognition? I have not heard good things about his school - do you think the school and company will be able to bring up more stars to take his place? I think it's very unfair that Japanese companies should go to Washington, DC without a stopover in Vancouver, BC! We are so much closer and we love the japanese companies ... we need a good presenter ... in my dreams ... "We have to sell 20 thousand (tickets a week) ..." There's a number for North American audiences to ponder.
  6. Well, the heading is Ballet in China, and I'd love to hear what you think, especially if you saw them in situ. My perceptions of Chinese dance are unfortunately all out of context and out of date. What I have pieced together is: they are very flexible. Many Vancouver schools offer acro as an elective, but here the gumby tendency is rigidly opposed by the English RAD influence, so I don't know what it would look like there? The dancers I have seen have not been floppy, but they have also been the best dancers, I would love to see one day what the corps looks like. I have heard the acting accused of being expressionless, but to me it is just very Chinese, restrained and subtle and more sweet and sentimental than russian dramatic. (In Vancouver a lot of the dancers have been influenced by Mr. Goh's extremely dramatic old Royal Ballet acting, or a similar style from RAD, which is not what I see in the guest dancers from China at all.) The port de bras I find to be more like the Japanese, very liquid arms that are continually moving, including fingers (slightly). The attack (or lack of it) would probably be the biggest weakness in some roles - compared to Russian or American (or Cuban, or Brazilian ...) dancers they do not look nearly as athletic. That is why I was very interested to hear that they were coming into their own in modern and contemporary and using that type of expression and attack. (Although there are many born in China dancers here that are doing that wonderfully, ie. Wen Wei Wang.) So until I get rich and get over there to see for myself, I would love to have someone confirm or reject my impressions ...
  7. Hi emilienne! Have you seen Central Ballet recently? That is another company I would love to hear more of, I have known many ex-dancers from there and have actually been taught by many over the years in various schools and master classes ... amazing stories (and teachers). One thing a lot of them had in common was that they were extremely tall and russian looking ie. northern chinese looking, so I guess Mariinski-like. Grant Strate has been one of many ambassadors between Beijing and Vancouver over the decades http://www.dcd.ca/catalogue/china.html http://www.straight.com/article-124471/dan...nt-strate-at-80 He says "The thing that came out in the ballet classes that I was teaching [in China] was that they had somehow mixed the Russian method with their own, and it looked like calligraphy to me," he says. "It was more gentle, it was more poetic, it was more beautiful. I liked what they had evolved." One of my summer school teachers was Choo Chiat Goh who was trained by the Royal Ballet but was the former principal dancer for Central Ballet and according to his bio "Mr. Goh created lead roles in The Red Detachment of Women and The White Haired Girl." http://www.gohballet.com/faculty.htm (I think his wife Lin Yee created the female lead roles, but can't find that written anywhere ...) According to him, he got so tired of performing them, he emigrated. Don't much blame him, lol! It would be hard actually to picture Vancouver dance today without the Beijing influence, I think it is as important as the English influence from all of our old RAD teachers ... There are many dancers, teachers and choreographers from Central Ballet in Canada, especially Vancouver. From what I have seen, they raise the bar wherever they go. If you still see the company or remember a performance, a review would be wonderful ... Does Tetsuya tour to Hong Kong regularly? I thought I heard that he did, but I cannot find a K-Ballet schedule in English. That would be expensive but brilliant. Hong Kong is also close to Guangzhou Ballet; I had an opportunity to see principal dancer Huang Yi perform Albrecht with a local company last year and was completely taken with his entire performance, partnering, acting and ability ... I know nothing of the company, but it was apparently established in 1994 and performs "Western classics and original ballets based on Chinese themes". http://www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents/...07/dance/gb.php
  8. Sorry, carbro, I should have been more explicit in my quote from his bio. It said he "joined The Australian Ballet in 1970 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1974. He joined American Ballet Theatre as Principal Dancer in 1977. He was also a frequent guest artist with New York City Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada and toured with Stars of World Ballet." So you are correct, he was not a regular dancer there or at NBoC. Thank you for correcting the implication.
  9. Globetrotter, I so envy you!! Here is the Shanghai Ballet. I have a very strong feeling I have seen a guest artist from that company visit my home town of Vancouver, but I cannot remember who it was ... a very beautiful dancer too. They seem to be a mix of classical, Chinese (I do not envy you The White Haired Girl or the Butterfly Lovers, the music drives me batty!) and contemporary. I would be very interested in hearing how the contemporary was, I have heard reports that the majority of the Chinese companies have seen huge improvements in their contemporary dancing in the last couple of years. http://www.shanghaiballet.com/en/main.htm Hong Kong Ballet I would really love to hear about. The AD, John Meehan is from Australia, danced with ABT, NYCB and NBoC and was AD of both Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and ABT Studio Company so the company may have more of a north american feel ... The senior ballet mistress, Lin Mei-fang, worked in my city for a great many years as a teacher of the Goh Academy, and two of the corps de ballet, Ye Fei Fei and Kostyantyn Keshyshev, are also from my home so I would love to hear how the company is looking. http://www.hkballet.com/2007/eng/index.html Hong Kong is also a tour stop for many companies, I believe. Hopefully someone else has seen the companies - there was a member here reporting from Hong Kong, but I haven't read any recent posts. It would be wonderful if you could report on them. I have been fortunate enough to have seen several ballet dancers from the Chinese companies in my life, and would love to have more knowledge of ballet there. Oops, posting at the same time as carbro ...
  10. CeC

    A Belated Hello

    Well, I guess my 13th post had better introduce myself! I am a former intensive dance student, and I grew up in Vancouver attending one of our small RAD ballet schools. We have a few that are really very good and graduate a number of professionals, in addition to our bigger schools. Some of the dancers go on to schools like the Goh in Vancouver or elsewhere, but some, like me, just supplement a lot, taking extra classes, summer intensives, adult drop-ins, master classes, spring seminars, festivals, etc., etc.. It was a great way to grow up and I met a lot of people I still keep in touch with who are still dancing around the world (love the internet). I eventually went to university instead of continuing dance, but it doesn't leave the system easily. With less time to do drop in adult classes, I am trying to find more time to be an audience. The main reason I started reading this board was to try to find some news on other Canadian companies or companies that pass through Vancouver, or close, but I don't think you review the ones that small, is that correct? I don't get to see as much as I would like and was thinking of going to the island for Atlantic Ballet Theatre in April, or perhaps going over and having a look at Canadian Pacific Ballet - but it would be nice to hear from someone who had seen either. (I have also really enjoyed reading about a number of people I grew up with or watched grow up that are reviewed on this board - sort of news from home - in reverse! )
  11. CeC

    Celine Gittens

    JMcN, thank you for that update! I never have news, only history ... here is a link to her Grand Pas Classique at the Prix de Lausanne where she was a finalist. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbZaOZZuAx4 Even at 17, the strength and artistry is lovely. I wish the Genees posted videos, according to ballet.co.uk she won a unanimous choice gold medal plus the audience choice award for the Genees - that is a performance I would have loved to see! Here is a Where's Waldo for ballet fans. It is a backstage memory video of the Goh Ballet's 25th anniversary (so 5 years ago). It is fairly easy to find a baby Celine (14 years old, I guess). I can also spot Chan Hon Goh and her parents, of course, and guests like Veronica Tennant, Peter Boal, Evelyn Hart and Rex Harrington, but the very young Goh dancers are the most fun. I found a baby Alex Wong (ABT, MCB) giggling on the stage floor with a baby Alpha Ng (SDT, AB), Shinji Kajita (Japanese co.?) making fun of his tarzan-looking costume, Emily Collier (AB), Brianne Bland (WB, coming back to guest), Frances Chung (SFB), Ken Guan (Suzanne Farrell Ballet), (so Sarawanee Tanatanit (ABT) and Christopher Gray (AB, HB) from the same year as the last two, must be there as well), Madoka Sato (SDB), Crystal Hartford? (Colorado Ballet), Caitlin Griffin? (Ballet de Printemps), James Stout? (Dutch National Ballet), Nan Wang, Noah Long (I think), Julia Jensen and there must be Courtenay Lutz (last four all to NBC on graduation), Fei Fei Ye (and Kostya Keshyshev?) both to Hong Kong Ballet - so many others, and sooo young. (Someone in Japan could probably place some that I lost track of.) Such a shame they didn't post the show. Part 1 Part 2 I really wish more dancers would post videos so we could see what they are up to now ... but hearing about them here is almost as good! If I have my dates correct, Celine would have just turned 19 - an incredibly young Odette/Odile.
  12. If anyone was confused, the "best ballet company on the planet" was referring to a statement made by Karen Kain in the articles referenced on this thread http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=26132 where she refers to their Nutcracker as the best on the planet. She made similar comments about their Giselle and Polyphonia. My point is, I can do that too. So can anyone. I can also make my own lists of Canada's leading companies and do not need to accept their lists. (And the Goh dancers are apparently paid, but amounts and number of weeks are never ideal.) And yes, there are many dancers across Canada who are very worth seeing. I think if Suzanne Farrell were to suddenly call her company the National Ballet of the US, and if your government were to garnishee your pay cheque to fund her company, and the national papers were in DC and also controlled your local papers (and radio, and TV) and Suzanne Farrell controlled the funding to your media as well as to your local companies, and she published a list of "leading companies in the US performing Nutcrackers" and PNB was not on it - while you were funding her to broadcast her company's ballet at the same time as PNB's - perhaps you would feel a little differently about her and her company and their Kennedy Centre. You might even venture the opinion that she's not so hot - or that PNB was not bad - or that people in Seattle maybe had their own opinions on ballet, even when it rained. Edited to Add: My apologies to Helene and anyone else who thought that I was serious about declaring our two tiny regionals as the best on the planet and tried to interpret that post accordingly. I was being ridiculous as I find NBC's claims equally ridiculous, and my descriptions of the companies were meant to argue that they were equally worthy of the small courtesy of being included on a list of live nutcrackers, not that they were worthy of being heralded as the best on the planet.
  13. Is it? No one ever tells me anything! When was the ceremony and why wasn't I invited? Yes, I'm kidding, but what does primary mean? I frequently hear RWB describe themselves, very correctly, as Canada's premiere company, meaning first. I also hear Toronto describing themselves the same way, for more dubious reasons. I understand who gets to use the word Royal. The word National escapes me although it seems to have something to do with being in Toronto. But primary? For number of dancers, the Goh Ballet said they had 30 on stage for Giselle, but I counted closer to 45 (they had about 30 in each act). For age of company, Goh has been here for 30 years, I'm not sure how long BBC was here for, but there were others earlier than both. For all the "new company" announcements, the Goh has always paid some money to some of its dancers on some occasions, as they are still doing. BBC has equally good claims to be a "primary company" but they always look modern to me and the dancers I know actually refer to themselves as modern. From an audience point of view, I would say Goh was our primary ballet company and BBC was our primary modern company, if primaries are really necessary, but I hope they are not because I enjoy all the diversity as an audience. (Oh, I just made 45 Vancouver modern companies furious! Now I see why BBC doesn't call themselves modern!) Internationally, the Goh Ballet is very well known (for a ballet co.) throughout Asia, so to most of the world's population. They are also somewhat known on the other continents, (Europe, etc.). They are actually far more likely to be interviewed or reviewed in China or England or Singapore than in Vancouver. Goh brings in guest artists and choreographers from around the world, BBC brings in a lot of guest teachers and choreographers from NBS and NBC. Most significantly, BBC is populated (as is every company mentioned in the Nut ad) with an AD, choreographers, teachers, staff and/or dancers from NBS and NBC. There have been absolutely zero NBS or NBC people at the Goh company or school, ever to my knowledge. I really think the issue here is not who is the primary company in BC but who is the primary company in Canada? There is a ridiculous amount of money at stake which depends on Toronto keeping the public and the corporate donors from finding out that none of the country's best dancers are dancing for or from them. (Yes, there are very good people who go to work and school there, but I don't like their dancing once they are there. Goh Academy has by far the highest graduate placement record - this from a school with no money to hire their own graduates, and the last pick of potential students, with no money for decent facilities or scholarships.) Keeping down the competition is essential for Toronto and always has been. (Lynn Seymour received the worst reviews of her life in Toronto.) But with the US making it more and more difficult for Canadian graduates to work in the states (our closest job market), there is becoming a backup of hugely talented dancers in Vancouver who are no longer willing to go quietly into the night and leave the stage to Toronto. And they have a growing audience that is no longer willing to listen to a "gracious" Toronto telling us they need more of our money while our own starve. No, NBC touring will certainly not help. I was in the audience at their Giselle this fall and their Swan Lake two years ago. There, I just scratched everything I wrote about them, and it's just as well. I will just say - they don't look like us, they don't dance like us, they don't have our energy, our style, our technique, or our soul, and they do not represent us. Our companies do. So ... as a Vancouverite, here are my New Year's resolutions. 1) I will no longer refer to the Toronto Ballet as anything other than the Toronto Ballet. They do not represent me. They are certainly not qualified to appoint primary companies for me. 2) I declare the Goh Ballet and Ballet BC as the primary ballet and modern companies for BC, for Canada, and for "the planet". I do this without having ever seen half the companies in Canada, let alone the planet. Yay, Toronto hyperbole!! Now that the question of primary companies is settled, we have one question remaining: Why are the dancers for the best ballet company on the planet not being paid? I think I know where some money is ...
  14. My apologies, did I miss part of the story? The link I posted just said "The Nutcracker is performed live on stages across the country by Canada’s leading ballet companies." - was it supposed to be only in Vancouver? (Not sure how the Moscow City ballet got to be one of Canada's leading ballet companies either ...) The page I linked lists many locations: Windsor, Guelph, Mississauga, Peterborough, Ottawa, Brantford, Brampton, Kitchner, Markham, Montreal, Victoria, Spokane, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa and Winnipeg ... why not Burnaby and Whistler? I reviewed the Vancouver Sun article I linked on the other thread and could find no mention of location specific advertising either http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/ar...dbb9096&p=2 Only this quote from Ballet BC, who are not, after all performing a Nutcracker of their own and are not having the Toronto ballet in theatres at the same time as their offering. And who also (unlike the Goh) receive government funding. And - unless you don't count the Goh apprentices (who are on stage) - are not BC's biggest ballet company. This is what they said: "Kevin Garland was very gracious. She did call me earlier in the year and said: 'I just want you to know that the National Ballet has been very fortunate to secure this arrangement for a high-definition broadcast,'" Howard said. "I said to her: 'If our Nutcrackers were in the same time frame, I would be very concerned because it really is our bread and butter.' She acknowledged that. But the timing is completely different. Ours are after Christmas." Isn't "gracious" an interesting term to use? Rather like "her Grace" ... But absolutely no indication that I can find that the Goh Ballet was contacted or that any compensatory advertising was handed out or posted in their name.
  15. http://www.radio-canada.ca/audio-video/pop...712041800_5.asx Here is an item on french CBC that shows a lot of dancing plus interviews (part french part english) with Eddy Toussaint and Choo Chiat Goh. (Yes, french CBC. Or chinese CBC. But never english CBC. I have been watching an internet discussion running parallel to the BT discussion on the Canadian nutcrackers and found a link to this very long but very well written lecture (which mentions Goh Ballet in passing). I couldn't agree more.) http://www.com.umontreal.ca/Spry/spry-dd-lec.html Oddly enough, the national ballet's site lists live nutcrackers you can see across the country as well as their televised broadcast - but there is no sign of the Goh Ballet? Instead BC is listed as having the touring Moscow Classical Ballet as our local nutcracker. Gee. The Goh segment sure looked like a Nut to me. But then their Giselle looked like Giselle to me too ... Possibly that was the problem. http://www.national.ballet.ca/TheNutcracker/live.html
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