Giannina

Those are fabulous. Thank you Solor. And get a load of Margot! Giannina

Wow! Giannina

Thanks, Maggie, but since Zerbinetta is from New York I assumed she was seeing the performances there and I wondered if Cojocaru had traveled with the production. Maybe I'm jumping the gun here. Giannina

Did Cojocaru perform with them? Giannina

Thanks. The newspaper didn't say anything about a city, and the page shown on the web site had a blurb about Bend so I thought maybe OBT had traveled to Bend. I have family in Bend and thought it would be an opportunity for the future. Giannina

Is this in Bend, Oregon? Giannina

Ohmygoodness! In spite of socalgal's glowing review I still went to Kings of the Dance Saturday night with trepidation. Act I was OK, pretty much what I expected. Act II. Corella danced in The Lesson. I had hoped to see Kobborg but I am SO glad Corella danced tonight. Corella is forever the cutesie pie pixie, handsome as all get out, a cut up with dazzling technique. In The Lesson he is deranged. Corella deranged! It was so unlike his usual persona that I couldn't take my eyes off his face. His partnering was top notch. I haven't seen Cojocaru for a while and had forgotten how wonderful she is. She dances part of The Lesson in ballet shoes rather than on pointe, which is not my cup of tea, but her feet are actually more beautiful in soft shoes than in pointe shoes. She looked great. Yanowsky was the very strange pianist! It's a shame we couldn't see her in a role in which she could show her tremendous talent but it was nice to see her anyway. Act III was one of life's great surprises. Stiefel looked so good in his solo: a strange piece that you just interpreted in your own way. I've never seen him look better. It is difficult to discribe Tsiskaridze style. In Carmen he was both Don Jose and Carmen. I know the ballet Carmen very well; along with Alexandra, my love of Carmen is one of my secret delights. Tsiskaridze began as Don Jose and his long legs amplified every step. I couldn't believe it when he entered as Carmen (signaled by a red fan appearing from the side). Zizi Jeanmarie sensuous legs and feet in this ballet are not to be forgotten, and Tsiskaridze's feet are as articulate as Jeanmarie's. He injected comedy in his transistions from one section to another, which kept the performance itself from becoming a joke. Wonderful. Then, THEN....Kobborg in Afternoon of a Faun. I echo socalgal's sentiments; this was a performance that had to be seen. Kobborg was a revelation; he was mesmerizing as he played with a spotlight and discovered life and himself. Graceful, sensuous (that word again), emotional; I just can't describe it. I was in tears by the end and didn't want it to stop. But it did with a jolting contrast: Corella dancing Ellington. I knew it was coming and hoped it wouldn't be as jarring as I feared but it was. Corella was his old self; cute, lots of spins and mugging....good old Corella. The audience ate it up. An encore and it was over. One couldn't help but notice the difference levels of applause as each dancer bowed. Corella was the winner, and I think sensational Kobborg came in last. I'll never forget Kobborg's performance tonight. Giannina

Stiefel is scheduled to dance Kobborg's role in The Lesson Sat. night. I guess they all get a crack at it. Giannina

Oh, phooey; I had my el cheapo subscription ticket for last night (waaaaay up in Tier 3) but decided I'd save myself for my Sat. subscription ticket which is in a terrific location. Fearing a Las Vegas type of show I figured once would be enough. Looks like I was wrong. Corella was partnering Cojocaru; had it been Kobborg I would have gone. Live and learn. I'll be there Sat., and thanks to your review, socalgal, I'm looking forward to it a lot more than I was yesterday. Thanks! Giannina

Ohforcryingoutloud!! Giannina

I notice that Karapetyan is not schedule to dance in any of these ballets. Is there a reason? I thought he was excellent in Swan Lake. Giannina

Oh, I see. I've been reading about that too. I thought it was something within the ballet company. Thank you. Giannina

Natalia: I must have missed something; to what are you referring? Giannina

Enjoyed the review very much, Paul. I was especially pleased to read your appraisal of Karapetyan's dancing since I agree with every word! "Extraordinary" is the word I keep using to describe his performance; I thought he was amazing. Just one more word about shoes. Not only were the women quiet but the shoes looked the same: that larger box (terminology...the area encasing the toes), at least it seemed uniformly larger to me. I'm an admitted "foot-watcher" and this caught my eye. As a kid I studied at SFBallet (I was lousy) and watched the advanced classes. I remember the women taking class in pointe shoes. I loved that; I thought it made the class more beautiful. Giannina

Tues., Jan. 31. Swan Lake with Lorena Feijoo and Davit Karapetyan. My friend and I shared the evening. She’s not much of a ballet fan but went with me mostly to see my reaction to a ballet. As the final curtain came down she turned to me with a big smile on her face and said, “Thank you!” I was so pleased. I’ve seen only about 2 ballets in the past year, and I haven’t seen a Swan Lake in ages. I’m somewhat starved. Karapetyan, as well as Pascal Molat in the pas de trois, were extraordinary. Throughout the ballet, but especially in his act III solo, Karapetyan landed his tours with a deep plie and a tight 5th position; his leaps were soaring. His Act I solo has some beautiful choreography and his dancing was controlled and a sight to behold. However for the most part I didn’t care for Tomasson’s choreography. Even to my untrained eye the difference between Tomasson’s work and Petipa’s was more noticeable than is usually the case. Feijoo was lovely. The white ppd was beautiful, growing in beauty as it progressed. The black pdd was even better. There was a moment during the black pdd; Odette has appeared and Odile is imitating Odette with fluttering arms as Siegfried is looking elsewhere; Feijoo stopped fluttering for a moment and gave him a look as if to say, “Hey, I’m doing my swan bit over here and you’re to pay attention!” The corps was gorgeous. A few slips but, for the most part, smooth as silk. Everyone danced quietly, which made me look at shoes. SFBallet’s pointe shoes seemed to have a broader (oh, dear; terminology) box/toe area. Is it possible that they all wear the same make of shoe and this particular shoe is quiet? The audience was also gorgeous. Except for the almost unavoidable applause after the fouettes they applauded only at the proper moments. A couple of insufferable lean-forward-loos in our row and I was sorely tempted to tell them to sit back forcryingoutloud, but since those behind them were too polite to complain I didn’t either. Thurs., Feb. 2. Swan Lake with Kristin Long and Joan Boada. I was exhausted when I saw this performance and it may have affected my reaction. It was very nice but not as good as Tues. night’s performance. Boada’s tours started with him facing forward and his feet about 60 degrees into the turn. Long’s dancing was lovely but lacked a certain ease and brilliance that Feijoo had. As mentioned in a previous post the sets are minimal but I thought they were adequate. Now, I like splashy sets as much as the next guy but I keep thinking of the cost of presenting a ballet and/or traveling with it, especially with Oakland Ballet closing recently. I would think smaller sets cut cost, which makes ballets less expensive all the way around, which……….well, you get the idea. The costumes were beautiful; certainly not minimal. I had a great time. Giannina

I can't believe it but I'm actually dreading my next ballet subscription offering at Orange County Performing Arts Center: "Kings of the Dance" with Corella, Kobborg, Stiefel and Tsiskaridze. I'm afraid I know what it's going to be: dancers trying to show their stuff (make that tricks), dancers trying to out-do each other, and the audience applauding and whooping non-stop. Vegas, not ballet. What is the opinion from those of you who have seen it? Giannina

Oh, that's awful! I wish him a speedy recovery. Giannina

Thank you so much for that "heads up", Helene. Giannina

And I won't see it at all! Green green green. Giannina

KnightRuppert, we have a policy concerning trading tapes/DVDs which is stated on the Sticky at the top of this forum. It gives the reasons for this policy, which may help you understand our stand on the issue. Giannina

I share your warm wishes, and wish the same for you, Helene. Giannina

After an extremely difficult week I needed an uplift and treated myself to Savion Glover's "Classical Savion" at the Irvine (California) Barclay theatre. I feel much better! The Thursday LATimes has a wonderful review of the performance titled "Inventing a modern classic"; unfortunately I'm such a computer klutz I can't find it on-line. Glover truly marches (dances) to the beat of a different drummer. In a few selections (all to classical music) he danced to the beat, but most of the time he found rhythms deeeeeep within the music, a study in what's in the music that most of us don't hear. His style is his own. It's visceral much of the time, just gut-renching. Port de bras? Rarely. Usually his hands hang to his side, maybe curled at hip length (first position?), and if he does gesture it's almost sophomoric. You get so used to his style that you forget that you're listening to non-stop rapid-fire taps with a minimum of effort. He can be tapping at machine gun pace with little motion other than shifting position from one foot to the other; his feet move so little that it seems impossible that they can produce any noise/tap at all. Since I'm a mathematician and like dance to the beat, his dance to Mozart's Divertimento in D major was my favorite; I was in tears. There were others to music that was a bit atonal that were beyond my knowledge, yet beautiful. I had a wonderful time; if the production comes to your area I recommend it. The audience. Most of his dancing, while sensational, could be subtle with little motion as I mentioned above. If he got into a jazzy section, or something that involved motion (I won't even [/b]go into jumping) the audience would go bananas and applaud.....and then we couldn't hear the taps. Jeez! The performance started 10 minutes late, and even at that people came in after the performance started. What are they thinking? A dramatic late entrance? It says 3p.m.; get there on time. There were no intermissions so late-comers were seated. Ok, now I really feel better. Giannina

What a shock! Sympathies to his family. I saw him in his prime. His partnership with Cynthia Gregory was a marvel to behold; like dueling banjoes they brought out the best in each other, reveling in every moment, as did we. Giannina

I have just started reading the recently released "Alan J. Pakula, His Films and His Life" by Jared Brown. I have read 2 of Browns biographies and I find them very informative and well written. In this book Brown discusses Pakula's life and his production/direction of his various movies ("All The President's Men", "Sophie's Choice", "To Kill A Mockingbird", to name a few). Ideally I'd like to see each movie as I read its chapter in the book but that would either cost me a fortune or have me running back and forth to Blockbuster. I did do it with "To Kill............" and it was great fun. Giannina

At the time I loved him in "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House" and, even more so, "I Was A Male War Bride". They've lost some of their charm but I still love the fact that I loved them then. Giannina