Giannina

I'M GOING TO BE THERE!!! My husband and I will be in Paris the nights of Oct. 3 and 4, and I have POB tickets for both nights They cover both programs at both venues. Am I excited or WHAT?! Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Alert! Online, Sarah. That was a wonderful biography you gave us; just what we like. You are so dedicated to dance in spite of the shattered glass ankles. I hope all goes well with you from now on. Youve probably found our student dance forums under Special Groups; lots of students sharing experiences and tips. Those AP classes are important so study hard. Giannina

Make-up techniques are so advanced that almost anyone can be made to look beautiful. I recently saw a dancer who was not very attractive even with make-up and I thought I'd never get through the performance; however she danced soooo beautifully that I forgot about physical short-comings. And that's what it's all about, isn't it? Cheryl Yeager had a gamine look that I think held back her career; I felt she could have minimized it with make-up but she never did. I saw 2 back to back performances of Onegin starring Coppen (I think that's his name) and Kobborg. I found Coppen the handsomer of the 2 and had a more romantic reaction, while Kobborg's thrilling dancing provided an emotional whollop to the story. And then there's the male dancer with a traveling Russian company who looked like my daughter's boyfriend, Bob; I could never get past that! Yes, looks count, but not much. Giannina

They may not have edited the dancing but they certainly videotaped Act III at angles that all but edited it, i.e. from the waist up, or centering in on other dancers and omitting The Girl In The Yellow Dress who, at the time, was the center of attention. I too saw it in NY but for some reason enjoyed it a lot more on TV last night, maybe because I didn't have false expectations. While bleeping the 4-letter-words they sometimes included an important word preceeding or following the profanity, losing the gist of the sentence. One bleep missed all but the last letter of the profanity and hit the following word! Giannina

LOL! Giannina

Ah, yes; August is just a week away. Giannina

Well, if I were to really pull out all the stops, at the moment I'd vote for Kirov's Sleeping Beauty and Don Quixote after all the raves both have received in the past year or so. Royal Ballet doing almost anything, but most especially Aston and MacMillan, and even more most especially Aston's Monotones II and The Dream. Also Onegin. Paris Opera Ballet. Maybe it could be "any company that is performing in New York", which would open up huge possibilities; all the broadcasting equipment is there. And I'd opt for classical. Oh, wouldn't that be wonderful? Giannina

Gosh, for me that's a less than inspiring season. Have you left anything out? Giannina

You betcha! Giannina

I tried to vote for Rubies but my "session" was deemed "invalid". That's excruciating enough. Giannina

ABT NYCB San Francisco Ballet I don't see others often enough to rate them but I do enjoy Miami City Ballet a lot. Giannina

Ray, as far as I know we don't have a trading list. Occasionally someone will mention a single item up for trade. Perhaps we'll have more in the future. Giannina

Saw that. Have tape ready even though the program is not listed on the evening's TV schedule. Forever the optimist, Giannina

Oh, nuts! It wasn't broadcast here and I lost my dedicated East Coast contacts! I'm tellin' ya', it's not easy being a ballet fan and living in the West Coast. Giannina

I've got the Sunday Los Angeles Times' TV section and it doesn't show NYCB being broadcast on Tues. at 11p.m. I'm assuming it'll play on KCET. Shall I assume the Times is wrong and call off my "East Coast contact" who is ready to tape the repeat for me? (On 2nd thought I'll probably play it safe.) Giannina

I've just spent a very long weekend in NY with 6 ballet performances in 4 days. I'm not going to review the ballets but rather give impressions. Even though I've been going to ballet for waaaay over 50 years I'm a neophyte in many ways. The "learning to watch ballet" thread on the Discovering Ballet forum is thought provoking. To wit: If you enjoyed the ballet it served its purpose whether it was great or lousy. There are many ways to watch a ballet. The "too educated" lose the innocent enjoyment of the newcomer. But then there was the glorious night of my first "The Dream" and my first "Monotones II" (ahhhh) and without the little knowledge I do have they, especially "Monotones II", would have been lost on me. And so, NY: I saw Maria Kowroski for the first time, as exciting an experience as the first time I saw Wendy Whelan. I'm going to follow her every move....as much as a Californian can. Anyone not accessable to NY is missing NYCB careers right and left; it's ballet history never to be recovered. I saw Paloma Herrera in "Theme and Variations" and she was better than I've seen her in years. It was wonderful to see her exhibit the potential she showed as a newcomer. "The Dream" is a dream of a ballet. Ashton is a dream of a choreographer. Most of all.....Julio Bragado-Young as Bottom broke my heart. As he realized that his time with Titania wasn't real, his sorrow was almost more than I could bear. Giannina

Spissevtzena is my choice. (Mel, do I have to write her name as small as you did?) Giannina

First row of the first balcony. However, I have acrophibia so the first row can be scarey at times and I'll then opt for the 2nd row. But the first balcony....always (I'm too short for the orchestra unless it's raked like stadium seating). And then there's the slant of the rows as they ascend. Some slant outwards and some slant inwards. If you want an aisle seat you'd want to be in an aisle seat that slants outwards from front to back. Giannina

I link this idea with pictures that can influence a budding love of ballet. As I was introduced to ballet through my ballet classes and learned about technique, pictures of dancers were a tremendous influence. There was this photographed dancer demonstrating everything I had learned in class, and the dancer was perfect. I fell in love with the picture as I fell in love with ballet. The rest is history. Giannina

In the current issue of Vogue Knitting magazine (Special 2002 Issue) there's an article about former Bolshoi dancer Vladimir Teriokhin, who is now a knit designer. One of his sweater designs is shown but that's not Vladimir in it (he's in a smaller photo from his dancing days). Giannina

Ok; my vote goes to Billy the Kitten!! Although I am rather partial to my Monotabby II; it sorta rolls off your tongue. Giannina

You'd say what?! Giannina

I recently purchased the DVD of Royal Ballet's "Coppelia". It is a lightweight ballet , especially Act II which is practically all mime. None the less the dancing is lovely, and the performance belongs to Leanne Benjamin in the starring role. I have seen little, if anything, of her and I found her wonderful. Her acting wasn't the highest caliber but her dancing was simply beautiful. Acosta was her partner, and in what little he had to do he did it exceedingly well. Also of note was Prayer; I'm sorry I don't have the dancer's name available. Has anyone else seen this tape/DVD and have comments? I recommend it to all. Giannina

On April 26 and 27 Julie Kent and Damian Woetzel once more visited Festival Ballet Theatre in Costa Mesa, CA (Orange Coast College Community Education) and danced "Swan Lake" with the company. They danced "Sleeping Beauty" last year. I cannot get over the generosity of these two who come and give beautiful performances with this group. The students not only get to watch the best of professionals but actually dance with them. I know it takes hours of preparation on everyones part and they are to be commended. Kent was inspired in the ACT II pdd; the rest of their performance was what is normally expected of the best. My heartfelt thanks to all involved: the students for the long rehearsals, and Ms. Kent and Mr. Woetzel for their generosity with time and talent. Giannina

I MET Makarova, my all time favorite dancer! I should have grovelled at her feet, thanked her for the hours of thrills her dancing had given me, sung songs of praise. What did I do? I stood there like a ninny and asked her for her autograph. Period. Jeez! I'd probably do that with any other dancer I met. Giannina