Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, John; it's very nice to have you with us. Glad you've decided to de-lurk. Don't worry about bringing anything to the site; the site is here to bring things to you. I've just returned from London and wonderful performances of Royal Ballet. Perhaps you can give us reviews of performances you've seen in The United Kingdom. Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Louise*; we're very glad to have you with us. Your enthusiasm is contagious and we all share your love of dance. We have a sister site that is designed for dance students which you might find interesting; this site is for ballet audiences. You can access Ballet Talk for Dancers at the upper right hand corner of this page. Please register there and I think you'll find lots of information that will be interesting to you. We ask that if you register on both sites that you use the same name on both. We hope you enjoy both sites. Giannina

I think I operate in a vacuum. I feel that if anyone other than Frank Langella wins best actor they haven't seen Frost/Nixon; he did more with his face than most do with half their body. Ditto with Viola Davis; her short scene started innocently enough and built to what I consider the high point of the movie. I remember when, I think it was, Jane Alexander won best supporting actress for "All the President's Men" with less than a 5 minute scene; now best supporting can be half the movie as with Philip Seymour Hoffman (who deserves every award made). Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Sandy; it's very nice to have you with us. We encourage you to ask questions on this site; pick a forum that sounds appropriate and you will get more traffic than on this forum which is for welcoming new members. San Francisco Ballet is a beautiful ballet company; I envy your accessibility to them. Referring to Paris Opera Ballet: we have a web site for them in European Ballet Companies where you could post your question, or perhaps in the Everything Else Ballet forum. Good luck. Giannina

Either it was an off year or I'm getting jaded in my old age. I saw precious little ballet this year and there was only one performance that left me gasping with joy: SFBallet's "Within the Golden Hour", or all things. Simply loved it. Giannina

For the most part I agree with you, volcanohunter. I agree with your assessment of Acosta as an artist, and though I may be mistaken I think Acosta is listed as a Guest Artist on Royal Ballet's programs. However (big however) I'm so starved for ballets on DVD that I'm willing to cut the powers-that-be a little slack. I'll be in London in Jan. and will be seeing Acosta in LaB .... twice!! I'm hoping for sensationalism. Giannina

These exchanges are very interesting. However, the Welcome forum is here exclusively to welcome our new members. Please continue your conversations on forums you feel fit the subject. I am going to close this thread (if I can figure out how to do it.) Giannina

I don't know which movie better follows the book, which I haven't read. For one who hasn't read the book I think movie preference might depend on which movie you see first. I saw the Damon movie first. Because of this thread I bought the Delon version. I did not like the Delon version as well (and it had nothing to do with the dubbing). In the Damon version I felt you got to know the characters better (plus I like Damon); I felt the movie was driven by the personalities of the characters. Giannina

Bart, I started with the Medici's and was hooked. I recently read George IV and truly enjoyed it. Soon afterwards I was in London, and since the book had no illustrations (paintings, etc.) I had a wonderful time in the Portrait Gallery searching for the characters in the book; I found many of them and it was like meeting old friends. Of the cities I've read Venice (who can't love Venice in any form?), and am now reading Florence; I'm having trouble getting into it but I know treasures await me. I also enjoyed Il Duce. My Dad was from Italy and often talked about him. My only total failure so far has been Samuel Johnson. To begin with the book is a tome, and I think the size of the book more than anything deterred me. I'll eventually go back to it; fascinating man, and he appears in so many of the books I've already read. The emotional/personal unification of Italy is such a lost cause, and so much a part of their history. One of our Elderhostel guides (Italian) said that not only are the districts divided but also the cities, neighborhoods, streets, and houses! Such a shame, but it makes for great stories. I buy most of my books second hand through Amazon; many times the price of the book is less than the shipping charges. There are treasures out there. Giannina

I have spent the past couple of years reading Christopher Hibbert. Discovered him and now I can't get enough of his books. History was my worst subject in school, and his books are easy historical reading. I particularly like his biographies, but am currently reading his histories of cities, i.e. Venice and Florence. I break the monotony with books on ballet and art. Giannina

Oh, please tell me you knew I was kidding with my "absolutely" Giannina

Absolutely! :blush: Giannina

Now that things have calmed down I want to join Andre in thanking all of you for your concern during the So. CA fires. My family and I are fine. If nothing else it's been a learning experience, i.e. you can't load 50 albums into a stripped van and expect them to stay put while the van's in motion. Giannina

Yes, Andre; that's the pas de deux I liked so much. van Patten had a busy night! Thanks. Giannina

Possokhov's Fusion: it's like a modern version of those jingoistic czarist ballets about the far east with stereotypes that appeal to the contemporaneous views (eg. La Bayadere). There was a really nice pas, and the lighting and set design were beautiful and worked well together, but his fusion of the dervish dancers with contemporary ballet didn't work, and felt forced at times. For example, at the end, the ballet dancers adopt the dervish vocab (basically jazz torso isolations), and that felt trite since there was no buildup to it. I agree that the pdd was lovely. I found the "dervish dancers" intrusive but then realized they probably were supposed to be! Wheeldon's Within the Golden Hour: clever, beautiful, soulless. He has this trick of showing us his cleverest move right at the end as the curtains come down or the lights go dark, making me wish he'd started with that trick, and expanded on it. I couldn't agree more; I found that bit surprisingly impressive. The loden green couple's pas that ended in the woman being manipulated as a kite was breathtaking, but isolated as a trick. He has a lot of talent, but doesn't seem to have anything to say. I don't know if we're referring to the same pdd. It was the 2nd pdd of the 3 and, manipulation or not I found it gorgeous. Could you tell me who danced the passages to which we've referred? I really hated to miss it. Giannina

Dang! No ballet tonight! I live in Brea and parts of the city are burning. Our cars are packed in case we have to evacuate and I can't bear to leave the house under these circumstances. I'm sure we'll be fine but I want to make sure. Thank heavens I got to go Thurs.; SFBallet is a treat not to be missed. Giannina

Memo, how exciting about your son! I snooped around and found out who he is. I actually remember him ... first couple in 4T's "Theme" section, right? I always watch the woman more than the man but I did watch his lifts which he did very well. Hope he dances tonight; I'll keep an eye on him if I can find him! Giannina

Great topic, and I could go on forever on "How are you?" and a host of others. My peeves: "differential" instead of "difference" the mispronunciation of "jewelry"; you hear "jewery" or "jewlery". Should I add "February" and "library"? Giannina

I had such a good time tonight! My feelings about tonight's performance pretty much echo the review given by the LATimes today. Much as I hate to agree with the Times, I do. Possokhov's "Fusion" began the night. Not all of the ballet struck my fancy, but the SFBallet dancers are sooo good that it was a joy just watching them. The central pas de deux was beautiful; I was never sure whom I was seeing but I'm going to guess the woman was Vanessa Zahorian. I thought that nothing could dim the memory of this pas de deux until I got into Wheeldon's "Within the Golden Hour"; now all I remember about it is my reaction. "Within the Golden Hour" started badly for me; lots of writhing on the floor, almost as deadly as ballets with chairs. There was then a series of pas de deuxs. The 2nd pas de deux was beyond words; truly a thing of beauty: shapes (almost like a Grecian urn) and poses and classic ballet shown at its best ... all of this flowing one movement to the other. I'm guessing it was Dana Genshaft and Mateo Klkemmayer The 3rd pas de deux was almost as good. The final moment of the ballet had everyone seated on the floor performing the most surprisingly beautiful undulations. "The Four Temperaments" was the final ballet. It was not a good idea to have this ballet follow the other 2; the differences in style are too great and it was hard to shift gears and give 4T's it's due. A wonderful night! Adding to it was sharing the evening with my seat mates of many years. We've had mixed schedules and haven't seen each other for quite a while; it was a reunion! It also dulled the memory of a horrid day of termite inspectors, dead car, and tow truck. I'm going again Sat. night, and though I thought I'd be seeing the alternative program I'll see this one again. The cast will be slightly different; I'm looking forward to comparisons. Did I mention that I had a good time tonight? Giannina

Is the entire stage raked or just the back portion? Giannina

An historical time over. RIP Giannina

Holy moly!!! Giannina

Thanks to both of you. I've got this on my Amazon Wish List rated as "highest" for the family to use for Christmas shopping. Of paticular interest is the original beginning and ending. I'm reading "Balanchine Variations' by Goldner, got to page 12 and already I'm ordering DVD's; Lord knows what will happen as I read further. Great stuff! Giannina

I admit it: I'm too lazy (and dumb) to search the forum for DVD's of the COMPLETE "Apollo". I can find exerpts, and I was so sure there were complete ballets, but in my collection of DVD's I don't find one. Am I searching in vain? rg? Giannina I know, I know; I'm a moderator of this forum. Woefully lacking, apparently.

No one has mentioned the Sat. night Giselle so I will. It starred Nioradze and Korsakov. Korsakov looks extremely young (like 16 forcryingoutloud), and the visual age difference between the 2 made for no chemistry at all between them. Given that, the ballet fell flat. Nioradze's mad scene was of great interest to me because she didn't stumble. I've never liked the stumbling aspect of everyone's mad scene; it makes them look more drunk than mad. Nioradze's Giselle was definitely mad; she didn't have to lurch about to prove it. Tereshkina was Myrtha; wonderful of course. That's it in a nutshell (no pun intended). Giannina