Giannina

Pleased to meet you too, brinababy87, and welcome to Ballet Talk. This is the place to be if you want information on all aspects of ballet; we're all ballet fans. Your piano studies are of importance and we wish you luck with your studies. Enjoy the board! Giannina

I LOVE the Pre-Raphaelites!!!! But don't get me started cuz this is a ballet site. Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Melanie; it's very nice to have you with us. I, too, go to London regularly to see Royal Ballet, usually in the early part of the year. January in London is wonderful, not only because of ballet but because the museums and art galleries are virtually empty!! We hope you enjoy sharing in our discussions; we all love ballet, and we love talking about it. Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Sarah. We're glad you've found us too, and we hope you enjoy sharing in our discussions. Take some time to snoop through our various forums and get an idea of just how much information is available to you. You can check our "stickies" to get the hang of moving through the site. Nothing but fun!! Giannina

Welcome back to Ballet Talk, AJG. The kids are gone and the parents are grown-ups again. It's nice to have you back as an active member. We also commend you for the encouragement you gave your sons while they studied dance. This board is still chuck full of ballet information, and a ballet-enthusiast's delight. Enjoy! Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Figurante. We're very glad that you've joined us and we hope that you'll enjoy sharing in our discussions. The site covers just about every facet of ballet-going. If you are a dance student you might be interested in our sister site, Ballet Talk for Dancers. You can access the site at the upper right hand corner of this page. Giannina

Our very own Victoria Leigh! In photo #1: on left side, in a pale pink dress standing to the left of Bruce Marks. In photo #2: just to the right of the woman walking by in orange dress with slit up to "there". Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, printscess; we've very glad you found us. Congratulations to your son on becoming a company member; how exciting for him and all his family! We hope everything goes well with him. You'll find lots of information on the board, and we hope you'll join in on our discussions. And thank you for your compliments. Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, susibee. We're glad to have you with us and we're so pleased that you're enjoying the site. You have a wonderful history with ballet. We hope you'll participate in our discussions and add your ballet insight in our exchanges. Like you we all love ballet. Giannna

Welcome to Ballet Talk, caclark. You've had 2 wonderful careers: dancing and teaching. Welcome back to ballet. We hope you'll enjoy exploring the site, and joining our discussions. Your knowledge and history of ballet will be of great interest to all of us. As a former dancer and now adult dance student, you may also enjoy our sister site, Ballet Talk for Dancers, which you can access at the upper right hand corner of this page. Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Joseph. You've had a long and wonderful history in ballet, and your insight will be of great interest in our discussions. Ballet 4 times a week: most of us weep at the idea. We hope you enjoy reading and sharing on the board. Giannina

LA has several venues for ballet: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, UCLA, Orange County Performing Arts Center, Cerritos, Irvine. SF has Berkeley, but between the 2 I think LA offers a larger selection. And SFBallet does comes here. God knows we pray for homegrown! Giannina

I'm a former San Franciscan who still adores the city. It's expensive to live there, and tho there's Muni (transit) it can involve lots of walking. San Franciscans get used to this and think nothing of it. I studied at SFBallet (I was lousy) and have watched this company become the entity it is today; that alone is a draw. Touring companies go there, tho not as frequently as Los Angeles. I would rank the city among the favorites. Like most big cities it gets some getting-used-to. It's a gorgeous city with many facets, from the worst to the glorious. Even the weather is different depending on where you live. I could be in my Sunset district home and call my friend on Twin peaks; I'd be in fog and she'd be sunbathing. Yup, a keeper. Would I choose it over Los Angeles for ballet? No. Giannina

I got on this morning without any problems. Thanks, Helene. Giannina

Since the system upgrade I have to log in every morning. I can get on the site the rest of the day with no problems. Is anyone else having this problem? Giannina

Giannina

Agnes ... no, I don't know anything about ballet schools. You might get more info on our sister site, Ballet Talk for Dancers. You can access it at the upper right hand corner of this page. Registration is the same as on this site; and if you do register use your same name so that we know who you are. That site is for dance students and has tons of information. Giannina

That would be great. I don't go into LA as much as I used to cuz of senior citizen driving problems (yup, I'm a a little old lady), but I'm at Orange County Performing Arts Center whenever ballet comes. I can help you a lot with finding good seat locations there. Also Cerritos Performing Arts Center, of whatever it's called, and Barclay Theater in Irvine. You didn't say where you were seeing this ballet; I probably should know but I don't. Giannina

"You done good", Agnes. Since you are so tiny I would still take something upon which to sit, just in case: coat, pillow, whatever. Even in the first row of a balcony you might be below the top of the balcony railing. On the aisle seats: be sure to take note on which was they slant; if they slant one way they do not serve the purpose while if they slant the other way they do. You just have to look at them and study. From 5'2" Giannina

Memo, I saw her as Olga in "Onegin" last month. She was wonderful. Giannina

Green green GREEN!!

Green green green. What a golden opportunity for those fortunate enough to be in Texas at the time. The stars appearing are the cream of RB's crop. Cojocaru is well known, but Nunez is wonderful (a favorite of mine), and Galeazzi is multi faceted. Kobborg is also well known but don't overlook Soares who is terrific. Enjoy! Memo, I had to laugh at your predicament! Been there, done that, close to self-mutilation. Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Agnes. You'll find lots of information about ballet on this site as you enter this world. As a dance student you'll also enjoy our sister site, Ballet Talk for Dancers, which can be accessed at the upper right hand corner of this page ("BT for Dancers"); that site is designed for students and their particular insights to ballet while this site is primarily for ballet fans. Enjoy both sites! Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Samantha. We are very glad you've joined us, and I know you'll enjoy the site. We have a sister site that will also be of interest to you: Ballet Talk for Dancers (accessible at the upper right hand corner of this page). That site is designed for dancers, and has a teachers forum as well; this site is for ballet fans. Enjoy both! Giannina

Mayerling Monday, April 9 Acosta and Benjamin starred. Acosta’s dancing in Act I was shaky. From then on he was good because all he had to do was act manic. Benjamin, as always, was wonderful. April 10. “Mayerling” again tonight. The main thing better in this presentation was Johan Kobborg as Rudolph, but he was so enormously better that it made for a more enjoyable evening. Acosta’s angst was, again, mostly open-mouthed, head-thrown-back, on-the-verge-of-tears suffering. Kobborg had a wealth of different manifestations and he was superb. In the wedding night scene he toys with Stephanie … one minute sweet, one minute taunting, most minutes sadistic. His dancing was terrific. Both men seemed to be good partners in the frantic bedroom scenes with Mary Vetsera, but Kobborg was better in things like supported pirouettes; he had more control and support for his partner. In the wedding night pdd Kobborg’s beard came unglued and hung from his left cheek til Stephanie/Roberta Marquez got a chance to yank it off. Alina Cojocaru as Mary Vetsera was very good, but depraved she wasn’t. She did all the moves and slithered with the best of them, but she’s more a flirty girl having a good time, and she never stopped smiling. I guess you could chalk that off to a different interpretation but I prefer depravity. Not til the very end did Cojocaru get sultry. Leanne Benjamin oozed sex, and in the DVD of “Mayerling” Vivian Durante is much the same. The first scene with the gun: Benjamin is mesmerized, satanically drawn to it; with Cojocaru it’s more a case of, “Ooooh, you’ve got a gun; let’s play”. There are many large roles in this ballet. I do not find Mary Vetsera the biggest or best female role; it’s one dimensional. To me that honor goes to Marie Larisch. She has many roles to fill: mistress, former mistress, former mistress trying to regain her position, soul mate of Rudolph, “promoter” of Mary Vetsera, one trusted by Mary Vetsera. (I’ll now refer to roles as 1 and 2 to match their order of appearance.) Larisch 1 was Mara Galeazzi and she was good. Larisch 2 was Laura Morera and she was wonderful. At first sight she had this “Janice Paige” (I’m showing my age!) face that seemed ditzy, but with time I found an expressive face and a wonderful manner with the role. Stephanie 1 was Gemma Bond. She’s a blond, and every Stephanie I’ve seen has been blonde. 2 was Roberta Marquez and not blonde. Silly, I know. Empress Elizabeth: no contest. 1 was Zenaida Yanowsky, and I like a tall woman in this role. She was perfect. 2 was Isabel McMeekan; she was very good but not tall and therefore not as powerful as Yanowsky. I know; silly again. Bratfish. I love this role, and because of that it’s a tie because, unless you fall on your face, the role makes you look good. Mitzi Caspar 1 was Marianela Nunez and no one can beat her in my estimation. 2 was Deirdre Chapman; she had a rather harsh hairdo that gave her an odd look … kinda Spanish. But Nunez was better; period. I had 4 days of marvelous ballet; it was an honor to be in the audience each night and see such extraordinary dancers Giannina