Giannina

(Right here I’m going to state that at these ballets I paid particular attention to the acting. Giannina, who is a technician fanatic. Also, every dancer I saw was very gifted; my comparisons are just degrees of “gifted”.) Wed., April 4th At 8p.m. tonight I discovered that I had a ticket for tonight and the ballet started at 7:30! Grabbed the ticket, my purse, my opera glasses, gloves, scarf, coat, tube ticket, money, cab, and arrived at the theater at the end of the first intermission. It worked out OK; at least I got to see 2 outta 3 acts. “Onegin” with Mara Galeazzi and David Makhateli. She was very good. Her duet with her husband (another big role) in the final act was glowingly devotional. She didn’t go over the top with the drama, and I think she gave the final pdd the right amount of emotional determination. Makhateli as Onegin was a bit young and his acting was rather light, especially in the final pdd. His dancing was fine. It’s such a thankless role. Thurs., April 5th I’ve seen 1 2/3 Onegin’s in the last 2 days. I love this ballet! It has 4 major roles with wonderful dancing for all 4. There’s also major acting in all 4 roles, and, as I said, I paid special attention to the acting. Tonight Soares was Onegin. I like Soares a lot and was happy to get the chance to see him in this role. I liked his acting; his Onegin was distracted rather than mean or psychotic as I’ve seen it played. In the duel scene his hands were shaking before the duel, something I haven’t noticed anyone else do. After the duel he cried into his trembling hands, and I cried! Cried!! I hate the man Onegin and Soares actually made me feel sorry for him. The final pdd now poses a problem for me. I am tired of these interpretations of a deranged man with open-mouthed angst. I want him to be sexy in this scene; even tho he rues his mistakes he’s besotted by this woman and I want to see love rather than derangement. And get rid of that ridiculous mustache! Soares wasn’t bad. Coppen (no, not Kobborg; Coppen), whom I saw several years ago, was a great Onegin; drop dead gorgeous, sexy … Tatiana wouldn’t have been able to resist him. The star tonight was Nunez as Olga. Great dancing and great acting with a smile that could light up a cave. Love her If I have to miss an act of Onegin I’ve learned to miss Act I. The hard way. Giannina

Mike, I'd guess it because you're 6' tall. When you lean forward you block the view of those behind you. I'm 5'2" tall and I've done many things to make myself 6' tall: sitting on my coat/purse/program/anything-I can-get-my-hands on. In some theater programs there is a request for patrons not to lean forward because of the above mentioned result. Kids do it; kids block views. Giannina

Amen to that, Carbro! My pet peeve. Giannina

Leaning forward seems to be growing in behavior. I get the feeling that the lean-forwarders think that they show a more intense connection with what's going on. The fact that they drive those behind to madness may foster my derisive explanation. Hate 'em. However I have to admit to a maddening knee-jerk reaction that I can't stem. When there's a miss-step/accident/fall/ mistake on stage I let out an audible gasp. It's out of me before I can stop it, and I don't know how to curb this reaction. I hate myself, and I'm sure everyone around me does too. I mean I'm LOUD! On there other hand there is an audience reaction to a particularly beautifully well-done passage that I find very "balletic". It's a group, emotional "Ummmm", followed by a slight pause as we collect ourselves, and then an applause. Love it! Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, petardo; we're very glad to have you with us. As a ballet fan you'll enjoy all the information on the board. Take time to look over the various forums and see what is offered. I'm sure you'll soon be joining our discussions. Giannina

bart, if you go to the link provided by drb you'll read the little bit of information that the audience was provided in the program. The setting is the 21st century; ergo the hip-hop. drb, thanks for the link and photos. Yes, that's the "thing". Not a very good picture of it; it took various shapes and was in constant motion. The dancer in front of it emerged from it. Giannina

What a difference a day makes. Friday Eifman Ballet presented The Seagull and I loved it. I have to remind myself that when I see an Eifman Ballet I'm going to see Eifman, not Petipa. Think Eifman! The first act belonged to Dmitri Fisher as Treplev, the young choreographer. Fisher is handsome, a good dancer (think Eifman) and a sensational actor. His role is almost all acting; it's that Eifman angst to the max. He drips chemistry with everyone with whom he dances. Maria Abashova was Zarechnaya, the young ballerina; Nina Zmievets was the established ballerina Arkadina. I found Abashova the better technician of the two, but Zmievets is a very unusual looking, reed thin, dancer and the more interesting one. Act II is the better act, and in contrast it belongs to Yuri Smelakov as Trigorin. In Act I Smelakov is overshadowed by Fisher, almost lost in Fisher's bravura. In Act II Smelakov is a marvel. He has 2 solos that are exquisite; he's a wonderful dancer. There is a dance for the corps to music that I can't explain ... exotic, throbbing; the segment raises you out of your seat and you're dancing with them. The 2nd act was so good that I forgot the first act! Eifman dancers are rarely happy; they are forever portraying moments of agony. It was nice to see them actually smiling at times in The Seagull! I'm sure there was a lot of symbolism in this ballet that completely eluded me. In Act I there was a "thing", a cover containing several dancers. It undulated, and dancers emerged from it at various times. I'm not too sure I want to delve into that. As I said in my previous post, the dancers are very athletic. And I don't think any of them have a bone in their body; they're rubber! Several of the dances were done to percussions. I love that. There was a hip-hop dance, and one of the dancers (the one in orange pants) was so proficient and smooth that he seemed to float over the floor. Giannina

I had a 2nd crack at Eifman's Anna Karenina Thurs. night. As I recall, the first time I saw it I liked it, as I do all Eifman ballets. Very Eifman-ish but it seemed dramatically lovely, and I looked forward to seeing it again. Well, either the ballet changed or I did. There is really very little dancing in the pdd's; it's all lifts and angst. A little goes a long way. There was no chemistry between Anna (Povoroznyuk) and Vronsky (Kasyanenko); I can almost charge it up to the fact that Vronsky must have been exhausted from hauling Anna around all night. However, that final scene in which the corps is the train under which Anna hurls herself is great. The music hammers and I was totally involved; loved it. The dancers are very athletic but not all that balletic. None the less they make a good impression. There is no synopsis of the ballet in the program. If you don't know the book you can get lost very quickly. Tomorrow I see The Seagull and I'm frantically trying to find a synopsis of the play. I know it's about a writer, and in the ballet the writer is changed into a choreographer. (Who would have thunk it?) Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, stippdmel. There is lots of informative ballet talk on the board and we hope you'll enjoy the site. We're all avid ballet fans and we love to "talk ballet". Giannina

Great fun. And I learned how to pronounce "Askegaard". Giannina

I just had the honor of seeing Chris Cooper's amazing performance in "Breach". Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, DanceMusicandHistoryInterest; we're very glad you have decided to become a member. You have an interest in fascinating facets of ballet. We hope you'll soon join our discussions and share with us. Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, tpc. It's great to have another seasoned ballet fan in our midst (I'm in there too) and to share memories. You have seen some wonderful ballets and we enjoy hearing about them. We hope you'll share in our reviews of up-coming ballets; your comments will be most welcome. Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Joanna; we're very happy to have us with you. We hope you'll enjoy looking through the site and seeing all that's available to you. We look forward to having you join our discussions. Giannina

"I remember in the good old days" when a program was a program. I saw ABT (Ballet Theatre) when every single person in the company was named and pictured, right down to the newest corps member. It was a way to recognize them, and I got to know all of them. The same holds for the credits of a filmed ballet. Most of the time the corps members aren't mentioned at all and I think that's a shame. Giannina

I saw a performance of "Manon" in which Manon popped out of the bodice of her costume during the sequence where she is passed from one adoring male to another. No stops; no chance to hoist up the bodice until the entire passage was done. Talk about "the show must go on"! Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, first ring fan. I don't know how old you are, but I too am old enough to enjoy the ballet I want where I want to see it. We hope you also enjoy sharing in our discussions, perhaps giving your opinions of the performances you've seen. Giannina

"Death in Venice" Sat., Feb. 16th, 2007 OK, another one of my problems. I like to be surprised. When I see a ballet, or when I travel, I like to be surprised/amazed by what I see. Therefore I don't like to read too much about what I'm seeing before I see it so as not to spoil the surprise. I beginning to realized this is a BIG mistake. "Death in Venice". Actually, I didn't realize there was that much to read about this ballet, and even knowing what was available it's most likely I wouldn't have read it. Would it have made a difference in what I thought of the ballet? Hard to tell. "Death in Venice" is not my type of ballet. As "theater" it's probably quite good (I'd know more if I'd studied up). As a rule when I go to a ballet I want to see dance/ballet, not theater. I want to see beautiful steps performed by beautiful people. Angst is OK as long as you do it balletically beautifully. This does not mean that "Death in Venice" isn't an important ballet; it just means it's not my cup of tea. I can't imagine anyone performing the role of Aschenbach better than Lloyd Riggins; it's more acting than ballet. Edvin Revazov as Tadzio was marvelous. It wasn't until after I'd read up on the ballet that I realized this 6-foot-20-year-old was supposed to be a sweet 14 year old! And I don't think that bit of info would have helped the ballet since Revazov was such a wonder. Husband and wife team Silvia Azzoni and Alexandre Riabko (he MY hero in ""The Lady of the Camellias") were gorgeous. I'm almost tempted to see it again, knowing what I know now. Almost, but not quite. Giannina

Lordy! I was on my way to Amazon to look for the tape and was stopped dead in my tracks by the $121!!! Thanks for the news, atm711, and thanks for the warning, bart!! Giannina

Volcanohunter: Raibko was perfect with no signs of exhaustion. Perhaps you're referring to the lifts. I did not mean to infer that he was struggling; I was the only person struggling as I marvelled at his ability. Giannina

Hamburg Ballet at Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, Calif. Thurs. "The Lady of the Camellias" Heather Jurgensen as Marguerite Alexander Riabko as Armand Silvia Azzoni as Manon For the most part I loved this ballet. I had 2 problems. One was my seat location. I was the person farthest away from the stage in the entire theater. Don't ask. As such I had to use opera glasses through the entire ballet. There is a lot going on on stage, and by using my glasses I could concentrate only on one couple, thus missing the corps (usually dignified couples) doing some beautiful dancing, and visa versa. Dang! There are 3 big pdd's for Marguerite and Armand and they are lovely. However they are filled with Herculean lifts and I was a nervous wreck, fearing that Riabko, who is a rather small man, would drop Jurgensen. At one point I thought he had lost his balance and, as is my wont, I let out an audible gasp. Either he recovered or it was part of the choreography; they landed on the floor and it seemed to be where they belonged. There was also the dreaded debris on stage and it was supposed to be there: a letter. Darn if Riabko didn't land a leap smack dab on it, on one leg yet; how he managed to avert disaster is beyond me. This was Riabko's ballet. Not only was he wonderful, but the story seems to be more about Armand than Marguerite. I was extremely impressed with his dancing; wonderful turns and jumps, such control, and a devoted partner ... a joy to watch. My other problem was that he looks like a doofus character in some sit com or yore and I couldn't get that image out of my mind; ergo I couldn't see him as a lover. My problem, not his. Jurgensen has gorgeous feet, as did most of the women, and is a lovely dancer; I thought her characterization of Marguerite could have been better. The ballet "Manon" (not MacMillan's) runs through the ballet (a ballet within a ballet), paralleling Marguerite's life and death with Manon's. More lush dancing, especially Manon's death scene. Because of all the lifts I would not want to see this ballet again, but I would LOVE to have a DVD of it where I know that any dropped lifts would be edited. There are some wonderful bits of choreography amidst the more grandiose segments: little movements in the pdd's, the corps' dancing. Great stuff; great evening. Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, kalhesa; we're glad you've found us. You're right; there is a lot of information on the board; please take the time to read it and enjoy all that is offered. We hope you'll contribute your impressions of the ballets that you see as you travel. Giannina

Welcome to Ballet Talk, photon; we're glad to have you with us. Since this is a welcome forum we'd like to get to know a bit about you, i.e. your interest/connection to ballet. We hope you enjoy the site and sharing in our discussions. Giannina

I don't think I've ever seen Monotones I scheduled. I'd see it if I got a chance, but most say II is better. It's hard to beat perfection. Thanks for the freebie none the less. Giannina

Monotones II Giannina