Juliet

*I'd* still think the Georgiadis costumes and decor were overdone!!!!

I have found some of his work very interesting and was sorry to miss the company in New York.

A gentle note: Ballet is generally spelled with two T's in German ballet companies.....I don't think it's an attempt at affectation.

I do like my tutu's though.........I know, I am hidebound....

Reading this article is the best possible start to my new year....thank you so much for the link, Alexandra.

I have been trying to Maintain a Cheerful Aspect in the midst of cold and January greyness...sewing nonstop on two very beautiful costumes for the past few days has helped immeasurably, but this article was a perfect gift for a new year.

Thank you again and best to all--

Well, I do not think, Kevin, that most people go to the ballet with the theme or the plot paramount as their reasons for attendance.

I wonder what Grigorovich will conjure up......

we can always enjoy the music!

I am at sixes and sevens (too many Nutcrackers will do it to you!)

January 28 is London City Opera. March is Grigorovich:

March 19 -- Performance, by Grigorovich Ballet Co., Naval Academy Distinguished Artists Series, 7:30 p.m., Alumni Hall, academy. 410-293-8497.

January is a long month.....perhaps they are doing both. I know that they will be in Annapolis on January 28th with Swan Lake (because I am working that show) and probably elsewhere in the Washington area....

I think it will be very, very interesting to hear the reviews...especially as Bolshoi is bringing his Swan Lake in June as well...

If anyone has further information, I am sure it will be posted here, Kevin--

The last few exhibits I have attended have not been horrid at all. This one is the first flight of a very talented, very experienced new director of the Institute and the review was most encouraging! I am happy to say that the show runs through mid-March.... (I just returned tonight from a buying trip and wasn't able to attend.) The emphasis is on the body as a vehicle for aesthetic transformation--it looks very, very interesting---

and LMCtech is right--costumers are used to operating in subterranean levels, doing our own peculiar forms of transformation Actually, this show is more fashion than costumes, per se.....the exhibition catalogue is supposedly very well done.

[ December 07, 2001: Message edited by: Juliet ]

Oh, come on you all, you know you'd miss it....

I can think of many ballets which are far worse than Nutcracker.....

You know you can always count on some people.......

Maybe hard to believe, but one trip down the miles of racks of all those knee-length tutus in the world.........

Although I don't think tutu length is as objectionable as Giselle whacking her leg up skyward........

I like period Nutcrackers, though, for first act.....I've always enjoyed seeing what designers come up with....

I know they're doing Serenade. They are doing parts of Stars & Stripes (boys' regiment, pdd & finale)....I don't remember what else.

I am sorry to miss the performance and seeing you all, but look forward to the reports!

Well, another of those design questions for a Sunday morning....

Some designers do not like them that long, for some productions. Most of the designers working in ballet are not ballet historians, don't care to be, and are frequently more interested in their particular "vision" being onstage, than whether a costume is appropriate for the ballet or the dancer. As the twentieth century progressed, the spirit world seems to have had a fabric shortage...

For Giselle, I think they should be very long....again it is a question of proper fit and proportion. Certainly every ballet company cannot have a new costume for every dancer, but for Giselle, my personal aesthetic dictates that they should hit about 2-3" above the top of the ankle, certainly no lower. Sylphs can be slightly shorter, bottom of the calf, but no shorter than that.........

The lighter the skirt, the more otherworldly the character, I feel. Humans can wear below the knee tutus, but not sylphs or wilis....

Romantic tutus, in a ballet such as Coppelia, first act Giselle, first act Swan Lake, or anything using character dances in a ballet setting can be shorter: below the knee, just before the calf muscle widens. Frequently, these skirts are done in a variety of fabrics and great care must be taken with proportion so the dancers' legs do not look chunky. Thickness of fabric, aount of gathering, types and layers of colours used are all important considerations.

(I will stop now, before this heads into the "more than you ever wanted to know" category!)

Paris Opera Ballet and Kirov Ballet both have commercial videos available. I can hunt down the details if you have difficulty locating them.

Nope, I think that NYCB is the largest game in this country.........

I agree that discussion of apprentices is appropriate, but I just didn't think that an examination of the selection process ought to go any further, that's all.

In any case, with the huge number of holiday performances that these large companies do, all hands are definitely needed--San Francisco, and Pacific Northwest, for example, as well as Boston Ballet's....do they utilize students much and in what roles?

While not venturing to Know Better than Anyone Else, I would submit that online musings about decision-making at NYCB is neither helpful to Peter Martins in his decision-making, or productive of anything which might even approach helpful, either to the administration there or to the dancers being discussed.

The Wien award is given to dancers of great ability and promise. Company rosters thin for various reasons--dancers leave because they are not happy with how they are being utilized, their goals change, they want to change locale: a huge variety of reasons. Similarly, the administration hire dancers for a variety of reasons: not all having to do with ability or how many awards received.

Sometimes it is a question of a "look," sometimes a matter of work practices, sometimes personality meshing/clashes---the level of dancing at any professional school is going to furnish many talented and committed people. They are not all going to get contracts with NYCB and in some cases, it is true that the match with another company would be far better.

I would submit that discussion of these students' futures isn't appropriate here--when they are all in companies and dancing for the public, then we can review how clever and far-thinking a particular administration was to snap up this particular talent.

City Ballet has a very wise and very generous policy of allowing dancers from other companies to take class. Just because Joaquin de Luz has been taking class does not mean that he is going to jump ship--it might, but again, it might not. I am sure that Peter Martins is astute enough to take who he thinks he can use and it is no reflection on the "male talent or lack-thereof at SAB."

I do not think that anything other than congratulatory messages toward the new apprentices are in order on this board. Remember, these are students and the level of self-criticism is high enough in this art.

On another note: yes, NYCB is large, but Kirov and Bolshoi are larger.....

although who knows what the situation will be for the future. Things seem to be in a great state of flux...

Katie Bergstrom, Lauren Fadeley, Megan Fairchild, Ashlee Knapp, Megan LeCrone, Savannah Lowery.....

Jerome Johnson and Christian Tworzyanski....

These are the definite announcements for now.....

Good wishes to all--

This is a joke, no?

It's not April first....

A very good edition of Nutcracker, by E.T.A. Hoffmann was published by Crown Publishers in 1984. Illustrations by Maurice Sendak. Most public libraries have it, and I believe it is still in print.

I always thought Princess Pirlipat would be a good name for a cat. Very apt.

This has been one of the purposes of children's literature, folk, and fairy tales for centuries.

Read to your children, parents. Read with them when they are older.

Much "folk literature," not to mention fairy tales *are* dark.....it is a manageable way for children to deal with things they feel or learn.

[ October 27, 2001: Message edited by: Juliet ]

Werll, I got mine here in the hinterlands a couple of days ago and thoroughly enjoyed it....

You can't mean to tell me that we are AHEAD of something here in Annapolis!

I believe that the company is going to be at the NJ Performing Arts Center in Newark.....it is easily accessible by train.(17 minutes from Manhattan via Penn Station, and the theatre is right nearby.)

Cannot recall exact schedule but I believe they have a website....

Another example of "Did we see the same ballet???" I thought the contrast in these reviews especially interesting!

Thank you--

SAB was evacuated this morning. The kids who live in the dorm are staying with various teachers or staff members.

I would doubt that classes resume tomorrow, either there or at Joffrey, but I might be wrong. Although the streets may be closed, walking is not impossible.....eerie, but not impossible.

Washington area will be more operational tomorrow, I trust. It was fairly gruesome today for commuters. They even had areas of Annapolis cordoned off (it is the state capital, although no one believes it.) ;)

I asked someone how to turn on CNN (don't watch too much TV!) and spent the day doing handsewing and being thankful that I'd heard from those I love in NYC.

Regards to all--God bless your sleep...

Manhattnik,

Stick that Coppelia link in here! And the one for the "product of the week" as well!

(He must be ferreting through old programmes....)

Has anyone attended performances or found reviews of NYCB in Athens or Parma?

Impressions or links, please----

thanks!