BW

Doll (Girl): MANDRADJIEFF Doll (Boy): BOUDER I'm not familiar with "Mandradjeiff" so can't be sure if this will be an historic casting style or not. Just checked and you're right Major Mel! Both dolls are played by young women.

Doll (Girl): MANDRADJIEFF Doll (Boy): BOUDER I'm not familiar with "Mandradjeiff" so can't be sure if this will be an historic style of casting or not.

It's interesting to me to see the different roles various people play from performance to performance - for example, today, Hanna plays the Cavalier in the matinee and Mother Ginger at Night... Two very different roles. And then poor Bouder is cast as the "(Boy)" Doll - which I am assuming must be a mistake, unless she has a brother? ;) We're going tonight.

Oddly enough my husband saw and read this in our local paper and didn't think it was worth telling me about. I thought a bit of it was funny...but I, too, pray fervently that his daughter becomes hooked on ballet - Daddy Dave will succomb soon enough! He is not uneducated...as are many who are uninitiated to the wiles of ballet... I like to think he's pandering with tongue in cheek... We can only hope! My own husband did not grow up being exposed to the arts...except what he got in school - which wasn't much, I might add!... Nor did his parents have much exposure to the arts,either...they were too busy surviving. Husband played baseball in elementary school and through college, just so you know he's a manly man ;);)...Yet, I've never detected a moment's hestitation when it came to going to the ballet. He is just as spellbound as I am. Lucky me!

Mary Lynn, Thank you so much for your heartfelt description. Hooray for the recapturing of your holiday spirit! And I loved your reflection:

Hmm, Leigh, I'd never really thought about the dichotomy quite the way you've expressed it. I think you're right. Were we at the same production?:eek: I think the Snow Queen I saw may have broken the spell the that night...perhaps that's why I didn't find her very compelling? I do think you've hit on something...

Just an aside here for anyone who might be interested: This issue of "The New Yorker" has a very short article, entitled Behind the Scenes: Wise Child by Joan Acocella with two photos by Mary Ellen Mark. Too bad they don't do links. It explains why George Balanchine actually chose to have children play the roles of children in his version of The Nutcracker: Ms. Acocella concludes her piece by saying that because of Mr. Balanchine's feelings about children, they had to be in it...for "they were the source of its wisdom." The photographs are interesting too - not your typical cute Nutcracker kid pictures... If you're familiar with Mary Ellen Mark's work you won't be surprised. They are in black and white and have a very dreamlike quality to them with tiny bits of "reality" poking through. But most of all I am glad I read the piece for that quote: "Nonreality is the real thing."

Last night we attended Dances Patrelle's The Yorkville Nutcracker http://www.dancespatrelle.org/ - the cast consisted of members of Dances Patrelle's troupe - dancers who have been, and may still be, performing professionally elsewhere; students from The Ailey School, Ballet Academy East, School of American Ballet and Studio Maestro; and for last night's performance the two guest artists were Jennifer Ringer and James Fayette. As I posted elsewhere this Nutcracker takes place in the Mayor of NY's home - Gracie Mansion... the guests are diplomats from all over the world so they're very colorful as are their children. A Drosselmyer type - here he is "Uncle Noah Wheaton" - is in attendance and was played really well by Donald Paradise... There's a dancing "bear" who turns out to be Teddy Roosevelt - played by Frances Patrelle himself with the perfect nonstop toothy grin complete with wire rimmed glasses! The naughty boys have more of a Rough Rider theme to their shannanigans...(and this theme is carried throughout the battle scene later). The sets were really well done - different scrims representing the outside of Gracie Mansion, the living room, a beautiful scene in Central Park with a frozen lake and snow covered bridge, trees etc. - where the Snow King and Queen appear ...a corps of really well rehearsed skaters whose costumes were incredibly beautiful - long, dark blue skating skirts, short, closely fitted jackets, hats, and muffs - they really seemed historically accurate! Later, there's a scene with the Botanical Gardens' greenhouse in the background as well. The dancing was very good, the students looked well rehearsed to me and were really quite good. I can say all this pretty freely since my own was in the audience with me! Mr. Patrelle did a great job with the choreography, the costumes ran the gamut from the enchanting to the funny and colorful. The costumes for the mice and the gingerbread children were really great and added a lot of humor to the scenes...along with the dancers themselves who caught the humor well and played their parts with ease and enjoyment. What can I say - we were really more than pleasantly surprised having never attended this Nutcracker before. I'm not going to try to give you a play by play on the specific dancers and scenes - there were too many and I'm not capable of doing them justice! Let me just say that among the different students there were several real standouts and that on the whole they were all quite good ... the ones that had lead roles really showed their stuff! And having the professionals in various roles such as Francois Perron as the Snow King, and Sabra Perry as the Arabian dancer in Coffee, the dancers who played the Mayor, his wife and their friends added a finesse to the already fine dancing of the students involved. It was a real treat to see them perform in such an intimate theater. But I do have to mention the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier - Jennifer Ringer and James Fayette, specifically. They are the perfect pair. Ms. Ringer is the epitome of femininity and beauty - what style, poise and perfection...She is to me a true ballerina and her acting skills were there too. Her loveliness was only underscored by Mr. Fayette's strength and masculinity as her Cavalier... Their connection was obvious and really made their performance memorable. P.S. I just found out that this version was reviewed right here on Ballet Alert in 1998 if you want to read it click on this: http://www.balletalert.com/reviews/r98/Patrelle.htm (P.S. I moved a discussion from Discovering Ballet to this existing thread - sorry for the confusion!)

rg, thank you for your responses! I really am going to have to go out and read the two "original" versions of this story. Here I was thinking it was all just a nice little Christmas story.:rolleyes: ;)

Of course you're right about NDI and the need for these kids to see the real thing! That's not elitism - that's called common sense. I'm really surprised he hasn't included that aspect in his program. And thanks for that info about APAP...and I get your point about ticket prices... The reality of how much it costs to put on a performance is rather sobering, isn't it? So, again, it comes down to getting the funding. And as for the organizing part, is there any sort of consortium that exists that might even be capable of this? And if not, does anyone think that the bigger names as in SFB, WSB, etc., have a development department that thinks along these lines anymore? I guess this is the kind of thing arts administrators brain storm about in their spare moments. ;)

Calliope, by inter arts (or is it intra?), I basically meant a festival including multiple forms of performing arts - so I guess I was a bit redundant in my suggestion. All of these ideas that have been proposed sound good... Washington sounds really with it in its approach - was that since Septime Webre's administration - and why did it end? Does it all hinge on finances and if it does or doesn't - how does one suggest these types of ideas to the ears that need to hear? And Leigh, in NYC it does seem to me that there are a fair number of smaller companies ... although I'm sure you are much more aware ... but what if they came together in sort of a "review"? For example, I know there is either about to be, or already has been, something like this at City Center ... ostensibly so different promotors or ? can see different companies perform in order to book them for different programs in different cities. So why not do something like this and invite the general public too? Tickets would have to be cheaper. The whole premise of bringing the ballet to the people is a great one... and maybe the schools/colleges are the places to do it, however in the elementary or preparatory grades it would be awfully helpful to include the parents because these kids need their parents to buy the tickets to other events and/or accompany them to the performances. Jacques D'Amboise's program is probably one of the best in this area, don't you think? And as The Joyce was mentioned - they do (or used to) have a pretty neat deal...where one's child becomes a member and subscribes to a certain number of performances (at a reduced rate) and their parent can buy a ticket at a good price as well. On their website they offer a good deal for regular membership and tickets now: http://www.joyce.org/order00.html

Right, Leigh, I remember Estelle's mentioning the "pass" concept...something like that linked to a arts "cross training" package is a really good idea... Calliope, I am familiar with those "rush" tickets...but aren't they sold on the day of? And 4th ring is not the best introduction, in my opinion, unless they hand out binoculars with the tickets. ;) Sorry to the 4th Ring Society members - I know theirs is a beloved group but I would think that most uninitiated need to see the faces of the dancers...at least in the beginning, don't you? Treefrog - that's quite something that the Wednesday night was full...what with it being a school night and all, I'm surprised! So back to the reality of the financial side of things. As Leigh pointed out, people or organizations that have the major funds to give do prefer to work on audience development and outreach... It would be interesting to know if anyone has actually considered doing something inter arts...whether it be ballet/dance or ballet/dance/theater/opera/film? I wish my pockets were deep enough to be able to fund something like this! Maybe, in New York City... if they actually do come through with the Lincoln Center refurbishing there might be a possibility. P.S. Sorry to be so provincial with my ideas!

Just FYI I just heard on WNYC that tomorrow afternoon at 4pm or 4:30? they'll be discussing this program...now that they've seen it, I guess.

I'm with Mel and balletmama - location and price of tickets is key. I know we discussed this on an earlier thread...but the idea of creating a week in the spring and winter - or several weekends throughout - that would be somehow offered at a much lower price break for "students" or maybe people who care to show their tax returns ;) could work. I remember there were some arguments about what constituted a "student" etc... Another way to do it might be more of a Lincoln Center festival type of deal...or a ballet dance festival in which a number of different companies would band together to try to offer this kind of thing. In NYC, if the John Jay Theater was used there might be less "political" intrigue involved...but, then again, perhaps the various ballet companies from large to small might actually be able to work together for the good of their art and get something like this off the ground? Is there any nonprofit umbrella group that would be able to broker this idea?

Yes, you're right in re my NYCB familiarity link - I don't know why I just assumed the music was sacrosanct?! :rolleyes: Silly me. Thank you Mel for taking the time to explain this to me.

Thanks Mel! Now I am going to have to go look up these ballets to see their places on the ballet timeline.

Wait, rg, I'm confused - you wrote And yet, his version is supposed to be the one that is based on Herr Praesident and Frau Silberhaus's Christmas Eve celebration, isn't it?Or, are you just pointing out the contradiction here?

Someone help me! I am watching Le Corsaire (ABT's) on WNYE...and suddenly I am struck, once again, with the "fact" that the music from the garden scene (the Pasha's dream of his wives dancing in perfect Russian style) is the same music that I know I've heard in another ballet! And this isn't the only part...it sounds as though there's a bit of "Paquita" music in there too! :confused: I also feel as though I may have asked this before but can't remember the answer!

Just an aside here, the Navaho Indians apparently have this philosophy within their culture as well...as I was driving into NYC today, listening to NPR, I heard an interview with a film maker...tuned in just as Leonard Lopate was talking about the Japanese hammered down "nail" philosophy... so we'd better add the Navahos to the "axis of humility". Quite interesting - these similarities between different such different cultures.

Wow! A seriously big thank you!! to you all. I really appreciate your information and responses. Juliet, thanks for the heads up on Sendak's book - isn't that the version that Pacific Northwest Ballet performs? Scoop, I will have to check out ABT's video with Kirkland and Baryshnikov. I am embarassed to say that I've never seen it. Alexandra, thank you for pointing me directly to Mel's labor of love - Mel, you are truly a font (and one with humor, as well)! There is so much there to read that I'll have to go back to it at another sitting for sure. And Leigh, thank you for sending me back to what I already know and love...and so beautifully written. I would never have guessed that there was so much to know about the Nutcracker... how foolish of me! Now what I really need to do is watch several versions to get a visual taste of their differences.

In the links section today there is an article from The Village Voice by Tobi Tobias: http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0250/footnotes.php I really think she sets her stage well as she writes The article continues: She continues on comparing several versions... but what struck me, was that I'd never, ever, considered "The Nutcracker" to be a story about "a girl child's sexual awakening" at all. :eek: Am I alone in this - in being so naive? Or is it possible that since I've only really seen the Balanchine or "Balanchinish" versions that I missed this? Of course, now that it's been pointed out, I can certainly see how one might draw these conclusions... I'm sorry but I'm too ignorant and lazy to look up Sigmund Freud's time line to see if his concept of "the dream" might have had any impact on any of the earlier Nutcracker versions... Care to comment or fill me in on this holiday fare?

I love "The March of The Wooden Soldiers" and "The Wizard of Oz" - just saw them both the other night... Such a busy schedule I keep, eh? Alexandra - your point about a VISUAL story is well taken! So now we need a choreographer.

This might not be as contemporary as Katharyn's latest suggestion, but I have been thinking about the story of "Casabalanca" as a basis for a more "contemporary" story ballet. Watching it yesterday with my daughter who'd never seen it before, I was struck by the fact that every time I see it I still feel the pull - the romance, the intrigue, the drama and the passion. Aren't these some of the needs and wants for a good narrative ballet? Can't you just see Rick and Ilsa, the evil Nazi Strasser...? ;) I'm a sucker for a good melodrama - "Casablanca" has it all...and even a 13 year old who hasn't grown up watching old war movies felt the draw. As Time Goes By would make a very romantic pas de deux, don't you think?

I just watched "Casablanca" yesterday with my daughter (her first time seeing it)... and was wondering if it might make a good ballet...? Either way, I'd love to see the song "As Time Goes By" used for a ballet.

Oh Giannina- I didn't know you'd been at SFB! That must have been where the ballet "bug" bit you! ;) I envy you, Mel, and all the others here who've had the experience of seeing, and knowing, these ballet icons. Re the videos, Mel, you know I've walked through the new Performing Arts Library...but have yet to try to ask the librarians to help me with using their new computers, etc., to watch anything - pretty pathetic, eh?