ksk04

The early publicity I read/saw made it sound like Black Swan would have a lot to say about the ballet.

FWIW, I didn't get that impression at all.....(which is what puzzled me when I first started reading the negative comments about how the film was a poor representation of ballet).

There was a substantial amount of advanced publicity about how Natalie Portman had danced as a teenager, had gone into serious ballet training for the film, had lost a bunch of weight to be believable as a ballerina, had spent extensive time with Benjamin Millepied to prepare for the dance parts of the role, etc. etc. I would have expected this to feature ballet, but as described by those who have seen it, ballet is an excuse to have a controlling mother and a Svengali figure.

Here's the next rollout of publicity for Portman's Oscar campaign...highlighting the sheer amount of training she had to go through to have her face pasted on Sarah Lane's body (as shown very clearly in the special effect reel):

The emphasis on her training and the dance have been a huge part of the push for the movie, especially recently. At least in this video you can tell all the "dancing" is hers!

...So, he will perform in St. Petersburg? When will the festival be held?

Here is the list of dates for various upcoming festivals at the MT:

http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/festivale/fest_2010_2011/

So far, we know only that the ballet festival in mid-April will include a Swan Lake with Hallberg -- presumably partnering one of the four ballerinas who is here in DC this week -- and the company premiere of Preljocaj's modern 1-act (long act) work for POB, Le Parc. A while back, it was thought that this year's festival novelty would be the company premiere of Balanchine's Midsummer Night's Dream but nothing more has been heard about this since last fall, so perhaps that dream died or is on hold. Le Parc will be the big full-evening premiere, with Vishneva leading one of the casts and Terioshkina the other one (so far - may change, as things do so often at the MT).

I don't know if this is the right place to continue this discussion (so feel free to move!) but Ashley Bouder wrote on her twitter she'd be doing Don Quixote with Denis Matvienko (wasn't she supposed to do a DonQ a year or so ago and couldn't make it because of injury?) and that Cojocaru/Kobborg would be doing a Giselle. A look on Alina's website confirms her date for the 23rd and the gala on the 24th.

I've been reading the London reviews as they've been coming out...they seem fairly harsh especially since the critics usually play softball when reviewing the Royal.

The programming and casting (Herrera and Stearns in Duo Concertante...really??) on the first program was a misstep by ABT though (especially after the slaughtering they received last time around with Swan Lake with Wiles). I've never understood how they can program such a compelling mixed bill as program 2 and then so program something as flat as program 1.

The slipping was almost certainly the floor. If it was a problem with technique you'd see people falling out of positions, not sliding around. New stages take awhile to get used to and learn where the slippery spots are so you can moved around them.

Not that I'm for one second intimating or suggesting that theirs is nothing less than a love match, two hearts beating as one, a meeting of minds, souls, dreams, intellects, shopping trips for Tiffany baby rattles, hashing out the nitty grittys of a pre nup with showbiz lawyers etc

I just hope it doesn't mean there will be an influx of Millepied ballets shoved down our throats in an effort to ride this brief glimmer of fame to pump the box office receipts.

Wow, the transmission quality is beautiful even on youtube! Must have looked great on the big screen.

For those wishing to relive some of the choreographic horror (or see it for the first time):

Is it sick I want Fractus to show up? Yuck yuck yuck.

edited:

To add in Cinque

This was so interesting to watch, thank you. I saw the small snippet on youtube but didn't know there was a longer version.

It seems clear no one has tried to change the way Lopatkina does the pas in a long time. Her hesitance and resistance are clear; but the concessions she makes are really enhancing to the performance. I love that Makarova gets on her about the 180 degree penchee. It's true--it does completely block Korsuntsev's face!! It looks much better when Lopatkina cranks it back to just around his shoulder level. This should be going out on memo regularly in coaching sessions.

I wish they subtitled a little more, we seem to be missing a lot. Oh well--it's better than many Russian broadcasts I watch completely clueless as to what is being said!

Did anyone see the video posted today of Tamara Rojo's Rose Adagio? She, uhm, takes some liberties with the last set of balances toward the end. I have to say I don't like the effect at all. There is no serenity, no real sense of triumph (the swell of music has been totally disregard -- along with those last two princes!), especially as she almost falls out of the first balance.

Well, see for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMHOD11UxaI

If, like me, you don't live close to a participating cinema, Medici TV is also planning to stream the performance live. However, if there are any geographical blackouts, the web site isn't listing them yet. To the best of my knowledge, this would be the first dance performance streamed on the site. Finally.

Watching Medici streams requires logging into an account, but these are free and quick to set up.

http://www.medici.tv...uture-concerts/

YES! How exciting. I haven't been able to muster up the energy to drive 40+ miles to see any of the broadcasts.

Hmmm. Yes, sorry don't mean to get too technique oriented on here, but I thought there must be more to it the way you phrased your sentence! I find it odd, but I guess it's just my own training speaking.

I guess I'll go investigate some precious 30 sec snippets left on the NYCB youtube channel and see if I can't see for myself!

Also interesting to hear Peter Martins requesting heels on the ground when so many of the girls were releasing their heels in demi plié... but perhaps he was addressing the boys... I wasn't surprised at the release but rather at the admonition not to...

Is this different in Balanchine style than others? Heels should always stay on the floor in demi plie, only in grand plie at the deepest point of demi plie you can manage should they be released (at least this is how I was taught and have similarly taught when I teach). Otherwise you are shortening the calf stretch. But perhaps it's different for Mr. B...my experience is, admittedly, rather limited in respect to NYCB/SAB style.

T & V is wicked hard, and Wiles sure makes it look easy. But I thought she looked very stiff in the arms and lower back, and whenever I see her dance I always wonder ... does she actually think about the music? Not just listen to it, but think about it? About how it relates to the steps? And does anyone know how long she's had black hair? It's very harsh and makes her look washed out.

Must be fairly recent, maybe she got tired of everyone talking about how she and Hallberg wash each other out with their blondness? And I agree about her dancing.

Interested to hear about the Bright Stream from everyone...got a long wait before I get to see it again for myself.

Oh god, I thought it was such a waste of the dancers. I didn't have high expectations based on the choreographers selected but it was beyond banal.

Remansos: why start off a show celebrating the Bolshoi's women, with a piece that focuses almost entirely on the men? This was basically the highlight the evening though (aside from the Pas de Trois) and very well danced.

Ladies' solos: Semionova's was the most interesting, and it was at least charming. I actually didn't think it was that great, but after seeing the rest my opinion of it was raised. Fractus, with Krysanova, was HORRID. Every bad modern-high-extension-Wayne-McGregor-loud-rock cliche combined into one mess (maybe McGregor pulled his piece after seeing this?? Why did his piece get pulled? So many questions!). The drums gave me a headache. The McGregor replacement for Osipova and Vasiliev was a Bigonzetti, boring-total waste of both of their energies (again, like Giannina said--how was this tailored this their talents?). The Balanchine pas de trois with Shastekevish and Olga M(?) was a delight.

CinqueInteresting concept...WAY too long. When I saw that this was supposed to be a 20 min piece that got bloated into a 45 min one I had a suspicion it would be less than ideal. At one point Kotchekova actually bit Shipulina's hand and dragged her off the stage hand in mouth?? Bizarre. Again, none of the solos played to any of the women's strengths with the exception of Kotchekova's solo, I would say.

The dancers, of course, were all really working with everything they were given. Each of them is a delight and can do whatever thrown at them. The problem is there was so little actual dance. Okay, bad choreography can be overcome by many factors (music? personality? charm?), but if you are going to put Shipulina in a long grey dress with a slit and just have her basically stand in one spot for 5 minutes with a piano playing, you didn't try hard enough.

^ It's been mentioned in interviews that Portman did "a lot" of her own pointe work (whatever that means), and there was a charity auction a few months ago where she donated a pair of her used pointe shoes.

She probably did the piqué turns herself. If I remember correctly, they were single piqué turns en dedans, which are relatively easy. With all the intensive training she had, I would think they would have been in her grasp. (En dehors turns, also known as lame duck or step-over turns, are a lot harder.)

Actually she didn't (I thought she did it too at first). The special effect company has a sample reel up showing their work on Black Swan and they use that pique sequence as an example of superimposing Portman's face onto Sarah Lane.

http://www.lookfx.com/works.html (and then click on the Black Swan reel)

Pretty interesting. I'm guessing the only work Portman actually did showing her feet are the scenes toward the beginning at the barre and one sequence where they are rehearsing the pas and you can see how badly her feet look.

Here is some better info on the casting and how the program will run (maybe this is the piece you saw before, California?):

Armitage has created a duet for Krysanova and Savin called "Fractus," which is set to music by Rhys Chatham. Childs created "Book of Harmony," a solo for Malinovskaya, who will alternate performances with Stashkevich. The piece uses the music of John Adams.

Currently the resident choreographer at Boston Ballet, Jorma Elo has brought his Northern European modernism to bear on the solo he created for Kochetkova, who is the only ballerina to dance in the U.S. full time. The piece, "One Overture," is set to music by H.I. Biber and Mozart.

Aszure Barton has created a solo for Shipulina, to Tchaikovsky, while Renato Zanella has adapted his 1995 work, "Strauss incontra Verdi," for Semionova.

And British choreographer Wayne McGregor has created a physically challenging duet for Osipova and Lopatin.

The program will open with Nacho Duato's "Remansos," a ballet for three couples. Two sets of couples will alternate performances through the four-day engagement.

In the second section, the ballerinas will perform the works created specially for them. This section will close with Balanchine's "Pas de Trois."

Bigonzetti's new work, "Cinque," will close the evening. The 45-minute ballet is set to concertos and sonatas by Vivaldi.

http://www.presstelegram.com/ci_17089172

Hmmm.

So is this a "program" a la Beauty in Motion/Kings of Dance/Reflections? If so, ugh.

The Ardani Arts stranglehold on the Center is getting to be too much. Is it took much to ask to just have a variety of actual ballet companies come for a week of performances that don't include starry galas and odd contemporary mashups with classical dancers trying to branch out??

Not surprised...it results in additional income and stage time for the "chosen" dancers, while probably excluding those who the union has to work to protect the most (the corps). The original press release made it pretty clear it wouldn't just be a bunch of corps/apprentice dancers on the tour (not that the corps isn't great, but they did have a lot of starry names in the first roster). Doesn't bode well especially since there is probably lingering resentment from the corps and union over the layoffs and the way they were handled. Even if it's a rotational thing, for the corps dancers there's no guarantee they will still have employment when it finally gets to be their turn for the extra weeks and they are the ones who don't get to make up their extra income with guesting gigs and galas during the off season like many of the principals and soloists.

I doubt the entire rep will be performed every night; I'm guessing (since they are modeling after Kings of Dance) it will be a rotational thing in order to include all the women each night--the solos will be different each night depending on who is doing the Pas de Trois, etc. This is how the Kings did it with The Lesson and their solos, so everyone got a bit of solo stage time and everyone got to do the "meatier" part once a tour stop. Who knows though?

The only way I'm thinking we will find out ahead of time is if OCPAC scans in the program ahead of the show, as they did with the Bolshoi last year (very helpful when they do this!).

I'm going to opening night so I'll be happy to pass on the info if you are going to one of the weekend shows.

Well....I guess congratulations are in order to the future Mrs. Millepied and incoming Baby Millepied??

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20453228,00.html

In an interesting comparison:

The NYTimes posted short clips (~45 sec) featuring of "Actors Acting" - two of whom are Natalie Portman and Vincent Cassel. Cassel looks like a natural dancing in front a mirror (did he get to show off any moves in Black Swan?) and Portman is practically stiff as a board as an exhausted glamour queen.

Cassel:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/12/magazine/14actors.html?ref=magazine#10

Portman:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/12/magazine/14actors.html?ref=magazine#3

Indeed!

Yikes, you'd think a year of training would soften up at least some part of her upper body.

The things we taken for granted!

With the price of tickets who can blame audiences for wanting to known casting up front? I would never pay to sit through a 3 acter with a few of the principals at ABT or the Mariinsky...but for example, with the Corella Ballet, who I am seeing next weekend, I have no idea about the casts and I am not bothered by that in the least. I'm not familiar enough with the company to have a strong opinion so it's kind of refreshing. If the cast lists were posted though, I admit I'd have likely made a different selection to see some faces I know.

If anything more detailed casting seems like it would sell more tickets. If I knew certain dancers were in supporting, yet usually unannounced roles, I'd be more likely to see multiple casts to see some favorites. Similarly, those supporting roles might get me to a lead cast I previously avoided like the plague!!

Hope this goes better than Ballet Pacifica....and I guess he is abandoning that school in North Carolina he has talked about so much about.

Well, I'll be at the Sunday matinee. I've been wondering about casting too, though I don't have too much preference, aside from hoping for Cornejo to make an appearance somewhere (though he probably won't make it back from Havana with ABT in time).