bart Posted May 8, 2005 Share Posted May 8, 2005 I've changed the title of this older thread in the hopes of opening it up to posters who want to pay tribute to dancers from their favorite local ballet company. Originally I started with Ballet Florida and a single dancer. I know there are many more. It would be fun -- and useful, I think, to ballet in general -- to have a forum to talk about them. Ballet Florida, the 22-dancer company based in West Palm Beach, just finished its last program of the 2005-06 season. Coming up in June: 2 performances of Step Ahead, devoted to the dancers' own choreography. Attending 2 performances this weekend, I started thinking about just how lucky we are to have such smaller sub-regional companies and to feel quite grateful to the talented dancers who perform with them. For example, Christina Hampton. This program marked her retirement after 20 years dancing professionally, including stints with the Minnesota and Hartford Ballets. Hampton is one of the most versatile and giving ballet dancers I have seen. This season alone she was featured in Lar Lubovitch's "... smile with my heart" and "Musette"; Twyla Tharp's "Baker's Dozen"; Mauricio Wainrot's "Libertango"; Ben Stevenson's "Dracula" (Flora); "and Nutcracker" (Sugar Plum). On this last program she performed in each of the three dances, including leads in "Our Waltzes" (Vicente Nebrada) and "Barber Violin Concerto" (Peter Martins), as well as Val Caniparoli's Lambarena. That's four performances in 3 days. I've never seen her give anything less than a winning, deeply-felt, technically strong, classically based performance completely in tune with the style of the piece. In the Barber she took off her toe shoes, and buzzed and darted around the stage, annoying the classical male but finally drawing him in, and perhaps getting a bit more response than she wanted from that conflicted and rather angry figure. Ballet Florida has toured around the state -- once as far as the Joyce in NYC -- once to Biarritz -- but I wish that wider audiences had the chance to see dancers like Hampton, performing with their own companies. I often read reviews of distant performances featuring dancers I've never seen and indeed never heard of. And, frankly, I don't think much about it. I can't visualize, so the dancer becomes a name -- and the name merges with many other names of people I can't visualize -- and it's quickly forgotten. It's inevitable. But its also my loss. There was a standing ovation for Hampton at the end of this performance. Confetti drifting down on the stage. Flowers, warm applause from her fellow dancers. It happens at the State Theater and the Paris Opera. And it happens here, too. Each part of it is necessary to keep the art alive. Link to comment
Tiffany Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 Thank you for appreciating a small, regional ballet company. I feel like on the other board small ballet companies get passed off as not being worth much. I live in Mississippi, USA. We have 1 professional ballet company, Ballet Magnificat!. I don't think we have even 1 professional jazz or modern company in the state presently, either. There are quite a few youth ballets & some college companies but they do not have paid dancers or a professional level of technique. I really appreciate the small companies near me-Ballet Memphis, Alabama Ballet, Mobile Ballet, Montgomery Ballet, etc. Sometimes big companies tour close enough that I can see them but that only happens once or twice a year. Thank you for asserting that great dancers dance with small companies as well as large ones. I wish that I could have seen Ms. Hampton dance. It is wonderful to see a dancer that always gives everything when they dance. Link to comment
stinahampton Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 Bart, I am Christina Hampton and I want to thank you for the beautiful words you wrote about my retirement performance in May 2005 with Ballet Florida. I googled my name today and found your article/blog and had to find a way to tell you how much it meant to me to read the nice things you wrote about such a momentus occasion in my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart... Link to comment
mira Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 Bart,I am Christina Hampton and I want to thank you for the beautiful words you wrote about my retirement performance in May 2005 with Ballet Florida. I googled my name today and found your article/blog and had to find a way to tell you how much it meant to me to read the nice things you wrote about such a momentus occasion in my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart... hi Christina, Elizabeth and I were there that night and remember it so well. You are beautiful and an amazing teacher as well. She's at SAB now. She'll be happy to know you are here online. Link to comment
cubanmiamiboy Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Thank you for asserting that great dancers dance with small companies as well as large ones. I'm happy to hear more advocates of this way of thinking. Tiffany, i'm with you 100 %. GIVE IT UP FOR THE SMALL COMPANIES!! Link to comment
bart Posted December 18, 2008 Author Share Posted December 18, 2008 Cristina, welcome to Ballet Talk. I meant every word of that original post. I'm glad you revived this thread. There's still a lot to be said about the absolute necessity of smaller companies and the richness which their dancers can bring to our lives. We talk all the time about the dancers and companies at the top of the ballet pyramid. But every pyramid needs a strong (and preferably rather wide) base: students, dancers, audiences. I've just changed the title of the thread. I started by focusing on Ballet Florida and one particular dancer: Cristina Hampton. But I'd love to hear from people who've been especially impressed by, moved by, even changed by dancers who perform in their own smaller companies, wherever they are located. So, how about it? Whom would you nominate as one of these dancers-in-smaller-companies deserving of special praise? Link to comment
cubanmiamiboy Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 So, how about it? Whom would you nominate as one of these dancers-in-smaller-companies deserving of special praise? Hayna Gutierrez, currently dancing with struggling CCBM Iliana Lopez, from Ballet Gamonet Dagmar Moradillos, dancing with Ballet Etudes of Hialeah Link to comment
bart Posted December 18, 2008 Author Share Posted December 18, 2008 Cristian, tell us why you selected those particular dancers. Please! Link to comment
cubanmiamiboy Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Cristian, tell us why you selected those particular dancers. Please! Dagmar and Hayna because I was a witness of their careers since they were out of the ballet school in Cuba, and i can assure you that both are amazing dancers. Dagmar was sort of like a prodigy girl in the early 90's, and rose thru the ranks right away all the way up, even dancing along with the older venerable members-(there's a Pas de Quatre on Youtube in which she can be seen on the late 80's along with some of these members). Gutierrez because she's just one of the strongest technicians i've ever seen, and NEEDS to be placed right away. Lopez because I could tell by her Carmen that she's Principal material-(she has the Diva thing)-and didn't fail before my hyper critical eye. Link to comment
Natalia Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 LUIS R. TORRES of the Washington Ballet...and not just because he is from my own Puerto Rico! Luis has 100% star presence whenever he hits the stage, especially if the choreography calls for jazzy moves. Luis is a great dancer from the soul. One cannot keep ones eyes off him, even if he is sharing the stage with many fine dancers. Case in Point: In the Upper Room last season when (to me) he was the dancer who got it "most right" and seemed to be loving every second of this tiring dance. Link to comment
stinahampton Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 I choose Laura Urguelles of Washington Ballet. Laura and I danced together in Miami Ballet's "Nutcracker", "Juegos del Arte" and Hartford Ballet. She is a true artist and amazing technician. When she portrayed the role of the young girl in "Spectre de la Rose" she had me in tears. Everything I have ever seen her perform has come from her heart. She is truly beautiful from her extensions to her port de bras. I feel she has not been given the recognition she deserves, as so many of us dancers come to experience. Thank you again Bart for praising us dancers from smaller companies. Link to comment
stinahampton Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Bart,I am Christina Hampton and I want to thank you for the beautiful words you wrote about my retirement performance in May 2005 with Ballet Florida. I googled my name today and found your article/blog and had to find a way to tell you how much it meant to me to read the nice things you wrote about such a momentus occasion in my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart... hi Christina, Elizabeth and I were there that night and remember it so well. You are beautiful and an amazing teacher as well. She's at SAB now. She'll be happy to know you are here online. "Mira" ?? I'm wondering if your daughter Elizabeth is the student I worked with privately a few years ago in W. Palm? Please let me know either way... I'm so pleased to hear you were at my retirement performance. I'm glad you got a chance to see my grand finale. Link to comment
mira Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 yes, same one. hope you are doing great. best wishes from both of us. Bart,I am Christina Hampton and I want to thank you for the beautiful words you wrote about my retirement performance in May 2005 with Ballet Florida. I googled my name today and found your article/blog and had to find a way to tell you how much it meant to me to read the nice things you wrote about such a momentus occasion in my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart... hi Christina, Elizabeth and I were there that night and remember it so well. You are beautiful and an amazing teacher as well. She's at SAB now. She'll be happy to know you are here online. "Mira" ?? I'm wondering if your daughter Elizabeth is the student I worked with privately a few years ago in W. Palm? Please let me know either way... I'm so pleased to hear you were at my retirement performance. I'm glad you got a chance to see my grand finale. Link to comment
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