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Kennedy Center Performance


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Yes I meant Alexander Ritter. I'm sorry not to have been more specific. Also, one of the corps dancers looked so much like Cheryl Sladkin, who was featured with Farrell's troupe in The Unanswered Question a couple of years ago, that it took me a couple of minutes to decide it wasn't her. I wonder if Sladkin has a dancing sister.

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Cheryl isn't dancing for Suzanne Farrell right now? Last I saw her (a few weeks ago) she was training, and looked to be in good form. She has such beautiful quality in class, and I'd love to see her perform.It may have been her... I don't really know Cheryl personally...but no sister that I've heard of.

Could someone post a cast list or roster? I'm very curious who's dancing for Ms. Farrell. I'm not going to be able to make it to the performances because I have Nut obligations further North...and I'm very sad I can't make it to DC. I was looking forward to it.

And I would have LOVED to see Alexandra with them.

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For Sarah Kaufman in today's Washington Post, the big news was not Alexandra Ansanelli but the performance of Erin Mahoney-Du in "Clarinade." "A performance like that is what audiences have come to expect from Farrell's troupe. She may not have the world's best dancers, but she works magic with them. So inviting is the prospect of seeing what she can do with Balanchine's choreography that several New York dance critics were at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday, passing up a gala opening of the New York City Ballet."

Of Ansanelli, Kaufman says, "She will likely not appear with Farrell after this run; she has been offered a contract with the Royal Ballet. It is a pity: here is a ballerina who could profit so much from Farrell's ability to cut away the mnnerisms and fluff."

Happy Thanksgiving.

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... several New York dance critics were at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday, passing up a gala opening of the New York City Ballet."...

And Bravo to Mr. Rockwell who (see today's Links) while attending Farrell Ballet gave the best review of Martins Ballet! If his final wish came true, what a cause for Thanksgiving we'd all have:

" Ms. Farrell clearly has something of crucial importance to bring to the preservation of the Balanchine legacy; she has a unique link to him. But for all the real success of much of the program Tuesday, she simply lacks the resources to fulfill her vision. City Ballet has those resources. In utter innocence, I can only wish that Mr. Martins and Ms. Farrell could join forces on terms satisfactory to both. Balanchine would be honored at a level that, right now, neither of them can achieve alone."

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Wednesday evening, Bonnie Pickard brougt her greater delicacy and nuanced dancing to La Source, although she is not the soubrette Kaufman correctly said the part needs, and Alexander Ritter brought more frequent plastic continuity to his part, and so the ballet benefitted. Being cast against type in the demi role may benefit Erin Mahoney-Du; with her l-o-n-g limbs, we see her well even from the balcony when she does make this go, but it was her dancing Tuesday night in the six-minute show-stopper, Clarinade, that was her great success and nearly worth the price of admission by itself, and I thought Natalia Magnicaballi less effective in that.

Shannon Parsley and Runqiao Du were a different, more forcefull and abstract couple in Duo Concertante than Magnicaballi and Prescott had been, with Du in particular clarifying positions which Prescott had left softer, such as the arm sweeps right when they begin to dance in the second number, which originally had the slightest pauses as though suggesting the motion of a clock hand; and the rest of Du's performance was "stretched" and more vivid, which suited his partner's more emphatic execution.

La Valse has the same cast throughout the run, so I will just say I agree with some previous comments and say that Ansanelli doesn't raise the level of the drama in this to the heights of, to cite a favorite example, Deanna Seay with MCB, whatever Ansanelli's other powers - and they are considerable - may be: Judging from this, she doesn't have the powers of dramatic imagination Seay does.

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Cheryl Sladkin's name rings a distant bell. Miami? Anyway, here's the current cast list, from the program:

Principals

Alexandra Ansanelli

Chan Han Goh (On Leave of Absence)

Natalia Magnicaballi

Runqiao Du

Soloists

Erin Mahoney-Du

Shannon Parsley

Bonnie Pickard

Momchil Mladenov

Matthew Prescott

Jared Redick

Alexander Ritter

Corps de Ballet

Erin Ackert

Gina Artese

Amy Brandt

Kristen Gallagher

Elisabeth Holowchuk

Ashley Hubbard

Sara Ivan

Evelyn Kocak

Katelyn Prominski

Lisa Reneau

Parise Sellitti

Lydia Walker

Ilona Wall

Brett Emmons

Ken Guan

James Reed Hague

Andrew Kaminski

Benjamin Lester

Neil Marshall

Eric Ragan

Alfiero Supan

Apprentices

Lauren Fitzpatrick

Kristin Ottestad

Joseph Bunn

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I'm coming back just for a moment to say that I recommend both Sarah Kaufman's review in the Washington Post and John Rockwell's in The New York Times. With their different emphases (although, in hard copy, with the same picture of Clarinade, one which I might not have chosen), they compliment each other, and both reflect the performances well. And yes, Rockwell's attending Farrell's opening instead of NYCB's may well be an apt implied criticism of that company. So those interested in what's going on here, read 'em both. (Where I referred to "previous comments" up above, I meant to include these two reviews as well as kfw's and others.)

The other thing on my mind is J. Russell Sandifer's lighting designs, which show considerable skill along with some overkill. In particular, they keep changing, in the contemporary manner, so that, in La Source, we see the principal woman's variations least well, the male's best, and the ensemble's more than adequately. This seems a pity, because we need to get what we can from the principal women (Parsley or Pickard, depending on the date), and we need to see them.

In fact, in Balanchine, if there's a rule, it's that what the woman does is the most important. It looks as though Sandifer might think that, here at least, soft, delicate dancing needs soft, delicate lighting, with areas of slight shadow, while bold, male dancing needs bold, bright light. With all respect to his ability to produce different not inappropriate lighting schemes, I would disagree, and sugggest that the first thing is to define and show the space in such a way that we can see the dancers dance, without the distraction of frequent changes, sometimes within numbers or movements or to underline things we get already, for example in the big crescendo in Clarinade, when the whole stage, up till then nicely lit by four big overlapping pools of white light, goes bright green until the music subsides again. At least, the dancers remain well illuminated through this.

La Valse became more episodic by this changing, and I'd be happier if one or two schemes could be chosen among the many used here, all of which reveal the dancing; it's the changing that distracts. Sandifer is from Florida State, not the Kennedy Center, which suggests to me that he and Farrell have had opportunity to collaborate, and that she has approved what he has done, so in disagreeing with Herself, I feel I'm out on a limb, but these are the ways the productions strike me. Anyway, it's only possible to disagree with someone who cares about the same thing as you do, right?

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I cannot recall Ansanelli ever having danced LA VALSE at NYCB...since 1998, the role has been the property of Rachel Rutherford & Janie Taylor. Did Alex dance it earlier, while still in corps, or were the DC performances her first?

Did Farrell ever dance the Girl in LA VALSE? In her book she mentions dancing one of the "glove girls" (the Fates, as she calls them) but did she ever dance the principal role?

Jennifer Dunning covered NYCB's opening for the NY TIMES while Rockwell took the DC gig.

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I saw Farrell dance the lead in the second section of La Valse--"the girl". That performance occured towards the end of her career and she didn't have as much sheer power as she had had earlier; but the overall dance-drama built up almost imperceptibly and at the end I found the performance pretty overwhelming. I had assumed she danced the ballet earlier in her career as well, but don't know. (Most of my ballet books continue to live in storage...)

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Drew, I too saw it late in her career. Nobody has ever equalled in my live ballet going Farrell as she dives her hands into those gloves!

But I think I saw a picture of Farrell in La Valse from the 60s in a portfolio in Ballet Review....maybe... But I might be confusing it with one of McBride and Magalanes.

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Farrell was amazing in La Valse. There was an erotic charge as she greeted Death . She felt his presence before she saw him & swooned with his embrace. A willing participant. And, yes, as she dove into the gloves she nearly salivated with delicious greed.

Another astonishing Farrell performance which is vivid in memory.

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Zerbinetta, I totally agree about Suzanne being memorable in La Valse. But that's pretty much the way it was: once you saw her in anything (except the Piano Concerto and maybe her Sugar Plum), she became the gold standard that you can't get out of your head.

But back to this thread (sort of). I would have thought that AA would have made a much better coquette than sleepwalker; I guess she was cast because it's the more "glamour" role. In any event, I'm glad she's dancing some place.

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Watching this little season is one thing, very pleasant as the ballets come into better states of realization and as the dancers progress in their ability to realize them, but trying to write about it while it's going on is like trying to nail jelly to a tree, because everything changes as it goes along. Friday night, Shannon Parsley's second time in La Source as principal was so lovely she had good reason to show the joy she evidently feels in dancing, and Erin Mahoney-Du's second appearance in the demi role, on Saturday afternoon, was similarly improved, with arms - indeed all her movement - usually more supple, as this ballet requires, although she was not Pickard's equal in this part.

In the principal role both times Saturday, however, there were some tentative sequences in Pickard's second variation, flanked by dancing which was full and beautiful. In the afternoon, Pickard's partner was Jared Redick, compact but a little idiosyncratic, but I liked him the best of the four men because he articulated the most clearly the alternating details of his part - like quick turns with limbs held in, then slower ones with limbs extended - within its flow; and Saturday evening, there came the first change from the printed program when Pickard had Momchil Mladenov instead of Alexander Ritter with her. I was interested to see him get a second chance at this, because his first and only scheduled one, Friday evening with Parsley, was often vague, especially in his variations, but this evening there was much clarification and with it enlarged effect, he was again everything his partner needed (as the men nearly always are in this troupe), and dour fellow he often appears to be, he lightened up here, too.

Clarinade continued to be danced with Farrell-like phrasing and bold extensions by Erin Mahoney-Du with Mladenov. Another member of the NYCB Old Audience I met at intermission said, "When you look at her [dance it] you can see Suzanne" although I would add she didn't appear to be imitating, she just danced, large though contained. Magnicaballi gave a very satisfying if more modest account of it, whether with Mladenov onWednesday or with Matthew Prescott Friday and Saturday evening, but she has the disadvantage, for some of us, of the comparison. (In the last of the four sections I perceive in this little ballet, the place where the music cools down and becomes especially "blue" and where the references to marathon dancing appear, Prescott does back flips, landing noisily, behind Mahoney-Du where Mladenov does cartwheels.) This is not a substantial, deep, or intense ballet; Morton Gould's music mostly noodles along fluently without giving Balanchine much instruction or inspiration, and so it's a record of a fun time with his fascinating new star dancer, as Farrell was then. It goes nicely before Duo Concertant, which is a substantial ballet to a substantial score, although a little short by itself. Fortuitously, while the setup across the back of the stage for the 15-piece band (clarinet, saxophones, brass, percussion, and bass) for Clarinade can be accomplished during intermission, only a pause is needed evidently to take it out and set up for the onstage piano-and-violin accompaniment to Duo Concertant.

In Duo Concertant, I have liked best so far Shannon Parsley and Runqiao Du's performance on Saturday afternoon; it was simple, unaffected, clear, and true. Ansanelli's two performances, with Redick, were complicated by character touches added to dancing which projected well by virtue of consistently clear, strong line; Redick completed this matched couple with similar characterisation. (Remarkable how with such a small troupe Farrell consistently presents one matched set after another.) "Characterisation" was not added in the other two couples; it appeared there inherently. Friday night I prefered Ansanelli and Redick overall because of their strength of projection and clarity of articulation even if Redick hadn't quite matched Du's first one, but then Parsley and Du's second, more fully realized one won me over, and is the one I cherish having seen at this point (two more to go, with Magnicaballi and Prescott returning to it).

La Valse continued to come to itself; there are no cast changes, but the cast changes the way it infuses the ballet with its life. In the early waltzes, the couples are Pickard with Redick, Parsley with Prescott, and Magnicaballi with Du; this is low-key climactic casting, that is, each is more satisfying than the one before and benefits from who have preceded them. Magnicaballi, in the third couple, and who then does Sixth Waltz solo, was ravishing. Sometimes, the girls - Erin Ackert, Amy Brandt, and Erin Mahoney-Du - of Second Waltz get a good hand. This has looked quite good, and better and better with each performance, up through Seventh Waltz, and by Saturday afternoon I found it very satisfying ideed.

With The Girl in White's entrance in Eighth Waltz, things get tricky, and by Saturday afternoon, Ansanelli seemed to me to be phrasing so we could see a little better what she does, instead of, say, bending down and up in a blink, which had left me thinking about her abs of steel or maybe titanium instead of how The Girl feels about entering this place made eerie by the foregoing dances. By Saturday evening, though, I noticed that Ansanelli's way of showing character through specific detail was combining well with the choreography: Although she still threw a grin at us from one of her sequences of big jumps before Death's arrival, things like the little start she made when he put his hands on her waist, as though those hands were very cold, and the shy grin which flitted across her lowered face which told us how his offer of the black necklace had registered even though she was turned partly away from him seemed now to be things which arose from within her role and served to enliven it rather than looking added onto and detracting from it. (The hands diving into the gloves noted above came back Friday evening; hmm - I wonder how they all spent Thanksgiving?) Alexander Ritter nobly expressed consideration for her in life and, at the back, with her body draped over his knee, anguish at losing her in death.

Death was another big role for Mladenov - well, not as big as Don Quixote last July - and having seen a formless early stage of it at the open rehearsal Tuesday afternoon, I was even more impressed already that evening by the fullness and chillingly ominous power he brought to it. He begins, of course, to manipulate and control The Girl in White from the back of the stage by his slow, sweeping gestures, making her go from side to side at the front; and later closing in on her, not so much dancing with her as making her dance with him; putting his face into hers, he seems not so much looking at her as into and through her; this was part of the way he conveyed that Death is coldly disinterested in his victim.

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It's very good to read your comments and careful observations, Jack.

As much as I admired Ansanelli's air of innocence and thrilled to the recklessness with which she threw herself into waltzing as the Girl in White, I thought her interpretation was unsettled in puzzling ways. I mentioned earlier that during the rehearsal she was taken aback when Death presented her the black bouquet, and that she'd omitted this reaction during the evening's performance. She showed no reaction again yesterday afternoon either when presented with the bouquet or as she sniffed them while she waltzed. Moments before, she'd at least had a moment's pause when she saw herself in the mirror.

Last night, after having to take extra effort to get the gloves on properly, she gave the flowers a longer look, and she registered concern when she sniffed them, but she had simply smiled when shown her image in the mirror. Mladenov was never creepier than when he skedaddled offstage after letting his partner fall dead from his arms. And Saturday night she really hit the deck.

As for Duo Concertant, I thought Ansanelli all but ruined the first movement by looking down at the piano lid and up in the air as if she was bored. Even she got around to looking at the pianist, she turned her head and eyes toward him in a slow, stagey way, as if he was the next thing in her line of vision, not as if she was interested in what he was doing. It was very odd. She danced it well, a little softer than Magnicaballi, my favorite, and Redick was a fine partner and showed the steps very clearly. Parsley and Du were splendid in the afternoon, except that temperamentally, in my opinion, they aren't matched. She's wonderfully sunny -- she manages to tone that down just enough in La Valse -- while he's more naturally ardent, even brooding. The last movement suited them best in that respect.

In the evening I thought Clarinade had much less impact as danced by Magnicaballi and Prescott. They’d been so very fine in Duo Concertant Tuesday, and they caught the spirit here, but this pas de deux is more about extensions (and off centered balances) than steps, and I thought of Balanchine saying that with tall dancers one can see more. It's hardly their fault, but after seeing the long and tall and marvelously confident Mladenov and Mahoney-Du, they reminded me of children taking on the big kids parts. It was nice to see, when Prescott did back flips where Mladenov does cartwheels, that Farrell gives her dancers the same sort of freedom Balanchine used to allow his dancers to occasionally change steps to what better suits them.

Mahoney-Du, so icily appealing in Clarinade, was a special pleasure again in La Source, radiant and very much at home in the joyous 2nd ballerina role, lacking only the calm center Pickard brought to the part opening night. In the evening she was calmer, and glorious. For her part, Pickard, surely a longtime favorite of anyone who has followed this company, danced with perhaps more authority than ever, with beautifully secure turns and balances.

Gratitude must be flow naturally from joy, and I always feel so grateful after a marvelously danced (and so well balanced) program like this. How fitting it is to have the Farrell company here this Thanksgiving season!

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Thanks for your comments, kfw. You caught a few details I missed, but we seem to agree on many things, like Ansanelli being some of this and some of that. Maybe she has a sense of that herself, a sense of needing to pull together into something, and that led her to seeing whether the nurture she seeks is available at the RB. Martins doesn't have much of a reputation for developing dancers, I believe. And that would explain at least her stopover with Farrell.

Speaking of details, Mladenov did one back flip and one cartwheel this afternoon. Is this a contest, I wonder? And in La Valse today, Ansanelli turned away from Death toward us to react after being offered the necklace and then turned back to him to accept it. I don't remember this part clearly enough from MCB last season to know whether it's her own novelty, as it now looks, or belongs to the part. Anyway, my memory tricked me when I wrote my last post.

One little question occured to me today about Clarinade. The dancers are already "out" when the curtain goes up, Matson, the conductor, is at the back with his back to them, so who cues the musicians? I think Mahoney-Du raises one hand, and the sax players start to play. A nice little expression of Balanchine's regard for Farrell's powers? She started the whole thing.

Yes, I feel thankful, too. Good program, good dancing. People came, and they liked it, too, especially La Valse, judging from the comments I've overheard. Farrell deserves her Honor. She deserves more than that, IMO, but she deserves that.

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I am new to ballet performances and the Washington area (my real love is figure skating, and the skaters I admire most are the more musical, "balletic" ones), and after having read Farrell's autobio, I was excited to have tickets to the rehersal on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. My mom and I went together, and we shared the same opinion of what we saw.

From reading the reviews above, I have to ask myself what I am missing, and I hope that some of you can offer suggestiong that may help me figure it out. I was completely underwhemed by the rehersal. The dancers -- without exception -- seemed unmusical, stiff, and, in the limited amount of other ballet I have seen, I have never heard such loud shoes. I saw nothing beautiful, genuinely expressive, or even impressive. I actually only saw La Source and part of Clarinade, and I was so sorely underwhelmed by that point that I left. I have had experienses in the past where I really have to give things a chance and let them grow on me, and I was/am hoping this will happen. I am hoping that some of you can offer some suggestions for how to let this happen. The performance I saw last month of the Washington Ballet in Serenade, Carmen, and Nine Sinatra songs was wonderful, and I was looking forward to seeing more of Balanchine, because I have read a good deal about him and his ballerinas. I thought La Source seemed like a parody and Clarinade was just sleazy, but not sleazy in a fun, fanciful, or suave way, but just ugly and the kind of thing you think you should look away from. I guess my bottom line is -- I saw absolutely nothing beautiful but many things to offend the senses, from the stiffness of the choreography to the lack of grace of the dancers to the costumes. In writing this, the word I have been trying to avoid because I think it sounds so cruel is "cheap," but I finally think I should just use the word because it sums up my overall impression of the ballets, the choreography, and the costumes. The thing is -- these dancers have to be quite talented to dance for Suzanne Farrell. I just don't understand what I am not seeing, given that so many are impressed and I am so unimpressed!

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It's probably safe to say that nothing should be "judged" from rehearsals. Singers, actors, dancers, musicians all may "mark" at rehearsals, especially if they are saving themselves for a performance that night or the next.

Observations may certainly be made but perhaps not critiqued in a public forum.

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Thank you for the comments, and I too had reservations about "judging" from rehersals. I realize that dancers mark, just as skaters run through programs without jumps or perhaps even compete, fall on jumps, but still make you think that the falls don't matter -- the choreography and musicality was otherwise first rate. I know there is a difference between skating and ballet. But you can see the foundation on which the finished performance will rest. I did not see any of that.

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OKOK--I can't comment on the bit of rehearsal you saw or this run of Farrell Ballet performances, since I didn't see either. But if you enjoyed Serenade with the Washington Ballet, chances are you will in the future find lots more Balanchine to enjoy. No one has ever claimed Clarinade was a major work, so I can't honestly say that I'm shocked that you were underwhelmed by it. Conceivably, if you had already come to admire a lot of Balanchine you might have found it interesting to see something in a "minor" vein... though it sounds as if the general mood of the ballet may not be your cup of tea.

It is also true that once one sees a lot of major ballet companies one realizes that loud point shoes are a recurring problem and sometimes, contrary to expectation, the greatest companies can be the worst. (A lot depends, too, on where one is sitting and the theater acoustics etc.) It's not ideal, but most ballet lovers come to overlook it. This forum actually had an entire thread devoted to the subject recently! I can't do links, but you could probably track it down.

I have always found La Source delightful--it's meant to evoke an earlier, lighter style of classical dancing (French nineteenth-century rather than Russian), but certainly not meant to be a parody. In a musical performance, the second soloist can seem as if she is riding on air. Obviously, I haven't the faintest idea why it struck you the way it did, but I would echo what others have said about the dangers (and unfairness) of making judgements based on rehearsals. I would particularly emphasize that Farrell's company is something in the nature of a laboratory rather than an institution: it doesn't have a long performing season or a school. These dancers aren't rehearsing roles they have known for years or even been watching others dance for years. So watching a rehearsal may be a little like tasting fruit that isn't quite ripe (as opposed to watching a skater "run through" a program without jumps). I assume that makes Farrell's rehearsals all the more fascinating for some watchers--those who are curious about the process of developing the performances--but it may make them less approachable for others, especially if they haven't seen much ballet to begin with. Of course, I'm just speculating--but I thought you sounded sincerely baffled by the gap between your experience and that of others, so I thought I would give it a try.

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For me, one of the pleasures of seeing the Farrell company in Washington is coming home and reading the comments of others, thereby reliving the experience. La Source was the least successful, I think. I was also disappointed in Morton Gould's music for Clarinade. After all, Benny Goodman was the King of Swing, and this score didn't swing. But I could certainly see Suzanne in the part. Duo Concertant went well with all three casts. Ansanelli was very moving in La Valse and Mladenov was the most creepy death figure since Francisco Moncion.

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OKOK, I'm not a Washingtonian, so I don't know if the Washington Ballet's rehearsals are ever open, but it might be worth a try to see one and then see one of the later performances, as the dancers become seasoned in their roles.

Another experiment you might try if you can is to see different casts in the same program (when I did this, it quickly sensitized me to qualities of performance) even though it might seem a little extravagant in comparison with seeing two different programs once each. I notice you're quite engaged, I mean involved, with what you see, and that's good. I'd say, experiment as you can, whatever way seems promising at the time, and something will come of that engagement.

I was at the Tuesday rehearsal, too, and noticed quite a lot of "marking"; sometimes a sequence danced full would be followed by one "marked" and then another one full, or one dancer would mark while their partner danced full. You didn't say whether you'd seen many rehearsals, so maybe part of it was not adjusting to all these changes and differences.

Getting the right distance from the stage matters, too. (Now I'm going to indulge myself a little more and relive seeing the last performances while seated at my computer.) What a difference five rows can make! From this much closer to the stage the program seemed so much better on Sunday night. The biggest improvement for me came in Duo Concertant; it's not a ballet I expect to be ravished in, but Magnicaballi's deliciously clear and supple dancing made it that, and I enjoyed Du's admirable combination of articulation and flow in La Source much more than on Tuesday, too, not to mention his quiet landings. I think the subtle virtues of these two dancers just don't carry well. Shannon Parsley was triumphant - large, full, gleaming - in the principal role in La Source, with Pickard's superb demi. (There was nothing tentative about Pickard in the principal role at the matinee.)

I enjoyed the fun of Clarinade yet again, and noticed that Matson, not Mahoney-Du, cues the musicians, contrary to what I thought I had noticed. (Oops!) And La Valse just seemed more present, for the most part, as it would be from the right distance; as for Ansanelli, her tendency to draw attention to herself and her little novelties (and away from what she is dancing) was the more visible, too.

Cheryl Sladkin note: In a display case in the foyer of the Eisenhower Theatre, along with Holly Hynes's costume for the principal woman in Tzigane were some small photos of Farrell's company, including one of Sladkin in "The Unanswered Question" from Ivesiana. Back home now, I don't find her name on the MCB roster. (Another oops.) But remember Google.

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Thank you for all the helpful comments and suggestions. I not only want to see more ballet but to continue learning more about it as well, and I have taken your opinions and suggestions to heart for future (as well as current!) reference.

Natalie

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I went on Tuesday November 22 and sat in the boxes. Contrary to every review that I've read, I really liked La Source. So many times the Suzanne Farrell Ballet programming is serious-tragic -- it was nice just to have fun with La Source. I felt that Clarinade was a mixed bag. Ms. Mahoney-Du did a great job with an underwhelming score -- I wonder if it swung a bit more when Benny Goodman played. Duo Concertant was the evening's highlight for me. Well-matched partners and an amazing Stravinsky piece. I must confess that I got tired during La Valse (long day at work) and mostly appreciated the costumes and the mass movement rather than the principals. I'm so glad to have this Balanchine-based company in DC, although I wouldn't mind seeing what Ms. Farrell could do with Bejart.

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