Nutcracker Season

[oberon]

Review in today's NY TIMES of the Abi/Adrian D-W and the Ashley/Amar performances with a striking photo of the latter couple.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/24/arts/dance/24ball.html

I read the review of Ashley & Amar with a certain satisfaction; it's almost as if the reviewer came to Ballet Talk last night and paraphrased what I wrote about the performance.

On the other hand, it could simply be that their performance was every bit as satisfying as I thought it was.

[bobbi]

Jacqueline, I am happy to report that Andrew Veyette turned in a very fine performance as the cavalier, both as a partner for Megan and dancing in his own right. As a matter of fact, I was especially impressed with his own solo work. Whereas Amar in yesterday afternoon's performance seemed to run out of steam in his own set of menages around the stage, Andrew's turns were impressive for their height and speed; it was a really bravura solo.

As far as yesterday goes, I concur with all that Oberon said (especially about Ashley), and would only add that Tess Reichlin's performance as Coffee was absolutely stunning; in fact, it was the best I'd seen since Wilhemnia Frankfurt way back in the 70s. And despite a spill, Sterling Hyltin made a strong debut as Dewdrop; that 1,000 watt smile (evidencing the sheer joy of dancing) that so impressed me years ago at the SAB Workshop performance was back in spades.

[oberon]

It's good to read of Andrew Veyette's success, bobbi...I think he is one of the most interesting dancers now stepping out from the corps ranks. He has a clean technique, and manages to combine elegance with an all-American naturalness. Hope he gets lots more opportunities.

[Michael]

Good for Sterling Hyltin to remember that Ashley Bouder also fell flat on her face (one of the hardest falls I've ever seen) in her first Dewdrop three or four years ago. It was in a balance in arabesque towards the end of the first third. She fell forward.

[oberon]

In her Dancer on Dancer interview with Golbin, Bouder talks about her many falls onstage. One especially goofy one was in the televised MERCURIAL MANOUEVRES

a few years ago where she wasn't doing anything difficult but suddenly landed on her butt. Hyltin should not feel discouraged, she joins the ranks of recent fallers who include Fairchild, Borree, Meunier, Ansanelli, and even the normally ultra-stable Wendy Whelan. These things just happen, and can happen to anyone. I am never shocked when people fall; on the contrary, I'm surprised at how rarely it actually happens...considering how fast and intricate many combinations are.

[ViolinConcerto]

In her Dancer on Dancer interview with Golbin, Bouder talks about her many falls onstage. One especially goofy one was in the televised MERCURIAL MANOUEVRES

a few years ago where she wasn't doing anything difficult but suddenly landed on her butt. Hyltin should not feel discouraged, she joins the ranks of recent fallers who include Fairchild, Borree, Meunier, Ansanelli, and even the normally ultra-stable Wendy Whelan. These things just happen, and can happen to anyone. I am never shocked when people fall; on the contrary, I'm surprised at how rarely it actually happens...considering how fast and intricate many combinations are.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I made a comment about houw Balanchine would be proud of Bouder's falls: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...ndpost&p=170974

The important thing is to give your ALL!

[carbro]

Gelsey Kirkland was a peerless dancer (IMO) and a chronic faller. I have a knack for choosing favorite dancers who tend to forget that earth has a gravitational pull. Good for them!

[oberon]

LOL, carbro...yes, gravity can be a nuisance! I remember my idol Merrill Ashley crashing to the floor during DIVERT #15. At the time, I thought it was the end of the world.

[GeorgeB fan]

Obviously the audience nor the dancer wish to slip and fall during a performance. Mainly for two things: 1) It destroy the flow of the choreography and more important 2) One slip or misstep could and has ended the career of a ballet dancer forever. But the thing I love the most is the reaction of us the audience to that dancer who falls. If he or she gets up all most at once and finish the movement we greet them with a huge applaud of encouragment as telling them, "we still love you and we admire that fact that you continue on despite your slip!" Because unlike an actor who forgets a line of dialogue in the theater or a singer who forgets a lyric in concert, if they are clever enough, they could cover it without the audience noiticing it. But if a dancer messing up - BOOM - they are right on the floor, no chance of covering up that mistake from the audience and you know the dancer must feel embarras. So when the audience shower that dancer with applauds hopefully in our small way we give the dancer in question a sense of understanding and respect for the exceptionally hard work it takes to give the audience the illusion that what they are doing is effortless when in fact it isn't!

[carbro]

In the documentary about the first Jackson competition, Jacques d'Amboise interviewed the then 13-year old Katherine Healy, who had been given a special waiver to compete in the senior division (where she won a gold medal). He asked her about the spill she took during the final round Don Q pdd (during the fouettes, if I remember correctly). After a momentary puzzled expression crossed her baby face, she replied, "Oh, that! I just slipped." What poise!

[zerbinetta]

Every ballerina I've ever loved dearly has fallen from time to time.

My take on this has always been that a dancer who never falls is a dancer who doesn't take chances.

[Lana]

Every ballerina I've ever loved dearly has fallen from time to time.

My take on this has always been that a dancer who never falls is a dancer who doesn't take chances.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I once saw Judy Fugate take a fall in Who Cares, during her solo. She was right near the curtain and it happened at the end. She got up, and leaned on the curtain, which really worked in this number anyway. She clung to it in a way that made everyone cheer.

I fell once doing fouttes center stage. I bounced up like a cat....but I was devastated. My teacher, former NYCBer Frank Ohman smiled and patted me on the back. He said: "You went for it. I liked it."

[oberon]

December 28 @ 6:00

By this point in the season, the corps must be sick to death of the party, of being mice, or of getting that yucky snow on your lipstick. But you'd never guess it; everyone seemed pretty vibrant. The Snow scene has been especially well-danced this season. Earlier in Act I Austin Laurent was a very fine soldier doll.

Jemifer Ringer's the vision of a sugar plum dancing in your head; that such a beautiful woman is also such a beautiful dancer seems like an abundance of good fortune. Tonight all the gracious, womanly qualities and the lovely refinements of gesture & expression that make Ringer such a pure joy to watch were amply on display. The divertissement led off with Gwyneth Muller & Amar Ramasar as a very attractive Spanish couple, followed by a quite remarkable Arabian from Melissa Barak - vibrantly danced, she seemed to make a real connection with the audience. Vincent Paradiso, whose presence I have been enjoying since he joined the Company, was a very breezy & high-bouncing Tea while Adam Hendrickson gave a deluxe Candy Cane, as befits one of the Company's most skilled and interesting dancers. I love Carrie Lee Riggins and have since I first set eyes on her; her lyrical Marzipan well expressed the joy of dancing. The beautiful blondes, Beskow & Rutherford, led the Waltz, and Ashley Bouder blazed through the Dewdrop's coloratura phrases with carefree brilliance, the Bouder smile generously bestowed on her attendant Flowers and on us, the fortunate viewers. Splendid Bouder night! Ringer and Philip Neal then crowned the evening with a beautifully phrased, deeply musical adagio. Jenifer's luminous final balance drew a shower of applause from the full house. Wonderful moment to cap her success.

[Drew]

I was at the performance Oberon just described, and wanted to add a few words about how wonderful Ringer was as the Sugar Plum Fairy. The role suits her temperament perfectly. At this performance her warmth and graciousness just filled the stage and her dancing seemed the perfect -- lucid and natural -- expression of those qualities. When the little angels followed after her early in the second act they seemed like so many emanations of her presence.

I have not seen this production more than a half-a-dozen times, though usually with strong casts, and this was the first time I saw the pas de deux danced without a moment of residual awkwardness. But that is perhaps the least I could say. Ringer danced with a combination of classical authority and freedom that not only brought the second act to a gorgeous climax, but that seemed to draw the ballet towards further reaches of feeling and beauty--something promised, I always think, by the music, but very rarely achieved. One shoudl give credit , too, to her cavalier Philip Neal.

Reading over what I've written, I'm a little bit embarrassed, but will let it stand, because I really thought this was a great performance.

[carbro]

Cannot imagine why you might be embarrassed, Drew. A gorgeous and evocative review! Ringer is a great fave of mine, as is Bouder. I could slap myself for not having gone.

[sparklesocks]

In the documentary about the first Jackson competition, Jacques d'Amboise interviewed the then 13-year old Katherine Healy, who had been given a special waiver to compete in the senior division (where she won a gold medal). He asked her about the spill she took during the final round Don Q pdd (during the fouettes, if I remember correctly). After a momentary puzzled expression crossed her baby face, she replied, "Oh, that! I just slipped." What poise!

Nice! Totally off topic, but how old is Healy now? A few years ago I read a bit about her skating on line, had some pics of a lovely "spiral" (penche)...maybe I should do a search in here on her name...

[kfw]

Drew, thanks for not censoring yourself. Descriptions like that aren't just the next best thing to being there, they make being there the next time all the richer. Keep on posting!

[Helene]

Totally off topic, but how old is Healy now?  A few years ago I read a bit about her skating on line, had some pics of a lovely "spiral" (penche)...maybe I should do a search in here on her name...

She's listed in imdb for her role in Six Weeks, and the site lists her birthday as January 26, 1969.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0372341/?fr=c2l...PTE_;fc=1;ft=20

Now, back to the topic at hand

[Mme. Hermine]

Pretty sure Katherine is about 35 or 36; her birthday is in January.

Actually she won a junior medal; the waiver she had was to compete at all, if I remember rightly, as the minimum age was 14. Will check, though. She won the silver medal; the gold was won by Gina Gail Hyatt of West Germany.

Apologies for being so OT; in an effort to get closer to it, I did see Katherine in NYCB's Nutcracker when she was ten years old....