Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 17, 2017 at 4:09:11 PM EST (notification date) @cobweb posted Agreeing with abatt (as I often do) that Lovette needs additional work on Aurora. I'm not sure whose fault that fishdive was, Lovette or Garcia, but it was very unfortunate. Also I enjoyed Miriam Miller way more than I have previously. I've felt they're pushing her beyond what she's ready for, but last night she was lovely, and the effect of those endless arms and legs unfurling themselves was beautiful. Emily Kikta was terrific as Diamond. More of her, please! Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 16, 2017 at 8:20:23 AM EST (notification date) @canbeltoposted: Joseph Gordon made a very welcome return to the stage as the Gold variation. Of the four Golds I've seen, no two variations have had any similarity to each other. But Gordon's clean multiple pirouettes and carriage set him apart from the other Golds (Finlay, Janzen, and Catazaro), who all seemed to be improvising their variations. Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 17, 2017 at 4:03:54 PM EST (notification date) @Kathleen O'Connell replied: Glad to see Gordon is back and in fine form. Here's some more NYCB SB "flash footage" — Sterling Hyltin's Act I entrance: http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?app=core&module=system&controller=embed&url=https://twitter.com/nycballet/status/832342772237627392 I'm glad to see King Florestan whisked his cape out of Aurora's path just in time! If you're interested in a compare / contrast, here's a link to NYCB's SB repertory page, where you'll find a video of Ashley Bouder's Act I entrance: http://www.nycballet.com/ballets/s/the-sleeping-beauty.aspx Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 17, 2017 at 5:01:56 PM EST (notification date) @Emma replied: And Tiler Peck's here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/08/arts/dance/sleeping-beauty-new-york-city-ballet.html Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 17, 2017 at 5:11:28 PM EST (notification date) @cobweb posted: Just watched the video of Joseph Gordon. He looks beautiful and so at ease! Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 17, 2017 at 9:44:32 PM EST (notification date) @Drew posted: The footage of Peck, Bouder, and Hyltin making Aurora's entrance makes me wish I could have seen every one of those performances - Hyltin though seems especially wonderful. Truly Aurora down to her fingertips and at once so natural looking AND such a ballerina. Loved the footage of Gordon too; if he develops the presence to go with the dancing...could be a super WOW career. (It may already be there live--on video he still reads a little young to me as indeed I think he is.) Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 14, 2017 at 12:37:03 PM EST (notification date) @canbelto posted: I also noticed that the SB's I went to went way over the web official "running time." The evening was closer to 2 hrs, 40 min. The score is being played slower than I remember it in previous revivals, especially in the Vision Scene. It's all to the good although it does make a rather long evening. Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 14, 2017 at 3:35:28 PM EST (notification date) @DC Export posted, Thought this was a very useful article for anyone else who is also not as familiar with the ballet plot of Sleeping Beauty. Really found the literary background and interpretation of the divertissements helpful! http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/29/arts/dance-view-who-s-that-bluebird-and-who-s-that-white-cat.html Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 14, 2017 at 4:50:58 PM EST (notification date) @lmspearposted: Thank you for the link. Tangentially, I've often wondered what happens to the four princes from the party scene. Does the Lilac Fairy send them home or on to further adventures, or does she put them to sleep along with everybody else? Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 14, 2017 at 4:50:58 PM EST (notification date) @Kathleen O'Connell replied: What happens in Florestan's castle stays in Florestan's castle. Or maybe, The first rule of Prince Club is you don't talk about Prince Club. Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 14, 2017 at 5:46:13 PM EST (notification date) @sandikreplied: Oh snap! Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 14, 2017 at 6:43:11 PM EST (notification date) @lmspear replied: Good answer!!! Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 This isn't part of the original thread, but I'm interjecting here, because it makes more sense in this context. I love @Kathleen O'Connell's answer! I did want to note what happens in the Ronald Hynd version that PNB dances. At the end of Act I, the Princes -- I think all -- draw swords to try to fight off Carabosse's minions -- if I'm recalling correctly, at least a couple run offstage after them -- but one of them is stabbed to death and collapses on the floor downstage left, and the court is put to sleep behind him. After Prince Desire fights his way to the palace and assesses the scene there, he comes upon the dead Prince. One PNB dancer in particular, Batkhurel Bold, facing upstage, conveyed both the assessment and the shock of that discovery in a short, but potent moments. Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 13, 2017 at 2:34:28 PM EST (notification date) @cobwebposted Forgot to ask -- it looked like some kind of netting was over much of the orchestra pit. Does anyone know what that is for? Also, can anyone more knowledgeable than I parse the translation of the title: La Belle au Bois Dormant is what's listed in the program notes. Shouldn't this be translated as The Beauty in the Sleeping Woods? If dormant modified la belle, wouldn't it be dormante? Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 13, 2017 at 2:40:38 PM EST (notification date) @E Johnson replied, I assumed the netting was to try to hold back some of the dry ice/mist during the vision scene so the instruments would stay in tune until intermission. Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 13, 2017 at 3:07:09 PM EST (notification date) @abatt replied: I thought the nettting over the orchestra pit related to the projections on the scrim. Without the netting, the light in the orchestra pit would interfere with the projected images. Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 13, 2017 at 5:23:37 PM EST (notification date) @kbarber replied: I would have thought that netting over the pit is safety netting to prevent stuff (swords etc.) rolling or flying off the stage onto the musicians. A safety net is standard practice in Toronto. Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 14, 2017 at 3:01:31 PM EST (notification date) @Jane Simpson replied, It's also standard at the Royal Opera House in London, and can catch more than just props - in the hunting scene in Sleeping Beauty one night a few years ago, David Drew was playing the Prince's tutor and in the bit where he is blindfolded and twirled around he became disoriented and walked straight off the front of the stage. He was, let's say, no longer either young or slender but the net held him and he was hauled back on stage and the performance went on. I believe he used the back-stage tannoy in the next interval to apologise to the orchestra for giving them such a fright - could have been avery unpleasant accident without the net! Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 13, 2017 at 6:11:32 PM EST (notification date) @Kathleen O'Connell posted: If I recall correctly, the netting over the orchestra is there to reduce the light from the pit so that it doesn't interfere with the projections. Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 14, 2017 at 12:20:52 PM EST (notification date) @nanushka replied [in response to cobweb's second question]: I've always thought that aspect of the title refers to the fact that not only Aurora but her whole isolated world falls asleep and that a forest of sorts grows up around them. I forget where, but I recall finding the latter detail in one telling of the story. (And I think it used to be evoked in the Gelsey Kirkland ABT production, where former attempted suitors were shown hanging dead on the vines.) This is all based on inference and foggy recollection, though, so may well be mistaken. Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 13, 2017 at 6:04:57 PM EST (notification date) @cobweb posted: If anyone hears official news of this year’s Levin Award, please let us know! Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 14, 2017 at 3:59:23 PM EST (notification date) @cobweb posted: Thanks to all for the answers to my questions about the netting and the title translation! I'm not sure if the news about this year's Levin Award honoree is official or not. When do they make the announcement? Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 14, 2017 at 3:59:23 PM EST (notification date) @sonatina1234 replied: I am pretty sure it is Claire Kretzschmar? Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 14, 2017 at 3:59:23 PM EST (notification date) @Emma replied: It's publicly listed on the invitation for the Annual Luncheon. Link to comment
Helene Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 February 14, 2017 at 4:04:29 PM EST (notification date) @cobweb posted: So I see! And now she's listed on the website as this year's winner as well (although they've misspelled her name, missing the "s".) I'm surprised! I was assuming Indiana Woodward, or, with Miriam Miller doing the Siren and Lilac Fairy, her. But it's all good. I wonder if promotions will be announced soon. There's so much talent, it's a little troubling to think that so many amazing dancers will spend their career in the corps. If Woodward and Unity Phelan wind up being long-term corps members, I would be really troubled. Link to comment
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