PNB class livestream

[Drew]

I have done a few searches under PNB and under the broadcasting/livestream forums and not found mention of this broadcast--that seems like it can't be right but I thought I would post or re-post as case may be.  This livestream of a class led by Peter Boal happened about a week ago and I was finally able to watch it on youtube over last night and this--I very much enjoyed it and would be happy, too, to listen to Peter Boal discuss fifth position for an entire 90 minutes. (Also if anyone can identify the woman in the green leotard I'd be grateful. I think I have her identified correctly from her picture on the company website, but am not sure. My eye had been caught by how she used her head during barre.)

Anyway here is the link:

 

[Helene]

Is she the dancer at the barre in the middle of the room wearing a dark sweater when the class began and then the sweater around her waist?  Her leotard looks aqua on my monitor: the only top that looks green on my monitor is Benjamin Griffiths sleeveless one.

If so, that's Cecilia Iliesiu, whose is called Ceci, although I'm not sure of the spelling.  Peter Boal calls her Ceci when he makes a short remark to her at some point.

She is a remarkable dancer.  I got to see a studio rehearsal last week, and she was one of the demis (edited) corps in Theme and Variations.*  Her back was so live.  I never see dancers that close in the theater, and it was fascinating to see what she was doing up close, because I typically see the beautiful translation for a distance.

This was about half of the company, and the dancers had a break after A Midsummer Night's Dream in April.  

*I need to see this ballet more often.

Edited June 9, 2019 by Helene
Corrected error

[seattle_dancer]

I think Drew is talking about Ceci as well.  She is standing behind Steven Loch wearing a white t-shirt and gray pants when on the first side.

Looks like green leo with dark blue long sleeved tee and pink tights over leo.

I saw her in a studio rehearsal the year she joined there were a lot of new Corp dancers but she definitely stood out.

She is my favorite Coffee in Balanchine’s Nutcracker because her interpretation is the most true to the music.  Some dancers show more flexibility or jump higher, but that does not convey the music and feeling to me.

I had to work during the livestream and still haven’t had a chance to watch it all the way through.  I’ve taken a few peeks though.  My curiosity was piqued by this post!

[Drew]

Thank you both—yes! from her photo on the website I had been thinking probably Cecilia Iliesu though I wasn’t sure. 

[Helene]

Iliesiu came from Carolina Ballet, where she had been a soloist.  She had a major health challenge soon after she joined PNB:  she was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre, an auto-immune disease, which she wrote about on her blog.  You would not know it watching her dance since her return, but it is such a privilege to have her back.

PNB did a run of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in April, the finest single overall run I've ever seen.  In it, each performance of the lovers was fully realized and individual, and there were multiple casts.  Among the finest of the finest was Iliesiu's Helena:  watching her, you knew the role was not only made for a NYCB principal, but an especially singular dancer, in this case Jillana, who is unforgettable in the "Liebeslieder Walzer" excerpt in the PBS Balanchine bio.  Iliesiu was the emotional center of the first act.  That she would own Hippolyta in other performances was a given.  I can't think of a single featured performance of hers in which she has not danced way above her pay grade.

There's a video of her doing several excerpts from when she was at Carolina Ballet.  Filmed onstage as Myrtha, I can only light candles that she is cast as Myrtha in the revival of PNB's "Giselle" production next season.  There are so many things to love about her performance, like the way she pushes out of the jump landings in the opening of the variation to keep the arc of the phrase, and the clarity in the ending diagonal are two of them for me:

 

 

[Drew]

1 hour ago, Helene said:

Iliesiu came from Carolina Ballet, where she had been a soloist.  She had a major health challenge soon after she joined PNB:  she was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre, an auto-immune disease, which she wrote about on her blog.  You would not know it watching her dance since her return, but it is such a privilege to have her back.

 

One knows that dancers are tough but a huge"WOW!" from me on reading Iliesu's blog entry on Gullain-Barre:

"My mind knew the mechanics of a plié, but my muscles had no idea what to do. I commanded my legs to bend over my knees, but there was no connection. I had to be taught a plié like it was my very first ballet class ..." 

I have never seen PNB live--hope to do so at some point. I will be in Seattle in early January for work but unfortunately, that will be post-Nutcracker and pre-Cinderella.