NYCB Dancer @ Vail

[cassieallison]

I don't know if any of you are watching Vail's virtual festival this coming week, but I really enjoyed Opening Night. I was especially taken with Unity Phelan in Apollo with ABT's Calvin Royal.

[pherank]

10 hours ago, cassieallison said:

I don't know if any of you are watching Vail's virtual festival this coming week, but I really enjoyed Opening Night. I was especially taken with Unity Phelan in Apollo with ABT's Calvin Royal.

Thanks for the reminder, Cassieallison - I downloaded the videos but didn't have time to watch all that last night. Looks like they were generous with the amount of footage.

Edited August 2, 2020 by pherank

[BalanchineFan]

I've also been enjoying the Vail Festival offerings. The interview with Heather Watts, Damian Woetzel and Unity Phelan and Calvin Royale III was very illuminating. I found Heather particularly inspiring, talking about how dancers should dance "like themselves" and develop their own responses to the music and choreography, rather than copying what earlier dancers have done. She's saying this as someone who coaches younger dancers in roles she has performed, not as a way of throwing out existing (masterpiece level) choreography.

[Quiggin]

Last day – hours – to watch the Ratmansky/Boccherini Fandango rechoreographed for Roman Mejia. At 1:10:30 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCgq_e-1O84

[Jack Reed]

Like pherank was, I'm glad for the reminder, Quiggin.  I haven't seen the whole video yet either, but it's always at least interesting to see how Ratmansky hears.

I have major issues with the busy, complicated camerawork, though.  To show us one dancer dancing?  Really?  But an advantage of a video is that we can study it in repetition, and get more of the dance. 

I prefer a plain, calm, straight-on, center-seat approach, like Ballet Arizona has been showing us, for one example, and I'm sorry that another dance organization, Vail, seems to feel the need to overdo it.  Way overdo it.