NYC Ballet Fans, part 2

E

emason

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,797
Sigh, all this talk is making me wish I had gotten tickets to something, anything. Alas, my schedule is packed (with a lot of nothing, I might add) at the moment. Please keep the reports coming.
 
E

emason

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,797
Rob said:
New Yorkers should go see Mariinsky at BAM in January. But don't see Ratmansky's Cinderella.

Uliana Lopatkina is coming. She is doing this in DC the week after they leave NY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T2UeKKac-s
Click to expand...

If only the seating at BAM weren't so awful. I pass up a lot things there because of the seating issues. The theatre really needs a renovation. I am more apt to go to the opera there; I can always hear the singers, even if I can't see what is happening on stage, but I'm keeping the Mariinsky in the back of my mind in case I change my mind.
 
Marge_Simpson

Marge_Simpson

Well-Known Member
Messages
6,371
Some random ballet stuff-

The dance exhibit at FIT (which is FREE) closes on Saturday, so if you haven't seen it already, please do! I went back for a second look this past weekend, and I have a question for dancers, or those in teknik. The Fanny Elssler items were my favorites, and they have a pair of her toes shoes there. Not your typical shoes, they are a lovely teal green color. But! There is no box or shank in them. The sign said so, but I couldn't believe this, so I actually crouched down on the floor to verify this for myself. So my question is, how did she ever manage to go on pointe in these things????
A few months ago I was in GCS late at night, and there was a photo shoot going on. (not an unusual occurence in there) Since I have a nosy nature, I hung around to see what was up, they were doing shots of women in tutus. I could see the ladies were actual ballerinas (not models in tutus) but I didn't recognize any of them, so they weren't from ABT or NYCB. My curiosity got the batter of me, and I asked one of the people in charge who they were. Turns out they were from NY Ballet Theatre, who I haven't seen in at least 10 years. I just got the 92nd Street Y's catalog for 2015, and they will be performing there Jan 9-11. I'm going to see them on the 9th.
The performance space at the Y is really tiny, even smaller than the one at the Guggenheim, which is a plus for me - you can really sit up close and see every detail. The only drawback is they don't have a sprung floor there, so there's a lot of loud clip-clopping.
Last random thing - I just got a ticket for RDB at the Joyce, for Friday Jan 16. is anyone else planning to go?
 
E

emason

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,797
I'm going to RDB, but on Weds. the 14th. We will have to compare notes after we have both been.

Saw the Trocks twice; I enjoyed both programs, but thought Program B was the definite winner over Program A. Chase
Johnsey's Kitri was amazing; s/he knocked it out of the park.

Also went to the simulcast of the Bolshoi's Nutcracker. Loved it. Best Drosselmeyer I think I have ever seen.

How was Alvin Ailey?
 
kwanfan1818

kwanfan1818

RIP D-10
Messages
39,632
I just looked up NY Theatre Ballet's rep that you're going to see:

Richard Alston / A Rugged Flourish
Matthew Neenan / Game Two
Jerome Robbins / Rondo
Pam Tanowitz / Short Memory
Sallie Wilson / Pas de Deux from Romeo & Juliet
​
New York Theatre Ballet is a terrific small company. When Sallie Wilson was alive, she stage Tudor for them, while ABT neglected their legacy rep. The AD, Diana Byer, was a student of Margaret Craske, who taught in the affiliated school. They've had a community outreach program since at least the '80's, serving kids who couldn't afford ballet lessons, something to which Byer has been fiercely committed. So, yay!

The 92nd Street Y is just around the corner from my old apartment :)
 
Rob

Rob

Beach Bum
Messages
15,502
Marge_Simpson said:
Some random ballet stuff-

The dance exhibit at FIT (which is FREE) closes on Saturday, so if you haven't seen it already, please do! I went back for a second look this past weekend, and I have a question for dancers, or those in teknik. The Fanny Elssler items were my favorites, and they have a pair of her toes shoes there. Not your typical shoes, they are a lovely teal green color. But! There is no box or shank in them. The sign said so, but I couldn't believe this, so I actually crouched down on the floor to verify this for myself. So my question is, how did she ever manage to go on pointe in these things????
Click to expand...
Strong toes and ankles, and not for very long.
 
Marge_Simpson

Marge_Simpson

Well-Known Member
Messages
6,371
Ailey was fantastic, as always!
I think the new piece, "Odetta" is destined to become a classic just like "Revelations"

I will go out on a limb and make a prediction regarding ABT: based on the ABT Studio Company performance I saw recently, and the depletion of men in the company, Aran Bell will be in ABT by the time their spring season starts. If not as a corps member, at least as an apprentice.
 
Last edited:
kwanfan1818

kwanfan1818

RIP D-10
Messages
39,632
Except for the part that chances are about 97.6% that he will languish there and leave.

I hope he goes to Europe where he'll be appreciated.
 
Marge_Simpson

Marge_Simpson

Well-Known Member
Messages
6,371
I was just looking at the Scandinavia House website for upcoming films, and found a nice surprise for ballet fans: there will be a free lecture on Bournonville on Monday the 12th, at 6:30 PM. The website says they will reference the pieces the RDB will be performing at the Joyce. (I'm at work at the moment, and upon reading this, immediately put in a request to be off that evening)
I'm not sure from the info on the website if any of the dancers will appear at the lecture, but this sounds like an excellent evening.
Info is here:

http://www.scandinaviahouse.org/programs_lectures_literary_upcoming.html
 
kwanfan1818

kwanfan1818

RIP D-10
Messages
39,632
Live stream from the Bavarian State Ballet if Paquita starts 9am pST and noon EST.

It was reconstructed from the Stepanov notations from 1994. All but five minutes from the notations.
 
Marge_Simpson

Marge_Simpson

Well-Known Member
Messages
6,371
I was really impressed with NYTB. They have more performances coming up, info here:

http://nytb.org/calendar-and-tickets/view/Dance-on-a-Shoestring/

2 soloists and 1 corps member from NYCB were sitting right behind me (I won't name names) and I kept hearing them mutter things like "Oh, that's Cecchetti" and "Well, the arms are really different" to each other. Like they were doing a comparison between Balanchine and Cecchetti. Funny!
 
Marge_Simpson

Marge_Simpson

Well-Known Member
Messages
6,371
When I saw NYTB at the Y recently, Diana Byer mentioned this.... their former home is being turned into apartments, but she said they were warmly welcomed downtown. I like this comany a lot, and plan to see them again.
 
Rob

Rob

Beach Bum
Messages
15,502
I am seeing Washington Ballet's Sleepy Hollow tonight. With Septime Weber choreo, it should be gimmicky fun.
 
E

emason

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,797
Rob said:
I am seeing Washington Ballet's Sleepy Hollow tonight. With Septime Weber choreo, it should be gimmicky fun.
Click to expand...


Report, please.

I've been to NYCB twice recently. I saw a mesmerizing Goldberg Variations on a double-bill with an underwhelming Concerto Barocco. Dare I use the word under-rehearsed (usually reserved for ABT) for NYCB? Something was seriously amiss with CB.

Last night was Hallelujah Junction, which I enjoyed, mainly because I had never seen it before, so it was something new. It was also let's give the corp kids a chance night. Unfortunately they were not up to the demands of Tarantella; last night's was insipid to say the least. The corps did much better with an enjoyable Interplay. The evening ended with a good outing of Glass Pieces, although GP to me never seems to have the stunning visceral punch it did in its first season.

Lastly, I saw Ballet 422, the documentary about the making of one of Justin Peck's ballets in 2013. A real dance insider who has seen it all and done it all would probably be bored, but a no teknik fan like me would enjoy it. I love seeing backstage glimpses into the creative process. Did I know costume designers worry about whether fabric pills? I never think about stuff like that when I am at a performance, so I really enjoyed the film.
 
Rob

Rob

Beach Bum
Messages
15,502
OMG, Sleepy Hollow alternated between boring and cheesy. The dancers always look great, but the production was just not my thing. Septime always tends to be gimmicky & repetitive, but this was ballet at its lowest common denominator. There were a few cute scenes, but then he was unable to weave the choreography and the story seamlessly -- so every so often the story stopped, and we had a bravura variation or corps de ballet scene out of a classic ballet. I have not read the Legend of Sleepy Hollow since high school, but Septime explained at the beginning that Irving dropped in historical references that you'd have to research independently to fill in background. So Septime started with the Salem Witch Trials, then moved to young Ichabod Crane who was obsessed by a book about the Salem Witch Trials, then Sleepy Hollow. The Headless Horseman was a British soldier who was beheaded by 15-year old Ichabod after the soldier killed Ichabod's Minuteman father. He dropped in his own references to other ballets (dead Salem witches doing a Bayadere Kingdom of the Shades-style entrance, lots of Giselle wilis scenes with Ichabod as Albrecht/Hilarion) and pop culture (complete with a scene right out of Raiders of the Lost Ark!). Huge wire dancer-powered horses that looked to be out of a Don Q production. Strobe lights everytime the horseman beheaded someone. Flying pumpkins and kids dressed as pumpkins and fireflies. Subtitles on the sets and on a big sun/moon that moved around the stage. I think there was even a photo of Lady Gaga on the backdrop at the end. I may have just been confused. It got slapstick by the end.

Brooklyn Mack got most of the bravura dancing as the Headless Horseman. Xiomara Reyes guested as Katrina, the female lead. She was fine, but I have no idea why they needed a guest artist - It isn't like this was Swan Lake (Misty Copeland is guesting in April). Misty is a media machine and one of the biggest masters of self promotion in ballet today so I understand that. I take it Xiomara was an injury replacement, but WB has plenty of ladies who could fill the Sleepy Hollow role, and Xiomara brought no additional publicity. Jordan Nelson was Ichabod -- he's always good, and he had the right moody presence for the role. Jonathan Jordan was Ichabod's rival for Katrina's attention -- he picked up some of the bravura dancing and he was good too.

The audience seemed to be having fun. The former dancers I knew who were there were rolling their eyes. I wouldn't travel anywhere to see this one
 
Last edited:
A

Artistic Skaters

Drawing Figures
Messages
8,150
Sadly the description of the WB performance still sounds a cut above the ballet I am getting these days in my hometown. I suffered through Dracula but finally had to stop going for awhile after the appalling "ballet" of The Little Mermaid. Oh how I miss ABT at the Kennedy Center!
 
Rob

Rob

Beach Bum
Messages
15,502
Music is definitely the key. I can remember all the steps to ballets I performed in the 70s/80s. Think about songs you know -- if you knew the words to a song, and you don't hear it for decades, you can still remember the words the next time you hear it. I can remember the words to tons of songs that were popular in the 70s. I cannot remember all the words to poems I had to memorize in the 70s (we had to recite a poem from memory every Friday in school). The music provides the glue.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Top
Do Not Sell My Personal Information