Buddy

**** View 1:28:50-1:34:20 **** Mariinsky Ballet You are the night, you are the ocean You are the light behind a cloud You are the end and the beginning A world where time is not allowed There's no such thing as competition To find our way, we lose control Remember, love's our only mission This is a journey of the soul The perfect song is framed with silence It speaks of places never seen Your home's a promise long forgotten It is the birthplace of your dreams (Beyond — Daft Punk) Cool !

Thanks everyone for your ongoing thoughts and comments. Since various Ratmansky works are being mentioned I’d like to return briefly to my comment about “Russian Seasons”, which is perhaps the favorite of those that I’ve seen, and change what I said slightly. I said that I totally agreed with this 2010 comment in The Guardian. “The evening's centre piece, however, is Alexei Ratmansky's Russian Seasons. This 2006 setting of Leonid Desyatnikov's score was first created for New York City Ballet, but its semi-abstract vision of old peasant Russia makes better sense in the Bolshoi's revival. The Russian inflections in the choreography – the fusion of melancholy and boisterousness – are bred in the bones of this cast." I would, however say, ‘exuberance’ rather than “boisterousness.” For me, it makes a big difference here. A quick aside. I just watched a video from the Bolshoi of a complete 2016 “Russian Seasons”. This viewing I actually see something of Marc Chagall, but more dramatic. The brightish, uplifting colors somewhat resemble his and the altering of reality into a modernist sort of reverie and artistically brilliant reconstruction resembles him, other Russian and related ‘modern’ painters of that time and Alexei Ratmansky at his best in creating and manipulating artistically gripping imagery. And what a ‘ride from the past’ ! Cast: Orange/White: Svetlana Zakharova, Andrei Merkuriev || Red: Natalia Osipova, Denis Savin || Green: Yekaterina Shipulina, Pavel Dmitrichenko || Purple: Yekaterina Krysanova, Igor Tsvirko || Blue: Anna Rebetskaya, Vladislav Lantratov || Burgundy: Anna Nikulina, Vyacheslav Lopatin And, yep, there’s Alexei Ratmansky, himself, on stage at curtain call. All in all, a heart touching look back, and hopefully forward again….some day….world artists on a world stage.

Thanks for your thorough description, DrewCo. It must be “Russian Seasons” that I’m thinking of, which was made for New York City Ballet, thus my “American Ballet Theatre(?).” This is where I probably saw the Bolshoi perform it and I totally agree with this review in The Guardian. London — Royal Opera House, July 2010 “The evening's centre piece, however, is Alexei Ratmansky's Russian Seasons. This 2006 setting of Leonid Desyatnikov's score was first created for New York City Ballet, but its semi-abstract vision of old peasant Russia makes better sense in the Bolshoi's revival. The Russian inflections in the choreography – the fusion of melancholy and boisterousness – are bred in the bones of this cast." https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/jul/30/bolshoi-ballet-russian-seasons-review

The Seasons is perhaps my favorite, Jeannette. Ironically for these times, but not really, although made for the American Ballet Theatre(?), the best performance that I saw of this was by the Bolshoi. Concerto DSCH is also a favorite. There are also substantial parts of other works that I think are outstanding.

In December of last year, Gia Kourlas in the New York Times, wrote an article, titled…. "What if Dance Could Save the World?" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/26/arts/dance/dance-in-2023-the-cool-genre.html The second video in the previous post is from the 50 minute(!) British music and song video featured in her article. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU5tSF6k-m8 I liked some of the things that she wrote very much. Here’s one quote. “ “Maybe dance can save the world.” Maybe it’s not maybe. Maybe, under the radar, dance has already been changing the world in unassuming ways — in a street jazz class at a gym or the line dancing in the back of a Ukrainian restaurant, where movement is seen and shared through the bodies and minds of everyday dancers.” Here’s something that I wrote elsewhere and would like to add. And maybe we can go in a room, turn on some music (or enjoy the quiet) and dance. It’ll probably make us feel good, or even better, perhaps make us do something good.

**** View 1:28:50-1:34:20 **** That was me clapping in the audience, thirty-eighth from the right (more or less). 🙂

A quick additional thought. I’ve been watching a number of videos discussing “Now And Then.” Somewhere among them, someone suggests that a thousand years from now music listeners will be listening to only one ‘music phenomenon’ from our times — The Beatles. An interesting idea.

I keep returning to the “Now And Then” song (John Lennon, Beatles), because it’s so beautiful and such a heartfelt looking back and summarizing. There’s one verse that has caught my attention because it’s so touching and almost *choreographic* (and so worthy of the Beatles' 'magic'). John sings…. “and if you go away, I know you’ll nev….stay.” Our mind, and in fact the printed lyrics, say “and if you go away, *I know you’’ll never stay* "….and our mind probably adds “you’ll never stay *away*.” But if you listen to John again, your mind might ‘feel’ this….“I’ll know you’ll (drop the incompleted “nev”)….*Stay!* " as in.... "I know you'll stay!" or “Please Stay!”

There were actually two young women from Ukraine, LinMM, that I noticed in the semi-finals and they were in my top ten list. I have to say immediately that I tend to go by overall impression and beauty more than technical precision. In the case of this competition, I was fairly lighthearted in my choices because of the youthful freshness of these young dancers, especially, for me, the Juniors. Yelyzaveta Lazovska from Ukraine was very well received, whereas the other young lady less, so I suspect actual ability was more of a factor. Here’s her Contemporary which I really liked, as well as this work by Cathy Marston. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXDQI5kOzVI Anna Haidai, the other young lady from Ukraine, struck a very sympathetic note for me, most felt in her Classical, although her Contemporary may have had more appeal. When I factored in the part of the world that she’s from and all the news headlines that I see each day, her sympathetic loveliness represented the alternative side of things, the beauty and warmth in being alive. Contemporary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtBiVCKaYOA Classical https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNcSwhmKTCQ Natalie Vikner from France was probably my favorite because of her overall beauty in her Classical performance. I think that it might be good to have an award for just Classical, as there is for Contemporary. If I’m not mistaken, there have been some contestants from Russia that didn’t win prizes, but went on to stardom and world renown in Russia. They might at least have won the Classical, where they are perhaps unequaled, overall. And again in the somewhat lighthearted department, there were no dancers from South America (Argentina and Brazil) when I attended this competition regularly about twenty years ago. I think that they add a delightful touch of sunshine and their technique looks quite fine. The obvious example this year is the very popular, winner of several prizes, Paloma Livellara Vidart from Argentina. Here’s her Contemporary, which l really liked. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBuylGqZPxM&t=2s And here’s another of several from South America who made my ’smile’ list. Antônia Manrique, Brazil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NctScDJkWsQ

Natalie Vikner — France — Semi-finalist Très Elégante ! 🙂

Thank you, but I’ll be on the other side of an ocean and another continent. Hopefully some other time.

On February 18, she’s scheduled to perform at the Dance for Ukraine gala at the London Palladium. https://lwtheatres.co.uk/whats-on/dance-for-ukraine-in-aid-of-the-arts-in-ukraine/ On March 17, she’s scheduled to appear at the Ballet Icons Gala at the London Coliseum. https://balleticonsgala.com/ (Both posted at Ballet Alert!) This might be a very interesting glimpse back. https://www.for-ballet-lovers-only.com/ulanova-gala-2011-2.html This is where I first saw Olga Smirnova. I believe that she was still a student, but like TSR101 “I knew she was special.” (It’s also where I discovered Daria Klimentova (born in Prague, 20 years with the English National Ballet) and was very impressed.)

Nothing from her site about any new performances since December. Previously she only has classical performances posted, several each month, mostly with the Royal Dutch Ballet, starting in September. This is fine with me in that she remains one of the top several classical dancers in the world today. I do also look forward to the day when she does something really her own. This is a nice video interview (only audio content) that some of you probably know about from January. Nothing really new, but some good thoughts along with the mention that she was working with Wayne McGregor at the Royal Dutch Ballet in January. An interview with Olga Smirnova | Why Dance Matters Royal Academy of Dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLak7u3Xm20

Rebroadcasting of the Finals can now be seen here. Start at 31:50. https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/118213-011-A/finale/ (Thanks to Sophia at Dansomanie)

I liked her Contemporary very much. see 2:09:30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qVVKj4ovVI I’ve only had a chance to scan about half of Friday’s women. I used to attend these regularly when I lived about two hours away by train and was there in winter. Unlike some, only around half my ‘raves’ usually made it to the semi-finals. And once again, one that I like, Natalie Vikner from France didn’t make it. In her Classical, although slightly less noteworthy in her surety, I thought that she had a lovely, linear elegance. see 24:10 I’m certain that there are others that I’ll look forward to seeing.

He was a very colorful, well informed and very likable presence. I didn't always share his point of view, but I missed him already when he stopped posting regularly. May he be at peace.

Another charming example of dance from China. Chinese Dance Drama - Scene from Hong Lou Meng

Glad that you enjoyed it. Cheers for your other life. From “High Strung”. — Keenan Kampa, formerly Mariinsky. I chatted with her once at a Mariinsky reception. She was lovely. I hope that she’s doing well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqqjyAdmFyg

A trailer. Worth a smile. Fine ending to movie as well. High Strung Free Dance -- The Movie. Young ballet dancer goes "Free Dance".

I’d like very much to see Olga Smirnova. In what work ? One that really works for her. She remains outstanding in the few video clips that I’ve seen of her doing the ‘classics’. I think that she has remarkable potential in diversification. The main factor at the moment seems to be the quality of the material that she chooses and how she wants to focus her outstanding talent.

Somewhat related songwise is this lovely and soulful cover of Phil Collins’ Can’t Stop Loving You by Taylor Swift.

Thanks, everyone, for your warm responses. Like many of you, perhaps, in a way, I lived this music (I was at Woodstock). I didn’t follow the individual members’ work very much after the breakup. The Beatles have always maintained a monumental status, for me, but I really haven’t listened to them nearly as much since. This year I found out about the three ’new’ songs. I liked Now And Then best, bought two of them, then sort of lost interest, but Now And Then remained as a possibly lovely song while I was tuning into some of the happier Taylor Swift. Much of my value of Happiness comes from my Beatles listening and and late sixties experiences. So yesterday I discovered this video. The song reminded me of Abbey Road, which came out of nowhere and was magically lovely. Now And Then has a similar effect on me, although less world changing. So many wonderful Beatles’ elements are present here and brought back to life. These include the brilliant technical innovation and the heartfelt effort and juxtapositioning of the participants. The song, by the way, is thought by some to be a message of friendship from John Lennon to Paul McCartney. I tend to agree. “She said the song [not Now And Then] was getting Paul to finally connect with his grief over John Lennon's death. Linda explained that the last time Paul talked to John, he had said the same line to Paul: “think about me every now and then, my old friend.” “ This song and this video, for me, not only represent a masterpiece of Art, but are also the Beatles revisited in the finest sense. Added: Used here is a recording of John Lennon singing.

And from 'The Vault'.

Because of 'popular demand' here's another one.