Ivy Lin

I don't go the stagedoor often but most of my experiences have been positive. There is one ballerina I admire enormously who was consistently grumpy and cold at the stage door. My most treasured memory is having Robert Fairchild and Sterling Hyltin sign the program to Fairchild's farewell performance in "Duo Concertant."

I saw the Mariinsky Ballet in La Bayadere this weekend:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2017/10/mariinskys-dreamy-la-bayadere.html

I saw Robbie Fairchild's farewell to NYCB as well as the bill of new works:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2017/10/nycb-fall-season-hello-new-works.html

I saw 4 separate casts of NYCB's Swan Lake:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2017/09/nycb-fall-season-4-swan-lakes.html

Perhaps the best known assembles in classical ballet are when Giselle and Albrecht first meet in Act 2 and they each do assembles in the opposite direction. 

41 minutes ago, Amelia said:

 

At some point, when the Bolshoi’s male principals refused to dance with Volochkova, she invited this very strong and kind man Ivanchenko and he was contracted by the company to dance with her. It was not a change of the company. He got out of that quite soon. However, as long as I remember he always continued dancing with Mariinsky and remained with his repetiteur there Gennady Selyutsky. 

They were married then.

I saw Taming of the Shrew and I dont think I'll be in a rush to see it again:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2017/07/taming-of-shrew-waitress-hat-trick.html

Here's my review:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2017/07/superjewels.html

I compared the POB I saw these past two days with the POB I saw in 2011 and also in the 2005 video of Jewels and their company style has really deteriorated. It seems like there are no dancers like Aurelie Dupont and Clairemarie Osta anymore. You know, dancers who had that stately French style but also the delicacy and personality to really dance the classics. In 2011 I fondly remember watching Dupont and Osta back to back in Giselle. Ah, great memories ...

Here;s my thoughts on the Superjewels festival: POB did Emeralds, Bolshoi and NYCB traded off in Rubies and Diamonds:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2017/07/superjewels.html

Oh how could I forget the swarm of waltzing couples at the end of Vienna Waltzes? Gorgeous.

Also love the second pigeon flyign into the garret with Two Pigeons.

The Bolshoi's Jardin de Anime scene is also gorgeous.

Here are a few that haven't been mentioned:

1) the two circles of corps walking clockwise and counterclockwise in Balanchine's Ballet Imperial/Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #2. I've seen this beautiful ballet so many times and that moment always gets applause.

2) The Balanchine Nutcracker snowflakes - the whole scene.

3) The final moment in Giselle when she holds her two fingers up to pledge her love before leaving Albrecht forever. 

4) When the Pink Girl draws a rainbow in the sky in Dances at a Gathering. 

5) The opening of Rubies, with that lineup of showgirls with the Tall Girl standing center stage.

6) The sunburst in Apollo.

Diana Vishneva bade farewell to ABT tonight:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2017/06/farewell-diana.html

This was a long time ago but I do remember reading that tours to England were not very well received in the past and that British critics took offense at Union Jack and Midsummer's Night Dream. Not sure if this is still the case.

Sarah Lane debuted as Odette/Odile at the ABT:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2017/06/sarah-lanes-swan-lake.html

You're welcome! Just curious: does the Royal Ballet have any Ratmansky works in its repertoire?

I saw three Giselles, including David Hallberg's highly anticipated return to the stage:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2017/05/gisellex3-hello-david-bravo-marcelo.html

Yet another Ratmansky premiere, this time with ABT. It's very different from his piece for NYCB:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2017/05/ratmanskys-whipped-cream-is-empty.html

A lot of the Russian ballerinas have more than one child.

Evgenia Obraztsova just had twins.

Alina Somova is pregnant for the second time.

Svetlana Lunkina as I mentioned had two children in her 20's.

Yana Selina has twins as well.

Zhanna Ayupova had three kids I believe.

I mentioned Novikova having three kids.

Even the big divas like Uliana Lopatkina and Svetlana Zakharova have daughters.

Svetlana Lunkina? She had a child when she was 25 and went on to have a very good career.

Olesia Novikova has three young children.

As for Allegra Kent Balanchine's interest in her waned not just because she had kids but she also got a tummy tuck that led to severe injuries while dancing, and she had a difficult personal life that made her unreliable. She expresses gratitude that despite this Balanchine insisted on keeping her on payroll.

I love finding real life pictures of the people in the Mayerling drama.

Here's Empress Elisabeth.

Obviously a very beautiful woman. Empress Elisabeth would have been considered anorexic today, as she was fanatical about maintaining her weight. She also was traumatized by having three children in as many years and abhorred sex. 

There was also speculation that Mary might have been pregnant with Rudolf's baby, which might have increased the desperation to die with Rudolf. She was as I said only 17. I was also surprised to see a real-life picture of her because in the ballets she's always been played by very kittenish, sexy ballerinas. In real life she was somewhat homely. I think of her as a victim too and if I have a problem with MacMillan's characterization it's that Mary is often seen as this very sexually aggressive femme fatale. 

18 minutes ago, MAB said:

Of course Rudolf was related to King Ludwig II of Bavaria who was the patron of Wagner, a love a music may have been a family trait.  Poor Ludwig was designated 'mad' when in fact he was just unworldly.  The entire Wittelsbach family was somewhat eccentric and MacMillan could well have treated us to a ballet about an earlier Ludwig who got into all sorts of trouble over his infatuation with the dancer Lola Montez.  Lola also counted amongst her lovers Franz Liszt and Marius Petipa, perhaps a subject for a ballet in her own right one day.

 

I'm very keen on historical biographies, but seek out the oldest ones I can find, not just for the more elegant prose but because the further back you go the more likely the author is to have spoken to people that knew the subject or at least have first hand access to correspondence that disappears in later years.  Sadly the many local second hand bookshops in my area have all disappeared, must get myself back to Hay on Wye.

 

 

Ludwig was designated "mad" not just because he was unworldly but because he was gay. A sad life and actually, one that could make a good ballet if ballet goers are willing to confront some very painful, uncomfortable issues.

I've noticed that Kevin O'Hare seems to put a huge premium on supporting British choreographers. Christopher Wheeldon, Wayne McGregor, Liam Scarlett, Kenneth MacMillan take up the lion's share of next season. Was it always like this or is this a recent O'Hare thing?

I also wanted to ask: do British balletomanes really love the Wheeldon full-lengths that much? I saw A Winter's Tale and was disappointed:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-winters-tale-in-summer-festival.html

Also disappointed with An American in Paris:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2015/03/american-in-paris.html

It seems as if his ballets are getting slicker but less creative.