Ivy Lin

I think it's a practice clothes thing but it became an actual costume in Peck's new work. I've never seen it this way in an actual costume. Balanchine probably would have been appalled -- he was such a fan of the clean leotard look.

Thank you! I'm still going to be reviewing dance on my blog simply because I see more dance than I can cover in single performances but I'm really excited for this new gig at bachtrack!

Some debuts in NYCB's Sleeping Beauty: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/02/nycbs-sleeping-beauty-has-radiant-new.html Plus I am officialyl writing for Bachtrack! https://bachtrack.com/review-to-create-a-world-gallim-dance-joyce-theater-new-york-city-february-2019

Yes his simple happy stage presence is always a joy. I first heard him in La Sonnambula and was amazed at the beauty of his voice. He's been one of my favorite tenors since.

I know Javier Camarena is singing Tonio in Covent Garden later this year. Dont miss him he is wonderful! https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/02/la-fille-du-regiment-vive-la-france.html?m=1

Justin Peck's Principia, Herman Schmerman Revival, and other NYCB Winter Season Diaries: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/02/nycb-winter-diaries-justin-pecks.html

The first week of winter season at nycb had a lot of debuts: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/01/city-ballet-winter-season-brings-new.html

Anyone going to the HD today?

Well I prefer to remember them in happier times:

Great review! Interesting what you say about Kaufmann. I saw him in this role in a concert and he and Gheorghiu both have that extremely careful way of singing. However I must say that together they both made ravishing sounds. I read from Gheorghiu's biography that Kaufmann and Gheorghiu have fallen out. Too bad. They sure made some beautiful music together.

I do remember an attempt at a cat's cradle except horribly bungled up. There was also some refernce to the gypsy-like dancers Ashton liked to sprinkle into his ballets. Anyway it was one of the better ballet-in-an-opera I've seen in awhile.

Well there is the ribbon aspect of the Judgment of Paris ballet but it's more of a baroque ballet parody. Paris is almost ridiculously Adonis-like. Trying to find a video of it but can't.

Has made its way across the pond. I already had the Gheorghiu/Kaufmann/Borodina DVD, but I got to see the production live with Netrebko/Beczala/Rachvelishvili. One of my favorite parts of the production is actually Andrew George's Judgment of Paris ballet. I thought it was a good parody of baroque-era ballet and I'm so glad they did not include pointe shoes as those would not have been used in the baroque era. Anyway here's how I felt about the whole production: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/01/adria-anna-lecouvtrebko.html

Here is the video. Both of them go for this silver frosting:

I have a thorny question. The SPF and Cavalier wigs are so white and powdered that they only look good on very fair-skinned dancers. What happens when dancers of color dance this role? Do they still wear the white powdered wigs? Like what do you do for dancers like Hayward and Carlos Acosta?

One of the changes Sir Peter Wright made to Nutcracker was that in the original, the dolls emerged from these cute cabbages. I thought that was a clever touch. But now they've been replaced by these moving closets.

The whole production is here. You can decide what to think: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzD_ngUbHl35V2w0OW1uVjRxMTg/view?usp=sharing

There actually wss a post-apocalyptic Nutcracker that the POB did in conjunction with Iolanta a few years ago. Here is their grand pas de deux:

I changed a few of the videos on my Nutcracker writeup. Realized that some of the dolls video I chose was not from the Royal Ballet production. Also found Nunez's celesta variaton. So here is the NEW version of this U.S. vs. British faceoff: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2018/12/comparing-nutcrackers-across-pond.html

In my experience dancers are not as chatty as opera singers at the stage door. The reason is that many of them are leaving with their friends in the company and want dinner. A lot of them are tired or in a rush to leave. Opera is different -- over the years I've seen some of the BIGGEST stars come out of the stage door alone, and walk (alone) to their hotel room. Unless they are sick/tired/have a party to be at many of them seem to relish talking to fans after the show. And it's always an odd sight to see them lugging big bouquets and gifts to their hotel room alone. I've always thought that singing must be one of the loneliest professions.

I also saw the Bolshoi transmission. I thought Shrainer and Chudin were very fine and I like the grand pas de deux with all those fancy lifts but Grigorovich's Nutcracker is not my overall favorite. I always think that their snowflake wigs look like Mrs. Bates.

The BRB production and the original RB production both make more sense for the companies he set them for. BRB a smaller company, maybe a more intimate story. RB a bigger company, based on the 1892 notations. However now that he's made a hybrid for the RB it doesn't really work. JMO. By the way I love the BRB video with Miyako Yoshida. I think that version really works on its own.

Hmm ... coming down steps on pointe is the signature step for Ashton's Cinderella ball entrance ...

I think that for Nutcracker whichever version you grow up with becomes your favorite. It's odd because I don't feel this way about, say, Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty. But I have noticed this with Nutcracker above all other ballets ...

I saw the Bolshoi Sylphide. I compared it with the 2012 broadcast. I actually preferred the James and Sylph here (Chudin and Staskevitch) but I thought otherwise the mime and sequences with Madge really suffered. I think in 2012 Johan Kobborg was on hand to personally teach the mime, and this time he wasn't. Danish mime is one of those things I think really needs to be hand-taught. It's so clear and concise when done correctly.