snowweisz

Hello guys,

For the past 6 months, I've been giving a lot of thought to the idea that while YouTube is full of millennial people with art education backgrounds breaking down multiple avenues of art, nobody is doing it for ballet. I understand that there are many reasons why this is the case, not the least of which is that ballet is somewhat harder to access than, for example, MCU movies. 

Then, I was laid off at the beginning of the pandemic so I found myself with plenty of free time to ponder this further. 

So, I have put my own art education background and my free time, with my passion for ballet. Also keep in mind that I'm from a small country in Latin America so over the years I've gotten used to researching ballet on my own as the avenues for profound conversations around it are non existent (unlike many of you in London who get to attend insight sessions at the ROH). So through my own academic background, I've been used to doing this type of analysis, just maybe not in this format.

I would like nothing more than to make many other videos about ballets, I have a list of many that I'd like to discuss. But my main goal is to get more conversations about ballet started in formats that are hopefully easier for people to access and so that more background about why ballet is where it is today is talked about. I am sure I don't know all the background and as with any essay, it's impossible to focus on absolutely everything about your subject so I welcome commentary, thoughts about the topics and hopefully one day we can end up with having at least a portion of people talking about ballet in the same way that they talk about other mediums through big platforms like Youtube. 

So, having said all of that, I'd like to share my first video essay with all of you. I decided to start with Swan Lake for many reasons but ultimately, because I love it. It is a bit long, but if you have time to watch it, I'd appreciate it tremendously. 

Wow, this is sudden!

I remember on Instagram she said she was going to spend lockdown in Utah with her boyfriend. I wonder if she's moved completely.

I'm sure speculation about her position started when she spoke up about what happened on Firebird. But I think Katie has been through so, so much that she just didn't want to keep quiet. And you know what? I understand her and I think she's pushing for a little more openness in ballet about what happens and what goes on, so speaking up was probably the right thing to do.

But I guess Miami didn't agree. 

A shame. As Jan said, I was rooting for her so, so much. 

I'm a huge advocate for shoes without drawstring. They hug the foot better and are just so incredibly comfortable. 

I'm basically married to the Bloch pro elastics, but I feel like for me, the digging at the back of the heel was cured when I went for shoes without drawstrings. 

10 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

Thanks for this Snowweisz.  I have followed some of Kathryn Morgan's story on the American forum.

 

I wish her all the very best at MCB.  She has been through so much and worked so hard to get back to her dancing career she deserves all the luck in the world.

You’re welcome, Jan!

I agree, she’s overcome not just her health condition with an under researched, under treated illness. But also her personal struggles and it’s amazing to see her come up on top again. She advocated for herself repeatedly and it’s very inspiring that she succeeded.

So, I know American ballet isn’t discussed here quite as often as the British and let alone particular American dancers... but I thought this was super interesting. I can’t recall many instances of dancers returning to a professional career in this type of circumstances so it seems quite extraordinary to me.

22 hours ago, Sim said:

Yes I got that.  But implicitly, if they have decided that these men don’t merit their contracts being terminated instead of suspended, they are saying that their actions are acceptable and that it’s fine to return them to dance in a company that they have dishonoured and tainted.  I wonder what you have to do to get fairly fired at NYCB?

Yep.

Not to mention, that it also implies that the right of the female dancers to have a safe, dignified work environment is not a priority for AGMA if it gets in the way of the career of any man causing their distress. 

On 10/01/2019 at 10:37, Bruce Wall said:

Talking of effective marketing ... (and stepping aside from the RB/ROH for just a second) ... here's a witty trailer for NYCB's Sleeping Beauty that might - just might - bring a smile to your face ... and be cheap at the price in doing so ... Enjoy ...

 

 

Maria K as Carabosse does a fine line in disdain don't you think ... 

 

Regardless of one might think about NYCB's current management team (or about how long it's taken the board to name a new director), this is what can happen when there's fresh leadership and young people are brought to the table. 

4 hours ago, Xandra Newman said:

Such a great shame that someone with a Vladimir Putin tattoo on his chest, who posted on Instagram "to slap fat people" and who had a serious go at the gay community gets so much attention.

There are so many wonderful, intelligent, disciplined dancers who have far more interesting messages to send out into the world, constructive messages for our young people... but they barely get any press attention.

Polunin is not a good role model for our young people and as far as I am concerned Polunin has next to nothing wise or constructive or intelligent to say. 

 

Honestly, this.

And I feel like dancing is one of those things where separating the artist from the person is not at all easy. He'd be out there dancing Spartacus with that hideous tattoo and as an audience, we're supposed to not care? Nah I'll pass. 

There's a bouquet of incredibly talented, charismatic dancers who can project far more positive, enlightening, delightful things onstage than he can. I often feel that Polunin dances for himself anyway, while a lot of other dancers dance with the audience, so to me that's way more valuable. 

Like others are saying, I agree that this isn't surprising. Thiago was being cast less and less over the last couple of seasons and that always inevitably starts to signal that either something else is going on for the dancer or at least that they're winding down their career. 

Regardless of whether he returns just once (hopefully for Onegin) or regularly, I wish him the very best, truly. I loved him in some MacMillan roles, he was so delightful as a dramatic dancer. I wish I'd gotten to see him on Judas tree, but I never got the chance. 

Having watched the broadcast, I'd like to add in some points about the ending.

I may be biased because I personally just adore the orchestration for Un Poco di Chopin, but I think the lack of it for this production is part of what makes the ending feel a little unsatisfying. While I personally agree with Liam Scarlett's idea that the music calls for a tragic ending, I also think that the Driggo orchestration for that particular piece gives more context to the sad ending and I really enjoyed it on the Dowell production. The black and white swans and their sad, slow steps, it all felt exactly like a sad ending. And while Scarlett choreographed a gorgeous, moving PDD, it feels more like a reconciliation can lead to a happy ending and it's disappointing that it doesn't.

Having said that, I'm on the camp that loves a tragic ending for Swan Lake. 

What a sad thing to hear! 
I love Emma and I saw so much love from Lauren on IG after this performance but I had no idea it was because she's leaving. She will definitely be missed. 

On 12/01/2019 at 09:42, bridiem said:

 

Offering someone a contract does not imply (or require) agreement with their views. That said, these pronouncements are so obnoxious that they make me wonder if Polunin really understands what he's doing. I assume that he doesn't have an agent/manager/PR adviser; if he does, he's clearly not listening to them.

He doesn't have to agree, that's true. But to bring in someone who's being openly homophobic into an environment where there are a diverse group of dancers is a slap in the face to those dancers. To a degree, this is what happened with Dupont. I read more than one dancer on Twitter saying they had expressed discomfort at the idea of sharing the studio and the stage with Polunin after those comments.  What company that respects and upholds its LGBTQ dancers is going to be comfortable bringing him now? Do we really think the LGBTQ dancers won't say anything?

I mean, he just did the Nureyev movie, he has to know the degree to which LGBTQ dancers have always been a part of ballet. 

On 13/01/2019 at 17:00, penelopesimpson said:

Sim:  Too late, already.  I have railed against Polunin for some time but my anger was always based on sorrow.  As we've often discussed, nobody has to do anything just because they have a talent for it, but to throw something so wonderful away and wreck your life almost simultaneously seems tragic.  It was always clear that Sergei, perhaps more than most, desperately needed the discipline and rigour of belonging to a major dance company and that without that routine, he would implode.  Since leaving he has flitted from one thing to the next, all the time denigrating anybody and anything connected with ballet.  He has had his five minutes of fame so many times;  a walk-on here, a photocall there, a starlet who used to be a star and whose light is fading fast.

This is exactly how I feel and what I've been saying for some time. 

And I can only imagine that the reason people keep bringing him on is because he has made a lot of noise for himself since leaving the ROH. People who watched his music videos may be inclined to buy a ballet ticket when they wouldn't have for someone else that we'd consider a better (or at least more centered) dancer.  But I agree, he's had his chance so many times. Lately, I feel like he didn't just renounce the discipline of the company life, he just renounced discipline in general. Maybe because of his upbringing or maybe because of how quickly he found himself at the top. But nonetheless, it always made me sad how instead of finding comfort in the discipline and routine of ballet tradition, he rebelled against it at the expense of his mental and physical health.

39 minutes ago, alison said:

Welcome to the forum, snowweisz, and thank you for that useful information!

Aaw thank you!

I've been registered for ages but I don't read often and have never commented cause everyone here is so knowledgeable, I mostly come here to learn

On 30/10/2018 at 18:14, Nicola H said:

GM pointes   use  a lot of plastics in their construction   hence their   apparently ' pre -broken in '  state and  reported longer  dancing  life than the  paste / hessian / cardboard/ hardboard  of a traditionally  constructed pointe shoe   (  and having  de shanked   my first  (badly fitted)  pair  i've  had a good nosy at  that   kind of construction 

Well, they call it a "flexible polymer" but yeah it's plastic. It's a type of plastic that can always keep its shape, regardless of how many times it's bent in a different direction. That's why it lasts so much longer. The other reason it lasts longer is because it doesn't need the extensive tweaking that traditional shoes do. There's no banging on the walls, no wetting and stepping on the box, no bending the shank until it's broken. 

Most dancers who wear GM only sew their ribbons and elastic and go on to dance like that. I know some ROH dancers on GM also do darning but I think only Osipova does further tweaking to the shoes because she opens up the vamp.