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Jeannette

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Posts posted by Jeannette

  1. The Legris version of Sylvia is much closer the mid-20th-C traditional POB versions than to the late-1990s Neumeier version, which was more modern and fashionable in its own way.

    The more traditional POB version is based on versions staged by Staats (1929), Lifar (1949), & Darsonval (1979)…the Legris version has elements of those editions (what I saw from Vienna in 2018). 


    For me, the return of a traditional Sylvia to POB is a plus.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     


     

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  2. I’m very sorry to report that the Moscow Classical Ballet leader and choreographer Natalia Kasatkina passed away last night, in Moscow. She and her husband Vladimir Vasiliov co-choreographed many works that they toured throughout the globe, including Vanina Vanini, The GeologistsThe Creation of the World (Adam & Eve), Lysistrata, Mowgli (based on The Jungle Book, w music by the young UK composer Alexander Prior), La Traviata, Rite of Spring, The Fairy’s Kiss, and their versions of all the full-evening Petipa standards. I usually saw the MCB company at the Kremlin Theater, although they had their own theatre - New Kolobov Opera Thrater - near the Hermitage Gardens in Moscow. MCB had a number of excellent soloists, such as Nikolai Chevychelov now and Irek Mukhamedov, Stanislav Issaev, and Vladimir Malakhov in the past.

     

    May she rest in eternal peace!

     

    https://www.oreanda-news.com/en/kultura_i_dosug/people-s-artist-of-the-ussr-natalia-kasatkina-has-died/article1508065/

     

     

     

     

     

     

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  3. On 02/03/2024 at 14:44, Emeralds said:

    May I ask @Bruce Wall or @Jeannette, or anyone who has seen Pam Tanowitz's Gustave le Gray no 1....the original Miami City Ballet cast and the first  NYCB cast both had 2 women and 2 men dancing the ballet while on tour one cast has 3 women and 1 men dancing it while the second cast has four women and no men dancing it? Is this one of those wishy washy items where the dancing is simplistic so either men or women can do it....a bit like company class exercises at the barre...?? So I presume the ballet has no proper partnering either. Or is it a huge mistake/typo? 

     

    (I know I did say I was happy to watch the company doing class but surely not easy peasy steps that could be done by anyone. Granted, I'm sure Mira Nadon, Emily Kikta, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Ruby Lister and Naomi Corti  look wonderful doing RAD grade 3  exercises- I just didn't expect them to fly thousands of miles just to do that.)  

     

    I've also just realised that one of their young principals who was acclaimed in their current season and last season, Chun Wai Chan, isn’t on the cast lists so presumably he isn't coming. That's disappointing.


    I saw it at the Kennedy Center when it premiered in 2019.  Miami and DTHarlem, I believe.  It was the most boring piece of DEI-WOKE crap that I’ve ever seen. I honestly cannot remember the number of men vs women wearing the big red bags.  Sorry, @Emeralds.

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  4. On 26/02/2024 at 18:58, alison said:

    Getting back to Ratmansky, don't forget that he was supposed to be revising his Chopin preludes ballet for the royal, but had to pull out due to scheduling conflicts. It probably takes a few years to get him back in the diary!


    I can’t wait for Ratmansky to get out of the patriotic p.r. mode. His Tchaikovsky Overtures work for Munich is his best “normal - non-war” ballet in two years. Even his Coppelia in Milan presented a fighting angle in the A2 divertissements but was otherwise peaceful.

  5. Living in Puerto Rico, I select my trips to NY/NYCB very carefully, mostly to see the classic pieces by Balanchine & Robbins…with a bit of new Ratmansky or Peck in the mix. My four-day weekend offered most of this - Peck’s recent “full evening” COPLAND   DANCE EPISODES was my unexpected surprise - so light, bright, with fascinating group choreography, including most of the earlier RO-DEO.

     

    Ratmansky’s political SOLITUDE was my big downer - I don’t like dark ballets in bunkers. “Boo!” All the way! I hope that this won’t be Ratmansky’s leitmotif for the rest of his time at NYCB. If so - MoveOn.org! 

     

    The greatest gifts of the weekend were the grand-scaled Balanchines: the elegance of LIEBESLIEDER, FOUR TEMPERAMENTS, and SYMPHONY IN THREE MOVEMENTS…most of these works with the lean beauty of Ashley Laracey. (Balanchine would have promoted her to Principal ages ago!) I also loved Robbins’ OPUS 16/THE DREAMER, with gorgeous Unity Phelan and Taylor Stanley in the Baryshnikov role as the main man.

     

    My next trip to NYCB should be in late April, for the rare BOUREE FANTASQUE, plus SYMPHONY IN C and BRAHMS-SCHOENBERG! Robbins’ DANCES AT A GATHERING will be the cherry on the sundae! 
     

    p.s. Never in a gaz-illion years would I travel to see the horrendous NYCB program being presented at Sadlers Wells. Even if the ghosts of Pavlova & Nureyev would be in the corps. Gustave LeGrey? Love Letter on Shuffle? Good grief.
     

     

     

     

     

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  6. 12 hours ago, Buddy said:

     

    ….As for seeing the Bolshoi someday overseas, since I believe that you travel a lot, you could have caught Raymonda in Oman in January, as reported by FionaM. ….


    That’s not so far from where I’ve worked   recently…despite my so-called “retirement” status. I’ll probably just wait for the troubles to end before seeing either Russian or Ukrainian ballet companies in person.

  7. 47 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

    That's chilling that they would go after this woman who is just small fry. Yet as I've always known, that doesn't surprise me. There will be a lot of elderly people in Russia whose children and grandchildren are in the West, who will probably avoid visiting their relatives now, which is very sad for the older folk.  


    Exactly. The FSB tracks dual citizens, knowing that they eventually return to Russia to visit family. I’m thinking of all the “Brighton Beach/Little Odessa” Russian citizens who used to frequent Lincoln Center, to enjoy ballets. Many may have bought tickets to the various pro-Ukraine performances.

  8. 24 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

    Wow, Jeannette, I hadn't seen that. The FSB are tightening their grip on innocent civilians now. $50 is peanuts where war is concerned (can't even get a non-restricted view seat in rear amphitheatre at ROH for Manon for $50!) The most chilling thing is - how did they know she had made a donation?  It's like 1936-1938 coming back.....


    Emeralds, the FSB tracks computers for donations and other online activities…as do other governments, for different reasons. 😉 

     

    I once considered buying a ticket to a pro-Ukraine Gala in Orlando, FL.  Woe is me!
     

     

     

     

     

     

  9. On 19/02/2024 at 22:56, Buddy said:

    , a heart touching look back, and hopefully forward again….some day….world artists on a world stage.

     


    Thanks, Buddy. I also enjoyed Russian Seasons at NYCB (live, with Wendy Whelan as the Bride) and the Bolshoi film. Will we ever see the Russian artists overseas again?

     

    In the meantime, I was very sorry to read about the Yekaterinburg ballerina Ksenia Karelina (dual US-Russian citizen, now living in L.A.) who was arrested while visiting her parents in Yekaterinburg. She is accused of helping Ukraine by having donated a whopping $50 to a NY-based pro-Ukraine charity.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/02/20/russian-secret-service-arrest-american-woman-high-treason/

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  10. That’s right, @DrewCo - I was thinking of Ratmansky’s The (Four?) Seasons to Glazunov’s score, which I saw premiered at The Met in NYC…Isabella Boylston or Stella Abrera in the leading female role with the main pdd.

     

    Ratmansky is one trip after another in my archives!  


    Coming back to add another Ratmansky fave: Of Love and Rage, to a compelling score by A. Khachaturian…my last trip before COVID, to Costa Mesa, CA, where I had a very nice talk with the choreographer, discussing my trip to StP for Cinderella (where I met my husband, so a good luck ballet for me, even if I didn’t like the set)!

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  11. Despite some good dancing moments by the soloists, Solitude was probably the least impressive Ratmansky premiere that I’ve attended. My faves were the Petipa recons in Zurich and Berlin…and The Seasons at ABT. Namouna is my fave NYCB work. Bright, grand, Imperial. It’s probably not right to expect that style nowadays. 
     

    My secret wish is that Ratmansky may resuscitate his Art of the Fugue (to Bach) that he began creating at the Bolshoi, just before the war…adapted to NYCB dancers.  Without political ties. 

  12. 1 hour ago, Bruce Wall said:

     

    It's been so nice to see Ratmansky - and sometimes his lovely wife - attending so many ballets at State Theater.  He is such a delightful man.  So approachable.   If you are staying on in NYC and attending more NYCB programmes - you may well see him around.  I'm certain he would be most open to hearing your input, Jeannette.  I - and I'm sure many others - would be most curious as to his response if you were to approach him vis a vis your  stated desire as documented here. 

     

     

     


    Bruce, I’ve been delighted to meet Alexei Ratmansky during receptions or talks related to his premieres in many locales, beginning with his Cinderella in St Petersburg, 2002/03 period…then Miami, Berlin, Costa Mesa, etc. This may be my 20th live Ratmansky premiere in the past 20 years.

     

    I know that he needs to fulfill his pro-Ukraine wish (p.r.?) at this moment. It doesn’t make sense to go against the flow now. I wouldn’t expect a jolly Harlequinade from him in this moment! I just wish that the situation would change because I was so delighted with the other types of his ballets, even Odesa or Songs of Bukovina, which have Ukrainian themes but have a certain degree of positivity threaded with the sadness.  I’m afraid that if the war continues, we’ll be looking at a ten-year series of tragic ballets set in dark bunkers. I’m praying for more Namounas or Whipped Creams!

     

     

     

     

     

     

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  13. I’m back in NYC for yesterday’s premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s first creation as Artist in Residence: SOLITUDE, to two short pieces of Mahler symphonies (a funerary march to Symph 1 and the lyrical adagietto from Symph 5).

     

    The curtain rises on a darkly miserable street, a father holding the hand of his perished young son. Corps dancers as Spirits of Death move about the duo…joined by amazing soloists such as Sarah Mearns in blueish silk as a bright angel and Mira Nadon, in jet black, as a dark spirit. Their partners Takahashi and Chan were equally impressive.

     

    As the grieving father, Joseph Gordon completed the ballet with a fluid solo, wishing for a restful finale in the future (and who knows when that may be?).

     

    Needless to say, as a lyrical poem on Russia’s tragic assault on Ukraine, this is a far cry from Harlequinade. Not a Har-Dee-Har moment. Large standing ovation to the company & its creators, Ratmansky bowing in his sneakers outfit…not waving a Ukrainian flag this time…it wasn’t needed.

     

    p.s. But we were treated to cookies decorated with the 🇺🇦 flag in the First Tier promenade.

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  14. On 20/01/2024 at 08:12, FionaM said:

    Cesar Morales has been appointed new AD at Santiago Ballet from March 2024

     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/C2TYHSwMTgO/?igsh=MXBwNnN1MWc1NDZlZw==

     

     

    Happy to read the announcement but - wait - wasn’t Marcia Haydee that company’s A.D. until recently? I’m thinking of Santiago, Chile.

  15. 9 hours ago, FionaM said:

    I noticed one cast difference in the broadcast to the pdf castsheet

     

    The exciting young soloist Bianca Teixeira replaced Sofia Ivanova in Elegy/Hamlet as Ophelia.  

     

    FYI … Bianca and Osiel Gouneo were on Alina Cojocaru’s tour of China in November 2023

     

    (I still haven’t watched this broadcast in full but I do have it downloaded.) 

     


    A heartfelt thanks to you, @FionaM, and to @Sabine0308 for names of dancers essaying Ophelia and the King & Queen in the Hamlet section!

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  16. Watched again. What a lovely, satisfying ballet. (Ratmansky keeps on hitting!) This was a film of the December 2022 premiere. The bows included Ratmansky, wearing blue and yellow boutonnière, in honor of Ukraine. 

     

    MacKay was more than a partner…he WAS the gorgeous dancing Romeo! 💕 

     

    Gouneo lost steam at the very end of his section…all of what happened to Hamlet!

     

    Its too bad that not all soloists in Hamlet were named, e.g., who danced Ophelia and the King & Queen?

     

    The soloists for the other two segments were named in the talking portions.

     


     

     

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  17. I was up early to enjoy Tchaikovsky Overtures! Wasn’t Shale Wagman fantastic as the Spirit figure? So fluid and musical! I also loved Osiel Gouneo - such a powerful performer - as Hamlet. The Munich company has quite a cadre of top male dancers. Women are excellent too…but the male soloists are out of this world (McKay, Acosta, Casslinho, etc.).

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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  18. On 21/12/2023 at 17:24, Jeannette said:

    It’s amazing that Forsyth allowed the streaming of IN THE MIDDLE… at POB. Perhaps it was due to the COVID era?


    The Van Manen piece is in an interesting double-bill DVD by the Bavarian State Ballet. The Balanchine is a rarity, rarely filmed and broadcasted (the 1st movement shown in a NYCB COVID stream; the full ballet in a POB Balanchine 3ple bill pre-COVID).


    The Forsythe work aired by POB a couple of years ago was VERTIGINOUS THRILL OF EXACTITUDE.
     

    IN THE MIDDLE…aired in Russia when the Mariinsky performed it (Kondaurova prominently featured). Just double-checked my catalogue!

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