Hehehe, I was having a crap day, and this completely changed that!
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE WEEK 4
Ugh, how heartbroken am I that Alex Wong is injured and may have torn his Achilles tendon. If he’s out permanently I’m going to be so upset; he was the main reason I’m so into the show this season. I guess we’ll find out tonight…
I also can’t believe Nigel basically chastised audiences for putting Robert in the bottom three last week. I understand Nigel was only trying to tell people Robert’s not arrogant, as his internet research has led him to believe is why people aren’t voting for him. I’ve never thought he was arrogant but more that he just doesn’t have the expansiveness and breadth of other contemporary dancers. But people don’t like being told what to think and I think Nigel may have just made it more difficult for Robert.
ABT TO MAKE HISTORIC CUBA VISIT
According to this online newspaper, ABT is to perform in the Havana Festival in October. And according to this blog post, some members of New York City Ballet will join them. I can’t remember if I’ve heard this news before, but it sounds familiar. It doesn’t seem to be posted on ABT’s website though. Anyway, ABT hasn’t toured Cuba since 1960. It’s all part of the 90th birthday of Alicia Alonso celebrations. Wow. Lucky dancers – I’m so jealous! I’ve wanted to go to Cuba for a long, long time.
SELECTIVE MUTISM AND GLOBUS HYSTERICUS
I just saw this review of my novel. It was posted a month ago, but somehow I’d missed it.
It’s interesting because Rae says she can identify with my protagonist, Sophie, because she had something similar called selective mutism. I hadn’t heard of that before and so looked it up. It’s where a child doesn’t speak in certain situations, although the child can speak and does so at other times. It’s an anxiety disorder, as is Globus. Interesting because I remember having something similar when I was a child. I remember my father thinking I had a speech impediment and having me enrolled in a speech class in … I think it was either kindergarten or first grade. I was in a special ed class with kids who had severe lisps and couldn’t pronounce groups of words properly. The teacher told my parents that wasn’t what was wrong with me and the class wasn’t helping me. I don’t remember what happened, but eventually it must have gone away. I’m just now remembering it.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU? DANCERS AND CONVICTS OF COURSE!
There’s a short interview with me, about my book, up on Kipp Poe’s blog.
I met Mr. Poe, an author, on the Kindleboards, which I’ve just recently found. If you have a Kindle, or have downloaded a Kindle app onto another kind of e-reader, it’s an excellent message board where you can chat with other Kindle owners and readers, as well as authors of Kindle books. If you don’t have some kind of e-reader – I can’t believe I’m saying this – but I highly recommend one. A lot of e-books are really low-priced compared to physical books (owing to the comparatively low production and distribution costs), and I’ve found reading books digitally surprisingly enjoyable, which I never thought I’d say. They’re easy to fit in your bag, you can read anywhere because of the internal light, and, like I said, you can buy books for a small fraction of the regular price.
About a year and a half ago, when I needed a new cell phone, I bought an iPhone and downloaded the various e-reader apps to test how I’d like reading books digitally. I didn’t think I would but I needed a new phone and was sick of T-Mobile so I figured what the hell. Now I read so much on my iPhone – not everything but a great deal. You can buy Kindle books (if you have an Amazon account) directly through the phone without having to be connected to a computer. And of course they download right away; no waiting for delivery. Only real drawback of the iPhone is the short battery life… I’ve heard the Kindle and iPad don’t have those problems though.
HEE SEO PROMOTED TO SOLOIST AT ABT!
According to the Korea Times, Hee Seo has (finally!) been promoted to soloist at ABT! 😀
LAST WEEK AT ABT: ROMEO AND JULIET
So, this is the last week of ABT’s Met season, and they are closing out with my favorite, Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet. My recommended casts are both performances on Saturday – Natalia Osipova is debuting as Juliet in the matinee, dancing opposite David Hallberg, and that evening is the lovely Diana Vishneva (who has really been blowing me away this season), with Marcelo Gomes as her Romeo. (Angel Corella was originally scheduled to be Vishneva’s Romeo but he is injured). Also, the Wednesday afternoon cast is good — Hee Seo, who is one of my current favorite Juliets, dances with Corey Stearns. Tonight is your only chance to see Herman Cornejo as Mercutio — he’s my favorite for that part. The leads are Marcelo and Juliet Kent. Go here for the full schedule.
Here is a recently-added YouTube of various clips of La Scala’s production of the same ballet, starring Corella and Alessandra Ferri (my favorite ballerina ever in that role).
Photo at top of David Hallberg as Romeo and Herman Cornejo as Mercutio, by Fabrizio Ferri.
MEDALISTS ANNOUNCED IN USA INTERNATIONAL BALLET COMPETITION
Medalists in this year’s USA International Ballet Competition, held in June in Jackson, Mississippi, have recently been announced. This is one of the most prestigious ballet competitions in the world. People from all over the world compete, as you can see by this list of winners and their home countries. It has launched the careers of many current greats, including, probably most famously, Jose Carreno, whom I just blogged about in my last post.
So, congrats to these winners, many of whom I’m sure we’ll be seeing in the future.
Photo above of Cao Shuci, from China, gold medalist in women’s senior division, by Richard Finkelstein.
WEEKEND VIEWING: JOSE MANUEL CARRENO
(Middle photo of Fancy Free – with Sasha Radetsky and Herman Cornejo – taken from Ballet.co; other photos from ABT website)
Jose Carreno is my dancer of the season this ABT season, mainly because I love him and am trying to see him in everything possible so in case, as people are surmising, he retires next year or the year after. I’m trying to get my fill. Not that you can ever really get your fill of a dancer like him. But it seems to be what everyone is doing — I’m hearing, “Oh, I’m trying to see Jose as much as I can!” everywhere around the Met right now.
This season, I’ve seen him in La Bayadere with Julie Kent, Sleeping Beauty with Alina Cojocaru, of course Don Quixote with Natalia Osipova (twice if you include the night honoring Alicia Alonso) and a host of mixed rep fare including Fancy Free — he’s by far my favorite cocky Latin sailor EVER, Tharp’s Brahms-Haydn Variations which would have been a great deal more boring without him, he was still a real standout among a cast full of huge principals the day I saw it, and what else have I seen him in? Seems like something else, but maybe it’s just that I’m looking forward to tomorrow night’s Manon pas de deux with Diana Vishneva.
If and when he retires I’m going to be a hysterical wreck. He’s 42 this year and dancing, in my eyes, as well as he ever has, so I don’t know why it even needs to be an issue at this point. But he’s said years ago that he planned to retire at 40, and it seems most ABT men stop dancing in their early 40s at the latest (Julio Bocca was only 39) so … whatever… He’s the most advanced artist at ABT, the most advanced artist I know of currently dancing; he’s a legend. And he’s the only dancer who’s ever brought me to tears (with his Romeo).
So, since this is a long weekend, here are some videos so you can enjoy him too:
Dancing with Irina Dvorovenko in Le Corsaire:
In Coppelia:
Diana and Acteon:
With Gillian Murphy in Don Quixote:
And rehearsing for a Kings of Dance performance with David Hallberg, Joaquin De Luz and Nikolai Tsiskaridze:
Happy 4th everyone!
MANHATTAN DANCESPORT CHAMPIONSHIPS ARE THIS WEEKEND AT THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE MARRIOTT
And I almost forgot… Friday night is the pro Latin competition, meaning Yulia Zagoruychenko and Riccardo Cocchi will be dancing, but I have a ticket to ABT and I really, really need to see my fave Marcelo Gomes dance Oberon in The Dream and Jose Carreno and Diana Vishneva in the pas de deux from MacMillan’s Manon. I may go to MDC Saturday night for the pro Rhythm and Standard, and the professional showdances. I always like Rhythm and you don’t get to see that in the international competitions. Anyway, here’s the info if you’re in NY and want to go. This is the most prestigious ballroom event in the Northeast; all of the top dancers usually compete. I highly recommend it if you want to see great ballroom.
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE WEEK 3: GO ALEX!!!
So, I love that they focused on inspirations this week, allowing the dancers to talk about whom they look up to. It gives America some exposure to some of these great dancers.
Adechicke and Lauren’s hip hop to a Dave Scott routine. First, Adechicke says he’s inspired by Desmond Richardson! Yay! Says he liked him because he’s manly, nothing feminine about him. Well, I love that he loves Desmond since I do too 🙂 I thought this routine was pretty good. He doesn’t completely blow me away for some reason (she didn’t either though – is she a hip hop dancer?), but I thought his form was excellent, he was really fun, had a real funk about him, and those kicks and that turning jump were awesome. Liked his solo – contemporary but with a little bit of breaking movement. It reminded me of someone else’s from a past show – maybe Will.
Ashley and Ade’s Dee Caspary contemporary routine:
Continue reading “SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE WEEK 3: GO ALEX!!!”
SWALLOW ON CRYSTAL REVIEWS
Swallow has received another positive blog review 🙂
I was out at ABT last night (Sascha Radetsky and Hee Seo’s Thais Pas de Deux is, I think, the most beautiful thing I’ve seen all season. I’d seen them in rehearsal and it was well worth waiting for, and I enjoyed this cast of The Dream – David Hallberg as Oberon, Gillian Murphy as Titania and Herman Cornejo as Puck – much better than the first, and Maria Riccetto for the first time really caught my eye in both The Dream and Ashton’s Birthday Offering – she was really lovely).
Anyway, I was out late last night (actually was working all night on this, which was unbelievably hard to write, that case is so complicated). Am just now getting around to watching So You Think You Can Dance. I’ll post a review as soon as I’ve watched it. I hope it was good!