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Hustling With the Stars (Updated)

Can you guys believe I just now watched last week’s Monday night episode? Too busy… I’m now four posts behind (have play, opera, San Fran Ballet, and reading to blog about, and after tonight, DWTS, and Broadway thingy); I have no life outside of dance… I had to watch the tape so that I could re-tape tonight’s show, since I’ll be at this Broadway thingy majigger that Danny Tidwell is not dancing at. I’m glad I watched though: Samba’s my favorite. Just quickly want to say that I was completely blown away by Brooke — she looked like a natural Sambista in that club. What the h–? And then during her routine, she did a perfect ballet ronde, with outturned leg, beautiful kick, in addition to near-perfect ballroom Samba technique. Not in love with the fact that Derreck used Max & Yulia’s song, though — ‘cuz couldn’t get Max & Yulia out of my mind then. Also liked Lance’s tango — he’s really improving. And Warren, though I didn’t like what he did on the ballroom floor, was blown away by that capoeira. Those handstand walks — what the h–? Who knew that big guy could do that??

Anyway, I’m taping tonight’s show, but will blog when I get back from said Broadway thingy majigger. Also, I just got an email from my old studio — my first studio — Paul Pellicoro’s Dancesport — that their weekly Hustle party is going to be featured on tonight’s show. So, watch for that!

Update: So, I guess I am full of lies this week 😉 The email said the studio was supposed to be on, and there was a picture of Tony and Susan in its body… I think Susan and Tony were probably in NY for her One Life rehearsals and he decided to take her to the studio’s Hustle party to practice, and then she got injured and they showed the scenes of her getting the MRI instead… Oh well.

So, I think Julianne Hough should win an award for her choreography. She simply rocks. That jitterbug for Cody made me want to take Lindy all over again, and I haven’t felt that way in a long time. Her I Love Lucy routine with him as the upright / uptight businessman who can’t dance his way out of a paper bag and her the sweetly nutty wife who’s a lot more talented than she (or anyone else) thinks, so perfectly suited his lanky teenage body, his goofy boyish charm, his awkward broken lines (Lindy is all about bent legs, bent arms, oddly flexed feet kicking at the air), and his silly sense of humor. Bruno was right when he said it was perfectly acted, and perfectly danced — that the hilarious slapstick was only an act; a great act, but only an act. It was really so well controlled, all of his movements were — those Charleston kicks toward each other; if you don’t exert serious control over your leg and foot, your partner can easily end up looking like they got into a fight with a razor blade. And some of those tricks were insanely hard — how she jumped into his arms and they went right into a rag doll lift, and then he ran off around the stage with her in that position, legs wrapped around his waist play beating him about the head. He gets major kudos this week. They deserved three 10s I think.

My other favorites were Maurice and Cheryl — more excellent choreography, and he really nailed that Salsa both rhythmically and stylistically; Warren — what a super fun laugh-out-loud Hustle; Brooke, as always; and Toni too — judges were way too harsh on her. The moonwalks were perfect for Michael Jackson, and she nailed them. And she had that sexy, laid-back rhythm down pat. I didn’t see anything wrong at all with her routine this week; I thought she glowed.

My prediction is either Cloris or Susan is going this week, followed by the other next week, then probably Lance the week after. And then I don’t know what’s going to happen.

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Slavik Must Dance!

 

Yesterday I went to see a play about choreographer George Balanchine (which I’ll post about as soon as I have time; I have about 10,000 things to write about and that’s really not much of an exaggeration). My ballroom friend, Mika, came with me, which was wonderful because I hadn’t seen her in a while and needed to get caught up on all the ballroom gossip 🙂 She’s just returned from Internationals, held at Royal Albert Hall in London — so jealous; I really wanted to go to that this year. Anyway, we were chatting about the Latin results and she noted that Slavik Kryklyvyy (one of my two favorite Latin dancers; the other, Sergey Surkov, was unfortunately injured and couldn’t compete), was there watching but still didn’t compete with his newish partner, Hanna Karttunen. Word had it that he got cold feet; didn’t feel up to it. He did the same in May at Blackpool, though. He wandered through the crowd, watching, with a forlorn expression that nearly made me cry, live competitions and videos vendors were showing of past competitions that included him and Karina Smirnoff. Funny, my friend even saw him stretching at one point, before competitors were called onto the floor. As if he were competing. People kept coming up to him and asking for photos, asking him if he would be dancing, and he just kept repeating, “Not this year, sorry,” sounding sadder each time.

Last year when he and Elena Khvorova (who’s now dancing with Andrej Skufca — the couple placed third at Albert Hall — for people who are interested) were a new couple, he did the same thing. But that year, they came to US Nationals and tried out their new partnership in the open to the world category. So, I thought he and Hanna might do the same this year, but they didn’t.

I hope he gets up the nerve to compete soon because people, for one thing, MISS HIM (unless google analytics is lying to me, he’s consistently been the way most new readers have found this blog. And, to my knowledge he’s never been on any of the TV shows, so his fame comes just from his spectacular work on the ballroom floor) and, for another, are getting worried judges are going to start being dismissive, forgetting about him, making a comeback harder. And real-life ballroom judges, lord knows, unlike their TV counterparts, are completely immune from public opinion.

Anyway, happily, he doesn’t seem to have an issue with showdancing. Here‘s a video of him and Hanna — video quality is not the best, but if you know ballroom, and if you know him, you can tell they look in great form. Also, commenter Shim alerted me that they are to dance at Columbia University’s Big Apple Dancesport Challenge, on December 6th! I just hope that’s not restricted to Columbia students…

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Danny Tidwell a No Go Tonight

I’m really sorry you guys, but I just got another press release from the Chase Brock people this morning. When it didn’t list Danny, I emailed them right away. They told me that unfortunately he won’t be performing tonight at the benefit. Neil Haskell’s name was not listed either. I know some people bought tickets specifically to see Danny and I’m really sorry — as of last Friday he was scheduled to dance according to the press release. I’m not sure what happened. Edwaard Liang is still performing. I’m sure the show will still be good…

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Val & Val Split, US 2nd in Internationals

In the ballroom world, DanceBeat reports that Valentin Chmerkovskiy and Valeryia Kozharinova, current reigning US Latin amateur champs, have split. They just competed at Internationals, held at the Royal Albert Hall in London last Thursday, placing in the semifinals in Amateur. The U.S., predictably, took home two second-place trophies in Pro: Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko in Latin, and Arunas Bizokas and Katusha Demidova in Standard.

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Of Pretzels and Pashminas

“When, in today’s ballet, you see a man express his feelings for his lady by hurling her into the air, catching her upside down, and wrapping her around his neck like a pashmina, you are seeing the legacy of the Bolshoi.”

— this from Joan Acocella in her latest New Yorker article, analyzing Morphoses (whose NY season just wrapped up) and trying to place Christopher Wheeldon in the pantheon of choreographers.

I burst out laughing when I read this quote because that’s a perfect (albeit hyperbolized) description of my favorite partnering moves in my favorite of all dance scenes, the balcony pas de deux from Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet — the scene that made me fall in love with ballet. (See Julio Bocca and Alessandra Ferri go at it here.) Acocella says MacMillan is a disciple of the Bolshoi style with its sweeping expressivity, its Romanticism, its high-theater dramatics.

But:

When, on the other hand, you see a woman in a leotard merely hold the man’s hand as she flashes her legs out in eighty-two fabulous, clean ballet steps, and then, in a change of heart, fall into his arms and do something hair-raisingly sexy, like a front-facing split, you are seeing a child of “Agon.”

“Agon” being one of George Balanchine’s masterpieces, Balanchine style being the antithesis of Bolshoi / MacMillan (aka “the pashmina”).

Acocella goes on to say Wheeldon’s choreography contains a bit of both styles. I hadn’t really seen that though. I saw him as more a follower of Balanchine with everything abstract, subtle, understated, and focused on steps, on movement rather than on creating character or bringing about an emotional response in the audience. Which is probably why I’m not an enormous fan of Wheeldon, though I do value seeing his work from time to time. On the other hand, I can’t imagine ever tiring of a pashmina.

The article is very interesting, as all of Acocella’s writings are. She always makes me see something I hadn’t before, makes me reconsider, want to see a piece again. Here, she finds in some of Wheeldon’s original, intricate partnering (which people have, aptly I think, referred to as pretzel pas de deux) something actually rather unsettling, even sinister in a way. I hadn’t thought of those twisty, undefined shapes that his dancers make with each other that way before. I always spent my time at a Wheeldon dance playing the inkblot test, trying desperately to figure out what exactly the odd, contorted shapes evoke. But maybe they’re not meant to evoke a specific image at all, yet still charge you with feeling, the same as a pashmina but in a less over-the-top way, without the drama. I will look at the partnering in his ballets anew now. (I couldn’t find a video of such a pdd, but here’s a Wheeldon sampling for comparison to the MacMillan.)

In any event, I dearly hope Mr. Ratmansky brings some of the Bolshoi with him to ABT. And I hope Mr. Wheeldon can let loose some more of his inner pashmina 😀 What is life without passion?…

Seriously, here is the full Acocella.

And, while on the subject of the New Yorker, for people interested in books and art and the artistic life and all, here is an interesting article by Malcolm Gladwell, on the different types of artistic genius and how each is cultivated, which I think could just as easily be titled, “Why This Country Will Never Produce a Cezanne”… Interestingly, Gladwell seems to locate young novelist Jonathan Safran Foer’s genius in the fact that he was a “best-seller” in his twenties rather than the critical acclaim he received. We’re so accustomed to equating success with money in this country, which is part of Gladwell’s point about the Cezanne issue.

Oh, one last thing: I’d written earlier about Acocella interviewing Ratmansky as part of the New Yorker festival. I was extremely sick that weekend and unable to attend, but Evan was there; here is her report. And here is reportage from Lori Ortiz on Explore Dance.

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San Francisco Ballet a Must See!

I’m going to write more, but just wanted to tell people in New York, if you haven’t already, you should really try to see San Francisco Ballet before they leave town tomorrow. They’re at City Center, with three performances left: tonight (Friday), and tomorrow (Saturday) matinee and evening. Go here for tix, and here to find out more about the company.

I went last night and really fell in love with the company my first time seeing them — which very rarely happens with me (I have to get used to a company, “get to know” their dancers through several viewings).

In particular my favorites were Taras Domitro (above, from Cuba — methinks Cuba is producing the world’s greatest dancers these days 😀

and Russian Ivan Popov, who had beautiful watery fluidity in the last piece of the night, Balanchine’s classic The Four Temperaments, which I hadn’t seen before. This is the only major Balanchine work I hadn’t yet seen — for some reason New York City Ballet hasn’t performed it for a while — and I’m very thankful for SFBallet for giving me this chance.

Everyone really had splendid form, the whole company worked together so well, with such ease, they are such a world-class company, just like my beloved ABT (who takes City Center next, beginning next week) — you can tell a company’s level of prestige by the names on its roster; how many of these are foreign? If Mr. Nobel guy calls us insular because we don’t import a lot of foreign literature, the same certainly can’t be said of our dance arts, right — either in terms of dancers or choreographers...

Anyway, SFBallet is the oldest American ballet company, and are celebrating their 75th anniversary this year, which means, if you can’t see them here, they have more tour to go (next, Orange County, CA, then Washington DC). Try not to miss them!

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Danny Tidwell and Edwaard Liang to Perform Monday Night at Chase Brock Benefit

For all you Danny Tidwell fans, I received word yesterday that he will be performing at the Chase Brock Benefit this Monday night, October 20th, 8 p.m. at the Florence Gould Hall.

Apparently Neil Haskell (also of So You Thin You Can Dance, of course) was originally scheduled to perform, but according to their latest press release Danny will be performing instead.

Additionally, Edwaard Liang (choreographer and dancer with Morphoses, formerly with New York City Ballet) will perform.

Other performers include Elizabeth Parkinson (of Broadway’s Movin’ Out), singer / songwriter Nellie McKay, and a slew of other Broadway performers, and of course the Chase Brock Experience dancers. This is a one-night only show. Regular tickets are $45 and can be purchased through Ticket Master. Premium seating is $100 and there are also $250 VIP tickets that get you into guest parties and pre-performance cocktails the night before and all that jazz. Go here for more information and all the ways to purchase tix.

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I Knew It…

I can’t really comment on the results since I haven’t yet watched the whole show from last night. But, oh, I’m sad.

Show tonight was fun. I’m glad I got to see Los Vivancos. I’d planned to see them at an outdoor festival downtown over the summer but something came up and I couldn’t make it, so cool I got to see them on TV instead.

Brooke Burqa … hmmm, how do I feel about that play on words, Tom Bergeron…

I LOVE the presidential campaign-style adverts though. Very clever. My favorites were Warren’s wearing a fat suit and hasn’t Toni had enough success.

Fun they’re going to have other dance styles on next week, although we’ve seen some of them — Hustle and Salsa at least — in final competitions.

Oh come on, I want to see more of those hip lessons, Bruno…

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Doctor Atomic

Doctor atomic

Originally uploaded by swan lake samba girl via mobile.


T-Mobile

In line outside the met for rush tix to the new opera. Not too horrendously long…

Update: Yes, scored an affordable ticket in orchestra! Line wasn’t too bad — I was there for about 55 minutes altogether, and tonight is opening night. I haven’t been to the opera all that often and have almost never sat in orchestra, and this one is modern and about a pretty topical subject that interests me greatly, so I’m really excited. Muchas gracias to Alex Ross for the heads-up.

Btw, I’ll be watching Dancing With the Stars late, and then I have a short story due mid-week that I’m obsessing over, so don’t know if I’ll have time to post on the show much this week. You guys have to let me know what happens and what you think!

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Last Days of Summer

Today’s such a nice day in NY (70s, woo hoo!), that, although I have an absolute load of work to do inside, I couldn’t resist spending at least a little of the afternoon in the park. I then realized I’d taken a bunch of pictures in Central Park and elsewhere in the city about a month ago and, because of my trip to North Carolina, hadn’t ever had time to post them:

Boaters on the pond.

Water kind of looks a bit Monet, no?

I stopped for a glass of wine in the boathouse bar and sat next to a family of tourists. After the waiter withdrew the cork from their Chardonnay bottle, the woman took it from him, wiped it gently with her napkin, and took a pen from her purse. “Mommy, what are you doing,” the little boy asked. She explained she was saving the cork, as she always does for special events. She still had the Cabernet from the night their father proposed, the Chardonnay from the first honeymoon meal, the Merlot from the family’s first trip to Disneyland, etc. all meticulously labeled and in a glass jar on the fireplace mantle. I thought it was so sweet.

By the way, the Boathouse has an excellent “house” Sauvignon Blanc. It smelled of a dewy morning meadow. I almost didn’t want to drink it…

At the fountain, a man participating in Burning Man festivities (whom I’d recognized as one of my fellow participants in the Judson Movement Research festival) giving a man and his child some bubbles to play with.

They gave me some spicy red Mardi Gras beads, which went well with my scarf.

And this is in the Mall area across from the fountain where they have that retro disco roller derby thing on weekends. This guy’s always there. I love watching.

More disco rollers, or roller-skating disco dancers, or what have you.

Is anyone else kind of annoyed by this new breed of park transportation: the rickshaw bicycle cabbies? They’re everywhere in the park; they come up speeding behind you, nearly run you over. And for the most part, the guys just sit stationary in the tourist areas, waiting to find a customer. If they’re meant as a replacement for the horse-drawn carriages, then I’m all for it (while those are quaint and all, I’ve seen more than one horse go down, especially in the heat, and I think they’re abusive to the animals), but I still see the horse ‘n buggies aligning Central Park South.

Here’s a pic of the Brooklyn Book Festival (sorry; I’m really behind on my posting – -this took place about a month ago).


And here’s Charles Bock reading from his Beautiful Children at the festival. Charles Bock was the Where’s Waldo of my book-reading-going this summer. The man was at practically every literary festival, read on his own several times, had a full-page interview or review in every newspaper… I’m very happy for him though. His book is a poignant expressionistic tale of the underbelly of “the fabulous Las Vegas,” the real Vegas. And I find him very encouraging to new authors. He always mentions how long it took him to write his novel and get it out there (10 years); that it’s all-important to get it right even if it does seem to be taking forever. Art isn’t something to be rushed. He said he revised countless times before even looking for an agent. When he finally had it down as it was meant to be, he found an agent and publisher pretty quickly. I think I’ve done the exact opposite. I started sending it out after I finished my first draft. I have an agent, but am still revising five years later… So, listen to Charles Bock. Obviously.

Here’s a picture I took sitting outside in City Hall Park at night awaiting Ofelia Loret de Mola’s site-specific dance Available Spaces, the last of the season. I get tired of writing about dance all the time, and go to far many more programs than I can review without getting seriously burned out, but here’s the NYTimes review of that. It was basically a Mexican, Halloween-style carnival. I went at night; Roslyn Sulcas, who covered it for the Times, during the day. If you’re interested, the set of photos I took of that begin here.

Okay, back to work. Happy Friday, everyone.