Tag: A-Rod

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Now I Want to Root for Kurt Warner

 

Last night my neighbors were really noisy so I recorded Dancing With the Stars and went out to a bar to watch the Yankees. While watching the game (which we won!), I chatted a bit with a guy I met, and throughout the course of our conversation I mentioned that I was a dance fan / former ballroom dancer and from Arizona. He asked me if I was a Diamondbacks fan, and I said no, I was horrendously upset when they beat us in the World Series in 2001, even though I went to high school with the then-pitcher Curt Schilling… I’d worked downtown and Lower Manhattan just desperately needed a parade – something happy – that year; I think the series just became a symbol of much more than what it was because of what had happened. Plus, the Diamondbacks are a newish team and didn’t exist when I was growing up in Phoenix, so I didn’t really have a connection with them.

Anyway, so the guy asked me if I was a Cardinals fan. And I’m such a dork, I know nothing at all about any sport but baseball. I said, “What, is that a minor league team?” And he started laughing. He said, “No. Football. You know, Kurt Warner, the Super Bowl?…” All I know of the Super Bowl is Mark Sanchez :S I laughed and said I didn’t know football. He said, “Well, you’re rooting for Kurt Warner, right? I mean on Dancing With the Stars?” And then I put two and two together and realized that the football guy this season is the guy he’s talking about. So, Kurt on DWTS played for Arizona, who knew 🙂 And, look, he had A-Rod’s number…

Anyway, so on DWTS, I thought Michael Bolton rightly went home last night, even though I felt badly for him regarding Bruno’s nasty comment, which I didn’t think he deserved. I didn’t think his was the worst jive ever in 11 seasons; there have been too many untalented people on the show (Kate, Cloris, Buzz) or contestants who refused to work (that guy who was partnered with Ashley several seasons ago whose name I can’t now remember) for that to be correct. But I think Michael was having a hard time, it would have been an uphill struggle, and someone had to go. He might have improved but I think I’d rather see if The Situation can.

And regarding that whole spiel about the audience booing: I hadn’t even known there any controversy as to whom they booed – I thought it was clear it was the judges’ relatively low scores for Jennifer and Derek. Apparently some thought they were booing Tom Bergeron’s interviewing Sarah Palin?… Did you guys think that?

Football photo by Rob Schumacher, taken from AZCentral. DWTS photo taken from ShowStalker.

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Washington Heights

I spent much of this and last weekend up in Washington Heights / Inwood, the area north of Harlem and just below the Bronx on the west side of Manhattan. I have several friends who live up there and are trying to convince me to move. It’s really beautiful, much of it inhabited by Dominican immigrants. A-Rod was born there and his father once had a shoe store somewhere in that neighborhood – I really wanted to know where that was!

The top photo is taken more from the Inwood area (the northernmost part of Manhattan), and you can see George Washington bridge, which connects Manhattan to New Jersey. The river is the Hudson.

Kids playing baseball in Inwood park. The diamonds were really full and the teams looked serious! Like a training ground for little athletes 🙂

I found the best Mexican restaurant in the city, Papasito, on Dyckman Street, the border between Inwood and Washington Heights. It’s a funny area – there will be a very chi chi block, even a gated community – which I don’t know I’ve seen anywhere else in NYC, and then right across the street a far less privileged area. There was this tiny section of Dyckman with these five-star restaurants, such as this one. And right across Broadway, totally different story. Anyway, I had the best chili relleno I have ever had in my life at Papasito!

Here’s my view from the restaurant.

The restaurant’s the one with the green lettering in the middle of the picture.

And this is down the east side of Dyckman. I met the sweetest Dominican man working in a bodega where I bought a bottle of water. So polite! He kind of reminded me of a Dominican version of Dolores’s father in Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love 🙂

This is Fort Tryon park. Beautiful! Lots of kind of scary-looking cliffs though. It leads up to the Cloisters, an old monastery that houses some of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Medieval collection.

The Cloisters.

Dominican pic-nic-ers in Fort Tryon park, right across the street from Papasito. The Dominicans really know how to throw a party – they had bouquets upon bouquets of colorful balloons everywhere, lots of food, and merengue music!

This is from the southern part of Washington Heights, in Riverbank park, which is actually in Harlem. So many parks in Manhattan along the river that I never knew of.

More parties in the park, back in the upper end of Fort Tyron park.

The Cloisters gardens / lower end of Fort Tryon park.

Staircase with murals and graffiti painted along the side, leading down from Fort Tryon park, lower end, to Broadway.

I found this really cute arty area right underneath George Washington bridge!

Cute little restaurants and wine shops. And books and art for sale outside on the street.

Off the arty street, a staircase leading up to one of the exclusive, gated areas.

One of the “exclusive” buildings – i.e. there were “private” signs everywhere. Beautiful building though.

Another park along the Hudson. Men playing dominoes, others relaxing on park benches.

Children playing in sprinklers.

A nice, middle-class area in the middle of the Heights, around Columbia Medical School.

Ditto.

This is taken back in my current neighborhood. You can see how far up the bridge is, if you can make it out in the distance. Overcast day!

Cute little outdoor cafe I just found right in my area, on the riverfront. Never knew it existed!

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ABT OPENING NIGHT GALA MET SEASON 2010

 

Photo from inside the gala tent last night at American Ballet Theater’s opening night gala taken from NY Social Diary, who, sadly, don’t seem to have any pics up of Irina Dvorovenko in her beautiful red gown. It was one of the most beautiful dresses I’ve ever seen — long and many-layered but each layer seemed to be made of a light, sheer piece of fabric, so the whole thing looked light and diaphanous, though it wasn’t really see-through, just looked that way. Anyway, if anyone finds a picture of her, please let me know! Roberto Cavalli probably designed it…

Anyway, so the opening night gala was last night. It was loooong — one of the longest I’ve seen. We didn’t get out until 9:30, and it began at 6:30. It opened with an excerpt from Frederick Ashton’s Birthday Offering, of seven couples waltzing at what seemed to be a party (I haven’t seen this ballet), with Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky the main couple.

Following that was a series of introductions and thank yous by Kevin McKenzie (Art. Dir.), Blaine Trump and Caroline Kennedy (the two women were honorary chairs of the evening, along with Michelle Obama, who wasn’t there), and then David Koch who has funded the upcoming production of the company’s Nutcracker this winter.

Then, a group of ABT II dancers performed an excerpt of Edwaard Liang’s Ballo Per Sei, which was a contemporary lyrical piece, set to Vivaldi. I recognized a SLSG favorite — Irlan Silva — right away.

Then came the “Rose Adagio” from Sleeping Beauty, performed by Michele Wiles, with Sascha Radetsky, Craig Salstein, Gennadi Saveliev, and Roman Zhurbin as suitors. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this performed so well. Michele really held those balances, and she was so vivacious! Both she and Paloma Herrera, who danced a later excerpt from SB later in the evening, really embodied a young Princess Aurora very well. Michele got loads of applause – the most thus far of the evening.

Then came David Hallberg and Natalia Osipova’s Olympic version of Giselle — this an excerpt from Act II. People laughed and shook heads in amazement at Osipova’s sky-high ballons and sprightly jumps and leaps. She is really incredible. And then at the end when she jeted off and he followed her, it was really beautiful. But athletically astounding as it was, it was still moving; nearly brought tears to my eyes. I mean, how do you manage to do athletic feats like that and make it seem like you’re a light, other-worldly spirit instead of nearly exhausting yourself to death? I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to see anyone else dance Giselle again besides Osipova now. I saw a couple of etoiles from the Paris Opera Ballet perform it at the Guggenheim a few months ago and all I could think was, “wait, where’s the ear-high develope?” and “that arabesque penchee is nowhere near 6:00!” Natalia Osipova has spoiled me.

Then came Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes doing my favorite gala fare, the Black Swan pas de deux. They were magnificent. Veronika kept doing these equally astounding crazy penchees, and she was so tantalizing with all of her faux White Swan poses! She was really a bad tease! And perfect fouette sequence for her, and his jetes and all — they got loads of applause too (oh, and so did David and Natalia).

Then was the beautiful Thais Pas de Deux by Ashton, danced by Diana Vishneva and Jared Matthews. I recently saw this rehearsed at a studio visit by Hee Seo and Sascha Radetsky, and it looks so different onstage far away and with costumes and all. It looked a lot more like MacMillan than I remembered. I loved it; Diana and Jared did very well but I still can’t wait to see Hee and Sascha. For her gala gown, Diana was wearing a very interesting-looking Japanese-styled dress.

Ending the first half of the evening was the finale of Tharp’s Brahms-Hayden Variations, danced by a group of seven couples, replete with trademark Tharpian flash and crazy lifts and high energy. Can’t wait to see this now either. I have in my notes, “who is dancing with Hammoudi?!” When I looked at my program, I saw it was Stella Abrera. She is really back and really on!

First dance after the intermission was the “Kingdom of the Shades” scene from La Bayadere.  Beautiful as always though it seemed some of the dancers were not completely in unison.

Then came Paloma Herrera and Cory Stearns dancing the Awakening Pas de Deux from Sleeping Beauty, which was followed by the wedding pas de deux from that ballet danced by Herman Cornejo and Xiomara Reyes. I particularly loved Paloma. As I said before, she and Michele Wiles really embodied the sweet, youthful spirit of Aurora. Paloma and Cory danced very well together. They seemed like a real couple.

Then was my second favorite excerpt of the night — the Act III Pas de Deux from Neumeier’s Lady of the Camellias, danced by a very passionate Roberto Bolle (who received a load of applause when the curtain initially opened on him) and a very dramatic Julie Kent. Every excerpt of this ballet makes me want to see the whole. Not much longer now — it begins next week, and I can’t wait. I think they received the greatest applause of the night. Audience really went wild, and it’s partly because he’s so internationally famous, but also I think because they just did so well with it. This seems to be a ballet that requires both good acting and excellent partnering ability because some of those lifts… The pianist, Soheil Nasseri, came onstage too for a bow at the end. He was very good.

Next to last was the Act III Pas de Deux from Don Quixote, danced by ABT audience faves Ethan Stiefel and Gillian Murphy. There was a slight mishap with the lift where he throws her up, she does a crazy twist in the air and then he catches her and the fish dive wasn’t hands free, but they each danced spectacularly on their own. It looked at one point like she was doing quadruple pirouettes between some of her fouettes, and he nearly kicked his leg to his forehead during some of his jumps and then did a flashy little jump during his fouette sequence that had the audience screaming.

The evening ended on a modern note  with David Parsons’s Caught, danced by Angel Corella, who, expectedly did an exquisite job. The audience, many of whom hadn’t seen that dance before, seemed so spellbound they almost forgot to clap right away. Angel’s so cute 😀

And finally, everyone who danced came out onstage at the end and took a little bow while the orchestra continued to play. Dancers still in costume — Daniil Simkin, Craig Salstein, Gennadi Saveliev come to mind — did a flashy trick, the “Shades” did a little dance in unison, and then dancers who danced in the first half came out in party gown (which is how I fell in love with Irina’s dress).

Fun evening. During intermission I checked my cell-phone and found a text from a friend who saw me sitting in orchestra from the side par terre, where he was sitting. So I texted him to meet me afterward, and we went for martinis, clam chowder and crab cake sandwiches at Ed’s Chowder House across from the Plaza, my favorite post-ballet place to go since it replaced Center Cut mid-NYCB fall season. They have a TV in the bar, and I was happy that the Yankees were still on. So I saw A-Rod hit his game-tying home-run… But how my friend ever saw me in that enormous Met crowd I’ll never know. Though many arrived late, house ended up being packed.

Oh, and I almost forgot: at the beginning of his speech, Kevin McKenzie introduced several dancers – each representing an era of ABT (this being the company’s 70th anniversary)- who all came out and took a bow. Included were Lupe Serrano, Baryshnikov, Nina Ananiashvili (who got a lot of applause), Alessandra Ferri, Natalia Makarova, and cutie Frederick Franklin, who gave a little speech as well. Isabella Rosellini was in the audience, a few rows down from me. I didn’t recognize anyone else in the audience.

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ERICA PEREIRA PROMOTED TO SOLOIST AT NYCB

 

 

Photos by Paul Kolnik.

I’m a little late on this news, but for NYers who haven’t heard, Erica Pereira was recently promoted from corps member to soloist at New York City Ballet. I first noticed her in 2006 when she was the youngest Juliet cast in Peter Martins’ Romeo + Juliet (she was still then only an apprentice with the company). I knew how special she was then, and so I think this promotion is very well deserved.

Getting so excited for NYCB’s Winter season to begin! Nutcracker shows through Sunday, January 3rd, then the regular season begins the following Tuesday, January 5th, when the new Peter Martins will show, along with Balanchine’s Who Cares?

Ballet preceded by cadillac margaritas and duck tortilla pie at Rosa Mexicano, then followed with Ed’s Chowder House martinis and scallop ravioli:) Or maybe Honoo & green tea martinis at the A-Rod / Wallace Shawn bar… Ballet season: yum!

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WAS THAT THE MOST BORING DANCING WITH THE STARS QUARTERFINAL OR WHAT?

Sorry I’ve been so out of it again with blogging, you guys — I can’t believe how many little errors there are in my book to correct… So stressful!

Anyway, I managed to watch DWTS last night. Thing is, I’m really so not into it; even if I wasn’t busy with my book, I’m so not into blogging about the show this season. I think Mya is overall the best contestant on the show right now, and so she probably deserves to win. But she just doesn’t do that much for me. I liked both her Quickstep and 70s Samba last night — I thought her Quickstep was actually pretty basic and technique-focused so I’m not sure why Len didn’t like it, and the Samba was fun — a lot of people dance Samba to disco music since it’s so hard to find good authentic Samba music around here.

I think overall I like Aaron the most though, even though he’s not as good as Mya. Still, he’s getting less and less fun, for some reason, as the season goes on. His over-the-top-ness is not enough to compel me to watch the show anymore. I liked but didn’t love his 90s Latin routine last night — wait, was it  Jive? I don’t even remember? But I was annoyed with Karina that she didn’t let him do his fun boy-band moves. Why did she cut him off like that — I think it would have been hilarious. And what is with everyone getting sick? (Both Karina and Aaron had the flu at various points this week apparently…)

I thought all the Standard routines were pretty bland last night. I thought Donny’s Viennese Waltz was the best, mainly because Kym was so beautifully fluid. But during the Latin round, his 80s Paso wasn’t all that interesting. The costumes and music (I used to love Spin Me ‘Round) were far more fun and flashy than the actual dancing.

And I feel the same way about Kelly as I do Aaron. I liked watching her learn and grow early on but now it seems she’s stagnating and it’s not that interesting anymore. I thought her 60s Jive was cute and I love that Louis, unlike Karina, let her put her own Monkees-esque moves in.

I feel like Joanna really dances like a paper doll. She has no grounding, no weight, no strength or firmness in her body. You need that for ballroom, even for the Standard dances. You need that for any kind of dance. You need that to do fouettes and pirouettes in ballet. Not that I don’t dance exactly like that — that was always my problem: I looked emaciated and completely substanceless. I used to think it was just about being thin, but it’s not. There are very thin dancers who are very rooted and have a great deal of strength in their bodies. She’s a really really pretty paper doll, but a paper doll nonetheless and I can’t for the life of me understand why the judges fawn over her so.

 

 

I know, as Katrina had commented earlier, that seasons may collide, but I still so want Yankees to be on the show.  Come on, A-Rod can dance with Smirnoff and Derek with … Lacey maybe. The World Series was the most exciting thing to happen since Roberto Bolle (look look, new pic from Weber book!) came to town. I’ve been a bit bored and depressed since it ended… 🙁

One more thing about the Yankees: they had a little dance segment at the City Hall celebration — did anyone watch it? The dancers were teenaged schoolgirls, apparently, from Staten Island, called the LA Dancers — something like that. They were okay, but you know… Why don’t they have a real dancer, like Ashley Bouder? I think she’d be perfect — she’s cute and extremely athletic and would be very attractive to the average baseball fan. And she’s a NYCBallet dancer… Come on! Next year…

 

Photo of Bouder by Gene Schiavone, taken from Bailarinas; photos of A-Rod and Jeter taken from here and here respectively.

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I WANT CC SABATHIA TO BE ON DANCING WITH THE STARS

 

He would be fun! Or Derek Jeter, or A-Rod, who, by the way, on the night of the second World Series game, my friends and I saw at Blue Ribbon at 6 Columbus, where we went after seeing Morphoses (review of the program B still to come!) He was with Kate Hudson, and an entourage of course. We also saw Wallace Shawn there. Such a cutie — and he got more requests for autographs than A-Rod!

I mean, why are there never any baseball players on the show? Only footballers?

Anyway, this week’s show (which I realize I’m very late with now — don’t even ask; crazy crazy week): my favorites were Aaron and Karina’s Jive, Mya and Dmitry’s Foxtrot, and and Donny and Kym’s Quickstep. I thought Aaron’s Jive was downright professional-looking — I do think those athletic training courses she had him do beforehand so he’d get the kicks and flicks right — helped immensely. I thought Mya’s Foxtrot was very golden-age Hollywood, very glamorous and beautifully danced. And I thought Donny’s Quickstep showed excellent showmanship and very good footwork. I disagree with the judges who were critical of him — I thought he did an excellent job with that QS. And I missed the supposed mistakes!

I disagree with the judges on Michael and Anna’s Foxtrot, and Kelly and Louis’s Salsa. I thought Michael did much better last week with the Samba, and in this week’s group Paso — I think the Foxtrot just isn’t him. He didn’t look fluid and elegant and didn’t really have the rise and fall right, though it looked like he was trying hard — and the judges likely recognized that. I thought Kelly looked totally stiff in her Salsa though! She got better as the dance went on, but she looked really nervous and almost seemed like she was just going through the motions in the first third of it. When she did that twisted dip, Louis almost didn’t catch her and had to find his footing. But by the last third of the dance, she’d found her confidence and it was much more all-out. Funny thing is that this seems to be what she does every week, so I didn’t really see improvement on that front, though I still like her.

I also didn’t like Joanna and Derek’s Rumba. She looked like a paper-doll trying to be sexy, if you ask me. Everything seemed superficial — both the emotions and the hip action.

And I didn’t like Mark’s Samba. I didn’t really think it was a mess like the judges said but I don’t think it’s a dance that naturally looks good on him. He did much better with the group Paso. But I can see why he was the one to be booted last night.

I didn’t actually see the show last night (was out seeing FELA! on Broadway, which was excellent! Definitely go see it if you’re in NY — it’s such a “real” musical — you’re really taken back to the 70s, to Nigeria, to Fela Kuti’s nightclub, to the police brutality, to the music and dance, to his world; you really feel like you’re there, which, to me, doesn’t often happen with musicals. And it has Bill T. Jones‘s mark of choreographic excellence all over it!) Anyway, regarding DWTS, I missed Derek and Mark singing. How were they?

Above photo by Kathy Willens, Associated Press.