Tag: American Ballet Theater

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Hooray for Mika!!

Mika and Plamen

Oh my gosh, I’ve been so busy trying to get a brief out, uploading photos to my photo page from this past weekend, and having my dance lessons, I haven’t had time yet to blog about my insane, raucous, dance-filled weekend, which I spent literally running back and forth like a crazed nutter between the Roseland Ballroom in midtown, where a small ballroom competition known as the New York Dance Festival was taking place, and Lincoln Center, where the New York City Ballet was having its final performances of the winter season! So, sorry for being so late in getting my pictures of the festival up, but here they are, finally.

I’m very excited because my friend, Mika, won the overall pro/am Latin championships!!! Yay, Mika!

Her teacher is the amazing Plamen Danailov, who, with his pro partner, won first place in the pro Latin division! Half Japanese, half Austrian, and raised in Vienna, where ballroom dancing skills are acquired from a very young age, Mika has been dancing ballroom since she was very small, and it really shows. She is such a beautiful dancer, makes long graceful lines, exhibits such elegance in her demeanor and with her costumes, and has a very strong connection with her partner. Watching her really makes me wish dancing was taken more seriously here in the U.S., so that I would have learned from a young age as well.

Placing second in the pro/am Latin was Tessa, with her teacher, Jacob Jason, below. Tessa has only been dancing ballroom for about two years, but she has a ballet background, and in fact was formerly a dancer with the Joffrey Ballet!

Tessa and Jacob

Watching Tessa was a real treat too. Oh how I wish I would have taken more ballet as a child…

Elaine

Elaine!!! Here is one of my friends from my studio, the lovely and talented, Elaine, dancing with her teacher, Jacob, same as Tessa’s. Jacob had about fifty students dancing, I swear! Above she is doing her fun, ‘foxy foxtrot’ showcase, and below, a charming Waltz routine.

Elaine II

Students can compete either in the general group dances, or perform a solo showcase with their teacher. Elaine opted for the showcase, Mika for the general, and Tessa for both. I think if you do the general group dances, you get more time to dance on the floor, especially if you advance to semi-finals and then finals. With a showcase, you’re only on for about two minutes, but you get the whole floor to yourself, and you get to choose your music, and can do more theatrical things, like lifts. In the general group comp, one foot must always be touching the floor, and you share the ballroom with everyone else in your division.

I took several pictures, so you can click here if you want to look at the whole album. Here are some more of my highlights from Sunday though:

Darina and Bill

Above is another of my friends, Bob, competing in the pro/am with his teacher, Darina, who was wearing just about the sexiest, slinkiest, most gorgeous dress I have ever seen!

darina and bill

Another shot of that dress. And Darina is so beautiful, she can pull it off like no one’s business!

joaquin cortes guy Above is this teacher, whose name I don’t know, but he was very good. He really impressed me, and his student was quite good as well. He reminded me of a young Joaquin Cortes, the famed flamenco dancer.

latin youth Some very cute kids competing in the Latin youth.

Nikolai Ahh! My new Latin crush-object, Nikolai Shpakov! He looked amazing, danced so well and wicked fast with his new partner, who was just lovely. And look at those hot pink shimmies — I so want that costume!!!

Another of Nikolai and THE DRESS!

A competitor in the pro American Smooth Division. Love that arch!

JT

This one’s rather blurry, but it’s the very sweet, always lovely to watch, J.T. Damalas and Tomas Melnicki, who won first place in the pro American Smooth division.

Finally, this pro Latin couple was a lot of fun. I’m not sure who they are, but I think I heard in the introductions that they are from New Jersey. They really knew how to play to a crowd!

So, that was my Sunday. I spent practically all day Saturday with Philip, at the New York City Ballet, watching, amongst other things, Miranda Weese’s last performance with the company before she heads off to Seattle to guest perform with the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Here is an (illegal!) picture I caught of her:

Weese takes a bow

It was so fun, again, to hang out with Philip. He invited me out to dinner with his partner, Wei, and his friend from high school, Deborah. Very nice!

Finally, tonight is the last round of the America’s Ballroom Challenge competition. Since this is not a “real” competition, but is made for TV, I have no idea what to expect. It seems a bit unfair to compare dancers in four completely different dance styles (that’s: American Rhythm, American Smooth, International Latin, and International Standard) with each other, but this show is really promoting ballroom to a larger TV audience, so I am not criticizing one bit! I just don’t know who to predict will win. My favorites are Andrei Gavriline and Elena Kruychkova (last year’s champs), but of course they are my faves since I am a Latin girl! Jonathan Wilkins and Katusha Demidova (Standard) are the highest-ranked couple in the world of all of the U.S. couples, so they may win. But then Latin seems to be more popular in the U.S., so maybe the Latin couple will win again. Or maybe it’ll be Tony Dovolani and Elena Grinenko, who’ve won audiences over as pro dancers on Dancing With the Stars. Or, maybe it’ll be the underdogs, Ben and Shaleen Ermis in American Smooth. Who knows. We’ll just have to tune in and find out! Check here for local listings, and enjoy!!

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"Oberon" and Janie Taylor at NYCB!

Oberon and me and NYCB

So, I finally got to meet “Oberon” (Philip) at the New York City Ballet! (If I look a little bug-eyed in the above pic, it’s because it was unusually dark in the State Theater and my camera’s built-in flash was going nuts, so I was trying hard not to let it make me blink!) I had a great time hanging out with Philip, and, since he knew half of the Fourth Ring, I got to meet all of his friends as well! I met Philip on The Winger, a website / blog I am continually grateful to for, amongst other reasons, allowing me to hook up with so many fellow ballet-lovers in the city. It makes a big difference watching a ballet with other fans: you hear their interpretations, their thoughts, you find out insightful tidbits about dancers and conductors you didn’t know before — it just makes the ballet-going experience so much more educational and enjoyable.

Janie Taylor on flyer cover

Also, I finally got to see the spectacularly dazzling Janie Taylor! One of the ballets performed was “Afternoon of a Faun” — one of my favorites, which I have only ever seen the American Ballet Theater do. Taylor danced in that one, and she perfectly fit every adjective I have ever heard used to describe her: beautiful, captivating, bewitching, enthralling, stunning… She was absolutely ideal for the female Faun part. I enjoyed Craig Hall as well, although I noticed he did a few things differently than the ABT men have. Although, Philip said he thought that the conductor, who was filling in temporarily for the regular conductor (see, these are the kinds of things you learn by seeing the ballet with a knowledgeable balletomane!) was moving the orchestra a little too fast, so it could just be that Hall just didn’t have time to do things as full-out… HOW pathetic is it that I even know that — that I have the choreography of the male part in that one just about memorized?! Have seen it one too many times in which I have focused a bit too much on a certain Jose Manuel Carreno… 🙂 Anyway, it was such a treat to see Taylor perform for once. She has been out with a calf injury for well over a year now, and I’m told she is still not able to throw herself as energetically into her dancing as she was pre-injury, but hopefully that will change next season, and I will be able to see her much much more!

Also on the bill was “Evenfall,” a new Christopher Wheeldon ballet that just premiered last season. I really so LOVE that ballet — it and Jorma Elo’s “Slice to Sharp” were my favorites from last season’s new ballets. Evenfall is so beautiful — gorgeous purple costumes, breathtaking pas de deux and beautiful ensemble parts, very dramatic music (Bartok)… and I’m sorry but if I may sound shallow for a moment, SETH ORZA IS SO CUTE!!!! He is just perfect for the male lead in that ballet — perfect for the romantic male lead in ANYTHING! Orza is definitely THE hot guy in NYCB 🙂 Okay, I am done being a schoolgirl. But really, he is so gorgeous; and of course he is a very athletically strong dancer to boot, soaring through the air with his muscular legs in those amazing jumps. I’ll go see anything that man is in. This also marked ballerina Miranda Weese’s penultimate performance with the company before she leaves for the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. I’m still new to the NYCB, but I thought she was a lovely dancer and I’m sorry I won’t see more of her.

This is the last weekend of this NYCB season, and I’ll be there, with Oberon!, at the Saturday and Sunday matinees. I’m actually going to have a bit of a crazed dance weekend, because it is also the New York Dance Festival, a nice little local competition held at the Roseland Ballroom here in midtown, and in which several of my amateur friends will be competing. If you want to see a live ballroom competition, do come check it out!

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Let the Heated Battle Begin!

Andrei Gavriline

Well, tonight is THE night on America’s Ballroom Challenge! It is my personal favorite competition anyway: the highly competitive, raucously fun, always immensely crowd-pleasing International Latin. Last year at the Ohio Star Ball, where America’s Ballroom Challenge is taped, the crowd was just going crazy showing their feelings — screaming the names of their favorites (forget calling out their dancer id numbers — as worn on the man’s back, which the emcee directs them to do, I assume in order to make the dancers feel less like it is personal admiration for one couple, distaste for another), and booing loudly — and angrily– when they don’t place as well as their fans wanted them to.

Tonight will be hotly contested. Above is a picture of Andrei Gavriline, who, with his wife and parter, Elena Kryuchkova, is the current U.S. National Latin Champion, three years in a row now.

BUT, this couple below, the beautiful, petite, Yulia Zagoryuchenko and her playful, entertaining partner, Max Kozhevnikov

Max and Yulia

may well overtake them. Oddly (some feel anyway), they (Max and Yulia) are currently second in the U.S., yet ranked higher in the World standings than Andrei and Elena. I think Max and Yulia are currently 8 in the world, if I am not mistaken, perhaps 9 after a few notable partner breakups and rearrangements last year altered the world standings a bit, and Andrei and Elena are farther down, past 12th I think. Anyway, it’s interesting that the World judges have consistently felt so differently about these two couples than the U.S. judges, and that has been a source of contention for the past few years amongst the serious fans of Latin, all of whom seem to have a favorite, about whom they are very passionate, to put it mildly! When the winner is announced tonight, there will likely be some kind of outburst, though the sound editor of the show may well cut it out for TV-viewing purposes… We’ll see…

I love both couples, but can’t help be a bit partial to Andrei and Elena. Andrei teaches at my studio, and the first time I ever saw him — when I had no idea who he was — he was teaching Cha Cha to a newish student. He showed her a very simple backward three Chas — three cha chas in a row going backward — a step that is taught in first-level, pre-Bronze classes — a very very simple basic that anyone who has been dancing for a month can do, in other words. But when he did it, he just flew across the floor — and I mean FLEW! It was the most amazing three chas I had ever seen in my life. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him after that. When I later found out he was the national champion, I had to laugh at myself for not knowing. Was kinda proud of myself though for having the sense to recognize flawless technique and star power 🙂 But, seriously, that experience watching him taught me that it’s not about knowing a bizillion steps that makes you a great dancer; it’s how well you can do the steps. Every teacher worth their salt will tell you that over and over again when you want to advance past the level you’re really ‘at,’ and it sounds like a total cliche, but just watch Andrei do a basic and, believe me, that so-called cliche will really hit home!

Plus, Andrei has such an interesting dancer’s body. He is tall and very thin, and this helps him to move so fast and far,and gives him that light, weightless, “flying across the floor” look. And, not that this has anything to do with being a great dancer, but he is just such a beautiful man: very delicate, Asiatic facial features, very fine-boned — kind of reminds me of Maxim Beloserkovsky, from the American Ballet Theater. And his wife, Elena, has a tiny gymnast body. They are such a contrast, and her smallness makes it look like she is just floating up effortlessly into his arms during their lifts.

On the other hand, Max and Yulia do a fast fast FAST mean-ass Samba that is a real sight to behold!

I have met this couple before at Blackpool and they are the sweetest people. So, I’m rooting for them too! I’m rooting for two couples!

Another favorite couple of mine are Delyan Terziev and Boriana Deltcheva.

Delyan and Boriana

I think she is such a beautiful dancer, with long limbs and a balletic body that enables her to make gorgeous lines, especially during romantic Rhumba. Sometimes she just looks like a spider! They are a very dramatic couple, putting a lot of character into their dancing, which makes them compelling to watch.

Those are my personal faves anyway. The other couples, whose pictures I’ve taken from ABC’s website, all copyright of Jeffrey Dunn, are:

Ilya Ifraimov and Nadia Goulina

Andre and Natalie Paramonov (whose picture is currently down on the site)

and

Vaidotis Skimelis and Jurga Pupelyte.

Upsettingly, absent, due to Pasha’s illness, are Pavel (Pasha) Kovalev and Anna Garnis, probably the most popular overall with the crowd, judging by all the immensely enthusiastic eardrum-shattering cheers they receive while on the floor. I am still so sad that they had to miss this one. I can’t resist putting up a couple of pictures, taken from the Nationals in Florida last year:

Sorry for the crappy, dark and blurry photos. Hopefully I will get a new camera in time for Blackpool this year!

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Extremely Embarrassing Dance Moment!

Baryshnikov and Kudo in Sinatra Suites I

B and K in Sinatra Suites II

I took these crappy pictures from my miniscule-screen, bad-reception TV, which is why they’re so difficult to see, but they’re basically of this step — way more difficult than it looks — from the DVD of Twyla Tharp’s Sinatra Suites. My teacher and I were trying to put something similar into our foxtrot routine. Basically, the guy (in the above case, Baryshnikov) kneels, while the lady (Elaine Kudo) stands facing away from him, then lifts her back left leg in arabesque, and he helps her first to turn herself around toward him, them to propel herself up and over his body, first straddling his shoulder, then doing splits across his back, traveling all the way around him, and landing on her front leg near his right shoulder. Hard to describe, which is why I tried to take the pics. It always amazes me how some of the most difficult-looking shoulder-level or even overhead lifts are actually easier than some of the more simple-looking things. I mean, that may just be from my female amateur perspective: some of the things that are easiest for me may be the hardest for the man. But, I never thought until I tried this one that it would be difficult. It’s hard because you have to make yourself as light as possible so he can kind of glide you along around him, and you also have to help push yourself around without your hands, but using your stomach, thigh, and butt muscles. Well, I kept getting stuck on his shoulder; somehow my crotch would get stuck on his collar bone — very weird sensation– and I couldn’t move myself along any further.

So, he decided to try to help me by using his hands a bit more aggressively. He placed one on the bottom of my left thigh (the front leg). But as I was nearing his shoulder, he moved his hand up a bit and, sorry to be a bit crass, but about three fingers shot straight into my crotch. Kind of FAR too! I mean, he felt EVERYTHING. And I had some serious tugging down to do to my leotard and tights afterward! When I looked at him, he had this shocked expression on his face. “Um, okay, that was a little … intimate … sorry about that,” he laughed nervously. I’m such a goof, I just giggled; didn’t know what else to do. And then once I started laughing, he started too, and then I really couldn’t stop. Thankfully it was near the end of the lesson!

Weird thing is, it seemed that everyone else in the studio knew exactly what happened. There are these adorable little kids who are about to go on the junior Latin competition circuit who take lessons with one of the coaches there and they were on the floor practicing at the time, with their parents looking on. When I looked over at them, they were both staring right at me, with very curious faces. Their poor parents looked bewildered. “Ugh, sorry, it’s not my fault,” I felt like saying to them.

I know these things probably happen often with professionals. And, I’m high-waisted (long legs, short torso), so whenever I get lifted by the waist, the guy inevitably gets a handful of breast. I’m used to that now. But this was a new one. I guess another thing I’ll get used to as well. Partner dancing is very interesting!

Quenia Ribeiro

Anyway, in celebration of Carnaval, which I couldn’t go to this year, I watched my Quenia Ribeiro Samba DVD repeatedly. How come it looks so much easier on the tape???!!! Ugh. Anyway, I have the basic steps just about memorized now. I just have to try them out … ooh, so afraid I’m just going to just be nauseated when I see myself in front of the mirror though…

Oh, also, I was one of the winners of Root Magazine’s essay contest on your most memorable dance moment, for my story of struggling through my first Samba class! Thank you so much, Root! There were five winners in all, which the magazine is publishing throughout the next month. The above link takes you to the first one — a sweet discovery about romantic attraction through Salsa dancing. I’ll post when mine’s up.

Also, Natalia has posted the next dance blog carnival, whose topic is “Looking With a Dancer’s Eye.” Should be fun!

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Strictly Standard

Jonathan and Katusha

Tonight on America’s Ballroom Challenge (8 p.m. on Channel 13 in New York, check here for local PBS times) is the Standard competition. In the first part of the competition, the group dance, couples will compete in Waltz, Slowfox, Tango, Viennese Waltz, and (my personal favorite!) — Quickstep. Second half is a showcase in the dance of their choosing. Pictured above are the reigning American champions, Jonathan Wilkins and Katusha Demidova. They are also the number three Standard couple in the world, making them the highest-ranked American couple world-wide right now. They are the obvious favorites tonight.

But champion of the underdog am I! So, here is my personal favorite couple, the ever so charming Victor Fung and Anna Mikhed:

Victor and Anna

I don’t seem to be able to get very good pictures of Standard (the couples fly around the ballroom floor so swiftly!), but here is one from the Manhattan Dancesport Championships last summer. I just adore this couple — they’re so sweet together, so charming, so charismatic. Her dresses are always so classic, so classy — they’re the king and queen of class those two!

And they work so well together, which you have to in Standard. If you aren’t on the very same wavelength as your partner, you’re going to tumble right over each other. If one of you goes down, the partnership goes down. This is one thing I both love and despise about Standard — love to watch it, hate to try it! Your bodies must make a martini-glass shape — which is absolutely beautiful. But so difficult to do. You’re connected from the waist down, and you must maintain that connection at all times, no matter how fast you’re moving, no matter where you go on the floor, through twists and turns and everything; if you lose that hold, it’s all over. And that’s the awesome beauty of Standard to me: the couples really are dancing as one. Nothing tests the strengths of partnership, trust, and lead and follow like Standard. You can’t choreograph your routines for the group dance very well because too many things could happen with all of the couples dancing on the crowded floor — you never know when you’re going to need to change speed or direction because you’re about to slam into another couple (which happens quite often, understandably). So, the man must “drive” (that’s often to me what he looks like he’s doing anyway, judging by facial expressions!) — leading, going forward; the woman reading and following his lead, while going backward, TRUSTING him to watch her back! And it’s so hard to trust — you really want to look behind you, to look out for yourself, but you can’t — you’ll ruin the line, the shape, the look, and of course most importantly the connection.

I just love watching this competition live. The room just becomes a whirl of color with all of the big beautiful ballgowns swirling around the floor. I hope it’ll look comparable on TV.

I don’t know much about the other four couples competing, as I don’t follow Standard all that closely (mainly since I don’t take lessons in it), but, taken from the ABC website, they are:

Giampiero Giannico and Anastasia Murayeva;

Linas Koreiva and Ieva Pauksena;

Igor Litvinov and Julia Ivleva; and

Erminio Stefano and Liene Apale, whom I have seen dance before (and they are a gorgeous couple too) but whom I seem to have no pictures of. All of these photos are copywright of Jeffrey Dunn for WGBH and I’ve linked to them from the ABC website. Anyway, please tune in tonight for the most beautiful of all the ballroom competitions!

Here are some more pictures I’ve taken at various competitions of the two couples who will likely be duking it out for the trophy: Jonathan and Katusha, and Victor and Anna. The ones where the camera is panning down on the dance floor from above were taken at the Blackpool Dance Festival last June — the largest and most prestigious professional ballroom dance competition in the world, held in England yearly in late May / early June. Enjoy!

I love that one of Katusha!



How sweet was Anna’s bluish-green Blackpool dress with the Thirties-style black hat and shawl!

And one last one of Jonathan and Katusha, third overall in Blackpool, top U.S. couple:

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Luis Nostalgia

I just found this website — belongs to the brilliant American Rhythm dancer Anya Fuchs! She happens to be the former partner of my former teacher, Luis Grijalva (before he left my studio). She has some great footage of her dancing with Luis, which makes me so nostalgic for him… Click here (on the video) to see some great Rhythm dancing! I miss him so…

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Hooray, David and Marcelo Tickets Have Arrived!

ABT season ticket envelope

Very happy to receive in the mail today my American Ballet Theater Met season subscription tickets! Well, they haven’t printed the tickets out yet, but they sent me a letter confirming that I got the series I wanted. I had a subscription last year, but when I went to renew it, realized there were different dancers performing on the nights of my old subscription, and some ballets that I wasn’t too keen on seeing, so I called and asked them to change the series to a different night. They told me they would try hard to accommodate me but couldn’t ensure I’d get the same seat on the new night. But, according to the letter, they were able to give me what I wanted — I’m up front to the side near the curtain on my new night, which will include: Othello starring Marcelo (and Julie), Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet (Marcelo and Julie again), and Cinderella with David as the perfect Prince Charming. Only thing is, I just realized I’m supposed to be reading from my novel at the Writers Room reading series at Cornelia Street Cafe the night of Romeo and J, so will have to exchange that one (believe it or not, my novel is more important than Marcelo 🙂 ) … which is okay, so I’ll see a different Romeo — maybe that’s a good ballet for Jose…

Anyway, when I first saw the envelope, I immediately had this weirdly dream-esque thought that ABT management was writing me to say, no, you can’t have your Marcelo tickets; you hold him to too high a standard in his real life… ABT is in Paris / London on tour right now and I saw him going to a strip show in another ABT dancer’s blog and became really kind of disgusted and commented on how I felt, upsetting the very sensitive blogger. I know I may be weirdly old-school / pre-postmodern feminist for my age and all, but I just find any kind of strip show reductive of and demeaning to women — whether it’s burlesque, a Vegas-style thing, or some greasy bar, I just do. And to see a favorite dancer of mine doing something I abhored really made me not want to know very much about him, and wonder how much I want to read that blogger’s blog anymore… (so odd for a gay man to be at a female strip show anyway…). I mean, weirdest thing I think is seeing a celebrity you so admire doing something normally private on the internet. Eh, I’m over it. I still love Marcelo and probably always will, unless I see him killing a small animal or something…

Anyway, apropros of my post about having too many gay friends and not enough romance, and intrigued by my experience at the last LVHRD event (which I, badly, didn’t think to invite her to), my lovely friend, Kathy, in an effort to make good on my promise to go with her to the next LVHRD event, sent me this link. Apparently, the next one is to be some kind of dating thing. Ugh, why!!! Why can’t it be another dance-off or paint-off or fashion or architectural duel — dating stuff, blah!

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Death in Venice — the Ballet

 

Thursday night I went to see Death in Venice, performed by the Hamburg Ballet and choreographed by John Neumeier, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. I loved it so much; it was really one of the most beautiful contemporary ballets I’ve seen. It was really just my thing: a ballet based on a modern, relatable, familiar story, told beautifully through movement. Based on the novella by Thomas Mann, its theme is the opposition between the intellectual and the sensual and the inner conflict that produces for the artist who must inhabit both worlds in order to create meaning from lived life. And of course underlying that theme is the implicit motif of societal repression and oppression of homosexual desire.

Funny, Sloan went to see it opening night, the night before me, and posted her thoughts in the Winger, which of course I read enthusiastically upon returning from BAM (because, badly, I often surf the net at midnight on a work night…). Was so excited I had to comment like a nutter on her post, leaving me with little to say now! What’s interesting to me though, is how dancers notice so many of the small details that make up the overall production and dance-going experience — subtleties I never would have seen– such as the sets, the lighting, the choreographer’s use of the stage, the music, the theater itself. I mostly notice only the dancers and how well I think they convey their roles. So, visit the Winger for all of those aforementioned interesting details, as well as some more lovely photos, and even a little tidbit on audience celebrities!

Anyway, I’d never seen this ballet before and when I received the flyer advertising it, I thought how in the world are they going to convey through dance a writer stifled by over-intellectualizing his work? Well, Neumeier does that by making his Aschenbach, Mann’s protagonist, into a choreographer. Lloyd Riggins compellingly depicts the tormented choreographer, while Tadzio is portrayed by this stunning Russian dancer named Edvin Revazov. I attended a pre-performance discussion between Neumeier and dance critic Anna Kisselgoff, and Neumeier related that he’d found the dancer at the Prix de Lausanne, a huge ballet competition in Switzerland. Apparently, Revazov did not do very well in the classical part of the competition, but then totally blew everyone away during the more modern improvisational portion. You could definitely tell in Revazov’s dancing that he excelled at modern. And one thing I loved about this ballet was that it incorporated both classical and modern, sometimes danced side by side, very dramatically, very beautifully. The beach scenes when Aschenbach first sees and becomes enamored with Tadzio were choreographed just beautifully, as were the pas de deux between those two men and the pas de trois between Aschenbach and other males — so gorgeously sensual. Revazov completely captivated me whenever he took the stage, and, gorgeous Russian man though he was, he captured the essense of the frivolous, playful, carefree 14-year-old to a tee. There’s also a scene where cholera grips the city, and the dancers’ jerky smasmodic movements were strikingly disconcerting. There were a few moments of corniness (the dancers wear these animal-skin prints during an orgiastic dream scene; I thought nude-colored clothing would have been more sensual, not to mention subtle, and later in the cholera scene, two agents of death are made up as Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley from the 70s rock band, KISS), but overall it was just so sublimely realized.

Funny, though — there are so many beautiful, beautiful men used the ballet, that I (and another blogger) kept imagining how ABT dancers would interpret it. I imagined Jose Carreno as Aschenbach and either David Hallberg (as if I really need to link to him 🙂 ) or Jared Matthews as Tadzio. Ahhhh, wishful thinking, as I’m sure ABT would probably find it too risky to touch, unfortunately. Come on, Kevin, take a chance, pleeeasse!!!

I also kept thinking I was seeing Evan McKie (of Stuttgart Ballet, and the Winger :)), as one of the dancers on whom Aschenbach was trying to choreograph at the beginning. But, alas, it was just the German connection … and my fanstasizing about someday being able to see him dance… 🙂 Reading his Winger posts (and eyeing his gorgeous pics), he sounds so fun, so goofily charming, and Stuttgart fascinating (I do think the Winger is not just bringing audiences closer to ballet, but sometimes creating stars itself!) Evan, btw, also happens to have the most brillant MySpace page I’ve ever seen 🙂

Anyway, I posted this too late and now Hamburg has left NY, so if you missed it, you’ll have to wait till they come around with it again … hopefully, hopefully in the not too distant future!

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Bad Gay Friends!!!

I was going to blog about this, but Jennifer beat me to it! Ha ha! Time Out New York‘s cover this week features a fat, fluffy, very cuddly-looking, female-friendly kitty, with the cover story, “Why You’re Single (And What You Can Do About It).” Inside, they list a plethora of reasons for that conundrum, one of which is titled “Because you’re a straight woman who only goes out with her gay friends.” I found it kind of funny that this reason is listed nearly half-way through, and not at the top of the article (this is a NYC magazine after all — don’t a great many women suffer from this here!!!) Anyway, Katharine Rust, who wrote the little piece under this topic, which contains ideas for bars, restaurants and events where such a person could go to to meet Mr. (Straight) Right, begins by noting: “A gal would be crazy NOT to surround herself with fabulous-looking guys who are quick to tell her she looks marvelous, but…” And I started thinking, hmmmm, I don’t get told I look “marvelous” all the time. Hey man, I’m being cheated out of romance AND compliments! 🙂

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Get Ready For Rhythm!

Emmanuel and Joanna  So, tonight is the American Rhythm Championship portion of America’s Ballroom Challenge (for New Yorkers, that’s Channel 13 at 8 p.m.; check here for local PBS times outside of NY).

Although I’m a student of International Latin, this is one of my favorite competitions to watch — at least live. The crowd really goes wild (more so than for the other competitions, for some reason) — there’s so much shouting and cheering for your favorite, and because of that, the dancers really put on quite a show — in addition to exhibiting their brilliant technique to the judges of course!

Above is my own personal favorite, Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine with his partner Joanna Zacharewicz. In addition to their amazing speed and precise footwork, they are great fun to watch because they exude such character in their routines. Before he left my studio to teach elsewhere, I had the very serendipitous opportunity to take a couple of lessons with Emmanuel. I can say, in addition to being a fabulously fun dancer to watch, he is also one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. When I first started, I used to dance primarily on the balls of my feet, rarely putting my heels down. I longed to emulate that light, weightless feathery look of the dancers I so loved. Of course, as a result, I’d frequently lose my balance, especially on turns. Emmanuel taught me really to feel the floor, to connect to the floor more than anything else. I also used to make the stupid mistake of trying to sense the air more than the floor. I know this sounds ridiculous to an experienced dancer, but I think when you’re a beginner, and you go to the ballet (or other dance performances) all the time, it looks like the dancers are just flying through the air, so you tend to want to imitate that in your dancing. But of course they are not connecting to the air since the air can’t support you. “Real dancers ALWAYS knows exactly where the floor is … we need the floor, we are not birds!” he would always say. The bizarre thing is, as a warm up, or sometimes in the middle of the lesson when he could tell I was forgetting to sense the floor, he would stop what we were doing, go into a closely held “closed position” with me, and just make me do salsa basics until he could tell I was back in touch with the floor again. He’d close his eyes, would tell me to feel the floor … not by stomping or dragging my body weight down into it; just by feeling it with my toes. I don’t know how he did it, but whenever I forced myself to feel the floor, simply by focusing my brain down there, he would know it right off. And he’d also know right away if and when I took my mind elsewhere. Weird! Anyway, whenever I see him at competitions, he always goes out of his way to say hello and ask me how I’m doing, how I’m progressing with my dancing. He’s such a great guy! And such an amazing dancer — he totally deserves to win!

However, these two below, are the couple most favored by the powers that be:

Tony and Elena

They are Tony Dovolani and Elena Grinenko. Tony is probably the most famous ballroom dancer, as he’s been on “Dancing With the Stars” for three seasons now, leading Stacy Keibler to her near victory two seasons ago. He also had a role in the American version of “Shall We Dance,” playing the “mean Latin dancer” who pulls off Stanley Tucci’s wig during the competition. He and Elena are the current reigning American Rhythm champs and will likely win this one as well.

Felipe and Carolina

Above is another favorite couple of mine, Felipe Telona and Carolina Orlovsky-Telona. She has an extensive ballet background, and is such a beautiful dancer, making gorgeous lines. And he is a big, handsome guy who just whisks her around the floor. Charming couple!

This is the first year they’ve opened this competition up ‘to the world,’ which means that you don’t have to reside in the U.S. in order to compete. Because of that, and because some couples are no longer competing (sadly, my former teacher, Luis Grijalva and his partner Anya Fuchs), there are some couples who made the finals, whom I haven’t seen much of before. The above photos are ones I’ve taken myself at various competitions, but these below, I’ve taken from the ABC website:

Evgeny Dyachenko and Inna Ivanenko (whose showcase, judging by the above pic, looks fun!)

Decho Kraev and Bree Watson (who apparently are from my hometown — or nearby anyway — Tempe, AZ), and

Michael Neil and Danielle Wilson.

Should be a very fun night — Rhythm always is 🙂 Here are a few more of my favorite photos of the competitors. Enjoy!

Also, Terpishore Musings has posted a YouTube clip of Emmanuel and Joanna’s showcase exhibition performance from last year. Check it out!

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A Beautiful New 'Samson'!

Joaquin!

I just received a copy of this week’s New York magazine (which seems to have a pretty interesting cover article about the ‘freedom’ of revealing too much info on the internet). I flipped to the back cover and saw that the newest Samonsite model (at least that I’ve seen) appears to be none other than the superb (not to mention gorgeous) flamenco dancer, Joaquin Cortes! Funny, I’ve never paid much attention to advertising, but put a dancer in your ad…

On another note, how sweet is it to know that, even in big ole huge New York, through talent and hard work you can be recognized by the powers that be!