Here.
Oooh, he says he’s doing a modern version of Giselle (by Mats Ek), in February. Something worth going to Naples for…
ROMEO HAS LEFT THE BUILDING: ROBERTO BOLLE AND IRINA DVOROVENKO CLOSE OUT ABT’S MET SEASON, LEAVING FANS DEVASTATED!
Because there aren’t nearly enough pictures of Roberto Bolle online, let me just post one more…
So, it all ended Saturday night with Roberto Bolle and Irina Dvorovenko dancing the leads once again in Romeo and Juliet. I’d already seen the same cast earlier in the week and so didn’t get another ticket, but I decided to watch from the Met lobby where they have a couple of high def screens.
I actually did this on Friday night as well for the Herman Cornejo / Xiomara Reyes cast, until I ran into some new friends during intermission who’d snagged a couple of tickets outside from patrons who had to leave for one reason or another. They gave me ticket marked Grand Tier, where I’d never sat before. Well, I didn’t know we weren’t supposed to do that! My friends went in before me and after seeing the hard time the usher gave them (he said all tickets are non-transferrable, but he seemed more irked that she’d made up a story about meeting friends for drinks and then getting stuck or something!), I was about to run back out and resume my place in front of the screen. But then the usher just kind of nodded and laughed and rolled his eyes. “It’s okay, it’s the end of the season. You’ve all got to see your Romeo and Juliet,” he said, softening.
Funny, though, I hadn’t thought of the ticket-swap thing, but another new friend recently suggested it to me as a way to get in, particularly to the opera, which is always sold out here practically minutes after tickets go on sale. And then I remembered reading in a Jonathan Ames book (I think it was The Extra Man, which is now a movie, no?…) where two characters regularly do this, again with the opera. I had no idea it was frowned upon — I mean if the other patrons aren’t coming back…
Anyway, Grand Tier was nice for a change! Different perspective being raised a little above the stage like that. Xiomara and Herman were very good. I liked them much better than the first time I saw them in this — performing the balcony pas de deux at an opening night gala a couple of years back. Xiomara acted everything well and really brought the part to life and, because of her powerful final scenes, Herman really didn’t end up outshining her. And what I really liked about Herman’s Romeo is that he danced him so that at the beginning, he’s a show-off, a dancing show-off of course. The other Romeos kind of dance him at the beginning as if he’s immature, reckless with the sword-fighting, etc. But Herman gave his Romeo a character arc that makes more sense for him given his immense dance skill. So all of that jumping around stage at the beginning of the balcony scene makes sense to me now. And for the first time I noticed that during the balcony scene, Romeo does an extra pirouette right after Juliet takes his hand. It’s as if to say, wait a minute, just one more trick for you! I think I first noticed it with Herman because it was so swift and sharp and pronounced, like typical Herman! And then of course his Romeo grows up and learns to become a partner.
I also really liked the scene where Herman’s Romeo and his two friends, Benvolio (Daniil Simkin) and Mercutio (Carlos Lopez), are play-sparring before they crash the Capulet ball. For once all three men were about the same height, and were perfectly spaced apart onstage (the dancers playing these characters aren’t always), and their movements were all perfectly in sync. I think some choreography that either requires very intricate footwork or that is very evocative of something (like play-fencing here) tends to look better on smaller bodies, particularly smaller bodies that move so well and are capable of making such sharp, enunciated movements. I was still watching from the screen downstairs at that point and it was really visually stunning.
Anyway, back to Roberto and Irina.
Roberto and Irina were beautiful again. And again I really liked Irina’s very real final scene, where her Juliet simply backs into Romeo’s body while walking backward, horrified at the sight of a corpse next to her. No melodrama whatsoever, all very genuine and it really moved me. I wanted to cry for her when she collapsed on seeing Romeo.
The lobby screens of course are not really the ideal place to view dance and of course don’t substitute for buying a ticket and going inside — there’s a lot of talking, ushers going through this rather intense ritual of closing the ticket windows and changing the signs above the booths, moving the expandable line-holders and untaping house manager phone cords from the front walls, and just goofing with each other (on Friday night, the ushers all started singing “One Day More” from Les Miserables in anticipation of the season ending!) Not to mention all the tourists who have to venture in and ask if what’s going on on the screen is actually live, what play it is, who the dancers are, etc. etc.
Still, you do see certain things you miss inside. I noticed, for example, how Roberto takes up space on the stage and how that makes him so much more visible than the other Romeos (excepting Marcelo). On Friday night (Herman and Xiomara in the leads), a tourist came in and asked me what the ballet was, then asked me to point out the main characters to her. It was during the scene where Juliet and Paris are dancing and Romeo’s watching. I actually had a hard time pointing out Romeo to her because Herman was kind of lost in the crowd. If you looked for him, you found him and he was doing what he was supposed to be doing: noticing Juliet and watching her intently. But you had to look for him. I also remembered someone in the audience on David and Gillian day remarking that she couldn’t figure out who Romeo was for half the first act. And then I also remembered thinking how Cory Stearns always kept to the corners and how it made him so much less visible than Hee Seo as Juliet.
But I noticed on Saturday night watching Roberto Bolle on the screen that it’s impossible not to see him, and not because he’s tall and handsome, but because he’s standing far away from the rest of the crowd, practically circling right around Paris and Juliet, the only ones who are centerstage, like a shark. When it’s time, he aggressively goes right in, and pushes Paris aside by literally standing in the very space Paris is currently occupying. Everyone in the lobby watching the screen giggled, some laughed and some swooned when he dove in like that. The other Romeos kind of approach Juliet hesitantly, as if to say, “excuse me, I’m kind of attracted to you.” But he was all, “I want you and you want me too!” The camera is perfectly centered and I watched for the rest of the performance how Roberto is always as close to center stage as he can possibly be and still be doing what he’s supposed to be doing. Not being a performer myself, it made me realize that there is an art to stagecraft — it’s not only about dancing well and looking good, there is actually an art to how to use the stage well. I think Roberto is the most mature and experienced of all the Romeos and the younger dancers could learn a lot about that from watching him.
Anyway, I was to meet some of my new friends at the stage door, so after all the curtain calls I waited about fifteen minutes — until the ushers said they were closing the house — then walked downstairs (the Met stage door is basically in the underground Lincoln Center parking lot). I didn’t see my friends at first but ran into choreographer Avi Scher who was there to chat with friends. I was talking to him a little bit when Alexandre Hammoudi, who danced Paris (and who I liked recently as Orion in Sylvia), exited. He and Avi are apparently friends because he stopped to talk. Alexandre was the sweetest guy — kept congratulating Avi on his recent successes with his company (at Jacob’s Pillow, at City Center). And he has the most charming smile and accent 🙂 My new crush 🙂
Anyway, weirdest thing when Irina and Roberto exited. Irina exited first and got mobbed. By the time she got down to where I was standing she seemed really frazzled, like she really needed to get out of there. Max Beloserkovsky (her husband) was with her. They were being nice and polite and responding to people who wanted to say hello and get a picture but they seemed like they really needed to be somewhere. She’s so tiny, and so beautiful in person. Both of them are.
Then Roberto made his grand exit / crowd entrace last and he seemed the same. It was crowded, like it was for Swan Lake, but a little less so, but he seemed like he really needed to be somewhere in a huff as well. I wondered when the company is flying out to L.A.; Irina and Roberto are to open the Los Angeles season this Thursday but I figured they weren’t leaving for a few days.
Anyway, he was stopping for some pictures and autographs, but not many. You really had to be an aggressive fan to get a photo with him. Then, this guy beside me with a monster camera asked him for something as he passed by us — I assumed it was a picture — and his eyes got wide and he said “no, no” and shook his head rapidly, smiled and looked quickly away. I wondered what was such a big deal — maybe the guy wanted to take a video and wanted him to talk into the camera or something, because why balk at yet another picture?
Anyway, rather hilariously, Roberto just started walking briskly through the crowd. If you didn’t practically downright clobber him, you weren’t getting a picture or autograph or anything.
So, he was walking through the crowded hallway kind of snaking through the crowd acting as if none of those people were actually there to see him (which I guess is nice; if a dancer makes this huge exit and dramatically opens his arms out to the crowd like Evita, you’d think, how frigging presumptuous, right). Well people didn’t really know what to do. So everyone just kind of started following him! At this point, I spotted my friend I was to meet in the crowd and I called out and tapped on her shoulder. “Come on!” she said, motioning for me to follow as well. So I followed. Haha, he was like an unintentional Pied Piper leading us all through the underground Lincoln Center maze.
He stopped near the exit to the parking lot for a few more pictures and autographs.
And then he just stopped, and stood there, and no one knew what to do! I don’t know if he even realized there was this huge group of people who’d followed him outside and were eagerly awaiting his next move.
It was like we didn’t want the season to end and he was the last performer to leave and we were all kind of devastated! We didn’t want him to go home, and we didn’t want to go home ourselves (it didn’t help that it was POURING with kind of frightening thunder and lightening).
Finally, he went off with a couple of incredibly lucky women (who we surmised were agents and the like) and we all stood watching as he exited southside of the lot by Fordham Law School. My friend called out “Ciao, ciao, Roberto.” And then others joined in. He turned around one last time and nodded and said bye.
And we just kept standing there while he walked out into the pouring rain with those women. No umbrella. “He needs an umbrella,” someone said. “I think we should go,” someone else said. After his increasingly small figure finally disappeared into the distance, my new friends and I walked back through the maze to the north exit. Everyone else who was still out there followed. Everyone had their heads down and looked so forlorn! Under the 67th Street scaffolding my friends and I chatted for a while about the season and this final performance and some of the dancers we like and our own dancing. Then, probably about an hour later, a cab came by honking and I told them to take it. They got in reluctantly. We vowed to find each other again next season and hang out and keep up via blogs and facebook until then.
So nice making new ballet friends! And I met several this season. But so horrible when the season ends. I hate this feeling!
HEE SEO: MY FAVORITE JULIET SINCE ALESSANDRA FERRI
Hee Seo and Cory Stearns made their Met debuts in the R & J leads last Thursday night and if it isn’t clear from what I’ve blogged and tweeted before, and by this post’s title, I was completely blown away, particularly by Seo. It’s so hard to describe what you really love about a dancer, but I think with her it’s that she combines what I love about Diana Vishneva with what I love about Veronika Part. She dances the steps — particularly the bourrees, as Marie noted, in her own particular way that shows why the choreographer put them there in the first place (I’m thinking mainly of the tip toe steps first away from Paris, shunning him, then, in the following scene, toward him but ever so cautiously and completely without desire, then in a criss-cross pattern toward the bottle of fake poison). And she’s also a powerhouse of an actress, really taking you there with her, always in the moment, never being the least bit melodramatic, never “acting,” but always completely real. She’s somehow able to say so much just with her eyes, without even widening the lids without even making any kind of frown — just by having definite, intense thought that is somehow readable to the audience. And even though she’s so subtle, she somehow projects out to everyone. It’s really amazing — I really don’t know how an actress or a dancer does something like that.
There were places where I loved Irina Dvorovenko (at the very end — she doesn’t run around that crypt like a drama queen with her head cut off; instead she approaches the corpses, covers her mouth in fear, trips over Romeo, crumples into a ball and bawls — what anyone would do), and places where I loved Diana Vishneva (at the beginning, when playing the lute for Romeo, falling in love with him, especially the balcony scene). But I loved Hee Seo in every scene. There wasn’t a place where she wasn’t so completely in the moment and where she wasn’t able to make you feel exactly what she was feeling.
Her Romeo was Cory Stearns, who I liked but thought was very very nervous and let it influence his dancing. I know from David Hallberg via the Winger message board that this is the hardest role for a male lead, and it’s clear just from watching all those pas de deux how true that is. All those crazy high lifts, particularly the very last scene, where she’s limp as a rag doll. I can imagine having your Met debut must be terribly nerve-wracking for any man dancing Romeo, particularly a young one. I could tell he was shaky up front on the jumps — some of the landings were not so steady. He did seem to calm down, though, and kind of let himself get into the role, and he seemed to be doing much better by the second act (I think getting through the balcony pdd without any mishaps must always be a big relief!) But he also just seemed generally shy throughout, not wanting to take up space, not wanting to be seen, kind of relegating his Romeo to the corners of the stage. And that’s not good. Romeo needs to be aggressive to get his love, to avenge his friend’s death; Romeo needs to stand out.
And then during the curtain calls, same thing. They only took one. But people were going nuts with applause and were tossing bouquet after bouquet up there. They (Cory mainly, since he was leading her) just kind of walked away from the flowers and went back behind the curtain, as if hiding, and didn’t come back out again. I’m sure it was just nerves and awkwardness and not really knowing how to take all the applause, but I felt sorry for him because he didn’t really seem to understand how much people loved their performance. The company was also having a celebration for Frederic Franklin (who still plays Friar Laurence and who turned 95 in June), and I’m sure he was conscious of them wanting to start those festivities as well. But still, they could have taken one more curtain call!
Franklin was so cute! My pictures didn’t turn out too well because of the dark stage but here he is amid the balloons and surrounded by the cast. Seo and Stearns are to the far left, and ABT artistic director Kevin McKenzie is patting him on the shoulder. When he first came out onstage as Friar Laurence, everyone gave him so much applause that he had to come out of character, and walk out to the front of the stage to take a bow. He wore the sweetest little smile! We should all be like this at 95. And beyond.
One other mention: Daniil Simkin danced Benvolio, my first time seeing him in this ballet. I loved him, of course. In her post, Marie reminded me of that extra jab of the sword he took when dancing the mock-sparring scene with Romeo and Mercutio before the three crash the Capulet ball. If I remember correctly the jab was at Romeo and when Cory turned around, Simkin made clear he was just joking. It was a moment of playful camaraderie and I remember thinking these three — Simkin, Stearns and Craig Salstein as Mercutio — made, of any of the casts, the most believable trio of young friends. I also thought though it was a bit of foreshadowing of what was to come. So, I loved that he made that choice. I think Daniil is such a character, such a good actor as well as obviously a good dancer, I wasn’t sure why McKenzie didn’t cast him as Mercutio at all this run. He seems like the quintessential Mercutio and I saw every performance but one and am pretty sure he never danced it.
So, in the future, I would love to see Simkin dance Mercutio, and I would also love to see Hee Seo dance with Marcelo Gomes or Roberto Bolle as her Romeo.
VERONIKA PART ON DAVID LETTERMAN — WHO SAW IT?
Did you guys see it? If you missed it, basically, it was short but sweet. IMO they had Daniel Radcliffe on for far too long and her not enough, but … Anyway, he introduced her, called American Ballet Theater one of the most prestigious ballet companies, and remarked that they’d never had a ballet dancer on the show … except for Richard Simmons… — which garnered lots of laughs.
She came out in this gorgeous blue strapless satin-y-looking tea-length dress. She seemed a bit nervous, but who wouldn’t be?! David Letterman was sweet though and I think his silly questions and funny demeanor kind of calmed her, made her laugh. He asked her where she was from in Russia and she said yes, I am from St. Petersburg, in Russia. She has a beautiful thick Russian accent and her understanding of English is probably not perfect but so what — I think she was endearing to his audience because of her Russianness. I think it’s very hard to learn English if you’re Russian and vice versa for us.
He asked her what their schools were like in Russia, she said they were good. He asked if she always knew she wanted to be a ballerina and she said someone had told her family that she had pretty, long legs and so must become a ballet dancer. But then she kind of laughed at herself, shook her head and said no one in her family knows anything about ballet. “Well, except you,” he said, and everyone laughed.
Then he put some pictures of her up to the camera and had her explain what they were. The first was of her doing an arabesque in — I’m not sure which ballet it was. She named the step, and he asked her if it hurt! She laughed (as did the audience). The other picture was of her as Odette at the end of Swan Lake, preparing to commit suicide by jumping off the cliff and into the lake. She called it “the final pose” of the ballet and explained that she jumps onto a mat under the stage. He asked if it hurt and she laughed again and said no. My question of course is — but does David Hallberg’s flamboyant swan dive hurt? He’s got to land on his belly. That mat must be thick!
And that was all of the pictures unfortunately. I really wish they would have shown one like the one up top, of the no hands fish dive.. She could have explained how hard it is (and, in Dave’s lingo, how much it hurts 🙂 ) and of course she could have talked all about her wonderful partner, that Marcelo Gomes 😀
Or this picture too
Anything with a fancy lift, basically.
Then he whipped out some toe shoes and gave them to her. They must have discussed beforehand what she’d do with them because she seemed to grab them and begin putting them on right away. The camera homed in on her feet, so we all watched her tie the ribbons. Then she got up and he led her out to the non-carpeted area and she went on pointe. She took him by the hands and lifted her leg up in back of her, in arabesque, and kind of motioned for him to walk her around like in a promenade. But he didn’t really get it and instead emulated her, lifting his leg up in back too, in a very funky-looking attitude. It was all very cute.
And then it was over, too soon.
Anyway, I was out at ABT tonight being completely floored by Hee Seo’s absolutely stunning, tear-jerking portrayal of Juliet (best I’ve seen since Alessandra Ferri, honestly), and then having a little after-performance bite to eat at Ollie’s with a couple of fun new ballet / writer / publishing friends (the best kind!), who I met in the blogosphere (the best place to meet!) Write-up soon of Seo and Cory Stearns (who was very good too, albeit a bit nervous — but excellent chemistry those two!) But, because I still live in the dark ages home entertainment-system-wise and still use a VCR to record, I could only record one show — and had to choose Veronika over SYTYCD results. If anyone could fill me in on the latter, would be much appreciated!
MARCELO GOMES STILL MY FAVORITE!
I had an insane weekend (out from early evening until not so early next morning both Friday and Saturday at Brooklyn ballroom competition, with ABT Saturday matinee of Sylvia sandwiched in between. Then spent all day today doctoring ballroom photos –mostly frustratingly unsuccessfully– then met with a friend to discuss a possible excursion to Jacob’s Pillow this summer.) Anyway, I haven’t slept in some time and have to get up early tomorrow morning so I have to make this short, but I saw Sylvia Saturday afternoon. Cast was Marcelo as Aminta, Paloma Herrera in the lead, Alexandre Hammoudi as Orion (making his debut in the role I believe), Arron Scott as the god Eros, and Kristi Boone as the goddess Diana. This viewing confirmed that Marcelo is still my favorite dancer, far and above over Roberto Bolle 🙂
Roberto has beautiful lines and a tall, long-limbed, lean-muscled body and all (and of course he’s really handsome) but Marcelo is a better actor, his facial expressions are more visible, he uses movement to convey meaning well, and his movements have more strength and sharpness and are just athletically astounding. Not that it has to be a competition of course! I was just worrying myself that I might be changing favorites 🙂 They’re each very endearing of course in their own special way — Roberto has a sweet boyish shyness about him while Marcelo seems more graciously personable, but all of the principals have a certain quality that endears them to you — that’s why they’re principals.
Anyway, I love how desperately Marcelo was searching for Paloma’s Sylvia at the beginning, how in love with her he was, how he prayed to Eros, how he took Sylvia’s arrow in his heart when running desperately to protect the god, etc. etc.. Even that glimpse we get of him behind the scrim when Eros shows Sylvia, still in Orion’s cave, that Aminta is looking for her — even though he’s just in a static pose, he looks so forlorn it’s just heartbreaking! And his movement is all so enunciated and precise — his jumps were stellar; I noticed for example, that every time he did one of those jumps where he brings the first leg up in attitude (that Roberto is doing in the photo here), he brought the first foot all the way up to the other thigh. But all of the jumps were there to show Aminta’s quiet desperation, not necessarily for show. And of course Marcelo’s swooping fish dives are to die for.
I do have to point out Roberto’s gorgeous feet though. I noticed them as he’d walk, slowly and pensively, tracing the ground with pointed toes. They’re very flexible, like Veronika Part feet.
Paloma Herrera was the most athletic of the Sylvias I saw (I didn’t see Gillian Murphy in this role). I said earlier that those jetes look very difficult — well, not on Paloma; she made them look like cake! She pulled everything off with such ease. I liked her better though in the first act. She really seemed like a nymph elated with success from her hunt, very happy with herself, very independent, and very annoyed at what she perceives as Eros’s intrusiveness into her life. I thought she was less compelling in the second and third acts, where she’s held in captivity by Orion and then is reunited with Aminta. I felt like those parts — particularly the captivity scene — became a bit Corsaire-like, just kind of about the silly theatrics. Apollinaire Scherr mentions that you never really know what you’re going to get with Paloma, how into the character she’s going to be, and I have to agree. I’ve loved her and felt she was really into the character at times and at others just thought she was so so. She’s always a spectacular dancer though.
Alexandre Hammoudi was excellent as Orion, the evil hunter. He acted the part very well, reacted well to Marcelo — I loved his early scene where he does a wicked dance over Aminta’s limp body — and his spectacular jumps with his legs slicing through the air like swords really showed his wickedness and formidableness.
Arron Scott danced Eros as a very good god, smiling a lot, particularly when he whipped off the old man-healer costume. Daniil Simkin’s Eros was a bit mischievous, but Arron’s was all heroic. He danced the bravura solo in the third act with all the nimble-footed kick-flicks very well.
I loved Kristi Boone, again, as Diana. I also thought a lot of Sylvia’s fellow huntress-nymphs stood out: Isabella Boylston for her expressiveness and Romantic touch, Simone Messmer and her completely original style and sense of timing, Sarah Lane for her sweet eagerness, and I liked Jared Matthews and Leann Underwood in the last scene as Ceres and Jaseion. I definitely prefer Jared in more movement-focused, non-dramatic parts. And conversely, I like Cory Stearns in the more dramatic parts. He danced Apollo with Maria Bystrova as Terpsichore, and while both danced well and were very regal, I just think Cory excels in acting parts. Also Anne Milewski and Carlos Lopez gave quite a show as the cute goats, as did Alexei Agoudine and Luis Ribagorda as Orion’s slaves. Very good Fourth of July production!
Oh but only thing — it being a matinee, and a holiday one at that — there were so many little children in the audience. One had a crying fit right during the hardest-looking part of the last act, with all the difficult partnering for Marcelo and Paloma — the huge overhead lifts and the fish dives! And I mean CRYING FIT. The poor mother! But Marcelo and Paloma kept their concentration and delivered same as always. Audience went wild with applause — partly, I’m sure for that reason alone!
GILLIAN AND ROMAN STEAL THE PIRATE SHOW, AND THE LAST OF THE SYTYCD AUDITIONS
Ethan Stiefel was supposed to dance Ali last night at ABT, but he was out with injury. I was disappointed of course, but it wasn’t like it was such a horrible thing having to see Angel Corella in that role again! He jeted out from behind the curtain during curtain calls last night (as did Gillian!– so I was happy)
Anyway, the male cast was mainly the same as opening night: David Hallberg as Conrad, Carlos Lopez as Birbanto, Daniil Simkin as Lankendem. The main differences were the two female leads: the spectacular Gillian Murphy as Medora, and the small, lovely Maria Riccetto as Gulnare — and, as it turned out Roman Zhurbin as Seyd, the goofy pot-bellied pasha. See my earlier post if you don’t know the characters and story.
Gillian and Roman made my night. Gillian has definitely got to be athletically the strongest ballerina in the company, maybe in the world. During her fouette sequence she did so many multiple pirouettes between each fouette I couldn’t even count; she was a blur. I don’t even see how that’s physically possible. She is truly a marvel, to make a massive understatement. And she goes so fast during the chaines and those traveling pirouettes around the stage’s perimeter. But not only that, she has such soft, beautiful liquid lines. And she and David I think are so used to each other now, they dance so well together in the romantic scenes. The bedroom scene was really really beautiful. She threw herself into those lifts like Nina did with Marcelo, except David isn’t Marcelo and so he didn’t do such flamboyant dives that it looked like he’d practically shoot her to the sky 🙂 But it was a really beautiful scene and she really floated in his arms.
And David is so good at those romantic scenes because of the kind of romantic dancer he is. I think he’s aware that those looks can at points be limiting and so he tries overly hard to be a hardass in those pirate-y bravado scenes. He was really kicking at and pushing around some of his fellow pirates! But I think maybe he doesn’t really need to do that. He doesn’t need to be a kick-ass aggressive warrior Conrad; he can always go for the more brooding Romantic pirate and let his hard-ass buddies help him along with getting the girl and fending off Lankendem and his crew, etc. And then the scene where he realizes Birbanto has betrayed him and he has to kill him to protect himself and Medora is all the more compelling since it may not be his nature to do that.
Anyway, Roman stole the show as well. Good lord! They usually have retired dancers who still teach and coach at the company do these character parts — the role of Seyd has been played by Victor Barbee at the last two performances I saw. But sometimes they give Roman these parts because he’s such a good actor. He was so giggle-out-loud hilarious as he rolled around the stage patting his big old pot belly and goofily lusting after all those slave girls. He was too much! It reminded me of this short film I saw a few years ago about a couple of movie extras. One of them just could not fulfill the requirements of “extra” work, and at one point there’s this scene where the two principal actors are having an important dinner conversation and you see the guy in the background open-jawed, smacking his hands on the table, laughing hysterically about something and it’s so funny because your attention is completely drawn to him and away from the main characters’ all-important conversation. (The film was mainly a comedy but had a little of the tragic about it, focusing as it did on the minor people who work hard and never get any recognition but who are essential in making a big film happen — kind of like Jerome Bel’s film about Swan Lake from the perspective of a corps dancer). Anyway, Roman was very lively, to put it mildly. Absolutely hilarious.
(headshot from ABT site)
Also, happily, the Lincoln Center fountain is operational again!
Unfortunately, it was such crap weather last night, no one was able to enjoy it.
So then I came home and, since I remembered to record SYTYCD for once, was able to watch the last day of auditions, which I was thoroughly disappointed with. I wish I would have seen Alex Wong’s audition Wednesday night because I feel like they only have the bad people on at this phase– like that blonde contemporary dancer whose father has multiple sclerosis (sorry, I can’t remember names this early on!) She was pretty — and all three judges kept remarking on that ad nauseam. She did a pretty pirouette at one point, but she seemed totally off-balance, like she was on the verge of falling every time she lifted one leg off the ground. The judges didn’t seem to notice that at all and advanced her straight to Vegas seemingly on the basis of her looks (since they kept going on about how gorgeous she was).
I did really like the pop & locker guy though – the one with the charming smile. He was amazing — not only what he was doing with his facial muscles, which Nigel recognized as well, but those ticks (I guess that’s what they’re called). His didn’t seem to be as robotic as they normally look (which are cool anyway), but his seemed more fluid, and it looked like he was moving in slow motion. Amazing. I’m glad he passed choreography and advanced. And I also thought the female tap dancer from last season was very impressive and am glad to see she made it.
What were they going on with that Asian Latin couple about? Nigel telling her to make sure and be sexy and then all of them remarking how much she stole the show with her sex appeal. I honestly thought he was technically better than she. Do the judges care about the art of dance or about sex appeal? And, when the female of the couple said when you think ballroom you usually think Russian or South American dancers, not Asian: anyone who’s ever been to a ballroom competition knows that’s untrue. Russian yes — ballroom is dominated these days by Eastern Europeans, Western Europeans (mainly the Italians, Germans, and English), and by Asians — Asians are a huge presence in ballroom competitions these days. Japan often has a team at Blackpool for the world competition and the Chinese always have Latin formation teams there (which are a blast, by the way – the Chinese Latin formation teams!) And the world pro demos take place in Japan. And Asians often take the top individual awards. So Asians are everywhere in serious ballroom competitions right now; South Americans nowhere. South Americans dominate ballet these days, but they don’t dance serious ballroom; Latin dance is social dance for them, not competitive.
Anyway, sorry for the rant — it just upsets me when something really wrong and misleading to the public is said on these television shows!
Maybe we just didn’t see enough of the other dancers, but none of the others seemed very good at all. Except for the ballerina who didn’t advance because she couldn’t pass choreography. That really made me upset because her solo was beautiful and technically very solid. I can’t imagine David Hallberg — or many of the current ballet greats — excelling at hip hop either. So then I got upset all over again just like I did last year during the auditions wondering what this show is about and why everyone can’t be valued for what they’ve worked on their entire lives to be brilliant at.
Anyway, I’m glad the auditions are over and we can advance on to the real show so I don’t have to get so pissed off anymore 🙂
WHO WOULD MAKE A BETTER MODEL THAN A DANCER?
I was in the bookstore the other day looking for literary magazines and somehow got caught up in the latest issue of Vogue Hommes International. I’ve been a fan of Keanu Reeves all the way back since River’s Edge (honestly) and I saw on the cover that there was an interview inside with Bret Easton Ellis (novelist, Less Than Zero, American Psycho, Glamorama, etc. etc.) Interview with BEE is pretty funny, actually, in a way it likely wasn’t intended to be. IE: interviewer: So, you were an icon in, like the 80’s. BEE: Yeah, it was hard being an icon. And confusing. Seriously. I’d get in a fight with my boyfriend and I’d be like, wait, you can’t criticize me; I’m an icon!” But my favorite BEE quote is here.
Anyway, I was flipping through and there are all these little mini interviews with and photos of writers (Stefan Merrill Block too!), architects, actors and filmmakers, of course designers and models.
But not a single dancer anywhere. Why not? They’d make such good models 🙂
(Sergey Surkov, my photo; Slavik Kryklyvyy from here)
(Arunas Bizokas, my photo; Linas Koreiva, from here and here)
Vogue Hommes should so hire me to compile a dancer spread! Fabrizio Ferri can do the pictures. Maybe Bruce Weber, though he can get kind of cliched and corny… No, Fabrizio.
Then, yesterday, I saw Valentino: The Last Emperor, which was pretty good. The Dolce Vita-esque scenes were the best 🙂 And it reminded me of Fashion Week’s being moved from Bryant Square to Lincoln Center, and I thought how excellent (and fitting of course) it would be to have NYCB and ABT ballerinas as the models, an idea Kristin Sloan had proposed on the Winger a while back. Ballerinas generally have far better bodies than models. Come on!
Favorites of 2008
Okay, here’s my (late) list of favorites from 2008: (click on highlights to read what I wrote about each dance)
Favorite overall dance of the year:
Revelations by Alvin Ailey. Because the movement language — a unique blend of American Modern with African — is highly evocative, richly varied, and, because it’s set in a specific time and place recognizable to most if not all of us, it’s imbued with meaning and feeling accessible to everyone. And because it speaks to the human condition like no other dance I’ve ever seen. I’m still looking for something to top this and don’t know if I’ll ever find it.
Favorite new dances:
1) Nimrod Freed’s PeepDance in Central Park;