ballet thread

Bumping this. Last city I was in I was going to the orchestra every week or two when the season tempo was up but I have not yet got the chance to go to a ballet performance yet, now I'm in the middle of nowhere I have to live vicariously through others.

1/?

>Are Russian ballet companies better than other nation's ballet companies?

The Bolshoi is an excellent company, Marinsky used to be great but is now ruined by politics, and other than that Russian companies are not especially noteworthy. There are some very hit-and-miss Russian companies (Russian National Ballet Theatre and Moscow Festival Ballet) that tour around the USA doing performances to pre-recorded music that are either serviceable or horrid, depending on the day.

>Have you seen any ballets live? Which ones?

Yes! Quite a few considering that ballet is hard to come by in my area. There was a dry spell of almost 8 years where no professional companies outside of a touring Nutcracker came around, though in the past few years ballet is once again incorporated as a regular part of the opera theater season. Notably, I've seen ABT's reconstructed Sleeping Beauty, Houston Ballet's Giselle (the pre-Welch version), ABT's Whipped Cream, Hamburg Ballet's Nutcracker, and I just saw ABT's Giselle with Sarah Lane which was one of the best theater experiences of my life. Aside from those performances, I try to catch whatever shows the local ballet company is putting on. They recently got some government funding through an arts endowment program and it showed in their new costumes, sets and expanded production. If they'd just stop using copyrighted character names and occasionally even music (what are they thinking???) they could

And other than live, I've seen a metric ton of pre-recorded ballet performances, both the ones that come out on DVD and the streamed live Bolshoi performances.

>How do you feel about current trends in the ballet world?

Depends on the trend! I love the reconstructed ballets that have been appearing in the past 10 years or so.

>>2891775
>Any unpopular opinions?

Does "I can't stand Misty Copeland's poor performances but I appreciate what she's done for the ballet world in terms of getting butts in the seats" count? She's going to be Juliet in 2 out of 4 shows when they bring Romeo & Juliet here next year and I'm hoping that by the time tickets go on sale to the public, they'll have the cast list up so I can avoid seeing her. The thought of having to watch an entire ballet where she's cheered to the rafters for mediocrity is not fun. It was bad enough seeing her dance Florine in Sleeping Beauty, though at least in that case I got to enjoy the barely constrained looks of annoyance on the other dancer's faces while they watched.

Also, people often talk about the Bolshoi Ballet being rife with corruption but its just as true for American companies, ie, the American Ballet Theatre. Dancers with sponsors get promoted despite not being able to perform the basic moves principal roles are expected to do, while other dancers are ignored for principal promotion again and again. And shit directors will often bring in guest dancers who have sponsors rather than choose people from their own company. Did you know that this season is the first time Gillian Murphy--GILLIAN. MURPHY.--has ever performed Giselle for ABT? That's a fucking tragedy.

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>>2891775
Oops cut myself off short in the "Have you seen any ballets live?" part.

I try to catch whatever shows the local ballet company is putting on. They recently got some government funding through an arts endowment program and it showed in their new costumes, sets and expanded production values. If they'd just stop using copyrighted character names and occasionally even music (what are they thinking???) they could probably rise to the point where they get the level of promotion that local companies with exclusively adult dancers get. (This company starts at 10 and goes up to 25, I believe).

What else...

I'm really excited about the 2017-2018 ballet seasons so far even though I'm not sure I'll have the money to see what I want. I'd love to see Houston Ballet's Mayerling, as I've never seen it live.

Oh, and I just thought of a trend I dislike: the edgy classic trend. And I don't mean edgy like Matthew Bourne's gothic Sleeping Beauty which doesn't pretend to be anything but a romantic gothic version of the story, but edgy like the National Ballet of Canada's Swan Lake which inserts bizarre edgy darkness without changing the story very much.The prince and his entourage rape a servant girl, the women in court are paraded before the men like auctioned objects and are groped, but then... Odette and Siegfried fall in love as usual? What? It's like they decided to make things edgy and then ran out of time so they kept the rest of the story intact.

>>2891437
If you like to live vicariously, definitely look up Haglund's Heel blog and read his (her?) reviews. They have a way of describing performances that makes you feel like you saw them.

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I'm also interested in seeing Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes at the Kennedy Center this October, since it's a film adaptation it's not likely to come out on DVD like Bourne's other productions (Edward Scissorhands for instance was never released, even though Burton gave Bourne permission). But, I'm still not sure, since my theater budget for next year is limited.

The Royal Opera House's Youtube channel has a lot of interesting videos on ballet.

Some of my favorites

The Evolution of Pointe Work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=510WnZQUgac
The evolution of ballet class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EjfGgvsldM
A Royal Ballet morning class, filmed in full: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J31ci5lJ2Bw

The entire "Ballet Evolved" series is really interesting.

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Found an interesting ballet channel last night, where they play videos of their performances and include commentary. I like that they don't shy away talking about interactions with other dancers, particularly what to do when you have bad partners.

Rose Adagio commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIxS_SOCMI0

Playlist with more commentary: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGjHMNPqowdedD0eczJXcXnTYUernP-Fv

>>2890867

I know more about opera than ballet, and have only seen a couple ballets live, but I have been enjoying it. I just usually can't get anyone interesting in going usually.

>>2894294
>I just usually can't get anyone interesting in going usually.

Same here. I have a friend who will go with me if I buy her a ticket since I can't drive, but she isn't interested in it and so our talks at intermission or on the drive home aren't engaging at all. I've decided from now on to spend the money I would normally spend on her ticket on an Uber instead and just go on my own. It's kind of a drag to be really into something but be with someone who is bored out of their mind.

What have you seen live?

>>2891780
More re: ABT corruption. In the just-ended run of Giselle, the Giselle dancers all conspicuously did a very simple pique turn instead of the traditional and slightly more difficult multiple pirouettes dedans. It had to be a management decision rather than a personal one, because every dancer--even those like Sarah Lane who can execute pirouttes en dedans in her sleep--did it. Notably, and I would wager money not coincidentally, Misty Copeland has difficulty with pirouettes of all kinds, particularly en dedans (she botched them royally in Don Quixote) and this season was her debut as Giselle. Can't have the other dancers showing her up!

>>2891437
You can always watch recorded performances on DVD and/or streaming.