Friday, April 29, 2011
awestruck of the day
i still remember my first time seeing the beautiful tamara rojo live; it wasn't until she had finished the coda that i realized i literally had small tears streaming down my face in shock and awe. she is without a doubt one of my biggest inspirations. check out the beautiful ms. rojo, along with her fantastic partner carlos acosta, in the black swan pas de deux:
Friday, April 15, 2011
ashley bouder
i've recently been following the career of new york city ballet's ashley bouder closely, and the more i learn about her, the more i'm inspired. if you're not familiar with ms. bouder, i urge you get to know her; she's a seasoned vet, whose experience and talent is fantastically obvious, she's absolutely beautiful!
“The great thing about Ashley,” says principal dancer Joaquin De Luz, who has partnered her in a number of ballets, “is that she really shares her energy, and it makes you want to jump higher and dance better.”
“From the beginning she stood out onstage,” says Merrill Ashley. “Besides her technical strength, she really feels and expresses the movement and clearly she loves to dance.”
(Dance Magazine, April 2011)
i don't know what it is about her, but she just seems like one of those really genuine dancers, who works hard for everything and approaches each class/rehearsal/show with intense thought and care. she seems like the type of dancer who never stops pushing herself to make new goals, meet them, and then surpass them, which is such a fantastic and evident quality in a dancer, not the type to rely solely on natural talents.
i also love this video, in which ashley is joined by fellow nycb dancers tiler peck and kathryn morgan discuss dancing the role of aurora, from three different perspectives.
and if you're a twitter fiend like myself, be sure to follow her twitter. so fun to get to a little sneak peek into the daily life of a widely successful principle dancer!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
a night at the ballet
a few weeks ago i had the pleasure of attending San Francisco Ballet's Program 3, consisting of Yuri Possokhov's "Classical Symphony", Helgi Tomasson's "Nanna's Lied", and Forsythe's "Artifact Suite". while the evening itself was totally magical, some of the ballets were not.
the program starts off with "Classical Symphony", which i must say was amazing. from the music, to the costumes, to the superb and surprising choreography, possokhov choreographed a serious winner. vanessa zahorian danced the lead role, and while she is an incredibly strong and precise dancer, i felt her movements were a little jerky. sometimes you see those dancers who forget to connect every single one of the steps, pausing and breaking from the fluidity, which seemed to happen a few times. but her footwork and precision definitely made up for it. that small critique aside, it was absolutely stunning and inspiring.
after a brief intermission we came back in for "Nanna's Lied", which i can without a doubt say is by far the worst ballet i've ever seen. ***warning, i'm about to rant.
the choreography was as literal as possible; i don't speak german, yet i know 100% that the choreography did nothing but directly act out the words to the song. it may just be my opinion, but there is no need for both choreography and music if they fail to tell the story in new or interesting ways. it was like watching the same boring television show twice in a row; as if it wasn't bad enough the first time, there was nothing new or exciting to hold my interest.
and it was all surprisingly erratic; after a series of weird poses and walking, the dancers would finally start dancing, and right when you're almost intrigued then the song would end, along with the dancing...and my interest in the piece. then the audience would wait, as the dancers blandly repositioned themselves on the stage, waiting for the next song to begin, accompanied by their obvious and predictable musical cues. adding to this was a ridiculous and frustrating set, composed of 3 large grey slates concrete walls, which had nothing to add to the story line. and with every pause of the music, they would dramatically switch the direction the walls were tilting, as if it had to be done in order for the audience to follow the ballet. in reality, all it did was distract me and cause me to spend more time wondering why they were necessary as opposed to trying to enjoy the ballet.
the one bright spot in this ballet was the lovely sarah van patten. no matter how ridiculously predictable the choreography, it was impossible to take your eyes off her. every movement was rich and luxurious and i enjoyed every second she was dancing.
it was a shame to see the amazingly talented anthony spaulding dancing in a role where he wasn't actually dancing, rather just acting as a piece of scenery, occasionally lifting van patten (which of course he still did perfectly). i guess for me, spaulding is so incredible because even though he is not as technically skilled as some of the other principles, when he moves he has complete command of the stage. he has that special je ne sais quois that keeps the audience wanting more; so having him simply strolling across the stage was insanely frustrating. he never got the ability to actually dance, and a ballet that wastes men's talent is to me totally pointless.
overall, "Nanna's Lied" left a terrible taste in my mouth, and i was not the only one.
what better way to restore my faith in sf ballet then ending it with the amazing and fantastic Forsythe piece "Artifact". if i've said it once, i'll say it again; Forsythe on sfb is a match made in heaven. between the unmatchable perfection of the dancers and the stunning choreography of Forsythe, i could watch "Artifact" all day long. while many of my audience members found the dramatic dropping of the curtain, which happens sporadically through out the piece, to be a little overwhelming, if you keep an open mind you'll find that the intensity of the ballet is literally moving.
for more info on Program 3, visit san francisco ballet's website here.
the program starts off with "Classical Symphony", which i must say was amazing. from the music, to the costumes, to the superb and surprising choreography, possokhov choreographed a serious winner. vanessa zahorian danced the lead role, and while she is an incredibly strong and precise dancer, i felt her movements were a little jerky. sometimes you see those dancers who forget to connect every single one of the steps, pausing and breaking from the fluidity, which seemed to happen a few times. but her footwork and precision definitely made up for it. that small critique aside, it was absolutely stunning and inspiring.
 |
| Maria Kochetkova and Frances Chung; Classical Symphony |
the choreography was as literal as possible; i don't speak german, yet i know 100% that the choreography did nothing but directly act out the words to the song. it may just be my opinion, but there is no need for both choreography and music if they fail to tell the story in new or interesting ways. it was like watching the same boring television show twice in a row; as if it wasn't bad enough the first time, there was nothing new or exciting to hold my interest.
and it was all surprisingly erratic; after a series of weird poses and walking, the dancers would finally start dancing, and right when you're almost intrigued then the song would end, along with the dancing...and my interest in the piece. then the audience would wait, as the dancers blandly repositioned themselves on the stage, waiting for the next song to begin, accompanied by their obvious and predictable musical cues. adding to this was a ridiculous and frustrating set, composed of 3 large grey slates concrete walls, which had nothing to add to the story line. and with every pause of the music, they would dramatically switch the direction the walls were tilting, as if it had to be done in order for the audience to follow the ballet. in reality, all it did was distract me and cause me to spend more time wondering why they were necessary as opposed to trying to enjoy the ballet.
 |
| Sarah Van Patten and Anthony Spaulding, Nanna's Lied |
it was a shame to see the amazingly talented anthony spaulding dancing in a role where he wasn't actually dancing, rather just acting as a piece of scenery, occasionally lifting van patten (which of course he still did perfectly). i guess for me, spaulding is so incredible because even though he is not as technically skilled as some of the other principles, when he moves he has complete command of the stage. he has that special je ne sais quois that keeps the audience wanting more; so having him simply strolling across the stage was insanely frustrating. he never got the ability to actually dance, and a ballet that wastes men's talent is to me totally pointless.
overall, "Nanna's Lied" left a terrible taste in my mouth, and i was not the only one.
what better way to restore my faith in sf ballet then ending it with the amazing and fantastic Forsythe piece "Artifact". if i've said it once, i'll say it again; Forsythe on sfb is a match made in heaven. between the unmatchable perfection of the dancers and the stunning choreography of Forsythe, i could watch "Artifact" all day long. while many of my audience members found the dramatic dropping of the curtain, which happens sporadically through out the piece, to be a little overwhelming, if you keep an open mind you'll find that the intensity of the ballet is literally moving.
 |
| Artifact |
Friday, February 25, 2011
its been a while!
wow did i ever disappear?! just when i feel like things are finally starting to get normal, you're thrown back into chaos.
when i made the decision to move to san francisco, i did it with a very clear plan (i'm definitely one of those people that plans out every second of every year of my life, so plans are important). but once i got here and got settled into my new company, i found myself hating dancing. every morning i didn't want to get out of bed, i didn't want to go to class, and i certainly didn't want to go to rehearsal. after a few months, i knew i wasn't in the right place, so i quit. it was a very drastic decision, and for a while i really regretted it. having so little professional experience on my resume is terrifying. but ever since i quit, i've been enjoying dancing all over again. my focus is now on classical ballet and my technique, in hopes that i'll be ready for auditions this month.
i also found out that i have tendentious which was a huge wrench in my master plan, but after some heavy physical therapy, it seems to be going away.
while i love dancing again, i hate waiting to see if any company will take me. no matter how well i dance, i feel so nervous about standing out enough to be chosen. fingers crossed!!!
when i made the decision to move to san francisco, i did it with a very clear plan (i'm definitely one of those people that plans out every second of every year of my life, so plans are important). but once i got here and got settled into my new company, i found myself hating dancing. every morning i didn't want to get out of bed, i didn't want to go to class, and i certainly didn't want to go to rehearsal. after a few months, i knew i wasn't in the right place, so i quit. it was a very drastic decision, and for a while i really regretted it. having so little professional experience on my resume is terrifying. but ever since i quit, i've been enjoying dancing all over again. my focus is now on classical ballet and my technique, in hopes that i'll be ready for auditions this month.
while i love dancing again, i hate waiting to see if any company will take me. no matter how well i dance, i feel so nervous about standing out enough to be chosen. fingers crossed!!!
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