NYC Ballet Fans, part 2

[sk9tingfan]

I am just getting into ballet in a bigger way than in the past - I know it's not the same as seeing a ballet live but do any of you have recommendations for full-length ballets on youtube I might watch? I watched the 1990 or so Kirov Ballet Swan Lake yesterday and really enjoyed it.

Any of Balanchine's ballets. Too numerous to list and using a more modern approach. But here's a comprehensive listing.

George Balanchine - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Spun Silver]

I am just getting into ballet in a bigger way than in the past - I know it's not the same as seeing a ballet live but do any of you have recommendations for full-length ballets on youtube I might watch? I watched the 1990 or so Kirov Ballet Swan Lake yesterday and really enjoyed it.

As for Balanchine -

Here is a vid of Concerto Barocco with the young Suzanne Farrell - old and grainy but so worth the watching, esp for the second movement. It's as if you never heard the music (famous as it is -- Bach's double violin concerto in D minor) until you've seen this ballet.

CONCERTO BAROCCO 1966 Farrell, Morris, Ludlow

youtu.be

Here's a relatively recent performance of Square Dance (to Vivaldi) as performed wonderfully by the Miami City Ballet, in two parts.

Square Dance 1/2 - Balanchine - Delgado, Cerdeiro

youtu.be

Square Dance 2/2 - Balanchine - Delgado, Cerdeiro

youtu.be

Here's an ABT version of La Sonnambula with its heartstopping pas de deux between the Poet and the Sleepwalker, with Baryshnikov and Alessandra Ferri, again oldish grainy vid (from the 1980s):

La Sonnambula

From 1987?

youtu.be

I had also attached a three part 1977 version of the Four Temperaments done by NYC Ballet with the glorious Bart Cook and Adam Luders as Melancholic and Phlegmatic, but it disappeared while I was watching the Sonnambula pas de deux, so you'll have to find it for yourself, if you like Balanchine enough to want more. His ballets aren't super easy to find on YouTube because they are seriously copyrighted so watch while you can.

 

[mackiecat]

Often movie theatres will show a filmed ballet. Might be closer to the real thing than watching on YouTube.

 

[sk9tingfan]

As for Balanchine -

Here is a vid of Concerto Barocco with the young Suzanne Farrell - old and grainy but so worth the watching, esp for the second movement. It's as if you never heard the music (famous as it is -- Bach's double violin concerto in D minor) until you've seen this ballet.

CONCERTO BAROCCO 1966 Farrell, Morris, Ludlow

youtu.be

Here's a relatively recent performance of Square Dance (to Vivaldi) as performed wonderfully by the Miami City Ballet, in two parts.

Square Dance 1/2 - Balanchine - Delgado, Cerdeiro

youtu.be

Square Dance 2/2 - Balanchine - Delgado, Cerdeiro

youtu.be

Here's an ABT version of La Sonnambula with its heartstopping pas de deux between the Poet and the Sleepwalker, with Baryshnikov and Alessandra Ferri, again oldish grainy vid (from the 1980s):

La Sonnambula

From 1987?

youtu.be

I had also attached a three part 1977 version of the Four Temperaments done by NYC Ballet with the glorious Bart Cook and Adam Luders as Melancholic and Phlegmatic, but it disappeared while I was watching the Sonnambula pas de deux, so you'll have to find it for yourself, if you like Balanchine enough to want more. His ballets aren't super easy to find on YouTube because they are seriously copyrighted so watch while you can.

When I lived in Manhattan and had a subscription to the NYC Ballet, I was lucky enough to see Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins dance multiple times(barring revelations about the latter's behavior). Also Merrill Ashley and other stars of the company.

 

[mjb52]

Often movie theatres will show a filmed ballet. Might be closer to the real thing than watching on YouTube.

There's lots of live ballet near me, I'm just pretty busy right now so YouTube is easier for the moment. It's not the same of course but will have to do for a little while.

 

[Spun Silver]

When I lived in Manhattan and had a subscription to the NYC Ballet, I was lucky enough to see Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins dance multiple times(barring revelations about the latter's behavior). Also Merrill Ashley and other stars of the company.

Ah! So did I. As regulars we probably knew each other by sight! I stopped attending when Balanchine died and Farrell retired. The magic was over.

 

[Rob]

Makarova Dowell Swan Lake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGCdo4XTipo

I think there is a full length Giselle with Svetlana Zakharova and Roberto Bolle, but it would also be worthwhile if you can find Diana Vishneva (might be one with Polunin or Gomes) or Gelsey Kirkland or Natalia Makarova or Natalia Osipova/David Hallberg. You might find Kirkland or Makarova with either Baryshnikov or Dowell.

Kirkland/Baryshnikov in Theme and Variations or Don Q pas de deux - not full length but amazing.

 

[emason]

Tonight I went to NYC Ballet for Swan Lake with Megan Fairchild and Gonzalo Garcia. What a hot mess! Surprisingly, I liked the sets that everyone else hates and I only hated half the costumes.

Act I, Scene II (the white act): absolutely no chemistry, no rapport, no nothing between Fairchild and Garcia. She was a robot on autopilot through the whole scene, just executing steps. Not once did she convince me she was a swan, nevermind a swan queen. The most boring white act I’ve seen in 45 years of Swan Lakes.

Act II, Scene I (the black act): a slight improvement, but not by much.

Act II, Scene II (the final lakeside scene): all of a sudden the principals came out of their stupor. There was drama, passion, love - everything that had been missing all evening showed up in the last 15 minutes. What the Hell was going on?

The only thing more tedious was my subway ride home.

 

[missing]

I had hoped to go to this exhibit after Worlds but I'd be startled now if that happens (the exhibit, not Worlds for obvious reasons).

At least I have the option of looking at the gowns and costumes online.

Ballerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse

exhibitions.fitnyc.edu

 

[canbelto]

NYCB is offering free online streams of some of their performances for 72 hours on their YT channel. They just put this awesome performance of Allegro Brillante. Quick watch before its gone!

YouTube

www.youtube.com

 

[kwanfan1818]

Tiler Peck was incredible in it. I could live without the vomit cam shots, though.

 

[ioana]

Not exactly NYC Ballet, but Vail Dance festival is live streaming -and keeping their videos up until Mid-August if anyone wants to watch. A lot of ABT/NYC ballet performers and some premieres which were very good.

OPENING NIGHT | 7.31.20 | THE DIGITAL EDITION

Vail Dance Festival: Digital Edition will be available online until August 15th! Vail Dance Festival Digital Edition produced with Nel Shelby Productions.The...

www.youtube.com

Schedule at a Glance | Vail Dance Festival

See the Vail Dance Festival performance and event schedule for the 2023 Festival!

vaildance.org

 

[clairecloutier]

Resurrecting this thread to post an obituary for NYCB star Jacques d’Amboise, who recently died. He had an interesting background and life:

Jacques d’Amboise, Charismatic Star of City Ballet, Is Dead at 86 (Published 2021)

He helped popularize ballet with an all-American style, combining the nonchalance of Fred Astaire with the nobility of a classic male dancer. Hollywood came calling, too.

www.nytimes.com

 

[skatesindreams]

Jacques d’Amboise, Charismatic Star of City Ballet, Is Dead at 86 (Published 2021)

He helped popularize ballet with an all-American style, combining the nonchalance of Fred Astaire with the nobility of a classic male dancer. Hollywood came calling, too.

www.nytimes.com

Adored him!

 

[kwanfan1818]

d'Amboise was one of the brothers in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and in movies (sometimes uncredited) and TV shows in the '50's and '60's when he'd take leave from NYCB to film. Balanchine had worked in Hollywood and Broadway in the '30's and '40's, and while he wasn't thrilled to lose a tall partner, often at the last minute, he understood about the money. d'Amboise was in a number of ballets that were aired on TV, and some were later released on DVD, including "Jacques D'Amboise: Portrait of a Great American Dancer," which had some rare footage.

Dance boom or not, he was far wider known in the NY area for his National Dance Institute program in the NYC public schools and for having police participate. They performed at the Felt Forum (part of Madison Square Garden) at least in the early years, with 1000 kids onstage. The great dance director Emile Ardolino directed the award-winning documentary, "He Mades Me Feel Like Dancing", about NDI and there were lots of local news stories at the time:

He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin'

Winner of the 1984 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, this uplifting film captures the joy with which world-famous ballet dancer Jacques d'Amboise c...

www.youtube.com

The Kennedy Center Honors segment gives a snapshot of his career and highlights his solo from Carousel:

Kennedy Center Honors: Jacques d'Amboise, founder of National Dance Institute

National Dance Institute (NDI) is a non-profit arts education organization founded in 1976 by ballet star Jacques d'Amboise, who received America's highest c...

www.youtube.com

Balanchine created so many roles for d'Amboise and cast him in just about all of the iconic ones. Plagued by knee injuries, he was out more and more towards the end of his career, which ended in 1984, the year after Balanchine died, but Balanchine created an auto-biographical partnering/dramatic role for d'Amboise in one of his very last ballets, Robert Schumann's Davidsbundlertanze (which is on film), in which d'Amboise chased Balanchine's last muse, Suzanne Farrell, nearly 30 years after Balanchine created Meditation, in which d'Amboise chased Balanchine's last muse, Suzanne Farrell. But he partnered every great female dancer in the company for decades, and with his small pick-up companies, he'd tour the country with young dancers, giving them invaluable stage experience and opportunities -- Merrill Ashley writes wonderfully about it in her book -- and he also did lecture demos at schools and local arts series while he was dancing.

He came to Seattle in 2014, when he was nearly 80, to coach "Diamonds," and while he joked about his physical condition throughout this public coaching session, snippeted at the following link, his engagement and energy were infectious:

Diamonds Coaching Series w/ Jacques d'Amboise

Artistic Director Peter Boal has invited the original interpreters of George Balanchine’s Jewels to coach PNB dancers for the Company’s revival of the 1967 m...

www.youtube.com

It was his book, "I Was a Dancer," though, that shows the reasons he should be made a posthumous member of FSU: it was full of snark and dish and energy and insight, and it opens with pithy chapters about his paternal maternal, Quebecoise grandmother, ETCorrect: and "The Boss." (his mother).

 

[annie720]

Sorry to hear about d'Amboise. He had a great career. It looks like Jacques was the last remaining Seven Brides danseur.

 

[clairecloutier]

It was his book, "I Was a Dancer," though, that shows the reasons he should be made a posthumous member of FSU: it was full of snark and dish and energy and insight, and it opens with pithy chapters about his paternal, Quebecoise grandmother, "The Boss."

This sounds good. I may have to check it out!

 

[kwanfan1818]

Sorry to hear about d'Amboise. He had a great career. It looks like Jacques was the last remaining Seven Brides danseur.

Russ Tamblyn is still alive.

 

[annie720]

Russ Tamblyn is still alive.

Yes, he is. I liked him, but I don't believe he had the ballet background like the 4 others.

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

Yes, he is. I liked him, but I don't believe he had the ballet background like the 4 others.

Russ Tamblyn's background was that of a gymnast/acrobat prior to Seven Brides. Any non-consideration of him as a danseur didn't seem to matter enough to 2 of the most famous choreographers in modern times (Michael Kidd and Jerome Robbins) not to cast him in either Seven Brides or WSS.

I saw an extended interview with Mr. Tamblyn the other day from a couple of decades ago, though, in which he said that he had a lot better time on WSS after Jerome Robbins was fired and Tony Mordente handled choreography for the rest of the filming. Apparently Robert Wise was in his corner.

 

[annie720]

Russ Tamblyn's background was that of a gymnast/acrobat prior to Seven Brides. Any non-consideration of him as a danseur didn't seem to matter enough to 2 of the most famous choreographers in modern times (Michael Kidd and Jerome Robbins) not to cast him in either Seven Brides or WSS.

Well, this s a ballet thread and the four ballet-trained dancers portraying the Pontipees were often referred to as the dancers in Seven Brides reviews and articles. RIP, Mr. d'Amboise.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Here's a lovely piece by Marina Harss for Dance Magazine:

Jacques d’Amboise, New York City Ballet Star and Founder of National Dance Institute, Dies at 86

To watch Jacques d'Amboise, the legendary New York City Ballet dancer who died this week at the age of 86 due to complications from a stroke, coach dancers in t

www.dancemagazine.com

 

[Artistic Skaters]

I sure loved Jacques d'Amboise. Such a beautiful and moving dancer. Even as he aged, he was a spry old guy out there hiking the Appalachian Trail to raise funds for his dance non-profit. Time to make another donation, this time in his memory.

 

[Artistic Skaters]

Regarding Russ Tamblyn - old Riff was featured on CBS Sunday Morning a couple weeks ago:

Russ Tamblyn doesn't have to prove how cool he is

He's an acrobat, dancer, and Oscar-nominated actor best known for "West Side Story" – but for many years, Russ Tamblyn stepped out of the limelight, to pursue a different kind of art.

www.cbsnews.com

An artist in Topanga Canyon. Who knew? Snap. Snap.

 

[4skating]

NYCB made its first-ever virtual gala available on youtube May 6. Filmed by Sophia Coppola and featuring five works and members of the company shot at the Koch Theater, I thought that it really was special and a reminder of what we hopefully will be able to experience in person this fall.

NYCB virtual gala 2021

 

[canbelto]

I started a FB group discussing ballet called Fifth Position. Join if interested!

 

[kwanfan1818]

This is such a delight, and Hallberg really nails the NYC ballerina bow:

Up Close: “52 Final Bows” by Madeline Hollander | THE SHED

Madeline Hollander’s video, 52 Final Bows, the artist collaborates with former American Ballet Theatre principal dancer David Hallberg to spotlight 52 iconic...

www.youtube.com

 

[emason]

Am I wicked girl that I laughed my ass off watching these? Loved them; thanks for posting.

 

[emason]

Am I a wicked girl because I was grateful to Giselle when she died this afternoon? It’s the Hurlin-Camargo matinee and I’m finding it very off, very anemic. It’s Giselle light. I’m seeing Brandt-Cornejo tonight; I hope they restore my faith.

ETA: Second Act was a big improvement over the first. Camargo did entrechats and they were beautiful and subtle; this is first Albrecht I remember who avoided looking like he was doing a circus trick.

 

[Rob]

Am I a wicked girl because I was grateful to Giselle when she died this afternoon? It’s the Hurlin-Camargo matinee and I’m finding it very off, very anemic. It’s Giselle light. I’m seeing Brandt-Cornejo tonight; I hope they restore my faith.

ETA: Second Act was a big improvement over the first. Camargo did entrechats and they were beautiful and subtle; this is first Albrecht I remember who avoided looking like he was doing a circus trick.

I liked Hurlin in Romeo & Juliet - she's just right for the part and has beautiful lines, her acting was good. I wasn't crazy about Royal III as Romeo, he's tall, but very slight and I felt he had trouble partnering. Also, I am a stickler for the pointed toe!

I saw Brandt's debut in Giselle with Cornejo (very promising) - she was supposed to debut a few days later, but got thrown on early when Misty Copeland got injured. I am seeing them again at Wolf Trap in July, with Hurlin as Myrtha. Let me know what you think.

Saw an amazing night of NYCB in June at Kennedy Center. It was Square Dance, Afternoon of a Faun, Concerto Barocco and Donizetti. All I can say is TAYLOR STANLEY!!!!!!!