What's Your Favorite Ballet?

[Dame Hilda Tablet]

If she knows the Beatrix Potter books it will be all the better. I understand Beatrix Potter is very popular in the US.

[Dame Hilda Tablet]

She might enjoy this too, because it's very funny. I certainly loved it as a child.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMn2TuvW_M8"]YouTube - LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE: Clog Dance[/ame]

[haydnguy]

Originally Posted by Dame Hilda Tablet

If she knows the Beatrix Potter books it will be all the better. I understand Beatrix Potter is very popular in the US.

Yes, EXTREMELY popular. I myself have never read them but kids who wouldn't look at a book have read them. And of course the movies too.

[haydnguy]

I guess I'll watch Don Quixote since the forums are slow and it's a rainy Sunday.

[haydnguy]

I changed my mind for now. I'm too tired (up all night last night) to sit through two hours of ballet.

[dancer1912]

La Fille Mal Gardee has never been performed live in NZ, but I did see it at Covent Garden very early in 1981....love the Clog Dance!!

[Dame Hilda Tablet]

It's a great ballet. I am blessed to live in London, I have so much choice culturally speaking.

When you say La Fille Mal Gardee has never been performed live in NZ, do you mean never ever, or just in living memory?

[dancer1912]

Error!! Sorry Dame Hilda....it WAS performed in 1997 by the RNZB....the only time it was performed here in it's entirety.
I lived in Sydney for several years and found that I was so spoiled for choice, I couldn't decide and frequently missed things. In a smaller place you don't tend to miss anything! I am off to see the Monet Exhibition in Wellington next week (on loan from Boston), so we are not in an utter cultural desert!!

[Dame Hilda Tablet]

Originally Posted by dancer1912

I am off to see the Monet Exhibition in Wellington next week (on loan from Boston), so we are not in an utter cultural desert!!

Enjoy it! I last saw a Monet Exhibition in the Royal Academy with my grandfather probably nearly 20 years ago. It was in the Royal Academy and was breathtaking.
I don't think NZ is a cultural desert, more that London has an embarrassment of riches!

[haydnguy]

Originally Posted by SchubertGuy

I guess I'll watch Don Quixote since the forums are slow and it's a rainy Sunday.

So far, this is my least favorite ballet. At first it was hard for me to put my finger on exactly what it was I didn't like about it. Then I realized it was mostly about the music.

Of course, I didn't think about this when I bought this but there was quite a bit of tamberine/spanish style music which didn't suit me for a ballet. I will say that the dancers were exceptional. So far, from what little I've seen, the Russian dancers are a step ahead of the rest of us in ballet. (pun intended). They are SO disciplined and precise in their dancing. It especially shows to me in the dancers who are not the leads. They are SO disciplined in their dancing even though the spotlight is not on them. They stay alert and don't let their minds wander.

The set was fine but given it was 1992, wasn't quite what you would see today I would think. The orchestra played well.

The star of the show, and frankly the reason why you would buy this DVD is Nina Ananiashvili. She is an outstanding dancer. Her presence is felt on the stage as soon as she steps on it. I can't say enough good things about her. I would like to see her in something else though....