Lorena feijoo is simply the greatest ballerina around and her extreme decency as a person coupled with her superior cuban training is unmatched on the world stage...well, ok, her sister lorna feijoo is on the same level. I guess that is why they are the only dynasty in ballet history. This comes around only once in a lifetime! The review is wonderful, insightful, truthful, and most of all, honest!
Danny Burchik
This is the jewel that makes San Francisco the crown of jewels that it is. And Helgi Tomasson is the bright and glorious jeweler that makes it all shine. Thank you for a wonderfully written view of the glory that is to come. It should pack the house and deservedly so.
Alan Rudolph
read Catherine Conway Honig's article
A very revealing and deep review of this very revealing and deep dance artist. There is no one else like Sylvie Guillem. I especially enjoy the way you layer your commentary and perceptions - this is one of the best dance reviews I've read in a long time. It ought to be reprinted in the New Yorker instead of the "old cow" prattle-prattle that passes for writing about dance in that premier journal. When are you going to do a one-on-one interview with Sylvie? You're just the writer to do that and finally capture her in words, which you just about did in this review. Thank you very much.
Phillip Goldsmith
read Renate Stendhal's article
Just to wanted to let you know - Vilanoba didn't almost drop Feijoo, she actually had a mis-step and he caught her to keep her from completely falling and taking him down with her.
M. White
read Catherine Honig's article
Once again you capture a choreographer and her dance in words the way few reviewers can. Wonderful. Wunderbar. Thank you. Here is more praise that Pina will live forever.
Peter Meyer
She's a wonderful Giselle, different from Feijoo but as commanding. Yes she's tiny but on stage she's colossal. I hope SF Ballet can keep her for a long time. Your interview is fine, thank you.
Martin Vistiz
read Catherine Conway Honig's article
Welcome to the world of heritage dancing. Why Irish dance, is this part of your heritage?
Mac
read Michael Bettencourt's article
As a writer, I have always found that parallel art activity provides a stimulating expansion to my work and offers much comfort and respect to what you call, "muses." I am especially fond of dance and even at my age (which I shall not reveal if only to say that it is advanced), I continue to explore ballet. I hope you will too.
Anee S. Waterson
read Michael Bettencourt's article
Michael Bettancourt's comments on his aches and pains learning to dance the Irish jig and reel, kicked off a wonderful memory for me. A few years ago at Trinity University in Dublin, Ireland, where my partner, Daystar, was the keynote speaker for the 23rd annual American Indian Workshop and Conference, we took a break from the conference to witness Irish dancing; the real thing not the Broadway pizzazz version. When I asked a security guard where we could find Irish dancing at its best, he pointed across the river to a pub. There, he said, we'd experience unadulterated Irish dancing - "come hell or high water". He was right on target. We experienced first class, full-fledged Irish dancing in a pub setting; turned upside down by an exhibition of splendid, young female dancers from the Irish School of Dancing, ranging in age from about 8 years old into their teens. Their unexpected arrival at the pub, along with their guardians and parents, turned the joint around. The transformation was immediate and complete. Beer drinkers slapped down their mugs. Hitting the tables was a signal to shut up and be quiet. Everyone's faces suddenly lifted with pride and joy. Even the rock band on stage sat silent and respectful, their hands on their laps, like choir boys on their best behavior - ready to break into the jig and reel. For they were about to turn their instruments into the great cause of Irish independence, at least that was the way I saw it; and they achieved their goal with inevitable discipline and dignity. Seated as we were, close to the stage, we were in the thick of it, amazed. The cultural dynamic of transcending the site of a beer hall into a highly respectful display of traditional Irish dancing was loaded with inherent drama. The young dancers were the real McCoy. When they arrived dressed in splendid green taffeta, lavish curls spilling and bouncing around their faces with abandon, they brought on the guardian spirits of lo and behold. The girls danced their hearts out, and, as the poet said, captured our hearts in their hands. Their youth, discipline, maturity of purpose, and, above all else, their joy in dancing, captivated the crowd. I asked a neighbor at our table why, in Irish dancing, the girl's hands are held so stiff at their sides, while their feet continuously move with incredible rhythm and bounce. He said that when the British occupied Ireland, they shut down Irish dancing, Bar maids behind the counter learned to keep their hands stiff at their sides, while their feet moved silently to the rhythm of the Irish jig and reel. Now that particular protest sounds like a tall story, but I'm willing to believe it. Here, in the great democracy of shared low down repressed experiences, the diehard representatives of the American government in the 19th and 20th centuries shut down Indian dancing. In their eyes, and with their weapons first hand, these iron hard defenders of cultural dominance thought of Indian dancing as a display of barbarism decisively to be dealt with. Well, the British failed, and so did the fistful of Americans. To everyone's surprise, what resulted from these viciously repressed indigenous dances turned out to be a blessing for all us - without disguise. Moral: If you are willing to dance under the table for a shared sense of humanity, do it with everything you've got. There may be no second chances.
Ned Bobkoff
read Michael Bettencourt's article
I have enjoyed following Barry Lynn, Michael, and the evolution of Chalice Stream over the years. Passion, vision, and commitment have resulted in this jewel in Wisconsin. I hope I have some of my uncle's good genes! Thank you, Ned, for this article highlighting these artists extraordinaire.
Connee Carver-White
I cannot read nor hear too much about Lorena Feijoo. And apparently neither can Renate Stendhal. Lorena is a choreographer's gem and an audience's dream. I do hope that Ms Stendhal will never tire of experiencing Lorena's wondrous creations and will continue to share those experiences with her equally wondrous prose.
Hinton Faxman
Terrific review but white print/black background is much to difficult to read for an entire article. An occasional white on black "punch" field may be fine, an entire article too tedious to read. Too bad, it was a welcome review.
Barbara Witte
San Francisco Ballet is now one of the best, if not the best, dance company in the country and your review shows why. Great review, so well written and full of many insights. The photos are divine. Thanks for all that.
Pimi Bell
Catherine Conway Honig captures in words what Ms. Farrell captures in the elegance of movement. This is an excellent piece and a joy to read Thank you.
Sylvia Goodman
A remarkable occasion, this the 90th year of the great ballerina. I first saw her many years ago in New York. She was astonishing whether one knew she was nearly blind or not. She represents all that is great about dance and what perseveres in the greatness of Cuban culture. Thank you for the remembrance.
Louis Laird
As you predicted and as reported:
"Alicia Alonso accepted the sold-out audience's adoring ovation at the Metropolitan Opera House from a central box seat before Thursday night's American Ballet Theatre performance. But one sensed that this legendary ballerina, being saluted by the company with an evening to celebrate her 90th birthday, would find her way to center stage, and she did, culminating the boisterous, rousing event."
And what an event that was.
Louis Laird
Ned Bobkoff's deep humanity and theatrical intelligence illuminate the essential elements of this production. Although I have not seen the performance - and travel distance makes it impossible - I can almost taste it from Ned's passionate description and his inevitable kindness and understanding of theatrical performance art. Highly recommended!
Bill Bailey
A work of uplifting beauty! Kudos to Rosalie Jones for her spectacular vision and to Ned Bobkoff for transmitting the sensation to Scene4 readers.
Arthur Kanegis
Thank you Ned for writing another interesting and enlightening article. Highly recommended.
James Dimelow
Can't wait to see the film. Excellent review. Teenage awkwardness and the idea of not wanting to act stupid in front of one's peers, wanting to belong and yet not be seen. Brings back images of when I was a teenager and us girls danced around our handbags and were afraid to raise our arms. Even today, I'm fascinated by the way people transfer from a sitting position to the dance floor - the awkwardness of it all.
Irene Hendrick
Renate Stendhal's is a wonderful article that reads like a belated eulogy for Pina Bausch, linking 50s, 70s and today. At a time that researchers fear that present day youth -- who so readily make use of New Media -- are losing the ability to have face to face interaction and lack IRL communication skills, Stendhal suggests that the awkward gender division of the 50s is not just bound to return, but is back where it was or as a greater schism. Ironically,perhaps because of projects such as teens dancing a Bausch piece, this seems a breach easier to mend than the lack of mutual respect, seen in depiction of teens in TV shows and movies. Thank goodness for choreographers who use dance to bring young people together on and backstage and as audience in the auditorium. In Seattle, WA., DANCE This! organized by STG allows for similar positive experiences for young people, alternatives to what might be considered a modern day wasteland. Many thanks to Renate Stendhal and Scene4 for bringing this notion to the foreground! Can't wait to see the documentary.
Judith van Praag
I enjoyed the review by Renate Stendhal, though have a different take on Black Swan. I walked away also being reminded of Cronenberg, but more of Aronofsky's other films--he has a penchant for characters inclined toward self-mutilation. Overall I was disappointed in this film. I didn't think it was silly (like your colleague), but wanted it to be better, more complex. Portman was simply too wimpy the whole time to be interesting to me--no dancer without a spine gets to be a principal--and though I know this was a function of her "dark" side containing all her power, it still made the movie and the performance less psychologically intriguing than I wanted it to be. Everything was, for me, a little too black and white. And as a feminist, the voyeuristic aspect really began to pall after a while. The whole thing seemed to be tailor-made for the male gaze (cat fights, the lesbian scene, the masturbation scene, the spectacle of one battered female body after another).
M. Dressler
Thank you Catherine Conway Honig for an inspiring view of hope that is alive and well in Cuba.
Marta Mediz Siverman
Although the Daystar performance of "Dancing in the Grass" was performed indoors at Nazareth College, because of the threat of rain, it was successful nonetheless. "Wolf", a Daystar transformational work highlighting the natural connection between the human and the animal world, was danced with exceptional dramatic effect by Daniel Fetecua of the Jose Limon company. The suggestive ambiance of haunting Native American music with a solid rhythmic ambiance, coupled with multifaceted changes from one state of being to another, captivated and held firm the metaphysical construct of Native American beliefs that we are all one under the sun.
Ned Bobkoff
To have two views of one of my favorite ballets is a treat. I know it's an "old chestnut" but Onegin is where ballet came from and where, in one sense, it still is. I wish I were in San Francisco but many thanks to both Catherine Honig and Renate Stendhal for taking me with them.
Judy Moritz
read Catherine Conway Honig's review
read Renate Stendhal's review.
I saw Onegin at the Stuttgart. I wonder what Cranko would have thought about Wayne McGregor?
Ralph Wilson
"The effect is like going to an art gallery and discovering a Titian among the post-modern works plastered all over the walls." A well-turned phrase in another well-turned review by Ms Renate Stendhal. Always appreciated.
David Szersnic
Hope Mohr is a lovely and sometimes breathtaking dancer and so with Dusan Tynek's dancers but the Cunningham oeuvre has always left me flat, cold, uninvolved. I saw much of Merce in his early days and less when he danced less. He, as a dancer, was the inspiration. But the choreography? I never thought of it as choreography.
Judy Moritz
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