Yep, still sick. I think this is the first time I’ve been sick with something other than a cold in a very long time. It’s bad enough that I have actually done the unthinkable: called a doctor and made an appointment. The main problem is that my throat hurts (especially when I swallow) and the right side of my neck is swollen - I can feel the gland all swollen up. Sigh.
On a lighter note, Steve and Tami were in the city this past weekend. We met up for lunch and cupcakes and such, and they were at church on Sunday.
After lunch yesterday, I didn’t really just want to go home and sit around, so Tom and I went to see The New World. It’s a very quiet, contemplative movie, and stunningly beautiful. I am sure lots of people will be up in arms about it being politically correct, since it tends toward the idea of the noble savage and shows the Jamestown settlers killing the natives (and people still say that John Smith was a liar and the love story between him and Pocahontas never actually happened). On the other hand, having read those early accounts of the Jamestown settlement - not a wonderful place, y’all - and knowing what humans tend toward, I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt historically and say that it was a simply lovely film. Most of the dialogue and narration is actually in voice-overs - an interesting touch. I never saw the Disney Pocahontas, but I think this sort of a movie will make people want to read the histories and find out what was going on, since most of it was implied rather than explained.
But I will defer to Tom (from whom I departed quickly because I was feeling so sick) for a real review, as he is far more knowledgeable than I about these things. He tells me reasons that he likes or dislikes a film, and I just stare. Either I am a great optimist, or blind . . . or ignorant, which shall be remedied by osmosis.
We went to the ballet on Saturday night and saw four of the short classical-style works that NYC Ballet keeps in its repertoire:
- Concerto Barocco - this is the Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor by J.S. Bach, and one of Balanchine’s signature “black and white” ballets (from the costumes). I first saw this years and years ago with my aunt at SPAC, where NYCB has its summer residency every July. I remember that it struck me deeply at the time, and I’d been dying to see it ever since. The Concerto is on my very short list of favorite classical pieces. Balanchine used two female principals, one male principal, and a corps of eight dancers to interpret the piece perfectly, with each group subtly echoing the music. For no particular reason, this piece always leaves me with a lump in my throat. Stunning.
- Romeo and Juliet - the Prokofiev score. I have to say, I can never get into Prokofiev’s music, but this wasn’t half bad. The costuming was lovely. I don’t believe I’d seen this piece before, and Juliet’s choreography in particular was great. It’s an adaptation of the balcony scene from the Shakespeare story. It made me smile, after having seen Romeo + Juliet (Leonardo Di Caprio & Claire Danes) a few weeks ago.
- Tschaikovsky Pas De Deux - this was apparently originally composed as a pas de deux (dance for two) to go into the third act of Swan Lake, which I incidentally saw last week. Things got shuffled around and this never made it into the Ivanov/Petipa original Swan Lake, but Balanchine choreographed this as a separate piece. Pas de deux generally bore me: it’s a duet dance, then the guy dances, then the girl dances, then they both dance again, and it happens so commonly in classical ballets that it gets old to me after a while. But this was great. Damian Woetzel deserves a special mention, as his variation had the whole audience erupting into applause throughout. (He was the prince in the Swan Lake I saw last week.) Outstanding.
- Symphony in C - by Bizet (better known as the Guy Who Wrote Carmen) and choreographed by Balanchine. This one is another “black and white”, and it’s very technically difficult but for the average viewer not too enchanting until the final movement, when it suddenly seems that the entire company is on stage - four male principals, four female principals, four male soloists, four female soloists, and a huge corps that I didn’t count. Fun stuff. NYCB standard. The program says that Balanchine premiered this actual choreography at the Paris Opera Ballet in 1947 (Phantom of the Opera fans, take note) and brought it with him to New York in 1948 when he and Lincoln Kirstein started the company.
I know way too much about ballet and NYCB in particular, but there you have it. I’ll never be a dance critic!
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