American Ballet Theatre (ABT) closed its
season at the Metropolitan Opera House with The
Sleeping Beauty ,
choreography by Marius
Petipa ,
staged with additional choreography by Alexei
Ratmansky ,
music by Peter
Ilyitch Tchaikovsky ,
is the most recent production, which tries
to follow the original from 1890. It is a
colorful one with extravagant costumes by Richard
Hudson .
The composer's music is always lovely,
played by the orchestra, under the baton of Charles
Barker .
The dancing was fine, with Hee
Seo as
Princess Aurora and Aran
Bell as
her Prince Desire. Their performance of the Grand
Pas de Deux in
Act III was the highlight of the afternoon,
as was the GarlandWaltz in
Act I.. This is a ballet with lots of mime
to tell the fairy tale, which lasts almost
three hours. The audience, full of children,
enjoyed the ballet.
China Institute, 40 Rector Street, held an
interesting panel discussion entitled Summer
Drinks and Conversation: How Women
are Rocking China's Film Industry, with
three Chinese filmmakers, Wu Nan, Guan
Yadi and Rebecca Davis (photo below),
about the growing influence of women in the
Chinese film industry. A short film clip of
the most recent film by Wu Nan was shown,
and the discussion was followed by a
reception. It was a delightful afternoon
The Consinee Group held a New York Gala &
Runway Show Stitch
in Time at Cipriani 55 Wall Street.
Consinee Group Chairman & CEO Boris
Xue was present, and I photographed him
(photo right)). The evening began
with cocktails, followed by the Runway Show
featuring a multitude of models wearing
cashmere clothes which are produced in China
and sent around the world. Each guest
received a gorgeous cashmere sweater. The
event conclude with delicious dinner. The
executive producers Claire
Lin and Yuhan
Liu are to be congratulated for a
marvelous evening. It was a wonderful event.