june-2010

22
JUNE 2010 | UNITED.COM
ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
DANCING SCREEN
Next time fans of 3-D
technology see a willowy
hero jump out of their
screens, it won’t necessarily
be a blue Na’vi warrior. On
a cool night in downtown St.
Petersburg, the Mariinsky
Ballet, better known in
the West as the legendary
Kirov, is set to join the ranks
of Vincent Price horror
fl icks and the recent James
Cameron blockbuster by
becoming the world’s fi rst
ballet to televise a live
performance in 3-D.
The Mariinsky Theater
has been outfi tted with
high-tech cameras for a gala
concert, a medley of the
company’s most acclaimed
works, which is being
broadcast for free across
most of Europe. For viewers
dispatches
Hunkering in the shadow of the elevated J train, which rattles past the rooftops of Richmond
Hill, Cameo Pet Shop isn’t your run-of-the-mill animal emporium.
With its vintage fi sh food posters and century-old mechanical cash register, little has
changed here since owner Steve Gruebel returned from the Vietnam War in 1970 and took
over from his father. Thousands of cats, dogs, birds and fi sh have come and gone since then—
all except one, a hulking, scarred, snaggletoothed black pacu fi sh named Buttkiss, who has
resided in a tank at the front of the store since John Lindsey was mayor.
Having just celebrated his 44th birthday—including a festive party that turned out dozens of longtime neighbors—
QUEENS, NEW YORK
Star Fish
who have yet to buy a 3-D
TV (just about everyone),
the organizers have set up
viewing salons in Paris,
Moscow and here in St.
Petersburg.
The house lights dim,
the curtain opens, and after
the orchestra quietly plays
the fi rst bars of Swan Lake,
Mariinsky prima donna
Ulyana Lopatkina takes
the stage. For once, the
best seat in the house isn’t
the tsar’s box but the foyer
outside the auditorium.
That’s where Mariinsky’s
superstar artistic director
Valery Gergiev and assorted
other theatrical VIPs don
specially designed glasses
and take in the show on
a giant 3-D fl at-screen.
Immediately after the
exhibition concert ends, the
theater kicks off the 10th
Mariinsky International
Ballet Festival with the
premiere of Anna Karenina.
Unfortunately for viewers
in Moscow and Paris, that
performance can only be
seen the old-fashioned
way—by ticket holders.
Sports channels have
already embraced 3-D,
with ESPN, Discovery and
Sky Sports all jumping
on the bandwagon; now
high culture is getting in
on the act. New York's
Metropolitan Opera
has been simulcasting
performances in HD since
2006, but the Mariinsky
appears to have taken
the technological lead.
“We need to continue to
experiment,” Gergiev says
with a smile, promising that
this is only the beginning for
the 150-year-old theater.
— JAKE RUDNITSKY
Buttkiss is probably the oldest pet fi sh in New York. How old is he? He’s so old that he has arthritis in his gills, and one
regular customer swears he’s developed glaucoma in one eye. Gruebel isn’t convinced. “How can a fi sh get glaucoma?” he
asks—adding with a wink that fi sh oil is often used to treat the disease in humans.
The cloudy lens, he contends, is from Buttkiss rubbing up
against the sides of his 75-gallon aquarium. After offering to
demonstrate, Gruebel turns and peers into the tank. On the
other side of the glass, Buttkiss approaches, “wags” his tailfi n
playfully and darts back and forth, rubbing along the sides of
the tank like a clumsy puppy.
Gruebel bought the fi sh from a wholesaler in 1967 and sold
him a year later. In 1970, after Buttkiss outgrew his owner’s
tank, Gruebel welcomed him back to the pet store.
Since then, the fi sh has become a neighborhood fi xture—not
to mention Gruebel’s loyal sales partner, one who can reliably
identify new customers. “If you walk in the door and say, ‘Holy
cow, look at that fi sh!’ then I know you’ve never been here
before. Because everybody knows Buttkiss.”—PETER KOCH