Natalia

Sarah & Christine interchanging Columbine & Pierette in Harlequinade!!!!

My Fouetté-o-Meter has received a new lease on life. Stronger than ever!

Just saw...yeah!!!!!! I'm delighted by each of the promotions. Lots of great artistry and FOUETTÉ CAPABITY among them. Calvin is the icing on the cake! It's just a matter of time for Cassandra and Gabe.

I hope that pre-professional ballet academies are now teaching fund raising & marketing! Who knows how many wonderful corps (or soloist) dancers have left the profession prematurely because of precisely this...they didn't sign up for this thing when they entered ballet school.

I read somewhere that all of the private ballet companies in Japan expect each dancer to sell a certain number of tickets (to friends & family) to each performance. Whoever doesn't make her tally is kicked off the corps. They're literally forced to sell a book of tickets. If a father was wealthy, he'd just write a check for the value of all the tickets, to keep his daughter on the stage. This included well-known companies like Asami Maki & Tokyo Ballet. Kumakawa's troupe may be the only exception. I'm open to corrections...this was 4-5 years ago that I read it.

Maybe this is management's way of letting her know that she'll soon be named a Principal?

Exactly. It's the Paris Opera's Foyer de la Danse all over again.

"Develop a meaningful relationship..." My first thought: What pathetic donors who have so little going on in their private lives! Shame on arts institutions being so desperate as to allow this! My modest annual donation to ABT now shifting to NYCB. I've always cared most about repertoire, after all. As much as I love ballet, I've never had the urge to cross the line, not even to go to the stage door and ask for an autograph (although I respect others' wish to do so), let alone taking selfies with dancers, much less getting into their private lives. My passion is contained to the auditorium - admiration in performance and during the bows.

You scared me with that SL Act II. In some companies. Act I has two scenes, so Act II is the ballroom scene, with Black Swan pdd. For a moment there, I thought that they were giving Misty another chance at the 32 fouettés. Not so. Whew!

The Bellevue paddy wagon should be standing by.

No problem. I suspect that the only associated performances may be by the Vaganova students &/or the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, which is a co-sponsor. (The Conservatory is the big building across the Mariinsky.) But one never knows if there may be more. Just going to the conference and seeing a couple of performances of complete ballets would be great. Oh...I also asked if the sessions will be webcasted or made available in some other form, as they did in Bordeaux.

Not yet. I've asked about that and about possible plans for associated performances. Ideally, I'd love to see a week of international companies in StP, presenting their recons one after another (ABT Beauty, La Scala with Raymonda, Zurich with Swan Lake, Bolshoi w/ Coppelia, Esmeralda, and Corsaire, Mariinsky's Giselle (or PNB?), Munich Paquita, Ekaterinburg w/ Fille Mal Gardee)...and all will be commercially recorded! There's no cost in dreaming, is there?

The Vaganova Academy will host a three-day Petipa Bicentennial Conference ("Homage to Petipa - Petipa Bridge") on March 10-12, 2018. The dates include Petipa's actual birthdate, March 11! They're inviting researchers/ scholars to submit papers for presentation by Sept. 15, 2017. Details in this FB notice, which contains a link to further details on the event (translation available): https://m.facebook.com/academyvaganova/photos/a.699768383455783.1073741827.699758070123481/1313885005377448/?type=3&source=48 The additional info, within the notice, including main topics of the "Petipa Bridge": http://vaganovaacademy.ru/index.php?id=1288 Nikolai Tsiskaridze heads the impressive conference committee. Elizabeth Souritz also involved. No word yet on any performances at the Mariinsky or other ballet theaters across the city...or if any of the planned shows may be reconstructions...a very controversial topic among coaches who grew up in the Soviet era..but not necessarily Tsiskaridze. p.s. The long document confirms that this is the follow-on to the October 2015 conference in Bordeaux. The same university that co-sponsored the 2015 edition is co-sponsoring this one.

I signed the petition. I'm sad but certainly not depressed. I'm also getting a bit tired of the big Pity Party that this has become. I'll cheer her on Saturday, cheer the 22 years of memories (first saw her in June 1995 at a Vaganova year-end show...Neumeier's Pavlova & Ceccheti), then look forward to the next chapter of her life.

It's Wednesday. Any news at company class? Tick tock, tick tock...

I never felt that D'Antuono was under appreciated. I had just assumed that she had retired from ABT on her 20-year work anniversary, which wasn't unusual. No internet and online petitions in those days.

Remember the reality TV show about Ballet West, Breaking Pointe? Cameras followed one or two corps dancers who had been told in the middle of the season that they would not continue past the last program on the calendar (May/June). This allowed the dancers to audition during the late winter/spring when auditions were taking place.

Not sure that she would be a fit, size wise (height), as well as her expansive style that fills up a huge stage. It's a group of smallish to mid-height dancers. Brooklyn Mack is the one larger/stronger guy in girth if not height but....no...He does so well with the more petite ballerinas like Maki Onuki. Half of the season happens in smaller stages, like the Harman or the Ike venue @ Kenn Cen. It's a chamber company augmented occasionally by the affiliate school. Nice thought, though.

Well, whoever goes to tonight's performance, pls report. This will be Veronika's penultimate dance with ABT. I'm sure that the emotions will begin to bubble tonight.

So are they going to give Hee Seo the Tema e Variazioni sections? Just kidding. Must be a typo.

Fantastic! Thanks so much for this.

Wonderful! Those former POB Etoiles are taking over European opera houses...Rome, Madrid, Vienna, Moscow/Stanislavsky, etc.

I noticed that the doe-eyed brunette choryphee Anna Lavrinenko is no longer on the Mariinsky roster. According to her FB site, she moved to the Universal Ballet in Seoul, South Korea, in January 2017: https://m.facebook.com/anna.lavrinenko.52 As the White Cat in SB: Odalisque in Corsaire, w/ Nikitina & Ivannikova:

Companies with a tall, strong man or two!

Now that would be interesting: Two Russians out; two Americans promoted. "America First" program. (Of course, for all we know, Part & Kochetkova may be US citizens by now or at least permanent residents. They've both been here for a long time.)