volcanohunter

I hope PBS steps up and films an ABT performance, because it's been a long time since the last telecast. On the other hand, RAI broadcasts La Scala's ballet company once a year, and a new production would be a strong candidate for 2015. Zakharova certainly sells DVDs and show tickets. When I elected to pass on the Bolshoi's last visit to New York and put my tickets up for resale, Zakharova's performances were snapped up lickety-split; the others took quite a bit longer. But I'm still mildly traumatized by memories of the cinemacast of Sleeping Beauty from the Bolshoi, a performance I never revisited on video. I cringe every time a clip of her Aurora whacking her legs around shows up in a trailer. A webstream of Nacho Duato's production from the Mikhailovsky wasn't any better. Perhaps I'm not giving her a fair shake. When the Bolshoi brought its production to London I had tickets to her performances, but ultimately couldn't stomach using them, although I did go to see the remaining casts. I would like to hope for the best and the possibility that Zakharova will conform herself to Ratmansky's conception, but I have to admit that the prospect of another film of her Aurora fills me with dread.

At the moment La Scala has scheduled nine performances in the autumn, of which four are to be danced by Zakharova and Hallberg, assuming he has returned to performing by then. No other guest artists are listed at the moment, so presumably the plan is to give the other performances to La Scala's own dancers. (Incidentally, La Scala has not yet announced who will replace Hallberg in Giselle opposite Osipova in April.)

Vishneva was filmed as Aurora more than a dozen years ago, at La Scala in Nureyev's production with Roberto Bolle. The telecast was never released on DVD, and it really wasn't her finest hour. But if La Scala thinks it can do better with Zakharova...

Thank you also to Josette and Andre Yew for your reports. I can't help but wonder how willing Svetlana Zakharova will be to play along with this approach once the production reaches La Scala. I love the idea of not seeing the underside of the ballerina's tutu.

Thank you, ksk04!

Western versions typically use (nearly) all the music Tchaikovsky composed, meaning that the opening theme is repeated twice and the dancer performs the sequence of jumps in two directions. Russian versions, and apparently it was notated this way, don't repeat the opening theme. I was curious about which option Ratmansky chose.

Thank you so much for the report! And thank you for offering to answer our questions. Was the pas de deux similar to what Doug Fullington presented with dancers from Pacific Northwest Ballet at the Guggenheim? (Starting about 1:05:30). https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6xpOVN3cfGc#t=3931 I'm also curious whether the "long" or "short" version of the Bluebird's variation was used. Stylistically, what you describe sounds similar to what Ratmansky did with Paquita with the Bavarian State Ballet, a company just as mongrelized as ABT. I found it to be very beautiful. It seems to me that if dancers are expected to replicate at least a semlance of Bournonville style, Balanchine style, Ashton style and even McGregor style, they should be able to do proper Petipa style. Ratmansky reminds us that Petipa ≠ Vaganova, and if part-time principals have to put in more rehearsal time with ABT in order to fit in to the production, so much the better.

Yes, I was thinking that a telecast from La Scala was likelier than a telecast by ABT, since Italian television broadcasts one production by the ballet company annually. To be honest, I would really rather not have yet another Aurora as performed by Zakharova.

Perhaps you could pay a visit to Milan! Lord knows the city is expensive, but at least you wouldn't have to cross the Atlantic. You could see L'elisir d'amore or Falstaff while you're at it. http://www.teatroallascala.org/en/season/opera-ballet/2014-2015/sleeping-beauty.html

Probably not. I don't think ABT or La Scala's ballet company has ever done such a thing. La Scala's opening night is usually streamed, but with geographical restrictions, and that's always an opera.

I think you're right about the locals. My impression about buying single tickets to the KC (because I live 2,000 miles away) is that subscribers make up the lion's share of the audience. I'll go online the morning single tickets become available to members and find that much of the house is already sold to subscribers. But as a ballet tourist I know that I'm unlikely to travel unless there's a very attractive confluence of events.

Beauty (Jan 27-31) will follow right on the heels of the National Ballet of Canada's Winter's Tale (Jan 19-24), just as New York City Ballet (Mar 1-6) will move in right after the Mariinsky's Raymonda (Feb 23-28). This sort of scheduling could attract the potential ballet tourist. http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/newseason/

In that case I'll take it as a positive sign that Balcony tickets were put on sale for the weekend performances and that they have just been made available for Friday evening.

Apparently Muntagirov had a fever. Fortunately, those tend to pass faster than injuries. http://dancetabs.com/2015/03/royal-ballet-royal-opera-house-a-gala-celebration-life-reimagined-london/

I am sorry to see that so many tickets for the Segerstrom run remain unsold. Am I correct in thinking that Balcony seats are not on sale for the weeknight performances? We ballet nuts may be dying to see the production, but filling 3,000 seats in the Southland is a tall order. Hoping great reviews will give the box office a boost.

Yeah, those weren't so nice. I wonder how they'd do at an ABT garage sale.

Even if this production has the Lilac Fairy dance the sixth fairy variation in the prologue, it's basically a mime role from Act 1 onward.

As the fabulous "After Petipa" presentation at the Guggenheim reminded us, the ballet was not notated in 1890. It was noted around 1903, by which time the part was being danced by Nikolai Legat, and the variation he danced was insanely difficult. Skip ahead to about 1:12:30. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6xpOVN3cfGc#t=4350

How I wish that programs for all classic ballets included such charts! All ballets with composite scores could use them, too.

Here's something sort of on topic. It's a Sleeping Beauty cast list from the National Ballet of Ukraine, ca. 1992. Unfortunately the ticket stub slipped out so I can't give you an exact date. This was a leftover Soviet-era program in which theater ushers would mark the dancer performing that evening from a list of all interpreters of a role. Obviously, it was a system poorly suited to accommodating debuts. Penciled in as Aurora is guest artist Kumiko Ochi. Penciled in as Désiré is Alexei "Rotmansky." And at the top of the second page you can see Irina Dvorovenko penciled in as the second prologue fairy.

Oh, that's true! Apparently the ROH is a little more familiar with nobility, politicians and clergy than the military. What would the Royal Navy have to say about that?!

Ironically, as dirac noted, the loss of second person singular pronouns and verb forms has forced English to make the formal/informal distinction in other ways, including the use of titles. For a really mindboggling selection, try registering on just about any website in the UK. For example, give the Royal Opera House a whirl; select "other" under title and watch what pops up. https://www.roh.org.uk/register I don't know any Japanese, but in Russian and many other languages it's possible to address someone by their first name and still use formal pronouns and verb forms to indicate respect and avoid excessive familiarity.

In some languages with which I'm familiar, the practice is always to use pseudonyms in their entirety, even for "normal"-sounding ones like George Eliot. "Mr. Eliot" and "Miss Eliot" would be equally nonsensical, and readers would probably have no idea who Miss Evans or Mrs. Cross was, any more than they could be expected to know that Mr. Aday and Meat Loaf are the same person.

Incidentally, today I received a fundraising call from the National Ballet of Canada. (I probably wouldn't have answered if my curiosity hadn't been piqued by this thread.) The caller quickly acknowledged that since I live far from Toronto, I wouldn't be able to take advantage of the donor perks. She plowed through all the membership categories nevertheless and pointed out that the company's individual donors include Americans. I guess the NBoC hasn't got a good script for out-of-towners either! But the caller was very pleasant and not at all rude.

"Pick Yourself Up" is sheer genius on every level. It's like pure joy. I don't think Barkleys is all bad. The "Bouncin' the Blues" number highlights Rogers' excellent sense of rhythm. But there's no getting around the fact that the "Young Sarah" scenes are dreadful.