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NYCB's 2009-10 Winter season


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The 09-10 Winter season is going to very full-length heavy. I'm sure it will be posted soon, but I received a solicitation for a subscription and received some info. The full lengths: Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Romeo + Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Jewels. There's going to be a new Martins ballet and a new Miroshnichenko ballet. Some other ballets are Cortege Hongrois (back after five years), Who Cares?, Agon, Firebird, Prodigal Son,

Liebeslieder Walzer, Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2, Dances at a Gathering, West Side Story Suite, and Fancy Free. Or course, if one is interested in more one-acts, you can go to D.C. during the Nutcracker season and see NYCB do Mozartiana, Stravinsky Violin Concerto and Concerto Barocco (plus Liturgy, Dances at a Gathering, Les Gentilhommes and Liebeslieder Walzer).

Link to Kennedy Center program:

http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/ind...amp;event=BKBSC

What does everybody think?

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Thanks, Dale. Gee, all this time I thought that DC was the '#1 dumbed-down town' when it came to ballet. The only 'audience-pleasing full lengths' missing from the New York winter season are Coppelia and Harlequinade.

I will make a prediction: Spring/Summer 2010 will see the premiere of Peter Martins' Don Quixote to the Minkus score.

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I will make a prediction: Spring/Summer 2010 will see the premiere of Peter Martins' Don Quixote to the Minkus score.

If they're smart, they'll cut a deal with Ratmansky, whose new "Don Quixot" (after Petipa) premieres with the Dutch National Ballet next February.

(Sadly, it overlaps with the Olympics, or I'd be really tempted to use every last award mile to see this.)

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I'm not excited. Well, I'm always excited for the season to start, but I'm not overly excited about this year's programming:

The Times has a few more details today: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/...mp;twt=artsbeat

1. New Martins ballet to John Adams score

2. New Alexey Miroshnichenko ballet

3. 5 full-lengths

4. 11 Balanchine/Robbins ballets

Only 11 Balanchine and Robbins ballets combined for the winter season? That seems like an extremely small number.

In the spring there'll be world premieres by Martins, Melissa Barak, Mauro Bigonzetti, Wayne McGregor, Benjamin Millepied, Alexei Ratmansky and Christopher Wheeldon, four of which will be to commissioned scores by Bruno Moretti, Thierry Escaich, Jay Greenberg and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Plus, Santiago Calatrava (the architect) "will also collaborate in a yet unspecified way with the company during the 2010 season."

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Thanks for that link cinnamonswirl.

I love this line:

In honor of the campus’s 50th anniversary, the ballet company will present a yearlong retrospective of its repertory, beginning with an opening-night benefit in the David H. Koch Theater on Nov. 24. The performance, which will be the company’s first in the theater since it was renovated, will feature a world premiere by Peter Martins to a John Adams score.

I don't see the "yearlong retrospective." And the celebration is always the same thing, "In honor of Lincoln Kirstein", "In honor of Balanchine's birthday," or "In honor the anniversary of the move to Lincoln Center..." we get a ballet by Peter Martins. How about, a one-time only performance of Tarantella, the last ballet performed by NYCB at City Center and then a special production of Ballet Imperial with costumes similar to those used in 1964. Followed by tributes to special events held the theater, like the Stravinsky Festival, retirements, and premieres. According to the company's website,

The construction workers and their wives were the first to see a performance at the New York State Theater when they were invited to attend NYCB's initial dress rehearsal in the new theater on Saturday, April 18, 1964 at 8:15 pm. The all-Balanchine rehearsal included Raymonda Variations, Agon and Western Symphony.

The artistic program for the Thursday, April 23, 1964 opening night gala for the New York State Theater included "The Star-Spangled Banner," Allegro Brillante (Tschaikovsky/Balanchine) with Maria Tallchief and Andre Prokovsky, Robert Irving conducting the New York City Ballet Orchestra; a scene from Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel by the Music Theater of Lincoln Center with John Raitt and Joan Weldon, Franz Allers, conductor; Marche Joyeuse by Emmanuel Chabrier and Stars and Stripes (Sousa/Balanchine) with Melissa Hayden and Jacques d'Amboise, Suki Schorer, Gloria Govrin, William Weslow and Robert Irving, conducting the New York City Ballet Orchestra. The second hour (9 -10 pm) of the program was televised live by WCBS-TV (Channel 2).

Surely a tribute could be made out of some of that.

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Dear god in heaven. at least it isn't two weeks of swan lake. I was very pleased by last spring's programming (finally, not all those stupid blocks) and this, to me, is a giant step backward. three weeks straight of Martins full-length story ballets is not NYCB to me (and yes, I do like his sleeping beauty).

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I like Martins' Sleeping Beauty, but not the Swan Lake or R&J. I'm hoping to finally see Sara Mearns in Swan Lake. I hope she's back in action for the winter season. I'm glad to see Bouder is healthy again. Since I will also try to see the Kirov Sleeping Beauty at the Kennedy Center in mid Feb. 2010, I guess I will have my fill of Beauties in 2010.

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Although I'm excited for Who Cares? and TP2 (let's hope Tess Reichlen gets to do the principal part again!), I'm disappointed at the number of full lengths. 2 weeks of Sleeping Beauty is too much. Not even ABT puts on 2 weeks of the same full length ballet at a time. I think that NYCB should stick to its niche and leave ABT to do their thing. I am not thrilled that NYCB is trying to become another ABT. A huge reason why I prefer(red) NYCB to ABT was its Balanchine/Robbins repertory. :speechless-smiley-003:

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Santiago Calatrava? I wasn't aware NYCB was branching out into the bridge-building business. :speechless-smiley-003:

Without a doubt this is the greatest comment to ever appear on BalletTalk!

While I'm highly unsympathetic to Peter Martins in most things, I am sympathetic to him on this one. If he goes "all in" for Balanchine and Robbins, he has to fend off sneers and complaints that City Ballet is stuck in the past ("Ha, City Ballet! You look down your nose at the Bolshoi for living in the past. But all you do is endlessly recycle glories from yesteryear.") If he presents new choreography, he has to endure withering commentary about how he's fecklessly undermining the backbone of the company with works that divert attention from the prime directive (Balanchine/Robbins) and won't be around long in any event. And then he has the tyranny of the marketplace (a.k.a. the tyranny of the name-brand narrative ballet) like a noose around his neck.

Too many constituencies to please . . .

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I agree with Miliosr, Martins has a tough row to hoe any way you look at it. My complaint is that there is just too much of his own choreography, given that he is not a major choreographer. Yes, the company must present new repertoire, and the few well esteemed choreographers we have right now are in great demand and not always available. I applaud his taking the risk of presenting new works by young choreographers, even if the results are disappointing, but surely there are more possibilities. During Balanchine's time there were stagings of tried and true works by Tudor, Ashton, Cunningham.

Anyone have suggestions for revivals or reconstructions that they would like to see staged at NYCB?

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I was lucky enough to study at Julliard during the 1950s--and also came on visits with my orchestra--so I was able to see many NYCB productions.

What I'd like to see revived:

Bourree Fantasque -- Why was this dropped? A delightful ballet. And who could resist the Chabrier polonaise?

Illuminations -- Strange Ashton erotica. An interesting watch, but I have the feeling people would laugh at it today.

Roma -- Another exquisite piece. The pas de deux for LeClercq and Eglevsky was one of the best Balanchine created. A novelty ballet, surely worthy of another look. But who remembers the steps?

Lilac Garden -- the Tudor ballet. I know ABT does it, but it was once performed at NYCB. I don't remember much of it other than Yvonne Mounsey's performance.

Minkus Pas de Trois and Glinka Pas de Trois -- Patricia Wilde on fire!

Seven Deadly Sins - I've read that Balanchine wanted to revive this with Bette Middler singing the Lenya role. Absurd. What this piece needs is a mezzo (I know it was written for a high soprano, but somehow the voice and music never mesh) such as von Otter or Kirschlager singing and a dancer approximating Kent. To see Kent jump through the aluminum (I think it was) window at the end was theatre at its best.

The ones that got away:

A Musical Joke - I saw this is in 1956 at Stratford, CT. A verly funny variation for Diana Adams.

Jones Beach - Silly, but again a wonderful pas de deux for magallenes and LeClercq. And I remember Beatrice Tompkins chasing after the men.

Metamorphoses - LeClercq's transforation into the butterfly. Who would not want this butterly in their collection?

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Anyone have suggestions for revivals or reconstructions that they would like to see staged at NYCB?

I'll play (even if no one else will) . . .

Martins has achieved the seemingly impossible with next year's programming -- too much looking backward (another retrospective anniversary, another round of 19th century-derived full lengths) and too much looking forward (chasing after flavor-of-the-moment choreographers) at the same time.

I like better what his protege Nikolaj Hubbe is doing next spring in Copenhagen w/ his Ballerina and Danseur Noble programs:

Ballerina: Serenade (Balanchine)/The Cage (Robbins)/Five Brahms Waltzes (Ashton)/new ballet for the women (Brandstrup)

Danseur Noble: new ballet for the men (Brandstrup)/Bournonville variations/A Suite of Dreams (Robbins)/Les Gentilhommes (Martins)/The Unsung (Limon)

To me, this is thoughtful programming of a kind we don't usually see among the major international companies. It would be really interesting to see City Ballet in this exact same programming. It would be really interesting to see Ashley Bouder as Isadora Duncan in Five Brahms Waltzes. It would be really interesting to see the rising tide of male solists (Angle [the younger], Danchig-Waring, Fairchild, etc.) leave the 'Ballet Is Woman' cul-de-sac they're stuck in and let the sweat and testosterone fly in The Unsung. But I don't know that Martins or anyone in his immediate circle is thinking quite as "outside the box" as Hubbe is . . .

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miilosr:

It would be really interesting to see City Ballet in this exact same programming.

It is good programming, but not really for New York City Ballet. Serenade is done everywhere in the States and has become the Fur Elise of the Balanchine repertoire, and Five Brahms Dances isn't the most intriguing Ashton, at least as staged in San Francisco (where the lighting was very dim, so perhaps it is). For all the "ballet is a woman" at City Ballet, Hubbe did quite well there, at least in the Apollo and La Sonnambula and myriad other pieces I saw him in. Since Balanchine did found the company, it would be sensible for it to do a good amount of varied examples of his 400 or so ballets each year; to not yet kick him upstairs--the implication is that there might be less this year. San Francisco is doing only one program--Serenade, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, which they haven't quite translated yet, and Theme and Variations, which they do splendidly. So it'd be nice if NYCB carried the ball for a while more.

Perhaps creating a whole program from 1953 or 1959 at City Ballet might be interesting, with FirstChairOboe's suggestion of Roma or Bourree Fantasque as the centerpiece. It may be marketable--Bill Cunningham could photograph people stepping off curbs in clothes of the same period and Johnny Depp could guest in Cotillon (Charbrier twice!) or Die Fledermaus. Pas de Dix has nice footwork for men, sublime to wonderfully knock-kneed.

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Since Balanchine did found the company, it would be sensible for it to do a good amount of varied examples of his 400 or so ballets each year; to not yet kick him upstairs--the implication is that there might be less this year. Perhaps creating a whole program from 1953 or 1959 at City Ballet might be interesting, with FirstChairOboe's suggestion of Roma or Bourree Fantasque as the centerpiece.

Ah, but this is Peter Martins' quandry, isn't it? Recreating exact programs from the past pleases a portion of the audience but provokes derisive comments from others about living in the past. He's stuck, really.

Leaving aside whether or not the Ashton piece is top drawer Ashton, it would be unusual programming -- "Wow! I never thought I would see that at City Ballet!!" (Especially given the founder's less than charitable comments about Isadora Duncan.) Something like the Five Brahms Waltzes might counteract (in a small way) the prevailing feeling of programming torpor. Just a thought!

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Although I'm excited for Who Cares? and TP2 (let's hope Tess Reichlen gets to do the principal part again!), I'm disappointed at the number of full lengths. 2 weeks of Sleeping Beauty is too much. Not even ABT puts on 2 weeks of the same full length ballet at a time. I think that NYCB should stick to its niche and leave ABT to do their thing. I am not thrilled that NYCB is trying to become another ABT. A huge reason why I prefer(red) NYCB to ABT was its Balanchine/Robbins repertory. :(

I'm with you Balanchinette. I'm not thrilled that NYCB is doing two weeks of SB (and not just because I saw the Mariinsky's in London).

If anything they could have added additional shows (after the first week) like they did for Romeo & Juliet, so that their core audience

doesn't have to switch so many tickets (like I'll be doing).

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