42 replies to this topic

[Helene]

After over half a decade as "Ballet Talk", we are returning to our original name, "Ballet Alert", named after Arlene Croce's fictional New York City Ballet cast alert phone tree.  

Our new board URL is:

www.balletalert.invisionzone.com

Our logo is "red"; hopefully this will distinguish us more visually from Ballet Talk for Dancers.  carbro, our patient registrar, fields many registration attempts that are meant for BT4D.  A lot of what you see on the screen are actually graphics that will take a bit of effort to change, and we will clash a little bit for a while.

The amazon.com box disappeared from the header at the top of each page next to the logo before this change happened, and I'm working on trying to reinstate it.  (The code that amazon.com is providing has changed, which may be the root of the issue.)

I've done some preliminary testing, and so far, old links from emails, bookmarks, and URLs embedded in posts are being redirected to the new URL.  I wasn't forced to re-log in after the change.

and to the kind folks who host our software for making the move as seamless as possible.

I haven't tested everything -- I'll continue to poke -- and if you are having problems or see anomalies, please post them here or send us email via the "Contact Us" link at the top of the page.

[Alexandra]

Thank you, Helene. I like the font! And thank you very much for handling all those pesky little technical and logistical details so smoothly.

I wanted to add that when I first started Ballet Alert!, I wrote to Arlene Croce to ask her permission, which she graciously, and readily, granted.

[papeetepatrick]

Best it's ever looked, although I thought that was an accident with the big red Ballet Alert! one of the disruptions.  Much bolder and more impressive.  I remember that awful mint-green year or two we had in the old software, although we were all polite about how beautiful it was...this really does look a thousand times better.  One of the many reasons this is a better holiday season than usual, esp. for many Americans and New Yorkers.

[Mel Johnson]

Looks good, seems to work properly so far.  I'd prefer the original Croce title with the exclamation point after "Alert".  Now what happens to the former "Ballet Alert!" site?  It contains a lot of useful information.

[ViolinConcerto]

Well, I remember that column with great glee, and it's wonderful that we'll all be reminded of that wonderful spoof.  Maybe someone can post it, from the NY'er website.  Of course, when I first read it, I took it seriously, and was SOOOOOO envious of all those people, especially, as she mentioned, the waiters and bartenders at O'Neals' (I hope I'm remembering the name correctly).  

Croce deserves (IMHO) one huge monument.

[papeetepatrick]

Agree with Mel, and I obviously hallucinated that exclamation point.

[Helene]

Were we ever " Ballet Alert!" ?  Or were we "Ballet Alert" ?

[Mme. Hermine]

http://web.archive.o...balletalert.com

[Helene]

Many thanks, pmeja!  

I've started to add the "!"

[Bonnette]

I love the name and look, and so far haven't experienced a single glitch...thank you!  

[Natalia]

So far, so good. Thanks, all.

Just curious: Why?  (Why change the name back to 'Ballet Alert'? Nothing wrong with it but we were chugging along fine as 'Ballet Talk,' no?)

[Alexandra]

I think Helene explained the reason in her first post. We wanted to avoid confusion with BT4D.

[papeetepatrick]

Natalia, on 23 December 2010 - 08:09 AM, said:

So far, so good. Thanks, all.

Just curious: Why?  (Why change the name back to 'Ballet Alert'? Nothing wrong with it but we were chugging along fine as 'Ballet Talk,' no?)

Alexandra and Helene give the practical reason, but I think this has a lot more character as well, coming as it does from something charming from the past (I didn't know about Croce's telephone tree until recently on the 'star system or not' thread.) But 'Ballet Talk' is pretty colorless by comparison, even though, sure, we were doin' all right.

[Natalia]

OK - thanks. Wasn't obvious earlier.

[cubanmiamiboy]

Mel Johnson, on 22 December 2010 - 06:06 PM, said:

Now what happens to the former "Ballet Alert!" site?  It contains a lot of useful information.

I have the same inquire.  I've accessed that site a lot in the past, and have gathered great info from it.