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[dirac]

This season Elena Lobsanova will break the National Ballet of Canada's "Curse of Marie."

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The “curse” — ballet is rife with superstition — is based on the fact that, according to company records, nobody who has danced the girl role, either Clara in Celia Franca’s long-serving Nutcracker or Marie in the James Kudelka-choreographed version that replaced it in 1995, has gone on to become the Sugar Plum Fairy — until now.

As an NBS student, Lobsanova played Marie in 1997 and ’98. As a company member since 2004 she’s danced just about every other Nutcracker role, including the Snow Queen.

[dirac]

Q&A with George Jackson, who is retiring from regular reviewing.

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WCP: What do you think that was about?

GJ: The readers seemed to want it: Dance was in. Very different from today, and different from what had been the case previously. In the '70s, and then into the early '80s, dance seemed to capture what was going on in society. It was at the forefront of what people were thinking in terms of politics, sexuality, economics, whatever. And the choreographers engaged in those things. These days, it’s not as relevant. I really don’t know why certain arts seem to thrive in certain periods and then go into a decline, and then perhaps a couple decades later are vivid again.

[dirac]

A story on the New York Public Library's exhibit devoted to Mikhail Baryshnikov's archives.

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Famed ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov has donated more than 700 of his materials to the New York Public Library for a new exhibit, Mikhail Baryshnikov: An Archival Preview.

The display from his personal collection was originally a one-night engagement for esteemed library patrons and staff members. The rare items include photographs and videos of Baryshnikov.