41 replies to this topic

[sandik]

During a Q/A session this weekend, Andrew Bartee mentioned that he would be making a new work for the company during the 12-13 season, working with Jessika Anspach's brother, who is a Julliard-trained composer.  I should have asked Boal if he could tell us anything else about next year, but I didn't think to do it until after the fact.

[sandik]

I know that the company doesn't want to make any big announcements until they send out the subscription renewals at the end of the month -- right now all we know for sure is the Bartee work listed above and a new piece by Mark Morris (it makes me smile just to type that here).

Could someone with a subscription please post when they get their mail, and let the rest of us know what we're looking forward to?

[Helene]

I just received the first subscriber announcement about the 2012-13 season:

Quote

Renew by April 21 and pay no price increases!

The Anniversary Season will be an incredible year-long celebration of our past with a bold look to the future. Highlights of the season include:

• An All Stravinsky program, featuring Francia Russell’s quintessential staging of Agon
  
• The return of Kent Stowell’s Swan Lake
  
• An All World Premiere program, featuring a commission by Mark Morris
  
• Jean-Christophe Maillot’s stunning Roméo et Juliette
  
• Exciting guest artists throughout the season

Fifteen seconds later, and I'm already casting these few tidbits in my mind.

[sandik]

Ah, Swan Lake and Romeo et Juliette -- I can see the 'tragedy times two' promotion now!

But the other hints are so tempting.  All world-premier -- we get a new Morris (made for us!) and I think the new piece by Andrew Bartee that he announced during the Don Q Q/A, but what else?

All-Stravinsky?  Agon, yes, and we'll be happy to have it back, but what else?  Probably not Apollo, since they're doing it this year (though that would be great).  I imagine we might get the Fenley choreography to Rite of Spring again (State of Darkness), especially since Rachel Foster is dancing that kind of work so well.  The other options, if we're being frugal and only programming from existing rep on the PNB website, include Circus Polka , Divertimento from Baiser de la Fee,  Duo Concertant, Rubies, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, and Symphony in Three Movements.  It would be great to see Baiser again so soon -- it got some fabulous performances this year, and Rubies is always a stalwart.  Violin Concerto hasn't been performed for quite some time, so I don't know what it would take to bring it back.  I think they've only done Symphony in Three Movements once before, but I still remember Imler and Porretta in it, covering almost half the stage in those big assembles.

[tangentially, I was curious to see the works that are no longer listed in their repertory.  No Stowell/Stravinsky, so no Dumbarton Oaks or Firebird or Ragtime, Robbins' The Cage, Glen Tetley's Rite of Spring, which would have made a fascinating match with the Fenley, and I'm probably missing some off the top of my head.  I appreciate the fact that they want their web list to reflect what the company is today, but I wish there was a space for a list of older repertory, or (dare I ask) a list of previous performances...]

And guest artists -- what a wild card those will be!

[Helene]

I have my hate-hate relationship with guest artists, because there are so few performances (seven for each regular rep), that unless it's for a ballet that needs more people than the company has, it means fewer performances for company members.

Robbins' "The Cage" is one the company could do so well: it's a shame it's not in the rep.  (It would have been great to see it last season, right before "Giselle".) It was Jonathan Porretta's amazing performances in Glen Tetley's "Rite of Spring" that convinced The Powers That Be to find the money to give him a well-deserved promotion.

For people who like to renew early, online renewals have been enabled on the PNB website:
http://www.pnb.org/S...w/Overview.aspx

If you log in (at the top of the page), your renewal info will appear on screen after you click "Online".

[SandyMcKean]

Quote

I wish there was a space for a list of older repertory

I think this comes pretty close to what you are looking for:

http://www.pnb.org/AboutPNB/Repertory

[Helene]

That's the list of potentially active repertory.  I'm not sure why works drop off the list apart from the obvious -- Maillot's "Romeo et Juliette" replaced Stowell's "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet" and the Ratmansky "Don Q" replaced the ABT production -- but some may have to do with rights.  (For example, now that there's a Robbins Foundation controlling stagings, I'm not sure PNB has permission to perform "The Cage".)

What sandik is asking for is a list of works that PNB has performed that have been removed from this list, like "The Cage", Tetley's "Rite of Spring", and Tudor's "Dark Elegies", which I saw the company perform.

[sandik]

Yes, please!  I can reconstruct a lot from my own records, and I'm much more careful about keeping track of work than I used to be, but my dance historian's heart really wants the dance company version of a catalogue raisonne.

[SandyMcKean]

Quote

What sandik is asking for is a list of works that PNB has performed that have been removed from this list

Ah, I see.  Sorry, to misunderstand.

[Helene]

More news in an email sent by the Company:

Celebrate with PNB as we honor our past with Swan Lake, Agon, and Roméo et Juliette and leap forward with six new works by choreographers ranging from promising newcomers to the best in the business (Kiyon Gaines, Paul Gibson, Mark Morris, and Christopher Wheeldon, to name a few!).

It's felt like forever since Paul Gibson's last work:  as Ballet Master he's been the Master Scheduler and indispensable to the company, but I'm glad to see he's making a new work.  It will be interesting to see what Wheeldon makes directly on the company.  The older works that Boal has acquired have been wonderful; Wheeldon's most recent work has gotten mixed reviews, and it's different to commission than to select, but he's always worth watching.  (Edited to add:  see below.)

The email also says that the full announcement will be in this Sunday's "Seattle Times" and on the PNB website on Monday.

[sandik]

It's interesting to see how much more choreographed this announcement is than previous years -- I know it's partially just the evolution of experience, but it's also the anniversary -- there's a bit more edge to the whole thing.

[Helene]

It just occurred to me that "new work" might be new to the company, not the world.

[sandik]

Helene, on 09 March 2012 - 07:25 PM, said:

It just occurred to me that "new work" might be new to the company, not the world.

Well, we know that the Morris will be altogether new, and it's pretty sure that the Gibson and Gaines works will be likewise -- so it's Wheeldon that might be the wildcard.  The gods know he's made a lot of dances, and I'd be fine with a restaging, but new new would certainly be exciting.

[Helene]

The sets and costumes for "Swan Lake" have gotten a wake-up for performances by Los Angeles Ballet next week:
http://www.burbankle...0,7466124.story

[Helene]

The promised season announcement was published in The Seattle Times today:
http://seattletimes....2362_pnb11.html

Highlights, in addition to the previously announced ballets:

• Mark Morris' new ballet will be dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the World's Fair, but not related to it
  
• Twyla Tharp will be Artist in Residence for up to eight weeks and will create a new work to be premiered in Fall 2013
  
• The September 2012 (opening) program will be a tribute to Francia Russell ("Agon" staging) and Kent Stowell ("Firebird" choreography)
  
• The March program will be Balanchine's "Concerto Barocco", Dove's "Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven", and Tharp's "In the Upper Room"
  
• The June program will be "All Tchaikovsky", with the world premiere of a new Wheeldon ballet, and Balanchine's "Allegro Brillante", "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux", and "Diamonds"
  
• Company members Andrew Bartee and Margaret Mullin will also choreograph new works.  It isn't spelled out that they will be on the same program as the Gaines* and Gibson works, but, counting programs, that's the only slot left, usually November.

Edited to add:  *See sandik's post on page 2:  the Gaines ballet will be to Stravinsky and appear in the "All Stravinsky" opening program.

There are also five tours tentatively scheduled, due to a grant from Raisbeck Engineering and James & Sherry Raisbeck, and they include:

• Maillot's "Romeo et Juliette" at City Center
  
• Spoleto Festival (Italy)
  
• Las Vegas
  
• Victoria