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Well, there was a lot of onstage footage tonight but it was fragmented across two nights and six casts. So, if you're looking for complete performances, you'll be disappointed.

I was surprised to see any Emeralds footage at all. Is Barbara Horgan getting soft in her golden years?

Ronnie needs to lay off the weightlifting.

The previews w/ Rex and Allison were beyond crazy. Dude -- why are you throwing your life away for Allison???

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I was disappointed when rock music was inserted [and the classical music removed] when Beckanne Sisk danced in Paquita. I don't care about Allison and Rex icon8.gif

So a principal [Christiana] will be having a nervous breakdown next week...?

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I wish they'd shown more of Christiana in Emeralds along with the correct music, because what little we saw of her looked very, very good. And if Sklute thought she was the best he'd ever seen, then her Emeralds must be very special indeed.

And speaking of music, who is editing this show? When the correct music was used, it was all off with music from some other part of the ballet put on top of the wrong steps.

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I suspect that to get permission to show any of "Emeralds," it had to be highly edited, and that might have included mismatching the music. On the other hand, the director/sound editor has a penchant for teen TV music soundtrack. I'm surprised there were even a few notes of Mozart in a "Petite Mort" clip, and I suspect most of "Breaking Points"'s audience would be shocked if they saw it in the theater.

The few bits of Beckanne Sisk's "Paquita" solo gave me chills, and I would have loved to have seen both Christiana Bennett's and Allison DeBona's "Emeralds."

It's possible that the world might destruct before this, but watching the coming attractions -- more DeBona/Tilton drama -- I can only hope that when Tilton's grandchildren find the clips on YouTube someday, they think he was acting in a TV show.

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I suspect that to get permission to show any of "Emeralds," it had to be highly edited, and that might have included mismatching the music. On the other hand, the director/sound editor has a penchant for teen TV music soundtrack. I'm surprised there were even a few notes of Mozart in a "Petite Mort" clip, and I suspect most of "Breaking Points"'s audience would be shocked if the saw it in the theater.

The few bits of Beckanne Sisk's "Paquita" solo gave me chills, and I would have loved to have seen both Christiana Bennett's and Allison DeBona's "Emeralds."

It's possible that the world might destruct before this, but watching the coming attractions -- more DeBona/Tilton drama -- I can only hope that when Tilton's grandchildren find the clips on YouTube someday, they think he was acting in a TV show.

lol, Helene.

I adore Beckanne Sisk. She really has an engaging personality and unusual composure for a 19 year old - for any age, really. She has a bright future.

If you google DeBona she claims that she has a Pittsburgh attitude. I wish she would drop it but then CW30 wouldn't have a show, would they? Based on the 5 seconds they showed, I thought Allison looked radiant in "Emeralds." Not sulking is a good look for her.

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Based on the 5 seconds they showed, I thought Allison looked radiant in "Emeralds." Not sulking is a good look for her.

No kidding. She was lovely.

Sisk is still young, and while I don't see a drama queen in her future, and I'm sure she's had her disappointments along the way, it's still a bit early for her to be saying "never" when she hasn't hit major career snarls or romantic entanglements, had a close friend who was realistically competing for the same parts in the company, or have been a long-time standard-bearer. I doubt, though, she'll have any angst about dancing the same role as one of the company stars, the type of roles it's hard to imagine she won't get for the rest of her career.

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I think Beckanne is a nice dancer and a pretty girl. Many people seem to comment or observe only the surface and ignore many facets, as a result. Beckanne seems a bit cunning, and throws daggers, while subtle. I assume this ability to come off as seemingly innocent and entirely composed derives from growing up in a competitive field with the benefits of talent and beauty. At the same time, she shares the disadvantages of her natural advantages, such as her isolation and lack of emotional support, which is very difficult and honest. Allison does not have the same natural, physical beauty, but is lovely when made up and as a dancer. She has struggled and is honest about her emotions, seemingly without any guile. These natural differences make for a black and white, good and evil plot like, where editing is used to distort and drive a story. The hero and villain characterizations are too much, and unnecessary.

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Doesn't Allison seem a tad disrespectful to the conductor? Does she have histrionic personality disorder or what?

I had no idea and was really, really, really, delighted to learn that "histrionic personality disorder" is an actual medical condition. I even googled it after reading this post and it's in the DSM! However, I am somewhat hesitant to tell my (not at all histrionic, indeed rather stoic) partner.

But I don't have anything bad to say about Allison--my reactions to the "characters" on the show (partly created by editing etc.) are more or less the same as Puppytreats' ... though mixed w. a tad more frustration or would be if I took it seriously.

As far as their dancing goes--based on the bits I have seen I would probably enjoy seeing any of the featured women on stage esp. the two casts of Emeralds and Beckanne Sisk in Paquita. The men look pretty good too, but on the whole I'm more of a ballerina-centric fan.

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DRAMA!!!!!

I laughed out loud when Adam said, "Allison is so professional."

I also had to laugh when Adam said, "Beckanne is the future of Ballet West." If you can keep her Adam . . .

I hope Katie and Ronald can make a go of their relationship. They are very sweet together.

Christiana was lovely tonight.

Loved how Ronnie had his shirt off at the party.

I don't even know where to begin with Rex.

All in all, I enjoyed the series. It was entertaining for what it was.

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Doesn't Allison seem a tad disrespectful to the conductor? Does she have histrionic personality disorder or what?

I had no idea and was really, really, really, delighted to learn that "histrionic personality disorder" is an actual medical condition. I even googled it after reading this post and it's in the DSM! However, I am somewhat hesitant to tell my (not at all histrionic, indeed rather stoic) partner.

lol, Drew. I have a couple of psychologists in my family...although it wasn't fair to use the term describing Allison.

Why is Adam Sklute going to New York when there is a prominent ballet department at the University of Utah? I guess that's a stupid question but how do directors recruit dancers? Does it depend upon the director? I can understand why dancers want to go to New York but where was he in New York specifically? I guess one doesn't want to do their PhD where they did their MA, one needs variety, cross pollination/talent and diversity, etc.?

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I wouldn't be so quick to judge the characters of the dancers based on the show. I have a feeling that the editing is pretty unfair to them, in the name of making TV drama.

Dancers are generally recruited by word of mouth, which then gets them a serious audition, as opposed to a cattle-call. Some people get dancers from competitions: there's some amount of scouting that goes on there. In general, colleges don't produce many ballet dancers that can get a job in a good professional ballet company. The good ones skip college and pretty much devote their lives to their art and craft to reach that level, and they enter companies at or sometimes younger than college age. Beckanne is a great example of that, and you'll find dancers like her in all of the major companies.

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I wouldn't say that. I've known many good dancers come out of college programs. Colleges are starting to give a lot better training than they used to in just the last 10 years. A friend of mine was a soloist level dancer from a college program in a prominent southwest company. Several dancers in a midwestern company that are being picked as soloists and principals are from several college programs. I think that is an unfair general comment and may have been true 10 years ago. Word of mouth? Not sure where you got that information either. You still have to audition and I've been a professional for over 10 years and still get picked at the open auditions. Just recently I was asked to join 3 companies from open auditions.

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I know a few classical dancers who graduated from college before working, and their technique was pretty much in place before college. For girls, this is almost a given, and guys can on rare occasion start that late and make it. We're talking classical ballet here. Much (not all) contemporary/modern stuff is a bit easier for late starters.

That's really great news about your auditions --- it's pretty hard to find jobs through that process. We'll just have agree to disagree on the word of mouth thing. The most common situation is that an AD knows he/she will have an open spot next season, and either puts the word out to their professional network (teachers, other ADs, dancers, etc.), or just calls up someone they've seen or worked with before. Open auditions can be useful here when the artistic staff has seen you several times, and an opening comes up. Different companies do different things, YMMV, etc.

Even with the word of mouth thing, unless you're some kind of superstar, dancers still have to take class with the company or in some kind of audition to be considered.

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Just a quick internet search shows open auditions for Cincinnati Ballet (Cincinnati, Boston, NY, SF), Oklahoma City Ballet (SF, Chicago, OKC), Pennsylvania Ballet (NYC), Dayton Ballet (Dayton), Ballet Met (NYC, Columbus), ABT Studio Company (Long Beach, CA and NYC) and because it's so late in the season, I found references to now-closed open auditions at Kansas City Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, and Ballet Arizona. In 2010 San Francisco Ballet held open auditions for a specific position. Open auditions are expensive in time and money, although there are entry fees to offset some of the expense. I doubt artistic staff would waste its time and money to hold them, for most companies in several cities, if they didn't hire from them.

Unlike Ballet West, where Sklute did open auditions at the end of his season, most of the open auditions that I found were held around contract time in the spring, which might mean a dancer could do several of them in one trip. stinger784 might have more insight.

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Just a quick internet search shows open auditions for Cincinnati Ballet (Cincinnati, Boston, NY, SF), Oklahoma City Ballet (SF, Chicago, OKC), Pennsylvania Ballet (NYC), Dayton Ballet (Dayton), Ballet Met (NYC, Columbus), ABT Studio Company (Long Beach, CA and NYC) and because it's so late in the season, I found references to now-closed open auditions at Kansas City Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, and Ballet Arizona. In 2010 San Francisco Ballet held open auditions for a specific position. Open auditions are expensive in time and money, although there are entry fees to offset some of the expense. I doubt artistic staff would waste its time and money to hold them, for most companies in several cities, if they didn't hire from them.

You are right, Helene, they do hire from them - one of my daughter's contracts was from an open audition with one of the companies you listed above. But also remember that some AGMA companies are required to hold an open audition by agreement, even if they are not hiring.

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Loved how Ronnie had his shirt off at the party.

All in all, I enjoyed the series. It was entertaining for what it was.

I had the impression that Ronnie requires little encouragement in that regard.

I can't say the show was really my cup of tea in most respects but I did follow it. If this is indeed the end of the road I'm glad Sklute and Ballet West took the plunge and I hope they benefit from it.

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