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It seems like they keep adding new behind-the-scenes clips... Or did I just miss them my first time through?

From the NYCB e-mail and Facebook postings, it sounds like they are adding a new "extra" each week. They also refer to the regular videos as "Season 1," so let's hope more is in the works.

I also found that photo of the ballerina in purple on the regular NYCB web site -- again, uncredited. But as Sarah Jessica Parker was never a member of NYCB (wasn't she only in the ABT corps?) it seems very unlikely it's her.

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I am pretty certain that SJP was never a professional ballet dancer. She studied at SAB, but that's it.

At the Friends luncheon panel a year ago, she mentioned that she was briefly a member of the ABT corps. She made a comment about being in awe of Baryshnikov as a dancer during that time. But she apparently didn't stay long and I can't find exact dates anywhere. I was looking for an on-line source and this one mentions the ABT experience: http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/sarah_jessica_parker/biography.html

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I find that bio confusing... Says she was born in '65 and the family moved to Nj in '76 when but shegot a part in a Broadwaybshow, but she joined Cincinnati Ballet before following her family to NYC? Hunh? She joined Cincinnati Ballet when she was 11? Her wikipedia entry makes more sense and does not mention ABT. Probably some reporter got SAB & ABT mixed up? ABT used to have open classes at their school but I suspect she was too young to have studied there and certainly not while she was at SAB. (?)

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I am pretty certain that SJP was never a professional ballet dancer. She studied at SAB, but that's it.

At the Friends luncheon panel a year ago, she mentioned that she was briefly a member of the ABT corps. She made a comment about being in awe of Baryshnikov as a dancer during that time. But she apparently didn't stay long and I can't find exact dates anywhere. I was looking for an on-line source and this one mentions the ABT experience: http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/sarah_jessica_parker/biography.html

I find that bio confusing... Says she was born in '65 and the family moved to Nj in '76 when but shegot a part in a Broadwaybshow, but she joined Cincinnati Ballet before following her family to NYC? Hunh? She joined Cincinnati Ballet when she was 11? Her wikipedia entry makes more sense and does not mention ABT. Probably some reporter got SAB & ABT mixed up? ABT used to have open classes at their school but I suspect she was too young to have studied there and certainly not while she was at SAB. (?)

That's what I thought. I've sometimes seen journalists write that a dancer danced or is dancing with "ABC" company when in fact that dancer is/was only a student with the ballet company's school. Unless back in 1976 Cincinnati Ballet was a pre-professional ballet company, she wouldn't have joined the company at the age of 11. (This isn't the Diaghilev era!) That bio was poorly written anyway, which leads me to think that the writer was most likely confused.

SJP's bio on Wikipedia says she was a student at SAB: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Jessica_Parker.

I don't find Wikipedia the most reliable source, but I've read that in several other places.

This is the first time I've heard that she was actually a professional ballet dancer.

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I am pretty certain that SJP was never a professional ballet dancer. She studied at SAB, but that's it.

At the Friends luncheon panel a year ago, she mentioned that she was briefly a member of the ABT corps. She made a comment about being in awe of Baryshnikov as a dancer during that time. But she apparently didn't stay long and I can't find exact dates anywhere. I was looking for an on-line source and this one mentions the ABT experience: http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/sarah_jessica_parker/biography.html

I find that bio confusing... Says she was born in '65 and the family moved to Nj in '76 when but shegot a part in a Broadwaybshow, but she joined Cincinnati Ballet before following her family to NYC? Hunh? She joined Cincinnati Ballet when she was 11? Her wikipedia entry makes more sense and does not mention ABT. Probably some reporter got SAB & ABT mixed up? ABT used to have open classes at their school but I suspect she was too young to have studied there and certainly not while she was at SAB. (?)

That's what I thought. I've sometimes seen journalists write that a dancer danced or is dancing with "ABC" company when in fact that dancer is/was only a student with the ballet company's school. Unless back in 1976 Cincinnati Ballet was a pre-professional ballet company, she wouldn't have joined the company at the age of 11. (This isn't the Diaghilev era!) That bio was poorly written anyway, which leads me to think that the writer was most likely confused.

SJP's bio on Wikipedia says she was a student at SAB: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Jessica_Parker.

I don't find Wikipedia the most reliable source, but I've read that in several other places.

This is the first time I've heard that she was actually a professional ballet dancer.

I'm almost 100 % sure she wasn't a professional ballet dance. My husband worked with her on the Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress, and she never looked like a highly trained dancer. Also if she had been in ABT - I think they'd be mentioning it.

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I was discussing this today with somebody who was affiliated with ABT in that era and doesn't think SJP was ever in the corps -- but might well have taken some classes at the ABT school on 61st street (the building they show in The Turning Point, long since torn down) and seen Baryshnikov in class or rehearsals that way. If I understand correctly, ABT was running open classes in that building, so even if a student were admitted to SAB (as some of the bios suggest SJP was), she might conceivably have dropped in on some ABT classes (or done so before or after her time at SAB).

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During this period ABT used children in Petruchka, La Sylpide (in the reel) and in Etudes. SJP could easily have been on stage with ABT in that capacity and I wouldn't put it past a fashion, entertainment, or human interest reporter to be uniformed enough to assume and report that she was a company member.

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And then there was the Paul McCartney score to attract aging baby boomers writing their wills.

Oh, I expect some of those superannuated types may already be regular balletgoers, hobbling out to see the company (admittedly hard to see through the cataracts) when not taking meetings with the estates and trust guy, even when music by the Cute One isn't on the menu. :)

I've seen some, not all, of the new series. It seems to hit all the usual marks pleasantly enough and I enjoyed seeing the clips of dancers in class. Truly the beautiful people. Martins comes through well as he often does in interviews. It would be nice to hear more from ballet masters and mistresses and perhaps SAB faculty as well but perhaps I just haven't gotten far enough into the series.

People new to the ballet might actually benefit more from a few episodes of "Breaking Pointe," for all its flaws, if only because the longer form permits the conveyance of more information and because the tone is less bland. I'm not sure how interesting these bits and pieces would be for me if I weren't already interested in ballet and curious about today's NYCB.

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I've been watching this series with interest and I'm very surprised at how insecure Megan LeCrone seems. She's one of my favorites and I hope she becomes more secure doesn't just worry constantly "what Peter wants."

Megan LeCrone was promoted from corps to soloist in February of this year. Was this series filmed before then?

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I've been watching this series with interest and I'm very surprised at how insecure Megan LeCrone seems. She's one of my favorites and I hope she becomes more secure doesn't just worry constantly "what Peter wants."

Megan LeCrone was promoted from corps to soloist in February of this year. Was this series filmed before then?

I believe after, because she talks about becoming a soloist and getting paranoid because as a soloist, she dances less and she's always worried.

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I've been watching this series with interest and I'm very surprised at how insecure Megan LeCrone seems. She's one of my favorites and I hope she becomes more secure doesn't just worry constantly "what Peter wants."

Megan LeCrone was promoted from corps to soloist in February of this year. Was this series filmed before then?

I believe after, because she talks about becoming a soloist and getting paranoid because as a soloist, she dances less and she's always worried.

I've been watching this series with interest and I'm very surprised at how insecure Megan LeCrone seems. She's one of my favorites and I hope she becomes more secure doesn't just worry constantly "what Peter wants."

Megan LeCrone was promoted from corps to soloist in February of this year. Was this series filmed before then?

I believe after, because she talks about becoming a soloist and getting paranoid because as a soloist, she dances less and she's always worried.

Thanks, canbelto, I'll have to go back to those clips. I guess she's worried that she won't become a principal.

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I was particularly gratified by the segment on the company's ballet masters. It's something that's usually given short shrift. In general, I thought the dancers in this series came across as less nervous and neurotic than they had the first time around. It's understandable why first-year corps members would harbor more anxiety than some of their colleagues, but those interviewed for the "Veterans" segment seemed to talk about the prospective ends of their careers with equanimity.

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I was particularly gratified by the segment on the company's ballet masters. It's something that's usually given short shrift. In general, I thought the dancers in this series came across as less nervous and neurotic than they had the first time around. It's understandable why first-year corps members would harbor more anxiety than some of their colleagues, but those interviewed for the "Veterans" segment seemed to talk about the prospective ends of their careers with equanimity.

I agree - the Ballet Masters segment was a nice addition, and like you, I found these segments to be more relaxed (less angsty) than the previous season's offering. This is what Breaking Pointe should have resembled.

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... but those interviewed for the "Veterans" segment seemed to talk about the prospective ends of their careers with equanimity.

I wonder if part of that comes from watching Wendy Whelan's preparation for retirement -- it's been such a public process.

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Yes, I wouldn't be surprised if her example helped reassure them that retirement from New York City Ballet was not the end of the road. Since the dancers interviewed are successful performers by any measure, very far from anxious young apprentices wondering whether they'll be offered a contract, and people who have proven that they can cope with the high demands and stresses of their jobs, I suppose they have reached a stage of being able to live in the present and enjoy each working day. I would also guess that the aches and pains accumulated over 15 or 20 years of performing have convinced them that they wouldn't want to do this job forever anyway.

I enjoyed some of the short "bonus" clips, including Lauren Lovette's description of ballet hands, since the Balanchine "claw" remains a point of contention. The clip about pet dogs was adorable, of course. I especially liked the interview with physiotherapist Marika Molnar, because I immediately thought of her appearance in Natalia Makarova's Ballerina series almost 30 years earlier. I was very moved by this woman spending so many years helping injured dancers get back on stage, unseen by the public, but vitally important.

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Beautifully shot... Have only watched the corps episode so far... I hope they bring out the art as reason for being in the episodes I haven't watched yet... Competition can be found anywhere, take up running if that's your soul's inspiration...but Balanchine & ballet... There's so much more to it than "winning"... The first episode is so well shot, and cut, that surely Art will come out on top very soon?

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