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2014-2015 Season


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At the very end of the credits, date of 1985 cited but it could have been re-shown in 1989. I know that I did not record it in 1989 because I was living abroad that entire year.

Well, 1989 is the date given in the NYPL listing for the video

"Imprint: New York, N.Y. : WNET, c1989.

Videotaped in performance at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia. Telecast on WNET/13, New York, in the Dance in America series."

It could be that they've got the date they recorded it off broadcast, but there's no other date given in the entry for the video. The company website has some lovely photos of a current cast (with Julie Diana), but no performance history.

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I would have trouble tracking down a source after all these years, but when Stanley Williams was asked to stage Bournonville Divertissements for NYCB, Balanchine said some things about the similarities in technique between Bournonville and Balanchine. Didn't Balanchine work for them early in his career? And, of course, he hired Martins, because he would fit in so well with Balanchine's technique (among other things). So, given the year-long nationality theme in programming, an evening from Denmark seems like an interesting idea and La Sylphide is a nice fit with the BD. (Of course, the other "nationality" programs seem based on the country of the composer, so even this is a bit of a stretch.)

Given that the staging Martins did in the 1980s is supposedly faithful to Bournonville, the question now is whether that's all he'll do for NYCB or modify it with his own thinking, as he has done with other classics. And I do wonder who the rehearsal master/mistress/stager for the BD will be.

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Hopefully not as an excuse to commission yet another production design from Per Kirkeby ...

Oh my goodness, please no!

I quite like Martin's Swan Lake (I love the choreography for the ending, when she bourrees off into the rising sun), but I won't go anymore because of the ghastly sets and costumes.

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Let me recommend a couple of non-performance programs listed in the 2014-15 subscriber booklet:

Ballet Essentials with NYCB (age 21+): Last January, on Balanchine's birthday day, they held an Adult Movement Workshop, apparently their first in NYC (although they've tried this on tour at the Kennedy Center). It was delightful. About 60 people of all ages, genders, and sizes met in a huge rehearsal room in the Rose Building. It was led by Daniel Ulbricht, a very gifted teacher. After some gentle warm-ups, he led the class through brief step excerpts from Concerto Barocco, Who Cares, and Rubies. He was assisted by a corps member, Emily Kikta, and accompanied by one of their rehearsal pianists. Although it would be a stretch to say the 60 people actually "danced" those excerpts, Ulbricht broke everything down into small pieces that we could at least imitate in our own clumsy way. I also enjoyed his running commentary and some demonstration on Balanchine technique and how it differs from the traditional (e.g., the preparation for a pirouette, with the back leg stretched straight out instead of in plie). Afterwards they did an e-mail survey to see how people liked it. For 2014-15, they are listing five of these workshops, so I gather they got a positive response: October 4, January 24, February 14, February 28, May 2. All are on Saturdays at 10:30 and cost $22. You register on-line and the class filled up quickly last January. Trust me, nobody will feel out-of-place and a good time was had by all. They aren't promising that Ulbricht will teach them all, but we can hope!

Family Saturdays: I was in town for this May 10 (although without children with me), but I'm always curious to see how different companies (and countries) are introducing kids to ballet. It was a wonderful one-hour program in the main theater (which was nearly full). They showed 8 very short excerpts from different ballets, with dancers in full costume and a few principals. A small ensemble orchestra of about a dozen musicians was on one side of the stage. Ulbricht was a terrific master of ceremonies. He introduced notions like "unison," "canon," "mirroring," "fitting the music," etc. He also had the kids stand up at their seats for some movement exercises (jumping, clapping, waving arms overhead, etc.). These are free for Friends (at least some levels...) and $20 for others. They have three scheduled for next year and are promising Ulbricht again: October 11, February 7, May 17. All are on Saturdays at 11 am. (And if anybody is interested in discussing ways of getting kids interested in ballet and wants to start a thread, that might be worthwhile...)

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Interesting tidbit. Wheeldon has licensed After the Rain to the Alvin Ailey Company, which will perform it beginning in Dec 2014

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/28/ailey-american-dance-theater-to-offer-odetta-tribute/?ref=arts#

Presumably Ailey will perform the entire ballet, not just the pdd. The first section, to my recollection, had pointe work, so that will have to be adapted and changed.

NYCB is doing the After the Rain pdd in Oct 2014. Very odd that one or the other company did not demand exclusive license to the work in New York City during these virtually identical time periods. Is there so little overlap between the Ailey audience and the NYCB audience that neither company cared about exclusivity?

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That is interesting -- I cannot remember where, now, but I think I saw a listing for another contemporary ensemble to perform the work, though it may have only been the duet.

Not sure about the exclusivity part. I know that Ailey has done Tharp in the past, but don't know if it's overlapped in time with other ensembles doing her work.

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I know a lot of companies do After the Rain. However, it's odd that two companies have the license in the same city during the same time period. I have to give kudos to Ailey's newish director, Robert Battle (appointed 2 or 3 years ago) for exploring interesting new rep for the Ailey company like After the Rain and Chroma.

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The commissioning companies usually have a number of years exclusivity, the length depends on the individual contract. Concerto DSCH, Russian Seasons, Namouna started to show up in other companies' reps after the exclusivity ended. It may be another few years when Shostakovich trilogy starts to show up elsewhere outside ABT & SFB.

I think there's not much overlap audience between Alley and NYCB to make performing the same piece the same period an issue. T&V & Allegro Brillant have been performed cross plaza at the same time.

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That is interesting -- I cannot remember where, now, but I think I saw a listing for another contemporary ensemble to perform the work, though it may have only been the duet.

PNB and SFB both have the Pd2 in their rep.

But who else (beside NYCB) does the whole thing? Pennsylvania Ballet did it this spring (part of Julie Diana's farewell show) -- anyone else?

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That is interesting -- I cannot remember where, now, but I think I saw a listing for another contemporary ensemble to perform the work, though it may have only been the duet.

PNB and SFB both have the Pd2 in their rep.

But who else (beside NYCB) does the whole thing? Pennsylvania Ballet did it this spring (part of Julie Diana's farewell show) -- anyone else?

I never really bought into "After the Rain" being a "whole thing" from the get-go; to me it's always seemed like two short, disparate works bolted together for the sake of convenience. (One of my complaints about Wheeldon's work from around that time was that it felt fragmentary -- like short extracts from some larger work-in-process.) The pas de deux lives quite happily on its own. And although I've never seen the first half presented without the pas de deux, I'm guessing it would work just fine as a stand-alone if it were given a new name and bundled together with some of the other shortish works in the rep like Herman Schmerman or whatever.

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I never really bought into "After the Rain" being a "whole thing" from the get-go; to me it's always seemed like two short, disparate works bolted together for the sake of convenience. (One of my complaints about Wheeldon's work from around that time was that it felt fragmentary -- like short extracts from some larger work-in-process.) The pas de deux lives quite happily on its own. And although I've never seen the first half presented without the pas de deux, I'm guessing it would work just fine as a stand-alone if it were given a new name and bundled together with some of the other shortish works in the rep like Herman Schmerman or whatever.

I understand the situation you're describing, but I still want to see the work entire at some point, if only to know that myself. And perhaps to understand why the choreographer made the two together, even if they live quite happily apart.

Does anyone do the ensemble half without the duet?

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I never really bought into "After the Rain" being a "whole thing" from the get-go; to me it's always seemed like two short, disparate works bolted together for the sake of convenience. (One of my complaints about Wheeldon's work from around that time was that it felt fragmentary -- like short extracts from some larger work-in-process.) The pas de deux lives quite happily on its own. And although I've never seen the first half presented without the pas de deux, I'm guessing it would work just fine as a stand-alone if it were given a new name and bundled together with some of the other shortish works in the rep like Herman Schmerman or whatever.

I understand the situation you're describing, but I still want to see the work entire at some point, if only to know that myself. And perhaps to understand why the choreographer made the two together, even if they live quite happily apart.

Does anyone do the ensemble half without the duet?

Well, Pennsylvania Ballet included just the first half of "After the Rain" in its 50th Anniversary PBS broadcast (which you can watch here). I don't know if they regularly perform it that way, however. It may simply have been cut from the broadcast in the interests of time.

It's worth seeing both halves together at least once if you can, if for no other reason than to see Wheeldon was up to then. I'd say watching it feels something akin to watching "Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3," with the Pas de Deux being roughly equivalent to "Theme and Variations."

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As mentioned on another thread, Wheeldon would not grant permission for taping and release of the pdd. That's why the pdd was not part of the broadcast.

I think the ballet as a whole makes more of an impact seen in its entirety, but the first half is weak when standing alone.

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As mentioned on another thread, Wheeldon would not grant permission for taping and release of the pdd. That's why the pdd was not part of the broadcast.

I think the ballet as a whole makes more of an impact seen in its entirety, but the first half is weak when standing alone.

Ah - found the thread, which I seemed to have missed the first time around. Can't say I buy Wheeldon's logic for withholding the rights, though, given that videos of the pdd are readily available online.

I agree that the first half is anywhere near as good as the pdd, although I have seen NYCB throw weaker stuff on stage to fill out a program of short works.

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2014 Fall Gala release:

NEW YORK CITY BALLET’S 2014 FALL GALA CELEBRATES BALLET AND FASHION
With World Three World Premiere Ballets Featuring Collaborations by Choreographer JUSTIN PECK and Designer MARY KATRANTZOU Choreographer LIAM SCARLETT and Designer SARAH BURTON Choreographer TROY SCHUMACHER and Designer THOM BROWNE
PETER MARTINS’ Morgen With All New Costumes Designed by CAROLINA HERRERA
CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON’S This Bitter Earth With Costumes by VALENTINO GARAVANI
New York City Ballet’s Third Annual Fashion Gala Conceived and Co-Chaired by SARAH JESSICA PARKER Takes Place on Tuesday, September 23 at Lincoln Center
New York City Ballet’s annual Fall Gala will once again celebrate ballet and fashion with a program that will include three world premiere ballets by Justin Peck, Liam Scarlett, and Troy Schumacher, as well as existing works by Peter Martins and Christopher Wheeldon, all featuring costumes designed by an international roster of some of the fashion world’s most renowned talents: Thom Browne, Sarah Burton, Valentino Garavani, Carolina Herrera, and Mary Katrantzou. The one- time-only gala evening will take place on Tuesday, September 23, 2014, opening New York City Ballet’s four-week Fall Season at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center.
This year’s gala program will include world premiere ballets by three exciting young choreographers including Justin Peck, NYCB Soloist and the Company’s newly named Resident Choreographer, who will collaborate with London-based Greek fashion designer Mary Katrantzou; British choreographer Liam Scarlett, who will work with Sarah Burton, the British designer who is Creative Director of the Alexander McQueen brand; and NYCB corps de ballet member Troy Schumacher, who will make his NYCB choreographic debut in collaboration with New York-based designer Thom Browne.
The evening will also feature Peter Martins’ 2001 work Morgen, with all-new costumes by the world renowned luxury womenswear designer Carolina Herrera, as well as Christopher Wheeldon’s This Bitter Earth, which premiered at the Company’s 2012 Fall Gala featuring costumes by the legendary couturier Valentino Garavani.
The gala evening will take place at New York City Ballet’s home at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the David H. Koch Theater, and will launch NYCB’s four-week Fall Season, which will run from Tuesday, September 23 through Sunday, October 19. All five ballets on the September 23 gala evening will also be performed on Thursday, October 2; Tuesday, October 7; Thursday, October 9; and Saturday, October 11 (eve).
Sarah Jessica Parker, the actress, producer, and philanthropist, who is a Vice Chair of the NYCB Board of Directors and has been instrumental in bringing together the worlds of ballet and fashion for a special gala evening at NYCB, will serve as a chairman for the event for the third consecutive year. Other Chairmen for the 2014 Fall Gala include jewelry artist Cindy Chao, fashion advertising executive Trey Laird and his wife Jennifer, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Financial Officer and NYCB Board Member Marianne Lake.
World Premiere by Justin Peck Costumes Designed by Mary Katrantzou
Justin Peck, NYCB Soloist and newly appointed Resident Choreographer, will premiere the seventh work he has created for NYCB in less than two and a half years. The new work will be set to César Franck’s Untitled piece (Solo de piano), for piano accompanied by string quintet, Op. 10, marking the first time that Franck’s music has been included in the NYCB repertory. Peck, who joined NYCB as a member of the corps de ballet in 2007, was promoted to Soloist in 2013, and was named NYCB Resident Choreographer in July 2014.
The costumes for Peck’s Fall Gala premiere will be designed by London-based Greek designer Mary Katrantzou, who launched her first collection in 2009. Born in Athens, Katrantzou moved to the U.S. to study architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design, before transferring to Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design in London, where she received a BA in Textile Design. After graduating in 2005, Katrantzou shifted her direction from textile design to womenswear with a focus on print, and went on to receive her MA in Fashion from Central Saint Martins. Her first ready-to-wear collection debuted at London Fashion Week in Spring/Summer 2009. Katrantzou received the prestigious Swiss Textiles Award in 2010, and in November 2011 was awarded the British Fashion Award for Emerging Talent in Womenswear. In February 2012, Katrantzou was awarded Young Designer of the Year at the Elle Style Awards.

World Premiere by Liam Scarlett Costumes Designed by Sarah Burton
The second world premiere of the evening will be choreographed by British choreographer Liam Scarlett. A former dancer with The Royal Ballet, Scarlett made his first work for that company in 2010, and was named The Royal Ballet’s Artist in Residence in 2012. In 2009, Scarlett participated in the Fall session of the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of New York City Ballet. This is Scarlett’s second work for NYCB, following the premiere of Acheron in January 2014.
For Scarlett’s Fall Gala premiere he will collaborate with Sarah Burton, the renowned British designer and Creative Director of the Alexander McQueen brand. Burton studied fashion at Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design in London and joined the Alexander McQueen company in 1996. In 2000, Burton was made Head of Design for womenswear at Alexander McQueen, and was promoted to Creative Director of the Alexander McQueen brand in 2010, having worked alongside McQueen for more than 14 years. In April 2011, she received global recognition as the designer of the wedding dress for HRH the Duchess of Cambridge, Catherine Middleton, on the occasion of her marriage to HRH Prince William. Burton was recipient of the Designer of the Year award at the British Fashion Awards in November 2011. Burton was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in April 2012 and was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to the British fashion industry in 2012.
World Premiere by Troy Schumacher Costumes Designed by Thom Browne
The final world premiere of the evening will be choreographed by NYCB corps de ballet member, Troy Schumacher, marking Schumacher’s choreographic debut with the Company. The work will be set to a score by Judd Greenstein, the Brooklyn-based composer of contemporary classical music, who is also a Co-Founder of New Amsterdam Records. Schumacher joined NYCB as a member of the corps de ballet in 2005 and participated in the Fall 2012 session of the New York Choreographic Institute. In 2010 Schumacher founded BalletCollective (formerly Satellite Ballet), a creative collaboration of artists, poets, composers, musicians, choreographers, and designers that has performed the collaborative work of more than 30 artists since its founding.
Costumes for the new Schumacher work will be designed by New York-based designer Thom Browne, who introduced his first ready-to-wear collection in New York in 2003. Known for creating clothes that are based on hand-made tailoring, Browne’s collections have evolved into creations which have drawn attention from the fashion and design industry worldwide, often pushing the boundaries of conventional conceptions. He has been honored with the Council of Fashion Designers of America Menswear Designer of the Year Award in 2013 and 2006 and the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in 2012. Browne’s women's ready-to-wear collection was introduced in 2011. The Thom Browne collections are available through his flagships stores in New York and Tokyo as well as at designer specialty stores around the world, such as Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys New York, Colette and Le Bon Marché in Paris, Harrods, Selfridges and Dover Street Market in London and Tokyo, Isetan, Restir and United Arrows in Tokyo.
Peter Martins’ Morgen Costumes Designed by Carolina Herrera
In addition to the evening’s three world premiere ballets, the Fall Gala will also include the return of Peter Martins’ Morgen, featuring all-new costumes designed by internationally renowned fashion designer Carolina Herrera. Created in 2001, Morgen is set to 10 songs for soprano and orchestra by composer Richard Strauss and was last performed by the Company in 2010.
Peter Martins began his long association with the New York City Ballet as a guest artist in 1967, and has spent more than 40 years with the Company as a dancer, choreographer, and ballet master. In 1983, following the death of NYCB Co-Founder George Balanchine, Martins served as the Company’s Co-Ballet Master in Chief with Jerome Robbins, assuming sole artistic leadership of NYCB in 1989. Martins began his career as a choreographer in 1977 and has since created more than 80 ballets for NYCB. Martins is also the Artistic Director and Chairman of the Faculty at the School of American Ballet, the official school of NYCB, and the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of NYCB that was created in 2000 to foster new choreography.
Establishing a globally recognized style aesthetic, Carolina Herrera has resided at the helm of her eponymous label for over three decades. With the endorsement of legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, Carolina Herrera presented her first collection of women’s ready‐to‐wear at New York’s Metropolitan Club in 1981. Herrera opened her New York‐based atelier shortly thereafter, cultivating a team trained in haute couture craftsmanship and aligning her name synonymously with the city and all things luxury. With wedding gowns often included in her ready‐to‐wear runway shows, Carolina Herrera introduced her bridal collection in 1987. Herrera launched her first fragrance, Carolina Herrera Eau de Parfum in 1988. She has since released 13 additional fragrances for both men and women in collaboration with her daughter Carolina Herrera de Baez, the brand’s fragrance Creative Director. Today, Carolina Herrera New York counts three flagship boutiques in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. In 2001 Herrera introduced CH Carolina Herrera, a lifestyle sportswear brand created in the spirit of Carolina Herrera’s design ethos including ready‐to‐wear and accessories for men, women and children with 125 boutique locations worldwide. The House of Herrera’s product portfolio of fragrance, apparel, accessories, and eyewear has over 15,000 points of distribution in 105 countries. Herrera was named the Council of Fashion Designers of America Womenswear Designer of the Year in 2004 and honored with the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. Acting as a mentor and critic to graduating design students for years, Herrera received an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2012. In addition, she was awarded the 2012 Fashion Group International Superstar Award, and was recently presented with the Nat King Cole Award for her charitable works and contributions to the EIF Women’s Cancer Research Fund.
Christopher Wheeldon’s This Bitter Earth Costumes Designed by Valentino Garavani
The Fall Gala evening will also include a performance of Christopher Wheeldon’s This Bitter Earth, a pas de deux set to a score by Dinah Washington and Max Richter, which premiered at the Company’s 2012 Fall Gala featuring costumes by the legendary couturier Valentino Garavani.
Christopher Wheeldon joined New York City Ballet as a dancer in 1993, and created his first ballet for the Company in 1997. In 2000, he retired from dancing and served as the Company’s first-ever Artist in Residence during the 2000-2001 Season before being named the Company’s first Resident Choreographer, a position he held until 2008. In 2007, Wheeldon founded Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, serving as the Company’s Artistic Director until early 2010. Wheeldon has created works for the Bolshoi Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, The Royal Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet, among others. His production of An American in Paris, which he is directing and choreographing, will premiere in Paris in November 2014 and will come to Broadway in 2015.
Valentino Garavani, often known simply as Valentino, founded his eponymous fashion house in Rome in the late 1950s and has since established an illustrious career designing for the world’s most glamorous women, from royalty to Hollywood icons, including Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren. Throughout his career Valentino has been awarded the highest recognitions and achievements, including Italy’s highest distinction, Cavalier di Gran Croce, and France’s Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, in addition to numerous awards in the fashion industry. In 2008 Valentino took his final bow at his haute couture show and officially retired from his career in fashion, though he continues to create and follow his passions. In 2009, Valentino designed costumes for the Vienna Ballet, and in 2011 he and Giancarlo Giammetti, Valentino’s long-time business partner, launched the Valentino Garavani Virtual Museum. In 2012 NYCB’s inaugural fashion-themed Fall Gala celebrated the master couturier, who designed more than 15 original costumes for that gala evening performance.
Tickets
Benefit-priced tickets for the gala evening, which include the 7 pm performance, a pre- performance reception, and a black-tie supper ball following the performance, are available through the NYCB Special Events Office at 212-870-5585. Tickets for the performance only start at just $29 and will be available beginning August 11 at nycballet.com, by calling 212-496-0600, or at the David H. Koch Theater box office, located at West 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue at Lincoln Center.

Major support for new work is provided by members of the New Combinations Fund and Jeffrey and Shiou-Der Kossak.
Major support for the new ballet by Justin Peck is provided by J.P. Morgan.
Major support for the new ballet by Troy Schumacher ballet is provided by Stephen Kroll Reidy. Additional support is provided by The Rudolf Nureyev Fund for Emerging Choreographers, established through a leadership grant from the Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation, with additional grants from the Harriet Ford Dickenson Foundation and the Joseph and Sylvia Slifka Foundation, to support New York City Ballet’s commissioning of emerging choreographers.
The Travelers Companies, Inc. is the Global Sponsor of New York City Ballet.

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I never really bought into "After the Rain" being a "whole thing" from the get-go; to me it's always seemed like two short, disparate works bolted together for the sake of convenience. (One of my complaints about Wheeldon's work from around that time was that it felt fragmentary -- like short extracts from some larger work-in-process.) The pas de deux lives quite happily on its own. And although I've never seen the first half presented without the pas de deux, I'm guessing it would work just fine as a stand-alone if it were given a new name and bundled together with some of the other shortish works in the rep like Herman Schmerman or whatever.

I understand the situation you're describing, but I still want to see the work entire at some point, if only to know that myself. And perhaps to understand why the choreographer made the two together, even if they live quite happily apart.

Does anyone do the ensemble half without the duet?

Well, Pennsylvania Ballet included just the first half of "After the Rain" in its 50th Anniversary PBS broadcast (which you can watch here). I don't know if they regularly perform it that way, however. It may simply have been cut from the broadcast in the interests of time.

It's worth seeing both halves together at least once if you can, if for no other reason than to see Wheeldon was up to then. I'd say watching it feels something akin to watching "Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3," with the Pas de Deux being roughly equivalent to "Theme and Variations."

Thanks so much for the reminder and the link -- I saw part of this earlier in the summer, and then got distracted.

And I'd been thinking of T and V when I asked about the complete AtR, wondering if there was a similar imbalance.

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