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2014-2015 Season


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The NYCB homepage says that subscriptions for 2014-2015 will go on sale starting Wed, May 7. No info posted about the rep yet.

Puzzling. I got an e-newsletter from them (as I'm sure others did, too) on Thursday, May 1, with links to "hold the date." That page said subscriptions would go on sale on Tuesday, May 6. (I'm positive about that, as I jotted it down on my calendar.) Now when I click that link, it says "We're sorry. Something has gone wrong." Some sort of last-minute changes, perhaps? I'm also quite certain that in 2013, they posted the schedule for the next year on May 1 (again, I wrote that down on my calendar...). I'm eager to see the schedule, so I can make plans for visiting NYC!

Let me add: That earlier "hold the date" site said that single tickets would go on sale Monday, August 11 at 11 am EDT. I haven't seen anything to change that yet.

Another addition: Now the "hold the date" page is back, with the same dates as before. I don't know if this will be limited to Friends/subscribers, or if it just hasn't been updated to match the public cover page:

2014-15 SEASON SUBSCRIPTIONS ON SALE

Tuesday, May 6 at 11 AM

Keep an eye out in your mailbox and inbox for forthcoming communications about 2014-15 Season Subscriptions.

Don't miss your chance to secure the best seats and save.

Edited by California
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If you go to the calendar and click ahead to September 2014, they have started feeding in repertory. Looks like a year-long theme based on the nationality of various composers: Hear the dance: Russia, Italy, Germany, France. Also, Wheeldon's "This Bitter Earth" opening the season in September. I'm pleased to see a Denmark program with Stanley William's La Sylphide + Bournonville Divertissements next spring:

http://www.nycballet.com/Season-Tickets/Calendar.aspx#family

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I think they must read this board, because I couldn't see any program info when I clicked into Sept or Oct. Maybe they deleted it to increase the "surprise" factor. But I like your detective work!

Are there any full length works scheduled (Swan Lake, SB, R&J)

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I think they must read this board, because I couldn't see any program info when I clicked into Sept or Oct. Maybe they deleted it to increase the "surprise" factor. But I like your detective work!

Are there any full length works scheduled (Swan Lake, SB, R&J)

I was afraid that might happen if I posted! So I'm doing this from memory: R&J and Midsummer Night's Dream in 2015. It does appear they will have several new works by several choreographers, but I didn't jot that down. I'm most excited about the Bournonville: May 12, 16, 17, 23, 24. I had already put that on my own calendar!

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The Goldberg Variations and Concerto Barocco in one evening would be too much Bach for me. Then again, I enjoy all-Stravinsky programs. I wonder if they'll make a special effort to advertise this program to baroque music lovers.

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I thought Ratmansky was forbidden from working for NYCB once he signed on at ABT. Glad to see that there is detente regarding this issue. (Ratmansky's best work is at NYCB, not ABT, in my opinion.)

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It looks like prices have gone up, at least in certain sections. Cheapest subscription price used to be $26 per ticket; now it's $28 per ticket. I think the next cheapest level used to be $51 per subscription ticket, and it is now $53 per ticket.

I think the highest subscription ticket price used to be $130 and it is now $139.

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Thanks for the link. Ratmansky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition' (or whatever the eventual title) will afford a nice, non-official salute to the choreographer's native Ukraine ('Gates of Kiev' segment, for ex.).

I remember that PBS telecast of Martins' Sylphide, back in '85/86 timeframe. If memory serves, it was quite traditional - nothing odd, as in Schaufus' bersion for ENB, for example.

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I remember that PBS telecast of Martins' Sylphide, back in '85/86 timeframe. If memory serves, it was quite traditional - nothing odd, as in Schaufus' bersion for ENB, for example.

That must have been a rebroadcast. The TV guide listing dates it at 1972. Nobody had even heard of Betamax or VCRs then (that came about 5 years later), so (presumably) no bootlegged YouTubes. And I can't find a DVD (or resale VHS) for sale on Amazon. He had only joined NYCB a few years earlier at that point. It would be interesting to compare his 1972 version with his NYCB version, but that might not be possible. I wonder if there is an archival tape at the Dance Collection at NYPL.

http://www.tvguide.com/detail/tv-show.aspx?tvobjectid=191534&more=ucepisodelist&episodeid=597075

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I remember that PBS telecast of Martins' Sylphide, back in '85/86 timeframe. If memory serves, it was quite traditional - nothing odd, as in Schaufus' bersion for ENB, for example.

That must have been a rebroadcast. The TV guide listing dates it at 1972. Nobody had even heard of Betamax or VCRs then (that came about 5 years later), so (presumably) no bootlegged YouTubes. And I can't find a DVD (or resale VHS) for sale on Amazon. He had only joined NYCB a few years earlier at that point. It would be interesting to compare his 1972 version with his NYCB version, but that might not be possible. I wonder if there is an archival tape at the Dance Collection at NYPL.

http://www.tvguide.com/detail/tv-show.aspx?tvobjectid=191534&more=ucepisodelist&episodeid=597075

No it was not, sorry. I watched it live. When I get home to my collection, I'll pull it up and give you date, casts, etc. Martins had just created this very recently (same season as telecast) and was interviewed during one of the intermissions.

Martins did not begin to choreograph until late 70s...Calcium Light Night, I think.

EDITED to add: The 1985 PBS telecast starred Melissa Podcasy & Marin Boieru. Staging credited to Peter Martins 'after August Bournonville.'

Edited by Natalia
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NYPL does have a 1985 catalog listing for a live performance by Pennsylvania Ballet. No mention of broadcast, but that might have happened. It looks like access is restricted, though, so comparing this with the new staging won't be possible (without permission). It just says Martins "staged" it. I wonder if that's all he'll do for NYCB, or if he'll make his own adaptations after all these years.

http://nypl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/12162564052907_pennsylvania_ballet

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I don't understand why he is putting it on NYCB. It seems so far from their style, even with their long history of Danish men. Will they do Giselle in 2015/16?

I do wish, however, that he might set it on SAB some year. Not that it is a work best for students but because it would be interesting for them to explore it.

Any word on why?

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I found and watched my copy of the 1985 'Pennsylvania and Milwaukee Ballets' La Sylphide, as seen on PBS 'Great Performances - Dance in America.' Just a one-hour show - about 28 minutes for each of the two acts, with short intro to each act by Martins, standing on the staircase of the Philadeplphia Acad. of Music. During the intros, he noted that "...there is nothing by me here. I just staged the basics by Bournonville, as I remember from having danced this in Denmark....I wanted to keep it pure."

partial credits/casting:

Chor. by August Bournonville

Staged by Peter Martins with assistance of Solveig Ostergard

TV direction by Merrill Brockway

Sylph - Melissa Podcasy (long & ultra-lean torso & ribbon-like arms; Martins makes her appear almost as a ghost...not red-blooded, playful like Lis Jeppesen and other RDB Sylphs I've seen - among current NYCB principal ladies, definitely a Rebecca Krohn or Tess Reichlen part)

James - Marin Boieru (what an amazing jumper he was!)

Gurn - Jeff Gribler

Effie - Lisa Sundstrom

Madge - Edward Myers (ultra-malicious...not a half-joker as in some productions)

James' mother - Roxana Olesyuk

1 solo sylph, A2 - Janey McGeary

3 solo sylphs, A2 - Dede Barfield, Patricia Dean and Mary Legere

I counted 14 corps sylphs...the Reel in A1 included some kids, in addition to the adults.

Despite the short length, this version includes a couple of extended mime scenes of A2 that are often cut in modern productions:

- when, at the start of A2, Madge & 4 witches "cook up" the poisoned scarf that Madge will give to James (to capture the Sylph)

- the arrival of Gurn, Effie and their group, searching for James in the forest...during which Madge hints to Gurn that he should propose to Effie on the spot (which he does); many productions skip this scene and only show the final entry of the Gurn-Effie wedding party.

Alas, this version does NOT include another extended mime scene that is usually cut, even in Denmark: when, after floating down from the big window in A1, the Sylph recounts a story of how she used to watch the child James venture into the forest. [i've seen this bit of mime 'live' only in Copenhagen, during a demonstration-lecture when I attended the 2005 Bournonville Fest.]

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.

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