Natalia Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Michael Kaiser was honored last night at the KennCen Opera House, on the 10th anniversary of his very successful directorship...the only major arts institution in America operating with a nice profit, according to one of the emcees! The gala featured a mixture of Broadway, symphonic and dance pieces. The ballet segments were: ABT's Paloma Herrera & Cory Stearns, magnificent in the entree & adagio of Black Swan pdd...but why cut the solos & coda??? The Farrell Ballet's Elizabeth Holowchuk and Michael Cook in Balanchine's delectable little RAGTIME. ...and the big highlight for me... NYCB's Megan Fairchild and Andrew Veyette flying at 100 mph -- while not losing their clarity! -- in Balanchine's complete Tchaikovsky PDD. I don't think I've ever seen this work danced so briskly and with such energy. The well-heeled audience gasped and "ooooed" as Fairchild flew into the two fishdives in the coda...fishdives that had her almost in a perfect upside-down position. p.s. Among the on-screen well-wishers was Valery Gergiev, Director of the Mariinsky, who thanked Kaiser for setting into motion the annual Mariinsky-Kennedy Center series. This made me think that with Kaiser's recent decision to extend his KennCen tenure through 2014, perhaps the annual appearances by the Mariinsky Ballet will continue past 2012 (the end of the current 10-yr agreement) to at least 2014? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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