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YAY, YAY AND SUPER YAY!! I can't wait for those rehearsals. Imo, they are one of the best things about living in NYC.

It's always so interesting to see the casting. It looks like Unity Phelan and Emily Kikta are taking over for Maria in Glass Pieces (as a general rule). I'm excited to hear about this new Bigonzetti duet. I'm betting they'll include it in the Kowroski Farewell. Where is Roman Mejia? I was hoping he would do at least some of the Western Symphony performances, particularly after he and Teresa Reichlen lit the place on fire during the digital season. I hope he's not injured.

ABT isn't one of Lincoln Center's Resident Organizations nor are its seasons part of one of the "Lincoln Center Presents" programs. (LCP programs are things like Mostly Mozart, American Songbook, or Midsummer Night Swing.) Its seasons at the Koch are equivalent to, say, the Paul Taylor Dance Company's or Shen Yun's—i.e., not presented by Lincoln Center. For the record, here are Lincoln Center's current roster of Resident Organizations: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Film Society of Lincoln Center Jazz at Lincoln Center Juilliard School Lincoln Center Theater Metropolitan Opera New York City Ballet New York Philharmonic New York Public Library for the Performing Arts School of American Ballet

That sounds like a great program!

Vienna State Ballet will stream their triple bill of Balanchine's Symphony in Three Movements, Ratmansky's Pictures at an Exhibition, and Martin Schläpfer's Shostakovich !5th Symphony on their platform from September 21st 19:00 CET for 72 hours. https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/e62c821d-3bb7-454a-85ba-93152b4a6209

From what you say, I take it....very, very bad...😕

I have gotten unusual voice mails and emails in recent days from ABT fund-raisers. They are asking people to renew early and perhaps upgrade their memberships now, as "We have the daunting task of raising $2 million for our Koch season." I'm guessing that they are renting the Koch and are not being co-sponsored by Lincoln Center. I wonder how bad things are for them financially!

"In Balanchine's Classroom" is also available on Amazon for $19.95, but they are temporarily out-of-stock: https://www.amazon.com/In-Balanchines-Classroom/dp/B09FC9J3L7/

If that's how the music is going to sound, I'm not going anywhere near this film.

Here's the trailer.

She used to dance it with Robbie Fairchild -- at least, that's the last time I saw her dancing it. So, it's been a minute. I've never seen Lauren Lovette dance it; the last few times it has been either Sterling or Unity Phelan, I think. Also, week 2 casting is up: NEW YORK CITY BALLET PRINCIPAL CASTING FOR SEPTEMBER 28-OCTOBER 3, 2021 TUESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 28, 7:30PM (Conductor: Otranto) SERENADE: Mearns, M. Fairchild, Gerrity, la Cour, Chamblee pause PULCINELLA VARIATIONS: Adams, M. Miller, Phelan, Hod, E. Von Enck, Chan, Applebaum, Garcia, Takahashi pause GLASS PIECES: Nadon, Sanz, LaFreniere, Riccardo, Habony, Chamblee, Reichlen, Janzen WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 29, 7:30PM (Conductor: Sill) OPUS 19/THE DREAMER: Hyltin, Gordon [Solo Violin: Nikkanen] pause NEW BIGONZETTI: Kowroski, Ramasar [Solo Piano: Baldwin] pause RUSSIAN SEASONS: Phelan, Pazcoguin, M. Fairchild, King, Segin, Anderson, Danchig-Waring, Sanz, Walker, Alberda, Villarini-Velez, Hoxha [Solo Violin: Nikkanen] THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 30, 7:30PM 2021 FALL FASHION GALA GLASS PIECES: Hod, Applebaum, Adams, Walker, Dutton-O’Hara, Alberda, Kowroski, Ramasar [Conductor: Otranto] pause NEW BELL – WORLD PREMIERE: *Reichlen, *M. Fairchild, *Nadon, *LeCrone, *Kikta, *LaFreniere, *Ball, *Huxley, *Walker, *Henson, *Grant, *Takahashi [Conductor: Litton] pause NEW MILLER – WORLD PREMIERE: *Gerrity, *Mearns, *Kretzschmar, *Smith, *Bradley, *Bologna, *Dutton-O’Hara, *Woodward, *Stanley, *Chan, *Riccardo, *Read, *Fahoury, *Villarini-Velez, *Alberda, *Chamblee [Conductor: Litton] FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 1, 8:00PM (Conductor: Litton) NEW MILLER: Gerrity, Mearns, Kretzschmar, Smith, Bradley, Bologna, Dutton-O’Hara, Woodward, Stanley, Chan, Riccardo, Read, Fahoury, Villarini-Velez, Alberda, Chamblee pause NEW BELL: Reichlen, M. Fairchild, Nadon, LeCrone, Kikta, LaFreniere, Ball, Huxley, Walker, Henson, Grant, Takahashi pause WESTERN SYMPHONY: King, la Cour, *Lovette, Ramasar, *Kikta, Veyette SATURDAY MATINEE, OCTOBER 2, 2:00PM (Conductor: Litton) NEW MILLER: Gerrity, Mearns, Kretzschmar, Smith, Bradley, Bologna, Dutton-O’Hara, Woodward, Stanley, Chan, Riccardo, Read, Fahoury, Villarini-Velez, Alberda, Chamblee pause NEW BELL: Reichlen, M. Fairchild, Nadon, LeCrone, Kikta, LaFreniere, Ball, Huxley, Walker, Henson, Grant, Takahashi pause WESTERN SYMPHONY: King, la Cour, Lovette, Ramasar, Kikta, Veyette SATURDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 2, 8:00PM (Conductor: Sill) OPUS 19/THE DREAMER: Lovette, Stanley [Solo Violin: Nikkanen] pause NEW BIGONZETTI: Kowroski, Ramasar [Solo Piano: Baldwin] pause RUSSIAN SEASONS: Hyltin, Mearns, Laracey, Woodward, Maxwell, Habony, Stanley, Veyette, Gordon, Zuniga, Villarini-Velez, Fahoury [Solo Violin: Nikkanen] SUNDAY MATINEE, OCTOBER 3, 3:00PM (Conductor: Litton) NEW MILLER: Gerrity, Mearns, Kretzschmar, Smith, Bradley, Bologna, Dutton-O’Hara, Woodward, Stanley, Chan, Riccardo, Read, Fahoury, Villarini-Velez, Alberda, Chamblee pause NEW BELL: Reichlen, M. Fairchild, Nadon, LeCrone, Kikta, LaFreniere, Ball, Huxley, Walker, Henson, Grant, Takahashi pause WESTERN SYMPHONY: King, la Cour, Lovette, Ramasar, Kikta, Veyette * First Time in Role PROGRAM AND CASTING SUBJECT TO CHANGE (09/15/21)

For me the most interesting casting for week 1 is Gordon in Opus 19. I have no recollection of ever seeing Tiler Peck in Opus, 19, but I'm sure she will be fantastic in the role that I associate so closely with Wendy Whelan.

🙏 for sharing this...an absolute joy!

Oh my, I haven’t laughed that much in the past year and a half. My favorite was the Bolshoi bow, which lasted longer than the ballet. And based on his Odette bow, he’d be a gorgeous white swan. Thanks so much for posting; this one gets a bookmark.

More casting courtesy of Instagram: That feels like a lot of Western Symphony for Lauren. Casting I'm interested in for the first week is the Saturday matinee: PULCINELLA VARIATIONS: *Adams, M. Miller, Phelan, Hod, *E. Von Enck, *Chan, Applebaum, Coll, *Takahashi pause GLASS PIECES: *Nadon, *Sanz, *LaFreniere, *Riccardo, Habony, Chamblee, Reichlen, Janzen I would be very interested to see Chun Wai Chan dance (he posted video partnering Miriam Miller, is he tall?) and I think KJ Takahashi is a very dynamic young dancer. I am also glad to see Isabelle LaFreniere get featured in Glass Pieces first movement. I don't have tickets and have to go to a little league game instead so I hope someone will report back! I'm going opening night, very thrilled -- though I don't really understand why Megan LeCrone is first cast Serenade. I'm also excited to see Joe Gordon premiere in Opus 19.

Oh, these are so spot on and at times, hilarious! Loved his Kitri, Odile, Kachei from Firebird, Nureyev sweep and NYCB female. Those made me laugh out loud.

Very clean turns.

This is so great, but it made me wonder if we'll see him move into some of those character parts -- the Von Rothbart bow and the Dr Coppelius bow made me laugh out loud.

Ballet Arizona posted the following news to its Instagram account:

Thank you SO MUCH, California! This is exciting. So grateful to see the casting and I am looking forward to Tuesday night!

I follow the initial thinking. Richards was one of the better guest hosts and as he was already working there he'd be cheaper than a lot of the starrier names. But once this more recent stuff surfaced he was toast. I just hope Bialik doesn't get the regular gig. If Aaron Rodgers doesn't get back to form, maybe Green Bay will trade him.

From Gia Kourias's article in the Times today, a collaborative video between Madeline Hollander and David Hallberg cataloguing all the varieties of the balletic bow – a typology of the art, endlessly fascinating. Funniest of all for me was the self-effacing New York City Ballet female bow. https://theshed.org/program/219-madeline-hollander

I just heard back from the NYCB Membership office that they expect to restart Friends rehearsals in October. You should be getting some kind of notice if you are eligible.

Here are some glances at the scenery for the new Ratmansky's Pharaoh's Daughter. I'm a big fan of the Pierre Lacotte production, including the beautiful scenery, so this one has big shoes to fill. Still, this new scenery is very impressive. The Mariinsky seems to have a knack. I've seen more impressive scenery and costumes at other companies, but the Mariinsky seems to get it just right. https://www.instagram.com/p/CTmESt5tkLi/ https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=mariinsky.theatre&set=a.10160019711745798 (thanks to Sophia at Dansomanie)

Really excited about Jonathan Batista, whom I’ve followed for a couple years across various internet platforms. A very clean dancer with exquisite turns. Here’s a 2019 video of him in what I’m assuming is a Nutcracker guest gig: https://www.instagram.com/p/B6DrM9SnDAG/?utm_medium=copy_link