sandik

I heard this through the grapevine, but didn't want to say anything until it was announced officially. She had a great career as a performer, and was doing wonderful work as a teacher and stager. She worked on staging Diversion on the student ensemble at Cornish College here in Seattle -- they gave such mature performances of the work, in part due to McClain's coaching. I'm so sad that her time with us is finished.

That is Nadeau in Variations Sérieuses -- she did a great job with the comedy, as did Jonathan P. I'm really looking forward to seeing this again.

I remember that debut -- she was so nervous I thought she might just vibrate off the edge of the stage. It's such an exposed part that I imagine even experienced dancers are apprehensive about it, but she did a very nice job with a tough assignment. I think it's Stanton in all these clips. It's very nice to see the Forsythe here, both In the Middle and One Flat Thing. I hope they come back in repertory soon.

I know you are probably wincing, but I love this spelling of evil -- it makes me think of Cruella deVille! You are not the only one, sandik. According to an interview in Pointe Magazine, NYCB dancer Georgina Pazcoguin's interpretation of Carabosse was "inspired by Cruella de Vil." Petipa may be spinning in his grave, but it makes a weird kind of sense in 21st-century America. I don't even think it's weird -- Petipa was using the fairy stories of his time as a common template, in order to carry on an in-depth exploration of classical ballet. On one level, I don't think he really cared about story (he certainly didn't have much concern about dramatic realism -- one of the things that Fokine criticized him for) -- Petipa cared about the dancing, and specifically about what you could do with classical ballet. Everything else was an 'also ran.' I'm not advocating for ballet versions of Disney princess films -- there's already quite a lot of that around -- but I can see how those stories, or those treatments of earlier stories, have become a common language for 21st century audiences. If you were looking for a shorthand glossary of 'evil woman,' the Queen in Snow White and Cruella de Ville in 101 D's would be good places to start.

I agree, it's a role that generates incredible lobbying by dancers. And the Maillot version can accommodate a wide variety of performers, so that just increases the number of possibilities. In this specific case, though, I think that it would be smartest to cast dancers that are likely to perform it when it comes back in its full-length form -- along the lines of an audition. And with that kind of strategy, I do think that Foster would be a likely choice. She would do a good job with Maillot's extended version of classical ballet, and the dramatic content is something she is working toward. That would make three casts, which for a duet in a mixed rep program is probably all we'll see on stage, but it's early enough in the season that they will likely teach it to at least one other cast, for the experience and the insurance. In that case I'd vote for Chapman -- she's a knockout Rosaline, but I think she might bring some interesting qualities to Juliette. But your opinion may vary. And we haven't touched on Romeos here -- perhaps we should make a new thread for "Gaming the Casting" and open the season on speculation.

I know you are probably wincing, but I love this spelling of evil -- it makes me think of Cruella deVille!

The 65th anniversary season? Lordy.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/article-23974011-sy-sar-is-dancing-the-dream.do I am so glad to see that he's back performing -- he has a great stage presence.

Write Marvin Hoshino and suggest it.

I'm with Amy -- I haven't really participated in this conversation, but I've followed it with interest. Please do continue. As for the Tajik production of MP -- I don't know that it's been staged by someone from the Limon Company, but it certainly doesn't seem like it. A bit too decorative and lightweight.

I'm a lazy girl or I'd be looking this up myself -- has anyone done much work with Maurice Seymour's photos?

I wonder what other marketing offers other companies are using to help bolster sales during difficult times.

I'm afraid I did too -- that's why I'm a big fan of full names!

Apologies for answering the question so long after it has been asked, but I would have to say that Deborah Jowitt and Marcia Siegel are two of the finest descriptive critics still working today. As I posted elsewhere, Jowitt is now blogging on ArtsJournal, so she's easy to find in the electronic world. Siegel writes for the Boston Phoenix, mostly on Boston-area artists, but does longer essays for the Hudson Review quarterly. Her most recent anthology, Mirrors and Scrims, is primarily about ballet and is certainly worth the finding.

Absolutely -- it has a very architectural feel to it.

Deborah Jowitt, who wrote about dance for the Village Voice for over 40 years, is now blogging on ArtsJournal at Dance Beat (which was also the title of her first anthology)

PNB released an official notice today about some of their new hires -- here is the gist. Pacific Northwest Ballet Announces New Company Members for 2011-12 Season SEATTLE, WA – Pacific Northwest Ballet Artistic Director Peter Boal is pleased to announce that he has hired three new dancers: When the company returned to the rehearsal studios today they were joined by Leta Biasucci, Elizabeth Murphy and Matthew Renko as the newest members of the corps de ballet. Additionally, two new apprentices will join the company in mid-September: Steven Loch and Sarah Pasch, both of whom were most recently two-year members of the PNB School Professional Division. (Mr. Loch and Ms. Pasch’s official start-date is September 19.) Additional hires and promotions will be announced at a later date. Leta Biasucci is from Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She studied under Marcia Dale Weary at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and became a trainee at San Francisco Ballet School in 2006. She joined Oregon Ballet Theatre in 2008. At Oregon Ballet Theatre, Ms. Biasucci performed leading and featured roles in George Balanchine’s Emeralds, The Four Temperaments, The Nutcracker, and Tarantella; Nicolo Fonte’s Left Unsaid; James Kudelka’s Hush; Trey McIntyre’s Speak; Yuri Possokov’s Raymonda; and Dennis Spaight’s Gloria. She originated leading roles in the collaborative Stravinsky Project by Jamey Hampton, Anne Mueller, Ashley Roland, and Rachel Tess, and Christopher Stowell’s A Holiday Revue. Elizabeth Murphy is from Chelmsford, Massachusetts. She studied at Academy of Ballet Arts and the Rock School for Dance Education, and she attended summer courses on scholarship at Pacific Northwest Ballet School and Chautauqua Summer Program. She was an apprentice with North Carolina Dance Theater and also danced with Pennsylvania Ballet before joining Ballet West II in 2006 and Ballet West in 2007. At Ballet West, Ms. Murphy danced leading and featured roles in George Balanchine’s Agon, The Four Temperaments, Serenade, and Stars and Stripes; William Christiansen’s Nutcracker; Nicolo Fonte’s Bolero; Jiri Kylian’s Sinfonietta; Helen Pickett’s But Never Doubt I Love; and Adam Sklute’s Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. Matthew Renko was born in Tampa, Florida and raised in Sumter, South Carolina. He studied at Columbia Conservatory of Dance, North Carolina School of the Arts with Warren Conover, Kee-Juan Han, and Melissa Hayden, and on scholarship at the School of American Ballet with Peter Boal. He became an apprentice with New York City Ballet in 2007 and was promoted to corps de ballet in 2008. In 2009, he joined the Suzanne Farrell Ballet. At New York City Ballet, Mr. Renko performed featured roles in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker and Jerome Robbins’ Watermill. With the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, he performed leading and featured roles in Balanchine’s La Sonnambula and La Source and Paul Mejia’s Eight by Adler. Mr. Renko has choreographed for the School of American Ballet Student Choreography Workshop and the New York Choreographic Institute. Steven Loch is from Dallas, Texas. He studied at Ballet Conservatory in Lewisville, Texas, and on scholarship at Harid Conservatory and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. While a student at PNB School, Mr. Loch performed corps de ballet roles with Pacific Northwest Ballet in George Balanchine’s Coppélia, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Square Dance; Peter Boal’s Giselle; Ronald Hynd’s The Sleeping Beauty; Alexei Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH; Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story Suite; Kent Stowell’s Cinderella and Nutcracker; and Twyla Tharp’s Waterbaby Bagatelles. He performed leading roles in Balanchine’s Chaconne and Western Symphony for PNB School’s annual School Performances and also performed leading roles in Bruce Wells’ Hansel and Gretel and Pinocchio. He originated roles in ballets by Andrew Bartee, Kiyon Gaines, Paul Gibson, Barry Kerollis, Margaret Mullin, and Seth Orza for PNB School’s annual School Performance and PNB’s Choreographers’ Showcase and Next Step performances. Mr. Loch has performed as a guest artist at the International Ballet Festival of Miami and the Youth America Grand Prix Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow Gala. He has performed the role of Albrecht in Giselle, opposite ABT soloist Sarah Lane, Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty, and the lead in Balanchine’s Valse Fantaisie with LakeCities Ballet Theatre. Sarah Pasch is from Dublin, California. She studied at San Ramon Valley Dance Academy, Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy, and on scholarship at Pacific Northwest Ballet School. She attended summer courses at Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy, Lines Ballet, the Kirov Academy, and PNB School. While a student at PNB School, Ms. Pasch performed corps de ballet roles with Pacific Northwest Ballet in George Balanchine’s Coppélia, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Serenade; Peter Boal’s Giselle; Ronald Hynd’s The Sleeping Beauty; Jerome Robbins’ Glass Pieces and West Side Story Suite; Kent Stowell’s Cinderella and Nutcracker; and Twyla Tharp’s Waterbaby Bagatelles. She performed leading roles in Balanchine’s Chaconne and Western Symphony for Pacific Northwest Ballet School’s annual School Performances, and she originated roles in ballets by Andrew Bartee, Kiyon Gaines, and Margaret Mullin for PNB’s 2011 Next Step performance. She has also performed with Houston Ballet. # # #

Noon and 7 pm in the Seattle area. $15, and then the usual carrying fees.

I think that the HD projection technology isn't as complex as the 3D stuff -- I remember the first few Met programs here had occasional frozen moments, but the difficulties about the 'special effect' here was more continuous.

Oh I hope so -- I worry about this kind of conflict.

It is not specifically about ballet (or exclusively about dance, either), but Susan Sontag's "On Photography" is an excellent discussion about how photographs do and don't reflect the world they portray.

We could see feet in Federal Way (outside Seattle), although they didn't turn the house lights out until about 10 minutes into the first act. This was the first matinee of the day in a multiple theater house -- I have a feeling they were running on short staff. I had trouble with the 3D -- the glasses made everything just that much darker, and there was, as someone has already pointed out, a problem with focus. The images in the foreground (usually the principals) were clear, and had that slightly detached look that 3D often does, but the background (corps) was often a little fuzzy. I also thought it was actually out of sync with the foreground image in a few places, so that if you were trying to follow several people you wound up bouncing back and forth in time a bit. Like Helene, I'm glad to have a look at Osipova, and she is indeed as advertised. As I said, we saw feet and so I got a good look at hers -- some very interesting choices about emphasis, rhythm and accent, and very, very pretty bourees. I'm not totally sold on the close quarters shots, but I like to see how things are done, and so I was glad of the hairdressing view in the mad scene. (And it did make me think of the late 19th century view of women as borderline hysterics, due to the constrictions of corsets and heavy hairstyles. One of the 'first aid' remedies when a woman fainted was to loosen the corset and take down her hair.) He reminded me of a singer in a boy band, rather like Justin Bieber today or Donny Osmond in the past. A very safe kind of mild sexual appeal. You can play Alberecht as an innocent, gobsmacked by love (rather like Siegfried), or you can play him as a roue who is surprised by his feelings for Giselle once he is confronted with the results of his actions. Both are coherent in terms of the plot, but I think there's more room for dramatic development with the second version. Not much of anything, really -- the stage was quite bare, which may leave room for big ensembles, but doesn't really give us a sense of place. I agree, this was a dramatically convincing sequence, conveyed through some very specific and careful choices in sequencing. But for me, it seemed to come out of left field -- I wasn't engaged by him earlier in the ballet.

Very scary!

Not sure if this is more about the ballet or about the technology. I did see the recent Werner Herzog film about prehistoric cave paintings in France, which was shown in 3D, and was pleasantly surprised at how un-gimmicky it felt. It took awhile to get used to the 3D-ness of it, but there was a point where I just felt like I was looking at the interior of a cave. I can say this -- activity that moves toward and away from the viewer is more vivid than lateral action (which makes big sense), and the faster something moves, the more disorienting it might be.

Ok, I'm going to the local showing of the new Maryinsky Giselle, advertised to be in 3D, this coming Tuesday. Anyone else going? In the Seattle area, it's showing at a suburban theater. When the Met first started their HD broadcasts, we had a similar situation -- the first few showings were out in suburban mall theaters, and then they finally made it into the city. But somehow, the suburban setting seems right in line with the promise of 3D ballet...