sandik

You bring up an interesting set of questions having to do with storytelling and narration. For so long, companies have been winnowing out the traditional mime set 'speeches,' for various reasons, so we aren't accustomed to seeing stories explained in ballet. One of the pleasures of the Balanchine/Danilova Coppelia was the use of mime in the first two acts. Franz moons over the doll he mistakes for a girl, Coppelia shows us her exasperation with him, and then her discovery that the doll is just a doll, Dr Coppelius is cranked at the young men in his town and infatuated with his creation -- these are not simple ideas, and we get them through gesture language. But yes, just because Franz has done a silly thing, he doesn't necessarily dance 'silly,' which, of course, makes the reveal all the more exciting. (the pleasure is all the more vivid for being unexpected -- Balanchine is never the choreographer I think of when I wonder about ballet mime!)

I agree, shifting Chapman to Nakamura's part is an interesting maneuver, as is casting Bartee in Wever's role. I've been watching him in rehearsals for Wever's January show, and there is a certain structural resemblance, but I'm curious to see what he makes with the part.

I've been to a couple of events this year where the presenters decided not to print programs, and it was extremely frustrating. In one case, they projected the credits for each dance before the individual work, so at least we knew what we were seeing. In the other case, they ran a crawl before the show as a whole, of all the credits -- if your memory was poor, you were at sea. As a critic, I use the program to keep track of which performance I've seen, mark changes in casting and other acts of the gods. But long before I started writing about dance I kept my programs -- they're very important to my memories of the theater. Some years ago I gave a series of talks about the history of ballet in Russia for a local festival presenter -- they were bringing the Bolshoi to town and it was a promotional thing. I did one talk at a senior center, and at the end several people approached me, each carrying a program from a performance they'd seen in the past. Most of them were from recent tours, but a few were from Ballet Russe productions in the 1930s. Those programs represented an amazing experience for them, so important that they'd saved them when they'd lost track of many other things. I was honored that they would show them to me, and thrilled that the art form I'm obsessed with had given them such joy. I think it's a very shoddy kind of cost-savings stunt to forgo offering a program.

I agree with Helene. As someone who is edited for some work, and not for others, I can see an incredible difference in the final product. A good editor makes you sound just like you, but will pull out the materials that trip you up or get in the way. It can be a twisty process, but often the result more than justifies the trip. I've only read a bit of Austen "in the original" and would be curious to see more, especially the first version of Persuasion, which is a particular favorite.

Sounds like I'm not so sad that I missed the HD Boris -- wounds on the really big screen are a bit much for me. Though with Halloween around the corner...

The full press release is out. PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET PRESENTS SPECIAL EVENTS IN CONJUNCTION WITH ALL THARP SEATTLE, WA – Pacific Northwest Ballet continues its 2010-2011 season with a program of works by American dance icon Twyla Tharp. PNB offers a series of free or affordable events for audiences to learn more about the legendary choreographer and the works being presented during ALL THARP. ALL THARP runs November 5 - 14 at Seattle Center’s Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Tickets start at $27 and may be purchased by calling the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, online at pnb.org, or in person at the PNB Box Office at 301 Mercer St. SPECIAL EVENTS FRIDAY PREVIEWS Friday, October 29, 6:00 pm The Phelps Center, 301 Mercer Street, Seattle Join us for an hour-long dance preview led by Artistic Director Peter Boal and featuring PNB dancers performing excerpts from ALL THARP. PNB Friday Previews offer an upbeat and up-close view of the Company preparing to put dance on stage. Tickets are only $10, and may be purchased by calling the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, online at pnb.org, or in person at the PNB Box Office at 301 Mercer Street. This event will sell out in advance. Friday Previews are sponsored by U.S. Bank. CONVERSATIONS WITH PNB — FREE Sunday, October 31, 2:00 pm Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 10th Avenue on Capitol Hill, Seattle PNB's Sunday afternoon series features an hour-long discussion about ALL THARP with PNB principal dancer Jonathan Porretta and soloist Chalnessa Eames in the casual atmosphere of the Elliott Bay Book Company reading room. All Conversations with PNB are FREE of charge. BALLET PREVIEW — FREE Tuesday, November 2, 12:00 noon Central Seattle Public Library, 1000 Fourth Avenue, Seattle Join PNB for a free lunch-hour preview lecture at the Central Seattle Public Library. Education Programs Manager Doug Fullington will offer insights about ALL THARP, complete with video excerpts. FREE of charge. PNB LECTURE SERIES & DRESS REHEARSAL Thursday, November 4 Lecture 6:00 pm, Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer Street, Seattle Dress Rehearsal 7:00 pm, McCaw Hall Join PNB artistic director Peter Boal and Waterbaby Bagatelles stager Shelley Washington during the hour preceding the dress rehearsal of ALL THARP. Attend the lecture only or stay for the dress rehearsal. Tickets are $12 for the lecture, or $25 for the lecture and dress rehearsal. Tickets may be purchased by calling the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, online at pnb.org or in person at the PNB Box Office at 301 Mercer Street. Shelley Washington studied with Twyla Tharp at Wolftrap Academy, American University, prior to being invited to join Twyla Tharp Dance Company in 1975. She had previously danced as a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company. A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Ms. Washington furthered her training at the Juilliard School. She performed in the 1977 film Hair and served as dance captain for the 1985 Broadway production of Singing in the Rain. In 1987, she was honored with a New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award. >From 1988 to 1992, Ms. Washington worked with American Ballet Theatre as soloist and rehearsal director in association with Ms. Tharp. In 1993, she was rehearsal director for Ms. Tharp’s Cutting Up tour, starring Ms. Tharp and Mikhail Baryshnikov, Twyla Tharp and Dancers’ City Center season in New York, and Tharp Dances’ international tour. Ms. Washington continues to work with Ms. Tharp as rehearsal director by setting, staging, and directing Ms. Tharp’s ballets for many companies internationally. PRE-PERFORMANCE LECTURES Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at McCaw Hall Join Education Programs Manager Doug Fullington for a 30-minute introduction to each performance, including discussions of choreography, music, history, design and the process of bringing ballet to the stage. One hour before performances. FREE for ticketholders. POST-PERFORMANCE Q&A Skip the post-show traffic and enjoy a post-performance Q&A with Artistic Director Peter Boal and PNB dancers. Immediately following each performance in the Norcliffe Room at McCaw Hall. FREE for ticketholders. PNB BOX OFFICE Phone: 206.441.2424 (M-F 9am–6pm; Sat. 10am–5pm) In Person: 301 Mercer Street (M-F 10am–6pm; Sat. 10am–5pm) Online: PNB.org (24 hours a day, seven days a week) # # # Schedule and programming subject to change. For further information, please visit www.pnb.org.

As part of the City Arts festival, Peter Boal will participate in a conversation on sampling in art. From the press release: PNB Artisic Director Peter Boal to participate in City Arts Fest FIRESIDE CHAT: ART AND THEFT , SAMPLING IN MUSIC AND DANCE Saturday, October 23, 12 noon The Sorrento Hotel, 900 Madison Street, Seattle Is it theft? Or appropriation? Co-hosts Charles Mudede (filmmaker and associate editor at The Stranger), and Amy O (dancer/choreographer, founder of Locust), explore the topic of sampling in both music and dance and the fine lines between stealing and creativity. They will be joined in this conversation in the Sorrento’s Fireside Room by guests composer/musician DJ Spooky, PNB's artistic director Peter Boal, choreographer Pat Graney, hip-hop producer Sabzi, classical music prodigy Joshua Roman and B-boy and MC Orbitron. Tickets to this event are $5. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit cityartsfest.com.

As part of their preparation for the spring 2011 production of Giselle, Doug Fullington is presenting another one of his lecture-demonstrations in January. This one is slated to travel to NYC for one of the Guggenheim's Works and Process shows, but we will see it first. From the press release: GISELLE “WORKS & PROCESS” PREVIEW Thursday, January 6, 5:30 pm The Phelps Center, 301 Mercer Street, Seattle On January 9 and 10, Pacific Northwest Ballet will return to the Guggenheim Museum’s Works & Process series in New York with three performances previewing the Company’s new Giselle, which will premiere at McCaw Hall on June 3. Staged by PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal, this new Giselle will include choreography and action reconstructed by dance scholar Doug Fullington from Russian Stepanov dance notation circa 1900, and by leading Giselle scholar Marian Smith using French sources from the 1840s and 1860s. PNB will be the first American company in modern times to use the Stepanov notations housed at the Harvard Theatre Collection as the basis for a ballet production. This preview presentation will include excerpts from Giselle performed by PNB dancers Carrie Imler, Carla Körbes, James Moore, and Seth Orza, with discussion between Peter Boal, Marian Smith, and Doug Fullington about the process of reviving this classic ballet. See it in Seattle before it goes to New York! Tickets to this special event are $20 and may be purchased through the PNB Box Office.

That is, of course, the tricky question. It's hard to create landmarks on a continuum, so that we can all agree what is fundamental to the authenticity of a work, and what is a negotiable element. When Pacific Northwest Ballet commissioned new sets and costumes for their production of Balanchine's Midsummer, they sought the permission of the Trust for a kind of change that is made blithely and regularly by straight theater companies. But when Balanchine and Danilova created their pastiche version of Coppelia there were no permissions to be asked, and nothing other than their own memories to be consulted.

A silly aside -- October is "Arts Crush" month here (a local theater organization is promoting all kinds of extra performances from a huge number of groups) and several local companies have been offering introductory kinds of events for a general public. Seattle Opera's contribution is a workshop next weekend on how to make stage blood, and the photos they're using to promote it are all of Lucia. No word on whether your batch of blood will get used on stage, though. (Alas, the workshop is already full, or I would be there mixing up the gore!)

Everyone seems to be wearing dangerous hats -- can you imagine what a claim to Labor and Industries for an on-the-job injury might have read like? Many thanks for tracking these down! I'm fascinated and bemused all at once.

This sounds wonderful -- I've got to see it the next time I'm in NYC!

I didn't know there was a hold-up from the US version of Amazon -- thanks so much for the heads-up!

My first thought would be something from the Royal Danish rep, since they've been in more or less continuous production since the start, but as far as an actual work that hasn't been tinkered with, that's a much more difficult question. Mary Skeaping did some really interesting reconstructions of early work (some of which you could see on that Magic of Dance series narrated by Fonteyn) but they certainly weren't in continuous production...

Not on the topic of the discussion, but I got a real giggle out of this comment "She can scurry on toe with the modesty of her retinue, 75 percent of which is named Jennifer in one spelling or another: Jennifer Fuchs, Jenifer Ringer, Jennifer Tinsley and Rita Norona." Substitute Emma/Emily for Jennifer and you would have the female student body of most of the high schools in the US.

Yes, I know it isn't even Halloween yet, but nevertheless, here is an edited version of the first Nutcracker press release. Pacific Northwest Ballet presents Nutcracker THE NORTHWEST’s FAVORITE HOLIDAY TRADITION! Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Choreography: Kent Stowell Scenic and Costume Design: Maurice Sendak Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli Stowell/Sendak Premiere: December 13, 1983 November 26-December 27 2010 Marion Oliver McCaw Hall 321 Mercer Street, Seattle Center Seattle, WA 98109 SEATTLE, WA — Pacific Northwest Ballet can proudly lay claim to one of the world's most recognized and celebrated productions of Nutcracker, now celebrating its 28th season. The brilliant result of close collaboration between PNB Founding Artistic Director and choreographer Kent Stowell and renowned children's book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, Nutcracker premiered to national acclaim in December 1983. Drawing on E.T.A. Hoffman's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, Stowell and Sendak delved deeply into the original story and infused the ballet with a drama and strength that fully complements Tchaikovsky's classic score. The Northwest’s favorite family tradition returns to Seattle Center’s Marion Oliver McCaw Hall for 36 performances November 26 through December 27. Tickets to Nutcracker may be purchased by calling the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, online at www.pnb.org, or in person at the PNB Box Office at 301 Mercer St. A limited number of tickets are also available at select Ticketmaster outlets, by calling 206.292-ARTS or online at ticketmaster.com. No other ticket outlets are authorized to sell Pacific Northwest Ballet Nutcracker tickets. 2010 PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE: Friday, Nov. 26, 7:30 pm Saturday, Nov. 27, 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm Sunday, Nov. 28, 1:00 pm & 5:30 pm Friday, Dec. 3, 7:30 pm Saturday, Dec. 4, 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm Sunday, Dec. 5, 1:00 pm & 5:30 pm Thursday, Dec. 9, 7:30 pm Friday, Dec. 10, 7:30 pm Saturday, Dec. 11, 2:00 pm* & 7:30 pm* Sunday, Dec. 12, 1:00 pm* & 5:30 pm Wednesday, Dec. 15, 7:30 pm Thursday, Dec. 16, 7:30 pm Friday, Dec. 17, 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm Saturday, Dec. 18, 2:00 pm* & 7:30 pm* Sunday, Dec. 19, 1:00 pm* & 5:30 pm* Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm Thursday, Dec. 23, 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm Friday, Dec. 24, 11:30 pm & 4:00 pm** Sunday, Dec. 26, 1:00 pm & 5:30 pm Monday, Dec. 27, 1:00 pm & 5:30 pm * Peak performances; peak prices apply. ** “Nutty” Nutcracker performance TICKET INFORMATION: Ticket range: $28 - $123 ($26 - $113 for children 0-12. All ages require a ticket for admission, including babes in arms.) Purchase tickets 24/7 online at www.pnb.org Box Office Phone: 206.441.2424 (Mon.-Fri. 9am–6pm; Sat. 10am–5pm) Box Office Location: 301 Mercer Street, Seattle (Mon.-Fri. 10am–6pm; Sat. 10am–5pm) Tickets are also available 90 minutes prior to each performance at McCaw Hall, located at 321 Mercer Street. (Subject to availability) A limited number of Nutcracker tickets are also available at select Ticketmaster outlets, by calling 206.292-ARTS or online at ticketmaster.com. No other ticket outlets are authorized to sell Pacific Northwest Ballet Nutcracker tickets. Listen to the Ballet! PNB partners with 98.1 Classical KING FM to bring listeners some of the world’s most popular ballet scores, featuring the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra direct from McCaw Hall. Tune in to KING FM for a live opening weekend performance of Nutcracker on Saturday, November 27 at 7:30 pm. Only on 98.1 fm or online at www.king.org/listen # # # Schedule and programming subject to change. For further information, please visit: www.pnb.org

Messerer himself was such a fireball, how could they not respond?

I'm glad to hear some news of a DVD, especially since there are no theaters in my area that seem to participate in this series (we can get the Met HD, but apparently not this)

What a treat! I spent the afternoon watching a rehearsal at Cornish College of material from Roaratorio, along with chunks from other works, in preparation for a "minEvent," a 20-minute version of an event, and part of Cunningham's plan for his works. The students were eating it up!

"Wow" indeed, but not in the happy way. And I was thinking that she looked especially at home in this last rep.

Some extra thoughts on this program. In many ways, “Petite Mort” is what modern dance in the US would have looked like years ago without the disdain that American modern artists have had for ballet technique and heritage. The opening is quite menacing, from the deep rumbling we hear before the curtain gets fully up, through the epees the men carry, to the chest slapping and posturing they do (almost like apes) -- between the intricately detailed shorts they wear and their bare chests they are teetering on the edge of civilized behavior. Non-musical sound is important here -- the rumble, the swish of the swords, the woosh of that giant silk ‘scarf’ (what do you call something that large?) as the men run downstage with it, and as it flutters away off stage right. This and “Sechs Tänze” are loaded with cultural references and magic tricks. Some of them, like the ‘magic carpet’ that whisks people off stage, have ballet ancestors (the original Sugar Plum Fairy variations used a similar gimmick), while others seem to connect all over the map. (Andrew Bartee sitting on Sean Rollofson’s shoulders, wearing one of those stunningly rigid gowns so that he’s a cross-dressing giant, is straight out of Pilobolus ca. 1975, yes, but also from Alwin Nikolais earlier, and then from the puppetry world and the commedia). These jokes work, and so we repeat them -- they are as much a part of our cultural heritage as the Mozart scores. Some things are only funny once -- we laugh when, in the first quintet with the women in the gowns, we realize that they aren’t actually wearing them (the women step back and away) but not when they tilt to the side and look out around the waist of the dress. The duets are a paean to Newtonian mechanics. How far can you lean with how much counterbalance, how do you wind up to get the momentum to swing someone up and over your head? Lindsi Dec and Karel Cruz dance the final duet in PM -- when they back upstage hand in hand, it’s like Adam and Eve in reverse. Ariana Lallone gets a lot of credit for dancing as tall as she is, but not enough recognition for the small detail underneath. There’s a lot of filigree here, and it adds great texture to what she’s doing. Even before anyone really does much dancing we know that “Sechs Tänze” is going to be sillier than “Petite Mort” -- the specificity of the costumes here (breeches and wigs and bare chests for men, ruffles and frizzy hair for women) rather than the more abstracted corsets and shorts in PM (face it, the men’s costumes look like long-line girdles) gives it away. Brittany Reid’s hair was teased twice as large as her head on the Saturday matinee -- it was really effective, particularly for anything involving changing focus (great reverb in the hair) but she said later in the Q/A that it took her all of the intermission and “Jardi Tancat” to get the tangles combed out and her hair up in a bun for “Glass Pieces.” The variation in response to the bubbles at the end is great. Some are just loopy, some enchanted, Kiyon Gaines was extra excited, like a school kid waking up to a snow day, but Carrie Imler looked exasperated, like she could pop them with the heat of her mighty laser vision. I’m not sure there is anyone who does exasperated better than she does, from the controlling matron in “The Concert” to the manipulative Queen Mother in “Swan Lake,” and here, glaring at the froth coming down from the ceiling. Such a treat. I always think of Jose Limon and his “There is a Time” when I see “Jardi Tancat.” It’s more abstract, and constructed more formally, but the sense of community is the same. There are also connections to Tudor’s “Dark Elegies” -- this is a group that has experienced hard times, and is having difficulty living through them. So much of the standard ballet rep is either overtly about nobility, or at least carries that heritage in the vocabulary of the technique -- it’s fascinating to see things that explore other dynamics. If most crossover work combines ballet with traditional modern dance styles, “Glass Pieces” is a mash-up of ballet and post-modern dance, particularly the minimalists. The grid on the scrim is so reminiscent of the written scores that Lucinda Childs made for her early ensemble work, the accumulation patterns in the choreography (A, AB, ABC…) are right out of Trisha Brown’s bag of tricks, the new folk dance feel of the third section is like Laura Dean -- ballet and modern dance don’t always track together historically, but this piece fits right into its time slot! And yet there seemed to be historical references too (though probably not intentional) The entrance of the men in the third section, in those long curving thumpy running phrases, looks so much like early modern dance -- a freeze frame of them with the front leg stretched our and the foot flexed hard is almost a dead ringer for Graham’s Primitive Mysteries. As they are joined by more men and the group really coalesces, it feels like a scene from Rite of Spring, and then when the women come out with that little limping step we’ve shifted a few years earlier in the Ballet Russe rep to the entrance of the princesses in Firebird. The white curtains and pale blue grid upstage were really vivid when the curtains opened, and a great contrast to the dark, dark, dark of the first three works. Several people in the Q/A (including Peter Boal) remarked on the rather dated color palate for the costumes (Olivia Newton John’s name was raised), but I think that we’re just in that awkward place where something is old enough to be dated, but not old enough to be period. In a few more years, this won’t be a problem. Everyone always looks fresh and rested in the first rep of the season. Maria Chapman is back, after almost a year of surgery and rehab, and she looked great in “Petite Mort” and “Glass Pieces.” Jeff Stanton was dancing in all but “Sechs Tänze,” and Chapman mentioned him particularly when she was talking about how grateful she was to her partners during this return. And Laura Gilbreath, who really started to soar at the end of last season, took up exactly where she left off and had a fabulous performance in the duet in Glass Pieces -- she and Karel Cruz looked like Egyptian gods in the oblique poses.

Oh dear, really? I'll be nicer to my copy...

This is fabulous -- thank you so much for the link! While I like to write, Punctuation is a drag. That’s for editors. I am still giggling.

This is just wonderful. She is so animated and he looks so young!

That is indeed a change!