sandik

Is this a cut down version of the film that toured the art house circuit last year here? This is a triple bill with Sacre, Firebird and Noces, and I can't see why they would cut Noces, but I'm not an objective judge... If it is indeed from the same film, I can't say this is my favorite performance of the Hodson reconstruction (not to mention the overhead camera angles!) But Sacre is hard enough to find without quibbling.

Oh this is lovely news -- I wish her all kinds of success!

This is excellent news -- thanks so much for posting the link!

I'm sad as well.

Oh, Helene, thank you so much for doing all the heavy lifting with the website. Now I just have to break it to my family that I won't be around much next weekend.

I enjoyed reading this back a year or two ago. Since then I've ready Nancy Barr's Backstage with Julia which was very interesting. But most recently I read the rather plain A Life by Laura Shapiro. The book had very little material that hadn't been published elsewhere EXCEPT for revealing Child's very strong, open , vocal, homophobia.This was ironic, her father was a good old fashioned bigot; blacks, Jews, women, etc and Julia struggled endlessly with him to try to get him to adapt a more diverse outlook. But Julia was perfectly willing to snicker over the "pedalinos" who seemed to be everywhere to her and whose presence she resented and ridiculed. Not the only icon with feet of clay, unfortunately..... I'm not sure I'd describe this as plain so much as concise -- my understanding is that the Penguin Lives series is designed as a kind of introductory biography rather than a definitive version. The author, Laura Shapiro, was a dance critic for many years (yes, it's a tiny world) and later, after her attention shifted to food writing, was a columnist for Gourmet. She reviewed the Julie/Julia film last year, before the magazine went out of business, and I think her comment on the balancing of technique and passion applies to dance as well as cooking. "When Julia went to the Cordon Bleu and learned how to cook—by hand, without fancy equipment, from the ground up—she was also learning that passion and appetite weren’t enough. She needed technique, confidence, patience, and a host of finicky skills that only came with practicing."

Well, it's not the PNB production (they've got a peacock carried onstage in a golden cage rather than the more conventional danse du ventre). I think the tigers in the background really resemble the Cheetos Cheese Puffs advertising mascot, Chester Cheetah here, but I've no idea if that's intentional or a coincidence.

I don't mean to read too much into this image, but my first impression is that Ross is "doing" the pose while Streisand is watching it, looking at him and at herself. I get a much bigger kinetic hit from him than from her. What a treat!

I don't know that Bill T's is a "favorite" company so much as it is a solvent one. It's been awhile since I followed the presenting schedule at DTW (I don't think Jones' company performs there anymore when they're in NYC, no?) but in my time the artists who called that theater home were never better situated financially than the venue. It's disquieting to realize that DTW has a level of debt they can't handle right now. Aside from their place in the NYC dance world, which is significant. they are the locus for a substantial national touring system and the "mother ship" for a whole group of presenters around the country.

This does sound thrilling -- could you do us a big favor and find the link for tickets...?

I don't mind the statements per se, so much as I do the repetition. One or tow heartfelt "I thought your performance was really terrific" is fine -- the fifth or sixth reiteration can be a bit much.

I'm fond of both the stage and the filmed version, but have a very soft spot in my heart for the opening sequences of the film, where we see the Glenn Close hcaracter literally sewed into her clothing. I used to show this to dance history students when we were covering Renaissance and Baroque dance -- a generation who is used to lycra and spandex can have trouble making the connection between the upright nature of the dancing and the tight-fitting clothing that went with it.

I'm very grateful to the editors I've had, even (on a good day!) the ones that I've had big fights with about coverage and point of view, because almost all of them have found some really dreadful gaff that I was about to commit in print, and either made me change it, or claim it as my own work. Having said that, though, I think the current trend towards self-publication and unmediated writing has affected how we read everything, closely edited work all the way to tweets and instant messages. We are trading some of the more considered phrase-making for the zest of immediacy.

I love that moment from Biches -- thanks so much for posting this here.

The press release came out today. I'll paste below, but do notice that the Conversations program on April 11 (Carrie Imler and Jonathan Porretta guests) is at the Sorrento Hotel, since Elliot Bay Books won't be finished with its move by then. And Francia Russell is speaking at the pre-dress rehearsal lecture. Pacific Northwest Ballet presents April 15-25, 2010 Marion Oliver McCaw Hall 321 Mercer Street, Seattle Center Seattle, WA 98109 April 15-17 at 7:30 pm April 17 at 2:00 pm April 22-24 at 7:30 pm April 25 at 1:00 pm SEATTLE, WA – Pacific Northwest Ballet pays tribute to the greatest choreographer of the 20th century and its own artistic heritage with ALL BALANCHINE, an homage to the man who revolutionized an art form in ways that have changed it forever. The three works on this season’s ALL BALANCHINE program—Serenade, Square Dance, and The Four Temperaments—exemplify the incredible range of George Balanchine’s work. ALL BALANCHINE runs April 15-25 at Seattle Center’s Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Tickets to ALL BALANCHINE start at $25 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. In conjunction with ALL BALANCHINE, PNB Education Programs Manager Doug Fullington will be giving a special presentation of Balanchine’s Petipa. The presentation’s lecture-demonstration format will feature performances by PNB company members and discussion of dances by both Marius Petipa (1818-1910) and George Balanchine (1904-1983), and the influence of Petipa and his colleagues at the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg on Balanchine’s choreography. The program’s Balanchine excerpts have been staged by Peter Boal, Elyse Borne, Frederic Franklin, and Francia Russell. The 19th-century dances have been reconstructed by Mr. Fullington using notations made in St. Petersburg in the Stepanov notation method at the turn of the 20th century. Balanchine’s Petipa will be presented one time only on Tuesday, May 11 at 6:00 pm. After its Seattle presentation, Balanchine’s Petipa will be presented in New York City on May 14 and 15 as part of the Guggenheim Museum’s popular Works and Process Series. See “Special Events & Offers,” below, for ticket information. The line-up for ALL BALANCHINE will include: Serenade Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Serenade in C for string orchestra, Op. 48, 1880) Choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust Staging: Francia Russell Costume Design: Karinska Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli Premiere: June 10, 1934, School of American Ballet Pacific Northwest Ballet Premiere: September 29, 1978 Running time: 35 minutes Originally choreographed in 1934 for his students at the newly-founded School of American Ballet, Serenade is a milestone in the history of dance as the first original ballet Balanchine created in America. Originating as a lesson in stage technique, Balanchine worked unexpected rehearsal events into the choreography. When one student fell, he incorporated it. Another day, a student arrived late, and this too became part of the ballet. The ballet is performed by 26 dancers in blue costumes in front of a blue background. An ideal manifestation of Tchaikovsky’s soaring score, its transcendent purity endures and renews itself as a primary testament to the choreographer’s genius. Square Dance Music: Antonio Vivaldi (L’estro Armonica, Op. 3, No. 10, RV 580 and No. 12, RV 265) and Arcangelo Corelli (Sarabanda, Badinerie e Giga, i.e., Sonatas for Violin and Continuo, Op. 5, No. 9 [Giga] and No. 11 [Gavotta]) Choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust Staging: Peter Boal Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli Premiere: November 21, 1957, New York City Ballet (Revised May 20, 1976) Pacific Northwest Ballet Premiere: March 5, 1981 (Restaged September 20, 2007) Running time: 25 minutes Square Dance is a buoyant and intricate work that combines classical ballet with the patterns of 17th-century court dance, and American folk dance. In the original 1957 production, the musicians were on stage and a square dance caller was brought in to call out the steps. Balanchine revived Square Dance in 1976, dispensing with the caller, putting the orchestra in the pit, and adding a celebrated solo for the principal male dancer. The Four Temperaments Music: Paul Hindemith (Theme with Four Variations [According to the Four Temperaments] for string orchestra and piano, 1940) Choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust Staging: Francia Russell Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli Premiere: November 20, 1946, Ballet Society (New York) Pacific Northwest Ballet Premiere: February 23, 1978 Running time: 33 minutes The Four Temperaments, a quintessential “black and white” Balanchine ballet, is an early experiment in spare abstraction based on the medieval belief that human beings are made up of four different humors that determine a person’s temperament. In a series of plotless variations executed by dancers in practice clothes on a bare stage, Balanchine fused classical steps with a lean and angular style, and proclaimed a new era in ballet with some of the most uniquely evocative images ever created. The Four Temperaments was recognized immediately as a work without precedent in choreographic history. It is Balanchine's first—and phenomenally powerful—announcement of the spare, dislocated classicism that he would employ throughout his career in works such as Agon, Episodes, and Stravinsky Violin Concerto and that would have such a profound influence on the emerging American style. TICKET INFORMATION: Tickets (ranging from $25 to $160) may be purchased through the PNB Box Office: By phone, 206.441.2424 (Mon.-Fri. 9am–6pm; Sat. 10am–5pm) In person at 301 Mercer Street, Seattle (Mon.-Fri. 10am–6pm; Sat. 10am–5pm) Online 24/7 at www.pnb.org Tickets are also available 90 minutes prior to each performance (subject to availability) at McCaw Hall, located at 321 Mercer Street. Discounted rush tickets for senior citizens and students (with valid ID) may be purchased 90 minutes prior to showtime. CONVERSATIONS WITH PNB — FREE Sunday, April 11, 2:00 pm SPECIAL LOCATION: Sorrento Hotel, 900 Madison Street, Seattle* PNB's Sunday afternoon series features an hour-long discussion about ALL BALANCHINE with principal dancers Carrie Imler and Jonathan Porretta in the elegant atmosphere of the Sorrento Hotel’s Penthouse Suite. All Conversations with PNB are FREE of charge. *Special thanks to the Sorrento Hotel for hosting this event while Elliott Bay Book Company completes its move to Capitol Hill. BALLET PREVIEW — FREE Tuesday, April 13, 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 BALANCHINE, complete with video excerpts. FREE of charge. PNB LECTURE SERIES & DRESS REHEARSAL Wednesday, April 14, 2010 Lecture 6:00-6:50 pm, Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at McCaw Hall Dress Rehearsal 7:00-9:30 pm, McCaw Hall Join PNB Founding Artistic Director Francia Russell for an engaging conversation on George Balanchine during the hour preceding the dress rehearsal. 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 www.pnb.org or in person at 301 Mercer Street. LECTURE-DEMONSTRATION: Balanchine’s Petipa Tuesday, May 11, 6:00 pm The Phelps Center, 301 Mercer Street, Seattle Balanchine's Petipa explores the influence of the choreography of Marius Petipa and his colleagues at the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg on the choreography of George Balanchine. Excerpts performed by PNB company members include works from 19th-century ballets and Balanchine ballets. See this presentation in Seattle before it goes to New York as part of Works & Process at the Guggenheim Museum. Tickets are $20 and 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.

I ran across this "Street dance is also transforming theatre. In 2008, Kate Prince's Into the Hoods, an inspired mash-up of Stephen Sondheim and street dance, became the West End's longest-running (24 weeks) dance show, trouncing previous record-holder Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake;" here (an article on the mainstreaming of street dance in Britain) and wondered if anyone on the board has any knowledge of it.

I didn't see Susan Stroman's "Contact," but as an all-dance work that was presented in a mostly straight theater venue, I wonder if there was a similar disjunction in the reviews.

Whose Carmen does the company perform?

This is a big deal -- there's a wealth of material about Giselle in archives that is not really reflected in current productions. Let casting speculation begin!

That's such an interesting situation -- there's a presenter in Seattle that specializes in contemporary work (along the lines of DTW) who often runs their subscription renewal campaign without being able to tell people what they will be showing during the next season. Much of their audience is very loyal, and very trusting -- they can run a campaign for a season full of "TBA" and still do well.

This is highly likely, as I understand it.

Sorry if I'm nudging this thread off topic. Below is a link to a brief report on the Paris Opera Ballet School from today's news on TF1. http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-13h/exigence-et-ex...is-5783892.html Oh, don't fret -- I'm always interested in training stuff!

After a little bit of right hand/left hand confusion, there are tickets available on the website here

Interesting turn of conversation! One distinction that jumps up fast is the practice of training and certifying teachers. A big chunk of the RAD's work (and the ISTD as well) is training and certifying teachers in their curriculum, who then can go out and hang up their own shingle, claiming the relationship to the organization and its practices -- not just to the RB School. I don't know nearly enough about teaching in France to know if there's a similar practice. While I know many teachers who are proud to include experience at SAB on their resume, they are not "certified" to teach a specific curriculum outside that institution. Under Francia Russell, and now continuing under Peter Boal, Pacific Northwest Ballet School worked hard to develop a curriculum that starts with pre-ballet and continues up into the professional level classes. I know there's a certain amount of flexibility for individual teachers on daily issues, but they have a consistent and detailed path to follow. They offer courses for teachers in the summers, but don't imply that people who've taken them are in any way certified or official, though -- it's not at that point.

It sounds like they don't need someone who writes standard English better, but someone who actually understands what they're writing about. I get all kinds of cringe-worthy press releases, but that one is pretty special!