Leigh Witchel

She has her own website, which unfortunately has not been updated.

Just noticed it myself. As usual, the companies are literally and figuratively all over the map. I think I may just try to go to everything this year.

Whetherwax - get David Vaughan's "The Ballets of Frederick Ashton." It is not a biography, but a catalog of the works that goes into significant detail about their making. If that's what you're after, there's no better source.

Tom Jones was total hell for the first half, but there came a point when you felt like you were over the hump and coasting downhill. (Oh my. This is almost 30 years ago . . .) I had a few books I out and out refused to read, almost all from the same period. Clarissa and Pamela top that list. It took me about 10 attempts to get past the first chapter of Silas Marner. I actually gave up on Middlemarch in complete exhaustion 50 pages before the end.

For a great parody of ballet from a ballet choreographer, look at the "Mistake Waltz" from Jerome Robbins' The Concert. It's like "Airplane"; the same jokes you know are coming a mile off - and you laugh every time. For dancers, the "There but for the grace of God. . ." aspect of the mistakes within the choreography is quite potent.

Oooh! I don't know the lower rank artists as well, but given the performances I saw these all make sense. Polunin's leapfrogging ranks isn't a surprise (neither is Choe's - both are doing major roles all the time) Cuthbertson, Pennefather and McRae were pretty obviously up for promotions. Kay has been doing his share of pyrotechnic roles for a while, and McCulloch's gotten some plum opportunities including Lilac Fairy. Gillian Revie was a magnificent Carabosse, the company is right to groom her as a character artist. We saw James Hay at Proteges in Washington - he did a very elegant job in the solo in Bintley's Galanteries. Congratulations to all!

[Moderator Beanie on] OK Folks, this is getting pretty heated and also not particularly moving forward. It looks like each side has stated their views on Macaulay pretty thoroughly. If we continue this discussion, please refrain from ad hominem comments and have something different to say than what's been hashed out already. If it makes you feel better, there will be a charity jello wrestling match - Peter Martins and Kevin McKenzie will be going head to head with Bob Gottlieb and Macaulay. James Wolcott will be refereeing with Veronika Part as Vanna White allowing the participants to buy a vowel or a Cyrillic consonant. Tickets go on sale sometime after Labor Day. The house is predicted to be sold out. [Moderator Beanie off]

A gentle reminder that the time travel machine is for other threads. Pick current dancers please!

I don't think that schedule indicates a lack of interest. It's pretty much what most smaller non-Balanchine companies with only a few yearly seasons do when they acquire a Balanchine ballet.

You pick. You're the impresario. But you have to cover their expenses and preferably not wind up bankrupt. No boys in drag in this version either. That's for another thread ("Boys we most want to see in the girls' parts . . .") and I think we should wait until August is officially on us for that one. Biological females only.

It's summer, so we get to muse on stuff like this. If you were Benjamin Lumley and could assemble four ballet divas of today together for a gala divertissement, who would they be? Do it your way - it doesn't have to stick to the Taglioni/Cerrito/Grahn/Grisi archetypes. Try to use currently dancing ballerinas for the heck of it. We can do a time-traveling pas de quatre in another thread. I'm putting Bouder and Osipova in mine. I haven't decided on the other two ladies. Maybe I'll just throw a knife onstage and have the two of them duke it out Who are in yours? If you'd like to score or choreograph it, go ahead.

I've seen Kudelka's Firebird. Take the Fokine. If there's one thing Kudelka is impenetrable about, it's narrative. Worse, he doesn't seem to realize this.

Marc - how much of the company was hired by Bennetts - or is she working by and large with Denvers' dancers?

Having seen the dancers in mixed rep in Ghent (including Balanchine's Apollo) this May, I'd say the Forsythe flatters them in ways that Balanchine doesn't - it helps that they have coaching close to the source for Forsythe (not that Pat Neary is any slouch as a Balanchine stager) My review will be up in a day or so, but I was really impressed by Eugeniy Kolesnik.

Seeing it Saturday night - on duty for DVT.

To defend the POB boys a bit, I think Soir de Fete also was a more exposing ballet than was done by the other schools, and also more so than what was done when Hoffalt and Chaillet came to NYC several years ago. Not that they weren't very talented, they just weren't doing Staats or Lifar, which are choreographic obstacle courses. I'd give this year's crop another chance.

A second recommendation for the Hotel de 3 Gares. Clean, smallish rooms, comfortable - best price I have found for a moderate hotel near the Marais (where I prefer to be). However, do check your schedule, if you're going mostly to the Garnier, you may want to get something in its neighborhood, though I would still prefer the Marais. You can save 12% on the hotel by going through a shopping portal. Sign up at http://www.shopathome.com (if you wouldn't mind using me lwitchel@aol.com as your referrer I get $5. Woohoo.) Use booking.com to book the hotel. I love them as first stop booking engine for Europe. Their prices are as good or better than anyone else's, the reservations are cancellable without penalty (MAKE SURE TO DOUBLE CHECK THE TERMS AS YOU BOOK) and you get 12% back from shop at home 30 days after the stay. It helps. What I've done is made all reservations at booking.com and then some I've used and others I've beaten via Hotwire or Priceline, but for Paris, I'd rather stay in a more moderate hotel in a better location than a better hotel in a less interesting neighborhood. BE SURE to save your tracking number from shopathome.com (copy it on the screen before it flips over to booking.com, or there are three month's worth of them listed for you in your account information at shopathome) and also your confirmation email from booking.com. This rebate has never been credited automatically; I've always had to inquire, but then I would get it 7-10 days later. It's worth the small amount of trouble.

Dance Now is print only (and sadly will cease publication at the end of the year.) http://dancebooks.co.uk/

The schedule, at least for Antwerp, is on the Vlaamse Opera page - http://www.vlaamseopera.be/programme_ballet.orb I'm ambivalent about Forsythe but I happen to really admire Artifact Suite - and I don't know the differences between it and the full-length Artifact. The Suite is quite long in itself. Of the companies I've seen do Artifact Suite so far, I think San Francisco Ballet has made the best case for it. (Paris does Vertiginous better)

We've got the same program in Lincoln Center in July, so you'll be getting reports from us, if that helps!

Marc, are they doing the full Artifact from '84 or Artifact Suite (the distilled version from '04 for Scottish Ballet?) Is the calendar up on their site yet? The company is worth seeing (and the Vlaamse Oper is a trip), but far more than anything, the thing about Ghent that will probably stay with me for my entire life was sitting for an hour in front of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb and just looking at it from all angles. That is the real reason to go (besides Marc and Vivienne.) If you're seeing the company in NYC, look for Wim Vanlessen and Aki Saito.

Here's a really good discussion on the book - have a gander.

[Moderator Beanie on] A brief reminder to everyone to please familiarize yourself with Ballet Talk's posting guidelines. They're the links right up at the top of the forum. Discussion of injuries, like any other personnel question, is a dicey issue here; please be careful. We don't want something showing up here that is either incorrect or that concerned parties don't know about (ie, dancer X has hurt herself on a guesting gig, but hasn't told her company) Reports from published sources are welcome. Verbal reports from dancers, first or second hand are usually not kosher. We will make infrequent exceptions to this - if you are unsure, PM one of the moderators. [Moderator Beanie off]

There were actually a bunch of us there this weekend. I'm covering it for Ballet Review so my comments will be brief, but I'm afraid my recommendation is that Fiddle and the Drum is last, and if I hadn't been reviewing, and had known what it would have been like, I would have left. It may just be my friends, but I talked to five people afterwards and it was unanimous loathing. That said, plenty of people loved it. Also, the first three works by NBoC (the second detail, Etudes, Five Brahms Waltzes) are certainly worth seeing. Since I know Ballet Talkers were there (*cough*Paquita*cough*Saveta*cough*britomart*coughcoughcough*) I'm sure they'll have more to say. Yoohoo?

I'm covering it for DVT - it was a very special night, wasn't it? How about that tag-team Rubies? I had a feeling we might see Woetzel poke his nose in. I was able to figure out who most of the procession of ballerinas were. How nice to see Alexandra Ansanelli and Miranda Weese at the State Theater, even if only to present a hug and a bouquet. OK folks, we KNOW you were there. TALK! Reports, appreciations and general mash notes go here.