Jayne

I'm excited about the Peck, feeling "meh" about Cerrudo as I felt his other work at PNB was totally forgettable. But hopefully I will be proven wrong on the second sentiment!

Gosh I tried to read the thread to get a handle on the ticket policies, and I still can't make heads of tales of it. To give you some perspective, Seattle Opera leaves a note on my seat before each performance, once the box office manager even came up to me and introduced himself, thanked me for subscribing and gave me a voucher for a free wine or dessert at the lobby counter. I've always been pleased when exchanging tickets with both Seattle Opera and PNB.

Given how well the PAB Don Q was reviewed, maybe it's less time / hassle / expense to take the train to Philly to see PAB than bother with ABT? At least you'll have well rehearsed dancers who are exciting to watch?

I don't know if early ballets remain in my memory, I was watching things I didn't understand and feeling like they were old fashioned and uncool. Liked Nut as a kid, got sick of it as a 20-something.

Later, I gave up feeling like I needed to be "cool" and so here are 5 pieces that made me sit up, riveted and watching intensely:

La Valse (especially Louise Nadeau)

Symphony in C (again Louise Nadeau)

Petite Mort (I could watch it every day for the rest of my life)

That's Life from 9 Sinatra Songs (Kauri Nakamura and Seth Belliston) best fight scene in ballet, better than R&J

Friar Lawrence's scenes from the Malliot RetJ (specifically performed by Olivier Wevers)

When Maya Pliesetskaya died, I posted a full video of her dancing the Bejart Carmen on my FB feed, and it received the most passionate, excited commentary from my non-dancer friends in 8 years of facebook. Just blew them away.

Boooo!!! Boooo!!!! I think the loss of Denis Nahat really was the start of spiralling the drain. On the other hand, the Associate AD position at ABT will come open very soon, could Carreno move back to NYC?

The new choreo festival looks really interesting. I wish Ballet West would build on the Ashton Cinderella and bring in more Ashton. La Fille and Sylvia on the west coast would be splendourific!

...It was like being trapped in a glitzy political re-education camp for three-plus hours, only none of us sitting through it at home got any $250,000 goody bags. Diversity, the evils of slavery, digs at unnamed presidential candidates alleged to be too chummy with Wall Street, diversity, sexual assault victims, diversity, climate change, and the veep showed up to give a heartfelt if rather confused exhortation to “Take the pledge!” There’s always a little bit of this at the Academy Awards and it isn’t always bad, but this was sort of stupefying. The star wattage was also low, whether due to the boycott or other reasons.

I nominate dirac for the BalletAlert Academy's commentary of the year, in the non-ballet category for acerbic wit.

If dirac wins, will the bottom screen scroll be used to thank people?

Well, Gnossie, artistic tastes are a bit like gelato flavors - we all have our personal favorites, and there is no use arguing over it. Sarafanov is very much needed at ABT to fill some of the Hallberg TBA slots, so maybe you will get your wish after all?

It seems that what Italy really needs is a billionaire (or two) to bankroll Hilaire to start a new company - or shore up a faltering company - that develops Italian talent over the long term, and gives them lots of performance opportunities.

I think the Queensland Ballet was very smart (or rather, the AD Li Cunxin) to add MacMillan's Romeo & Juliet and only brought in guest artists to partner with company principals.

Oh yes, I adore Mark Rylance. An Actor's Actor, who speaks with fresh clarity for the everyman audience member. Al Pacino said:

Mark Rylance makes the Bard sound as if Shakespeare had written the words for him (Rylance) the night before.

If any of you recall the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, Kenneth Branagh kicked things off with a wonderful quote from The Tempest. Originally Mark Rylance was also supposed to participate with some Shakespeare, but his stepdaughter committed suicide shortly before the Games began, and he was too heartbroken to participate. To see a variety of his skills:

A Heroic Welsh King

Henry V Saint Crispin's Day Speech

A Slow Witted American Straight Man

Boeing Boeing on Broadway

And Trailer Park English Trash

Jerusalem

She'd probably get a kick out these comments. It's as if she's the Lilac Fairy in the second world

I'd program more more and more full-length classicals and serious contemporary pieces, this means NO experiments. It's time to be serious!

...if there are only 12 performances of Don Quichotte and 8 of them are performed by guest dancers.... how could anyone ever improve?

....no one goes to la Scala to watch a home dancer, people go to La scala to catch a star from abroad, oh my, time passes and it does not get better....

Fascinating. The lack of promotion of local stars is the same problem that ABT has.

I am not so familiar with La Scala's rep, just that they have a lot of Nuriyev and have been adding the Ratmansky Full Length stories. I know they have performed the Balanchine Midsummer int he past. What types of full-lengths should La Scala add to its current rep? What additional serious contemporary pieces?

Maybe the Burlaka / Medvedev production will get shipped to Moscow?

A day late, but I will read some of her old posts again, tonight, in her memory.

I thought Salenko was brought in as a good height match for Stephen McRae? Is she a big ticket seller? I don't think of her on the same "star" scale as some of the other invited guests.

It's a shame that RB no longer has a touring company, which is the perfect place to develop soloists.

well, I wish I could program a "remind me" for BalletAlert and I could tell you next year at this time, because Pacific Northwest Ballet will perform the Malliot version.

Gnossie, what would you program for La Scala, if you were hired as Artistic Director? Isn't part of the problem the lack of time slots provided by the Opera House? It is so dominated by Opera that there is minimal time for Ballet. Maybe La Scala's ballet needs a 2nd house to perform more often???

PNB at Segerstrom would be a good fit logistically. No passport issues, straight shot on I-5 southbound for sets, and sets that fit a large stage. They should bring Coppelia!

I know it is hard to present it in its original bad-Muslim-guy/good-Christian-couple, but the tale simply looses much of its appeal without all of that.

Goodness! In this day and time, Raymonda seems like an excellent allegory to the awfulness of ISIS/Daesh. It doesn't have to present all Muslims in a bad light, but can (in the correct staging) show the seductive bait-and-switch of extremist religious beliefs.

My memory is fuzzy, but I believe PNB went through this with the Stowells as ADs. The board chose to separate the AD and ED role into equally reporting to the board. I believe many companies are organized this way. The push-pull between the artistic goals and financial realities often result in clashes. What a shame for Sarasota Ballet.

I suppose to put it in perspective, imagine if Aurelie DuPont was hired to run NYCB and she introduced all sorts of Petit, Lacotte, and other POB repertoire, but stopped all but a few Balanchine and Robbins works. There would be a revolt at NYCB for sure!

From your keyboard to God's ears! The defile was terrible this year with Wagner instead of Berlioz!!

When I heard Millipied was leaving, my first thought was "it must have been the Wagner defile!"

Also, burn out is a real thing! I remember when Ian Thorpe stopped swimming and there was a weird resentment in the Australian Media. As an American reading about it at the time I thought "Australia doesn't own him, if he's psychologically done, that can't be changed". But Aussies are weird about their athletes. Sometimes the fire burns hot, but it also burns out.

A lot of good stuff on in that programming!

Square Dance this spring as the prep work for Ballo next fall??? Yum!

oops, I will correct . I listed the name in roster correctly, but not in the text.

I wish ballet companies would list an "injured reserve" roster, just so we as balletomanes know that ADs are not holding back capable dancers. I realize there are healthcare privacy issues, but with a dancer's permission, some basic information would be useful.

Post Script: In his review earlier in this thread, Bored_On_Wall_Street asked “Why bother?” in reference to the change from Stowell/Sendak to Balanchine/Falconer. For the audience, I think this production helps them hear the Tchaikovsky music with fresh perspective. It is also good for the dancers (especially the PNB School dancers who have never danced the Balanchine version before) because it gives them different steps to dance after so many years of the Stowell steps. Certainly the corps looked enthusiastic, crisp, and energetic in fresh-to-them steps.

From what I understand the Stowell/Sendak version has been steadily declining in attendance for a number of years. The “same old-same old” version was trying to compete against ever-new Christmas time Broadway style shows and concerts. So this new production is good for PNB box office in December. Many people who have emigrated or immigrated to Seattle grew up on the Alexandre Dumas book, and could not accept the ETA Hoffman version portrayed in the Stowell/Sendak production. They did not buy tickets as a result, but I think the “refusniks” will now give this version a try.

Part of the problem for me as an adult viewer (without children in tow) is that I don’t think the Alexandre Dumas book is a strong story for adults or teenagers to watch. Balanchine created this version for baby-boomer children of the mid 1950’s, who were spoon-fed Walt Disney movies and TV specials. The cultural world of Christmas has changed, and for Gen-Xers and younger adults, we’ve grown up on cartoons with hidden adult humor, cinema like “Bad Santa” and “Scrooged”, books like “Santaland Diaries” and the holiday snark of the Cartoon Network. I kept waiting for someone to spike the punch in this version. Will families keep going when their kids are tweens and teenagers? This war horse works gangbusters for NYCB, so perhaps my doubts are for nothing.

I’m not sure I want to see the same Balanchine Nut year after year. I might go every 5^th year, and in other years see other stage productions (Scrooge, Seattle Men’s Chorus, etc). There is a risk if more companies acquire the Balanchine Nut that will begin to feel as homogenized as visiting strip mall stores.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I will reiterate that what would bring me back every year to the PNB December box office would be more variety. A week of “Jewels” from Boxing Day to New Years. Alternate that post-holiday palette cleanser with an “All Waltz program” to include “Vienna Waltzes”. Or a jazz-oriented program to include some Twyla Tharp, Robbins, Stroman and Ailey.

Perhaps altering the existing Nuts would bring me back – odd numbered years for the Balanchine and even numbered years for the Stowell version. I’m sure there would be logistical issues to work out. But in the 21^st century continues, audiences will have more options (and probably more Star Wars movies) to tempt them in December. PNB will have to respond with more artistic options for the audience as well. This new Nut should be the beginning of a series of palette cleansers, not the only answer.