Jayne

Santiago now has online booking and was the easiest venue of all; I selected a great seat for the opening of their late-August mixed bill.

I found the Teatro Muncipal staff to be very helpful, even considering my low ability in Spanish (after just 8 weeks of lessons). The building was midway through a renovation, but it should be finished by now. The interior is very beautiful and I thought the orchestra sounded strong (it was Verdi, really, you can't go wrong with Verdi even if you have an obstructed view).

It's popular in Chile to deride the government, but honestly I saw a lot of public money being put to good use - modern high ways, bus systems, subways, etc.

One "only in Chile" detail: People line up single file for the buses! Everywhere else is the bus entry is a giant mob cluster. I didn't get it, but I found it so polite, organized, and boarding was so efficient.

Food wise - Chilean traditional food is hearty, but I found myself missing spices very, very much (I'm spoiled living on the American west coast with lots of immigrant varieties in spicy food). Argentina may have crumbling architecture, but thankfully they have Italian heritage and make wonderful dishes with some spice!

If you don't mind the drive, go see Sarasota Ballet! They specialize in the Ashton / Royal Ballet style (very different than Balanchine of MCB) and also do some full lengths. Also, since you're moving to Miami at a time when relations are opening up with Cuba - why not go see ballet in Cuba? A ferry service should be available soon, and flights as well.

I was in BSAS in the autumn of 2010. Teatro Colon was experiencing many strikes from workers (which drove me nuts) so while I bought many tickets to see things, I never actually was able to go inside the Teatro Colon (I had tickets to a Balanchine night with NYCB guest stars, argh!). The theatre scene is strong in BSAS, so I was able to see many, many plays and musicals. I even saw "Chicago" in Argentine Spanish and they did a wonderful performance!

I was also able to take a bus from a hotel in BSAS out to LA Plata to see some opera at Teatro Argentino de la Plata. Argentina also has some great jazz music, besides the obvious tango music. Things may be very different now, with the currency controls. I recommend bringing lots of dollars for exchange and asking your hotel to help you find a reputable money changer. Do not under any circumstance use the official central bank rate! Only use official "radio" taxis or you might find yourself with a "broke down" taxi in a bad part of town, at night. The private taxi driver then offers a "friend" to take you into town for a low fee of $100 USD....or more. Pick pockets are very talented in BSAS, a few friends were also robbed in the subte in Santiago. I recommend keeping some "temptation" money in an obvious pocket, always keep your pocketbook in front of you with an arm over it, and the real money / cards in an interior pocket of your jacket. (I kept them in my bra, but I am well endowed and can carry it off, most Argentine female clerks thought this was fantastic and congratulated me at shops).

When I was in Chile, I did attend Verdi's "MacBeth" at Teatro Muncipal de Santiago. It was an avant garde set, and the audience booed heavily at the end, but cheered the singers and orchestra. Later I spoke to someone who told me that Santiago audiences are very well educated in opera, they really know their stuff but they are very traditional about sets and costumes. Neon lighted sets, leatherMatrix outfits and mohawk wigs are not to their taste. Also I sat in the very cheap seats in the top tier, and there are definitely view-obstructed seats in that opera house. So be sure to ask at the box office if you can see the full stage. Chile was expensive for me in 2010 as an American, Argentina was very cheap in comparison. Copper fuels the Chilean economy!

I think ABT needs to stop the international touring for the next 5 years and instead tour in smaller US cities, to allow the soloists (and home grown principals) to have more performances. With more coaching and seasoning, they will be ready for the MET's demands. But right now the focus is on touring to Japan, Australia, etc.

They'd be better served by a 2 month residency in Anchorage in the fall and really develop their own dancers.

If this were a Trockadero production (oh, if only!), the Prince might have arrived at the castle covered in brambles, overwhelmed by bug bites and with a torn sleeve or two.....AND they probably would have made the Queen's hair-do even taller still!

I imagine they'd have the Lilac Fairy (deliberately) trip over her dress getting into the boat, and then have both Lilac Fairy and Prince Desiree capsize, argue in the water, and show up bedraggled at the shore of the castle forest. Maybe run through some cobwebs and freak out as well. The Trocks can even use the old ABT sets and costumes from the Kirland/Chernov production. Re-name it "Snoring Beauty". (We should get book credit for their next season SB )

$6 million.

Well consider where the production was made; Italy for the sets and NYC for the costumes. The Euro makes the price tag high for sets, and the locations both have expensive labor and cost of living (not making a political statement, just noting the reality). If the sets and costumes were made in Argentina, where the dollar is very strong, then the production would probably be significantly lower.

without the Ratmansky SB, ABT would still be dancing the Kirkland SB. Pick your poison!

Yesterday I looked at the public facebook page for John Clifford. He has some *wonderful* snippets of ballets on there, incisive commentary....and some biting remarks about Peter Martins. Here is an example from May 20 2015 discussing SAB:

It's his interpretation of Balanchine....which scares me too as he rarely took his (Mr Balanchine's) class and when he did he hated them and made fun of them. Peter was a great turner...but Balanchine only allowed two pirouettes in class. That really frustrated Peter.

also, the breakneck schedule of the rep - back to back ballets changing every week, sometimes three per week. This is quite different than PNB which has up to 2 months between each rep. Here is the Met spring season:

Week 1: Mixed Rep A (Les Sylphides / Pillar of Fire / Fancy Free)

Mixed Rep B (Theme & Variations / Jardin aux Lilies / Rodeo)

Week 2: Gala (wide variety)

Othello

Giselle

Week 3: Giselle

Sleeping Beauty

Week 4: La Bayadere

Week 5: Sleeping Beauty

Week 6: Romeo & Juliet

Week 7: Swan Lake

Week 8: Cinderella

Honestly, that's the schedule that most companies perform over a 9 month season - not over 8 weeks!

also, the time of the year. Summer in DC is when everyone is gone - fundraising in the Hamptons, etc. Many leave just to avoid the sweltering weather.

Also, the primas from RB have done it

Is the problem really Kevin McKenzie? Is he imposing this "glass ceiling" on ballerinas? Or, is the glass ceiling imposed by the audience? Which shows sell out? The ones with specific stars (nearly always Russian) and more recently the shows with the self promoting soloist (Misty Copeland). Maybe the real problem is the lack of effective marketing at ABT to "sell" American ballerinas to the audience?

NYC is a strange place, full of immigrants from other lands, who will (sometimes) support their own tribe at the ballet. But are the Russians (and Ukranians) supporting Veronika Part, even though she was a soloist at Mariinsky? Are the Phillipinos supporting Stella Abrera in droves? There is something to the box office and "star" part of the business and we need to examine it further.

Yesterday I went to the Pinoy Cultural festival in Seattle before attending the PNB Season Encore. There are many Phillipino immigrants living in the Seattle area. I hope Ballet Phillipines finds a way to come to Seattle some day, as I think they would be very well received.

I was there! Dirty Goods is Cleanly bad. It should be shelved. I enjoyed The Calling. I hope Maria Chapman gets a shot at it in the Fall season, I think she'd be great. The Vertiguous Forsythe piece read well from the 2nd tier. Looks like it's as much fun to dance as it is to watch. Rassemblement works better as a full piece, but I still feel a little strange about the cultural expropriation of Haitian slave music danced by a whiter-than-white female cast member. I felt like DTOH or Ailey should be dancing this, not PNB.

Emeralds was nicely danced, but the choreography isn't aging well into the 21st century. Coming after Forsythe it reads very staid and boring. But the dancers were nice. I enjoyed Rubies and I think IvyPink indeed *is* the only human being on this planet of 7 billion+ who does not enjoy Rubies. I think it's fabulous. Diamonds was mesmerizing, but I've gotten used to mesmerizing from Carla Korbes. Serenade was lovely, but *especially* lovely was La Imler playing the Russian role. It was almost her way of saying "I love Carla and I'm so sad she's leaving, but I'm still here, and I'm still going to leave it all on the stage every single chance Peter puts me out there!" I'm still a bit peeved that she didn't get an O-O this past April, even though I adored Korbes when I saw her.

I thought the Serenade lighting was too bright, Serenade looks better with more shade and variation to establish the mystery of the music, and the ideas of mortality.

I sat next to some foreign exchange students from China and Colombia who are studying for dance minors at the University of Washington. They were planning to write essays on the performance for their professors. They adored Carla (first up for Standing O's after her performances), perplexed by some of the contemporary stuff, and amazed at the length of the final ovations & bows for Carla. The Chinese student told me he saw the ABT Nut two years ago in NYC, which sparked his interest in ballet. He liked the Ratmansky Chinese divertissement, and did not think it was derivative of his culture, he just thought it was cute. He also liked the PNB Ratmansky Don Q more than the tragedies of ballet (Swan Lake, R&J, etc). The high energy, flourish and most importantly - athleticism - of the dancing is what hooked him.

So never fear, balletomanes! New generations of ballet are forming even as we speak.

The costumes do make everyone's legs so much stumpier though! :-)

Based on the amount of hyper fast petite allegro that dancers performed in that era - I think it makes sense that they had thicker lower legs. The quick and constant changes would have developed the muscles in the legs in a different way than we see today with some of the string beans who are wonderful at stretched out adagio choreography.

Think of it as the physiological difference between a 200m sprinter and a 10,000m distance racer.

I'm a huge Kiyon Gaines fan (apparently it's a big club) and did some jumpy claps when he was promoted. What a shame that his injuries prevent him from continuing as a dancer. I certainly look forward to seeing "Sum Stravinsky" again in the fall season, and hope that he'll do further commissions for PNB.

Angel is still, so far, unproven. Damian, while showing much expertise and smarts with his Festival has no history with ABT. I think he would be a better fit at NYCB should MArtins ever retire. I would give a nod to Helgi Thomasson. While he is sort of Balanchine oriented, he has a good sensibility about both the classics and the newer modern choreographers. He's done a wonderful job at SFB. He's also very involved with the school at SFB, which I think is key. (as is Martins at SAB). JKO seems not to have that same connection and it's current teaching standards are not all that wonderful. And getting Helgi away from SFO would be near impossible. Why would he want to be in this Lion's Den when he can be in the City By The Bay?

To be fair, McKenzie had less AD experience than Angel Corella when he took over ABT. Helgi Tomasson is already in his 70's and ABT will need someone a little younger (age discrimination? Yes, but I'm being realistic). Mr Tomasson also has no history with ABT.

If Angel Corella is successful at Pennsylvania Ballet, then I think he will be a contender at ABT. He tried very hard to create a company in Spain, without government support that is normal in Europe. He also did not have the tax deductible donation option that we take for granted in the US. The nosedive in the Spanish economy did him no favors and was beyond his control. So far he has shown excellent taste in dance choices for PAB, and for the sake of that company, I wish him boundless success.

I'm happy that New Yorkers will get to see Emergence! Sad to lose Kiyon Gaines (he was very strong in Emergence, BTW). But injuries are a risk to careers of all dancers, and I'm glad he's staying in the arts. I'd like to see PNB take "A Million Little Kisses" and Kiyon Gaines' "Sum Stravinsky" and "Waiting at the Station" to NYC as well. (that final one has a set that may not travel well).

Any official word of where the other dancers are going?

Shocked that no understudy was prepared. With 1 day's notice, they could have flown in an MCB dancer, who performed Raymonda Variations just a few weeks ago, with plenty of preparation.

Victor Lebedev is the principal in a consider number of June performances. I hope his back is not too sore!

ABT has such a raggedy, under rehearsed corp.

Maybe due to their breakneck spring schedule? How many other companies perform that many full lengths in successive weeks with similar numbers in the corps?

So I ran a search tonight, and found Miko Fogarty's official blog with an entry dated 07 April 2015:

I am so happy to finally announce that I will be joining the Birmingham Royal Ballet next season as an artist! Can't wait for my new life in the UK!

Congratulations to Ms Fogarty! ("artist" = corps position at BRB)

Teachers get fired for behavior outside of the classroom, as do military members, and many others. I think it's a tough thing to defend as an attorney. I see companies becoming more and more sensitive to this issue in the future. Modern technology should make us all behave better in public, but unfortunately people still drink alcohol and do stupid things.

If a NYCB dancer made hateful comments towards Jews, similar to what John Galliano said (and caught on camera), I think the dancer would be terminated. Especially in NYC.

Au contraire, some ADs seem to go out of their way to oppose The IBM!

Well I'm happy to see some french words enter the conversation! Ms Copeland lives in 21st century capitalist dance world. If she can snag herself well paying guest star roles at other theatres, then how is she any different from any other dancer who includes Russian / Cuban / Native American / whatever heritage in the promotion?

This topic seems overblown. It's easy to depart internet pages that expound on Ms Copeland. ABT publishes cast lists long in advance so it is easy to avoid her performances. She's not everyone's cup of tea, but neither was Natalia Makarova.