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melange

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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    Avid balletgoer
  • City**
    New York
  • State (US only)**, Country (Outside US only)**
    New York
  1. California, I found a link to a hopefully current pdf seating chart on the new website. When you go to the "Buy tickets" feature on a particular date, instead of clicking "Choose seats," click "Give me the best available seat." Once there, you will see at the top right, it says - faintly - "View Seating Chart." This opens the pdf seating chart. The reason I discovered this, you see, is that the "Choose seats" feature simply refused to load, so I was forced to go for the best available seats. I note that the repertory list is missing a number of works, including Prodigal Son, Opus 19 The Dreamer, The Four Temperaments and La Sonnambula (though Night Shadow is listed) and I presume that NYCB is working on more elaborate entries for some of the major pieces. The pronunciation guide on the old site is gone and should be put back in the education section. I like the look of the new site, though, and I think once NYCB works out the bugs and gets more information uploaded, it should be great.
  2. I rather prefer the current version of Apollo, although, admittedly, maybe because I'm just used to it. One of the things that moves me the most about it is the finale; the way Apollo turns and slowly walks away, followed by the muses, ending with the sunburst pose. It fits the music perfectly and it seems to me that Balanchine took a very nice flourish and turned it into something truly extraordinary. See the contrast by watching Baryshnikov do the current finale here: http://vimeo.com/40893884 Then watch the same thing in an earlier version here (it's at the 1:51 mark). By the way, to anyone who saw the Baryshnikov performance live: you have my undying envy.
  3. Very droll, Bart! It was irritating to see Philip Neal and Chuck Askegard leave, while Millepied stayed. He was the last of the deadwood in the principal ranks, in my view. I wonder who, if anyone, will be elevated in the near future?
  4. This is slightly off topic, but has anyone heard what seating horrors NYCB may have in store for us during Nutcracker season? I ask this because I will have my annual flock of guests in December and The Nutcracker is one of those "things-to-do-while-in-New York." I typically have not had trouble getting as many as four decent seats on short notice for the season off-peak, but given what's been going on lately, I wonder if NYCB is planning to gum up the works this year. It will be dreadfully inconvenient if I am not able to get tickets in the usual straight forward way.
  5. I think from this clip that the score sounds better than a lot of "serious contemporary classical" that's being commissioned these days. It also sounds to me like Sir Paul's been listening to a lot of neo-classical Stravinsky.
  6. The marketing department's reply to ViolinConcerto is actually a masterpiece of corporate pablum--it explains nothing and it promises nothing. It even leaves NYCB an opening to resume the status quo ante if the new policies should prove not to be a box office philosopher's stone. As someone whose task it sometimes has been to blow fairy dust in the face of a disgruntled client, I must compliment K. Brown and her henchmen and women on such a soothing piece of vapidity. Trouble is, neither ViolinConcerto, susanger, nor, I suspect, anyone else, is buying it...
  7. California, thank you for that link; I had completely missed that article. I wonder how many of NYCB's board members really are balletomanes?
  8. In a way I feel sorry for Peter Martins. Don't wait for the punchline; I'm not joking! Martins is the public face of NYCB and thus the one at whom the brickbats are hurled in this whole price rise controversy, but I suspect he has absolutely nothing to do with it. The rather abrupt appointment of Katherine Brown and Martins' rather stilted rhetoric of its announcement at the time suggested to me that the company's governance was unhappy with his stewardship of NYCB's finances and yanked his responsibility therefor when the extent of the company's financial woes became clear in 2008/2009. Not all of his financial management might have been bad, you understand. By way of example, the New York Times noted in its recent article on the dancers' union dispute that the company in practice had disregarded the cap on weeks for which an injured dancer would be paid and I thought that Martins, being a dancer himself, may have winked at the cap and paid injured dancers for far longer. This is nice for dancers, but not for penny-conscious board members. At any rate, if my suspicions are correct, it must be frustrating for Martins to be Katherine Brown's whipping boy. While only time will tell whether Brown will put NYCB in the black, the company's marketing efforts over the last year strike me as merely thrashing about in a desperate attempt to find the silver bullet solution, and this seat-pricing scheme is yet another manifestation of this, though far more disruptive for audience members that last year's "Meet the Principal Dancers" nonsense. May I take the opportunity here to ask for help with a misconception I may have concerning NYCB's governance? I am of the impression that the Board of Directors is largely a ceremonial body, a place for celebrities and ladies-who-lunch to hob-nob with one other, but that the real decision-making power lies with the advisory board, a much smaller body composed of influential business people. Certainly this is the case for other arts institutions, but I don't know if it is so for NYCB. Does anyone have any insight?
  9. Helene, after seeing your post, I looked into this further and it appears that it may well be. I haven't seen the Delouche films, but only found the clip while trolling the Internet for commentary on Liebeslieder Walzer (as one does). Now I think I shall have to watch the Delouche films at once!
  10. I don't know if anyone has posted this before (my search skills are poor), but here is a relaxing nine minutes of Violette Verdy teaching POB dancers Liebeslieder Walzer, a favorite of mine. The video follows the Chinese beverage commercials. http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/cmDjjl_CZk4/
  11. Thanks for posting this. Now I can express my inner Tracey Emin.
  12. I was worried that Maria Kowroski might have injured herself in Thursday's Diamonds, and so was greatly relieved when the curtain rose on Jewels Saturday night without an announcement that she was replaced. Normally, I find Diamonds to be a bit bland, but when the lead couple is very good (for example, last night, as well as with Philip Neal and Wendy Whelan last year) their extended pas de deux can a real treat. Last night Kowroski and Chuck Askegard danced it beautifully. His partnering was flawless and both executed their solo jumps and turns superbly. She looked glowingly at him throughout and he glowed back at her. I found the performance somewhat poignant in its way because it's one of the last times I'll see the Chuck and Maria Show, a traditional pairing I love. The stately latter portion of Emeralds, featuring the four principals and three soloists, ending with the three men kneeling, makes this my favorite act of Jewels. I thought it was danced with great sensitivity last night. Antonio Carmena was impressive, making quick, clean jumps and showing particularly good chemistry with his two solo women, Erica Pereira and Ana Sophia Scheller. But the standout in this section for me was Jenifer Ringer's strong, yet delicate and unhurried solo. She's obviously worked off the sugar plums, because she seemed to float through it. In particular, I was captivated by a series of dreamy arabesque turns. She is a mature and thoughtful dancer with that wealth of experience to bring something special to a role and who still has the physical capability to execute it—a golden spot in her career. A fun aspect of Rubies was the contrast between the styles/body types of the two principal women, Ashley Bouder and Teresa Reichlen. Both were fantastic, with their intricate footwork, tremendous speed and spectacular jumps. A slight disappointment was Gonzalo Garcia, who struck me as a bit stiff (not bad, but not of the same caliber as the principal women). To be frank, I haven't been happy with the Rubies leading men I've seen since Nikolaj Hübbe (Joaquin De Luz, whose dancing is normally jaw-droppingly good, Garcia, Mr. Portman). I'd like to see others in the company get a crack at the principal male role. All in all, a fantastic night in a fantastic season.
  13. I too was at the May 3 performance and, sadly, share your view that Wendy Whelan is not as flexible as she once was. I had already noticed this in a few of her performances last year and I fear the twilight of her career now may not be unimaginable. On a more positive note, I am excited to hear that Chase Finlay's Apollo was a great success and I am champing at the bit for tomorrow's matinee. Perhaps devotees of the unabridged version of Apollo might smile at the thought of a young dancer making this work his breakout role.
  14. Phooey!! I was sooo looking forward to watching Marcovici carry a picket sign during his sarabande in Agon tonight.
  15. I love to see promising young corps members given a crack at marquee principal roles and can't wait to see what Finlay does with Apollo. Peter Boal's and Nikolaj Hübbe's are large shoes to fill, though.
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