California

Dance Theatre of Harlem has announced a digital season, with their Creole Giselle this Saturday, June 6: https://www.dancetheatreofharlem.org/dthondemandvirtualballetseries/

My hunch: A lot of rights holders had to agree to this limited release. When it was broadcast in 1978, it didn't occur to people that there was such potential for different forms of distribution. So I'm guessing that one (or more) of the rights holders for this one insisted on very limited release, with these restrictions. If you remember back to the very long delay in getting the Makarova-Baryshnikov Giselle released on videotape, that was the explanation at the time. They hadn't anticipated these forms of distribution and had to get permission from all the rights holders. Ditto the long delay in releasing the tape of Baryshnikov at Wolf Trap, originally broadcast in fall 1976 on PBS to include the opening movement of Push with Tcherkassky and van Hamel (the original cast). This was omitted from the commercial tape released years later, presumably because Tharp was planning a release of the complete work (although with a different opening cast (Kudo and Jaffe). And there were reports that Kirkland was resistant to releasing it at all because she was in such terrible physical shape in July 1976; thus her statement at the end as part of the compromise.

They seem to have gone to extraordinary lengths to prevent it from being copied or seen again. I hope there are at least a few more opportunities.

Wow! 42 years since they showed that. What have they been waiting for! Can you imagine going to ABT now with such a line-up of amazing talent? So sad that several of them are no longer with us -- Bujones, Nagy, Wright, among others. I noted that Makarova didn't try the fouettes, but had a very nice substitute. It was always reported that she hated those. Perhaps a word to a certain someone else who has problems with them?

Just started: http://lincolncenter.org/lincoln-center-at-home/show/american-ballet-theatre-at-the-metropolitan-opera-house-1978-109

If you go to the listings page, click "learn more" - it varies program to program http://lincolncenter.org/lincoln-center-at-home/series/dance-week For the ABT mixed bill: Available from Sunday, May 31 at 8:00 pm ET, then for a limited time on demand For the SAB Workshop: Available from Monday, June 1 at 7:00 pm ET until Friday, June 5 at 7:00 pm ET For the NYCB Coppelia: Available from Tuesday, June 2 at 8:00 pm ET until Friday, July 17 at 8:00 pm ET For the Tribute to Balanchine: Available from Wednesday, June 3 at 8:00 pm ET until Saturday, July 18 at 8:00 pm ET MSND is still on-line, but I don't know for how long:

Watching it now for the second time. One of my top ten Balanchine ballets. I'm pretty sure this is the first complete recording available. Lots of snippets here and there, but not the complete thing. I did watch some archival tape at NYPL Dance Collection to see original casts in the early 70s. I think they all wore white leotards (or was it all black?). The pink-white-black contrast didn't come in until later.

My understanding is that the copyright on the original Firebird score (1910) had expired. Stravinsky came up with the Firebird Suite with a new copyright and Balanchine used that so his friend Stravinsky could continue to get royalties on the performance. I can't seem to find on-line documentation of this, unfortunately, but it makes sense.

Opera Colorado just announced that its performances scheduled for November 2020 will be performed in late June 2021. The rest of the season will open in February 2021. They perform in the same Opera House used by the Colorado Ballet. I'm hoping they can reschedule their October Giselle to late spring, but nothing has been announced.

This is a oldie but goodie, but I know there are fans of Nina Ananiashvili on this site. Don't miss her final performance as Kitri, with three different Basilios! June 27, 2008. State Ballet of Georgia

Thanks for these tips. I just watched it again to make a point of looking for these. I've always been super-impressed with Bouder's technique, but her smirk bothers me. It actually seems to work here with the light-hearted music and choreography.

I don't disagree, but it occurs to me that the "debut deferred" series is also a message to some of their rising stars (e.g., Aran Bell) that he's appreciated and they hope he doesn't leave. As discussed elsewhere, I wonder if ABT controls the rights to some of the things we most want to see, like the Live from Lincoln Center series that's scheduled for next week. The archival footage I've looked at in the NYPL Dance Collection is definitely not suitable for even on-line showing. They've bounced around through so many theaters, even the archival footage might be unacceptable. E.g., the world premiere of Push Comes to Shove in January 1976 (a memory I shall always treasure!) was at the Uris Theater, which has been torn down and might not have had minimally acceptable recording facilities. I don't know. The world premieres of Baryshnikov's Don Quixote and his Nutcracker were both at the Kennedy Center in the late 70s. KenCen seems to have recording facilities, but we don't know what they chose to save.

Very gloomy. In New Zealand, which seems to be leading the planet in getting a grip on COVID-19, the Ballet is hoping to perform in their country starting August 20. https://www.broadwayworld.com/new-zealand/article/Royal-New-Zealand-Ballet-Company-Rehearses-on-Zoom-Hopes-to-Return-to-Performing-Soon-20200524 It makes you wonder why Segerstrom hasn't cancelled anything past May 31! For those of us with tickets to LaScala in late July, it would be nice if they'd get on with what seems to be inevitable. Instead, they are still selling tickets! https://www.scfta.org/

APOLOGIES for creating all this confusion. It's worth checking out regardless.

Perm Opera Ballet is live-streaming Ashton's Les Patineurs (which they call Winter Dreams). They normally leave things on-line for a few days: