California

I wonder if Ratmansky wants to try the Strauss. The music was apparently written to be a ballet, but there's only the vaguest reference to a ballet in the 1920s in Vienna. I can't find other evidence that it's been choreographed before, at least with a quick Google. This would be quite a departure for Ratmansky from his usual Russian music. http://www.allmusic.com/composition/schlagobers-ballet-op-70-trv-243-mc0002378518 Gillian did Giselle in New Zealand. I wonder if she'll ever get to do it at ABT.

I'm wondering if the Silicon valley geniuses know anything about the fall 2016 season - or at least when it will be announced. I have been asking the volunteers at the Friends table at the Met and reportedly the season will open October 19 at Koch, but that's all anybody seems to know. I'm hoping there are no plans for a revival of The Tempest, probably the worst Ratmansky I've ever seen! But I wouldn't mind seeing Bright Stream again.

They are advertising that Corella will be teaching in Pennsylvania. I would guess that many students selected this program because of that. https://paballet.org/summer_intensive - See "overview" tab. Perhaps he will be flying back and forth.

So sorry I missed this performance. You can get a glimpse of that leap here:

Just a few additional thoughts: the sets seemed very minimalist to me, too minimalist. The ending on the ship was disappointing. And I missed the goofy humor of Pasha in ABT's version.

I'm afraid that Simkin's truly extraordinary Ali (that I saw at the Met June 4) has ruined me for all future Ali's! This one is perfectly acceptable, clean, solid, but nothing astonishing once you have seen what Simkin does with that role. (But I have a hunch some of the young talent at Pennsylvania Ballet will give him a run for his money next March.) The camera work is mostly good, although there have been a few brief moments when I was being shown the crowd instead of a nice variation by the principal. Overall, a very nice, clean, easy-to-watch production. And, as always, I so regret that American companies never do this. BTW - the clips of their very unorthodox Swan Lake at intermission look fascinating. Hope they live stream that one later this month!

Just a reminder that the live stream starts in a few minutes at 9 am EDT. http://www.operlive.de/ I see in the credits that Doug Fullington of PNB did the reconstruction of the Petipa choreography.

I'm glad Ratmansky reconstructed this ballet for the sake of dance history. It was one of several Fokine ballets that showed us new possibilities for ballet after Petipa. But having seen it once, I can't imagine going to the trouble of seeing it again. What dancing there was, was boring, with rare exceptions. I hope the cost of the lavish sets and costumes was split with the Danes. It's hard to imagine it will become an audience favorite or even that it will be shown again.

I saw the Saturday matinee and it was mostly a huge improvement over Thursday night. Simkin, as Ali, was beyond astonishing. We have come to expect his amazing tricks, but he is outdoing himself. In the second act Pas de Trois, he did a series of four revoltade (the 540) on the diagonal - I've seen him do one or two, but four (!) and one right after each other, pow-pow-pow. Turns, leaps, all seemed to have extra embellishments I haven't seen before. Not a great place for Heymann as Conrad, who was fine, but paled next to Simkin in fire power. (Cornejo would have been a better sparring partner.) Murphy and Abrera were Medora and Gulnare - both seemed much more secure than Kochetkova and Lane Thursday. I thought Gabe Shayer as Lankendem was quite good, especially in the PdD with Abrera in Act I. His short stature makes him an odd choice for that role, I suppose. The audience seemed well-sold - 80%? Julie Kent and her daughter watched the first two acts from the orchestra.

Don't underestimate the great work by regional companies with 30-40 dancers - Washington, Pennsylvania, Kansas City, Colorado, many others. They fill in with studio company members, pre-professional students, etc. Principals and soloists take multiple roles. They rent costumes and sets from major companies and each other. There is wonderful ballet all over the country that is worth seeing. EDITED TO ADD: As most here recognize, with the near-complete disappearance of classical ballet from PBS and the sharp decline in touring by major companies like ABT and NYCB (at least compared to the 70s and 80s), these regional companies keep classical ballet alive across the country - and they provide paid professional performance opportunities for many dancers.

I saw the Thursday evening performance and thought the main fireworks and excitement came from Cornejo and Simkin. I would like to like Kochetkova, but just when you think she'll push the limits and astonish us - she doesn't. I see a lot of discussion here from people yearning for some sizzle and excitement from this ballet. I have a hunch you will find it next March in Philadelphia, when Corella stages Le Corsaire for the Pennsylvania Ballet. I say that having seen his production of Don Q a few months ago and being stunned at the several young dancers he has entrusted with lead roles. Corsaire just seems like a natural for them and I suspect Corella will make the most of this opportunity to show them off. http://paballet.org/le-corsaire Subscriptions are on sale now. I don't know when singles will go on sale.

I have the same problem. I tried to sign up to follow his Instagram page, but it requires that he give permission for you to follow him. I haven't encountered that restriction with the numerous ballet dancers and companies that I follow on Instagram, as they seem eager to have more followers. Very strange...

In that DVD, Gomes is Purple Rothbart in the ballroom scene -- one of the few opportunities to see him on DVD, alas. And he set the standard for that role ever after.

I'm slow to post after a few days in NYC... I saw the entire Trilogy twice this trip and saw it several times in 2013. I still love Symphony #9 best, especially with Gomes (and that unbelievable one-armed lift toward the end - which Bolle always does with two hands). Charming, clever, surprising, interesting...my favorite. But my frustration with all of them is that I suspect there are just so many layers of meaning understood by Ratmansky (and perhaps other Russian expats) that we Westerners don't grasp. I wish we had a "tour guide" (a "dance docent") of the caliber of Arlene Croce, with the extensive length she had in the New Yorker, to help us see more of what's there. Ratmansky has spoken of Shostakovich's angst in Stalinist Soviet Union in the 30s and we know a bit about his situation. We can imagine what it must have been like to grow up under Communism and then experience its fall as a young adult and all the insights and adjustments that would involve. We can speculate on the symbolism of that scenery with its disjointed hammers, sickles, airplanes and what not. But I would love to have somebody tell us more about what we are seeing. I didn't always agree with Croce (for sure), but I learned so much. It would help me (and I'm guessing others) to have a more detailed perspective to respond to and perhaps disagree with. One can appreciate these works as "pure dance" (sort of), but there is obviously so much more packed into them that I'd like to understand. I had a similar frustration with the Plato Symposium, which I was only able to see once (alas!). It was ironic that Firebird got extensive program notes and character names, even though we mostly know that story. Anybody who has studied Plato's writing knows there are names, characters, development in the Symposium, as there are in all his dialogues. So it was exasperating that the program notes consisted of a brief, vague, general statement that it's about different love relationships. Again, I'd like a tour guide (Ratmansky or a latter-day Croce) to help us unpack all that's there. And perhaps this is a situation where knowing a lot (studying the actual Symposium) can be a hindrance, rather than a help. I can appreciate this one as "pure dance" (sort of), too, but there's much more there that I wish I understood.

Some very interesting programs next spring. Having seen this company just once this spring (for the Bowie-Queen tributes), it does have some really impressive dancers. But it seems like a lot of new rep for them to learn and well-known pieces the audience will likely know. And it's not clear that they will have live orchestra when they move to the Opera House - a much bigger house to fill than their current venue at the Eisenhower. I'm sure there will be a lot of good will and curiosity during Kent's first year, and I'm guessing there is a line-up of major donors to make this possible, but still...

I see that exact dates for each program are now on the web site: https://www.sfballet.org/tickets/2017_season Scroll down to see each program or click "calendar view" in small type in the upper right. Programs #1 and #2 include some very interesting new work (including Peck's newest, which just premiered). Two weekends when you could see multiple performances of each. Very helpful for out-of-town visitors!

Yes - I was really pleased to see that. They did Tudor's Echoing of Trumpets in 2010, also set by Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner.

The National Endowment for the Arts has announced the awarding of 68 grants for dance, totaling $1,470,000. Many are for ballet companies: https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/Spring_2016_Artistic_Discipline_Grant_List_FINAL_FINAL3.pdf

If tickets are available on TDF and Goldstar, a half-empty house is even worse than it seems!!

These half-empty houses are troubling. ABT does have a student rush at good prices on the day of performance ($29 and $11): http://www.abt.org/performances/popstudentrushpolicy.asp But some theaters (Segerstrom, e.g.) do more and include seniors and active military in the same-day rush. With these dreadful houses, I wonder why they don't also use Goldstar or TDF or TKTS to fill the house. Isn't half price better than nothing?

Jaffee did not debut in Push that night. She debuted in "Pas d'Esclave" with Godunov, replacing the planned PdD for Kirkland/Bissell. At this point in history, Push was still performed with Tcherkassky and van Hamel. Later, Baryshnikov did it with Elaine Kudo and Jaffee, but not that night. Kirkland never did Push at all. She pulled out early in rehearsals because she thought it was silly. "Jaffe recalled the events leading to her debut with principal dancer Alexander Godunov in the ABT premiere of "Pas d'Esclave." "It was about 2 p.m. Tuesday and Gelsey hadn't shown up. I was walking down the hall to rehearsal -- I'm an understudy in 'Push Come to Shove' -- and Charles France [Abt Artistic Director Mikhail Baryshnikov's assistant] pulled me aside and said I was to go on."

At the Alonso birthday celebration in June 2010 at the Met, they had three pairs of principals for Don Q, one for each act, and it was great fun to see. I don't remember all the casts, but Gomes did Act I and Osipova Act III.

Murphy is listed as performing excerpts from Sylvia next Monday for the Gala, so I'm wondering if this might be prepared as a substitute, as needed. What a treat, if it is!

While in town for a conference, I was able to squeeze in one visit to the Kennedy Center to see the Washington Ballet's Bowie & Queen. It looked to me like a sold-out house at the Eisenhower Theater and a very enthusiastic audience. (The Eisenhower holds 1100.) Before the program started, retiring AD Septime Webre came out in front of the curtain to say a few words about the program and also his sadness at leaving after 17 years. The audience gave him an instantaneous standing ovation and loud cheers. Clearly he will be missed by this group. This had been programmed long before Bowie's death and both ballets had been created several years earlier. But the timing made for a nice season closer. Dancing in the Street is by Edwaard Liang. The score alternated actual excerpts from less familiar Bowie music with two live musicians (violin and cello) on-stage with a score by Gabrial Gaffney Smith in the style/mood of the Bowie. With the men in street clothes and the women in colorful, swingy dresses, it vaguely made me think of an updated Robbins ballet - street dance, Broadway-esque, women on pointe. Interesting enough. Mercury Half-Life by Trey McIntyre brought the house down. Made in 2013 and almost an hour long, it uses entirely a long medley of Queen's recorded music. The ten dancers were in various white costumes with red trim or linings. I haven't seen much McIntyre, although I know he has a devoted following. So much energy, risk, innovation...great fun to watch. He has a way of throwing in little humorous touches throughout that make for interesting surprises. I kept thinking, though, that this could just as easily be on Broadway -- some dazzling tap, no pointe shoes, lots of ensemble surprises. Is this ballet? I guess it doesn't matter. The dancers need extraordinary training to pull this off and ballet seems an essential grounding. I know some here hate the way smaller companies resort to these extravaganzas to attract audiences, but if some of that audience come back for another look, it's worth it. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. They have five more shows next weekend, Friday-Sunday. If people are in the area, it's worth a visit. For our collection of most annoying audience members: I was stuck next to an older woman who alternated between endless coughing and singing along to Queen. Can't decide which was more annoying.

I see date ranges for programs in 2017, but not specific dates. I am especially interested in programs 1 and 2, and it looks like one could see both (perhaps a couple times) in a long weekend. Have subscribers been told specific dates? Are they on the public site somewhere?