California

I started a new topic, "Lincoln Center at the Movies" a few hours ago with this same information. Perhaps an administrator could combine? The "live" part is also dubious. NYCB is showing their 2011 broadcast of Nutcracker. Somebody else here said they were at an Ailey performance with signs "being recorded for broadcast." Is the SF Ballet "live" or is that a previous performance?

Just this morning, I got e-mail announcements of two dance shows that will be shown at the new Lincoln Center at the Movies: Great American Dance. It sounds like they are emulating the cinema broadcasts from Covent Garden and the Bolshoi. Here's the Web site: http://www.fathomevents.com/event/lincoln-center-at-the-movies Here's the Lincoln Center web site: http://lincolncenteratthemovies.org/?utm_source=mail2&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LCMGADAnnouncement070715 It sounds like the NYCB Nutcracker is a recording from 2011, but I can't tell if the others are pre-existing recordings. (I couldn't find a topic for this elsewhere. If I overlooked it, please move.)

Angel Corella directed the Hartt summer program in Hartford last year. If you scroll to the end of that page, you'll see his listing. Julie Kent just sent out an Instagram that she's on her way to Beijing for a week to be a judge for the International Ballet and Choreography Competition

Single tickets go on sale August 2 at 12 noon EDT: http://www.nycballet.com/Season-Tickets/Calendar.aspx#family

To all you lucky people seeing Cinderella this evening: Leanne Cope just tweeted that she'll be there.

I saw that story on Facebook a couple of days ago, and I'm glad it's getting attention. Let me add that Colorado Ballet has a really nice program for Down Syndrome children, "Be Beautiful Be Yourself." It's great when people see the many values of the arts. I wouldn't be surprised if there are other programs like this around the country. http://www.coloradoballet.org/education/bebeautifulbeyourself

A little more patriotism on the last day of the season: final company class with fouettes to the Star Spangled Banner. According to Gillian's Instagram, all-American Ethan Stiefel taught the class: https://instagram.com/abtofficial/ You can catch a glimpse of him in the far left of the clip. Oops! That music is Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever. Sorry!

I understand that MacMillan was fascinated with pairs figure skating and was inspired by that in creating Manon. Once you are aware of that historical tidbit, you start noticing other skating-like moves in this ballet.

Many of us saw Nunez last fall in the World Ballet Day rehearsal of the final PdD of Manon: (I'm very jealous of those of you seeing her in Cinderella.)

I just watched this 56-minute documentary, released in May of this year. I appreciated seeing Ashley in some dance clips I had never seen before (e.g., Flower Festival with Martins, rehearsing fishdives with Meehan, Madge with Royal Danish), but most are familiar clips (especially from the late 1970s Dance in America programs - Four Ts, Ballo). It also includes some historic stills I had not seen before, but, unfortunately, way too much of the time is devoted to talking heads. They include interesting and historic figures (e.g., d'Amboise), talking about the difficulties retiring and finding a second life after being a dancer. But I wish the interviews had more frequently been shown over dance footage, which is so difficult to come by. We get a little footage of her teaching at SAB and St. Petersburg, but I'd love to see more of her coaching Balanchine ballets at other companies, especially the details she thinks important to coach. We see a little of her coaching Ballo in Cuba, but that's it. http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Goodbye-Merrill-Ashley/dp/B00U1U2SL8/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1436023489&sr=1-1&keywords=the+dance+goodbye

Thanks to all who posted details on the Part and Abrera lilac fairy differences. Very enlightening! I don't see that in "contest" terms, but as choices to work to their strengths. It's interesting how much variation Ratmansky allowed (or perhaps even encouraged) in his reconstruction. It's too bad Part hasn't had more opportunities to dance with Gomes. Perhaps he's just too busy with other partners. He was her partner in the Ratmansky Symphony No. 9 when it premiered at City Center (fall 2012?). And their White Swan PdD is really lovely on the DVD Ballet's Greatest Hits (taped at a YAPG Gala in Tampa -- 2012 or 2013?)

Several of you have mentioned different choreography performed by Part and Abrera in the Lilac Fairy role. I saw two performances of SB, both with Part. Can you give us a couple of specific examples?

David Hallberg sent out a couple of tweets within minutes after the decision was announced Friday morning: https://twitter.com/DavidHallberg

Whatever happened to Project Plie, which ABT announced in September 2013: http://www.abt.org/insideabt/news_display.asp?News_ID=460 I would guess that Payless Shoes and the Boys and Girls Clubs sponsors would be among those sorely disappointed if she doesn't get the promotion - soon!

Whiteside was a principal at Boston Ballet and was hired by ABT as a soloist, then promoted one year later to principal: http://www.abt.org/dancers/detail.asp?Dancer_ID=300

Isn't the School in lower Manhattan? They are opening another school tied to Segerstrom in Costa Mesa, but I didn't think that meant they would close the NYC school. And don't they have studios at 890 Broadway? It's certainly been a problem that they haven't had their own residence theater, but it's not clear how they could solve that.

Somebody with the screen name "Vic Toriya" posted these curtain calls on YouTube. The wrapping aurora noted occurs about 3:33.

Much as I love to see well-done fouettes with lots of flourishes -- Murphy and Osipova come to mind -- it's not hard to find examples of major performers who had a terrible time with these. When Julio Bocca's National Ballet of Uruguay did a live stream of their Swan Lake last year, Maria Riccetto bailed at 24. Makarova notoriously loathed the fouettes and didn't always get through 32. It would be better if they just planned a nice finish, perhaps chaine turns, than struggle to finish. I think it's more important to look at the overall technical quality in a performance than just this one thing. So I'm curious about the rest of the performance people saw at today's matinee.

I sat through Tempest twice at the fall season when it premiered and that's it for me for that one. But I do think it was interesting that it was a co-production with the National Ballet of Canada and they keep postponing their showing of it. Not on the schedule for 2015-16. Perhaps they came to NYC to see it!

Actually, it looks like a very successful ballet academy that does Nutcracker and maybe one other thing each year. https://www.baltimoreballet.com/ I am not in any way disparaging such "companies." Everybody needs performing opportunities and the local communities need to see ballet live and in person. Perhaps some will be motivated to support their local arts council or write to their members of Congress to support NEA funding! "Regional company" is a little vague. I hope as BAers travel this country, they take a look at the local companies, if their schedules coincide, especially the ones I've named. I suspect you'd be pleasantly surprised at the quality of the productions and dancers.

For ballet academies, yes, that seems to be common. But for the companies I list by name (and others I forgot to include), they have plenty of their own dancers to handle Nutcracker duties and do it well.

A very small point, and I'm not sure how you define "regional company," but they typically do not fly in stars. I do see notices for Nutcrackers offered by ballet academies that fly in stars and call themselves "Small City Ballet Company," but not otherwise. This country is fortunate to have a wealth of very worthwhile regional companies -- Atlanta, Houston, Colorado, Cincinnati, Sarasota, Ballet West, at a minimum, and others if you broaden the definition to include Joffrey, PNB, San Francisco, Boston. Many of them got their start from early help from NEA or the Ford Foundation or just very determined founders. I've seen many of these companies and am rarely disappointed. The caliber of talented dancers all over the country is very high and it breaks my heart that so many of them don't have more opportunities for long contracts, touring, etc.

In one of the interviews on the links page here, Kent gives as another reason to retire MacKenzie ' decision to cut back on full-length ballets like Manon, R&J, and Camellias. I haven't seen that mentioned elsewhere. What will he program instead?

Wow! Ferri is gorgeous in that lift. Thanks for posting. I don't remember seeing anybody else do that this week.

I spent a week in Krakow last year and visited Schindler's factory (now a high-tech and very chilling portrayal of life under Nazi occupation,the Holocaust, etc.) Also visited Auschwitz-Birkenau and other memorials. The tour guide reminded us that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it, which I also saw there on plaques. University students today are keenly aware of their history, the Holocaust, and the betrayal by Nazis, Stalin, and then the western allies they helped during the war. And no way was the choice of music a coincidence. But people can see different things in an abstract ballet, perhaps the intent of that program note.