California

At least judging from his Instagram and Twitter accounts, Marcelo has family in town from Brazil. I imagine they're disappointed they can't see him dance with Vishneva tonight, but they'd be even more disappointed if he didn't dance at all. https://instagram.com/marcelua/

Thank you so much for this explanation. Those lifts looked off to me, and I just assumed it was because he didn't completely straighten up each time. I blamed that on upper-body strength. (Just about the only thing Thursday night that was off...) I am not a big fan of Seo, but I was moved by her Juliet Wednesday night. It seems to be her best role and Gomes no doubt brought out the best in her. Obratsova was glorious and I thought the acting and rapport between her and Cornejo was genuine. There were moments when she reminded me of Gelsey Kirkland -- maybe it was the way she crooked her elbows on those backward bourees in the bedroom, running away from Paris, or maybe the huge eyes or the way everything was just a little more extended and developed in surprising ways. I had never seen her in performance before and hope they bring her back. Extreme trivia department: I wish somebody would show the Juliet's how a mandolin is played. They could start by spending five minutes watching the mandolin players in the pit. Both Seo and Obratsova would pluck a little with the right hand, which is okay, but you can't just clutch the instrument with your left and never move it! How do they think different chords are produced! Seo clutched it from the top, Obratsova from the bottom. Yes, I know, absolutely trivial, but easily corrected.

Ah Yes, Rutter - I'm already being bombarded with fund-raising letters from her! If she weren't brand-new at Kennedy Center, she probably would have been a leading contender in LA. Indeed, given that the LA position has been vacant for some time, perhaps she was considered last year and decided KenCen was a better option for her. We'll never know!

In recent years, people have complained about Peter Martins' $500K+ salary at a time when he was laying off dancers. For non-profits, their 990 forms filed with the IRS each year are public information. I haven't seen published reports about what LA will pay Moore, but if her predecessor wasn't doing such a great job, it's hard to see how they could justify paying her a lot less. And it would also be awkward recruiting a woman and then paying her less than her male predecessor.

The dollar figures come from the LA Times story: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-music-center-president-20150618-story.html#page=2

At least according to the LA Times report, she's leaving a job that paid in the $300K neighborhood (including benefits) and replacing somebody who was paid in the $900K neighborhood. Plus, she has a chance to show she can turn around a massively important cultural institution in LA. She'd be nuts to turn that down! It's not necessarily a reflection on ABT (which is not to deny major problems at ABT, as so many have noted here). Let me add: can anybody think of a woman given this kind of truly major opportunity in this country?

In reading this exchange, I'm reminded of Matthew Bourne's comments that the story doesn't make sense, especially the love-at-first-sight in the awakening. I enjoyed the Bourne version of Sleeping Beauty, although I know many on this board didn't, and he didn't resolve all the problems either, at least according to critics at the time. Brian Seibert's review in 2013 is typical: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/26/arts/dance/matthew-bournes-sleeping-beauty-at-city-center.html?_r=0 I suppose the message is that this SB requires serious suspension of belief so you can focus on the music and dancing. But all those costumes and wigs are a major distraction. And I'm not sure why we need to re-learn how to appreciate the technical virtuosity of the early 20th century. It's fun to watch tapes of Olga Korbut's back "summy" on the uneven parallel bars in 1972 at the Olympics, but they're of historic interest only at this point, now that such moves are standard for today's gymnasts. Today it's impossible to get as excited as those commentators were back then. Technique has moved on in ballet, too, a century later. It's interesting to see what the standard was back then, but hard to get excited about it.

I'm so relieved to see Perron's dissenting view. I saw two performances (Murphy-Gomes and Vishneva-Gomes). I kept thinking how important it was to see this chapter of dance history, and how glad I am to have seen it (especially with such top-notch principals). But I also felt that I had to work so hard on appreciating it! Am I eager to see it again some day? Probably not, although if I were in town to see something else, I suppose I'd work it in.

Mixed bills with four short ballets (one of them typically a famous PdD by resident stars) was the norm at ABT in the 70s and 80s. I don't know when that practice ended. But a big name in one of those PdD was enough to sell tickets. I'm guessing they couldn't program enough big names in later years to make that work.

This is a co-production with La Scala, which will show it in June-July 2016: http://www.teatroallascala.org/en/season/opera-ballet/2015-2016/swan-lake.html

Thanks for the link. But I do wish they had included the footage of those amazing fish dives with Vishneva.

In defense of the Met, though, I've run into other apps that work fine on my smartphone, but aren't compatible with my tablet. I think they're all struggling to keep up with rapidly changing technologies. And I have no plans to get the Apple watch - just trying to get the stuff I have to work!

Very puzzling. The seat selection feature works for me in both Chrome and good old IE (which is often a problem). It does seem to be a very clumsy site, with lots of clicking needed to get there, but it's do-able.

I guess this kind of thing happens a lot! Two young ladies sat down in the company box by the stage on the Grand Tier level at the Monday night SB. A company manager escorted them out so the Brazilian TV crew could move in. They seemed pretty upset and waved their tickets at him, but I could see that they were for orchestra seats (probably awful ones). The manager said: "we never sell the seats in this box. It's for the company and its own uses." And out they went.

I can't find previous topics on his books...please move if they exist somewhere. I just finished reading two of them and they are chock full of interesting information on various ballet companies he has worked with. I would recommend both very highly: Curtains? The Future of the Arts in America (2015) http://www.amazon.com/Curtains-America-Michael-M-Kaiser/dp/1611687039/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434042069&sr=1-1&keywords=michael+m.+Kaiser The Art of the Turnaround (2008): with chapters on Kansas City Ballet, Ailey, ABT, Royal Opera House, Kennedy Center: http://www.amazon.com/Art-Turnaround-Creating-Maintaining-Organizations/dp/1584657359/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434042108&sr=1-3&keywords=michael+m.+Kaiser

Just announced on the ABT calendar page: Seo is the sub for Osipova. At least Gomes is still on the schedule: http://www.abt.org/calendar.aspx

Nobody has mentioned Salenko, whose US schedule with Royal would allow this. I know nothing about her, except that she's paired with McRae here and in the fall. Would she be a possibility with Gomes?

Royal Ballet has a flock of dancers who know the role and many are in this country as we speak. Of course, this would have to fit into their US touring schedule. Look at all the Juliet's this fall in London: http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/romeo-and-juliet-by-kenneth-macmillan I hope that part of the delay is because they want someone who could dance with Gomes.

Bad news: the ABT casting list just changed Osipova to TBA: http://www.abt.org/calendar.aspx

Yes, I just tried, too, and could select seats. They added a nice feature you see at other theaters, viz., when you click on the seat of interest, it shows you a photo of the stage view you'll get. So at least you have some advance warning of the oddball view from the side boxes.

An interesting tidbit: A video crew from Brazilian television was in the company box on the grand tier (adjacent to the stage). They are making a documentary/special about Marcelo and spent the day with him. There is so little available footage of him dancing, I hope they will eventually make that show available to US audiences, perhaps by donating a copy to the NYPL dance collection. (Source: me - I talked with them at intermission)

van Hamel was born in Brussels, but studied at the National Ballet of Canada: http://www.abt.org/education/bios_faculty/vanhamel_martine_edubio.asp As she is McKenzie's partner (wife?), it seems unlikely she'd participate in an ouster of McKenzie.

An obscure detail I'm curious about: In the Shades in Makarova's staging, each dancer always raises the same leg in arabesque for the entire trip down, with dancers alternating which leg. So dancer #1 raises her right leg, #2 her left leg, #3 right, etc. But in the Bolshoi version (available on Amazon prime) they do this differently: http://www.amazon.com/Bayad%C3%A8re-Marius-Grigorovich-Bolshoi-Theatre/dp/B00V40O6LY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1433684817&sr=8-2&keywords=bolshoi+bayadere All of them raise the leg that's away from the audience. As they get to the turn and head down another row, they add one tiny step to make the leg switch. It looks like a way to give the dancers some relief by switching legs all the way down like that. Does anybody know the story on this? Is Makarova just following Kirov/Mariinsky tradition? Did the Bolshoi "simplify" (if that's what it is) to help the dancers get through this?

Yes, she received much of her training in Kiev: http://www.alinacojocaru.com/page2.htm

I was also at the Friday night performance and don't have much to add. I hadn't seen this production in a few years and don't remember details of omitted or simplified steps. Someone said here re: a Giselle that a gracious partner doesn't try to outshine his female partner. But Cornejo with Copeland in Act I showed no such restraint. In various side-by-side jetes he was so vastly superior -- height, stretch, etc. - that she looked even worse than she might have otherwise. But I think it's fine for Cornejo to dance to his own level. And he was spectacular in his variations -- very appreciative crowd. The tricky partnering with Alina seemed flawless to me. Is there a company anywhere with such noisy, clunky shoes? Copeland was the worst, but many women seem to have this problem. Yuk!