California

Thanks for that link. The Kaiser report was brutal and a complete shake-up does seem necessary to rejuvenate the major donor class in the region. Although less important than big donors (but still important), attracting a regional audience (New York, Baltimore, DC) seems likely with these changes, especially Corella and the new programming. When I saw the revised program for October, I thought - darn, if I were planning to be on the east coast in October, I'd find a way to work that in. Very nice program! I'll keep an eye on their site from now on, when I haven't in the past.

And they're on the aisle, at least when I've spotted him in the orchestra at the Met, so he can make that mad dash for the exits -- whether to get back to the office, avoid the crowds, or whatever. Has anyone ever spotted him hanging around for all the curtain calls?

But Carter and Emma did "finish the season." I have to think that Corella had the backing of the trustees during his contract negotiations for such dramatic changes, both in programming and staffing. And the alternative -- the drip-drip-drip of letting people go one at a time over months -- would have been disastrous for morale, with everybody wondering who would be next.

A fun article, but I disagree with one statement: I can think of all sorts of legitimate reasons for making a mad dash for the exits as soon as the performance ends -- the last bus/train home, a baby-sitter who has school the next day, a long drive ahead on a work night. That doesn't seem as egregious as leaving during the performance and having to climb over other audience members who might be enjoying the program.

I thought sure we had a thread on this, but I can't seem to find it back. I have to agree with Macaulay's Notebook today on the annoyance of late seating, especially when ABT is at the Met. But I disagree with his claim that Covent Garden is nearly perfect. He doesn't say what the exceptions might be. I'll name one: flash cameras going off during the performance, which happened twice last spring when I was in London to see the Royal Ballet. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/29/arts/dance/latecomers-to-the-theater-always-step-on-toes.html

Just to underscore one detail in your excellent post: the FY2014 budget and the FY2015 budget request for the National Endowment for the Arts is only $146.021 million. Note that this includes the administrative costs of the agency (about $15 million). This is significant as it reminds us that Federal government support for the arts is in serious decline, putting even more of a burden on cities and states, as well private sources. http://arts.gov/news/2014/president-obama-releases-fy-2015-budget-number-national-endowment-arts

The Koch theater is one of the few remaining major venues in the U.S. that does not use the print-your-own ticketing system. Even the Guggenheim's Works and Process series has switched to a system of letting you pick your own seat and then print your own ticket. I assume there is a significant start-up/transition cost, but surely it would pay for itself eventually in reduced costs for postage and staffing, not to mention happier customers! At least Koch finally started letting you pick your own seat (at least at a certain point after subscription sales). Let me add: Colorado Ballet sends out tickets for everything (including subscriptions and special events) as print-your-own PDF attachments to e-mail. The systems exist to do this and they work well. I wonder how long it will be before the Koch ticket office wakes up to this.

I found this link from the Joffrey Ballet web site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Ldk4Ed9GQ

He's actually a member of the President's Council on the Arts and Humanities. A few years ago, he and Heather produced a wonderful "day of dance" at the White House for area children which was live-streamed. (The White House studiously avoids the word "czar" - that comes from the press and the President's critics.) http://www.pcah.gov/members The Arts Endowment has a brand-new Chair, who seems to be quite good, Jane Chu: http://arts.gov/staff/jane-chu It's a monstrous responsibility (as Jane Alexander wrote about in her book "Command Performance" after she was NEA Chair during the Clinton administration). And as the new Chair at the Humanities Endowment is a white male, it would have been difficult to appoint another white male just now at NEA. Woetzel seems to have so many interesting irons in the fire, he might have been reluctant to take it on, if he had been asked.

So true! When I can, I try to get something in the first row of the Grand Tier or Premium Dress Circle, even though I'm over on the side. But by the time single tickets go on sale, subscribers and friends have gobbled up the best seats. They seem to have a very loyal fan base that makes it difficult for occasional visitors from out-of-town. (Very different from ABT in NYC, where great single tickets are not difficult to find.)

I seriously doubt that Swift thinks she's able to discern professional talent in dance and that's not the point of the video. She was probably grateful for her producers, who know something about this. She gave a touching quote to Rolling Stone about the message she was trying to convey to her young fans: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/taylor-swift-dismisses-the-haters-dances-with-fans-for-new-song-shake-it-off-20140818#ixzz3AxbCfVMN

Green light to the Skoriks of the world..? A green light for ordinary people to dance for themselves and not worry that they are not as good as the professionals Swift includes. So if the Skoriks of the world want to dance for themselves (as opposed to the theater), go for it! (Actually, I have never seen Skorik in the theater, so I should withhold judgment on her.) But I don't see Swift endorsing the idea that everybody can fake it as a well-trained professional (are you listening, Natalie?) - just the opposite, actually. I noticed in some of the newspaper articles on-line this morning about the video that those ordinary people in the final moments were Swift's fans, invited from her Facebook page.

The video has triggered a torrent of criticism and praise. If you Google "Taylor Swift shake it up dancers" you can see a lot of it. I still can't find out who the professional dancers are, but it was filmed over three days in New York. Here's what Brian Siebert, at the NY Times, just posted: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/19/taylor-swifts-shake-it-off-video-a-dance-critics-take/?smid=tw-share

Like Trieste, I'm curious who the professional dancers are, especially in the ballet and the modern sequences. I've looked at several postings of the video on YouTube and nobody is including credits. I've looked at the video a few more times and still love the thing. She is silly in all the dance forms, not just ballet. And the professional dancers in all genres get to show us some amazing moves, providing very nice illustrations of what pros can do and amateurs cannot. I have wondered if she (or the producers) were inspired by the Sara Lane/Swan Lake story. I do see two very nice messages: (1) to be a great dancer is something you have to work at - you can't just bounce out there and pretend (a la Portman...), and (2) even if you dance as badly as Taylor, you should still go for it and have fun, as they do at the end.

I think it may depend on your height whether you can see feet from row A (and, I guess, torso length). At least before the renovation of the State Theater I was not able to see feet from the first row. I am short but not extremely so...I'm sure a few other adult audience members are as short as I... You may still be right that they removed the row to expand the size of the orchestra, since they don't mind selling those seats for other companies. I'm 5"4' and love Row A. No problems at all seeing the entire stage floor and all feet. It's clearly a temporary row, though - you are walking on plywood painted red (?), not the concrete of the other rows. It's possible the renovation improved things. There are other theaters, though, where the first couple of rows are very problematic-- Vail, Covent Garden, Kennedy Center. At the Opera House in San Francisco, although I was several rows back on the aisle, the seats are so ancient (whatever padding/springs used to be there are long gone) that I have serious problems seeing the stage and much prefer the tiers.

Dance Magazine just sent out a Tweet about this video, "Taylor Swift Makes Bad Dancing Cool": http://dancemagazine.com/blogs/dance-glance/6002

For the Bolshoi Ballet in July, they removed the A row. The woman at the ticket office insisted this was because you can't see the feet on stage from A (not true). It was clear it was to have room for that gigantic orchestra they brought with them, once you saw how big it was.

We've seen some pretty awful ads with dancers (and fake dancers in a certain infamous movie), but I found this video endearing. I don't consider myself a Taylor Swift fan, but I love that she tries several styles of dancing (including a swan in Swan Lake) and allows herself to look clumsy in all of it. Toward the end, a lot of ordinary people are urged to dance themselves. A nice call to everybody to dance and not worry about what others think. Let me add: she's also sending a clear message that all those dance styles are difficult to perform: http://balletoman.com/1429-taylor-swift-shake-it-off.html#vid

Yes, that's an odd one. But conducter Lorin Maazel refers to the raked stage in a production of Falstaff, which makes me think the permanent stage is indeed raked: http://www.classicalite.com/articles/1735/20130619/read-maestro-lorin-maazels-facebook-opera-staging-madness-part-two.htm

La Scala, where he has also done a lot of guest work, also has a raked stage. Indeed, at least according to this news report, dancers from Berlin and Paris have complained about it! Add to that the constant jet lag ABT Fan mentioned and he's been under a lot of physical stress lately! http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/20/entertainment/la-et-cm-la-scala-opening-with-conductor-james-conlon-strike-20121219

Why am I not surprised?...Has Hallberg ever said anything (in interviews, perhaps?) about the strain of performing and rehearsing on the raked stages in Moscow? I vaguely remember something along those lines from Gomes a while ago. It's quite an adjustment for dancers who did not grow up with those things.

He made one guest appearance in Giselle with Polina Semionova at Mikhailovsky, but I never saw him scheduled for anything else.

Thanks for the correction. I guess we won't have an (official) record of his Swan Lake. He has announced his retirement from Royal for September 2015, so perhaps we'll get one more DVD of his performances. Still, we do have a lot available, thanks to Royal. I searched for David Hallberg - the only record of his performances on DVD is the Sleeping Beauty at Bolshoi. Thanks to La Scala, we have several DVDs of Roberto Bolle. Thanks to La Scala and Royal, we have several of Alessandra Ferri. What a disgrace that ABT has never figured out how to record and distribute DVDs of the many wonderful performances of their principal dancers.

I'm looking at the Royal's DVD of La Bayadere (with Acosta, Rojo, and Nunez). It says it was recorded on January 15 and 19, 2009, presumably for the reasons you suggest. As an aside...We now have wonderful DVDs of Acosta in performance with Royal in Manon, Don Quixote, La Fille, R&J, and Bayadere. Soon we'll have him in Giselle and, with luck, his Swan Lake with Osipova later next year. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had comparable DVDs of Marcelo Gomes (and Corella, Boca, et al.) in these great roles?

Vishneva has sent out several tweets about being honored to dance M&A on August 11. Some have links to photos:  Retweeted by Diana Vishneva Graham Watts @GWDanceWriter · 8h Vishneva melted hearts with her poignant portrayal of Marguerite @dianavishneva @mariinskyen #Mariinsky triple bill http://londondance.com/articles/reviews/mariinsky-ballet-the-firebird-marguerite/#.U-pSh27g3mc.twitter …  London Diana Vishneva @dianavishneva · Aug 11 'Marguerite&Armand' by Sir Frederic Ashton... Royal Opera. August 11, 2014 #margueriteandarmand… http://instagram.com/p/rlGomTwWyI/  London Diana Vishneva @dianavishneva · Aug 11 it was privilege t dance Sir Frederic Ashton's masterpiece... 'Marguerite&Armand', Royal Opera,… http://instagram.com/p/rlCmF2wW6_/