California

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_/

Thanks for the reminder! That would have been a spectacular program. I remember thinking it might be worth flying out to see it. So glad I didn't pursue that! But given the very disappointing subscription that year, that program might have enticed at least a few people to get an entire subscription.

When I took the backstage tour of Lincoln Center a few years ago, the tour guide made a point of saying that the theaters in the live theater complex (including Newhouse) counted as "Broadway" theaters. It seemed strange, but I guess it matters for eligibility for Tony's (and perhaps other awards).

Marcelo just sent out a tweet announcing his new web site: http://www.marcelogomes.co/ Click on the images on the home page and it takes you to several nifty video clips.

I did not keep any records on the Segerstrom program changes, as I had no plans to attend. For a time, they announced that the Ballet San Jose was going to back them in Carmen and I vaguely remember that the change to drop that came rather late. Had some subscribers and perhaps individual tickets buyers purchased with that in mind? Long before the Carmen announcement, they were going to do an excerpt from La Bayadere, but again, I don't remember if any subscriptions or tickets were on sale at that early juncture. That's a pretty dramatic "program change" in either case, and it's understandable that people were outraged at the final program. EDIT: Looking back through this thread, I see that Carmen with BSJ was announced on May 5 and cancelled on May 29. It seems likely that tickets were on sale by then.

On the ROH website she is currently scheduled to dance Swan Lake Feb 21st, March 13th, and March 17th. Those performances have not yet gone on sale.On the casting page, to the right, it says the performances on the 13th and 17th will be filmed - perhaps we'll be getting yet another DVD of her performance! http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/swan-lake-by-anthony-dowell

The broadcast was the January 27 performance, but the ROH announcement of the DVD says only January 2014. Still, it makes obvious sense that this is the performance being transferred to DVD. As Acosta-Osipova did more than one performance of Giselle, it is theoretically possible that the DVD came from another one, but that wouldn't seem very cost-effective: http://www.roh.org.uk/news/giselle-screened-live-in-cinemas-across-the-world-on-27-january

The DVD of Giselle with Osipova and Acosta has just appeared on the Amazon-US site for pre-order. It will be released September 30, 2014. http://www.amazon.com/Giselle-Natalia-Osipova/dp/B00M428DPQ/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1407590948&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=royal+ballet+giselle+acosta It was recorded in performance in January 2014. It will be released in the UK on September 1, 2014: http://www.roh.org.uk/products/giselle-dvd-the-royal-ballet-2014

I agree with Drew on this. And, as I noted earlier, given the Congressional designation in 2006 of ABT as American's National Ballet Company, making this donation to the Library of Congress seems a nice gesture and an appropriate one that recognizes this "national" stature. Donating only to a big city library -- even one as well-regarded as NYPL -- doesn't quite seem right. I just looked up the sponsors of that resolution: Carolyn Maloney, Chris Shays, Thomas Reynolds, and Louise Slaughter -- three New Yorkers and one from Connecticut. Maloney and Slaughter are still in the House of Representatives, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were satisfied with this decision on the archives. Given that a frequent criticism of NEA is the (untrue) claim that most of the money goes to New York, spreading the wealth of those archives to other places is politically smart. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/109/hres751#overview Here's the Senate resolution, co-sponsored by Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Dole: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/109/sres452/text#

If you search YouTube for - Raymonda divertissements abt - several things show up. I don't know if this has been altered over the years, though. Here's one clip: Here's one with Cynthia Gregory, who (along with Martine van Hamel) seemed to fit the role best (which is why it seems a natural for Gillian Murphy).

Congress made that designation of ABT as the "national ballet company," so it seems only fair to return the favor by donating to the Library of Congress. I don't know if the L of C has the set-up for video viewing that NYPL-performing arts does, however. The fact that two weeks notice is required to see anything is not reassuring. I hope that they make copies of any videos for NYPL that it doesn't already own.

Royal Ballet just announced that it is releasing the DVD of her performance with Acosta on September 1, 2014: http://www.roh.org.uk/products/giselle-dvd-the-royal-ballet-2014 I don't find it yet on Amazon, but hope it will appear soon. (Wouldn't it be great if ABT would release outstanding performances on DVD as regularly as the Royal does? We can dream...) And it looks like many of us will get to see her Giselle in November in NYC with Mikhailovsky. Yippee!

Daniel taught us the opening movements of Concerto Barocco and a jazzy segment from Who Cares, along with some brief arm movements from Rubies. And "performing" these to live music by a NYCB rehearsal pianist was such a treat. No matter how klutzy and out of shape you think you might be, there are others who are even klutzier and more out of shape. But nobody cares -- we were all working so hard at doing those steps. I think these classes are great and if they make a little money for the company, even better!

I've looked around on the NYSC schedules and could never find anything. One nice thing about these NYCB workshops is that they are held in the Rose Building, in the actual NYCB rehearsal studios with principals and soloists from the company. It's fun to take a look at what the place looks like and see these dancers demonstrate and explain. A company pianist accompanied the class, another treat compared to the usual adult classes. I gather these have been held in recent years at the Kennedy Center, but never before in NYC. They did raise prices (from $15 to $22) and added the reception. At the one last January, a lot of people hung around asking for autographs and photos with Ulbricht, so the reception seems a better solution. If they raise a little money for the company, that's fine, too.

NYCB just sent out information on their Adult Movement Workshops for 2014-15. Tickets go on sale August 11, same day as single tickets for performances. Last year they did just one class, which sold out quickly, so it's nice to see this expansion. As I posted earlier, these really are fun, especially when they teach a brief excerpt from their actual repertory. As you can see from the picture, nobody is out of place! http://www.nycballet.com/Educate/Public-Programs/Ballet-Essentials.aspx?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=F15EducationSATBWGBalletEssentials&utm_content=version_A

I assume most readers here are familiar with this clip (posted with Kirkland's permission, with piano accompaniment added), but just in case. (You can see a lot more from this performance -- but in silence -- at the NYPL dance research collection.) I'm curious about how people compare this with Fracci, Part, et al.

Check the catalog listing. I remember seeing some entries that do specifically require written permission before viewing. But I have a stack of print-outs of ABT recordings without that qualifier and that I haven't had trouble viewing.

Now I really want to look at that tape! I had heard the audience was in tears at her final Manon, and this sounds like it (or close). The quote function does not work for me in Explorer 8, but does work in Chrome. I have no idea why...

I just took a look at the Dance collection catalog and found a recording of Manon I plan to see next time I'm in New York: Ferri, Bolle, Cornejo, and Murphy, taped in performance at the Met June 14, 2007: http://catalog.nypl.org/search~S99?/tmanon/tmanon/1%2C17%2C44%2CB/frameset&FF=tmanon+ballet+in+three+acts&1%2C1%2C Would that have been her retirement year? performance? They have several other recordings of Manon, but I don't find Vishneva (other than clips). I have the DVDs of two Royal Ballet casts: Penney and Dowell (taped in 1982) and Rojo and Acosta (taped in 2008). Both are excellent.

I looked at some ABT archival tapes just last month (July 2014) - a mixed bill with Prodigal Son (with Cornejo), On the Dnieper (with Hallberg and Gomes), and Desir, taped in 2009 in performance at the Met. I remember thinking that it was good enough to show on PBS, especially given the dearth of ABT recordings available there. No advance request was necessary. I did need a NYPL library card, but you can get that on the spot at the information desk at the 3rd floor research room, where the videos are located. You need to show photo ID, but do not need to be a resident of NY. You then fill out a form for the video you want to see. I brought along a print-out from the catalog so I had all the catalog numbers they need. The credits say the recording was made possible by The Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image, NYPL. You might search their catalog on-line to see what else they have. As I've said ad nauseum, I'm glad they are making these recordings for posterity, but deeply regret that they don't have the permissions needed to show them on PBS, let alone sell them on DVD.