California

I've been reading with some amusement the scathing comments about "The Tempest." I saw it twice last fall across the plaza in its premiere week, with both casts, and decided then and there that I was done with that ballet. What a waste of so many talented dancers, as others have noted. Was this co-produced with another company, so at least the (apparently) extravagant cost could be shared? Perhaps they could recycle that boat for another ballet. At least we know that Ratmansky (as with Balanchine and other notables) is not perfect. They all make mistakes. It's just too bad so much money apparently went down the drain.

The review by Robert Gottlieb (for me, a must-read critic) is also pretty brutal. The link just appeared in today's "links": http://observer.com/2014/07/a-disheartening-week-for-dance/

For much of the country (indeed, much of the planet), the only way to see serious ballet is on DVD. I've been impressed to see the extensive collections in public libraries that people who can't afford the DVDs can check out. And some of them make their way (unauthorized, of course) onto YouTube. I had understood that the renovation of the State/Koch Theatre included high-tech installations so performances could be broadcast, live-streamed, etc., but that NYCB can't afford to do that. I vaguely remember that ABT has made the same excuse. It's true that European governments provide much more generous subsidies for this kind of thing, but wouldn't this be a nice project for some US Foundation?

Agreed! I would add that the availability of DVDs is also relevant. Thanks to La Scala's release of performances videotaped live, I have DVDs of Bolle in Bayadere, Giselle, and Swan Lake (partnering Zakharova in all three). What's available commercially for Gomes? Purple Rothbart in the ABT Swan Lake, from 2005 (with Corella and Murphy in the leads). Serious fans can find snippets on YouTube and the NYPL/Dance Collection has archival tape of several ballets with him you can watch there, but none of that has been released for commercial distribution. This is a raw nerve on this site, for sure.

I just got an answer from Ellen Bar. Looks like we won't be getting the DVD until 2015:

Bolle and Vishneva are both listed as company principals, not guest artists. Even Vasiliev is still listed as a company principal. The title seems to apply rather broadly to people who are only there for a handful of performances nowadays!

I'm thinking that Bolle and Vishneva are their best guests. Are those the two you are thinking of?

I've kept print-outs from recent years and the complete schedule, with principal casting, has been posted on the web site in mid-October for the next Met season.

ABT has a two-week fall season at the State Theatre/Koch October 22-November 1. I asked at the membership desk when we could expect an announcement of the rep and was told July. It looks like Push Comes to Shove and Pillar of Fire will be on the program, at least guessing from the rep for Kennedy Center next March. Fancy Free also looks likely, judging from the Instagrams Gillian and Marcello sent out yesterday of photo shoots on the Plaza with "75" (for ABT's 75th anniversary).

Interesting examples, Drew, although Osipova would still have been quite young (early 20s?), and some of Nureyev's performances late in his career were painful to see. Surprising to hear that about Mariinsky, which seems to have such a deep "bench." In interviews, Baryshnikov seemed to acknowledge that performing such ambitious schedules in the first few years after his defection probably resulted in avoidable injuries. Bolle seems to be in great shape, of course, but Seo sounds so insecure in the role. Oh, well, I hope people will see it tonight and tell us about it. This reminds me of an awkward interview by a local TV entertainment reporter last fall with the three principal women who were going to alternate in Giselle with Colorado Ballet (9 performances over 2 weekends). The reporter asked if it felt strange to "share" the role and they all seemed puzzled. Well, she asked, why can't one person do the same role at every performance, like they do on Broadway!

I hope some of you who attended Friday night also attend Saturday night and tell us about the comparison, especially Bolle/Seo. This sounds like ghoulish voyeurism, I suppose, but I am hard-pressed to think of such rigorous performances on two days, back-to-back. I have only been able to think of a couple of episodes remotely comparable: (1) When Baryshnikov did "Baryshnikov at Wolf Trap" in summer 1976, he did two consecutive nights. He actually did five dances each night. (The opening movement from Push Comes to Shove was omitted on the DVD, alas.) But he was also 28 years old at that point, while Bolle is 39, isn't he? And Baryshnikov had lots of advance planning for that tour. (2) As some of you might remember, when Baryshnikov's full-length Don Q premiered at the Kennedy Center in March 1978, Baryshnikov-Kirkland did the premiere on Thursday night and a second performance for the Saturday matinee. Martine van Hamel as Kitri was visibly injured on-stage in Act I on Saturday night. Somebody found B&K having dinner at the Watergate Hotel next door and they came back over to do the Saturday evening performance, from scratch. But even then, Baryshnikov was 30 and Kirkland younger (and in great shape), although that is one exhausting ballet to do twice in one day. It does happen that people step in on short notice, but it seems so unusual for it to happen in such a grueling ballet as Swan Lake on two consecutive days. Has anybody encountered that before?

Donors to this film via the Hatchfund at $150 and up were supposed to get a free DVD of the film. It appears the film was released several months ago, but I have not yet received the DVD. Has anybody else?

Alina just posted two back-to-back tweets with apologies: Alina Cojocaru ‏@DancingAlina 11m Very sorry not be able to be on stage tonight with Herman and the wonderful ABT company! Looking forward to next time we share the stage! Alina Cojocaru ‏@DancingAlina 16m Injuries often happens in our profession,sadly I am forced to rest for a few days before I can come back to full working programme/shows.

Very interesting data. There's a lot we don't know, of course. How many donors to arts organizations are influenced by the expected tax deduction? Many small donors probably don't even itemize and just want access to the occasional open rehearsal, which is fine. But I suspect the actual amount by large donors ($500+?) is influenced by that deduction. This data doesn't include tax subsidies in many states. Again, the direct grants from Arts Councils at the state and city level might be small, but tax deductions add up, especially in states with fairly high marginal rates (NY and CA, e.g.). Colorado has a great program that benefits the Colorado Ballet, called an "Enterprise Zone" cultural tax credit. You get an actual tax credit (not a deduction) of 25% of your donation to the Ballet! So for a $1000 donation, you get $250 back in a tax credit. Now that's a pretty powerful incentive to increase your donation. I don't know how many other states do things along those lines. Another piece of tax subsidy that's relevant: the cost of art education provided in public colleges and universities (as well as K-12). NEA has collected data on this and it's substantial. (The Park Service, by the way, is authorized by the same Congressional committees that oversee the two Endowments, so that might explain why they were asked to compile data on all of them. The committees are called "Interior and Related Agencies," or something along those lines.) We all wish government support of all kinds would increase across the board. My point was simply that "government support" includes a lot more than direct grants from NEA. And as taxpayers are providing these subsidies, there is some sort of moral obligation to help ensure that as many people as possible get a chance to enjoy those programs.

Hallberg just posted an apologetic Tweet: Nothing yet from Kobborg or Cojocaru, although Kobborg did say a few days ago that he had a grueling two-day journey from New Zealand back to Bucharest.

Stearns is now listed for Saturday matinee with Semionova. I see that Stearns is also now replacing Hallberg in The Dream next week.

Makes you wonder if they will wait until after 5 pm on Friday to announce Hallberg's substitute on Saturday -- Whiteside or Stearns? I can't imagine they would put Gomes in again, what with his 3-day marathon the next week!

Direct grants (from places like NEA) are relatively small. But those numbers don't include the financial benefit of 501©(3) deductions for donors, which are not the norm in many countries (especially Europe, although some are looking to the American model on this). Those donations would be smaller without the charitable deduction on taxes. Private foundations which donate to the company also benefit from substantial tax advantages. I.e., the taxpayers are providing substantial subsidies to the companies via the tax deductions to donors. Typically, the performing spaces are also benefitting from a variety of taxpayer subsidies, including both direct grants and tax exemptions; if the companies performed in commercial spaces, the cost would be much higher. I don't know how the dollars add up in all these additional categories, but they are substantial.

Thank you, VolcanoHunter and Mr. Beard! I couldn't agree more. After you've seen a DVD (or an HD theater show) of a great production, doesn't it make you more likely to want to see it in the theater, if at all possible? Many will find a way eventually. And for those who can't afford it, they wouldn't have gotten to the theater anyway!

I get so exasperated at the argument from assorted company directors that making their work available in HD theaters or DVDs will hurt their theater attendance. I don't know what kind of serious research they have on this, but look anecdotally at the situation here. We have available oodles of great DVDs from Royal, Bolshoi, Mariinsky, yet their performances in the US seem to sell very, very well. But we have precious little (at least from the last decade) of ABT or NYCB, yet they hardly ever sell out. (And that doesn't even take into account the fact that both ABT and NYCB receive a fair amount of taxpayer subsidies and grants -- although we wish it were more -- which would argue in favor of making their work more available to taxpayers who can't get to their theaters for whatever reason.)

I was concerned that Gomes had three successive days in the schedule next week -- Tempest, Dream, Tempest. Brutal schedules for a lot of people at the close of the season! I feel badly for Cornejo and Radetsky - both waited a long time to get roles where they could shine. Wasn't it just a few years ago that people were complaining that Cornejo should have a chance at the lead roles? And this is it for Radetsky. Could Stearns or Whiteside partner Semionova Saturday? I have no idea about height, rehearsals, etc. Hammoudi or Matthews could take Aristocratic Rothbart.

Interesting tweet just now from Gillian. It seems to leave the door open that she might be able to do Dream next week: http://instagram.com/p/pt9amMnVRp/

Was the house reasonably sold? The Theatre Development Fund has had $34 tickets for the entire run for weeks and still does.

With 9 SLs in Australia and some principals missing, this would be a golden opportunity to give some soloists a chance -- Lane, e.g. I can't imagine that Vishneva or Cojocaru will join the tour. Copeland made her company debut in Coppelia in the Abu Dhabi engagement, although she had already been announced for the Met season by then, too. Perhaps an out-of-country debut is a good way for some to shake their nerves before trying this in NYC. It's interesting that word about Copeland leaked out early (as it also did for her Coppelia). Mmm...wonder who leaked it!

Gillian just tweeted that she will be doing SL in Australia, too. But there are a lot of performances to cast!