California

The 7 bus, which goes right by Penn Station, is also full of ballet goers.

I'm in the minority with Batsuchan. I saw both Monday and Tuesday nights and I think that's it for me and this ballet. Although Macaulay has been rapturous about the choreography, I grew weary of the constant finger stabbing by the seasons and stars, although some of their group formations were mildly interesting. Even with stellar leads (notably Gomes with Kent on Tuesday), they just don't have all that much interesting dancing. Let me note how dramatically superb Gomes is -- his facial expressions are so spot on for each moment -- a great "dancer-actor," if that's the word (along with all his other much-appreciated talents). I realize most loathe the Ben Stevenson version (which ABT did at some point in its history), but in many respects it does a better job in capturing dramatic details that help the narrative work, even when the dancing doesn't. E.g., in Stevenson, the step mother is a major character, especially in Act I. Her presence explains why the hen-pecked father tolerates the step-sisters' antics. In Ashton, the stepmother is already dead, so you wonder why the father can't get control and protect his daughter. E.g., in the orange-sharing sequence in Act II, one of the step-sisters in Stevenson's version accepts an orange from Cinderella and does a double-take of recognition (you seem familiar...), but that's missing from Ashton. In the Act II ballroom, the stepsisters in Stevenson's version do their display mainly for the prince, so it makes sense that they are still delusional in Act III and think they have charmed him. Ashton has them performing for courtiers. Stevenson also adds a little surprise and pizzazz -- e.g., in Act I, a smoke "bomb" for magical transformation from beggar to fairy godmother, instead of just a darkened stage with a double disappearing. Perhaps the biggest problem for all the versions is that the story is so silly (love at first sight and all), with an inscrutable score. It's interesting that so many have tried their hand at Cinderella, but no version really stands out as THE definitive take on it.

My guess for the Baryshnikov role: Cornejo and Simkin.

Let me just add my praise of the Sat matinee with Vishneva/Gomes. Stunning. I have the DVDs with Acosta/Rojo and Dowell/Penney, so I had a sense of what to expect in the theater, but I can't wait to see it again some day - if not ABT, perhaps another major company. (I see that Osipova/Acosta are doing two performances this fall with Royal, but I won't be able to get there. With luck, they'll show one of those in the movie theater and release it some day on DVD.) I saw the Kent/Bolle (Thursday) and Reyes/Jackson (Friday) before Saturday and I'm glad I did - they would have been more disappointing with the contrast. Reyes did a very credible job, but Jackson seemed wooden to me. I kept waiting -- in vain -- to see a spark between them. In the last act, when he should be overwhelmed with the developments, he just seemed to overdo everything - too extended, too strong. I noticed Gillian Murphy in the orchestra Friday, perhaps to lend support to Reyes? It was fun meeting some Ballet Alerters at the intermission.

Please don't forget the many excellent female critics and dance historians. A few of my favorites (along with those already mentioned): Arlene Croce, Anna Kisselgoff, Selma Jeanne Cohen. And several female philosophers are publishing important work on dance (e.g., Barbara Montero at CUNY, Anna Pakes at Roehampton in the UK). Anna Hutchinson Guest (theory and notation) should also be noted.

How about Martin Scorsese? His favorite film is the Red Shoes: http://www.timeout.com/london/film/martin-scorsese-discusses-the-red-shoes-1

The current issue of Pointe Magazine has a nice survey of racial issues in ballet by Gus Solomons, Jr., including the episode with the Ballet Russe and Raven Wilkinson that Helene mentioned: http://www.pointemagazine.com/issues/junejuly-2014/moments-time

Probably true now, but in the early 1980s, when David Stockman (Reagan's OMB director) wanted to cut both Endowments by 50%, some of the most vocal opposition came from wealthy, moderate Republicans on boards of art museums, symphonies, etc. around the country. (They were actually cut just 10%.) The single biggest increase to the NEA budget percentage-wise was with Nixon (although some speculated that he was just trying to show he was as "cultured" as JFK.) The NEA and NEH were established in 1965 with strong bipartisan support (Jacob Javitts-R and Claiborne Pell-D, e.g.). It's very difficult to imagine any of this with today's Republican party.

Please also remember that when Arthur Mitchell started the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1969, a year after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Balanchine was very generous in providing repertory, coaching, even used pointe shoes, according to numerous reports. As kfw and Helene have noted (and younger readers might not realize), the Republican party of the 50s and 60s was very, very different from today's. 80% of the Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, while only 63-69% of the Democrats did. Many of those Democrats later switched to the Republican party. (Some documentation: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/28/republicans-party-of-civil-rights) Gerry Ford was pro-choice and pro-ERA. Eisenhower was pro-tax to pay off the national debt, pro-building an ambitious infrastructure (the interstate highway system), etc., etc.

ABT just sent out a Tweet with a link to a very gracious farewell essay by Sasha Radetsky, published in the new issue of Vogue magazine. I suppose with his wife continuing as a member of the company, he doesn't feel free to be as blunt as other recent departees have been: http://www.vogue.com/culture/article/sascha-radetsky-last-rehearsal-abt-ballet-studios/#1

Here's another very nice example of how a ballet company is introducing young kids to the ballet: I attended a performance of the ENB Coppelia in London in April. I was in town for other reasons, but it was being presented at the Peacock Theatre just a few blocks from the Royal Opera House, so it seemed worth a visit, and it was. They offered numerous performances around England, as well as London, so a lot of kids are being introduced to the ballet with this program. They presented a shortened/condensed version, with advanced students from their School. The choreography seemed a bit simplified, but not too much. Although they used recorded music, they had nice sets and costumes, presumably from the company's inventory. The audience was packed with parents and kids, many of them still toddlers. What made it an especially good educational experience for the kids: the Dr. Coppelius character was miked and explained throughout what was going on in the plot. He also gently explained some of the mime, as well as the plot details, for the kids. They also had a lavish program for kids to take home explaining the story, with various games and illustrations. Very nice job overall.

This is a much-belated posting on the May 18 Spring Performance of the Colorado Ballet Academy. I don't normally bother with school recitals (except for some SAB workshops!), but this was the first by the new director, Valerie Madonia, and I was intrigued with the advance publicity that it would focus on great dancers and ballets from dance history. I'm also interested in how different companies introduce young kids to the ballet. In short: it was well worth the trip and I truly enjoyed the program. The performance was in a large auditorium at a local high school, packed with parents and families. It used recorded music and no sets, but each group had a distinctive costume consistent with its theme. Altogether there were 23 presentations, about 3-5 minutes each, for all the different class levels and types. I was charmed by the care with which each group illustrated the look and feel of something from dance history, explained in a paragraph in the print program. I won't slog through all of them here, but as an example: a large Ballet Level I class was inspired by Spectre de la Rose (taught and choreographed by Carolina Pahde Mallarino). The girls were dressed in white dresses, each carrying a rose. Then a young boy with a shiny red top raced through the group in various patterns and exited with the biggest jete he could muster. My favorite of the afternoon was the Ballet Level 3 (taught and choreographed by Jacob Taylor) in an excerpt inspired by Dances at a Gathering, the movement with three couples in increasingly risky lifts and throws. Other inspirations included Giselle, Dying Swan, La Bayadere, Graduation Ball, Paquita, Romeo and Juliet, and La Sylphide (as well as a few modern, tap, and jazz segments). I imagine the young students learned a lot developing their dance for the program, but I think the audience also learned a lot about the range of ballet and dance. I can't imagine how they'll top themselves in 2015!

I heard an NYCB "Dancer Chat" last year with a corps member from one of the boroughs who had gone to SAB after being recruited and trained by Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech, an impressive program that recruits from throughout NYC, with 88% minority enrollment. I couldn't find any data on how many ended up at NYCB or other professional companies, but it does seem to have a very aggressive recruiting program. As that dancer reminded us, the recruits have to overcome some pretty powerful stereotypes in their home communities about ballet: http://www.ballettech.org/

I had a "create-your-own" subscription last year, so I got the big package on subscriptions a few weeks ago. The only mention of the Whelan Farewell is on p. 13: "Program TBA, not available on subscription." The package does emphasize that renewing subscribers are "first in line" for the Nutcracker and an order form is included, but nothing like that is mentioned for Whelan. I wouldn't be surprised if they raise the prices, open all the tiers, and give subscribers first crack at tickets, though.

But in the original quotes Helene posted, I'm trying to understand what the Russians might mean by supporting Fascism. My guess is that many primarily see it as anti-communism and are not focusing primarily on Hitler/Mussolini fascism/Nazism. Younger generations are trying to reject both communism and what they understand as fascism, in favor of some vague notion of what "democracy" is. Those who say they support fascism are the dopes/adolescents in that quote. But, as I noted, Russia has never had any experience with a genuine democracy -- which is much more than merely having elections from time to time. (The soviets had elections...) It's a broader cultural structure that includes non-governmental interest groups, educational organizations that debate the varying options available, perhaps labor unions, etc. Between 1918 and 1939, some Warsaw pact nations did have the experience of parliamentary democracies, enough time for that cultural infrastructure to emerge and be remembered. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, those nations were able to make the shift to genuine democracies much more effectively than the former Soviet Union has been able to. (I'm not suggesting, of course, that the transition has been easy or without stumbles in any of those countries.)

In case anybody missed this...LaKarsavina posted two YouTube clips of the bows for the 5/23/14 Vishneva-Gomes-Murphy Bayadere. In the first, Gomes gestures to acknowledge the corps and soloists (at 1:36), one of his more endearing qualities.

I'm so sorry I didn't see this in the theater. I did find a clip of her "death scene" in a (mislabelled) YouTube clip. Is the move you're talking about the one that starts about 1:42?

I think we are also dealing with some complex translation issues here, rooted in the history with the Nazis. E.g., in recent books about how many Nazis escaped justice, with the help of Catholic priests and the U.S. government (The Real Odessa, Uki Goni; Nazis on the Run, Gerald Steinacher), they saw the choice as one between godless communism and fascism and thought fascism the lesser of two evils. They don't today seem to equate fascism with Nazism, as we do in the U.S., but more as a rejection of communism. Without a tradition in Russia of genuine democracy (which nations in eastern Europe experienced between the two world wars), they don't have a clear sense of what other alternatives might be. In eastern Europe, I discovered that well-educated people still equate "socialism" with "Nazism." Hitler actually crushed the socialist party in Germany and appropriated the name, yet he was no socialist as we understand it in the west. My point: these are very slippery terms and might not always be used in Russia and Europe in the way we use them in the U.S. As for censorship, it's interesting that the constitutions of countries in both western and eastern Europe (as well as the EU) include general principles of free speech. Yet they all have strong laws censoring anything having to do with the Nazis. E.g., it's illegal to publicly display a swastika, to deny the Holocaust, or to sell Mein Kampf, and recent news reports show that those laws are taken seriously and enforced. They seem to think that this censorship is the best way to deal with their underground neo-Nazi movements (which are widespread throughout Europe today). In the U.S., we also have neo-Nazis, but we think encouraging as much free speech as possible is the way to deal with that. ("Sunlight is the best disinfectant," etc.) Both approaches have failed to squelch neo-Nazism, of course. Free speech is not absolute, even in the U.S. Think of our never-ending battles over obscenity (not protected by the First Amendment) and the current religious freedom issues being fought in the context of the arts, health care, etc. In the Andres Serrano controversy ("P*** Christ"), the censorship many in Congress wanted had to do with religious insults, not the "obscenity" alleged of the work by Mapplethorpe.

Here's the May 5 story about San Jose Ballet performing with them (I thought it would be pulled down by now and perhaps it will be soon): http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwdance/article/Ballet-San-Jose-Announces-International-Tour-of-CARMEN-with-Natalia-Osipova-and-Ivan-Vasiliev-725-89-20140505#

This announcement in Broadway World was just posted by Google Alert. The Segerstrom program in July appears to be the same program just announced for City Center. What's puzzling is that there had been an announcement a month or two ago that the San Jose Ballet would be performing with them in Carmen. I haven't seen any reports about why that fell through, but this is quite a change! http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwdance/article/Natalia-Osipova-Ivan-Vasiliev-to-Return-to-Segerstrom-Center-725-27-20140529#.U4ehFPFOXIU

BBC-Arts has posted one of the three new works from this program: "Second Breathe" by Richard Maliphant. It was taped at the Imperial War Museum in Manchester. Unfortunately, the sound quality is awful -- in the theater, you could clearly hear excerpts from radio transmissions, letters, and speeches. The lighting in the Barbican theater was also nowhere near this dim -- you could see the dancers! http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3f6s6fCjVLwwHXd5XVf27hh/ww1-inspired-dance-performed-at-imperial-war-museum-north?utm_source=Sign-Up.to&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=16158-229542-Newsletter+-+May+2014+%5BMembers%5D

Apparently Johan Kobborg has been looking at this site. His tweet was just sent out by Dance Tabs: Graham Watts ‏@GWDanceWriter May 26 “@KOBBORG: Think I will let Ethan bag this one. I'm happy here in Bucharest ;)) pic.twitter.com/xjLPBgx68e” :-)

Don Quixote will also be performed by the Royal Ballet in June 2015 at the Kennedy Center. Although the programming for their New York visit hasn't been announced, that's a lot of competition for ABT's version next year: http://www.kennedy-center.org/events/?event=BPBSH I sat next to a Russian emigre at a recent performance and asked her about pronunciation of Mikhailovsky. The accent (a subtle one) is on the second syllable. Otherwise, if you say it phonetically, it'll be close.

Those with old programs at hand can correct me, but I think the last time Gomes did Basilio (at least at the Met) was June 2010, when he did the first act at the Alonso birthday celebration. In interviews, he has discussed a serious injury he had a few years ago and his need to avoid that in the future. So, I've just assumed that had something to do with his focus on other roles. Basilio is a high-virtuosity role, perhaps better left to the 20-somethings in the company. Gomes has plenty to do now!

Let me recommend a couple of non-performance programs listed in the 2014-15 subscriber booklet: Ballet Essentials with NYCB (age 21+): Last January, on Balanchine's birthday day, they held an Adult Movement Workshop, apparently their first in NYC (although they've tried this on tour at the Kennedy Center). It was delightful. About 60 people of all ages, genders, and sizes met in a huge rehearsal room in the Rose Building. It was led by Daniel Ulbricht, a very gifted teacher. After some gentle warm-ups, he led the class through brief step excerpts from Concerto Barocco, Who Cares, and Rubies. He was assisted by a corps member, Emily Kikta, and accompanied by one of their rehearsal pianists. Although it would be a stretch to say the 60 people actually "danced" those excerpts, Ulbricht broke everything down into small pieces that we could at least imitate in our own clumsy way. I also enjoyed his running commentary and some demonstration on Balanchine technique and how it differs from the traditional (e.g., the preparation for a pirouette, with the back leg stretched straight out instead of in plie). Afterwards they did an e-mail survey to see how people liked it. For 2014-15, they are listing five of these workshops, so I gather they got a positive response: October 4, January 24, February 14, February 28, May 2. All are on Saturdays at 10:30 and cost $22. You register on-line and the class filled up quickly last January. Trust me, nobody will feel out-of-place and a good time was had by all. They aren't promising that Ulbricht will teach them all, but we can hope! Family Saturdays: I was in town for this May 10 (although without children with me), but I'm always curious to see how different companies (and countries) are introducing kids to ballet. It was a wonderful one-hour program in the main theater (which was nearly full). They showed 8 very short excerpts from different ballets, with dancers in full costume and a few principals. A small ensemble orchestra of about a dozen musicians was on one side of the stage. Ulbricht was a terrific master of ceremonies. He introduced notions like "unison," "canon," "mirroring," "fitting the music," etc. He also had the kids stand up at their seats for some movement exercises (jumping, clapping, waving arms overhead, etc.). These are free for Friends (at least some levels...) and $20 for others. They have three scheduled for next year and are promising Ulbricht again: October 11, February 7, May 17. All are on Saturdays at 11 am. (And if anybody is interested in discussing ways of getting kids interested in ballet and wants to start a thread, that might be worthwhile...)