California

March 2014 grant awards were announced today by the National Endowment for the Humanities. One in particular promises to be of great interest to BA readers: an exhibit on "Art of American Dance" by the Detroit Institute of Arts. The Institute received $300,000 for "implementation of a traveling exhibition exploring the ways in which American visual art from 1820 to 1960 depicted and was inspired by dance." Project director is Jane Dini. The announcement does not provide dates when we can expect to see this or where it will be travelling, but it sounds like something to watch for. Here's the complete list of grants announced today: http://www.neh.gov/files/press-release/march2014grantsstatebystate.pdf

ABT dancers went out on strike three times in the late 70s and early 80s, mainly over pay that was significantly less than dancers of comparable rank at NYCB. (Several sources on this, including Tchernichova's book, Dancing on water, p. 214.) In 1973, NYCB dancers went on strike over the number of guaranteed work weeks. The NYCB musicians went on strike several times in that era. Still, in the recent past, we don't seem to have had much experience with dancer strikes in the U.S. The frequency of strikes in certain countries in Europe seems baffling to Americans. But the Europeans have a hard time understanding our love of guns and the death penalty, and our refusal to convert to the metric system (among other things).

I went to a performance of Opera Colorado last week, which performs in the same Caulkins Opera House as the Colorado Ballet, and was struck at the different look and feel of the audiences. The Ballet always attracts lots and lots of little girls with their parents and friends, even at the evening performances. I saw barely a handful of children at the Opera. Are there scads of kids who dream of being opera stars? I'm not seeing them. Only a few of those little girls will take classes with serious professional ambitions, but in the meantime their parents are being introduced to ballet and that should help future audiences. Both attract a substantial older audience, but the Opera audience seemed to be dressed much more formally (big night at a classy restaurant first, perhaps?). The Opera is only doing two programs a year (Rigoletto this month and Carmen in May), four performances each. The Ballet is doing four programs this year, typically for two weekends, although Nutcracker is solid programming for a month and they're adding a fifth program next year (a weekend of Dracula). The Opera performance did start with a before-the-curtain announcement that they will do two programs each of the next two years, including Don Giovanni, Magic Flute, Aida, and the Scarlet Letter. Opera has never cultivated anything comparable to the Nutcracker as a money machine, which is yet another difference. (Do we have Balanchine to thank for pushing that in the 50s?) I see plenty of efforts at both the ballet and opera to cultivate "young patrons" groups here and elsewhere. I have no idea if it's working, but it seems essential to long-term survival. Even art museums are nervous about the declining interest among younger patrons, as a NY Times article discussed recently: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/20/arts/artsspecial/wooing-a-new-generation-of-museum-patrons.html?src=me&_r=0

We have so few major strikes in the US any more that we forget about their impact. Many thousands of tourists, both domestic and international, did get a nasty introduction to government shutdowns here for 16 days in October 2013. I'm not pointing a (political) finger at anybody for any of this -- just saying that travel of any kind comes with risks. It never hurts to have a Plan B. I can remember having my heart set on seeing certain paintings at a museum I was visiting, only to learn that they were out on loan for another exhibit. And ballet lovers are used to favorite dancers cancelling at the last minute due to illness, injury, what have you.

I just got a mailing from ABT that announces the dates for the fall season: October 22-November 2, 2014 at the Koch Theater. No information about programming, but I believe the NY Times arts blog mentioned a revival of Push Comes to Shove, presumably this fall.

I don't know if these dates have been posted yet. I just got a mailing from ABT that announces that the last BAM performances will be December 12-21, 2014.

Well, they do have a commitment to regular year-in-year-out touring that no other major US ballet company has. If I'm not mistaken, they've performed in all 50 states. On their company history page, ABT does say it's performed in all 50 states. (It's toward the end.) http://www.abt.org/insideabt/history.asp

They are still scheduled to do R&J at La Scala on October 11 & 14. I wonder how long before that changes: http://www.teatroallascala.org/en/season/opera-ballet/2013-2014/romeo-giulietta.html They're also scheduled to do Nureyev's Don Q at La Scala Sept. 25, 27, 29: http://www.teatroallascala.org/en/season/opera-ballet/2013-2014/don-chisciotte.html

I'm particularly excited about seeing Leonid Sarafanov in the theater. The DVD of his Don Q with Mariinsky (and Olesya Novikova) in 2006 is worth a look. I was also impressed at what an attentive and effective partner he was with Osipova in the live stream of R&J a few weeks ago from Mikhailovsky. I'm guessing many will buy tickets to Osipova's Giselle and be pleasantly surprised to see him, too. I decided to see Vasiliev's Albrecht mainly out of curiosity to see what he does with it.

A brief but touching video remembrance of Nureyev by Baryshnikov was just posted by D&D Art Productions:

Yes, there was a Congressional declaration in 2006. I have no idea who pulled the strings behind the scenes to get this one (as opposed to NYCB). http://www.abt.org/insideabt/news_display.asp?News_ID=160

The Koch Theater site has a different phone number for the box office: 212-496-0600. I think Bolshoi tickets were handled by the Fisher box office for the summer Lincoln Center Festival.

I can't even get the single-ticket option to work on-line. I'm logged into my account and have tried accessing "purchase tickets" several ways. Has anybody else had any luck with that? Also, do you know if they are starting the orchestra with row A (as NYCB does) or row B (as the Bolshoi is doing this summer)? EDITED TO ADD: You can now purchase single tickets. You can select your own seat from the charts, which is great, of course. But when you click on a seat, a little balloon pops up that says it has been added to your cart. In fact, it has not been added. You have to go to the red button in the lower right "add to cart" and click that before it's really added. No sign of multiple ticket discounts yet. You can pick out your entire purchase and at check-out do your log-in. A little confusing, but so glad you can pick out your own seat (unlike Bolshoi). And they are starting with Row A in the orchestra, as NYCB does. ANOTHER EDIT: As of 1:25 EDT, you can purchase the packages of 2 or 3 ballets, but it doesn't appear there is anyway to pick out your seats from the charts used for singles. You just select a section.

He also had a very brief stint at Ballet Pacifica in Irvine in 2006, but that unravelled when funds expected for the season did not materialize. I don't think anyone would hold his resignation against him, given the situation there. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/15/arts/dance/15etha.html?_r=0

I'm curious if anyone else watched this streaming video. Most importantly, I'm so impressed at the frequent live-streamed performances we are able to access in the US from European and Russian companies. Other than the Guggenheim Works & Process stream, I can't think of anything comparable from US or Canadian companies. I didn't recognize a single name on the cast list, but thought the performances (especially Nikyia and Gamzatti) very impressive. Solor was acceptable. The corps had a few rough edges (mainly lines and positions that did not perfectly align in the Kingdom of the Shades), but otherwise was just fine. Nikyia slipped and fell at one point in the first act, but we see that at NYCB and ABT as well. The production seemed lavish and the interior of the Opera House just gorgeous. A man in a business suit came out after the intermission to (apparently) announce some kind of delay, but it was in German without captioning, so I don't know what the explanation was. The camera work was mostly okay, but had some odd moments. In a couple of places, it looked like several camera angles were being superimposed to create a blurry ethereal/other-worldly sense. As the theater audience didn't see it that way, I wish they would skip these "special effects." I was annoyed in several places where I was only seeing principals from the waist up, when I knew interesting things would be happening in the footwork. But for the most part, I was shown what I wanted to see. One interesting touch in the transmission: they had a live camera on backstage at the intermission for a time and we could see dancers warming up and speaking -- often in English, which seems to be the current lingua franca of the EU. We also got a good look at the steep stairs the corps climbs up to the ramps for the Kingdom of the Shades.

I've had the sense from his Twitter account and YouTube channel (which are very active) that he's trying to show he's a star in his own right, dancing alone and with other partners (even Don Q). His partners in DC and NY (Herrera and Reyes) look like good choices for him -- not just size-wise; they're unlikely to come close to his pyrotechnics, making him look even better (or so he might think).

It says they will both appear November 18 & 19, the evenings with three short ballets. But it's not clear they will be appearing in the same ballet(s)! When the box office opens, I hope somebody posts here quickly. After the rave reviews of Osipova's Giselle with Royal, I would guess those will sell fast.

Casting has been announced already! http://davidhkochtheater.com/moreinfoMB.html I'm not sure I would bet the farm on those Don Qs with Osipova and Vasiliev!

A few hours ago, Vasiliev tweeted a link to clips from his gala at the Mikhailovsky, which was just a few days before the ABT Japan engagement. I don't have a link to it, but vaguely remember that he was said to be too ill/exhausted to make the trip to Japan: http://www.mikhailovsky.ru/en/media/video/ivan_vasiliev_gala/ Buying tickets for his future engagements with Osipova looks to be a very risky venture!

The news release about the guest artists (and the March 30 box office opening) was just posted: http://www.abt.org/insideabt/news_display.asp?News_ID=471

ABT acquired the Tetley version in 1976 as a vehicle for Baryshnikov; a few old-timers might remember those performances. Colorado Ballet staged it in spring 2013 and I really enjoyed it. They have a few rehearsal clips on-line which give you an idea of the movement quality:

Royal Ballet just tweeted that the DVD of Acosta's Don Quixote will be released on 3/31/14. I don't see it listed yet for pre-order on Amazon, but it says it's an international format, so let's hope they carry it. http://www.roh.org.uk/products/don-quixote-dvd-the-royal-ballet-2013

I tried Google translator, too, and got "Mary" something. Does that ring any bells for anybody?

I'm sorry to hear about the streaming problems. There were just a few times when the screen went black, but never for more than a few seconds and I never got the trailer. My cable network connection is pretty good, but not technologically the best, so this is a puzzle. Osipova and Sarafanov certainly deserve accolades for their performances.

I'm curious if anyone else watched this live stream. (And, yes, it will be on-line for another 24 hours.) I don't recall seeing Duato's choreography before and have mixed feelings. Some of the lifts and partnering were amazingly intricate and interesting. But much of the movement vocabulary seemed stilted and gimmicky to me -- e.g., the "Egyptian" arms (I don't know what else to call it - they reminded me of the old Steve Martin "King Tut" routine) -- repeatedly bent up and down at the elbow; the extremely deep plies again and again. At first, I was disappointed that Osipova was in soft shoes, as that excises much of her potential, but it did force me to focus on her other gifts (flexibility, extension, etc.). The minimalist set was okay. The bows seemed odd. For the first few minutes, Sarafanov seemed very glum, scowling, but he did start to smile later on. She didn't offer him a flower (do the Russians follow that tradition?). Duato came out for bows (was this the premiere?). It just seemed odd.