California

To its credit, the National Geographic Channel broadcast a wonderful documentary last week. I don't know when/if it will be rebroadcast, but it tells the story very nicely: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/galleries/monument-men/at/hitlers-vision-2077987/ In Clooney's film, the Cate Blanchett character is derived from Valland. As there was only one of her (no need for a composite), it's odd they changed her name for the film. I would also recommend Edsel's book on this. http://www.amazon.com/Monuments-Men-Thieves-Greatest-Treasure/dp/1599951509/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391983604&sr=1-1&keywords=robert+edsel I haven't seen the film yet, but plan to, despite all these negative reviews and comments.

Ivan Vasiliev just tweeted a link to a brief clip of him in the opening ceremonies:

National Ballet of Canada just announced its 2014/15 season: http://national.ballet.ca/performances/season1415/ Here's Karen Kain's video annnouncement: http://national.ballet.ca/interact/video/2014-15/?utm_content=buffere2c65&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Fun fact: In the January 2014 program, in the back, is a list of the NYCB "Family of contributors." In the category $6,500-$9,999: Julia and David Koch. In the January 2013 program, in the category $100,000-$249,999: Julia and David Koch. They have a Koch Foundation, which has donated to ABT in the past, along with their individual donations, but I couldn't find the Foundation on the NYCB lists. This is for programs, both years, in the Koch theater, for which he donated $100 million for renovation. I did some googling to see if there were any published reports or if reporters had asked him about this and I could not find anything. If anyone sees published reports addressing this (no speculation or rumor, please), let us know.

I saw the first three performances plus the rehearsal Tuesday. I was mainly interested in getting a good look in person (something other than DVDs) at the legendary corps and they didn't disappoint. (Was it just me or do these people have the noisiest pointe shoes on the planet? Even just crossing one foot over the other made a loud clunk.) But some of the partnering by the principals seemed odd to me, especially lifts. The Seigfrieds (and Rothbarts) squat deep and lift from the legs, as they should. But then they do what looks like a strenuous push upward to get Odette into position. It felt like "heave-ho" to me again and again and you could see the strain and struggle with the men, especially if they had to promenade. There's another awkward moment near the end of the white swan PdD. He kneels on one knee and she stands on one foot on his forward leg. He then holds her precariously with one hand at the waist. Very impressive. But getting out of that position was akward for all three of the couples. She swung one leg forward and off, like jumping off a ledge. Nobody made it work well. After being spoiled by the likes of Gillian Murphy and Natalia Osipova, the fouettes were all pretty disappointing. Nobody should be throwing in doubles if they can't do the sequence well. Esina was the worst, even though she stayed with singles -- she has a strange way of bending her whipping leg around that just seemed clumsy to me, like her foot was at an odd place. I was disappointed in the management of the rehearsal. No announcement. No hand-out to tell us who was dancing, like they do at both NYCB and ABT. I saw a lot of people with audio sets, but have no idea where those came from or what they were hearing. They weren't handing them out as you walked into the theater. Maybe I need new glasses, but I thought the dark-haired Odette at the rehearsal was Kolegova.

A news item today from the Independent says Vasiliev and Osipova will be dancing together in New York in 2014. Could it be that they will be surprise guests at the Bolshoi in July in NY? Or that she will be a surprise addition to the ABT Met season? Of course, the article could also be wrong... http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/backstage-no-wedding-bells-for-ballets-brangelina-9097309.html

After mussel reported on being able to buy all the tickets desired at the box office, even if they were not part of the 3-ballet package, I called the box office again to say how unhappy I was that people were being treated differently over the phone and at the in-person box office. The operator said the box office people were wrong and a glitch in the software had allowed a few to slip through, but all had been fixed! The phone operators, box office personnel, and the software were all following the same rule, viz., that you can only buy the 3-ballet packages and not additional tickets. Hah! I was in NYC this past weekend for Balanchine's birthday weekend and stopped at the box office to pick up the 3-ballet package I had ordered by phone. I then asked: by any chance can I go ahead and buy the rest of my tickets for the season, even though they're not part of a package? She called somebody and then said, "sure." I proceeded to buy everything I wanted. With the discount. It's a crazy situation, as Drew just pointed out, and very unfair to out-of-towners. It would have been easier for them just to say, if you buy a 3-ballet package, you can go ahead and order singles for the rest of the season and be done with it.

You don't say which city you are living in, but please don't overlook the Slovak National Ballet in Bratislava: http://www.snd.sk/?ballet-3 It's shockingly cheap (4-20 Euros), thanks to state subsidies, with a nice mix of classics and contemporary Slovak-folk-tale based repertory. One hour from Brno in the south, 4 hours from Prague by high-speed train. Reasonable hotels nearby in Old Town.

Here's one article from the San Jose newspaper: http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_24980549/ballet-san-jose-moves-cut-costs-before-feb The shortfall came from (1) $75,00 less in revenue from their Nutcracker than they expected and (2) a cut in support from their biggest donor, John Fry. To compensate, they are using recorded music at the next programs, cancelling the Saturday matinee, and postponing a planned premiere until 2015.

I logged in out of curiosity to see what seats were available. On the first two nights, they have four seats together in the back row, far side of the first tier. That's it. Does Kennedy Center accept donations of tickets people can't use? That might explain it. Nothing else is available for the run, but if other donations come in, that might change.

It appears Messmer did Myrtha with ABT at the 2009 Met season, at least. I don't know if she did it in earlier seasons or after 2009 at ABT: http://www.timeout.com/newyork/dance/simone-messmer

The Colorado Ballet has participated in the "United in Orange" support for the Broncos in recent months. Here's a photo showing the ballerina sculptures in front of the downtown Sheraton, with Gil Boggs (the Ballet's Artistic Director) in the center of the front row. http://www.examiner.com/article/sheraton-denver-ballerinas-united-orange

In looking back over this old thread, I don't find any mention of Gelsey Kirkland's role in an episode of LA Law in 1994. She played an aging dancer who sues the company director for denying her roles. Although she was seen in practice garb in the studio, she didn't really dance and I don't even think she could be seen wearing pointe shoes.

I found the gala cast list on the SFB site and there's no explanation for the ^ -- I wonder if it's just a typo! The ABT production is being staged by Julie Lincoln and Yuri Uchiumi, according to the ABT news release for the Met season. After Kobborg's tense and abrupt departure from the Royal last year, would they entrust him to stage a major MacMillan ballet for SFB? Perhaps, but this is all very interesting...

I was intrigued by the casting for the Manon PdD. Does SFB have a production of this ballet? Or is it possible they've been rehearsing for the ABT production next June at the Met? Two performances are still TBA and both Kochetkova and Kobborg have recent ties to ABT. Stay tuned, I guess!

Thanks for the detail on seating, Mussel. I think I'm going to call back and give them my transaction number for the package so they can verify that I qualify. I rummaged around their web site again this morning looking for a seating chart -- nothing. It sounds like Buddy got the same information on the phone yesterday that I was given, viz., that he'd have to come back in late March to get more single performances. My operator put me on hold for several minutes so she could verify that this was the policy.

I'm really distressed to see that Mussel was allowed to buy lots of extra tickets once they had the 3/4 package. I specifically asked about that and was put on hold so the operator could check. When she came back on, I was told no. I repeated my understanding of this, that I would have to wait until singles go on sale to get additional tickets. I ordered a package by phone several hours after the box office opened, so they had some time to figure this out. It's surprising and disappointing that a major operation like Lincoln Center would be so disorganized. In addition to this snafu, they haven't posted a chart showing which seats fall into which price range or even a seating chart on their site. This is the kind of amateurishness you might expect from a small ballet school performing at a school auditorium, not the premiere performing arts center in New York City. I hope somebody on their staff looks at this discussion board from time to time.

If it's any guide, the casting for the Kennedy Center Bolshoi engagement in late May was just announced, four months out. But the experience at Orange County/Segerstrom in early 2010 was sobering. For a week's worth of Don Q, the casting was shuffled continually right up through performance week -- injury, illness, who knows...Others have mentioned on this site that the Russian companies seem more cavalier than American companies about changing casting late in the game, but I don't know if that is accurate in general.

I just bought my first batch of Bolshoi tickets and can provide a little more information. What's on sale right now are packages, including "ultimate Bolshoi experience." They went on sale for Friends today and for the general public on January 21. If you buy tickets for each of the three ballets, you get a 15% discount. But you have to buy the same number of tickets for each ballet. I.e., you can't buy tickets for 3 Swans, 2 Don Qs, and 1 Spartacus. For any extras beyond the package, you need to come back in late March and buy single tickets. Go to http://www.lincolncenterfestival.org/ and click the "special offers." You can join the Friends for as little as $100, so if you're buying these packages at 15% off, it almost pays for the Friends membership. If you use the web site ordering, you can't pick out a particular seat and they don't have any charts on-line to show you which seats fall into which price category. You can get a Koch theater seating chart from the Koch site, though. I called the box office (212-721-6500) and that worked best. I had about a 5-minute wait, but it wasn't bad. They needed my Friends code (which you get by e-mail if you're a Friend) and the operator also checked their records to see my membership number (so "borrowing" someone else's code wouldn't work). The operator was able to tell me which seats were available and pricing from the range of places I normally like to sit. They are not using row A in Orchestra (unlike NYCB), and are starting instead in Row B. They do not mail out tickets or send them as e-mail attachments; you have to pick them up at the box offices at Fisher or Tully in person. I hope that helps!

Tickets went on sale this morning for Friends, but only as part of a package. If you go to all three ballets, you get 15% off. But you can't select your own seat - you only pick a section. List prices range from $200-$55 for orchestra, $200-$80 for 1st ring, $175-55 for 2nd ring, $120-$40 for 3rd ring. No pricing listed for 4th ring - perhaps that will be closed off? The packages go on sale for the general public January 21. Single tickets go on sale in "late March." I'm wondering if you will get to pick your own seat in March when single tickets go on sale. Does anybody know how Lincoln Center Festival handles such things? Does anybody remember how they handled this for POB two years ago? If you physically go to the box office, do you get to pick your own seats? Do you get to pick seats when singles go on sale later? It's especially annoying that they do not post a seating chart showing how they are dividing up the orchestra, etc. into different price ranges. Is it roughly what NYCB does?

Christian's technique might work in many theaters, but I've seen some where ushers are specifically watching out for this (e.g., Orange County/Segerstrom Performing Arts Center), follow these people, ask to see their tickets, and move them back. At other theaters (e.g., Ellie Caulkins in Denver), I've sometimes complained to an usher about the seating (e.g., the terrible acoustics in the second tier) and they've offered to move us to better seats, if available. But those same ushers at Caulkins have a terrible habit of seating latecomers during the overture, so moving to another seat at the last minute can be a problem if they show up. Another thing that often happens: the missing people show up at the first intermission and expect to get their seats, which can be a little embarrassing.

Additional information on the Lincoln Center Festival site: www.lincolncenterfestival.org 7 performances of Swan Lake from Tuesday, July 15 - Sunday, July 20 3 performances of Don Quixote on Tuesday, July 22 and 2 on Wednesday, July 23 3 performances of Spartacus on Friday, July 25, Saturday, July 26 and Sunday, July 27 All performances in the Koch Theater. No information about when tickets go on sale or ticket prices, but Friends of the Festival (minimum: $100) are supposed to get access before the public.

At last! Confirmation from Lincoln Center (in a Tweet) and in the NY Times of the visit in July 2014: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/arts/dance/bolshoi-to-visit-lincoln-center-festival.html Hallberg will perform with both ABT and Bolshoi, according to the Times. Three ballets that had been rumored before: Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Spartacus.

Several people here and on another thread about her have expressed concern that Froustey might not stay around long with SFB. Where is this concern coming from? Are there indications she might return to POB? Join ABT? (Except for two performances of Manon, the principals for ABT's Met season seem settled -- and I don't see Manon listed on her SFB bio page as a role she's done.) I'm not asking about pure speculation, but is she indicating doubts about staying in interviews, e.g.?

I have to note the irony here: ballet lovers generally understand that professional ballet dancers are high school graduates (at most!), who have pursued many years of specialized training to pursue that career. That situation is not unlike the high school graduates who spend many years in apprenticeships and other training programs to become master electricians, plumbers, carpenters, etc. The fact that someone does not have a college degree (whether a dancer or an electrician) does not mean they are of low intelligence or common laborers who deserve our disdain. Please also note that dance companies fill out their ranks with students, apprentices, and trainees working to acquire more skill, just as construction sites do. I wish lower-paid workers of all kinds (including dancers and part-time college instructors) were paid more, but I don't begrudge those professions that have somehow figured out how to earn good incomes despite the lack of a college degree.