California

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.

Focusing only on the non-profit sector in the U.S., it's easy to find all kinds of examples of outrageous inequity. The Chronicle of Higher Education just published its survey of the compensation of presidents of the nation's private colleges and universities. 42 are paid more than $1 million/year (including base pay, benefits, etc.). The President of the U. of Chicago received more than $3.3 million, while the President of Harvard (interestingly, a woman...) is paid "only" $899K. But most shocking: the median pay for adjunct/part-time instructors in higher ed (including a lot of performing arts instructors, of course) is only $2987 per course for the entire semester; a few of those receive health benefits (mainly on campuses with unionized faculties), but most don't. Even if we can't do much about those we think are overpaid, we can support those we think are severely underpaid, whether in the arts or the economy generally. I'm glad that most performing artists are unionized and hope they can improve the compensation for everybody. I remain nervous about "Moves," the non-unionized spin-off from NYCB and hope that isn't setting a trend in the performing arts that will hurt everybody's bargaining power in the future.

The schedule for spring 2014 has just been posted for the Guggenheim Works & Process: http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/calendar-and-events/series/works-a-process Tickets go on sale for the general public on January 15 (and on January 2 for Friends). You can now pick out your own seat on-line when you purchase your ticket. Of special interest to ballet lovers: Pacific Northwest Ballet: Feb. 23-24 Wayne McGregor: Mar 12 Emery LeCrone: Mar 23-24 NYCB-Justin Peck: Apr 13-14

They're getting $60,000: American Dance Festival $60,000 Durham, NC To support the commissioning of works and performances during American Dance Festival. The project will feature the creation and presentation of new and reconstructed works by established and emerging artists such as John Jasperse Company, Shen Wei Dance, Pilobolus, Ballet Hispanico, Kate Weare Company, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Tere O'Connor, Adele Myers and Dancers, Carl Flink, Netta Yerushalmy, and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. A mini-festival of Minnesota artists such as Chris Yon, Chris Schlichting, and Emily Johnson will be featured. International artists to be presented may include Lucy Guerin from Australia, Ultima Vez of Belgium, Emanuel Gat Dance from France, and Gregory Maqoma from South Africa.

Joffrey is using the grant money to present Wheeldon, but ABT is using theirs for the Ashton "Cinderella": Ballet Theatre Foundation (aka American Ballet Theatre) $70,000 New York, NY To support the restaging and performances of Sir Frederick Ashton's "Cinderella," set to Sergei Prokofiev's score. The evening-length, three-act ballet will be an American Ballet Theatre premiere, and will be set on the company by former Royal Ballet dancer Wendy Ellis Somes. Sir Frederick Ashton is widely credited for the innovative growth of ballet in modern-day England, and for nurturing a distinct British style.

Yesterday the National Endowment for the Arts announced 104 grants worth $2,640,000 in dance. Many are for commissions and touring in ballet: http://arts.gov/sites/default/files/Art-Works-grants-by-discipline-12-11-13.pdf

I was impressed that "Major Crimes" (TNT on Monday nights) had a Nutcracker subplot in the new episode 12/9. One of the detectives has two young step-grandsons taking ballet class and the detective wanted to invite the department head (Sharon Raydor) to go see their Nutcracker with him and tell him if his daughter was getting her money's worth in ballet classes. Raydor supposedly has a daughter (never shown on the series) who is a dancer with American Ballet Theatre, so "she's probably seen thousands of Nutcrackers," as one of the other detectives said. It was interesting that they named ABT. The show is set in LA and the entire production staff is also located there, so the writers could easily have seen ABT on its annual visits. But a knowledgeable writer would be aware of the fact that ABT has gone for many years without a Nutcracker, after the Baryshnikov version and before the new Ratmansky. It would have made more sense to have the daughter dance with San Francisco Ballet, which has had a continuous Nutcracker all these years, and also has what is probably the best school in California. I was impressed that nobody made cracks about boy dancers being sissies and instead seemed to take their classes seriously. Indeed, I'm glad the writers had the step-grandchildren be boys, to suggest that is perfectly normal nowadays (or should be). Did anybody else see this? I'm pretty sure this episode will be rebroadcast next Monday one hour before the new episode. (I'm also pretty sure they didn't use any Nutcracker music in the episode, which was also interesting.)

If you've been following Kobborg and Cojocaru on Twitter, he has been staging La Sylphide for them, and Cojocaru, with McRae, were guest artists for the opening. As this is her home country, look for her to make many guest appearances. This strikes me as a very good way to bolster cultural tourism to Bucharest.

Magritte exhibit at MoMA: http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1322

Is there any hope the NYC engagement might still happen? Both NYC and Saratoga had been on the Bolshoi tour site for a time, then both disappeared. http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/performances/#tour1

A very clever group of dancers from Colorado Ballet has been making "teaser" YouTube videos for the current season. Here's the new one, just posted, for Nutcracker: Here's the one they did for Giselle earlier this fall: (Can't wait to see what they come up with for Cinderella next February!)

Congratulations to Lester Tome for his NEH fellowship for 2014-15, announced today. Professor Tome received his PhD from Temple University's dance program and is now an assistant professor at Smith College. His project title: Cuban Ballet, Cosmopolitan Dancers, and Nationalist Gestures: A Study in Ballet and Globalization I hope we will be seeing some publications from this research in the coming years. http://www.smith.edu/dance/faculty_tome.php http://www.neh.gov/files/press-release/december2013statebystate.pdf

I would also highly recommend the book. I was thrilled when I heard that George Clooney had optioned it for a film. http://www.amazon.com/Monuments-Men-Thieves-Greatest-Treasure/dp/1599951495/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1385570683 (And, as always, if you buy it, be sure to go through the Amazon box on this site.)