California

Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo lists Princess Caroline as its "president." Even if she doesn't donate money, her sponsorship must count for something in fund-raising. http://www.balletsdemontecarlo.com/?lg=en

That struck me as odd, too, but I think he's saying he'd like new productions, along the lines of the "new Don Q" next season, which still uses the Minkus music, choreography "after Petipa," and presumably the same general libretto. So it's not "entirely new," but more refreshed, updated, etc.

The new season was just announced: http://www.roh.org.uk/news/201314-ballet-and-dance-season-announced

This isn't much, but the (slightly) revised subscription brochure I received in today's mail says that the fall season October 30-November 10 will feature "an eclectic repertoire of one-act ballets," so I guess they're saving all the full-lengths for the Met seasons. It also says that on-sale dates for performance tickets for the fall season (and the Nutcracker Dec 13-22 at BAM) are TBA.

That's good news -- I was wondering how this might conflict with Easter Sunday plans. Looks like they'll see how single ticket sales go for a couple of weeks before instituting "dynamic pricing" on April 8. Do you know if subscribers can make a purchase of a particular seat from the seating chart in that early week or just from a general section, as they can do now?

Does anybody know when single tickets go on sale for the 2013 Met season? If it's roughly the same as recent years, it's Sunday, March 31 or April 7. I've looked all over the ABT site, as well as the Met Opera ticket-buying site for ABT and can't find anything. I did find several notices that ticket prices MAY go up on April 8, depending on demand. That's earlier than last year and perhaps they are waiting to see how subscription sales go. Or that might be the end of the first week of single-ticket sales.

Alas, it appears this will only play in Europe. I hope they release this for U.S. DVD players. Nothing on the U.S. Amazon site today. I'm confused...this has already been released in the US: http://www.amazon.com/Sleeping-Beauty-Svetlana-Zakharova/dp/B008MMFBES/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1362838582&sr=1-2&keywords=hallberg

I'm not a dance historian, but a lot of work has been done on the many changes in Swan Lake, including the many different endings. I'd recommend Selma Jeanne Cohen's book, Next Week, Swan Lake (Wesleyan University Press, 1982). See, e.g., p. 8, which lists a wide variety of endings used by different companies. http://www.amazon.com/Next-Week-Swan-Lake-Reflections/dp/081956110X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362791916&sr=8-1&keywords=next+week+swan+lake (If you buy it, remember to go through the Amazon box on this page, so Ballet Alert gets some revenue.) Historians have also done a lot of work on how the Soviet government impacted the arts. Right after the revolution, some Soviets thought ballet should be shut down as "elitist," but they quickly recognized they had a powerful propaganda tool to show Soviet "superiority," so it was nurtured, albeit under rather heavy-handed dictates about what was allowable, consistent with overall Soviet ideology (including atheism).

This is an interesting question, though. People might remember that the late John Curry (who won the Olympic gold medal in about 1980?) commissioned several ballet choreographers for an ice show. I remember both Twyla Tharp and Peter Martins being asked to contribute. But it never caught on.

But this is generally the new ending commanded by the Soviet government long ago so it was consistent with Soviet ideology -- no religion, no afterlife, good triumphs over evil in this life. Balanchine used the pre-Soviet original, in which Siegfried and Odette find happiness in an afterlife, the version he was familiar with from pre-Soviet Russia. (And Balanchine was also reportedly very religious throughout his own life, so he would be comfortable with the notion of a happy afterlife.) The Cubans were supported by the Soviets for decades until the fall of the Soviet Union, so it's understandable they would use the Soviet-prescribed ending. The newly revised ending for the Bolshoi is still consistent with Soviet ideology, as there is no reliance on happiness in an afterlife.

Whether or not Vorontsova or her boyfriend were justified in being angry at Filin is irrelevant to what happened. Violence is never the answer. Not only is it completely unacceptable as a way of resolving conflict, but it also is a career-ender once its perpetrators are discovered. I keep thinking of Suzanne Farrell's anger that Balanchine would not give her husband roles she thought he deserved. Their response was to resign from the company and perform elsewhere. Whether or not her anger was justified is not relevant. Her response was appropriate in this kind of situation.

A word of caution on the Bolshoi: when they came to the Orange County Performing Arts Center (now Segerstrom) in spring 2010, they announced they would be doing La Bayadere for the entire week. Late in the game (although before single tickets went on sale), they switched that to Don Quixote - probably a better choice for that audience, although they never gave any explanation for the change.

I found the page listing the companies. Has anyone found more information, most especially, dates? http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/newseason/#DBC

But the check-off to the Presidential Campaign fund does NOT reduce your tax refund and the arts check-off would. Some states (both California and Colorado) have long check-off lists of worthy causes on their state income tax forms where you can have some of your refund sent -- everything from the environment to the arts to battered women. I don't know how much they collect that way. California also tried a lot of different types of license plates (including one for the arts) for which you paid a higher fee, and the difference went to those organizations. So this can be done pretty easily on the state level, but I don't know how successful any of this is. The US is very good at allowing tax deductions (if you itemize) for charitable contributions to all sorts of groups with 501©(3) status, including the arts. Those are really tax expenditures of public funds, although we don't always think of them that way. In this regard, at least, the US is far ahead of Europe (and Asia) in support for worthy causes. It has always annoyed me that people complain that their tax money is being used on things they find morally objectionable (whether funding the arts or abortions). My tax money is spent on a lot of things I find morally objectionable (the Iraq war, Federal capital punishment, just for starters), yet nobody seems worried about that.

But you're likely to experience those same warm temps in December in southern California and south Florida (and elsewhere in the south), yet they have plenty of Christmas enthusiasm, trees, and Nutcrackers. The oddest thing for visitors is that the sun sets so early in December, when the weather feels summer-like.

Baryshnikov's Nutcracker premiered at the Met in May 1977, but that was an unusual situation. Kirkland had been too ill to participate in the December 1976 world premiere at the Kennedy Center (although Baryshnikov had originally hoped she would be the original Clara), but she was able to perform for the Met engagement. The production was so well-received in December 1976 that, presumably, ABT figured New York audiences were eager to see it, no matter the time of year, and especially with Kirkland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_productions_of_The_Nutcracker

The PBS News Hour just posted a 6-year-old feature on Baryshnikov on its YouTube channel. I don't know why they waited so long - perhaps they are going through their archives to see what is worth sharing.

Today there is an AP story that the Met Opera is cutting prices 10% due to a slump in sales: http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_22673171/met-cuts-ticket-prices-following-box-office-slump In one mention, somebody wonders if this decline in audience is due to their HD broadcasts. I hope this doesn't discourage ballet companies from pursuing new technologies so more people can see their performances!

Do you remember the elaborate marionettes in The Sound of Music, which was set in Salzburg, Austria? Those marionettes are very popular throughout eastern Europe. You see them at special stores and at the big Christmas markets in Vienna, Prague, and throughout the region. I don't know the history of this (perhaps someone else here does?), but they are very popular to this day.

Do remember that Colorado Ballet is the only show in town for classical ballet. No companies of any significance tour here, ever. Some major stars show up at the Vail festival in the summer, but that's just two weeks. The Washington Ballet has ferocious competition, both for audiences and fund-raising. It's not just the Kennedy Center dance series, featuring almost all the major companies on the planet, but also the easy train/plane ride to New York City to see everything there.

Here's the cast for this weekend: In Pieces: 2/22 & 2/23: Valentine-Ellis & Trubchanov; Kuykendall & Marks; Wehner & Ellis 2/24: Sasaki & Still; Mosina & Valdes; Benton & Moulton T&V: 2/22 & 2/23: Mosina & Tyukov 2/24: Wehner & Still Sacre: 2/22 & 2/23: Chosen One: Still; Earth Mother & Father: Mosina and Tyukov 2/24: Chosen One: Marks; Earth Mother & Father: Kuykendall & Trubchanov Interesting that Still is doing T&V and In Pieces 2/24, but Wehner is doing only T&V that day.

Spectucular performances all around on opening night 2/22/13. For anyone in the Denver area, I would recommend this without reservation. They have a 15% discount on their Facebook page: They opened with T&V, which had been set by Judith Fugate from the Balanchine Trust. One of my favorite ballets, this is also reportedly one of the most difficult to dance (at least, according to long-ago interviews with Kirkland & Baryshnikov -- he said he felt like his legs were going to fall off). Maria Mosina and Alexei Tyukov took the leads. She has remarkable technical prowess combined with attention to nuance that was as good as anyone I've seen (with the inevitable exception of Gelsey "gargouillades" Kirkland). He was a solid partner with just slight technical issues (travelling on a sequence of pirouettes, e.g.). The corps and soloists were also remarkably solid. The new piece by Val Caniparoli, In Pieces, was the second ballet on the program, with just three couples. It was also a great success, with innovative partnering and plenty of athletic dash for the ensemble, pairs, and solos. The music was Concerto In Pieces by Poul Ruders, a contemporary work that was at times driving and at times bizarre and otherworldly. I couldn't figure out the structure of either movement or music on just one viewing and look forward to seeing it again. Rousing audience response. The program closed with Glen Tetley's The Rite of Spring. This is the version ABT performed with Baryshnikov long ago and I had forgotten how driving and complex the choreography is for the large ensemble with endlessly fascinating group patterns and innovative and often gasp-inducing partnering. But the biggest surprise was that Mosina and Tyukov returned after their T&V performances just an hour earlier as the Earth Mother & Father -- and were fantastic. I can't imagine this kind of heavy duty performing in a larger company where there were more principals to draw from. This company only does four programs a year, including their Nutcracker, so I suppose the dual-duty casting is necessary and something the dancers put up with to get to dance great roles. Soloist Adam Still was impressive as The Chosen One. This performance got a standing ovation, almost instantaneously. The top two tiers of the Opera House were closed off. The orchestra was maybe 90% full, with the Parterre and first tier about half empty (at least). For reasons I don't understand, their opening nights seem to have weaker attendance than later performances - perhaps they get a lot of mileage from word-of-mouth. 65 musicians in the pit were first-rate. For classical music lovers, that alone should bring them to the theater. They have six more performances: Saturday, 2/23 at 7:30 and Sunday, 2/24 at 2:00, with four more the weekend of March 1-3. I gather it's difficult to sell tickets to any mixed bill, even in New York with its super-knowledgeable audience. Too bad -- so much great dancing and great music in this one program.

Wouldn't it be nice if they would videotape the whole thing and at least make it available in the future to visitors to the Library? Does anybody know if they are planning something like that?

It seemed to me that they are packing a lot of expensive ballets into one week. Just transporting the Valentino costumes alone will cost a pretty penny. And transporting all the children for Garland Dance seems expensive - unless they assume they'll sell lots of tickets to accompanying parents? Given the reduction in schedule, I suppose they want to pack the house and at least not lose money to help their arguments for future seasons? I'm curious if others had the same reaction.

In the press release, director Gil Boggs describes their Cinderella as "kid friendly" and "a way to introduce dance to a younger audience." http://www.coloradoballet.org/about-news/colorado-ballet-announces-2013-2014-season The other highlight of the mixed bill is Amy Seiwert's Traveling Alone, which I thought was the best of the mixed bill "Tribute" in spring 2012.