California

Balanchine's Symphony in 3 Movements and Robbins' Glass Pieces are top priorities on my wish list. Brief clips can be found on the DVD Bringing Balanchine Back, and the respective Trusts seem to have given permission to companies performing these works to post brief clips for publicity (e.g., Miami City Ballet), but to my knowlege, the complete works have never been released on VHS or DVD (nor shown on public television). These are major works and most people can't get to cities where they are being performed a few times a year.

Theme and Variations with Kirkland and Baryshnikov, from Live from Lincoln Center in 1978, is a long-standing wish: I assume this has the enormous problems getting permission from all involved that have been discussed elsewhere, but those permissions were finally obtained for Baryshnikov at Wolf Trap (1976) and Giselle with Makarova/Baryshnikov (1977), so it can be done.

Other than the permissions issues (huge for T&V, presumably), perhaps distributors don't think there's enough of a market. I'm wondering if distribution for sale through iTunes might be the solution. Book publishers are now moving increasingly to "print-on-demand" to eliminate the problem of warehouse storage costs of unsold books. Perhaps "distribute on demand" via iTunes (for a fair price, of course) is an analogous solution for films and videos. At least, I hope so!

. . . There's brief video online that cuts from one dancer to another, allowing one to compare some of the dancers mentioned so far.

Martins/Baryshnikov

Verdy/McBride

Hayden/Verdy

d'Amboise/Baryshnikov

The differences are clear but the effect in each instance is delightful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtEhfMsvuss

. . .

That entire clip comes from the wonderful Balanchine documentary, originally on PBS, now available on DVD from www.kultur.com and elsewhere. The brief opening by Martins (used in the Balanchine documentary) was taken from the "Gala" in The Turning Point in 1977. (It's puzzling that they omitted Farrell entirely on the Balanchine documentary, as she appeared briefly in the Gala scene with Martins.) The complete McBride/Baryshnikov version is in the 1978 "Choreography by Balanchine," originally broacast on PBS, later released on VHS, now available on DVD. I don't know where the Verdy, Hayden, and d'Amboise footage came from -- although Balanchine did stage quite a few things for television in the 1950s and 60s, so that seems a likely possibility.

The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act added 20 years to all existing and future copyrights. He had lobbied hard for this during his life, while a Congressman from the Palm Springs area, and it was named in his honor when it passed into law in 1998 after his death.

Here's a good summary of the main changes in the Copyright law:

http://www.keytlaw.com/Copyrights/sonybono.htm

This is a great thing for creative people who want to extend copyright protection to provide income for their descendants, and that's how it was sold to the public. It was a disaster for educators, archivists, and others who need material to come into the public domain every year that they can use without paying royalties. We are now in the midst of a 20-year drought when no previously copyrighted material is coming into the public domain thanks to the Bono Extension. In 2018, some of those 20-year extensions will finally start to expire.

The main pressure for the extension came from the film industry. When old films from the 1920s started coming into the public domain and appearing on the Internet, Hollywood decided it needed to stop the flow of more recent films from becoming public domain. But the extension applies to all copyrighted material, not just films. A good summary of reasoning in support of the extension: http://www.copyrightextension.com/page01.html

The Extension was challenged by Larry Lessig at Stanford Law, but it was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Eldred v. Ashcroft. Here's a good summary of that decision from the American Library Association, which fought against the extension:

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/copy...edvashcroft.cfm

A report on a press conference given by Baryshnikiov and Laguna this week during their visit to Israel:

http://www.midnighteast.com/mag/?p=5684

Baryshnikov performed, with Ana Laguna, in Paris June 15-20:

http://www.doitinparis.com/good-tips/danse...aryshnikov-4712

The program ("Three Solos and a Duet") looks to be the same one they toured in the U.S. in 2009. At 45 Euros, that was quite a bargain!

Alastair Macauley's review in the New York Times of both Cojocaru and Osipova was just posted Sunday afternoon:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/arts/dance/21sleeping.html

I'm curious---will Osipova's Aurora on Saturday be her first ever performance of the role? (I do not believe she has danced it at the Bolshoi---?) If so, does anybody know which ABT coach she is working with on this role?

According to the ABT web site, this will be her first time ever in the role:

http://www.abt.org/insideabt/news_display.asp?News_ID=309

According to the NY Times interview Friday morning, Kopalkova is coaching her:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/arts/dan...me&ref=arts

Also according to the ABT web site, July 10 will be her first time in R&J:

http://www.abt.org/insideabt/news_display.asp?News_ID=313

. . . Well, no, Orange County is not exactly the dance hotbed of the world, but the Center has drawn big acts here for many years - compared to most places in the US we have been fairly lucky to see almost every year ABT, the Bolshoi or the Mariinsky, and other big companies (the Royal, BNC, etc). . . .

Over on the Osipova-mugging thread, Cygnet pointed out how unattractive the LA Music Center area gets after dark. I'd add that parking is ludicrously expensive there, with no safe and cheap alternatives and no serious public transportation. OCPAC draws from San Diego & LA Counties, as well as Orange County. People can make a nice day of it with a stop across the street at South Coast Plaza (which seems to tolerate massive free parking from OCPAC attendees, judging from the throngs streaming over to South Coast after every performance). No metropolitan area is completely safe, but I'll take OCPAC's neighbhood over LA's anyday on that score. And OCPAC has a magnificant theatre with great sightlines everywhere.

Having said that, however, the programs touring companies bring to both LA and OCPAC seem to reflect their assumption that we wouldn't appreciate sophisticated programming, so they play it safe...too safe, as with all those Giselles. (Maryinsky brought a week of Giselle's too, in fall 2008).

San Francisco Ballet brought some very nice mixed bills to OCPAC a couple of years ago and the houses looked nearly full to me. I'm disappointed they're not returning this year. The trek to San Francisco is not insignificant and their cluster approach to programming makes it impossible to see more than two programs on one trip, even on a long weekend.

The New York Times has a nice feature story on Osipova that includes a little more information about the mugging:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/arts/dan...sipova.html?hpw

"The crime of different countries is an unpleasant extra; after the mugging, close to her rented apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, she said she was simply relieved that only her face had been bruised. “It was so quick that I think I felt more shock the next day,” she said. “But now I am thinking only about my first performance of ‘The Sleeping Beauty.’ ”

OCPAC finally posted this schedule on its own web site today:

http://www.ocpac.org/home/Content/ContentD....aspx?NavID=796

I'm surprised and disappointed that nothing will be presented this year until January 2011. In previous years they have had some fall programming.

I'm pretty sure it was Makarova, c 1980, with Alexander Godunov in Chicago. . . .

YouTube has a nice clip of Makarova and Godunov rehearsing the second act PDD, with some narration by Makarova:

He was only with ABT for a few years (1979-1982), so your guess of 1980 is in the right timeframe.

For me, it was Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland. And it was my first time seeing live ballet, ever. It was wonderful.

Me, too! I had seen live ballet before and lots of old films and TV broadcasts, but hadn't seen Giselle live in performance. I saw Baryshnikov and Kirkland in Giselle at the Kennedy Center in October 1975.

I discovered on a recent trip to New York that the Library of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center has a tape of them in excerpts from Giselle in 1975. It was taped live in performance, with a piano accompaniment added later. I'm guessing there were restrictions on release of the tape, and it mainly focusses on Kirkland, along with the Kirkland-Baryshnikov PDD. It's 28 minutes long (MGZIA 4-3606), a "gift of Gelsey Kirkland." I was curious if my memories of them from 35 years ago had been embellished in my mind. Nope! They were even more wonderful than I remembered. A very brief clip from that tape is available on YouTube (donated by Kirkland and posted with her permission). It's one of her first act solos:

There is a problem here in precision of language, especially the word "oppression." E.g., it seems reasonable to say that a state of "oppression" would include living in a country occupied by the Nazis during WWII (Europe, Russia) or under siege from the Nazis (Britain). That oppression included the physical horrors of war and also the known censorship by Hitler of artistic freedom. Does "oppression" also include those in a state of war with the Nazis (which would include the U.S., Canada, Australia, etc.), as those countries suffered economic and personal hardship? But that seems far too broad, for many artistic activities continued in all those countries, despite the war.

Including works "about" states of oppression broadens the consideration considerably, probably too much. An enormous amount of work in all art forms comments on war and other oppression - The Green Table, e.g. Stravinsky's Symphony in 3 Movements is typically characterized as his response to WWII and Balanchine's choreography is sometimes characterized that way, too (regardless of the standard denials of dramatic content by both of them).

It seems the goal of this question is identifying work created while people are institutionalized and by the people institutionalized -- concentration camps, mental hospitals, etc. -- a much narrower group of works. We have heard of orchestras playing for their survival in Nazi concentration camps. Did any original work get created by those musicians? We know that the residents of the Japanese internment camps in the west during WWII did their best to maintain some semblance of civilization, education, etc. Did any of those residents create new artworks while interred? It's also possible works of art were created, but never preserved for us to know about later, either because the creators were murdered in the camps or chose to forget what happened in the camps.

Fascinating question, and I'm curious if others can think of examples of the narrower sense here.

. . . (up until earlier this week wasn't Phillip Neal supposed to retire with Call me Ben on his farewell program, which pretty much everyone seems to hate??).

I'm looking at an older print-out of the schedule and comparing that with the current schedule on the NYCB web site. "New Barak Ballet" has, indeed, been replaced with Chacone for the Neal Farewell June 13. Ben is still on the schedule, as originally announced, for June 24. Does anybody know the story on this? I wonder if Neal requested the change or if Martins decided to start cutting his losses on Ben.

Also, I've been following the discussion on Ben with great interest and wonder if Barak might try major surgery before it's performed again February 10, 12, and 19. (That would take more rehearsal time than they likely want to invest, of course.) I've been trying to think of examples of new ballets that were substantially reworked after a disappointing reception and fared better with major revisions.

Reports on the Baryshnikov-Cunningham benefit performance in Los Angeles June 7:

http://losangeles.broadwayworld.com/articl...r_100k_20100609

". . . Occasion Piece2 incorporates Cunningham's choreography spanning decades and featuring Cunningham solos performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov for the first time.

"It is always an honor to be performing in the work of the great Merce Cunningham--my dear friend who taught me so much about life and art," said Mr. Baryshnikov, who performed alongside the choreographer in Occasion Piece (1999). "I am thrilled to be a part of the historic Legacy Tour and to share the stage with all these brilliant dancers." On Monday, Baryshnikov performed alongside fifteen members of the MCDC, with music by John Cage from Song Books, costumes by Anna Fink and lighting by Christine Shallenberg."

The review from the Los Angeles Times:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/...0,6818091.story

". . . Baryshnikov danced but three short Cunningham solos in the 35-minute "Occasion Piece2," which was assembled for this evening. If he was the center of attention, that was not because he tried to steal the show. Nor was it that Misha tried to be Merce.

But at 62, Baryshnikov is the perfect mature Merce dancer. He draws your gaze to the movement of every part of his body, infusing the waving his arms or lifting a chair with expression. The current Cunningham dancers — young and appearing as if genetically fashioned to bring Cunningham movement into being — of course enchant. But the combination of Baryshnikov's personality, experience and technique, placed at the service of Cunningham, best demonstrates how the work may continue. . . "

The fall schedule can now be viewed (month by month) in the Calendar section of the NYCB website. During the period September 13th through October 6th, they have performances Tuesday-Saturday evenings, and also matinees on Saturdays at 2 and Sundays at 3.

They have not yet posted schedules for Nutcracker or the winter season.

(Earlier information had indicated that the season will run through October 10th, so the calendar may still be in progress.)

The entire fall, winter, and spring schedules for the coming year are available in PDF format: http://www.nycballet.com/tickets/2011/renewals.html

I remember that the reviews of this movie, as a movie, were horrible. Did you think it is worth seeing this movie for the dance sequences themselves?

I already have it on VHS and think it's worth owning. It has extensive dance sequences of Giselle, both in rehearsal and in performance. It's the only footage available of Ferri with Baryshnikov. And he has a fascinating sequence alone in the studio warming up.

The plot is goofy -- an attempt to do a modern Giselle -- and the acting often tortured, but the dancing is definitely worth owning.

The iTunes on-line store has some dance films for sale for download that might be of interest:

Dancers, with Baryshnikov (1987), released in this format 2/1/2010: $9.99

This is the modern dramatization of Giselle, with Julie Kent and Alessandra Ferri. It includes extensive footage of the actual Giselle in performance and was reportedly Baryshnikov's last performances of Giselle.

Although this was released on VHS, it was never sold on DVD and is no longer for sale (new) in any other format. This iTunes option is a great alternative. Let's hope more out-of-print recordings are made available this way.

Boulder Ballet has just announce their free Ballet in the Park series for June:

http://www.boulderballet.org/park.html

Civic Green Park, Highlands Ranch

Saturday, June 19 at 7 PM

At Ridgeline Blvd. and Green Ash Street, Highlands Ranch.

Broomfield Amphitheater

Sunday, June 20 at 1 PM

3 Community Park Road, by the lake just north of the library.

Central Park Bandshell, Boulder

Sunday, June 27 at 7 PM

At the south-east corner of Broadway and Canyon Blvd.

An exhibition at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles is on display until July 4, 2010: "Dance Theatre of Harlem: 40 Years of Firsts."

Information from the Museum: http://www.caamuseum.org/ce.htm

The LA Times has a prominent story about the exhibit this morning:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/...0,7856347.story

The complete schedule and dates for fall 2010, winter 2011, and spring 2011 are now on the NYCB web site:

http://www.nycballet.com/tickets/2011/renewals.html

I'm impressed that they have posted the exact schedules for the entire year. This really helps people who need to plan travel to see them. I suppose some changes might be made down the road, but this is great news.

September 14 - October 10, 2010

January 18 - February 27, 2011

May 3 - June 12, 2011

When exactly is the Fall Season?

According to the print NYCB NEWS, September 14 - October 10, with a gala on Thursday, October 7. It seems odd that there is nothing about it on the NYCB web site. I gather there was a press release a few months ago that showed up in various places, as I first learned about it here on this site.

For the rep, the print NEWS lists ". . . classic works by Balanchine, including Serenade, Concerto Barocco, and Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, as well as works by Robbins and Martins. Highlights of the season will also include works created for the spring season Architecture of Dance-New Choreography and Music Festival."

Photos for the fall season story: Glass Pieces, Barber Violin Concerto, Serenade, Fearful Symmetries, Four Seasons. I'm especially hopeful that Glass Pieces will be on the program.

. . . I . . . have noticed that the house is in need of more bodies to fill the seats (it's pretty depressing). . . .

Several people have commented on all the empty seats, at both NYCB and ABT this month. Is it worse than recent seasons? Does it seem to reflect the struggling economy or just disappointing repertory offerings (or perhaps both)? Along with news of other companies folding or shortening their seasons, this is not good news for the arts...

Is there any information at all about the repertory planned for NYCB next year? In the print New York City Ballet NEWS (Spring 2010), it says subscriptions for 2010-11 will be available in June, with single tickets for fall 2010 in August. I was guessing they'd announce the fall schedule in June. They list some works for fall in NEWS, but it's far from complete, and nothing is listed on the web site.

Is this posted on-line somewhere? I can't find it on the Sadler's web site. I'm curious what other companies they have scheduled.

. . . Does one have to be a member of the library...?

Yes, but this wasn't a problem for me, even though I'm out-of-state. Last time I visited, I was required to fill out some paperwork and get a photo ID for Access to the Research Libraries, which they make for you the same day. They needed to see some photo ID (I believe my driver's license was enough). The card they issue with the photo does not have an expiration date on it, although it has a barcode on the back that might have something embedded. The fact that I was from out-of-state didn't restrict my access to the collection. But do allow time to get the ID. Especially with the staff cut-backs sandik mentions, it's possible the office that makes these IDs will have limited hours.