California

It was not planned, but in late March 1978 at the Kennedy Center, the world premiere week of Baryshnikov's Don Quixote, ABT had more than one set of principals at one performance. Kirkland and Baryshnikov had done the Saturday matinee and returned to the Watergate Hotel for dinner. Martine van Hamel was Kitri in the evening performance, but suffered a terrible injury on stage in the first act and couldn't continue. My memory is a little hazy, but I believe they first tried to get Cynthia Gregory to finish the evening, but she was scheduled for the Sunday matinee and declined, so Kirkland and Baryshnikov returned to finish the evening performance. I don't recall if they started over or picked it up from Act II. Perhaps others on this list remember?

It looks like the press release is still listing Robbins' Glass Pieces. But it seems to have been removed from the PNB web site. I printed out the 2010-11 subscription information on 1/29/2010. They were still showing an A series on Thursday nights. They were also listing Glass Pieces on the repertory page for 2010-11, but it has now disappeared. Any information on what happened? Does anyone know if it's still planned? http://www.pnb.org/Season/Subscriptions/Renew/Overview.aspx

The programming for the NYCB visit to Saratoga in July 2010 was posted today in the Calendar section of the SPAC web site: http://www.spac.org/calendar.php Also, if you click "Ballet" in the middle left of the home page by "2009 Events" it is showing the 2010 programming. http://www.spac.org/

Kate Moss is making a short dance film with Baryshnikov in July. It's not clear where it will be shown (a fundraiser? for what? where?). Michael Clark will choreograph and direct. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/artic...test-stars.html

The LA Times review, posted on-line Thursday, made it into the home print edition Friday. Small color photo on the front page of the Calendar [entertainment] section, with prominent placement of the review and three B&W photos on p. 3. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemon...rts-center.html

The OC Register review of opening night has been posted: http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/bo...a-vasiliev.html

The company just sent out to its e-mail list links to two reviews of the Balanchine program last weekend: http://www.losangelesballet.org/html/news_reviews.htm

The print edition of the LA Times gave very prominent placement to this review today (Tuesday, 2/23): a beautiful, color photo of Serenade on the top half of the front page of the entertainment section, with the full review at the top left of p. 3 in that section. No review (that I can find) in the UCLA Daily Bruin nor the Long Beach Press-Telegram nor the OC Register, but perhaps that's more forgiveable.

More casting changes were just announced in the LA Times: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemon...formances-.html Alexandrova won't make the trip, due to a family emergency. She'll be replaced by Marianna Ryzhkina, dancing with Mikhail Lobukhin

You see plenty of people with opera glasses. I don't imagine anybody would be bothered by binoculars. But OCPAC-Segerstrom has great sightlines and views from anywhere in the house -- it's one of my favorite theaters for dance. You probably won't need the binoculars.

Neary, in her remarks before the performance, said this was the first principal role that Balanchine created on her. (Von Aroldingen was the other lead.) She said they first worked out the opening duet for the two women in unison. Then Balanchine kept speeding it up and finally said, okay, now the second woman (Neary) will do this a half beat after the first. It makes for a dizzying -- and dazzling -- fugue-like display. The calibre of the principal dancing was just first-rate at UCLA. Enormous credit has to go to Neary for making this work, both in recruiting dancers and coaching them in these demanding roles. I couldn't remember ever seeing this ballet, but it's worth seeing again, if you have the opportunity. The 8-man all-male corps is one oddity -- no female corps at all. The male choreography is filled with what I call -- respectfully -- "goofball" every day movements that Balanchine could incorporate so masterfully. Some reminded me of the "goofball" patterns for the corps in the last movement of Stravinsky Violin Concerto (some of which are out-of-frame on the video in the Dance in America series). Here's the info on the NYCB site: http://www.nycballet.com/company/rep.html?rep=107

The LA Ballet's Balanchine program at UCLA this weekend was quite wonderful: Serenade, Kammermusik No. 2, Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2. I'm disappointed that the LA Times did not publish a review (although they reviewed a performance by the Trockaderos in Long Beach...). I also can't find any reviews in the UCLA student newspaper or the Orange County Register. (This is a sad commentary on the state of dance criticism in this country, but I'll leave that for another day.) Co-Artistic Director Colleen Neary started the program with remarks before the curtain about her experiences performing with NYCB in these works, and she staged them here on behalf of the Balanchine Trust. The program this weekend was at the Freud Playhouse at UCLA, a great theater for dance with 586 seats, all with great sightlines. I'd estimate that about 80% of the house was full. If you're in the area, it's a program worth seeing in Glendale next Saturday, 2/27 or in Redondo, Saturday, 3/6. They use recorded music, and there were a few shaky moments in some of the partnering, but any serious Balanchine lover will relish these performances, especially in a region of the country where opportunities to see anything by Balanchine are few and far between. The company's website: http://www.losangelesballet.org/ I'd love to hear from other Ballet Talkers who saw the UCLA performances.

"Baryshnikov by Seliger" is a new site with HD video and still photographs of Baryshnikov at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. It appears to be part of a promotion of Nikon cameras: http://nikonusa.com/d3s/ He's also featured in a new Louis Vitton photo shoot by Annie Leibovitz. Previews are available now, with the full release February 11: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01...-louis-vuitton/

Mixing a new piece with some tried-and-true favorites makes it less risky, so perhaps that is their rationale. What I like about the schedule is that an out-of-town visitor can see a lot of different ballets in 4-6 days, so it's attractive from that viewpoint. It's more difficult to see several different programs at ABT during a short visit from long distances. I'm curious to see what NYCB schedules for Saratoga in July. I'm guessing they will stay with the two-week season again due to the tough economy. Does anybody know when that schedule is typically posted?

The spring 2010 schedule is appearing this morning on the NYCB web site under subscriptions, and it appear they are slowly filling in the calendar section.

Subscriptions for spring 2010 go on sale tomorrow, February 1, according to the most recent press release: http://www.nycballet.com/news/press/pr01-12-10.html I'm not finding the spring schedule anywhere on the NYCB site. Have subscribers been told anything, perhaps by e-mail, U.S. Mail, or a restricted portion of the web site?

This web site has quite a bit of information about the music: http://theballetbag.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/les-patineurs/ "The music for Les Patineurs was arranged by Constant Lambert who orchestrated different selections from Meyerbeer’s Le Prophete together with the aria “Bel Cavalier” from L’Etoile du Nord."

The ABT home page in the upper-left is listing April 14-18 in Chicago: http://www.abt.org/ Dates are also listed under "ABT on Tour." Click "performances" and then "full calendar" to see the repertory and dates.

I worried that VHS tapes I taped for personal use off the air in the 80s and 90s would deteriorate, so I bought a Sony VHS/DVD recorder that easily transfers VHS to DVD. I have model RDR-VX500, and I think they still sell a slightly newer version of that. Commercial tapes sold after about 1990 have pirate protections in them, so you can't copy those to DVD on a machine like this. Interestingly, I discovered that some of the old ballet tapes from the 80s (e.g., the Makarova/Baryshnikov Giselle) don't have those pirate protections in them - but let me stress that copying from VHS to DVD is strictly limited to personal use for tapes made off the air under the current copyright law. My advice: if you have an old VHS tape that's been re-issued on DVD, buy the commercial DVD to be sure you have it for the future. You can still find VCR players, but they're likely to disappear in the coming years.

The Alonso tape was made by the George Balanchine Foundation, as part of its Video Archives project. You'll see the one with Alonso coaching Paloma Herrera and Angel Corella in T&V on the list. It was taped in 1998. http://www.balanchine.org/balanchine/03/gb...ves_videos.html I don't believe these were ever released for commercial sale, but they have been distributed for educational use. They list 70 educational libraries around the world where they can be viewed: http://www.balanchine.org/balanchine/03/gb..._libraries.html I know for a fact, however, that this list is not complete. My campus of the California State University has them and it's not on the list, so you might check your local colleges/universities for access.

The Makarova/Baryshnikov Giselle was a "Live from Lincoln Center" production on June 2, 1977, before most people owned VCRs. The Betamax had been introduced, but it was prohitively expensive. It was released on VHS in 1988, but I don't believe it was ever released on DVD. I can't find it on any of the commercial sites selling VHS/DVDs. You'll probably have to look at e-Bay or Amazon re-sellers for a used copy. I heard that the long delays in releasing these TV shows was mainly because it didn't occur to people in the 1970s that there would be a VHS/DVD market someday, so they had to go back and get releases from everybody involved in the production. The delay in releasing the July 1976 "Baryshnikov at Wolf Trap" performance (which was also shown on PBS that fall before anybody had VCRs) was reportedly because Kirkland refused. Her statement at the end about anorexia was reportedly part of her requirement for the release. Even then, it's not the complete performance. The live Wolf Trap performances included the first movement of Push Comes to Shove, with Tcherkassky and van Hamel (the original cast), but that wasn't included on the VHS/DVD. The PBS show I have most wanted to get was Theme and Variations with Baryshnikov/Kirkland, from "Live from Lincoln Center" in 1978. You can see it at the NYPL Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center, but it's never been released for public sales. I hope someday they'll find a way to release that commercially. It's priceless!

In addition to Amazon.com, other sites stock several versions of Giselle: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ http://www.kultur.com/ http://www.moviesunlimited.com/ http://www.cduniverse.com/ http://www.tower.com/ I'm sure there are more...

The schedule for the Vail Dance Festival won't be announced until February 1, 2010, but I just received a fund-raising letter in U.S. Mail that has some programming information - in order of their listing: *Chinese dance company, Beijing Dance/LDTX *Paul Taylor Dance Company - celebrating his 80th birthday *Pacific Northwest Ballet - with choreography of Tharp, Robbins, Balanchine, among others *"Dance for 2010" - mixed bill with accessible seats at $20 for the auditorium and $10 for lawn *Two different "International Evenings of Dance" with Wendy Whelan, Daniil Smikin, Tiler Peck, Robert Fairchild, Carla Korbes, Matthew Rushing, oaquin de Lux, Herman Corneo, and others *Tango show - Romper El Piso (Break the Floor) by Natalia Hills and Gabriel Misse. The schedule will be anounced on their site: http://www.vaildance.org/

Gia Kourlas lists the dates for a Ratmansky premiere at NYCB in spring 2010 under her "best of 2010": http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/dance/...-of-2009/3.html "Alexei Ratmansky His dance card is full! Along with a premiere for New York City Ballet (May 5, 8, 9 and 12), Ratmansky will choreograph a new Nutcracker for American Ballet Theatre, where he is artist in residence, to premiere at BAM (Dec 23)." Any idea where this was announced? The spring 2010 schedule isn't available yet at the NYCB or Lincoln Center site - or is it? What appears to be the most recent press release (from last August) doesn't include any dates of specific performances either: http://www.nycballet.com/news/press/pr08-12-09.html Have any of the NY critics received an advance schedule?

The Slovak Ministry of Culture seems to spend most of its money supporting the country's major arts groups -- ballet, theatre, opera, symphony. Locals I knew at the University see these art groups as an important part of their national heritage. The beautiful new opera house is located on the site of the Nazi's Apollo gas refinery, which was bombed by the western Allies before the Red Army invaded from the east. The Communists wanted to build an opera house on the site as far back as the 1950s, but couldn't find the money. I understand that the funding to build it came largely from Ballymore, an Irish development company, after Slovakia joined the EU in 2004, as a complement to their riverfront development Eurovea (convention center, condos, shopping, hotel). http://www.eurovea.sk/new_en/index.php The dancers seem most at home in the Petipa repertory (e.g., Swan Lake, Raymonda Variations). Several ballets based on Slovak folk themes seem designed to give the company a distinctive identity and appeal to national pride and were popular with families and children. Their Serenade premiered in fall 2007, the first time any Balanchine had been performed in the country. John Clifford and Patricia Barker set the piece. The performances sold out quickly and were quite an event in Bratislava. The dancers are not familiar with Balanchine and will need time to get comfortable with the style, but I see that the Tchaikovsky pas de deux was added to the repertory this year. I loved Warhol, a full-evening ballet by their director Mário Radačovský, a Slovak who danced with Les Grand Ballets Canadiens in Montreal and also with Kylian's Netherlands Dans Theatre. (Kylian is Czech, of course, and a local hero in Slovakia.) Warhol is great fun for American audiences. Warhol's parents are from Slovakia and he is something of a national hero -- statues, exhibits, posters. But the Slovak dance audience didn't seem to grasp the pop culture elements of Warhol's life in America (paparazzi, Studio 54, soup cans) and it wasn't an audience favorite. My favorite segment was the Dancing Marilyn's, with the corps in that billowy white dress we know from the movies. A small, but significant, thing I noticed at performances was the presence of as many young boys as young girls in the audience. Ballet does not seem to have any stigma there for men. The company has several child-oriented ballets that show the male dancers in very athletic roles that the kids seemed to love. Snow White and the Seven Racers had a male corps racing through the aisles on tiny bikes chasing the witch, with little kids loving every minute. Whatever works!