California

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!

If you're travelling in central Europe, the Slovak National Ballet is worth a visit. I had the great privilege of seeing almost all their productions from September 2007 - January 2008 while I was teaching in Bratislava on a Fulbright. Their English-language web site is here: http://www.snd.sk/?program-8 They perform in two beautiful theatres. The historic opera house in the center of town was designed by the same architect who designed the Vienna State Opera House. The new opera house a few blocks down on the Danube is stunning. Bratislava is an easy one-hour train ride from the Vienna south (Sudbanhof) station. You can buy a RT ticket that comes with a travel pass for the Bratislava tram system for under 10 Euros Tickets are embarrassingly cheap: 4-16 Euros (about $6-24 at today's exchange rate): http://www.snd.sk/?ballet-5 These people have the classical arts in their bloodstream and you will be delighted at the calibre of the productions and the dancers.

OCPAC's on-line magazine, with an article about the Bolshoi's Don Q, just arrived by e-mail, although it doesn't seem to have any information readers of this site don't already know: http://www.ocpac.org/revue/0110/revue-0110...oi-Don%20Q.html

I got an e-mail today for early purchase of tickets to the OCPAC Bolshoi. These e-mails seem to go to everybody who has ever bought a ticket to dance at OCPAC, as I haven't purchased anything there this season, nor am I a subscriber, nor a member of OCPAC. Tickets to the general public go on sale Sunday, January 10. Prices are $24-121. I love their on-line seat selection. You can choose exactly what you want from a diagram, see a video showing your view, and change your mind repeatedly. Huge areas of the theatre are already sold out; I'm guessing those are subscribers, as public sales haven't yet started.

Thanks for the information. So it wasn't just my confusion in trying to use their on-line ticket ordering. I'm thinking of stopping by the theatre on my way to the Bolshoi Don Q next month so I can see for myself what seats they have. This is a major drawback in their ordering system, and it surprises me.

The full-length Don Quixote March 20-21 looks very interesting, especially with the two ABT principals. But one frustration with the Barclay Theatre's on-line ticket ordering is that you don't know which seat they are assigning to you. A nice diagram on the site shows where all the seat numbers are, but you don't seem to have an option to decline a particular seat and ask them to search for another before you make an actual purchase, which is now common for on-line ordering. Am I missing something in the on-line ordering? Or is this just open seating? Also, they show a different price for students and seniors -- but never define "senior." Is it 60? 62? 65? 65+? Thanks for any insight you can give me on this.

The print brochure for the spring season at BAC just arrived. Tickets for this gala are priced "from $1500" and include dinner with the artists. Here's the program: http://www.bacnyc.org/index.php/events/per.../JRT021610-Gala Otherwise, googling is turning up no other performances in 2010. If others discover something, please pass it along.

Just posted at the BAC site: Baryshnikov will perform "Sarabande" from Robbins' A Suite of Dances at the Gala celebration of the new Robbins theater at the Baryshnikov Arts Center on February 16: http://www.bacnyc.org/index.php/events/per.../JRT021610-Gala No information about ticket price. I don't see him on the schedule for the other programs at BAC this spring. http://www.bacnyc.org/index.php/events/performances Last summer, his touring schedule with Laguna was available on the BAC site. I wonder if he is not planning any tours this spring or, perhaps, it's just not final yet.

The French web site Arte TV had a live webcast of the 12/31/09 performance by the Kirov of La Bayadere (Shades) and Paquita. The recording is still on-line on their site this morning, but I don't know how long these remain available. http://liveweb.arte.tv/ Once you find this performance, right-click and it gives you the option of downloading the entire performance into RealPlayer and saving to your hard drive.

Tickets for the general public for the Bolshoi's Don Q go on sale Sunday, January 10: http://www.ocpac.org/home/Events/EventDeta...57&NavID=91 Last year, they sent me e-mails a week or so before public sales with an opportunity to order early, but that hasn't happened yet. Apparently, those went to people who had previously bought tickets for a dance performance, as I'm not a subscriber nor member of OCPAC. This seems to be the year for full-length Don Q's. Festival Ballet is doing two performances at the UCI Barclay Theatre March 20-21: http://www.festivalballet.org/fbt/donq.html Gillian Murphy and Marcelo Gomes from ABT will take the leads.

Baryshnikov toured extensively in fall 2009, but I can't find anything on the web about his performance plans in 2010. Has anybody discovered any information?

Is Kirkland still performing Caraboose in Sleeping Beauty? Any indication of her involvement with the spring 2010 repertory, either in staging or performing, in Beauty or anything else?

Does anyone have early programming information on the Vail Dance Festival for summer 2010? The dates have been announced, but no hint of companies/artists that will be performing. I attended a performance near the end of the 2009 festival and it was spectacular, with a very appreciative, well-informed dance audience. Worth the trip!

Does anyone know when NYCB will post its schedule for spring 2010? The news release last August listed many premieres and said there would be several Balanchine and Robbins ballets -- but nothing was named and the schedule is nowhere to be found on the NYCB web site. Over at the Lincoln Center site, it says the 2010 schedule will be available January 1, 2010, but that hasn't happened. I'm looking to visit NYC in May or June to take in both NYCB and ABT. ABT's schedule has been available for a long time.