California

In case anybody forgot, the Polish Giselle is now on YouTube:

PNB has also done Ratmansky's Don Q, back in 2012, but not since? https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/arts/dance/ratmanskys-don-quixote-has-premiere-in-seattle.html Has any other company performed it?

I think the middle section of "Tchaikovsky Overtures" is the Tempest! I have to wonder if anything from the full-length Tempest he did for ABT has been recycled for this!

Having seen both of these reconstructions in the theater, I wholeheartedly agree that it would be great if ABT could acquire Ratmansky's Swan Lake and Giselle. I think Giselle would play well. Many balletomanes are likely to go see the United Ukrainians at the Kennedy Center in February and I suspect they would agree. The famous Willis Fugue, the elaborate ending with the return of Bathilde, and Giselle swallowed up by the earth are highlights. They wouldn't even need new sets, except for the contraption at the end. I'm not so sure about Swan Lake. I saw a report some time ago that La Scala is going back to their more standard Swan Lake, and Bolle never performed in the reconstruction. We also don't know if Miami might have exclusive rights for a time in North America. (They presented it last year.) EDITED TO ADD: Having just watched the Polish National Ballet's new production of Giselle on YouTube (which is very similar to what we're familiar with at ABT), the downside of the Ratmansky reconstruction is that several things we have come to expect are missing, as they were not in the original. E.g.: Giselle's pas de poissons. Albrecht's flying brises (or multiple entrechats). The tabletop lifts in the lilies PdD. The Willis Fugue is the most interesting thing in the reconstruction that we've never seen before, but it would be a real trade-off to switch productions.

The Trilogy was a joint production with San Francisco, as was Seasons. I love Symphony No. 9 and it was performed alone at City Center in 2012 before the others were completed. I love the Ratmansky Nutcracker -- just very different and fresh -- and they need it for their Segerstrom engagement in December. I have to think they'll keep doing Whipped Cream and OLAR, after the investment in those productions. Tempest was a joint production with Canada, but they never performed it and substituted the Trilogy instead, a smart move.

This is the message Jaffee and MacKenzie just sent to Friends/Subscribers: Dear Friends, We are writing to share some bittersweet news with you. ABT will announce today that Alexei Ratmansky will be stepping down as Artist in Residence at the end of his contract in June 2023 (full Press Release here). While we are sad to see him go, we are grateful for the incredible impact he has had on the Company over the past 13 years. During his time at ABT, Alexei has choreographed numerous ballets for the Company, including Waltz Masquerade, On the Dnieper, Seven Sonatas, The Nutcracker, Dumbarton, Firebird, Symphony #9, Chamber Symphony, Piano Concerto #1, The Tempest, The Sleeping Beauty, Serenade after Plato's Symposium, Whipped Cream, Songs of Bukovina, Harlequinade, The Seasons, Of Love and Rage, and Bernstein in a Bubble. ABT has also performed Ratmansky's The Bright Stream, The Golden Cockerel, and Souvenir d'un lieu cher. In the coming months, the Company will be performing Songs of Bukovina in various U.S. cities as part of the Company's Spring 2023 tour. We cannot thank Alexei enough for his contributions to ABT and look forward to working with him in the future, although differently. His extraordinary vision of dance has inspired and moved us all. Thank you for your support of American Ballet Theatre. We hope to see you at one of our upcoming performances. Sincerely, Susan & Kevin

Everybody seems to do that torch lift with two arms. But take a look at Skylar Brandt's Instagram stories today. Cornejo lets go with the left arm ever so briefly. The only one-armed version I've seen with this company. PS. And Francisco Estevez (formerly with Colorado Ballet and sorely missed) again did one-armed torch lifts this year with the Rocky Mountain Ballet Academy, the school of Alexei Tyukov (also formerly with Colorado Ballet and also sorely missed). https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl-ji0ojPdq/

English National Ballet just announced casting for their Swan Lake in January at the London Coliseum: https://www.ballet.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Swan-Lake-principal-casting-letterhead.pdf? Of special interest: Iana Salenko January 15, 18, 22 and Brooklyn Mack January 19 and 21. https://www.ballet.org.uk/production/swan-lake/

Guggenheim Works & Process has announced their schedule for spring 2023: https://www.guggenheim.org/event/event_series/works-process Of special interest: Sunday March 263 pm EDT & 7:30 pm EDT Works & Process: Ballet West: Les Noces by Bronislava Nijinska Works & Process: Ballet West: Les Noces by Bronislava Nijinska April 2023 Sunday 2 7:30 pm EDT Works & Process: Miami City Ballet: Square Dance by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust Monday 3 7:30 pm EDT Works & Process: Miami City Ballet: Square Dance by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust Sunday 23 7:30 pm EDT Works & Process: New York City Ballet: Keerati Jinakunwiphat and Alysa Pires

Do you have an Instagram address for her? I'm not seeing this under @liza_on_stage I wonder where they plan to perform this. I haven't seen announcements of further engagements other than the Kennedy Center in February.

Thanks so much for this lovely video. What a treat to be able to see this. I wonder if a certain aging principal noticed what it's like to retire at the top of your game, surrounded by colleagues who love you. Was she there?

Thank you for this very informative and interesting review of Ballet Chicago's Nutcracker. In early 2021, during the worst days of the COVID shut-down, they showed (free!) the Balanchine Swan Lake. I remember thinking I would really like to see this company if I have a reason to get to Chicago some day. I'm wondering how successful the school's graduates are in finding professional employment in other companies. Do you know?

Casting for the second weekend of the Colorado Ballet's Nutcracker has been posted: https://coloradoballet.org/files/galleries/Nutcracker_Cast_Insert_WEEK_2_FINAL.pdf (There is a big parade downtown Saturday night, which is why there is no performance.) It looks like all of these performances, as well as most of the remaining ones this month, are sold out.

Devastating news! Sarah Kaufman laid off by the Washington Post. I assume they'll rely on some free-lancers receiving token compensation, but still... https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/01/sarah-kaufman-laid-off/

Colorado Ballet opens their Nutcracker this weekend and runs through December 24. Sales seem to be doing very well. The on-line program: https://issuu.com/pubhouse/docs/cb_hol_22_issuu Casting for the first weekend: https://coloradoballet.org/files/galleries/2022_Nutcracker_Cast_Insert_WEEK_1_FOR_WEB.pdf

Disney+ just debuted their 45-minute "Hip Hop Nutcracker." Tiler Peck is the toy doll and does a mix of classical steps and hip hop. Baryshnikov has a brief duet with a female Drosselmeyer throwing snow on the young Marie and her prince. I don't follow Hip Hop, but it has overall extremely energized and interesting choreography if that's your thing. If you only want to see the cameo's, Peck is at 9:25 and Baryshnikov is at 25:24. If you can't bear the thought of hearing Tchaikovsky set to a hip hop beat, best to mute the sound. As Baryshnikov has explained in recent interviews, his hair is dyed white for his current play, The Orchard.

Wonderful! One of the few positive things to emerge from the COVID lock-down: artists learned how to communicate with social media, passing along performances, jointly performing at great distances, etc. Nice to see them continuing this "tradition."

Casting is on p. 11 of the brochure: https://www.abt.org/wp-content/uploads/Performances/Summer-Season/ABT-2023-Met-Subscription-Brochure.pdf Casting is also on the calendar on the ABT web page: https://www.abt.org/performances/summer-season/

Ha! Thanks. (I have a relative named Leanne - must have been thinking about her!)

I remember going to see this in the late 70s. I have to agree with the NY Times critic: The original production did not delight The New York Times critic at the time, Richard Eder, who could not accept the lack of a plot, writing, “it is like the frosting declaring its independence from the cake.” Let me add: although it was a long time ago (and I had just seen Chorus Line) I remember thinking it was less like a mixed bill at the ballet and more like an advanced school recital. Still, it would be interesting to take another look at his dance vocabulary. Fosse's Chicago is still playing on Broadway and is worth seeing. I saw that with TKTS and Leanne d'Amboise as Roxie. (Yes - THAT d'Amboise) https://chicagothemusical.com/cast/

Thanks for the reminder! Very enjoyable. If Cornejo is contemplating a retirement performance next June, any of those noted so far work (SL, Giselle, R&J), although he is in such good shape, I wonder if he'll hang on a little longer. (And I assume Gillian will retire in a Swan Lake, although she's done the other roles.)

Wow - this is such great news. All the more so, as we keep seeing the daily destruction of Ukraine. A very good way for American philanthropists to use their money!

I attended the three weekend performances of ABT. Not much to add - just a few points: After The Dream on Sunday, principals took bows before the curtain (which nobody did on Saturday), a la NYCB. I wondered if this was a little extra tribute to Cornejo and Murphy, who almost certainly won't be doing those roles again. I didn't see the Cornejo performances 20 years ago, as many did. Yes, spectacular, but the Saturday evening Puck (Elwince Magbitang) was even more astonishing, especially in the chaines across the front of the stage. At the company class on stage for Friends Saturday morning, Jaffe taught the class. I have no idea how often she's doing that or if she's been hanging around for the entire season. But she's getting a good idea of the current capabilities of her dancers. (I hope that means we'll be getting news about the Met season soon!) Sinfonietta just blows me away - gorgeous music, windswept choreography. I saw it in the early 80s at the Kennedy Center with Kylian's company and watch for it. It's also available on Medici for subscribers. Through a happy coincidence, Colorado Ballet is doing it next April. The contrast of Sinfonietta made The Seasons less interesting to me -- the latter has such frenetic choreography. "What can we do to make this harder, if not necessarily more interesting to see?" A real contrast with Kylian's approach. I saw Seasons once pre-pandemic and again last spring at San Francisco Ballet (it was a co-production). Although I'm usually fascinated with Ratmansky's innovations, it wore me out this weekend. And those hideous dance recital costumes, as somebody else noted! Yuk!

There is a documentary about Osipova, "Force of Nature," which is available on Marquee. I have no idea what program is planned for City Center, but it seems possible some of this material will be included. Here's a trailer for the documentary: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10308160/

Here's the Instagram posting: January 21 at City Center: "Force of Nature" with Osipova https://www.instagram.com/p/CiNgTfEIb4Q/