California

The State Ballet of Berlin has cancelled performances through Jan 3: https://www.staatsballett-berlin.de/en/ A tweet they just sent out said their Don Q will return January 11.

For those who haven't seen Kim, here's a little clip - lots more on YouTube. We would be so lucky to be able to see him again at the Met!

Add Kimin Kim of the Mariinsky to the list of guest stars we'd be very fortunate to see again. He visited several years ago for La Bayadere, as I remember.

Post-op picture of Whiteside: https://www.instagram.com/p/CXziVcDO3lj/ caption: Post-op update - I’m in post-op! lol 🥴-Procedure went swimmingly. I’ll be staying at the hospital tonight. I’m groggy af but feeling very well taken care of and like I’ve started my journey back to yassing. 🥰 Thank you again for all the overwhelming love and support! ❤️‍🩹

When I visited Salzburg many years ago in December, my hotel had one channel devoted to round-the-clock showings of The Sound of Music. But I was told that when the film came out, locals wondered what the American tourists were so excited about! Locals knew nothing about the stage show or the film. Now it's a major tourist attraction, of course, especially looking for all the sites in the movie used for filming.

Here's the older photo with Murphy in the pancake tutu and Hurlin in pointe shoes: I never saw the BAM performances, so I don't know about young Clara in those.

I am a huge fan of all three and really enjoyed their performances. I hope they are not over-doing it casting Bell -- three consecutive evenings (Fri-Sat-Sun) with two partners. But he's young (23) so I guess they figure he can handle it. He replaced Forster partnering Shevchenko. Teuscher replaced Hee Seo Sat matinee with Stearns. One detail I noticed: ABT Official posted photos of Hurlin as young Clara in the original performances (with Murphy) and now with Hurlin grown up. Murphy wore a pancake-style tutu and Hurlin was in point shoes. I much prefer the longer above-knee skirt they use now for the grown-up -- it makes her seem more human. And young Clara is now only in soft shoes. It was also interesting that they had loads of very young children, all masked -- except for Clara and her brother. I assume they worked this out with local health officials months ago for rehearsals. The masks on young kids work fine, as they do in the Colorado Ballet performances. I wonder why NYCB wasn't able to work this out with NYC officials.

In a mailing to supporters, Jermel Johnson announces that this is his last season before retirement. A great loss. He is 37 and the only black principal with the company. https://www.inquirer.com/arts/jermel-johnson-philadelphia-ballet-retiring-20211103.html

Agree on Ahn. I don't remember noticing him before, but he was spectacular with Teuscher at the Thursday 12/16 ABT Nutcracker. PS: They nailed the torch lift, for what it's worth, but Teuscher with Stears at the Sat mat flubbed it badly -- she made it as far as his shoulder, where she sat down. That was the only torch lift that wasn't beautifully done in the performances I saw with Bell-Hurlin and Bell-Shevchenko. Still, though, nobody does a one-armed version.

New IG today from Whiteside. He's having surgery tomorrow. Sounds like recovery will take a long time. https://www.instagram.com/p/CXwvde6lWPB/

English National Ballet just sent this out to Friends: To ensure that the company is best placed to avoid cancellations related to positive cases, performances of Raymonda on 18 January (evening), 19 January (evening) and 20 January (matinee) will no longer go ahead. That leaves performances January 13-16 and 21-23. Nothing about their Nutcracker.

Today Whiteside posted this photo and caption: https://www.instagram.com/p/CXtzygtPdmv/ I seriously injured my knee during yesterday’s performance of “The Nutcracker.” I’m so grateful for the outpouring of support from friends, family, and dance lovers. I’ll be on the road to recovery soon and in the immortal words of Cher, “You haven’t seen the last of me.” ❤️‍🩹-I’m flying back to NYC today and my injury will be assessed and treated just in time for Santa to bring me a new knee. 🎅 I will keep my socials updated during my journey back to full strength. 🍗 Thank you all for the love. 🥰-Sending hugs to my @abtofficial fam for being so amazing yesterday. I love you all! ❤️ and to @isabellaboylston for being the best Cindy and partner a Cracked Nut could hope for.

I just came from the 12:30 matinee at Segerstrom and saw the fall by James Whiteside. I hope we'll learn more about his injury from public-facing social media or the local press, but here's what I saw: Near the beginning of the Act II Grand Pas, he was moving on the diagonal to the back of the stage with a jump landed on one leg. He fell forward, face down, head toward the audience. I could not see any movement at all, not a hint that he was trying to get up. I don't know if he hit his head and was unconscious or just couldn't move for whatever reason. Boylston watched from the corner for just a few seconds, then walked over to him and knelt down. Then the curtain came down. Silence for several minutes. Then an announcer came on and said the orchestra would play the music for the Grand Pas. They only did the first section. More silence. Then somebody seemed to be calling to the conductor to finish all the music for the Grand Pas, which they did. Then more silence. Finally, the announcer said "Mr. Whiteside sustained an injury that makes it impossible for him to complete the ballet" (I think that's a close paraphrase, if not the exact words) and then said Joo Won Ahn would complete the ballet. (He had performed it Thursday night with Devon Teuscher.) The curtain went up on the marriage proposal bit. There wasn't much dancing for Ahn and Boylston at that point, but they did finish the ballet. I've seen some bad falls by great dancers over the years, but never one that seemed so scary. If others see public media, please post for all of us. EDITED TO ADD: I follow Boylston and Whitehead on Instagram. Nothing posted yet, but several comments from fans who were in the audience asking for a status report.

It worries me when I see social media rehearsal clips of dancers skimping on mask protection. One of my favorites, Aran Bell, is too often seen with his under his chin. I hope company management is reminding everybody about cancellations of Broadway shows and sporting events due to spread of COVID.

And for all the messing around with that calendar today, they still haven't fixed this: March 29-30 on the Kennedy Center site is a mixed bill. On the ABT master calendar, it's Don Quixote. And no casting for the Kennedy Center engagement. https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/explore-by-genre/ballet/2021-2022/american-ballet-theatre/

Murphy is doing the last performance of Swan Lake on July 6. Plenty of time for her to decide, but that performance could function as her retirement as well

On the calendar section of the ABT site, they have casting for most performances (except the mixed rep) or they did 10 minutes ago! Now it seems to have ben removed. What??? https://www.abt.org/performances/master-calendar/ Single tickets go on sale April 25. Donors over $480 get one week early access.

All I meant was that the 2020 plans were aborted, as it was not shown in New York at the Met in May-June, as originally expected. That's why it seems so likely it will be on the schedule for June 2022. Sorry I was not more clear.

Brandt has been rehearsing Manon on her IG in recent months. I posted a comment that I would love to see this next spring and she answered with a lot of smiles. I'm guessing the new Ratmansky Of Love and Rage will be shown after the aborted premiere in Orange County. R&J would make a good retirement program for Copeland, if she can recover that fast.

Wow! I knew nothing about the Elgort issue. The only time I saw him in another film was Billionaire Boys Club (2018), which ran on HBO long ago. His co-star was -- wait for it -- Kevin Spacey. I'm a little surprised they kept him in the film, especially as others have said there's zero chemistry between him and Maria. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5179598/

I wouldn't mind if West Side Story goes to Disney+. I actually bought a one-year subscription last year for just one show, Hamilton! Worth it to be able to really get a good look and also to turn on captions so I catch all the lyrics!

Do we know when it will be released on HBO or HBO Max? I really want to see it, but am not keen on going into movie theaters just now.

And in today's edition of Pregnancy Watch (?) ...I haven't seen any public announcements. https://www.instagram.com/p/CXUM6M2pbHU/

On Facebook, a clip with Bell and her comment: "Diving into the magical role of Clara tonight at 7 pm with @aran_bell 💃🏻. Sadly my original partner @thomasforster22 isn’t able to perform, sending you good vibes!" https://www.instagram.com/p/CXWhB2Wj0Vv/

Shevchenko said earlier today on her Instagram story that Forster is unable to dance with her. Now she has some rehearsal clips with Bell.