California
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Posts posted by California
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10 minutes ago, tutu said:
This is shocking — what’s NYC’s living wage threshold?
Here's some data on a living wage in NYC -- but I'm quite sure ABT dancers are not on 52-week contracts. Does anybody know how long their contract is?
https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/36061
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2023/01/fewer-40-new-yorkers-earn-living-wage
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2 hours ago, lmspear said:
My first reaction to this is wouldn't the faculty be better served by one of the large teacher's unions, the National Education Association or the United Federation of Teachers?
As so many (all?) of the teachers were members of the AGMA while dancers at NYCB, they might have felt most comfortable with this union and its understanding of the artform.
https://www.musicalartists.org/agma-nycb-reach-new-3-year-agreement/
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Faculty at the School of American Ballet have taken the first steps toward forming a union:
(Let me also note that the 250 employees of the Denver Art Museum are also voting to unionize: https://coloradosun.com/2024/01/31/denver-art-museum-workers-united/)
Part of a national trend toward unionizing, but it's interesting to see it take hold in the arts.
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53 minutes ago, balletlover08 said:
But I believe Jaffe debuted herself with Alexander Godunov on the Met stage right?
I saw Jaffe's debut with Godunov! It was at the Kennedy Center in December 1980. Kirkland and Bissell had just been fired by Baryshnikov, then brand-new as artistic director.
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10 minutes ago, DPell said:
Chloe posted a rehearsal clip of Odette’s variation on Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2jGi05gAaE/?igsh=YzFmeDdqczZkOTQwYes. And on Instagram Stories, Chloe had some that included Aran Bell. Anybody on this site see the performance?
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On 1/22/2024 at 5:43 PM, balletlover08 said:
So glad I saw this as I just purchased tickets! Planning to see ABT in person for the first time Friday Matinee (an O/O debut just seems so fun).
Please give us a full report on Chloe's Friday matinee debut. She has the best possible partner for her debut (Aran Bell). Rehearsal clips this morning on Instagram. So wish I could be there!
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The National Endowment for the Arts has just announced 81 grants, totaling $2,280,000, for dance.
The complete list, by discipline: https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/FY24-RoundOne-DisciplineListReport-updated.pdf
The list by state: https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/FY24_RoundOne_StateListReport_updated2.pdf
If you have personally benefitted in some way from a grant from NEA, please write to your representatives in Congress, to let them know how important this funding is.
I was intrigued by a $20,000 grant to NYCB to support creation of new work by Tiler Peck and Amy Hall Gardner.
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I didn't see the movie presentation, but I wish these broadcasts could be distributed in additional ways -- for sale as a download, or a rental on Amazon Prime, or an addition to Medici or Marquee. I assume the problem is licensing and union restrictions, but it's a shame something couldn't be worked out
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18 hours ago, Buddy said:
Besides being an excellent ballet dancer she has an interest and a fine grasp of the broader range of the theatrical arts. Like Drew, I’d like to see most anything that she might do. One important element in the diversification of such stars as her, Olga Smirnova, Natalia Osipova, etc. is the quality of the material that they choose or are given. She’s an extremely talented artist and I wish her the best.
A favorite memory from about 10 years ago with ABT at the Met: a "double-header" on a Saturday with Cojocaru at the matinee and Osipova in the evening in the pre-Ratmansky Sleeping Beauty. Such a treat!
I saw Cojocaru again last January in London in the United Ukrainian Ballet's Giselle. Her technique has declined, but not her artistry. I hope she can bring her new work to North America.
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As per Instagram Stories, after several months in Australia, Simkin is now on his way to Tbilisi, Georgia, where Maria Kochetkova has been performing for some time.
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New York Review of Books has posted an archive of her writing. I think this is all public access:
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20 minutes ago, aurora said:
And neither the McKenzie nor the Baryshnikov were done in NYC as far as I remember.
The Baryshnikov version was performed at the Met in May 1977: https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/20/archives/new-jersey-weekly-ballet-grownup-nutcracker.html
It was shown again with Gelsey Kirkland at the Met in September 1977: https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/24/archives/gelsey-kirkland-is-a-joy-in-the-nutcracker.html
It was performed annually at the Kennedy Center (where it premiered in December 1976), for many years. I don't know if it was ever performed again in New York.
I also don't know if the McKenzie version was every performed in New York:
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27 minutes ago, Tapfan said:
Weren't they performing at BAM before they left for SoCal? Why commission Ratmansky to create a new Nutcracker if they weren't sure they'd have a venue? I thought Nutcrackers were the lifeblood of classical companies. And what did they do in December in the past? Just not perform the Nutcracker?
The Ratmansky version premiered at BAM in 2010. I assume they thought they had a good venue and were disappointed after a few years at the drop-off in ticket sales.
https://www.abt.org/ballet/the-nutcracker/
Before that, they had a version by McKenzie: https://www.abt.org/ballet/the-nutcracker-mckenzie/
and another by Baryshnikov: https://www.abt.org/ballet/the-nutcracker-baryshnikov/
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12 hours ago, matilda said:
I got a brochure in the mail about upcoming premieres and it said that Ratmansky's new ballet will be to the funeral march from Mahler's 1st symphony and the Adagietto from the 5th. Sounds weighty (perhaps he'll be alluding to geopolitical events) but I'm very much looking forward to seeing.
If you follow Ratmansky on Instagram and Facebook, he seems devastated by the carnage in Ukraine and often posts shots of the bombardments. I'm glad I have tickets to see the new one and wish I had seen the one he did for PNB, Wartime Elegy. https://www.pnb.org/repertory/wartime-elegy/
Interesting that Symphony in 3 Movements, with its allusions to WWII, is show on the same program. This would be a great time for ABT to revive Tudor's Echoing of Trumpets, his tribute to the Czech town of Lidice that was destroyed by the Nazis in 1942. It was shown by Colorado Ballet in 2010 by McKerrow and Gardner, who now work for ABT. It would work for the State Theatre this fall.
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1 hour ago, BalanchineFan said:
So, are you suggesting ABT performs the Ratmansky Nutcracker at the Met while NYCB does Balanchine’s Nutcracker across the plaza? That doesn’t seem a great idea to me. NYCB has tradition and 60 or so children to beef up sales. And isn’t the Met Opera still going in December?
Where would ABT perform? Ailey has City Center. Would ABT go to BAM? BAM usually programs edgier fare. I think it’s an issue of venue. Mark Morris does a run of his Hard Nut at BAM every so often. NYC might support two classical Nutcrackers, but where?
Don't overlook the importance of major local supporters at Segerstrom, starting with the Segerstrom family and William J. Gillespie at their school. They also hold a big fund-raiser in Beverly Hills while they are at Segerstrom. Could they find replacements for all of that in NYC? Doesn't seem likely!
https://www.scfta.org/education-community-programs/camps-classes/abt-william-gillespie-school
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7 minutes ago, volcanohunter said:
Doesn't Los Angeles Ballet perform a Nutcracker at various venues in Greater Los Angeles, including the Dolby Theater in Hollywood (which ABT also tried with the McKenzie production when the theater first opened)?
They seem to have performed in four different theaters in December, but had a live orchestra at only one (Dolby). I saw them many, many years ago when Colleen Neary was the artistic director and they were performing Kammermusik to recorded music. Melissa "Call Me Ben" Barak is the new director. LA is a very tough town for ballet!
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4 hours ago, Tapfan said:
Since ABT hightailed it to SoCal, I wondered why can't a city the size of New York support two Nutcrackers? Both ABT's and NYCB's productions are critically acclaimed. And the Los Angeles area now has two Nutcrackers. Is it the same reason that New York couldn't support two opera companies?
I never saw the Ratmansky Nutcracker on the east coast, but remember concerns about ticket sales. If you are taking your family to one Nutcracker, at great expense, for the holidays, you'll likely choose Balanchine and Lincoln Center. I have made two trips (2019 and 2021) to Segerstrom to see the Ratmansky, the only version of Nutcracker I truly enjoy and a chance to see a lot of favorite principals. With the skimpy offerings at the Met this summer and who-knows-what in the fall, I might go again some day!
There are dozens of Nutcrackers in Southern California, but they are mainly local/school-related. Is there another one of the caliber of ABT's? I think this was a smart move by ABT.
https://socalfieldtrips.com/50-nutcracker-performances-in-southern-california/
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1 hour ago, uptowner said:
The "art series" tickets go on sale Friday January 5 at noon-- all tickets in the house are $40.
Performances are Feb 3 (Wheeldon, Martins, Peck), 8 (New Combinations) and 23 (Innovators and Icons).
https://www.nycballet.com/discover/nycb-art-series/davidmichalek/
Thank you! I'm in town for the 23rd and have been wondering how to get a ticket. I wonder how they publicize the $40 tickets and who gets first dibs.
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Graham McFee, a noted dance scholar/philosopher, has died.
https://british-aesthetics.org/resources/obituaries/graham-mcfee/
https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/alumni/2023/11/08/professor-graham-mcfee-1951-2023/
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On 12/22/2023 at 5:18 PM, volcanohunter said:
On Wednesday, December 27, at 19:00 CET/1:00 pm Eastern, the Vienna State Ballet will livestream Van Manen's Concertante and Balanchine's Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet. (The program also includes Forsythe's In the middle, somewhat elevated, which, apparently, won't be streamed.)
These streams are available on demand for 72 hours. The stream is free of charge, but logging in is required; registration requires only a name and email address.
https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/b1a1d6a0-266e-47ea-ab76-e47e347991c6
Casting for the program:
https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/season-tickets/detail/event/1002773622-shifting-symmetries/
Thanks for posting this. Excellent video quality and streaming reception. I am not a van Manen fan, so I skipped that. As for the Balanchine, I LOVE the final movement -- Balanchine-does-Slavic (sorry!) and the upbeat, joyous music.
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Has anyone seen Ashton Roxander with Philadelphia Ballet this month? He's doing Cavalier, Tea, and Candy Cane.
https://philadelphiaballet.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Nutcracker-Casting-2023-Dec-20-30.pdf
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1 hour ago, On Pointe said:
There is an excerpt from Fancy Free, staged by Justin Peck, assisted by Craig Salstein, and danced by NYCB's Sebastian Villarini-Velez, Harrison Coll, and freelance dancers, including Jeannette Delgado. The ballet materializes in an empty theater, then expands to a fantasy that includes Lenny and Felicia in the ensemble. That's the only dance in the film. Bernstein's great success West Side Story is barely mentioned. But I did enjoy Michael Urie as Jerome Robbins, or "Jerry" as they call him. He only has a couple of lines, but Urie brilliantly conveys Robbins' prickly personality and kinetic energy.
I had to dig through the IMdB listing to find Peck's credit. Choreographers used to get more respect in Hollywood. I beieve Balanchine introduced the term when he worked in the movies. Before him they were called dance directors.
I watched Maestro on Netflix and found it interesting. I turned on captioning so all the musical snippets throughout were identified. (Were those visible in the theater?) The Fancy Free excerpts are great fun and the lengthy Mahler performance near the end was quite extraordinary. I was disappointed that West Side Story didn't get much attention.
I slogged through the credits at the end to find Peck's listing as the choreographer. The credits run over a complete performance of Overture to Candide, one of my all-time Bernstein favorites, so it ends on a high note. But I didn't feel much incentive to watch this one again.
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1 hour ago, Jayne said:
Maybe he could be the new AD? And if he has a good experience with Sarah guesting, perhaps he would offer a 1 year contract to see if she can finally settle well at WB?
I genuinely hope for both dancers to finish strong in their careers.
Edwaard Liang has already been named the new AD of the Washington Ballet, arriving in spring 2024. We don't know what relationship he has had with Mack or Lane, but it would be nice to bring in both of them, even as guests.
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Sarah Lane is performing Nutcracker with Brooklyn Mack at Festival Ballet Theatre in southern California. I've also been wondering what happened to him and whether he'd consider rejoining Washington Ballet with a new artistic director.
ABT contract negotiations
in American Ballet Theatre
Posted
Yikes! The Colorado Ballet (with 30 dancers on contract) has a 34-week contract. https://coloradoballet.org/Audition-Information#.
Here are the terms of their 2022 3-year AGMA contract: https://www.musicalartists.org/agma-ratifies-3-year-agreement-with-colorado-ballet/