California

Marina Harss and David Hallberg have posted some brief clips, apparently from the live broadcast on Sunday.

Both Marina Hass and David Hallberg have sent out tweets with 2-minute clips from the Sunday broadcast. Where are they getting these? If anybody finds this on-line, please copy-paste the link here for us. I hope it hasn't been taken down already.

Do you have a link for this? I'm not finding it anywhere.

Another take on this that I've been thinking about: Albrecht wants her to stay around, even if only in spirit form. Putting her back in her grave ends that. Gently laying her down on the grass keeps open that possibility. To his dismay, the earth swallows her up anyway. But it is strange and the ending overall quite rushed to me.

I noticed that, too, and it made no sense dramatically. Was he saying to Bathilde: you already know I'm a cad, but don't let them know or things could get ugly here? Certainly removed the sense that he had truly fallen in love with Giselle. Bathilde stayed on stage through the entire mad scene instead of storming off, angry at Albrecht, as she does in ABT's and other versions.

I saw it today and loved it. It's going to be difficult seeing the more stripped down version at ABT this spring at the Met, now that we know what's missing. I won't try to report on things others have noted, especially the excellent press reviews after the premiere. Just a few observations for now: The scooter thing for Myrtha still makes noise, but visually it's stunning -- a flash of light across the back. Giselle on a wire later high up in the back works. I was struck by the very fast tempi in many places, such as peasant PdD. Two superb dancers pulled it off and took bows before the curtain after Act I. I can understand why people don't use the fugue music nowadays, as interesting as it is historically. Ratmansky in the taped interview said that Adam was especially proud of it, as fugues had never before been used in a ballet. Now we know why! It was like somebody accidentally changed the channel to another composer. I did like the choreography Ratmansky created for it. Lots of mime, especially in Act I, but it was understandable. Excellent camera work. They have one high up that could look down on patterns like the Act II cross - much appreciated. I really, really hope Bolshoi brings this to North America for the 2020-21 season. I'd like so much to see it a few more times and get a better feel for all the changes.

Just announced: https://www.houstonballet.org/seasontickets/pdps/2020-2021/?id=20701

National Ballet of Canada just sent out e-mail that they are co-producing Ratmanky's new Of Love and Rage and will perform it in their 2021-22 season in Toronto. No mention of their co-produced Tempest! View in Browser Of Love and Rage by Alexei Ratmansky Co-Produced with American Ballet Theatre 2021/22 Season From the creator of Romeo and Juliet comes Of Love and Rage. This new full-length ballet by Alexei Ratmansky tells the epic tale of Callirhoe and her lover Chaereus and the daunting obstacles they must navigate. “I am a great admirer of Alexei. His understanding of classical vocabulary is unmatched, and his ballets are always inventive and masterful. One of the highlights as Artistic Director was commissioning him to create a new Romeo and Juliet in 2011 and I could not be more delighted to add Of Love and Rage” – Karen Kain, Artistic Director A co-production between The National Ballet of Canada and American Ballet Theatre (ABT), the world premiere will be performed by ABT in California in March 2020 and then in New York in June 2020. Of Love and Rage will make its Canadian premiere during the National Ballet’s 2021/22 season in Toronto.

I don't know myself, but I'm not sure about temps de fleche. Hard to find video illustrating it:

The National Endowment for the Arts announced today 93 grants totaling $2,235,000 to dance organizations. Click "art works-dance" to go directly to the list. https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/DisciplineListReport-Jan2019.pdf

My apologies! Mariinsky, of course. And it was Mariinsky at the Kennedy Center with Kimin Kim. Which was part of my surprise, that Kennedy Center got their way but Berkeley didn't. Ratmansky's Facebook comment, of course, remains important, as he was formerly the director at Bolshoi and worked with them recently on Giselle.

I believe we discussed this last fall. When the Bolshoi did Bayadere in Berkeley last fall, they used blackface. I was surprised that the Berkeley theater tolerated this. When I saw them at the Kennedy Center, they most definitely did not, and my understanding from the press at the time was that the Kennedy Center said: no way! https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Berkeley-Ballet-says-dancers-disinvited-from-14809292.php Alexei Ratmansky criticized black face on his public Facebook a few weeks ago. The way to publicly discuss it is by focussing on the company, not on individual dancers, especially minors, who really have no choice in this.

The National Endowment for the Humanities today announced $30.9 million in new grants. One might be of particular interest here: University of Nebraska, Board of Regents Outright: $21,744 [Digital Humanities Advancement Grants] Project Director: Stephen Ramsay; Brian Pytlik Zillig (co-project director); Susan Wiesner (co-project director) Project Title: Digital Notation Across the Movement-Based Arts Project Description: A workshop for scholars and practitioners to develop standard methods for digitally notating dance and other movement-based arts to enable easier preservation and analysis. https://www.neh.gov/news/neh-announces-309-million-188-humanities-projects-nationwide

The on-line site is working fine - mostly - it froze up for a bit, for no apparent reason, but works okay now. They're competing with the ABT Swan Lake and Jane Eyre. I'd like to see the Tharp piece at PNB but don't know if I could stomach the other two (Millepied and Pite).

Tickets are now on sale for the Pacific Northwest Ballet at the Koch June 23-28, 2020. Two programs, which you see when you click through to buy tickets. http://www.joyce.org/performances/pacific-northwest-ballet Program A: Agon Choreography by George Balanchine Opus 19/The Dreamer Choreography by Jerome Robbins Diamonds Choreography by George Balanchine Program B: Appasionata Choreography by Benjamin Millepied Plot Point Choreography by Crystal Pite Waiting at the Station Choreography by Twyla Tharp http://www.joyce.org/performances/pacific-northwest-ballet

Kind of a Singing in the Rain thing - on a Broadway stage? Yikes!

Could you elaborate on how water is being used? I can recall seeing photos of Mariinsky students with watering cans sprinkling water on classroom floors, with the explanation that they needed to get used to such things. Is that what's going on?

A revival no one has mentioned: Tharp's Push Comes to Shove. At a Met Gala a few years ago, I thought they did just the opening to Scott Joplin and I was hoping they'd revive the entire ballet. They have people who could take Baryshnikov's role - most notably Simkin and Cornejo. I assume Tharp controls this, however, so that might well be the issue.

I don't recall seeing it on ABT's schedule. they revived in 1992, right after MacKenzie took over. I found a couple of brief clips: PNB and Colorado.

ABT acquired Glen Tetley's version in 1976 for Baryshnikov. Colorado Ballet did this version a few years ago. I thought it was worthwhile both times. https://www.abt.org/ballet/the-rite-of-spring/

Seems like a really great time for every ballet company to restage Green Table! Just saying...

I attended Cats with three family members who love the stage musical and have seen it many times. They loved the movie! I, on the other hand, have never seen the musical, largely because the whole concept of talking/singing/dancing cats creeps me out. So did the movie, but that probably reflects my bias against the whole enterprise. Hayward could be seen on pointe in fleeting moments with the ensemble, but not most of the time. Fairchild had some nice spins and jumps. MacCrae was his usual fabulous tap-dancing self. The ensemble choreography threw in every genre and was hard to appreciate. I gather they all did their own singing and it was pretty impressive. I don't see how major roles for the dancers in this film could hurt their careers. I guess the message is: if you like/love the musical, you'll like the movie, too. To each his own!

Very glad to hear this! I've had my eye on him this past year and hope to see many of his performances at the Met this spring.

Two things of interest on YouTube about this production: A documentary made by the Bolshoi (no English subtitles, alas): Rehearsal shots with Ratmansky (and English captioning):

If you follow Aran Bell on Instagram, he just posted a Story recorded from the wings with a very nice torch lift.