California

After reading the Suclas review (linked elsewhere on this site: ), I really, really hope Bolshoi brings this production of Giselle to North America next year -- Kennedy Center? Lincoln Center? California? I'll find a way to get there. Sounds like a real treat. Still wishing I could figure out how to get to Seattle to see that version. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/22/arts/dance/giselle-bolshoi-review.html

Chandra Kuykendall is retiring at the end of the 2019-20 season: Chandra and her husband Rob have their own ballet school south of Denver, the Denver Academy of Ballet. http://www.denveracademyofballet.com/

Thank you for those dates. It is a shocking mistake, for sure, and one wonders how it got into the book. I've had the impression that Morris is well-informed about the universe of dance, but this makes me wonder.

This is actually a rather shocking mistake and I wonder if there's an explanation. Before Apollo (1928 - Balanchine's oldest surviving ballet), legend has it that he choreographed dozens of works that never survived. Is there evidence any of those support Morris' claim?

I don't have the new Morris book, but I'm curious if he knows about the Oakland Ballet's history of reconstructions, notably Nijinska and Massine. Unfortunately, they don't list dates, although we know they all happened after the company was founded in 1965. I have a vague memory of seeing them do Nijinska's Les Noces in 1982, but don't see it on their list for the 50th anniversary performance. I wonder if their reconstructions predated the Joffrey's. Nijinska herself worked with this company. http://oaklandballet.org/wp/performances/fivedecadesofdance/ http://oaklandballet.org/wp/about/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/05/26/oakland-ballets-flawed-but-compelling-les-noces/fcd733ed-0190-4030-8079-62be56a07341/

I will be very interested in learning how the Ratmansky version compares with the historic reconstruction for Pacific Northwest Ballet. Will the Bolshoi version be shown on film or released on DVD? I hope so. Most unfortunately, due to some other unavoidable commitments, I will once again miss the PNB version, alas!

I don't think this would explain why it isn't often performed, but Francis Schroeder, the primary funder of this ballet and a member of the NYCB Board, was charged with murder. I'm curious if they credit her for the funding nowadays when they perform it: https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/22/us/note-on-will-cited-in-78-utah-murder.html

Very interesting! As I saw the reconstruction in Milan a couple of years ago, I think I can understand. In all the casting that I looked at, Bolle never performed the reconstruction, nor did they have any of their usual visiting artists (Hallberg, Osipova, Nunez, e.g.). As they are doing SL next summer, maybe they felt they needed those big names to bring in tourist dollars. And it would be quite a stretch for a visiting artist to learn the reconstruction. But I do remember that Miami City Ballet dropped some hints on social media that they were going to stage the reconstruction in their 2020-21 season. I haven't seen any more news about this. Has anybody else? I do wish there were a good recording for purchase - so much to learn. And this was a co-production with Zurich - any word on their plans?

Is this the balance by Tereshkina that you're talking about? Pretty amazing. It's at 1:47:20. I saw several performances at the Kennedy Center a couple of years ago, and she was the only one who could pull this off.

The Feb 16 Giselle at the Kennedy Center is still all TBA: https://www.abt.org/performances/master-calendar/

Anatomy of a Male Ballet Dancer is now playing on Amazon Prime.

I wasn't there, but the group photo noted that this was Melanie Hamrick's last performance

I would recommend Stephanie Jordan's Book: Mark Morris: Musician-Choreographer https://www.amazon.com/Mark-Morris-Choreographer-Stephanie-Jordan/dp/1852731753/ref=sr_1_5 His relationship to music is called "choreomusicality." It's a cousin to Balanchine's dictum: "See the Music"

Here's one thing she did right: You might remember that Ratmansky's The Tempest (2013) was a co-production with NBoC, but the latter never performed it. I thought it was a disastrous bore, even with a stellar cast. https://dancetabs.com/2013/11/american-ballet-theatre-opening-night-gala-tempest-premiere-and-others-new-york/ (Correct me if I'm wrong on this, please. I check the NBoC schedule each year because they do have a few interesting things in their rep and Toronto is a nice city to visit.)

I have been hoping Simkin might bring Lane to the Berlin State Opera for some guest visits, but they seem to be bringing Kochetkova a lot. Interesting that they are doing Giselle next May. https://www.staatsballett-berlin.de/en/spielplan/01-04-2020/

The master calendar is now "loaded" for May and June: https://www.abt.org/performances/master-calendar/

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My go-to reference for Balanchine insights is Nancy Goldner's Balanchine Variations. Jewels is in this one: https://www.amazon.com/Balanchine-Variations-Nancy-Goldner/dp/0813032261/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_138&sr=8-1-fkmr0

Here it is: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/arts/dance/melanie-hamrick-retiring-ballet.html She did a nice job in Apollo on Sunday.

I made a quick trip to NYC and was able to see three weekend performances (Sat and Sun). I'm not disappointed that I am not able to see more. I don't disagree with observations others have made about ballets and performances. Just a few quick thoughts: Theme and Variations (Sat eve): I would add "sad" to the descriptions. I am just astonished that they gave Gorak that role. A few years ago when I was finally able to see the Ratmansky Nutcracker at Segerstrom, he bailed from the Friends dress rehearsal opening day, where he was cast as the cavalier. No explanation, but he did several other roles that week. Wouldn't he have figured out by now that if he aspires to principal roles he needs a program of serious weight-training, something so he is able to manage those lifts and the other partnering? Everything about his performance in T&V was weak -- slow, unextended, unimpressive. Let somebody else give it a try - couldn't be any worse! A Gathering of Ghosts: What a waste of talent and money! Cornejo was at least given some astonishing variations and technical displays, but that was the only worthwhile thing about it. In the promo film they show in the lobby (and on-line), Cornejo and several others are wearing cream blouson tops and colorful tights. I wonder what this ballet would look like in those, instead of the Elvis outfit and the Consorts dresses that looked like they were rejects from a Justin Peck ballet. But I guess you'd have to also get rid of the bizarre cast of historic characters. Proust? Marie Antoinette? really? Apollo: I thought both Calvin Royal (Sat) and Joo Won Ahn (Sun) were excellent. Royal's feet seem a little sloppy at times, but that was the only (small) problem for me. I could do without the birthing scene, but I love those stairs at the end and am sorry NYCB abandoned them. I'm always curious, though: this is his oldest surviving ballet (1928), but I gather there is historical evidence that he made "dozens" of dances before then, with no evidence left of what they looked like. Isn't there anything out there in diaries, etc. to give us a glimpse of what his work was before this and how he evolved into this true masterpiece? Did Danilova ever talk about the pre-1928 work? Some Assembly Required: A reminder of what a terrible loss Clark Tippett's early death was for the ballet world. He was a genius in imaginative ideas for moving people around, whether in a PdD, as here, or for a large ensemble in his Bruch Violin Concerto (which I get to see at Colorado Ballet, and love). Skylar Brandt and Roman Zhurbin on Saturday and Sarah Lane and Cory Stearns on Sunday were all very impressive in this often high-risk partnering, with a staggering range of interactions and emotions. I kept thinking: no way could Gorak ever do this one! And no ballerina should ever trust him to partner her either. Very glad they revived it. Let Me Sing Forevermore: A very nice interlude for Isabella Boylston and James Whitewide (Saturday) and Catherine Hurlin and Aran Bell (Sunday). Playful, fun, with some risky and interesting partnering. The Seasons: I missed this at the Met last spring and am glad I finally got to see it. So many movement ideas packed into this, it was hard to know where to focus. I assume it will be back next spring. Very much in Ratmansky's "style" of taking the classical vocabulary and making it faster, more complicated, more difficult. I noticed several elements that seemed drawn from the classical rep and wonder how many more I missed. E.g., the table top lifts in Giselle Act II appeared near the end, with Boylston and Whiteside -- but he carried her across the full length of the stage on the diagonal! They only did it once and I wonder if other casts can pull that off. Wow! For the final tableau, Whiteside popped her up into a one-armed torch lift -- the treacherous move so many have bungled in Ratmansky's Nutcracker. A series of double tours/pirouettes looked lifted from T&V. Are there more? We should be grateful he didn't try to reconstruct Petipa's version and instead make his own choreography. (I assume there's a reason this Petipa ballet never was handed down to us!) James Whiteside: I have a new-found appreciation for him in the past year. His partnering is so strong (see above!) and his personality so perfect for things like Deuce Coupe (where he repeated his super-fast variation with a little Floss thrown in), he has found his voice. Aran Bell: So nice to see him given so many roles where he can develop. As Winter in The Seasons and in Let Me Sing Forevermore, he shows the carriage, technique, and presence that portends great things.

The spring 2020 Met season will be announced this Thursday, October 24. This is according to the Director of Membership this morning at the Company Class on stage for the Friends, which I attended.

Bad news just posted by Steven McRae: he injured his Achilles last night in Manon in Act II and couldn't finish the performance.

He was good as Espada -- but that's an aloof matador, so the stiffness worked! I suppose it's a bad sign that I can't remember him in anything else other than R&J, where he has the same issues.

The costumes are definitely the ones you see in the 1983 DVD with Cynthia Harvey, but this is a simpler set -- the back bridge is gone and now there's just a painted drop. I haven't seen the ABT version in recent years, so I don't know if that's what ABT uses now. In the 1978 premiere, Gelsey wore a purple dress in the first act and now everybody stays with red. Not sure when that changed. Tracy is recovering from an injury, so perhaps there wasn't time to prepare. She seems to be too tall to partner with her husband. I'm not sure who would make a good partner for her. I assumed Buchanan and Pelletier were being groomed for principal leadership. She seems worth the investment, but you saw my comments on Pelletier -- just wooden, blank, unconvincing as Basilio. The ABT site lists two versions -- Baryshnikov and McKenzie/Jones https://www.abt.org/explore/learn/repertory-archive/ballets/ So much of the choreography is "public domain" or standard, it's hard to differentiate.

I saw all three casts the first weekend, but had to miss the second weekend due to a professional conference. They rented the ABT sets and costumes, so it was a first-rate production. It's such a treat for dancers to see the names written in their costumes -- Cornejo, even Baryshnikov. A sense of heritage that they must treasure. Live orchestra for all performances, which is so appreciated. Asuka Sasaki and Francisco Estevez: opening night. They both sparkled. This was Asuka's role and I've never seen her better. Technique, acting, character were all just superb. Fran was just promoted to principal and has recovered from two forms of cancer, as has been publicized in various places on-line. Great pair. Last winter for Nutcracker, they nailed a wonderful torch lift. For this one, they did some nice technique variations. On the one-armed lift in Act I, Fran did have to steady her lower leg, but then held the lift for a long time and even went into an arabesque of his own. He's only 30 and has notably improved his technique in recent years, I expect great things from both. Yosvani Ramos and Dana Benton: He just turned 40 and is recovering from knee surgery in the past year, so his performance was all the more amazing. He just posted on Instagram, though, that he is retiring the role. She is recovering from shoulder surgery. Very comfortable, confident partnership despite all that. Morgan Buchanan and Nicholas Pelletier: third cast for the Saturday matinee and school performances. She's a soloist with great potential. He is a corps member and was better as Espada; I wish he'd work on expressiveness and pushing the envelope on his presence. They were third cast a couple of years ago in Romeo and Juliet. She's developing nicely. I wish he would push himself more so he's not just doing steps. Several soloists and advanced corps members got some nice opportunities. So many to note, but a few of my favorites: Tracy Jones: Fran's wife, trained at the Royal Ballet, she was a spectacular Mercedes. Charisma, presence, glorious. Fernanda Oliveira: a corps member with charisma, determination, grit. She was terrific both as Mercedes at one performance and Queen of the Dryads at another. She knocked out all the Italian fouettes - a little shaky, but they'll get better and I'm glad to see her try. Kevin Gael Thomas: King of the Revoltade 540, he got to throw that in the gypsy sequence. I see rehearsal clips on Facebook where several of the men are working on this. Some might remember Chandra Kuykendall, who celebrated her 20th anniversary with the company last year. I thought she'd retire, but nothing has been announced. She did Queen of the Dryads and that's all. I wasn't surprised that she didn't even try the Italian fouettes, substituting a much simple pique arabesque thing. A few years ago in Giselle, she didn't even try the hops on pointe and substituted an easier pique-step thing. Fouettes: I do wish everybody would just aim for 32 clean singles. Asuka did a few doubles at the beginning and travelled quite a bit, as did Dana.