California

If you've attended rehearsals for NYCB or other companies, they typically rehearse bows -- who, what, when...it all seems to be plotted out in advance.

This reminds me of comments made by Jerome Robbins, viz., that nothing could replace the experience of seeing dance in the theater, so he resisted televising or recording his ballets after a few early attempts (e.g., the televised show in 1980 of excerpts from DAAG). Sure, it would be great if we could all get to the theater whenever we wanted, anywhere in the world, and they were performing things we wanted to see. But that's just not reality for almost all of us on the planet.

Royal Ballet just announced that David Hallberg will be a principal guest artist for the 2019-20 season. Doesn't bode well for the ABT Met season next spring (which I hope is announced later this month): https://www.roh.org.uk/news/david-hallberg-returns-to-the-royal-ballet-as-principal-guest-artist

I have seen Union Jack only a few times and always found it a fascinating demonstration of Balanchine's ingenuity. It was considered cheeky at the time of the US Bicentennial, but he had already created Stars and Stripes a decade earlier, so this was a good solution. I'm also amazed that he has so many dancers on stage, especially in the first section, and moves them around so artfully. (His Garland Dance is another with a remarkably huge number of dancers on stage at once.) I heard a pre-performance talk once about it; they pointed out that no other company has ever performed it, partly (at least) because it requires 74 dancers and few could muster that many, even drawing on apprentices and advanced students. A funny tidbit we were told: the semaphores in the last section were learned by looking at a tape and someone realized quite belatedly that they were using mirror images, creating an entirely different meaning. Legend has it that Baryshnikov performed the middle music hall section on short notice, thus giving rise to the name "Ballet alert" as balletomanes spread the word. (If you were there for that episode, please correct me if I'm wrong on this.) https://www.nycballet.com/ballets/u/union-jack.aspx

It took me a while to figure this out...if you right-click the first Instagram image, copy-paste doesn't work. So go over to that person's account (the account name on upper-left of their posting) and you see all their postings. Right-click/save on that image and it usually works. (Touch wood!)

I barely remember seeing Baryshnikov do this so long ago. I saw it again last spring with Taylor Stanley. I did find the NY Times article about Baryshnikov's coaching session helpful in grasping what they're trying to do: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/arts/dance/mikhail-baryshnikov-coaching-new-york-city-ballet.html

When I visited Segerstrom a few years ago to see the ABT Nutcracker, ABT Friends were also admitted to the opening day dress rehearsal. I can't remember if ABT contacted me or if I wrote to them. Dress rehearsals at out-of-town venues are included in the ABT Friends benefits. That was the rehearsal when we expected to see Joseph Gorak and then abruptly got word that he had cancelled and a last-minute sub in practice clothes appeared.

Here is the same information on their web site: https://www.roh.org.uk/news/the-royal-ballet-announces-programmenews-for-the-royal-ballets-201920-season Looks like they're responding to requests for ticket exchanges. Sometimes they allow comments on their pages, but not on this one.

The Royal Ballet just sent out e-mail with a few programming changes for their fall, winter, and spring season: Updates to Royal Ballet programming There have been updates and changes to three productions in our Winter, Spring and Summer Seasons. In Winter, there are updates and changes to New Cathy Marston / New Liam Scarlett (17 February - 4 March 2020). The title of the New Cathy Marston is now confirmed as The Cellist. Dances at a Gathering by Jerome Robbins replaces New Liam Scarlett. If you have already booked for this production, you should have received a separate email with the option to amend your booking if you wish. In Spring, the final ballet joining the mixed bill of Live Fire Exercise by Wayne McGregor and Corybantic Games by Christopher Wheeldon (2 – 20 April 2020) will be Prodigal Son by George Balanchine. Full details are in your Spring magazine, which will be with you in October. In Summer, Monotones I and II by Frederick Ashton replaces Preludes by Alexei Ratmansky in the mixed programme with Tombeaux by David Bintley and Symphonic Dances by Liam Scarlett (3 – 13 June 2020).

These commercial promotions are very widespread now, by dancers from NYCB, ABT, you name it. I scroll past them and wonder if they're losing followers. But I always think: these people have such short careers - let them make some $$ while they can.

I saw premieres of Tempest, Coq d'Or, and Harlequinade and won't risk it with this one. If it's a hit worth seeing, I'll see it in 2021.

As "program" is the key jargon on their web site (not "ballet") I'm wondering if a new staffer or intern wrote that up and didn't realize the difference. I am pretty sure that in recent years I had to pay an add-on premium donation to get a good seat for a performance I wanted to see. But at least that was tax-deductible (as opposed to ABT's silly costume restoration fee). Buying good individual tickets is challenging at SFB -- which makes me think they have a loyal fan base that snaps things up before the general public. I think they have a fairly new executive director -- perhaps not as attuned to ballet world jargon and subscription nuances.

Choose your own is not available until September 12. But I looked at the requirements. It's not encouraging and details are not very clear. It says "3 or more ballets" - I assume they mean 3 or more programs, not ballets. I was looking at the mixed bills for Programs 2 and 3, which overlap on two weekends. That's six ballets, but only two programs. I'd have to come back for a second weekend to meet the requirement. https://www.sfballet.org/visit/2020-season-tickets

He had a near-death experience in a plane crash at LAX which reportedly led him to decide it was time to settle down. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-23/david-koch-survived-a-fiery-jet-collision-at-lax-in-1991-he-said-it-transformed-his-life The really interesting question for me is what provisions he made for his estate. The children are teens and early 20s. We have no public indication of her thoughts on expenditures. It would be very nice if a large chunk of that $$ went to an endowment for ABT's future. I haven't seen any news reports at all about his will.

I hope this is a trend. Colorado Ballet Academy just announced that boys can get one week free of training to see if it's for them: Colorado Ballet Academy is at Colorado Ballet. 4 mins · Denver · Here at Colorado Ballet Academy we support and welcome any student who wishes to dance. In light of the recent focus on #boysdancetoo, we are inviting all young men with an interest or passion for dance, a free trial week at #coloradoballetacademy. For more information, call our Academy at (303)-339-1623! @ Colorado Ballet

I'm a Murphy fan, but she always reminds me of Martine van Hamel -- a natural-born Myrtha who wanted to do Giselle and never looked the part. Technique, for sure, but not the frail image you want to see in Giselle.

I was thinking of Margot Fonteyn in her performances right after WWII. Lots of photos in what I've called "pancake" tutus are on-line. But I wonder if any of this pre-dated WWII. https://www.google.com/search?q=margot+fonteyn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiX8O6RuajkAhVImK0KHWj-CZMQ_AUIEigC&biw=1366&bih=625

When Ratmansky was staging the reconstruction of The Sleeping Beauty, he said in an interview (or was it at one of the Friends' open rehearsals?): you never show the Czar your crotch -- his way of explaining the knee-length tutus as well as the prominence of 90 degree extensions. If you look back at old film of Russian dancers, the men are wearing modesty shorts in performance, well into the 50s.

In interviews over the years, Russian dancers sometimes express surprise (shock?) at the way the US treats male dancers. To hear them tell it, in Russia, male dancers have the stature of football stars here. Our stigmas just don't exist there. Baryshnikov has a great quote from various interviews: "I'm not the first straight dancer and I won't be the last." There was dialogue along those lines in "The Turning Point" from Tom Skerritt's character. It's so disappointing to see how little progress we've made as a culture 40+ years later.

I was wondering if Baryshnikov would chime in on this issue. This just appeared on Instagram:

I just watched the segment on Good Morning America (a show I ordinarily never watch). The interview was okay, but I was disappointed that the only clip they showed was Gene Kelly in Dancing in the Rain. Stephanopolous mentioned the class in Time Square, but they didn't show anything. If you follow Wall on Instagram he has lots of good clips showing the class. Nice that Robbie Fairchild participated in the interview and the class, as he might be a little better known than others, because of his work on Broadway.

That's what I remember. I was thinking of BART stops an out-of-towner could easily use, which is mainly Berkeley. Long ago they used to do a week at Orange County/Segerstrom and I've always wondered why that ended. I don't understand why the compressed 6-month schedule is a problem for selling tickets. ABT in New York is not exactly year-round, nor is NYCB. If they're eager to sell more subscriptions, they need the super-flexible versions other companies offer. Their best is three different programs/choose your own. NYCB has one version for 6 performances -- which can all be consecutive. Kennedy Center has a version this year -- mix-or-match 3 or more performances. https://www.sfballet.org/visit/2020-season-tickets https://www.kennedy-center.org/subscriptions/season/1404 Subscription sales just aren't what they used to be, for reasons Michael Kaiser and many others have discussed. But when I'm at San Francisco Ballet, it always strikes me that the house is nearly full with a very loyal fan base. Of course, maybe I only go to popular offerings.

I received the same survey, although I've never been a subscriber. I couldn't find a place in the comments to tell them what I consider one of their best scheduling options, viz., that they stagger two programs with overlapping schedules throughout their season. That makes it very easy for out-of-towners like me to plan a 3-4 day weekend trip and see multiple performances of two different programs. Very nice! It would be easy to get to Berkeley's theater (where the Mariinsky is performing this fall) on Bart, but not the more suburban options they listed. I hope they weren't serious about those.

Here's Copeland on Kimmel:

Here's Hallberg on the Steven Colbert show. Trying to find the clip where they try some steps: http://www.cc.com/video-clips/pueyvf/the-colbert-report-david-hallberg Here's Misty Copeland on Colbert, although I vaguely also remember something on Kimmel: