California
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Posts posted by California
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I went to the Friends rehearsal this afternoon. The printed program they handed us said T&V with Peck and Gordon, but when we got into the theater, it was Fairchildand Gordon. I don't see casting changes for Thursday night on the web site, but not a good omen!
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2 hours ago, bellawood said:
Yikes!!
I thought it was "brava," which someone screamed in the 1978 recording after Gelsey did that same variation.
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7 hours ago, deanofdance said:
And tonight was one of those nights — I wasn’t moved by Serenade, it just didn’t come together for me — but Theme and Variations — I was swept up in its largess — the grand music, the dancers dancing fast and and full out and exuding freedom and joy. (Bolden had the largest smile on his face).
Anthony and Megan were excellent, their dance qualities and personalities beginning now to really mesh, and perhaps they bring out qualities in each other that other previous partners hadn’t. They’re veterans of the company, and stars in their own right, and tonight there was more than a bit of bravura in their steps, and they sailed through this ballet,T&V: I was expecting a lot and was disappointed by Tuesday night's performance. The Kirkland-Baryshnikov tape from 1978 set the gold standard for me and I suppose that's forever engraved in my memory. Megan's gargouillades and pas de chat barely left the ground and were almost unrecognizable. The soloists were sloppy and out of sync. Perhaps it will get better with more performances. Still, it's a great ballet.
Orpheus: I wanted to understand this, but it does feel very dated, from an era of Ballets Russe that sometimes was more interested in traditional narrative/story-telling than dancing. I tried to focus on the commissioned Stravinsky score but couldn't get into it. Perhaps it will work better tonight. Joe Gordon did his best and I wonder how he will do both Orpheus and Symphony in C at the 75th anniversary performance. I can see why this is not often programmed nowadays.
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6 hours ago, naomikage said:
A source study of two ballets and a divertissement by Marius Petipa
Douglas Frederick Fullingtonis available online, and is a valuable writing of 464 pages. (thanks to a post on the ballet.co forum by Sebastian)
His book Five Ballets from Paris and St. Petersburg: Giselle | Paquita | Le Corsaire | La Bayadère | Raymonda
will be published and will be available for purchase in November.
Thank you! What a treasure. Here's the Amazon US link for the book:
https://www.amazon.com/Five-Ballets-Paris-St-Petersburg/dp/0190944501/ref=sr_1_1?
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I went to the Works and Process at the Guggenheim Sunday night with Susan Jaffe. Two pieces of news I hadn't heard: (1) Alessandra Ferri will do two performances of Woolf Works next summer at the Met, and (2) Chloe Misseldine is prepping to do Swan Lake in February at the Kennedy Center and at the Met next summer. She did openings of white Swan pdd and black Swan with Thomas Forster.
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Another problem: major, "killer" ballets that haven't been performed in many years -- Ballet Imperial, Etudes, even Piano Concerto No. 1. How many of the current principals have performed those? It was exciting to see that line-up of ballets when they were announced and now we're seeing the difficulty staffing them.
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7 hours ago, vipa said:
I don't think it was a major intrusion. For one thing, it was a one time thing. I was there, and to my eye the dancers weren't showing off or playing to the audience. Individual dancers were doing what they needed. Some left early, others did center exercises many times, others few times. Some put themselves front and center, others stayed in the back. Some company members weren't there at all. Company class isn't required. I seriously doubt the dancers were thrown by having an audience. Taking class with a choreographer watching, to cast a ballet, would be more stressful. As a former dancer, I love watching class, but I believe an astute observer of ballet would also find class interesting.
Many companies, including NYCB, offer open rehearsals for members who pay/donate. The dancers do what they have to do. The Met Opera does the same.
ABT regularly has Company class on stage each season (fall and Met) for Friends. It's interesting in its own way and I normally attend if I'm in town. Not all the dancers seem to be there. Some only do the barre, then leave. It's fun to see corps members mixed with principals, all striving in the same routines. I think companies are always looking for little extras to offer Friends to get people to join/renew their donations.
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54 minutes ago, matilda said:
Just looked at the fall schedule again and there's been some switching around with Etudes: Roxander is now dancing opening night, Cornejo the following night, and Aran Bell is no longer listed in the ballet (although he's still listed for his other assignments).
Disappointing, but he was only down for one performance of Etudes -- at the same Saturday matinee as the Ratmansky. That would have been a killer afternoon. Still...I would have loved to see him in Etudes.
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6 minutes ago, abatt said:
Really looking forward to tonight's performance, but the weather is not cooperating. The MTA has suspended all service on the subway lines near my house due to flooding of the tunnels. Contemplating an alternative route via bus. Hopefully this gets cleared up over the next few hours.😒
Watching the flooding on Twitter and the Weather Channel. Yikes!! SAB is holding live streams for friends today, but is cancelling everything after 4 pm. Scout Forsythe posted that her subway line was flooded and they made everybody get off. Except for the dancers who live within walking distance, you might have some interesting cast changes tonight! Please report, if anybody can get to the theater tonight!
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9 hours ago, Dale said:
It seems like it was a Medici TV recording and already available to watch (with some VPN magic and an account). Still, the first time the NYCB is going to be on PBS in a long time, although we were spoiled with those YouTube videos during COVID.
I'm a Medici subscriber and it doesn't seem to be available. But I've marked my calendar for the PBS showing.
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5 hours ago, Marta said:
Baryshnikov around 6:40 jumps on every fourth turn in second. I do recall seeing Woetzel doing that in Western.
In the background material on that taping, Balanchine asked Baryshnikov if he could do that. We first saw a similar move (fouette with the leg lifted) in Push Comes to Shove in January 1976. Does anyone know if that had ever been done before? 6:06
I think Baryshnikov did something similar in the Robbins' Four Seasons.
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Jodie Gates is departing as Artistic Director at Cincinnati Ballet: https://artsair.art/2023/09/22/cincinnati-ballet-announces-departure-of-artistic-director-jodie-gates/
She just arrived a year ago! https://cballet.org/behind-the-scenes/cincinnati-ballet-names-jodie-gates-artistic-director-2/
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39 minutes ago, SandyMcKean said:
I think we're talking some apples and oranges here. I'm pretty sure the Royal does not offer any digital tickets to the current season. volcanohunter, I think what you're talking about is a subscription that allows you to stream performances from past years that they house in a video library (similar to how the NY Met Opera does it). Paris is a bit more complex. They also only offer a streaming subscription to a library of past performances except they do include 4 live streams (but maybe you have to watch it while it is actually happening.....whatever hour that is).
PNB is different. You can stream each rep in this year's season for 5 days (immediately after the last live performance) as many times as you like. It's a video of the opening night performance from 2 weeks before. When it's gone, it's gone.
Royal's stream is not the current season. I bought it during COVID, but if you're a Friend (at a pretty low level) you get a discount. Very rich library that's better than what I see on Medici or Marquee from Royal. And it's a way to preview things with their ABT partnership (Water for Chocolate and now Woolf Works).
I think PNB is making a mistake eliminating the single digital performance. Perhaps they didn't bring in enough $$ or the administration was too messy for the money. But as I've said before, I saw them as pioneers with their high-tech capacities in that theater in Seattle. If I could buy individual NYCB performances, even a few weeks after the live theatre event, I would, for sure. But I realize it must be hard to get that set up and administered so they at least break even.
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17 hours ago, ABT Fan said:
Is there a code to use?
I think it's only for an ABTMEMBER
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ABT just announced a Flash Sale 50% off for ABT members. I think they did this before the Met season, too.
Flash Sale Select Performances:
Classics Old and New:
October 19 7:30 PM
October 20 7:30 PM
20th Century Works: Balanchine and Ashton
October 25 7:30 PM
October 26 7:30 PM
21st Century Works: King, Ratmansky, and Bond
October 27 7:30 PM
October 28 7:30 PM -
11 minutes ago, SandyMcKean said:
FYI....
I called the box office and indeed PNB is not offering digital tickets for individual reps this year. You can purchase a digital subscription for the entire season, but not individual reps. I'm guessing the indvidual tickets Helene speaks of above are only available to normal in-person subscription holders.
Ouch! $300 for the digital subscription. Very discouraging. I was mainly interested in the two Kylians on the first program, not so much the rest of the season. I will probably skip it.
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9 hours ago, Jacqueline said:
What an exciting evening last night. I love all the reports. Now that the impressive and massive gathering of NYCB alumni has already happened, is there anything else special planned for the actual anniversary performance on October 11th? Don't know how they could top that but if anyone has any intel, please share.
The only hint so far for October 11 is the 8 pm curtain, instead of the usual 7:30 for weeknights. I'll be there and am hoping for something special for this historic event.
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59 minutes ago, Rose said:
No, I think their criticisms are true. They gave their heart and soul to that institution and it was their entire existence for a time. But many dancers were treated like cans of paint that were drying up and needed to be tossed or colors that weren't ever wanted at all. If, after everything that's said and done, and the years have rolled by, the final outcome is great joy and happiness for a memorable life-lived, then your experience wasn't that bad. It was mostly good. Just because you feel a certain way at a certain time doesn't mean you need to share it with the world and disparage an institution whose very existence is amazing in the first place. Maybe wait a few years, let the dust settle, and then decide how you really feel.
My sense of the event is that it was a loving tribute to George Balanchine and his legacy. This was not the time to revisit old wounds among individuals.
I did notice the absence of former members of the company who departed for other companies -- Stiefel, Kirkland, Baryshnikov. Perhaps they no longer feel part of the family.
1 hour ago, Rose said:On another note, I think it's in extremely poor taste for Ashley Bouder to bring her daughter up on stage for the bow (and to the party on the promenade if she did that too, not sure). Just think if everyone brought their kids what a mad house it would be! I think this is another example of her narcissism -- the rules don't apply to her and her daughter is merely an extension of her own self.
Judging from Bouder's IG account, she staged lots of pictures with the daughter and alums from the company. Awkward!!
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1 hour ago, abatt said:
I also notice Jock Soto and Damian Woetzel were on stage for the final bow.
Susan Jaffe was in the audience.
Heather Watts walked on just ahead of Woetzel
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Thanks for all the great reports on opening night.
This morning, Ratmansky posted the final bows on stage with all the alums.
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15 minutes ago, Papagena said:
What a lovely gift - NYCB has several extensive clips of the performance on their IG stories right now. They may 'highlight' them on their account permanently but they may disappear in 24 hours.
Yes, What a treat! I love that they're being taped from the wings, close-up. It would be even better if they'd leave them on the account after the usual 24 hours!
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I look forward to reports from the New Yorkers on tonight's opening night at NYCB, especially alums in the audience and perhaps on-stage and any other special celebrations. Wish I could be there, too! It's too bad they aren't selling digital subscriptions, as PNB does.
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I really enjoyed this program and assume they'll be repeating it during the week several times.
They didn't mention that they premiered their Giselle in September in London, months before the Kennedy Center engagement that they focused on. I guess they can only do so much in a program like this! They also didn't mention that this is the reconstruction that Ratmansky did for Bolshoi back in 2019, but that would have complicated the story too much for general audiences!
From the press release - looks like it might end up on Max eventually. If you have HBO then you should have Max.
The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper will stream live for pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN connected TV and mobile apps on Sunday, September 17. “Ukraine: Dancing in Defiance” will be available on demand beginning Monday, September 18, 2023 to pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN connected TV and mobile apps, and Cable Operator Platforms. Past episodes of The Whole Story are available to stream now on Max.
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I'm disappointed that Bell and Murphy aren't doing Other Dances, but I guess they figure NYC audiences saw it recently in those outdoor performances. Perhaps they'll bring it out on tour or for the Met gala. I confess that I like the "old-fashioned gala" feel to this. Guilty pleasures!
2023-2024 Season
in New York City Ballet
Posted
Fair observations. In Gelsey's book Dancing on my Grave, she talks about that performance. According to Gelsey, they had been arguing about something beforehand. She was distressed that this was her last performance with Baryshnikov before his departure for NYCB and she feared her career was over without him. The performance should be judged based on what we see, of course, not on what might or might not be going on backstage. What is so important about that performance is that it has been so widely available, first on the bootleg tape for many years on YouTube and then on the release during the COVID lock-down by Lincoln Center. Most of us have never seen the other performances people mention. But the tape does give us a "baseline" for what's possible when we do see it in the theater.