California

I'm seeing plenty of items on Instagram Stories of ABT dancers back in the studio today (9/12).  Not a hint of any promotions, and nothing has changed on the ABT web page. If Jaffe is promoting anybody, nothing has been announced!

On 7/30/2023 at 3:22 PM, bingham said:

I hope it would be a Co production with ABT.

I did some serious googling, but Ratmansky's new Coppelia doesn't appear to be a co-production with anybody. ABT seems more interested in pursuing contemporary art works, like Woolf Works and Like Water for Chocolate. Coppelia (especially by Ratmansky) would be appreciated by serious balletomanes, but probably not the audience ABT seems to be trying to reach.

16 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

Woolf Works  has just been added to ROH Stream.

https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/woolf-works-2017-digital

Thanks for the heads-up! I just watched Royal's Woolf Works on the ROH Stream. All-star cast, starting with Ferri, Lamb, and Osipova. But I wonder: to really appreciate this, do I need to visit/revisit Woolf's novels? (I did revisit Plato's dialogue The Symposium after seeing the Ratmansky of the same name, and I don't think that helped - indeed, it was more a distraction.) Woolf Works is super-artsy-postmodern (pardon my French!) with stunning sets, lighting, costumes all quite different from anything we've seen before in ballet. That seems likely to attract a diverse contemporary arts audience who will be curious to see all of this. All the women in pointe shoes, interestingly. I think I'm going to need some guides from seasoned ballet writers to help me understand what's happening. 

A selfie with Simkin and the ABT Studio company posted today in Instagram stories. Any chance he's in town prepping for the spring Met season? He did Lenski with the Berlin State Opera ballet last year in Onegin. Be still my heart!

If you're wondering about Daniil Simkin, he'll be in Melbourne, Australia for their Nutcrackers in December 2023. I am still hoping he will come back to ABT for spring 2024!

https://fb.watch/mVrIumv2C0/

SAB just sent out email that elaborates (slightly) on some of the staff changes discussed here. Of special note: Suzanne Farrell will be a visiting teacher!

Chair of Faculty Darla Hoover informed us in August that she was stepping down from her position and ending her tenure on SAB’s faculty effective with the start of this Winter Term. We extend our sincere thanks to Darla for her leadership and wish her all the best in her next steps. Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford has consequently added the role of Chair of Faculty to his responsibilities and will now supervise the day-to-day work of the faculty alongside his existing oversight of SAB’s artistic functions. In addition, Susan Pilarre will not be returning to the faculty for the 2023-24 Winter Term.  

Joining our faculty this year will be Christopher Charles McDaniel. Christopher first entered our studios as a National Visiting Fellow and returned as a Teaching Apprentice for the past two years while concluding his performing career with Dance Theatre of Harlem.   

New Associate Faculty members Madison Hicks and Taylor LaBruzzo, both Juilliard alumnae, will teach weekly choreography composition and contemporary dance classes for intermediate and advanced students. While ballet technique centered on the Balanchine aesthetic remains at the core of our syllabus, this expanded curriculum will help SAB continue to ensure our students have vital exposure to the choreographic innovation and styles found in many of today’s leading ballet companies.   
We are also pleased to announce that SAB and NYCB alumni Debra Austin and Silas Farley will be this year’s Principal Guest Teachers, and they will be complemented by an exciting slate of guest teachers for our advanced students that will include Suzanne Farrell, Justin Peck, Alexei Ratmansky, and numerous company directors from around the U.S and abroad. Our Teaching Apprentices will be NYCB dancers Olivia MacKinnon and Harrison Coll as well as former National Visiting Fellow Michael Crawford.  

I found  a source on the broken promise by NYCB to pay the musicians during COVID. No wonder they're angry!

On Aug. 6, 2021, Arbitrator Barry Peek issued an award upholding New York City Ballet’s (“NYCB”) refusal to pay its musicians any compensation whatsoever during the 2020-21 season. The musicians of the NYCB orchestra, represented by Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, have been without any pay since June 2020 – despite the fact that NYCB had agreed on March 24, 2020, to guarantee twenty-four weeks of employment and compensation to the musicians during the 2020-21 season. NYCB management’s decision not to compensate its orchestra for the 2020-2021 season will now stand.

https://slippedisc.com/2021/08/ny-city-ballet-is-told-it-does-not-have-to-pay-its-orchestra/

15 minutes ago, abatt said:

Musicians at the New York City Ballet, whose home is at Lincoln Center, voted 54-2 this past weekend to walk out on the job if they can’t come to an agreement on a new contract, according to a person familiar with the vote who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. The most recent contract expired last week, and negotiations over a new one have stalled.

 

I subscribe to Google Alert for NYCB and this is the only announcement I've received far - published yesterday: https://www.westsiderag.com/2023/09/05/exclusive-new-york-city-ballet-musicians-poised-to-strike-over-pay-benefits

Any more news on the potential musicians' strike at NYCB? https://www.westsiderag.com/2023/09/05/exclusive-new-york-city-ballet-musicians-poised-to-strike-over-pay-benefits

The company could use recorded music, but I doubt the members of other unions would cross the picket lines -- dancers, stage hands, etc.

My memory is vague on this - didn't NYCB initially say they would pay the musicians in full during the COVID shut-down and then reneged? Or am I thinking of some other company?

On 8/28/2023 at 4:42 PM, bingham said:

I think they will make the announcement on the day the dancers come back from their vacation. It would be more exciting to everyone especially the dancers.

Judging from today's Instagrams for several ABT dancers, they are back in the studio today. Hope they make some announcements of promotions!

4 minutes ago, SusanB said:

California, Thank you! We saw this and it's exactly what we want, but in a CD or mp4 format.  We've searched and can't find anything. Can anyone suggest a resource?  THANK YOU! 

Would it be worth contacting the London Symphony to see if their recordings are still available somewhere? https://www.lso.co.uk/

56 minutes ago, SusanB said:

We're trying to locate the Strauss Cinderella Ballet music, and have searched high and low. Does anyone know where we can buy it? Thank you!   

Are you looking for a recording? sheet music? The complete recording is on YouTube, recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra:

My disappointment was that Kochetkova never seemed to "push the envelope" and surprise us -- faster, higher, cleaner, etc.  "Workmanlike" is too harsh, but I always wished for more from her.

I thought she was also friends with Simkin, both Russian-born. If you google "Simkin Kochetkova" all kinds of examples pop up -- they danced together in Berlin, Russia, Teatro Colon, Tokyo, going back many years before and after her time with ABT. I have no idea if Simkin recommended her or if ABT management thought she'd be a good partner for Simkin or she wanted to join ABT and got his help. Perhaps all of the above! 

Just a heads-up to others who might be buying ABT tickets today: After ordering all but one of the performances I wanted, it threw me into the waiting room "You are being blocked for suspicious activity." Same warning I got the first day of NYCB tickets. So I waited about 5 minutes and was able to get back in, with all my previous ticket choices intact.

Looks like they have lightened up a little on the security measures. 

PS. You can buy regular seats for the Gala Oct 24. Looks like the best ones in orchestra and 1st tier are being held for the people going to the real gala, but lots to choose from.

11 minutes ago, abatt said:

I have not been able to get onto the ABT website to look at the calendar, but is Cornejo mentioned anywhere in casting.  Is he in the other case of Midsummer Night as Puck?

The ABT Calendar doesn't want to appear. Perhaps overloaded? And the PDF at the end of the press release says "unavailable."

Where are people seeing this casting??

2 minutes ago, abatt said:

Why is Simkin not with the Company anymore?  I would much rather see him than most of the current roster of men at ABT on the principal side.  

I've been googling to try to figure out what Simkin is doing now that he left Berlin. All I can find is "gala of the stars" stuff in London, Hong Kong, and even Manassas, Virginia, next April.

Also watching the casting for ABT this fall. Simkin does Etudes (and would be truly spectacular).  He has also done Lensky in Onegin with Berlin recently. He would sell tickets if they can afford him! 

PS. With ABT tickets going on sale to Friends this Tuesday, I hope they announce some casting soon!

15 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

 But in Canada it's a perfectly ordinary weekend. When the NBoC last performed Onegin 7 years ago, there was a conflict on the last Sunday with the Grey Cup final, which was played in Toronto that year, and the city was a bit of a zoo, fans from Calgary and Ottawa overrunning the place. (The climate being what it is, the Canadian football season runs from June to November.) This year, though,the Grey Cup will be played the previous weekend in Hamilton, which is about an hour's drive away, but has its own airport. Conveniently, the Toronto Maple Leafs will be on the road that week, so no influx of hockey fans either, though there will be an NBA game on the 24th.

Onegin is never a monster hit in Toronto. The last time around there were also only six show, there was no Thursday matinee, and as best as I can recall, the top ring remained closed for all performances. 

Toronto is easy to visit and very pleasant. I've been there a couple of times in recent years for conferences. Nice airport. Express train into the city. And a wonderful exchange rate for Americans! The problem is in the US Thanksgiving week -- ridiculously long security lines, jammed terminals, overwhelmed ground travel. Ugh. I hope ABT will announce the 2024 Met schedule in late October as they have in the past and we'll find out if Onegin is scheduled. If not, then Toronto might be worth the hassle to see it this November. 

13 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

In those days the Met was heavily subscribed. I remember my aunt's annual ritual of choosing the subscription package with the fewest operas/singers she didn't want to see. Locally, the season at the main theater complex was 100% subscribed a few decades ago. Make-your-own packages and ticket exchanges were unthinkable not that long ago. Over the past 20 years, though, the audience has been tanking.

Michael M. Kaiser, Mr. Fixit in arts administration, has discussed the evolution of subscriptions in his books. They used to provide important cash flow over the summer, but as families became more complicated (two working partners, e.g.) it became much more difficult for people to settle into old, regular routines, like alternate Wednesdays. The emergence of flexibility in designing subscriptions, with exchange privileges, became essential for maintaining that cash flow, although it's nothing like it used to be. 

20 hours ago, Josette said:

I attended about 16 performances of the San Francisco Ballet last season and the attendance was high or sold out. 

I'm only able to see San Francisco Ballet one, maybe two long weekends each year. But it's always very difficult to get good seats, even with some priority friends ticketing. And I'm struck that, yes, the house always seems to sell out. It just seems to be a city that really supports ballet, for whatever reason. And they don't seem to be dependent on tourists the way NYC is, although their practice of scheduling two overlapping programs over a few days is a big advantage to visiting out-of-towners. 

EDITED TO ADD: Perhaps Josette knows their strength in subscriptions. When I go to buy tickets, even with some Friends priority, I have the sense that all the best seating has gone to subscribers and mega-donors. That's not true at any other theater I can think of. They do have very flexible create-your-own subscriptions, but still...

2 minutes ago, lmspear said:

Another proem might be that the board of directors doesn't know what it wants or needs.  Septime Weber the director before Kent had great marketing skills that connected with the community.  His choreography has been ditched except for the customized to DC Nutcracker.  

Unfortunate that they dumped Weber. Colorado Ballet has shown his Alice (in Wonderland) and Wizard of Oz in recent years. Both are great productions with lots of wonderful choreography for serious dance lovers and special effects galore for families. Maybe instead of trying to compete with visiting companies at KenCen, they could try focusing on the DC community!

37 minutes ago, volcanohunter said:

I'm not sure a MacMillan death fest in the bleak days of February would be a guaranteed hit. 

But R&J is very popular with regional companies in February apparently because of the obvious marketing with Valentine's day.

53 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

The last time I remember the Bolshoi coming to New York was the year they did the awful Grigorovich retrospective of his "Swan Lake" and "Spartacus" at the NY State Theater (what year was that?).  Hallberg was dancing with the company partnering Zakharova in SL and Smirnova had one O-O too.  (BTW: "Spartacus" for me is a delicious but deeply guilty pleasure)

In July 2014 Bolshoi did seven Swan Lakes (some with Hallberg), three Don Qs, and several performances of their hideous Spartacus. It was at the state theater and they insisted on bringing along the Bolshoi Orchestra.  I loved their Don Q, which is the gold standard for that ballet, but their Freudian Swan Lake was truly bizarre. Still, I miss having these options in the summer.

Bolshoi was also at Segerstrom in February 2010 with a week's worth of Don Q (and my first sight of Osipova, subbing for an injured Zakharova).  https://national.ballet.ca/Productions/Onegin

12 minutes ago, bingham said:

I read an interview of Reid Anderson a few months ago  mentioning that he staging Onegin for National Ballet of Canada and for ABT in 2024 . Unfortunately, I can’t find that interview. I’m still looking.

Canada is doing Onegin this November 22-26, 2023: https://national.ballet.ca/Productions/Onegin I would seriously consider a trip to Toronto, except that those dates are the US Thanksgiving, the worst travel week of the year.

I do hope he'll do Onegin for ABT in 2024!  What a treat!

13 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

The other thing is that Lincoln Center and the Met used to host summer tours from the Kirov-Mariinsky and Bolshoi Ballets (thanks Putin... not happening), the Royal Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet and also the Stuttgart Ballet et al.  That hasn't happened for over a decade or more.  The Lincoln Center Festival used to host some of these tours but now we must go to the Kennedy Center in DC to see these companies.  

They're not at the Kennedy Center either!  Nor Segerstrom! I can't imagine the Russians will return for many, many years. And I assume the other international companies require major subsidies. The visit in February from the Ukrainians was made possible by a million dollar gift from Warren Buffett's son.  There isn't a single thing on the KC schedule for the next year that I'll bother with.