California

The 2017-18 season was just announced: https://www.gramilano.com/2017/05/la-scala-ballet-season-2017-2018/ I can't find this yet on the official La Scala page, but presumably that will come soon. Bolle will be performing a great deal!

That includes paying remaining grant obligations. E.g., Challenge grants normally have a three-year window to raise the funds that trigger Federal matching funds.

Ramos has been posting lots of Instagram of himself in company class and rehearsing R&J for February, a role he loves. Estevez has also really upped his game in the last year and I expect him to do well in principal roles. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 - 26 years ago. I wonder how many Russians are left in regional companies. But plenty of Cubans, it seems, which is fine.

The new administration has been installing "transition teams" in the agencies of the executive branch, including this one, so there was time for him to get an ultimatum, if that's what happened. Plenty of conservative academics would love to preside over NEH, whether it continues or is shut down in the next year. The vacancy rate in executive branch appointments is staggering. Typically, the highest ranking career staff take over as "acting" so there's somebody to sign paperwork, as needed, but not to take new initiatives.

The final roster has been announced for 2017-18: http://www.coloradoballet.org/company/dancers 30 dancers on contract (including 3 apprentices). Promotions: Sasaki from soloist to principal Jones and Moulton from corps to soloist Dessens and Padgett from apprentice to corps New to corps: Ciccarelli, Fazekas, Oliveira, Pelletier, Studinski New to apprentices: Martoccio With only two men as principals (Luciano and Ramos), I have a hunch Estevez, Moulton, and Thomas will be getting a lot of principal roles. And I have high hopes for Jones, who really upped her game in the last season.

The 2017-18 schedule has been posted. I didn't realize this is the 50th anniversary of Cranko's Onegin. I guess that explains why both La Scala and ABT have scheduled that. https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/schedule/17-18season/

I've been wondering why Segerstrom hasn't announced their dance series yet. Perhaps there have been negotiations about ABT's participation.

The Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities today announced his resignation, effective tomorrow (May 23). This is troubling. Endowment chairs have four-year terms which do not necessarily coincide with the President's. Adams' term extended through March 2018, but there are ways to force these people out. They can be fired for cause (a la Comey at FBI). Or they can be told that all of the political appointments (Schedule C) will be immediately terminated, as they serve at the pleasure of the President, leaving the Chair with none of his closest staff. That's how they forced out Joe Duffy in December 1981 so Bill Bennett could take over. I have not seen a resignation statement from Jane Chu at NEA, but will post if that's announced. (Should I worry that the NEA web site has been off-line all day?) Here is the NEH press release: https://www.neh.gov/news/press-release/2017-05-22 The National Humanities Alliance (the DC lobbying group on behalf of the humanities) sent out this statement this morning: "National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman Bro Adams announced his resignation today, effective tomorrow, May 23. We are deeply grateful to Chairman Adams for his leadership over the past three years. During his tenure he has launched innovative grant programs and been an outstanding steward of the agency and a welcome presence in communities around the country. "Deputy Chair Peggy Plympton will serve as Acting Chair until a new chair is appointed as part of the new administration’s transition. We have no reason to believe that this move is connected to efforts to eliminate funding for the NEH and look forward to continuing to build support for the agency. NHA Executive Director Stephen Kidd recently interviewed Chairman Adams for our quarterly conference call series. Click here to listen to the interview. " National Humanities Alliance http://www.nhalliance.org/

Their Giselle last spring was in Eisenhower and the review mentions the orchestra pit: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_danc/washington-ballets-giselle-marks-companys-transformation/2017/03/03/04bd9bd6-0038-11e7-a51a-e16b4bcc6644_story.html?utm_term=.c7ff3b64964f They must pull out the first few rows of seats to uncover the pit. This site about the renovation refers to a lift for the orchestra pit, although nothing is visible in these images: http://mcmullan-int.com/culture/john-f-kennedy-center-eisenhower-theater-renovation/ It would be a great achievement if they use live music at every performance. (Sidney Harmon Hall is home to the Shakespeare Theater Company, so that might be another story.) Makes you wonder if they have some very wealthy donors who stepped up to the plate for the music as well as recruiting Kent to come in the first place.

Me, too. I'm looking seriously at the Russian Masters program in October, especially to see Ratmansky's Bolero. One reservation: am I correct that everything in the Eisenhower Theater (October and next April) uses recorded music? I'm also guessing that the March programs at the Harman Center will use recorded music. The R&J is in the Opera House, although it doesn't say specifically that they will have a live orchestra. I was under the impression that Robbins' estate would only license his work if live music was used, so I'm wondering what they'll do for The Concert at Eisenhower next April. Can locals fill us in on this issue?

I follow her on Instagram, as I'm sure many of you do. She travels world wide so often, to international galas in Russia and elsewhere, I sometimes wonder how she deals with the time changes, jet lag, different stages, different partners. Dancers have such short careers that I don't fault them for trying to cram in as much as they can, but it must take a toll. I wonder if people in San Francisco who see her regularly have a sense of that.

It's at the Kennedy Center October 10-15, but no hint here that Mearns will do any of those performances. Boo-hoo...

I'm intrigued by the Ratmansky Bolero on the October program and found an old review (2009) of Morphoses. Has it been performed by other companies in more recent years? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/arts/dance/31morphoses.html Scroll to the end...Kourlas calls it the "crown jewel" of this particular program.

Washington Ballet just announced their 2017-2018 season: Russian Masters (October 4-8, 2017): Fokine, Ratmansky, Petipa, Balanchine The Nutcracker (Septime Webre) (Nov 25-26 & Nov 30-Dec 24, 2017) Cranko's Romeo & Juliet (February 14-18, 2018) Three World Premieres (March 14-18, 2018): Bond, Gomes, Brown Mixed Masters (April 11-15, 2018): Serenade, Symphonic Variations, The Concert Web site: https://www.washingtonballet.org/20172018-season Season brochure: https://www.washingtonballet.org/sites/default/files/TWB_1718_SeasonTrifold_SingleFINAL.pdf

Lucky New Yorkers who get to see Shevchenko tonight! I find it interesting that she danced at yesterday's matinee and they passed over the stars from Tuesday night, who are presumably better rested. I wonder if the remaining cast will remain intact tonight.

Indeed! I am definitely not a Web design expert, but had some involvement with a complete change-over for an association two years ago to all-new software and design. We spent months working on a beta site that was password protected so only authorized people could access it to change/comment. One afternoon before a holiday, we made the switch-over. Presto! All at once. I shudder to think who is handling their public piece-by-piece update. Perhaps a volunteer intern??

While we're on the subject, Ratmansky also nurtured Osipova and Vasiliev, who were being overlooked by Bolshoi management: ". . . in order to cast the company’s new ballets with people who actually wanted to do them, and would try to learn the necessary style, he had to tap young dancers, people who, in Tsiskaridze’s view, should have been waiting their turn. Under Ratmansky, a pair of sensational débutants, Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev, came up, both starting with him at age seventeen. " This from Acocella in 2011: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/06/27/dance-with-me

I've been very interested in the praise for Shevchenko and wish I were in NYC to see this. Others have noted Ratmansky's talent for identifying potential and he seems to have picked out another winner four years ago. She was a replacement for Gillian Murphy in second cast in 2013 in Piano Concerto #1 in his Trilogy (presumably a decision made by Ratmansky). Scroll down and you can see Acocella's praise for her: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/ratmansky-and-shostakovich-together-again

Thanks for this report! I remember Copeland falling out of those Italian fouettes, too. I read somewhere that those are even more difficult than "regular" fouettes -- can a dancer/former dancer on the site confirm that?

Agreed. Rubies was cancelled Thursday as Aldridge was injured, so he didn't see it and I thought it was quite good. This is a medium/small company, with 37 dancers: 10 principals, 2 soloists, 25 corps members. I thought the two PdD from next year's programs were works-in-progress -- obviously benefitting from coaching, as noted, but with much to do. At "Preludes" on Sunday, Corella noted that this company had previously done the Wheeldon Swan Lake but was returning to the "traditional" version. That drew hearty applause from a group that obviously follows the company closely. It's May, so I suspect what counts as "traditional" has not been entirely worked out. This strikes me as another example of New Yorkers not understanding that smaller regional companies need to show different things. Somnolence worked well for that audience. The PdD were a needed boast to subscription sales. NY critics are free to trash the work of these regional companies, but until they understand the economic realities of those cities and audiences, I take everything they say with a grain of salt. EDITED TO ADD: I suspect New Yorkers would appreciate Somnolence far more than the Martins work regularly inflicted on them. This was a company premiere of the Wheeldon. My complaint was the choreography (too many gimmicks thrown in for no apparent reason). I don't know who sets/rehearses Wheeldon's work, but I wonder if they are to blame for the "marionette" quality Macaulay despises. I thought that quality came from the angular, jerky overhead arm movements that were seen throughout the piece and were presumably part of the choreography.

Huge loss! With that technique, at such a young age, he'll soon be a stand-out. I'll look forward to reports of his performances next year at Miami!

I'm staring at their pictures in the program. It was Monaco's wavy shock of hair that stood out, but it might be Weil. Very frustrating! I'm wondering if anybody who knows the company better than me saw this. Or perhaps a local writer picked up on those steps? I hope that Harrison/Peter can be nurtured to round out his technique so he can be cast in soloist roles soon.

On my way home from a conference in Baltimore, I long ago decided to take a detour through Philadelphia to see the final two performances (Saturday night and Sunday matinee) of this final program of the 16-17 season. I'm very glad I did. The big attraction for me, I confess, were the three Balanchine PdD: Tarantella, Tchaikovsky PdD, and the PdD from Rubies. Very recently, they added two more to the program as "Pas de deux Previews" of the next season, Black Swan and Sleeping Beauty Wedding PdD. Guilty pleasures for ballet lovers, almost like a gala. Rush (Wheeldon): The program opened with the aptly-named Rush, to Martinu, made in 2003 for San Francisco Ballet. I had not seen it before and it's unlikely I'll want to see it again. It was fast-paced with some modest originality in the partnering, but too much gimmickry for its own sake for my taste. E.g., he uses angular, jerky overhead arms repeatedly, almost like a semaphore, for no apparent reason other than novelty. In one place only, two single file lines of corps members lined up from front to back of the stage, with men extending one arm, the partner woman leaning far over sideways, and then being pushed back upright. Never saw it again. Another move had two men standing close together, with another man "walking" the woman sideways over their chests; they did that one three times. I'm not a huge Wheeldon fan (although I loved his Midsummer Night's Dream and American in Paris), so it's possible I'm being unfair. Somnolence (Matthew Neenan): Set to Vivaldi, this was a world premiere, although apparently parts of it had been used for exhibitions over the last 15 years. This closed the program Saturday but was moved to the middle for the Sunday matinee, as this was Amy Aldridge's retirement performance and they needed her Rubies PdD last. The scenic drop is a cream-colored mattress-cover design, with a big slit out of which dozens of pillows in varied colors emerged. The different segments captured insomniacs, nightmares, sleepwalkers, and restless creatures of all kinds, with lots of humorous touches throughout. I wouldn't mind seeing it again, but wouldn't seek it out. One unexpected stand-out: a corps member, in the midst of a group segment, threw a mind-boggling revoltade -- so high and gorgeous I could not believe. (If you don't know what this looks like, here's one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUnFwOOkHP0 A bit later, he threw a second one, although not nearly so high. On one of his exits, he did some incredibly high double cabrioles that were just stunning. At the bows, the line of corps members pushed him forward so he could get his own applause. I'm about 90% certain it was Harrison Monaco, but please correct me, Philadelphians, if I got that wrong. Obviously Neenan put those moves in for him to show off. Given the overall dizziness of the ballet with so many different bits and pieces, it worked, but was somewhat unusual. One of my disappointments with the men in this company: they just don't seem to get much height, in menage, leaps, etc. Whatever Monaco's secret is, he needs to pass it along. Black Swan: We learned at "Preludes" (their pre-performance talk) with Ballet Master Charles Askegard that Corella had coached the Petipa and Askegard the Balanchine. It was obvious that they were being coached on lovely dramatic nuances concerning their interaction, but it hasn't all been internalized. Sterling Baca had an annoying habit after supported turns of jerking his head to the side, looking at the audience, and throwing a switch to smile. His technique was solid enough, although not gasp-inducing. The gasps all went to his partner, Mayara Pineiro. Wow! For the fouettes, she threw in triples through most of the sequence. Near the end, when normally the couple "scooches" backward in arabesque to the back corner, Baca stood at the side, and she did a hop backwards in arabesque on full pointe with bent knee, straight across the front of the stage; I have never seen that and the audience went wild. If you can only see one O/O next year, she's the one to see. Saturday night it was Lillian DiPiazza and Aleksey Babayev. Her fouettes, singles throughout, travelled seriously sideways and she didn't quite make it to 28. (Sorry to refer to the fouettes, but they're a "touchstone" in many ballets.) They were both solid otherwise and certainly worth a second look. Sleeping Beauty Wedding PdD: Oksana Maslova and Arian Molina Soca did the final two performances. Their three fishdives were to die for -- just so solid, secure, gorgeous. She threw in some nice extra balances Sunday. Both are quite wonderful and worth seeing this fall. Soca has a very strange smile, almost a smirk, that flashes way too much. This company needs a facial coach to work on the strange expressions I saw from so many. Tarantella: Saturday night, two corps members, Kathryn Manger and Albert Gordon, were fabulous. Such energy and joy in this super-demanding choreography. It's become common for Corella to cast corps members in challenging roles and they do deliver the goods. Sunday afternoon, they made an announcement that Aldridge wanted to dance this one last time, replacing the names in the program. She was partnered by Craig Wasserman, another corps member to watch. They both seemed a little tired, but still sparkled and gave it their all. Tchaikovsky pas de deux: Pineiro and Baca did Saturday night, with great fish dives with plenty of abandon and risk. In his variation near the end, he did the turns a la seconde with a lifted turning leg twice, a move recorded for posterity in the Baryshnikov/McBride performance in the late 70s for Dance in America (now on DVD). For those who think it's sacrilegious to change Balanchine choreography, read the liner notes for that performance; Balanchine asks Baryshnikov if he can do anything special with the turns and Baryshnikov said, well, yes. Okay, let's put that in. (I've always wondered if Balanchine saw that move in Push Comes to Shove in 1976; Robbins also used it for Baryshnikov in Four Seasons.) On Sunday, this was Lillian DiPiazza and Ian Hussey. It seemed to me both struggled a bit to keep up with the steps, but the finishing fish dives were fine. Rubies: Aldridge spent her entire career with this company, so presumably she has gotten a lot of coaching in Balanchine style over the decades from experts. I don't claim special expertise in this ballet, but it looked quite appropriate to me in style. Her partner at both performances was Alexander Peters. The retirement finale for Aldridge was quite lovely -- lots of individuals coming on with single roses, bouquets from Corella and others, an explosion of confetti from on-high. The audience clearly loved her and it took a very long time to get that curtain down. Sara Murawski is still listed as a principal, but was not cast in anything for this program.

Kyra Nichols (and Carla Korbes) are heading to Indiana University. Nichols will hold the endowed chair held by Violette Verdy. http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/arts/pennsylvania-ballet-ballet-mistress-leaps-to-indiana-university-20170512.html

I think we had a discussion about this a couple of years ago. ROH takes tickets people don't want "on consignment" at the box office.There's typically a line of people waiting to buy those at the box office. After the performance, you check back and they pay you the funds if it sold, minus a reasonable commission. At least, they were doing that in 2015 and it worked for me to get rid of an extra ticket. I thought it was an amazing system that was a win-win for everybody - something I've never seen at an American theater.