California

I'm surprised that Aaron Robison isn't listed for either program. I'm looking forward to seeing him with this company. Any (published) reports on what he's rehearsing?

The most effective thing you can do is write to your senators and your representative and tell them why NEA (and NEH) matter to you and your community. Signing petitions makes people feel good, but is not too effective at this point. We're also learning, though, that direct phone calls on issues in the news that day are having an impact (cf. the proposed abolition of the ethics office). And do remember that NEH funds many arts-related projects in the history, theory, criticism, and philosophy of the arts. E.g., planning money for the International Encyclopedia of Dance came from NEH, not NEA. NEH also funded the reconstruction of Hitler's Degenerate Art show in the early 90s, as well as the PBS documentary about this.

He is friends with Andrea Bocelli, according to the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/20/arts/andrea-bocelli-wont-be-singing-at-the-trump-inauguration.html?_r=0 But we don't know what he actually listened to -- classical opera or Bocelli's pop things? Americans for the Arts has a good briefing report. See especially pp. 2-3. The story about his destruction of Art Deco reliefs on the old Bonwit Teller building has been widely reported. The report has (at least) one factual error. He did not "purchase" the Old Post Office; he is leasing it from the federal government. And the decision to move the Endowments was made before that. http://afa.3cdn.net/2fcccc8e4901fbfa61_xnm6iyphs.pdf

I don't disagree with MadameP, but I'm so pleased that a company would share their gala with the world on-line, it's hard to complain. I wondered if they were mainly working on the technique in all these pieces, but hadn't progressed to mastering the distinct style of each. E.g., one that struck me in this regard was Raymonda. Their movements were too pretty, too classical -- I didn't pick up the accented Slavic feel one does when NYCB or Mariinsky does their version of this. But I was still happy to see it. Can you imagine any major American companies sharing their galas with the world on-line? Dream on!

We saw the famous torchlift twice -- in Spartacus, where he actually turned several times while holding her overhead. The big surprise was that it appeared at the very beginning and very end of Ashton's Voices of Spring (to Strauss). I don't recall anyone other than the Russians choreographing that move and I wonder where he got the idea. Shklyarov had an interesting moment: at the end of one turning variation, he wobbled a little, ended on one knee -- but he was facing the back of the stage, arms outstretched to nothing. He immediately went into a very deep backbend so the audience could see his face. Nice save, I thought! Then, at the end of his next variation, he ended in the same position, facing the audience - and again did that deep backbend, perhaps to camouflage the first goof? Or is that the way he always does that? I thought the ladies were smart not to go overboard in embellishing the fouettes. In Corsair, just clean singles, which was fine. In Don Q, a few slight touches, like holding her fan to her waist a few times, but nothing extravagant. Kaysta: I saw the complete Spartacus once when the Bolshoi was in New York a couple of years ago. Never again! What a tasteless, over-the-top monstrosity. From the intermission notes, it sounds like the company is preparing to do the whole thing themselves. But it was a strange selection for this gala -- not much of the fireworks you see in the whole thing. Angelica: Yes, Gounea was spectacular. Love to see more of him. Overall, it was fun to see these warhorse gala excerpts by dancers we don't see here in the US.

Thank you. Excellent video quality coming through in Denver!

I have three other Manon DVDs (2 of Royal, 1 of Australian), but this is my favorite. Along with exceptional performances, especially Dupont and Bolle, the DVD has some nice production values. The camera is almost always looking where I would want to look -- close-ups, full-body, full-stage. The opening has you "driving" up the street to the theater and walking through the magnificent lobby and down to the orchestra seats. At the beginning of each scene, there is a brief introduction of major characters in costume, with identifications, a nice help to people not familiar with the ballet.

Another thing to watch: how many great artists and scholars will want to go to the White House to accept the National Medal of the Arts and the National Humanities Medal next year? Here are a couple of stories on the 2016 presentations: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2015-recipients-of-the-national-medal-of-arts-and-national-humanities-medal/2016/09/22/2dbd4a70-80d3-11e6-8327-f141a7beb626_story.html?utm_term=.11afcf921a18 http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/22/495011305/at-white-house-a-golden-moment-for-americas-great-artists-and-patrons

We seem to have exhausted the torch lift discussion (at least for this year), but here's another clip from yesterday, Maria Mosina and Alexei Tyukov, Colorado Ballet:

Great news! NYCB performance in Paris will be broadcast on PBS February 17 & 24 as part of the Great Performances series: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/20/arts/dance/city-ballets-stars-dance-on-television-wnet.html?_r=0

I, too, have all the VAI DVDs and they play just fine on my US DVD players.

Thanks for the Ratmansky posting - and now we know that he calls it a "torch lift" (we weren't sure what to call it a year ago) and includes the jump as part of the move. I sometimes wonder if ABT dancers (and others) look at our discussions to see what we're interested in!

I think I found the passage in Onegin -- at 0:55

Thanks so much, VolcanoHunter - really interesting and informative. I found the lift from Pharaoh's Daughter. It starts at 1:50 And with ABT doing a week's worth of Onegin's, we now know what to watch for in that lift. BTW - I noticed that La Scala recently added Onegin with Bolle and Nunez September 23 - October 18, 2017. I'm sure that wasn't there a few weeks ago, when I was looking at their Swan Lake schedule. http://www.teatroallascala.org/en/season/2016-2017/ballet/balletto7.html

BEST (in no particular order) (1) The staying power of Ratmansky's Trilogy - so glad we got to see it all again (2) Ratmansky's Plato's Symposium - hope they bring it back soon (fall 2017?) (3) The youthful energy and sparkling technique of so many new principals and soloists in Corella's Don Q for the Pennsylvania Ballet (almost makes up for the blood-letting) (4) The Vishneva-Gomes R&J - for the last time, we now know, at least at ABT (5) Getting to see Tyukov-Mosina one last time before her retirement in Swan Lake and the Grand Pas/Nutcracker (6) Baryshnikov in Letter to a Man - not really a ballet, but riveting and important WORST (1) Ratmansky's Golden Cockerel - what a big bore - never again (2) Wheeldon's American Rhapsody

Thanks for that clip of Stella. It looks like Hammoudi doesn't have the strength to get her all the way up without stooping down in the knees somewhat for the second push. And it really helps that the conductor hits the big chord just at the right time - suggests this was the version they planned all along. But this version looks so much better than the clumsy thing Copeland (and others) try - when it looks like they're stepping up a ladder first. It makes sense for partners to work out details that work for them. You do see lots of variation in any number of complicated partnering moves. But it would be nice if all got some coaching to find something that both works and looks good, whatever that is.

I wish we had some clips of ABT's best partners, especially Marcelo. If anybody finds some, please post. I saw the opening night a year ago with Marcelo and Gillian (filling in for Veronika Part, who cancelled for the Nutcracker season) and my memory is they did this quite well. At that point, we had already seen (and discussed) a rehearsal clip with Marcelo and Part, but it doesn't include the run-up. He is strong enough to hoist her up from a position standing still. But he does seem to use maximum effort and an unusually fast shuffling-run to keep her balanced. And it never looks sufficiently secure to make it one-armed.

Thanks for adding to the collection of clips, canbelto! Yes, the 2015 Bolshoi is pretty awful -- indeed, it looks just like the ABT version! Maybe that's the clip the ABT principals have been studying. The Maximova clip takes the prize - and it's one-armed, unlike the other two Bolshoi clips.

They have performed this every December since 2010. Ratmansky isn't trying for a reconstruction here - he claims credit for the choreography - so why leave in a move almost nobody (in ABT) can do after all this time? He was an accomplished dancer and then directed the Bolshoi Ballet for five years, so he surely knows what it takes to do those moves. There is plenty of challenging choreography in that PdD already, but perhaps he thought this would challenge the ABT dancers and raise their performance levels. Perhaps so much time has passed that he has decided it's too late to revise without everybody noticing. It's turned into a 32-fouette-like test of principal dancers -- everybody in the know is watching for it. On another matter: are the costumes the same as at the 2010 premiere? The tutu on Copeland in that clip doesn't look like the longer ones they wear now.

And two of my favorite Russians (Bolshoi- and Perm-trained) - entrance with the little jump, as in the Bolshoi clip above. This starts at 1:21:

Here it is -- at 3:15 - no stop, she just jumps into position: And none of the ABT lifts look secure enough to make this one-armed...

Thanks for posting that clip, which I hadn't seen before. So strange...if you look back at the clips from Bolshoi (and Bolshoi-trained) dancers from a year ago, they have the same running entrance, but she makes a fast turn so there's no break in momentum and he pushes her up. Surely they have looked at tapes of the Bolshoi dancers. Why the dead stop? Is it that difficult to learn how to make this a continuous movement with a turn?

A year ago, several of us posted clips of Bolshoi (and Bolshoi-trained) dancers doing that lift, and it can be really amazing, but I've never seen it done well by others. Given Ratmansky's tenure at the Bolshoi, it seems he was trying to inject some of that Bolshoi pizzazz into his new production. But it amazes me he hasn't seen the problems, helped with the coaching, or even replaced the move so it isn't such an eyesore.

General tickets went on sale this morning a few minutes ago. If you're interested in the Ratmansky/ABT programs April 30-May 1, don't wait - most tickets are already sold (apparently to friends/donors). https://www.guggenheim.org/event/event_series/works-process?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wp-facebook

I watched it once and don't think I could stomach sitting through it again, the story was so saccharine and predictable. Radetsky did a little dancing, but not enough to make it worthwhile. Coincidentally, Amazon Prime just added the first season of Flesh and Bones to its free collection. The first episode of that was so Black-Swan-icky I don't think I could watch any more of that either. Fortunately, I had White Nights on my DVR and watched that for the umpteenth to remember what a dance movie could be like - some actual dancing worth seeing!