Hal

What a lovely evening in spite of Emeralds. I never liked Emeralds. Still don't. I find the music and dancing a bore. I know I am in the minority on this, but I never felt that Emeralds lives up to Rubies and Diamonds. Rutherford and van Kipnis provided good workmanlike performances, but it never took off. It seemed a bit flat to me. Tewsley and Fayette were fine, but it is not a male showcase. And the set was cheap looking - hated it. Then came Rubies, possibly one of my favorites. Weese was just fantastic. She was everything the role required, funny and charming and angular. She was just wonderful. Her dancing was just perfect to my very untrained eyes. She really undersood the role. Hubbe was a wonderful partner for her. The suprise to me was Savannah Lowery. I had never noticed her before and she did a bang up job in the second lead. She was impressive and I look forward to seeing more of her in the coming years. Seems to me that there is a lot talent in the company these days. Oh and the sets were just magnificent. Then came Diamonds. The first thing I noticed was the thoroughly cheesy set. What were they thinking? It was so offputting that I worried about the dancing to come. But then came Kowroski. She is just a wonder. Her legs are national treasures. She so reminded me of Farrell that it was scarry. Even her upper body has developed beautifully. She recieved tons of bravos and cheers, and not just from me. And Philip Neal was a perfect partner. He danced beautifully as well. Even the corps looked great, but it was hard to notice as I just could never take my eyes off of Maria. She is really very special. Oh, to think what Balanchine would have done with those long legs..... I can't believe he is not sitting in heaven thinking up "combinations" for her.

:shrug: I vote other. Hated emeralds. Thought it was cheesy. Loved the Rubies set. Found it a great improvement on the original. The striking black background with the red streaks perfectly reflected the dance costumes and the sense of the ballet. And Diamonds was worse than emeralds. What should have been the most classy of the lot was the cheesiest drek. Bring back the classy original set for Diamonds. This new set is just awful. It almost ruined the ballet for me - until Kowroski came out.

I have given it an ecstatic thumbs up. I loved it. One of the most fun evenings I have ever spent at the ballet, and I go a lot. It was as funny as the Consert and as endearing a Slaughter on Tenth. It was just FUN. Most of the people around us loved it as well, but the couple next to us also hated it and left at intermission. I think anyone who didn't enjoy it, just take ballet to seriously. Having a fun theatrical evening is not something to complain about. And as for GB rolling in his grave - maybe the GB of Agon, Symphony in C, Seranade and 4t's, but the GB of Slaughter, PAMTGG, Cabin in the Sky and all of those Broadway Musicals is sitting up smiling and laughing with the rest of the audience. And that is the Balanchine that this was supposed to be a tribute to. And it was a very fitting one IMHO. Some specifics (including some complaints). The chorus line (Rockets tribute) was fantastic but was followed by not enough dancing by Kowroski. It got a bit dull and she could have done a lot more I would think. But I always think not enough Kowroski.... Kyra Nichols was a wicked delight as the mother, she could probably do a great Carabossa.... The young Dorothy by Tara Sorine was simply wonderful. She must have had the stage to herself for 10 minutes and held the audience in the palm of her hand (or better yet the slippers on her feet). How old is she 10, 11, 12? Amazing. The other young SAB student who played the young Fllorence was also terrific. And Ashely Bouder is clearly headed for stardom. I can't imagine her not getting promoted in the immediate future. The final duet with Kowroski was just wonderful. And Megan Fairchild was a fantastic comic dancer - who knew? What a delight. And Woetzel as others have said was outstanding. The second half was a showpiece for Tom Gold, and he just about stopped the show. Wow, was he terrific. There were lots of fun with the passerbys all very ably danced and acted. And Ansanelli was also wonderful as the girlfriend. But it was Gold who stole the show. He was daring, funny, poignant, explosive, and charming. So my only comment to those who hated it, lighten up. It was great theater with some wonderful dancing. I would have loved to have changed by 2 subs to Sleeping Beauty to 2 of Double Feature. Now I have to change one of them to Copelia as that is the only thing we wont be seeing. And I would even prefer a repeat Double Feature to a Coppelia but it is too late for that.

While I dont like story ballets in general, and Swan Lake in particular, last night (Thursday, 1/29) I very much enjoyed the performance. Possibly I guess I accept it as part of the Balanchine celebration and the excitement about the coming spring season. Wow, I wish I could go every night. Just about every program looks fantastic. Back to yesterday. I thought Cavallo was more than adequate to the challange. Not the greatest performance, but considering she only had 1 day to prepare for this with a partner she may never have danced with before, on a stage and with a company she was essentially unfamiliar with, hats off to her for even showing up. He footwork seemed quite good. She is a bit small and I think underwhelming in the role. Her upper body wasn't as fluid...swan like, as it should have been. But considering the circumstances, I think she did a fine job. And yes, I also counted 29 fouettes. Ulbricht was a wonderful jester, great leaps and turns, very impressive. He slipped at one point at the end of an othewise virtuoso segment. He made it seem part of his jester act. I liked the way he really went all out. There were lots of changes from in the program. Ringer performed in the Pas de quatra and was, well Ringer. The Russian was danced by Yvonne Borree and it is one of the best thing she does. You can almost see through her very bare midriff. She was very sexy. I just love her in it. The small 4 swans was exciting as always, but if you ever have seen the Trocks do it, it is something that always comes to mind and puts a smile on my face. Just can't get it out of my mind. I usually love Albert Evens, but also was unimpressed with his Rothbart. He didn't seem big and dramatic enough. I think one of the large dancers would make the role more interesting. It needs a big presence. But as I said, I did enjoy the evening more than I anticipated, and it was fun seeing a new dancer.

First a question for anyone in the know, what happened to Jennie Somogyi last night? She danced beautifully in Tschaikosky Piano Concerto No. 2 up until the very end. About a minute before the end she disappeared. Teresa Reichlen, who was dancing the second lead seemed to take over for her and was partnered in the finale by Askegard. Somogyi never came out for curtain calls and no announcement was made. I hope she is ok. But everyone left the theater wondering what went on. There did not seem to be any problems when she was on stage and her dancing was perfection. Or so it seemed to me. Just a beautiful performance up until almost the end. A word is also do about Reichlen. She is a tall blond and was impressive. I hadn't noticed her in the corps before, but will keep my eyes out from here on in. The program also consisted of Chopiniana and Prodigal Son. Chopinaina danced by SAB students just impressed the hell out of me. ALL of those kids just did a terrific job. Likolani Brown was amazing. Her poise and upper body control for someone so young was wonderful. She is going to be something. Tyler Angle also danced impressively as did Sara Mearns. We saw this last spring at the SAB Workshop and while I was impressed then by the level of accomplishment of the students, last nights performance seemed very professional - period. The pipe line looks pretty full. We saw Darci Kistler and Peter Boal in Prodigal last Thursday as well as last night. Peter was just wonderful both nights. Darci seemed much more in control last night. I think her performance was far better. Not sure why, but she seemed more Siren like and sexy than on Thursday.

I saw the Birthday celebration but even from our close in seats, my eye sight seems to be going and I couldn't make out any of the former dancers on stage. The peformance itself, overall, was electric. Something special in the air. I am not usually a fan of Apollo, but Thursday it was just wonderful. Well danced by everyone. Seranade is, well Serenade. What could be better. Kyra was just the best. The old girl really is somethng. As for Prodigal, I think that Darci isn't up to this role any more. Too bad. There was a time when she was terrific in it. I am glad to see that Karin Von Aroldingen was there. I didn't see her, but she was always a favorite of mine. She defined certain roles as far as I am concerned. The second lead in rubies, the opening mystery woman in Vienna Waltzes, the Siren in Prodigal, the role she originated in Union Jack to name a few. She conveyed a certain power and mystery that was perfrect in those roles.

For those out of NYC who might not have heard, on Monday night one patron at Rao's (a very very exclusive, impossible to get into, restaurant) was shot dead for a drunken outburst criticising one of the impromptu singers that are part of the geshtalt of the restaurant. After reading these stories (and recalling some of my own), I feel great sympathy for the shooter.

Well, since everyone else has such positive things to say about story ballets and though I might be out of place, I mostly detest them. The stories are always inane, pointless, and juvenile. If I want a story that might make me think and might move me, I go to the theater, the movies, or read a book. When I go to dance, I want to see movement to music. Beautiful, wonderful movement to interesting music. I would rather see a full season of Agon rather than some of the story ballets that are being foisted on us this NYCB season. The only sort of story ballet that I love is the Concert. Most of the others I keep wanting them to stop parading around and emoting and start dancing. The only positive thing I can say about story ballets is that they are interesting to me more as spectacle than as dance. Great costumes, great music, possible some great dancing (but never enough). Ok, it isn't all bad I guess. Nevermind. :shrug:

I saw the Saturday night performance. Sorry it took me so long to post. As far as the Aloff article is concerned - I loved it - and agreed with most of it. I am not nearly as cleaver or as knowledgable as she is - and thought a lot of her comments were on the money. I thought the performance is one of the best that Leigh has put on. I have probably seen the last 4 or 5 - except 2001, and I enjoyed this peformance more than any of the others. Not that I didn't enjoy the previous concerts, just that I think Leigh has generally improved with age. I am already looking forward to next years program..... The highlights of the evening were the piece he did for Ansanelli and the "New Rome". The fact that they were performed to live music only enhanced the mood they set. I found the first part of the program, "A Waltz Remembered" and "Rideau" less interesting and a bit bland. Ansanelli was just terrific and I believe that the choreography was both cleaver and inventive and played to her strengths as a dancer. The choice of music was interesting as well. I am fond of baroque music in general although I know little about it (or any other music), and found the piece a wonderful choice. Very easy to see the exposition of the score in the dance movements. This was just a perfect performance - the costume, the music, the lighting, and of course the dancing and choreography. The "New Rome" to commissioned music was dark, yet spirited and full of energy. I was expecting a let down after seeing Ansanelli - but had anything but. Wonderful music, wonderful dancing. A very lovely evening of dance. We had brought along a friend who rarerly goes to any dance and he enjoyed the performance as well.

Sorry that I have to be so redundant - but Suzanne Farrell is in my memory in a class by herself. She was just amazing. The sadist period of ballet going was in the early 70's when she was out of NYCB. Her daring was palpable - the title of her biography Holding On to Air fittingly describes her dancing. Never saw anyone who could compare to her presence on stage except maybe Baryshnikov. Of the current crop, I am madly in love with Maria Kawroski. She very much reminds me of Farrell - but has her own unique qualitites as well. Her legs are just amazing. Those extensions are mind blowing. Other favorites have included Merrill Ashley, Heather Watts, Darci Kistler and Wendy Whelan. All NYCB to be sure, but that is where I see about 95% of my ballet.

I am not sure what I can or can't write with all of the prior admonitions. We attended the Saturday night perfomance of SAB and as usual were very impressed with the level and quality of the dancing. This was a very professional preformance... including not only the dancing but the costumes, music and staging as well. Although Alexandra is opposed to singling out performances - I think that is a diservice to these young dancers when they do exceptional work. This are essentially young professionals at this point and words of encouragement to those who have provided great enjoyment seams to be quite approrpriate to me. These are the graduating students of SAB for goodness sake - not the 10 year olds from Madam Fifi's Ecole de Dance. The performance started with Chopiniana staged for the dancers by Cynthia Gregory. It was very well danced by Lauren King, Sara Mearns, Likolani Brown and Tyler Angle (brother of Jared Angel a NYCB soloist). Likolani Brown was exceptional, but I agree with FarrellFan that this was mostly a snooze.. The highlight of the evening for me was the first Bournonville piece The Flower Festival at Genzano (pas de deux) staged by Nikolaj Hubbe (NYCB Principal) and danced by Barette Vance and Arron Scott. They quite literally brought the house down! This was a fantastic performance.... just wonderful Bournonville whose choreography I find very apealing. Scott was a small dancer who danced very big. He would be perfect for any of the small dancer roles perfromed in the past at NYCB by such dancers as John Clifford, Jean-Pierre Frohlich, Gen Huriouchi, and more recently by Tom Gold et.al. This was followed by the Balenchine Swan Lake (pas de deux) staged by Sean Lavery and danced exceptional well by Likolani Brown. Having recently seen Maria Kowrowski in this role it was hard to be impressed - but I certainly was by the poise of this young dancer. Her partner was injured and a subsititue (unfortunately I lost the inset and don't recall his name) did admirably in supporting her. This was followed by another Bournonville piece Napoli (Ballabile from Act I) also staged by Nicolaj Hubbe. This was also wonderfully performed with lots of fantastic jumps. One of the dancers - also not sure which, had vertical jumps that seemed unreal. It appeared as is if he was on a trompoline he jumped so high. Sorry I couldn't be sure which dancer he was. The soloists were Monique Rojas and Daniel Applebaum, with the Marika Anderson, Lauren King, Flicka Michaels, Meaghn Spedden, Erica Takajian, Michael Breeden, Hyck Chen, Jarmel Johnson, Choong Hoon Lee, Vincent Paradiso, Troy Schumacher. It was a pleasure to see them. The final third of the program was Aurora's Wedding from Martin'sSleeping Beauty. This was a comparable production to, even using the costumes of, NYCB. This provided a large number of soloist roles, all of which were performed to high standards. Ann Sophia Scheller was a beautiful Aurora, partnered by Tyler Angle as the prince. It looks like we may have another pair of siblings at NYCB, as Tyler appears to have the right stuff to join the company, although I have absolutely no knowledge of this. Sara Maerns was the Lillac Fairy. The jewels included Barry Kerollis as Gold, Maya Collins as Diamond, Misa Kuranaga (exceptional) as Ruby and Danielle Santos as Emerald. The cat and the puss were danced by Miriam Rowan and Jason Chinea, the Bluebirds were Olivia Goodrich and Vincent Paradiso and Heathe Viernes (she looked like she was 6 or 7 years old....?) was a delightful Little Red Riding Hood with Ted Seymour as the Wolf. Hyek Chen, Radoslow Kokaszka and Giovanni Villalobos were the admirably high flying Jesters. Although I am not a big fan of this ballet, it was certainly danced to very high standards. I look foward to seeing many of these young dancers in years to come at NYCB and other companies.

To each his own. I have the opposite feeling about Feld, and find MOST of the repertory filled with wit, invention, charm, and excellent dancing. As for the cost, by ordering 4 or more companies you get a 40 percent discount. Sometimes that is easy but I agree it is often difficult. Fortunately we joined for the winter season as the spring season has little other than Ballet Tech that I find of interest. Also, the sometimes take TDF vouchers, so it can cost as little as $7 to see a Ballet Tech performance and all of the seats at the Joyce are ok so it is not like being in the 5th ring at NYS.

My wife and I both very much enjoy Ballet Tech and regularly attend their performances. BUT I never see anyone here mention them. Since I know that many of the participants here are in NYC and Ballet Tech has probably the most performances in a year after NYCB, how come they are never discussed or reviewd. Do you consider them sub-par? not "real" ballet? do you hate Feld? is going down to 19th street too far out of the way? Do you hate the Joyce? why are they so ignored? Last Friday we saw Aurora I, which I admit was more Momix/Polobilous than ballet. But we also saw Straw Hearts, a delightful ballet to turn of the last century music. and wonderful ballet dancing by Patricia Tuthill and Wu-Kang Chen. This was followed by Pacific Dances to Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar. Think hula en-pointe! Very delightful and just plain fun. I find most of his stuff enormously entertaining. It might night be the "classics" but it is quite enjoyable. Hopefully we will get to go again this week and see the other program. Has anyone else gone recently but is ashamed to mention it?

One of the best ever autobiographies is "Winter Season" by Toni Bentley. I think it was first published in the early 1980's while Balanchine was still alive. She was a corps dancer and goes over her experience during a season with NYCB. She is a wonderful writer and subsequently helped with a number of other ballet autobiographies. I believe she ultimately became a writer rather than a ballet dancer. But the book contains a number of insights into what it was like dancing for Balanchine. This was during a period when there was strike threats and how Balanchine dealt with them. Basically as I recall he told them to go and strike, he would fold the company and start again.

In my experience, the Concert stands out as a uniquely funny ballet. It is really non-stop, rolling on the floor laughs (my son actually did roll on the floor laughing when he first saw it about age 8 or 9). And although I must have seen it more than a dozen times, it never fails to make me laugh out-loud. A Robbins ballet that I haven't seen mentioned is the Four Seasons. Both the Winter and Fall sections are certainly meant to get out right laughs. Robbins seems to put a lot of humor in many of his ballets. I'm Old Fashioned, Interplay, Glass Pieces, West Side Story Suite, and many others also contain comic or humorous bits as does the oft mentioned Fancy Free. Another choreographer that puts a lot of humor in his ballets is Elliot Feld. Such ballets as Felix, the Jig is Up, Simon Sez and many others all have comic elements.

I personally find enough variety in plotless/abstract works that I almost think of the story ballets as another less interesting artform. There are more than enough plotless/abstract works to keep me going to the ballet for more than the rest of my life. And I don't plan on dying soon.

I think that ballet stories just get in the way. They are at best trite, at worst insulting in their simplicity and stupidity. What is the "story" of Beethoven's 5th symphony? I presume you think that great music can stand on its own. Why not dance. The wonder of ballet is not the telling of a simplistic story but the beautiful, evocotive, enthralling, captivating, exhilarating, athletic, mesmerizing, movement of the human body to great music. I list Agon as one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of mankind. I can't imagine a story ballet that has anywhere near its power. It is the essence of ballet. It is just magnificent. Words cannot describe it. It has to be seen in person with great dancers, good musicians, and rapt attention to comprehend its power. If you go to see a ballet performance to enjoy a story, you are mostly missing the point of it all IMHO. Most comic books have better stories and are a lot cheaper and are faster to read. By removing the simplistic story from the ballet, it is not lessened but greatly enhanced if done well. There is nothing to distract from the power of the dancing and the music. If I thought I would never ever see Swan Lake, Giselle, et.al. again in my lifetime it would not phase me in the least. But if I thought I would never ever see Agon again it would break my hear. Fortunately, I have tickets for it this coming season. My most humble opinion.

Peter Martins, Kay Mezzo, Katrina Killian, Darci Kistler, Susan Pillare, Suki Schorer, Sheryl Ware, Garielle Whittle, Peter Frame, Kyra Nichols, Olga Kostritzky, Andrei Kramarevsky, Antonina Tumkovsky are the faculty members at SAB that dated to Balanchines time. In addition I know that Merril Ashley was very involved in the current workshop teaching 3 casts of Ballo della Regina. The NYCB staff includes: Ballet Master in Chief: Peter Martins Ballet Mistress: Rosemary Dunleavy Assistant Ballet Masters: Victor Castelli, Jean-Pierre Frohlich, Lisa Jackson, Russell Kaiser, Sara Leland, Christine Redpath, Susan Hendl* (*guest) Assistant to the Ballet Master in Chief: Sean Lavery Teaching Associate: Merrill Ashley Children's Ballet Mistress: Garielle Whittle all dating to Balanchines time. So the notion that the folks dating to Balanchines time are no longer at work in the company or school is pure and simple HOGWASH!!! And the above doesn't even include the folks such as Karen Von Aroldingen who work for the Balanchine Trust and I would guess are also involved. The main person that I would have liked to see as an active participant in the company and the school is of course Suzanne Farrell. The fact that she is missing is a major loss and maybe we should blame that on PM. So if the topic is "Isnt it awful that SF is no longer working with the school and company" I would agree. But to berate PM for the lack of Russians and prior stars in working with the company is just garbage.

Peter Martins, Kay Mezzo, Katrina Killian, Darci Kistler, Susan Pillare, Suki Schorer, Sheryl Ware, Garielle Whittle, Peter Frame, Kyra Nichols, Olga Kostritzky, Andrei Kramarevsky, Antonina Tumkovsky are the faculty members at SAB that dated to Balanchines time. In addition I know that Merril Ashley was very involved in the current workshop teaching 3 casts of Ballo della Regina. The NYCB staff includes: Ballet Master in Chief: Peter Martins Ballet Mistress: Rosemary Dunleavy Assistant Ballet Masters: Victor Castelli, Jean-Pierre Frohlich, Lisa Jackson, Russell Kaiser, Sara Leland, Christine Redpath, Susan Hendl* (*guest) Assistant to the Ballet Master in Chief: Sean Lavery Teaching Associate: Merrill Ashley Children's Ballet Mistress: Garielle Whittle all dating to Balanchines time. So the notion that the folks dating to Balanchines time are no longer at work in the company or school is pure and simple HOGWASH!!! And the above doesn't even include the folks such as Karen Von Aroldingen who work for the Balanchine Trust and I would guess are also involved. The main person that I would have liked to see as an active participant in the company and the school is of course Suzanne Farrell. The fact that she is missing is a major loss and maybe we should blame that on PM. So if the topic is "Isnt it awful that SF is no longer working with the school and company" I would agree. But to berate PM for the lack of Russians and prior stars in working with the company is just garbage.

What bothered me the most about the aritcle was its timing. How ungenerous and unseemly is it to post such a diatribe against Martins while he is sponsoring the generation of so many new ballets with the Diamond project and NY Choreographic Institute. With the limited space devoted to dance it seems rather hateful to spend so much on a diatribe about the past when Martins is clearly looking ahead. I must blame the editors more than Hommans for this unseemly negativism in the midst of such a wonderful creative burst that is ongoing at NYCB. The space would better be devoted to articles about the Diamond project and the NY Choreographi Institute at this time. Post that diatribe in August or Spetember when a lot less dance is in town and the space is less needed for discussing what is hapenning now. I really find it upsetting that there were something like 5 new ballets presented and a number of Diamond project revivals taking place in the weeks preceeding the article that the most important thing she had to discuss was how terrible NYCB is with Martins at the helm. Even if I completely agreed with eveyrthing she said (which I don't) it was an inappropriate, carping, ungenerous diatribe that should not have been published at this time. What a waste of space.

What bothered me the most about the aritcle was its timing. How ungenerous and unseemly is it to post such a diatribe against Martins while he is sponsoring the generation of so many new ballets with the Diamond project and NY Choreographic Institute. With the limited space devoted to dance it seems rather hateful to spend so much on a diatribe about the past when Martins is clearly looking ahead. I must blame the editors more than Hommans for this unseemly negativism in the midst of such a wonderful creative burst that is ongoing at NYCB. The space would better be devoted to articles about the Diamond project and the NY Choreographi Institute at this time. Post that diatribe in August or Spetember when a lot less dance is in town and the space is less needed for discussing what is hapenning now. I really find it upsetting that there were something like 5 new ballets presented and a number of Diamond project revivals taking place in the weeks preceeding the article that the most important thing she had to discuss was how terrible NYCB is with Martins at the helm. Even if I completely agreed with eveyrthing she said (which I don't) it was an inappropriate, carping, ungenerous diatribe that should not have been published at this time. What a waste of space.

Saw the SAB Workshop last night and was impressed as usual by the level of dancing that the students put on. The first ballet was Ballo della Regina and was staged by Merrill Ashley (just in case someone here doesn't know, it was choreographed by Balanchine to specifically take advantage of her strengths as a dancer). I actually sat next to her during the performance - which was a great thrill. She was very pleased with the performance (I asked ) She said they had been working on it since February and there are actually three different casts, one for each of the three different workshops. The cast I saw starred Ann Sophia Scheller and Allen Peiffer. I thought they were both terrific. She seemed to handle the necessary speed pretty well, I was impressed. The second ballet was Les Geneilhommes by Peter Martins. This is a dance for 9 men and the boys looked like real men to me! The all did very well, especially David Blumenfeld who was the lead. After the first intermission they did Copland Portrait by Damien Woetzel to music by... duh... Copland. This is a new ballet, part of this seasons New York Choreographic Institute. So it was actually concieved for these dancers. I had mixed feelings about the actual ballet - the beginning seemed a bit dark for a workshop performance. There are actually 11 segments to the ballet and it would have been helpful to have been able to have read the program during the performance to see the mostly descriptive titles. It was for 4 couples was mostly charming but I don't remember anything about it that wowed me. I think it has potential - need to see it again to get a better handle on it. After the second intermission they performed the third and fourth movements from Brahms-Schoenberg Quarted. The third movement (Andante) was a delight, well danced by Jessica Flynn and Tyler Angle (Jared Angle's relative??? with my eyesight and sitting at the back of the Orchestra I couldn't tell if there was any resemblance). The fourht movement (Rondo alla Zingarese) is a favorite sort of a chardas - very gypsy and delightful. It was danced exceptionally well by Ashley Laracey. The male role was danced by Adrian Danchig-Waring. He was also quite good but needed a bit more snap in clicking his heels. All in all a very wonderful evening. I doubt if there are any tickets left for Monday (also I think they are more expensive), but if there are I certainly recommend going.

To try specifically answer your questions is sort of impossible, each company is different. We have 2 sets of subscripitons to the NYCB (both Thursday subscriptions). We have been renewing them for over 30 years. One set is 4th row center, the other is 5th row center. Most of the people sitting around us have had the same subscriptions and we have become acquaintances with some of them. NYCB tickets are just a multiple of the normal price. No discount, in fact thay ask for an extra contribution. The NYCB box office is very accomodating. They will gladly exchange tickets in advance and will try to give you similar seats. Of course that is rarely possible becuase of the seats we have are rarely available. Other companies and theaters have different arrangements. For example the Joyce Theater offers a 40% discount if you buy tickets to 4 different companies during a season. Once you do that and are a "member" you can continue to buy tickets at 40% off for that season. We plan on doing it for the summer season as they have Streb, Polobilus, Ballet Tech and the Trocks as well as some others.

Well, I am a lover of dance. And story ballets just tend to get in the way of the dancing. I used to be much more adamant about it, but in my dotage, I have mellowed and am willing to sit through the Midsumers Nights Dream or Sleeping Beauty that Martins forces on us subscribers. But thankfully it is usually limited to one full length per spring season (and thankfully usually none in the winter). Oh an occasional Prodigal Son is tolerable and a rare Copelia or B's 1 act swan lake. But although I enjoy seeing the beautiful costumes, it would suit me a lot better if they just put them on display in the lobby. The really neat ones aren't danced in anyway. Thats not to say all costumes are terrible to see the dancers, the ones in Union Jack, or Vienna Waltzes, or 4 Seasons or the Concert or many others are both interesting and don't seem to interfere with the dancers dancing or the viewers viewing. On the other extreme are the what must be 50 pounds of costume that the king and queen in Sleeping Beauty wear. So they end up as window dressing. I went to a talk by Melissa Barak, the new wonderkind choreographer/dancer at NYCB. She said whenever she hears music she thinks of steps to put to it. That is what I want to see. How the choreographer can create beautiful movement to accompany the music.

I think Mr B wanted a choreographer to administer the company and that is why he left it in PM's hands. I gather that Robbins didn't want the job. I think he was wprried that if just a dancer ran the show it would turn into a museum which is exactly what he didn't want to happen. On those grounds I give PM very high marks for keeping the company exciting even after 20 years. My major fault with him is not finding a place for Suzanne Farrell to be with the company in some capacity. So I put him in the second category. But I also can't think of anyone who would have been chosen 20 years ago who would have kept the company as exciting as it is today where it showcases the Balanchine and Robbins repertoire and creates exciting new ballets as well.