Josette

I am seeing the Saturday matinee.

Thanks so much for posting this, volcanohunter. I'm seeing three performances in February: Cuthbertson/Ball; Hayward/Sambe; Nunez/Bolle; as well as the general rehearsal and two performances of the New Works; and Tosca.

The elevator at Inn at the Opera was working during December 28-30, 2023.

Yes, I’ve been there several times. I believe you have to stay a minimum of two nights. They still don’t have a restaurant and have not served breakfast since Covid, but the location cannot be beat and the staff is friendly. It’s my preferred hotel to stay in.

Yours is such a loving post, seattle_dancer. I have loved watching her on stage where she was sublime in Serenade, After the Rain pas de deux, The Little Mermaid, RaKu, and showed great wit and intelligence in so many other ballets along with her extraordinary grace and special spiritual qualities.

Yes, she has had an amazing career.

I don't doubt that YY Tuan asked to dance a Tomasson pas de deux with Tiit Helimets for the gala. That will be very special. I am happy to see that Isabella DeVivo and John-Paul Simoens are dancing a selection from Broken Wings. It's an incredible work.

I've seen it performed on stage as well. It is beautiful and meaningful. I have tickets for the opening night and the matinee the following day.

The casting has not been posted yet for The Nutcracker and will likely be posted in December.

I have tickets for four performances on December 28 and 29. Last season, SFB posted the casting for the principals for the entire run of performances at the outset.

They are also guesting with Pacific Festival Ballet in Thousand Oaks, California, on December 16 and 17.

I watched SFB's World Ballet Day and was intrigued by how many of the principal women were learning the role of Marguerite in Marguerite and Armand. It was fairly obvious from the start that the leading roles would be performed by Yuan Yuan Tan and Aaron Robison, and the SFB Facebook page has also posted beautiful photographs identifying Misa Kuranaga and Joseph Walsh, and Katherine Barkman and Isaac Hernandez in the roles, but I saw two other principal women marking the role on the side during the World Ballet Day rehearsal with YY Tan and Aaron Robison. FB posts by SFB and World Ballet Day rehearsals have indicated possible principal casting for The Song of the Earth, Frida, and Carmen.

MacMillan?

I agree.

Yes, I know that Mlle Cozette did not dance Sean Lake again (and other matters that are too speculative for discussion). I wish Mlle Cozette great happiness and fulfillment in all she does.

Myriam Ould-Braham - I saw her when she was in the corps de ballet in Diamonds and couldn't take my eyes of her! She was and is exquisite. I am hoping to get a ticket to her last Giselle on May 18, 2024, as I will be on vacation. I also saw Ganio in the Diamonds corps, obviously thrown in and being talked through it and having a good time! About two years later, he was promoted to Etoile. Back to Cozette, yes, she seemed to disappear from classical ballet during a Swan Lake run of performances, probably 2015-ish, when Millepied took over. I have a friend who attended the General Rehearsal, which Cozette danced.

Yes, everything he did had meaning. As it should be.

Go to a bit past 17 minutes for Apollo.

I am thrilled to see that very short clip of Villella. I saw Villella as Albrecht when he danced in with a company at Royce Hall, UCLA, and have never forgotten it.

I saw her perform La Cigarette in Suite en Blanc twice in Chicago during the POB U.S. tour in 2012. She likely danced Myrtha after Marie-Agnes Gillot's Myrtha (with Ciaravola and Ganio on opening night) in a subsequent Giselle during that fabulous week. I ran into her in Chicago and spoke to her for a few minutes about their tour; she was with Amandine Albisson and introduced us. Mlle Cozette was utterly charming.

I read the three novels before seeing Woolf Works last spring in London, but I had already fallen in love with the ballet when I saw it in a cinema several years ago, to the extent that I vowed to go see it multiple times when The Royal Ballet performed it. I saw Woolf Works on a Tuesday evening at the cinema and a few days letter I was at the premiere of Ratmansky's Whipped Cream, which I found unbearable because of where Woolf Works had put me. As much as I loved the film Orlando, the novel was more meaningful, and beautifully written, delightfully witty, and had much more to it than the film. I found having read Mrs. Dalloway did enhance my recognition of what was going on stage, but did not enhance my appreciation of the the dancers and this incredibly human, episodic work. I would not call any of these works difficult reading. Pagapena is right in advising to read the works if you want to read them for themselves. The last act, pertaining to The Waves, will be more meaningful if you know about Woolf's suffering from depression and her relationship with her sister. I saw Ferri, Osipova, and Nunez, and they were each extraordinary and unique, as they each always are.

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

I wonder if Woolf Works will have Gillian Murphy as the lead. Didn’t she dance Fall River Legend with great success?

I saw all three casts in London last spring. I had seen it in a Ballet in Cinema showing several years ago and vowed that I would go to London to see it multiple times the next time it was on. It is incredible. There is a DVD of it for anyone who it is interested. I saw Alessandra Ferri, Natalia Osipova, and Marianela Nunez in the lead role. All were superb and unique. I do hope that Ferri will dance the role that she created. I cannot imagine anyone at ABT who could touch her in the role and only a handful of dancers who could do the other roles on a par with The Royal Ballet. It is a brilliant work. So this will be replacing the Ballet Imperial program originally announced. A much better choice.

What a lovely article to read. I’m so happy for her. Thank you, Terez, for finding and posting the link.