Brioche

Diablo Ballet Eddie Stegge

Great seating/standing advice PeggyR. For almost my 35+ years of attending the ballet at the SF Opera house I have stood. You can't beat the price. I was crushed when the Dress Circle standing room was elminated in the renovation. I'm not a fan of Dress Circle. That slant upwards bugs me. So occassionally I sit in Balcony Circle, towards the front if I can. Yes, it's high, but I like it due to no over hang and with opera glasses to enhance the experience.

Thanks PeggyR! I have longed to see again (for years) OPUS 19/THE DREAMER. Back in the day Joanna Berman was extraordinary as the principal woman.

Amen, amen, amen!

Thank you for your short memoir. Don Eryck was my teacher and more importantly my mentor until his death in 1990. Like so many he died too young. I was lucky enough to meet Gene once when I traveled with Don to LA one Christmas. Happy New Year. D

Richka- I sent emails to a number of company's that have staged this ballet asking who staged it for them, as a friend of mine would like to acquire it for his company. I received nothing back, nothing!

Alexandra, was that William Sessions? His daughter was in San Franciso Ballet.

Thank you Paul. I waited in line for 7 hours here in San Francisco all those many years ago. As we can all see it was clearly worth the wait AND she danced that night with Mischa!

A sad day indeed. Bruce Bain was iconic in the San Francisco/Bay Area. RIP. Thanks for posting this Gina. I have put it on my Facebook page too. xo D

I saw her dance the Shades act from Bayadere in San Francisco, very late 70's with Bujones. Really fabulous!

I never tire of watching "I am a Dancer." I love the class and rehearsal footage especially.

After 36 years as the Artistic Director at Hamburg Ballet, I can't imagine there is a whole lot any of us good "tell" Mr. Neumeier. The man has a huge repertoire of choreography and a devoted following in Hamburg.

I hope this is the right place for this question. Looking at a youtube video of Alina Cojocaru makes me wonder who was the first woman to use the fan during the fouettes in the coda. Lorena Feijoo at SF Ballet does it too as well as Diana Vishneva. Does anyone know with whom this originated? Thanks!

It ain't rocket science really. Generally the first time out you just want to get through it alive. And with the last minute substitution of Rubies for the Ratmanksy, the pressure may have even been greater. We all know that given time and experience a dancers performance can get better.

Does anyone know the best way (email?) to contact Patrice Bart?

Conviction? Perhaps. Unless the video and music are misaligned due to the upload to youtube the musicality is fairly messy in most of this performance. The battu in the third movement is not the Bolshoi's strongest moment on film either. But it is great to see all of this footage.

Nope Me either.

I agree with Paul on all counts. Also the company looked quite cramped on the Zellerbach stage. Too bad, it really hampered them. I felt Makarova told the story badly. I don't care for "choreographers" who drag out the Princess' of Brides waltz. The knights who escorted them were a bit odd as well. Rothbart wears his wings to the Ball in Act 3. Very odd. The Benno was wonderful as were the dancers he partnered in the first act pas de trois.

Run, don't walk to view and/or purchase this documentary - FELIA DOUBROVSKA REMEMBERED - an absolute delight in many, many ways.

I loved playing Dross. I liked portraying him as the facilitator for the magic/dream/fantasy with a bit of humor, ala Rob Besserer in Hard Nut thrown in.

Thank you. Amazon UK has it as well.

Wow Cristian, sounds like a project you should undertake! Has the Volkova biography been printed in English yet? If not, will it be?

It's another girl!!!! Allegra Grace Jung arrived at 3:05 AM on July 14th. Mother Elizabeth (Loscavio), father Carsten and sister Angelina are all doing very well. Congratulations to the Jung family!

At this very sad time do we really need to go down this road?

I haven't watched Act IV yet, but there is a beautiful overhead shot of an S-shape in Act II.