seattle_dancer

Looks like Sundance Cinemas in the U District will show four ballets, including Anastasia. Look at the Sundance website for details because the dates are different from other announcements I've seen. Wish they would show Symphonic Variations but something is better than nothing.

Did anyone watch Golden Age today? I am confused whether it was really a simulcast. I was in the Bolshoi Theater last May and it is mostly very dark red with gold trim, as shown in the trailer. The theater shown today was mostly a light, almost seafoam green with white trim. I suppose those of you that are familiar with the Bolshoi dancers would have said something if the casting looked to be a slate from before the renovation of the theater. Nevertheless, I so enjoyed the show today, it was my first Bolshoi in cinema. Can't wait to see the rest!

Second week casting posted on the website. A few more debuts in Symphony in C by Murphy/Grant, Mullins/Griffiths, Generosa/Renko. Also some repeats from first weekend in case you missed someone in a role that you can't bear to miss.

Vipa, maybe you can catch Carrie in the livestream rehearsal on the 21st. That's probably as close as you can get to seeing her in person.

Oh, I love watching Chelsea dance! She really seems to have an inner happiness that shines through. Congratulations Chelsea! Bon Chance!!!

Touring is not a profit generating activity, so I suppose they looked at sales from Fall 2014 and decided NYC didn't make sense. Let's face it - we were spoiled by that tour, orchestra and the variety of offerings. At least I can do Segerstrom in a weekend, since I'm short on remaining vacation days after my Moscow/St. P trip. Now I have a good excuse to return to St P. Thanks for posting the update koshka!

Saturday night Maggie Mullin also did a fine job for her Square Dance debut. She has always impressed me with such clean and concise technique. Another impression was Jonathon Poretta partnering Laura Tisserand in Waiting at the Station - just amazing. Did they dance the principal couple back in '13? His Square Dance was incredible tonight (Thursday). He evoked such different feelings in different parts of the ballet. During the quick parts he had a huge smile and during his solo, I thought he had a depth and gravity not seen in the other casts. He and Noe looked great together. Her arms and hands were so soft and beautiful while doing difficult pointe work. I love seeing the confidence and ease that experienced principals have, and I hope to see them paired together more in the future.

A couple weeks ago I saw an excerpt from this production in Moscow at a Shakeapeare themed evening at the Benois de la Danse. I found the pas de deux refreshing and felt it really brought out feelings of young love. Course I am accustomed to the Maillot version from Ballet de Monte Carlo since my hometown PNB adopted it in 2008. Whenever I see. "traditional" R & J, I hate to say it but it seems kind of boring and I feel like the choreography doesn't fit the music very well. After seeing the exceprt I was really intrigued and tried to squeeze in a trip to So Cal to see the whole thing. Couldn't make it work so looking forward to reading more reviews from all of you.

Sorry tutu, I didn't see your previous post about Kylee. Yes I believe you are correct, that's the last of the corp members and soloists.

That's an interesting and thoughtful observation. Kylee Kitchens, now a soloist, was hired by Kent and Francia, but her retirement at the end of this season was just announced on PNB's FB Friday.

I forgot to mention that Matt Renko totally wowed me in Rabbit. I don't know what section it was, but I believe he started off solo then the corp joined but he continued solo-type choreography. He is a really powerful dancer who dances far beyond his own skin. I look forward to seeing Price Suddarth and Kyle Davis in that role as well.

Hmmmm...it's pretty quiet on the DC thread. I will stir the pot: went to a couple studio rehearsals last week. Didn't know much about any of the three pieces before, but excited for the program now. Rush has a lot going on and a lot more dancers than the casting shows. I want to say nine couples? LMJ looks to be multiple vignettes. Looks like Cerrudo's work but this time with humor, charm and wit. I loved it. Rabbit was so much more than the tidbits I found online. Very creative use of corps and I loved Angelica Generosa in her role (made on her in SAB days she mentioned at an aftertalk last year) and I look forward to seeing Leta Biasucci in it second weekend. I received an email that the Saturday matinee will be part of KUOW's Front Row Center series, hosted/moderated by Marcie Sillman. Second weekend casting is posted, lots of changes for LMJ. Hope you all make it to this rep!

Kate Glasner, Co-Chair of Barnard College Dept of Dance, kicked off the event explaining how 18 days ago the event originated when a Chinese visitor to the Columbia Confucius Institute crossed the street and mentioned Madame Feng and a few dancers would be in town and would Barnard be interested in a session? She then introduced Madame Feng who spoke for 45 minutes with a slide show and there was also a translator who repeated (most) everything in English. The title of the presentation was Ballet in China: from Swan Lake to "Red" Ballet. Madame Feng provided a history of ballet in China (only 60 years), beginning with the Empress Dowager sending someone to France, formal ballet introduction to China, founding of Beijing Dance School (BDS) in 1954, and how during the Cultural Revolution affected the progression of ballet. She went on to explain how the first Swan Lake was performed after only four years, with Bai Xinshiang the first O/O. She described the evolution of the repertoire, with the first "red ballet" created in 1964, The Red Detachment of Women. Over the next hour there were a series of six dance excerpts, all in costume except one. She spoke of each one, the context of each piece in the repertoire, and also discussed certain use of gestures and hands, symbolism and cultural themes. 1. The Red Detachment of Women 2. Raise the Red Lantern 3. The Peony Pavilion 4. The Crane Calling 5. Kite Dance from Chinese Nutcracker 6. Caprice of Hurla Mountain (sp? not sure I got right) In summary, Madame Feng explained that NBC is a tripod built of Western classics, contemporary works, and Chinese literary works NBC aims to appeal to local and global tastes and use ballet to tell the story of China. They want the Chinese contribution to ballet to be an exploration of combining Chinese aesthetics and culture with the Western world. It's fascinating how they are using this universal language to communicate Chinese history and culture. Thanks again to rg for letting me know about this event. Thank you Barnard Dept of Dance! It was truly the opportunity of a lifetime!!!

(continuation...) The same Friday casting announcements were made for Saturday, additionally in Vertiginous Leta Biasucci for Angelica Generosa. So another superhero effort by Leta the final night. She danced all three pieces, including the Emergence grand pas and trio, looking spectacular with a huge smile and never once seemed tired. Unbelievably amazing!

Correction on myself: in my previous post "Saturday" should have been "Friday". To answer/respond to posts since (great to see so much chatter BTW), Emergence prologue was danced by Rachel Friday night and Maggie Saturday night. There was only a pause, not an intermission, so not much time for Maggie to change mindset from Vertiginous not to mention the costume change and being sprayed with water. Couple guys had to put on tattoos also. vipa - Sarah replaced Laura in Kisses in the first and last sections. Kylee Kitchens replaced her in the slow middle section. re: your quibble I'm wondering if you meant Elizabeth Murphy, who was the tall gal in the middle with lighter blonde hair. I had a similar observation but at least the two girls on the side were sharp and crisp, so the visual was symmetrical.

Hi, where's the meet up place tonight? I'm just crossing into Brooklyn, super psyched for the show!

Announced cast changes so far: Opening Night: Prodigal Son - Lesley Rausch for Laura Tisserand Saturday Night: Kisses - Sara Pasch and Kylee Kitchens for Laura Tisserand, Angelica Generosa for Elle Macy Opening night: Ben and Leta so bright and sharp as SD leads. Awesome to see Jonathon Poretta in Prodigal Son again. Lesley and Jerome received bravos after their pdd and at the final bows. SVC was very well rehearsed, very nuanced and detailed. Very impressive after a (10+ yr?) hiatus at PNB. Saturday night Kisses - Leta was a force of nature in her solo. She slipped a little on the floor and did not miss one beat! Angelica also gave a very detailed solo, incredible phrasing, sustains, balances followed by very quick movements. Angelica also danced all three pieces last night, she's a superwoman! Maggie Mullin also an incredible solo in Vertiginous. James Moore - amazingly fluid Bee Man solo. Everyone around my seat was raving about the show. especially Emergence. I love seeing PNB on this stage and in this venue!

A quick note as I have a plane to catch to the east coast tonight...I sat in the upstairs gallery since I couldn't stay for the entire demo. I couldn't hear Peter too well, so thank you sandik for posting some of his comments. I suspect Jonathon will be the opening night Prodigal Son and am really looking forward to it. James is awesome, but I did catch him a couple of times in the fall already. Square Dance - I am not as familiar with this ballet as the rest of you. Oh dear, it is a really hard ballet and for every single dancer! From upstairs I could really see how tight the spacing was with the floor marked for the City Center stage. I thought Leta was phenomenal, her demeanor is so charming and really is the cherry on top of her incredible technique. Her and Ben make a great pair. And I love the section where all the girls do the gargouillades - I absolutely love that step! Oh, and the guys triple pirouette in unison. Tough stuff, IMO. I was glad to see Lesley in SVC. No one mentioned it in the R&J thread, but she did not dance the second weekend. At Thursday's aftertalk Peter B said Noe and James were in the Friday Eyes on Dance matinee because someone had a back issue (didn't say whether Lesley or Jerome). I went out of town and missed second Sat eve but a friend emailed me and said Noe danced with Jerome and it was her dream cast. At the aftertalk Peter said Lesley had tweaked her back. With so many lady principals out - Carrie, Lindsi, Rachel (still injured?), and Maria retired, it seems they would need to depend on Lesley for the NYC tour. I noticed the casting was not updated on the PNB website but on Facebook it said Sunday matinee was to be Noe/Jerome and Sunday evening was to be Noe/James. Nice that Jerome was still able to perform his schedule over the weekend! Oh and I did see Lesley and Jerome first Sat matinee, and I was really impressed by her range in her acting and emotion. Hopefully she will have opportunities next time around.

rg, Thank you so much for posting! I will be in town that day and I am a Columbia alum, so always fun to go back to campus. I wonder what the seating capacity is and if we will have to get there early?

Just a reminder there is a Livestream this evening at 5:30 Pacific Time. Per Facebook PNB will rehearse the Balanchine program. Duration 1.5 hours with a 5 min break somewhere in there. A friend tuned into the last livestram from R&J and said viewers could submit questions and receive real time answers. You could also see all the questions and answers, not just your own. Last time i linked from the PNB website but probably faster to go to the PNB Facebook page.

The last two years I have bought individual seats when I renewed because I was paranoid specific shows would sell out or prices ramp up once available to the public. You could only specify the section, no online access to choose specific seats. I'm curious if you can choose your seat if you call as in your latest post. I only have a Monday-4 subscription and had the option to buy individual tickets. If you exchange your ticket for a more expensive seat another subscriber benefit is you pay the subscriber price, not the going market price. I saved $45 on a front row seat to the 2014 Swan Lake where Murphy had to be replaced by Seo. Last season I only had time for three shows and the box office let me apply two subscription tickets in an exchange for one expensive seat. Not sure if that was a lucky fluke or if they will always allow it. That was an in person exchange. One caution about subscribing is that if you donate with your subscription, you don't get on the list for the neat benefits you told me about like the dress rehearsals and company classes. Maybe because it goes through Met Opera? I dis write to the ABT development office and they fixed it the first year but ever since then I donate separately to play it safe.

If you're American, then the Made in Amsterdam 1 and 2 is over a holiday weekend. Pretty lucrative to see two programs and have a bonus vacation day! I think Schipohl is calling me...

It's possible I confused my conversations as Friday night was a blur. Jayne - thank you for your comments on the matinee! I had similar observations on the cast, however I am good to keep watching R&J. I love it that much! I wouldn't bother to correct your post - we knew what you meant.

Funny, last night I was reading a review of R&J on TheSunbreak.com and was shocked at the end Cendrillon is mentioned. I thought it was leaked but then I finally read my program from last weekend and saw it at the end of the Director's Notes. The new season is usually announced in February, as there is steep competition with other theater subscriptions in Seattle. PNB will post something on the website as soon as they can. California, certainly by the time you visit in March the new season should be locked down. Will be fun to chat about it! I actually like Stowell's Cinderella with the dance lessons with the stepsisters played by gals, and love the red ball costumes. The ending is also very simple and elegant. I hope it is not permanently replaced.

Glad to help. Also, per the website the Thursday and Sunday evening shows have the best availability and hence lower prices. I'll be at the Thursday show. If you happen to go that day and want to meet up, send me a PM. Enjoy R&J! I must have seen it at least 15 times and I am still fascinated and see new things.