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Is the last line of the first paragraph supposed to read, "an acceptable cont[r]act proposal"? Not that an editor hasn't gone carefully over this article. ;) These labor negotiations are not unusual - general contracts are renegotiated every certain number of years. And it is often rather tense because both sides have to find agreement on the main issues. Money is always an issue. Usually the details of the negotiation are kept from the public - until some angry person leaks details to the media.

It's a new year, and look what's new: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeIrfpdhO72/?taken-by=vzahorian Congratulations to Vanessa and Davit!

A fascinating short video of Sasha performing at the dress rehearsals. Notice all the 'important' folk sitting in chairs at the front of the stage. I can see Helgi's white hair, but it's hard to make out who the other, presumably ballet masters/mistresses, are. [EDIT: Larisa Lezhnina is presumably there as well.] Talk about pressure. You can tell the staff is looking over every detail of the production. https://www.instagram.com/p/BeJSPwrFWfw/?taken-by=sashadesola

This reminds me that Orson Welles played Othello in one of his great, essentially homemade, personal film projects (earning the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1952). He wore makeup to look more 'swarthy'.

A backstage photo from the Gala: https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/83f5b0f1a5c1612f7649ba391aba9889/5AF6C882/t51.2885-15/e35/26868402_145871022791763_4838902896625975296_n.jpg

This is kind of weird: Scheller has mentioned at least a couple of times that she was debuting in the Stars and Stripes role. It's hard to believe that a former NYCB principal never got to dance that role.

Remember when there were copy editors and creative directors, and they communicated on a daily basis?

Who wouldn't want to know which company wrote this letter? [3:20 into the talk] "We regret to inform you we have absolutely no use for a body like yours in our company."

Toi toi toi. If he danced at all, it's likely a minor problem that will hopefully be gone in 2 or 3 weeks. Toi toi toi. [I'm enclosing this jinxy statement in hex-banishing quotes ;) ]

The only ballet image they could get for free? ;)

This is interesting: Sasha De Sola is now dancing on opening night (with Scheller and Greco on the following night). https://www.sfballet.org/season/casting I don't think Kochetkova has any injury issues after the gala - does Joe Walsh? I expected Scheller and Greco to be the first couple given all the publicity around them, but maybe this is an hierarchy thing - new dancers don't get to go first. ;)

Adding a 'disclaimer', shall we say, to program notes is a very one-sided approach. I agree that the program notes should talk about any issues with the ballet, but special talks and pre-performance seminars allow for conversation between company/performers and audience. And that can be used to actually promote interest in ballets as art work to be experienced and discussed. I think it's great that SFB is increasing the number of their special seminars, classes and talks. I don't think they can be accused of not making an effort. The trick is in reaching audiences that normally wouldn't even consider ballet as an option. I never understood Goldner's statement, "What ensues is rape, but not the conventional kind", or her reference to Bugaku's "expression of sexual violence". What exactly is the nature of this 'unconventional rape'? Goldner is relying upon a definition that the rest of us are not privy too, so I just have to shake my head and move on. I can re-watch Bugaku over and again, but I just don't see a rape being depicted. And we are not talking about a "shotgun" wedding either. The only real 'violence' that I see is the sometimes incredibly awkward partnering movements ("none of it looks easy; much of it looks grotesque"). If only dancers had as much time rehearsing Bugaku as Agon, we might witness a very different atmosphere to the performance. EDIT: Here's an interesting question - who dances Bugaku particularly well? And how do you decide their interpretation is exemplary, or for that matter, unconvincing? NYCB just posted some images of the original Four Temperaments costumes (Kurt Seligmann) - I bet few people (non-balletomanes) could guess the ballet being depicted if they saw only the photos with no captions. ;) https://www.instagram.com/p/BeGrDafAH9j/?hl=en&taken-by=nycballet https://www.instagram.com/p/BeGq7xHgqFu/?hl=en&taken-by=nycballet

A reminder from SFB: Season Overview with Helgi Tomasson [FREE] "Join us on January 24 from 6-6:45 pm as Dance Educator Mary Wood and Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson share the roster of new artists joining the company and preview the 2018 Season. Enhance your performance experience. At Pointes of View lectures, Company artists and visiting scholars invite you to delve deeper into that evening's performance. You don't have to buy a ticket to attend—all ballet fans are welcome!" Location War Memorial Opera House Enter through the carriage entrance on the north side of the building, adjacent to the courtyard. https://www.sfballet.org/explore/programs/pov EDIT: I was just looking at the new SFB 2018 Repertory Season Guide, and for those keeping track - 41 Corps de Ballet dancers attended the SFB Ballet School, only 7 did not.

But no dancing. :-) Thanks, RUKen. I have a couple of those tracks but didn't know they could be found in one place.

The funny thing is, Adele was originally considered to be the one with the most raw talent (and Fred seemed to agree with that). But it wasn't until she married and broke up the act that Fred really came into his own. It's unfortunate that there's next to no footage or sound recordings of the Adele and Fred Broadway act.

I just received SFB's 2018 Season Guide in the mail, and....we have names! Program A The Collective Agreement - Alonzo King Bound - Christopher Wheeldon Hurry Up, We're Dreaming - Justin Peck Program B (Untitled world premiere) - Myles Thatcher Snowblind - Cathy Marsten Anima Animus - David Dawson Program C Bespoke - Stanton Welch Your Flesh Shall Be a Great Poem - Trey McIntyre Guernica - Annabelle Lopez Ochoa Program D The Infinite Ocean - Edwaard Liang (Untitled world premiere) - Dwight Rhoden Björk Ballet - Arthur Pita There are also text blurbs describing choreographer and ballet, but I won't attempt to retype any of that.

And not Adele? ;) It would have been interesting to compare their live Broadway dancing with his later film work.

Very nice of you to summarize things, Quinten. That's much too ambitious for me to try. ;) Your mention of the phrase "ballets aren't Shakespeare" along with the Balanchine mention actually relates to a writer's suggestion that Balanchine masterworks (not necessarily all of the ballets) ARE like Shakespeare in that they are marvelously cohesive and even a bad rendering is still Balanchine/Shakespeare. The important distinction I would make between what Balanchine is doing with The Four Temperaments or Stravinsky Violin Concerto, and a 'war horse' story ballet is that for The 4 T's the choreography is everything. There are no revisions allowed - changing the steps, changing the dance creates a new work, but it's no longer the Balanchine ballet as conceived of by Mr. B. All possible themes are 'baked' into the choreography. But the romantic era story ballets are frequently versioned to varying degrees of success. Every choreographer with ambition seems to want to take a crack at Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, etc. "Let the audience decide whether they like it or not" For myself, I agree that I would rather ballet companies not insult the intelligence of the audience (deserving or not) and try to anticipate 'issues' by imposing changes on a ballet beforehand. I like the idea of dealing with controversies at the pre-performance seminar/Q&A session that most companies hold.

Interestingly, when I just did a search on Petrouchka the Wikipedia entry (naturally at the top of the search list) describes it as a "ballet burlesque" which sort of contradicts what you've just written. Just shows you that different people see different things when looking at the same subject. I personally don't see Petrouchka as mere burlesque - it's more of an existential tragedy to me, with references to freewill vs predetermined fate and such things.

Indeed. It's relatively simple to alter visual elements, but if we are talking about themes of a ballet, which may be baked into the choreography, then we have what we have. In the case of Petrouchka, there is a great deal of emotional and physical violence which is objectionable to many people (though it would fit right in with prime-time American TV). Removing the physical violence from the choreography would necessitate a complete 're-visioning' of the ballet. And it wouldn't be Fokine anymore. Interestingly, Fokine was essentially following Stravinsky's lead since the composer envisioned a puppet come to life and the reaction to this aberration was 'violence' in the music itself.

Yes, case by case is the only way to proceed, but for me, "having the discussion does matter" is exactly right. Perhaps it's somewhat forgotten in the ballet world, but in the wider art world discussion is welcome and a big part of what make Art significant. If there's no reaction to, or discussion of, an art/literature/music piece - does the artwork matter?

I have a CD of the Bernstein piece, but haven't listened to it in a while. I'll have to give it another spin. I like some of Bernstein "Trouble in Tahiti" opera as well (and that's rarely performed). Thanks for the classical music comments - I'm always looking to learn more about that genre. If anyone has missed watching the PBS program "Sgt Pepper's Musical Revolution" with Howard Goodall (2017), it is quite interesting in it's musical analysis of some of the major songs of that project: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5p0cmc

LOL. ;) That's one Possokhov ballet I've missed - somewhat on purpose.

I'm not going to ask which are the "crotch" ballets(!), but I also don't have much need to see ballets altered to appease certain people. I would like to think that the audience is intelligent enough to make decisions for themselves - but humans are always surprising me. Hee hee. "What's so bad about live and let live?" That would be one of the crucial questions for the human species, and apparently, it matters very much who gets to do what, and when.

The works that we've discussed so far do tend to fall into either category - depending on whom you talk to. ;) Petrushka is of historical, cultural and artistic significance, to me, but often the dancer performing the role of "the Moor" sports blackface makeup. Personally, I think going without the makeup is perfectly acceptable - the costume and curved scimitar provide more than enough visual clues about what this 'puppet' represents. With a ballet like The Cage, I immediately wonder what people would think if there were no male dancers used in the production. What would the choreography represent then? And if the roles were flipped, so that there's a woman being 'sacrificed' by a group of men - what would that signify exactly? Those are the silly things I like to wonder about.