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Some wonderful Library of Congress photos (with captions) of the Ballets Russes de Serge Diaghilev: https://www.loc.gov/collections/ballets-russes-de-serge-diaghilev/?fa=original-format%3Aphoto%2C+print%2C+drawing&st=slideshow#slide-1 It's necessary to click on the individual thumbnails in the slideshow interface to advance along through the photos. The forward and back arrows appear to skip along a bit too far - I found them to be unreliable.

The Balanchine "technique" as it is usually referred to, is not a method, as I understand it, so much as an enhancement of the pre-Vaganova, Russian Imperial Ballet training that many of the original SAB teachers (including Balanchine and Danilova) had received in their youth. With Balanchine, the emphasis was on techniques to provide quick, expansive and economical movements. Movements that facilitate rather than hinder or obscure Balanchine choreography (makes sense). At its core though, the SAB approach remains a traditional, classical ballet method; it is not a reinvention of ballet techniques. The Balanchine Technique is also referred to as a "style": "Characteristics of this style include: extreme speed, a deep plié, an emphasis on line, en dehors pirouettes taken from a lunge in fourth position with a straight back leg and an athletic dance quality." —Laura Di Orio 'Balanchine developed a distinct technical style to accommodate his choreography. He stressed precise musical timing, and emphasized phrasing and syncopation in his classes. “For example, Balanchine’s fondu doesn’t have the same timing on the way down as on the way up,” says Suki Schorer, a longtime instructor at SAB. “It goes down slower and comes up a little faster. Frappé isn’t even—its accent is out and out, while ballonné is in and in.” Balanchine wanted dancers to gobble up space, and gave classical technique a more streamlined look. He asked for longer lines, deeper lunges and a more open arabesque. “He disguised all his preparations,” says NYCB principal Teresa Reichlen. “He tried to make the in-between stuff look just as fantastic as the bigger steps.”' —from Dance Spirit http://www.dancespirit.com/dancing-balanchine-2326223886.html In recent years, The George Balanchine Foundation has been able to realize a video documentation of the Balanchine Technique known as The Balanchine Essays. The DVDs are available on Amazon.com for purchase. "Toward the latter part of his life, Balanchine talked about creating a "dictionary" of his technique, a visual reference for students of the ballet. The Foundation has helped to fulfill his wish by producing The Balanchine Essays. The Essays provide over nine hours of visual discussion of Balanchine’s ideas on technique that are not only educational but also protect the high standards Balanchine himself set for his dancers." http://www.balanchine.org/balanchine/03/balanchineessays.html I've recently watched some videos by former NYCB soloist Kathryn Morgan on "Balanchine Basics" and techniques, and found them to be quite helpful (and she has many other ballet tip videos on her YouTube channel). Having a dancer demonstrate movements while explaining verbally the thinking behind the movements is invaluable. [Morgan's career as an NYCB soloist was essentially ended when she developed thryoid disease. She now teaches dance classes, and dances as a guest performer.] Morgan attended SAB and danced with the company during the Martins era, and I suppose it could be argued that aesthetic/technique emphasis was a bit different during the Martins era (as opposed to the time when Balanchine was alive and still involved in teaching). But that's for others to discuss… Balanchine Basics: Heads & Arms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqev2vXivl0 Balanchine Basics: At the Barre https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OkdUukJpy8 Ballet Technique - Attitude and Attitude Balance (this includes references to the Balanchine technique) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgkfxmq6mIY Hopefully people will find these enjoyable and insightful as I did, but I welcome all manner of civil commentary. ;)

Gabriel Ramirez De Aguilar has taken some Nutcracker curtain call images of SFB dancers: https://www.instagram.com/gabo2671/ For example:

Please say more about what you mean by this.

Well put, Silvermash. You bring up an important issue: with many companies, these contemporary 'ballets' function as a novelty act but rarely feel a natural part of a company's dance DNA. The dancers usually enjoy taking on a wholly different approach - for a lark. But as there is no commitment to becoming an 'Eckman company' (or whoever else), and the choreographer isn't creating a ballet around the individual skills and personality quirks of the dancers, what we get is a set art piece. And the dancing will be easily set on any large company (the technical 'atmospheric' effects may be a different matter). But we won't get an experience unique to the POB, or anyone else.

Has anyone on the forum seen a POB performance of Alexander Ekman's Play? Aurelie Dupont posted a short video on Instagram - and seems pleased with it (but I suppose she has to behave that way, being the A.D.) https://www.instagram.com/p/BdTDWC3FcAr/?taken-by=aurelie__dupont https://www.instagram.com/p/BdSILEaHPSl/?taken-by=ekmannen

John Clifford has posted what I believe is a complete broadcast of A Midsummer Night's Dream (NYC Ballet) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrfiusNHCls Titania Maria Calegari Oberon Ib Anderson Puck Jean-Pierre Frohlich Hippolyta Victoria Hall Thesus Cornel Crabtree Titania's Cavalier Jock Soto Helena Stephanie Saland Hermia Judith Fugate Lysander Kipling Houston Demetrius Peter Frame Bottom Laurence Matthews Butterfly Katrina Killian Act II Divertissement Merrill Ashley Adam Luders

Having, finally, finished their Nutcracker performances for 2017, the new partnership of Ana Sophia Scheller and Angelo Greco is off to the New Years Ballet Gala in Germany... https://www.instagram.com/p/BdSm7JcBXCA/?hl=en&taken-by=la_scheller https://www.instagram.com/p/BdSv9FFnEE-/?taken-by=_angelogreco_

On the cliffs at twilight above the Pacific Ocean - Sasha De Sola captured by videographer (and ex-SFB dancer) Quinn Wharton: https://www.instagram.com/p/BdS9lxwl8At/?taken-by=sashadesola

Coincidentally, I was just looking at that video again, KFW ;) I'm sure people will appreciate the link.

I've never seen Balanchine's Gounod Symphony, but I've wanted to ever since reading about the work Suzanne Farrell was doing to revive the ballet. The funny thing is, it seems to be one of those ballets that people have widely differing views of: 'Gounod Symphony was done for Maria Tallchief and me. Balanchine hated it. It was stock work, thrown together. It was the only time I ever saw him in a fury at rehearsal. He had to do something for France with a French composer, and he had to do something for Maria. He hated "had to's".' —Jacques d'Amboise "Gounod was one of his most important ballets. Vida Brown really knew the ballet and has staged it recently in revival [1985]. This was the first ballet I wanted to stage when I sent to the Paris Opera. When I saw Nureyev after he was hijacked into the directorship of the Paris Opera, too, the first thing he wanted to stage was Gounod Symphony. But the French don't understand or appreciate or wish to retain such hommages". —Violette Verdy "I loved watching Balanchine wheel and deal, and do all his things with all the dancers. Screw people he obviously did, right and left, in all kinds of ways. I remember when Maria [Tallchief] had been funny and wanted a ballet. Balanchine did Gounod Symphony for her, but this time he did not glorify his ballerina. He put her on pointe in plié all the time, which was not Maria's best position. When Tanny or Diana did it, it was really quite lovely, but Maria did not have that kind of physical look and it was perverse of Balanchine to use her that way. Andre Eglevsky saw that Maria didn't look good in this pretty awful ballet and he stepped out." —Richard Thomas But all this talk just makes me want to see it more. ;)

Here's an interesting NYT article about Martins from 1996, The Company He Keeps: http://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/21/magazine/the-company-he-keeps.html 'Until now, Martins has never explained what led him to let Farrell go. "Why should I try to make other people look bad?" he says. "I wanted her with the company. Suzanne proposed to me that she become the associate artistic director. I said, 'But there's no artistic director here.' 'You're the artistic director,' she said. I answered, 'No, I'm ballet master.' 'Change that,' she said. I told her: 'Suzanne, forget about the title. I'll move a desk for you into my office and you can see what I do every day and figure out what you want to do.' " Farrell, who did not return calls for this article, said no. She had taught a class at the company, but after the first week nobody went. "I can spot a good teacher," Martins says. "I'm not interested in teachers who want a following."'

This is somewhat contradicted by other versions such as Balanchine saying to Martins something like "no one is going to give it to you; you've got to step up (to the board) and ask for the job". Balanchine was under a certain amount of pressure though, to choose a successor. If I can remember the source of my reference I will add it here.

Tiit Helimets as Santa, conducting the WMOH orchestra: https://www.instagram.com/p/BdIWFqal74b/?taken-by=tiithelimets And Santa at the backstage barre: https://www.instagram.com/p/BdLIf5Mlt0_/?taken-by=tiithelimets

And...Merry Xmas from Dressing Room 12: https://www.instagram.com/p/BdHBTQdnU8L/?taken-by=lapetitefrench_ https://www.instagram.com/p/BdJOZjOhTSY/?hl=en&taken-by=la_scheller

Rebecca Ritzel's report on Suzanne Farrell Ballet's farewell: A Final Serenade Farewell performance of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet https://www.fjordreview.com/farewell-the-suzanne-farrell-ballet/ "Near the very end of his life, Balanchine asked Farrell to forgive him for amorous, and then vindictive, behaviour. “I was an old man and you were young. I should not have thought of you that way,” she records in her autobiography. She forgave him, and she preserved his legacy, celebrating the man without whitewashing the ugly quandaries. The question for ballet going forward is how to continue fostering the work of creative artists—male and female—while respecting every individual in the studio on the stage. There must be a way. There has to be. We need arts administrators with the resilience of a very strong partner. And we need many more dancers to rise on the support of another, and find the strength to walk forward in the spotlight, just as Farrell did so gracefully at the Kennedy Center, to take her final bows."

A large portion of the Tchaikovsky incidental music for the The Snow Maiden "Snegurochka": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQdNl64u_14 Tchaikovsky - The Snow Maiden, Op. 12 - Dance of the Tumblers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iBoO2UXfLQ VS the Rimsky-Korsakov "suite" version of his opera The Snow Maiden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYr6jj2J0To

Both Walsh and Greco are very positive people. But each personality is unique: there will never be another Davit Karpetyan. [Interesting side note: Vanessa Zahorian's bio for the Pennsylvania Ballet Academy states that "she was granted as a Balanchine Repetiteur with the George Balanchine Trust in 2012". I did not know that. ] Feliz Navidad from Dores Andre and Diego Cruz, and his paella: https://www.instagram.com/p/BdGQz5AHTbL/?taken-by=doresandre And here's Jahna and Natasha lighting up the holidays:

Lauren Strongin is interviewed (Meet the Artist Interviews) in a podcast from Oct 17, 2017. The interview doesn't look to be on the SFB website yet, but it is available on the Apple iTunes store - it can be listened to for free in iTunes. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/san-francisco-ballet-meet-the-artist/id1277303652?mt=2 NOTE: the Oct 17, 2017 date may be for the podcast release and not the interview date - I think the interview must have been done earlier in the year.

That's an impressive recount of the performance and the historical references. Ismene Brown's plot synopsis would have fit better with this article.

I recall that Gounod Symphony was a part of a "lost works" initiative (Balanchine Preservation Initiative), but what is the status of that initiative now? And is there some kind of schedule for presentation of restored works?

A Day in the Life of the Sugar Plum Fairy in San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker (with Jen Stahl) https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/What-Like-Ballerina-44447263?stream_view=1

This being National "the relatives are coming tonight for the holiday and there's so much left to do, and what are we going to do about dinner?" Day, I keep dashing to the computer to take my mind off of the horror of it all. What do people think they want to see Sheehan cast in? As Elizabeth in Frankenstein? The Cage?!!! (That would be a weird breakout role.)

Yes you are both right, my brain is just freezing up. That happens. Even so, I don't think we're going to see many soloist opportunities for her yet. Demi-soloist roles, yes. Tomasson has a whole bunch of young dancers to give opportunities to this year.

If it makes you feel any better - we also happen to be living in an era when people who have fallen from grace get to reinvent themselves and re-emerge after they've gone through the obligatory public disgrace and laid low for a while. If the person is talented enough, and iconic enough (and dutifully behave themselves), they will return.