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This year Felipe Diaz is one of the broadcast hosts, which is fun, but we're going to miss watching Felipe give class - he's a great class leader. ;) Dance Educator Mary Wood is known for her Meet the Artist interviews (SFB podcasts). A few dancers missing from the SFB class. I wondered in the past why Sofiane Sylve doesn't appear in the WBD class, but she has stated in an interview that she always takes class with the trainees (taught by SFB School associate director Patrick Armand) because that class runs for an extra half hour (and she needs that at her 'senior' age). I have to think she's also trying to have more time in close contact with the students that she teaches.

Great, Drew - I do recommend downloading these videos when they first come out, because SFB (and others) will edit down the broadcast to a final, approved version. And the original is always more interesting. ;) Well back to WBD 2017...

The Australian Ballet hosted segment is currently live... I'll just say that the National Ballet of Japan trailer was really interesting for me - I hadn't seen much footage of their dancers in the past. Speakers put much stress on the ensemble approach and general sense of teamwork at NBJ.

Scheller just posted a video short of her Sleeping Beauty rehearsal with Angelo Greco, at the same time that Sasha De Sola announced that the rehearsals for the UNBOUND Festival have ended, so it could be we will be seeing only known ballets in rehearsal. SFB announced on their Instagram page that they were excited to be broadcasting to China on Tencent, so I can guess what that means: certain Chinese and Chinese-American/Canadian dancers will be seen in the broadcast...

Yuan Yuan Tan happened to post the times for China: The 22-hour program begins on: 10/4 at 6pm PDT China time 10/5 9am . San Francisco Ballet’s segment will be on: 10/5 from 11am-4pm PDT China time 10/6 2am-7am

That used to be a given, but these days it's more and more about the young ones. ;) Hopefully you were able to watch her dancing in the new Edwaard Liang piece under development for the upcoming festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYhpmqnv7j8 [about 12:00 minutes into the video - this is the "highlights" version which edits out some things] I'm hoping we're going to get to see Ana Sophia Scheller do some dancing.

It does appear to be geo-blocked for the U.S. (and maybe North America, generally).

Mathilde Froustey remarked on Instagram that she will be rehearsing Balanchine's Serenade at SFB for WBD. I wasn't really expecting to see anything other than bits of new ballets, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see what actually gets broadcast. I hope we get some time with Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and her new work too.

Sadly, he was beyond recovery. RIP Mr. Petty. Tom Petty, a Mainstay of Rock With the Heartbreakers, Dies at 66 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/03/arts/music/tom-petty-dead.html

This is a great loop from De Sola and Freemantle: https://www.instagram.com/p/BZpnflSFslF/?taken-by=sashadesola Walsh and Kochetkova in slow motion: https://www.instagram.com/p/BZo8fKNgqgW/?taken-by=josephwalshsf

SFB just posted the schedule for WBD October 5, 2017 (along with a trailer for the event): https://www.sfballet.org/season/events/2017-world-ballet-day WORLD BALLET DAY LIVE SCHEDULE (PDT) October 4 6 pm–11 pm: Australian Ballet 11 pm–4 am: Bolshoi Ballet October 5 4 am–9 am: The Royal Ballet 9 am–11 am: The National Ballet of Canada 11 am–4 pm: San Francisco Ballet No indication yet about the companies who provide pre-recorded footage, but those usually occur near the end of each of the above sections. NOTE: the SFB segment will feature rehearsals of the new ballets by choreographers David Dawson, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Dwight Rhoden for the upcoming 2018 UNBOUND festival.

Lost in SF article (published by Lycée Français de San Francisco) about Froustey's La Maison Oakland project space - Page 1 http://lostinsf.com/en/when-pia-meets-mathilde Page 2 http://lostinsf.com/en/la-maison-oakland-new-art-heaven-to-discover

SFB sent out an email today introducing the new dancers for the 2017/2018 season: Meet Our New Dancers http://archive.skem1.com/csb/Public/show/jnbcg--deyg6-1hpfc095

Mathilde Froustey posted the following to her Instagram account: "Yesterday the Paris Opera Ballet Principal Dancer Laetitia Pujol danced her last show. She has been one of my favorite dancer and my main inspiration since I started dancing. Laetitia was a very unique dancer, she was different, discreet and very sensitive. I'm so happy and proud I got to share the stage with her in my life but I'm sad I wasn't in Paris to share this moment with her..."

Nedvigin no doubt recognized immediately that there would have to be changes to classes, training and coaching if AB was going to be able to pull off traditional ballets in a believable fashion. It's not about the basic talent of the dancers (though some take it that way) - the dancer has to have the technical training first. I doubt that audiences will see some sort of huge change in the beginning, but they will notice a different aesthetic is in place, and maybe, new found confidence in the dancing of certain kinds of ballets. Fingers crossed.

There does seem to be a general assumption that contemporary dance is more "wide open" to anything and everything - more experimental. But that is at least partly wishful thinking, imo.

Sheehan has mentioned a number of times online that she wants to study nutrition, and plainly she is very interested in cooking and meal planning. She has an eye for food styling as well. Personally, I think some of her recipes look pretty enticing. ;) Anyway, I assume she would prefer that to be her area of concentration in college, but I'm not sure if that's actually possible at St. Mary's. "Sheehan plans to become a nutritionist once she finishes dancing. She steers clear of processed foods and snacks on fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, probiotic yogurt, hummus and avocados. Each morning, she sips kombucha and a cup of green tea with lemon."

Looks like Natasha Sheehan is enrolling in the LEAP program - best of luck to her: https://www.instagram.com/p/BZSEA23liXB/?taken-by=tippytoegirl Since the adults in her family tend to be academic over-achievers, I think she must feel some pressure to keep up. At least with the LEAP program at St. Mary's College, she will be able to fit her academic work into her professional dance schedule, and take her time doing it.

At last, more information on what has been going on: New dancers, fresh energy at Atlanta Ballet http://www.myajc.com/entertainment/arts--theater/new-dancers-fresh-energy-atlanta-ballet/uCfq712oHikQxnqWn3RDsO/ "Nedvigin also made plans to expand the company. Word got out. Hundreds of inquiries came in, and Nedvigin invited a few to audition. Last February, he gave a New York audition, which attracted about 180 dancers. Nedvigin then joined about a dozen artistic directors in Barcelona, Spain, for a Grand Audition, where dancers could vie for spots in several ballet companies during one weekend. Nedvigin worked with Sharon Story, dean of the Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education, to form a training ensemble to groom young dancers for the company."

Isn't that what happened to Sara Mearns a year or two ago? She had to withdraw due to bad altitude sickness. But as Helene mentioned, the Vail Festival idea seems to have the dancer's growth and health in mind. We need more of that. It's all in how things are planned and structured.

For better or worse, ballet principals are learning to follow every opportunity during the relatively short window of time they are "stars", and most viable as a media personalities. Ballet has become a bit more like film and television in that regard. Of course there's always the potential for a media career following dance, but that kind of personality is awfully rare (Baryshnikov probably being the real standout). I mention Kochetkova's schedule only because it is so extreme - she allows herself very little time to rest and recuperate. She doesn't seem to believe in it. Every week involves rehearsals and performances, and special coaching periods with people like Marat Daukayev - as soon as rehearsals are over for the week she is on a plane to the East Coast/Europe/Asia/Mexico etc. to participate in some special event. And unlike everyone else who takes the opportunity to see the sights, she rarely spends more than a day of sightseeing. She appears to live on jet planes. Her 'family' would seem to be the dancers she performs with. There aren't many people that could live that way - most people pine for their family/home life.

Maria Kochetkova and frequent gala partner Sebastian Kloborg dancing in Positano, Italy: "I'm so honored to receive Ballerina of the Year award: the Positano Premia la Danza de Leonide Massine Prize the oldest dance award in the world." https://www.instagram.com/p/BY0u8dkHRZG/?taken-by=balletrusse https://www.instagram.com/p/BY4Egdwn1Pn/?taken-by=skloborg https://www.instagram.com/p/BZKeToYHxN8/?taken-by=balletrusse Is there a busier dancer in all of ballet? What other dancer manages to perform at a high level with so little off time?

Harry Dean Stanton, Character Actor Who Became a Star, Dies at 91 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/movies/harry-dean-stanton-dead-actor.html Last seen in Twin Peaks: The Return, Stanton's final film, Lucky, will be released this month.

The NY Times has published this initial article - it mentions the Sarasota Ballet, but not MCB: Irma-Proof Armor and Nights at the Museum: Shielding Florida’s Arts https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/12/arts/design/hurricane-irma-florida-museums.html Perhaps no news is good news?

Thanks for the link - that was fun. I would definitely want to be able to watch the entire documentary though - I hope that is coming soon.