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You don't think the Bolshoi would deign to appear in SF performing a 'notorious' ballet? ;) Possokhov staging would be a given in any case. Another twist would be to have SFB perform Nureyev, and Bolshoi perform a work of their own choosing [created within the last 20 years] for a week at the War Memorial Opera house.

I'm against booing the performers in most cases for the reasons cited above, but I've been to performances where there was good-natured booing of "bad" characters and that was obviously a different thing entirely. The production invited that sort of audience participation. I suppose if a performance was really just a thinly-veiled political rally or propaganda piece, and some audience members didn't approve of the message, they would be within their rights to respond with boos, but it might be better, and safer, to simply walk out on the performance in that case.

And that's why they call you "Dreamer". It's an interesting idea, to be sure, but I would add the caveat that Tomasson shouldn't take on anything unless it really looks to be a worthwhile project. Alternately, Tomasson could invite the original Bolshoi cast to perform the work in SF - much as National Ballet of Canada is performing Neumeier's Nijinsky in SF this coming season.

Short SFB video of Dores Andre https://www.instagram.com/p/BWdjvKFlj3N/?taken-by=sfballet Ballerina @doresadre shared her immigration story and how ballet has shaped her life. "Ballet is a way of expressing yourself with emotion and motion." See and read more on @britandco's website. The Stories of Five Creative Immigrant Women http://www.brit.co/from-the-outside-in/dores-andre-the-spanish-ballerina-pirouetting-her-way-to-stardom/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=immigrant-women "With gorgeous dark features and a razor-sharp wit, principal dancer Dores André is a study in contrast. She has the charm and grace of Audrey Hepburn but swears like a sailor. Initially, she gives off the air of a laid-back Spaniard. But when it comes to her dancing career, Dores brings forth a palpable resolve. It’s a trait fired in her upbringing spent in the cutthroat world of ballet, where an inkling of doubt could mean the downfall of a budding career."

Kochetkova rehearsing, and Dores André and Luke Ingham doing who knows what. I hope that's not the latest Arthur Pita ballet. https://www.instagram.com/p/BWY3LKZh8X4/?taken-by=balletrusse Short video of Froustey rehearsing hops on pointe for Giselle, and then performing the same hops on stage in Moscow. She was fortunate to have Felipe Diaz along to coach. https://www.instagram.com/p/BWc_j_CnKqp/?taken-by=lapetitefrench_

We don't have much evidence one way or the other about the quality of the ballet aside form Urin's remarks in Russian. Obviously, this type of dance theater isn't to everyone's taste. I just wonder, does it succeed on its own terms? It doesn't sound like the dancers are talking about this project (which is probably wise for Bolshoi dancers). In some ways it's impossible to tell where the real issues lie with this project given Serebrennikov's involvement - as Fleurdelis mentioned, he continues to be under investigation by elements of the government.

The Avedon estate is doing rather well, me thinks. Sounds like extortion to me - find another way people! I suddenly flashed on that great line from Casablanca - Captain Renault: "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!" The level of micromanagement that you are describing, Volcanohunter, is creepy, indeed. It's difficult to believe that anything worthwhile actually comes out of that sort of 'artistic environment'. I pity the artists but also wonder why there aren't more defections, shall we say, to regional companies where things are less intense. More interest and investment in regional companies is a good thing, imo.

An excellent synopsis, Fleurdelis - thank you. It seems fairly obvious that the stagings are going to make many audience members uncomfortable - and for varying reasons. Even if the premiere was in San Francisco, not Moscow, there would be audience members who would have issues with an enormous photograph of a naked person (man or woman) with genitalia exposed as a centerpiece of the ballet. And your second item would invite the same criticism - how is this strengthening the ballet, or advancing its themes in a useful way? Why should we care? Does this give us a better sense of Nureyev the man? Is there something positive to take away from this?

In a sense, A.D's have an 'embarrassment of riches' to work with, but they do, as a group, tend to follow trends in the art and worry little about budgeting for ballet history lessons (revivals). For the audience, the concerns are obviously a little different, but if one happens to not like the work of certain current choreographers, then the "ballet now!" repertoire might seem like a hard slog, or worse, a downturn for the art form. I imagine most art forms are said to be dying every 20 years or so (only to mysteriously rebound). At SFB under Tomasson, there is always at least one Balanchine revival, and often a Robbins revival per season. Ballet Russes ballet revivals are much fewer and far between. Ashton or Tudor? Very few, and getting fewer.

And how much say does he have over the particular dancers used? At SFB, choreographers can make their first cast choices from among any of the dancers - not just principals. But at the Bolshoi hierarchy is a big deal (and very political - there's that word again). Did Yuri take on too much? That's always possible as he seems to be doing things bigger and bigger each time, and sooner or later this is going to be a problem. A great learning experience for him, no doubt, but Bolshoi management isn't interested in his learning experience. They just want success and positive notoriety.

Bolshoi productions are held to a high standard. If the ballet truly looked 'messy', shall we say, and clearly needed more rehearsal time and perhaps fixes to the choreography, then I can understand management wanting to wait. Possokhov has never been one to talk about politics, so it's unlikely we are going to hear him complain that his ballet has been shut down for political/cultural reasons. One thing I'm wondering - does the Bolshoi have an exclusive contract on this ballet? Or can another company put on a pared-down version (without the singers and full orchestra, etc.) of the ballet to give it a public showing? As Natalia mentioned, there are other private theaters that could be employed to premiere the ballet and allow for some feedback from the public and critics alike.

SFB has followed a similar pattern to PNB, but the last two seasons have been particularly wonky with retirements and leavings. The generational 'changing of the guard' certainly upsets the usual pattern to some degree. There are sometimes promotions at SFB after Nutcracker performances, but mostly promotions wait until the end of the season or until summer. Retirements of lead dancers are announced fairly early in the season, but this last year Zahorian and Karapetyan surprised us all with a sudden retirement and adieu (though no one faults them for moving on to the next level of their careers). But in the Trump era, we seem to be seeing a lot of volatile reactions in the artist community. Lots of movement going on... EDIT: I think I should add - I've said this elsewhere on the forum - I think Tomasson changed his promotions schedule this past year to try to mitigate the sad feeling around so many departures, and to give a sense that things were indeed moving on and not stagnating.

Not often. ;) That doesn't mean it wouldn't be interesting (or could be). Neither of those projects was done with SFB in mind, as far as I know. Yuri is always cooking up ideas - he's as ambitious as anyone else, and the Bolshoi is a plum gig for a choreographer. Even if Nureyev never actually appears on the Bolshoi stage, it's notoriety should carry Yuri some ways...

Swimmer was not a full length (evening long) ballet - it runs 40-minutes - and it was performed as part of a mixed repertory program. It was one of Possokhov's most successful ballet projects, imo. It feels a little strange to refer to Swimmer as a "ballet" though - more like dance theater I would say. And I'm pretty sure that Nureyev will be a kind of dance theater.

FYI: here's a scan of the UNBOUND Festival program dates (April and May 2018) SFB 2017-2018 Season Reperatory Calendar For anyone wondering how they can see all of the programs at one time in the minimal amount of time: this can be done by purchasing tickets for Wednesday April 25 - Saturday April 28 (program order will be B, D, C, A). Or purchase tickets for Wednesday May 2 - Saturday May 5 (program order will be C, A, B, D). Obviously it's possible to use a different order of dates, but if one is arriving from out-of-town, more days would be required to see all programs, and every additional day in SF gets expensive.

I forgot what might be the most intriguing part of the UNBOUND festival: "Unbound will extend beyond the boundaries of the Opera House with events that take audiences inside our world and SF Ballet out into the community. We'll be broadcasting live video streams on our website to preview the new works as they're being created. And, in the months leading up to the festival, Unbound will take ballet into the community through a series of pop-up events. We'll also present short dance films inspired by festival works and a symposia that will examine issues critical to ballet in the 21st century." Curious? Join us. #Unbound2018 [from the SFB festival mailer pamphlet]

The SFB 2018 Season subscription drive is going on, and now it's time for the "Choreograph Your Own" series subscribers to renew. SFB is now offering "mini-packages" as well this year. Note that any NEW subscribers will have to wait until August 3rd to get in on the Choreograph Your Own or Mini-Package subscriptions. However, a new subscriber can get a Principal package right now (these are the pricier ticket options). https://www.sfballet.org/visit/subscriptions One of the mini-packages being offered is for the "Unbound" new works festival. (Note that SFB is now referring to their new works festival as "Unbound", which is a little confusing, but that's what UNBOUND means in all the marketing blurbs.) Unbound Unabridged Unbound A, Unbound B, Unbound C, Unbound D Be in the theater when it happens—get the first look at the future of ballet by experiencing the complete Unbound. You’ll see all 12 world premieres from the festival’s 12 innovative international choreographers. Mini-packages go on sale to the public August 3rd 2017. Here are the available options: https://www.sfballet.org/visit/subscriptions/themed-mini-subscriptions Personally, I find the Choreograph Your Own package to be the most useful for me, since I am coming from out-of-town. That means paying a basic $75 donation to the company, and then choosing 3 or more performances that I would like to see. The down side is that the subscriber only gets to choose which section of the opera house they want their subscription package seats to be in - for example, two seats side-by-side in the Orchestra Ring. If you want to choose precisely which seats to sit in, then you will have to wait until October, I believe, to fight it out with the general public for the remaining open seats. A plus: if at anytime during the season you need to purchase extra seats, you can do so at an "up to 15%" discount" through the SFB website - and you will be able to choose the exact seats you want. Essentially the CYO subscriber pays for, say, tickets to 3 different performances in order to get the additional price discount for any remaining ticket purchases. If money is an issue, and it always is for me, then that is a good approach to take. And yes, you can get tickets for more than 3 performances with the CYO subscription package, but SFB will be selecting the exact seats for you. So to me, it's better to allow SFB to choose my seats for only 3 performances, and then I return to the website in the fall and choose additional seats at a discount and pick the seat locations myself. SFB still gets the money. [Once you purchase a subscription package, anytime you log in to the SFB website you are recognized as a subscriber, and any seats you are looking to purchase are automatically shown at a discount - if anyone knows different, let me know, but that's what I remember about the process.] "Already know exactly what you want to see? A Choreograph Your Own subscription give you the flexibility to create your own schedule. Simply select three or more programs, at dates and times that work for you, and save up to 15%. Packages start at just $75." CYO Subscriptions for the 2017–18 Season go on sale August 3. EDIT: It's possible to choose up to 3 payments for your subscription (so you are paying 1/3 of the total each month by credit card). That makes it all much more doable.

A very entertaining panel discussion - thanks for posting the link! http://www.nybooks.com/event/agon-at-sixty/ I recall that Macaulay previewed some of his statements in his podcast interview with/by Rebecca King regarding Serenade: http://tendusunderapalmtree.com/alastair-macaulay/ But he adds historical context here which helps to ground the discussion a bit. And he's fond of interjecting Frederick Ashton moments - 'here's what Ashton was doing at that time that relates'. Some of that may be a bit forced (as there is scant evidence that Balanchine/Kirstein/Stravinsky are making decisions based upon something that Ashton was working on), but I appreciate hearing about the broader ballet context. Arthur Mitchell is always well-spoken and enthusiastic. The Charles M. Joseph book "Stravinsky & Balanchine" covers a good deal of the background material; however, now we get the first person recollections which are fun and invaluable in breathing life into this history.

Jen Stahl appeared on Greece's So You Think You Can Dance? TV program (dancing Kitri's variation). Exactly why in Greece, I don't know. https://www.instagram.com/p/BWEAZ1MFB0K/?taken-by=sfballet She is also performing in a music video by Greek artist Kostas Martakis https://www.instagram.com/p/BWHHMFqjCaL/?taken-by=jenstahl.weitz

Forgetting about personality issues and such, what companies would be a good fit for Part (repertoire-wise)? National Ballet of Canada? The Royal Ballet?

This is the "at least get the homepage to work on mobile devices and we'll deal with the rest of it later" plan. ;) Most small organizations pay a 3rd party developer to create their website, and then have someone on the internal staff do content updates within the page templates that have been developed for them. But these projects (with 3rd party developers) can be quite expensive to set up. If there are people inside the organization who can do the website development themselves, that's great, but they are often busy on a daily basis with updating content and going to meetings to talk about new content being developed. Once the new website templates have been developed and approved, the staff has to import all the existing content into the new layout/system (and learn about how the new templates work). And, they often get stuck doing updates to both the existing old website and the new website under development at the same time until the new website is officially launched - a big pain. This kind of partial, band-aid fix looks to me like they may be trying to do it themselves but don't really have the people resources to set up the new website properly on another server to launch the new website as a complete package. Yada yada yada.

Finally I'm seeing a few podcasts available from the 2017 season: There are two Pointes of View lectures and Meet the Artist interviews with Luke Ingham, Julia Rowe, Sasha De Sola and Jen Stahl. https://www.sfballet.org/explore/podcasts

A recent Instagram post by Vanessa Zahorian: 'Davit and I had a great week of teaching the Vaganova Method to the young students of @paballetacademy last week. "The Vaganova method is a ballet technique and training system devised by the Russian dancer and pedagogue Agrippina Vaganova in the early 1900's. The training system is designed to involve the whole body in every movement, with equal attention paid to the upper body, legs and feet." We also introduced the GYROTONIC® Method. The Gyrotonic Expansion System Method is composed of the Gyrokinesis and Gyrotonic exercise methods. The Gyrokinesis Method, originally called “Yoga for Dancers,” is practiced on a mat and a chair, while the Gyrotonic Method uses specialized equipment that permits one to move with support and resistance. Once we open our school in September I will offer the method using the Pulley Tower Machine! We also offered the Contemporary Classes taught by Davit as well as Pointe classes taught by myself. This week we will continue what we have been teaching and next week we will be offering an exciting new class. Stay tuned for an update shortly as to what that exciting class will be. We know it will be a lot of fun and will bring out the character in our students!' https://www.instagram.com/p/BVgfPwPBNQ9/?taken-by=vzahorian&hl=en "Pennsylvania Ballet Academy would like to introduce and welcome our very first guest teacher Elen Harutyunyan. Elen will join PBA for the last week of our summer program June 26th-29th. She will be teaching traditional character classes from different nationalities. She began her training at the Armenian National Ballet School and then went on to join the San Francisco Ballet School where she then moved to LA to further her studies in acting, dancing, theater, and teaching. She is currently teaching character classes at the Grand Stage Dance in LA. For more information or to join Elen Harutyunyan’s character classes next week, please call 717-774-7474." So, obviously, the school is keeping both Vanessa and Davit very busy.

Also from The Fjord Review - a short interview with Angelo Greco https://www.fjordreview.com/rising-stars-erik-bruhn-prize/ ...and a Q&A with Wanting Zhao https://www.fjordreview.com/wanting-zhao-san-francisco-ballet/

I don't get the need for such a detailed hierarchy - just think how an "Artist of the Company" must feel: "It's going to take forever to be a Lead Principal, even if I have the talent!" So why would Madison Keesler return to the SFB Corps? Probably because advancement didn't look doable at ENB. I imagine she was dancing the same demi-soloist roles she would be performing at SFB, but a somewhat different repertoire. A great experience, nonetheless. There's a nice long article on the Fjord website about Isabella Walsh, who was just promoted from SFB trainee to the Corps: https://www.fjordreview.com/in-frame-isabella-walsh/?utm_source=Fjord+Review&utm_campaign=0a94a198df-June_46_1_2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_537ad25614-0a94a198df-140216153 “What’s really different is in the school you have people looking out for you, watching you progress and giving you constant corrections. All of that goes away instantly when you join the company. No one’s babysitting you; you may not even get a correction daily.” For the astute apprentice dancer, it’s a process of watch and learn. “You have to find a different eye for yourself. You look around in the company, with so many beautiful artists, and you should take from them. I’m a tall dancer, so I study what the tall dancers do and apply it myself.” As for dancers to look up to, there is no shortage of role models at SFB. Principal dancer Sofiane Sylve gets a nod in particular. “I look up to her for everything. She’s a perfect technician, perfect artist. Everything’s always spot on.”