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YY posted a couple of photos from the Ray Bogas tribute: https://www.instagram.com/p/CcZq8TPubGC/

Wild(?) guess - MacKay, Freemantle and Keesler all end up doing some work with Lauren Lovette in NYC.

I envy anyone who is able to see SVP and Birkkjaer dance together one last time. Those retirements are a huge loss to the company.

"What's @SashaDeSola’s favorite moment in Helgi Tomasson's Prism? Find out in our latest edition of Talking Dance. And catch Prism, onstage tonight (4/15) as part of Program 6!" https://www.instagram.com/p/CcX3aYdlzg-/ "What does a helicopter 🚁 and kicking a soccer ball ⚽️ have to do with Helgi Tomasson's Prism? Find out in Talking Dance, as Esteban Hernandez (@kekelindo) discusses his role in Prism" https://www.instagram.com/p/CcY1285FhIW/

I think Horgan would be about 89 years old now, so it makes sense for her to step aside. I don't recall seeing any official announcement though.

And now Benjamin Freemantle: https://www.instagram.com/p/CcYhWIGv6EQ/

Yeah, this hurts. We don't want to be losing the young generation of principals. I'm going to guess that Keesler and Freemantle are going to NYC together. I'm wondering which dancers will be around for next season - that apparently Tomasson programed. I think there's supposed to be a small new works festival too.

I imagine that tribute article is still in the works.

Hearsay - nothing admissible on the forum. You get the gold star for finding an actual mention on the Internet. I'm sure Helene would back me up in saying that ballet company staff are aware of what gets said on the forum. I assume you know that an SFB staff person is a long time member of this forum (but is not able to have opinions or do much of any posting now because of their official association with SFB). That brings up the reason why we don't get juicy insider info from the ballet world - most dancers and staff are directed to not make public comments about their companies, artists and repertoire. So statements get limited to the, "Rehearsing a new role! Can't wait for you guys to see it!" variety. But I suppose it also makes official company videos interviewing dancers, or discussing upcoming ballets, more interesting since we're starved for information.

When Classical Music Was an Alibi The idea that musicians and their work are apolitical flourished after World War II, in part thanks to the process of denazification. "Musicians slipped through the denazification process with relative ease. Many rank-and-file artists had been required to join Nazi organizations in order to remained employed, and the correlation of such membership to ideological commitment was often ambiguous. Individuals tended to lie on their forms to obtain a more advantageous status. And artists such as the eminent conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler referred to music’s apolitical status as a kind of alibi, even when they had performed on occasions, and as part of institutions, with deep ties to the regime." https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/arts/music/classical-music-nazi-world-war-ii.html War Brings New Iron Curtain Down on Russia’s Storied Ballet Stages Ballet has long been a symbol of Russian culture. Now it is becoming a symbol of Russian isolation. "The departure of Ms. Smirnova is a blow to the pride of a nation where, since the days of the czars, ballet has had an outsize importance as a national treasure, a leading cultural export and tool of soft power. Her move is one of the most visible symbols of how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has upended ballet, as prominent artists shun Russia’s storied dance companies; theaters in the West cancel performances by the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky; and dance in Russia, which had opened up to the world in the decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, seems to be turning inward again." https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/arts/olga-smirnova-ballet-bolshoi-ukraine-war.html

LOL - and apparently she's not the only one. I guess we need to be careful what we say. 😉

I never got to see Mackay with Fogo, but in earlier videos I'd seen of him partnering I thought he still had a ways to develop. Particularly when it comes to lifting his partner. Maybe Tomasson has been able to coach him effectively in that area, I don't know. Some of it is just about building the strength in the upper body and legs for that particular purpose. But some danseurs never get there. I'm glad to hear that he danced in the new Rhoden ballet. Might have been outside his comfort zone(?), but learning new things informs what we already know. About Swan Lake - I think we've all assumed that Mackay and Fogo would be dancing the lead roles, but then Fogo developed an injury and I'm not sure she's completely healed at this point. If she could dance in Swan Lake, who would be a good substitute partner for her? Helimets can always be counted on to make the ballerina feel safe, but who would provide the best chemistry with Fogo?

One of the comments on Mackay's posting: "Hopefully go somewhere where they use you more - you are ready to dance Romeo and I’d actually love to see you as a joyous Colas" Presumably this person was pointing out that Mackay is primarily a Classical Ballet dancer, and performs traditional roles. But he's not well versed in contemporary ballet - not yet, anyway. And I'm not sure that he cares to develop those kinds of roles. At SFB under Tomasson, the idea was to develop as an all-round dancer in many genres. Mackay may have been too limited in his interests to really fit in well at SFB. Currently, he's nothing like an Ulrik Birkkjaer, Yuan Yuan Tan, Wei Wang, Sarah Van Patten, Angelo Greco in his range of interests and abilities. Each of these dancers have relished learning new techniques and styles.

I hope they do as well, because simply jumping ship because one has doubts rarely works out well. Forgetting any rumors they may have heard - don't people want to know what it is like to dance for Rojo in the new repertoire? It will be yet another experience to add to the resume. The dancers may even learn something. 😉

So he's destined to have no long term impact on the ballet scene in SF. I'm not exactly surprised because Mackay seems to be pulled in many different directions these days, and spends a lot of time out of town. It certainly doesn't seem to be the case that Mackay has found a new home in San Francisco. ;) Tomasson paired Mackay with Nikisha Fogo much of the time, and I was never sure if that was because they already knew each other, or they just had similar dancing attributes. I wonder how he feels about that partnership, and what will happen with Fogo now? I remember when some of us complained that Tomasson should have been finding a dancer of color rather than hiring Mackay (although those acquisitions are rarely spur of the moment). That decision seems academic now.

I'm sure Kaufman thinks that she is being helpful, but there are bound to be people who take her suggestion the wrong way. I'm beginning to wonder if there is such a thing as a non-controversial candidate for a public-facing Arts executive position. Copeland MIGHT do well in the role - and there have been numerous dancers given the A.D. role at big companies who have managed to succeed. The problem is that there is no way to guarantee success when she lacks experience as an Arts manager or executive. She does know about the ballet world and the favored repertoire at ABT, and knows something about working with choreographers, but that doesn't help with the managerial portion of the job. To be sure, an understanding of big dollar fundraising, and budgeting and hiring, is important. And an ability to both please, and get worthwhile things from, the Board of Directors is a must. But there is also the managing of other humans that takes up a lot of an A.D.'s time. A good A.D. has a vision for a company (and the repertoire), but also knows how to sell it to her artists, choreographers, the orchestra, the Board, the company school, the audience, and keep them all inspired and in a positive frame of mind at all times. She's going to have to develop lasting relationships with top choreographers, and hopefully nurture budding ones. And an A.D. has to be able to let people go in a humane way. It's really nothing like being an artist - Alexei Ratmansky and Benjamin Millepied could speak to that. I remember Helgi Tomasson talking about directing SFB during the last 2 years of pandemic, and so much of his time was spent trying to find ways to keep the dancers inspired and busy. He of course never envisioned a period in which it was impossible to perform on stage, and really difficult to even have the dancers together in class. So somehow he had to find ways to keep everyone in a relationship with one another as a team and organization. And make them feel that there was a future for what they were doing. The pandemic is an extreme case of course, and has tested many a manager. But it is a reminder that many aspects of a directorship are not very glamorous.

I enjoyed some of the (Washington Post site) comments on the article.

Thanks, California.

From Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar [I realized immediately who "Nina" must be, but for some reason Theroux didn't mention last names in this section of the book. Rather odd, since he has no problem with naming the various writers he meets with along the way.] NOW AND THEN YOU MEET SOMEONE at a party or at a friend's house and he says, "I'm from Tbilisi" — or wherever—"and if you ever visit, you must look me up." And you say, "Absolutely," but the day never comes, for why on earth would you ever go to Tbilisi? And usually the person is merely being polite and doesn't mean it. But Gregory and Nina, whom I had met a few years before in Massachusetts, seemed sincere. And there I was in Tbilisi, under wintry skies, with time on my hands. And so I made the call. "Are you going to be here tomorrow?" Nina asked. "Oh, yes," I said. "Then you must come to the ballet." Nina was a ballerina in the Georgia State Opera Company, and Gregory was her husband. "It's the premiere of Giselle. Come to the Opera Theater at seven. Ask for Lizaveta. She will have a ticket for you. We will meet you in the box." The Opera Theater was a notable landmark of Tbilisi. I found it easily on foot. An imposing cheese-colored nineteenth-century edifice on the main boulevard, Rustaveli Avenue, it was built at a time when Russia — which had annexed Georgia in 1801—regarded an opera house as essential to the romantic idea of Georgia as one of the more picturesque regions of the Russian empire. Georgians were great agriculturalists, and their vineyards were renowned, but Georgians also danced and sang. It turned out that Nina was not merely a prima ballerina but also head of the opera company. When I met her in the box, she had recently given birth to a little girl. Gregory, who was a prosperous investor and also a doting husband and Nina's manager, said, "But she will dance next year. She will prove that you can have a baby and also be a great ballerina." Other people — mostly friends and relations — were already seated. Introducing me, Nina said, "This is Paul. He went through Africa alone!" "Is true?" a woman said. "By autostop," Nina said. "Not really," I said. But the woman hadn't heard. She had turned to tell her husband that I had hitchhiked through Africa. Then Giselle began. The title role was performed by a ballerina from the Bolshoi. The male lead, Prince Albrecht, was a local dancer who was only twenty-one. He was cheered when he appeared onstage. I had no idea what I was in for. I knew nothing about ballet, but it seemed to me a melodious way of spending an evening in Tbilisi. After my rainy journey of bleak hills and foggy valleys and muddy roads, this packed opera house — warm and well fed — was the antithesis of Batumi: pale pretty sprites in tutus, men in tights, some of them spinning, some of them leaping, and an orchestra pit where men in tuxedos scraped out mellifluous tunes and cascading harmonies. I was sitting comfortably in a gilt chair, resting on velvet cushions, watching Prince Albrecht (in disguise) fall in love with the peasant girl Giselle. But there was a hitch: he had been betrothed to Bathilda, the Duke's daughter. Giselle also had another and very excitable lover. Lots of prancing and leaping and flinging of arms, and finally identities were revealed, sending Giselle off her head. Just before the prolonged and ex quisite death agonies of Giselle, she heard the Wilis—"the spirits of young girls who died before their wedding day," the program said — and then she died. Second act: Giselle was now transformed into one of the Wilis. She was reunited with Albrecht and danced with him through the night. In so doing she saved his life, before she vanished at dawn. An angelic kickline of flitting nymphs, eloquent mime, syrupy music, slender legs, graceful leaps, and strange moves, especially Giselle's as she hopped on one toe while propelling herself by kicking her other leg, receiving wild applause and bravas. This ballet induced such a feeling of well-being in me that I sat smiling tipsily at the big red curtain for quite a while after it fell. And then I heard, "This is Paul. He went through Africa by hitchhike!" "Not exactly," I said. "Do you speak English?" "As a matter of fact, yes," the woman said. "I'm British. I'm just visiting." She was, she said, a ballet correspondent for a London newspaper, in Tbilisi for the week. She would be writing about this. Still besotted by the ballet, I asked, "How do you even begin evaluating something as pleasant as this?" "The corps de ballet needs work," she said without hesitating, "though they're about average for this part of the world, and if they keep working really hard they'll have a chance of being something watchable in about two years." So much for my angelic kick-line of flitting nymphs. "The male lead, I'm afraid, doesn't really have what it takes," she went on, "though you can see the chap is trying his best." She smiled grimly and dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "That ballerina from the Bolshoi, Anastasia Goryacheva, is talented. She performed well, but she was terribly let down by the orchestra. They were just so plodding. They're all second-rate players, not real symphony musicians. I mean, they hardly seemed to care." So much for the mellifluous harmonies I'd heard. Her criticism was probably accurate, though the audience had been more enthusiastic, had cheered the ballet all the way through, and had applauded numerous curtain calls. As for me, who had happened upon this spectacle and gaped like a dazed dog, I was grateful for the warmth and the music and the sight of the weightless legs of flitting nymphs moving to and fro on tippy-toe.

An article appearing on the Classic Fm website: Tchaikovsky’s house destroyed by Russian army in north-east Ukraine https://www.classicfm.com/composers/tchaikovsky/trostyanets-destroyed-russian-army-ukraine/

Sarah Van Patten Farewell Performance After 20 incredible years, Principal Dancer Sarah Van Patten will depart SF Ballet following the 2022 Season to focus on her family and pursue leadership opportunities within the arts. We invite you to honor her remarkable tenure with an evening reprising some of her most celebrated roles on Saturday, April 16, 2022 at 7:30 pm. Pas de deux from Diamonds Pas de deux from Gabrielle Chanel Excerpt from Wooden Dimes Pas de deux from Romeo & Juliet “It has been an incredible 20 years dancing for San Francisco Ballet. . . . I will forever cherish this chapter in my life and I look forward to what is next!” says Van Patten. There will also be a virtual event with Sarah and special guests, In Conversation with Sarah Van Patten, on April 26 at 6 pm to reminisce and say farewell. We hope you'll join us in celebrating Sarah at the War Memorial Opera House. Click the button below to purchase tickets to her final performance with SF Ballet. BUY TICKETS

Here's Madison Keelser's great compilation of March events: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb2_HxpAq9L/ Dinner with the SFB supporters: https://www.instagram.com/p/CcDto04JZuD/

City Ballet of San Diego will be performing Don Quixote - with Live Music by the City Ballet Orchestra in May, 2022: TWO PERFORMANCES ONLY! SATURDAY, MAY 7 at 8:00pm SUNDAY, MAY 8 at 2:00pm Note that this will not be at the old venue but rather in Escondido/North County(!) CALIFORNIA CENTER FOR THE ARTS, ESCONDIDO 340 North Escondido Boulevard, Escondido, CA TICKETS START AT JUST $32

Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov: "What are you Kremlin devils doing?" Not Putin, Russian culture is "the face of Russia," says Valentin Silvestrov, one of Ukraine's most important contemporary composers. From Berlin, he spoke to DW about the war in his native country. https://www.dw.com/en/ukrainian-composer-valentin-silvestrov-what-are-you-kremlin-devils-doing/a-61158308

More interesting changes resulting from the invasion of Ukraine: London’s National Gallery Has Retitled Degas’s ‘Russian Dancers’ as ‘Ukrainian Dancers’ "The National Gallery in London has updated the title of Edgar Degas’s drawing Russian Dancers to Ukrainian Dancers after an outcry by Ukrainians on social media. The pastel picture by the famed French Impressionist shows a troupe of young performers sporting hair ribbons in vivid blue and yellow, the national colors of Ukraine." https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/national-gallery-retitles-degas-ukrainian-dancers-1234624050/