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Masha with Irina Kolpakova coaching (at ABT): https://www.instagram.com/p/BNxyWY5DOKk/?taken-by=balletrusse Dancing La Bayadere with Herman Cornejo: https://twitter.com/balletrusse/status/806009730942414848

Thanks. ;) Originally I had typed "12/4", but deleted the wrong characters, naturally.

Long time NYCB supporter Aidan Mooney passed away December 4th. I believe he was a good friend of Jerry Robbins. Benjamin Millepied mentioned his passing on Instagram, and Alastair Macaulay wrote a comment as well. "This week end's performances of L.A Dance Project in Los Angeles will be dedicated to the memory of my dear friend Aidan Mooney. June 6th 1942 - December 4th 2016." "It is hard to imagine going to the New York State Theater without Aidan's passionate presence in the audience. He made intermissions unforgettable, with his enthusiasm. Some of my reviews were right, a few wrong - he let me know which! And I remember the ardent excitement with which he responded to reviews as well as performances. A big gap in the audience." --Alastair Macaulay ...Just found this notice in the NYT: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=aidan-mooney&pid=182992875

We look forward to reading your report - enjoy! Mr. D was ill mannered and rude when he was 20 years old, and that hasn't changed one bit over the years. I'm sure the Academy went into this with eyes wide open. There have been so many artists with odd personalities that I don't find it worth thinking about when viewing/reading/listening to their work. It's the art that is important to me. If the work transcends the artist, then there's one criteria satisfied to call it good or great art.

Have you seen the finale to Balanchine's Diamonds? That section of the ballet makes frequent use of diagonal formations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t5yJNSDSts

Following fast on the heels of Carla Korbes, Maria Chapman, Kaori Nakamura, etc. it has to be kind of depressing. Don't you just hate these "end-of-an-era" times? Some people are never really replaceable.

I think you can count on it - lots of Corps dancers in solo roles. SFB and the dancers have posted some nice shots of their appearance, in Nutcracker costume, at the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital: https://www.instagram.com/p/BNr2SdKBefl/?taken-by=sfballet https://www.instagram.com/p/BNr2Xvmh6cv/?taken-by=sfballet https://www.instagram.com/p/BNr20icBp2l/?taken-by=sfballet

We can now access the many great podcasts of Meet the Artist interviews and Point of View lectures here: https://www.sfballet.org/explore/podcasts At the present time, the archive of pre-2016 podcasts is not available, but it will happen. Something I noticed about the new page, which is a little frustrating, is that the various podcasts listed need to load - and they all attempt to do so at the same time. The first couple of podcasts at the top of the page never seemed to load, so I just went on and played other podcasts. Eventually the first few did load successfully, but it's not a great approach, to force people to sit and wait for all these downloads to occur (or rather, to discover that the podcasts will not play right away, until the load bars have advanced a ways).

Here's more on the same subject of physical conditioning from Mathilde Froustey: https://www.instagram.com/p/BNpzR12BKjy/?taken-by=lapetitefrench_ And for something different - Ballet Master Felipe Diaz coaching Froustey in a Nutcracker role - Mathilde writes that she had a migraine that day. Personally, I can't do much of anything with a sinus headache. Dancing would definitely be out. ;) https://www.instagram.com/p/BNoCdYfhrHP/?taken-by=lapetitefrench_ People are getting to know Felipe from the World Ballet Day broadcasts - he leads a great class at SFB.

Latest update from the NYT: 'Bob Dylan, who last month said he would not attend the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm because of “pre-existing commitments,” has delivered a speech that will be read on his behalf, the organization behind the awards said on Monday. In a Twitter post, the organization, the Swedish Academy, also said that Patti Smith, the musician and writer, will perform one of Mr. Dylan’s songs, “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” as a tribute.'

The approach taken by professional and Olympic sport organizations (usually involving fines and bans) isn't going to fit well with stage arts like dance. Ongoing education in the schools and ballet companies is important, but dance culture has to actively promote health, nutrition, physical therapy and training regimens over any "quick fixes" in the form of pharmaceuticals and the like. I personally see a fairly constant number of articles in magazines and on dance blogs that talk about nutrition for dancers, or what a particular dancer does in the off-season to stay in shape, but there is room for more. It would be nice to see a unified effort within the ballet world to maintain a conversation about not only what not to do, but the many things that do work in making an athlete/dancer healthy and fit, and how to build strength and stamina, etc for lasting effects.

A welcome return for Davit Karapetyan too - he's been in recovery this past summer/fall. Kochetkova has also made appearances at Anaheim Ballet during the holiday season - she never stops moving. I see the Festival Ballet performances include Sara Mearns and Jared Angle - they manage to get some great guests. Sasha De Sola and Max Cauthorn are dancing Nutcracker at the San Jose Performing Arts Center

"Nice to see the return of Sarah Van Patten & Jaime Garcia Castilla. Also nice to see new dancers Aaron Robison & Elizabeth Mateer. Lastly, how exciting for the role debuts of Mathilde Froustey (Snow Queen), Norika Matsuyama (Snow Queen), Francisco Mungamba (Snow King), and Isabella DeVivo (Sugar Plum Fairy)" Agreed: very happy to see SVP listed. The opening night performance should be a good one. I can't help but notice that Kochetkova has managed to skate free of all but one performance. But I suppose there will be more chances coming. She does not love dancing The Nutcracker, but it can be said that she doesn't require a warm up period for the 2017 season as many of the dancers do. Edit: SFB just sent out this little Nutcracker video promo today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i429pfW1a94

It's difficult to know with a lot of dancers, Mathilde Froustey just happens to keep a constant diary of her doings online. I know she will alternate many things: Pilates, Bikram yoga, physical therapy with Lisa Giannone (consulting physical therapist and athletic trainer to SFB), gyrotonics with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Flamenco lessons (the Flamenco Academy of Dance?). Kochetkova is famous for doing pretty much nothing but class, rehearsals and performances, over and over, all year round.

Yes, that's a great read, Imspear. I recall reading that PAMTGG (Pan Am Makes the Going Great) was a commissioned ballet - by Pan Am, of course. But I don't remember where I read that. It was at the PAMTGG premiere, just before the curtain rose, that Balanchine announced to Barbara Horgan that there would be a Stravinsky Festival "this time next year". Kind of ironic that people would be saying he should retire from ballet - after the PAMTGG fiasco - assuming he had lost his good taste and talent for choreography (as if talent were something that could be used up).

Mathilde showing that she is still in good shape, after her health scare: https://www.instagram.com/p/BNIRpLyhwze/?taken-by=lapetitefrench_ Here's a link to her much repeated story - this is from the Huffington Post site - but I think it is an inspiring story for many dancers who feel stuck, and unable to move up the promotion ladder: A Profile of Mathilde Froustey, Principal Dancer With San Francisco Ballet http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-martinfield/a-profile-of-mathilde-fro_b_9853456.html "After fifteen years, having somebody going, ‘No, you have to change this, you have to change that’ - and to then hear, ‘Just be yourself.’ Oh! OK. Really? It was like opening a door. I discovered that Ballet is really joyful." "Yes, I was shaking a little bit before my first entrance in Swan Lake. But I was excited to dance - because of Helgi, the atmosphere, my work with the ballet master, my partners. And I know the corps is reacting to everything I do. My first solo would set the mood for the whole night. If I was really energetic, if I’m relating to everyone around me - they will all be with me for the next two-and-a-half hours. You have this as a principal dancer, to take-in the people around you onstage and create a great show.”

Excellent interview - "Cleefurd" can talk, and talk! But he has a great memory for details, and is always amusing. The part about Balanchine and the opening tableau/pose for Rubies reminds me of the line, “Good artists borrow; great artists steal”. Certainly, great artists know what to do with something they see as worthwhile. The lesser artists, and general public, tend not to know how to distinguish between useful or innovative, and hackneyed.

Happy holidays to you, Karen. ;) John Clifford is one of the interviewees in the much recommended "Balanchine, Broadway and Beyond" series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQbhP0SLZS0 Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwVoppmPMPk Part 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnOx5kmN9bE "When Balanchine was choreographing a pas de deux for Arthhur (Mitchell) and Suzanne (Farrell) there's a place where [omitted dialog] which is very sexy, and very wild - at the premiere gala some man was drunk in the second row of the audience, and Suzanne does this very sexy step, with three big fan kicks, and then he grabs her waist, and she throws herself into a back spin, totally abandoned, and some guy in the audience screamed, "go baby, go!"

Former NYCB dancer John Clifford's YouTube page contains many NYCB rarities. Audio and video quality is often poor, but even so, these are some historic performances. For example, a 1966 Concerto Barocco with Suzanne Farrell, Marnee Morris and Conrad Ludlow, a 1968 Apollo with Martins, Marnee Morris, Von Aroldingen and Farrell (the entire performance), Agon with Allegra Kent, Square Dance with Wilde and Magallanes, a 1973 La Valse, and more. The Trust seems to be allowing Clifford to post whatever he can find. Perhaps they have finally realized that this keeps up interest in the Balanchine ballets, and there is little harm done in making these old videos available. https://www.youtube.com/user/jcliff26/videos Someone else has Duo Concertante with Kay Mazzo and Peter Martins (you will most likely see the link in the right hand video thumbnail column), and "Balanchine's Funeral", a mini-documentary - we see many familiar faces in the crowd outside the cathedral. Not sure if this was shot for a New York audience primarily. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FONK5omBIdU

"After the first competition in 1988, ABT was so ticked off that neither of its competitors, Bonnie Moore or Wes Chapman, had won a prize the company declined to send competitors to the second competition." Well at least they had the right attitude about the whole thing. ;) It's probably just me, but ABT often seems to demand that it be regarded as the 'best of the best' without actually doing everything that entails. It's not just about the marketing behind a company after all.

Mathilde working on her conditioning after her health scare of a couple weeks ago: https://www.instagram.com/p/BNIRpLyhwze/?taken-by=lapetitefrench_

That looks to be the case - he'll skip the Nobel ceremony: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/books/bob-dylan-nobel-ceremony.html In favor of playing at Trump's birthday party. Just kidding.

Thanks Apollomuse - that does explain it, although I hope this turns into a full ballet for 2018.

This is interesting: Kochetkova working with Carlo DiLanno on I'm not sure what, but we see Masha in her trademark basketball shorts: https://www.instagram.com/p/BM3Bu0fD0qS/?taken-by=balletrusse Apparently this was shot by Benjamin Millepied, and if that is a clue I don't know. ;)

Congratulations to Greco and Sheehan. This is the 2nd year in a row that a SFB male dancer coming from Teatro alla Scala has won. http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/41895-erik-bruhn-competition/ Photo of the winners from SFB: https://www.instagram.com/p/BM3E-c6h3Ot/?taken-by=sfballet